How to play a possession game properly

[Igneos79]

By keeping possession, you are stopping the other team from having the ball, and therefore scoring against you. Keeping possession is a sort of defending, so the best mentality for a short passing game would be counter, and the best mentality for retaining possession is defend mentality.

Formation should be one that features triangles. Like a 4123DMwide formation. It is basically the epitome of possession football, but you will not be asking your players to do fancy stuff, just players running forward and striker scoring. Therefore this approach would work at a lower tier of football. An asymmetric formation would fit defend mentality and retaining possession team instruction.

Basically, you want a higher tempo, more width, shorter passing, be more disciplined, deeper defensive line, more closing down, tight marking and work ball into box team instructions for a structured counter approach.

In a simple 4123DMWide formation, I would use a striker with attack duty, 2 wingers with attack duty, 2 CM's with attack duty, a DM with support duty, and 2 FB's with support duties combined with a regular GKd and 2 LD's with defend duty.

There you go. Thanks for reading.

Cheers!

 

[andym1690]

nice read a few questions if you could help im currently using a 4231 and trying to create a counter approach mabey for against the bigger sides iv tried a few different approaches im going to try a fluid counter but could you recommend what instructions i could use. i would of thought of playing a deep line higher tempo pass into space direct passing and mabey early crosses or should i play with a dm and structured counter im just not sure any help would be greatly appreciated thanks

 

[WJ]

nice read a few questions if you could help im currently using a 4231 and trying to create a counter approach mabey for against the bigger sides iv tried a few different approaches im going to try a fluid counter but could you recommend what instructions i could use. i would of thought of playing a deep line higher tempo pass into space direct passing and mabey early crosses or should i play with a dm and structured counter im just not sure any help would be greatly appreciated thanks

Take it from someone who do knows their stuff. This link has guides for possession, counter attacking and general tactical advice.

https://community.sigames.com/topic/373937-tactic-building-and-training-guides-start-here/

 

[Igneos79]

nice read a few questions if you could help im currently using a 4231 and trying to create a counter approach mabey for against the bigger sides iv tried a few different approaches im going to try a fluid counter but could you recommend what instructions i could use. i would of thought of playing a deep line higher tempo pass into space direct passing and mabey early crosses or should i play with a dm and structured counter im just not sure any help would be greatly appreciated thanks

You are correct. You want to use a formation with no players in DM/wb position, a fluid counter approach. You want to use short passess, combined with work ball into box. I like to give just basic orders to my team, passing and shooting without any unnecessary instructions that may require adjusting for certain types of players, so I wouldn't be using any crossing instruction. You want to play higher, play narrower, close down less to soak up pressure. You want to use offside trap, and you want to play quickly and smart, so I would use higher tempo and more expressive creative freedom.

For example, in a 4231 Wide formation, I would use a striker with a support duty, 3 attacking mids with attack duty, 2 MC's with defend duty, and defensive line should consist of 2 FB's with support duty, and 2 CD'd with defend duty. I would also use a SK with a support duty to help guard against through balls and initiate counter attacks.