What am I doing wrong in away games ?

[Alerion]

Hey guys,

I am getting incredible frustrated, yet again with away games. I have the best team in the league, some of the worlds best players, been dominating the EPL and CL and yet I ALWAYS find myself struggling at away games, no matter if its a big club like Liverpool or a small club like Cardiff. Everyone seems to be playing like they just got a drip infusion from Messi´s essence, its bugs the ever living hell out of me.

Take a look at my schedule, 3 losses, 3 against weaker teams where I was the better team but couldnt find the win if my life depends on it. Thats 9 goals in 3 games conceded with a defense that is otherwise very very solid (11 goals conced in total from ALL OTHER games)

Bournemouth trashed me with 5 !!!!! goals, Batshuayi only scored 1 goal all year long but suddenly became the re-incarnation of Maradano and Pele combined, scoring his probably first ever hattrick against me, and those werent tap ins or 1v1 counters, all 3 goals have been utterly world class. So he just upped his goal total to 4 all season with this hattrick, neat, isnt it ?

This is my team, I am playing pog standard possession football with quick players on the break. I tried to play a 4-2-3-1 but holy hell it feels like playing without a DM is a suicide mission. 

I think its a very balanced squad with enough diverse attacking threat and a solid defensive line and a clear game plan. I cant see any faults in this, away or home game, so I need your help to tell me why I am such a god damn loser and cant handle away games.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Alerion]

To give an idea about those 3 games, here they are in detail:

Bournemouth:

probably the game I deserved to lose "more". They had chances, good tacklings and a fair bit of possession, still, Bats scoring a hattrick when he only scored a single goal the entire season is some spooky stuff

 

Cardiff:

I mean.. 4 shots on target, 3 goals. Thats some League winner accuracy right there, right ?

 

Salzburg:

I couldnt make a sub because the game bugged out sadly and I am not reloading, so I could have maybe won this with a working game. Still, my starting eleven should have easily be able to beat them.

[Spurs08]

The first thing I'd say is that away games are tough, and probably tougher in FM than they've proved for sides of City's quality in real life. In FM even a dominant squad will, as a result, rarely get to the high-90s like City are managing in real life against Premier League level opposition - it's much more like it used to be before the last 3-4 years when the mid-high 80s tended to comfortably win you the league and low-90s was exceptional. So if you're dominant at home and matching the other title contenders for away form you shouldn't worry too much.

There are some things you could improve, though. Your system looks pretty open to counters and long-balls, and when you're away opponents will be more likely to try those rather than purely defend. You've got a high defensive line, press and offside trap, combined with two CBs who aren't the fastest ever for this level (Acceleration 13 at game start) with PPMs that see them often go high up the field and no dedicated holding midfielder (the BWM will press heavily and end up out of position a fair amount). So you're doing well on possession, but when you lose the ball things can go wrong very quickly (especially when your counter-press fails) and you give up high-quality chances, hence conceding lots of goals from relatively few shots. This is borne out by the negatives your tactics screen shows - you're giving the ball away centrally, they're getting it straight up into your box and scoring. There also seems to be a smaller weakness on your left hand side - your wing back is extremely attacking, the inside forward will offer little defensive support, and neither will the APa on the left of your midfield. I expect quite often you'll end up with a CB being dragged out of position to cover, leaving even more highly dangerous central space. There are attacking strengths to this approach, but I'd certainly make at least slight tweak even for home games of swapping your two CMs around to have the more balanced player on the left to help out with this somewhat.

For away matches, I'd just go a tad more conservative. Play a dedicated holding midfielder (a DM or an Anchor Man) or, if you fancy something less orthodox, perhaps a third CB on a cover duty to give you that protection against break while letting your other two CBs push up a little more. Consider swapping one of your CMs for a ball winner in that position, and put the more defensive-roled player on the left of the two. Turn off the counter-press and be willing to give up a little more of the ball to avoid giving away such good chances. And get rid of the offside trap and high defensive line - it's probably squeezing the midfield game into tighter spaces than you'd want anyway and doesn't help your defensive woes.

