Dr Naysay

So it should be around 12 to 15 every 10 games as per the average PL crosses per game. Something you would hope gets improved in later versions.

Not allowed to link it here but our very own @Rashididid a great video on his YouTube channel specifically on the HB in FM24 and how dynamic it can be in various systems.

Genuine question as I dont know. How often do crosses from a player in the halfspace happen in real life? Is three in ten games not realistic?

I mentioned going through the highlights pausing and re-watching in an earlier post. What are you sewing with the AF? I he isolated? Is he running with the ball in to blind alleys and turning it over? I was reluctant to use AF on my save because I felt my Striker didn't have the technical attributes but after watching him play the role I was happily surprised at what he brought to the role. Other strikers simply aren't up to the task, more than likely because of their mental attributes so I would see how he plays the role and especially whose around him when ge gets the ball. One thing is that with your rest defence, does your LCB have a "Stay Wider" setting? This would help with turnovers if your WB is caught higher up the pitch. Honestly there is still tweaking to be had when I look at the set-up but I think it's more fun if you work it out through what you see. Good luck budm

Central Midfielder Attack with stay wider and run wide with ball led to this. He was often waiting wider than the winger for the ball. On one of the highlights he received the ball wider than the Winger and then dribbled hugging the touchline. There were quite a few times what you see above could have happened but the winger regardless of role always seems to want to step in front of the CM preventing the space for the CM to run in to causing the the CM to cut inside again or pass to the winger so I am not sure it will work with wingers.

I appreciate this and your OP is logically thought out. The best thing to do now is analyse what you're seeing, pause and rewind a lot. See where your'e turning the ball over, make a note and see if there are repeating patterns. Analyse from the very point you turn the ball over to the point the opposition score or shoot and vice versa. This was the key thing Cleon taught me through one of his posts that was a light-bulb moment. Problems may be role related, TI related, PI related and player trait related. So once you see where the patterns are and discover what's causing those problems the better it will be for making tactical progression. Incremental changes rather than wholesale changes are best. I look forward to seeing how it does.

There;s a sweet spot to be had that doesn't mean possession overkill for the sake of it, but also in game management is a must imo these days particularly when using possession tactics.

I think we are in serious danger of chasing off some of the best FM tactical minds from this forum, it happened with Cleon and it happened with a few other people and it really needs to stop because we can't afford to lose people on here who hand out great advice because a minority of people are too convinced of their own truth.

Yup, same here.

It doesn't matter what the game tells you his best role is, it matters what his attributes are to the role you want him to play. I know nothing about Sarr on FM24 but I could fully envison him being a really well rounded midfielder who could play most midfield roles really well. You need to move away from finding roles to suit your players within a system you want to play and focus on finding roles too suit your tactic because you have some phenomenal talent that can not only play various roles withing a certain position but they can also play multiple positions.

They are on the right side of his team/formation pic. I was also confused at first.

The match fitness is terrible, I wouldn't start one player that's not match fit never mind three and then of 10 subs you only have 2 match fit players on the bench, even the save you were top of the league a large portion of your players had zero to very low match fitness. To get to this stage of fitness you're not putting the effort in I am sorry to say, now add in a spiraling bad spell where i can only imagine you're putting as little effort in to to motivating your players and this is the result as has been said a few times. Player fitness and especially player morale are two layers on top of tactics that make your team a successful team. Either cut your squad(you don't need a 21 man squad for a 34 game season) or use your B team( if you have one) and create friendlies that get your whole squad match fit and ready to play, find ways to motivate your players to break out of this spell.

If my B team is in a playable league I get rid of my U18 team via the editor and play all of the best U18 players in the B team. This allows you to focus on the very best players from your youth intake and have complete control of development from the age of 15 till they make their first team debut without having to loan them out as well as lowering the costs to your club. I essentially do what Brentford did with one difference that my B team are in a playable league.

If you go down the rabbit hole it's actually worse than that, apparently it's double mezzala 433's that completely nerf the match engine and it's the only way you can play and win. I don't mind if these people want to not see what's right in front of them and ignore all advice but I really wish it was left in the bugs/general forum. It is frustrating when someone comes on here to ask advice and people like yourself who try to help are often drowned out by the "don't bother the m.e is broken, the game is unplayable" crowd. If some of these people spent even a modicum of time to read the useful threads on here they might actually contribute more in future to others learning instead of heading down in to odd echo chambers. Anyway, you are very right regarding resting players, making tweaks and maintaining good morale. I don't think people realise just how much of an effect a small change in squad morale can effect a tactic in one game and then snowball in to an all out bad patch. This years version is also imo one of the most tweak happy versions and if you aren't making adjustments to what you are seeing in game you will get a lot more frustrating results. For instance @Rashiditouched on this in one of his vids but if the opposition changes their static midfield role in to a RPM or any other more mobile role and you have them tight marked you are in for a bad time as your midfielder chases him all over the pitch leaving holes in your midfield, you really have to read and react.

There's a video out on YouTube of a guy that created a defensive tactic and conceded 5 goals in 11 games whilst having played with Luton all whilst taking 5 points off of Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle. This thing about only being able to succeed defensively by using Gegenpressing tactics is tiresome. If you believe the match engine is to blame for your woes it is best to take this to the General Discussion forum. None of this is aimed at OP btw, if you are wanting to play a defensively solid game OP I really would recommend reading that defensive football thread that has been posted or actually searching YouTube to get some ideas on setting up a defensive tactic because I can see some issues with your tactical setup that I think would leave you flat during defensive transitions.