Tactic for when you are desperate to score especially late in the game?

[dngrs]

against no specific opposition tactic ( except that it is parking the bus)

what do you use?

[RTHerringbone]

The tactic (specifically formation) used by the opponent is important though.....

Most people might say "Play Wider" or something similar, but against certain formations that mightn't be a great idea.

[tyro]

Blanket statement (for my games, for my preferences) - switch to "attacking" mentality. Puts your team into more urgency to score. Usually they will get more chances and might get back.

However, this doesn't always work. Sometimes, doing the opposite, going, for example, counter and working methodically towards it, might open space and bring you back.

Now these "changes" are for my play style. I like to change mentality. You can also change formations, move players around, change roles, etc. It really depends on the context. You need to find their weakness.

I just recently played with Newcastle and had a match against Liverpool going down 2-0 first half. In that case I switched my formation completely and they could not react - we ended up 3-3. A couple of games later against Sunderland, we were again 2-0 down. I again changed formation slightly (in this case because I had abandone my regular formation and I went back to it). We ended up winning 3-2.

So you definitely can come back, usually, changing to attacking does the trick, but sometimes that would be the wrong thing to do. If you are leaving it so late to the game to get back into it, it might be too late anyways. Against opposition that is "inferior to you" as many of the mods here describe, it is actually best to be more patient and give them space and try to counter them instead.

Sometimes you can spot a weak link (looking at condition or maybe rating) or you can spot a weakness in the formation - are they playing narrow or wide and you can try to counter that.

Again, best is to analyze this early on and not leave it late.

[Svenc]

Depends on your shape... unless you have duties on "auto", there's little overlap between team shape and mentality. A defending full back will stay to be a defending full back who never ventures much forward neither on defend mentality nor on attack. A strikerless formation will also stay to be a strikerless formation. Meaning that your formation or your duty set-up might not be that well suited for a desperate overload scenario and have to be adapted first.

There isn't a "right" or "the one way" to go with it though. I personally may like to bring on a second forward as a target man who is truly dominant in the air (extremely good stats in jumping reach, strength etc.) as a support TM who flicks route one passes bypassing the midfield onto the other striker to score. If I don't have one, throwing a towering CB you likely always have into the team is also an option. It's a game of chance, mind, but it can work in particular if that TM wins the majority of his headers. If you're playing against a formation that can be overloaded on the flanks you might try that. I personally rarely just change mentality though as that in and on itself doesn't hugely change team shape. Neither the formation, the basic positions players adopt nor (more importantly) the forward movement they make from those positions. Desperately overloading for me is usually throwing players forward in numbers and trying to quickly move the ball to them as time is running out and the clock doesn't allow for patience, and that can work.

It is by no means the only tactics though.

It's the same for closing off a game... simply clicking counter or defend won't ever result in this unless your standard set-up for some weird reason contains a big number of defend duties.

Advisable to have players of calibre though, and good side more easily disrupt this with aggressive pressing, else as with the overload, there's different ways of seeing out a lead and winding the remainder of a clock down.

[Lucas]

Just one of those questions that has lots of answers for different people. For me it depends on context, if I'm happy with my formation I'll increase fluidity, or I may make a substitution or change tactic. The feel of the match and how it is going is key for me. Sometimes I do nothing at all, and can still come up with that injury time winner. Nothing is sweeter than when its your bitter rivals and they have a defensive howler and your striker capitalises in the last minute to take you into the next round of the cup in a giant killing feat

[rninejr]

There is no right answer for this question. It is mostly situational. Also, trying to change your usual style of play to a completely different style during a match won't always work or even calling more problems to come.

N I agree that playing wider is not always works. Against brendan rogders liverpool I played more narrower at the second half after they scored 2 goals at the 1st half. His 3-4-2-1 was lethal towards my usual tactic which Is actually has normal width but that time they were playing even narrower than me. N the match ended as a tie

[thomit]

Play quicker, wider and with more urgency, while upping the effort of pressing/closing down the opponent to try and win the ball back as quickly as possible, and take more risks defensively in order to get enough manpower forward. That's the standard solution. Put tall and good headers in attack and start pumping high balls into the box is another, more crude solution.