New Faces. Tactics in Detail. Kicking Off 2015/16

Just before we move onto a look at the individual formations that we’ll be operating, exciting news on the transfer front as we moved for two central midfielders to potentially fulfil that role of ‘midfield general’ that I was concerned with. Two new names and, apart from Loyalty Bonusses and fees to agents, I’ve not had to pay a penny for either.

First up Jordan Ferri, a long time servant of Olympique Lyonnais – albeit that he only ever made seven appearances for them, along with another thirty or so for their Reserve side in the lower leagues of the French Game.

The suggested roles that our coaches highlight are primarily in the DM strata, but whilst he may play there as a Deep(er) Lying Playmaker, I see him in the middle of the park. His work rate and physicals suggest that he’ll be a good option in the Box-to-Box slot, but his fellow new joiner is more likely to take that role on and I’m expecting to use him more as our central pivot.

Operating alongside Ferri will be our first ‘big’ name at the club during my tenure, someone with extensive experience of top-flight football, and a limited spell in the French game. Ladies and gentlemen I give you the understated, the reserved, and the never controversial Joseph A Barton.

Okay so at 33 we’re not likely to get years out of him, and he’s not the sort of model player I’d be looking to as an ideal tutor, but having played around with the Personality/Media Handling Guide he does have some nice traits (Pressure 15-16, specifically). He also offers a wealth of experience, along with a decent set of attributes. Ultimately he might swap with Ferri, as he has some good numbers for the creative side of the game, but I like his tenacity.

I see him as a ‘budget’ version of a player like a Patrick Vieira...

...OK so maybe nearer to Robbie Savage, a no-frills hard-working engine to our side and if we can get two good seasons out of him then I’ll be more than happy.

In the past I might have jumped right in and made Barton my new skipper, but I want to think longer term so on this occasion Milovan Sikimic (previously vice-captain) gets the armband, with Timothy Durwael taking over as his deputy. Next year the veteran will leave us, and I expect Durwael to take the senior position for as long as he’s with us; or at least until we land a natural leader type.

So, introductions done, let’s have a look at the first of our formations, and the one with which we kicked off the season.

INDIVIDUAL FORMATIONS : 4-1-2-2-1

This formation was a part of the team’s repertoire throughout last season, and now I’m beginning to apply some tweaks to it in terms of Player Instructions. The lone striker tends to be a concern here, as the lack of successful crosses last season showed. Hopefully as the quality of our players increases this will be less of a problem, but for now I need to look at ways of bringing the supporting players into attack without relentlessly pumping balls into the box from wide.

Similarly to what I saw last season, I want my fullbacks ‘staggered’. The DR will sit deeper, but get forward to help in midfield as others kick on, whilst on the left, assuming that it’s Sabo or a similarly attack minded player, then I’m happy to get well forward.

It’s interesting that more often than not opponents seem to concede more from assists on their right flank. I recall that there was a bias towards higher rating of left sided players back in FM2005, I’m not sure whether this continued in later iterations but check your scout reports. There’s more often a bias towards the left flank being a productive area for the attacking side, than the right.

The two central midfield roles are the key here, for me. What I’m looking for is a player to sit in the middle and act as a pivot – shown here as an AP-S, although I’ll experiment and see what difference it makes to go DLP-S. The BBM should ideally make runs from deep to create problems for the opposition’s defence. This is one area where I can really tweak though, against poorer opposition I might go with a CM-A and BBM-S combination with just the player in front of the back four to hold the line.

At the back the BWM-D looks to step up and break up play, whilst one of the CDs takes a general defensive role and the other sits a touch deeper to make the final challenge and just hoof the ball clear as necessary. Again I can tweak, and the BWM may become a Deep Lying Playmaker, or just a general Defensive Midfielder depending on the opposition, and who is playing in that spot. The important thing is that triangle of players at the base of our formation. 

