Help Goals are scarce like Fuel

[Uncleseekx]

Good day thou fellow FM players. Just came here to voice my rant. As we all know the game this year is really annoying. While using a normal formation and not some overload hybrid formation with one or two center backs, the goals are hard to score. And even while using the hybrid formation, you leak goals like your team is a make a wish team helping players score .

    Have tried to construct a 4-3-3 (4-1-2-2-1) to score goals and also keep possession but I can never make it possible while having the best inside forwards and Halaand upfront. Through my months of playing FM22, have only been able to muster a season where my team scored 90+ league goals and this was done using narrow formations which I don't like.

   To end it, the game doesn't want you to have beautiful football and get 2-3 goals and the game doesn't treat single striker formations well unless it's a overload hybrid formation. Even a striker with good movement won't be able to get 5 shots against an average defense. I just want the game to be fun once more for me. Had a ton of fun on FM21 and if I knew this was how 22 was going to be, wouldn't have deleted it. 

   For those who will read this, thanks for reading and hopefully any tips on how to make the 4-1-2-2-1 good. I know DanEnglish will be lurking somewhere 👀

 

[Superking]

I also face same problem as you ..

I can give u advice  to make ur team dynamics good

A or B is very good and intract with ur player in every 1-1.5 months

And see their trianing bar in every 3-4 months if it's green let it be and if its yellow than change their trianing Attributes or Preffered trianed role ..

 

 

Edited July 5, 2022 by Superking
Mistakes

[broodje kip]

Can’t help with 4-3-3 but in my 3kc attempt, I use 4-2-3-1 and it works pretty well.

[Uncleseekx]

24 minutes ago, broodje kip said:

Can’t help with 4-3-3 but in my 3kc attempt, I use 4-2-3-1 and it works pretty well.

You have a 4-2-3-1 working? HOW?!?!! Also the lack of DM in the setup makes one concede easily. I tied every setup I could possibly use of it, wingers, AP and inverted wingers, nothing worked

Edited July 5, 2022 by Uncleseekx

[Uncleseekx]

2 hours ago, Superking said:

I also face same problem as you ..

I can give u advice  to make ur team dynamics good

A or B is very good and intract with ur player in every 1-1.5 months

And see their trianing bar in every 3-4 months if it's green let it be and if its yellow than change their trianing Attributes or Preffered trianed role ..

 

 

Have a save file where I'm in 2026 so I should have all that. Results are the same

[Superking]

Try 

Run at defense 

And look for overlap 

With short passing 

Center focus

 

And in shape

PLAY with Balance Mentality 

Narrow width 

Slow tempo

Disciplined 

[Uncleseekx]

3 minutes ago, Superking said:

Try 

Run at defense 

And look for overlap 

With short passing 

Center focus

 

And in shape

PLAY with Balance Mentality 

Narrow width 

Slow tempo

Disciplined 

Thanks. I'll give it a try when I'm chanced

[Uncleseekx]

6 minutes ago, Superking said:

Try 

Run at defense 

And look for overlap 

With short passing 

Center focus

 

And in shape

PLAY with Balance Mentality 

Narrow width 

Slow tempo

Disciplined 

Player roles? 👀

[Superking]

Just now, Uncleseekx said:

Player roles? 👀

Wb must and good Wb required 

And use IF don't use Winger there train them as IW Ap winger whatever u like

And use 2 striker with good Aerial ability if u don't have signed them 

Trianed them as TF 

signed Old professional player with good Aerial for mentoring ur young striker if they below 23 

And in the middle use Ap BBM only 

 

[broodje kip]

25 minutes ago, Uncleseekx said:

You have a 4-2-3-1 working? HOW?!?!! Also the lack of DM in the setup makes one concede easily. I tied every setup I could possibly use of it, wingers, AP and inverted wingers, nothing worked

Don’t know why you’re so surprised. 4-2-3-1 seems to be the most consistent formation for me in this edition of the game.

[Uncleseekx]

12 minutes ago, Superking said:

Wb must and good Wb required 

And use IF don't use Winger there train them as IW Ap winger whatever u like

And use 2 striker with good Aerial ability if u don't have signed them 

Trianed them as TF 

signed Old professional player with good Aerial for mentoring ur young striker if they below 23 

And in the middle use Ap BBM only 

 

For a 4-2-2-2?

