Others have already alluded to it, but "Very Fluid" and "Be More Expressive" is basically telling your players to do whatever they want and will undermine your team-wide tactics and overall shape. I would switch to "Fluid" and reserve the "Be More Expressive" for your grab-a-late-goal-to-rescue-a-match-with-all-out-attacking tactic.
- A decent left-sided full-back with attacking skills, rather than a wing-back, set to the Attack duty will get the job done - especially as you have "Look For Overlap" selected. I'd tell that full-back to Get Further Forward and Cross More Often, too. Staggering your defensive line the way you have will provide opportunities for the opposition to exploit the gaps in your defensive line.
- Personally, I don't like Inside Forwards - they always seem to run into centre-backs - but I can see what you're thinking with the full-back going outside him. I might be more inclined to put the IF on Support duty, so that he can feed the AP_A, W_A and F-9 as they make runs ahead of him, as well as feeding the DL_A down the left wing.
- Tell the F-9 to Move into Channels and Pass Shorter and if the IF can shoot from distance on his right foot, so much the better. I wouldn't play a lone front-man unless he is at least 6ft1in tall; he needs to be good in the air, too, as your team's primary goalscorer.
- You've got Shorter Passing and Retain Possession selected, so I'd push the boat out a little and select High Tempo and Exploit the Flanks; get your team dominating midfield and bring those wide men into the game more often.
- Pass Into Space seems to contradict possession football to me, but the game does allow you to select them simultaneously. But if you find that you're constantly losing the ball to interceptions, that might be the cause.
- Ideally, you want one or more of your central midfielders to have "Likes to Switch Ball to Other Flank" and/or "Tries Long Range Passes" among their attributes so you can instruct them to play "More Direct Passes" in the individual Player Instructions to encourage them to move the ball from one wing to the other quickly when progress is halted down one side. The space is often on the far side of the play, so being able to shift possession to the opposite flank quickly and safely gives you attacking options against stretched defences.
- The Advanced Playmaker_Attack will be most effective if he is able to run with the ball at pace to carry possession into the final third. When he gets there, your IF_S, W_A and F-9 should all be providing options for the short pass - with the DL_A and BBM_S coming up for a second wave of attack.
- It would be worth testing what difference it makes to having bodies in the box if you play an IF_S vs and IF_A when the right-sided W_A has the ball on the wing.
- Thinking about what we now have - with all of my changes applied - the False-9 becomes superfluous; when he drops deep he's going to occupy the same spaces as the AF_A and the IF_S and won't always be up-front to provide the killer touch. An Advanced Forward_Attack might be prone to offside but a fast one can punish an opponent's high line. If you have a player who is up to the job, then a Complete Forward_Attack could be your best option. I'd watch how effective he is at holding the ball up during counter-attacks; if he has a tendency to go too far forward and lose it to the centre-back, then swap him to Support duty.
