So, the best way of creating a successful tactic is to have all elements involved fit like a lego. A setup in which players will be doing the most natural things. It is also important to notice that, by using simple math, any change you make must work when mirrored.
I'm getting ahead of myself. First the basics:
When you pick defensive mentality, it means a few things. If you pick defensive mentality, it means you don't want to concede. Your team will be demoralised, as you are basically telling them you expect them to lose, and you want to avoid that at all cost.
Second, it means you want to panickly kick the ball away from your goal. You aren't expecting anything fancy from your defenders, you just want to clear the danger. You are expecting to be pinned in front of your goal for long periods of time. The game automatically sets your defenders passes to longer, and your front players to shorter.
Thirdly, if you pick go route one or direct passing when using a defensive mentality, your defenders passes will be even longer, and you will, in effect, be skipping play. Which will, against a solidly setup defence, result in you getting attacked again. So it would be wise to use retain possession, or, in case of counter mentality, shorter passing. Remember the lego thing? Not only does shorter passing length means using your entire formation, it means holding the ball at your feet, which means opponents can't score during that time. There must be a reason for picking any option, don't do it just for the sake of it.
Fourthly, if you are going to use shorter passing, or retain possession, you should make sure you are using an adequate formation. Formations featuring many triangles, layered formations. Asymmetric formation will suit retaining possession, while a formation like 4123DMWide will fit shorter passing.
Fifthly, you should pick fluidity that fits. Basically, the more gaps your formation has, the more fluid fluidity you need to pick. For a flat formation like 442, you should pick very fluid fluidity, and the more layered your formation is, you can go more structured.
Sixthly, now that you have those legos settled in, it's time to pick roles and duties. Basically, if you use defend, or contain mentality, you need to make sure your defence defends, your midfield supports, and strikers attack. The more you think your club is better, the more you need to use more demanding roles and duties.
Seventhly, this leads to conlusion that a flat formation, using a very fluid fluidity and attack or overload mentality is the best there is. This is known as total football. For this you will need the very best of players, and if you have them, you will be invicible. If I may add, I think a flat 352 would be the best formation, simply because it packs the middle. The creators of the game conveniently placed it first on taction creation screen.
Eightly, the most important team instructions are the ones with sliders. Namely, width, tempo, defensive line, closing down and passing. Everything else is optional. I would suggest moving these carefully, one notch at a time. Closing down much more will help if your width is very wide, because you will have much more space to close down, or closing down more if your width is wide. Using a deeper line combined with higher tempo will also work, as will using a higher line with lower tempo. This is because you need to give your defenders time to setup a proper zone. If you go deep and low tempo, your defense will have higher form, but your attack will suffer.
And lastly, this is just the most natural of setups. You can create a ******* tactic and it may work, but be prepared to lose or draw from time to time.
I'm getting ahead of myself. First the basics:
When you pick defensive mentality, it means a few things. If you pick defensive mentality, it means you don't want to concede. Your team will be demoralised, as you are basically telling them you expect them to lose, and you want to avoid that at all cost.
Second, it means you want to panickly kick the ball away from your goal. You aren't expecting anything fancy from your defenders, you just want to clear the danger. You are expecting to be pinned in front of your goal for long periods of time. The game automatically sets your defenders passes to longer, and your front players to shorter.
Thirdly, if you pick go route one or direct passing when using a defensive mentality, your defenders passes will be even longer, and you will, in effect, be skipping play. Which will, against a solidly setup defence, result in you getting attacked again. So it would be wise to use retain possession, or, in case of counter mentality, shorter passing. Remember the lego thing? Not only does shorter passing length means using your entire formation, it means holding the ball at your feet, which means opponents can't score during that time. There must be a reason for picking any option, don't do it just for the sake of it.
Fourthly, if you are going to use shorter passing, or retain possession, you should make sure you are using an adequate formation. Formations featuring many triangles, layered formations. Asymmetric formation will suit retaining possession, while a formation like 4123DMWide will fit shorter passing.
Fifthly, you should pick fluidity that fits. Basically, the more gaps your formation has, the more fluid fluidity you need to pick. For a flat formation like 442, you should pick very fluid fluidity, and the more layered your formation is, you can go more structured.
Sixthly, now that you have those legos settled in, it's time to pick roles and duties. Basically, if you use defend, or contain mentality, you need to make sure your defence defends, your midfield supports, and strikers attack. The more you think your club is better, the more you need to use more demanding roles and duties.
Seventhly, this leads to conlusion that a flat formation, using a very fluid fluidity and attack or overload mentality is the best there is. This is known as total football. For this you will need the very best of players, and if you have them, you will be invicible. If I may add, I think a flat 352 would be the best formation, simply because it packs the middle. The creators of the game conveniently placed it first on taction creation screen.
Eightly, the most important team instructions are the ones with sliders. Namely, width, tempo, defensive line, closing down and passing. Everything else is optional. I would suggest moving these carefully, one notch at a time. Closing down much more will help if your width is very wide, because you will have much more space to close down, or closing down more if your width is wide. Using a deeper line combined with higher tempo will also work, as will using a higher line with lower tempo. This is because you need to give your defenders time to setup a proper zone. If you go deep and low tempo, your defense will have higher form, but your attack will suffer.
And lastly, this is just the most natural of setups. You can create a ******* tactic and it may work, but be prepared to lose or draw from time to time.