Tactical Learning

[Conflictinbanno]

Okay, this thread is a bit more of me trying to assist myself along the way throughout my season with Ipswich. I'm hoping it will improve my ideas when it comes to tactics, as I find I am my biggest enemy with them and over complicate it all.

You join me as Ipswich in the early stages of the season, which I would say is so far so good, but could be better.

I haven't made any signings and have instead decided to use the team at my disposal to build. I'm not expecting to win the league, some would possibly think they could however I'm not the best player, so I'm aiming personally for the play-offs, although if my team missed out I wouldn't mind too much as we are expected to finish 10th.

After analysing my side I immediately felt I had a decent squad for a 442 or a 4141 formation. I have opted firstly for the 442 (although I'm trying to build the latter to help in some games.)

This is my main 11 at the moment, with the formation and everything

I see myself having a very solid CB pairing as I have 4 good choices here, although I think Berra and Chambers are the stand out 2, while Smith and Malarczyk offer very reasonable backups (although I tend to play them as a LD rather than CB due to a few poor attributes.

Midfield is slightly injury hit at the moment which doesn't help, I'm playing Tabb out wide due to Oar being out for 5 weeks and I still am missing Hyam (rotation option with Skuse), Bishop and Bru (both who I would prefer to Maitland-Niles as the AP role who I wanted to use as a winger, but he is quite versatile so is filling in until these two return), Fraser and Oar are my standout main wingers but the backup isn't great in Toure and Connolly.

Up front again I think we are okay equipped. With McGoldrick/Murphy/Pitman all capable of playing the DLF role well, while Sears to me is a perfect Poacher, however if he isn't playing I would use McGoldrick as an AF and one of McGoldrick's backups in the DLF role.

On the team front I see it being pretty self-explanatory, my full backs I want to support my wingers, I don't want them bursting ahead of either, which is why I've opted for them both to be on a support duty.

The wingers I want to work slightly differently however. On the right I want him to get forward and provide crosses from the byline, this should give the DLF enough time to get in the area with the Poacher who isn't much of an aerial threat but can pick up on the ball hitting the near post or any area mishaps. The left winger however I don't want to see him trying to push to the byline, I'm happy for him to cross wherever.

The CM/D is basically my defensive protection, I don't want him pushing too far forward and I want him to be the man trying to win the ball back in midfield, he could be better placed as a BWM but I'm worried he could leave his position too much chasing the ball and leaving space. The AP next to him is my link up player, I want him working in the final third, threading passes to either winger or the attackers if a through ball is on. I don't really see him rushing into the box too often as I have two strikers there already.

I've opted for no TI's at the moment as I'm not sure if I want my team to play a particular style, I don't see us as a counter attacking team, however I do see us posing a threat from counters with the pace of my main wingers (with Tabb filling in, it leaves me a little short of pace on the left at the moment). Structured as a team shape is because I primarily want my team to stick to their job but with a little creative freedom which I'm hoping I've read correctly!

PI's I only have the one player at the moment with any which is my RB, cross less often and fewer risky passes, this is because their stats in this area are not great.

This is my schedule so far and as you can see we started okay, however my last two results were not great, 0-0 against Burnley sounds good, but they had Joey Barton (typical!) sent off early in the second half, but I just couldn't break them down, I actually felt we did better when they had a full team. The 4-1 against Forest in the cup was a little bit odd and I take the blame myself a bit for our collapse, after going 1-0 up, Forest were much more attacking and I made some adjustments to try and protect the lead and ended up throwing it, then desperately trying to get back we were countered very well and lost another 2 goals, but thankfully this was a cup game and not a league match.

I'm going to follow this up with an update on my next game once it is played to see what I have done and if there was anything I could have done better!

[herne79]

Good luck.

All I'll mention at the moment is make sure you watch how your team uses and defends the space. In a 442 you have nobody at AM or DM, both of which can be vital in your attacking and defensive phases. Your AP(s) could play a crucial role here, so keep an eye on how he is doing - especially defensively.

The space between defence and midfield is a particular area to watch. You are using a Flexible team shape, which is a kind of half way house: your players will be a little more compact than in a more structured system, but not as compact in a more fluid system. So that may help keep your lines a bit tighter, but something to keep an eye on as attacking AMCs can be annoying. There are always TIs you can use to help address this if it's a problem.

Results are good, so no need for changes, just watch how things play out and adjust if needed.

