Adapting and Diverseness

[forget]

All failure is failure to adapt

The quote above fits perfectly football. How many times have you watched your team being countered or bullied and done nothing? I know that that has happened to me countless times. I used to wait to see if the storm passed or just ignored the counter attacking, but most of the times I would end up suffering a goal and only then change strategy. So my first rule is: Don't wait to change (adapt). The moment you see something that's not too your like, act upon it immediately.

The best way to adapt is by having diverseness.

Definition of diverse: composed of distinct or unlike elements or qualities.

The importance of diverseness in winning matches is immense when one becomes familiarized on when and how to use different elements or qualities. How does one become familiarized? By experience and questioning the reasons of certain outcomes. There are two main origins of distinct elements or qualities when we talk about football matches, they are: players and tactics/formations. I'm going to talk on how I use the these two origins based on my Everton save.

Players:

First of all this is my main formation:

So as you can see the player that appears most vulnerable is my defensive midfielder. Normally he is the player who I pay the most attention to. But don't fool yourself, all 11 players are of extreme importance. So lets see who are my possible candidates to defensive midfielder:

Fellaini is clearly the best man for the position. But that my not be true! It all Depends on who are the opposition, what players/tactics/formations are they using or at what type of tempo the match is being played. One of the reasons for players under performing is not being 'comfortable'. There are many ways of a player becoming uncomfortable but it is your responsibility as a manager to adapt your team, so that your players weaknesses aren't exposed. The difference between a team completely dictating the pace/tempo of the game can be a simple switch of position (and a adjustment of roles). If we compare my two main options for defensive midfielder, we can see Fellaini is a better player all round, except at speed. But this except shouldn't be ignored, its of extreme importance as we shall see.

In previous saves I seem always to struggle with the Swansea fixture

Dyer and Sinclair always seemed to run my defence rag. Even if I played with a low defence line my team never managed to control the game or feel comfortable. So for my new save I was determined not to lose this fixture, so I started Drenthe ahead of Baines at left back. Drenthe is much faster then Baines, so at least Dyer should not give me a problem. But once the game started Swansea were once again in control of the game. My defence was being pinned back and Fellaini did not seam to be doing nothing. After the first 15mins I swapped Fellaini with Rodwell, from that moment on Everton were the team that were in control. Why? Rodwell and Drenthes speed combined allowed my team to attack, be more expansive and track back in case Swansea launched a quick counter attack.Second rule: Just because a player is more indicated/familiarized at a position then another, that doesn't mean he should always play in that position. But I was only capable of adapting because I had diverseness!

Third rule: Try to have players with different elements or qualities for each position, It well allow you to adapt.

Fourth rule: Retain your player in different positions because It allows you to adapt

[forget]

reserved .

[ZdlR]

I agree with this 100%. It is especially important when you are a team like Everton or, in my case, Newcastle, that you can adapt to the various different situations and scenarios that the game puts in front of you. Perhaps if you're a top-4 team, you can go into most games - especially home games - expecting to win and set up to do exactly that. Even as relegation candidates, you could generally go into each game with a defensive or counter-attacking tactic. For mid-table teams that could realistically finish anywhere from 5th to 15th, depending on form, etc., it is of paramount importance to be able to adapt the players at your disposal to the situation at hand.

[Cleon]

I agree with this 100%. It is especially important when you are a team like Everton or, in my case, Newcastle, that you can adapt to the various different situations and scenarios that the game puts in front of you. Perhaps if you're a top-4 team, you can go into most games - especially home games - expecting to win and set up to do exactly that. Even as relegation candidates, you could generally go into each game with a defensive or counter-attacking tactic. For mid-table teams that could realistically finish anywhere from 5th to 15th, depending on form, etc., it is of paramount importance to be able to adapt the players at your disposal to the situation at hand.

It doesn't matter who you are or what the team expecations are, if you don't react to live events then you'll not be getting the best out of the game. Regardless of who you are or how good your squad is.

This is a very good thread btw, nice work