Playing the big boys.

[Nlittle1892]

Hey folks, 

Looking for a bit help here, background to my save is I holidayed for 2 and 1/2 years then took the 1st available job which happened to be Leeds freshly relegated back in to the championship and 17th after 13 games. finished 11th after a lot of squad changes and a tactic tweak 8 games in to the following season we ran away with the championship, 16 points clear of 2nd with 102 points, scoring 104 goals.

1st season back in premier league and I'm doing alright, currently 6th but it's a severe case of win or bust, no middle ground whatsoever. 11 wins 9 defeats and the solitary draw. My tactic is doing great against the smaller teams but I just can't do anything against the bigger sides(barring a 4-0 walloping of Arsenal). How drastically do you's change stuff against to the better sides? I've tried sticking to the same principles of my tactic but changing a few roles/mentality but to no avail. Should I just accept these teams will be beating me on a regular basis due to their stronger players or is their something fundamentally wrong with my base tactic. 

Player Instructions

GK Default 

RB Cross from Byline, Cross aim centre and Stay wider

CB'S Both Take fewer Risks and Close down less

LB Cross from Deep, Cross aim Centre

DLP Close down Less

MEZ Default

AP Default

LW Cross aim centre and Get further forward

RW Get further forward and Roam from position

CF Default

 

I also have a very young squad, will that play any part in their lack of experience to deal with the bigger games? 

In terms of team stats I do ok

3rd in goals scored, 2nd in shots on target, 6th ave possession, 7th in passes completed but the bad one is 7th worst conceded. 

Any help appreciated

Cheers 

 

[herne79]

I'm going to ask a question here - what exactly are you expecting?  You're newly promoted and your Board probably only expect you to battle against relegation.  You're currently way over achieving in 6th place and now you want to start scoring points against the big teams.

You know you have a decent enough tactical system (otherwise it wouldn't have got you promoted, let alone sitting in 6th now) so is the issue here your own expectations?  Be ambitious sure, but also be patient.  Improve your squad over time, develop your younger players and then see how you do against the big teams.

[Nlittle1892]

 

3 minutes ago, herne79 said:

I'm going to ask a question here - what exactly are you expecting?  You're newly promoted and your Board probably only expect you to battle against relegation.  You're currently way over achieving in 6th place and now you want to start scoring points against the big teams.

You know you have a decent enough tactical system (otherwise it wouldn't have got you promoted, let alone sitting in 6th now) so is the issue here your own expectations?  Be ambitious sure, but also be patient.  Improve your squad over time, develop your younger players and then see how you do against the big teams.

Yeah I mentioned in the post that maybe I would have to accept this due to these teams having stronger teams, was just being over ambitious I know. Patience has never been my strongest point. 

[summatsupeer]

Is your team good enough to play the same way vs everyone?  Can you afford to use 3 forwards on positive mentality against teams who come and attack you with world class players?  Are your players good enough at pressing to get close to them and not chase shadows?

Not saying you should change your system completely, just reducing mentality one level would make a big difference.  Maybe pull the wide forwards back to midfield could help.  Maybe just reducing pressing when the big clubs are playing risky and quick anyway.  Lots of options, what is right depends on your players and what you want them to do.

[Experienced Defender]

Losing against stronger/much stronger teams is absolutely normal, which does not mean that you should not try to get better results against them by adapting your tactic. However, it's not a catastrophe if you fail to do that, so long as they aren't smashing you completely.

Tactical tweaks you may consider when playing against the "big boys":

- improving your vertical compactness by lowering the LOE in order to reduce the playable space for the opposition

- using (a bit) more conservative roles in the midfield (the AP-at/MEZ combo is too adventurous; you can also play an anchor instead of DLP in DM for example)

- regroup instead of counter-press and reducing the pressing urgency, to get more stable and disciplined defensive shape

And so on...

[scratchmonkey]

I think everybody so far has given you good advice, my quick set of advice if you want to have a tweaked version of the tactic that might stand a better chance of snatching points against bigger teams:

• Agree with lowering LOE
• Agree with changing Counter Press to Regroup, would also change to add Counter (if you're giving away possession too cheaply with it on though you may not have the players to use it against top teams, so remove in that case)
• Drop to Balanced mentality, consider dropping to Cautious in-match if needed
• Change the DMC to a more defensively-minded role like DM(D) or Anchor, also change AP to DLP
• Potentially move passing to Standard and change Tempo to Lower, I find that on lower mentalities, this works better for holding the ball and using possession as a defensive approach, YMMV
• If you're not getting any joy even with tweaks, considering dropping your advanced wide players to play a flat 4 across central midfield, which should make it easier for your wingers to pick up opposition fullbacks

[Nlittle1892]

Thanks for the advice, will certainly look to adapt tactics for the bigger games.