[Conflictinbanno]

Leeds United V Ipswich Town

Pre-match Report suggests Leeds will line up in a similar 442 formation to ourselves. They haven't lost in 5 games so although they 13th, they aren't looking like an easy opponent. They score most of their goals in the box so my CB's need to be ready and most of their assists seem to come out wide with 10 of these from crossing positions compared to 2 in the box and 2 just outside. So their main threat definitely looks to me to be their wingers. 6 of the ten are from the left too. This could cause me an issue as my RM is the more attacking of the two, so something I may need to watch carefully.

Line Up: Is exactly as it is in the picture in the first post with Toure coming into the subs for Connolly.

What surprised me when I looked at the team sheet is that both Leeds LB and LM do not have an assist between them and neither does their left striker, so I've opted not to use OI's on them. On the right they only have the one assist from RM and none from RB so again I've decided no OI's. I noticed Antenucci however has a goal and an assist so I've asked him to be closed down more, in a hope to make him rush and opt for a pass as passing is a weaker of his stats.

Team Talk: Assertive - Expect better than last time. We were poor against Forest and I didn't want a repeat.

The first half started well, in the opening 15 minutes I saw Sears carve out a decent half chance but they were marking my attack in numbers. While Leeds hit the post from a corner. Within 8 minutes we were 1-0 up, a great pass from Maitland-Niles from just outside the area found Fraser running into the box who slotted home. A pleasing start.

I noticed Leeds were defending in numbers, but when they did get forward they left a lot of space, I almost went to Counter until something changed the game, Leeds won a FK to the right of the penalty area which was crossed in and they won the header which was blocked on the line, however it left an easy tap in for Leeds to equalise. Then I noticed Leeds stop letting players get forward as much, something I wish I reacted to earlier.

We had another very good chance when Sears played Fraser through but his shot was well saved.

HT time 1-1, I was a little disappointed but I feel that was more my part for not changing strategy quick enough. So my team talk was calmly "we can still win this"

Second half started much like the first, we were the better side, but Leeds were doing well to stop us, until 48 minutes Tabb pulled a player down in the box and gave away a penalty. I was very annoyed as it was needless, I actually subbed him and brought Toure on as a result, as I felt Tabb wasn't crossing enough anyway and that made the decision for me. Leeds were now 2-1 up. The game continued and we just couldn't break their defence they were dealing with every cross and corner while a few of our headers from corners went wide.

At 61 minutes, Leeds had Cook sent off and changed to a 432. I didn't change anything at first to see how they might play out the remainder. In the end I was forced into a decision when Maitland-Niles was getting tired, so I moved to a 442 wide diamond (a little part of me hoped the AMC could find some freedom due to the flat 3 Leeds were playing. Again we just couldn't get the breakthrough.

At 77 minutes my defence really disappointed me, a cross was delivered and an absolutely terrible clearance fell straight to a Leeds player just inside the box who smashed it home. The rest of the half carried on with us doing the majority but not finishing.

Full Time Stats

Shots: 19 to 12 to us

On Target: 7 each (3 CCC each)

Off target: 4 for Leeds and 7 for us. A whopping 5 blocked by them.

Possesion: Leeds 45% us 55%

Corners: 4 to them, 14 to us. I also noticed we had 4 successful crosses out of 30! (I hope corners and maybe even long throws come into this but that is terrible!), I'm not sure how to approach it yet. From the 14 corners I know I need to sort my corner and throw in routines out, but still that is a disappointing return and may need a TI for our crossing to make them more successful!

[Conflictinbanno]

Good luck.

All I'll mention at the moment is make sure you watch how your team uses and defends the space. In a 442 you have nobody at AM or DM, both of which can be vital in your attacking and defensive phases. Your AP(s) could play a crucial role here, so keep an eye on how he is doing - especially defensively.

The space between defence and midfield is a particular area to watch. You are using a Flexible team shape, which is a kind of half way house: your players will be a little more compact than in a more structured system, but not as compact in a more fluid system. So that may help keep your lines a bit tighter, but something to keep an eye on as attacking AMCs can be annoying. There are always TIs you can use to help address this if it's a problem.

Results are good, so no need for changes, just watch how things play out and adjust if needed.

Thanks herne, I'm actually using Structured but I am thinking of moving up to Flexible as I do find now and then there can be too much space behind the midfield although that could also be fixed by moving my D-Line higher as my defence is by no means slow. At the moment however I don't want to change too much as it started okay! I think it more depends on how I'm doing which could decide if I need to change my middle pairing, maybe opting for a DLP rather than AP if the opposition are keeping the ball better.

