Starting Over. Karlsruhe, Baby!

(WARNING: PICTURE-HEAVY POST)

Following the loss of my RC Strasbourg save the consensus, albeit narrow, seemed to be to start a new save; thanks everyone for your input. 

So, without further ado I’m off to Germany, with a team picked on the basis of:

1. Decent facilities 
2. The fact that a mate of mine moved out to live there about a year ago.

Welcome to Karlsruhe SC

The first thing to do was have a bit of a clear-out of lesser lights, mainly to free up some room in our wage budgets. Seven players released on mutual terminations, along with a couple of surplus coaching staff, and I freed up around 12% of our salary pot. With adjusted bonuses I also added £110k to the transfer fund, taking it to...            

...£110k

The next thing to do was to completely ignore the urges to go out and sign some of the same players I had at Strasbourg. There aren’t many that I would want to, but Coco and Patrick Bauer are both players I liked a lot – and the former is a free agent at the start of the game.

My intention was to persist with @JLAspey’s Silva Role experiment, and Coco is a great candidate for that – possibly better than the first choice from my squad...

Coco’s age and potential for development, along with his superior defensive game, allow scope to mould him into the Silva role; knowing how he came on at Strasbourg makes him a tempting prospect. As it is there are clubs sniffing around Krebs, so if anything comes of that then you never know.

Given the strength of our front line I’ll also be focussing on developing the pseudo 4-4-2 that we were playing at the end of my final Strasbourg season, as two strikers definitely feels like the way to go.

Krebs set to man-mark the DR

I know that the author of that thread (Jonathon Aspey a.k.a. @JLAspey on Twitter) was experiencing some issues with a deeper lying striker interfering with the AP, so the first task of our pre-season is to see how that impacted our side and what we needed to do about it. I was less concerned about making the AP the absolute fulcrum of our game, as we lacked someone of world-class ability like Silva, but I definitely wanted his contribution to be telling otherwise I might as well just employ a winger or inside forward.

So after a decent pre-season against mixed opposition (P7 W4 D2 L1), and some minor tweaking of the backroom staff, we kicked off at home to Dresden; with our predicted finish of 13^th matched up against their 14^th I was hopeful of a decent debut.

Dresden’s shape immediately had me rethinking, Jonathon had commented on how he found the AMCL slot less than ideal when faced with a pair of defensive midfielders so, to begin with, Krebs was pushed across to the AMC spot; the Player Instruction to mark the opposing DR was retained, and I was keen to see how well he stuck to the task.

Early signs were good in terms of attacking shape, with Krebs sticking to the central role and finding space between the two deep midfielders...

 ...and again here, before laying the ball off to the supporting striker.

Meanwhile, when we were on the defensive, he was quick to track over to cover his man (below). On this occasion it was perhaps a little redundant, as the fullback remained deep for a while. 

In the second half (below), with a proper overlap being sought, Krebs was ready to track all the way back to stay with his designated man. Along with our defensively minded MC, and wingback, that gave us the numbers advantage out wide. Our central pairing, and right fullback, can be seen picking their men up well, although I’m always nervous of even numbers in those areas; I guess it’s part of the checks and balances game, we can’t outnumber them everywhere and all of the time.

So overall the combination of Position, Role and Instructions clearly led to our playmaker doing the basics right but what about the detail?

Clearly he was getting into the central areas that I was looking for, and his distribution was nicely varied (although I’d like to see less lateral passes). It felt like I’d got something to build on here, although it would take a while to decide whether he’s the right player for the job. 

Elsewhere our central defensive pairing were solid and rated well (7.2 each, along with our right fullback), whilst the biggest impact came from Rouwen Hennings whose relative pace – with everyone tiring – saw him score with his first touch after coming on from the bench.

Pace may prove to be an important factor up front, as Krebs laid on a few nice through-balls that needed someone quicker than our ‘lumbering’ target man to run onto. Given that most of these came in the left channel it may be simply a case of switching our striker roles (initially set as TM-S on the left, and AF-A on the right). 

I never really noticed an issue with either striker 'interfering' with space that Krebs was looking to operate in, and for the most part they took up good positions to potentially receive balls from him; similarly to early signs with Coco at Strasbourg, I tended to see Krebs lay the ball on for the deeper striker to then supply a chance for his partner.  