 

 

 

[scratchmonkey]

[I wrote most of this before Spurs08 replied, I agree pretty much with everything they said, I'm leaving my reply intact anyway in case there's something useful.]

From your tactical setup, my best guess as to what's happening is that on the road, is that teams are a little more aggressive, and your setup, with a high line and a slow, possession-based game, is vulnerable to a single mistake in springing the offside trap creating a great scoring chance for the opposition. How the game decides is a CCC is pretty iffy; still, the stats from the Bournemouth and Cardiff games indicate that something like this is happening, yes, you dominated aspects of the game -- they created the better chances and at the top level of play, that's going to determine the winner most of the time. You can also tell this from the notes for your tactic -- opposition goals scored from the center of the penalty box are a major weakness that the game is calling out and that's only going to happen in my experience if you're consistently giving up chances on balls into the space behind your CBs.

What's killing you here is the combination of a high line on Positive, a slow tempo, and being more expressive -- I've tried to play this way with top teams and it tends to lead to your team moving the ball in a giant semi-circle around the opposition area until somebody tries a hollywood ball that gets cut out and the other team has a chance to smash you on the break. I'd speed up the tempo, drop be more expressive, work the ball into the box, put your DMC in a more conservative role (Half-Back or Anchor Man work well for me), and investigate running a split block for a press instead of turning out Counter-Press and High Urgency.

If you really want to emphasize possession, the other approach I would consider is keeping the same basic philosophy and instead playing with a lower Mentality on the road, the challenge here would be figuring out ways to get the ball back from the other team since the lower Mentality will mean that you're playing further away from their area.

[Abandex]

I agree with what has been said before. Just by looking your set-up and role without knowing the players, u can get into trouble especially away for many reason : your formation 4-3-3 can be good at home to maintain a kind of pressure on the opponent back lane, especially if you play high, and u press more. But at home, it leaves lot of space between your wingers and your defensive lines. Moreover opponent teams are more ambitious at home, so you take to much risk with this formation. Why not try a 4-1-4-1 away with attack duties on flank(s) for example ? 

Then the roles and duties : i agree with the fact that, away you need to be more conservative, to be very cautious with your attack duties and role. AP (a) can work but u have to know that, even if you have a world class player, i wont have 100% success so it can be dangerous in transition. the same with your left back with CWB( a) = risky in transition. and on top of that, you play with a BWM in DM position which tells the player to often leave his position in formation to try to get the ball everywhere on the pich=  no central cover.  So, to my mind if u want more positive result away you have to work on that. ( sorry for my bad english...)

[SD]

To add to what the previous posters have said, your Counter TI may also play a part. Your team will still occasionally counter without it, what it does is it decreases the threshold for them to attempt one.

Now, counterattacks are high-risk/high-reward plays, that can result in high-quality chances but more often than not result in lost possession, often leading to a counter opportunity for the opposition when the turnover finds 8-9 of your players committed in their third.

The trade off might be worth it if you are the inferior team and chances are hard to come by, but the more you dominate the game, the less worth it it becomes.

Think about it this way. Say counter gains you 4-5 quality entries in the final third over the course of the match. But due to it's risky nature, the turnover also gives the opposition 2-3 counter opportunities.

Now, when from open play your team already has 20 such chances, that's only a 20-25% increase, whereas the defending team who might otherwise have 2-3 chances from regular play, gets an 100% increase.

 

TLDR: it's not to say you don't gain anything from the Counter TI, but depending on the circumstances the opposition may gain more, relatively speaking.

[Experienced Defender]

Your team instructions suit a possession-based style, but the setup of roles (and especially duties) is more suited to counter-attacking football. That's the first thing you should pay attention to.

Btw, lower tempo and shorter passing (let alone much shorter) used at the same time is a clear overkill (except in attacking and very attacking mentality).

[Alerion]

vor 39 Minuten schrieb Spurs08:

The first thing I'd say is that away games are tough, and probably tougher in FM than they've proved for sides of City's quality in real life. In FM even a dominant squad will, as a result, rarely get to the high-90s like City are managing in real life against Premier League level opposition - it's much more like it used to be before the last 3-4 years when the mid-high 80s tended to comfortably win you the league and low-90s was exceptional. So if you're dominant at home and matching the other title contenders for away form you shouldn't worry too much.