[Conflictinbanno]

Ipswich V QPR

I had over a week for the build up for this so the first week of training I had them doing defensive training because of my disappointment in the Leeds third goal.

I also set up all my set piece routines in this gap as I feel I need to try and take advantage of my amount of corners and also to try and give me a bit more solidity from defending set plays. Lastly I did opt for a change on my side. This was mostly influenced by what I saw in the Leeds game again, firstly my LM, while Oar is back, I don't think Tabb has the pace to be an outright winger. So I've opted to change him to a WM with the addition of Cross More Often as I still want to see him getting crosses in. He isn't terrible at dribbling but the lack of pace makes me think he isn't as suited to an outright winger. Another change was Fraser, he was also a W/A and has now become a WM/A as I feel I can have him do a lot more this way, he posed a threat in the box against Leeds as well as out wide. So this encourages a nice mix in that sense of staying wide or coming close. I've also added dribble more to him as I'd like him to take on players as he seems very good at beating them. These were all personal preference. I haven't added any instructions for the crosses yet as I need to see where players are getting to for them and it could just be a poor decision causing it.

QPR have had an up and down season so far and that made us the favourites, but I know QPR have a quality side and definite threats I need to be wary of.

Expected to line up in a 4231 this could cause problems for us with the wingers more advanced, I thought about testing my 4141 but I'm not sure this is the team to do it. The game will decide if I opt to risk it.

Initial thoughts are the danger or Mackie, Phillips and Austin. Austin is quality so I'm already thinking we need to mark him tightly, Mackie should play in the AML spot and his crossing isn't great so showing him onto his left could be a good idea. Phillips is pretty well rounded and could be a major threat too. He has a PPM of avoids using weaker foot however so I'm tempted to show him onto this as it may mean he is less likely to try a shot. Another note is Sandro, he can be quite an aggressive player so I may tackle him hard to see if it makes him react. I'm also opting for Flexible over Structured for this game to bring my team a little closer together and more compact to help with their AM positions. The line up will be the same as before though. I also had a big boost with Bishop returning from injury, but he isn't ready for a start yet.

I came into the match and my planning had gone out the window a bit as they lined up slightly different with a 4213 wide formation. It looked a more defensive style they were adopting and no Mackie on the left. His replacement Chery was very good at crossing with lower shooting and he was on his favoured side so I've opted for showing him onto his right foot as he likes to shoot from distance. Austin and Phillips are as expected. However Fer is the sole CM and he likes to get forward, something that could give me space in the CM position. Faurlin sits next to Sandro in CDM and he's a quality player who looks to pass direct and would rather pass than score, so his passing could be a danger, however he also avoids using his weaker foot which is a weak right foot, so I'm going to have him shown onto this foot.

Team Talk: Passionate, give the fans a performance they expect. We've been disappointing in our last two games and that needs to change for the fans. No noticeable changes but it seemed the right choice.

The opening of the game was a bit end to end, but it was very even, within 10 minutes however we were 1-0 up, a throw in half way into their half went back to Skuse, who passed to his left to Maitland-Niles who quickly played through to Fraser, rather than pushing wide he cut inside on the edge of their area and played a perfect pass through to Sears who drilled the ball into the opposite bottom left corner. I already felt removing him from a Winger to WM has helped here as I imagine with the winger role he would have opted to push wider rather than cut across goal. Now I need to be careful of how QPR react as the last 2 games I've gone 1-0 up and lost. The game continued and the next few minutes things felt very similar but I was happy, QPR were definitely sitting back and trying to counter attack but with Austin marked tightly he seemed to misplacing passes or ending up isolated. The only gripe I had of my own team was possibly my Strikers felt too far ahead of my midfield but I opted not to change anything too soon, but I felt McGoldrick in DLF was not dropping as often as I'd like, which may be because his preferred role is an AF or maybe his poor positioning.

I made a change around the half hour mark and this was all from something I noticed consistently happening, my GK was always taking goal kicks to our RM, now one or two times it worked however majority of the time it gave the ball straight back to QPR so I asked him to kick it for McGoldrick who should at least offer an opportunity of keeping the ball.

Later into the first half in the 40th minute QPR hit me with a good counter, although my keeper should have done better, a cross from Chery who was played through from a very good pass crossed, his header met by Austin was initially saved but my keeper dropped the ball back to Austin who scored. Overall I was very disappointed with the keeper, but to prevent Chery getting that space again I asked Browning to tight mark him. These mistakes won't help me though!

