I have no problem forming tactic that gives me results, but I have huge problem in achieving desired style of play, so I need help...
So currently, I use two mirrored tactic asymmetric 4-5-1 which looks like this
View attachment 113200
I have identical setup for other side of field, with more attacking right FB and INF on left side. In this version, CD-st is actually moved slightly to left, so when I have ball, I have actually three defenders that are covering each side and one DM who is closing down in front of them. While attacking, my formation looks more like 3-1-4-2, and this was exactly what I wanted to achieve.
CM-att is pulled bit to right to use space left by INF when he comes in middle, EG is slightly to left to gain better connection with oncoming and BWM-sup is central, as I want him to give me option to connect left and right side of attack, and to be able to close down early and often. I am still experimenting with DM rolle and striker role, to get best of this formation.
My team instructions are :
1. Play wider- as I want to use full width of field in order to stretch defense of opponent and create space.
2. Pass it shorter - I want to control game and try to use ball wisely.
Note - My formation is bit narrow, so these two combination give me some balance while attacking as I feel I control game in right way and my team have a lot of options during game for passing, and longer passes are occurring only occasionally when there is enough space for potential error and error correction. In other words, I am content at the moment how these work out.
3. Lower tempo - now, I would prefer to play slightly faster game, as I believe this would create more opportunities for me, but on the other hand, my team has very bad decision making overall, so I found out that it is much better to lower the tempo, at least for now.
4. Look for overlap - this is me trying to utilize FB during attack, as I felt they are not used at all without this instruction.
5. Play out of defense - I am trying to control game flow, so this is also in line with my desires.
6. Slightly higher D-line- Ideally, I would like to play with high D-line, but my CBs are too slow to play this way, so this is, kinda compromise here.
I play with attacking mentality, as I want possession to be higher upfield, and, for now, I play standard philosophy, although, I might opt opt to fluid or even more fluid once I get my team formed to my liking.
Now, i have some issues I have to solve defensively (much less problematic) and offensively (huge problem).
Defensive problem - as my back three are stretched across field, I have no problem with direct high balls over the defense, with clearing ball to flanks and these kind of issues, as CB-st is usually covering one side, fb other, and CB-cov central areas. Biggest issue for now is with movement in front of D-line. I had previously REG-sup on DMC, and BWM-def in central area, but this created two issues - one that they occupied same space during attack too often, and second, that BWM-def in central area was useless, as he was usually to far from ball to actually win it over. So I changed this to BWM-sup centrally and DLP-def defensively. Now I had one issue, DLP -def was too passive in closing down in front of D-line, so I was vulnerable to movements between lines and fast trough ball between my stretch back three. So for now, I am trying with BWM-def to see how this is gonna play, and might change it if I do not like what I see. I believe that if my DM is closing just enough, this problem would, for most of time, go away.
So basically, I believe that this issue is minor stuff and that with right role for DM will be solved.
Offensive problem - now here I have huge problem. Although I see, for most part, movements that I want to see, I do not like how it plays out for most of part.
1. Biggest issue is long shots. It feels like my players are shooting as soon as they receive ball. It is like crazy sometimes. Worst is INF, who shoots at least 5 times a game from long range. Now, if he would not have option for pass, I would understand this, but most of time, he has. On his side of ball, there is often situation like this:
View attachment 113199
Where EG is static backpass option, F-9 and CM-att are mostly in line with INF, and they are moving to space, and BWM and WB are also moving to space. So INF actually has at least three easy options for pass, but he opting every ******* time to shoot it from edge of box. And to make things even more crazy, this player actually has ppm "tries to pass rather then to score" ?! And naturally, he has instruction NOT to shoot as often, but it seem does not help at all?!
Due to position of CM-att most of time, he is less prone to long shots, although he has PPM "shoots from distance".
I have no issue if they are shooting occasionally from long range, as this is part of game of course, but this is becoming crazy, as I had games where EVERYBODY is shooting from 30 yards as soon as they receive ball, so I had games in which I had 30 shots, and 20 from long range. This is madness...
2. INF movement at crosses - It is not my primary game plan, as none of my players have instruction to cross more often (in fact, this is one of main reasons why WB is on supp duty, although he has all other pi-s like WB-att, but I do not want him to cross often, and I do not want him to cross from byline, as I have fairly short attackers, I prefer from him to cross occasionally from deep, and catch off guard opposition. Now, this is exactly what I am getting. With whipped crosses, I am getting even more options as opponent usually clears ball on edge of area, so I have there EG and usually my BWM ready to pick up ball and create something out of it. Now, these situations are exactly why I choose roles like I did. F9 should move from deep and take opposition CB-s with him while my WB is aiming on far post where should be my INF-att alone, or he should be against opposition FB (most of them are shorter, so he would have HUGE advantage there). But, he is not there. This fuckup is still sitting on edge of box?! I do not get it... And, you would say this is then problem with this one particular player, but no. Every player I put in this role behaves in similar fashion.
3. Sometimes, and this is least of my problems, I get my EG, INF, F9, BWM and CM-att all in space of 5x5 meters, trying to pass each other and create something, while all opponent defense is there as well. Funny, they usually get 5-10 passes accurate before someone tries trough ball (normally unsuccessful)... But this issue is least of my problems and I see it once in every third or forth game, so I guess this is **** happen situation
So, if anyone has an idea what should I do to solve these problems I have, I would be grateful, as some of those problems are really ****** me off.
