Help me be more flexible - Man Utd tactic

[Bratone]

Hello, I'm playing on a Man Utd save and things have started pretty well.However, after the winter, the team has starting to play badly, especially in away games, and I am starting to lose a lot of points.Here is my current tactic, no players instructions used:

And as you can see, I am really starting to struggle in the away games.I don't know what to change to my current tactic, and also what to do during games when my team is not playing very well.I usually just switch to attack and that's it, with no success.
I also try to switch to counter in an away game after I score but I think I received a goal every time I did that, so this doesn't work.
I honestly think my problem are the 2 midfielders, they are invisible most of the time and when I am defending they are very easily overrun.

How can I improve this team and tactic ? I am open to any suggestion and also any guide that can help me, thanks.

 

[WJ]

So just to be clear, you start all games on Control? If things don't go well, you switch to Attacking?

 

[Bratone]

Yes, I start all games on control.I usually switch to attacking only if I conceed first or if I don't create any chances, sometimes for example the first half goes away with only one highlight being shown or something like that, I play on Key highlights though.

I tried to start on counter the away games but the opponent just dominates me and I had to switch, maybe this tactic is not made for counter or I don't know.

 

[WJ]

I play on Key highlights though.

To get right to the point and very honest, this is the issue. You have no idea what's going on in games. You don't know if the opponents are fairly adventurous or sitting back. You just have to get an idea of what's going on in these games.

Just watching on Key highlights, you miss almost everything. You won't really know if a midfielder is given a lot of space. You won't see if your front 3 aren't getting the ball or can't find space.

Really, do yourself this favour - watch one of these games in full. Not even the whole game. Just 10-15 minutes of it. You'll see so much.

When/if you do, look for these things specifically (but try and notice other things too!):

- Check your front 3 in relation to the midfield/rest of the team. Do you think they're in space to receive the ball at any time? Are they close enough and without a defender on them?

- Watch the gap between the 2x CMs and the D-line. Are the CMs leaving quite a bit of space there? Your closing down settings could be causing the CMs to push forward to close down opposition midfielders. That leaves the D-Line on their own. Could a shift in D-Line height solve this or are the CMs just too far out of position?

 

[Bratone]

But at first view, do you see any obvious mistakes in my tactics that should be changed imediatly or I just have an in depth view like your recommended ?

 

[WJ]

But at first view, do you see any obvious mistakes in my tactics that should be changed imediatly or I just have an in depth view like your recommended ?

If you read back what I wrote, you'll see two areas I highlighted, specifically.

 

[Bratone]

-So far, I honestly think the front 3 are doing their job very well, even the striker who is a poacher always drops down and gets a couple of assists for the wingers

-The 2 CMs I honestly think they are the problem, they leave the defense exposed like you said, I might try to remove the close down and put them to tight marking instead

-Do you think the Drop Deeper instructions could solve anything ?


Could a shift in D-Line height solve this or are the CMs just too far out of position?

What do you mean by this more precisely ? Move the CMs to DMs maybe ? That might create a big gap from the midfield to the front 3 though.

 

[WJ]

Have you now watched a match and tried to see what I'm trying to explain?

 

[Bratone]

No, you think it's better this way ? I thought it would be better to try and change something first.

One more thing before watching, do you think the 2 roles assigned to the CMs are the correct ones in relation to the team playing style and also the other players around them ?

 

[WJ]

One more thing before watching, do you think the 2 roles assigned to the CMs are the correct ones in relation to the team playing style and also the other players around them ?

You haven't said what your team's playing style is, so I have no idea.

The 4-2-3-1 really should have 2 steady roles at CM/DM. You have that, don't you? Then it all depends on what you wanted to create.

 

[Bratone]

You haven't said what your team's playing style is, so I have no idea.

The 4-2-3-1 really should have 2 steady roles at CM/DM. You have that, don't you? Then it all depends on what you wanted to create.

Watched the full half from the game against Arsenal, then switched to extended in the 2nd half, here are some thoughts:

-Very vulnerable on the counters

-CM always try to close the man with the ball, get dragged down easily out of position, leave the center of the pitch and the defendenders uncovered
-Sometimes is good though because I can recover the ball back very fast and get on the counter
=>However, this is too much of a risk and not that much of a reward, especially against teams like Arsenal who can hurt me with pace and technique

-Pass into space is again maybe too risky, players are often caught in an offside position / passes catch the front 3 in uncomfortable positions and are not able to control the ball
=>Arsenal were dominating posession because we were just gifting the ball to them
=>I need a lot of space to be effective/or a player to play a key through ball, if the attacks are static the players waste too much time on the ball and get tackled easily

-Players are also looking the get the ball as fast as possible to the front after they recover it and it leads to missed passes

-I can see that I'm also prety vulnerable to vertical passes / passes over my defense, the opponent completes too many of these

How I scored:

-Memphis with a very good over the defense ball, pass into space helped there

-Random Corner
-Header from a free kick, again, pretty random

How I concede:

-Walcott gets an open header between 3 of my defenders, don't know who/what to blame

-Corner

-Mata loses the ball, Arsenal go on the counters, Walcott is played on the right, passes to Giroud who plays an easy through ball to Alexis, because all of my defenders were covering him and Alexis had free space

STATS:

**Notes: I removed close down more and pass into space after 55 minutes to see if something changes, the team was still doing the same mistakes

 

[WJ]

**Notes: I removed close down more and pass into space after 55 minutes to see if something changes, the team was still doing the same mistakes

I don't understand this at all.

You watched an entire half - noticed the issues that was happening over and over during the 45mins, but didn't change anything. THEN, you change, but you've now switched to Extended highlights, so you miss everything again.

 

[Bratone]

Maybe you are right, but the chances that Arsenal created after I switched came after the same mistakes like I said.

 

[WJ]

My point stands. You could have seen in detail if issues remain, if it got better at least or was fixed.


Tbh, you were attacking and so were they, being at home. It was therefore an open game.

 

[Bratone]

My point stands. You could have seen in detail if issues remain, if it got better at least or was fixed.


Tbh, you were attacking and so were they, being at home. It was therefore an open game.

Yes, you are right.

However, do you have any suggestions on how can I fix the problems that I've noticed in the first half ?

 

[WJ]

Yes, you are right.

However, do you have any suggestions on how can I fix the problems that I've noticed in the first half ?

They all have pretty obvious fixes. What are you struggling with specifically?

 

[Bratone]

They all have pretty obvious fixes. What are you struggling with specifically?

I didn't play the game in a long time and I am also a beginner, so what is obvious for you, for me it isn't haha.

I just want to understand what is causing them more exactly and how can I fix them of course. I want to know what I'm doing wrong so I can get better in the future.

Thanks.

 

[WJ]

I didn't play the game in a long time and I am also a beginner, so what is obvious for you, for me it isn't haha.

I just want to understand what is causing them more exactly and how can I fix them of course. I want to know what I'm doing wrong so I can get better in the future.

Thanks.

No, I really meant, which of the issues that you picked up don't you know how to fix?

 

[WJ]

And by the way, it's not like a draw against Arsenal away from home is a bad result!

 

[Bratone]

No, I really meant, which of the issues that you picked up don't you know how to fix?

Neither of them honestly...

And no it's not a bad result but I keep getting bad results away from home on a constant basis.And I struggle against the big teams, lost 2 times against City, only 1 points in 2 games against Chelsea etc.

I think these problems play a big part in it.