Help. Suddenly Can't Find a Way to Play

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Well with regards to your players making attacking runs I find the best tips are to use Long Ball or Forward Runs tactic.  You can assign player instructions to get in the box or get in behind but players attacking workrates and attacking position are very effective when high.  Triggering runs manually is an excellent way to create a run also. 

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I find that with such tactics result in my players trying to make a lot of forward runs, but not very intelligently as in, I ended up without an angle to pass to them. So it sort of compounds my problem, because I end up with even less passing options, and I inevitably end up losing possession...

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When your opponent is blocking you on the halfway line it's usually because they have stay back on defence instructions with cover centre on their cm's and cdm's and they are most likely playing at high defensive depth of 70+. 

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Yeah, that makes sense. Only thing is, I also have my defs and CMs also on stay back on defence, and my CMs on cover centre, but I'm not getting the solid cohesive defensive unit that I see in my opponents. i.e. my defensive players are all over the place, with gaps in between to exploit.

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If you use pressure tactics instead of balanced your players will create gaps in your defence if your opponent can play through so better to remain solid as a team and play balanced defence, this will limit your opponents attacking run opportunities. 

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Yeah that make sense as well, and I've experienced the negative of it. That's why I have my defensive tactic to balanced, and my defs interception instructions all set to normal (instead of aggresive)...

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Also if you commit a lot of your players to go forward in attack then you will create more attacking run options for your opponent. 

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Makes sense too, execpt that, I don't really know how to prevent my CMs and FBs from joining the attack (despite already set to stay back when attacking). I sometimes use them to carry the ball up open space or use them as passing options and what happens after is that they then hang around anticipating to help out in attack. Not sure... should I avoid using them to carry the ball or avoid using them as passing options?

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I find that if I choose at least one fullback to attack or remain balanced going forward but has a high attacking workrate I can create an overload of my players on that side and play out of my opponents rigid defensive midfield and also create another attacking run for my team. 

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Well, as mentioned above, I have all my defs and CMs on stay back, because, defensively I'm already having issues with gaps as it is... but a similar observation is that, when I switch to using more "balanced" type of CMs (e.g. Beckham and Bernardo Silva) instead of more defensive ones (e.g. Rice and Rabiot), I do seem to get more passing options when I'm around the halfway line, and consequently, my player with the ball gets more of a breathing space. It's like the opposing players now have to take care of more players and have less time to hound my player with the ball...

Hey, really appreciate this conversation and the suggestions!