Break teams down

[Armistice]

It's most people struggle. Painful sometimes, you just can't hack it. I can't hack it either and it leaves me frustrated. Seriously want to give up sometimes trying to do this aspect of the game and stick to the underdog forever, but even the underdog becones a favorite at a point.

Break teams down is easy for some but hard for most. Really it is. You, me and others tried various things like change Mentality, Change Shape, Change Formation and nothing happened. It is really frustrating. Someone have to tell us the principles behind breaking teams down. What should we look for, how to react, how to play etc.

[herne79]

12 minutes ago, nightwalker22 said:

Someone have to tell us the principles behind breaking teams down.

If you check the guides in the stickied thread at the top of this forum you'll find that a lot of them do tell you this.

Alternatively if you prefer videos to reading, you'll find @Rashidi's YouTube channel to be helpful.

[Armistice]

6 hours ago, herne79 said:

If you check the guides in the stickied thread at the top of this forum you'll find that a lot of them do tell you this.

Alternatively if you prefer videos to reading, you'll find @Rashidi's YouTube channel to be helpful.

Been there, done that, now practice is harder than theory, isn't it?

[HUNT3R]

40 minutes ago, nightwalker22 said:

Been there, done that, now practice is harder than theory, isn't it?

This is then where you should provide what you've created, how you see it working, why you've selected what you have and also what specific issues you are experiencing. You say you know the basics, so it's better to see if you've understood them.

[Armistice]

1 hour ago, HUNT3R said:

This is then where you should provide what you've created, how you see it working, why you've selected what you have and also what specific issues you are experiencing. You say you know the basics, so it's better to see if you've understood them.

Alright I will word it right now because I am working and I don't have the game here. Tactic is simple. High press at Spurs, similar to what Pochettino does. 4-2-3-1, Control + Fluid.

GK, FB (S), CB (D) x2, FB (A), CM (D), DLP (S), IF (S), AM (A), IF (A), CF (A). 

Goalkeeper is told to distribute short, FB (S) is told to get further forward, DLP (usually Dembele) is told to Dribble More, Tackle Harder and Shorter Passing, AM (A) - Dribble More, Roam from Position, Move into Channels.

 

How I see this? Simple. Eriksen (IF (S)) is supposed to be the mai creator. You could argue I could have used an AP, maybe I could and it would be worth, but I was a bit disheartened by Shot Less PI the role has hard-coded.

The DLP is how I see Dembele, he comes deep at times, gets the ball and dribbles his way up the field where he passes to his more attacking minded players.

 

AM is Dele Alli. He should look for pockets of space to make himself more useful and at times he moves into the channels to help his wide team-mates with possession.

 

IF (A) is Son. He should get the ball and put it back in the net as well as creating problems with his dribbling and pace.

 

Who assists? Generally it has to be Eriksen who leads the charts, but anyone in the team can pick an unlocking pass. I could argue f Eriksen has a bad game, an AP role could impact the whole team by using him as a pillar in creating chances, which won't happen.

 

Kane, Alli and Son should score the goals. Rose is a bit more attacking minded than Walker. Both should get high up the field and provide a cross.

 

How will we score the goals? Well teams that don't sit back, we should high press them into making mistakes or tackling the ball high up the field in dangerous areas. If teams sit back, we employ a patient possession football, looking to create movement to unlock the defence.

Speaking of this, the TIs are these (mentioned I started with Control + Fluid):

Close Down More, Prevent Short GK Distribution, Lower Tempo, Shorter Passing.

 

So that's it. I will provide screens when I will get back home. First two matches of the season were against Everton who employed a 3-4-1-1-1 or something like that, with two DMs, we had a hard time breaking them, but I employed a 4-1-2-3 for this game and after we scored a goal, they switched to an Attacking 4-2-3-1 so we did revert to our 4-2-3-1 aswell. Ended 1-0.

Next game was against Sunderlad, they fielded a 4-2-3-1 so did we, but they were very deep and defended in numbers and we couldn't score, we even could have lost this game if it wasn't for Anichebe's awful finishing.