If anything it was our Box-to-Box man who intruded into the Playmaker's territory, but that's perfectly understandable given his role. 

Still, first game down, a tidy 1-0 win, and plenty of positives...

Those positives quickly evaporated though, and whilst Krebs continued to, at the very least, show the range of movement that I was trying to achieve things weren’t going well in the bigger picture.

WALK BEFORE YOU RUN

Now I could look at factors like a lack of fitness; our pre-season campaign didn’t do the usual job of getting everyone sharp, probably in part due to our poor coaching roster. I could also cite the lack of tactical familiarity, which will only come with time.

There’s a more obvious issue though, and I’m sure most of you will already be aware of it and laughing at me (if you’re not then here’s one of the most basic bits of advice you’ll ever get).

All together now, after three, 1... 2... 3...   

“Look at your squad, and play to their strengths!”

You see, what I did was take the tactics I’d created for Strasbourg in Ligue 1, load them into this game, and start plugging players into them. Whilst that’s not a guarantee of failure, it’s just about as near as you’ll get. In the long term it’s certainly possible to adopt an approach of fitting players to the tactic, but not right off the bat.

SQUAD REVIEW

One thing I’m sure of is that I really want to try and play with two strikers, and these two are listed as Key Players on the Karlsruhe squad that I’ve started out with. Looking at Koen ‘Conan’ van der Biezen I’m thinking that, although he rates well in several roles, I really need to be playing with him as a proper target man – so much so, in fact, that I’m actually considering relaxing my approach on minimising crosses into the box.

The question is whether to employ him in a support role or attacking, and given his lack of mobility and dribbling my gut reaction is to lean towards the latter - stick him right up front and pump balls at him. Actually a support role is probably the better though, setting him to Support should allow Micanski, or whoever else I play off him, to act as a Poacher (or Advanced Forward, perhaps) capitalising on Conan’s flick-ons. As a Plan B, with the big man employed as a TM-A, I can look at having either a deeper lying forward (something Micanski is rated slightly lower for) trying to create more space for him by drawing away defenders. 

The 'best of the rest' up front. 

That having been ‘decided’ I’ll revert to my usual method of building from the back. We have three decent Keeper options, the youngest of which needs a fair bit of work. Given that this season is likely to be largely about settling in, and developing a consistent squad, he’s less likely to see action – especially as we’re already out of one Cup; I’ll be looking to loan him out, with a recall clause in case of emergencies.

At 6’6” tall, and with heaps of experience, big Dirk Orlishausen will get the nod as our first choice, whilst Rene Vollath will see development time in games where the opposition look to be less focussed towards high crosses into the box.  

Defence looks to be our weakest area, mainly down to a lack of pace (a familiar story from Strasbourg). What we do have though, is the aerial ability of a pair of 6’4” bruisers...

I don’t see a viable Stopper, although if I was going to consider one then it would probably be Mauersberger (I already ‘see’ that as Mausberger whenever his name comes up in commentary). In accordance with my usual approach we’ll play two basic Central Defenders on defend duty, and given the lack of pace I need to be careful with employing a higher defensive line – through balls to fast strikers would land us in a world of pain unless I looked at employing a Sweeper, something I’ve never yet done in CM/FM, and something we lack the personnel for.

I have two other central specialists available in the first team, although one is approaching 31 and doesn’t look to have the game any longer - given the opportunity I'll look to offload him and keep my fingers crossed that we can get through to winter with just the one dedicated backup option. 

Out wide is where our real lack of strength shows. Philipp Klingmann is our only right-sided option, and whilst he looks good for supporting play his Anticipation is a concern at the back – I’ve noticed a tendency for wide players, particularly in a 4-2-3-1, to cut inside and leave my fullbacks trailing. It’s an area that I need some depth in.

On the left we’re currently reliant on loanee Vitzthum, who has bags of potential but needs to develop it. I suspect his loan deal may be connected to Kempe’s long term injury (a second hamstring pull inside 7 months). I like the look of Kempe, and once he’s recovered he’ll be a better option when we want a more defensive man out wide.

On the bright side both Klingmann and Vitzthum look to have the game to get forward some, and put in crosses (from deep) for Conan.