There are some things you could improve, though. Your system looks pretty open to counters and long-balls, and when you're away opponents will be more likely to try those rather than purely defend. You've got a high defensive line, press and offside trap, combined with two CBs who aren't the fastest ever for this level (Acceleration 13 at game start) with PPMs that see them often go high up the field and no dedicated holding midfielder (the BWM will press heavily and end up out of position a fair amount). So you're doing well on possession, but when you lose the ball things can go wrong very quickly (especially when your counter-press fails) and you give up high-quality chances, hence conceding lots of goals from relatively few shots. This is borne out by the negatives your tactics screen shows - you're giving the ball away centrally, they're getting it straight up into your box and scoring. There also seems to be a smaller weakness on your left hand side - your wing back is extremely attacking, the inside forward will offer little defensive support, and neither will the APa on the left of your midfield. I expect quite often you'll end up with a CB being dragged out of position to cover, leaving even more highly dangerous central space. There are attacking strengths to this approach, but I'd certainly make at least slight tweak even for home games of swapping your two CMs around to have the more balanced player on the left to help out with this somewhat.

For away matches, I'd just go a tad more conservative. Play a dedicated holding midfielder (a DM or an Anchor Man) or, if you fancy something less orthodox, perhaps a third CB on a cover duty to give you that protection against break while letting your other two CBs push up a little more. Consider swapping one of your CMs for a ball winner in that position, and put the more defensive-roled player on the left of the two. Turn off the counter-press and be willing to give up a little more of the ball to avoid giving away such good chances. And get rid of the offside trap and high defensive line - it's probably squeezing the midfield game into tighter spaces than you'd want anyway and doesn't help your defensive woes.

 

 

 

The idea was to have the IF on support so he can track back (which ingame he does quite well tbh) while the CWB overlaps on the left, on the right I want my FB to stay back and act much like an IWB (PI drift inside, hold position) so he won´t go further then on par with my BWM (who stays back, but as you said presses a lot and tends to be further up the field).

Thank you for your advice regarding the midfielders tho, I´ll change both roles. I am just not sure, I dont like having 2 players on attack on one side, the winger and the playmaker, but De Bruyne is doing very very well in the AP/A role (most goals/assists) so I´ll keep them both on A for now.

Regarding the midfield trio: I want 2 creators/"playmakers" in the middle, thats why I have players like Bentancur/Fernandes G. on the BBM role as they are both very good in attack (finishing, passing, Fernandes had 19 goals across all competitions as a BBM, with 2,05 tacklings won per minute) alongside my playmaker De Bruyne/Foden. I have played with a BWM in the CM position on support with "Get Further Forward" and good PPM´s so I know it can work very well too, but being City I feel like playing 2 defensive midfielder hinders my chances at being deadly in the third half. And then I just cant play without a BWM as I feel its the best role in a pressing/posession system, thats why I put him in the DM role. I see the problem tho now, he isnt the holding DM I might need but I am not sure if I want to sacrifice my BBM players Fernandes/Bentancur to have 2 defensive players in this position.

vor 25 Minuten schrieb scratchmonkey:

[I wrote most of this before Spurs08 replied, I agree pretty much with everything they said, I'm leaving my reply intact anyway in case there's something useful.]

From your tactical setup, my best guess as to what's happening is that on the road, is that teams are a little more aggressive, and your setup, with a high line and a slow, possession-based game, is vulnerable to a single mistake in springing the offside trap creating a great scoring chance for the opposition. How the game decides is a CCC is pretty iffy; still, the stats from the Bournemouth and Cardiff games indicate that something like this is happening, yes, you dominated aspects of the game -- they created the better chances and at the top level of play, that's going to determine the winner most of the time. You can also tell this from the notes for your tactic -- opposition goals scored from the center of the penalty box are a major weakness that the game is calling out and that's only going to happen in my experience if you're consistently giving up chances on balls into the space behind your CBs.

