Being Pressed Out of Game & Tactic Refining

[Askci]

Hey there,

I've been trying out the following tactic, based on keeping possession of the ball through an asymmetrical passing system, giving players multiple outlets to build play, controlling the game, playing higher up to pressure the opposition, whilst keeping a rigid approach to stay solid at the back.

How it's supposed to play:

Offensively, play is meant to build from the back, through the Libero and BPD, move through the Regista or WMs and hold ball between the midfield triangle to open up spaces, or abuse the WMs for angled through passes and crosses, with the F9 pulling defenders out of position and making room for the AF or others(possibly AP) to score.

Defensively, the Regista protects the defensive trio with support from WMs moving back, and the DLP covering any space left from the WM(A), with the Libero mopping up anything that makes its way through and helping the transition back to attack.

I use this tactic as a slower build approach, I have slightly modified ones(with same formation), to be more aggressive and not work the ball into the box, the WMs pushing further and mentality bumped up to Control, as well as a defensive option with the WMs as DWs, Regista becoming an Anchorman and a Counter mentality.

GK is told to distribute to defenders; BPD, L, WM to play less risky passes to avoid counterattacks; DLP has plays one-twos PPM(not sure if ideal here); AP to hold up ball as we transition(he's also my best player by quite a bit, also Dicates Tempo and Slows Play PPM); F9 to roam to open up opposition defence; AF to move into channels to receive through balls(beats offside trap PPM).

Of course the tactic is almost fully fluid and players' attributes are pretty fitting to their roles. Oh, and I play as Newcastle, placing 3rd last season with a pretty decent team.

The Problems

Possession is pretty low, considering that's part of the base of the tactic, averaging around 50% against similar teams(may drop to 45% too), 55% with lesser, so I don't feel much pressure being applied against the opposition. Passes completed are usually 75-80%, 80% midfield, 70-75% defence and attack.

I feel the passes between defenders are too many - while the midfielders have more, the defenders have quite a bit themselves, even my defensive CD: 50 passes per match by the CDs(even though only one is BPD), 60 for WMs and Regista, 70-80 for DLP/AP, 20-30 F9, 20 AF.

Action zones show as about 10-12% defence, 30ish% midfield, 8-10% opposition's defence, but we play higher up so I feel it should be less in my own area.

I feel my biggest problem though is that when the opposition plays more aggressively, my players are pretty much marked out of the match and drop considerably in passes completed and being able to find space. Better or equal teams especially like to do that, and it's caused my midfield's passes completed to drop to 60% and shut me out of the match entirely with no play build up and passing errors.

Thoughts

I'm unsure about the Libero sometimes, I mean he plays fine, I just wonder if I should just use a CD or a Sweeper. I play my CDs all as Defend because I don't want them dragged out of position as Stoppers, since I already have the Regista and DLP supporting, although maybe they should close down more? I worry about shape then though. :\

I feel something's wrong with the midfield trio, I can't seem to get them to really pass freely between each other as I'd like.

I wonder if I should hassle or mark more tightly, or change width to try to get the ball off the opposition more or find better spaces. Again, I worry about players getting dragged out of position.

I think Rigid's fine, as I have a few specialists, not sure on Mentality.

Maybe the AP should be a Trequartista or some other role, him and the F9 sometimes fall into the same space.

No clue if I should let them play more expressively, or let some players play more risky passes, or remove the Fewer Risky Passes instruction from the WMs. I worry they'll lose the ball and they're my only wide men.

Not sure what type of crosses(if any in particular), or how/where to cross to, or if I should just let the players decide.

I think I'll stop here with the wall of text, please let me know if there's anything else I should add; thank you kindly for any help!

[Cleon]

Why use a Libero if you use a BPD? It doesn't make sense to me and you can't have both of them play out from the back, you should have 1 or the other imo. It doesn't help you use a regista and DLP either who takes away from the libero's game due to wanting the ball and occupying the space the libero would. A libero doesn't work when you use any kind of DMC.

Action zones show as about 10-12% defence, 30ish% midfield, 8-10% opposition's defence, but we play higher up so I feel it should be less in my own area.

Being higher up = less space which = less options which = less movement = easy for for teams to defend against if they sit back and hit you on the counter. Playing higher up and trying to play a possession game only works if you are aggressive throughout the team.

I feel my biggest problem though is that when the opposition plays more aggressively, my players are pretty much marked out of the match and drop considerably in passes completed and being able to find space. Better or equal teams especially like to do that, and it's caused my midfield's passes completed to drop to 60% and shut me out of the match entirely with no play build up and passing errors.

It's a ripple effect of the above. What happens is you both push up so players become even closer to each other as the space is squeezed tight and becomes congested with the bodies in these areas.

Plus your AF is the only real attacking option in the side, the F9 and AP are both creative outlets and the DW's don't offer enough of a goal threat constantly.

I'm unsure about the Libero sometimes, I mean he plays fine, I just wonder if I should just use a CD or a Sweeper. I play my CDs all as Defend because I don't want them dragged out of position as Stoppers, since I already have the Regista and DLP supporting, although maybe they should close down more? I worry about shape then though. :\

You have 4 players all playing a similar role, Lib, BPD, DLP, Reg. You need more thought process on how the roles you've selected all work together and how they're supposed to all link up to create something that works as a unit. Having the lib as a sweeper or a 3rd CB will solve some of the issues but you'll have to watch games and see how the other 3 play with this change.

I feel something's wrong with the midfield trio, I can't seem to get them to really pass freely between each other as I'd like.

That's because the AP will be positioned high, the DLP drops back and the Regista starts deep. It's hard to get the ball to the AP initially because the other 2 either drop deeper or start deeper.

[Cleon]

Still - problems:

I see the CDs still having way too many passes done(one had 97(!) last match).

Well you are asking them to play out of defence so they'll always see more of the ball. Plus you use a back 3 which will make them see more of the ball compared to most back 4 formations due to them covering the wide bits of the pitch too.

The WMs, although contributing to the plays, I feel could do a bit more but I'm unsure what to do with them. Most of my shots and passes into the box are coming from the middle, and so I'm pretty blunt from the sides it seems.

What would you like them to do? You have the option of DW's who can be quite attack despite the name and still offer cover on the flanks defensively. You also could drop them back to WB position and use wingbacks?

[wereldbol]

dw are very helpful in both 3 at the back formations without wing backs and in possession based tactics because they will try and win the ball back high up the pitch. this suits your "push higher up" and "hassle opponents" instructions