Using inverted midfielders?

Hello all

I've recently started a scum Tottenham save, and I've been experimenting with Lamela & Chadli / Eriksen & Dembele on the flanks in the wide-midfield position

I've chosen them as 'wide midfielders' for a few reasons, I want increased positional discipline when defending (as opposed to having 3 players in the AM strata) and because this is the only position out of Winger, Defensive Winger and Wide Playmaker, in which you can choose Cut in, and Sit Narrow as instructions. The aim is for them to help create overloads in the middle of the park, while the fullbacks provide width outside of them

The problem is....they don't do this. Even though Lamela has Cuts inside, and I've given him the sit narrow instruction, he doesn't really come infield too much. I mean sure if he receives the ball instead of trying to beat the man down the line he will come infield, but thats it

Is there a way to make the players gravitate closer to the centre when in possesion?

I've tried assigning them to mark a CM which worked fairly well when out of possesion, but aside from that I'm stuck

This could be down to 3 things;

1. The players PPMs clashing with your instructions (for example Lamela could have a tendency to dribble down the wing, this would clash with you telling him to come inside)
2. The players having a low Teamwork stat (meaning they are less likely to follow instructions)
3. Your team instructions clashing with your player instructions (are you giving the team too much creativity? telling them to drift from the positions?, etc)

Just like in real life it is hard to get players to do exactly what you want and it will take some time to get the message through. At times though some players just won't listen and will end up doing their own thing, its a balancing act between giving creative players the freedom they need and giving them the instructions which best utilise their ability and your tactics.

Thanks very much for the reply - I thought it may have been a match engine issue?

I've stuck with Lamela on the flank (instead of in the number 10 role) specifically because he has the perfect attributes for it

Cuts inside
Dwells on ball
Runs with ball often

It's interesting about teamwork though, of all the years I've been playing FM, I've never known it had that effect. His teamwork is only 10 - this is going to make it more difficult for him to fit within my tactical system?

I will try with Dembele

I don't have anything like roam from position

Hopefully with more fluidity things will start looking up

What side do you have Lamela on? If he's on the right, he's more likely to come inside. I'd also suggest having look at the wide playmaker role, I've found they drift into the middle often. I think they have the sit narrower and cut inside instructions built into the role.

Best thing to do is probably post up an image of your formation and team instructions, the more I think about it the more potential things that could be stopping Lamela and Chadli doing what you want, the low Teamwork stat will contribute but as Crane said there will be other external factors we can compensate for (the side the players are on, potentially changing their roles, etc)

I can mind on another forum(LosWonderkids, RIP), we tried recreating Barcelona's tactics. We struggled a lot in regards to positioning because what we found was that changing one player's position would get him doing what we wanted, but it would cause another player to do the total opposite of what we wanted. So perhaps its your STs or CMs roles who are stopping Lamela and Chadli from coming inside, maybe the space just isn't there?

Even now when I play with Inside Forwards I find them to not cut in enough and just chuck far too many crosses to the back-post. They don't do everything I want (and at times I'd like more goals), but they do enough for me to get by and not fannying on too much. Although typing this post up has reignited my annoyance at my AMR and AML not scoring enough, changes could be afoot at Palermo ahead of the 2057/58 season.