What's killing you here is the combination of a high line on Positive, a slow tempo, and being more expressive -- I've tried to play this way with top teams and it tends to lead to your team moving the ball in a giant semi-circle around the opposition area until somebody tries a hollywood ball that gets cut out and the other team has a chance to smash you on the break. I'd speed up the tempo, drop be more expressive, work the ball into the box, put your DMC in a more conservative role (Half-Back or Anchor Man work well for me), and investigate running a split block for a press instead of turning out Counter-Press and High Urgency.

If you really want to emphasize possession, the other approach I would consider is keeping the same basic philosophy and instead playing with a lower Mentality on the road, the challenge here would be figuring out ways to get the ball back from the other team since the lower Mentality will mean that you're playing further away from their area.

Thank you aswell. Do you mean I should turn off Counter-Press and instead instruct my players to press more ? I do use PI´s for my CB/FB to press even lesser as my pressing TI´s are already very high, so turning the TI´s off and the PI´s would probably have the current effect I suppose ?

vor 15 Minuten schrieb Abandex:

I agree with what has been said before. Just by looking your set-up and role without knowing the players, u can get into trouble especially away for many reason : your formation 4-3-3 can be good at home to maintain a kind of pressure on the opponent back lane, especially if you play high, and u press more. But at home, it leaves lot of space between your wingers and your defensive lines. Moreover opponent teams are more ambitious at home, so you take to much risk with this formation. Why not try a 4-1-4-1 away with attack duties on flank(s) for example ? 

Then the roles and duties : i agree with the fact that, away you need to be more conservative, to be very cautious with your attack duties and role. AP (a) can work but u have to know that, even if you have a world class player, i wont have 100% success so it can be dangerous in transition. the same with your left back with CWB( a) = risky in transition. and on top of that, you play with a BWM in DM position which tells the player to often leave his position in formation to try to get the ball everywhere on the pich=  no central cover.  So, to my mind if u want more positive result away you have to work on that. ( sorry for my bad english...)

A 4-1-4-1 is not what I had in mind playing City as I want to dominate the enemy, I want to act, not react. There is no way Cardiff should empose their style of play on my team no matter the venue, so telling players like Sane or Mbappe to drop deeper and do more defensive work is not how its supposed to be, they already do cover the enemy FB and that is enough in my mind. Also, I have Harry Kane/Aguero as strikers, none of them is fast enough to really be my single threat upfront, given how I play with a DM too there is nobody upfront to get the ball or help my strikers out.

vor 1 Minute schrieb SD:

To add to what the previous posters have said, your Counter TI may also play a part. Your team will still occasionally counter without it, what it does is it decreases the threshold for them to attempt one.

Now, counterattacks are high-risk/high-reward plays, that can result in high-quality chances but more often than not result in lost possession, often leading to a counter opportunity for the opposition when the turnover finds 8-9 of your players committed in their third.

The trade off might be worth it if you are the inferior team and chances are hard to come by, but the more you dominate the game, the less worth it it becomes.

Think about it this way. Say counter gains you 4-5 quality entries in the final third over the course of the match. But due to it's risky nature, the turnover also gives the opposition 2-3 counter opportunities.

Now, when from open play your team already has 20 such chances, that's only a 20-25% increase, whereas the defending team who might otherwise have 2-3 chances from regular play, gets an 100% increase.

 

TLDR: it's not to say you don't gain anything from the Counter TI, but depending on the circumstances the opposition may gain more, relatively speaking.

That is actually a very good point, I´ll turn it off and have a look at the stats compared to before after a few games. Thanks !

[Alerion]

vor 18 Minuten schrieb Experienced Defender:

Your team instructions suit a possession-based style, but the setup of roles (and especially duties) is more suited to counter-attacking football. That's the first thing you should pay attention to.

Btw, lower tempo and shorter passing (let alone much shorter) used at the same time is a clear overkill (except in attacking and very attacking mentality).

So what would you recommend, going on a attacking mentality or changing my roles. If so, which roles would I need ?

[Spurs08]

2 minutes ago, Alerion said:

The idea was to have the IF on support so he can track back (which ingame he does quite well tbh) while the CWB overlaps on the left, on the right I want my FB to stay back and act much like an IWB (PI drift inside, hold position) so he won´t go further then on par with my BWM (who stays back, but as you said presses a lot and tends to be further up the field).

