What Am I Doing Wrong???

[Clean_Up_Kid]

4th try at a game. First try I did ok, finished 12th with Everton first season, then 5th next season. Lost that when compuuter died.
Since tthen Ive tried Brighton twice, Peterbrough, Everton again, and I just seem to get ripped apart every game. Just lost 7-0 to Arsenal and 3-1 to Hull at home.
I haven't changed teh team much, and the tactics aren;t anything out of the ordinry.
I choose close down, tackle hard, close marking and weaker foot for every player, is this wrong???
I choose pretty normal tactics, apart from wide, because of Pienaar and Arteta...
I play to the strengths, IE free role to those who have high creativeity etc. Long shots to those who have good long shot skills. I honed everything to be prerfect on paper.
I really am giving up here!
Any tips for a beginner who is getting severelly f@#ked off?!?!

 

[Gatid]

thats probs where you go wrong..

only give 2 players a 'free role' anything more your team are going to crumble because all the players that have free roles will be trying their own things and will be moving all over the place getting out of position which can backfire on you when your team loses the ball because all your players are out of pistion and etc.

i tend to give free role to my playermaker(fabregas) and one of my strikers( the creative 1) so they are the players who are allowed to move where they want.

i would switched tackling to normal aswell not hard.

 

[Yorkex]

4th try at a game. First try I did ok, finished 12th with Everton first season, then 5th next season. Lost that when compuuter died.
Since tthen Ive tried Brighton twice, Peterbrough, Everton again, and I just seem to get ripped apart every game. Just lost 7-0 to Arsenal and 3-1 to Hull at home.
I haven't changed teh team much, and the tactics aren;t anything out of the ordinry.
I choose close down, tackle hard, close marking and weaker foot for every player, is this wrong???
I choose pretty normal tactics, apart from wide, because of Pienaar and Arteta...
I play to the strengths, IE free role to those who have high creativeity etc. Long shots to those who have good long shot skills. I honed everything to be prerfect on paper.
I really am giving up here!
Any tips for a beginner who is getting severelly f@#ked off?!?!

There is one of your biggest problems. Dont close doWN every player, i mostly close down 1 or 2 really good player and leave the rest for my players to sought out.
Each tactic should only have 1 or 2 players on free role in my opinion. Also try downloading some tactics from here, and just tweak it to fit your players or play style.

 

[Stevo985]

Agreed. If you're closing down every player that means everytime an opponent player gets the ball, your players will be closing him down. yes that gives him little time on the ball, but if he's a good player he will just take it round the player closing down and be in loads of space because your players are out of position.

Close down players with poor skill, don't close down skillful pl,ayers.

The only players I normally close down are the wingers because it sops them getting crosses in.

 

[Luis Aragones Legacy]

a very offensive minded can have up to four free roles, playmaker, wingers and one striker, closing down eevrybody ends in space for opponent strikers, tackling hard everybody end in penaltis and free kicks.

 

[TheHig]

I don't give free role to anyone, I dont believe in it, the team has to work as a full unit in both attack and defense

 

[Clean_Up_Kid]

Gentlemen, I am astounded. Thanks for the quicjk responses and good advise!
I'll try those things and let you know how I get on.

It was getting to the stage where I was gonna get the mrs to bubblewrap everytihing iin the flat, I just wanted to break things!!
I generally onluy give Arteta and Pienaar free roles, but the closing down advise sounds like it will do the job!!

Cheers again!

Got liverpool now so I hope so!!

 

[TheHig]

I wouldnt give even Arteta and Pienaar Free roles, who are they to have a free role ?
If they work on the same mentality of as your team, or at most a slight more attacking you will benfit.
Only player I'd ever consider for a free is Messi, even then I'd prob decide not to give him free role, I think the free role screws your team up, it does in my past epxerciances anyway

 

[Clean_Up_Kid]

Cheers man, I will try that next.

Well, I wasn;t 3-0 down after 20 mins, so a vast improvement. Kept them to 0-0 at h/t despite losing Saha, Pienaar and Jagielka(3 mths) all to injury. Then Vaughan nicked a goal on 87 mins to get us the 1-0 win!
Plus Yakubu hit the post twice!

Looking good so far!

 

[TheHig]

well Gosling, Rodwell, and Kissock wil have to step in to help cover, they noramlly play pretty well.
Unlucky about the injurys

 

[Preston85]

It really comes down to managerial style, some like the authoritarian approach of "you play here and do this, you play there and do that", others prefer the libertarian approach of "you play here but feel free to move around.

If you have the right players for your approach then it should work. For me a player needs high Decision stat to get the free role so they make good choices about when and where to move, and obviously needs good ball skills so once they get the ball they don't waste it.

For example Liverpool's midfielders and wingers (Gerrard, Alonso, Babel, Benayoun) all have 15+ for decisions and are all quite creative with good passing and/or dribbling+finishing. Torres is my lone striker so never has a free role (lower decisions than the midfielders) so its upto either my AML and/or AMR to find space, especially when playing counter attacking tactic. Generally Gerrard get a free role and a high mentality to get forward to support Torres and to find the space behind him, and with a player like Alonso who can be the creative playmaker in the middle behind them it can work great.

I find a free role on AML and/or AMR works great if playing a more defensive+tight formation and counter attacking down the flanks as thats where there is more likely to be space (especially if opponents FBs get forward). As soon as we gain possession they should be getting forward into the space for the counter.


Creative Freedom is similar but I think its more about ignoring there instructions than position, hence they are more likely to make a forward run or pass it long when you've told them to play short or run with it or take a long shot ect.

I tend to use Creative Freedom more intuitively with Tempo, if the players are just giving the ball away (or just one isn't passing well) then i'll lower them so I don't waste possession. If i'm having lots of possession but not many chances then i'll increase them (for the appropriate players) so more likely to get that killer final ball.


Edited to add:
- I have long shots to Rarely for everyone, even players with 20. I still see pleanty of long shots, I think due to creative freedom of that player. Depends more on if I expect to be able to create a clear chance or if I think i have more chance to just test there keep constantly from range.