I’ve sometimes found it a little difficult to get players to do exactly what I want, with Roles greying out a lot of the Player Instructions, but I understand that this is down to those instructions apparently being built in to that role. There are still times when I’d like to be able to ask them to ‘do even more’ of that thing though, as the match engine suggests that they aren’t doing it as much as I’d like, but I guess there comes a point where the individual player’s attributes and personality take over. 

I also get that I can work around this if necessary – by picking the more generic roles, and managing the instructions completely. In terms of this shape, and bearing in mind that I’ll need to tweak for specific players (I love how FM14 gives you the ability to do that and have it retained!) here’s my broad-brush thinking.

GK: Distribute to Defenders.
I hate endless long goal-kicks into the middle of the park, I’ve never won a significant number of them in any iteration of CM/FM

DR: Dribble Less, Fewer Risky Passes, (Hold Position?).
Until/unless I pick up a really strong attacking fullback on the right I want someone who goes forward a bit but doesn’t over-commit, and who plays a nice simple game looking to exchange easy passes with the midfield duo. Obviously I’ll tweak as necessary, where the opponent’s left flank is strong on the attack (or particularly weak)

DCs:  Nothing specific at this time.

DL: Cut Inside With Ball, Cross Less Often, Cross Aim Target Man.
The first may give me an issue depending on the movement of the Inside Forward on that flank, I get that and will have to monitor it accordingly, however this is all about trying to get the player into the attack without resorting to endless crosses. Sabo has the ability to make passes and hit shots from range, so I’d rather he did that than emulate FM wingers and endlessly bounce the ball off the opposition to win a corner.

BWM-D: Shoot Less Often, Pass It Shorter.
The first shouldn’t be an issue, but I’m just making sure, and the latter is just to build on the ‘Fewer Risky Passes’ that is already active for the Role/Duty combo. This guy is just there to make tackles, and get the ball to my ‘creative’ engine in midfield.

BtB-S: Dribble More, Get Further Forward.
I’m going to have various players in this role, so I expect more customisation, but ultimately I want someone here who isn’t afraid to take a man on when he’s on the ball, and who gets involved in the attacking phase. As the MC less likely to be creative I feel like I’ll need to watch what happens here, and potentially pick up some passing instructions.

AP-S/DLP-S: Dribble Less.
That’s it for now, I don’t want to overcomplicate this one – beyond making sure that he tends to hold his position (default for Role/Duty combo) and concentrates on picking out passes. Obviously I’ll ideally find/train a proper creative star for this slot, and should he turn out to have massive talent on the ball then I may ease off on the ‘Dribble Less’. Again I’ll need to monitor performance here to decide whether to stick with the Support Duty, or go for Attack (AP) or Defend (DLP)

(AMR) W-S: Roam From Position, Cross Aim Target Man.
I’m really not sure what to do here, I really don’t want to go with another Inside Forward, but unless the results of our crossing improve then I’m really not keen to go with the default Winger setup. Given that this slot is currently the sole domain of Laoudihi, who plays well when he cuts in (although he has the PPM ‘Runs with Ball Down Right’), I’m allowing him some freedom to roam. When he does cross, I want there to be a focus on finding the striker.

Ultimately what I might consider here is a generic role – Wide Midfield – with freedom to roam and try to encourage more ‘freestyle’ play. Given Laoudihi’s PPM he’s still likely to prioritise wing play so I may encourage movement into the channels – but this whole idea is something I’ll consider only after some time, and only if things aren’t working out on the above setup.

(AML) IF-A: Cross Less Often, Sit Narrower, Roam from Position.
The Crossing part should be self-explanatory by now, with the other instructions intended to encourage the player infield. As mentioned on the DL instructions above, it may be that I therefore need to encourage the fullback to stay wide on the overlap – we’ll see how it plays out.