[Uncleseekx]

10 minutes ago, broodje kip said:

Don’t know why you’re so surprised. 4-2-3-1 seems to be the most consistent formation for me in this edition of the game.

I can't get it to work at all. If it's something you don't mind sharing, I will like to see it

[Superking]

1 minute ago, Uncleseekx said:

For a 4-2-2-2?

Yes you can play 4-3-3 also with that

Ur main striker should have aerial ability 14+

 

[DanEnglish]

6 hours ago, Uncleseekx said:

I know DanEnglish will be lurking somewhere 👀

Yes I’m lurking here.

I haven’t scored lots of goals since FMM17 or FMM18. Usually I put heavy restrictions on myself to make things really hard. Right now I’m trying to score with Martial (pace 15, aerial 10) + a second season Ronaldo (pace 12, strength 12).

So my speciality is (cynically) locking down games once I’m a goal ahead. No last minute opposition goals here 🙂  

[DanEnglish]

Some things I’ve noticed when testing other peoples’ tactics…

No width:

Spoiler

<Blue line = narrow opposition defense>

Issue = Playing a 41221 with 2 IFs and a lone striker (especially in a P/AF/TM role) gives very little attacking width. So often the opposition defense can be super narrow, which means it’s super hard for your strikers to have space or receive through balls behind the defense.

No supply to the wings: 

Spoiler

<Shaded white boxes = half spaces to supply Wingers / Wing Backs>

Only relevant if you play a CROSSING based style.

Issue = often see 41221s or 4231s with RPs / APs / DLPs as the middle two MCs. However these roles drift centrally, which mean it’s harder for them to supply your wingers / wing backs.

  
Young Attackers / Wonderkids: 

Spoiler

You: this wonderkid is fantastic.   
Reality: this wonderkid WILL BE fantastic (in the future).

Issue = your team dominates possession, shoots a lot, and has some clear cut chances. Yet you lose 1-0. Sometimes it’s because your striker doesnt have good enough finishing - or more likely - not good enough decision making.

Example - Fati only has 14 for decisions, Adeyemi only has 12 !!! With a clear cut chance, they choose the wrong finish. They’re not clinical … yet. 
 

No Dominant Attacker:

Spoiler

Issue = often you see very attacking WBs (behind IFs) who will receive the ball + cross a lot … but with an inadequate aerial threat in the box - relative to the average opposition DCs. My only entry in the “Vibe record store” is for this 😞 

Example - if you play an aerial style in the EPL, a striker needs to have 17-20 aerial + strength to be relatively better in the air than most opposition DCs. Unfortunately, Cristiano Ronaldo’s 16 aerial + 12 strength is not enough 😵

Example - if you play a through ball style in the EPL, a striker also needs 15-20 pace + movement to be relatively faster than half the league’s DCs.

 
Just some options for you 🙂 - like a checklist - to see whether there is an obvious reason WHY your team isn’t scoring enough.

PS. Edit - agree 4231 seems to have better passing moves + chances, than the 41221.

Thoughts?!

Edited July 5, 2022 by DanEnglish

[Uncleseekx]

25 minutes ago, DanEnglish said:

Some things I’ve noticed when testing other peoples’ tactics…

No width:

  Hide contents

<Blue line = narrow opposition defense>

Issue = Playing a 41221 with 2 IFs and a lone striker (especially in a P/AF/TM role) gives very little attacking width. So often the opposition defense can be super narrow, which means it’s super hard for your strikers to have space or receive through balls behind the defense.

No supply to the wings: 

  Hide contents

<Shaded white boxes = half spaces to supply Wingers / Wing Backs>

Only relevant if you play a CROSSING based style.

Issue = often see 41221s or 4231s with RPs / APs / DLPs as the middle two MCs. However these roles drift centrally, which mean it’s harder for them to supply your wingers / wing backs.

  
Young Attackers / Wonderkids: 

  Hide contents

You: this wonderkid is fantastic.   
Reality: this wonderkid WILL BE fantastic (in the future).

Issue = your team dominates possession, shoots a lot, and has some clear cut chances. Yet you lose 1-0. Sometimes it’s because your striker doesnt have good enough finishing - or more likely - not good enough decision making.

