Barely creating chances when playing away: help please!

[michelb86]

I am playing a network game against a friend, Barcelona vs. Real. Not the most challenging teams, but still very fun to do. Downside is that every point lost means that you're further away form the title.

I am playing with Barca, and wanted to created a tactic close to the real playing style. This is what I created:

SK

WB(A) - CB - BPD - WB(S)

DLP(D)

AP(S) - CM(A)

IF(S) - F9(S) - IF(A)

Additional instructions with the goal to create a passing game and looking for the opening:
Control, flexible, play narrow, lower tempo, shorter passing, closing down more, use offside trap, prevent gk distribution, play out defence, work ball into box, roam from position & dribble less. 

At home it seems to work pretty well. I am (obviously) dominating, see some nice combinations, leading to beautiful attacks. Often have 15-20 shots, which is not a lot, but it is effective what I see from the scoring chances stats. 

Playing away from home feels different though, where I play with the same tactic. I barely create any chances and I feel lucky when I see 10+ shots fired and win with 1 goal margin. I've watched 5+ games in extensive mode on low tempo, but I'm really bad at finding the problem. My gut feeling is that most of the teams will have 9-10 players behind the ball and that playing narrow with a slow tempo doesn't help in breaking them down. What do you think based on the tactic, what should I change to make it also work from home?

Also, what would  you recommend playing against stronger opponents? Obviously you can't win every match, but I feel much more vulnerable against teams like Real and PSG (which might not be strange after yesterday lol). Should I lower mentality and the defense line against that kind of teams?

Thanks a lot!

[ajsr1982]

I think your roles and duties are not bad, though I'd question the wisdom of two playmakers so close together in midfield. They tend to get into one another's space.

However, I think you have too many team instructions. Shorter passing and lower tempo means you're moving the ball but you're not moving the opposition, so that's a good place to start. Chuck in 'Dribble Less' and you're just passing the ball around in front of the opposition for the sake of it. Against tough opposition, telling players to run at the defence can be a good way to open them up and create an overload.

You're also basically channelling all of your play down the centre of the pitch, which makes you a little one-dimensional.

I'd lose at least half of the TIs, personally. It's cluttered.

[summatsupeer]

You haven't mentioned your mentality.  If your playing Control (or higher) your team will be very forward thinking, especially the attack duties.  Even if you tell them to lower the tempo they will still prioritize the same passing directions but will take a few moments longer to decide which to select.

Personally i'm not sure about using WB with Work Ball Into Box, if there's no one to pull the ball back to they're running into a bit of a dead end.  Against packed defenses I like to create depth and width to draw defenders out.  I don't find more runners helps unless its earlier in moves before defences get deep and organized.  Are crosses and long shots an issue?  You could say to use Low Crosses to take advantage of the movement and avoid the lack of size.

I'm not sure you need to tell them to play narrower, IF's look to start wide and cut into space, so the wider they pull a defender the more space there should be to beat him with, though you've reduced dribbling.

Allowing more recycling/lateral passes to create space before playing a good forward pass.  More depth should equal more space, more space equals more time.   To do this against packed defences I would focus on the Mentality and Team Shape, defensive line can help to.  What combo to change to isn't as easy to say as it depends what you see happening.

[amil21]

7 hours ago, summatsupeer said:

You haven't mentioned your mentality.  If your playing Control (or higher) your team will be very forward thinking, especially the attack duties.  Even if you tell them to lower the tempo they will still prioritize the same passing directions but will take a few moments longer to decide which to select.

Personally i'm not sure about using WB with Work Ball Into Box, if there's no one to pull the ball back to they're running into a bit of a dead end.  Against packed defenses I like to create depth and width to draw defenders out.  I don't find more runners helps unless its earlier in moves before defences get deep and organized.  Are crosses and long shots an issue?  You could say to use Low Crosses to take advantage of the movement and avoid the lack of size.

I'm not sure you need to tell them to play narrower, IF's look to start wide and cut into space, so the wider they pull a defender the more space there should be to beat him with, though you've reduced dribbling.

Allowing more recycling/lateral passes to create space before playing a good forward pass.  More depth should equal more space, more space equals more time.   To do this against packed defences I would focus on the Mentality and Team Shape, defensive line can help to.  What combo to change to isn't as easy to say as it depends what you see happening.

I am currently playing a 4-2-3-1 (control, fluid) with Southampton and we sometimes struggle to create chances against a team that is bunkered  in. Now are you suggesting that If I dropped my mentality to say structured, this would create more depth in my attack and open up some space?

[Dr. Hook]

3 hours ago, amil21 said:

I am currently playing a 4-2-3-1 (control, fluid) with Southampton and we sometimes struggle to create chances against a team that is bunkered  in. Now are you suggesting that If I dropped my mentality to say structured, this would create more depth in my attack and open up some space?

Dropping to flexible, or even structured will create some vertical space as your attackers will push a bit higher and your defenders will sit a bit deeper. In addition, Summatsupeer mentioned mentality. There are times when you can reduce it to standard, or counter, or even defensive. This is often handy against packed, parked-the-bus sides as you are sitting deeper and taking fewer risks, which can open up space. The idea is you want to force the opposition to come out to you a bit as well as take a more patient approach to your attack.

[noikeee]

I like dropping down a mentality (ex: from Control to Standard) and increasing width one notch when I'm trying to break down a stubborn defence - if they're parking a bus, the space is deeper and wider.