Critique my Tactic [Be Gentle]

[ChelseaFan]

Hi guys,

Hit a bit of a snag in the second season. Haven't done much to change the original tactic, but I need to change things up.

We've been over-reliant on crosses for the past season. My top assister was my right back. Wouldn't mind shaking it up a bit. Perhaps a more central orientated attack would be nice to see, but I rarely get them to work.

Here goes. Any feedback would be great.

[ChelseaFan]

Ignore the team in general.

I do have Fabregas, Oscar etc.

[DavidPengilley]

One DC as a Stopped and the other as a Cover? Are you finding them being taken out by a through ball often?

[bowieinspace]

I would say the main issue is the team is instructed to close down much more, but this could mean your team loses it's shape. This combined with two wing backs who will be overlapping the inside forwards, a B2B midfielder who will roam you could be left short at the back - especially when stopper Terry charges out to close something down. If you want to press aggressively like a Klopp style team, you might just want to make sure the team is compact enough to do this in unity, and the central defensive block doesn't get pulled out of position.

You could perhaps keep the closing down the same, but push the team higher up to form a very high, aggressive block. Or switch stopper Terry to a defend duty, change the DM to an anchor man/half back to give more defensive security?

Depends a lot on whether you have any individual player instructions too.

Have you thought about an aggressive, high pressure formation to dominate teams and a second, less aggressive set up to defend as a solid block and contain a strong opposition? I fancy with your current tactic it might leave you struggling to break down weaker teams and being caught on the counter. Then against stronger teams struggling to maintain a decent shape as the B2B midfielder, wing backs and Terry get dragged too far out of position?

Hope that helps

[ChelseaFan]

My defence is ok.

It's my attack which is a bit...meh at the moment.

[bowieinspace]

My defence is ok.

It's my attack which is a bit...meh at the moment.

Ok fair enough. Do you have any screenshots from game analysis? E.g. how many shots, clear cut chances you're having and where the shots are coming from? What about key passes? Where are they coming from and how often?

[ChelseaFan]

Ok fair enough. Do you have any screenshots from game analysis? E.g. how many shots, clear cut chances you're having and where the shots are coming from? What about key passes? Where are they coming from and how often?

Pretty much all my assists are down the flanks.

I need to play centrally a bit more, but I can never make it work.

[bowieinspace]

Most likely reason is simply that teams will defend in a deep block against you because you're a top side. With the left IF and CF being the main attacking threats, they will likely get crowded out when you try to play through the middle. That'll mean the ball ends up out wide with the full backs and gets crossed into a busy penalty box from deeper. With Ibra on a CF (S) duty he will also drop deep away from the defensive line to get involved in the build up, and that will only leave the inside forward really attacking the box and occupying the defenders. This game does seem a little cross heavy to me anyway so worth bearing that in mind.

Have you thought about a 4-2-3-1 with a double pivot (e.g. CM (D) and a DLP (S) largely holding position to protect the back 4, combined with a shadow striker in the AM role and the CF slightly ofset to the right so the IF, SS and CF aren't all attacking the same space? Equally if you felt you wanted a more creative outlet in the AM role to supply the lone striker and wide men, you could switch the striker to an attack duty, and have the AM playing as an AP. If you went down the 4-2-3-1 route I would consider switching to a control or attack mentality to emphasise the attacking nature of the team shape. That would automatically give you a higher D-line and you could then tick the box to prevent short GK distribution and also tight marking and try to pin the opposition in their own half.

That would mean you could adjust the 4-5-1 you have now into a system more designed to away games when you will have more space on the counter, and (especially) better teams will put you under more pressure. For that you would just need to tone down the closing down to make sure the team retains its shape and then close down once the opposition is into your half, then you would have space for your attacking players to exploit on the counter.

[bababooey]

In a 4-1-2-2-1 like this you really are asking a lot of the front 3 when you don't have any CM runners / attackers. The AP-A is meh. I'd rather see a CM-A because he'll be a real goal scoring threat.

You already have the deep creator in midfield, why do you need another one ahead of him? No wonder why you're not getting much attacking thrust in the middle. You've asked two of your central mids (or DM) to be playmakers. The B2B can score, but needs to have great long shots and needs time to get into the box / on the end of moves / banging in rebounds / etc.

You also might benefit from re-arranging one of your flanks to have a wider partnership. Maybe something like WB-S with W-A on your right side. Right now you're attacking in a very narrow fashion, but then the central attackers don't really have the best roles for scoring goals.

A good way to look at it is like this: Who on your team is making an active threat to run past someone into the box? Only the left IF-A. That's not the best outlet because those players are often inconsistent. You need to give that guy some scoring help. So my suggestion above about a CM-A is probably just what you'd need.

[ChelseaFan]

Most likely reason is simply that teams will defend in a deep block against you because you're a top side. With the left IF and CF being the main attacking threats, they will likely get crowded out when you try to play through the middle. That'll mean the ball ends up out wide with the full backs and gets crossed into a busy penalty box from deeper. With Ibra on a CF (S) duty he will also drop deep away from the defensive line to get involved in the build up, and that will only leave the inside forward really attacking the box and occupying the defenders. This game does seem a little cross heavy to me anyway so worth bearing that in mind.

Have you thought about a 4-2-3-1 with a double pivot (e.g. CM (D) and a DLP (S) largely holding position to protect the back 4, combined with a shadow striker in the AM role and the CF slightly ofset to the right so the IF, SS and CF aren't all attacking the same space? Equally if you felt you wanted a more creative outlet in the AM role to supply the lone striker and wide men, you could switch the striker to an attack duty, and have the AM playing as an AP. If you went down the 4-2-3-1 route I would consider switching to a control or attack mentality to emphasise the attacking nature of the team shape. That would automatically give you a higher D-line and you could then tick the box to prevent short GK distribution and also tight marking and try to pin the opposition in their own half.

That would mean you could adjust the 4-5-1 you have now into a system more designed to away games when you will have more space on the counter, and (especially) better teams will put you under more pressure. For that you would just need to tone down the closing down to make sure the team retains its shape and then close down once the opposition is into your half, then you would have space for your attacking players to exploit on the counter.

Brilliant post.

I will try this out a bit later on.

Thank you sir.

In regards to my team shape - if I have a DLP, a Shadow Striker and a Complete Forward, would it perhaps be best to go into a Rigid shape?