Am I Missing Something?

[Jonathon.Skinner]

Usually I'm good enough at making tactics to at least live up to expectations before i can start improving a squad, this season however, I'm having major problems putting a tactic together that doesn't have me ripped apart by my opponents on a regular basis. It seems that almost everything goes wrong in my team, i'm currently managing Lyon and i'm finding myself around the bottom of the league in possession stats and pass completion. My tactics are as follows.

The team has no problem with scoring goals, in fact we're the highest scoring team in the league, the problem is the amount of goals we concede. I've tried to combat the situation by playing with a DM and then 2 other defensive minded midfielders in front of him however this still hasn't worked. It might also be worth noting that over the time i've been running this tactic, my oppositions assists have been as follows

any help would be really appreciated as I love playing this game but it's become so unenjoyable to play due to the continual underperformance of my squad no matter what i do to combat it. Thanks.

[Jean0987654321]

A lot goals from crosses?? Seems to me that you are experiencing a "side effect" of your narrow tactic. The wings are home free as you usually only have one guy on each side defending them. Also, I find it interesting the gap between the midfield and the strikers. The BBM might get forward but you have an Anchorman but you are also using a CM on defend. I think you might find yourself lacking an extra attacker on the final third. Also consider the mentality which is Attacking and you might be open sesame on the counter

[bababooey]

A few things.

- you're playing incredibly narrow for an "attacking" tactic. The F9 and AP-A are going to be focal points in your build up play, and they're obviously in the middle. Then, you've got a lack of wingers so obviously the wingbacks are your only source of width, but on a support duty they won't be as high up the pitch as you'd probably like for the proper width needed here.

- why are you telling the players to look for overlap? Who are the wingbacks supposed to overlap? You don't have any advanced wide players. Seems like an odd choice to me. Plus you've got a narrow shape and you're essentially telling the team: "Right, play through the middle, but then also hold the ball until the wingbacks get further up" You're not going to keep possession that way because the other team is going to have more time to close you down and win it back.

- I think you lack a true runner in central midfield. The B2B isn't "bad" but the AP-A / B2B combo isn't doing it for me. Try a CM-A instead of the AP-A. I think you'll find better link up play and more fluidity in your attacking movement.

- Why are you instructing the team to play more direct passes? You're already on the attacking mentality. This is probably a reason why you're turning over possession easily.

Start fresh and remove all the instructions. Lower the mentality a notch or two, and think about how your roles/duties are going to link up.

[Jonathon.Skinner]

A few things.

- you're playing incredibly narrow for an "attacking" tactic. The F9 and AP-A are going to be focal points in your build up play, and they're obviously in the middle. Then, you've got a lack of wingers so obviously the wingbacks are your only source of width, but on a support duty they won't be as high up the pitch as you'd probably like for the proper width needed here.

- why are you telling the players to look for overlap? Who are the wingbacks supposed to overlap? You don't have any advanced wide players. Seems like an odd choice to me. Plus you've got a narrow shape and you're essentially telling the team: "Right, play through the middle, but then also hold the ball until the wingbacks get further up" You're not going to keep possession that way because the other team is going to have more time to close you down and win it back.

- I think you lack a true runner in central midfield. The B2B isn't "bad" but the AP-A / B2B combo isn't doing it for me. Try a CM-A instead of the AP-A. I think you'll find better link up play and more fluidity in your attacking movement.

- Why are you instructing the team to play more direct passes? You're already on the attacking mentality. This is probably a reason why you're turning over possession easily.

Start fresh and remove all the instructions. Lower the mentality a notch or two, and think about how your roles/duties are going to link up.

I'll definitely give these suggestions a try, tbh i thought that the "overlap" instuction would encourage the wing backs to bomb forward and provide that width but i'll experiment with more attacking duties for them and removing that instruction. As for the midfield, i'll give that new combination a try as my strikers do seem to be a little bit isolated. Thanks for all the help

[bababooey]

I'll definitely give these suggestions a try, tbh i thought that the "overlap" instuction would encourage the wing backs to bomb forward and provide that width but i'll experiment with more attacking duties for them and removing that instruction. As for the midfield, i'll give that new combination a try as my strikers do seem to be a little bit isolated. Thanks for all the help

No problem. I could be wrong about overlap but I'm pretty sure it's pointless if you don't have any advanced wingers. Regardless, even if I am wrong, it's always helpful to start with a clean slate and just watch how your system is working with no TI's (on full highlight mode for a while!!)