mike29

I'm playing with Arsenal and have a problem of losing posession cheaply in midfield. My midfield of Fabregas/Diaby always loses it. Sometimes my fullbacks passes to the midfield and Fab/Abou loses it or plays a bad pass. They are on mixed passing, medium CF. Btw, this happens everywhere, passing always gets dispossed/giveaway. I've got slow/shot, mixed passing game with medium to narrow width.

Anyone got a solution for this?

josh90

If you examine the passing stats of your CM's (Cesc, Gilberto or Rosicky) you'll find that they have very high average passing stat, that is you will not find a central midfield with a better ability to play a short passing game. After playing with Arsenal I found that setting team mentality on passing to short and tempo to slow I would more often win the midfield battle.
In the players setting I untick passing for all players except my DC's who are left on first notch of direct. Should I along the way loose out in midfield I can adjust setting to a more direct stile of play.
And try have your attackers "run onto ball" in the target man supply setting. This prevents your defenders or midfield to play the ball straight to opposing defense. Instead the ball will be played behind the defenders leaving a pacy striker with lots of opportunity...

mike29

Ah thanks for that tip, I'm using a standard 442 btw.

I was wondering, won't setting a targetman/ focusing down passes leave your play too one dimensional?

mike29

Ah, one more thing, I find that my wingers Hleb/Ribeiry makes good run to the box but almost always puts a bad cross resulting in a corner or worst still, an opposition's counter attack. It happened countless of times.

Does this means that my strikers aren't in a good position thus the cross being blocked?

Both my wingers have good crossing stat so 9/10 they should cross it in the box.

josh90

I forgot to mention that I only suggest run onto ball. Don't set a specific targetman as the opposition defense will close him down.
I always play down both flanks.
I creates more opportunities IMO.

mike29

Hello, thanks again for that reply but I'm confused, why do you say dont set a specific targetman to set targetman to run onto ball. Wouldnt that not work?

retired_toiwoods

9 times out of 10... i think that might be a little ambitious.... look at the game stats, you will probably find it more like 20-40%.. i might be wrong though.

josh90

well it works for me. Probably the same as having a playmaker setting without actually picking one. Your players will respond to the tactic and use it to the best of their ability.

I also wonder if you use the RoT? This would help your players positioning themselves correctly when connecting with crosses or passes. Obviously even the best winger won't hit his target all the time...but you as the manager can help him along the way.