Struggling To Retain Possession

[deejay10]

Game after game, regardless of the tactic, or the players at my disposal, I'm facing the same issues - low pass completion rates. My defenders, regardless of their passing, CF or DL settings keep passing the ball amongst themselves, then aimlessly hoofing the ball up the pitch when they come under pressure, despite viable options out wide or in midfield to pass to. I always have extremely low pass completion rates across my defence, and often all over the pitch, especially away from home in tough matches.

This has only been a problem in 9.0.3, so it has to do with changes in the match engine, but what changes can I make to ensure my team retains possession, and PASSES the ball out of defence, and building attacks. This is proving immensely frustrating as I always like to build my own tactics, and tweak settings for every game, yet I'm finding it really difficult to solve this issue.

Iv tried setting their passing to short, with a high defensive line, bringing them closer to the midfield, with mentality spacings of max 2 between defensive players and midfield players. Iv tried setting their passing to direct, hoping they quickly move the ball to the midfield, instead of wasting time, passing the ball back and forth amongst themselves. I get the same results though, players giving the ball away constantly, short passes and long passes going astray.

What do the tactics gurus suggest as good settings for the defence, for a possession controlling style of football, building from the back, but having the bulk of possession in midfield, attempting to break down the opposition ?

[Asim]

hmmm...what mentality are you using for defenders? it may be too defensive. are you using a target man in your tactic?

you havent mentioned what formation you are using either, sometimes players are too far apart although you have stated the is max space of 2 between their mentalities, your midfield may be too far infront if they have forward runs often.

[deejay10]

Iv had the same issues for all formations I've used, be it 4-3-3, 4-5-1, 4-4-2, or 5-3-2. The CB's mentality is usually at 10, same as the defensive midfielder is I use one. Full backs, are usually slightly higher, as I like to use attacking full backs, but I find they give the ball away a lot too. I only put forward runs often on 1 of my midfielders at most. But yes I tend to use a target man in most formations, so maybe they are using the option of the targetman, instead of better placed midfielders too much.

Anyone regularly get 80% + pass completion stats with their defenders, without playing too many pointless sideways, and back passes ?

[Asim]

well i get between 70 - 80% on average. my tactic uses short passing for everyone except my mc's and 1 forward who are all on mixed. i also have timewasting on mixed at about 12, and sometimes lower to rarely depending on opposition, maybe you could increase timewasting, this may help them to take their time and pick a better pass. all my defence are on the same mentality and all my attack are on the same mentality (5x5)

what about creative freedom? i have my defence on mixed. its stange that your team is just passing the ball around the back.

[Nevrin]

I usually set my DC's with last notch of little for creative freedom and last notch of short for passing. Then my DR/L with 10th notch of creative freedom and 1st notch of mixed for passing. With my MC's with rarely and mixed forward run, I managed to get my MC's to pass well with my defence line players. In average, I always get 83% and above of passing completed for my DC's and MC's.