[HUNT3R]

I hate the term "breaking them down". It's vague. HOW are they going to be pulled apart and opened up? That's what needs answering. Space is so important. Teams that attack you, give you space everywhere, so as long as you can stop an attack, you should find space pretty much anywhere you want to. Team who sit back though, are a different beast. They don't commit very many forward, meaning the space that was there with other teams, isn't now. You'll have all the space in the world in front of them, but the midfield and defensive lines are just waiting in a tight group. Waiting for you to make a move. They won't. They're happy sitting back. So knowing this, space needs to be created. Defenders need to be pulled wide or drawn out. That creates a gap. Who then will attack that vacancy? Even better if you create that sort of scenario in more than one way or more than one area of the pitch.

Now, you've mentioned how you'll score goals against adventurous teams, but left out the crucial part (and topic of the thread) of how you're opening up these stubborn defensive teams. Who's drawing out or pulling defenders? Who's attacking that space? etc

[Armistice]

1 hour ago, HUNT3R said:

I hate the term "breaking them down". It's vague. HOW are they going to be pulled apart and opened up? That's what needs answering. Space is so important. Teams that attack you, give you space everywhere, so as long as you can stop an attack, you should find space pretty much anywhere you want to. Team who sit back though, are a different beast. They don't commit very many forward, meaning the space that was there with other teams, isn't now. You'll have all the space in the world in front of them, but the midfield and defensive lines are just waiting in a tight group. Waiting for you to make a move. They won't. They're happy sitting back. So knowing this, space needs to be created. Defenders need to be pulled wide or drawn out. That creates a gap. Who then will attack that vacancy? Even better if you create that sort of scenario in more than one way or more than one area of the pitch.

Now, you've mentioned how you'll score goals against adventurous teams, but left out the crucial part (and topic of the thread) of how you're opening up these stubborn defensive teams. Who's drawing out or pulling defenders? Who's attacking that space? etc

Well theoretically a striker could do, who drops deep and an attacking midfielder could exploit the space, or use a winger to stretch their defence, but even if I use that, I doubt there would be much improvement imo. I mean, that's what I've been doing and it didn't work a threat.

[Rashidi]

The many different ways to break a team down:

1. Employ players who can hold up the ball and work the ball, drawing players to them freeing others up  to attack the area in front of goal.

2. Using alternate attacking patterns in a game, direct and patient - done by setting creative passing patterns and adjusting mentality and defensive line to get the desired result

3. Observing AI transitions to determine where it prefers attacking you, locking this down, and attacking down where its vulnerable

4. Switching the focus of attacks when the AI has a noticeable weakness , ie. conditioning, yellow card

 

These are just various ways of doing it, the problem when someone asks a general question is that you get a general answer. We can only be general because 

a. This all depends on the tactic and what you have at your disposal

b. Everything is relative. In each match your players will be up against a different team/tactic. What may work for one team may not work for other teams. Therefore knowledge of players, attributes, the effective use of the TC becomes very important. 

[Armistice]

I noticed they most try to play balls over the top.

 

One thing I don't get, my striker is a CF-A, he's supposed to Roam and that means, is he gonna draw defenders if he's marked or it means he will move in those spots where he will find pockets of space?

[westy8chimp]

3 hours ago, nightwalker22 said:

IF (A) is Son. He should get the ball and put it back in the net as well as creating problems with his dribbling and pace.

I really don't like two IFs ... I'd make Son a wing attack... if play is down the left with Eriksen then Son will still get into the box and be a big scoring threat... if play is down the right there is more variation, he will look to beat his man and put crosses in helping Alli and Kanes tally.

Agree with Rashidi about using someone with PI 'hold up the ball' I'd go for Alli ... to give Kane and Son chance to find some space and Eriksen time to cut inside and give three options. If Alli is tackled you can have a high line with one or both of your CMs set to high pressing. If they then play long your CBs should cope if they are mobile and good in the air.

[summatsupeer]

1 hour ago, nightwalker22 said:

One thing I don't get, my striker is a CF-A, he's supposed to Roam and that means, is he gonna draw defenders if he's marked or it means he will move in those spots where he will find pockets of space?

