Tactics & Training Forum - 2014 World Cup Thread

[EdsFM]

Before I start I'd quite like to thank rtherringbone for the inspiration behind this thread. The vast majority of us play the game with a long-term vision in mind and when short-term struggles get in the way of that, we tend to blame the game. Throwaway saves such as these are not only incredibly enjoyable but test your tactical knowledge and logic which you can transfer over to your longer-term saves elsewhere. Plus, I've massively enjoyed some of the entries so far.

With a quick browse of the national teams, and armed with the idea of creating a lightning-fast counter-attacking team built around a target man, I eventually settled on the Swiss. Ottmar Hitzfeld's team qualified with ease in real life, without losing a game. No pressure then. However, having very recently announced his squad for the world cup, the main surprise was the exclusion of Eren Derdiyok. Instead of leaving out Leverkusen's monster striker, I'd build my team around him instead. As a Target Man - Support, the idea is that he'll act as a pivot for the pacey counter-attacking talents of the likes of Tranquillo Barnetta and particularly Xherdan Shaqiri.

Coming in with the backroom staff completely empty aside from a regen assistant manager, it was time for a much needed overhaul as I put out an advert for every role. A few weeks later and I was surrounded by Zinedine Zidane and Paul Scholes. Not too shabby.

On the pitch, I've created three tactics: 'Derdiyok', 'Drmic' and 'Shaqiri'. Those of you who follow my Twitter or blog will know I like to create my tactics around the striker, with the key question being "how will they score their goals?". Plan A: 'Derdiyok' is a 4-4-1-1 built around supplying Eren Derdiyok and playing in and around him. This should open up the three pacy players behind him, and potentially a fourth from central midfield, depending on the opposition. Plan B: 'Drmic' is a slight altering of tactic, and would generally be used if the opposition have particularly large central defenders to tower over the 18 jumping of Derdiyok (seems unlikely!). The idea with this variant is that Drmic will play as an Advanced Forward, using his 16 acceleration to pin back the opposition defense. I'll also push my central midfielders back to the DM positions and ask my wingers to cut inside more often to make use of the space. The CAM will revert to an Advanced Playmaker - Support, rather than the Trequarista - Attack it is under the 'Derdiyok' tactic. This is because they'll be looking to create rather than act as a runner off the big target man, and I'll hopefully be able to use Valentin Stocker in there as a more creative threat, as opposed to Tranquillo Barnetta who is more of a runner. Plan C: 'Shaqiri' is quite simple: let the little genius run riot from AP-A and hope he does the rest. It's not particularly tactically astute but could prove effective as a last resort.

Another reason I eventually decided to select Switzerland was because of the quality of their full-backs. I wanted plenty of circulation from my central midfielders, and was hoping to be able to use the 'exploit the flanks' shout, with my wide players being superior to those in the centre. In Ricardo Rodríguez and Stephan Lichtsteiner, I've got two full-backs capable of playing in some of the best teams in the world. Plus, they're slightly different players in reality, too -- Lichtsteiner acts as a wing-back as part of a back five for Juventus, often getting well forward and supplying the width for their attacks. I'm therefore going to use Lichtsteiner in a similar way, overlapping our slightly less attacking right-midfielder and getting to the byline to supply crosses for Derdiyok and the onrushing late arrivals. However, considering he'll be acting as part of a back four, rather than a back five, it's important that he's not too attacking, so I've gone for Wing Back - Attack, rather than the seemingly gung-ho Complete Wing Back - Attack. This is something I can tweak if the opposition tactics & situation facilitate it. On the other side of the defense, Rodríguez is acting in a more supportive way. With Xherdan Shaqiri in front of him, I don't need the sort of attacking presence I'll ask from Lichtsteiner. His main role will be to provide crosses from deep on the [hopefully rare] occasions when our counter attacking proves unsuccessful and the central midfielders circulate the ball wide. As one of the best crossers in the squad, with 15, Rodríguez is able to receive the ball and look for Derdiyok with the 'Cross Aim Target Man' Player Instruction as a sort of Plan B within the Plan A tactic.

Obviously, if I've explained myself well enough, then the Team Instructions will seem fairly self-explanatory. In attack, I'm using; 'More Direct Passing', 'Pump Ball Into Box', 'Float Crosses', 'Play Wider', 'Exploit The Flanks' and 'Much Higher Tempo'. These are essentially the basis for a counter-attack that utilises the wings more than the centre of the pitch, but also has the backup option of crosses into Derdiyok should we have to play in the attacking organisation phase. In defense; 'Stand Off Opponents' and 'Drop Deeper', fairly self-explanatory for a counter-attacking strategy. I'm hoping we'll be able to soak up pressure from the opposition, surrendering possession in the meantime. I'm not really interested in pressing, and would much prefer we kept a solid defensive shape, with 4-4-1-1 behind almost perfect for an even spread across the whole pitch.

My long-term aim, for the WC2014, is to reach the quarter-finals, a feat the Swiss haven't achieved in a World Cup since 1954. If I can achieve what Ottmar Hitzfeld did and get into the top 7, then I'll be able to bag myself a particularly easy group. So that's the short-term goal. We shall see.

[RTHerringbone]

Before I start I'd quite like to thank rtherringbone for the inspiration behind this thread. The vast majority of us play the game with a long-term vision in mind and when short-term struggles get in the way of that, we tend to blame the game. Throwaway saves such as these are not only incredibly enjoyable but test your tactical knowledge and logic which you can transfer over to your longer-term saves elsewhere. Plus, I've massively enjoyed some of the entries so far.

No worries, welcome aboard

It's a thread which has been well received and exactly for the reasons you mention. It's great fun to step away from a save you are immersed in, as much as anything for a fresh sense of perspective, with less pressure.

It's great to see another team in the mix here, and I'm keen to see more in future. HUNT3R has bottled it so far, but I'm sure I can bully him into having a go with Brazil.....

[Cleon]

I'll go Uruguay rather than Colombia to add another team to the mix as Naks has Colombia covered

[retrodude09]

Despite being an unknown lurker on these forums, I'm very tempted to get involved in this with possibly Brazil; Germany or France.

However, tactics aren't my strong point and I'm not sure if I'm good enough to write about what I do and why I do it

[RTHerringbone]

Despite being an unknown lurker on these forums, I'm very tempted to get involved in this with possibly Brazil; Germany or France.

However, tactics aren't my strong point and I'm not sure if I'm good enough to write about what I do and why I do it

Don't worry about any of that It's just a fun, throwaway save just to embrace the spirit of the World Cup.

If you do well, that's great, but if you struggle, it doesn't matter anyway. None of those teams have been picked yet, so it would be great if you did join in.

[EdsFM]

Game One, 14/08/2013: Friendly vs Ukraine (A)

Pre-Match

I didn't get off to the best of starts when I reached the Team Selection screen and realised I hadn't yet assigned any of my coaches to scout the Next Opposition. Bugger. I suppose it's better to find that sort of thing here rather than reach a critical WC qualifier. Regardless, it meant I had to do all of the scouting myself and given it was a friendly, the result wasn't exactly of the utmost of importance. Therefore, I only did a quick scan.

Unfortunately, it looked as if Ukraine were ideally set-up and well-manned to deal with our threats, and pose more than their fair share, themselves. With a 4-2-3-1 and their main threat coming from the wings in the form of Yevhen Konoplyanka and Andiy Yarmolenko. What I did notice, though, is that it's likely to be Konoplyanka on the left and Yarmolenko on the right; this means they'll both be looking to cut inside onto their favoured feet. If I ask my full-backs to sit narrower, then it will either drive them wide and make it an aerial battle in the middle (I'd prefer this), or they'll have to do fight their way through a fairly packed central area. Given that these two guys are by far Ukraine's best players, I'm also going to drop my central midfielders (Valon Behrami and Granit Xhaka) into the DM strata in a bid to make it even more difficult for them to cut inside.

