Advice for all

[The Otter]

If anyone would like help developing a tactic that isn't working quite so well than let me know in here and I'll help as good as I can

 

[bigbang1021999]

help me with this one please

View attachment 151907View attachment 151907

 

[jee]

Then you will have a great challenge with me.

In every save, happens the same. I start playing quite well, scoring a lot and not conceeding much. Last save i tried: first 19 games, 14 w, 5 d. Next 19, 8 w, 3 d, 8 l, conceeding more and scoring the same.


Everything works well during the first 20 games.


Problem(s) –
As i said, after 20 games (more or less) i start losing like crazy. In almost every game, first 20 mins i'm already losing 1 or 2-0. I try with different tactics and tweaking them but it is the same. The best i managed is, in my second season, i dropped my bwm and dlp to dmc an then i won 8 games in a row, but after that again losing and losing.

When i say losing and losing i mean, for instance, 0-4 against empoli with 25 shots on goal, 4 ccc and 5 hc for them. As I said, Last save i tried: first 19 games, 14 w, 5 d. Next 19, 8 w, 3 d, 8 l, conceeding more and scoring the same.

This is what consistently happens, so there is something i'm doing wrong.


Shape/formation –
I have 2 differen tactics:

4-0-2-3-1
Gk-de
fb-su cd-de cd-de fb-at
bwm-su dlp-de
w-at ss-at w-su
dlf-su

TIs: Counter, tight marking, get stuck in, clear ball to flanks, more direct passing.
OIs: Tight marking always, closing down always, tackle hard and show onto weaker foot, to the following positions: dr,dl,wbr,wbl,mr,ml,amr,aml, stc, stcl, sctr.
PIs:
Dr, dl, amr, aml: tackle harder, mark tighter.
Cd-de: tackle harder, mark tighter, close down more
Bwm: shoot more often
Dlf: hold position.

The idea of this tactic is quite simple: quick transitions, send the ball to my wings, and crosses. It works quite well, i score a lot from crosses and conceed not much. I get some red cards, but i'm ok with as long as i'm telling my players to tackle hard.
I've been working in this tactic for 3 months until it worked, or, at least, seemed to work. Before that, i was consistently sacked after 10 games.
OIs and PIs of my wide players are the way i found to stop conceeding from crosses. It works during the first 20 games.
PIs of my cd-de. This is to avoid shots long shots and reduce the space between cd-de and midfield.

I've been told that my tactic stops working because opponent plays more defensive so i don't have space to exploit.

f i'm being countered all day, the best way to avoid it is.... not attacking. I'm not going to attack. If the opponent attacks i will counter. If the opponent doesn't attack then the match will end 0-0 (not always, i know) because nobody is going to attack.
At this point, i'll asume that attacking is the same than possession; if i don't have the possession, if i don't attack, then i can't lose possession and the opponent can't counter me.

I experienced that trying to retain possession without creating chances results on counters against. Maybe it works for the last 10 minutes, but i'm pretty sure i can't do it for 90 minutes.

So, attacking means possession.

I know it is not possible to score all goals from counters, so we'll need a second plan. This second plan will be very simple. Just send long balls to the flanks and cross. If it works, nice. If it doesn't i just want to be sure that they don't counter me. That suits perfectly with my second plan because if it doesn't work i will lose the ball quickly (attacking=possession).

I also know that my tactic and instructions are how my team will play when a counter is not triggered.

What i will explain is also my interpetration of the art of counterattacking.

First question, is that general conclusion ok?

So the first objective is not attacking at all. I don't want the ball. First i have to say is i have no clear idea how to do it. I say that because the more defensive mentality i use the more possession i have; in other words, the more conservative, the more time i am attacking (attacking=possession).

Anyway, i think i must use a defensive mentality, and i choose counter, because it is the most "attacking" (and here attacking means the opposite of possesion, here means direct passing) conservative mentality, so i will play defensive but with less possession that contain and defensive.

Do you understand what i'm trying to explain? If you don't, tell me, please, i know my english is not the best.

Also counter mentality is the one that is supposed to suit better with a counterattacking tactic, so it is clear. I set counter mentality.

Second question, is that conclusion ok?

Next step: team shape. I read that, in general terms, fluid means less space and more freedom, and structured means more space and less freedom. What i exactly want is no space and no freedom, but that is impossible. So i will just set flexible.


Third question, is that conclusion ok?

Formation

gk-de. Not much to say.

lfb-de. I want him to focus on defense.
cd-de. Not much to say.
bpd-de. Important role. I want him to start my counters. I will set more risky passing PI.
lfb-de. I want him to focus on defense.

w-at. As i said before, if i'm not countering we'll send long balls to the flanks so we need wingers to cross.
cm-de. I want a strong midfield.
dlp-su. I want a strong midfield, so i set 2 holders. Dlp will also the starter (along with bpd) of my counters/long balls to wingers. I will set more risky passing PI.
w-at. Already explained.

df-de. I want one of my strikers involved in defense, so this is the best role. Also i noted that df drops deep so he'll be able to link with my dlp who is a holder and won't make forward runs. I'm considering to set my df-de manmarking an opponent midfielder, specially if they outnumber me there.
poacher. I know a poacher can end up isolated, so i'm very open to change this role. Anyway, i think poacher is a good option because he will be inside the box to finish crosses. This is what i expect from him: focus on finishing and anyhting else, so if he gets uninvolved is not a problem.

