Where am I going wrong?

[svaibhavlfc]

I have never really played FM before with my own tactic, but this year using other's tactics isn't making me passionate about the game, so I badly want to create a working tactic of my own but have failed badly each time I have tried to create one.

I am trying to create a possession pressing based tactic, using 4-2-3-1 formation with Inside Forwards.
I have tested this tactics in a few matches.
The attack looks decent but the problem is with defence. I am conceding way too easily.
This is my tactic.

View attachment 338730View attachment 338729

My Player instructions are:

Goalkeeper: pass it shorter, distribute to defenders.
Full Backs: shoot less often, pass it shorter, close down more, cross more often, stay wider/
Central Defenders: pass it shorter.
CM(defend): shoot less often, pass it shorter.
DLP(support): roam from position, pass it shorter.
Inside Forwards: more risky passes, shoot less often, sit narrower, pass it shorter.
AP (Attack): roam from position, more direct passes.
CF (Attack): shoot less often, move into channels.

For Opposition instructions I just ask my Assistant Manager to do it.

Any advice on how to improve the tactic are welcome.
I am looking forward to a new Liverpool save(previous ones have gone pretty bad) but before getting that underway I want to first remove any possible errors in my tactic and strengthen it.

 

[epic terrorist]

Is there a pattern to the goals you concede? For example are you conceding more from crosses or are teams just carving you open at will?

It looks a little narrow to me and when you play are your full backs exposed?

 

[svaibhavlfc]

Is there a pattern to the goals you concede? For example are you conceding more from crosses or are teams just carving you open at will?

It looks a little narrow to me and when you play are your full backs exposed?

From what I have observed till now, goals that I concede are from crosses. Don't know why but my defenders cant just clear crosses.

One thing I have observed another that goals are result of my players losing possession and opposition scoring a lot from counters.

My full backs can neither stop their winger from getting crosses in nor can they stop them from making runs behind them and scoring easy CCC.

 

[rocheyb]

Your formation is a bit 'Hail Mary' with your front 4 all charging forward and your team Mentality set to Attack and Very Fluid. I suspect that your problem is not so much with your defenders themselves as with your whole team being too open and leaving your defence exposed to counter attack, particularly to clever balls into the channels and those being played out to the wings from central areas. I also expect that many of your attacks involve you pressing the opposition back into their own penalty area but not being able to find a way through densely packed defences, until they spring their counter against your threadbare defensive ranks.

You should think about Breaking the Lines and how your team transitions during attacking play.

Breaking the Lines is about players higher up your formation dropping deeper during your attacking build-up, in order to pull defenders out of position and create space for those running from deep to exploit. At Southampton last season, Ricky Lambert was a fine example of a forward who would drop deep to hold the ball up while Lallana, Rodriguez and/or Steven Davis/Morgan Schneiderlin would make runs into the channels for short through balls and flick-ons - and the full-backs would offer width on the flanks, with the option to overlap in a second-wave of attack.

By having all of your front four on Attack Duty, you are effectively pressing them all up against the nearest defenders and restricting their space to play. It might work on the counter attack, but not with a short passing possession-based tactic.

Transitions refer to the different shapes that your team adopts as it moves from defence to attack and back to defence. The way your formation is set-up, your are effectively playing 4-2-4 and will occasionally transition into 2-4-4 when your full-backs are both pressing further forward at once. At 4-2-4, a decent ball out of defence by the opposition by-passes half your team and leaves your defence exposed. With all four forwards on Attack, they won't get back that much to help when your team is under sustained pressure, so I'd expect your back-six players to get outnumbered occasionally and be too stretched to account for runners or well placed passes and crosses.

So, how do we fix it? Starting from the front:

- I'd put Sturridge up-top as Complete Forward_Support with instructions to Move Into Channels and Pass Shorter. He will also hold the ball up as one of the automatic instructions of the CF role.
- Move Coutinho out the left as Inside-Forward_Support (especially if he is right-footed) with instructions to Dribble More, Aim Crosses at Target Man and Sit Narrower.
- Put Luis Enrique to Full-Back_Attack (or Wing-Back_Attack if the role suits him better) with instructions to Cross More Often, Get Further Forward and Close Down More so that he can provide overlapping runs down the left-hand side, with Coutinho tucking in-field to make space for him, link-up with him to get him past the opposition full-back and provide a target for crosses.
- Move Sterling to the right-hand side as Winger_Attack with instructions to Cross From Byline, Aim Crosses At Target Man and Get Further Forward.
- The No.10 role is a bit tricky. I don't know Aspas that well or what would be his best role in that position. A Shadow Striker works best with a Deep-Lying Forward ahead of him, so you might experiment with that. The Trequartista role is best-suited to a creative player who can also dribble at pace. When I tried to create a 4-2-3-1, I found that the No.10 was often surplus to requirements with the rest of the team playing around him - which may have been a consequence of the Exploit The Flanks team instruction. Experimentation required, I think, to find which of your players fits the position best.
- Keep Johnson on Support duty at right-back so he can tuck into a defensive three when Enrique goes forward.
- Instruct Gerrard to play More Direct Passes. He will still participate in your team's short passing game, but when the opportunity arises to switch the play and release a team-mate into an attacking area, he'll do it. And with the pace of Sterling on the wing and Sturridge through the channels, that's going to be a potent weapon for you.
- Have the Goalkeeper Pass Shorter and Distribute To Defenders to help you retain possession from goal-kicks.

Looking at your squad, I actually think that 4-5-1 (or 4-3-3) is probably your best formation, with Lucas in the DM position and Henderson coming into central midfield as a Box-to-Box alongside Gerrard's Deep-Lying Playmaker. That would provide a sterner defensive core to your team and added insurance for Luis Enrique to make those overlapping runs down the left wing. Then you might want to put Sturridge to Complete Forward_Attack and add the Shoot More Often instruction.

Switch your team Mentality to CONTROL and BALANCED. Reserve the ATTACK and FLUID instructions for when you need to chase a goal. By starting with those instructions, you give yourself nowhere to go when you need to change things up to get a result.

On the Team Level instructions, I think some of your existing selections are contradictory. You're telling the team to Push Higher Up and Look For Overlap - with your front four pressing as far forward as they can and the only players capable of offering an overlap in Support roles. Lower Tempo and Be More Expressive don't go together in my mind, either - although I might be wrong about that. You have a few players who are good at dribbling and some pace in attack, so I would go for:

- Retain Possession
- Shorter Passing
- Work The Ball Into Box
- Play Out Of Defence
- Drill Crosses
- Run At Defence
- Exploit the Flanks
- Look For Overlap
- Play Wider
- Hassle Opponents
- Get Stuck In
- Higher Tempo

Having Hassle Opponents and Get Stuck In both on together will raise one or two eyebrows among the FM tactical intelligentsia, but I'm unrepentant! You'll get plenty of yellow cards and the occasional red, but you'll also dominate midfield and impose your style of play on the opposition. When you need to change things up, take off Retain Possession and switch on Be More Expressive to get them playing one-and-two touch football to open the opposition up that little bit more. You might find it beneficial to Push Higher Up, too - experiment.

When playing 4-2-3-1 and holding a narrow lead going into the last 15 minutes, be prepared to switch to 4-5-1 and lock things down to protect the win. Switch to defensive tactics and start wasting time - whatever it takes to keep hold of all three points. Select more combative roles for your central midfielders and leave the likes of Sterling and Sturridge upfield in attacking roles to spring counter attacks.

Lastly, consider signing James Ward-Prowse from Southampton. He can play the Deep-Lying Playmaker role the same way as Gerrard, with excellent set-piece delivery and a decent long-range shot for free-kicks just outside the box. His preferred moves include Likes To Switch Play Often and Tries Long Range Passes, which adds a bit more variety to your otherwise short passing game. He's English - important for Premier League and European squad quotas - and is a potential future captain. He's also about 10 or 12 years younger than Gerrard.

 

[Raikan007]

Change instructions to quicker tempo (as your team are technically gifted) and take off more expressive..

Above is pretty much spot on as well bud very well executed and informative post

you can try and drop the CM's to DM's to add a bit more of a covering in front of your defenders as well as possibly add extra defense on crosses coming in

maybe try setting Skrtel to Limited Defender so that they clear with no nonsense or faffing around at the back! I know it contradicts your style of play but at least you can hopefully get the ball out the box

set your wingers to specific man mark opponents wingers and set them to mark tightly and close down more.. it will say that they are dragged out of position but thats nothing to worry about too much..

also try setting your FB's to mark wingers too, double up on defence out wide, push them inside (try also setting your pitch dimensions to as small as possible next season)