The other issue I noticed was that in Yevhen Khacheridi (jumping: 18, and standing at 6'5), Ukraine have the ideal man to deal with the aerial threat of Eren Derdiyok. I'm going to start with Derdiyok, regardless, and see how he deals with it. If this were a qualifier, I'd be far more tempted to go with Josip Drmic leading the line, but knowing how Derdiyok deals with someone who's more than his match in the air could be vital -- god knows he'll come up against some big lumps at CB during the World Cup.

In terms of breaking down Ukraine and exposing their weaknesses, the 4-2-3-1 actually helps me in my attacking phases, despite being slightly harder to deal with in the defensive stages. This is largely because of the space between their LB & LAM, and the RB & RAM. With my wingers starting from a fairly deep position in my 4-4-1-1, they're likely to be right in the middle of that gap. Or so I'm hoping. If my wingers were at AML/AMR, then they'd almost be up on the opposition full-backs when they receive the ball, but in the ML/MR slots, they should have plenty of time to weigh up their options. I had considered using Shaqiri in the #10 role for this game due to the gap between Ukraine's midfield and defense, but went with him on the left to allow him to take advantage of the space available out wide. Annonyingly, Tranquillo Barnetta is injured for this one so I can't use him on the other side -- instead I've opted for Pajtim Kasami who will act as more of a playmaker, a role he should flourish in if Konoplyanka doesn't track back to mark him.

In-Game

I was able to see how well our 4-2-2-1-1 shape would allow us to counter-attack fairly early on. Valon Behrami picked up an interception in the middle of the pitch and set us off for a quick transition up the pitch. As you can see from the screenshot, the gap that I talked about between Ukraine's AML & LB is evident and it's the area we look to attack this time. Kasami, as a Wide Midfielder - Support, isn't quite in the gap I was looking for. This happens a couple more times, so I switch him to Winger - Support -- this is likely to be my default setting for playing against a standard 4-2-3-1.

In this case, we counter well. Lichtsteiner manages to break free from the clutches of Konoplyanka who doesn't really seem arsed with catching him. Behrami passes to Kasami who is able to find Nassim Ben Khalifa, my Trequarista. I'm delighted that Ben Khalifa bends his run to provide a passing option for Kasami, as that's exactly what I'm looking for in transition. Ben Khalifa then finds Lichtsteiner who is well ahead of Konoplyanka by now.

The reason we were able to attack that right side of the pitch was because Ukraine's two central midfielders, Gai and Sydorchuk, are protecting pretty much the same area. Their spacing is just horrendous and we take advantage of that well. Unfortunately, their transition defense is much better and Sydorchuk manages to close down Lichtsteiner near the edge of his box. This gives Konoplyanka time to track back, and he clears well. I'm sure the improved ball circulation will come when the team is more familiar with the tactic.

The first half was a bit of a bore. No goals, no clear cut chances, but we defended well and soaked up the pressure fantastically well. Ukraine had much more of the ball, with 57% possession at the half, but never looked like scoring.

At half-time I made two changes. Derdiyok was struggling for fitness coming into the game so I didn't want to give him too much game-time. So he came up for our backup target man option, Álex Geijo -- he's Spanish but qualifies for Switzerland through birth so we managed to poach him. Josip Drmic came on in the Trequarista role, for Nassim Ben Khalifa. I wanted a bit more pace and finishing ability in there -- our counter-attacks had been a tad sluggish at that point.

Only a few minutes into the second half and we had the first major chance of the game. Drmic intercepted a fairly poor pass from Khacheridi, and we broke fairly quickly. Drmic took the ball outside, fairly wide. Geijo found himself some space, held position well, received the ball, and dithered on it (in a good way). This gave Valon Behrami time to burst onwards, past the Ukraine #5 who had shifted towards the right to close down Geijo. Behrami then exploited the gap but didn't have the pace to finish the play off himself, and thus had to pass away.

Behrami's pass is good, though, and he finds Geijo in space. Again the target man holds onto the ball for a few seconds, allowing Lichtsteiner to make a fantastic off-ball run into the vacant space where the Ukraine LB should be. Unfortunately, Lichtsteiner decides he wants to hit it first time, and his poor finishing (10) takes over, as Pyatov saves well to his right. Bummer.

Not long after (we're still only five minutes into the second half), Drmic gets free in the area and Ricardo Rodríguez crosses well. Drmic takes a nice touch, and finishes well. Funny old game, football.

After this happens, Ukraine shift to a 4-4-2. They take Konoplyanka off, who's been largely nullified and as a result has had a poor game. This is a good change from Ukraine as the space between their wingers & full-backs is now dramatically limited. However, Josip Drmic should still find plenty of space in between defense and attack, and having just scored, should be full of confidence.

Then, this happens...

If anyone knows what's happened there I'd quite like to know. It appears my defender forgets about the ball midway between screenshots 2 & 3 and decides he'll just run straight past it, leaving Zozulya to run it in and finish well. 1-1. Urgh.

After that point, there wasn't too much more of interest. Geijo could've finished the game off in the 85th minute but he missed an 'easier to score' one-on-one and the match finished 1-1. A real shame, but there was lots of positives and aside from a complete defensive ****-up which I'm still unsure about, we'd played really well.

[JD nawrat]

I'm starting a save for this with Bonnie Scotland However, when the game starts Scotland are in a nasty position (see below) so I'm not going to go in-depth or post much until I get to the World Cup (if I get to the World Cup). Only got four games, three of which are at home, in order to try and save our hopes. Even if we win all of our remaining games it might not be enough because Belgium, Croatia and Serbia can lose at least one and still get a higher points tally than us.

But I am confident I can win all of my remaining games. The fact three are at home and the fourth is away to Macedonia fills me with hope. An average squad but Jordan Rhodes, Robert Snodgrass, Russell Martin, James Morrison, Lee Wallace, Allan McGregor and Gary McKay-Steven are very good first team players and should help big time. CB is a major worry position. Only got 5 decent players for the position, one of them is 16 and the other starts the game injured for 10-11 months

[Cleon]

Graeme Shinnie use him

For centreback you could try Stephen McManus, Neil Collins, Kirk Broadfoot, Murray Wallace, Danny Wilson, Gordon Greer, Mark O'Hara are all decent if not in your 5 already

[JD nawrat]

Graeme Shinnie use him

For centreback you could try Stephen McManus, Neil Collins, Kirk Broadfoot, Murray Wallace, Danny Wilson, Gordon Greer, Mark O'Hara are all decent if not in your 5 already

Shinnie's decent, actually. Not quite starter material because Scotland have a couple of good LBs (for Scotland standards) in Lee Wallace, Andrew Robertson and Stephen Crainey.

The five CBs I was talking of are: Stephen McManus, John Souttar, Grant Hanley, Christophe Berra and Gary Caldwell. (Souttar is 16, Caldwell is out for 10-11 months)

Although I just realised that I forgot about a couple of players, notably Charlie Mulgrew (starts injured hence I missed him) and Danny Wilson like you've just said The others (such as O'Hara and Greer) would be good emergency call-ups but I'm not sure if they're good enough to be starting against the likes of Benteke and Lukaku

I'm looking forward to this challenge. Never properly tried international management and managing Scotland should be fun. I definitely can't do any worse than Levein did for us last year

[JD nawrat]

Heh. First game went exactly as I had hoped/expected it would. Sneaked a 2-1 victory over Denmark in Glasgow in a friendly. I wasn't going to go into detailed posts just now but even if I don't make the main tournament, I'm still centring on the 2014 World Cup (Qualifiers ) so it counts, right?

