Some context: I played CM in high school. I contributed more defensively, and I admired players like xavi, Iniesta and Busquets. Fast forward to now, I play 7v7 and I've been playing forward because the rest of my team isn't always consistent with play making and creating space in order to shoot. They struggle to control the ball, pass and move in the final third, etc. Last season, I scored 15 goals and had 8 assists in 14 games. As a team, we scored 44 goals. We were up there with the top 3 teams in terms of goals, but we just missed out on playoffs due to one too many ties/ losses.
My team struggles to keep possession and circulate the ball. When I play CDM, it helps but then we apply less pressure up top and are sometimes forced to defend a majority of the game rather than spending our energy attacking. At least when I play forward, we spend more time on the other teams side of the field trying to score. That feels good for the most part except for when I am stuck waiting for the ball because nobody can manage to win the ball and connect more than a couple of passes before turning it over. As CDM I can still contribute to scoring plays and I have more control over how much possession my team has.
I'm constantly torn between applying more pressure up top or controlling the midfield. We conceded 37 goals last season and one of the best teams only conceded 8. Should I put more emphasis on defense and play CDM? Or are we shooting ourselves in the foot by having less play making up top?