In order for 11 men to be effective on the football field of the highest level against a good tactical manager you too will need delicate and meticulous instruction.
For example:
Where you should run during counter attack, where you should run during out of possession
Who do I press? How far should I press? At what point should I press?
Which player you need to track
Which player covers tracking player
Which players stays back during attack
How do your opponent plays, what's their weak spot
If Striker moves in, how should the winger assist
Who's guarding near post far post
Which player tracks deep runner
And that's only half of the problem, when playing against human manager they can change approach, changing instruction, for example
Let "X" have the ball, mark "Y" instead
When "X" have the ball, drop deep, mark runners
During corner, harass "X" as a feint, while "Y" runs from deep
If you don't work as a unit, you'll bound to be exposed by better team, when your team press without clear instruction you'll have people suddenly becomes unmarked and players playing out of position. When a professional players seems to be losing his man it could be down to misguided instruction. What seems to be stupidity from one player could be a tactical flaw.
This is where manager plays part, preparation, adaptation, and reaction. Many smaller teams doesn't have the individual luxury to turn the game, they often rely on discipline and tactical unity. Teams that defends deep for instance, they would have more often than not several player man marking certain player in tandems. Players like Messi / Ronaldo aren't seldom marked by 1 person, if the marker fail they'll have another ready to cover.
On top of that, you need players to actually follow the instruction, if your instruction is sound and you blunder a shot that still counts as collective failure.
So I'd say we're tactically very weak, we can't even shut down and defend as a unit, let alone attacking as one. Our goals relies alot on individual brilliance instead of a well drilled routine. Teams like City has a few tricks up their sleeve to open up a tight defence, we have none other than the obvious of "give it to X and hope something happens"
The only time we're doing well is during a counter, because it's easier to run into empty spaces with X and you don't need alot of instruction execute.
For me the best indication where a team does well tactically is how good they keep possession and how good they attack, if we start seeing off the ball movement, feints, and wingers actually stretching the defense then I'd say we're sound tactically.