Half time it was 1-1, QPR had more of the ball but I felt we were the better side. I told the team to keep it up and the result will come, for the first 15 minutes of the first half I was adding shorter passing, I felt some of our direct passes were giving QPR too much of the ball from losing out in 50/50 balls. So I hoped this would improve this.

The second half we definitely started the better team and I felt my tactical changes had worked until the 55th minute. My keeper I feel having a bad day at the office charged out to claim a corner and completely missed the ball allowing QPR an open goal, disappointing and it gives us a harder job, I felt we were playing well though so did not want to change it yet. McGoldrick however wasn't having a great game, he was misplacing a lot of passes so I decided on a change at 60 minutes in with Murphy coming on. The second half we kept probing and Murphy definitely made a difference, dropping a lot more than McGoldrick but unfortunately QPR's defence was too solid. I opted not to change anything because I felt we were playing well and I din't want to upset this trying to get back.

My thoughts at the end were mostly I need to really consider my ST partnership as McGoldrick is definitely not playing how I need and although Murphy did better I still feel the DLF/S is sitting too far forward and causing Sears to drop as a result, but had it not been for 2 goalkeeping errors then we could have been happy with 3 points earned.

In regards to my ST issue, I'm tempted to swap Sears and the DLF around in a hope that having a bit more space of the CM/D and WM/A next to him could encourage him to drop.

[HUNT3R]

I had over a week for the build up for this so the first week of training I had them doing defensive training because of my disappointment in the Leeds third goal.

Just to clarify, are you talking about the match prep training Def. Positioning or Defensive in General Training? If it is Def. Positioning, then fair enough. General Training will only train attributes and in the space of only a week, you won't see any difference.

[Conflictinbanno]

Just to clarify, are you talking about the match prep training Def. Positioning or Defensive in General Training? If it is Def. Positioning, then fair enough. General Training will only train attributes and in the space of only a week, you won't see any difference.

I did the General Training, but thanks for letting me know this as I didn't realise it wouldn't help so I will remember to opt for the match training on def. positioning in future, I will probably be doing it for the next game due to the 3/4 defensive mistakes in the past 2 games which have been costly.

[Conflictinbanno]

Charlton Athletic V Ipswich Town

Following the bad run and determined to fix my defensive mistakes, I took Hunt3r's advise and had Match Training set to Def Positioning for this midweek game.

I also dropped McGoldrick for Murphy as McGoldrick had been disappointing however the rest of the side remained. I have kept switch my strikers so Sears is on the left ahead of my AP and Murphy on the right, hoping the extra space will encourage the DLF to drop more. Everything was the same as it was for the last game.

The opening of the game I was actually quite happy, I expected Charlton to see more of the ball with their 4123 DM wide. However when we got the ball we moved it around quite well. We probably had the best chance of the opening exchanges from a cross that Murphy won dropping to Sears who skied it and another passing move where Murphy's pass to Sears was just over hit but it looked okay. However Charlton's Gudmundsson looked their biggest threat with Solly attacking in support of him. Later into the half we had a fantastic counter from one pass to Sears who again unfortunately went to high. Countering was looking like our biggest threat, mainly because when we had the ball Charlton were getting back and hassling our players into mistakes or forcing us to go backwards. We ended the half 0-0, again crosses seemed to be letting us down a lot. We had 13 crosses and only 1 was successful and only 1 was a corner. I decided to look at why and I felt that 8 of them were too close to the 6 yard box, the problem was, most were from various players on the right from my AP, DLF, RB and RM, however on the left the majority were my LM and LB and this is where I noticed they were probably going closer to Sears than Murphy, I decided to give both a PI to aim their crosses at the far post in a hope of finding the DLF more.

The second half again was similar when it came to Charlton keeping the ball better, I'd have to be honest and say some of the misplaced passes was probably the most disappointing part, we didn't look comfortable at times. It was something I didn't know what to do to fix though, it could be the player movement. I did opt to ask Fraser to cut inside with the ball as I felt when he went out wide he was being pushed into an area where he was ineffective. I changed to counter later on as I felt earlier I said we looked better on the counter and we weren't doing very well when trying to keep the ball. I could say it paid off, but it was more luck for the first goal of the game. We had a corner where a player was fouled on the edge of the area, the resulting free kick hit the bar and Sears was on hand to score his 10th of the season from close range. My thoughts do still lead me to believe the counter mentality suited us more though, we couldn't seem to keep hold of the ball to save our lives so encouraging us to counter seemed like a much better idea. So I may keep that in place for the next game.