The basis of possession is keeping the ball, and regaining it when it's lost. The best way to achieve this is by playing compact and controlling the middle of the pitch. That means you should have three or four players in the middle, forming a triangle or a diamond. Compactness means you should play things narrow, so players on the left and right side of pitch help midfield retain possession and regain it aswell. You do not need to press more or much more. Pressing is just a circle around your player that determines how far will he go from his position to close down, so if you are making pitch small by pushing up and playing narrow, it does not need to be great. In fact, you don't even need to touch that option, in fm terms. But, possession can overplay to a part when you stop looking for openings and just look for the safest pass. Therefore you must sacrifice some possession to score.
If you are playing things compact, you should use shorter passing and retain possession, so your players always look to keep the ball and pass it to player nearest to them. That means two things. First, tempo should be lower, as width and tempo are linked, and your players should be given time to make the correct pass. Second, space will be hard to find, so your players should preferably roam to find space and interchange positions in a very fluid setup. They should use their creativity to find gaps to exploit, even if it means not doing the tactical plan by the book. Next, they should preferably use the whole pitch to find gaps, and that means not exploiting a single area. Take a breather option will instruct players to do this, and not move without the ball, and drop deep to receive it, which is what you want. If you play things like this, you may want to set proper mentality. And perhaps the best option is standard or control. With control, all players will be slightly more agressive, will make less safer passess, and make more fouls, whilst forwards passing directness will be more direct, so I recommend you use standard instead.
Regarding player roles, you may want to exploit some benefeits your team has, like a tall strong target man, but this is really not a style for that kind of player. So instead, I suggest you use roles that don't do longshots, and work your ball to box. Playing compact also means you will rely on crossess less, so I suggest using roles that dont do crosses. Regarding the midfield, it does not require inventing of hot water. One more advanced player as a playmaker, to create chances further up the pitch, one holding midfielder, and one or two players to connect these two, a box to box or CMs.
If you are playing things compact, you should use shorter passing and retain possession, so your players always look to keep the ball and pass it to player nearest to them. That means two things. First, tempo should be lower, as width and tempo are linked, and your players should be given time to make the correct pass. Second, space will be hard to find, so your players should preferably roam to find space and interchange positions in a very fluid setup. They should use their creativity to find gaps to exploit, even if it means not doing the tactical plan by the book. Next, they should preferably use the whole pitch to find gaps, and that means not exploiting a single area. Take a breather option will instruct players to do this, and not move without the ball, and drop deep to receive it, which is what you want. If you play things like this, you may want to set proper mentality. And perhaps the best option is standard or control. With control, all players will be slightly more agressive, will make less safer passess, and make more fouls, whilst forwards passing directness will be more direct, so I recommend you use standard instead.
Regarding player roles, you may want to exploit some benefeits your team has, like a tall strong target man, but this is really not a style for that kind of player. So instead, I suggest you use roles that don't do longshots, and work your ball to box. Playing compact also means you will rely on crossess less, so I suggest using roles that dont do crosses. Regarding the midfield, it does not require inventing of hot water. One more advanced player as a playmaker, to create chances further up the pitch, one holding midfielder, and one or two players to connect these two, a box to box or CMs.
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, so I usually go for Counter mentality or Control.