Looking to avoid relegation in Conference National - any tips?

[Peregrine]

Hello all,

I'm looking to survive relegation with FC United and was wondering if anyone could offer me advice. We were just promoted last year (through the play-offs after blowing the league on the final day) and we're currently three points from safety with a game in hand.

I tend to play a possession-based 4-4-1-1 with an Advanced Playmaker (s) supporting an Advanced Forward (A); although I had much success with a 3-4-1-2 last season there are fewer teams who play bog-standard 4-4-2s in this division. My team tends to have over 50% possession in every match with some of the best passers and mental stats in the league but our physical attributes are below average, making our possession quite sterile. We tend to concede on the counter quite a lot. My most skilful striker is out injured for six months, so my next best striker is a Defensive/Deep Lying Forward. Should I be looking to play more with a Counter/Defensive mentality?

The board only want me to fight bravely against relegation so my job isn't at risk, but I'm really not keen on returning to the Conf North so any advice on how to eke out wins in this division would be much appreciated! 

Happy to provide screenshots, more info about my squad etc.

Here's my set-up under a Standard mentality:

Sweeper Keeper (d)

FB(d), CD(d), CD(d), FB(d),

W(s), BWM(s), CM(s), W(s)

AP(s)

AF(a)

Instructions: Play Out From Defence

(P.S. Neither of my Advanced Playmakers can dribble well enough to be AP(a), so I'm wondering whether a 4-1-2-1-2 would be a better option.)

[Argonaut]

I tend to play pace-at-all-costs football in lower leagues, so I don't have experience in the possession game at those levels. But check out Ozil's thread on Grassroots football for a good look at that.

From what I can see, your formation is a bit predictable to the extreme. All defenders on defend, all midfielders on support, and the lone forward on attack. If the striker has a bad game, where are the goals going to come from?

How are you losing this season? Too many goals conceded? Not enough scored?

It may be too late to throw a whole new formation in there, but I would look at varying up the duties a bit so you have some attack and support from different angles.

[Peregrine]

Thanks for replying! The three formations my team are trained in are 4-4-1-1, 3-4-1-2 and 4-1-2-1-2.

Usually I aim to play a control game so the full backs are on support and the wingers on attack but because the wingers are ML/MR rather than AML/AMR they are better at dribbling/crossing than scoring. Our defence hasn't been that bad at all really - never any heavy hammerings, just narrow defeats. I'd say we are definitely struggling to score enough goals with our best striker out.

[David_H1997]

Firstly, in lower leagues, the best players are the ones with good physical stats, generally speaking. Strong, tall defenders with good jumping reach and stamina, first attacking players, etc. are all good, safe options.

Are you in the relegation zone currently? If not, just try grinding out results. Go for a counter attacking style, grab a goal and defend the lead. Win ugly, waste time, don't worry about anything else. 

Of course, if you're in the relegation zone, that's a bit more of a risky tactic to adopt, but can still work.

[Peregrine]

I know that physical stats tend to do well in the lower leagues but I really do like my teams to be able to play. My defenders are all 3 stars+ for this division, as are my strikers. It's the midfield that is a little slow, although our passing/determination/teamwork/work rate is really good. On paper we should be able to stay up.

We are already in the relegation zone so need to start grabbing some wins. I just bought a left winger who is outside of my usual purchase type (speed > intelligence) to see if we can start playing more of a counter-attacking game as we don't have the pace for that currently.

I read in a thread on advanced playmakers that if my playmaker is supporting I should have two/three attacking players ahead of him. That's why I'm wondering whether a diamond is a good idea, or blowing some money on an Advanced Playmaker who can carry the ball upfield better.

[jorgvandervloed]

@Peregrine

I would look to play more of a counter type of style instead of a possession-based style, so change mentality to counter, sit back a bit more and make sure your opponents come at you so there is space behind them. Counter -  Flexible would be a good start really...

The problem with your set up right now is that, when the counter-attack isn't on (this is automatically triggered by the game), your play will be a bit one-dimensional. There are no runners from midfield that go past your AP so his only option will be the striker and when he is marked out of the game things will get ugly for you. 

Few things i would have a look at are your midfield duo and the fullbacks. There is no need for your fullbacks to be on defend so I would change them to support; this will make them help out in attack a bit more as well. A BWM (S) might not be the holding player you're looking for and a CM (D) would be more appropriate i think in this situation. Lastly, the CM (S) is a great role but I think you want a role with some extra drive forward and a BBM (S) would be a better fit for this. 

Also something you want to consider is the Wide-midfield role (S) which does a little bit of everything and is probably a little bit more risk averse than a winger who tries to beat his man to put in crosses. 

 

[Peregrine]

14 minutes ago, jorgvandervloed said:

@Peregrine

I would look to play more of a counter type of style instead of a possession-based style, so change mentality to counter, sit back a bit more and make sure your opponents come at you so there is space behind them. Counter -  Flexible would be a good start really...

The problem with your set up right now is that, when the counter-attack isn't on (this is automatically triggered by the game), your play will be a bit one-dimensional. There are no runners from midfield that go past your AP so his only option will be the striker and when he is marked out of the game things will get ugly for you. 

Few things i would have a look at are your midfield duo and the fullbacks. There is no need for your fullbacks to be on defend so I would change them to support; this will make them help out in attack a bit more as well. A BWM (S) might not be the holding player you're looking for and a CM (D) would be more appropriate i think in this situation. Lastly, the CM (S) is a great role but I think you want a role with some extra drive forward and a BBM (S) would be a better fit for this. 

Also something you want to consider is the Wide-midfield role (S) which does a little bit of everything and is probably a little bit more risk averse than a winger who tries to beat his man to put in crosses. 

 

Thanks for getting back to me. My BWM(s) is our best central midfielder, has very good Finishing and has the PPMs Runs With Ball Through Middle and Gets Into Opposition Area - I have previously played him as a BBM(s) for that reason. Perhaps doing that I could free him up and use my CM(s) as a DLP(D)? Is it worth putting my Wingers on Attack so our AP has more people to aim for too? As I said, our approach was absolutely fine last season when we were a dominant side but less so now that we're inferior to a lot of other teams!

[jorgvandervloed]

It depends on your playing style really! A playmaker needs runner around him to be effective and at the moment your AP doesn't have many. 

You could try something like this;

                           AF (A)

                           AP (S)

W (A)   -   CM (D)   -   BBM (S)   -   WM (S)

FB (S)   -   CD (D)   -     CD (D)    -   FB (S)

Or if you want to play with a DLP (D)

                           AF (A)

                           AM (S)

W (A)   -   DLP (D)   -   BBM (S)   -   WM (S)

FB (S)   -   CD (D)   -     CD (D)    -   FB (S)