Tactical help and advice

[Cookie1]

Hi guys. I have a save with AC Milan in my FM 15 and so far I have struggled to get a tactic that plays according to my requirements. This is what I am looking for:

1. I want my team to play possession football.
2. I want them to be defensively solid and lethal in attack.
3. I want my team to send in lots of crosses and through balls instead of taking long shots.

This is what I am looking for from each of my players.

GK: I want him to sweep up any through balls that get behind my defensive line. I also want him to catch all the crosses that he can reach. I currently have Diego Lopez and Jasper Cillessen in this position.

Fullbacks or Wingbacks: I want them to go forward and send in crosses from the edge of the box when my team is in possession. When the opponenet is in possession I want them to stay back and tackle the opponent's wide men. I have Mateo Darmian, van der weil, Luca Antonelli and Eugenio Mena in these positions.

Centre backs: I want them to stay back at all times and play in a no nonsense and in a risk free manner. However I don't want them to be clearing every ball. I want them to pass to a midfielder when they get a chance. The players that I have in this position are German Pezella, Emiliano Velázquez, Enzo Roco, Semih Kaya, Christian Zapata, Tiago Casasola and Jherson Vegara.

Midfielders: I would like that my midfielders cover the back line if necessary and at the same time support attacking moves. I want them to be sending in through balls when the opportunity arises or else just play short simple passes. Nigel de Jong, Vladimir Darida, Bruno Fernandez, Andrea Pirlo, Marouane Fellini are the options I have here.

Wide Men: I want the wide men to move into the opposition's defensive third and send in hard and low crosses. I want the Fullbacks or Wingbacks supporting them with crosses from outside the box. Alexandre Pato, Mbaye Niang, Steven Jovetic, Bernard, Douglas Costa, Nacer Chadli, Giacomo Bonuventra, El Shaarawy are the options.

Central Attacking Midfield and Striker: I want these two to get on the end of crosses sent in by the wide men. I would however want the Attacking Mid to be less selfish and send in through balls rather than take long shots. Options here are Ciro Immobile, Fernando Torres, Huntelaar, Fabio Borini and some of the wide men who can play as central attacking midfield and striker.

I would really appreciate if I get tactical advice as to how to achieve all this. Thanks.

 

[WJ]

You've not even mentioned what formation you intend using, but it sounds like either a 4-4-1-1 or 4-2-3-1. You've provided info for what you need in each position so why can you not set this up? The player descriptions (and even their PIs) will explain what each role and its duty will do. In combination with the How To Play and Pairs & Combinations guides I linked you to, it should be fairly easy to set up a basic working tactic.

 

[WJ]

You seem to want to focus on crosses. Pay attention to the type of forwards you have and how the opposition plays against you here. TIs can change how standard crosses are delivered, if you have a particular strength. You don't have to add it, but here's some info.

Early crosses can catch a defence out that's too high and where you have a forward that's faster than them. This can be wasteful if defences are sitting back and you're putting in early crosses to only one striker.

Low crosses are great if your forwards aren't great at heading the ball, but crowded boxes will see the cross failing to reach the striker.

Whipped crosses are driven in, but are inaccurate. Great for someone who is decent in the air, but great Heading and Off the Ball attributes.

Floating crosses are high crosses that give your strikers (and their defenders) time to get under the ball. Obviously then, you need a powerful striker with good jumping reach to win it.

In all but the low crosses, Heading is a very important attribute. There's little point in being able to win the header, but not being very accurate when heading it.

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For general advice, I'd say do not go overboard on TIs. See how the team plays without them initially and add them as required. I see too many tactics being ruined because of TIs that harm it more than anything. I just won Serie A and went unbeaten with a newly developed tactic that uses only 3 TIs and 2 of them I only added midway through the season. Of course I added TIs in some games to go to 5 or 6, but they were special cases where I saw that it was needed.

 

[Cookie1]

You've not even mentioned what formation you intend using, but it sounds like either a 4-4-1-1 or 4-2-3-1. You've provided info for what you need in each position so why can you not set this up? The player descriptions (and even their PIs) will explain what each role and its duty will do. In combination with the How To Play and Pairs & Combinations guides I linked you to, it should be fairly easy to set up a basic working tactic.

I tried to set it up but as you said in my previous thread that this tactic does not provide midfield screening for the defenders.

 

[WJ]

Yes, but I linked you to three threads you should have looked at?

 

[Cookie1]

Yes, but I linked you to three threads you should have looked at?

I looked at them but somehow I can't figure out what to change so that this tactic becomes defensively more sound. In my view if I set the player duties of the mid fielders to defend they will sit too deep and leave my attack isolated. Plus you said I was trying to pick a lock with a hammer. What do I do so that my team becomes more patient? I currently use control mentality with a very fluid philosophy with this tactic. What should I change in this tactic for it to become better? Thanks.

 

[WJ]

I looked at them but somehow I can't figure out what to change so that this tactic becomes defensively more sound. In my view if I set the player duties of the mid fielders to defend they will sit too deep and leave my attack isolated. Plus you said I was trying to pick a lock with a hammer. What do I do so that my team becomes more patient? I currently use control mentality with a very fluid philosophy with this tactic. What should I change in this tactic for it to become better? Thanks.

If you're asking these questions, you haven't read the guides!

You shouldn't just be looking at your midfield 2. They're supposed to be steady roles. They're supposed to be steady roles especially in that formation. There are 4 players ahead of them! Your issue is that all 4 of players in front of your midfield have been given attack duties. That is why they're running away and isolating themselves.

 

[Cookie1]

If you're asking these questions, you haven't read the guides!

You shouldn't just be looking at your midfield 2. They're supposed to be steady roles. They're supposed to be steady roles especially in that formation. There are 4 players ahead of them! Your issue is that all 4 of players in front of your midfield have been given attack duties. That is why they're running away and isolating themselves.

Oh now I understand. Thanks for your help. Appreciate it.