Swansea City A.F.C Possession Save.

[alexhcfc]

I am currently in my first season with Swansea City A.F.C.

The board have asked for a mid table finish and one philosophy of playing possession football.

I have done a couple of saves before, finishing around 14th. This isn't a bad start, however, I would like to do better.

Playing good football is essential for me. I want to play short passing football with the ball, exploiting the likes of Shelvey, Siggy and Ayew.

I am currently playing with a 4-2-3-1 formation

GK/D: Fabianski

FB/S: Taylor/Planas

BPD/D:Williams

BPD/D Amat

FB/A: Naughton

CM/D: Ademi/Cork

RPM/S: Shelvey

W/S: Montero

AP/S: Sigurdsson

IF/S: Ayew

AF: A. Henriquez/ Rhodes

This is set on Control because I want to be looking to score as well as having possession, but not too much as I want to be solid defensively also. (I'm always rubbish at defending)

I also have a team shape of highly Structured as I want the players to keep it simple and not go waisting possession.

The team instructions are as follows:

Lower Tempo

Fairly Wide

Slightly Higher

Close Down Much More

Prevent Short GK Kick

Play Out Of Defence

Exploit The Right Flank

Pass Into Space

Shorter Passing

Retain Possession

Roam From Positions

No player instructions other than pass shorter for GK.

I used express the right flank and pass into space as I would like to use Andre Ayew and Shelvey to switch the ball to Montero in space as the opposition has been dragged to our right. Im yet to see any results of this though.

Average Possession so far is 52%. I would like this to be more ideally.

We are also currently 7th in the passes completed with a ratio of 73% I would like this to be higher.

I suspect these are because I have played a counter attacking tactic against bigger teams which holds its own but doesn't give much possession or results.

We are currently 12th after 14 games with 17 points. We have a GD of -1, so fairly average.

I would very much like help with refining this tactic as I would want a top 12 finish ideally. I would also like a cup run.

Especially, I'd like a counter attacking tactic that works! I'm rubbish at defending/counter so hep would be greatly appreciated.

My goals are:

FA Cup run

12th placed (or above) finish

80% pass success

at least 58% average possession

A good tactic that is good at keeping the ball but also uses the ball well.

Thank you ever so much!

[RTHerringbone]

The obvious first question, is have you read this thread?

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/445500-The-Art-of-Possession-Football

[alexhcfc]

I should have added that. Yes, I have. I read it a while ago and tried to implement his tips in my tactics, however it didn't work. Sigurdsson is my best player so playing a 4-1-2-3 wouldn't fit him in. I also wanted to sign players predominantly from Europe and also, I like playing with an AF or a Poacher as there aren't any F9s who would really fit. Thank you for your response though

[herne79]

You posted this originally in the General forum and I advised to post here and have a look at Cleon's possession thread.

I think you are on overkill with the TIs, but if you carry on reading that thread you will also find further discussion on other formations which may help you understand more about the principles that Cleon is writing about.

Also, why exploit the right flank when you have 2 central playmakers acting like ball magnets, and your only attack duty player running up and down the left flank?

[alexhcfc]

So what TIs and PIs would you have then?

[Cleon]

So what TIs and PIs would you have then?

How can he answer that? You should use TI's to either create a specific style or to refine a current style. You shouldn't use them 'just because' without no real reason.

[Bigshow1]

I'm far from an expert here but how can playing wider help with short possession football? Surely if the players are further apart they'll have to make longer passes?

[herne79]

So what TIs and PIs would you have then?

if you carry on reading that thread you will also find further discussion on other formations which may help you understand more about the principles that Cleon is writing about.

My best advice is to take some time out from the game and have a good read through of not just Cleon's OP in that thread, but also some of the discussion there. If you understand the principles that are being discussed, you will have no problem applying them to your save.

I have a 4231 possession based tactic for my Valencia save, but the TIs and PIs I have used may or may not be suitable for your save - there are no plug and play tactics. Plus if I (or anyone) just listed a bunch of instructions for you to copy you a) wouldn't understand how they all link together and b) it may not work and you'd wonder why. This is why Cleon always says "don't just copy what I do".

Once have have read and understood that possession thread, if you are still seeing issues then by all means go through in detail here what you are seeing and I'm sure someone will be able to help.

On the other hand, if you just want someone to give you a tactic, there are plenty of tactics shared for download in the downloads forum. .

[ibrahim.akbyk]

but the TIs and PIs I have used may or may not be suitable for your save - there are no plug and play tactics.

Totaly agree with you herne79. Not just some other's tactic, you have to tweak your tactic even some match. That's what real managers did.

[alexhcfc]

I'm sorry If I sounded like I wanted you to play my game for me.

I tweaked a couple of things, not expecting it to change much, as I'd planned to start from scratch tactically -- but it changed my results from average, if not below par, to good, if not very good. I beat Arsenal and City in a winning streak lasting 12 games now. I changed exploit the right to exploit the middle, and also changed the mentality from control to standard and also unselected pass into space. Jordan Rhodes has started banging them in, and defensively, we've been so much better.

Ive been a bit bad at FM16 so far, and this is the best run I've been on so far (I'm a bit of an amateur). My tactics definitely need some work still, but I think its going in the right direction.

Also, to Cleon's comment, I asked what PIs and TIs herne79 would have to achieve my goals listed at the bottom, not just for the sake of it. Also, I'd like to say that Cleon's Possession Football piece was very helpful, so thank you for taking the time to write it.

[ibrahim.akbyk]

I'm sorry If I sounded like I wanted you to play my game for me.

I tweaked a couple of things, not expecting it to change much, as I'd planned to start from scratch tactically -- but it changed my results from average, if not below par, to good, if not very good. I beat Arsenal and City in a winning streak lasting 12 games now. I changed exploit the right to exploit the middle, and also changed the mentality from control to standard and also unselected pass into space. Jordan Rhodes has started banging them in, and defensively, we've been so much better.

Ive been a bit bad at FM16 so far, and this is the best run I've been on so far (I'm a bit of an amateur). My tactics definitely need some work still, but I think its going in the right direction.

Also, to Cleon's comment, I asked what PIs and TIs herne79 would have to achieve my goals listed at the bottom, not just for the sake of it. Also, I'd like to say that Cleon's Possession Football piece was very helpful, so thank you for taking the time to write it.

I recomend you a worthless saved in FMT (this recomendded to me by RTH). It would be very useful. At least it helped me a lot. I began with just 1 TI which is 'retain possession' which is my pavorite style. Because I did not know what they are doing or I need them. Before I used a lot of them. I watched games, tweak step by step. I have 6 or 7 of them right now. And my tactic is acceptable now. Also PAUSE is key to me (Cleon write it before in article) right now. PAUSE IT !

[alexhcfc]

Ill try it. Thank you for your help