Those who followed my Modern 433 thread will remember how great I got Jordan Rhodes performing as a Trequartista up front on his own. Well, he did it again

Look at the highlights bar down the bottom - very few of them and that's exactly what I want. I'm more than happy to sit deep and let teams shoot from range and ultimately get frustrated. Arguably came back to bite me a little when we conceded from a corner kick (that came about from a long shot) but that's part and parcel with this tactical set-up, I feel. Anyway, here's some basic, entry-level tactical analysis from myself with some crudely C+Ped images done in paint

First off, my set-up and the opposition's lineup. As you can see, they've got some real quality. I'm clearly set out to frustrate and hit on the counter, trying to use pace down the wings and through the centre. We don't have technically brilliant players, so controlling possession, whilst possible, isn't easy. I'm trying to play to our strengths here and focus on winning. How we win isn't important.

The clear danger men for Denmark are Christian Eriksen and Viktor Fischer. The pair of the young Danes are dangerous and quick, tricky to deal with and a handful for any side, nevermind Scotland. Despite their strengths, Fischer is prone to cutting in and Bridcutt is there to be chasing Eriksen (although not aggressively). The pair of Danes are basically being kept in-check by Russell Martin and Liam Bridcutt. No comparison of quality there, I don't want to show my side up But it's what I've got to work with, so I'll just have to play the hand I'm dealt etc.

The positive side of Denmark's attacking lineup, though, is that they have no DM. Denmark have a huge gap between their CBs and CMs and that's the space we have to exploit on the counter attack. Snoddy and Mackay-Steven are being told to cut inside whilst I am allowing Morrison to roam forward into the space ahead of him, Rhodes will drop off into the hole too and Brown will maraud wherever he sees fit on the counter. We're set up perfectly to take advantage of the lack of a defensive midfielder.

So some analysis, then. Here's an early highlight, the first main highlight of the game (9 minutes in). Denmark take their GK short and pass it around their defence for the first few minutes of the highlight. Here's an example of where I'd usually see Eriksen and Fischer (the two dangermen imo) and a typical example of how my two banks of four (+DM) would be situated. This is a bit of a high block compared to what I was intending to see but at the same time I can't expect the team to stand off constantly or else we'll invite too much pressure. So this is fine. Plus the team is highly organised. I am not setting man marking but Fischer and Eriksen are both insisten on getting high up the pitch at any opportunity so they're helping me out a bit anyway (if necessary I would just drop deeper and make it even harder or resort to man marking the dangermen). There's no space for Fischer and Eriksen, a theme that continues through the game. The move eventually ended with Eriksen getting it to Schone out wide who cut in and shot straight at Marshall from around 25 yards out and at the corner of the box (nothing to worry about). Here's the stats that Eriksen and Fischer posted in the game:

Eriksen naturally saw quite a bit of the ball because we couldn't stop him from seeing it every time but when he did see it, he didn't do much with it. Also note that he got an assist but it was from a corner, so not some wizardry from the centre of the pitch Here a fine example of what happened when Eriksen saw the ball:

In this first screen you'll see that #11 (Mckay-Steven) has ran back to trail to the run of the Danish RB, hence the misshapen bank of four. But this is great, it's exactly what I want. Fischer has a lot of space out on the left but there's no way the ball is getting to him. Eriksen doesn't have a lot of time with three MCs closing down on him and he can't see Fischer so he has to pass it to one of #9, #2 or #7. I'm not worried about any of them - #6 (Bridcutt) is about to tackle for the ball so Eriksen has no time. He's forced into a decision and the ball goes towards #7. Lee Wallace (#3) steps up and takes the ball, launching a counter for us. The green arrows denote the direction my players are headed in or are about to head in dependent upon where the pass is going/goes. Red lines denote the three passing options. Orange line is the running option for the winger. Basically, Eriksen has a little time and space but nothing to do with it. He doesn't even strictly choose the wrong pass - no pass there was going to end up working out for the young Dane.

The second screen shows where the pass is headed. Wallace sweeps it up and starts a counter of our own. The red boxes highlight that there's no space for any of the advanced Danish players where the ball is headed, so even a miscontrol or deflection or rebound is unlikely to end up with a Danish player. Not an important screen but felt it was worth highlighting the intelligence of the team here.

From the same move:

[NB: I wasn't consistent with colours here because I'm a moron and didn't think to be consistent ]

In Part 1:- Wallace has laid the ball off to Mackay-Steven who is nice and deep after tracking back. The trio of Mackey-Steven, Morrison and Wallace cycle the ball to each other for a little bit before Morrison picks the ball up near the halfway line. The thin red line represents the pass into Morrison - the orange line into the orange box is the space Morrison is going to turn into - he's leaving #6 for dead with a nice turn and so #8 (highlighted in green with a green line going into the orange box) has to run to close down the space available. What this allows for is #8 (Scott Brown, Box-to-Box) to bomb forward into the space vacated by the Danish #8 and from here there's a massive amount of space available for us to do out thang. #7 represents Snodgrass and the space he can now attack. The #6 Red Arrow is Bridcutt having the sense to not join the counter attack (stays deep throughout this move). Not important, just thought I'd highlight how his role prevents easy counters on our counter.

In Part 2:- #8 has closed down on Morrison who has held the ball just perfectly to let Brown get into a great position. The playmaker releases Brown and immediately we have a wealth of space - with Snoddy running forward we are in a position to give us a three-on-three situation, Brown, Rhodes and Snodgrass up against the Danish LB, LCB and RCB. The three red lines for Snoddy highlight the dangerous runs he can make, either into open space, behind the defender or straight at him (seems like a stupid choice imo but it's the one he took and it worked so who am I to question him ). The yellow boxes highlight the decisions the defenders have to make. Rhodes isn't involved here and hasn't actually done anything so far but his presence alone makes this attack a lot more dangerous.

In Part 3:- Snoddy has received the ball with the LB right on his shoulder, but thanks to his physicality he has nothing to worry about. He has two choices here and again, to my surprise, he takes the one I didn't think was immediately obvious. Instead of seeking to play Rhodes in behind the defence (which is holding a horrible line highlighted in sky blue), he plays it into Morrison who is in plenty of space when he bursts forward. What this allows is for Rhodes to get through onto the shoulder of the last man which makes his job a lot easier - instead of having to burst a gut to get in on goal, he can make a better more calculated run past the defensive line. The green box around Danish #5 highlights the decision he has to make - does he drop deep to cover Rhodes (this is what he tries fwiw) or does he step up to try and block the inside pass, potentially opening the pass through to Rhodes even more...

In Part 4&5:- Snodgrass finds Morrison and Rhodes is not on the shoulder of the last defender. The delay in playing the ball into Morrison has allowed Rhodes to get into a perfection position and he makes the correct run to get onto the correct pass. The final screen shows Rhodes just slotting the ball around the keeper from the edge of the box.

It took a lot longer to make up those screenshots and write about them than I thought it would, so I'm not going to do the same for my second goal, but basically we won the ball from a Denmark GK, made a series of quick passes and Rhodes arrived late to slam home a Graham Dorrans lay-off. The important thing isn't how we scored but how we responded to going to 1-1. Instead of capitulating or hanging on, I changed us to a much more adventurous system in order to try and hit the Danish team when they were most vulnerable. The style I changed to was a bit similar to my Aston Villa/Cardiff tactic:

It's an intensive system which most sides struggle to deal with defensively as I have found with both Villa and Cardiff where we've scored plenty of goals, so I decided to try and implement something similar with my side. It'll only be when we really need a goal though because I'm not confident of our defending ability and we might not be able to outscore opposition too easily. So we'll play defensively and on the counter then chase goals if/when necessary

With only 37% Possession it's safe to say my idea of frustrating the opposition and breaking against them was successful. It's worth noting that Denmark aren't bad - they've got some very good players like Agger, Okore, Schone, Eriksen, Fischer and even Bendtner. Certainly a better side than Scotland. They're also ranked 26th in the World, compared to my Scotland side at 49th.