Thank you for your advice regarding the midfielders tho, I´ll change both roles. I am just not sure, I dont like having 2 players on attack on one side, the winger and the playmaker, but De Bruyne is doing very very well in the AP/A role (most goals/assists) so I´ll keep them both on A for now.

Regarding the midfield trio: I want 2 creators/"playmakers" in the middle, thats why I have players like Bentancur/Fernandes G. on the BBM role as they are both very good in attack (finishing, passing, Fernandes had 19 goals across all competitions as a BBM, with 2,05 tacklings won per minute) alongside my playmaker De Bruyne/Foden. I have played with a BWM in the CM position on support with "Get Further Forward" and good PPM´s so I know it can work very well too, but being City I feel like playing 2 defensive midfielder hinders my chances at being deadly in the third half. And then I just cant play without a BWM as I feel its the best role in a pressing/posession system, thats why I put him in the DM role. I see the problem tho now, he isnt the holding DM I might need but I am not sure if I want to sacrifice my BBM players Fernandes/Bentancur to have 2 defensive players in this position.

 

It all makes sense, it's just a tad too optimistic and attacking. Excluding the Salzburg game where you had 10 men and the Scunthorpe game since they're obviously far below your level, you've had 18 goals scored in 8 away games. That's fantastic, it's even better than City's average return in real life and away games seem to be harder in FM. It's the goals conceded getting you in trouble and that does mean making some sacrifices. Of course you can take some but not all of those measures and see how it goes, and obviously switch back to more attacking strategies if you're not winning the game and the opposition seem to have gone entirely defensive. But the "we'll score one more than you" approach is always going to be risky away even if you're very good at the scoring bit of it.

[Justified]

I just want to echo ED's point further up. I think the pre-set "styles" in FM have given gamers an overkill on each style of play and should be seen as "you can use these instructions to re-create this style but you don't need all of them".

I am slightly worried by the amount of gamers that use Short passing and Lower Tempo combined. I'm assuming it's because they're worried about loosing possession? Or that they're buying a little bit into SI's pre-sets too much (No problem with that but SI were never going to hand out winning instructions on a plate )

Alerion// At this present time you're asking your players to pass Much Shorter (which I take no issue to in fact I do this on attacking mentality with my Liverpool side) however on top of that you're asking the tempo to be lower (bare in mind that altering the passing alters tempo already automatically). So what you're asking them is Retain Possession and pass the ball around. The positive mentality will see them be more adventurous however they're going to most of the time choose to keep the ball. Add work into the box which tries to restrict long shots (although they probably still will due to the low tempo). My advice would be up that tempo! Makes a lot of difference. I would personally also play without working into the box on positive mentality but that's just me.

[Alerion]

vor 1 Minute schrieb Justified:

I just want to echo ED's point above my post. I think the pre-set "styles" in FM have given gamers an overkill on each style of play and should be seen as "you can use these instructions to re-create this style but you don't need all of them".

I am slightly worried by the amount of gamers that use Short passing and Lower Tempo combined. I'm assuming it's because they're worried about loosing possession? Or that they're buying a little bit into SI's pre-sets too much (No problem with that but SI were never going to hand out winning instructions on a plate )

Alerion// At this present time you're asking your players to pass Much Shorter (which I take no issue to in fact I do this on attacking mentality with my Liverpool side) however on top of that you're asking the tempo to be lower (bare in mind that altering the passing alters tempo already automatically). So what you're asking them is Retain Possession and pass the ball around. The positive mentality will see them be more adventurous however they're going to most of the time choose to keep the ball. Add work into the box which tries to restrict long shots (although they probably still will due to the low tempo). My advice would be up that tempo! Makes a lot of difference. I would personally also play without working into the box on positive mentality but that's just me.

While that all makes sense, I dont struggle scoring goals. Its more about the defensive setup at away games, I barely concede at home and I barely draw games (2 in total this season, both being away games). So I am not looking to improve the attacking side of my team, if that makes sense.

