Break defensive sides away

[Ka-nte10!]

I struggle everytime to break defensive side especially when i play against 2 DM or against a 4-1-4-1 or against 4-4-2.

i dont know if i have to exploit the flanks, to remove "work ball in the box", or other options.

What do you suggest me to do?

[Zemahh]

A screenshot of your tactic would be helpful.

14 minutes ago, Ka-nte10! said:

i dont know if i have to exploit the flanks, to remove "work ball in the box", or other options.

Generally, exploiting flanks would be a better idea in your scenario. It increases individual mentalities of your WBs, which means they'll take more risks. Usually, when the opposition packs the midfield, your best bet is pulling them apart with wide play.

Work Ball Into Box on the other hand, does the opposite. It asks your players to be more patient and take less risks around the box, which could restrict your chances even further—even when there will be an opening (and there won't be many of them, if the opposition are defending for their lives), your players won't be encouraged to exploit it.

[Experienced Defender]

3 hours ago, Ka-nte10! said:

What do you suggest me to do?

To post a screenshot of your tactic for starters  

[Rashidi]

This is one of those questions where I feel you need to be directed to another way to fix your issue. I have a style of analysis called SIBOT analysis and it is incredibly effective on Football Manager. I did a video on this called SIBOT analysis, googling it will probably take you to the video. As far as I can tell no one has even come close to finding a methodology that is not only analytical but predictive as well. 

Basically when you look at your tactic you want to break down the kind of chances you are creating inside the box which don't come from setpieces, and crosses. I rule out crosses because real world numbers back it up - crosses are not effective at creating clear cut chances, if they are converted with the head. If they are crosses into space and scored with a foot, its a different matter. 

Take this number, now how many came from the danger zone? this is usually the area around the penalty area and its edges. You want shots from inside the box and near the penalty area.  Are your producing at least 1 per game? How many shots do you need inside the box before you produce one good shot inside the box? In most of my tactics I need around 3, which is indicative that i have a good conversion rate. Thats 3 shots before i score a goal that are not headers or come from set pieces. 

If i have a low number and this has happened, anything below 0.5 I usually throw away as a useless tactic, cos while in some games i could be producing 30 shots i only see one really good chance every 3 games. Thats a terrible system. I once created a tactic with Barcelona we were on a 20 game winning streak and i threw away the tactic. Why? this was a tactic that had thumped one side 3-0 and we were scoring 3.11 per game. This tactic  was only producing an EGV of 1 per game. EGV is expected goal value.  I checked and I was right, most of my goals were coming from set pieces and corners. So out went the tactic.

You will also notice that your EGV can be different against different kinds of formations and different types of competition as well. I find that i produce higher EGV's against attacking sides and lower ones against sides that play a double dm system. Then I pay more attention and try to remember what i did to unlock those sides, and remember to do the same against such sides in the future.

Knowing how to break down sides is more than just making a tweak, its about knowing how your side does against different kinds of systems.  Against defensive sides I sometimes drop my LOE and hit pass into space, if they come out to play. Against some defensive sides I go wider and play work ball into box. Against other defensive sides I sometimes run at defence, play higher up the pitch and draw red cards.

When I lower the LOE I am actually trying to increase the number of quality chances i am producing inside the box, I am banking on playing them on the transition.

So the question i want you to ask yourself is this. With your tactic how many good chances are you creating inside the box and from a dangerous area that are not from setpieces? If your number is high, and you are not winning then your problem is you're scorers. If your number is low then you need to work on finding a way to create better chances with your system, because its not good enough.