Fast attackers

[yourih3]

In my first season (21/22) at Spartak Moskow I won the league, but for my second season I am analysing my squad and I have a lot of pacey attackers. I tend to set them up as follows: 
RM/RAM IF - A  CAM AM-A  LM/LAM W-S
                             SP  CF-O
Set up would probably a 4231 or 4411.

However, on team/player instructions. What are crucial instructions to make the most out of these pacey attackers? I was thinking to play deeper (more space in front of the attackers), pass ball into space, at a higher tempo and have a deep playmaker to distribute the ball to players in front of him and in the space.

Any thought how to utilize these fast attackers even more?

[TheJanitor]

I'm playing with Liverpool right now. The second season, I still got Salah and Mane around and I wanted to get the best out of them, so I went for a similarly direct approach with a deep block.

Up until December, we did well in terms of results, as we remained undefeated with only 2 draws. However, we had luck and ground a lot of results. Our performance was meh. Salah - my best player and the one I wanted to be my leading goal-scorer - scored twice and assisted once. I swapped to the default Gegenpressing tactics, to balance ourselves as this was the tactics we used in the first season, and since January we are operating with a more "controlled" strategy.

It's not perfect, as we still have some bad moments, but overall we're doing much better now and in the last 11 games, Salah got 9 goals and 6 assists.

Pacey attackers can still be very different. Messi is pacey, and so is Joshua King, but one of them is technically world-class and can break even the tightest defenses, and the other is more reliant on his sheer speed and needs space to use it.

I find that when you are a powerhouse, defending deep doesn't automatically create space behind the opposition lines. They are still content with sitting deep themselves and being passive with the ball. And Spartak Moskow is definitely a powerhouse, especially after a championship season.

So if you want to get the best out of your quick attackers, understand to playing deep and direct isn't automatically the right strategy. The combination of passing into space and playing at a quick tempo might not be ideal, as teams will give you as little as they can, and you are basically instructing non-playmakers to try and exploit whatever space they are giving. Sometimes it's best to be patient to create better space for your attackers.

Anyway, this is just my take on things and how I solved the issues my Liverpool had early in the season. I'm still confident that playing your way is still viable, but perhaps not the most ideal and easy to achieve. Also, if you are struggling to get started, try the default Genepressing tactics if your team is hard-working enough. I found it great for pacey attackers.

[scwiffy]

8 minutes ago, TheJanitor said:

I find that when you are a powerhouse, defending deep doesn't automatically create space behind the opposition lines. They are still content with sitting deep themselves and being passive with the ball. And Spartak Moskow is definitely a powerhouse, especially after a championship season.

So if you want to get the best out of your quick attackers, understand to playing deep and direct isn't automatically the right strategy. The combination of passing into space and playing at a quick tempo might not be ideal, as teams will give you as little as they can, and you are basically instructing non-playmakers to try and exploit whatever space they are giving. Sometimes it's best to be patient to create better space for your attackers.

100% This.

If you are playing as an underdog then sitting back and countering combined with players with pace can be deadly. But as soon as your a more dominant club, I find players pace less important, simply for the reasons TheJanitor explained. Clubs will just park the bus, sit back and sometimes not even bothering to counter/play forwards!

Its why when managing a club, I’ve found the transition from domestic underdog to favourite tricky to navigate, as players you’ve had can suddenly be a lot less effective. Pace will always have its uses (especially in attacking space), it just becomes much much more about technical attributes IMO.

ive found one of the tricks is to somehow draw the opponents out. You can achieve this with lower tempo and (surprisingly to me), ‘Waste Time Sometimes’, Counter TI can still be used in conjunction to exploit numbers when opportunity arises. Certain roles can help achieve this also, BPDs and DLPs

[yourih3]

Thank you guys foto the very clear explanation. I will try your suggestions!