Nosebleed Time

Last time out I covered the new additions to our squad, and then raced excitedly into the new season. After the previous campaign, the big question was whether we'd make a better start this time.

The short answer: Yes!

For the longer answer, read on...




Playing with the '6-Diamond' counter tactic mentioned here, to help soak up the pressure from a compact 4-2-3-1, we recorded a good win at Mainz as Micanski made one and scored one in the opening 30 minutes. Mainz came back strong, but for all of their possession in midfield they couldn’t find the equaliser and points were on the board.

I know, from last season, that the tactic is effective – mainly from the results secured by my assistant on ‘Instant Result’ mode; I did have some success with it in full control, but it’s not one that I find too easy to play – I find the 4-3-2-1 much easier to ‘understand’ when I’m watching it, and it’s the one I enjoy more as well.

In the fullness of time I will work on the 6-Diamond further, probably alongside a more defensively minded one – I like the work that the likes of @JLAspey, Cleon and @MrEdsFM have been doing on that front (clicking their names will take you to their articles). For now though, my focus remains on our more ‘attacking’ formation. The original plan was for the 4-3-2-1 to be a stepping stone on the way to a 4-2-3-1 but I’m beginning to reconsider the need for that evolution now, particularly with the emergence of a key player at the heart of it.

MARCEL BÜCHEL – LYNCHPIN

I mentioned to @JLAspey on Twitter that there’d be an update coming on my tweaked version of his Central Winger concept, based on the performances of Marcel Büchel – our Austrian wizard. Whilst he’s at the centre of a lot of our positive play though, he’s not always the man who gets the goal or assist and for my money it’s the addition of quality around him – primarily Lansbury and Van Eenoo – that have seen him become a crucial part of our side.

We’ll gloss over his Cup performances, which is perhaps a little harsh but those two games were against significantly weaker opposition. His hat-trick against Brinkum no doubt helped his morale for the coming league campaign, but it’s the latter that has seen him impressing me more.

Sometimes what he does is really simple, like charging the length of the pitch to lead the line and get on the end of a cross and slot it home...

...but more often it’s less direct than that.

Here we’re 1-0 at home to Borussia Mönchengladbach, note how deep Büchel is sitting as Micanski (the lone striker, operating as a False 9) pulls wide to receive the fullback’s throw towards the corner.

Büchel begins his late run towards the box as Norwood [1] sets himself to receive Micanski’s cut-back cross. Note also the great run from Lukas van Eenoo [2], committing defenders.

Büchel continues his run whilst the two Inside Forwards (circled) and Micanski have all taken up threatening positions. This is what I mean about the increase in quality that we’ve built in attacking areas, whilst they’re well marked (it’s not been a quick break) we’re getting players into better positions.

Five men in and around the box means that the opposition have to be ready to respond to a number of different possibilities - the more options there are, the less certainty they can have about the next ball. Of course there's a balancing act, but with six defenders sat deep, I'm happy that my own back lines will be able to cover a counter-attack long enough to let others recover.

Büchel receives Norwood’s flick-on and hits a rocket, unfortunately clattering the ball right into a defender. The rebound comes to Norwood though (yellow line) and when Lansbury drops off his marker on the left corner of the six yard box we’ll go two up.

Two games later and we’re trailing Hoffenheim at home, in the second minute of stoppage time Büchel picks up the ball in our own half as we look to launch a counter. We’ll track the Austrian here, along with the attacking ‘line’ of Micanski (F9) and the two Inside Forwards (Van Eenoo and Mares).

Büchel knocks the ball forward to Micanski whilst the Inside Forwards continue to advance. You can also see the rest of the team driving forward to support in numbers (given the situation we were likely playing an Attacking mentality at this point). At this point the left flank looks like an obvious outlet to me...

...and sure enough Micanski sprays a ball out to Mares on the left, while the whole attacking unit advances. Mares will let Hasek (DL) provide the width whilst Büchel is now right up with the attack.

