TACTICS HELP - Converting more touches into goals in the opposition’s area

[James Greensmith]

Into my 5th season with Young Boys and each season a reoccurring issue is that I’ve had the issue of not converting enough touches into goals (see the picture attached) - 195 touches and only 4 goals seems crazy!

I play a 4-2-3-1 tika taka style where I dominate possession (see picture attached)

Can anyone help in addressing this issue? I have changed training in the past in terms of adding in more chance creation and conversion but doesn’t seem to have that much effect

 

 

 Thanks!

[Experienced Defender]

1 hour ago, James Greensmith said:

1. Extremely one-dimensional setup of roles and duties;

2. Isolation of the lone striker - as the only attack-duty player among the front four, and in the most attacking/advanced of all striker roles (AF) at that

3. Very risky defensive instructions - much higher LOE in combination with standard D-line greatly reduce your vertical compactness, especially in a top-heavy system such as 4231

4. No real penetration from deep to give more variety in the final third - your most attack-minded role apart from the striker is a mezzala on support

5. Overlaps and Focus play on both flanks make your team even more vulnerable defensively, because both instructions increase the mentalities of your fullbacks

6. Much shorter passing and much lower tempo are an extreme example of overkill. It's easy for opposition to defend against a team that plays so slow and sterile football

7. With having wingers and overlapping wing-backs on both sides - plus wider attacking width -  you are forcing the team to rely overly on crossing, which is unlikely to create really good chances (unless your striker is an aerial monster)

However, despite all these tactical flaws, I see in the screenshot of your tactic that you are 1st in the Swiss Super league. Why then asking for advice ??? 

[James Greensmith]

I have won the league 5 years in a row but I want to have more dominance (especially in Europe - only reached the first knockout round of the Champions League)

My striker isn’t getting a load of goals and I just wanted to get more advice into how I can turn more chances into goals.

[James Greensmith]

12 hours ago, Experienced Defender said:

1. Extremely one-dimensional setup of roles and duties;

2. Isolation of the lone striker - as the only attack-duty player among the front four, and in the most attacking/advanced of all striker roles (AF) at that

3. Very risky defensive instructions - much higher LOE in combination with standard D-line greatly reduce your vertical compactness, especially in a top-heavy system such as 4231

4. No real penetration from deep to give more variety in the final third - your most attack-minded role apart from the striker is a mezzala on support

5. Overlaps and Focus play on both flanks make your team even more vulnerable defensively, because both instructions increase the mentalities of your fullbacks

6. Much shorter passing and much lower tempo are an extreme example of overkill. It's easy for opposition to defend against a team that plays so slow and sterile football

7. With having wingers and overlapping wing-backs on both sides - plus wider attacking width -  you are forcing the team to rely overly on crossing, which is unlikely to create really good chances (unless your striker is an aerial monster)

However, despite all these tactical flaws, I see in the screenshot of your tactic that you are 1st in the Swiss Super league. Why then asking for advice ??? 

Also - what advice would you have to alter my tactics so the team can be more clinical? 

 

Maybe chnage age the roles of the WBs to FB? Change focus more in the middle? Increase the tempo? Change the wingers into attack from support? Any help would be much appreciated! 

 

As for not having enough penetration in the midfield, what roles would be needed? Or maybe pull the CAM back and add another midfielder?

[Experienced Defender]

2 hours ago, James Greensmith said:

what advice would you have to alter my tactics so the team can be more clinical?

I would need to know your players to be able to give you more specific advice. Generally, I would change a lot in your tactic, but since you are making very good results nevertheless - any major change could be risky and harmful (even if it absolutely made sense from a tactical and logical perspective).

I can only give you an example of how you may set up a well-balanced 4231 tactic, both in terms of roles/duties and instructions. But that does not mean you have to follow this specific example. Just take it as a starting point.

PFat

IFsu            APsu            Wat

CMde    BBM

 

FBat     CDco    CDde     IWBde

GK/SK?

Positive / shorter passing, play out of defence, work ball into box, overlap right, dribble less / counter, distribute to CBs and FBs / higher DL, standard LOE, prevent short GKD

Player instructions - the front four to close down more.

As I said, this is just one of possible setups for a 4231, and it would certainly need occasional tweaking, depending on the opposition or situation in a particular match. As you can see, I removed a lot of unnecessary and risky instructions, adding a couple of attack-duties that are well-distributed so as to not disrupt defensive balance.

If you have any question like why this role/duty, why that instruction and so on, feel free to ask 

 

[James Greensmith]

Great, thanks!

I’ll tweak my tactic in terms of positions and I’ll give the added instructions a go and remove the others. Once the new season starts (currently at the end of February at the moment), I’ll implement this tactic and think about getting new players in to fit the system.

One final thing - would I need to change anything in terms of training or focus more/less on?

I’ll post some of the results to see how it’s going.

 

Cheers!

 

 

[Experienced Defender]

6 minutes ago, James Greensmith said:

I’ll tweak my tactic in terms of positions and I’ll give the added instructions a go and remove the others. Once the new season starts (currently at the end of February at the moment), I’ll implement this tactic and think about getting new players in to fit the system

I didn't say you should use this exact tactic from my example, unless you have the right type of players that can fit in well.

 

8 minutes ago, James Greensmith said:

would I need to change anything in terms of training or focus more/less on?

How can I (or anyone) know that for your tean? My training philosophy is to have some schedules that will improve my players in those areas where they aren't good enough, and the others are more about my tactical style. For example, if I want my players to be more tactically aware (decisions, anticipation, positioning, composure etc.), I will add more tactical training (general>tactical, tactical>def shadow play, attack shadow play...). As for the playing style, if I want to play counter-attacking football for example, I will combine schedules that improve defensive abilities with those that foster direct attacking play (attacing direct, attacking wings, ball distribution, chance creation, chance conversion etc.). And of course, you always need to have a couple of schedules that are about the physical aspect of the game.

[James Greensmith]

18 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

I didn't say you should use this exact tactic from my example, unless you have the right type of players that can fit in well.

 

How can I (or anyone) know that for your tean? My training philosophy is to have some schedules that will improve my players in those areas where they aren't good enough, and the others are more about my tactical style. For example, if I want my players to be more tactically aware (decisions, anticipation, positioning, composure etc.), I will add more tactical training (general>tactical, tactical>def shadow play, attack shadow play...). As for the playing style, if I want to play counter-attacking football for example, I will combine schedules that improve defensive abilities with those that foster direct attacking play (attacing direct, attacking wings, ball distribution, chance creation, chance conversion etc.). And of course, you always need to have a couple of schedules that are about the physical aspect of the game.

That’s a fair point.

This years FM seems much more detailed than the rest so I’m just getting to grips with it all!