Tactical questions

[zedias85]

Hello everyone,


I didn´t play FM for the last 6 years or so, I'm amazed with all this innovations but I need some help to step up.

I chose to play in the lowest league in Portugal with a team that has absolutly no budget but expected to fight for top places. (not the promotion but close enough)

In the first season I've finished 3rd mainly playing counter. I spent the entire season looking for good players without contract and I've successfully signed a few.

Now I have a better team and I want to play possession football (was conceding too many chances to the opponents and I want to reduce that by having the ball).

I don´t have any photos to post as I'm at work but I'll try to explain as better as possible (considering I have the game in portuguese also).

I play a highly structured, normal, 4-1-2-3 with:
2 Normal Central Defenders
2 Full Backs with instruction to stay wide and attack
1 Defensive Midfielder
2 attacking CM
1 IF (left) 1 Winger (right) 1 Forward

The front 3 are set up like this because initially I had 2 IF but they got to the end line and stopped there, barely any crosses and relatively low danger.

Regarding the TI I've been removing them one by one. At this moment I have low tempo, slightly narrow, much more pressure, keep the ball, play from defense and explore the right side.
I've removed get stuck in as I gave PI to the ones that I want to be more aggressive, for example.

I've been doing well with this setup (I'm in the first position confortably, half season) but I have some questions and things that I would like to change:

1) If i set the OI to press more the full backs and tight marking to the wingers (i used to had a lot of problems from the sides) should i keep this PI to my full backs and wingers?

2) Should I set one of the full back in support duty (probably the left as the one in the right as better support from the supporting winger) and set one of the midfielders as a BBM?

3) Having in mind that my team as the best league attributes for first touch passing, should I increase a little bit the tempo? Should I remove retain possession?

4) My defensive midfielder is a very good playmaker in that position, given the fact that i have possession around 60% should I have a playmaker in that position to better distribute the game?


I'm sorry if this is too confusing, I have a lot of things to say and didn´t know exactly where to start.

Thank you in advance,
Best Regards,
José Dias

 

[WJ]

To start off, let me say this - It isn't particularly possession-orientated to have both fullbacks and 2 of your 3 midfielders (!!) bombing forward instead of being regular passing options and supporting play.

1) If i set the OI to press more the full backs and tight marking to the wingers (i used to had a lot of problems from the sides) should i keep this PI to my full backs and wingers?

It really doesn't matter. The only difference is that with OIs you can set instructions specific to an opposition player or position.

You can't mark tighter than tight. It's either tight or loose.

Closing down will stack, so theoretically, having both PI and OI of close down more will close down more than just having one instruction.

2) Should I set one of the full back in support duty (probably the left as the one in the right as better support from the supporting winger) and set one of the midfielders as a BBM?

That's up to how you want to play. You're currently making it unbelievably top heavy though. You have 3 forward players and you're adding 4 more players to it. Who's staying back? Who's keeping possession? Who's controlling the game?

3) Having in mind that my team as the best league attributes for first touch passing, should I increase a little bit the tempo? Should I remove retain possession?

That, again, is up to how you want to play. Lower tempo increases the time they hold onto the ball before needing to make a decision with it. So high tempos (remember that Standard only has a medium/middle/average tempo) will require players who are technically and mentally capable.

4) My defensive midfielder is a very good playmaker in that position, given the fact that i have possession around 60% should I have a playmaker in that position to better distribute the game?

You guessed it - up to you. Do you want the ball to be controlled at the back by the DM?

Most of the questions you should answer yourself. It depends what YOU want. It depends what your players are/are not capable of.

 

[zedias85]

To start off, let me say this - It isn't particularly possession-orientated to have both fullbacks and 2 of your 3 midfielders (!!) bombing forward instead of being regular passing options and supporting play.

That's up to how you want to play. You're currently making it unbelievably top heavy though. You have 3 forward players and you're adding 4 more players to it. Who's staying back? Who's keeping possession? Who's controlling the game?

You guessed it - up to you. Do you want the ball to be controlled at the back by the DM?

Thank you a lot for your insights, you've been very helpful and clear.

1) You´re absolutely right. I'm still trying to, first define and then implement, this new idea of football, completely different from last year's high tiempo counter attack.

2) I will definitely switch two attacking by supporting roles: One full back and one CM.

3) I've seen a lot of people using BBM and BWM. If I had the player to do that, do you think one of them would fit well on this idea? (1DM de; 1CM att; BBM or BWM sup)

Thank you again

 

[WJ]

You're better off reading the role descriptions, looking at the key attributes required for the role and the default PIs. It has to fit the tactical system and also the player who will be playing there.

BWMs chase the ball all over the place in defence and keep it simple in possession. BBMs get further forward in possession and is less aggressive without the ball.

Watch a few minutes on full if you want to get a great idea of how the role performs in practice.

 

[zedias85]

I watch in full game the first 15min of every match to better adjust my tatics.

Another problem that I've found is that I'm using the same tatic to every opponent (even though the changes in instrutions and so before and during matches).

I can´t play possession against most of the teams in the promotion phase. I probably need to define another tatic in counter to this later stage of the season.
I find this particularly difficult because i play the first half of the season agaisnt same or lower level teams, and then i get the sharks.

I've scheduled the next pre season with very difficult matches to try to tune my counter tatic, but i don´t know if that´s enough. Plus, I don´t know if i can have the players to play both counter and possession on the same season.

Thank you a lot for your oppinions