Good start, basically

[EdsFM]

Game Two, 06/09/2013: World Cup Qualifier vs Slovenia (A)

Pre-Match

In the first competitive game of my managerial career, we journeyed to Maribor in Slovenia. Having actually received a proper scouting report this time, I was delighted to see we'd be facing a slightly odd-looking 3-3-2-1-1. That's a back three, with two wing backs, a narrow midfield diamond, and one striker. Righto -- not one you see every day.

They can be successful, but I particularly enjoy defending against formations that only have one wide player on each side. If I'm employing a counter-attacking strategy then I'm more than happy to surrender numerical advantage in the middle of the pitch (to an extent). I then use the 'exploit the flanks' shout, as well as slightly altering my formation and we're looking good. In this case, in converting my 4-4-1-1 to exploit Slovenia's weaknesses, I'm going to push my wingers up to the AM strata. This should pin the opposition wing-backs as far back as possible in the attacking phase, but I'll also tell them to man-mark those same players so in the defensive phase they don't slack off because they've now been pushed forward.

This leaves acres of space for my full-backs, which is a part of my team I'm particularly proud of. Good stuff. I'll up the mentality of each of them slightly, taking Lichtsteiner to Complete Wing Back - Attack, and Rodríguez to Wing Back - Attack. To cover for that, I'll have two defensive midfielders, and a central midfielder sitting in front of them. We'll probably suffer in the middle of the pitch but the overloads we'll create out wide will be the difference. Shaqiri and Rodríguez baring down on the backup right-back of Novara (of Serie B fame). Should be fun.

But there's a twist...

A 3-5-2! ******* scout -- do your job! Ah well, we can quite easily make changes to counter that. With there likely to be a bit more space in behind the opposition midfield I push Kasami into an AMC role. As well as this, I switch Gokhan Inler to a DLP-S role to step into the flat midfield three and break up play rather than the sitting back he would be doing as a DLP-D.

I'm wary of Slovenia doing to me what I did against Ukraine, with their use of deep wingers. As the distance between my full-backs & wingers is fairly large, this is something they may be able to take advantage of, with Kevin Kampl (RM) being one of their better players. If this becomes a problem, I'll drop Shaqiri and Barnetta back to the ML/MR region.

In-Game

The first half was largely a bore. My worries about Slovenia's wingers been granted too much space was unfounded as Shaqiri and Barnetta did their defensive duties well.

At half-time the stats were as follows:

Whilst a number of stats were in Slovenia's favour, we were largely comfortable the entire first half. Limiting them to a grand total of 0 chances created, and, excluding their long shots, they actually had less shots than we did.

I brought Josip Drmic on for Eren Derdiyok at half-time. Our one clear cut chance in the first half had come through Derdiyok breaking the Slovenian back-line and getting on the end of a lovely Barnetta through-ball. Derdiyok has fantastic pace at 17, but I needed more acceleration, which comes in the form of Drmic.

With an Advanced Forward such as Drmic on, the threat from crosses came from balls in behind the opposition defense after Shaqiri or Barnetta beat their man down the wing. In a game that we did fairly well to keep as boring as it was, we eventually scored in the 83rd minute. It was an own goal but came from an excellent goal from Valentin Stocker, who had come on for the injured Barnetta.

There wasn't a whole lot that was particularly tactically interesting. I'm going to hold off on the write-ups for qualifying now that it looks like we're off the World Cup. I'll be back then.

[JD nawrat]

Rode our luck a bit? Nnnn-yeah...

Caring about it? Yyyy-naw.

Need to win these last three games really and hope Serbia drop elsewhere. Might not happen for us but I can dream... even a draw would do (if we can get a better GD than Serbia anyway, currently better than them).

[JD nawrat]

Dare to believe? Two deserved reds - first for a reckless two-footer on Scott Brown; second for McKay-Steven being hacked down as he ran through on goal. We were absolutely dominant at HT, they had had less than 7 shots iirc and no CCCs, we should've had the game finished. Then they got a man sent off and it spurred them into another machine. They started dominating and I could do nothing except go even more defensive to ride it out. Second red killed their game and then we scored with little to spare.

Started Dorrans and Cairney in this game. Dorrans had barely featured in the friendly and previous qualifier but decided to give him a shot and he got an 8.4 with 4 Key Passes and assisted the second goal! Cairney only played because Morrison was injured after the game v Serbia and I called Cairney up as his replacement. Decided I'd rather Cairney start over Charlie Adam and it worked out great with him scoring the opener

Morrison's out for 7 weeks but when he returns he'll be straight back in the side and Cairney might well push Adam out with his debut being so great.

What makes it sweeter is that Wales done me a solid by beating Serbia so now we can finish second if we just win our last two (granted one of them is a real tricky tie at home to Belgium). In the 2nd place Table we are third behind France and Poland but we have played one game more than everyone else.

[JD nawrat]

Took me a while to get round to play the final two group games but I'm glad I did...

It wasn't as comfortable as I was hoping. We went into the final game against Belgium needing to win or else pray that Croatia and Serbia drew with one-another. Thankfully we won anyway (and a good job too!) and we've made it into the play-offs as the second best team (only France with their easy peasy group barring Spain finished above us).

Coming second was not easy considering the second last game of the groups was this poor result:

I thought it was the end for us but as you can see in the first screenshot of this post, both Serbia and Croatia drew 0-0 which meant I went into the final gameweek in second place instead of dropping to third or face as I thought I would after dropping points against Macedonia. Incidentally, this means that I (well, me and Craig Levein) beat each team in the group at least once with the exception of Macedonia who Levein drew 0-0 with and who I drew 1-1 with. Look at the stats though! 3 times we hit the woodwork, couldn't bury our chances, felt like typical Scotland.

And then came this Very happy to beat Belgium. I didn't think we'd be able to pull off something this remarkable but we did (just about, somehow).

And then a lottery... France, Sweden, Russia, Cyprus, Poland, Romania and Denmark...who would I draw? I know who I wanted

I GOT 'EM Best result possible. Should allow us to make it to Rio '14

Also worth noting how high our results pushed us up the World Rankings.

When the game starts Scotland are 52nd. I think I've done well to get us as high as 27th already. I'll also schedule some high profile-ish friendlies to try and get us higher placed before travelling to the WC (assuming we get there!). Thinking maybe Uruguay or Colombia (one of the good South American sides but not a top side) and then someone like Portugal would be a good challenge. Then some 'easy' teams thrown in for morale purposes etc right before the tournament itself.

Also note that in the screenshot above you can see where other group contenders Belgium and Croatia are - Belgium were 10th when I played them and Croatia were 12th (must've dropped only to rise again).

No real analysis here, more just an update to let you know that, providing I don't mess up against Cyprus, I will be doing some proper posts centring on Scotland at the World Cup..!

[Uncle_Sam]

I like stories about countries like Scotland. I'm reminded of this advertisement from 2006:

[video=youtube;hx-d9bfGaUw]

[Uncle_Sam]

After dispatching Canada (4-0) and Japan (1-0) in a pair of whoopity-to-do friendlies, it was back to qualifying against Costa Rica and Mexico at home. The Ticos were in second place, so this would be a six-pointer.

