How do I create a good central midfield partnership

[gunnerjames]

I have read many articles on how important the midfield battle is. For many years the top teams have built their success on ensuring that the centre of the park is well proctected.
The Arsenal teams had Patrick Viera and Emmanuel Petit and then Gilberto to replace Petit even Edu did a decent job alongside Viera. Now we have Alex Song and Jack Wilshere.
Man Utd - Keane and Scholes/**** and lets not forget Paul Ince. Now there is Carrick and Fletcher
I need some tactical advice form the experts on my midfield. I have decided to have both roles as Central Midfielder and tweak the personal instructions for both players. I am trying to create the double pivot in midfield. I have read that you can create a double pivot in midfield by setting your two central midfielders with the instructions listed below. However I have a few concerns and wanted to get some advice from the tactical gurus.
I have instructed both midfielders to run from deep often which may lead to them bombing forward at the same time leaving my my center backs expose to a quick counter attack from the opposition.
I think it was either SFraser or Cleon who mentioned that mentality controls how aggressive a player is with his passing and attacking play. So what I have done is set the player who I would like to be more stationed on a lower mentality, while the player that I would like to join the attack has a more adventorous mentality. Now I am no tactical expert and I am not that good at watching the ME.
Although I have both players on Run From Deep - Often they should not bomb forward at the same time because they have different mentalities. The player with the lower mentality should be more cautious because is lower mentality will see him stay back and protect the defence and not be so aggressive going forward and although he has a high creative freedom he should be less adventorous and would probaly try more simple passes because his mentality is lower. The player with the more attacking mentality would be more incline to join the attacks and try more creative passes because of the higher mentality.
I do not know if I am on the right track and that is where the tactical gurus can help me to understand and point me in the right direction
What adjustments would you guys make to midfield settings to get them to perform better has a double pivot all recommendations will be welcome and I will aslo give you my thoughts on your suggestions and hopefully we can start a good discussion on setting up a good midfield pairing
Please see below my settings for both players
Central Midfielder - Support
Mentality - Attacking (14 - 15 notches on slider)
Creative Freedom - Much (14 - 15 notches on slider)
Passing Style - Short (4 notches on sldier)
Closing Down - whole pitch
Tackling Normal
RFD - often
RWB - often
Long Shots - Sometimes
Through balls - often
Cross ball Sometimes
Cross from deep
Cross Aim - mixed
Wide play - move into channels
Swap positin with Alex Song (MCR)
Marking - Zonal
Tight Marking - No
Roam from position - Yes
Central Midfielder - Automatic
Mentality - Nortmal (7 - 8 notches on slider)
Creative Freedom - Much (13 - 14 notches on slider)
Passing Style - Short (4 notches on sldier)
Closing Down - whole pitch
Tackling Normal
RFD - often
RWB - Sometimes
Long Shots - Sometimes
Through balls - often
Cross ball Sometimes
Cross from mixed
Cross Aim - mixed
Wide play - Normal
Swap positin with Jack Wilshere (MCl)
Marking - Zonal
Tight Marking - No
Roam from position - Yes
Hold up ball - No

 

[StuW]

OP could do with better formatting, split it into paragraphs.

*On TOpic

The main thing is to create balance. In a 2 man CM, I usually have one as a Ball-Winning-Midfielder, and the other as either a Box-to-Box or Central Midfield(Attack). Don't break the partnership up, the more they play, the more they will get used to each other.

Also, the problem may not be your CM. It could be the players from the back/wings who are not using the possession well enough, giving your CM a disadvantage from the start.

 

[dalao]

Nice post,mate. Midfielders partnership is also a problem that bothers me for a long time. And recently I got some sort of an epiphany, and things go quite well with what I've learnt.

I am also a self-taught tactician, and I can't be sure that my approach is good enough, but I'll give it a go.

First of all, I don't quite understand your need to have both CMs go forward often. However, I do agree to the effect of the mentality setting you've metioned. With low mentality, the player will play more cautious, that applys to his passing towards the front, his forward running, and his closing down against opponent. Player with higher mentality tends to play more adventurous. Aside mentality, there are two other factors that need to be taken into account.

The first one being creative freedom of the player. In my opponion, creative freedom allows players to express themselves more. That means the player will dwell on the ball longer and think, and make a decision on what he should do, given a higher creative freedom.

The second one is the passing option. I think, the centre midfielders are supposed to run the midfield, therefore, I set their passing to mix(10 to 11 notches on the slider), to allow them to pass the ball to any target they think that is correct. In your setup, the attacking midfielder will run with the ball more, because you let him do short passes, if he does not see a reachable target in short passing range, he will run with the ball towards them, because he has a relatively high creative freedom, ergo loses his original position.

Back to your problem, I suggest that you set both midfielders' passing to mix, because you have relatively good quality players. And the more withdrawn one should hold up the ball, to offer the players up front a back pass possibility. And I usually have one CM with mentality 14-15, and the other one with 11-13(about two notches higher than my centre backs). Anyhow that's just my humble idea.

Forgive my English, for I'm not a native speaker, and it's really late in my country. Hope you enjoy the game.