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i'm playing in the championship as sunderland, but am languishing in 11th place in the table despite having only lost 2 games in the first half of the season.
i can't seem to get a tactic together that gives me much meaningful posession, or a tactic that results in a lot of shots on target, (i'm lucky if i get 25% of my shots on target).
i'm really struggling for ideas on what to do, can anyone please give me some ideas on where i might be going wrong.
i currently play a 4-4-2 formation with mixed passing (direct from defenders). i play with a target man striker who holds up the ball.
i know i havn't included much info about my specific tactics, but there's so much that i don't know what is useful to post and what isn't.
please can someone give me some help on identifying where my tactic is going wrong?
That you play a 4-4-2 is absolutely irrelevant. All that does is define your team shape. You say you play with a target man, but don't say whether he's strong enough to hold possession, or if your other players play well enough off the ball to crate chances.
Does your team have a lot of pace? How are their ball control skills? Has finishing been a problem?
Finally, do you watch your full match, or at least extended highlights? The more you watch your team play, the easier it is to see what's going wrong.
My target man has strength of 15, but since switching to extended highlights as suggested, i've noticed he is only getting the ball close to the halfway line rather than closer to the opponents penalty area.
My players all have speed of between 11 and 15, and acceleration between 11 and 17, so generally are quite quick, and have good technique, although when watching the game, they seem to have poor first touch which contradicts their attributes.
i've also noticed that when the opponent have the ball, they tend to have a much easier time passing it around than my players do, i've tried pressing more, but my players just get caught out of position and this makes things worse, any suggestions for this?
Read cleons Sheffield Utd thread and see what he has done there..
If you have quick wingers, play direct, wide and quick - foucus passing to wide areas..
Look at your wingers - do they beat men and put crosses in from byline? if not change to cross from deep?
Who are they aiming to when they cross? Man/centre/mixed?
Are your fullbacks on fwd runs (i have them on fwd runs at home and as soon as i take the lead i stop them)
In terms of closing down - read cleons Sheff utd thread
Is your AMC creative? he should be laying on thru balls.
Your target man - how is he recieving ball? mixed/to feet/to head? - is he playing through balls to the other striker/winger? is he running with the ball? if he is kind of contradicts hold up ball..
Do you actually want him to hold the ball up? if you have delivery to him as head and have hold up ball ticked - again contradictory?
Is the target man holding the ball up effective? sounds like not - so maybe dont have him doinf this - instead dont play with a target man, have him stay in the centre and the other faster striker on cross ball often and he will run out wide, dragging defenders with him - leaves space in the middle for this guy to plant his noggin on the ball - and have the cross aim of the fast striker set to centre...so you other winger runs in at the back post and has a chance as well...
Are your wingers aim set to mixed/man or centre - and the full backs? how do they cross??
i've tried with a target man,
i've tried without a target man,
i've tried with a playmaker,
i've tried without a playmaker,
i've tried attacking down the wings,
i've tried attacking through the middle,
i've tried quick and slow temps,
i've tried long and short passing
i've tried concentrating on defence first
i've tried concentrating on attack first
i'm running out of ideas and i'm still not winning games
can't win, but don't lose many either 
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