Tactic Advice (Good defence, poor goal return, excessive offsides, poor run of form)

[AndyD_U]

So this is the main tactic i use (I do have two others but use them against much weaker/stronger opposition), i don't use any team/player instructions just cause i suck at tactics so try and keep it simple. At the start of the season it was working perfectly i was near the top of the table and generally it worked as intended which was getting the wingers in behind the full backs who crossed the ball in. I wasn't scoring many goals which i think had more to do with my players not taking their chances as we were getting the ball in dangerous positions and i also had the best defence in the league. The biggest problem im getting is the offsides. So. Many. Offsides. I can easily get 2/3 times as many as the opposition. Im not sure if something in my tactics is causing this or my players positioning but i think if i can sort that out i could sort the scoring out.

Other thing is that as you can see my from results my form has gone to pot. I accept that we weren't gonna keep that unbeaten run going forever but to go from 7 unbeaten to 4 loses on a row. Either my tactic had a major flaw that was being covered up or something else. Anyway any advice/suggestions would be helpful as im stumped.

[Overmars]

A poacher as your lone striker tends to be a poor choice.

[sporadicsmiles]

There is a huge blob of space in AM with nobody except the CM(A) exploiting it, so perhaps you could find a way to use that more effectively? And in fact with an IF(S) and CM(A) on the same side, I am surprised you do not see them trying to be in the same space.

I can also see only one way in which you will score, which is your winger crossing balls to the poacher or to the IF. I also can imagine there are a lot of balls over the top from midfield to poacher, due to there being no passing options. This could explain the off-sides.

I have found that for single striker formations, the interaction of striker and midfield is absolutely vital, since there is often a large gap between them. As such, I rarely use a striker with an attack duty, and very often choose a role that will see him dropping into space, holding up the ball and bringing the midfield into play.

[summatsupeer]

A tactic is more than its roles and formations. Issues are not "losing", that is the result of issues.

Offside won't make your team lose, need more observations on the issues. How do you concede? How/Why do you lose possession? Etc

[Kick Wilstra]

Is it one player who is usually offside and does he have the "Tries to beat the offside trap" PPP, without the intelligence to do this effectively?

The problem could also be the poacher role, he'll sit on the should of the defender, a striker role that plays little deeper perhaps would work better.

[Sesulo]

I can spot a few problems from your formation/shape and rules.

1. Your Poacher will play on the shoulder of the defenders. Maybe that's one of the reasons you get so many offsides.

2. No one is exploitning the most central area between midfield and striker.

3. Your IFs and CMa will run inte same space.

Try solve these 3 issues and you'll be fine.

[pataroka]

I'll try to sum up what everyone has already noted, and structure it based on my own observations on what to expect/correct in such a formation/team shape.

Suppose you use Standard/flexible:

Your poacher will often be isolated from the rest of the team and they will try to find him with long direct passes behind the defense. Hence the offsides...

Your AMR as winger with an attack duty is probably not tracking back enough to give defensive support on the flank, which probably gets you exposed there.

Your AML as IF/S is probably tracking back, but you lack width on the left flank, because the left full back is not going further to support in attack.

Central midfield trio should be balanced, but I'd probably put the attack midfielder on the right, the support on the left, to cover up unused space.

How can you find solutions to the problems pointed above:

If you want to stick with a poacher as your main goalscorer, I suggest you either pair him up with a second striker, which will be the link-up to midfield, or an advanced midfielder in the AMC position. Otherwise, if you don't want to change the formation, you'd better assign a different role. The only one that will drop deep enough with an attack duty is the Trequartista.

The wings - this is interesting, and can be approached in several ways. One of them is changing the team shape. I've noted that in a fluid or very fluid team shape AMR/AML players assigned attack duty still track back often enough to give defensive support, it will not happen in more structured shapes. Same goes for full backs the opposite way.

If you want to stick with a more structured shape, you'll need to make your left back a wing back, or use look for overlap TI to provide width in attack. As for the right wing, your tactic now suggests that your main way of getting the ball forward is to give the right winger the ball to provide a cross/through ball to your onrushing poacher/IF/CM/A... This suggests for little variety, and there are lots of possible solutions here. In a fluid shape, the CM/S and the right FB will also push forward to make themselves available for possible backpasses. In a more structured shape they will stay a bit deeper, forcing the winger to cross the ball, without other passing options available. If you decide to stick with a structured shape, either go for a wing back on the right or an attack duty on the FB, and probably move the defensive CM on the right to ensure you're not exposed for a counter.