Hi,
I'm managing Inter Milan, first season. I bought Hamsik and Sakho, didn't sell anyone, so my squad looks like this (just the more important players):
Forwards: Eto'o, Milito, Pandev, Balotelli
Midfielders: Sneijder, Motta, Hamsik, Muntari, Stankovic, Quaresma, Cambiasso
Defenders: Chivu, Santon, Samuel, Lucio, Sakho, Maicon, Zanetti, Materazzi
Goalkeepers: Julio Cesar, Francesco Toldo, Vid Belec
I play the formation my assistant recommended, that is 4-1-2-1-2, when everyone's healthy like this:
----------------- Eto'o -------- Milito ------------------
----------------------- Sneijder --------------------------
--------------- Hamsik ----- Stankovic ----------------
---------------------- Cambiasso -------------------------
----- Chivu ---- Samuel --- Lucio ---- Maicon -----
------------------------ Cesar -----------------------------
Eto'o is injured for 3 months, so I use Balotelli in his place. And I rotate Milito with Pandev, or Sneijder with Pandev, because Sneijder is not doing very good, he shoots from distance a lot, but always wide.
Then I sometimes substitute Hamsik with Motta, Chivu with Santon, and Lucio or Samuel with Sakho. And sometimes I use Zanetti as right defender, Materazzi as central defender, and Muntari as central midfielder, when I get some players injured.
I'm not doing very bad, I lead the league, didn't lost a game yet, but I'm not doing very good either. I have a lot of draws, and it seems like I can't score a goal. I get a lot of chances, but most of the shots go straight to the goalkeeper, or wide.
Can you please recommend what tactics should I try to set up, what roles to assign the players, etc., maybe even change formation, to get better results? I'm just using the defaults most of the time, and assistant advices I get frequently are that my crosses are poor, and also that I shoot from far away, and that I should use more direct passing, or more long balls.
And another problem I see very often, and I hate it is, that Maicon when defending passes the ball to the goalkeeper too often, even when the opposition players are there, and sometimes it looks like even the goalkeeper has a problem catching the ball, results in corners. How can I tell him not to do it?
Thanks for your ideas.