Hellas Verona - advice needed for third season

[right_winger]

I recently returned to my Verona save in FM11 and finished 8th in second season in Serie B (after comfortable promotion in first season). Good result considering my team's less than average quality and quite a lot of injuries, however I feel I could have done better. In fact I had a chance for play-offs and wasted it due to draw in my last game of the season at home. The game for which I had no sensible plan (despite the rival team being at roughly similar level) and that was my problem throughout the season - no proper plan resulting in simple, boring football that sometimes allowed me to win 1-0 or 2-1 against weaker teams but sometimes also nick a point against much better team. I felt I restricted my players too much by giving not enough creative freedom and lowering a lot of sliders.

Now before the new season media prediction for my team is 14th and it's fair to say I am lower mid-table side. I am sure though that if I get some things right I could play better and seriously think about play-offs (places 3-6) with a bit of luck.

My staff said during the preseason meeting that we are: aggressive, determined team with quite a lot of flair (for the league... we're still not Barca) and the club has good youth facilities but we are poor at: concentration, dribbling, speed, passing, fitness and we also have the oldest squad in the league.

I decided to switch from 442 to wide 4132 (with flat line of ML, MC & MR) but not sure how to set roles now. I tried the following in the last friendly:

GK support with distribution to defender and everything else on default

LB attack, MC as adv. playmaker attack and one attack role upfront;

RB support, ML & MR as wingers/support and DLF support;

Defend duty: CB cover, CB defend, DM.

I beat Juventus Reserves 2-0, good first half from my team but in 2nd Juve had some shots, although no CCC. Generally we played a lot better than last season but made some simple mistakes every now and then. Good thing was more players were involved in attacks and my team was less predictable. There is a room for improvement of course and these are my main issues:

SLIDERS

I let TC do the job now and only lowered some long shots. Shall I touch anything else at all (tackling, rwb, rfd, ttb, crossing, c.freedom)?

MIDFIELD

I moved MCd to DM position as I found a lot of teams use AMC and even when not, there is quite a gap between my defence and midfield.

Now I am wondering about switching duties of MC and MR so they would be adv. playmaker/support and winger/attack.

Also, the above guy playing as MC could possibly become just central midfielder - but that would leave only one 'specialised' role in the whole team (target man). Could anyone advise what's the best way to go to make sure players cooperate well?

FORWARDS

I have two big strikers competing for TM role, although only one of them (my second choice) is really good in the air, so I usually set Ball to feet below TM option. Both are better suited to be TM than Complete or Advanced Forwards.

My faster striker is best suited to be a poacher, I played him as DLF as well. His replacement can only play as poacher.

Now how to make them work: leave DLF(s)-TM(a) or the other way round DLF(a)-TM(s) or maybe P(a)-TM(s). What would be pro/cons of each of these partnerships?

TEAM/LEAGUE QUALITY

As I want to use TC and shouts, bearing in mind that it's not a top league/team, shall I use more 'conservative' strategies? For example, playing against weaker team at home go for Standard instead of Attack or play Counter (not Standard) against similar teams? Another issue here is the style - fast, attacking, wide, direct game is not really Italian style so I hesitate to play this way, especially that my players are slow and bad passers.

WEATHER/PITCH SIZE (silly question for the end)

When I feel I should alter my passing or tempo because of the above, what's the best way to do it? Manually, which overrides some TC settings or by shouts only?

Thanks for reading, any help will be greatly appreciated.

[andreano]

Because you have a slower team with poor fitness it would probably be best that you play a more deep, defensive game. Probably on counter and because you have a big TM and another fast striker you can play a direct passing game. I would play a TM(s) and AF(a). DLF and TM are kind of occupying the same space and duties but when you do AF(a) I find that the TM(s) can play more balls to him as he runs forward.

Take all of this with a grain of salt as I am not a tactic-guru, though.

[right_winger]

Many thanks andreano

Probably on counter and because you have a big TM and another fast striker you can play a direct passing game.

He's not really that fast, but not bad for the league I guess so I will give it a try in the next friendly.

DLF and TM are kind of occupying the same space and duties but when you do AF(a) I find that the TM(s) can play more balls to him as he runs forward.

Good hint, I kept thinking TM with attack duty plays very far upfront.

Cheers.

[andreano]

Many thanks andreano

Thought you deserved some feedback for this write up.

Anyway, so your formation looks like this?

http://www.footballuser.com/formations/2013/09/818956_Hellas_Verona.jpg

I would say run fluid also because you only have 2 "specialized" roles (TM & AP)

Is your DM a good passer? Because this formation would kind of warrant a deeper playmaker if you are going to play a direct game to your TM.

[right_winger]

My formation is very similiar. The only difference is DM right in the centre and MC in front of him (not DMCL and MCR) and forwards' roles (TMs plays on centre right, AFa centre left)

I swapped two players' duties for last 2 friendlies and played MC(s) as adv.plmkr and RM(a) as winger. Might try the RM as defensive winger in the next one but so far things look good. I've beaten a similar team 2-0 away (playing Standard strategy), then drew 1-1 against Roma at home (slightly dominating the game despite playing Counter).

As I was first playing away, then a much stronger team I made slight adjustments changing LB duty to support and RB to defend. Worked OK, both were still involved with attacking game.

Also experimented with MC switching his role between AP to CM and he looked better as AP although will keep testing it.

Good tip about playing fluid, although if using defensive winger (a) will work well then I guess it's better to keep it balanced as it makes 3 specialists, right?

Here is my DM:

Probably better to keep his normal role unless I miss something and you spot it

Thanks again.

[andreano]

Yeah he is not really a playmaker. I don't know about defensive wingers because it might create a big disconnect between your attack and defense. But other than that it seems like a solid defensive tactic.