Costa Rica came out in a standard 4-4-2. Being at home and despite a few injuries having what I felt was the better squad, I went with my 4-4-1-1. We controlled the first half but left a few chances wanting. Maurice Edu opened our account in the 47th by blasting in a rebound off of a corner kick. In the 59th a Costa Rice defender knocked the ball across his own line during a 4 player melee in the shadow of the goal to make it 2-0. In the 83rd The Ticos got one back when Michael Barrantes slipped past Edgar Castillo to take a through ball for an FM14 special, but Landon Donovan killed the match by slotting home a ball from Geoff Cameron to make the 3-1 final.

That three points clinched us at least a spot in the intercontinental playoff, but a result in the next match against Mexico would book us a spot in Brazil.

Next up a visit from the rivals. No doubt Mexico would be looking for revenge after slipping through a hole in the fence before arriving at Red Bull Arena. El Tri again opted for a 3-5-2, but being home and qualification all but assured, I decided to go with the 4-4-1-1 an really try to hit the flanks of that 3-man back line.

The flow of the game actually remained pretty even throughout. The difference was possession (of which I had 61%) and quality of chances (70% of our shots were on target to only 40% of theirs). In typical USAvMEX fashion, set pieces were big. In the 38th Dempsey got on the end of a Donovan free kick for the first goal, and John Brooks scored a header off a corner kick in the 41st to make it 2-0 at the break. Even the third goal by Johannsson in the 89th was the end of a sequence started from a throw-in. Mexico created some chances but none that every really had me gasping. Any win over Mexico is good, but 3-0 to clinch qualification is special:

After the match, we of course got the news item we had been looking for:

So, with this being a tactics thread I suppose I should post some analysis. As I said, I knew the key to controlling the game against Mexico would be owning the flanks. We had to stretch that 3 man back line out by getting the wide midfielders and fullbacks forward. I already have my wide midfielders set with the instructions "Get Further Forward" and "Sit Narrower". The idea is for them to apply pressure to the back line while opening up space for the fullbacks. The fullbacks are set as Complete Wingbacks, so they are going to get up the pitch. The result is below:

I would say mission accomplished, positioning wise. The WM's were getting forward so much they averaged being on the same strata as the AM. The FB's are almost up even with the central midfielders. That tells me we were aggressively attacking the flanks.

Another part of our style of play is to keep possession of the ball. I use the team instructions Keep Possession and Pass Shorter, but I also use Work Ball Into Box and Play out of Defense to keep players from blasting a bunch of hopeful shots and trying to launch long balls. I aim for slow, balanced build up play. In this game we were particularly successful, having 61% of the ball and completing 87% of our passes against what must be considered quality (and probably even superior) opposition. Below is the team passing:

It looks a bit like a jumbled mess, but I see a good, balanced passing game all over the field. I also see a lot of passes, which I also like. We took 798 passes, which is a lot for a game of FM. We completed 700. I like for my passing to be right around 90%, but 87% is good for a game against a good team.

What I also like is what I did to the opposition. Notice Mexico's average position:

I don't even know what the hell is going on with their midfield. Somehow their 5-man midfield is narrower than their 3-man backline. My best guest is that some of their players switched positions here and there, but no matter what you can tell they had difficulty coping with our style of play. Another little thing to notice is that their right and left center backs averaged being deeper than their center back. The reason for that is that those two players spent a good part of the game chasing my wide players rampaging behind them. This was always part of the plan and always is really, but it's especially so when I face a 3 man back line or a narrow formation.

So that's my tactical analysis of the Mexico game. It's mostly common sense and probably not as eloquent as some of the more astute tacticians like Cleon and wwfan. If you struggle with the game, listen to those guys. Pretty much everything I do I stole from them.

[Goonerslg]

So after reading through this thread I've been inspired to have a go at this myself. My tactical analysis wont be up the standard of some of the excellent posts already in this thread but I shall give it a go. I decided I wanted to use a team that hasn't already been done but also a team that I enjoy watching IRL, with that in mind I have opted for Ghana.

I probably wont start until tomorrow as I'm hoping I wont be in any fit state to start a save after the FA Cup final later

[llama3]

Really enjoying these regular updates. Really hope JDownie's Scotland does well, will be a very interesting story to face up the biggest sides. As for the USA, glad you have kept on with the good results and qualified. Finally an excellent & interesting system from the Swiss save, very much how modern 4-2-3-1's actually now play. Really good posts so far everyone. Anyone who wants to have a go, but isn't great tactically etc - doesn't matter, just have some fun, see how you get on, we can all learn stuff from what you have got to say.

[Goonerslg]

Hoping to get started on my own save this evening. Quick question, what setup are you guys using in terms of leagues, database size for your world cup saves?

[llama3]

I just made sure all continents had current international players added. As mine was Ivorian - there is no league, so just had premier league loaded for speed.

[Goonerslg]

So I've decided to have a crack with Chile, a decent team with a couple of world class players in Vidal and Sanchez should make for a good challenge. At the start of the save we sit 4th with a game in hand over Ecuador in 5th place.

Our fixtures look like this..

Those last three qualifying games look pretty tough but I'm confident we will qualify.

[Goonerslg]

So my first game was a home qualification tie against Peru. As the match was only 6 days into the save so none of my 23 man squad were match fit which wasn't ideal. Also as I haven't played any friendlies I don't have much of a feel for the players at my disposal so decided to use a formation dependant on any weaknesses I could see in the way Peru line up.

As it turns out Peru play a 3-5-2 with no wingbacks so I went for a 4-3-2-1. My thinking was the 3 CM's would stop me getting outnumbered in the midfield and my Wingers would exploit the space out wide in the final third. I set my FB's to attack to keep the Peru ML and MR on the back foot.

I set team instructions to clear to the flanks and play wider to try and stretch Peru's back 3. I also asked the team to hassle to try and keep Peru unsettled as they aren't the most technically gifted team.

In terms of who to play up top I promoted Henriquez from the under 19 squad as I wasn't overly impressed with my striking options in the main squad.

The game pretty much went according to plan. Peru had two very good chances in the opening 5 minutes but then we grew into the game. The space out wide in the final third was there to exploit as planned but poor finishing meant we went into halftime at 0-0. I wasn't to concerned though as we were creating and Peru were offering nothing going forwards.

The breakthrough came in the 46th minute and was scored by Henriquez, Vidal found Sanchez in acres of space out wide and he cut in and pulled the ball back to Henriquez for a simple tap in. More wasteful finishing saw the score remain the same until the 92nd minute when Henriquez and Orellana (my AML) played a lovely one-two on the edge of the area for Orellana to smash the ball home.

All in all a pleasing result although I feel we could/should of scored one or two more. Ecuador only managed a draw against Paraguay so I now have a 2 point cushion and still have a game in hand.

[JD nawrat]

Job done? Quite possibly.

Went with my usual system despite us being massive favourites for the first time under my reign. I want us to get used to playing like this because I don't think we'll ever play any other way to be honest, not at the WC anyway unless we get a really luck draw (but that's unlikely, being Scotland an' all).

I lined up with a somewhat different XI to what I usually do - McGregor; Martin, Hanley, Greer, Wallace; Mulgrew, Snodgrass, McArthur, Morrison, Naismith; Rhodes.

Usually I would have Bridcutt in place of Mulgrew (I did not call Bridcutt up), Snodgrass would be on the bench with Naismith on the right and Dorrans takes place on the left, McArthur doesn't start and I instead prefer Brown. My reasoning was that I wanted Naismith to be cutting in on his right foot to see if it made him any better (answer is, it doesn't). Brown is one booking from suspension and I'd rather have him for the away game thinking we'd need him (probably won't now hehe). Mulgrew started because, like I said, Bridcutt wasn't called up and Darren Fletcher isn't 100% fit. He got the last 10 minutes though. At the WC I'll probably drop Broadfoot and keep Mulgrew but as a CB instead of a DM (where I have played him whenever he's played for us). That'll allow me to take Bridcutt and Fletcher.

