ollie laaaaaaaad Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Overview: So this is my FM13 Journeyman save that i'd love to share with the SI Community. I do one every year and am a keen follower of particularly AK, Cerud & DazRTaylor. It's a career about a character that uses my own name, I have some high goals but with the difficulty (and randomness) of this years game i'm sure it'll be very tough. Leagues Loaded: England - Blue Square N/S France - Ligue 2 Germany - Second Division Holland - Eredvisie Italy - Serie C1 Portugal - Second Division Scotland - Third Division Spain - LIGA Adelente USA - MLS + Argentia & Brazil (view only) Goals: I'd love to win 5 Champions Leagues with 5 clubs from 5 different divisions - To win a league title in scotland with a side out of the old Firm - To win a champions league with an entirely home grown squad. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Profile Connolly pictured with Liverpool academy players Oliver Connolly is a former Liverpool trainee who after a serious of ankle ligament surgery had to call end to his promising career at the tender age of 19. Often though as a leader on the pitch Connolly was asked to return to the club as an Academy adviser towards the end of Gerard Houllier's reign. During the transition from Houllier to Rafael Benitez, Connolly was given a more formal role as a coach to the Under 18's and Youth Head Coach to the under 15's. After a successful run within the Liverpool Youth set-up Connolly was asked to join Brendan Rodgers at Reading in 2009. Sharing a bond that including the same birthday and career path, Connolly moved with Rodgers from Reading to Swansea in July 2010. Just a few months into his reign as Academy General Manager, Connolly was again approached by boyhood club Liverpool to serve as understudy to Kop legend Kenny Dalglish. Deemed as more as a football philosopher than a coach Connolly ability to manage personalities has always been under scrutiny from 1st team managers. Dalglish was once quoted as saying players new 'more Nietzche quotes than football strategies.' Following Dalglish's dismissal in 2012 and Rodgers' subsequent appointment Connolly decided to leave his role with the Academy and has decided it is time to pursue his dream of football management. Upon his leaving Rodgers stated that despite his tender age of just 28 appointing Connolly would be a clubs 'best ever decision' and that he would go down as one of the 'all time greats.' Time for the journey to start ......... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie laaaaaaaad Posted December 11, 2012 Author Share Posted December 11, 2012 So i fired up my career applied to all available jobs and immediately accepted the first offer. Brechin City Year Founded: 1906 Semi professional Fierce Rival: Forfar Estimated Value: 200k (50k Loan Debt) Media Prediction: 4th (Promotion Playoff) My Prediction: 1st Facilities Capacity: 3500 (1500 seated) Pitch Condition: Very Good Training: Adequate Youth: Fairly Basic Recruitment: Basic Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie laaaaaaaad Posted December 11, 2012 Author Share Posted December 11, 2012 Tactic & Philosophy - Tika-Taka “I like to control games. I like to be responsible for our own destiny. If you are better than your opponent with the ball you have a 79 per cent chance of winning the game…for me it is quite logical. It doesn’t matter how big or small you are, if you don’t have the ball you can’t score.” (Rodgers 2012) The tactic The idea is based upon a pivoted 'fulcrum' deeper player (I use Joe Allen) to sit and keep the game ticking over, the main idea of the formation is to keep short passes in the middle of the field. with the 3 central midfielders and defenders looking to play around 60 passes a game and the fulcrum around 100-120. The constant passing should move around the defenders and midfielders and hopefully isolate either 1 on 1 situations with the Wingers up against the fullbacks working the ball through various channels and quality of goal scoring opportunities (rather than quantity) are apropos of the Tiki-Taka school of football. To achieve the success found implementing Tiki-Taka football, not only are a particular set of players required but a template to enable the ever-flowing movement advocated by Spain, Barça and Swansea: My template for everything is organisation. With the ball you have to know the movement patterns, the rotation, the fluidity and positioning of the team. Then there’s our defensive organisation…so if it is not going well we have a default mechanism which makes us hard to beat and we can pass our way into the game again. Rest with the ball. Then we’ll build again.” (Rodgers 2012) A new set of fundamentals will need to be put into place; a move away from the over-reliance on direct football that maximizes the quantity of goal scoring opportunities and not quality - a degree of trust will need to be installed in the individual’s know-how and when to shoot or make the decision that the opportunity is only a half chance and not a sure thing. The approach works on the principles that ‘the whole is greater that then sum of its parts’: The Overall Philosophy Zone 1 – ‘the sweeper goalkeeper’ – This specialised zone is expected to take charge of a much larger zone in Tiki-Taka football compared to the more direct approach. The emphasis is on the goalkeeper to play with the ball at his feet and play far more short threaded