TM-A: Move Into Channels.
I’m looking for the Target Man to largely sit up top and hold up the ball, default behaviour for the Role/Duty, but also to come short for passes from the wide players rather than always rely on crosses/long passes. It may be that I switch out to TM-S, or even Deep Lying Forward in time, but again it’s a case of monitoring his behaviour.

‘Routes to Goal’ Checklist:

As per my comments in this post, based on the inspiration taken from @MrEdsFM, I’m looking for around 3-3.5 ‘routes to goal’ in my tactics, barring anything ultra-defensive that I may look at in the future. In terms of the 4-1-2-2-1 I’m happy that we have:

• The Target Man at the top of the formation (1)
• The Inside Forward coming in off our left, effectively our ‘deep lying’ second striker (1)
• The AMR cutting in and roaming around the AM strata (0.5)
• The Box-to-Box midfielder (0.5)
• Assorted set-pieces (0.5)

I’ve also started thinking about the most likely tweaks that I might make to any of my tactics on a regular basis; primarily I’m thinking about things that change the shape without changing the players.

For this setup I’m looking at the DM pushing into central 3x MC, and/or 1 wide AM pushed up to second striker or in-field as a central AMC (likely to be from left, leaving Sabo to provide the width).

...AND HERE IT IS IN ACTION

So, as seems to be the thing in France, the second game of our season is a cup tie – and a trip to face AC Ajaccio, tipped for 9^th place in our league (compared to our 15^th). We dominated our previous opponents, who played a flat 4-4-2 on the opening day of league action, although we only got a single goal for our efforts; I’m therefore reasonably optimistic coming into this game.

Lining up with our formation, against their 4-2-3-1, I’m glad of the deeper lying midfielder we have to hopefully tie up their impressive looking AMC.

The high line of their wide AMs means that I start with my fullbacks a little more withdrawn than usual (DR set to Defend and DL to Support). My back four, plus Brian Amofa, should afford us decent coverage at the back, leaving our matched pairs of central midfielders. Up front our intention is to try and stretch their back four, and ideally keep their fullbacks from venturing too far forward. 

AJACCIO’S FIRST MOVE

The first thing of note is a defensive concern. Ajaccio break down the left and then, as I’d expect if it was me running the 4-2-3-1, their wide player cuts in-field with the ball. Donzelot goes with him, leaving a ton of space on our right for their fullback to occupy. In this shot Barton, as the B2B, is tracking the fullback – all well and good. The problem arises a moment later, when the ball carrier drops it back to one of their MC pairing, at which point the play starts to switch flanks. Barton races in, as does Coco in our wide right slot (circled), leaving their fullback in acres of space.  

Now I appreciate that it would take a quick switch back to the other side, unlikely from this position, but it feels like we don’t have an eye on our right flank here. Possibly this is down to Coco (again circled) having the ‘Roam from Position’ instruction, any thoughts from anyone on that? Am I being a little too concerned over what might be a natural defensive reaction to the direction of play? 

Nothing comes of the move, as their man cuts into the box to shoot, but I’ve highlighted the key runs made and you’ll see that we ultimately end up with two unmarked opponents in that wide area.

The first half plays out without any goals, but not without scares and a couple of crucial saves. There are at least two more moves that see similar patterns emerge to this one, and whilst their advancing fullback doesn’t always come into play, when he does the tendency is for our fullback to suddenly try and close him down – all well and good, but when he was marking their AML there’s now a free man in the box. Take a look at this brief clip to see what I mean.

It’s already something that’s starting to pray on my mind and I’m thinking about the cover that a deeper-sitting wide midfielder may offer. I could give Coco a less attacking outlook, but even then I’m not sure that his starting position – coupled with the type of player he is – will see him tracking back too much. Against other formations it may be less of an issue, but against the sheer numbers of a wide 4-2-3-1 it feels like a weak point in our setup. (This will ultimately be one of the factors that leads me to reconsider the other two shapes that I’d set out to employ in my previous post).

