How to improve shot accuracy

[Gio77]

Facing weak teams I have a lot of shots, but the majority of are off target. How can I improve the accuracy of my players shots? In the first screenshot I only displayed the off target and the blocked shots for better view.

[Experienced Defender]

The first thing to try is lower the tempo to normal, so that your players have a bit more time on the ball when presented with a scoring chance. Btw, what's your reasoning behind the "Pass into space" and "Play narrow" team instructions? Does any of these help you create more (and better) chances or what? 

[Gio77]

Sometimes they do, in my opinion. Do you think I should change it? And if yes, why? This is the first time I'm actually trying to make a tactic work, others FMs I always played with downloaded tactics, so any tips would be nice.

High tempo is to prevent long shots or it affects general shot decisions? In that particularly game, in the first SS, the majority of "shots" were headers, how can I prevent that to not happen? I already changed the AMR role from Winger to IF and tried the low crossings TI, but didnt make a big difference.  

[Tom8983]

Just chill out a bit. The high tempo is making your players get rid of the ball quickly without properly assessing their options, so they're more likely to shoot in the wrong moment. Also lowering your team mentality will go even further to reduce the poor shooting decisions. The more attacking mentalities don't really mean that you're attacking more, they just mean your players are playing in a more rushed, hectic manner.

[Experienced Defender]

2 hours ago, Gio77 said:

Do you think I should change it? And if yes, why?

No, I don't think you should change it, especially if these instructions work well in your tactic. The reason I mentioned it is, I've noticed that people often use certain instructions without actually understanding their effects, or simply because they look "attractive" (the latter pertains to "pass into space", not the "narrow play"). My approach to creating tactics is to make the primary tactic as simple as possible (just basic instructions that suit the playing style I want to implement, such as mentality, roles, duties, passing style, tempo, pressing levels, d-line and LOE), and then gradually adding other (more specific) instructions depending on what I want to achieve in a particular match or situation. But as everything else, it's ultimately a matter of one's personal preference.

2 hours ago, Gio77 said:

High tempo is to prevent long shots or it affects general shot decisions?

Higher tempo actually increases the probability (tendency) of long shots (by your players) because the players look to make things happen sooner rather than later, so sometimes a player (especially a less intelligent one) will fail to see a good passing opportunity in the box and instead blast a speculative shot. And the higher the mentality, the more likely players will be to attempt this kind of shots. Of course, players' intelligence will always be an important factor here. That's why better teams can play on a very high tempo with success.

 

2 hours ago, Gio77 said:

In that particularly game, in the first SS, the majority of "shots" were headers, how can I prevent that to not happen? I already changed the AMR role from Winger to IF and tried the low crossings TI, but didnt make a big difference.  

Why would you want to prevent headers (unless they are made by the opposition in your penalty area) in the first place? You are already using an instruction that should reduce the number of crosses (work ball into box) and hence the number of headers. Now, if you are still seeing more headers than you think you should, it may be due to a lack of other options in the final third or again because of the higher tempo (as with the long shots issue). This may sound counter-intuitive, but maybe just because of playing with narrow width (and now even without a single winger role), your wing-backs in many cases simply do not have other option than crossing (because all other more advanced teammates are concentrated into central areas of the field).

EDIT: @Tom8983 actually perfectly explained the tempo issue in the post above mine, but I noticed his post only after I had already replied to yours. All he said is absolutely spot on 

[Gio77]

1 hora atrás, Tom8983 disse:

Just chill out a bit. The high tempo is making your players get rid of the ball quickly without properly assessing their options, so they're more likely to shoot in the wrong moment. Also lowering your team mentality will go even further to reduce the poor shooting decisions. The more attacking mentalities don't really mean that you're attacking more, they just mean your players are playing in a more rushed, hectic manner.

Im gonna give a try to balanced mentality.

 

8 minutos atrás, Experienced Defender disse:

No, I don't think you should change it, especially if these instructions work well in your tactic. The reason I mentioned it is, I've noticed that people often use certain instructions without actually understanding their effects, or simply because they look "attractive" (the latter pertains to "pass into space", not the "narrow play"). My approach to creating tactics is to make the primary tactic as simple as possible (just basic instructions that suit the playing style I want to implement, such as mentality, roles, duties, passing style, tempo, pressing levels, d-line and LOE), and then gradually adding other (more specific) instructions depending on what I want to achieve in a particular match or situation. But as everything else, it's ultimately a matter of one's personal preference.