I don't see Roaming as drawing defenders out of position, I see it as creating a numerical advantage somewhere else.  The players off the ball movement will be the major factor in if the player finds space.

 

3 hours ago, nightwalker22 said:

4-2-3-1, Control + Fluid.

GK, FB (S), CB (D) x2, FB (A), CM (D), DLP (S), IF (S), AM (A), IF (A), CF (A). 

TI: Close Down More, Prevent Short GK Distribution, Lower Tempo, Shorter Passing.

PI: Goalkeeper is told to distribute short, FB (S) is told to get further forward, DLP (usually Dembele) is told to Dribble More, Tackle Harder and Shorter Passing, AM (A) - Dribble More, Roam from Position, Move into Channels.

I have no problems with your deep 6, you could use a WB-S instead of FB-S + Get Forward but not a major thing.

My issue is 3 of your front 4 are on attack duty so looking to make runs behind the opposition, but your on Control + Fluid and pressing so how are you creating space for the runs? 

Your making the team more patient with a slower tempo and shorter passing but I think the issue is your roles + duties with so much forward movement and risk taking.  Both your wide players are cutting inside, so it could all get very narrow and congested. You've also told your DLP to pass shorter, when your already telling your team to pass shorter, so if there is space early in moves he will be a lot less likely to play a direct ball to exploit that space for all those runners.

 

[HUNT3R]

2 hours ago, nightwalker22 said:

One thing I don't get, my striker is a CF-A, he's supposed to Roam and that means, is he gonna draw defenders if he's marked or it means he will move in those spots where he will find pockets of space?

Don't think of Roam For Position is an instruction on its own floating in the sky. What will he do in practice? It's attached to an Attack duty forward, so he'll be looking to aggressively make runs forward, threatening the D-line. Yes, he'll float a little, looking for space, what if there's no space? The opposition isn't attacking, so they're trying specifically to not give you pockets of space anywhere. You need to create it. He won't be drawing defenders if he's running right at them. They'll just sit and wait.

I'm suprised that you thought he was going to? If he's going to be the top scorer, fair enough, but others will need to create the space he needs. Goalscorers need space. Think about this, for instance - AML has the ball deep-ish and narrow-ish... enough to draw a DM to him. Pass inside to a CM who draws forward another DM and away from your AMC. Pass to AMC, who draws a DC, leaving the ST 1 v 1 with the other DC. That's where his roaming will have kicked in to find some space because both DMs left (clearing space for him to drop a little) and a DC left (clearing space for him to drift into as well) so his options are open depending on the situation.

[Armistice]

10 minutes ago, HUNT3R said:

Don't think of Roam For Position is an instruction on its own floating in the sky. What will he do in practice? It's attached to an Attack duty forward, so he'll be looking to aggressively make runs forward, threatening the D-line. Yes, he'll float a little, looking for space, what if there's no space? The opposition isn't attacking, so they're trying specifically to not give you pockets of space anywhere. You need to create it. He won't be drawing defenders if he's running right at them. They'll just sit and wait.

I'm suprised that you thought he was going to? If he's going to be the top scorer, fair enough, but others will need to create the space he needs. Goalscorers need space. Think about this, for instance - AML has the ball deep-ish and narrow-ish... enough to draw a DM to him. Pass inside to a CM who draws forward another DM and away from your AMC. Pass to AMC, who draws a DC, leaving the ST 1 v 1 with the other DC. That's where his roaming will have kicked in to find some space because both DMs left (clearing space for him to drop a little) and a DC left (clearing space for him to drift into as well) so his options are open depending on the situation.

I've had this idea for some time now that I don't grasp some basic principles of football, I mean, maybe in theory I understand what is space and why it must be controlled, but then again in practice it becomes harder and trickier. Not sure where I should start reading to understand, I watch football, but just as a fan, to enjoy it, nothing else. Sometimes I get very confused and I want to drop all of this altogether and never start again, because so far I have not managed to master fully any playing style (possession, attacking or counter-attacking/defensive). I keep switching between these playing styles and when it doesn't work, I give up.

