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Why won't my Bayern side play possession football?


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Never posted in here but I'm on the last straw of this years FM series. After going through a journeyman save till 2026 not winning a single bloody meaningful thing and getting sacking after sacking I decided to start a new save with the best team possible and see how crap I am at this years FM.

Previous FMs I've had no problems finding tactics that work for the sides I am but this years game no matter what I try they just seem to play like utter tools. Now I'm in charge of Bayern the same is implying once again.

After being dominated in the German Super Cup against Dortmund 34 shots to my 9, 14 on target to my 1 I somehow won 1-0. Followed this up with a diabolical 1st league game defeat 1-0 before winning next two 3-1/4-1. Just played the Super Cup against Chelsea, and despite them going down to ten men after 20 mins they ended the game with 62% possession and more shots. These are the tactics I employed for the game.

ifjn.png

Team commands: Retain possession, short passing, pass into space, work ball into the box, play out of defence, run at defence, push higher up, stand off opponents, stay on feet, higher tempo and be more expressive. Yet the team are just unable to dominate any game possession side. They just never seem to keep hold of the ball and always get outplayed :(

These are the passing stats from the game:

nmz9.png

Shocking low passing success from my players and no passing in the final third. I have the wingers Ribery and Robben set to take long shots but not for the ACM yet why are their passing so low?

What can I do to get my side playing better possession football? What should I change? Any help will be greatly appreciated as I'm out of ideas :(

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You're telling them to play through balls frequently, dribble constantly, push high up but not to actually press the opposition. On top of that, you have a highly unorthodox defensive shape that's going to leave massive gaps in your midfield (while you're telling your players to hold the shape by standing off the opposition). Control mentality + Fluid will also make your front four very aggressive and not inclined to sit back and help keep possession.

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How on earth can you expect to dominate possession when you're ordering your players to stand off the opposition?

As if that wasn't bad enough you have a pretty uneven balance of duties, with four on defend, five on attack and just one on support.

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Change 'stand off opponents' to 'hassle opponents' for a start.

Although it's not quite as clear cut as the first change, I think switching from 'higher tempo' to 'lower tempo' will help, generally (although in some circumstances/games the higher tempo may be more useful for keeping the ball, especially if the opposition press high up the pitch).

'Run at defence' also seems contradictory to keeping the ball, as does 'pass into space', although again I think in some circumstances the latter doesn't do too much harm.

Chelsea's CBs have a lot of passes - I think this because, in part, you're playing without a central striker. I'd try sticking Gotze up there to see if it helps (this will probably also have a positive effect on the number of passes in the final third).

I'm also not sure playing with a Sweeper helps here either - I think you'd be better off playing with an extra central midfielder, who will be in a position to hassle the opposition and should also help create more passes higher up the pitch -then switching Martinez to Half Back and use Neuer as a Sweeper Keeper to cover the high line.

Be more expressive may be unhelpful as well, especially with 'individualistic' players like Robben.

Your mentality structure is also a bit odd - I'd try making one of Robben/Ribery a support player, maybe change your CWBs to WBs and stick the one on the opposite flank to a support player as well. If you do use the extra central midfielder stick them on an attacking duty. Move the WBs in line with your CBs too.

No guarantees you'll dominate possession every game with these changes but I'd be amazed if they don't have a significant positive effect compared to what you're doing at present.

On previous formations I've had 'hassle opponents' but that always seemed to leave me open on the counter :/

Should I change the IFs to support than to allow for more balance?

Can't have it both ways I'm afraid. Either you stand off and let your opponents have more of the ball, but keep your shape, or you press high up and risk them getting in behind.

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If you want to play possession football you have to make sure passing options are nearby and that when you do lose it, you win it back quickly.

Much Higher Defensive Line, Play Narrower, Hassle Opponents will address these problems.

You also need better balance of roles. Drop the wing backs to the FB position (keep them as CWBs if you like) and consider moving the Sweeper to DM and the DM to MC.

e: pass into space workss fine in this style of play, run at defence does not. Be more expressive can work fine, so long as you have the players for it (you do).

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Change 'stand off opponents' to 'hassle opponents' for a start.

Although it's not quite as clear cut as the first change, I think switching from 'higher tempo' to 'lower tempo' will help, generally (although in some circumstances/games the higher tempo may be more useful for keeping the ball, especially if the opposition press high up the pitch).

'Run at defence' also seems contradictory to keeping the ball, as does 'pass into space', although again I think in some circumstances the latter doesn't do too much harm.

Chelsea's CBs have a lot of passes - I think this because, in part, you're playing without a central striker. I'd try sticking Gotze up there to see if it helps (this will probably also have a positive effect on the number of passes in the final third).

I'm also not sure playing with a Sweeper helps here either - I think you'd be better off playing with an extra central midfielder, who will be in a position to hassle the opposition and should also help create more passes higher up the pitch -then switching Martinez to Half Back and use Neuer as a Sweeper Keeper to cover the high line.

Be more expressive may be unhelpful as well, especially with 'individualistic' players like Robben.

Your mentality structure is also a bit odd - I'd try making one of Robben/Ribery a support player, maybe change your CWBs to WBs and stick the one on the opposite flank to a support player as well. If you do use the extra central midfielder stick them on an attacking duty. Move the WBs in line with your CBs too.

Will tweek tactics and give some of this a go. What role should the striker be? I was thinking more DLF or False 9.

For the CMs what should they be? I was thinking DLP/B2M both on support?

Only reason I deployed a sweeper was I wanted to try and stop the counter attacking chances :/

Cheers for the feedback :thup:

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The forum software is terrible. Your post is too long. Either screenshot your reply and post the image or split it into two smaller posts :thup:

It's nothing to do with his reply being too long at all. It's to do with an error when he's copying it and it saves to the clipboard :) then when he tries putting it on here some users get an error.

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Holy **** this has to be one of the most random tactics I have ever seen. What is your actual concept with this formation and the instructions you use? I can only recommend that you read some of the sticky threads on here and try some more basic formations first before you try your hands on something as experimental as the formation in your opening post.

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Just to echo some of the comments already, your team instructions completely contradict each other. You are asking your players to play very fast, short passes into space whilst running at the defence. How on earth can you expect to keep the ball like that??

I would drop the vast majority of team instructions, I very rarely use more than 3 or 4 as they will confuse things.

As a rule of thumb though, if you want to play a patient possession based game you should use:

Lower Tempo

Shorter Passing

Work Ball into Box

A faster, more direct game:

Higher Tempo

More Direct Passing

Pass Into Space

Just start with a few team instructions, and only introduce them if you know what they are going to do and you can see how it will improve your game.

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