The last few sessions I've had, I've been trying to find solutions for a few issues I have with the way my team performs; stopping my CMs from constantly closing down wingers, improving the fluidity of my attack/getting more goal threat from my wingers, improving positioning and tempo at which matches are played.
First was dropping the difficulty (initially to regular, but now professional) and implementing the tactics page suggestions (to hopefully keep teams better positioned) that
@Matt10 mentioned. That was an ok start. That has helped with the tempo a bit (AI is a less gung ho from the off). I've started having the CMs 'man mark' the oppositon CMs in front of them (something else Matt10 suggested for 2020). That's helped keep them central instead of having them constantly closing down wide players. I'm not entirely sold on doing the same with my wide players because I don't like the idea of having too many players 'man mark'. I might give the FBs a try tho.
@Anth James mentioned earlier using WFs instead of CFs. It was something I tried in 2020, but ditched when I ditched the game altogether. It did give me promising results back then and did so again tonight; my wide men (specifically future PM Rashford) actually showed more goal threat. The other thing that has been crucial has been wing rotation. Rashford (LWF) starts outside then moves inside. Bruno (AMC) will drift out wide, drop deep, and make runs into the box. Pogba (CM) will do the same but less frequently as he's positioned deeper. The only thing I'm not a fan of is how frequently my FBs end up centrally. I might try maintain formation and see if that keeps them on the flanks. But overall it looked more fluid and the behaved more like I'd expect them to.
Last 2 matches I played on professional -2 game speed (another tempo related decision).
Went to Leicester and won 4-1. Capitalized on defensive mistakes and, surprisingly, Greenwood winning a penalty via a dive:
This is the first time I have been a beneficiary of a dive. Heck I have only ever seen one dive that didn't result in a yellow card.
Played Burnley at home and smashed them 5-0 (I wish they lost every match 5-0 tbf).
This game can produce some really good football at times:
Would've been damn near the perfect goal if Pogba scores there.
This session was full of surprises because look at what AI Hazard went and did all by himself:
I love when I don't have to do any of the work.
Lastly, as (almost) always
full match highlights for anyone interested.
Question is whether not the difficulty increases against better teams. If it does, then great there's potential here. If not, I might try top player against. But I am not keen on that because I think the AI plays dreadful on top player and above. Especially in fixed cursor.
