A Question about Playing Tempo

[Gianni Brera]

Hello everyone,

 

I like to approach the game a bit in ''Italian fashion'', focussing strongly on the positional arrangements of my players. I like to work out my defensive and attacking structures through player movements in detail, and make the players stick to the plan with iron discipline.

However, one problem with implementing my game-plans on the pitch is sometimes, the game simply moves too fast for my squad to morph into the attacking shape I had in mind for it. One possible cure, I guess, is to instruct (TI) the team to employ a slower tempo. I guess the same line of thinking is often found in Italy, as players often comment that the pace of Serie A games is slower in favor of tactical control. But I am also frequently playing at Cautious Team Mentality, or even drop to Defensive if Im leading the game. My concern is that slower tempo TI with lower mentalities produces an exaggerated slow-motion game.

 

Would slower pace TI and lower mentalities be too much, or would you recommend me to only employ that as a balancing measure on higher mentalities? I guess I'm just in doubt whether I should drop the mentality a bit to give my team more time to organize, or to use the TI. The down-side of dropping the team mentality is that it affects many things, while a TI tweak might be just what I need to get the team well-organized. Or it simply ends up making my squad far too sluggish and predictable to create scoring chances.

 

Hopefully some of you can give me some suggestions as to how TI's and Team mentality can be used to make subtle adjustments.

[Experienced Defender]

5 minutes ago, Gianni Brera said:

My concern is that slower tempo TI with lower mentalities produces an exaggerated slow-motion game.

 

Would slower pace TI and lower mentalities be too much, or would you recommend me to only employ that as a balancing measure on higher mentalities?

Yes, on lower mentalities, tempo is also proportionally lower by default, so lowering it further can be an overkill. Passing and tempo are also interrelated. So you can play on, for example, cautious mentality, more direct passing and medium (default) tempo. Or you can go with a combo of shorter passing and higher tempo. However, you always need to take your entire tactic into account, not just individual instructions separately. Do you want to play defensive counter-attacking football or defensive possession football? The former would require comparatively higher tempo and a bit more attack-duties up front, because the idea is to try and hit the opposition quickly on the counter via moving the ball faster forward. In the latter case, you primarily want to keep the ball as long as possible to reduce the opposition's time in possession, so you need more support duties overall (as opposed to attack ones), with either shorter passing or lower tempo (as both at the same time could prove an excess). Playing out of defence can also be useful here, but at the same time entails more risk, especially if the opposition are playing a high-pressing game. As always, there are pros and cons to everything.

[jorgvandervloed]

To me, mentality will influence the direction of passing (and overall risk taking). Tempo will influence how much time a player has on the ball before he needs to make a decision.

i believe therefore, that on a lower mentality, your players will take longer to take up their offensive positions. Your team overall takes less risk. Lowering tempo will give your players a bit more time, but still encourage them to move forward more often (on a higher mentality)

 

[Rashidi]

5 hours ago, Gianni Brera said:

But I am also frequently playing at Cautious Team Mentality, or even drop to Defensive if Im leading the game. My concern is that slower tempo TI with lower mentalities produces an exaggerated slow-motion game.

This is what you can and should be doing. You can always adjust tempo in the game based on your style of play. Personally I play an attacking game at the slowest tempo setting. So there should be no reason why it should be am issue. Tempo should be seen within the context of your own style of play, and you shouldn't be confined to rigid thinking. You can easily play on a high tempo setting on a lower mentality or a low tempo setting on a high mentality. One of my best systems depends on how my tempo is set.

Now if you want to use tempo think first about all your roles and duties. I assume you want to follow the old italian school of thought, about moving the ball around patiently but still be able to punch through with quick passing in the final third. Here then you would be looking at some creative passing instructions on your playmakers, and you will be thinking about roles and duties. 

Lets take the 4132 for example, you could set it up for a positive mentality and then play on a low tempo with standard width. Now if you had a lot of players in support, most of them would be involved in an attacking transition. However if you had the AMC, one striker and one fullback(overlap) on attack duty, what you now would have are 3 players waiting to move into attacking positions once you have consolidated play in midfield. Next thought would be how you want them to play. Do you want the WB to charge inside? do you want the AMC to work with him and finally how do you want the striker to attack space? 

