Help Creating a Passing/Possession Tactic

[olivermain83]

I'm want to create a passing tactic that generally will regularly give me >50% possession and relies on passing and movement more so that dribbling. I've not been very successful so far though and was hoping for a few pointers.

My Goals

• Over 50% possession
  
• High pass completion rate
  
• Quality chance creation
  
• ST is my top goalscorer
  
• Passing generally favoured over dribbling
  

The players I currently have suit a 442, 41221 and 352.

My assumptions are that 41221 would probably be the best formation with the 3 CM's providing numbers in midfield and the FB's offering an easy outlet for the CB's so I'm going to use that.

Style

This is my first hurdle. Going by the descriptions, the more Rigid a formation is the more the team holds its shape. The more Fluid it is the more players are encouraged to 'play free flowing football'.

Now free flowing football sounds like something I want, however maybe the team being Rigid and always in the place their supposed to be would be better for achieving my goals. For now i'm going with Balanced until someone enlightens me.

Strategy

I've gone with Balanced here. Judging from the description it's a middle ground of risk vs reward behaviour. I'm hoping this will encourage players to pass in all directions rather than looking for either a safer pass or a killer ball.

Creative Freedom

Ok, so I think that less CF will stop my players looking for more risky passes and therefore help me keep the ball better. I still need to create chances though so it's a balancing act really. I think getting the right Style and CF combination is probably a big factor in getting this right. Maybe Fluid and Less CF or Balanced and Normal CF? I'll start with Balanced and Low CF first though to try and get the possession stats before tackling creating good chances.

Other Settings

I'm going to press more as I need that ball back when I lose it.

I'll leave the tackling as normal and control it with shouts if I feel it needs to be more/less aggressive

More Roaming as I need my players to be finding space to make themselves available for the pass

Shouts

I'm not fond of using shouts from the beginning of matches but maybe I need to get what I want.

Starting with Retain Possession, Work Into Box and Play Through Defense seem like the right choices to begin with.

Other Considerations

Apart from getting the right Roles/Duties the one other thing i'm not sure about is whether to allow a playmaker and whether to turn off HUB settings on all players?

I just don't know if it's a good or bad thing having a playmaker. Do I want one person constantly receiving the ball or do I want the play spread through the team evenly?

With HUB, i'd rather the passing was snappy. Not quite Tiki-Taka but somewhere towards that.

Ok, that's all my thoughts right now. I deliberately haven't mentioned the roles/duties of the players as i'm really not sure so will have to experiment for a few matches to see what works.

Any and all feedback is welcomed.

[Guest Satchy]

I believe there are a few "Barcelona Tiki Taka" threads around here somewhere with people being successful at this. I don't really play that style, but I'd suggest looking at PPM's to get what you want. Maybe the "plays a simple passing game" would be a good retention/possession move, for example.

[vasilli07]

What team will you be using? You will probably need a team with players with high composure so that they won't rush a pass even if they are being closed down.

[olivermain83]

I'm in the year 2020 so i'll be using newgens. I've just got bored of playing direct all the time and i've never managed to get a good passing tactic to work.

I don't quite have the players yet but i'm working on that.

I've been looking for cm's with high passing, first touch, technique and teamwork. Do these sound about right for key stats?

[Guest Satchy]

Decisions and Composure are also very important, otherwise they will make bad passes under pressure, and/or not retain possession the way you'd like (Decisions). Off the Ball will also be very important for most players in your squad, so that they are able to get into the open spaces to make a pass available. Of course you should also be looking at the Teamwork stat, as you are trying to play a team possession tactic. Really, you will need intelligent players to be able to pull it off, particularly in midfield.

[Master420]

High Passing, first touch, techinique and teamwork are the basic stuff for passing. High off the ball and anticipation are also very helpful, especially if you are playing high tempo. Creativity is required to sniff out good opportunity and decision is required to choose the best option available.

[deserter]

I think you're on the right track there.

I'd think that you should try to keep dribbling, long shots, crossing and through balls in moderation. Role-wise and duty-wise that would mean preferring support duties over attack duties and more generic attacking roles over the more specific. This way you won't give the ball away too often with a hopeful low percentage move.

Then I'd give more license to your best players, the ones you think can break the deadlock. A midfielder that can pull off Pirloesque passes consistently or one that can charge forward with the ball, a wing back that can overload the wing, a trequartista that can operate in small spaces, an inside forward with great shooting ability. You need to have a few reliable ways to score, and set up the rest of the team to support the players that are supposed to put the moves together.

In my team I have a brilliant midfielder that can pass, dribble and shoot, playing as an advanced playmaker, bringing the ball forward from deep powerfully, a creative wing back that drives inside with the ball at his feet, a ball playing defender that can play those pinpoint passes, a powerful forward working the channels and a winger that can really cross. The rest of the team supports these actions. Their job is to not do anything stupid and not let the opponent score.

Well, that's my way of doing it.

[olivermain83]

Thanks for the replies. I'm definitely getting there. Over the space of about 10 matches the roles and duties slowly evolved and now i'm generally getting around 52/55% possession in most matches. That's also with having a team of good but not great and certainly not Barcelona standards passers.

This is currently what i'm using:

Also had a winger in the AMR slot but there was so much space that it seemed to make sense for that to be IF.

I'd really like to find an Adv Playmaker who can dribble but there's no-one i can find who fits the mould unfortunately.

I'm considering making the left winger an inside forward too and the FB behind him a wingback. Maybe i'll try that next season.