Losing a lead late on.

[maxchaplin55]

I am playing with Gillingham in League 1. As you probably know, we are predicted relegation, and any points are crucial, especially wins.
Many people say it's impossible to create a tactic in the lower leagues, where your team plays good, short, possession football. However this is exactly what my team have been doing with the tactic I made.

11 games into the season, I have Played 11 - Won 2 - Drawn 5 - Lost 4.

Had I have played badly etc I would just take it on the chin and soldier on.
However, all 5 of those draws, have been frustrating leads, which have been lost to a late goal.
I have seen people say 'go contain/drop deeper/sit narrower' etc. I have tried this, and I have tried sticking it out with my usual mentality and instructions (control).

All of these goals have been late goals (78th-90th+ET). Some people will say it's down to fitness of my players, which I say is rubbish, because all 22 players on the pitch play the same amount of football effectively.

Here are some print screens of my tactic, please offer thoughts/suggestions/your tactics for holding onto a one/two goal lead.

View attachment 329890

View attachment 329891

 

[Ghents]

Try unchecking close down more and flipping the AMC to an anchor man.

 

[maxchaplin55]

Try unchecking close down more and flipping the AMC to an anchor man.

Will set up new tactic with this on and give it a go.
Quite a few of my defensive players have close down more on PIs aswell, would you recommend turning these off for the late tactic?

 

[SmoothJitsu]

Put a midfielder on a Holding Role. BWM even on defend don't do that, you leave your defense too exposed

 

[Ghents]

Will set up new tactic with this on and give it a go.
Quite a few of my defensive players have close down more on PIs aswell, would you recommend turning these off for the late tactic?

If you can hold possession, yeah.

 

[dakofsta]

4-1-2-2-1 is a very hard tactic to succeed with this year. I've had much more success with a flat midfield three. Try that out in your next game. Since the opposition will most likely play a 4-4-2, you would be able to win the midfield battle and win the game

 

[r1niceboy]

in instructions choose stick to positions, more disciplined, play narrower, and drop your AMR and L to MR and L with defensive duties. That should slow things down for your opposition. Now, a 4-2-3-1 is perhaps the leakiest tactic you could choose for league 1, which is more realistic considering I've never seen anyone lower than CL level teams sustain results playing that way. Try a 4-4-2. Dull to look at, but it's effective when fluid.

 

[tommo1010]

im bristol city and i play a very similar formation to you and my team does fine at holding leads (i no i have better players) but my advice would be change your right and left back to fullback attack that helps keep the bull so much better as i find the wingers on attack duty come inside quite a lot and theres no width, as they say best form of defence is attack.

also change the attacking midfielder to attacking midfielder support rather than advanced playmaker cuz you already have the deep lying playmaker.

when i comes to instructions i use stay on feet rather than get stuck in, and prevent short gk distribution so we have a 50/50 chance of winning most balls, i dont use any instructions on penatration or shape. that works for me give it a go if u wish

 

[maxchaplin55]

im bristol city and i play a very similar formation to you and my team does fine at holding leads (i no i have better players) but my advice would be change your right and left back to fullback attack that helps keep the bull so much better as i find the wingers on attack duty come inside quite a lot and theres no width, as they say best form of defence is attack.

also change the attacking midfielder to attacking midfielder support rather than advanced playmaker cuz you already have the deep lying playmaker.

when i comes to instructions i use stay on feet rather than get stuck in, and prevent short gk distribution so we have a 50/50 chance of winning most balls, i dont use any instructions on penatration or shape. that works for me give it a go if u wish

Since I posted this, I have actually already gone with attacking wing backs, inside forward wingers, push higher up, attacking midfielder attack. So basically yeah I agree with most of what you wrote! Has improved significantly, although perhaps away from home, I drop deeper, and also drop my DLP into holding midfield position

May I ask- how does your away form compare to your home form?

 

[parksy789]

Im wrexham in the Vanarama conference and have had the same problem any points i loose always end up being in the final 10 minutes. What i have tried too do is slow the game down as much as possible by making tactical changes and any subsitions i have left

 

[maxchaplin55]

Im wrexham in the Vanarama conference and have had the same problem any points i loose always end up being in the final 10 minutes. What i have tried too do is slow the game down as much as possible by making tactical changes and any subsitions i have left

Just a suggestion- I'm currently unbeaten 19 games into my second season with Gillingham - 6 main tips for you.
1) Go Counter
2) Full Backs on Automatic
3) CMs on Central Midfielder role, on Automatic
4) Wide Midfielders on Attack (even if they're rubbish ratings there but good LAM/RAM, fight the resistance and put them LM/RM
5) Play flat 4-4-1-1, AM as advanced playmaker support, ST as advanced forward attack.
6) Once in the game, depending on what formation the opposition is playing, set your wide midfielders to man mark the opposite most attacking wide player. Even if it's a full back or a winger.