FM16: a look into Paulo Sousa's Fiorentina tactical setup

Fiorentina has been revived by Sousa’s tactical reshuffle.

Sources:

• https://runningtheshowblog.wordpress.com/2015/11/12/analysing-paulo-sousas-innovative-fiorentina-tactics/
  
• http://tacticalcalcio.com/2015/10/03/analysis-internazionale-1-4-fiorentina/
  
• http://outsideoftheboot.com/2015/09/30/tactical-analysis-inter-1-4-fiorentina-constant-tinkering-from-mancini-fails-to-help-nerazzuri/
  
• http://www.italianfootballdaily.com/3-things-we-learned-from-fiorentinas-win-vs-genoa/
  

The start of the 2015/16 has had many good surprises in terms of new managers bringing a breeze of fresh air to their clubs. Such are the cases of Marcelino Garcia in Villarreal, Eduardo Berizzo in Celta de Vigo, and Paulo Sousa in Fiorentina. The latter was deemed the big task of continuing former boss and fan-favourite Vincenzo Montella's work in the club, battling for european spots and cup success, whilst still managing a squad that lost some of its key players from the previous season (Mohamed Salah, David Pizarro, Alberto Aquilani, Stefan Savic, Joaquín, Neto, Mario Gómez, and Juan Vargas).

Having managerial experience in Hungary, England and Switzerland, Paulo Sousa took his diverse expertise and made his way to Italy; and the start to his Serie A career couldn’t have gone better. Fiorentina came into September on the back of one win and one loss, with no real indication that they could be worrying the bigger clubs in the league. But one month later and the Italian media are singing praises of Viola, further impressed with boss after the somewhat surprising dismissal of Vincenzo Montella in the summer.

Paulo Sousa joined Fiorentina in the June, hoping to build on three successive fourth place finishes. Three months into the season and it’s looking encouraging for Fiorentina, who lead Serie A ahead of Inter. In front of fanatic supporters at the Artemio Franchi, Sousa’s team has consistently impressed in a series of strong performances. Here we take a look at the innovative and exciting tactics the Portuguese has implemented in Florence so far.

But what has Sousa done to exceed everyone's expectations so far?

Tactical modifications and an arm around the shoulder have been the main ingredients of the new Viola coach’s success so far this season.

He did some experiments during pre-season during the International Champions Cup, but even at that stage it was clear the team was being built on very solid principles, with ball possession being a key factor in the manager's tactics. Even in some matches in the Serie A, Sousa has tried different formations but after 12 matches he has appeared to settle on a 3-4-2-1, although this setup is very flexible, especially in Europa League matches where there is more squad rotation we can see some tweaks.

How can we try to translate Sousa's vision into FM? Obviously the more feedback we have in this thread, the better. There's no clear answer to this but I'll post my interpretation of his system and how we can represent it in the game the best way. I'm going to study his preferred 3-4-2-1 setup as it has been the most used tactic so far, and it has also produced the best results such as the fantastic 1-4 at Inter's.

Formation

We can start by defining a shape - without a shape we can't choose roles and duties. The formation we choose can improve or worsen the style of play we want to use. Since we are trying to replicate a real life tactic we'll have to manage this balance.

The basic shape of the tactic is a 3-4-2-1. The big question for me is where to put the "2"? Are the attacking midfielders Valero and Ilicic positioned in the AM strata, or in the CM strata? Or are they inside forwards as one of the mentioned articles categorizes them?

In my opinion, and since the shape is how the team defends, I'll place them in the CM strata. Fiorentina defend with a high line and strong pressure, but this job can still be done with this setup, whereas if I were to put two DMs and two AMs I'm not sure how big of a gap we would have in the midfield, and that does not seem to happen to the team when they are defending.

