Davey

As the title says, I just need some tactical inspiration for my career game.

I've just taken over my second club in the Uruguayan Second Division. For those unfamiliar with the league, I would say it is the same standard as upper League Two/lower League One. I unexpectedly won the Second Division with the first club I managed. My tatics were based on a sold back four who were set to man marking which I ensured had high 'decision' attributes. My midfield consited of a DMC, 2 x MC (One encouraged to stay back and one encouraged to make forward runs) along with a standard AMC and 2 decent all round strikers (neither of which blessed with pace or power) with arrows going to encourage them to go wide. I employed a slower tempo (last notch of normal) with the aim of controlling possesion and dictating the game. I found this worked very well, and although I didn't run away with the league I only conceeded 15 goals in 30 games and would often score late on to win games 1-0. As mentioned promotion was completely unexpected and employing the same tatics in the First Division wasn't succesful and instead of regularly nicking wins 1-0 we would often lose games 1-0/2-1. I thought that the tatics were no longer as effective as the players were not good enough for the level we were playing against. I was unable to bring in better players and results worsened as I was unable to turn things around so I resigned just over half way through the season.

I was shortly offered a job at another Second Division club, despite extremely poor finances they are one of the stronger sides in the league and have gaurenteed a playoff spot with four games remaining. As the transfer deadline has long passed I've just used a very basic, attacking 5-3-2. I didn't have much choice in the decision as I have only one winger and several wingbacks. My key player in an AMC whom I've made captain and I initially thought that I would be able use as a playmaker but his performances have been poor when used as a playmaker. I'm now approaching the play offs and are league performances are a bit flat and I clearly need to implement new tatics. Although I don't want to be in the Second Division again next season, I really don't think we are going to be able to win the playoffs so I want to formulate a tatic and bring in players to make it work at the end of the season.

I don't want to download someone elses tatic but I just want to some 'food for thought' and inspiration and comments from anyone who can relate to the tatical problems I having. I do not want to build a team around a tatic only to find that it does not work next season or vice versa. I really want to get out of the Second Division as I am now three years into the game and ideally want to be able to move on to a bigger club in the First Division which I thought would be possible after achieving promotion unexpectedly with my first club.

Any comments are much appericated, thanks for reading!

retired_vern918

Like you, I try to create my own tactics rather than download them. That's not always a recipe for success, but it makes you think a little more.

My suggestions to think about would be...

~ Try zonal marking for a while? Man marking can sometimes lead to players being dragged too much out of position, leading to gaps that the opposition can exploit.

~ Does your captain AMC have a good influence ability? You suggest you picked him due to his importance to the team, but that doesn't mean he will be a good captain.

~ Your formation sounds narrow. If so have you set your passing to match that? Alternatively try to add some width, especially for home fixtures to give you more space to attack, and more area the oppo's defence has to cover.

~ Are the strikers at your new club also short of pace? One of your two strikers really should have good pace and acceleration.

Hope that helps a little.

Davey

Yes my AMC happens to be both influential as well as my key player.

My tatics are pretty narrow, what do you mean set my passing to match that?

My passing is mixed at the moment with tempo on lowest setting of normal.

retired_vern918

Maybe set your passing to "through the middle" rather than mixed for a while and see if it helps?

Davey

Hmm well the succesful tactic I used with the first club aren't being used with the club I'm at now. I don't have the players to keep the same shape and felt that with the previous club, as well as a lack of quality, the tactic was perhaps getting stale too.

I'm going to have a good look around this forum and see what ideas I can take from it.