Advise on this tactic

[nidhar.ram]

I like to play free flowing games where I different passing options  and my players use the ball effectively. Below is the tactic I have set-up in my Liverpool save. Is this balanced and helps achieve my style? I have two games left in preseason, so this is the right time to tweak before the season kicks off. Appreciate your help.

[Experienced Defender]

6 hours ago, nidhar.ram said:

 

6 hours ago, nidhar.ram said:

I like to play free flowing games where I different passing options  and my players use the ball effectively. Below is the tactic I have set-up in my Liverpool save. Is this balanced and helps achieve my style? I have two games left in preseason, so this is the right time to tweak before the season kicks off. Appreciate your help

First off, you are using 2 playmakers in close vicinity, which is basically a tactical overkill. Plus, you don't have a single player on attack duty except for the striker, which means your team is likely going to lack penetration up front. On the other hand, this is slightly mitigated by the attacking mentality, as your players are encouraged to get forward more boldly. Anyway, you still need one CM on attack duty. 

Now, taking into account both the lack of deep runners (i.e. no attack duties in the midfield) and the overkill of 2 PMs, here is what I would change first:

DLFat

XX                                YY

ZZ   MEZat

So what now remains to be decided is - which of the 2 PMs you should remove. I personally would either remove the AP and replace him with a more holding/covering role to avoid making the midfield overly adventurous given that there already is a mezzala as an inherently attack-minded and highly mobile role even on support duty (let alone attack). Keeping that in mind, here are options I would suggest for you to consider:

CAR/BWMsu   MEZat

DLPde

Or:

DLPsu     MEZat

HB

This would allow you to make the left back more attack-minded by giving him the attack duty - either FB on attack or WB on attack (depending on how good/capable both he himself and those supposed to cover for him generally are).

If you do decide to play the LB on attack duty following my suggestions, then you definitely don't need the Overlap left (or at least use it very carefully). The same basically applies to the overlap right as well (in relation to changing the mezzala's duty into attack).

There are a couple more things you may want to consider, but let's go step by step. I would first like to hear what do you think about the proposed tweaks and whether you have any questions or suggestions?

 

[Experienced Defender]

Btw, I've just noticed that too many of your players are not from the current LFC squad, so I hope this is not the first season in the game (2019/20)? Because if you have changed so many players instantly, it is likely to have an adverse effect even if the tactic itself is "perfect". 

[nidhar.ram]

3 hours ago, Experienced Defender said:

 

First off, you are using 2 playmakers in close vicinity, which is basically a tactical overkill. Plus, you don't have a single player on attack duty except for the striker, which means your team is likely going to lack penetration up front. On the other hand, this is slightly mitigated by the attacking mentality, as your players are encouraged to get forward more boldly. Anyway, you still need one CM on attack duty. 

Now, taking into account both the lack of deep runners (i.e. no attack duties in the midfield) and the overkill of 2 PMs, here is what I would change first:

DLFat

XX                                YY

ZZ   MEZat

So what now remains to be decided is - which of the 2 PMs you should remove. I personally would either remove the AP and replace him with a more holding/covering role to avoid making the midfield overly adventurous given that there already is a mezzala as an inherently attack-minded and highly mobile role even on support duty (let alone attack). Keeping that in mind, here are options I would suggest for you to consider:

CAR/BWMsu   MEZat

DLPde

Or:

DLPsu     MEZat

HB

This would allow you to make the left back more attack-minded by giving him the attack duty - either FB on attack or WB on attack (depending on how good/capable both he himself and those supposed to cover for him generally are).

If you do decide to play the LB on attack duty following my suggestions, then you definitely don't need the Overlap left (or at least use it very carefully). The same basically applies to the overlap right as well (in relation to changing the mezzala's duty into attack).

There are a couple more things you may want to consider, but let's go step by step. I would first like to hear what do you think about the proposed tweaks and whether you have any questions or suggestions?

Thanks for your feedback. Really appreciated.

The DLP's duty is to keep the ball while the AP will drive forward to make passes to front 3 or my bombing wing backs. But it makes sense in not having them close as sometimes I see they are just way too close and the balls gets too the wings too early only for them to run to the byline.

Here is my tweaked version..

My question now is I have two quality BPD who call bring the call and make long passes and a DLP in front of him who will always look to get the ball. How do I mitigate this?  This set-up might not get the best out of either the BPD or DLP in an attacking sense. Your thoughts on this?

[nidhar.ram]

3 hours ago, Experienced Defender said:

Btw, I've just noticed that too many of your players are not from the current LFC squad, so I hope this is not the first season in the game (2019/20)? Because if you have changed so many players instantly, it is likely to have an adverse effect even if the tactic itself is "perfect". 

That's right. I have taken duties over from Klopp in the summer of 2024.

[targetthyself]

16 minutes ago, nidhar.ram said:

Thanks for your feedback. Really appreciated.

The DLP's duty is to keep the ball while the AP will drive forward to make passes to front 3 or my bombing wing backs. But it makes sense in not having them close as sometimes I see they are just way too close and the balls gets too the wings too early only for them to run to the byline.

Here is my tweaked version..

My question now is I have two quality BPD who call bring the call and make long passes and a DLP in front of him who will always look to get the ball. How do I mitigate this?  This set-up might not get the best out of either the BPD or DLP in an attacking sense. Your thoughts on this?

Option 1: Move the DLP into the midfield.

Option 2: Swap to an Anchor, or a DM

Option3: Swap to CDs and tell them to take more risks. 

 

I also don't think a CAR is necessary and probably a basic CM would be better.

Edited February 20, 2020 by targetthyself

[Experienced Defender]

10 hours ago, nidhar.ram said:

The setup of roles and duties looks good now 

In terms of instructions, I would remove both overlaps, especially the left one, because you already have a natural overlap there by virtue of the roles on that flank. An Overlap TI increases the mentality of the fullback, and given that your LB is already on attack duty - plus the attacking team mentality - he is already going to bomb forward a lot and provide overlaps naturally even without the instruction. If you want to encourage him to provide even more overlaps, you can change his role into WB on attack.

It's also possible that you'll need to tweak some other in-possession instructions as well, because of the attacking team mentality. So if you notice that your players tend to lose possession needlessly and frequently, you can apply shorter passing and/or slightly lower tempo. If you played on the Positive (instead of attacking), this may not be necessary. Anyway, watch the matches and see whether this kind of tweaks is needed or not.

In transition, I am not sure that you need a specific type of GK distribution, given that you already use the Play out of defence TI and have a sweeper keeper. So I would remove all 3 in-transition instructions and let the keeper decide how and whom to distribute the ball depending on the situation at any given point. 

10 hours ago, nidhar.ram said:

My question now is I have two quality BPD who call bring the call and make long passes and a DLP in front of him who will always look to get the ball. How do I mitigate this?  This set-up might not get the best out of either the BPD or DLP in an attacking sense. Your thoughts on this?

I personally prefer not to use more than one BPD, even if both my CBs are good enough to play the role. Not only that it can lead to too many speculative long passes, but also does not make much sense when there is a playmaker immediately in front of them. Plus you also have a SK, who likewise tend to play those long speculative passes. This will be somewhat mitigated by the Play out of defence TI; but I'm not sure that will be enough. So think once again whether you really need 2 BPDs, especially when there are both a SK and PM in their immediate vicinity. 

[nidhar.ram]

Thanks for the feedback. I have now tweaked and have got two tactics with different mentality and slight modification to midfield.

4 games into the season still unbeaten and performing well even against stronger sides.