Need help with my tactic

[Sahlus]

Hey, I would be extremely grateful if someone could help me with my tactic. The aim is to patiently pass the ball around retaining possession until the opportunity for a through ball opens up. Space is supposed to be created by the striker and the two attacking midfielders which are free to roam and move into channels.

There are several issues I am encountering which I don't know how to overcome:

- My analyst always tells me that we are not holding onto possession well in the final third and in some games we do have very little possession despite the entire system being set up to have high possession.

- don't score nearly as much as I would like us to (even though all three "strikers" have 16+ finishing and do get some pretty good shot opportunities. Some games we have lots of possession, lots of shots and lots of them on target, still we don't seem to score a lot.

- We concede WAY too many goals. Usually balls over the top of my defense (tried variations with no offside trap and a covering defender (who is very fast and has great anticipation and marking etc) but we still concede a lot. We also concede a lot from set pieces even though my defenders are, on average, the tallest in the league.

Here is the tactic: https://imgur.com/a/7qk2rze

I can gladly post some more screenshots of different aspects if that helps.

Thanks a lot already!

[Experienced Defender]

Okay, let's begin with your defensive issues: 

18 hours ago, Sahlus said:

We concede WAY too many goals. Usually balls over the top of my defense (tried variations with no offside trap and a covering defender (who is very fast and has great anticipation and marking etc) but we still concede a lot

No surprise that you are conceding a lot given how aggressive (risky) your manner of defending is. Not only are you playing with a high D-line, but you also use extremely urgent pressing at the same time, which makes your players - including the defenders - being out of defensive shape too much due to coming out of their positions early and aggressively to execute the pressing. And a high-risk mentality (positive in this case) also adds to this problem, because the team mentality automatically affects all elements of a tactic, including how aggressive or passive players will be when defending. 

Advice: since you play on a high mentality + a top-heavy formation without a DM + high DL and LOE, the first thing you should do is drop the pressing urgency to default. You may even consider dropping the LOE a notch - to standard - which would improve your vertical compactness. Therefore - higher DL, standard LOE and default pressing urgency.

If after these tweaks you notice that you are still overly vulnerable to the balls over the top (and generally behind your defense), the next step is to remove the Counter-press (counter-press is generally a risky instruction if you don't have the right type of players to execute it effectively). And if the issue remains even after the removal of counter-press, then it definitely means your defense is not good enough to play with a high D-line. In that case, the next step is to drop the DL to standard. Or - if you don't want that  - drop the mentality a bit (to Balanced instead of Positive), because - as I explained - the lower mentality will make your high DL slightly less high. 

And remember one thing: no matter how good your defenders are in terms of their attributes, their quality itself is absolutely no guarantee of strong and solid defensive performance, because (good) defending is not only about having good defenders. It's a responsibility of the team as a whole. Therefore, your entire tactic needs to be solid as well.

When it comes to your in-possession instructions, I would definitely remove the Focus play through the middle. If you are a team that is expected to dominate possession and control the game in most of your matches - which I suppose is the case, given how you described your desired style of play - then there is no logic in trying to focus your attacks through the very area that the opposition will look to defend in big numbers. On top of that, your formation is already narrow by default, which is just another reason why you should remove Focus through the middle. Instead you need more variety.

Which leads us to the next problematic element of your tactic - one-dimensionality of your setup of roles and duties. There is no difference between your right and left flanks, as well as right and left side of your attacking midfield area. This makes it easier for the opposition to defend, simple because your attacks are too predictable. 

So here is an example of how you can change the setup of roles and duties to make it more diverse:

PO/PFat

AMsu   ENG/APsu   AMat

CMde    CAR

FBat      BPDde    CDde     WBsu

SKsu

As you can see, I did not change only your fullbacks' and AMC's roles/duties, but also the striker and one CM. The reason I changed the DLP into CAR is that you already have a PM in the AMC spot (and here I also put the enganche, just as a possible option for you to consider, but not necessarily use). I mean, you can have 2 PMs so close to each other if you want, but in my view it's a bit of an overkill. You already have a lot of possession-friendly team instructions - short pass, low tempo, PoD and WBiB - so you really don't need two playmaker roles one literally behind the other. 

Now, why did I change - i.e. suggested changing - the striker's role from CF into poacher or PF on attack duty. First, CF - based on my experience - tends to work better when he does not have too many teammates in positions near him. Second, CF is essentially a creator type of striker role, and you already have another creator role behind him - a playmaker (either APsu or enganche, in case you decide to give it a try). So if you have a creator in an AMC position, then the lone striker usually works better when employed in a simple runner/scorer role (there may be a couple of exceptions, but that's another story). 

If, however, you insist on playing the lone striker as a CF, then at least change his duty to attack instead of support. 

And yes - there is one more instruction I personally would remove, and it's the Dribble less. Especially given that you don't have a single role (except for the CF) that is hard-coded to dribble more. So if you want to discourage particular players from dribbling (for whatever reason), you can do it through their player instructions.

Questions?

[Sahlus]

Hi, thanks a lot for the lengthy reply! I'm going to try out the suggested changes and see how it works out. You have given me a lot of insight into strategical decisions I did not have before, thanks a lot for that!

I do have some questions:

1) Is it really that important to set up the formation differently on the left and right side? 

2) Should I use any PIs? Such as shoot less for the fullbacks?

Thanks for your time!

 

[toon army 06]

Anyone know how to post my Tactic on here? I'm hoping for some help with mine to

[Sahlus]

just screenshot it and attach file before posting

[toon army 06]

44 minutes ago, Sahlus said:

just screenshot it and attach file before posting

How do you do that again?

 

[Johnny Ace]

21 minutes ago, toon army 06 said:

How do you do that again?

