Tactic help

[asvini66]

Hello,

I'm struggling with my tactic, so I thought maybe one of you guys could help.

First and foremost, I think it's possible that I don't understand the outcome of both team and player instructions completely.

In general, these are the things I hope to get from a tactic:

4-4-2/4-4-1-1 with a solid defensive foundation.

That means:

Block defence with clear zonal principles
Few spaces and little space in the team. Short distance from attack to defence. And short distance from left to right fx.
Press like a collective unit. The ideal place for the pressure to start would be around the center circle on the attacking half.

When attacking:

Try as far as possible to control the ball and the game, but with a fairly fast ball circulation. Offensive backs with many crosses, and wings who are working in the space between defence and midfield, and in the center of the pitch.

Thank you very much

 

[WJ]

You mention you need help in the thread title, but not what exactly you need help with.

Okay, so you have a philosophy. What have you done to implement it and what isn't working the way you'd expect? Is there something specifically that you don't understand?

 

[asvini66]

Sorry about that. My biggest issue is the spaces in the team. I keep thinking that there is to much space between the lines, espacially from one winger to the other. Currently, my mentality is control, and form is very fluid. these are my instructions:

Keep possession
Early crosses
Much higher defensive line
Play narrower
Be more disciplined
Higher tempo
Close down more

 

[WJ]

The first question I have, is why have you selected Control (quite an attacking mentality) if you want a solid defensive tactic? If you want something defensive and more compact, you need a more defensive mentality, surely.

Control completely contradicts everything you want from your team.

 

[asvini66]

Ok, thank you. I simply wasn't sure about that. I changed it from counter to control, because I think the gap between defence and midfield is too big when counter is on, though my instruction says much higher line

 

[WJ]

Well, you can set the D-Line through TIs. Close Down More is going to create gaps. Even more so with a Control Mentality, which already has a fairly high line, tempo and closing down.

 

[asvini66]

thank you!

 

[detached]

What you want is impossible without the use of (1or 2) dm(s) imo. No matter what you do, there will be gaps to a tactic, it's up to you to choose where. 4-4-2 in general (in most of it's forms) is a stand-off formation, pressuring will leave you wide open. Try a control mentality with higher line (not much higher) and two dms in support role and go for fully aggressive game (get stuck in) so you can either win or do a foul and stop game tempo.