Some articles suggest that the defensive shape for the team resembles more a 4-4-1-1, with Valero dropping alongside the two DMs, and RWB on the other side. In the back four we'd have the LWB and the three CB. However, I think setting the team like this would make it very difficult to translate into a 3-4-2-1 in FM, when attacking. It's in part due to this chameleon-like positioning that Fiorentina have been so interesting to watch. Even in the simple things like starting an attack we see a mobility from the defensive players that is very unusual, and this confuses the opposition.

Also, when we choose the players for this formation we'll see that the likes of Vecino, Blaszczykowski, and Ilicic are not very well adapted to these positions, but bear in mind that this was the case before Sousa took charge.

Style

Next, let's identify how do we want the team to play. In accordance to those instructions, then we'll choose the roles that fit each player best.

They press collectively and defend as a unit. When going forward they average the second most possession in Europe and both create a lot of chances as well as scoring lots of goals.

I'll use a Counter mentality to reflect the patient, possession style. This does not mean we are playing defensively. This means we want to keep the ball and not force the ball up front until we see a good chance to do so.

For team instructions, I'll set: Retain Possession, Push Higher Up, and Close Down More. For now I don't think there is the need to add more instructions because these are the foundations to Sousa's style. Also, some instructions come naturally with the shape, e.g. Play Narrower is something that will naturally happen as 9 of the 11 players occupy central areas.

Roles

Now we choose what roles fit our team best. It's important to keep in mind that:

• the roles should reflect the style we want to implement;
  
• roles should complement each other;
  
• it's more important to have roles that work as a whole than to have roles specifically chosen to fit one player.
  

As stated earlier, some players do not fit in this formation very well. The worst case is Matías Vecino who is used as one of the two pivots alongside Milan Badelj, but in FM16 he is completely ineffectual as a DM so the best option is to train him for the position before selecting him regularly.

Don't fall into the temptation of adaptig the shape. Remember: we are emulating a real life tactic.

Why did I choose these roles and duties?

GK/d: standard goalkeeper;

BPD/d x2: the wide CBs tend to advance with the ball and sometimes they try to get the ball directly to more advanced players if they have the space;

CD/d: the CB in the middle always stays back and his main passing options are his CB partners and the the two DMs;

CWB/a/s: our only wide players, they have roles that allow them to go forward as midfielders. The attack/support duties are to complement the nearby midfielders;

DM/d: this player has less freedom than his partner so I'll assign a more generic role;

DLP/s: this is our first source of creativeness, he is the main man to get the ball from the back and dictate the game;

AP/s: this player is the main creative force of the team and is expected to control the majority of our attacks in the opposition half. I give him a support duty because I want him to always look for the ball to dictate;

CM/a: here we have a player that is expected to attack the box often, shoot from near the box, and do all sort of incursions in the space that the striker is leaving to him;

AF/a: our lone striker has the mission of pressing the defense and helping his incoming teammates. I want him to always look for goal scoring areas but to also be mobile, hence the chosen role.

Team shape

This is a concept I tend to use strictly in FM terms. For me, it's the above options that really define how the team will play. So, using the always helpful twelve step guide, I'll go for a Rigid setup. This option can be misleading in my opinion, as the playmakers will still have creative freedom and other roles such as the complete wing backs and the advanced forward are roles which are inherent to some creative freedom, so we won't be a block of 11 mechanized machines.

Now we just have to see if any of this works

I don't know about that. Kalinic is on an island there. And a Ridgid shape doesn't really help that. I'd rather move the midfielders up a notch and then at least you get a more "stable" shape.

I'd even change Kalinic role to CF (s) and make Illic a SS for better linkup play.

I don't know about that. Kalinic is on an island there. And a Ridgid shape doesn't really help that. I'd rather move the midfielders up a notch and then at least you get a more "stable" shape.

I'd even change Kalinic role to CF (s) and make Illic a SS for better linkup play.

was the first thing I noticed too but rather than change the shape I would just change the role to a defensive forward or attacking deep lying playmaker. The advanced forward won't link with the midfield but other roles can link with the attacking central midfielder and advanced playmaker