How to mix possession with pace?

[davierich]

Deep into a save with Forest and coming off the back of a fine fifth, having serious struggles this term. Attached are five of my more key players but I am struggling to understand how to combine the passing skills of the midfield with the raw pace and dribbling ability of my winger and centre forward. Last season I played a successful 4231 with a mid block - however the key player was James MAddison in the AMC role who was great in linking the play from midfield to attack with his "come deep" PPM. I have attached the five players below..

As you can see the two attacker are lightning quick. Their finishing is a lot to be desired but both are still young and can improve. Lucas often behaves more like an IF due to his cut inside trait. The midfield trio have a bit of everything, Rice and Kamara both capable passers with a bit of steel too whilst Alena is a pure playmaker excellent passer capable of unlocking defencess (on paper).

My thoughts going into the second half of the season is that I'm realtivaly safe in mid-table and not really in danger of the sack due to low expectations, so I want to really try and tailor something to suit the abilities of those key players above. Basic thougths - Width on left provided by FB-A with overlap. Width on right by W-A. Pass into space to allow pacy pair to run onto. Keeper get it out  quick to exploit any possible counter attack opportunity. Lower LOE in order to invite opposition defence further upfield to leave more space in behind again for the pace to exploit. Below are my basic thoughts on how it might look. I'm just not sure if I'm barking up the wrong tree. Thanks for any advice.

 

 

[Djuicer]

Maybe both wings in midfield strata with attacking duties? More space to attack for them from there.

[mp_87]

What are 'serious struggles'? What issues are you finding?

Also, if something was working why did you change it?

As for that tactic, I feel it might be a bit toothless and your attacking players isolated. Who will be getting into the area and hopefully scoring goals apart from the striker?

[davierich]

32 minutes ago, mp_87 said:

What are 'serious struggles'? What issues are you finding?

Also, if something was working why did you change it?

As for that tactic, I feel it might be a bit toothless and your attacking players isolated. Who will be getting into the area and hopefully scoring goals apart from the striker?

Truth be told it was mostly a tactic from the download section - Jose Mourinoho Chelsea type of thing with Obviously a few tweaks. (ignore the players)

Towards the end of last season it started going stale as teams became more defensive and I couldn't break them down.  However this season after losing Maddison in the summer the AMC role wasn't able to replicate his link play and I haven't had anywhere near the success with nowhere the same level of defensive solidity or ball dominance . I wanted to try and go with my own ideas going forward but I just can't seem to marry being solid defensively while still creative up top.

Going forward my striker is only 5'4 and a bit lightweight so maybe playing up front alone isn't ideal. He's capable of playing the F9 role but then I think that  would take away from his strenght which looks to be his pace and dribbling to run in behind.

[Experienced Defender]

2 hours ago, davierich said:

 

The lower line of engagement tells me that you are looking to play some type of (primarily) defensive football. The positive mentality and pass into space tell me that it's a counter-attacking brand of defensive football. 

If so, you need to slightly rearrange your setup of roles and duties in the first place. 

Also, you don't need to use the overlap left instruction, because with a FB on attack and IW on support - you already have a natural overlap on that flank. On top of that, if you want to play a counter-attacking style, then an overlap instruction is not needed anyway, because you don't want to slow the play down by a winger (i.e. wide fwd) waiting for the fullback to make the overlapping run. 

Again relative to the left flank (side) - if you want to use an attacking fullback (or wing-back) there, then you need a holding or covering type of CM in MCL (such as BWM, carrilero or DLP), not a runner/roamer like BBM.  

[HalberdOwl]

On 01/05/2020 at 10:29, Experienced Defender said:

Again relative to the left flank (side) - if you want to use an attacking fullback (or wing-back) there, then you need a holding or covering type of CM in MCL (such as BWM, carrilero or DLP), not a runner/roamer like BBM.  

Why wouldn't the DM defend be able to cover  for the fullback on attack?

[Experienced Defender]

31 minutes ago, HalberdOwl said:

Why wouldn't the DM defend be able to cover  for the fullback on attack?

He might be able (depending on how capable the player is), but a holding DM does not cover for the fullback only but needs to screen the defense in general, so his responsibility is not one-dimensional.

On top of that, it's not just about defensive cover/protection, but also creation and use of space in attack. FB on attack and IF/IW on support is a great combo as it creates a natural overlap, but you also need someone in the midfield to help recycle possession when needed, rather than attacking a space that is basically already covered by someone else (IW). So you always need to think of how roles interact between themselves, both in attack and defense.