Torino FC ~ The Rise of Il Toro

Torino FC ~ The Rise of Il Toro

Football fanatics, administrators and members of the footballing media, it gives me great honour to share with you my Torino FC story. I intend to take this once famous club from Turin back to the peak of Italy and the upper echelons of European football. Who better a man in charge - I present international football legend Luis Figo.

Without further adeu/adoo/adu ... you know what I mean!!

Snapshot History of Torino FC.





Club Details (That third kit though...PHWOARRRRRR)



The Manager - Luis Figo





The Torino squad itself on an overall scale is quite decent. A good mix of young talent, experience and some nice core players to build a future around. An exciting challenge indeed.

The Squad



As you can see, we have a good mix of solid core players such as Quagliarella & Glik; exciting young talent such as Baselli, Benassi, Zappacosta, Maksimovic & Belotti and some nice experience as well - the likes of Vives, Moretti and Maxi Lopez. All bodes well for very exciting challenge.

The natural setup with this squad of players had to be 5-3-2 with wingbacks. Didn't it? That was until Luis Figo took over. I've never been a fan of 3 at the back (unless it's late in the game and you're hanging on and want to sacrifice an attacker for an extra defender to overload the defensive third). My favourite tactical setup and the one I believe offers the best balance if used wisely is the good old boring 4-4-2. I've long been an admirer of Diego Simeone and he is the master of this tactic. His team setup at Atletico is outstanding and the results of the past few years have shown that. He broke up the dominance of Spanish football (Real/Barca) in 13/14 by winning La Liga against all odds with a much lesser squad than the big guns. He also took Atleti within 1 minute of winning the Champions League.

For those unfamiliar with the football legend and his tactics, this is a quick run down:

Diego Simeone Tactics

~ 4-4-2

~ Team is built around a solid base. Compact. Tight. Together. A solid, narrow block of 8 moving as one across the pitch with the two strikers acting as funnling defenders and splitting the opposition CB's

~ Simeone uses funnel pressing, a very effective tactic to win the ball back and use the sidelines as an extra defender. He instructs his team when in defence to sit a little deeper. Very tight and narrow. This forces the opposition into wide areas, at which point the team moves as one across to that side and the closest fullback and wide midfielder press hard on the ball carrier. The closest striker comes across and cuts off passing lanes inside to defenders and retreating midfielders.

~ It is vital that when two or three players move across to press, the inside teammates move with them and likewise the players outside them. No holes must be left inside.

~ TEAM APPROACH. Without you I am nothing. Simeone instills this into his players. Drills it into them. Accountability. Be accountable for every action you make.

~ Once ball is won, the transition is endlessly important. The narrow block transforms into pure width.

~ The transitional phase is vital. It MUST be lightning fast. The ball must be moved intelligently from back to front as quickly as possible to take advantage of a retreating defence dragged out of position.

~ RM & LM (wide midfielders) sprint wide on counter-attacks immediately once ball is won to open up the pitch. Once transitional phase has died down, they move inside and act as playmakers, showing feet in between the opposition line of midfield and defence. This allows space out wide for fullbacks to run into, offering an overlap.

~ CM's offer great balance together. One is a little more defensively minded than his partner. He sits deeper and doesn't go forward much at all unless there is a real opportunity. His partner is a little more supportive in possession. Whilst his main priority is defending and hassling his opposition, he isn't afraid to push forward when required to support attackers and pop up with the occasional goal.

~ Strikers are generally well balanced. Both will move about the pitch, drop into channels, drop deep, run off the shoulder of the last man. A mixture of power, energy and technique.



Replicating Simeone's tactic has had me excited for weeks. With a little tinkering, I believe I've done just about that.

Tactics





I will explain my midfield and strikers. The defence is very self explanatory.

LM/RM - Wide Playmaker (Attack): They will act like attacking midfielders. They'll start wide on the counter, and generally move inside when in possession allowing the fullbacks to overlap. Having two strikers who stay relatively high up the pitch allows me to use both of my wide midfielders in this way. It won't get overcrowded in that space in the hole.

CM - Central Midfielder (Defend): This guy is my rock. He will sit a little deeper and break up play. He will never venture too far forward and his first priority is defence. A must have in my opinion, especially with overlapping fullbacks.

CM - Central Midfielder (Support): It's important when using a two man midfield that you do not overcommit either of your CM duo. Setting this guy to support might seem conservative, but you'll reap the rewards in the long run. He will still get forward at times to support his attackers and score the odd goal, however always get back deep enough to break up play and help out his partner.

ST - Complete Forward (Support): Such a great role to have in any side. This guy does it all. Score. Create. Move into channels. Drop deep. Run off the defenders. He's vital.

ST - Advanced Forward (Attack): Self explanatory. He will look to make runs in behind. He will score goals. Your prime finisher must play here, so long as he's not 190cm and slow.

Team instructions are fairly obvious. I setup generally as a counter-attacking team unless I'm at home to poor opposition in which case I change to control. A good point to highlight is if you use wide playmakers who will move inside, you need to set the instruction "Look For Overlap" as you will see your fullbacks constantly in space as your wide midfielders drag defenders inside.

