I'm into my second season as Everton. In the first season I spent much of it designing a tactic around how I wanted the team to play. It worked. I ended up second although I'm not sure how! I went on a great winning streak and the other teams such as Man U and Arsenal just fell away. At the beginning of the second I realised that my tactics weren't really that great, I lost the ball too much, my attacking play was built around a lot of long shots and my midfielders created very little.
So even though my first season went well I decided to change my tactics.
Here's what I ended up with:
Home Tactic:
http://www.mediafire.com/?anlowz9jro9
Away Tactic:
http://www.mediafire.com/?0cmjybeeodm
Home:
Formation 4-4-2
I decided to rely fully on individual player instructions rather than using the team sliders. I felt that Id get better control of each player and get the most out of each individual player.
I wanted to play relatively open, therefore I chose a higher than normal tempo and a slightly lower width. I didn't want to lose too much control in the middle of the park so I didn't want to go too wide. Although I'm playing wide, I still want my passing focus to be mixed as I have two good players in the middle of the park. Time wasting is set on rarely as I want to make as much out of my home advantage as possible. My defensive line is high, just below 'push up'. Again, I want to press up the park as much as possible as my team's reputation is such that many teams will play defensively against me. I'm not using 'offside' as I'm not sure my defenders have the right ability.
Counter attacking is on.
I'm using a target man as without I felt that the play wasn't focused on getting forward to the strikers enough. Supply is mixed.
As for the players.
GK - Default FM setting
FBs - Mentalities are below normal as I already have a high defensive line. Creative freedom is low as I don't want them running off and leaving gaps. Runs mixed same with forward runs Though balls low as on anything else they keep giving the ball away. Cross ball is mixed. I also have them on hold up ball. I found that by doing this it allows the other players to get back into position when I counter. Passing style is short(ish) but perhaps direct might be better. Closing down own half.
CBs - Defensive as can be. Passing on direct to get the team forward from defence. Closing down in own area.
Wingers - High closing down, short arrows forward. Direct passing again to get them to play quick attacking balls. Mentality is a little above average. I don't want them to get too out of position so I keep the mentality below high.
I have central midfielders, one defensive and one not as defensive but not exactly attacking.
Def Mid - passing direct, defensive mentality, little creative freedom, closing down whole pitch. 'rarely' set on everything else.
Central Mid - Mentality just above normal, passing style a little shorter than mixed forward runs and run with ball mixed. Tight marking is set on both central mids.
Strikers.
Right - Very attacking, passing is mixed, CD is whole pitch, forward runs is rarely. I did this because he gets offside too much with anything else.
Left - Pretty much identical, easier on the tackling.
I use the left as more of a quick skillful attacker and the right is my target man.
All in all, it's going okay but not well enough. I'm in 6th and struggling to get results. As far as I can see, I don't see any major problems with the tactic. I don't think there's anything glaring. So I was wondering if anyone with a good knowledge of FM tactics can take a quick look and let me know where I'm going wrong.
I haven't added any notes on my away tactic, it's similar to the home tactic with a few small tweaks. I play slower more defensive football and try and play narrow to keep more possession to allow me to dictate play.
Any advice would be much appreciated as I can't figure out how or where I am going wrong.
Tactic evaluation - Advice and help 
I find it very difficult to score, my left sided forward never gets higher than a 6 (hasn't scored all season) and I give away goals too easily. If I do score I'll either only score one and draw or score one and lose. Here's the stats from my last game:
Linear Mode
