SQUAD BUILDING
So it’s time set about prepping for next season (2015/16).
Given last season’s performance I’m shooting for a top half finish as far as
the Board is concerned, but secretly I’m hoping to have a good push at a
promotion spot if – and it’s a big ‘if’ – we can bring in a good four or five
new players. We’re going to losing some over the summer, and in addition there
are a couple of others who really aren’t keeping up with the standard that
we’re going to need.
Having filtered things down my senior squad is set at 20
players, and of those three or four might reasonably find themselves on the
fringes.
Sikimic is really getting too old (34) given his lack of
pace. He’s done okay this season though, and with a personality of ‘Fairly
Professional’ is a useful tutor to keep around for the time being. He’ll be
downgraded to a Rotation option though.
Djiba is unspectacular in any area of his game, and takes a
big chunk out of our wage budget. Efforts are being made to move him along though I suspect we might be saddled with carrying him for the season.
Chere did some good work for us, especially early in the
season, but he’s never really delivered at the same level as, say, Coco. He’ll
be sticking around to see out his contract, which expires next summer, unless
we get any offers out of the blue. If he comes good then that's great, but he'll need to step his game up.
Perrin, now he’s the difficult one. Top scorer, but you can
see that neither Mustafi nor Depoitre got that many games in before the season
closed out – mainly as we were struggling to get them up to match fitness (both
were free transfers who’d been out of the game for a while). He’ll likely be my
third option for the next campaign, but a bit of youthful exuberance wouldn’t
go amiss. There’s also a potential wrinkle in that Depoitre signed on
with a no-promotion release clause, so if someone were to take a punt on him
I’d have to let him go. It would net us £1.8m, but he doesn’t show
any signs of unhappiness (bar his lack of goals) at this time.
My ‘shopping list’ therefore, in its longest form, is as
follows:
GK x 1 : I always like to have two backup/rotation options
available behind my main man.
DC x 1 : Ideally I’d like someone who is more comfortable on
the ball, but I accept that my options may be limited.
MC x 1 : I’d like someone who will happily sit in the MC
area, who isn’t of a more defensive inclination. Ideally a proper creative
playmaker to offer me a pivot in the middle of the park. Coco has taken that
role for part of the season, rotating with Sichi, but I see him more in the AM
strata this time around, edging Chere out.
SC x 1 : All three in the first team are big men, and none
of them are incredibly quick. A little nippy runner would be nice to add to the
equation.
Usually my approach would be to hit the markets first,
filling those slots, and then worry about tactics. I want to do it differently
this time, considering how we’ll play before I make any moves. That said I have
got one deal pre-arranged, following a scout recommendation, meet Patrick
‘Jack’ Bauer – set to become the new big-man in our central defensive
pairing...
...with a bit of training, and coaching from Sikimic, I’m
hoping to turn this ‘Balanced’ guy into something of a beast (for this level).
He’s accepted a Rotation option for the time being, so if I were to stumble
across an outstanding option then I could happily accommodate them still.
Here’s my U19 roster, sorted by current ability. I do look
to bring youngsters through, although historically I’ve tended to wait until
they’re around 19 or so. Looking at this though, I think we’ve got some options
here.
With our three man strike force in place, barring Depoitre
disappearing, I think that I should be looking at using Nacer Nadji as our
fourth man.
His currents attributes are such that I ought to be able to
‘tailor’ him pretty well, assuming that my coaches are up to the task. At 5’9”
tall, and with masses of Agility and Acceleration already, he ought to be
capable of becoming just the sort of foil I’m looking for. That said, I'd ideally give him one more season before exposing him to first team action; there's also the fact that I only see him working as part of a strike partnership - something I'm unlikely to field to often (more on that later)
Q: How would you guys train this guy? I’m thinking alternating stints on Quickness, Composure, and Poacher along with some game time for the senior squad in minor Cup games?
In addition to Nadji I’m looking at Munch, as backup for
Sabo/Mayoukou – possibly eclipsing the latter. That also offers us the
possibility of regularly playing Sabo as an attacking player against weaker
opposition.
I’m also fairly comfortable with using either of the U19
Keepers as the third man option for the senior squad.
Bearing in mind all of the above, therefore, the only area
where I really need to consider looking at the market is for a midfield
general, someone with a bit of experience and steel to come in and boss games
for us. If he can also be a natural leader type that would be great, as the
departing Golliard is currently our skipper, with Sikimic his deputy.
I’ll also have to bear in mind the ever-present issue of us being considered a small fish in a big pond, I’ve already got one of my preferred first team angling for a move to a bigger club – this despite the fact that two players left us for just that reason last summer and are still unemployed!
None of the above thinking means that I wouldn’t jump for a
good transfer option if it arose of course, I just don’t feel that there’s an
absolute need to do so at this time; also I’d like to have a clear idea of what
my tactic set will look like for the coming season, and therefore what sort of
players I need to fill out the squad.
TACTICALLY THINKING
In terms of formation I still like the feel of the 4-1-2-2-1
we played last year, albeit that it doesn’t feel like a particularly offensive
one. It’s one that I’ll keep in place this year, mainly for games away from
home or against tougher opposition; useful for when we want to retain
possession whilst utilising a lone man up front, with an Inside Forward in support.
What we really need is a proper attacking shape, and one
that incorporates two men up top. My first thinking is therefore a basic 4-4-2
with roles/duties set up accordingly, but from an attacking perspective I
really prefer the 4-2-3-1 – especially since the fun I had with it in FM12. The issue with both, as things stand, is the difficulties I’m seeing in
completing crosses. With that in mind I eventually decided on an old favourite
from my CM 01/02 days. The 4-3-1-2 puts a man in the hole behind a front pair
(Robbie Keane, back in the day), and focuses much of the attacking play through a narrower midfield - ideally generating more through-ball assists than crosses.
As a third option I’m torn, I want to look at a solid
defensively minded formation, whilst again getting away from wide
attackers due to the issues I’ve been having. With that in mind, and as part of my intentions to really learn, I had decided to have a look at something along the lines of a 4-2DM-2-1-1 with the
wingbacks/fullbacks providing the width and play focussed through the middle.
Shape-wise, therefore, here’s the formations that I initially set us
up to train in. Don’t pay too much attention to the roles at this stage, that’s
just my ‘first draft’ which I’ll expand upon later.
So bearing in mind the things I’ve mentioned in previous
posts, and the squad at my disposal, how do I want to play out games with each
shape? In my next post I’ll look at each of these three in detail, and set out
how I think (hope?!) they will play...
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