Finding wide playmakers has been a challenge for me at Torino. I've disabled the first transfer window as I always do to keep things realistic. In the meantime, I've trained Joel Obi and Prcic to act as Wide Playmakers. I'm also in the process of training young gun Davide Zappacosta. He's mainly a wide player so that's been a challenge.

I'm struggling with injuries in central midfield right now. I've had Farnerud, Vives, Acquah, Benassi, Obi & Baselli all out simultaneously leaving me well short in the guts. Luckily, Prcic and Gazzi have done a good job in the short term to cover.

So onto the results. I couldn't have wished for a better start. Including pre-season (relatively low standard of opposition I must say), I've gone 13 games unbeaten (9 wins, 4 losses). The highlight being my latest outing away at Fiorentina where I hit them on the counter with damaging effect and ran out 3-0 winners. Stunning.

Results





I couldn't be happier. The platform has been set!



Ride the wave that is Il Toro with me!! FORZA TORINO!!

So a great start to the season from Il Toro. But we must never rest on our laurels. A tricky period of fixtures loomed. Home to a Napoli side packed full of quality. Away at Lazio - ALWAYS a tough ask. Followed by a home fixture against tricky outfit Genoa. Potential banana skin. I went into this trio of matches hoping to stay undefeated. Realistically I knew it was going to be a very tough ask.

So onto Napoli (Home). Here's how the teams lined up.



WHAT A GAME it proved to be. A six goal thriller. Three times Torino fell behind. But the character of this Torino side shone through once again. We managed to dig out an equaliser three times, with loanee Sanjin Prcic scoring in the 92nd minute with a lovely effort to send the Torino Ultras into dreamland. It truly was a phenomenal game of football. One for the neutrals. Action packed. End to end. I had to make a couple of adjustments throughout. I ended up playing a lot wider to go around the narrow diamond and instructed my wide men to whip crosses in as much as possible.

Match Stats



Player Ratings



Match Report



So we managed to stay undefeated through the last kick of the game. Brilliant result against a top quality side. I encouraged the boys throughout and praised them passionately after full time.

Lazio (Away)

The next game was going to be even tougher. An away trip to Lazio. It was time to sit deep once again (as we did against Fiorentina) and play on the counter attack. I made three changes to freshen up things. Baselli was looking a little jaded so I brought young gun Benassi into central midfield to partner the reliable Gazzi. Joel Obi came into the side on the right in place of Zappacosta. Finally, Maxi Lopez had impressed when given a chance earlier in the season and had trained well all week so it was time for a recall. He didn't disappoint.

Line Ups



It was a game in which Lazio were probably the better side on the day and had more shots and possession. However, we managed to limit them to long range shots which mostly sprayed into the stands. Tight defensive setup worked a treat. We hit them on the counter and were more clinical in front of goal. Maxi Lopez was excellent in his recall and made a superb go-ahead assist to the goalscoring hero on the day Fabio Quagliarella who scored both in a 5 minute burst to turn a deficit into a lead. This team has immense character. I love it!!!

Match Report



So another excellent result. We were massive underdogs. We fell behind. Yet again, the boys rallied and managed to pull a win out from the fire. What a start to the season.

Next was the home potential banana skin with Genoa (Home).

Once again three changes were made. There was a recall for Davide Zappacosta who came back in for the injured Joel Obi. Molinaro came into left fullback to give us a bit more go forward in a game in which we could afford to take a few more risks, the more defensively reliable Moretti dropping out. Finally, the usually reliable Glik had had a few shaky moments in the past three games so was given a spell for the surprisingly skillful big man Cesare Bovo. Young Benassi who performed well at Lazio kept his spot in midfield over Baselli.

Line Ups



Despite conceding slightly more possession to Genoa, we were very damaging in possession. The lads knocked the ball around superbly well and there was a slight swagger to how we played. We dominated the territory and limited Genoa to long range efforts once more. In fact, it took 38 minutes for Genoa to register a single shot on goal. On the stroke of half time, the deserved break through arrived. In a rare footballing moment, the two centre backs combined - new man Cesare Bovo delivered a pin point free kick assist to the far post where his defensive partner, the very talented Maksimovic headed home confidently. It was a great moment and the home fans enjoyed it. After 60 minutes, we decided to switch from 'control' to 'counter'. We put men behind the ball, and brought young gun striker Belotti on to try and hit them on the break. That's exactly what happened. Belotti scored the match clinching goal in the 90th minute on a lightning fast counter to round off a great performance.

Match Report





So..what a fantastic start to the season. 16 games unbeaten including pre season. 11 Wins, 5 Draws. Six games unbeaten in Serie A to sit in third behind Milan and Juve. I couldn't be happier. The boys have responded to exactly what I've asked and have shown immense character to come back from losing positions to stay undefeated.

Results



FORZA TORINO!!!!!