My idea with Naismith cutting in on his stronger foot didn't work out in the end. Not sure why, maybe because I asked him to be a support role, he just wasn't getting into goalscoring positions. So just after HT I moved him to the right, brought on Dorrans for Snodgrass and that screenshot above shows how much it galvanized our attack. Snodgrass might not go the WC, been abysmal in almost every game he's featured.

The first half we were very poor, Snodgrass wasn't doing well, Naismith was quiet and it was causing Rhodes to see none of the ball. Cyprus had had around 7 shots to our 2 and we had under 40% possession. I wasn't concerned with Cyprus seeing a lot of the ball and shooting loads, that's part-and-parcel with this system... I was beginning to question if maybe a 4141 in my style wasn't viable against smaller sides - especially considering the poor performance at Macedonia - but I waited til HT to see what to do. At HT I made the authoritative decision to move Naismith to the other side and bring on Dorrans. It would mean Naismith getting into more advanced positions (where he is undoubtedly more comfortable), it would mean not carrying dead weight (Snoddy) and it would mean getting the ball to Rhodes. Instantly I saw this come into effect with the team countering Cyprus to score a well pieced together goal.

1-0 would do me for the first leg in all honesty, but I decided not to play for a 1-0... After Adam's cracking performance in the game against Belgium, I decided to bring him on for Morrison (I considered moving Morrison to MR but Naismith was already showing improving signs and Morrison wasn't fully fit (just back after 7 weeks out)). Adam immediately provided a bit of a bright spark and, having played 38 minutes (came on 62nd) he managed 36/40 passes - 90% of his passes. In this sort of system, that is impressive. Only two players managed higher - Darren Fletcher (came on 78th minute) managed 15 out of 15 as the Anchor and James McArthur managed to complete 81 of 89, a whopping 91%. Most impressive. It leaves me with a bit of a dilemma... can I justify dropping captain Scott Brown for McArthur? I don't think so... I'll see how things go.

Anyway, Adam brightened our attack immediately and after a few minutes played through Naismith marauding into space out wide. His goal was a combination of a ferocious strike and poor goalkeeping - keeper got a palm to it but it still went in at the near post. Not complaining though, 2-0 and we looked so comfortable. Cyprus' first half performance was good but now they looked completely out of it. With twenty minutes left and the game almost dead, I decided to stick with 2-0 and so I shored up the defence a little by bringing on Fletcher. Good for his morale (Abysmal at the start of the game), good for his fitness and good for my plans of having him as the stalwart at the WC if he stays fit (if not it'll likely be Bridcutt). He did the job well and Cyprus didn't manage a single highlight in the 12 minutes he was on the field.

With little going on, I was quite happy. We'd done the job. Then from nowhere Graham Dorrans picked the ball up about 35 yards from space, took it past a player (his best quality, love watching him destroy LBs, shame he's inconsistent with his end product) and then cracked a shot from about 30 yards out, hitting the top far corner and lobbing the goalkeeper in the process. Stunning Pretty much confirms out progress too.

No real analysis here unfortunately because it's kinda late.

Means our results now look like:

Scotland 2-1 Denmark

Scotland 2-0 Serbia

Scotland 2-0 Croatia

Macedonia 1-1 Scotland

Scotland 2-0 Belgium

Scotland 3-0 Cyprus

Cyprus v Scotland

Four clean sheets in six games Five wins in six games Scottish undefeated record (apparently) Plus the goal v Denmark was: 1. a corner, 2. against my second choice GK David Marshall.

Obviously it remains to be seen how we do away from home... I guess it might not be a massive concern when we're at the World Cup but I am a bit worried about how we'll handle weather that's not ******* down, cold and miserable like sunny Glasgow I'll have to arrange some away friendlies in the lead up to the WC in warmer countries - nations in North America (Mexico especially would be a good test of our ability and the weather) and perhaps Africa would be good.

[JD nawrat]

A lot of the team changed from the victory - Rhodes, Morrison, McArthur, Mulgrew, Wallace, Naismith, Greer, Hanley and Martin all dropped. Some who played are likely to start a lot for me - Dorrans, Fletcher, McGregor and Brown will be involved in some capacity anyway. The back-up side I started in the return leg will likely play a part at the WC but Broadfoot, Whittaker and Snodgrass probably won't. Instead I'll take Bridcutt, Hutton (maybe, I can't stand him in game or IRL so might let my bias get in the way ) and I will probably take one of the United youngsters, Gauld, Armstrong or McKay-Steven.

Anyway, the game was strange. Very open compared to what we are used to but I'm putting that down to four changes at the back, all four of which I don't really trust - Shinnie excepted I wouldn't choose to start any of these (and even at that, Shinnie is third choice usually). We scored a well taken goal - Brown playing the ball into space and Russell smashing it across goal. I originally picked Russell to play on the wings but I'm not convinced by him when he plays there and he looks much better as a striker. His finish was exemplary and he'll probably be second choice behind Rhodes... I will not be taking Steven Fletcher to the WC, he moans a lot and I can't be arsed with that. Good player in the game but I don't want disruptive influences like that. Especially when he's not even a starter. Russell's finish was his first international goal in his third cap (I have given him all of caps). Pleased for him. Moreso because I know him irl, went to my school, but that's a story for another time.

Looking to the future, I'm thinking of recalling Kevin Thomson to the national team. I've always rated him highly IRL and his ability to mark in-game is fantastic. He's a hatchet man and nothing else, and I think that could be a massive thing to have at the World Cup. When I contemplate going up against Messi etc in Rio, I want Thomson there to try and break him. Mark him constantly and keep him quiet. I mean, Thomson's not going to be able to do that because he's not got the physicality to do it, but his Marking should mean he's always close-by and then with his nice and high aggression he can break players all day long Like I've said, I doubt Steven Whittaker, Steven Fletcher, Robert Snodgrass and Kirk Broadfoot will be going. The rest that I've been calling up recently will probably have a place though.

Got massively side-tracked there. I was talking about the game wasn't I? So yeah, our goal was well taken. Their goal was a corner. We've conceded three goals in seven games and two of them are from corner kicks. I'm not 'pleased' with that but it's definitely encouraging of our standard open play with only Macedonia finding a way through.

[JD nawrat]

The Draw

I'm quite happy with it, even though it's very tough. 6th, 12th, 25th and 35th. The rankings of the four teams. Puts it into a bit of perspective. But the reason for my happiness is that we just recently beat Belgium; we can counter Uruguay and score against a slow defence which isn't necessarily that good; we can beat Japan simply because they're beatable and not a remarkable side.

Two wins there should be possible, maybe one win and two draws but I think even that might be enough. Maybe not, depends. Might bomb straight out of the group for all I know. But we're going to the World Cup so I'm pleased.

[JD nawrat]

Organised these friendlies. Right after arranging them I realised that I maybe made a bit of an arse of things because we're going to South America, North America, Africa then back to South America. I really should've went Africa, North America, South America then specifically Brazil. But oh well.

My thinking here was to give us teams similar to what we have in the groups - Ghana are ranked 30th (Japan 35th), Colombia are 7th (Uruguay 6th) and Mexico are 18th (Belgium 12th).

Atletico Mineiro are there because getting some experience in Brazil will help and we should be able to do a decent job against them meaning it should help for morale.

My initial thinking of scheduling was to progress from top 10 to top 20 to top 30 then a club side. Good in theory but I forgot about locations. Shame that there isn't a neutral venue option or I'd have played all of my games in South America or the south of North America. Or maybe that is an option and I'm missing it. I don't know.

