Help with Marseille

[eyalgolan]

Hey after a few years lurking on this forum I decided to ask help for once after learning from others here. Sorry if my English isn't perfect

So after a few saves with few success and lots of fails, I started with French giants Marseille, a club filled with talent and trophies on it's cabinet. I Think my main issue in previous saves was a) I found it hard to find a style and build my squad to fit it b) I had problems adjusting to the opponents from match to match and exploit space that was left by them. So I started this game (and this thread) in order to work on this and to finally have a long running save in this game.

So first of, I wanted to create a style that fits my team. I have some good passers in central midfield and fast forwards, so I wan't to build from the back, keep possession with my supportive and defensive players but use my attacking players- My front three and ideally atleast one of my wing-backs (right now no one fits so I play with FBs).

This is the best setup for this type of style:

So I think I can achieve what I desire from my team with the "Build play from the back" and "Run at defense" shouts. I also thinking of playing a Direct passing style and the "Exploit the middle" shouts. I'm also wondering about how to play my striker, Jordan Ayew:

I Know he's far from being the ideal Complete Forward, but I want him to offer more to the game than a Poacher would. Is Advanced Forward a better option? from past experience I couldn't find a difference between AF to Poacher. Perhaps DLF?

Also, against teams that play with DM his mentality would be attack to push the opponent backline backwards so there would be more space but against teams that play without DM he would be on support to use the space behind the MCs and make runs. Sounds Logical?

Thanks for reading, if something is misunderstood please let me know...

[j4y_z]

Is Remy at QPR already? If not, use him as CF(s). Imho a support duty is better for a lone striker. Also, you could use Gignac for this role, and use Jordan as a backup for Valbuena on the right wing. Who are you playing in your CM slots?

EDIT: I just read your attack-support rotation idea: sounds good to me.

[eyalgolan]

Sadly Remy has already moved to QPR. Shame as he could have fit as well and was of my favorite strikers of last year's game. Ayew is ranked higher by my scouts. He's slightly better physically, more especially quicker and more agile. Plus he is younger so this could be a breakout season for him, and he could be sold for good value.

My midfield playmakers are Joey Barton and Morgan Amalfitano. Neither are world-class but can pass the ball well and have good PPMs for Advanced Playmakers so I'm satisfied with their roles.

[ModernLefty]

Ayew isn't a worth utilising as a complete forward, personally, well for the moment anyway. His 10 passing and creativity in a role that has to be a focal point would find you losing possession quite frequently, and he isn't quite complete physically to make up for it, he could get away with it if he was Drogba. Yeah, he would work most naturally as a Striker as an Advanced Forward, though his work rate is abit suspect. He would however work really well as an Inside Forward, down the Left, cutting inside on his stronger foot, if you retrained him, or you could try him as an inside forward down the right.

I don't know whether you still have Gignac or not, but that could be the answer, having Gignac as a DLF support, then Ayew cutting inside from the left into the space he creates.

[eyalgolan]

ModernLefty- thanks for the suggestion, I think this setup upfront would be the one I'd start with.

Just to fill in on an interesting match I had today, an away match against Mlada Boleslav in an Europa League qualification match. They lined up with a classic 4-4-2 and we lined up the 4-3-3 with Gignac as DLF-Support and my DM (Alaixys Romao) on support as well. The idea was to dominate the middle of the pitch and using the space between the MCs and DC of the opponent. I used the Pass to space, Play out of defense, Exploit the middle, Run at Defense, Retain possession and Play wider shouts as I taught they will compliment to what I wished to achive.

Sadly the game started bad after only 7 minutes we were down 1-0, and the first half ended with this justified result as we played poor, couldn't keep possession nor create attacks.

During the break I made a change- dropped the Pass to space as it was a wet pitch and played to feet. Also I instructed my defense to drop deep as Mlada had no threat in the AM positions. It did the job and we kept possession well but couldn't find the goal, so I made another change and swapped Gignac with Jordan Ayew and changed his role to AF, pushing the opponents D-line further. Also I moved Valbuena to the AMR slot (still as IF) and changed my FBR from FB-Support to WB-Attack. It worked a charm and Valbuena went to score the equalizer after doing great to make space on the opponent's box, with the FBR (Kassim Abdallah) being the man who started this attack on the right. The match ended 3-1, with Kassim Abdallah picking an assist and Ayew being denied twice by the post.

[ModernLefty]

Sounds good, that's always the joy of actually managing, i.e. watching the game and experimenting, on FM, when you see it succeed and it has been down to you altering and tweaking, that is when the game comes alive.

That seems like it could be a good combination for you if plan A doesn't work; its always nice to have players who are versatile and perform multiple roles in a team.