Everton Tactic, Any Advice?

[Oliver.wrigley]

Hi, looking for some tactical advice. I'm currently in a save as Everton in the first season. While I'm sitting at a tidy 6th place, it's only because our draw has been rather fortunate, pitting us against almost entirely relegation candidates except for the odd game against the likes of Chelsea, City, West Ham, etc.

While I am absolutely steamrolling small teams like Brighton and Huddersfield by 3-4 goals, any time I come up against a side that has even an ounce of technical ability or quality, essentially anyone as good or better than West Ham for example, I struggle. The team can't string passes together in midfield, can't create anything from central areas and the chances we do create are entirely from crosses - there's no real penetration. Similarly, my defenders seem to completely shut down against decent forwards and the opposing team pings passes around with absolute ease. We got thrashed 4-1 by Hoffenheim (decent team but not one I should be convincingly beaten by) and 1-0 by Lyon (flattering scoreline, as we created ONE half chance all game) in the Europa League, even at home. These goals aren't being scored on the counter, so I can't tell if it's just down to me too aggressive in certain cases. A lot of the time the other team just dribbles and lays off quick passes to one another and my defense is helpless. Here's my tactic:

One of the biggest issues, IMO, is the AMC position. Sigurdsson has been anonymous so far, creating very few chances despite having very good attributes for doing just that. Nobody else does better in that position, Rooney/Davies/Klaassen are similarly poor. We're pretty much being carried by the fact that Walcott and Tosun have been ridiculously clinical.

I've thought about maybe changing the AMC to an Advanced Playmaker, but I felt like having two playmaking roles could slow the play down too much. Maybe change the DLP to a CM(S)? With what PI's? I'm a bit stumped at the moment. With how well Walcott and Tosun are playing I'd ideally like to keep them in their respective roles, but I'm not sure how to get the best out of the rest of the squad.

[Torskus77]

I have really struggled to get my AMC playing well in a similar set up, I did try him as an AP, and it just funneled too much through the middle of the pitch.  The best effort I had with getting the AM to work was using an attack duty, the AM had comes deep to get ball, so he still linked the midfield quite well, but was more direct in his play when on the ball. 

 

Some other thoughts, I have never really used Fluid as a team shape, I'm not sure why, but the odd time I tried it, one thing I noticed is you can get caught out on the counter a lot with a high line. Control and higher D-Line could cause that problem, I think you need to attempt to win the ball higher up the pitch, so I would probably adjust the pressing of some of the players in the advanced positions.  Interesting that you have play wider and work ball in to box, not saying it wont work, just wonder why you chose this?  I don't use Work Ball in to the box that often, it reduces crosses quite significantly, so unless I don't want crosses too much, and prefer to funnel the ball through the center I stay clear of it.

Hope that was of some help.

[summatsupeer]

On 3/20/2018 at 19:04, Oliver.wrigley said:

While I am absolutely steamrolling small teams like Brighton and Huddersfield by 3-4 goals, any time I come up against a side that has even an ounce of technical ability or quality, essentially anyone as good or better than West Ham for example, I struggle. The team can't string passes together in midfield, can't create anything from central areas and the chances we do create are entirely from crosses - there's no real penetration. Similarly, my defenders seem to completely shut down against decent forwards and the opposing team pings passes around with absolute ease. We got thrashed 4-1 by Hoffenheim (decent team but not one I should be convincingly beaten by) and 1-0 by Lyon (flattering scoreline, as we created ONE half chance all game) in the Europa League, even at home. These goals aren't being scored on the counter, so I can't tell if it's just down to me too aggressive in certain cases. A lot of the time the other team just dribbles and lays off quick passes to one another and my defense is helpless.

Just take a step back and look at your tactic PLUS the players in it, assuming these are your starters when available.  Your playing quite risky with Control + Fluid, with 4 advanced players and just a midfield 2 to shield the back 4, against clubs with good attackers can you really play a midfield 2 with Rooney in it?  Your front 3 are more goal scorers + pace rather than creative/smart so do the central supporting players like Rooney+Sig have the skills to create for them against good defensive players that big clubs have? 

