Making a 3 man defence tactic more solid at the back?

[shasterix]

I'm doing a save with Leverkusen and I have very quick wingers on my hands (Bellarabi, Brandt, Kampl) so I have made a tactic which utilises them out on the wings and Calhanoglu as the pivot in the team. However, while my team is fantastic at scoring goals, we are dreadful at the back. Is it down to lack of a world class CB and having young players playing most games (Tah, Papadopoulos/Toprak, Jedvaj is my usual setup) or something wrong in my tactic? Haven't got a screenshot at the moment but can provide if needed.

My formation and standard starting 11 looks like this

Chicharito (P/a) Kiesling (DLF/s)
Calhanoglu (T/a)
Brandt (W/s) Bender (CM/s) Kramer (BWM/s) Bellarabi (W/s)
Jedvaj (CD/d) Papadopoulos (CD/d) Tah (CD/d)
Leno (GK)

TI's are: Run at defense, pass into space, exploit the flanks, play wider, low crosses

 

[WJ]

There seems to be a big gap between your defence and midfield. None of the 4 midfielders are going to help out the defence too much because of their roles and duties.

Are the Wingers helping in defence enough? Consider Defensive Wingers.

In addition, your central midfielders are all fairly aggressive and nobody holding a steady-ish position in midfield. That BWM will probably leave the CM/S rather exposed, but even the CM/S will make his way forward half the time.

So, basically, you're keeping 3 players back. One attack down the open flanks, one defender pulled wide and suddenly you only have 2 players in the middle with the midfielders struggling to get back. That's risky.

 

[shasterix]

There seems to be a big gap between your defence and midfield. None of the 4 midfielders are going to help out the defence too much because of their roles and duties.

Are the Wingers helping in defence enough? Consider Defensive Wingers.

In addition, your central midfielders are all fairly aggressive and nobody holding a steady-ish position in midfield. That BWM will probably leave the CM/S rather exposed, but even the CM/S will make his way forward half the time.

So, basically, you're keeping 3 players back. One attack down the open flanks, one defender pulled wide and suddenly you only have 2 players in the middle with the midfielders struggling to get back. That's risky.

My tactic is based around using my wingers pace and dribbling to pin back the oppositions defence so turning them into defensive wingers won't work the same I don't think. What if I moved my CM/s into DM? He never really fits into my attacks as it is

 

[WJ]

My tactic is based around using my wingers pace and dribbling to pin back the oppositions defence so turning them into defensive wingers won't work the same I don't think. What if I moved my CM/s into DM? He never really fits into my attacks as it is

I think you're misunderstanding my point. They're all getting forward by either supporting play or making runs beyond the ball, except for the back three. Nobody is staying back. That's Duty related, not position. Using a CM/D will help your case, imo, as a defend duty will stay behind play and cover against counter attacks and attacks in general.

 

[xtremeRED]

you can look at wide midfielders on auto instead of wingers on support... ask them to run wide, stay wide, cross etc...

3 at the back, you can make it
Stopper-Cover-Stopper (All 3 CD's, or the central maybe LD)..

Calhanoglu is immense as a trequartista or an enganche! I'm playing a save and am into 2020-21, and Calhanoglu has been amazing for me!

As WJ said, your 2 central midfielders aren't shielding or supporting your defense in any manner..
BWM works better in a 3 man midfield, and in your set up, he'll expose your back 3 a lot due to his roaming nature..

you can even opt to put both the CM's in DM strata, 1 as an anchorman or DM(D), and the other as you please, RPM, DLP, whatever.. both Bender and Kramer are suitable in that role! that should make your defense more solid. Calhanoglu as it is will be the main attacking and creative outlet in your team, and just give him a free role.. try this way and maybe things change..

make sure to change the wide men into wm(au)..

 

[Igneos79]

As a general rule of thumb, for any team, attack or defence, 4, 5, 3, or 2 man defence, you should make sure your team is well connected....if you have a flat formation, there will be gaps between the lines, so you want to increase fluidity...roles and duties should also be combined in working pairs or trios od quads...and after all that think about mentality...the more you risk with a more agressive mentality, the more likely you are to conceede...