After stepping away from the game and simplifying things in my head, I wrote down on a piece of paper what I want to do and what my mentality does before I applied any instructions.

I want to play fast direct football, but I don’t want my centre backs hoofing the ball up the pitch and losing possession cheaply.

So, I’ve gone for Attacking mentality due to the quickness and directness. Due to the roles I have in my team, I’m also using a structured team shape.

I want my defensive line to sit deeper so we don’t get caught out with counter attacks and I want them to play it out from the back (no long balls). I want us to be organised and let the players with the most creativity do the creative stuff and everyone else just to carry out their tasks.

I thought that the wide players were too far forward, so I’m changing to a 4411. Our setup is now looking like this.

As for team instructions, going from what I’ve said above and how the attacking mentality works, I’ve only used four.

1. More direct passing
2. Play out of defence
3. Drop deeper
4. Be more disciplined

I’ve taken off the close down less from our defenders and given my centre backs a pass shorter instruction. Right midfielder cuts inside like an inside forward. That’s the only player instructions I use. We’ll see how this goes and do some match analysis.