Issues with tactic vs lesser sides

[borobadger]

I'm using the following tactic with Ballyclare Comrades in the Northern Irish 1st tier, and whilst it does ok domestically it has great results in Europe, even while leaving it on attack vs teams a lot stronger than ourselves (somehow managed to beat Steaua Bucharest 9-0).

However we often slip up vs teams domestically that in Europe we would be beating by 6+ goals and I've actually yet to win the league, so any tweaks I could make for the domestic games would be much appreciated.

Edited August 4, 2021 by borobadger

[jim5000]

I would think that it is because you don't have a balanced formation. You have all of your attackers on attack, and all of your defenders on defend.

You want to set your player mentalities to create angles, so on one side you have one attacking fullback and a supporting winger, and on the other, you have defending fullback and attacking midfielder or winger. Mix and match depending on which players you have, but basically don't set all your defenders to defend\support and all your attackers to support\attack. Create asymmetry through your player mentalities.

Also, you have an advanced play maker and box to box midfielder as your centre pairing, this means that in a transition McDonald, your defensive midfielder will get caught alone as both the advanced playmaker and box to box midfield look to get forward, so your defensive midfielder will get caught by himself when the opposition get the ball. This is exacerbated by the fact that your two forward midfielders and wingers are on support or attack, and your DM is on defend. This will open up a big gap in the middle of the pitch as your front 5 players push forward and your back 5 hold back. You need the asymmetry.

You also have wingbacks and wingers on both sides, so your wide players are all trying to do the same job.

Your team instructions are also a little counter intuative - you have counter set, but also take short kicks. The goalkeeper is hardly going to start counter attacks if you tell him to play it short. And if you do want him to play it short, then you should have play out from the back set. If you want to play with counter press on, you need to move your team up the pitch, so have a higher defensive and engagement line, and let the keeper decide where he wants to kick it.

Here are two tweaks, depending on whether you want to play on the counter or play out from the back. Both these suggestions retain your attacking intent, wing pla,y and your crosses to I assume a big centre forward. They would need adjusting to fit your specific players but hopefully indicate how to set the team up. There are some great sticky threads on the tactics forum that go into all of this in great depth.

1) Counterpress and counter - attempt to win the ball high up the pitch, get it out wide quickly, and cross it for the centre forward.

 

2) Play out from the back - Drop deep to defend, play the ball out from the back, get it to the wide players, and and cross it for the centre forward.

 

Depending on which of your fullbacks is the best at attacking, you want to set them to attack and put your De central midfielder on the same side as them, as in the second tactic above.

I generally try to think, on each side, does it add up to zero, and also across the pitch. You want it balanced but offset, like a sudoko. So on the second tactic above, on the left there is one attack, two support, and one defend, but not where you would expect them. On the other side it is reversed with one attack and three support. Across your front 5 players you now have two attack, two support, and one defend. Across you back five outfield players you two defend, two support, and one attack. This will create angles and support triangles all over the pitch, it's not all forward players run forward, all defenders run backwards, and leave a massive gap in the centre of the pitch and players isolated.

Edited August 5, 2021 by jim5000

[borobadger]

10 hours ago, jim5000 said:

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Thanks very much for the detailed reply, I'll make a few tweaks based of your suggestions and see how it goes

[glengarry224]

You might be having more trouble domestically because those teams have learned your style of play and have adjusted, therefore you might need an alternate tactic with more variety.  For example, your tactics basically rely on wing attacks and have only your striker attacking the box, possibly the BBM arriving later.  With the occasional exception of the BBM, you have no one attacking the attacking midfield area on the ball.  Can your playmaker or BBM be a good AP?  or could one of your wingers be an IW?