[DavidBeckham]

Great idea for a thread and I couldn't resist chipping in! The thread has been inspiring to read so far and I have decided to start as the Red Devils of the international scene...

Introduction

The dark horse of the 2014 World Cup is currently 10th in the World Ranking and can go on to be a huge force in the international scene. With established stars like Kompany and Fellaini (at least on the game) and young players like Courtois, Hazard, Benteke, Lukaku and Januzaj, the nation waits eagerly to see how they perform in the biggest footballing event of the year.

Belgium experienced success in two major competitions so far, namely the 1920 Olympic Games and 1977 European U19 Championship.

And so it begins!

[Goonerslg]

After my win against Peru we then had two away friendlies against Slovenia and Ireland. I decided to change the line up against Slovenia to a 4-2-3-1 to see how we play with just the 2 in the middle and an attacking midfielder. I also kept young Henriquez in the starting 11 after his good performance in the previous game. Slovenia lined up the same as Peru 3-5-2, I was worried about getting overrun in midfield but really wanted to try out 4-2-3-1 so stubbornly didn't change things.

Things started off well and we found ourselves 2-0 up inside 8 minutes as we hit Slovenia hard and fast from the first whistle with goals from Orellano and Sanchez. As I only play 1 upfront I rely on my wide men to chip in with goals and that made 3 in 2 games between them which I'm happy with. Sadly from there it went downhill very fast!!

Roll on 32 minutes and we find ourselves 3-2 down, one counter attack and two corners saw Slovenia turn the game round and we went in to halftime behind. This is where I made an error and instead of switching to 4-3-2-1 and trying to exploit the wide areas which were vulnerable I decided to keep things the same and go attacking to try and aggressively chase the game. Due to this I was still getting outnumbered in midfield and now I was leaving a lot of space between midfield and defence which Slovenia capitalised on and hit me twice more on the break to end up 5-2 winners.

Overall I wasn't overly disappointed as I knew what mistakes I had made tactically and also learnt that we play better with 3 in the middle as that's where most of our quality is.

Next up was a trip to Ireland. Due to the issues with match fitness I had to make several changes to my starting 11 and reverted back to my 4-3-2-1. Ireland lined up 4-2-3-1 so I didn't look to exploit the wide areas I felt it could get a bit congested out there so I set instructions to use direct passes, hassle and higher tempo and then see how the game played out. We started brightly but again were wasteful in front of goal and couldn't convert our dominance into goals. Ireland took the lead in the 32nd minute with one of only three attacks in the first half and we went in at half time 1-0 down. Although we were losing I was happy we were the dominant team so switched to an attacking mentality which paid off 5 minutes after half time with Vidal pulling us level. 7 minutes later Sanchez made it 1-2, at this point I switched back down to standard and pulled off Sanchez and Vidal as they were getting tired. The rest of the game saw us control the game and limiting Ireland to only 1 attempt at goal, and saw us hitting both the bar and the post.

I am happy with the win over Ireland as I made several changes to my first 11 and still dominated the game. I need to have a look for more options as back up to Orellano and Sanchez and also see what striking options I have out there, otherwise I'm pretty happy with my squad. Our next game is away to France in a friendly in 2 months so plenty of time to tinker and also I will have a match fit squad by then which always helps

[RTHerringbone]

Great to see so many people embracing this thread and getting stuck in

JDownie Cracking job with Scotland! Keep an eye on Uruguay. They were by far the hardest team I faced, and expect them to line up with that narrow 4-4-2 diamond.

Goonerslg Great to see you join in, and elect to take control of an as yet unused team.

DavidBeckham Belgium have some very good players. I'll follow your progress with interest!

I'm still surprised to see nobody have a crack with the likes of Brazil, Spain or Germany......

[Goonerslg]

The France game is upon us. A couple of injury problems in the week leading up to the game, Jara picked up a thigh strain which meant Gonzalez played at right back which isn't really a problem. The injury that did cause me an issue was Suazo pulling out a day before the game with a bruised foot. I wanted to start him up top against France as he has more experience than Henriquez but as it was I had to give the 19 year old the start.

France put out a strong team but lined up 4-4-2 with the two CM's sitting deep. This suits me as my strength is the centre of the park and I was confident of winning that particular battle by outnumbering them. I decided to keep it quite compact and try to force the game to be played in the middle of the park so lined up like this.....

Onto the first half and I can safely say it was the most boring 45 minutes of football I've witnessed playing FM!!! We both cancelled eachother out but I was happy we had control of the midfield and restricted France to 2 half chances.....

One thing I noticed in the first half was there was space between the defence and midfield that could be exploited so I took off Camaro and bought on Fernandez to play in the hole by switching to a 4-2-3-1. I asked the team to push higher up to put France on the back foot and to work the ball into the box. The changes worked as planned and I started to see a lot more of the ball in the final third and thought the breakthrough had come in the 72nd minute as Henriquez planted a header into the top corner only for the linseman to raise his flag for a push on the defender!!

We kept the pressure up and in the 88th minute a corner from the right was turned in by Gonzalez to give us a well earned lead. I dropped Vidal into a DM role and saw the game out, although France did have 2 decent chances in stoppage time...

Overall a good result to lead us into the qualifiers which start again next month. I was particularly pleased with the 93% tackles won as a big part of my tactic is hassle opponents and a high tempo to give the opposition less time on the ball by getting in their faces and trying to win the ball back early. Even Though France edged possession it was mainly all in the middle of the park or in their defensive third.

[DavidBeckham]

@RTHerringbone Thanks mate! All credit goes to the thread starter!

Build up to the World Cup

Fixtures

It has been far from smooth-sailing so far and I was gutted by the 4-1 defeat in Croatia. After analyzing the game, I concluded that it was due to lack of pace in our defensive positions as senior citizens Van Buyten and Timmy Simmons were both playing due to injuries to key players like Kompany and Fellaini. In addition, there is absolutely no doubt that we are the thinnest in the full-back positions and Croatia took full advantage.

Qualifying Group (Qualified as winners)

The good work were done before I arrived and despite the defeat in Croatia, we qualified as group winners after wins against Macedonia, Scotland and Wales.

Tactics

Unlike the seasoned pros on the forum, I do not tinker on a game to game basis as I am really lazy tactically. I did try to pay lots of attention to the tactical details in a couple of saves but often achieved better results when I kept things simple and stuck to a shape.

I went with 4-1-4-1 as I wanted that solidity in the central areas. The DM position (Anchor) provides some much needed protection to the back four and allows the attacking players to play. The F9 and CM-A combination is an important part of the team as many of the goals come from the interchanges between them.

Fluidity and Mentality

Unlike Cleon who achieved great success playing defensive football, I never did and thus I always favored the attacking strategy. The Balanced philosophy was chosen due to the number of specialist roles used.

Team Instructions

Work Ball Into Box: This is selected to prevent players from taking too many pot shots at goal.

Shorter Passing: This is always the sensible option as I play with three central midfielders and we tend to give the ball away too easily when this instruction is not selected.

Much Deeper Defensive Line: As we play with an attacking strategy, this instruction prevents us from being caught out by balls over the top.

Hassle Opponents: I do not like to sit back and invite pressure and even though we run the risk of being caught out of position when hassling the opponents, I want my team to go on the front foot in every game.

Players Instructions

Only two tweaks were made and the Anchor was told to close down less to prevent holes between the midfield and defense. The goalkeeper was told to distribute to the defenders to prevent unnecessary long punts down the field.