Example - Fati only has 14 for decisions, Adeyemi only has 12 !!! With a clear cut chance, they choose the wrong finish. They’re not clinical … yet. 
 

No Dominant Attacker:

  Hide contents

Issue = often you see very attacking WBs (behind IFs) who will receive the ball + cross a lot … but with an inadequate aerial threat in the box - relative to the average opposition DCs. My only entry in the “Vibe record store” is for this 😞 

Example - if you play an aerial style in the EPL, a striker needs to have 17-20 aerial + strength to be relatively better in the air than most opposition DCs. Unfortunately, Cristiano Ronaldo’s 16 aerial + 12 strength is not enough 😵

Example - if you play a through ball style in the EPL, a striker also needs 15-20 pace + movement to be relatively faster than half the league’s DCs.

 
Just some options for you 🙂 - like a checklist - to see whether there is an obvious reason WHY your team isn’t scoring enough.

PS. Edit - agree 4231 seems to have better passing moves + chances, than the 41221.

Thoughts?!

In other words, 4-1-2-2-1 with inside forwards is bad this year

[Uncleseekx]

3 hours ago, broodje kip said:

Don’t know why you’re so surprised. 4-2-3-1 seems to be the most consistent formation for me in this edition of the game.

Yo broodje? 👀

[DanEnglish]

47 minutes ago, Uncleseekx said:

In other words, 4-1-2-2-1 with inside forwards is bad this year

One IF (with the other wide player as a W / AP / IW) = should work.

Two IFs = would need either (a) a DLF / Treq. to drop deep, making space for the IFs, … OR (b) attacking wing backs who move high up into the open spaces vacated by the IFs AND aerially strong STs/IFs AND central midfielders with either a normal CM or B2B role who can supply the WBs … OR (c) such an overpowered attack, that it’s better than any defense in that league.

Edit - while I haven’t tested it, what I like about @Superking’s tactic above is that the IFs should drift inside, leaving space for the WBs to attack, with B2Bs in the half-spaces to supply passes out wide. Plus he states you want aerially strong attackers. So how should he score goals? Pass out wide to WBs, cross to aerially strong STs, score!

Overall = You should be able to make it work. I haven’t tested these in this year’s match engine, but theoretically any of these options should work.

Edited July 5, 2022 by DanEnglish

[1shotz]

I am currently messing around with this tactic and esp if u have a world class team as u stated it shud work well, it plays beautiful football with great combinations once the players get use to it. Give it a try if u want

[broodje kip]

57 minutes ago, Uncleseekx said:

Yo broodje? 👀

Nah, not now. I can’t reveal my tactic now especially since I’ve only completed one season in the challenge. @DanEnglish might be able to help you though.

[Superking]

@DanEnglish and add 1 creative freedom disciplined I read in some where here they don't usually do silly passes although they don't have decision making still players have to follow the instructions 

And players do lot more side way passing so they pass to wb more often  unless wbs are marked 

And with Look for overlap is on with run at defense it's work better 

 

[DanEnglish]

46 minutes ago, 1shotz said:

I am currently messing around with this tactic and esp if u have a world class team as u stated it shud work well, it plays beautiful football with great combinations once the players get use to it. Give it a try if u want

This should work really well vs an opposition back 4. But I bet it struggles more vs an opposition back 3 (51221, 5221, 5212). 

What I really like about this specifically is:

• LOVE ❤️ the balanced (not high!) defensive line, as gives more space for your AF / IF to run behind the opposition defense onto through balls.
• The AF + IF work well together, particularly if they have good pace + movement.
• The IW will stay wider, creating space for the B2B to run into, particularly good if the B2B has good movement + shooting.
• The AP will drift forward + central, to ping passes forward to the AF, IF and B2B, particularly if they have good passing + creativity.
• The IWBs provide good passing options from the back.

The only tweak I’d prefer is to change the DLP to an Anchor, just for better defensive protection - but that’s just a personal preference 🙂 

[Uncleseekx]

1 hour ago, 1shotz said:

I am currently messing around with this tactic and esp if u have a world class team as u stated it shud work well, it plays beautiful football with great combinations once the players get use to it. Give it a try if u want

I'll like to see league results though. Thanks 

[1shotz]

1 hour ago, DanEnglish said:

This should work really well vs an opposition back 4. But I bet it struggles more vs an opposition back 3 (51221, 5221, 5212). 

