Advice for Chelsea side with many new faces

[anfieldreds09]

It's my first season with Chelsea and I've made several key signings (look at pic below to see all players) and am now trying to find a tactic that I really like and that works well with who I have.

I have very mixed outcomes and lately, it's been more worse than good (losing to West Brom 3-0, dear god... don't even know what happened there, and then to newcastle 2-1). Clearly something isn't working (even if I did come back from 2-0 in the 2nd half to beat Man U 3-2 in a last minute free kick from Lampard... stunning!).

But I need something that will consistently get good results. Right now, I've been using a 3-5-2 (with a DM, 2 CMs, and 2 higher wingers) or a 4-5-1 (same thing, but 1 more defender and 1 less striker).

I keep possession fairly well and even get plenty of shots off, I just can't seem to capitalize and then I concede goals on counter attacks. My set pieces seem to be the one redeeming thing that keeps my team together most of the time (Miguel Veloso and Lampard have made several that have given me draws or wins that would've ended otherwise).

One other thing... Since I have so many great players, I frequently rotate my starters. So the cycle looks something like this...

GK: Cech usually, Hart every 3 or 4 games or against weaker sides

DL: Same... Ashley Cole usually, Sakho every couple games or against weak sides

DC: Usually Terry and Carvalho, but I'll play Sakho or Ivanovic center if either of the others are injured.

DR: Alternate Ivanovic and Bosingwa depending on form. They see about equal play time.

DM: Usually Essien or Obi Mikel and occasionally Veloso. Sometimes, I'll play Essien in CM with Lampard or Deco and then I rotate Mikel and Veloso much more often.

CM: Almost always Lampard because he does so incredibly well. The other is usually Deco, sometimes Essien or Veloso, and very rarely Ballack (who I'm trying to sell still... no bids for $11M yet...)

AML: Very tough decision for each game and I rotate Nasri, Joey Cole, Quaresma, Malouda (who I plan on selling within the season or by the end of it) and Carlos Vela. Typically I'll start one of these, sometimes another will be playing AMR and then these are the 2 positions I sub the most during the game.

AMR: Very similar to on the left... Cole, Nasri, Quaresma, and Walcott. Same thing with play time... I rotate who starts and often, at least 2 of the others get subbed in or play on the right.

F C: Usually Tevez or sometimes Vela. Tevez seems to play especially well alongside Torres, however, he's still not consistent.

ST: Torres typically, but I try to alternate between him and Drogba often. Benzema hasn't seen a whole lot of playing time yet but when he does, he's never REALLY impressed me and so I'm kind of just waiting until he improves to play him more often.

I've been told this is a good tactic but it never seems to show on a consistent basis... And with the players, I have.. it really should.

Pics...

Any advice or completely new tactic suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm considering just using a 4-4-2, but I'm not really sure how to approach it with my team.

Thanks!

 

[Frank]

I won everything with chelsea with this tteam

 

[Deleted member 79730]

personally mate dont rotate too much i believe its very strange, man united stick with winning teams which is why they win the league alot, dont overcomplicate things, play 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 dont go playing anything with more than 3 numbers thats my tip to you,

 

[DMF]

One question.. How did you manage to sign all of those players in the first transfer window?

 

[Deleted member 79730]

yeah actually i have to ask that too, hart ok but torres, veloso, benzema and all the rest you didnt cheat did you

 

[KevyMatts]

he can cheat if wants to, its his game lads

 

[Irish Scouse]

probs editor or FMRTE

 

[cmh9090]

chelsea wont have this kind of budget to sign torres alone, let alone nasri and sakho. obviously he cheated in a way or so.

 

[DMF]

I never said it was bad, I just wondered how he managed to get them all, and keep so many of his key players aswell.

 

[phil06]

The bad results can be a number of things, from bad luck to tactics to player instructions, personally using the 3-5-2 seems to be a bad call in the constellation you using it anyway, leaves with too much open room in the back, so you may easily be run down by counter attacks (not sure how your players are set individually). Besides that I´d advise to stick to one tactic formation as well and maybe use a more defensive version with same constellation on away or tough games like roughly suggested in a post further above.

 

[anfieldreds09]

Alrighty. Thanks for all the advice. GaboneseTiger, I'll give your advice a shot. Try to make things a little simpler.

Yeah, in my previous game, I played with Liverpool and had a hard time securing good transfers and then I played another game as Hull, and well, obviously I never had a world-class set of players with them. So this time around, I decided to use the editor and gave Chelsea Torres and Benzema and then I bumped up the transfer budget to 80M. Then Hart, Nasri, Veloso, Sakho, Vela, Walcott, and Tevez all came from that budget and the few players I sold. So yeah... I definitely cheated, but it was just because I wanted to have a little more fun. Sorry for sparking so much debate over that, I suppose?

Any other tips or other formation suggestions?