[summatsupeer]

1 hour ago, nightwalker22 said:

I've had this idea for some time now that I don't grasp some basic principles of football, I mean, maybe in theory I understand what is space and why it must be controlled, but then again in practice it becomes harder and trickier. Not sure where I should start reading to understand, I watch football, but just as a fan, to enjoy it, nothing else. Sometimes I get very confused and I want to drop all of this altogether and never start again, because so far I have not managed to master fully any playing style (possession, attacking or counter-attacking/defensive). I keep switching between these playing styles and when it doesn't work, I give up.

As far as FM goes I think people over complicate it. In very basic terms think of the duties of players as:

• Attack - Looks to get forward with or without the ball and take risks
• Support - Balanced between getting forward and collecting the ball to feet.
• Defend - Stays back and lower risk.

Even though you tell your players what to focus on, that doesn't mean it is all they will do.  A support player will make runs behind defenses, he just won't be as focused on it and won't take as many risks to do it.  A FB-D will still provide some width, if he has no one to mark (opponent wingless?) and its safe to push up he will do.  The roles&duties you give will create the combinations and how the players move relative to each other, pretty much everything else just tweaks what they try to do and how often.

I think people focus on the team mentality and instructions to make a "style", personally I think the roles+duties are the basis from which you build your style around.  If I use Cleons guides on "Possession" and "Attacking" styles of play, his possession tactic has a duty split of 2-7-1 (d-s-a) and his attacking tactic has 3-3-4.  He has two playmakers in the possession style and one in the attacking style.  The possession tactic uses Control mentality and he has added instructions to compliment his roles and duties to create the style.  The attacking tactic uses Attack mentality but very few instructions, using his roles+duties and the mentalities base settings to create the style.

Another one is "i'm not creating any chances, I need to attack more", but often the problem is too much forward play with poor combinations.

[AFCBeer]

Sometimes slightly lopsided formations can be useful for drawing the AI out of position. 

For example why not try an Attack Duty Winger on the right. That should help draw the defence across to close him down. Then if you shift your AMC over to the AMCR position and set him as a playmaker on Support then you should create a nice little overload and means your Winger won't always cross into a crowded box. 

Now if you then put your playmaker on direct passing, he has the option of quickly switching play to an IF or even a Wing Back overlapping on the left. 

There is no guarantee this would be successful. However, the AI is really strong at defending against narrow, fluid attacks. This means we need to be a bit more creative in our strategy and this is just one example of how you might do that. 

[Armistice]

38 minutes ago, summatsupeer said:

As far as FM goes I think people over complicate it. In very basic terms think of the duties of players as:

• Attack - Looks to get forward with or without the ball and take risks
• Support - Balanced between getting forward and collecting the ball to feet.
• Defend - Stays back and lower risk.

Even though you tell your players what to focus on, that doesn't mean it is all they will do.  A support player will make runs behind defenses, he just won't be as focused on it and won't take as many risks to do it.  A FB-D will still provide some width, if he has no one to mark (opponent wingless?) and its safe to push up he will do.  The roles&duties you give will create the combinations and how the players move relative to each other, pretty much everything else just tweaks what they try to do and how often.

I think people focus on the team mentality and instructions to make a "style", personally I think the roles+duties are the basis from which you build your style around.  If I use Cleons guides on "Possession" and "Attacking" styles of play, his possession tactic has a duty split of 2-7-1 (d-s-a) and his attacking tactic has 3-3-4.  He has two playmakers in the possession style and one in the attacking style.  The possession tactic uses Control mentality and he has added instructions to compliment his roles and duties to create the style.  The attacking tactic uses Attack mentality but very few instructions, using his roles+duties and the mentalities base settings to create the style.

Another one is "i'm not creating any chances, I need to attack more", but often the problem is too much forward play with poor combinations.

You see that's the problem with duties "support is this but doesn't mean he doesn't do that at all", while it makes sense, it makes you wonder how much of that thing it does and if selected a higher mentality, he might do it more often than on lower mentalities. I think Ozil to the Arsenal's table of mentalities could be used as a reference here? But then, when you put Team Shape, Mentality, Duties and eventually Roles altogether to see how they piece together, you start to wonder actually if your support duty is not too attacking and making too many forward runs for your liking.