We do have one more option at the back, who can cover both flanks in a pinch, but he’s more suited to a defensive midfield position.  With his ability to cover those flanks he feels like he’d be the good choice to cover if we employ a full-on attacking wingback – placing him at either DMCR or DMCL with instructions to man mark the opposition’s winger. I’m not suggesting that as a game plan, but it’s a good option.

The difficulty for him will be the fact that central midfield, either in the defensive or central strata, has a number of good options.

A good established midfield man, one well on the way, and two youngsters with bags of potential. I’m seeing Peitz as our midfield enforcer, lacking somewhat in the creative side of the game but able to assert his presence in the middle of the park. Yabo is the slightly better option for a passing game, but is likely to be quite static as well – he has the physical attributes to get up and down the pitch, but I’m not sure that he’d necessarily contribute a great deal when he gets there. I could look to develop him on that front, but I’m thinking that a Deep Lying Playmaker role may well be his forte.

Playing Yabo that way could allow a more ‘aggressive’ role for Peitz, as a ball winner, although I’m tempted to play him more as a ‘vanilla’ CM-D/S.

Varnhagen and Mende look eminently mouldable, and in the case of the former there looks to be the making of a fine playmaker there. With two strikers up front, and attacking wide midfielders, I’m less concerned with a box-to-box type player, so Varnhagen or Yabo could be the ideal choice to distribute balls for that ‘front four’ – if I take Varnhagen more down the Advanced Playmaker route then I’ll have some nice variety there.

Mende, with so much room to grow his game, I see as someone I can make into exactly what I want. Whilst I’ve said that I’m less inclined to play a Box-to-Box guy, that’s exactly what I’m going to try and turn him into – again giving me masses of options in the middle of the park. In the short term Mende will probably go out on loan to start to get regular play. 

Attacking midfield is the area where we’re probably best served in terms of depth, and that makes me happy as it gives me options galore.

First up is this guy, who I see being my new version of Strasbourg’s Bilal Laoudihi

The ability to deploy him on either flank, and in different roles, will make him a key man for us. It’s looking like I’m sailing dangerously close to a Direct 4-4-2 game (not in my usual comfort zone), and as an orthodox left winger he’d fit right in, alternatively I can use him as an Inside Forward on the right to add to the threat of two strikers in the box.

Gaetan Krebs you’ve already met (see above) and again he’s versatile enough to cover both flanks. The pair of them can cover the MR/ML positions if we play a flat midfield four, or can push on to more attacking wing play.

In terms of backup I have these guys

Granted Dulleck looks a more natural striker, but he and Torres are actually our only right footed options from these seven players so he’s more likely to see wing play. More interestingly, as I sat thinking about tactical variations, I realised that the range of attacking midfielders gives me the ability to create three nice options with ‘minimal’ change.

If we start with a basic 4-4-2, as I’m leaning towards, with a solid ‘defensive’ central midfield and advanced wingers, then we can drop one striker and bring in someone in the hole for a 4-2-3-1. Drop the other striker and, if I feel adventurous enough (I’m certainly intrigued enough), I think I have the makings of a good strikerless formation.

So that’s the meat of our first team squad, albeit that I’ve not pictured everyone. How am I going to set about deploying them then?

ASSIGNING ROLES

For now though, with a run of three defeats to turn around, I’m keeping it simple. I spent a while reading through llama3’s excellent Pairs& Combinations series over at SI Games. The main thing I liked here was the process by which llama3 ‘built’ his formation for Arsenal.

Albeit in less detail, here’s my attempt at the same approach. As usual, feel free to pick holes in my thinking.

I’ve already suggested that pace is an issue, so I’m keeping it simple, a basic Goalkeeper – Defend, sitting behind two Central Defenders on the same Defend duty.

Of my two wide defenders Klingmann, on the right, is the slightly better option going forward. On that basis I’ll set him up as a Wingback-Attack, with Vitzthum as a Fullback-Support on the left. That suits my options for wide midfielders, which I’ll get back to in a moment.