What I really like about this specifically is:

• LOVE ❤️ the balanced (not high!) defensive line, as gives more space for your AF / IF to run behind the opposition defense onto through balls.
• The AF + IF work well together, particularly if they have good pace + movement.
• The IW will stay wider, creating space for the B2B to run into, particularly good if the B2B has good movement + shooting.
• The AP will drift forward + central, to ping passes forward to the AF, IF and B2B, particularly if they have good passing + creativity.
• The IWBs provide good passing options from the back.

The only tweak I’d prefer is to change the DLP to an Anchor, just for better defensive protection - but that’s just a personal preference 🙂 

Snap I normally use an anchor too but I’m messing around with that position atm seeing what difference it makes. And everything u said above is spot on with the roles and combinations it works really well 

added 0 minutes later

1 hour ago, Uncleseekx said:

I'll like to see league results though. Thanks 

When I get a chance to complete a season I will do just been busy with work 

[lcutini32]

One thing I’ve noticed on this years edition is that finishing seems a lot worse/difficult/dependent on clear cut chances. I’ve still got FMM20 on my phone and am using a similar tactic to one I ran then. I loaded it up to check some match stats to compare to my current save and they’re almost identical but my team scores a lot less on 22. I always have 12-15 shots and like 1 or 2 clear cut chances and usually only 4-5 on target. Same on 20 but I was winning games 3-0 or 4-0 way more often. Maybe they weighted it more towards creating those clear cut chances more so than it was in the past, as opposed to scoring 4 goals with 15 shots just because of sheer volume of chances. 

[Uncleseekx]

34 minutes ago, lcutini32 said:

One thing I’ve noticed on this years edition is that finishing seems a lot worse/difficult/dependent on clear cut chances. I’ve still got FMM20 on my phone and am using a similar tactic to one I ran then. I loaded it up to check some match stats to compare to my current save and they’re almost identical but my team scores a lot less on 22. I always have 12-15 shots and like 1 or 2 clear cut chances and usually only 4-5 on target. Same on 20 but I was winning games 3-0 or 4-0 way more often. Maybe they weighted it more towards creating those clear cut chances more so than it was in the past, as opposed to scoring 4 goals with 15 shots just because of sheer volume of chances.

Sports Interactive just made it hard. Had a 4-4-2 that worked like a charm last season. Had Lukaku banging in goals like he was playing against 5 year olds, now the 4-4-2 can't do anything 

[Uncleseekx]

One more thing I noticed on the game is that crosses have been nerfed. I can have Sane and Cuadrado down my wings who have 18 crossing and while having Ronaldo and Weghorst up front yet both wingers will have horrible crossing numbers. 15 crosses attempted and just 2 being completed from just Sane

Edited July 5, 2022 by Uncleseekx

[DanEnglish]

3 hours ago, Uncleseekx said:

One more thing I noticed on the game is that crosses have been nerfed. 

That feels very true. 

Here’s my (unfortunate) entry into the Vibe record store - for most useless crosses.

Spoiler

How about “most crosses attempted in a match, that didn’t directly lead to a goal”?

After Newcastle had a man sent off + moved to a 41220 narrow formation, I sent everything down the flanks …

41 attempted crosses (only 7 corners!), with Ronaldo as my Target Man. Yet only 4 crosses were completed + my only goal came from a penalty (from open play). Couldn’t break them down without Bruno nor Pogba 😞 

   Hide contents

Here’s my player stats breakdown, look at how many players didn’t make a successful cross?!

If you don’t put this into the record store, then that’s fine, at least I got the chance to vent my frustration 🙂 

[Uncleseekx]

To be fair though it was really overpowered In the previous year but they made it kind of unusable except it's from corners

[Superking]

@DanEnglish 

You helped  me a lot and I was conceding lot more before I made few changes after reading ur post. Before that I was using 4-3-3 with 3 out an out striker no IF .. and FB in place of WB

So I move 2 striker on wide as IF and Fb to Wb .. and now I am using IF with good passing and teamwork ability rather than shooting .

now I going to working on through passing game using ur input no crosses from flanks with 5-3-2 and aim is 90-100 goals in the 1st season with mid table teams .