TheInvisibleMan Posted July 21, 2017 Share Posted July 21, 2017 Quite interested to get some people's thoughts on this after having some problems in my save. I'm playing as Manchester City, purely because I support them, and I'm 3 seasons in now. Since the start of my save I've seemed to struggle against the big teams, particularly when away from home and in particular against Manchester United. I've done a job on Chelsea a few times by both matching their 3-5-2 formation and hammering them on the flanks with overlapping full-backs but against Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs and United it's often a bit of a struggle. I do play quite an expansive, attacking brand of football with short passing, playing out from the back and trying to press high when out of possession. Based on people's experience in their saves, is it best to give up on some of this and counter more when away from home against the big teams? I understand you can't go into every game all guns blazing and hope to just walkover every team you play. However I'd like to go into some of these away games and dominate possession as I believe I have the strongest squad in the league. Could it be about finding the balance between our usual style and more of a counter attacking style? Based on people's experience, is it better to sit off and not press in away games against the big teams even if it's against your usual way of playing? Do they pick you off far too easily if you go after them away from home? Just keen to get people's thoughts and see what experience people have had. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitja Posted July 21, 2017 Share Posted July 21, 2017 try Counter mentality /Very fluid instead of Attacking for tough awey games. don't forget to tick Pass into space, Expansive/Dribble and Get stuck in when playing on Counter mentality. normal or preferably higher tempo, short passing, push higer/much higher and close down more. basiclly same system only on Counter Mentality. posession guaranted Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pesek32 Posted July 21, 2017 Share Posted July 21, 2017 I usually struggle most against United and Spurs. I always play counter against them. The other big teams like Chelsea, Liverpool and City gave me problems before but I beat easily. Using control. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitja Posted July 21, 2017 Share Posted July 21, 2017 forgot to mention, Work the ball into box on Counter is a must, especially if you are worried about ball posession. on Attacking/Fluid I use it much more sparingly.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 21, 2017 Share Posted July 21, 2017 Manchester United away is indeed quite difficult. The only tactic I have found to work is Counter and then Really Hoping It Works. Sometimes it does. Incidentally, does Manchester United buy Paulo Dybala after the first season in everybody's save? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
isignedupfornorealreason Posted July 21, 2017 Share Posted July 21, 2017 3 hours ago, TheInvisibleMan said: Based on people's experience, is it better to sit off and not press in away games against the big teams even if it's against your usual way of playing? Do they pick you off far too easily if you go after them away from home? You should ask on the tactics forums, but... In general the home team will be more aggressive and more expansive on virtue of being at home. The way to counter it depends entirely on the way they've set up, and likewise how you've set up. For example, you may simply need to change your wide player's roles to be more defensive to tackle any particularly dangerous threat on the wings, ergo being more conservative on the flanks could allow you to nullify attacks before they even begin (support duty full backs are a lot better at this than say, their more attacking variants). I find, personally, if the opposition are top heavy that pushing up and being aggressive is slightly better for me than sitting back and defending deep, but that aggressiveness still needs to be tempered by where you put your defensive line, as fast players will have a field day with a nice ball over the top if you push too much. Also, you need to consider where the opposition is pressing. If they're on a top heavy 4-2-3-1 formation for example, it can be detrimental to play out from the back as you may not be afforded any space or time to do so. Even if you tell your keeper to slow things down, he's only got a six second respite before he lays the ball off and your defenders are contained by the opposition attack. But of course, these are things that work for me, you'll have to watch the game in the early stages and link what is happening on the pitch with the opposition formation and make adjustments to counter-act their strengths. I find if a team is being afforded too much space to do what they like, then I need to press more. If they're lobbing the ball over the top, I need to drop my defensive line more and so on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheInvisibleMan Posted July 21, 2017 Author Share Posted July 21, 2017 31 minutes ago, isignedupfornorealreason said: You should ask on the tactics forums, but... In general the home team will be more aggressive and more expansive on virtue of being at home. The way to counter it depends entirely on the way they've set up, and likewise how you've set up. For example, you may simply need to change your wide player's roles to be more defensive to tackle any particularly dangerous threat on the wings, ergo being more conservative on the flanks could allow you to nullify attacks before they even begin (support duty full backs are a lot better at this than say, their more attacking variants). I find, personally, if the opposition are top heavy that pushing up and being aggressive is slightly better for me than sitting back and defending deep, but that aggressiveness still needs to be tempered by where you put your defensive line, as fast players will have a field day with a nice ball over the top if you push too much. Also, you need to consider where the opposition is pressing. If they're on a top heavy 4-2-3-1 formation for example, it can be detrimental to play out from the back as you may not be afforded any space or time to do so. Even if you tell your keeper to slow things down, he's only got a six second respite before he lays the ball off and your defenders are contained by the opposition attack. But of course, these are things that work for me, you'll have to watch the game in the early stages and link what is happening on the pitch with the opposition formation and make adjustments to counter-act their strengths. I find if a team is being afforded too much space to do what they like, then I need to press more. If they're lobbing the ball over the top, I need to drop my defensive line more and so on. Cheers for such a detailed reply mate. I think you probably hit the nail on the head a bit in the last paragraph in that it's tweaking things and making changes to counter what the opposition are doing. So it's probably not about going out there all guns blazing but also not about just parking the bus and hoping for whatever you can get, but a bit in between based on what the opposition are doing. I think one of my issues with this is that I train my players to play a certain way and they build up great familiarity with a particular tactic, so when you make tweaks and changes they potentially might not be able to do what you're asking of them very well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HansJoachim Posted July 21, 2017 Share Posted July 21, 2017 7 hours ago, TheInvisibleMan said: Just keen to get people's thoughts and see what experience people have had. Counter/Flexible works quite well for me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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