Need help with Atletico Madrid tactic

[Chokopop]

So, after months of unsuccesful FM gameplay, I am once again trying. I've never been great at creating tactics, I usually download them and tweak them to suit my team. But this time, not even that works. So here I am, trying myself. Again.

I believe I may have something that could work. My results are decent. I beat Sevilla 2-0 away, Sociedad 5-1 away and drew at home 1-1 with Barcelona. Pretty good right? Well, I also lost 0-3 to Almeria at home and drew 1-1 with Osasuna. And I can't for the life of me figure out what's wrong. I concede at the most ridiculous times, and need 20+ shots before I can score 2 goals. Some games are good, others are absolute rubbish. Perhaps some of the tactical geniuses on this site could help me out with a few pointers. Here's the team, and the team instructions. Note - Costa is suspended and Villa is injured, this is just how my regular team would look.

View attachment 403634

Player instructions: (Those positions with Player Instructions set)

Goalkeeper:
View attachment 403633

Fullbacks (WB):
View attachment 403632 View attachment 403630

CMR (D):
View attachment 403629

AMCR (AM):
View attachment 403628

AMC (Treq):
View attachment 403627

ST (AF)
View attachment 403626

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bluebird123]

I played this formation once with Watford and it worked a treat, scoring over a hundred goals in the Champ while getting 108 points, giving me two 6th placed finishes and a LC win (4-3-3 won the match) and a Europa League final (4-3-3 again lost due to a penalty) so it is a solid formation but it isn't something I'd use all the time (I'd 100% suggest it for anyone managing in the Championship because it destroys 4-4-2/4-2-3-1 and any formation without DM's) but onto your issues.

First off I withdrew the CM's and made them DM's. You must have full backs getting down the flanks and someone must cover them, two DM's do that perfectly (plus CM's in 4-2-3-1 are buggy and broken) so that is my first suggestion. Also it reduces the congestion in the centre of the pitch. But this is another point I'll raise. Make your most attacking full back the one with an attack duty, the other full back a WB-S (to keep some defensive solidarity. Now on the side of your attacking FB make that DM a DM-D or Anchor Man (Anchor Man did better for me so I'd lean to that) and the other DM should just be a simple DM - S and make sure he is OK on the ball. Someone needs to bring it forward to link it up with your 3 AM's.

Onto your attack. Now this was an issue for me at first. Setting up the defence and midfield is easy but the attack is difficult. It is a beautiful formation when attacking on all cylinders but looks awful when the congestion problems inevitably kick in.

One AM (preferably an outer one, one on the side of your full back on support is a good choice too) should run wide with ball. He just adds some width to your attack and allows more creative players to flourish. If you want a Treq then everyone should be set up to around him. He is the main passer so removing the AP-S for a AM-S would be another good choice. The striker should be on support too with the PI - move into channels to create movement so your creative players can pass to him in different areas. A CF-S is my recommendation. He doesn't drop too deep like a DLF or a F9 but deep enough to link up with the 3 am's and allow players to run past him while maintaining a destructive goal presence.

Attacking is overkill. Your formation is already attacking, you have 4 players stationed high up the pitch with two full backs bombing forward you are very vulnerable to a counter, even with the Drop Deeper shout. Going to control/standard would pull some players deeper as well, allowing more space for you to create in. Atleti have a high rep so teams will defend against you. You clogging up the middle with an attacking strategy and very little diagonal movement I imagine teams will eventually find it very easy to defend against you.

Hassle opponents & tighter marking? Hassle already encourages that so I am not sure how your players are acting if you are telling them to stick EVEN closer to their man, especially in an unorthodox formation you'll be dragging players out all over the place. Personally I'd drop both. Hassle is en extreme shout. Add close down more in the PI's for attacking players thus allowing more defensive players to keep their shape while the rest of your team is pushing forward.

Higher tempo and shorter passing sounds fine in theory but it is implemented awfully in this ME. Your players will rush the ball around (plus hassle increases tempo I believe, don't quote me on that) in short distances which will force errors.

Also losing 3-0 at home to Almeria hurts (trust me, it happened to me on my Athletic save) but it must be an issue with team talks. Your players could have been over confident heading into the game especially if you've recently come off of a good result. Giving them an assertive team talk always helps with lower teams. It reminds them to keep focus no matter what happened last week. So try and address that too.


