retired_cekraus

Bon soir,

I am currently trying to manage a group of Northern Irish misfits through their second season in Northern Ireland’s lowest division. I’m having some problems that I don’t understand, however, and I was hoping someone (you, specifically) could help.

The Problem
I would like to devise some better tactics for my team, but I really just do not understand how it all fits together.

My current tactics have developed into a rather unsatisfying mess. My tactics at one point served me well against better teams, but I’ve noticed that the game is starting to catch on. Thus, despite the fact that my players have somewhat better stats than most of the other league teams, they drastically underperform.

My current tactics result in a bizarre game of bomb-the-ball-up which has made many of the fans on either side contemplate suicide as an alternative to watching, or at least drowning in whole barrels of hard liquor. Essentially, my team stymies the other one while being unable to make plays in the final third themselves… and so the winner is usually the first team to break through the minefield in the middle. My team wins if it gets a successful counterattack, while the other teams win if… well… if they do anything, really. It’s very frustrating.

The Boys
My center-backs, despite marking skills of 12-15 (incredible for this league) often display the brainpower of warm porridge, and fast counter-attacks get through my defense despite my deepest-possible back line setting. Marking is set to normal, closing down is set to fairly uncommon. Their speed is poor, so I’m trying to minimize that for now.

My left back has decent crossing ability and dribbling too in addition to good marking/tackling, but is quite slow (pace 4) and as such I am unable to use him on offense. Is this a problem? My right back is much the same.

My center midfielders have okay dribbling, but really good passing skills (12, 15—amazing for this league) and creativity (10, 12) which is above-average. I set their creative freedom to normal and their

My side midfielders are fairly fast and have good passing (NOT crossing). They are set to forward run often, dribble up the side often, and cross often to the center.

My forwards are interesting. Forward 1, Zippy, is fast and good at dribbling and the only player on my team capable of scoring on a counter-attack. Finishing 14, pace 13, dribbling 11, ensure that he is always a threat. But for some reason he lacks a cutting edge in build-up play… his forward runs are set to often, creativity normal (rating is 6).

My other forward comes from a set of incompetents who are all fairly good at finishing but mediocre in most other areas (speed, height). I realize I need a new one, but with a medium-sized database in Northern Ireland, it’s tough. Transfer budget is $30 (seriously) no less.

Requesting assistance

So, for those of you still reading… how can I improve this lot? I can buy one or two cheap players if you think I’m missing something critical.

I am also tailoring training regimens to counter my glaring weaknesses (aerobics for defense, dribbling for my cmfs, etc). Nonetheless, I just don’t know how to get my team functioning as an entity. Their technical skills (and numerically high mental skills like teamwork) just have not translated into them playing as a team at all.