Büchel makes his move, pushing ahead of Micanski and taking up the most advanced position in our line. The ball comes back to Varnhagen (DLP-S) who’ll push it square across the midfield, N’Diaye will waiy for Büchel to come deep once more to receive it in an onside position.

Now it’s just a question of a simple one-two with Micanski and a powerful shot to beat the Keeper at his near post and secure a late point.

...and here’s the entire move...

I could fill another couple of pages with these build-up screens, but I suspect that would be overkill, instead I’ll just post video clips for another couple of examples. The first goal actually gets credited to Lansbury, but I’m not convinced that the defender doesn’t get a head to it under pressure from Büchel who is once again leading our attacking line. For the second the Austrian makes a run into the left channel and puts the ball on a plate for Micanski to put us 2-0 in front.

Now the one thing that is probably noticeable here is that most of Büchel’s threat is coming from getting on the end of passes – rather than making the sort of dribbling run that @JLAspey was looking to develop. I acknowledge this, and realistically it’s down to Büchel’s attributes. He’s not a bad dribbler of the ball, but he certainly isn’t of a level to be doing a Ronaldo or Bale at this level; whilst he keeps producing performances like this though, I’m not about to argue. It’s also worth noting that Büchel sits bottom of our team stats in terms of shots on target (approx 30%) so work’s needed there if he’s to continue in the role.

What would be interesting would be to stick Lansbury into the Central Winger position, with his Dribbling of 15 (Büchel 12), Pace of 15 (13) and Acceleration of 14 he might be a better candidate for the role in the longer term. Lansbury averages 2.57 dribbles per game, playing out wide, compared to Büchel’s 0.89. Those stats appear to support the argument and it’s certainly something I’ll look to try out at some point, but it’s a case of judging the best time to change things around – maybe our next Cup game.

TEAM PERFORMANCE

So that’s Büchel’s role in things but, with the newly strengthened midfield options, how is the tactic performing at the team level? Here are our results for the season so far, with the exception of the Mainz and BVB Dortmund games I’ve employed the 4-3-2-1 in all matches, although I have been switching from Standard to Counter Mentality for some games right from the kick-off.

Obviously we’re not yet half way through the season, and we still have to face Bayern (already six points clear at the top), but I don’t think that anyone could argue that a return of 21 points from 13 games is anything but a huge success for us; our predicted finish is 16th, with odds of 2000-1 for the title.

What’s particularly pleasing for me is that fact that we’ve not yet failed to score in a game. For all of the emphasis that people put on not conceding, which I completely understand, if we consistently provide a threat up front then we’re always in with a chance of taking something away from the game. As mentioned earlier, I may look at developing something that places the emphasis more on clean sheets, but for now it's one thing at a time.

Expanding on that fact, it’s good to see goals coming from all over. Whilst employed in more of  a provider role, Micanski has added 7 goals to his 6 assists in the league. Lansbury and Van Eenoo have both settled in well – although the latter is a little light in the goals department – and other names have also popped up on the scoresheet.

I’m particularly pleased to see Mares in the mix, and his countryman Hasek has been putting in some decent performances at fullback too. The pair have both made their international debuts for the senior Czech Republic side, with Mares already notching a goal in a friendly win over New Zealand.

As we prepare to face Leverkusen at home, we sit 5th in the table and 13 points clear of the relegation play-off spot. Clearly it’s too early to be thinking that we’ve achieved our goals for the season, but I have every reason to be optimistic – particularly if we can maybe add a player or two in the winter transfer window. There’s also the small question of the club elections looming, but I’d hope that our progress would see me safe on that front.



For now I’ll leave things there, and head off to play that Leverkusen game. If you have anything to say, or want to see any other detail around a given player/match/tactic then please drop a note in the Comments, or hit me up on Twitter @flipsix3_FM

Until then, happy gaming and enjoy the World Cup.