So currently, I use two mirrored tactic asymmetric 4-5-1 which looks like this
View attachment 113200
I have identical setup for other side of field, with more attacking right FB and INF on left side. In this version, CD-st is actually moved slightly to left, so when I have ball, I have actually three defenders that are covering each side and one DM who is closing down in front of them. While attacking, my formation looks more like 3-1-4-2, and this was exactly what I wanted to achieve.
CM-att is pulled bit to right to use space left by INF when he comes in middle, EG is slightly to left to gain better connection with oncoming and BWM-sup is central, as I want him to give me option to connect left and right side of attack, and to be able to close down early and often. I am still experimenting with DM rolle and striker role, to get best of this formation.
My team instructions are :
1. Play wider- as I want to use full width of field in order to stretch defense of opponent and create space.
2. Pass it shorter - I want to control game and try to use ball wisely.
Note - My formation is bit narrow, so these two combination give me some balance while attacking as I feel I control game in right way and my team have a lot of options during game for passing, and longer passes are occurring only occasionally when there is enough space for potential error and error correction. In other words, I am content at the moment how these work out.
3. Lower tempo - now, I would prefer to play slightly faster game, as I believe this would create more opportunities for me, but on the other hand, my team has very bad decision making overall, so I found out that it is much better to lower the tempo, at least for now.
4. Look for overlap - this is me trying to utilize FB during attack, as I felt they are not used at all without this instruction.
5. Play out of defense - I am trying to control game flow, so this is also in line with my desires.
6. Slightly higher D-line- Ideally, I would like to play with high D-line, but my CBs are too slow to play this way, so this is, kinda compromise here.
I play with attacking mentality, as I want possession to be higher upfield, and, for now, I play standard philosophy, although, I might opt opt to fluid or even more fluid once I get my team formed to my liking.
Now, i have some issues I have to solve defensively (much less problematic) and offensively (huge problem).
Defensive problem - as my back three are stretched across field, I have no problem with direct high balls over the defense, with clearing ball to flanks and these kind of issues, as CB-st is usually covering one side, fb other, and CB-cov central areas. Biggest issue for now is with movement in front of D-line. I had previously REG-sup on DMC, and BWM-def in central area, but this created two issues - one that they occupied same space during attack too often, and second, that BWM-def in central area was useless, as he was usually to far from ball to actually win it over. So I changed this to BWM-sup centrally and DLP-def defensively. Now I had one issue, DLP -def was too passive in closing down in front of D-line, so I was vulnerable to movements between lines and fast trough ball between my stretch back three. So for now, I am trying with BWM-def to see how this is gonna play, and might change it if I do not like what I see. I believe that if my DM is closing just enough, this problem would, for most of time, go away.
So basically, I believe that this issue is minor stuff and that with right role for DM will be solved.
Offensive problem - now here I have huge problem. Although I see, for most part, movements that I want to see, I do not like how it plays out for most of part.
1. Biggest issue is long shots. It feels like my players are shooting as soon as they receive ball. It is like crazy sometimes. Worst is INF, who shoots at least 5 times a game from long range. Now, if he would not have option for pass, I would understand this, but most of time, he has. On his side of ball, there is often situation like this:
View attachment 113199
Where EG is static backpass option, F-9 and CM-att are mostly in line with INF, and they are moving to space, and BWM and WB are also moving to space. So INF actually has at least three easy options for pass, but he opting every ******* time to shoot it from edge of box. And to make things even more crazy, this player actually has ppm "tries to pass rather then to score" ?! And naturally, he has instruction NOT to shoot as often, but it seem does not help at all?!
Due to position of CM-att most of time, he is less prone to long shots, although he has PPM "shoots from distance".
I have no issue if they are shooting occasionally from long range, as this is part of game of course, but this is becoming crazy, as I had games where EVERYBODY is shooting from 30 yards as soon as they receive ball, so I had games in which I had 30 shots, and 20 from long range. This is madness...
2. INF movement at crosses - It is not my primary game plan, as none of my players have instruction to cross more often (in fact, this is one of main reasons why WB is on supp duty, although he has all other pi-s like WB-att, but I do not want him to cross often, and I do not want him to cross from byline, as I have fairly short attackers, I prefer from him to cross occasionally from deep, and catch off guard opposition. Now, this is exactly what I am getting. With whipped crosses, I am getting even more options as opponent usually clears ball on edge of area, so I have there EG and usually my BWM ready to pick up ball and create something out of it. Now, these situations are exactly why I choose roles like I did. F9 should move from deep and take opposition CB-s with him while my WB is aiming on far post where should be my INF-att alone, or he should be against opposition FB (most of them are shorter, so he would have HUGE advantage there). But, he is not there. This fuckup is still sitting on edge of box?! I do not get it... And, you would say this is then problem with this one particular player, but no. Every player I put in this role behaves in similar fashion.
3. Sometimes, and this is least of my problems, I get my EG, INF, F9, BWM and CM-att all in space of 5x5 meters, trying to pass each other and create something, while all opponent defense is there as well. Funny, they usually get 5-10 passes accurate before someone tries trough ball (normally unsuccessful)... But this issue is least of my problems and I see it once in every third or forth game, so I guess this is **** happen situation
So, if anyone has an idea what should I do to solve these problems I have, I would be grateful, as some of those problems are really ****** me off.
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