Team Instructions - Direct Football

[djcowan]

Hi 

I am a beginner to FM and would like some advice on what team instructions people set when playing Direct Football?

As much as I seem to have grasped Possession football I am looking at ways to setup a Direct Style when playing bigger teams away from home or European games. I found I was one of those players who selected every TI under the sun and have realised how wrong this has been so tend to limit myself to 5 but I am very open to suggestions on what team instructions people use for Counter Attacking Direct Football.

Cheers

David

[David_H1997]

Counter attacking mentality with a flexible team shape seems to work well. Defensive line slightly deeper, less closing down. That's a pretty solid defensive basis. Clear ball to flanks, get stuck in and more direct passing work will with this, too, at least with my squad.

[ilkork]

Check this (if you haven't already):

It may be the best guide out there for a counter-attack tactic.

And let me give you some advice (thanks to @herne79 for helping me clearing out some of this in my mind):

A counter-attack is triggered when the opponent (or you) commit more men forwards.
When a counter-attack is triggered, it overrides any tactical instructions you set.
Any tactical instructions you set will be used for the rest of the time.

So, how to trigger a counter-attack?
-by having your men stay deeper in order for the opponent to commit more men forwards and,
-by closing down less so that more opponents will have to attack you (since they won't be able to find spaces to exploit).

Which TI's do not help with triggering a counter-attack?
-Use Offside Trap. Only effective with a higher defensive line.
-Prevent Short GK Distribution. You want the opponent to play his game.
-Retain Possession. You want the opponent to play his game.
-Pass Into Space. A little bit risky. You might consider not having that TI.

Which duties do not help with triggering a counter-attack?
-Attack duties. By having your men stay higher up the pitch, it won't help with triggering counter-attacks.

Use those as a basis.
Obviously, there are more things to consider, but that's how far I can go.

[djcowan]

Thanks Both, really helpful stuff...

You see I would have thought that Pass into space would have been useful so just shows where I am going wrong. 

[ilkork]

59 minutes ago, djcowan said:

Thanks Both, really helpful stuff...

You see I would have thought that Pass into space would have been useful so just shows where I am going wrong. 

You are welcome.

And you are not 100% wrong. It just has to do with what team you manage.
You said you manage a, not so good, team. That's why "Pass Into Space" is a little bit risky, since you don't have players with good anticipation and off the ball, right? You will lose the ball 8 out of 10 times and the opponent will punish you.
But, I wouldn't say the same to someone who is managing Atletico Madrid and want to play on the counter.

And don't forget that when a counter attack is triggered, it overrides ANY tactical instruction you have, whether it's direct football, exploit the middle or be more disciplined (random examples).
So, it's not needed for when the counter attack is triggered.

Despite all these, you could still experiment with "Pass Into Space" and see how it goes, you have nothing to lose.

[Rashidi]

erm ...

 

Ok

Well lets look at it this way, and here I am a bit different from the rest. Lets see..

Mentality affects risk and every choice a player makes on the pitch including movement, on lower mentalities and even structured shapes, the duties will define which players are affected more by mentality, those on attacking duties will tend to be more likely to take some risk the higher up the pitch they are. Now if a player is in midfiiedl on structured then he too is likely to take some risks playing the ball. here is where we need to look at team and individual mentality. Team Mentality affects the team, but shape redistributes it and this is affected by duties. When you are playing on structured shapes there will be some times when you will absolutely need pass into space as a shout. Depending on your system, you may find that your players will be more likely to be isolated on structured shapes. This will leave them needing attributes and instructions that help them attack space, and this is where Pass Into. Space helps. They will attack the spaces. While this shout is for me one of my go to Counter attacking shouts, it needs to be used carefully. This means that you need to get creative with your passing instructions.

A side can very well play Direct football on Overload mentality. Direct football is the act of looking for penetration as quickly as possible. On higher mentalities you are more likely to see this happen since players are looking to pass the ball forward. Now to make it even more interesting you can set you defensive line deep and play attacking.  While counter attacking is triggered by the AI, there are ways in which you can influence your side to play a form of direct football for 90 minutes which encompasses low risk. Its easy to play on Overload for 90 minutes and have high possession. They key here now lies with the PIs like  pass into space and play less risky passes. How you use them in your team will influence the overall directness of your tactic. 

 

[ilkork]

@Rashidi I have a couple of questions, since you are way more experienced and knowledgeable than I am.
-Isn't overload a bit of "tiring" if you constantly play match after match with it? Won't it affect your players condition in the long term (jadedness)?
-What if I use Counter-Fluid-Slightly Deeper or Deeper and a formation like this?

Spoiler

That way, you still have your men retreating to your side which will make the opponent commit more men forwards.
-In a formation like the previous, what width and what tempo do you think would suit the team?

[Rashidi]

@ilkork Yes I find that your players will get more worn out that usual which is why I never play it the whole season, instead electing to do it for specific matches. In fact in our last game against Palace which was a critical must win match, I started on Overload with the intention of hitting back on the counter, but I was worried that we would not be able to sustain  it for 90 minutes since it was the last league game of the season. 

If you use counter fluid with a slightly deeper dline, your teams transitions will be more calculative from the back, and you won't necessarily see direct passes being played for counters, instead you will be wholly reliant on AI driven ones. Here whenever you build attacks up, the AI will have time to reform. Width Is merely an instruction to add emphasis to flank attacks, using that doesn't really matter, its just a question of how you want to attack. Its a situational decision and tempo, that has an effect of how they move and get the ball up. You will need to try these out in matches cos working it well will depend on who u have.

[ilkork]

Thank you for your time.

[jc577]

@Rashidi when you say that creative passing instructions are important when trying to create a direct style, are you referring to pi's? For example setting full-backs to direct passing for quick transitions on the wings?

[Rashidi]

@jc577 exactly