On 3/20/2018 at 19:04, Oliver.wrigley said:

One of the biggest issues, IMO, is the AMC position. Sigurdsson has been anonymous so far, creating very few chances despite having very good attributes for doing just that. Nobody else does better in that position, Rooney/Davies/Klaassen are similarly poor. We're pretty much being carried by the fact that Walcott and Tosun have been ridiculously clinical.

When your pushing high and taking risks, do those forwards have the skills (off the ball, anticipation etc) to find space for the creators?  Maybe the roles + creative players aren't the issue?

[Vizzini]

The overall setup with roles and duties seems fairly well balanced, but your mentality and shape + TI's seems overly aggressive for a team of Everton's standard. With a control mentality you are already playing quite risky with a high line and a lot of width, why push that even further with the TI's? I would look to remove push higher up and play wider, and instead add more close down to your front four, and stay wider + run wide with ball to your fb-a. This will create the high pressing out of possession you seem to want, while at the same time not causing your defenders to overcommit. The PI's on your left-back plus the winger on the right side will you provide the width you want and help stretch the opposition defence to create space for your central players.

I am also questioning your use of fluid shape, as it gives all of your players higher creative freedom to divert from your gameplan as well as making them more congested, meaning there is less space to play in for your attacking players. I would recommend changing to a flexible or structured shape, as this will make your duties more pronounced, meaning that your defend and support duties will be more conservative and probably make you less prone to overcommiting players in the attacking-phase, as well as making your attack-duties more aggressive within the mentality-framework.

[chacal]

In my experience the 4-2-3-1 is quite vulnerable to counter attacks, especially down the flanks. I would perhaps tighten up the width a bit, maybe using one of the fullbacks to provide width but the rest of the team sitting tight. Also, make sure you create some pressure high up the field to prevent the counters. And, try putting the AM on Attack, that has worked wonders for me. 

[Oliver.wrigley]

5 hours ago, summatsupeer said:

Just take a step back and look at your tactic PLUS the players in it, assuming these are your starters when available.  Your playing quite risky with Control + Fluid, with 4 advanced players and just a midfield 2 to shield the back 4, against clubs with good attackers can you really play a midfield 2 with Rooney in it?  Your front 3 are more goal scorers + pace rather than creative/smart so do the central supporting players like Rooney+Sig have the skills to create for them against good defensive players that big clubs have? 

When your pushing high and taking risks, do those forwards have the skills (off the ball, anticipation etc) to find space for the creators?  Maybe the roles + creative players aren't the issue?

This is a good point. I think I may try to transition towards a slightly less aggressive 4-1-2-3 to give a bit more solidity in the middle of the park defensively by playing Gana in the DM strata, and allowing for more space in behind for the rather direct Bolasie/Walcott to run into. Otherwise, if persisting with the 4-2-3-1, I'll try lowering the mentality and maybe moving to a flexible shape. Upon rewatching some games I have found that while Sigurdsson creates very little, there usually isn't a pass on for him to pick out in the first place.

Appreciate the help mate.

6 hours ago, Torskus77 said:

I have really struggled to get my AMC playing well in a similar set up, I did try him as an AP, and it just funneled too much through the middle of the pitch.  The best effort I had with getting the AM to work was using an attack duty, the AM had comes deep to get ball, so he still linked the midfield quite well, but was more direct in his play when on the ball. 

 

Some other thoughts, I have never really used Fluid as a team shape, I'm not sure why, but the odd time I tried it, one thing I noticed is you can get caught out on the counter a lot with a high line. Control and higher D-Line could cause that problem, I think you need to attempt to win the ball higher up the pitch, so I would probably adjust the pressing of some of the players in the advanced positions.  Interesting that you have play wider and work ball in to box, not saying it wont work, just wonder why you chose this?  I don't use Work Ball in to the box that often, it reduces crosses quite significantly, so unless I don't want crosses too much, and prefer to funnel the ball through the center I stay clear of it.

Hope that was of some help.

I mostly used Work Ball into the Box to prevent my midfielders from taking stupid amounts of pot shots from 35 yards out, but upon reflection I think I misjudged what the issue actually was. I feel like the long shots were less a result of me not telling the team to be patient in breaking the other team down, but more due to the fact that there simply was no space for players to run into/midfielders to pass into. I think lowering the mentality or generally being less aggressive could help create a bit more space in behind for the midfield to string passes into.