My experience and asking for help

[Beren]

Good afternoon everybody,
I thought about writing this post for a week or two and finally I have had time to do so. I am an eager reader of this  
forum and therefore I want to thank you all for every beautiful idea you unconsciously gave me and for the wonderful  
community you have established.

I am writing this post because I wanted to share with you the experience I am currently having while managing in a  
secondary European League and I’d like to ask for suggestions from people who is far more experienced than me in FM
features. Unfortunately, I am away from home and I do not have access to FM, so there will be no screenshots (at least  
until I get home in the next few days).

I am currently managing FK DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda, which is a Slovak based club that plays at First Division level;  
as you might be aware, Slovak football is not what you would call top-notch level, and neither are we: moreover, I took
on the club when they were standing at the very last place of the table, with fifteen games already played (Slovak First  
Division consists of thirty-two games https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017–18_Slovak_First_Football_League
). Finally, we currently are in a poor financial situation, with no room for extra wages nor any kind of transfer budget,  
poor staff members employed for at least two more years, no sponsor whatsoever and poor to average structures. So,  
quite a restful job, uh?

Anyway, I am trying and create a solid system for my club, that will last throughout several seasons and that could  
fit more than one formation (namely 4-1-2-1-2 DM Narrow and 5-2-1-2 WB right now, possibly a 4-1-2-2-1 DM in the  
future).

My idea is to have those three/four TIs that almost never change, that establish our style and give the players a solid  
base to stick with – and learn during training.

The style I’d like my side to undertake is something maybe overly-used or too much popular nowadays, but it’s  
something I’m not accustomed to: I’d like to have retention of the ball, to use possession as a defensive weapon while  
trying to move the opponent around and find the right spot where I can launch my attack; wing backs should always  
provide width, while we crowd the center of the pitch with many players – thus creating many lines of passing and  
avoiding to give the ball away.

While forced to defend, I’d like to keep the shape and be compact, negate the center and drive the opposition on  
the sides, outnumbering the strikers when a cross is launched into my penalty box; if they find a way to take the center  
of the pitch, at most concede long shots from as far away as possible.
Please note that I am still in the observation and correction phase for my tactics, so I tend to be as simplistic as  
possible with instructions, because I am not the most skilled player and I cannot take into account too many variables  
at a time.

I mostly play with a Standard mentality and a Structured shape, tweaking them when needed before or during  
matches, when I consider whether I am favourite or not (mostly no), how fit my players are and so on; therefore, I do  
not think I need much insight from you on these two aspects of the system, even though I am always open to  
suggestions.

TIs that I already use are Low Crosses (for obvious reasons – since my tallest striker is 5’8”) and Retain Possession
(because I have seen that without it my defenders tend to launch long balls more than I want, even though on the  
offensive side we sometimes refrain to take inviting through ball); I am considering adding Dribble Less and Roam from  
Position to the equation, I have tried them a couple of times, but – read above – I couldn’t see much difference, so I
didn’t add them permanently.

As per the 4-1-2-1-2 DM Narrow formation, which is the most used since my appointment, the setup looks like this:

GK-D
FB-S BPD-D CB-D WB-S/A
DLP-D/S
B2B-S CAR-S
AM-A
DLF-A DF-S

PIs are:
- GK slow it down, pass to center-backs;
- CB less risky passes, tight marking;
- DM dribble less, fewer risky passes;
- B2B get further forward.

The 5-2-1-2 WB formation:
GK-D
WB-S CB-X BPD-C CD-X WB-A

CM-S CAR-S
AM-A
DLF-A DF-S

PIs:
- GK slow it down, pass to center-backs;
- CBs less risky passes, tight marking;
- CM dribble less, fewer risky passes.

The most pressing question to me is: are roles and duties that I assigned logical to you or would you blow them up
and start over? I was also considering:
- using two wing backs on attack duty;
- switch the B2B-S to a MEZ-S;
- switch the CAR-S to a BWM-S or CM-S;
- switching the striker combo to a DLF-S/AF-A combo.
What do you think of these possible changes?

Furthermore, if you have anything that could, in your opinion, help me achieve the desired style of football, please  
share it because I could use some help and I’d like to discuss about that with you.

Finally, if anyone has suggestions about that 4-1-2-2-1 DM formation that I was previously talking about, please feel  
free to write it down and start a discussion about that.
I think that’s all for now, thank you very much in advance; I hope that this endless post didn’t scare you away or bore  
you to death.
Cheers!

[craigd84]

In the 41212 formation you posted it looks ok, but you have a BPD and iirc they look to play more riskier balls.  Which in FM talk.. more lofted balls.

 

Also I would use dribble less... then if you wanted certain players to dribble then tell them so via PI's

[Robson 07]

9 hours ago, Beren said:

I mostly play with a Standard mentality and a Structured shape, tweaking them when needed before or during  
matches, when I consider whether I am favourite or not (mostly no), how fit my players are and so on; therefore, I do  
not think I need much insight from you on these two aspects of the system, even though I am always open to  
suggestions.

The above part in the middle of your post confuses me a bit.  You're asking questions about what suitable roles and playing styles might be yet seem to think you have mentality/shape down to pat.  It baffles me as I don't see how one is separated from the other?  How can you know how your mentality & shape are going to work - and seemingly be switched up - before you know the make up of the team and the team instructions? 

[Beren]

13 hours ago, craigd84 said:

In the 41212 formation you posted it looks ok, but you have a BPD and iirc they look to play more riskier balls.  Which in FM talk.. more lofted balls.

 

Also I would use dribble less... then if you wanted certain players to dribble then tell them so via PI's

First of all thank you both for the answers!

@craigd84, I know that BPDs tend to play more lofted balls and it is something I have thought about a lot, but in the end I decided to keep him because I thought I had a suitable player for the role (which in Slovakia means: Pass 10 Tech 10 Dec 10...), plus I thought he would mostly stick to the plan and just from time to time (when he DECIDED to) give us the alternative of a long ball to maybe catch an opponent out of position. Anyway, tbh I couldn't spot him making a difference for us in those terms, so I will re-evaluate those considerations and try with two std CBs (maybe one with less risky passes, one without). Moreover, in the first setup of the tactic I didn't have the DLP - just a std DM - so, maybe you're right and the BPD is just redundant.

The dribble less instruction is the one that most likely I will add next, so I think you're right again; when I get the chance to play, I'll tell you how that works out.

8 hours ago, Robson 07 said:

The above part in the middle of your post confuses me a bit.  You're asking questions about what suitable roles and playing styles might be yet seem to think you have mentality/shape down to pat.  It baffles me as I don't see how one is separated from the other?  How can you know how your mentality & shape are going to work - and seemingly be switched up - before you know the make up of the team and the team instructions? 

I understand that I caused a little bit of confusion here. What I meant was that I think I'd like to play mostly with that mentality and shape; with that in mind, what do you think about the rest of the setup?

Obviously I added that if you think: "No, no, no, you should never play std/structured, you should use Def/fluid!", or: "Never use a CAR with a STD mentality!", or something like this, please tell me and explain why do you think that, so that we can talk about it!

That being said, what do you think about the rest of the setup?