Seriously being overrun in midfield?

[matthewauck93]

New to the forum so I apologise if this is posted in the wrong section / already been spoken about!

Hello!

I used to play FM all of the time years ago but stopped playing for a while, until I bought FM16. I am 7 years into one save and I have recently started a new save and I'm in my second season.

The whole time I have been playing I sometimes get the message that I am being seriously overrun in midfield and have never found a way around this. I have just played Man UTD with my Middlesbrough team, I was playing 4-4-2 and Man UTD were playing 4-4-1-1. How is this possible if we were both playing 4 midfielders, what am I doing wrong?!

Thank you!

 

[rocheyb]

New to the forum so I apologise if this is posted in the wrong section / already been spoken about!

Hello!

I used to play FM all of the time years ago but stopped playing for a while, until I bought FM16. I am 7 years into one save and I have recently started a new save and I'm in my second season.

The whole time I have been playing I sometimes get the message that I am being seriously overrun in midfield and have never found a way around this. I have just played Man UTD with my Middlesbrough team, I was playing 4-4-2 and Man UTD were playing 4-4-1-1. How is this possible if we were both playing 4 midfielders, what am I doing wrong?!

Thank you!

We'll be able to help you more if you post a screenshot of your tactical set-ups, including the roles and duties assigned to each player... but in general, the difference is in how well your team breaks the lines between defence-midfield-attack vs how well Manchester United do it.

For example, if United's full backs are pushing forward and that player in the No.10 position is dropping deep when the play is in the middle of the pitch - or even holding his position in that sightly more advanced area of the field - they could be outnumbering you, particularly if your full backs are both on Support mode, your wingers on Attack and your two forwards both spend all of their time ahead of the play. Against a dominant possession side like United, you could easily find your two central midfielders trying to close down their opposite numbers only for them to slip easy passes to their unmarked colleagues in the full-back and wide midfield positions - which is easier still for them if they are also playing a high tempo one-or-two touch game.

Tweaking roles in your existing 4-4-2 might address this to some extent, but if you're Middlesbrough in season two then you're still a relatively modest Premier League outfit so perhaps a switch to 4-3-3 with a DM tucked in behind your two central midfielders would be a better option.