When you lower tempo on a lower mentality you will inevitably create a game where the team takes so much time to move the ball forward, the opposition players are already firmly in their own half and bored waiting for you to attack.

 

[Gianni Brera]

20 hours ago, Rashidi said:

This is what you can and should be doing. You can always adjust tempo in the game based on your style of play. Personally I play an attacking game at the slowest tempo setting. So there should be no reason why it should be am issue. Tempo should be seen within the context of your own style of play, and you shouldn't be confined to rigid thinking. You can easily play on a high tempo setting on a lower mentality or a low tempo setting on a high mentality. One of my best systems depends on how my tempo is set.

Now if you want to use tempo think first about all your roles and duties. I assume you want to follow the old italian school of thought, about moving the ball around patiently but still be able to punch through with quick passing in the final third. Here then you would be looking at some creative passing instructions on your playmakers, and you will be thinking about roles and duties. 

Lets take the 4132 for example, you could set it up for a positive mentality and then play on a low tempo with standard width. Now if you had a lot of players in support, most of them would be involved in an attacking transition. However if you had the AMC, one striker and one fullback(overlap) on attack duty, what you now would have are 3 players waiting to move into attacking positions once you have consolidated play in midfield. Next thought would be how you want them to play. Do you want the WB to charge inside? do you want the AMC to work with him and finally how do you want the striker to attack space? 

When you lower tempo on a lower mentality you will inevitably create a game where the team takes so much time to move the ball forward, the opposition players are already firmly in their own half and bored waiting for you to attack.

 

Thanks for the replies, they're very helpful in my considerations.

@Rashidi

This is indeed exactly what I am seeking to achieve, a patient build-up (but willing to knock it long if the opportunity or necessity arises), probing play. I have noticed the power of playing roles in creating a style of play, but as I am still fleshing out my system I've taken a ''conservative'' approach to player roles, keeping them as basic and simple as possible. So currently in a 4-3-3 formation, employing lots of ''generic'' roles such as full-backs, central midfielders, central defenders etc, so that I can carefully observe what happens when I add or change something. (I've also noticed it helps to produce a sort of ''practical'', simple and no-nonsense kind of football that I appreciate. Lets play a game of chess.)

I will probably continue to tinker and experiment a lot with it because to me that is what makes this game so much fun. There's endless possibilities and a lot of roads leading to Rome.

[Rashidi]

@Gianni Brera Watch my latest Kok diaries episodes where i play on very attacking mentality but my defence is patient with building up attacks, any video that is appended with Liquid. I want to show the community that the notions that a lot of people have about tempo is wrong.

[Gee_Simpson]

On 03/04/2019 at 00:12, Rashidi said:

This is what you can and should be doing. You can always adjust tempo in the game based on your style of play. Personally I play an attacking game at the slowest tempo setting. So there should be no reason why it should be am issue. Tempo should be seen within the context of your own style of play, and you shouldn't be confined to rigid thinking. You can easily play on a high tempo setting on a lower mentality or a low tempo setting on a high mentality. One of my best systems depends on how my tempo is set.

Now if you want to use tempo think first about all your roles and duties. I assume you want to follow the old italian school of thought, about moving the ball around patiently but still be able to punch through with quick passing in the final third. Here then you would be looking at some creative passing instructions on your playmakers, and you will be thinking about roles and duties. 

Lets take the 4132 for example, you could set it up for a positive mentality and then play on a low tempo with standard width. Now if you had a lot of players in support, most of them would be involved in an attacking transition. However if you had the AMC, one striker and one fullback(overlap) on attack duty, what you now would have are 3 players waiting to move into attacking positions once you have consolidated play in midfield. Next thought would be how you want them to play. Do you want the WB to charge inside? do you want the AMC to work with him and finally how do you want the striker to attack space? 

When you lower tempo on a lower mentality you will inevitably create a game where the team takes so much time to move the ball forward, the opposition players are already firmly in their own half and bored waiting for you to attack.

 

Very helpful post this and has opened up my eyes a bit.

I just wish I was good at spotting things in game. Been a football fan all my life but have never watched it from a tactical perspective, always purely entertainment based.