Team of Pathetic losers

[ofiry]

Hi all,
I'm managing Gillingham(playoff candidate) from the 2nd league. This is the beginning of my first season. At the start of the season I've fired all staff and a hired a new quality staff, I've also strengthen a bit my squad with a striker & full back.
But things look grim from our side. We’ve lost the 1st​ round on the cup and after 6 games only managed to barely win at one.
The thing is... I'm tactically preparing my team for the game according to opposition strength & weaknesses and my team plays well through 80 minutes, but then they just seem to stop playing. No matter which substitute or tactical instruction I make I find myself concedes 1-2 goals at the last 10 minutes. This is very frustrating! Yesterday for example I've decided to watch all the game to diagnose the problem, for 75 minutes my team played nicely and leading 1:0 from the 20 minute. (We were slight favorite and playing away).
At the end of the game I've noticed my team can't seem to possess the ball & 2 many opportunities for the opposite are taking place, so I've changed from balance to defensive. But even after the change their striker got 2 opportunities of 1 on 1 on my goalkeeper. Luckily he missed, but for all 10 last minutes there were countless of opportunities for the opposite and my team couldn’t seem to connect simple passes, and most of time just cleared the ball outside or to the opposition defenders legs (When I saw that I've changed to shorter passing style and slow tempo. didn't help). At the end we lost 2:1 (conceded 2 goals at the last 5 minutes).

I don't know what to do, it's really frustrating. Can you please tell me what I do wrong?

 

[Jamo456]

If you're looking to keep possession towards the end of the game, then you're best to bring on a midfielder with good passing and decisions for one of your strikers, and set him as your target man and playmaker as it gives you an extra option in midfield and will ensure that players look for him, and he can tidy things up, just spraying passes around. If the opposition are creating too many CCC's, then you're probably best to play with a deeper defensive line so you're more likely to be restricting them to long shots and they on't get in behind.

 

[ofiry]

Hi Jamo, Thanks for your response. I did change my defense line to deeper. It didn't help cause I saw their striker get's 1 on 1 opportunities. I do have a young midfielder whom I set as deep lying playmaker. by target man you mean the midfielder or striker? can I set my playmaker as a target man too? I also have a strong striker as target man

 

[Jamo456]

Yeah, set your playmaker as your target man with supply to feet, the option to do this is at the bottom of the team instructions page, with your striker as target man it means that your outfield players are looking for him, likely with more ambitious passes, meaning a loss in possession.

 

[ofiry]

10x Jamo, I'll try it out

 

[Bluehawk]

If your team can´t seem to pass the bass well enough, try playing with a direct approach. They are probally struggling because their football culture is different than the philosophy you are trying to adapt them, and/or their passing and off the ball are not good enough for this. Your defensive issues could be a high defensive line, or not changing your players width. I wouldn´t suggest changing tactics very often, don´t try to build up tactics by having only your opposition as style, but try to use your team strong points. If that won´t help much, try approaching a more conservative game style. Make sure you are giving your players correct roles and instructions too. Good luck!

 

[miskell99]

I had a similar problem what I discovered was that as soon as my fullbacks dropped below 70% stamina they collapsed and I conceded numerous goals from direct play or pace down the wings as a result they are my two guaranteed subs every game. Your midfield could be tiring as you mention misconnecting passes would be good to analyse how strikers were presented one on ones be it direct play or passing through your defence generally tells you a lot.