Getting centre mids scoring

[AmuntValencia]

Hi all, I play a control/fluid 4-1-2-3 wide with team instructions - pass shorter,press more,higher defensive line set up like this-

GK

Wb (A) CD Cd WB(A)

DLP (D)

B2b APM (A)

IF (S) IF(S)

CF(S)

Only PI are shoot less often for midfielders and striker.

My main problem is that my central midfielders simply don't score from open play,they don't even get into scoring positions as every highlight is me attacking against a packed defense on the edge of there own area which usually results in the ball being pinged out wide for a wingback to whip in a cross (which are deadly). My midfielders have a lot of attacking ppms (gets forward,arrives late in oppo box) but they don't ever get in space in the oppo box.

I am Valencia and my midfielders are Andre gomes, Enzo perez and Dani Parejo.

Any ideas?

[themadsheep2001]

Which of your CMs are you asking to score?

And if you want them to score, why have you asked them to shoot less?

[AmuntValencia]

Ideally I would like both midfielders to chip in a bit, I played around with switching the APM (A) to a CM (A) but it doesn't change much. My reasoning for the shoot less often instruction is that I was seeing a lot of (pretty awful) long shots happening which I wasn't happy with.

[THOG]

The main issue is that you're playing very narrow going forward, so with the three support attackers ahead of them , there's not a lot of space for them to attack and you're likely to see poor long shots when they run into a crowd of defenders. That leaves your wingbacks as outlets and they're instructed to cross, not cut it back.

[AmuntValencia]

Would using the team instruction 'play wider' help? or would that focus attacks even more down the wing?

[Guest El Payaso]

I would suggest using wingers instead of IFs and RPM instead of AP as it is functioning much like the BBM and will get into the area more regularly.

I had a great success for half a season with Nainggolan as BBM as he scored 8 in 18 games but after that shut down.

[Deego619]

To quote one of Jambo98's threads from last year, can you think of many goal scoring midfield players from the last decade or two? Frank Lampard and Paul Scholes? Who else? This type of player is extremely rare and you need to set up the player very intricately to do so. He must have the correct PPMs to get into the box at opportune times and the striker must cooperate with him. It's not exactly easy to set up.

[mibsweden]

I have a similar setup to yours, but the AMR is a Winger (S). Isstead of an APM in CM position I have a CM (A). He has scored 9 goals in 24 matches. I have PI on him as well - Roam From Position, More Risky Passes. He is paired with a BBM and an Anchorman behind in the DM position.

[Guest El Payaso]

To quote one of Jambo98's threads from last year, can you think of many goal scoring midfield players from the last decade or two? Frank Lampard and Paul Scholes? Who else? This type of player is extremely rare and you need to set up the player very intricately to do so. He must have the correct PPMs to get into the box at opportune times and the striker must cooperate with him. It's not exactly easy to set up.

I wouldn't compare FM to real life on this as on FM players will always have more chances to score than IRL and this also works for CMs.

Just to add names: Pogba, Toure, Sigurdsson, Henderson, Silva and Ramsey for example when at their best.

[noikeee]

I've got a very similar setup to yours. I've only played 2 matches with it yet, but my midfielders scored 3 goals in those 2 matches...

The main difference is my attacking trio is IF/A - F9/S - IF/S. Yours looks far more static. I reckon a setup like this will open up more space for your midfielders because: a) the IF/A will occupy some defenders; and b) the F9/S will bugger out of the way far more than the CF/s, whilst also dragging some other defenders. If you want your midfielders to score, you need to distract them and pull them out of shape.

Other things I have different that might be important, or not, I don't know:

- AP/S instead of AP/A. Maybe your AP/A starts too far forward making your passing moves lack depth.

- WB/S instead of WB/A for both full-backs. Same possible problem, players moving too far forward too early.

- I've got Flexible instead of Fluid. Might be a very minor difference, but people have warned me in other threads that the more Fluid you play the closer your players are, and that might actually be bad for attacking sometimes because it gives you less space to play in.

- I've turned the "Dribble Less" team instruction on, because I was concerned that both my IFs and my F9 (same applies to your CF) all had "Dribble More" as an unchangeable instruction of their role, which could result in all of them hogging the ball. This makes the team play more pass-and-move, which is better for your midfielders than to have the move die in the feet of some selfish forward.

- "Retain Possession" instead of "Pass Shorter". These are two very similar instructions so probably makes little or no difference, but I don't like instructing players to pass shorter directly, the roles should make that happen naturally, and I like them to have the option to spread a long-ish ball wide if necessary.

Again, word of warning, all this has done for me was a grand total of 2 home wins vs beatable opposition, I give you no guarantees it's a magic formula that'll turn your box-to-box midfielder into Frank Lampard or anything.