[scratchmonkey]

5 minutes ago, Alerion said:

Thank you aswell. Do you mean I should turn off Counter-Press and instead instruct my players to press more ? I do use PI´s for my CB/FB to press even lesser as my pressing TI´s are already very high, so turning the TI´s off and the PI´s would probably have the current effect I suppose ?

Yes, exactly, essentially just swapping things so that you're using PIs to determine which players press and which don't, so in this case you turn Pressing down to default, turn off Counter-Press, and then you would set some of the players to press more through their PIs -- my suggestion would be to set that for the CF, AML, AMR, and both CM positions.

[Alerion]

vor 3 Minuten schrieb scratchmonkey:

Yes, exactly, essentially just swapping things so that you're using PIs to determine which players press and which don't, so in this case you turn Pressing down to default, turn off Counter-Press, and then you would set some of the players to press more through their PIs -- my suggestion would be to set that for the CF, AML, AMR, and both CM positions.

To add to this, I am just not sure what it would change as I have my back 4 on "Press less" PI´s anyway ?

[Experienced Defender]

10 minutes ago, Alerion said:

So what would you recommend, going on a attacking mentality or changing my roles. If so, which roles would I need ?

Specifically for a top team like City, I would opt for a style that involves both control of possession and sufficient attacking "bite" to make your play less predictable. For example, the combo of higher tempo and shorter (but not much shorter) passing. Mentality can remain Positive (at least for the primary tactic). If you change the mentality, you need to change (tweak) a number of other settings as well, because mentality affects everything.

As for roles and duties, I would rather combine a playmaker on support with a mezzala or CM on attack in central midfield than the opposite, because you need a PM that controls play from a bit deeper area, from where he can distribute passes wherever it's optimal in a given situation. Hence, the other CM should be on attack, in order to provide more penetration from deep. 

A BWM role is something I look to avoid when playing a lone DM. I'd opt for a HB or anchor, because they are way less aggressive than BWM and hence better protect the back-line (this is more for defensive purposes).

In your current setup, the left flank is pretty much exposed with a CWB and AP both on attack duty (and the BWM - who tends to move early and aggressively out of position to press and tackle the opposition - makes it all even more risky).

On defensive instructions... since you play with higher DL and LOE on a high-risk mentality and also using counter-press, I think more urgent pressing is absolutely not necessary (another thing that makes you more vulnerable defensively). I would keep pressing on default (medium) and instead tell the front three and the attack-duty CM to close down more via player instructions (that's the so-called split press, which is a lot safer than increasing the pressing for the entire team).

 

[Justified]

1 minute ago, Alerion said:

While that all makes sense, I dont struggle scoring goals. Its more about the defensive setup at away games, I barely concede at home and I barely draw games (2 in total this season, both being away games). So I am not looking to improve the attacking side of my team, if that makes sense.

Aha sorry, misunderstood the frustration. However the attacking side can be contributing to the defensive side too. If you're easy to defend against then the chances of a counter increase. The actual "Out of Possession" instructions look ok to me. I wouldn't have Offside Trap and Prevent GK Distribution but that's just personal preference. The only other thing I would look at is your team shape and try it get it more Flexible/Fluid in my opinion.

[Alerion]

vor 3 Minuten schrieb Experienced Defender:

Specifically for a top team like City, I would opt for a style that involves both control of possession and sufficient attacking "bite" to make your play less predictable. For example, the combo of higher tempo and shorter (but not much shorter) passing. Mentality can remain Positive (at least for the primary tactic). If you change the mentality, you need to change (tweak) a number of other settings as well, because mentality affects everything.

As for roles and duties, I would rather combine a playmaker on support with a mezzala or CM on attack in central midfield than the opposite, because you need a PM that controls play from a bit deeper area, from where he can distribute passes wherever it's optimal in a given situation. Hence, the other CM should be on attack, in order to provide more penetration from deep. 

A BWM role is something I look to avoid when playing a lone DM. I'd opt for a HB or anchor, because they are way less aggressive than BWM and hence better protect the back-line (this is more for defensive purposes).

In your current setup, the left flank is pretty much exposed with a CWB and AP both on attack duty (and the BWM - who tends to move early and aggressively out of position to press and tackle the opposition - makes it all even more risky).

