Can't score, can't defend!

jimjamyahaa

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I've just been promoted to the Premier League in my 2nd season at Reading.

The year we went up we had the 2nd highest goals for and least goals against as we were promoted 2nd from the Championship.

We didn't have much money and my team is genuinely inferior to most of the league, we are struggling. We have played 8, won 2 and lost 6. Score 9 (5 in one game) and conceded 19. We have faced the highest number of shots in the league - hence the terrible defensive record. Ivan Toney has had the most shots in the players list and we out XG most teams we play. So i'm very confused why we are getting destroyed so bad!

What am I getting wrong tactically? Or am I just getting unlucky?
 

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Okay first please stop using XG as the main definition of how well you are playing. You need to get good chances on your best finishers. So lets start with your tactic. There is a decent balance to it, all in all with the back 3 and the two strikers. There is however a lot of pressure on your WBs to succeed here. Given you just got promoted we are going to focus on your defence first. The back 3 has one big advantage and that's the fact the 3 CBs allow you to deal with crosses really well. The best way I can explain is that in Football generally there are 5 channels as you know the back 3 allows you to cover each of them. It also means your WBs can be aggressive because if they are beaten often times assuming they get beaten one v one by a winger (4231) then still there are 3 players who are going to pick up the players in the box with one going to close down the winger. Now then you need a hard working midfield which you do with the DLP and BWM who both need good work rate to succeed.

So far so good but now I see you have more urgent pressing trigger, which with a back 3 is really hard to manage. The first issue is that your LOE/Dline combination means that your midfield needs to cover mountains of space. This is a problem because your midfield is being told to Press whilst leaving a gaping hole in front of your defence.

Solution 1
The solutions are to remove the Trequartisa or 1 striker and play a DM/ANC (HB doesn't work with a back 3). Keep everything else the same but now you can even increase LOE and even play DW(s) instead of WB(s)/play MEZ instead of DLP/BWM so that you can have your players pressure the opposing wingbacks.

Solution 2
You can also to switch to a 532 and have a CM(d)/DLP(d) again with PI close down less. This is basically like playing with the DM from the previous solution. The adjustment now is that you cannot make LOE higher than standard, it will pull your CM(d)/DLP(d) out of position. The BWM is off limits for the same reason as well. Since your LOE is now so low, you definitely now need a way to press the opposing fullbacks and you will find it difficult keeping opponents pinned in. The previous DW recommendation applies as well as the MEZ recommdation

Solution 3
You can also play two passive hard working midfielders (CM/BBM) but this would still mean lowering your LOE to standard but this time you also need to keep pressing on standard as well. If you want to Press with this system then the WBs should be the ones doing a lot of it and not your midfield two meaning you probably have to tell them and the front 2 to press more often PI. The lower LOE will once again will make it difficult to pin the opposing team in.

Solution 4
The next solutions is to play a BDP(x). This would allow you to change BWM(d) and play a double support duty midfield. It could be any of the following |BWM(s)/ BBM(s)/RPM(s)/CM(s)/DLP(s)| and also combine that with making your Defensive width narrow so that your wider CBs cover the space the BPD(x) will likely leave open. The idea is that now you can press with your midfield two since you have someone who is responsible for covering the space in front of the defence. Leave everything else the same.

I also am not a fan of the TQ(a) because again you want to Press so a SS(a) would be better. If you want insist on the TQ(a) to then put two people to cover for the laziness meaning play hard working AF/CF with close down more (if it's not maxed out) or PF strikers.
It also fits to going forward to play strikers that are goalscorers so that the TQ(a) as two players to aim for when trying to open up defences and speaking of Going forward.


You have a TF(s) so why a Trequartista? is the Target man going to have two options to knock it down for. If that is the case then we play direct football and don't bother trying to get our wingbacks forward. Since you have play out of defence it means you want those Wingbacks to get into the final third. So we want that, and it makes sense if we play two strikers and a Trequartista. This means you'd rather play a goalscoring striker as I mentioned, so you can switch the TF(s) to a TF(a) or CF(a) or if he has the attributes AF(a) or P(a) or PF(a). So because we want a slow buildup which allows our wingbacks to get forward, then shorter passing and lower tempo make sense and with 3 BPD even if you lose the ball at the back you won't be punished. The next is the final third, considering you have a TQ(a) then work ball is a very good instruction since the TQ will roam and cause havoc if he gets the ball in space near the box.

If you took my advise and are playing with a SS alongside two goalscoring strikers then most definitely you must consider hit early crosses because you basically have 3 strikers to aim for. The issue is though without the TQ(a) you run the risk of being stuck in your own half, so Pass Into Space should be considered to help you take advantage of aggressive defensive lines. Combine that with look for overlap so that you can again aggressively push up your wingbacks and get them in position to cross for your 3 strikers. If teams get stubborn then consider the more aggresive roles like Mez and CM(a) or BBM(s) just to add numbers in the penalty area and cause havoc.

In transition, If you play on a lower tempo then don't touch counter/hold shape. If you wanna press then of course counter press must be on.

Hope this is understandable and helps you.
 
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