Need help with a struggling Real Madrid!

[djpfm]

I've recently returned to the game after many years. Generally I do ok, usually meeting or slightly exceeding board expectations with smaller reputation teams. For my latest save I decided to start with Real Madrid thinking it might be slightly less frustrating but it's been anything but.

We started the season well. By Christmas I was top of the league and had qualified from the group phase of the Champions League by beating Man City 5-0 at home. Then in January we lose 3 games in a row, one is a 5-0 hammering from Barcelona. I tweak the tactic slightly and form picks up again for 5 or 6 games. Then we draw or lose another 4-5 games before a brief return to form. Then in April another downturn and I've lost or drawn the last 7 games. We've only lost 3 games this season but drawn 15 which has left us miles behind Barcelona.

In the last 7 games it really doesn't seem to matter what tactical changes I make, we always seem to end up drawing games either 0-0 or 1-1. We can't seem to break teams down, when we do manage to they then go on to immediately pull a goal back. I've not made wholesale changes but I've tried playing with more width, dropping the defensive and LOE lines, changing tempo, changing directness. I've tried changing roles and dropping players with poor form  but nothing seems to work. Team Cohesion, Club Atmosphere and managerial support are all good or very good.

I'm almost certainly going to get the sack at the end of the season but I'd love to know what I'm doing wrong so I can avoid mistakes in the future. Here's the current tactic. We've just been beaten 2-1 away to Eibar with it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[YLSFM00]

8 minutes ago, djpfm said:

I've recently returned to the game after many years. Generally I do ok, usually meeting or slightly exceeding board expectations with smaller reputation teams. For my latest save I decided to start with Real Madrid thinking it might be slightly less frustrating but it's been anything but.

We started the season well. By Christmas I was top of the league and had qualified from the group phase of the Champions League by beating Man City 5-0 at home. Then in January we lose 3 games in a row, one is a 5-0 hammering from Barcelona. I tweak the tactic slightly and form picks up again for 5 or 6 games. Then we draw or lose another 4-5 games before a brief return to form. Then in April another downturn and I've lost or drawn the last 7 games. We've only lost 3 games this season but drawn 15 which has left us miles behind Barcelona.

In the last 7 games it really doesn't seem to matter what tactical changes I make, we always seem to end up drawing games either 0-0 or 1-1. We can't seem to break teams down, when we do manage to they then go on to immediately pull a goal back. I've not made wholesale changes but I've tried playing with more width, dropping the defensive and LOE lines, changing tempo, changing directness. I've tried changing roles and dropping players with poor form  but nothing seems to work. Team Cohesion, Club Atmosphere and managerial support are all good or very good.

I'm almost certainly going to get the sack at the end of the season but I'd love to know what I'm doing wrong so I can avoid mistakes in the future. Here's the current tactic. We've just been beaten 2-1 away to Eibar with it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I'm not exactly an expert with tactics, but here's some things that don't seem right:

- urgent pressing combined with less then optimal defensive compactness

- you seem to be using possession friendly TI'S, but wide attacking width is not compatible with such.

- with that, the counter TI is also not compatible with your seemingly possession friendly TI'S 

- you are already taking shorter kicks and distributing to CB'S with PooD, so I see no need tbh

I also think that maybe lower tempo is a little too extreme, set that to standard and make the passing shorter.

EDIT: I'd also up your mentality to positive.

Edited April 26, 2021 by YLSFM00
added detail

[djpfm]

Thanks for the reply. The wide attacking is an attempt to drag defenders out of position and create more space, it was previously set to narrow and we had the same problems. I'll make some tweaks based on your suggestions above and see how we get on.

[Freakiie]

You're playing very passively for a big team. Slower tempo, balanced mentality and very passive roles, except for the IF(A). You only have 1 guy in your set up that actually wants to score goals. On the other hand defensively you're using a BWM as your holding player, a role that very aggressively closes down and regularly leaves his position. With two runners in front of him that's not the kind of holding player you want protecting your backline and it's no surprise you're struggling with people scoring against you.

I also think your roles do not match the type of players Real has. Kroos and Modric are amazing midfielders, but in a runner role like the Mezzala? They don't have the physical ability for that (anymore) and it doesn't really play to their strengths as playmakers. You have a winger on the right, which again isn't playing to the strengths of the players you have for that position, you have a WB(A) behind him that'll play in a very similar area as the Winger and you don't have any cross targets, as the only player attacking the box aggressively is Hazard,

[djpfm]

2 minutes ago, Freakiie said:

You're playing very passively for a big team. Slower tempo, balanced mentality and very passive roles, except for the IF(A). You only have 1 guy in your set up that actually wants to score goals. On the other hand defensively you're using a BWM as your holding player, a role that very aggressively closes down and regularly leaves his position. With two runners in front of him that's not the kind of holding player you want protecting your backline and it's no surprise you're struggling with people scoring against you.

I also think your roles do not match the type of players Real has. Kroos and Modric are amazing midfielders, but in a runner role like the Mezzala? They don't have the physical ability for that (anymore) and it doesn't really play to their strengths as playmakers. You have a winger on the right, which again isn't playing to the strengths of the players you have for that position, you have a WB(A) behind him that'll play in a very similar area as the Winger and you don't have any cross targets, as the only player attacking the box aggressively is Hazard,

I started with the pre-set Vertical Tiki-Taka tactic and the 433 DM wide, a lot of the roles have come from that. It was pretty successful in the first half of the season. I switched Depay from an IW to a winger after some poor performances and he went on a good run and scored a pretty regularly. This is where I am struggling I guess, I make changes that seem to work in the short term but long term they fail.

[Prolix]

22 hours ago, djpfm said:

The wide attacking is an attempt to drag defenders out of position and create more space

I have been thinking about experimenting with setting CMs in a 4-3-3 shape to "Run Wide With Ball" PI when there are wide forwards attacking central space ahead of them. Something to consider trying, especially with a team as strong as Real.

Edited April 27, 2021 by Prolix

[djpfm]

Finished the last 5 games of the season with 2 wins, 2 defeats and a draw. After a few tweaks we were more of a threat going forward but teams were still counter attacking us too easily. Barcelona absolutely destroyed us again.

Despite finishing 4th in the league I have miraculously managed to hang on to the job. I've signed Haaland and we'll go again next season.

[lfds89]

My ideas:

1. You are Real Madrid, you should play at least on Positive. I would play Attacking.

2. Be more Expressive - I never use it. You are basically telling your players to don't follow team instructions.

3. Lower Tempo - I wouldn't use it on Real Madrid, but that's an option

4. Take short kicks and distribute to Cbs - why both?

5. You can probably play with a higher DL and LOE

6. WB-A and W-S are crossers: who are they crossing to?

7. Kroos as MEZ? He's so good he might get away with it, but definitely not my first choice.

8. Hazard as IF? Same thing. He's not a scorer, he's the guy you want picking up the ball and creating chances.

9. Don't like your combination of roles on the midfield trio, nor the 3 upfront.