Struggling to create chances.

[Fosse]

Close down more and retain possession as TIs, the WMa has sit narrower activated.

I'm really struggling to create chances againt sides that are being deep and defensive often only having 2 or 3 shots on target. Ive tried to play on lower mentality to try and draw them out and open up space but all that happens is that we circulate the ball deeper without having any penetrative runs or passes.

I've also tried having more attacking roles but the box becomes over crowded and I can't get the ball to the players because the opposition are deep.

[Rikulec]

The first and most obvious thing that strikes me is that you don't have any central player who will actually attack the box from deep. Have you tried putting your AMC on attack duty and the striker on support?

[Fosse]

Yeah I have but only fleetingly, I'll try it again

[wpmk]

Try changing your CM(D) to DLP(D) and your DLP(S) to BBM(S), which will hopefully give you more balance with a ball carrier and someone who is willing to make late runs into the box.

If you want to have an AM on support duty then your striker should push the opposition's defence back to make space for your attacking midfielder to operate. I don't think DLF(A) is aggressive enough.

To be honest in a possession based tactic, I would change duty of your DLF to support and your AM (A) to attack so they can link up with each other. And hopefully with the BBM and WM(A) too.

I also would prefer have the wing back on the left hand side on attack because you might find most of the attacks going down the right hand side. The wing back would overlap into the space vacated by the WM(S) and whip crosses into the box with at least two good options in the BBM and WM(A).

Finally when not playing a DM in a possession tactic, and this is just me, I like to have a CB on the stopper duty attacking the space where the DM would usually be and then quickly recycle the attack.

The most important thing in FM is to the roles right so there's balance. It's difficult to get going but once you do it's totally worth it.

[bababooey]

You have two holding players in central midfield + a supporting AMC ahead of them. No wonder you're not causing much threat to the AI defenses.

What style of football are you trying to play? If you tell us, we can assist you better.

Right now though, if you just want more of a quick fix I'd say you need a more attacking AMC. That would certainly help balance things out a bit. But, the roles/duties are important and your preferred style is key towards defining those.

[Fosse]

You have two holding players in central midfield + a supporting AMC ahead of them. No wonder you're not causing much threat to the AI defenses.

What style of football are you trying to play? If you tell us, we can assist you better.

Right now though, if you just want more of a quick fix I'd say you need a more attacking AMC. That would certainly help balance things out a bit. But, the roles/duties are important and your preferred style is key towards defining those.

I don't have a particularly clear style of play in mind, however I want to control games in the opposition half without focusing on having lots of possession but not attacking directly. My set up has came as a result of trying to slow things down a little to allow the supporting players to arrive into the box.

[ozilthegunner]

I think there are a variety of things you could change here (but you wouldn't really want to change them all). So on top of what some others have suggested, here are a few ideas:

1) I imagine, given your setup, that your team is too compact. What is happening is the forward and AMC are dropping nearer the midfield, congesting all that space. This can make for good possession, but you need someone stretching the defensive line to make some space for useful passes (rather than just easy but meaningless ones).

So one option (that I think someone else mentioned, but perhaps for different reasons) is to change your forward to something like an AF(a). That way he will sit on the shoulder of the defenders and force them to move back, opening up space for the AMC to operate.

2) Turn off 'retain possession' and perhaps turn on 'pass into space'. I am currently using a different formation than yours, but I found that if I had 'retain possession' on, my team played more compactly, I had higher possession (and higher pass completion rate) but did not create near as many chances overall.

Especially given the compactness of your setup, and the lack of runners, I think you are just getting yourself stuck into a lot of easy but unhelpful passes.

3) A winger. Right now (as others mentioned) you have NO ONE that will be aiming to make runs, especially from midfield. Depending on their skill set, I would maybe change one of the Wide Midfielders into a Winger (preferably on attack duty) who then will be more interested in getting forward for you.

Alternatively, or perhaps in combination, getting one of your central midfielders to making runs would be good. Perhaps a CM(a) or B2B (I would bet the CM(a) may end up just running into your AMC as it currently sits though).

4) Try turning on 'work ball into box'. This may sound a bit odd if you are having trouble creating chances (since it will generally reduce your number of shots) but it does so in order to create better chances.

Without knowing what is happening in attack that is preventing you from creating chances, I cannot be sure that working the ball into the box would help, but it may help.

[ozilthegunner]

I don't have a particularly clear style of play in mind, however I want to control games in the opposition half without focusing on having lots of possession but not attacking directly. My set up has came as a result of trying to slow things down a little to allow the supporting players to arrive into the box.

I am not really sure this makes sense.

If you want to control games in the opposition half, but not attack directly, then you are going to be playing a possession game.

Keep in mind, if you are hoping to spend more of your time in the opponent's half, then you do not need to worry as much about slowing things down to bring supporting players into the attack - they should already be in roughly the right position.

[OllyAI]

Not enough attacking threat simple. a DLF is never a good idea unless players are surging past him.

[Fosse]

I am not really sure this makes sense.

If you want to control games in the opposition half, but not attack directly, then you are going to be playing a possession game.

Keep in mind, if you are hoping to spend more of your time in the opponent's half, then you do not need to worry as much about slowing things down to bring supporting players into the attack - they should already be in roughly the right position.

I didn't word it very well, I want to play a measured game but not so possession orientated (I still want more of the ball than the opposition but it should be the byproduct of the play rather than the objective).