When this happens, some start to overthink, overcomplicate and forget the basics which imo are the main pillars to build a good tactic.

 

 

Back ago, a few years ago, I had the problem of having strikers isolated, or players isolated, while it still might happen I think, this issue has improved, at least in the last (two, I think) editions of FM, or that's maybe the ME being improved?

[Argonaut]

Check out this thread for some Spurs related formation discussion: 

The OP was happy with the advice given and improved his results.

I think you'll have more success changing Dembele to CM-S with Dribble More, and Eriksen to an AP out wide. Change the FB-S to a WB-S too. Those minor changes will really stretch the play wide and cause a bit of havoc for teams parking bus. Take off the lower tempo too, that's not how Spurs play!

[fish18ish]

I find runners from deep positions are important in breaking down teams. Switching Dembele to a B2B midfielder might help, as I believe he is well suited to that role?

[Armistice]

6 hours ago, fish18ish said:

I find runners from deep positions are important in breaking down teams. Switching Dembele to a B2B midfielder might help, as I believe he is well suited to that role?

I don't think Dembele is much of a box to box, I mean he comes deep, he surges forward and passes to ball to a more attacking team-mate, but he doesn't get in scoring positions very often and he doesn't really roam.

 

Taking into consideration what it's been said here, I will try to adjust the tactic further. I will probably switch the fullback to a wingback, but I am gonna see how it works, then I will change Eriksen's role to a AP, change Son to a Winger (A) and very possible that I will remove the Lower Tempo TI.

 

Just a question, does Shorter Passing reduces tempo aswell? I know there's a TI that supposedly reduce tempo but it doesn't anymore, but I don't know if it's Retain Possession or Shorter Passing.

[Rashidi]

17 hours ago, summatsupeer said:

As far as FM goes I think people over complicate it. In very basic terms think of the duties of players as:

• Attack - Looks to get forward with or without the ball and take risks
• Support - Balanced between getting forward and collecting the ball to feet.
• Defend - Stays back and lower risk.

Even though you tell your players what to focus on, that doesn't mean it is all they will do.  A support player will make runs behind defenses, he just won't be as focused on it and won't take as many risks to do it.  A FB-D will still provide some width, if he has no one to mark (opponent wingless?) and its safe to push up he will do.  The roles&duties you give will create the combinations and how the players move relative to each other, pretty much everything else just tweaks what they try to do and how often.

I think people focus on the team mentality and instructions to make a "style", personally I think the roles+duties are the basis from which you build your style around.  If I use Cleons guides on "Possession" and "Attacking" styles of play, his possession tactic has a duty split of 2-7-1 (d-s-a) and his attacking tactic has 3-3-4.  He has two playmakers in the possession style and one in the attacking style.  The possession tactic uses Control mentality and he has added instructions to compliment his roles and duties to create the style.  The attacking tactic uses Attack mentality but very few instructions, using his roles+duties and the mentalities base settings to create the style.

Another one is "i'm not creating any chances, I need to attack more", but often the problem is too much forward play with poor combinations.

Spot on

[Armistice]

I also agree that roles & duties are possibly the most important part of building a tactic, but as everything is inter-related, there has to be a good amount of attention paid to the other things that affect these two, such as Mentality and Team Shape. I leave TIs and PIs to further adjust my style of play, which should create a specialized tactic (high pressing, possession etc) so I think that's how everyone do, but I feel that I may be lacking some knowledge in:

- player roles movement. While I understand the basic of how a player moves on and off the ball in a role, I still have some issues here, thinking a player does this and that when he actually doesn't, say an Advanced Playmaker on attack duty in the MC strata should also score goals and get in the box when he might not (?). Just an example of how I misunderstand things.

- transitions. While I learned a lot from Rashidi videos in his Gloucester save, I still have some issues to understand transitions or actually how transitions lead to goals on both sides. I can't always spot if there's a fault in my actic or it's just the player's ability, so then I tend to watch and watch over and over again until I overthink and change tactic when it's possibly not needed.

