Tactics help for Man Utd

[James2201]

I am looking for some help with my Man Utd team, been away from FM for a few years and have picked up FM touch on the iPad (I assume that doesn't make a difference)

Basically I am doing ok in general but whenever I come up against a big rival away from home I seem to struggle, I have lost quite badly to both Arsenal and Spurs. My team is a mix between 4231 and 433.

Here is my normal starting 11, any help with tactics would be great.

De Gea

Auriera Bailly Jones Shaw

Pogba Herrera

Mata Myki Martial 

Zlatan

In some games I play 433

Same back 4 

Midfield of Pogba Herrera and Thiago Mai as a ball winning midfielder

Attack of Myki Zlatan and Martial

Any team instructions and individual instructions to help me would be great

 

[fmFutbolManager]

It would be better for you to post your current team instructions and system. Screenshot your tactics and we can help better. 

[James2201]

14 minutes ago, fmFutbolManager said:

It would be better for you to post your current team instructions and system. Screenshot your tactics and we can help better. 

Here are two images, one is of my line up which you should be able to see player instructions. Another is of teams strengths and weaknesses. You can see I am conceding lots of chances by through balls, my heading and crossing is also poor so need some tactics to improve these areas

 

[Andre2807]

In what highlights mode do you play the games? 
Do you look at the post match analysis?

In Comprehensive mode you'll get to see why and how goals are conceded.

You use FB(Au) and CM(Au). Automatic duties takes the nature of the team mentality. On standard, their duties are set at Support.

Support duty players are often required to track back to help out in defence. With goals being conceded from the left, it may just be the case that your FB(Au) on the left might not be good at tracking back.

Also, if you change your mentality from Standard to Attack during a game, your Automatic roles will become Attack roles. Your defence line will also be much higher...

When this is the case, your team is at risk of being hit on the counter, and your Full Backs are possibly too high up the pitch to track back fast enough.

Finally, your midfield trio has no holding midfielder. The BWM(s) is very aggressive in defending and closing down, and will frequently be out of position. No one is shielding the back four.

You need at least one holding midfielder in your setup: Good holding mids are roles such as: Defensive mid strata: DMC(d); DLP(d); A(d); DLP(s) and Central mid strata: CM(d); DLP(d); CM(s) with PI - hold position; DLP(s).

If you want to build your tactic, first start with mentality and shape.

Mentality will determine how much risk you are willing to take. Higher mentality will increase your defensive line, tempo, closing down, width and passing directness.

Shape will determine how your team will look like. Structured shapes will have less creative freedom and larger gaps between players. Fluid shapes will have more creative freedom and look more compact.

After setting Mentality and Shape, you can then use team instructions to further determine the style of football you'd like to see on the pitch.

I hope this helps.

 

[fmFutbolManager]

Okay so firstly a team like United can afford to take more risks due to the players available. Your mentality and shape it right in the middle. You can afford to be more attacking, so I would look to go with a control mentality. The shape is fine as it is, however, you do have some good, intelligent players available so you might want to also switch to a more fluid shape.

Defensively if you're conceding goals through the middle then you need more stability here. A Ball Winning Midfielder as a defensive midfielder will often leave the space just in front of the defenders. I have two systems in my Barca side, a 4231 and a 433 and for the 433 I use a Deep Lying Playmaker on defend as he will hold his position, but he can also assist in the build-up. Unless you're changing mentality during the game I'd stick with an attacking full-back on the left to better link up with your supporting inside forward and just a support full back on the right.

As above, watch the games in detail to try see where the goals are coming from and where the weaknesses are. I'd also look to give Herrera a more defined role. A CM/S would be fine, but again automatic will just change with mentality. 

[hyrule_king]

Get martial up top. He is wasted out wide. I regret selling him now. I do have dybala and andre silva up top so not to bad. 

[James2201]

Thanks guys so far, aside from tactical tweaks any players to bring in that are perfectly suited to Man Utd, or is there squad good enough from the outset?