Higher tempo actually increases the probability (tendency) of long shots (by your players) because the players look to make things happen sooner rather than later, so sometimes a player (especially a less intelligent one) will fail to see a good passing opportunity in the box and instead blast a speculative shot. And the higher the mentality, the more likely players will be to attempt this kind of shots. Of course, players' intelligence will always be an important factor here. That's why better teams can play on a very high tempo with success.

 

Why would you want to prevent headers (unless they are made by the opposition in your penalty area) in the first place? You are already using an instruction that should reduce the number of crosses (work ball into box) and hence the number of headers. Now, if you are still seeing more headers than you think you should, it may be due to a lack of other options in the final third or again because of the higher tempo (as with the long shots issue). This may sound counter-intuitive, but maybe just because of playing with narrow width (and now even without a single winger role), your wing-backs in many cases simply do not have other option than crossing (because all other more advanced teammates are concentrated into central areas of the field).

Because my strikers are not good with headers (at least they are not in the matches, since they put all headers away from goal). I will play a balanced style with normal width to see if it gets better (less crossings that leads to nothing).

Thanks guys, really aprecciate your help!

[Experienced Defender]

You may also try with shorter passing, to encourage the players even more to play the ball on the ground rather than in the air.

[VinceLombardi]

1 hour ago, Experienced Defender said:

You may also try with shorter passing, to encourage the players even more to play the ball on the ground rather than in the air.

I think everybody is spot on above, but I do have a slight warning for the shorter passing instruction.

If your players can't find a suitable target for a pass, they are more apt to clear it long, cross, or take a shot -- basically anything to get rid of the ball. By instructing them to only play short passes, you may artificially limit their options for a pass and as a result cause them to make a bad decision when those options aren't there. If your team shape isn't very compact as they move up the pitch, then shorter passes likely isn't going to have the desired effect.

That said, if you do have good support and shape, then this isn't a big issue and it could help. Only way to know for sure is to test it out. 

I just warn you so that you don't get disheartened if it goes backwards before it gets better. 

[summatsupeer]

I would check what type of chance it was:

1. Was it a header? How good is the player at heading?

2. If it was a chance at his feet, what foot would of been best to convert the chance, what foot was used and how good is he with that foot?  Are the type of chances your creating suit your players getting the chance?

3. Were they actually good chances? Were they under pressure from a defender? Were there defenders between them and the goal? This comes back to the type of chances being created.

4. I think decisions plays a factor in the shot selection whilst shooting is how well they actually shoot. If they're not very smart maybe they need a trait to help them stick to what they're good at. For example if they're not very composed id avoid Places Shots and instead try first time shots.

5. Check coach/scout reports, are they consistent? Do they like big games? If they're inconsistent they might waste more chances or feel pressure of a big game.

 

[Experienced Defender]

12 hours ago, VinceLombardi said:

I think everybody is spot on above, but I do have a slight warning for the shorter passing instruction.

If your players can't find a suitable target for a pass, they are more apt to clear it long, cross, or take a shot -- basically anything to get rid of the ball. By instructing them to only play short passes, you may artificially limit their options for a pass and as a result cause them to make a bad decision when those options aren't there. If your team shape isn't very compact as they move up the pitch, then shorter passes likely isn't going to have the desired effect.

That said, if you do have good support and shape, then this isn't a big issue and it could help. Only way to know for sure is to test it out. 

I just warn you so that you don't get disheartened if it goes backwards before it gets better. 

I completely agree with you, and even believe that short passing is essentially "more risky" than more direct/longer in terms of defensive risk when you are under pressure, and I usually tend to avoid shorter passing as a team instructions precisely because of that, especially for defenders (I rather opt to set/leave them to standard/mixed passing coupled with the "take fewer risks" PI). So the only reason I suggested the OP to try with shorter passing (in addition to lowering the tempo and working ball into box) is that he said he wanted to reduce the number of crosses because his forwards weren't good at heading.