IN THE ATTACKING PHASE

So, we may be lucky not to concede, and we do spend quite a lot of the half under pressure, but at the other end we’re looking pretty good in attack.

Our core defensive triangle is in place, with our fullbacks not too far advanced in support of our movement. Chere has cut in from the left, playing per his instructions, and laid the ball off to Depoitre – who quickly feeds Ferri. Whilst this has meant our striker coming deep to receive, there are three players already crossing his forward line and making good runs – and having laid the ball off he does the same. 

Ferri makes use of Munch (DL), and we’ve got four players pressing their back line – into which one of their central midfield pairing has dropped to help out.

Munch will play a one-two with Chere (indicated by the dotted lines) before putting in a low cross which the Inside Forward again latches onto. Barton hasn’t continued his run but we'll still find ourselves in decent shape even with seven men back to try and cover our three.

Unfortunately, on this occasion Chere goes for the shot when a driven ball across goal might have found Depoitre in place after he cleverly switches his run. I can’t be too unhappy though, it was a good move with the attacking players, in particular, doing just what I wanted them to. Here it is in full.

So with our potential weaknesses on the flanks, but good attacking play, what was the outcome of the match? A storming 3-1 away win for us...

...but only after we switched things up, threw on a second striker, and went 4-3-1-2. The concerns out wide were too big to ignore and my hope was that a slightly better staffed midfield might see the MC-L/R players provide a touch more cover.

Here’s the highlights package.

Their goal was a simple case of our young fullback caught ball-watching instead of being aware of his man.

We left it late to finally respond, a quick counterattack through the middle giving us parity. A nice near-post run from ‘Jack’ Bauer, from a Barton corner, put us ahead, and we came close to repeating from the other side – their defender eventually bundling it over his own line in a goalmouth scramble.

Note the two assists from Joey Barton, he’ll be chipping in with a few more from set pieces as the season goes on.

So maybe not the most in-depth assessment of the tactic given that we switched out at the break, but hopefully it shows why I made that change. Whilst it’s a nice shape going forward, it proved to be problematical against the 4-2-3-1. I was happier with it against narrower formations, and even against the 4-4-2, where our Defensive Midfielder isn’t focused on an opposing AM and can provide cover for the fullbacks. What I did find though, from time to time, was a tendency for some of the midfield players to get the ball to our striker without then making the moves to play off him.

SO WHAT ABOUT THE 4-3-1-2, AND THAT WEIRD NARROW THING?

Whilst the 4-3-1-2 was an improvement, for this particular game, it still wasn’t really giving us enough protection out wide* and it was a combination of a quick break and set pieces that took us through. 

It was around this time that I was talking to @RTHerringbone on Twitter, and discussing our tactical approaches. I was looking for a way to keep two strikers in play, and mentioned the 4-3-1-2, but he suggested that it hadn’t been something he’d been able to get working the way he wanted. We had a brief chat, and I started to play around with his ideas, as a flat midfield four would give me the protection I needed – particularly against that pesky 4-2-3-1. 

Next time I’ll outline the two formations I arrived at, and how I adapted them for different players/situations.

Until then, as ever, feel free to drop any observations, suggestions or questions into the Comments section – or grab me on Twitter: @flipsix3_FM

*P.S.

Interestingly, since playing through this period whilst writing notes for this update, and drafting the final post, @cook1e_Mr recently posted this update on his blog regarding the start of his game at RB Leipzig. It’s a really good read, but what grabbed my attention was his path towards a primary tactic and a decision to play a 4-3-1-2; specifically this comment jumped out. 

I do worry about the lack of width in my chosen formation, so rather than go for a midfield diamond I have placed three men in the midfield stratum. This is in the assumption that the outside midfielders are pushed slightly wider and thus I suspect they will offer a small amount of protection out wide.

I’ll be interested to see how this one develops, and whether he finds his midfield providing that wider protection that I couldn’t seem to get, as I'm still keen to find a way to accommodate two strikers - ideally with an AM role in support.