The next outing saw a red hot Torino side travel to Verona to take on Chievo (Away).

Line Ups



We went into this game unchanged. I liked the way the team played at home to Genoa in the previous match, and I was looking to pick up where we'd left off. The plan here was to try and control the game against an average side and limit the impact of their star playmaker Valter Birsa. We chose to close him down and tackle hard to limit his time on the ball. It worked well as he barely had an impact on proceedings.

Things didn't start well. We continued our consistent form in conceding first - this time after just 22 seconds (basically from the kick off)!! This is the biggest area we need to improve on - our starts. However, as previously seen, the resilience of my Torino side is the absolute strong point and after just 20 mins we were in front. The equaliser came from red hot striker Fabio Quagliarella who netted his sixth goal of the season. Then, just five minutes later, recalled and in form striker Maxi Lopez hit home for his second game in succession. From there, the match itself was a bit of a slog fest. Sloppy for the most part and we seemed a little off our game. But, showing grit and determination not to lost hold of this one, the boys fought hard till the final whistle and held on for a gritty win to keep our incredible start to the season going.

Match Report





Next up, an intriguing battle loomed. A home league game against the Roberto Mancini coached Inter Milan (Home). Always a tough team, despite their struggles in recent years. This was going to be a real test and a good indication of where we were at. Was this early season hype over Torino warranted? Find out we would.

I decided to make just two changes to freshen things up once again. There were recalls for young talent Daniele Baselli and Polish international central defender and club captain Kamil Glik who came in for Marco Benassi and Cesare Bovo respectively.

Team Line Ups



At home, considering the run of form we were in, I decided to setup to try and control the match and press the opposition. Inter under Mancini are a team who like to keep possession and knock the ball around so I figured it was time to put them under some pressure. I also instructed my team to attack down the right hand flank as I spotted a potential weakness in D'Ambrossio and the sometimes lazy Ljajic. I knew that with the attacking pace and power of my right hand duo (Bruno Peres and Davide Zappacosta), I could really cause Inter some problems. I changed Zappacosta's role to pure winger - ensuring he stayed wide to help overload that right hand side. As we found out, this tactic worked an absolute treat!

Finally, we managed to score first in a match. Maxi Lopez netted in the 35th minute and rewarded me once again for the faith I had shown in him for a recall to the starting line up. Despite conceding the possession battle (as expected), we pressed Inter into submission and forced them into mistakes which we capitalised on through a Daniele Baselli goal in the 63rd minute. A great decision to recall him (he also got the assist for the Lopez opener). We were flying!! That was until Palacio pulled one back for Inter and ensured we had a fight on our hands.

I asked the lads to concentrate and take the game to Inter. They duly rewarded me by scoring and extending our lead - Maxi Lopez once again. This time from a Bruno Peres cross from the right hand side. Most of our attacks were going down that way and we were having great success in finding space out there. A great decision to focus our play down that side of the pitch. The Torino fans were bouncing. The football we were playing was electric. They had not seen their team play like this in years. On 90 minutes, their joy was transformed into delirium as a lightning fast Zappacosta was released down the right hand side (again) and netted to make it 4-1. Game over. Absolutely sensational.

What a performance. We'd taken the game to Inter, one of Italy's heavyweights, and were rewarded. I couldn't be prouder of the lads. They have taken my ideas and tactics on board in such quick time.

Match Report



So eight games unbeaten in Serie A. Eighteen overall (including pre season). Only a superb start to the season from both Milan and Juventus keeps us from taking top spot in Italy.





The chairman wants a mid table finish. We are dreaming much higher. Can we keep the run going? Eventually we know this run will end. However, we are fighting for our lives to ensure it doesn't.

FORZA TORINO!!!!!

SEASON SUMMARY:

What a fantastic season. Off the back of an incredible start where we went 13 games unbeaten in Serie A to start the season, I've managed to guide this club to 3rd in Serie A and qualify for the European Champions League. What an outstanding achievement. I couldn't be prouder of the lads.

Outstanding players were Baselli (who made team of the season), Maksimovic, Zappacosta, Bruno Peres, Quagliarella (despite a late season slump) and new signing Eder Balanta. I also managed to sign a couple of quality free agents in mercurial midfielder Yoann Gourcuff, wonderkid Andrija Zivkovic and young talented keeper from Barca Fabrice Ondoa.

In terms of tactics, I mostly stuck solid with the 4-4-2 Simeone as spoken about in the OP. However I had to change and mix it up at times and introduced a Klopp style 4-2-3-1 which had mixed results and also a 4-1-4-1 counter which worked well away from home and secured me Champions League football for next season on the final day against Palermo away.

The future is immensley bright for this wonderful football club. Next step in this adventure is to consolidate Champions League football. Following that, I hope to build a squad which can challenge runaway top dogs and eternal city rivals Juventus for top spot in Italian football. I have some superb young talent to build around (Belotti, Baselli, Benassi, Maksimovic and Zappacosta, Zivkovic) and am in a decent financial position.

Forza Torino. Onwards and upwards!!!!!