[Elwood]

Hello fellow managers. I'm having problems stifling my opponents' attack despite playing a defensive strategy and having good players, so I uploaded a PKM of a game of mine and hope a smarter manager than me can analyse my problems and teach me how to solve it.

These are the 3 major problems I can see,

1. With my 4-5-1 against the opponent's 4-4-2, what happens is the opposing full-backs are occupied with my wingers (AMR/AML), but my full-backs have to push higher up the pitch to press my opponent's wingers that are positioned deeper (MR/ML). The opposing strikers then pulls wide to exploit the space vacanted by my full-backs, giving my defense a lot of trouble.

2. The opposing wingers beat my full-backs with pace and power too easily to sent dangerous crosses in, but as far as I can see my full-backs aren't pressing them too hard or sticking to them too tightly.

3. Balls are reaching the opposing attackers in dangerous positions just infront of my defense too easily despite playing with a DM. I assume the solution is to push my defense higher but my opponent have quite pacey players so I was worried about that and when I increased closing down they dribble past my players too easily.

Despite playing at home with superior players, my opponent edged me in both shots on target and possession, if it wasn't for a wonderful performance by both Liedson and Eduardo I probably would have lost.

Thank you for your time!

Attached File(s)

•  Portugal v Ecuador.pkm (40.51K)
  Number of downloads: 3

[Contex]

I've had this situation quite a lot when facing aggressive, but lower ranked teams. I ended up calling it the "cold-rainy-afternoon in Britannia" syndrome, because essentially you're getting outfought by the long ball and getting beaten to wider positions.

Playing high up the pitch is helpful, especially if you've got some pace in your defense. What's probably happening is their wide men are receiving the ball "in the hole" between your defenders and midfielders, and when going more wide, towards the touchline, by the time your FB's get to them, the ball is either out for a throw (their ball), or the winger or striker's got a pretty clear path to goal. I'm assuming they're getting a lot of throw ins in dangerous positions, and at those times, you may even see them push quite a few players forward - otherwise, they sit deep, and launch those pesky diagonal passes.

Here, you've got to be incisive with the Opposition instructions - closing down the wide men and showing to wrong foot is not enough, particularly since their wingers may not be so dangerous when crossing, but playing direct early crosses/through balls. High line will help this, as will finding which of their defenders is launching the long balls, and focusing on him.

Essentially, what you want the AI to do here, is to play a more well-rounded game, Teams like this rely on exploiting space and playing extremely direct, so it's not necessarily a matter of breaking them down but forcing them to actually play.