Improving Shot Conversion/Accuracy

[Lordluap]

I don'y usually have a problem with this, but recently FM16 has seen me come unstuck when it comes to scoring.

I'm currently playing in Chile as Universidad de Chile. We have, in theory, the best/second best attack in the league. I have set up to play attacking football using Control/Fluid. I play 3 up front but that can be one striker and two wide men, three out and out strikers or one striker, one wide man and one false 10. The wide men cut inside as Vargas/Castro/Henriquez etc used to for La. U in the heyday of 2011/12 season.

Here are my T.I's

and for the purpose of this query here is the formation of the game that has lead me to posting this

Now, it's asymetrical and there is a gap on the left, but lets not focus on that as I'm happy with how it plays.

Except...

The scoring. Here are the stats

And here are the shots

Out of all of our shots only 2 were on target. All the others were WAY of target/high.

As I say, I never usually struggle with this side of the game but I cant for the life of me work out what I'm doing wrong.

I want my La. U. side to play fast, attacking, creative football - which we do; Dominate possession - which we do... but also tuck some more chances away!

Am i missing something elemental in my quest for the perfect play further back?

[herne79]

You are playing with a Control mentality, which sets a pretty high tempo by default. It also increases your player "attack mindedness" (for want of a better expression), so they'll be more direct and goal focused. The overall set up is one of quantity of chances, rather than quality of chances - ie., kick the ball often enough and eventually one will go in.

Unless your players have great composure, first touch and finishing (possibly some other attributes as well) you'll run a greater chance of strikers blasting away at the goal without much thought.

However, the fact that you are having the vast majority of shots from inside the penalty area is very encouraging - if they were from outside the box I'd be worried.

There's nothing wrong with playing in that style at all, it probably produces some exciting football . Just be aware of the pitfalls, which you've already spotted.

[Lordluap]

Cheers Herne.

I was playing Standard/Fluid but it lacked swashbuckle and drive into the box.

Box play isn't an issue at all at the moment, we are always camped around Zone 14 / The D... just the accuracy of shots is poor. So, what to do? Lower the tempo from Normal to Lower? I don't really want to reduce from Control mentality.

Would Work Ball Into Box be a worthy trial do we think?

[herne79]

Lowering the tempo will affect the entire team.

Work ball into box may not have much of an impact as you're already doing it judging by that shots graph. Might be worth a trial though. Another option may be to give one, two or all three strikers the PI to shoot less often - perhaps start with the striker who has the worst goal scoring attributes.

Team Shape may also have affect, but I'd start with the simpler stuff first.

[Svenc]

You can only work out the worth of your conversion when looking at your totals in the team report. Far less than 10% of shots converted = bad. 1 in 5 or less overall SOT converted = bad. At the start this fluctuates. Aside of that it's still a bit tricky with the shot zones as for instance, let's say you're playing an opponent who drops off. Most of the play will by default be in their half, which means also all the set pieces will go your team's way. Most set pieces == comparably low quality conversions inside the box yes, but there's absolutely no space typically as everybody is inside the box during those usually. If most of those shots inside the box were off free kicks, corners or throws, that can cloud how good your tactic is from actually open play, as for set pieces there's different options.

Additionally, against such teams dropping off individually, simply attacking attacking isn't always necessarily the best possibly tactics, in particular if that early lead doesn't come they have no reason to open up themselves thus (and may not do so even after conceding as some AI in particular against the big dogs is always out to simply avoid heavy defeat), players can get frustrated with every missed attempt. In Italy with a top side I was league leaders comfortably with no more than overall 12-13 shots on average per match, however that also involved switching to a recycling the ball scheme when taking that lead with influenced things some. Usually on standard mentality, no more from kick-off. Mind though it's not the only viable strategy to stretch teams, overloading can work as well, deep lines could also be exposed by towering target men for instance and this looks like one of those matches where the opp just dropped off individually.

[Lordluap]

Interesting Svenc, it's something i'm acutely aware of and have a debate with myself about - dropping mentality back to Contain/Standard to be patient and probe. As U de C are a top team in Chile almost all teams sit deep against us. Problem is it is against the DNA I want at the club and with how I set up. I want swashbuckling attacks, creativity, clever runs, balls into the box... and goals! Does Contain/Standard go against that?

I have an evening alone tonight so will trial a few things.

[Lordluap]

If anyone is interested, I added Work Ball Into Box and asked the front 3 to Shoot Less. We are now, randomly, taking more shots but also getting more on target...