Playing How I Want?

[maccya]

Playing How I Want? Is It Possible?

Background/Philosophy/What I want?

Really enjoying FM15 and all it's features and quirks.

But what I really want to do is play how I want. I'm wondering if that is possible in this installation in the series. For that purpose I have started as West Ham (I also support the team).
View attachment 330460View attachment 330459

West Ham over the summer have strengthened the squad well. The strikers they have now, Valencia and Sakho, are lethal in real life and this is reflected in their attributes in the game, this should give me a solid flow of goals providing my tactics are good. The midfield is decent and with the addition of Song on loan from Barca, the gap in front of the 2 centrebacks should be filled and protected. The defence is average bar Winston Reid and Aaron Crosswell who will become staples of my team. (Yeah I know his name is Cresswell). Zarate is arguably the best player in the team and will be the spark/flair that will be able to unlock tight the defences. He will hopefully be involved in most of the build up play, providing key passes and chipping in himself. The team has the ability to work for each other quite well. We also have the 3rd highest collective vision, so creative freedom will be raised higher. Finishing is not too poor. On the whole, we are a decent mid table side. I will be looking to change this in the upcoming years.

View attachment 330457View attachment 330456View attachment 330433

I believe that with a solid foundation, I should be able to play how I want to a certain extent. None of my players are world class by any stretch of the imagination apart from Song. In real life, they currently play with a 4-2-2 diamond built on getting possession and making effective use of it, consequently attributing to an attacking style of player in line with the board and fan expectations. However the squad in the game have no depth for the 4-2-2 and injuries will quickly kill off the formation, making me switch to a 4-1-2-2-1 sooner rather than later, hence why I have started with that in order to utilise the amount of players available to me. I've also disabled first window transfer market so that that teams are the same as they are in real life so it's as realistic as possible. At least for me anyways

Here is the tactic:
What I am trying to do is quickly win the ball back and effectively utilise possession and score as many goals as possible. I also want to the football to attractive in line with mine and board expectations. This would suggest a counter strategy but I feel that it would give me much less of the ball than I want. Really anything between 45-50% is good enough. Counter, i feel would go below that. The aim is to utilise possession that we have effectively so high stats in possession is not of my concern. An attacking strategy seemed the best as it fitted in with the philosophy of the club and is also how I want the team to play. The structure needs to be disciplined but allow some creative freedom. I started with fluid but saw that there were many gaps as the players tried to interchange and roam. So I refined it to a structured team shape. LB is a WB/S to unlock the potential of Crosswell and allow him to bomb forward and support the AP/A who is gonna drift inside. The BWM/S will press and tackle high up whereas the CM/A will hopefully push up and chip in a few goals. The other FB will track back and pick and choose when to push up and support the attack. Song was an interesting choice. I'm not sure whether to play him as a roaming playmaker due to the gaps he would leave although he does have the attributes to track back effectively. For now I am focused on his defensive attributes as they mask the frailties of the CBs hence why he will be a DM/D. The CF/A will lead the line and do as he pleases.

Team instructions:

• More direct passing gets us from A-B quickly but accurately.
• Work ball into box - reduces the longshots that the CF/A or IF/S may take
• Close down more: reduce the longshots the opposition may take/ less wondergoals scored against me
• Look for overlap: hoping that it will instruct the players to spot the runs of the fullbacks
• Higher tempo: increases the speed that we accomplish things
• Whipped crosses: I believe that if you whip crosses into dangerous areas, defenders will always struggle to deal with them. This will lead to own goals and all sorts of craziness. Much to my benefit
• Exploit the flanks: stronger on the flanks than in the midfield?
• Stick to positions: harder to break down; increase creative freedom through PIs

View attachment 330454View attachment 330453

Player instructions:
Builds upon the team instructions above?

View attachment 330452View attachment 330451View attachment 330450View attachment 330449View attachment 330448View attachment 330447View attachment 330446


Matches and analysis:

View attachment 330445View attachment 330440

What I need help with is the improvements that I can make to the tactic. Didn't lose a game in pre-season and started the season of well. An example is the 4-2 win against Aston Villa. In this game we dominated start to finish. We turned our dominance to goals and this is a prime of example of what I want my team to do week in week out, regardless if we lose. As long as a good to excellent performance can be consistently produced, I will be happy. Also, how do I increase the amount of crosses completed? Crosswell made 10 crosses and all of them were dispatched?

View attachment 330439View attachment 330438View attachment 330434


The 5-1 destruction at the hands of United was a shock. I could accept 3-0 but 5-0. The team just didn't turn up and consequently our good start to the season was dispatched. With Liverpool next, it will be difficult to pick up the boys for the next match. At least 3 of the goals were from set pieces so defending set pieces will be the next match prep I do. Other than that, I don't see how they played us off the park. The gulf in quality is large but my team didn't even put up much of a fight.

View attachment 330435

West Ham Heat Map vs Utd
View attachment 330437

I adopted a more cautious approach due to Di Maria being played on the wings. They pushed us back massively and the CF was our highest player up the pitch which highlights how they were able to play well against us. So in the future, how can I combat this problem?

Man Utd Heat Map vs West Ham

View attachment 330436

Summarization:

1. Can I play the way I want? If not, then at what point?
2. How do you beat the big teams/ stop them from playing the way they want?
3. Is there anything I can improve in my tactic?
4. How can I replicate my team's performance against Villa
5. Anything else you recommend?

Creative criticism is greatly appreciated

 

[dbs86]

i would say some of the roles you have picked has made your team slightly disjointed, if your using look for overlap then one of your fullbacks/wingbacks needs an attacking duty otherwise they wont be getting forward enough to support the wideman who is holding the ball up for them so try cresswell as wingback attack.

He will still be good defensively with that duty though he will bomb on more overlap and cross from the by line Alot more ( i used that combo for my bilbao team and my left wingback got a few assists and even the odd goal that way). or if you dont want to give him an attack duty then remove look for overlap as it will stop the wingers holding up the ball so they will be more likely to put crosses into the box.

also your striker is too isolated from the midfield asshown in your heat map, if your not playing an attacking midfielder in the centre then give him a support duty so that he sits a tad deeper and joins in with the build up and link up play more, he will still score goals and get on the end of moves but he will be more involved in the game that way. if you want him to stay high then try advanced forward as he will sit on the shoulder and try and burst through the defensive line. you could try using either roam form position or move into channels aswell to give your striker a bit of movement around the box opening up space for a midfield runner which brings me to my next point... your midfield trio needs a tweak as you have 2 sitters and a screener/attack supporter hybrid (ballwinner) ideally you want 1 sitter (song) 1 passer dlp support/roaming playmaker/advanced playmaker support/central mid support and 1 runner ballwinning midfielder support/box to box/centre midfield attack(the best of the 4)/advanced playmaker attack. sort these roles out a bit and you will have a solid midfield that should also support the attack and still provide adequate cover.