Sorry if some parts came off incoherent but I hope you get the gist of what I am saying and I hope it is of help to you and you can get some consistency because Atletico Madrid is a very fun save.


P.S I forgot to mention this, your shots. Are they long shots? If so then try adding Work Ball into box. Simple tip which has saved me from throwing my laptop at a wall. But if they are on target most of the time then I am not sure. I had scoring problems on this patch so you are not alone.

 

[Chokopop]

I played this formation once with Watford and it worked a treat, scoring over a hundred goals in the Champ while getting 108 points, giving me two 6th placed finishes and a LC win (4-3-3 won the match) and a Europa League final (4-3-3 again lost due to a penalty) so it is a solid formation but it isn't something I'd use all the time (I'd 100% suggest it for anyone managing in the Championship because it destroys 4-4-2/4-2-3-1 and any formation without DM's) but onto your issues.

First off I withdrew the CM's and made them DM's. You must have full backs getting down the flanks and someone must cover them, two DM's do that perfectly (plus CM's in 4-2-3-1 are buggy and broken) so that is my first suggestion. Also it reduces the congestion in the centre of the pitch. But this is another point I'll raise. Make your most attacking full back the one with an attack duty, the other full back a WB-S (to keep some defensive solidarity. Now on the side of your attacking FB make that DM a DM-D or Anchor Man (Anchor Man did better for me so I'd lean to that) and the other DM should just be a simple DM - S and make sure he is OK on the ball. Someone needs to bring it forward to link it up with your 3 AM's.

Onto your attack. Now this was an issue for me at first. Setting up the defence and midfield is easy but the attack is difficult. It is a beautiful formation when attacking on all cylinders but looks awful when the congestion problems inevitably kick in.

One AM (preferably an outer one, one on the side of your full back on support is a good choice too) should run wide with ball. He just adds some width to your attack and allows more creative players to flourish. If you want a Treq then everyone should be set up to around him. He is the main passer so removing the AP-S for a AM-S would be another good choice. The striker should be on support too with the PI - move into channels to create movement so your creative players can pass to him in different areas. A CF-S is my recommendation. He doesn't drop too deep like a DLF or a F9 but deep enough to link up with the 3 am's and allow players to run past him while maintaining a destructive goal presence.

Attacking is overkill. Your formation is already attacking, you have 4 players stationed high up the pitch with two full backs bombing forward you are very vulnerable to a counter, even with the Drop Deeper shout. Going to control/standard would pull some players deeper as well, allowing more space for you to create in. Atleti have a high rep so teams will defend against you. You clogging up the middle with an attacking strategy and very little diagonal movement I imagine teams will eventually find it very easy to defend against you.

Hassle opponents & tighter marking? Hassle already encourages that so I am not sure how your players are acting if you are telling them to stick EVEN closer to their man, especially in an unorthodox formation you'll be dragging players out all over the place. Personally I'd drop both. Hassle is en extreme shout. Add close down more in the PI's for attacking players thus allowing more defensive players to keep their shape while the rest of your team is pushing forward.

Higher tempo and shorter passing sounds fine in theory but it is implemented awfully in this ME. Your players will rush the ball around (plus hassle increases tempo I believe, don't quote me on that) in short distances which will force errors.

Also losing 3-0 at home to Almeria hurts (trust me, it happened to me on my Athletic save) but it must be an issue with team talks. Your players could have been over confident heading into the game especially if you've recently come off of a good result. Giving them an assertive team talk always helps with lower teams. It reminds them to keep focus no matter what happened last week. So try and address that too.


Sorry if some parts came off incoherent but I hope you get the gist of what I am saying and I hope it is of help to you and you can get some consistency because Atletico Madrid is a very fun save.


P.S I forgot to mention this, your shots. Are they long shots? If so then try adding Work Ball into box. Simple tip which has saved me from throwing my laptop at a wall. But if they are on target most of the time then I am not sure. I had scoring problems on this patch so you are not alone.

Thank you for that incredibly in depth post. I'll give it a shot and see how it'll work out!

Edit: And, regarding my shots, they're really a mix. My FB's do a great job crossing the ball, but my players just can't put it in the net efficiently enough.