Having issues with defending from the front

[yelynhed]

Currently playing a 4-3-3 with DM and AML/AMR, trying to play a high pressing game. The set-up is in the screenshot below. The issue I'm having is that I'm getting caught out a lot by long balls from opposition defenders. I could of course drop the defensive line a little deeper, but I want to play as high a pressing game as possible. Also, the problem seems to be less a matter of opposition defenders hoofing the ball forward, and more one of them being given too much time on the ball to pick out a good pass.

What I want to do, then, is to have my front 3 press a lot higher and harder than they currently do. Changing the striker's role might help, given the tendency of a TM/S to drop deep when out of possession, but given the inflexibility of roles in post-sliders FM, and the fact that both of my strikers are giants whose main strength is their physical presence, I'm not too keen on going for a non-TM role (although a way of stopping the striker coming short at pretty much every throw in an an attacking area would be welcome - would be better off in the middle where he can wait for a throw). In any case, this wouldn't sort out the wingers not doing what I want.

The most obvious solution to the lack of pressure against defenders is probably opposition instructions, but I'm not entirely comfortable with this because with opposing fullbacks going forward that could get messy. Any ideas/feedback would be welcome.

 

[robot_skeleton]

54 minutes ago, yelynhed said:

Currently playing a 4-3-3 with DM and AML/AMR, trying to play a high pressing game. The set-up is in the screenshot below. The issue I'm having is that I'm getting caught out a lot by long balls from opposition defenders. I could of course drop the defensive line a little deeper, but I want to play as high a pressing game as possible. Also, the problem seems to be less a matter of opposition defenders hoofing the ball forward, and more one of them being given too much time on the ball to pick out a good pass.

What I want to do, then, is to have my front 3 press a lot higher and harder than they currently do. Changing the striker's role might help, given the tendency of a TM/S to drop deep when out of possession, but given the inflexibility of roles in post-sliders FM, and the fact that both of my strikers are giants whose main strength is their physical presence, I'm not too keen on going for a non-TM role (although a way of stopping the striker coming short at pretty much every throw in an an attacking area would be welcome - would be better off in the middle where he can wait for a throw). In any case, this wouldn't sort out the wingers not doing what I want.

The most obvious solution to the lack of pressure against defenders is probably opposition instructions, but I'm not entirely comfortable with this because with opposing fullbacks going forward that could get messy. Any ideas/feedback would be welcome.

 

I had the same problems, I think that if you want to see what you actually want your players to do you have to go full press. It has become increasingly more and more difficult to press the opposition in a 1 striker system, so in my experience I had to increase the def line, loe and intesity to its fullest, otherwise my players did not engage to opposition as high as I would have liked. But given that you  already are on the highest, i think it just comes down to the workrate/teamwork of your players, plus trying a pressing forward might help and a support duty player as a holding player.

[Experienced Defender]

1 hour ago, yelynhed said:

I could of course drop the defensive line a little deeper, but I want to play as high a pressing game as possible

You are already playing the highest possible level of pressing, using even counter-press on top of other extreme pressing instructions. Now, if you know exactly why you want to play that specific way, then you should also know what's the best solution to your tactical issue(s). After all, maybe your team simply is not suited for the style of play you want to play.

[Bluebird123]

What are your front threes work rate, stamina and teammwork attributes? Are they good enough to play a high press

[yelynhed]

18 hours ago, robot_skeleton said:

I had the same problems, I think that if you want to see what you actually want your players to do you have to go full press. It has become increasingly more and more difficult to press the opposition in a 1 striker system, so in my experience I had to increase the def line, loe and intesity to its fullest, otherwise my players did not engage to opposition as high as I would have liked. But given that you  already are on the highest, i think it just comes down to the workrate/teamwork of your players, plus trying a pressing forward might help and a support duty player as a holding player.

 

17 hours ago, Bluebird123 said:

What are your front threes work rate, stamina and teammwork attributes? Are they good enough to play a high press

They seem to be fine on stamina, but I think you might both be right to identify work rate and teamwork as issues here - the highest work rate in the front 3 is 11, and the teamwork attributes aren't great either. Should probably put them all on endurance focus in training and consider work rate and teamwork more strongly when signing new attackers.

 

17 hours ago, Experienced Defender said:

You are already playing the highest possible level of pressing, using even counter-press on top of other extreme pressing instructions. Now, if you know exactly why you want to play that specific way, then you should also know what's the best solution to your tactical issue(s). After all, maybe your team simply is not suited for the style of play you want to play.

The team doesn't seem to be completely unsuited to the style of play based on results, but the front 3 maybe aren't so well-suited to the pressing I want them to do - as the others have suggested, they seem to lack the work rate and teamwork to do the job. Will look to improve these attributes in them and see if that helps.