Sterile possession

[ajacques]

(I posted this on the "What tactic should I use" first, but it doesn't seem to be the best place for my case, so I'm posting it here)

Hi everyone,

I'm Caen, my 1st season and I've "created" a tactic which is barely the same as the Wenger's 4-2-3-1 shown in TT 10 appendix.

I'm really impressed cause it works great (it's April the 7th, I'm 5th, pretty awesome for a newly promoted team !).

The thing is that most of the time, games finish on a draw. I have between 15 and 25 shots, about 5 on target, and I'm winning the possession (between 60 and 70%). I think it's the reason why I'm not conceding a lot of goals (I have the possession) but I usually score only 1 goal per game.

And most of the time, opponent scores on his first or second occasion ...

I've tried to let them the ball by lowing my defense line, and trying direct passes, but when I'm doing it I mostly lose the game.

To avoid a lot of shots out of target, I shout to "play the ball in the box", but it doesn't really work ... less shots, but no goal either ...

The fact is that I don't have a strong team, and I'm looking forward to have a true striker and central defender, but what are the advices you can give to me ?

Thanks !

(and sorry for my English)

 

[Chaz Sexington]

Have you tried changing your width of play?

 

[billythebantam]

I'll PM you to see if I can help.

 

[ajacques]

Thanks for the replies.

I finished 5th, so I'm on my way to Europa League, and my team is now :

(I'm not at home so I can't do a print screen)

GK : Alexis Thébaux
DL: Hak-Young Jang
DCl : Hee-Ju Kwak
DCr : Jérémy Sorbon
DR: Pablo Barzola
MCl : Sambou Yatabaré
MCr : Damien Marcq
AMC : Benjamin Nivet
AML : Sebastian Blanco
AMR : Romain Hamouma
ST : Michael Eneramo

And I'm using this configuration :

I suppose I'm playing with a default width, but I can try to change it.

I'm finishing my friendly games, and most of the time I score the first goal with an attacking philosophy, but it's very difficult to close the game whatever philosophy I choose after that (even staying on an attacking philosophy). So I tried to put all the creative freedom, closing down and roaming on "default" and it worked for my last game but my goalkeeper stopped a lot of tries ...

 

[billythebantam]

Its difficult,a s i know very little about your players, so my recommendations are based on the assumption that you have the players to perform these roles effectively:

Try using a control or even a counter attacking strategy. Try making your pitch bigger and going more direct with your passing. Try increasing the width as the previous poster suggested.

Try changing your AMC to a Trequarista, AMR to a defensive winger, AML to advanced playmaker and FC to a poacher. This is based purely on what i've had success with.

 

[ajacques]

Thanks, I'll try this when I'm winning a game !

---------- Post added at 09:39 AM ---------- Previous post was yesterday at 03:13 PM ----------

Just so you know, I've started my season with a win at Rennes (2-1) and a home draw against Lyon (2-2, they equalized just before the end of the game).

I'm on my way to Europa groups, as I won my home game 3-2 :S against Wisla Cracovia.

Every time, I've scored the first goals, and I changed my philosophy to "Control", increased the width, launched counter-attacks and went more direct with the passing.

It's way better than before, as I'm now able to score a second goal, but I think there's a lot of little things to fix.

Try changing your AMC to a Trequarista, AMR to a defensive winger, AML to advanced playmaker and FC to a poacher. This is based purely on what i've had success with

I've tried it and it made me score my second goal against Rennes, but I'm still unable to "close the game" :

At 2-0, Rennes scored (and I've conceded a lot of occasions)
At 2-0, Wisla scored likewise.
At 3-1, Wisla scored again ...

Anyway, thanks for the answers !

 

[Dickybran]

When you watch important games in real life they want to keep it tight as they don't want to give anything away. This usually makes for a scrappy game with very few attempts on goal. I sometimes start with a slightly narrower formation, then if I score first I see how things go playing a lot wider, this usually works for me, but depends who you are playing. If you are playing a good team it might be an idea to keep it tight.