passes than usual. Characteristics in this role include: good stature, efficiency with balls in the air, bravery, agility and willingness to play on the deck without fear – the keeper is expected to act as a pressure relief for under pressure team mates. Zone 2 - the ‘líbero’ – The players in zone 2 are (like the goalkeeper) expected to play a much larger role in ‘keep-ball’. They are too expected to act as pressure relief to a compact midfield as a way-out option. The two centre backs are expected to compliment one another: one technically brilliant and one with a powerful physical presence (see: Puyol-Pique). The more technical of the two is to act as a playmaker for changing the pace of the game – Ashley Williams made more long ball attempts than any other outfield player during 2011/12, mostly fast yet grounded balls played forward to feet. As a ‘líbero’ you have the whole picture in front of you – you are in a position to say pim let’s go this way, pim let’s go that way. Zone 3 – the ‘volante de salida’ – This player must be particularly good at playing his way out of trouble and yet still excellent at winning the ball back. Typical characteristics are the ability to read the game, act as an outlet for under-pressure team mates consistently and continually pass the ball within pressure: “I get the ball, I pass, I get the ball, I pass, I get the ball, I pass.” (Xavier Hernandez 2011) Xavi’s hypnotic approach to the game summaries the mindset for the player in this particular zone and like Leon Britton should boast a remarkably high pass completion rate – a 93.3% pass rate was widely acknowledged in January 2012. Zone 4 – the wing backs – the players in this zone will need to be prepared to work particularly hard up and down the wing; both defensively and in more advanced positions. It is important to note that crosses will now be made from the by-line rather than from deep – Zone 5 – the box to box creative midfielders – flair, the ability to change the pace of the game within a second, the decision of when to do so and an all round technical ability are required to fulfill the roles in zone 5. Zone 5 players are expected to continually find space amongst the ‘traffic’ and complete the triangles in possession. The players should not constantly look to create the spectacular but are expected to simply knit the possession and keep the ball more often than not. Zone 6 – the inside forwards – Messi, Alexis Sanchez, Sinclair, Dyer et al. all represent the highly creative, technically gifted and unpredictable player expected to fulfill the requirements of this zone. Zone 7 - the linking target man – This player is expected to be technically gifted when assessing his first touch, link up play and off ball movement. The hard working approach and sensational techinical ability of Luis Suarez should more than fill this role. Anyone lucky enough to watch Fabio Borini will know that he was a huge loss to Swansea this past year, despite the success of Danny Graham. Zone G – the goal scoring opportunity and assist zone – this zone is vastly important zone to understand. The quality of chances cannot be stressed enough. Liverpool has, over the past five years, been noted for creating chance after chance without scoring. The players who break into this zone should be extremely good at making the decision as to whether a goal scoring opportunity is available or to turn back and play the ball back into the organism of Tiki-Taka. Barcelona however, highlighted the danger in over relying on this concept as their play became slower and more predictable as the game went on against Chelsea in the Champions League 2011/12. En Assemble - The formation laid out sets about moving forward as a team and defending as a unit too. The team are expected, rather poetically, to move back and forth much like turquoise waves crashing onto shore: “You win the ball back when there are thirty meters to their goal not eighty” (Guardiola 2009) The Six Second Rule This is based on the principle that when a player regains or receives possession he as at that moment, or for a few seconds, is vulnerable to being dispossessed. But, and this is crucial, if you cannot win the ball back within those 5 or 6 seconds then you must recognize as a team that you can’t run around pressing the ball for 90 minutes. It’s just not physically possible. So you retreat, regain your defensive shape, and wait for the ‘signs’ to start pressing again. “You cannot go (press) on your own, You work on zonal pressure, so that when it is in your zone, you have the capacity to press. That ability to press immediately, within five or six seconds to get the ball, is important. But you also have to understand when you can’t and what the triggers are then to go for it again because you can’t run about like a madman.” Brendan Rodgers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie laaaaaaaad Posted December 11, 2012 Author Share Posted December 11, 2012 Brechin City - August 2012 Well its been a reality check of what life's like in the Scottish Second Division. I'm more than happy to be out of both early cup competitions my focus is all on the league. The performances were ok, not too impressive. We need to create more chances and be much more ruthless. Two games in and just a point isnt a great start, but its a new philosophy and it takes time to implement. *disclaimer* I apologize for the graphics of the two huge badges, something to do with my logo pack! will try and fix it! Next Month We face five games next month which will really start to shape the season, we have difficult trips away to Queen of the South and Ayr, but we're hoping to go unbeaten at home. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paolo Willenté Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 I'm assuming you wrote that summary out for a Liverpool game? Will be interesting to see how you cope with this formation/style in the lower leagues of Scottish football.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie laaaaaaaad Posted December 11, 2012 Author Share Posted December 11, 2012 yesss i did and have just realized there are still some Liverpool elements in there! will remove them now, apologies, so far not so good! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Good luck! Will be interesting to see you implement the style of play at Brechin. Hopefully things will improve! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie laaaaaaaad Posted December 11, 2012 Author Share Posted December 11, 2012 Brechin City - September - 2012 An up and down month that started superbly with two wins a sensational win away at QOTS but then we seemed to drop off a cliff. Against Stranear we were 3-0 up with 20 mins to go and through it away to 3-3. the performances of the side have been particularly aesthetically pleasing, not exactly Barcelona but very impressive for a 2nd Division side. Next Month Only three games in October. Two of which are at home so we are targeting nine points. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie laaaaaaaad Posted December 11, 2012 Author Share Posted December 11, 2012 Brechin City - October - 2012 A very disappointing month. Started with a fabulous away win, followed by two disastrous home games. We are so far to over reliant on Andy Jackson, im looking at working on a way to distribute the goals throughout the team. As you can see we are just below mid-table. The brilliance of this league is that you play each other so often that each game is a six pointer, you can easily go from midtable to top two in a couple of weeks. Next Month Six fixtures in November, these will shape whether we'll be title challengers or playoff battlers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie laaaaaaaad Posted December 11, 2012 Author Share Posted December 11, 2012 Brechin City - November - 2012 Wow, wow, wow! We couldn't have been more poor, out of a possible 15 points we picked up 1. yes thats right 1! we had over 50% possession once, yes once, and in that game we were embarrassed 3-1. We were dumped out of the cup unceremoniously after a hard fought replay vs Alloa. I'm starting feel some heat over my job. I know possession tactics take a long time to reach their potential but i may have to develop a more direct tactic to move us out of the lower end of the table and save my skin! Next Month After a horror month we are well a truly in a battle for survival we haven't won in 9 games in all competitions so it well be shape up or ship out time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie laaaaaaaad Posted December 11, 2012 Author Share Posted December 11, 2012 Brechin City - December - 2012 An up and down month, but it was much needed. The position in the table still looks precarious but with three homes games to start next month we could easily move as high as 5th. december was once again lacking in real quality. I am beginning to see how we live and die on our wide men. If they have a good game we batter teams, maybe not on the scoreboard but in terms of possession and chances. When they are off, the whole team is off and we are always on the wrong end of a thumping. I'm unsure whether the answer is to continue to tweak the tactic, or look at improving the positions in January. Next Month There's not much business you can do in January as a lowly Scottish side, but we will look at potential free loan deals to improve every aspect off our squad and push on out of the relegation zone. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paolo Willenté Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 A hit and miss start. Is there any room for a change in tactics to sure up the defence, or is it your way or nothing? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie laaaaaaaad Posted December 12, 2012 Author Share Posted December 12, 2012 A hit and miss start. Is there any room for a change in tactics to sure up the defence, or is it your way or nothing? Absolutely, I have made the fullbacks sit a little deeper, and start of more direct in home games to try and get an early goal, then we sit back and play our football Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie laaaaaaaad Posted December 12, 2012 Author Share Posted December 12, 2012 Brechin City - January 2013 What i'd call a 'stock' month better consistency still disappointing losing at home to Stranear, but we've moved out of relegation contention for now. Sat in 6th now, too far off the playoffs which is extremely disappointing, but we have an outside chance of finishing 5th. The rest of the season will be about learning who will/wont be in the squad for next season. Next Month The month starts with a crunch match against East Fife as we look to put more distance between us and the relegation playoff place. There's only three games in February but two arte against Stenhousemouir and Forfar. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.