4-1-2-2-1 help, lacking creativity!

[Tmel]

I?m looking for a bit of tactical help with my Fulham team. Firstly, I?ve read the twelve steps and the articles by llama3 which were both great reads and very informative so thanks for that. I?m in my second season and feel I have a fairly decent squad at my disposal but it?s just not clicking ? I?m haven?t been above 40-45% possession all season (usually 30%-40% against big teams) and it?s also quite rare that I have more shots than my opponent or create more CCCs. I haven?t actually started the season badly, I?m 10th after about 10 games but I?ve had 6 draws and haven?t won a game by more than one goal. My squad is as follows:

GKs: Stekelenburg, Casteels
DR: Van Der Wiel (Loan), Reither
DL: Sanchez Mino, Mendy (loan)
DC: Balanta, Amorebieta, Hangeland, Rever
MC: Fernando, Parker, Zucculini, Illarramendi, Honda
AML: Vitninho, Insigne (loan), Brandt
AMR: Candreva, Salvio (loan)
ST: Gomis, Barbosa

Now I do realise that I?ve made a lot of changes to my squad so far so it may take a while to gel. I?m currently playing a 4-1-2-2-1 trying to implement what I?ve learnt from the guides:

Counter, Balanced/Fluid: Retain possession, shorter passing, pass into space, deeper defensive line (although I have tinkered with not using them ? especially the defensive line). No player instructions.

------------GK---------------
FB(A) DC(D) DC(D) WB(S)
------------DLP(S)----------
-----CM(D)---AP(A)----
W(S)--------------------IF(A)
-----------DLF(S)------------

Or if I start Fernando then he plays as DMC as an Anchorman(D) and Illaramendi plays as the CMR as CM(S) or DLP(S). So essentially my central midfielder triangle always have 1 defend, 1 support and 1 attack. And the attacking AP is always on the side of the less attacking full back. I may not be Barcelona but I feel I have a pretty decent first XI with the likes of Stekelenburg, Balanta, Fernando, Illaremendi, Honda, Insigne and Candreva but at the moment my strikers and AML/AMR just aren?t getting goals with set pieces or Honda providing my main goal threat.

I did experiment with a 2-3-1-3-1 that I saw someone have great success with in another thread (2 CBS, 1 HB, 2 WBs, 1 DLP, 2 IFs, 1 SS/AP, 1 DLF) which helped me have a lot more possession but failed to actually create many chances at all.

Apologies for not being able to give any screenshots as I?m at work but I?ve tried to give as much detail as possible, any help would be greatly appreciated!​

 

[Tmel]

The halos should be A for attack!

 

[callamity]

Hey, are you watching matches in atleast comprehensive to see where your attacks are breaking down?

I initially started with this shape, and in matches my wide men, (wingers in mine i see you have an IF also), were playing too far up the pitch and had their backs to the goal, which lead to them playing a pass back or loosing the ball, this might not be an issue for you but it is somewhere to start looking

 

[Claud]

For this formation, 4-1-2-2-1, I would play with attacking mentality every game except those against first 4-5 teams, when I would use counter. I'm not the fan of possession, I'm fan of goals. I would use Candreva as winger attack, not support and you'll see some goals from him. You should use "much deeper defensiv line" or "drop deeper" only if your defenders are surpassed by pacey opposition's attackers. Otherwise, is not a good tactic because you will have to pass a lot from defenders to get out from your half and this give the enemy the chance to make pressing and to intercept the ball into your half. I think is better to lose the ball in their half. So, your defenders line should stay higher. For those three attackers (ST, AMR, AML) I would instruct "Roam from position" to give them more liberty to find gaps in enemy's defense and that will help instruction "Pass into space".

 

[dickdastardly]

For your team instructions, add overlap. This will have your players pass the ball back to the defenders if they are under pressure and will help raise your possession. It will slow down your attack, but if you are having possession issues, you can add it to your tactic until the players get more acclimated with each other