Struggling Against The Big Teams

[PinkSpeedos]

As the title says, I am struggling to get results against the big teams in the Premier League. 

I'm five seasons in with Leeds, we finished 8th last season and the only reason we missed out on a European spot was because of my terrible record against the top six in the league. I won just one game all season against them. 

The tactic I've created works wonders when playing against teams of a similar reputation or lower reputation.

I'm not necessarily looking for a full tactic here as I like to create my own but any advice on a starting point for creating a tactic for these big matches would be much appreciated. 

Any kind of theoretical advice, tactical advice etc would be great. 

 

Thanks

[Bobby_Zamora]

Post your tactic. Pics please

[PinkSpeedos]

15 minutes ago, Bobby_Zamora said:

Post your tactic. Pics please

Hi, thanks for reply.

 

I don't think I made it all that clear in the original post, I'm wanting to create a whole new tactic but I'm looking for some advice and some basics on how to approach these games. 

 

Thanks

[Bobby_Zamora]

Sorry, my mistake.

I have had success using different approaches. It all depends on how you want to play. Do you have any ideas?

I was tired of trying to dominate and score more than they did, so I went defensive and I really enjoy those 1-0, 2-0 wins. A clean sheet makes my day, and I worked out a 3-4-2-1 (check the thread list, its near the top) that works wonders. I think I went on 9 or 10 games without conceding in the Championship and did very well overall against the top teams after the first year in the prem. As it turns out, other people were using it as well.

Have you read some of the posts here? There's plenty of help. Let us know what you're doing

[Fosse]

4 minutes ago, PinkSpeedos said:

Hi, thanks for reply.

 

I don't think I made it all that clear in the original post, I'm wanting to create a whole new tactic but I'm looking for some advice and some basics on how to approach these games. 

 

Thanks

Sit deep, deny space and play on the counter is about as much of a suggestion as you'll get

[PinkSpeedos]

I've tried a couple of tactics aimed at sitting deeper and being more narrow, these are things that I've done in the past on FM with some success but this year it just seems to invite too much pressure. 

I've read some people are using very attacking tactics against the big teams and getting a lot of success but I'm worried this will leave me far too open. 

I currently play a a high pressing, high tempo game and it works great against lesser teams because they just don't have the quality to handle the pressure I put on them, this seems to be what the big teams are doing against me. 

I've tried more Support/Defence roles and tried having two players in the DM slots but as I say, all of this seemed to invite pressure and didn't seem to make me any more solid defensively. 

[Fosse]

5 minutes ago, PinkSpeedos said:

I've tried a couple of tactics aimed at sitting deeper and being more narrow, these are things that I've done in the past on FM with some success but this year it just seems to invite too much pressure. 

I've read some people are using very attacking tactics against the big teams and getting a lot of success but I'm worried this will leave me far too open. 

I currently play a a high pressing, high tempo game and it works great against lesser teams because they just don't have the quality to handle the pressure I put on them, this seems to be what the big teams are doing against me. 

I've tried more Support/Defence roles and tried having two players in the DM slots but as I say, all of this seemed to invite pressure and didn't seem to make me any more solid defensively. 

What tactics have you actually tried?

[PinkSpeedos]

1 hour ago, Fosse said:

What tactics have you actually tried?

Off the top of my head I can't remember now, stopped using as they weren't working. 

I've got for this now. 

4-1-4-1

GK (D)

DFB (D), CB (D), CB (D), DFB (D)

DLP (D)

W (A), C (S), BWM (S), W (A)

F9 (S)

 

Counter - Flexible

Fairly Narrow, Stay On Feet, More Disciplined, Pass Into Space, Clear Ball to Flanks, Exploit Right, Exploit Left, Run At Defence. 

 

Thinking here was sitting back and trying to hit on the counter with my pacey wingers. 

 

Thoughts on this?

 

[Torskus77]

You are kind of meant to struggle against the big teams, they have world class players (and managers who know what they are doing a bit more in this years game)   I don't really like the sit back and soak up pressure tactics, unless you have some real pace on the break to damage them. I don't go all attacking, but I tend to use top heavy formation and press them high up the pitch.  4-1-2-3 Is a very good starting block I feel, because it is quite solid but has players high up the pitch in good attacking areas. No one can really advise you on making a tactic though, you would need to know what you were trying to do first. (other than just beat the top teams)

[TheRealTactician]

I like to try and match the big teams, high pressure and all of that and dominate possession if my team is competent enough to pass the ball decently. I use a 4-2-3-1 and well go for it, then by half time if i have the lead i'll make the tactical adjustments i feel necessary which is important against big teams because they'll come back into the game.

You may get battered in a couple games but i definitely get more points rather than sitting deep and maybe scraping a win. In my Leeds save when i got promoted and playing like that against the big teams, i got 13 points from the big 6 which helped me avoid relegation with ease and in the 2nd PL season got 17 points from it.

[herne79]

16 hours ago, PinkSpeedos said:

Hi, thanks for reply.

 

I don't think I made it all that clear in the original post, I'm wanting to create a whole new tactic but I'm looking for some advice and some basics on how to approach these games. 

 

Thanks

There is no one size fits all.  Sometimes sitting deep and hitting them on the counter will work.  Sometimes an aggressive press will work.  Sometimes a long ball direct to a big strong target man will work.  Sometimes a variety of other methods will work.

So if you do "create a whole new tactic" that is based (for example) on sitting deep and hoping for a counter, what if that doesn't sometimes work?  What then?  You want to create another new tactic?  And then another one when Plans A and B don't work?

The game is moving away from a single "super" tactic which will (almost) always work, to a model where having a sound core system which can then be adapted during matches as things progress.

My advice is to set up a simple, well balanced core system and then learn to adapt that (if needed) as matches develop.  And always remember that no matter what you do, sometimes you'll just lose - because that's football.

[noikeee]

What @herne79 said, it's easier to stick to your normal setup and learn to adapt to these situations, than have to start all over again from scratch with an unfamiliar system that will take you time to fully understand.

Personally I don't like the strategy to sit deeper in numbers and try to soak up pressure neither, doesn't seem to work well very often in this ME, specially when the AI fields attacking fullbacks. Maybe this doesn't happen to every system, but what I often see is the AI occupying my defence with their most advanced players and pushing them further back, which then opens up space for attacking fullbacks to run from deep and cross the ball. This becomes very dangerous and eventually the AI grabs a goal and the system capitulates.

So I prefer doing one out of two things:

- attack them back by increasing mentality or pushing up the defensive line

- go more direct and stretch play, by maybe dropping fluidity (ie going more structured than your default setting), leaving 1 or 2 forwards/advanced wingers players on attack duties, and try to catch them on the break when they over-commit players. Maybe you could do this on counter mentality instead and let the in-built counter attacks take over, but personally I never had much success attempting to do that.

But it's all relative to your system, your settings. Try stuff and see what happens.

[Fosse]

I've found that playing on counter if you push your defensive line up slightly it helps prevent getting penned in