IF's and WB's not taking chances

[petergoddard]

Following the advice I have been given on the stupid questions thread, I decided to open a this thread to try to solve a minor issue.

I'm having lots of possession, scoring and winning, so this is not a problem I mentioned a minor issue on that thread with both IF's and WB's but the problem is with the WB's because for several ocasions they have the space either to cut inside and pass or run with the ball to the goal or even to cross the ball... but they always stop (as they are waiting for the opponent) and then instead of running with the ball to where they have space, they turn and try to cross from byline. The good thing is that most of the time they end winning a corner, but still is very annoying.

I'm using two WB's (auto / support) (attacking strategy / very fluid philosophy) with these instructions:

shorter passing / cross more often / cross from deep / cross aim to the centre / get further forward / close down more

Any idea to solve this ???

[Britrock]

Cross from deep and get further forward would seem to contradict each other to me, at a guess get further forward is upping their mentality and winning out over cross from deep (not sure which one you want to win out though).

Also a WB on auto in an attacking strategy is effectively a WBa, so will be very attacking and look to get further forward to begin with. If you set him to support he should dial it back a bit too. In fact, setting them to FBs will make them less attacking and more likely to cross from deep as well (if this is what you want)

[llama3]

They aren't crossing from the byline because they are instructed not to and lack the space to do it shortly afterwards - that's my guess.

[jamez_b]

How much does the players decision stat influence this?

[petergoddard]

Cross from deep and get further forward would seem to contradict each other to me, at a guess get further forward is upping their mentality and winning out over cross from deep (not sure which one you want to win out though).

Also a WB on auto in an attacking strategy is effectively a WBa, so will be very attacking and look to get further forward to begin with. If you set him to support he should dial it back a bit too. In fact, setting them to FBs will make them less attacking and more likely to cross from deep as well (if this is what you want)

not sure if they are conflicting, I think get further forward is an instruction with or without the ball, a little like the old RFDs; at the same time, the player is being instructed to cross from deep when having the ball and he could have it naturaly in deeper zones also.

Don't you think it might be the retain possession instruction ??? I guess players are being told to take the ball to wider zones and waste time.

[petergoddard]

They aren't crossing from the byline because they are instructed not to and lack the space to do it shortly afterwards - that's my guess.

Sure, but that is not the problem. The problem is they have space to cut inside and pass or cross and they wait a little, holding the ball and when the opponent FB arrives they go byline.

[petergoddard]

How much does the players decision stat influence this?

It's a very fluid philosophy, so influences a lot :-)

[yonko]

My advise would be to remove all individual instructions for both WBs. Then observe how they play with their default settings. IMO your main problem is that you've given them specific crossing instructions that may not be available to them in certain situations.

The question you really need to ask yourself is what do you want your WBs to do? You also need to keep in mind that it's best to keep things simple. And yes, retain possession may have something to do with the behavior of your WBs.

Now, what is the problem with your IFs?

[jamez_b]

Ah I thought my team playing as very rigid was causing the problem. :-)

[petergoddard]

Nice, I will try that :-)

As for the IFs i think it might be the same problem, although they don't stop and wait but sometimes they run wide with the ball so I guess the retain possession is influencing their behaviour.

But here's the thing: I'm in November, unbeaten both in the League and in Champions League, defeated AC Milan 3-1 with 65% possession, most of matches I have 70% or a little more, around 20 to 30 shots / match, 8-10 chances score and almost every match around 2 or 3 balls hitting the posts (my current record in a match is 7 ), my team is not winning by lots of goals but it's very dominant and consistent and the results are always 2-0, 3-0, 3-1.... and then I think I should I change anything ???? :-)