Struggling with form - same tactic

[loukasfvr]

Hi, I'm on my fourth season with HSV, results have been very positive so far but I'm starting to struggle. 
We won the 2 BL in my first year, came 8th in Bundesliga the second year and 5th last season with an EL qualification as well as won the DFB Pokal. 

I've been an occasional FM player for a few years now but always used some tactics I found on different forums for my saves. This year I've started to play a lot and decided to create my own tactic at the beginning of last season (so third season). We had come to a decrease in form and I thought it was time to change things up, so I took the occasion and created my first tactic. This worked out super well and I managed to finish 5th in the Bundesliga - 1 point from 4th and CL. We played brilliant football with lots of goals/xgs and few conceded.

This season however, has been a struggling one. Didn't lose many players/recruit much around the summer and kept playing with the same tactic. Only changes were my AMC who left and that I replaced with Cherki, and my old keeper Ulreich that was replaced by Bijlow. 
This being said, my XGs for have dropped a lot and my XG against increased slightly. I've also had many injuries, primarily in defence which allowed no rotation. At times I even had to get one star players from the U19 because I had 4-5 defenders injured which didn't help the results and form. 

There might be many reasons for my form to drop. Looking at the team comparison tab, I have major issues in average age (way too young), work rate (16th), aggression (last), bravery (last), tackling (last), heading and marking. I will definitely focus on this in the coming transfer windows but need to solve the short term issues which leads us to tactics. 

I've kept as said before the same tactics as the previous season and tried to modify a bit  the instructions and roles when things stopped working to try to stimulate the players and get back in form without success so far. Being my first tactic, I suspect that there are plenty of issues with them and I would like to get your thoughts on what I can improve. I've had two similar tactics - one for home and easy games and the other one for tough opponents and harder away games with differences in the roles and height of pressing/defending lines primarily but otherwise very similar. 

Please let me know if you need more input and thanks in advance for the help! 

[RPM_01]

3 players in midfield are playmakers which means they'll all be attracted to the ball. I'd suggest changing at least one of them (maybe to AP-Su) to reduce it. A BBM may work well to create a bit more of a runner down that left hand side too.

3 playermakers paired with 2 BPD's too means you're probably taking a lot of risk with your passing, maybe look to make one a normal CB to reduce this too.

I'd experiment with your TI's too, maybe taking off shoot on sight to see if you're creating better chances rather than a lot of wasted shots. Worst case start from scratch and build up from there to what you want the tactic to be and find the instructions that don't work.

Final note is just to make sure the tactic suits your current players - does the AP-At for example have the attributes to run with the ball from deep and make the correct decision?

[Experienced Defender]

I can only tell you what in my personal opinion is potentially wrong with your tactic:

- way too many team instructions (really no need to use them all)

- poor defensive compactness (distance between D-line and LOE) coupled with a fairly strange selection of other out-of-possession TIs (less urgent + get stuck in ???)

- a lot of contradiction between instructions

- as many as 3 playmaker roles literally "holding hands"

- looking at your tactic, I am completely unable to figure out what style of football you are trying to play ???

The only thing I like is how you set up roles and duties for the front four players/positions, but everything else looks like a complete mess to me.

I would simplify your tactic in every possible sense.

[loukasfvr]

Thanks for the honest feedback, that's what I was after. I wasn't expecting my first tactic to be a full success and am quite glad that it worked well for a season. I'll take your comments and try to rebuild a bit. I'll post the update here for further inputs.

Regarding the style of football, I would like it to be possession based as its core but with some kind of liberty for the wingers and the AMC that are good dribblers. Most of my players are technical and maybe not the most physical so therefore I think it is important to have the ball and try to find the opening through either a pass or a player to make the difference rather than being solid and playing the counter. 

This however could be a struggle against big teams, I am not sure I would be able to play the same type of football against them. But it also seems a bit counter-intuitive to change to a solid defence playing counter attack as soon we play a better team. I like to believe that some teams playing well defined football can beat bigger ones by simply playing better football but I'm not sure if that holds in fm. 

[Experienced Defender]

22 minutes ago, loukasfvr said:

but with some kind of liberty for the wingers and the AMC

When you say "wingers", do you refer to the role or position? 

Btw, if you want to use the 4231 formation, make sure that both players playing in the CM positions are defensively reliable (ideally they should be equally good at both defending and supporting attacks). 

[loukasfvr]

I meant the position sorry

I think that both my CMs are quite all-around players and they should do the job. I will probably lose Tonali soon though since his release clause at 80M will probably get paid (got him on a free). I will then look for someone a bit stronger defensively 

[Experienced Defender]

Okay, these 2 guys can play in CM positions in a 4231. 

[Experienced Defender]

Okay, these 2 guys can play in CM positions in a 4231.