- basic football concepts. High pressing, possession, counter-attacking, I get the basic idea how they work (possession - keep the ball, high press - press high up the pitch) I still tend to forget/not understand the principles that make the pillars so solid in these tactics. Then my tactic gets disjointed and I get pissed off thinking that I've done everything accordingly.

- duties distribution. Still have some issues sometimes, say, too many attacking duties in attacking positions which can lead to problems.

 

These, along with other minor issues can lead to my frustration being increased.

[toon army 06]

On 4/19/2017 at 22:28, herne79 said:

If you check the guides in the stickied thread at the top of this forum you'll find that a lot of them do tell you this.

Alternatively if you prefer videos to reading, you'll find @Rashidi's YouTube channel to be helpful.

What's his channel called?

[Armistice]

28 minutes ago, toon army 06 said:

What's his channel called?

Bust The Net.

[alinp]

There's a nice article on Strikerless that may help.

https://strikerless.com/2017/02/26/towing-away-a-parked-bus-breaking-down-a-defence/

 

[Rashidi]

Its called Bustthenet its one word :-) And the reason why strikerless systems work well is because the defending team has to move higher up the pitch to engage your threats

 

[Rashidi]

5 hours ago, nightwalker22 said:

I still have some issues here, thinking a player does this and that when he actually doesn't, say an Advanced Playmaker on attack duty in the MC strata should also score goals and get in the box when he might not (?). Just an example of how I misunderstand things.

That is a function of attributes, if you understand what the role does which is, frankly speaking, the easiest thing to do, then why a player doesn't perform a particular action is usually down to either the right combination of duties or misunderstanding which attributes are the drivers

 

[Armistice]

23 minutes ago, Rashidi said:

That is a function of attributes, if you understand what the role does which is, frankly speaking, the easiest thing to do, then why a player doesn't perform a particular action is usually down to either the right combination of duties or misunderstanding which attributes are the drivers

 

I understand what you say, but the problem has been quite for some long time that I believe a certain role do some things on the field that they actually don't do it (like a CM (D) scoring goals, it's absurd, but just trying to make my point). In essence, I do understand how they move or how they act on the field, but for some roles I don't have a distinction between their movement (like comparing RPM with Regista).

[herne79]

1 hour ago, nightwalker22 said:

I understand what you say, but the problem has been quite for some long time that I believe a certain role do some things on the field that they actually don't do it (like a CM (D) scoring goals, it's absurd, but just trying to make my point). In essence, I do understand how they move or how they act on the field, but for some roles I don't have a distinction between their movement (like comparing RPM with Regista).

For the distinction between roles, a good starting place is usually to look at the Player Instructions each role/duty is set with by default.

[Armistice]

1 minute ago, herne79 said:

For the distinction between roles, a good starting place is usually to look at the Player Instructions each role/duty is set with by default.

I do that,

[herne79]

1 minute ago, nightwalker22 said:

I do that,

ok, you mention comparing the RPM and Regista above, what are the differences between their default PIs?

[Armistice]

11 minutes ago, herne79 said:

ok, you mention comparing the RPM and Regista above, what are the differences between their default PIs?

Ok now that I am home I can do that.

RPM PIs:

- Dribble More

- Roam from Position

 

Regista PIs:

- Roam from Position

 

So it's only Dribble More, that means the RPM provides more penetration when he has the ball?

[Deego619]

On 4/20/2017 at 09:02, Rashidi said:

The many different ways to break a team down:

1. Employ players who can hold up the ball and work the ball, drawing players to them freeing others up  to attack the area in front of goal.

 

I think this is especially important. I have two strikers for my counter attacking 4-1-4-1 who both change my playing style drastically from just being on the pitch.

 

A) Tricky striker who likes to "Run with ball". This guy is incredible and can waltz through defences by himself. The problem is that sometimes he starts running from so deep that the rest of the team doesn't have a chance to catch up with him and thus it's him vs 8/9 players the opposition has parked back. Sometimes his pure ability shines through and he scores incredible solo goals, but it makes my team too one dimensional against the teams who drop back. Against bigger teams he routinely rips them to shreds, especially away from home when he only has to take on a center back or two.

