Query on "Exploiting The Middle"

[Clince121188]

I'm having a huge problem with one of my tactics at the moment.

It's a possession oriented tactic, and I'm achieving a decent amount of possession with it so no problems there. However, I'm looking for the team to maintain most of the possession in the middle of the pitch where I have players with fantastic first touch, decisions, technique and passing etc. This is where things are really stumping me.

Although I have the teams width set to 'Wide', this should (by my understanding) only relate to how far apart horizontally the players in a line are from each other. I have the "Exploit the Middle" instruction selected, so this (again by my understanding) should see the players look to keep the play mostly in the centre.

So by my understanding the team should be spread wide with the ball mostly being worked about in the middle of the pitch by my central players.

For some reason however, my players (all of whom have fantastic mental attributes) seem to think that this means "GET IT TO THE FULL BACKS!" "FULL BACKS, NOW!"

In spite of the wing backs being instructed to hold to their flanks and adhering to this instruction and even with the Exploit The Middle instruction selected, my wing backs are receiving the ball more than any other player on the field.

In fact, my right wing back makes on average 12 passes per game more than the next player in my team with 78. The next highest is my left back. Meanwhile my False 9 who I would expect to come deep and get involved in the transition phase quite often (especially as the team spend most of the time in the opposition half) makes just 39 passes per game, half the passes of my VERY WIDE full back.

I don't even have the Look for overlap setting selected so I am completely baffled as to why the M.E is interpreting my tactics in this way.

These are my Team Instructions:

View attachment 166138

 

[CaptiveBridge]

I'm having a huge problem with one of my tactics at the moment.

It's a possession oriented tactic, and I'm achieving a decent amount of possession with it so no problems there. However, I'm looking for the team to maintain most of the possession in the middle of the pitch where I have players with fantastic first touch, decisions, technique and passing etc. This is where things are really stumping me.

Although I have the teams width set to 'Wide', this should (by my understanding) only relate to how far apart horizontally the players in a line are from each other. I have the "Exploit the Middle" instruction selected, so this (again by my understanding) should see the players look to keep the play mostly in the centre.

So by my understanding the team should be spread wide with the ball mostly being worked about in the middle of the pitch by my central players.

For some reason however, my players (all of whom have fantastic mental attributes) seem to think that this means "GET IT TO THE FULL BACKS!" "FULL BACKS, NOW!"

In spite of the wing backs being instructed to hold to their flanks and adhering to this instruction and even with the Exploit The Middle instruction selected, my wing backs are receiving the ball more than any other player on the field.

In fact, my right wing back makes on average 12 passes per game more than the next player in my team with 78. The next highest is my left back. Meanwhile my False 9 who I would expect to come deep and get involved in the transition phase quite often (especially as the team spend most of the time in the opposition half) makes just 39 passes per game, half the passes of my VERY WIDE full back.

I don't even have the Look for overlap setting selected so I am completely baffled as to why the M.E is interpreting my tactics in this way.

These are my Team Instructions:

View attachment 1035721

Care to upload a shot of your player roles?

Could be wrong, but I believe team width influences where your team will play the ball as well. Wider width means the team will involve the wide players more to utilise more of the playing pitch.

Exploit middle doesn't mean that your team would choose not to play to your fullbacks if they are in good positions. If they are prioritising possession, a lateral pass is less risky than a forward pass.

The bigger question is where are your fullbacks receiving the ball and what are the roles of your team. Who ends up making those passes to the fullbacks?

Your tempo and passing makes me think that your players who you would like to be on the ball are too high up the pitch to get the ball, so the fullback becomes the safe outlet. Still conjecture until we see the full story of your tactical setup.

 

[WJ]

It will depend on the rest of your tactic. You may be compressing play in the middle so that the only space is out wide.