 

I always use CTRL & PRT SCRN, paste into paint & crop the pic, save it & attach it to your post 

[Experienced Defender]

2 hours ago, Sahlus said:

1) Is it really that important to set up the formation differently on the left and right side?

Well, it's not always necessary, but variety is generally welcome (and works better than one-dimensionality, both in FM and real-life football). If you were as good a tactician as @Rashidi (to name just a most notable example), you would probably be able to create a successful tactic even if it's one-dimensional in terms of roles and duties, because Rashidi is a top-class tactical genius (one of the few), who knows exactly what, how and when he is doing. Btw, player traits (can) also play a big part when it comes to creating an one-dimensonal tactic that is successful. 

 

2 hours ago, Sahlus said:

2) Should I use any PIs? Such as shoot less for the fullbacks?

Not necessarily. Depends on what you want. I generally tend to use pretty few PIs, because I don't want to limit my players' options too much. I mean, you can tell the fullbacks to shoot less if that's so much important to you, but I personally wouldn't be too bothered about that. 

[toon army 06]

36 minutes ago, Johnny Ace said:

I always use CTRL & PRT SCRN, paste into paint & crop the pic, save it & attach it to your post 

That's not working either is Alt+F9, the only one that works is saving to steam.

How can I upload it from steam to here?

[toon army 06]

It's fine I know how to do it now

[Rashidi]

 

On windows screenshot is F12 I think or you can check preferences, shortcuts to find out what key it is.

On 06/12/2019 at 02:49, Sahlus said:

- My analyst always tells me that we are not holding onto possession well in the final third and in some games we do have very little possession despite the entire system being set up to have high possession.

The analysts gives you general information, ultimately you should know your own system because his assessment does not take your tactical choices into account. For example you could be set up on positive playing a counter attacking tactic which comes from your low loe. In this case, you would have little possession in the final third, but you could have loads of possession in your own third and in midfield which is the general nature of counter attacking systems. So here I would ignore that advice. The analyst information is useful only in as far as you being able to see how it relates to your own tactical choices.

On 06/12/2019 at 02:49, Sahlus said:

- don't score nearly as much as I would like us to (even though all three "strikers" have 16+ finishing and do get some pretty good shot opportunities. Some games we have lots of possession, lots of shots and lots of them on target, still we don't seem to score a lot.

Well this is usually indicative of low quality chances. You need to once again understand the kind of chances you are creating. In football typically most goals come from transition failures, ie. A team is attacking, then fails in midfield and another breaks through and scores. Typically you will hear teams are being "punished for their mistakes". Take a look at your own system and the kinds of shots you are creating. Where are these coming from, just because a tactic is generating loads of shots doesn't mean they are quality chances. Speaking of chances, I do not trust the way clear cut chances are calculated in the game. A few days ago I did a livestream, at half time it said I had 5 clear cut chances, then I broke down those chances on the livestream and explained how these were misleading. Only 1 chance was a clear cut chance, the rest of the chances weren't good enough. Players either didn't have enough time to take a shot, the chances were from too narrow an angle, or these were just too far away to be considered clear cut chances.

I typically don't have an issue creating good chances, naturally with average sides it becomes that much harder because defences are actually better. In this case, I am always gunning for transitional failures so i can score better goals. So i invite teams out to play their football and break them down in midfield and use quick transitions to score goals.

This is an extreme example. People in GD were complaining that one can't play on attacking mentalities, or one can't play on low and standard lines of engagement. So for a laugh i decided to play on very attacking mentality and a low line of engagement. My goals are off transitional failures. The only way i could have played on very attacking mentality was by setting the right defensive line, and the right defensive width and playing the right roles in my system with the right duties. You will see in one transition how we protect against the long diagonal.

 

On 06/12/2019 at 02:49, Sahlus said:

We concede WAY too many goals. Usually balls over the top of my defense (tried variations with no offside trap and a covering defender (who is very fast and has great anticipation and marking etc) but we still concede a lot. We also concede a lot from set pieces even though my defenders are, on average, the tallest in the league.

When goals like these are conceded its a function of two things: A defensive line that could be too high, your defensive width is incorrect or your players are just poor at reading the game. Sometimes it can be all three. Examples of each:

1. Defensive line too high

When this is too high, players stand further away from goal. This increases travel distance when they have to defend. If you are playing on higher mentalities this is exacerbated. Players need to recover and get back to positions. Its fairly easy to score goals against high defensive lines where defenders are slow

2. Defensive width incorrect

If you are narrow vs a wide system then sometimes you allow opposition to work the flanks too easily. If you are on attack, you may not have wider support players helping to defend transitions. As a result it opens channels up. Reverse is true for wide systems playing with an incorrect role, eg a halfback. A wide system with a halfback played with urgent pressing as a team instruction could see the centre opened up too easily. Choosing the right defensive width is also important in the game.

3. Poor players - Positioning, anticipation, concentration are important as mental attributes for any system that wants to be played on standard and higher DL

Set pieces need to be done right. There are several positions that need players with good jumping reach. You need to check your own tactic to see if the right players are marking those positions. Sounds like this is something you are not doing.

 

[Rashidi]

If you are asking whether you need to set up Player instructions and Team instructions then perhaps you need to learn a bit more about them before using them, I would suggest avoiding them and learning what they can do. Speaking of which I will pop a link to my team instructions video that explains how I use them as sets to achieve a tactical style. 

I am trying to avoid typing walls of text, and have done videos to explain certain things, it makes it more efficient so that these also don't get lost ultimately within forum posts.

[Sahlus]

Thank you guys for all your help! I'll make sure to check out the videos you posted and try and set my team up according to those suggestions