 

B) A less mobile striker who is very technically gifted but lacks the mobility of striker A. He is a human battering ram who holds up the ball and waits for the midfield to catch up with him before playing a safe pass to one of the runners. From here we can now control the ball using our low "counter" mentality and probe for an opening.

 

There's no TIs or PIs in this 4-1-4-1, but the tactic is drastically different depending on one personal change in one position. OP should think of the personnel he has first before thinking about his tactics.

[herne79]

12 minutes ago, nightwalker22 said:

Ok now that I am home I can do that.

RPM PIs:

- Dribble More

- Roam from Position

 

Regista PIs:

- Roam from Position

 

So it's only Dribble More, that means the RPM provides more penetration when he has the ball?

Exactly .

Both will tend to roam around looking for a bit of space to receive the ball, but the RPM will tend to bring the ball out himself before making a pass.

[Armistice]

Alright so I have made some changes to the tactic before playing Middlesbrough. As we could have anticipated, Boro were looking to play defensively so I had to make some changes before the game to make sure we won't get frustrated. What I have thought to do is to stretch the opponent both vertically and horizontally (took a brief look on the strikerless article) to make sure we'd get more space for our attacking players.

 

 

Switched Eriksen to AP (S), Kane to DLF (A), Alli's duty changed to support (added More Dribbling and Get Further Forward) and changed Son's role to Winger. Also, Walker became a Wingback. Why I made those role changes, first of all because I wanted my players to come deep and get the ball, I thought that they would have more space in deeper positions and especially when Boro were playing a 4-2DM-2-1-1, the middle of the park was left uncovered. I left Son on attack because I wanted him to stretch the defence by making runs into the wide space and maybe the other players could exploit the space, especially Dele Alli.

We scored in the first minute through Dele Alli and we made the life easier. I thought Boro would switch their formation to something more attacking after some time, they didn't, so I just waited to see if we could score more and we did, indeed. Match ended 3-0, totally dominated the game, and even the shots on target ratio is good (it could have been better if it wasn't direct freekicks over the bar or headers after corners that were blocked in the box).

 

 

 

Golden zone looks pretty much a very active area.

 

Please let me know if I am correct about my judgement and how I can further adjust the system to make sure we smash the defensive teams.

And also thank you all for the ideas.

[Rashidi]

Good going you've taken onboard what I cover as well as gaining insights from other guys to create a decent system and you adapt to the situation. Now you just need to learn to get better, and that comes with practice

[Rashidi]

51 minutes ago, JDeeguain said:

OP should think of the personnel he has first before thinking about his tactics.

So happy to see people post like this, makes all the effort people put in worthwhile. Thanks

[Armistice]

9 minutes ago, Rashidi said:

So happy to see people post like this, makes all the effort people put in worthwhile. Thanks

Trust me I take everything on board from what you say in your videos, even though some concepts are a bit too hard to grasp for a beginner like me. Of course, what you say about attributes is not hard to understand and I am always looking to bring players to fit the role I want to use in a certain area.

[Argonaut]

I always find it easier with Spurs to make a system, because they're the only club football I watch. I know what all the players are capable of, as FM does a good job of putting good digital representation of a player into their attributes.

Where an extra challenge comes in, is in playing somewhere where I don't know the players. Have to look at a player and his set of attributes, and think.. what does it all mean? What kind of player is this? Especially in that gray area with a PA of 120-140, players will have some distinct strengths and weaknesses that need to be figured out.

[aderow]

13 hours ago, Rashidi said:

 And the reason why strikerless systems work well is because the defending team has to move higher up the pitch to engage your threats

 

Yes but the can be oh so fun

Glad to see the OP is making progress

[Guimy]

17 hours ago, Rashidi said:

And the reason why strikerless systems work well is because the defending team has to move higher up the pitch to engage your threats

 

 

You say that as if it were a bad thing

[Rashidi]

@Guimy Oh you haven't seen my Pincer and Prancer tactics that were strikerless and us out of the lower tiers :-)

 

[Guimy]

2 hours ago, Rashidi said:

@Guimy Oh you haven't seen my Pincer and Prancer tactics that were strikerless and us out of the lower tiers :-)

 

 

I did not see these. I demand linkage to such wonderful creations