Other instructions.
I set TI get stuck in because i want my players to be very aggresive. I mean, if an opponent dribbles one of my players, just make a foul immediately.
Along with that, i set PI tackle harder to all my players.

As long as i want long and direct passing to the flanks, i set TI clear ball to flanks.

I see bpd has more risky passes by default so i set this Pi only to me dlp-su.

I see cm-de has close down more by default. I'm afraid of him losing position, so i set close down much less PI.

Finally, i don't want my poacher to be too static so i set PI move into channels PI.


Last question, is that conclusion ok?
Do you see big mistakes in what i set? I mean, before playing a game, can you identify contradictions or something that is clearly wrong? Is all that i said reasonable? Is there anything specially wrong? Would you change anything for sure because it is a clear mistake?

 

[jee]

've played some games and results were absolutely awful.

1. I'm not triggering any counter. Sometimes we have the chance to, but my players choose wrong passing options o pass the ball to the opponent.

2. Actually, the one who is being countered is me because i still have the possession.

3. I have too much possession (50-60%). My players start short passing stupidly, going nowhere. This only produces losing the ball far from my box, so my 2 cb who are tall and slow have acres of space behind them.

4. My df-de is acting like a creator. The reason of this is the short passing style we are playing. When we are attacking, he comes deep to get the ball trying to create something. This is just the opposite of what i wanted. What i want i send the ball to the flanks and cross. The poacher is inside the box. If we don't score it is not a problem. The problem is having the possession.

5. Not enough fauls. If we can't stop a player FAUL, immediately.

6. Wide opponent's players have a lot of space. That's not a big problem because the only thing they can do is to cross and i'm so packed with 2 lines of 4 that i'm dramatically outnumbering them inside the box so i can clear easily. Also, my two cd-de are good at jumping and heading. To sum up, their crosses are not effective.

7. Most of the goals i conceed come from the middle. Pattern is: one striker receives the ball surrounded by my 2 cd and cm (4 against 1), turns around (!!!) and passes the ball between my two cd-de or 1 cd and fb.

8. My defense is not bad. When we are packed, most of the time the opponent tries to cross and we defend well the cross. They don't have space to attack.

9. I'm not crossing at all. My wingers are too narrow, so when they receive the ball can't cross (they don't have space).

10. I'm not clearing ball to flanks. That's obviusly because my wingers are narrow and deep so there is nobody to receive clearances.


Well, these are the problems. Solutions:

1. How i expect my team to counterattack? I need to play in my own half, so this means using a shape that allows me to have numbers in my own half. I have two lines of 4 packed, so when i win the ball back i have players well placed for counter attacks. Then what should happen is the following.

a) win the ball back
b) Pass to dlp or bpd.
c) Wingers bomb forward.

At this moment, dlp should have at least 4 options of passing: wingers and strikers. To trigger a counter should be "easy".

2,3, 4, 9 and 10. I'll quit the clear ball to flanks TI. It is producing no effect. As long as i want to "lose" the ball quickly, i'll set go route one. I want crosses so i will set exploit left and right flank. What i expect here is quickly send the ball to one flank and cross. Here i could also set hit early crosses TI, but i think it is not needed, because i already selected go route one and my wingers have by default cross more often PI.

5. I don't know what else i can do about that.

6. As long as i'm not conceeding from crosses, i won't change anything.

7. I'll set close down more PI to Cd-de. I think they are going to close down more strikers so they shouldn't be able to turn around. I also will reduce the space (already very little) between cm and cd.

Am i going in the right direction?

 

[jee]

Well i can answer it on my own.


No, i'm not in the right direction.


1. Still have too much possession. We win the ball back to fast.
2. We are losing the shape more than before changes.
3. DF-de closes down too much and still acting like a creator.
4. The one who is countered is me.
5. We are too high, so cd-de have a lot of space behind.
6. We are not attacking down the flanks.
7. Problems defending set pieces. The opponent most of the times manages to head.


Solutions.


I realized that what i want is a mix of two mentalities: when defending, counter, when attacking, control. Counter helps to retain the shape and control means rushing forward when attacking. So i'll set standard mentality. But, that's important, i don't want standard mentality, i want counter when defending an control when attacking, so i'll have to tweak the standart mentality to get what i want.
Counter has deeper d-line and close down less when defending and control has more agressive passing style, so i set, from standard mentality: d-line slightly deeper, close down much less, pass into space, more direct passing.


Let's see what happens.