Can't seem to win anymore

[fwanti]

I'm looking for help trying to "fix" my tactic.

 

i'm currently managing Bristol City, and in the first half of the season i did pretty well, fighting for the top spot in the league, but recently i can't really win against any team.

My striker (and his reserve) can't really score anymore (or my team can't feed him in good positions), and i'm constantly losing the battle for the ball in the midfield.

 

This is my current Tactic:

The roles are in portuguese, so i'll translate them:

DC = CB

DCE = Limited Defender

AL = Wingback

CJ = DLP

MAA  = B2B

CJA = Advanced Playmaker

AI = Inside Foward

EX = Winger

AT = Pressing Foward

These are the instructions that i use:

For most of the season i din't try to work the ball into the box, but i'm trying it for the last few games (still not working).

 

One thing i noticed is that my striker is converting at a bad rate, compared to the AI:

Mine :

He is converting 18% of his shots at the target

Kemar Roofe from Leeds is converting at 37% for example.

 

Any help is appreciated, thanks in advance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Experienced Defender]

I'm, gonna logically assume "Equilibrada" means Balanced (mentality), an "Ap" denotes support (duty).

First, your lone striker (PF), being the only one on attack duty, is likely to be somewhat isolated from the rest of the team. So adding some penetration in the form of deep runners would be more than welcome.

Then you use shorter passing and lower tempo on Balanced mentality. meaning your build-up play might be (needlessly) too slow. 

In defense, you seem to play with higher both DL and LOE, but at the same time use less urgent pressing. It's not clear to me what's your reasoning behind such a defensive setup? Less urgent pressing can make sense if you want to play counter-attacking football and hence look to encourage the opposition to move deeper into your half in order for you to quickly exploit space behind them once you win the ball. But the problem is that your tactic is by no means counter-attacking, and btw you don't even use the Counter TI in transition. In fact - with the exception of the Less urgent pressing and Regroup TIs - your tactic looks very much possession-oriented, both in terms of roles/duties and instructions. 

I'll now show you what changes I would consider in order to make your tactic less sterile without changing the mentality and on the assumption you want to play essentially possession-based football:

PFat

IFsu                                      Wat

DLPsu     BBM

AC/DMde

FBat     CDde    CDde     FBsu

GK

As you can see, I added two attack duties - one to the LB and the other to the RW - in order to add some variety and penetration to your possession style, so that you can pose more of a threat in attack. The FBat will naturally overlap the IFsu, with the DLP - as the only PM instead of the two you initially employed - in the MCL serving both to provide defensive cover and organize play from deeper areas. Now the DM has a more defense-minded role in the sense that he is primarily occupied with screening the back-line (my preference would be anchor or HB, but maybe you personally prefer standard DM on defend).

I also changed the no-nonsense CB to standard CB, because if you want to play a possession style and build from the back, then you don't need a defender who tends to hoof the ball long more often than not (BPD would be a better option than NCB, but only if you have a player with suitable attributes - passing, vision, first touch, decisions, technique, anticipation, composure).

What about team instructions? I wouldn't use both shorter passing and low tempo at the same time, especially not on Balanced mentality, which is already relatively low-risk from the perspective of the style of football you (arguably) want to implement. In this particular case, these would be my starting team instructions:

- shorter passing, play out of defence, work ball into box and standard width (instructions you may occasionally consider employing - be more expressive, overlap right)

- distribute to CBs and FBs (instructions you may occasionally consider employing - counter, counter-press)

- higher DL, higher LOE, standard (default) pressing urgency and prevent short GKD

And that's it. Quite simple.

If you want to create a more counter-attacking version of the tactic - drop the LOE a notch (to standard), remove the Prevent short GKD, up the tempo a notch (to higher), add early crosses and optionally pass into space.

[fwanti]

First, thanks for the answer.

33 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

In defense, you seem to play with higher both DL and LOE, but at the same time use less urgent pressing. It's not clear to me what's your reasoning behind such a defensive setup?

Ahhh, my understanding of pressing in the game was actually the opposite. I thought that in a counter attacking style, i woulde employ intensive pressing with a lower DL and LOE, so that i could take the ball faster and counter attack.

39 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

...with the DLP - as the only PM instead of the two you initially employed - in the MCL serving both to provide defensive cover and organize play from deeper areas.

So, in my understanding, the DPL will cover for the LB when he attacks, correct? As he doesn't go up the field as much.

And does the B2B offer an advantage offensively in this case? Compared to a APL i mean.

 

42 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

Then you use shorter passing and lower tempo on Balanced mentality. meaning your build-up play might be (needlessly) too slow. 

In which situation should i use a slower tempo? I thought in a possesion based style it would benefit keeping possession.

[Experienced Defender]

1 hour ago, fwanti said:

Ahhh, my understanding of pressing in the game was actually the opposite. I thought that in a counter attacking style, i woulde employ intensive pressing with a lower DL and LOE, so that i could take the ball faster and counter attack.

That's the case in counter-attacking preset tactics, but these tactics employ a lower mentality (cautious). 

 

1 hour ago, fwanti said:

So, in my understanding, the DPL will cover for the LB when he attacks, correct? As he doesn't go up the field as much.

Yes, on condition that the DLP has good/decent defensive attributes.

 

1 hour ago, fwanti said:

And does the B2B offer an advantage offensively in this case? Compared to a APL i mean.

BBM (B2B) offers support both in attack and defense. Having an AP alongside another PM (DLP) would be a needless overkill. In a different tactic, you could use a CM on attack (or even mezzala) instead of BBM. I opted for a BBM simply because you already used that role in your initial tactic. You need to consider each role as part of the whole system, not in isolation. 

 

1 hour ago, fwanti said:

In which situation should i use a slower tempo? I thought in a possesion based style it would benefit keeping possession

It does help to keep possession, but I guess you don't want possession just for the sake of possession. Rather, you should look to translate that possession into something tangible. With shorter passing under Balanced mentality (plus POD and WBiB), tempo will already be low enough to allow for possession football. When managing a good/top team, you can even play with higher tempo and on Positive mentality, and still dominate possession, because your players are good enough to play that way. Remember that mentality affects everything.

When lower tempo makes sense is when you play on Attacking mentality and want to prevent the players from rushing play too much. In that case, even employing both shorter passing and lower tempo at the same time makes sense. But on lower mentalities - including Balanced - it slows play down more than is necessary, without providing you with any advantage in some other aspect of the game. So it can only be useful for solely defensive purposes (keeping the ball as much as possible only to prevent the opposition from having it).