In the centre of midfield I’m looking to keep things somewhat compact and defensive, for the time being at least, so for now I’ll go with a basic Central Midfielder on Defend – on the right side to cover Klingmann’s runs; as mentioned in the squad review, it could be that Schwertfeger would be a good option here, although I'll stick with experience initially. Alongside that I'll operate a Deep Lying Playmaker (Support) in the left central slot, potentially switching to AP-S as circumstances allow/dictate. 

On the right of midfield, with Klingmann looking to make overlapping runs, I’m happy for my attacking option to be more inclined to sit narrower – and with Alibaz playing as a left-footed Inside Forward that’s ideal. In the longer term it might actually be that I could look at employing the Turk in the shelved ‘Silva’ role, but again I’m keeping it simple for now.

On the left Krebs will play as an orthodox winger. The great thing about our depth of options here is that I can easily shift Alibaz over and bring in either Torres or Dulleck for two wingers – equally I can go with paired Inside Forwards if I do consider a 4-2-3-1.

Up front I’ll go with ‘Conan’ as the target man in the right-side striker position – it feels like he wants to be on the back post for crosses from the left, but I’ll monitor that. Micanski will play as Poacher.

So here’s my first-choice squad and formation.

Team Instructions:

• Play Out of Defence : Because I always do.
• More Direct Passing : Because spending ages on the ball making little lateral passes isn’t going to help us hit our Target Man.
• Higher Tempo : Again we want to get forward quickly, and get balls into the box.
• Allow Wide Players to Switch : We have the talent to do so, especially with the starting pair, and anything that keeps the opposition guessing is fine by me.

I’m also considering playing with a deeper defensive line, primarily to assist my slow central pairing again, but also to try and draw the opposition out an create space for my front ranks to run into.

I’ve not done a lot in the way of Player Instructions yet. My Keeper is set to distribute to defenders, and the wide guys have been asked to aim crosses to the Target Man. My CM-D is set to close down less, as I’m keen for him to hold his shape and not go diving in (it’s likely that my choice here will be Peitz, an aggressive BWM type). Other than that I’ll play it by ear for a few games and tweak as we go.

EARLY IMPRESSIONS

Bochum 2 – Karlsruhe 0

Defeat despite creating the better chances, one goal was a defensive error on our part, one a scorcher from 20- yards off the underside of the bar. Lost Micanski for 6-8 weeks.

Average positions is concerning in terms of the two ‘wide’ men, although Alibaz (#6) did put in a lot of good crosses from out wide. Obviously it i only an 'average' but I'd still like to see them sitting wider, so that's something to monitor. 

On the plus side ‘Conan’ van der Biezen definitely looks to be an effective target man and hold up player (surprise surprise)

Karlsruhe 2 – Düsseldorf 0

Düsseldorf reduced to nine men although we were already one up by then, following a goalmouth scramble from a corner. Rode our luck a little at the back, but the goals are the most important stat. Nice near-post cross from Klingmann to set up Alibaz for the second.

Conan doing the business again, although not many of his headers won in the box are resulting in knock-downs for his partner.  Lost Yabo for a week and Krebs for up to a month.

Cottbus 3 – Karlsruhe 4

An exercise in patience, persistence, and faith in the system. 2-1 down despite leading through an early penalty. Wide men up front are still coming into central positions a lot, so I may look at Player Instructions to get them to stay wide more.

Hennings is showing some great signs, making darting runs and getting on the end of balls ‘turned around’ the fullback by Alibaz up the left flank.

St Pauli 1 – Karlsruhe 2

Deeper defensive line employed for the first time, and whilst it's too early to fully assess the impact there was a lack of CCCs for the home side. Persistence pays off with a 91^st minute winner – cross from the left headed in by Conan.

Deadline day saw a couple more players depart, loosening to purse strings a little, but the only real action was a couple of bids for Krebs which were quickly rejected – as was his agent’s subsequent demands for a new contract (everyone is going to have to wait until at least the winter break before I consider contract deals). 

For now all my focus is on getting through the next three months in decent shape, and maybe put ourselves in a position to push for the 3rd place playoff spot. The Board will be happy with mid-table, and after our early blip I feared that even that might be ambitious, but having now hit 8th place I'm aiming higher!

As usual, feel free to feed back on anything you like, my tactical outlook (or lack of), the squad, the look of the blog. If there's anything at all you think I could be doing better, don't keep it you yourself. 

Cheers!