Fluidity is the first thing you need to decide on. Some online texts suggest you should play more rigidly when using more specialised roles, and while that may sound logical, it is not entierly true. What you should aim for, is a very fluid approach. That means you want your players to play naturally and that the system you designed should come and happen naturally on the pitch. Of course, without proper players this is not acheivable, so you may need to instruct poorer quality players how to play, and therefore reduce fluidity. Teamwork and flair are the highest attributes required here, so set your fluidity accordingly.
Strategy is the second thing you should chose. Some may argue it is best to use a different approach for each game, but it will ceirtanly not help your team find their rythm, so changing strategy often is not recommended. I suggest you choose strategy that your board requires you to play, or if they don't have a requirement, judge upon your available personel. A tehnical team may be best suited for a possession game, while a physicall team may be best at counter attacking.
After these two have been chosen, try to determine who are your creative players. A playmaker is someone who you should build your attack on. He should be the one who gets the ball and creates a chance for a goal. If your playmaker is a centre midfield player, you should focus your play through the middle, and if he is a winger, you should focus your play on that flank. If you have creative players everywhere, don't focus play anywhere in particular and keep things more mixed.
Next you should determine if you have a GK capable of playing a SK role. If that is true, you can opt to play a high defensive line, with him being both a GK and a sweeper.
Next set up your defence. That mostly depends on the height of your defensive line. If your defensive line is higher, or much higher, you should play on the offside trap, and that means using two centre backs with same role and defend duty. If you use a normal defensive line, your best bet is a stopper cover combo. If you play a deep defensive line, you may opt for two defend duties again, preferably with limited defender role, or again a stopper cover combo. Stopper duty may not be necessary when using a formation that has a player in DM position.
Before you set up your attack, you should determine what kind of passing you want to use. If you are playing wider, with a more attacking strategy, you should play with more direct passing. Don't be fooled by words here. Shorter passing is played when you play narrow, and more direct when you play wide. You can only shorten or lengthen passes, there is no short or long or direct. Just passing and its length. If your players stay further away from each other, the passing should be longer.Simple, right?
Some roles are better to use when you use shorter passing, because their primary attributes are creativity and agility, and they prolly roam aswell, so they have good movement and excel at narrow widths. Whilst some roles are better at longer passing and have passing as a primary attirbute.
So then set up your attack. You can base the game on a tall striker, a target man, so you should employ a lot of crossing and roles that do crosses. Float crosses. Or you can base the game on a small agile striker in which case you should pass into space. Whatever you decide to do, remember that you should always have players that provide width to your attack, in an attempt to stretch opponent defence. Either wingers, or wingbacks. Furthermore, having a player dropping deep from a higher position, and pulling opponents centre backs with him, may open space for your flanks, or a false 10. Oh, and players with attack duties should have roaming on.
Regarding pressing and tempo and tackling, it really depends on how much space you exploit. The wider you play, the more space you need to cover, the pressing is less efficient, and you really shouldn't tackle hard. If you don't tackle hard, you can play a higher tempo game. Standing off is recommended if your players are getting tired.
And of course, if you want efficient pressing, you should play narrower. Tackle harder, and slow down tempo or hassle opponents, increase tempo and stay on feet.
Strategy is the second thing you should chose. Some may argue it is best to use a different approach for each game, but it will ceirtanly not help your team find their rythm, so changing strategy often is not recommended. I suggest you choose strategy that your board requires you to play, or if they don't have a requirement, judge upon your available personel. A tehnical team may be best suited for a possession game, while a physicall team may be best at counter attacking.
After these two have been chosen, try to determine who are your creative players. A playmaker is someone who you should build your attack on. He should be the one who gets the ball and creates a chance for a goal. If your playmaker is a centre midfield player, you should focus your play through the middle, and if he is a winger, you should focus your play on that flank. If you have creative players everywhere, don't focus play anywhere in particular and keep things more mixed.
Next you should determine if you have a GK capable of playing a SK role. If that is true, you can opt to play a high defensive line, with him being both a GK and a sweeper.
Next set up your defence. That mostly depends on the height of your defensive line. If your defensive line is higher, or much higher, you should play on the offside trap, and that means using two centre backs with same role and defend duty. If you use a normal defensive line, your best bet is a stopper cover combo. If you play a deep defensive line, you may opt for two defend duties again, preferably with limited defender role, or again a stopper cover combo. Stopper duty may not be necessary when using a formation that has a player in DM position.
Before you set up your attack, you should determine what kind of passing you want to use. If you are playing wider, with a more attacking strategy, you should play with more direct passing. Don't be fooled by words here. Shorter passing is played when you play narrow, and more direct when you play wide. You can only shorten or lengthen passes, there is no short or long or direct. Just passing and its length. If your players stay further away from each other, the passing should be longer.Simple, right?
Some roles are better to use when you use shorter passing, because their primary attributes are creativity and agility, and they prolly roam aswell, so they have good movement and excel at narrow widths. Whilst some roles are better at longer passing and have passing as a primary attirbute.
So then set up your attack. You can base the game on a tall striker, a target man, so you should employ a lot of crossing and roles that do crosses. Float crosses. Or you can base the game on a small agile striker in which case you should pass into space. Whatever you decide to do, remember that you should always have players that provide width to your attack, in an attempt to stretch opponent defence. Either wingers, or wingbacks. Furthermore, having a player dropping deep from a higher position, and pulling opponents centre backs with him, may open space for your flanks, or a false 10. Oh, and players with attack duties should have roaming on.
Regarding pressing and tempo and tackling, it really depends on how much space you exploit. The wider you play, the more space you need to cover, the pressing is less efficient, and you really shouldn't tackle hard. If you don't tackle hard, you can play a higher tempo game. Standing off is recommended if your players are getting tired.
And of course, if you want efficient pressing, you should play narrower. Tackle harder, and slow down tempo or hassle opponents, increase tempo and stay on feet.
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