How to make the most of a hard-working team?

[fujitsu]

I play in the Championship. Most of my players are hard-working determined players with excellent rates for teamwork, i.e. teamwork and work rate ratings above 15.

The other ratings are pretty average (9-12 range), so there are no real superstars and/or technically gifted players, i.e. I have very few specialists in the team. How do you make the most of such a team?

My interpretation is that I should go for a quicker tempo, press more but my team is not so fast unfortunately.

I think I should go fluid due to the very low number of specialists in the team but then again I'm not convinced.

What about the formation, what would be the formation suited to such a hard-working and determined team? I have good balance in the team and players for every position on the field - DC, FB/WB, DM, CM, WM/W, IF, S - so I can be very flexible playing different formations. Thing is that the greatest qualities of my players are teamwork and work rate (in general the mental attributes) while the technical and the physical attributes (as well as decisions actually) are all in the 9-12 range.

Really looking forward to read your advice.

[Spireheart]

I'm currently Stoke, playing the old fashioned way of sucking up attacks and launching it up to the big man up front who holds the ball up for the second striker. All the players are high in determination and strength. I have a hard working midfield of a BWM and BBM who can win the ball for me in a lower defense line. I adjust depending on who i am up against, but so far i've played 3, won 2 and drawn 1. It aint pretty, but seems to be working well

[imabearlol]

I don't think you necessarily have to be fast to press but organised. With that team I would personally try a 4-4-2 in the vein of Arrigo Sacchi.

Strategy: Attacking

Since you will be playing in a very narrow band high up vertically, you want to stretch play wide as much as possible to create space and play a direct style. An attacking strategy suits this

Mentality: Very Fluid

Sacchi believed in generalists over specialists where play was left up to the creativity of individuals within a certain shape. He also believed in a very narrow band, no more than 25m between the defence and the forwards. A Very Fluid philosophy fits this perfectly.

Shouts:

Push Higher Up/Much Higher Defensive Line - Since you are playing an attacking strategy these instructions might not be needed. Test this and see if you need it to keep a sufficiently high line.

Play Offside Trap - A key staple of Sacchi's system. It will protect you from the weaknesses of a high line to a certain extent, but vs an exceptionally pacey team you may need to adopt an alternative strategy.

The pressing part is hard - you want your team to press in a shape ideally. You will need to experiment here, but I'd suggest starting with Hassle Opponents and Tight Marking first and see how it goes. You will need to change this if you notice your players moving around all over the place.