On defensive instructions... since you play with higher DL and LOE on a high-risk mentality and also using counter-press, I think more urgent pressing is absolutely not necessary (another thing that makes you more vulnerable defensively). I would keep pressing on default (medium) and instead tell the front three and the attack-duty CM to close down more via player instructions (that's the so-called split press, which is a lot safer than increasing the pressing for the entire team).

 

Thank you! I´ll keep the defenisve tips in mind.

I want to follow up on the midfield roles tho, my idea behind the AP/BBM/BWM trio is that I have one defensive player, one hybrid (BBM, I always look for good defensive attributes aswell) and one attacking player. With a playmaker and the CM on attack I am afraid that I´ll expose my midfield, even tho the playmaker will hold position and not be as high up the field, his defensive attributes are lacking. I hope I expressed myself good enough. 

[Experienced Defender]

10 minutes ago, Alerion said:

I want to follow up on the midfield roles tho, my idea behind the AP/BBM/BWM trio is that I have one defensive player, one hybrid (BBM, I always look for good defensive attributes aswell) and one attacking player. With a playmaker and the CM on attack I am afraid that I´ll expose my midfield, even tho the playmaker will hold position and not be as high up the field, his defensive attributes are lacking. I hope I expressed myself good enough. 

That's why I recommended a HB or anchor instead of BWM. If you are wary of your PM's lack of defensive attributes, then the fullback on that side can be a bit more conservative, but the wide forward (Mbappe) more attacking. For example:

CFsu/DLFsu/F9

IFat/RMD                                       Wsu

DLP/APsu    MEZat

HB/ACM

WBsu/FBsu   CDde   BPDde    IWBsu

SKsu

I bolded the roles and duties which I would change compared to your original setup, to give it more balance and stability. In this "my" setup, you can also use the Overlap left team instruction, to allow for more interplay on that flank (because overlaps/underlaps slightly incrase the mentality of the FB/WB and slightly decrease that of his advanced wing partner). 

[scratchmonkey]

34 minutes ago, Alerion said:

To add to this, I am just not sure what it would change as I have my back 4 on "Press less" PI´s anyway ?

The question is whether what you've got now, (Positive Pressing + More Urgent Pressing + Press Less PI + Counter-Pressing) > (Positive Pressing + Default Pressing), for your defensive block. My guess is that it is, i.e. Press Less isn't a bypass/overrule, it's a modifier on top of everything else that you've got set.

[smeagol]

I've not read any of the other replies, but to me it looks like you could be vulnerable to counter attacks because of how high up the pitch your wingers are. My experience is that this kind of set-up leaves your fullbacks in a bad position, as the higher up the pitch your wingers are, the less likely they are to track back in time to help your fullback, if they track back at all.  You're also going for the possession kind of style, and a high d-line, which often makes the opposition go for a low d-line (the weaker teams), where they try to hit you on the counter. If the opposition is a weaker team, they will probably have a low attacking mentality away from home, which makes it easier to control the game for the home team. 

The opposition team is probably more aggressive at home, which probably means they press higher and/or have a more attacking mentality. When they win the ball and manage to get through your high pressing, you may be in for trouble because of the spaces on the flanks between your fullbacks and your wingers. Even if the fullbacks are set to press high, the opposition may hit it long, into the space that the fullback has vacated. This is a common problem for teams who play with a high d-line and press high, especially if you play with wingers that high up the pitch, and especially when you give the opposition time to regroup (slow, short passing). 

Against bigger teams your slow short passing may leave you vulnerable to high pressing, where they win the ball in your half and hit you on the break. 

What would I do? I would play the wingers lower down the pitch, and maybe compensate by giving the whole midfield more attacking roles. If you have a good team I would increase the passing speed, so it's more likely that your players will be able to pass their way out of high pressing. If you have a weaker team I would play a more direct style. Personally, I play a direct, fast style with a big team, and it works a charm, so you could try that. 

Another thing you could do is playing a lower d-line and lower point of engagement. This is because your players may not be up to the task to press high against the best teams, so they pass their way through your high pressing. Maybe it's more likely they will do this at home, where they probably have a more attacking style.