Closing Out Games

I stuck with the same tactic throughout unless there is a need to close out games. As shown in the screenshot above, Retain Possession, Play Out Of Defense, Much Lower Tempo and Be More Disciplined were added to the team instructions to close out the games by keeping possession. In my opinion, this is much more effective than retreating back into our own half and invite unnecessary pressure in the closing stages of games.

World Cup Group

Considering the fact that we were in pot 4, it was a decent draw. Turkey and Uruguay will be tricky and if we avoid defeat against them, we should qualify \o/

[Goonerslg]

DavidBeckham Looking forward to seeing how you get on. I toyed with the idea of Belgium before going with Chile

[JD nawrat]

Image sizes are fine tbh.

Your chosen shape is very interesting. Looking forward to seeing how it does against Italy.

[JD nawrat]

Second place is likely going to be good enough for you to get into the play-offs and, except for France, you should be able to beat any side with ease (and considering how you just bossed Italy I imagine France will be more than beatable).

Well played, though. Hope you can snag first from Italy, not sure if it'll be possible though because of their superior goal difference.

[JD nawrat]

FWIW, Denmark made it into the play-offs with only 13 points (6th best overall) so I imagine that second place will definitely be enough. However Russia smashed them 4-0 over two legs (0-3, 1-0) so they're not making the world cup. I like to think I derailed their title hopes when I beat them in my first friendly

Anyway, small update from me. Hoping to get right through the WC tonight and provide some real analysis. The update is just a friendly and some experimentation...

A lot of the PL managers asked me to give only 45 minutes to a lot of players, so I went along with it. McGregor, Rhodes, Morrison, Bridcutt, Brown and Martin were all asked to be given 45 minutes. Started none of those besides Martin because I wanted my starter back four to be the back four likely to play at the World Cup. Plus I wasn't confident of starting Liam Palmer in his first ever game... I have reservations about him.

Went the usual 4141 to see if it was a problem against the smaller sides like I expected (remember that I failed to win at Cyprus and at Macedonia using this system). After 70 minutes we weren't getting anywhere so I switched to my 433 and made plenty of changes. We finally looked dangerous and hit the bar and then a few minutes later we buried our only real chance of the game - Ryan Gauld's first touch being a perfect opportunity on his debut. The young lad is unlikely to play much of a part for us in Rio, hell he might not even go, but he impressed and even won MOTM on his debut.

As you can see, John Souttar finally played for us again. He'd been missing from every previous squad (bar v Denmark) due to injury but he's finally fit again. You could argue that I'm being a bit naive by starting a 17 year old in most of our games but he's probably the best CB I have. Gordon Greer just wasn't performing as good as I had hoped he would...he might not even go now because I will have Gary Caldwell back, presumably.

Palmer didn't really impress so I'm not sure who should play back-up to Martin at the competition. Looking through the Pool, I've basically got these options: R Martin, L Palmer, S Whittaker, A Hutton and P Caddis. Caddis looks like a decent player, could maybe do a job as back-up, but he's having a very average season at Birmingham. Then again, none of the players I've mentioned are having 'good' seasons. Even Martin has been average (although he's been Norwich's best player). But Martin is performing on the international stage so I'm not complaining about him. Think Caddis or Palmer have to go, but not sure I could rely on either if something happened to Martin.

Other players - Russell struggled to make an impact because he was isolated a lot. He doesn't have the physicality to hold the ball up I don't think. I think he will be best used as a late impact sub, which his speed definitely suggests. Not to worry though because Rhodes still puts in good performances and will play almost every minute he can - played a big part in Gauld's goal and got an assist for his trouble.

Shaun Maloney was finally recall to the side. He didn't do much of note but he might be the answer to my LM problem. I haven't got a clue who to play behind Dorrans. Nobody has impressed me there and I think Maloney might be the answer. His deadball ability will make him useful, especially since my planned deadball specialist is now injured. Charlie Adam is out for the WC, tearing a hamstring and missing the next 5 months. Gutting but it happens I guess. Cairney will step in and do a job, he's a decent player. Morrison likely to be first choice MC anyway.

Otherwise, I was impressed by those who stepped in - both back-up GKs didn't really get tested. McArthur was impressive once more and will be quite heavily rotated with Scott Brown I think. I wanted to play Bridcutt to try and solve my Bridcutt/Fletcher dilemma but he didn't start due to the 45 mins thing and he couldn't come on because I wanted the win more than I wanted to test Bridcutt He will be going to the WC I think, just not sure if he'll be ahead of Fletcher or not.

[video=youtube;gSq8ZBdSxNU]

[JD nawrat]

Gah. Continue a few days and then I get a load of injuries.

McArthur out for 4 months and misses the World Cup

Cairney out for 4 weeks (not huge but affects his form)

Dorrans out for 4 weeks (not huge especially since he doesn't get much games for WBA, still frustrating)

Gilks and Bridcutt also out but just minor things that will be less than 2 weeks.

e: WTF?! Continue once and I lose Souttar for 3 months (unlikely to make the WC) and Rhodes gets the flu.

This is becoming a farce

CONTINUE AGAIN AND BROWN BREAKS HIS FOOT! 5 months out.

What the hell is going on here. My team is being ravaged I now have lost two of my MCs, both of which play the EXACT SAME ROLE. I've also lost one of my starting CBs. What next? Rhodes to suffer a minor death on the pitch and never play for the team again?

I think the answer to my problem is Liam Palmer at MC behind Craig Bryson (of Derby) and get Paul Caddis at RB. Not ideal but Bryson would've been involved before now if not for McArthur/Brown being ahead of him.

Cairney now a doubt too, having picked up an injury (for 3 weeks) just 24 days before I have to announce my final squad... god damn it.

[JD nawrat]

So I've named my 30-man squad just prior to the Colombia game (first of four pre-tournament friendlies).

Goalkeepers: Allan McGregor (Hull), David Marshall (Cardiff), Matt Gilks (Blackpool)

Defenders: Russell Martin (Norwich), Paul Caddis (Birmingham), Andrew Robertson (Dundee United), Lee Wallace (Rangers), Danny Wilson (Hearts), Grant Hanley (Blackburn), Gordon Greer (Brighton), Charlie Mulgrew (Celtic)

Midfielders: Liam Bridcutt (Sunderland), Darren Fletcher (Man United), Tom Cairney (Blackburn), Jamie Ness (Leyton Orient), James Morrison (WBA), Craig Bryson (Derby), Graham Dorrans (WBA), Ryan Gauld (Dundee United), Shaun Maloney (Wigan), Steven Naismith (Everton)

Forwards: Jordan Rhodes (Stoke), Jamie Mackie (Nottingham Forest)

Considering all of my injuries I'm fairly happy with the squad, I guess. Souttar, Brown and McArthur will be massive misses. Gutted to lose them.

e: Oh, just realised I have to cut the squad before my first friendly. Well... Just going to edit this post to take note of who has been dropped.

Biggest omissions from the squad (who are fit and available for selection), I guess would be:

Steven Fletcher, Robert Snodgrass, Alan Hutton, Steven Whittaker, Gary Mackay-Steven (Gauld got the nod ahead of him) and Johnny Russell (last minute decision to take Jamie Mackie instead after the Forrest striker had a great season down south, scoring 20 goals in 40 games).

[Uncle_Sam]

We had three more matches to see play after clinching qualification. I really just sort of half-a$$ed this one and was more interested in evaluating my players and tactics.

Honduras came out trying to seal their qualification spot. Although we dominated possession, the game was a stalemate for a long time. Finally near the hour mark, a Landon Donovan cross was knocked in by a Honduras defender. Former DC United prospect Andy Najar equalized for Honduras, but Donovan blasted home the penalty winner to give the Americans another three points on their qualifying journey:

Costa Rica would try to maintain their qualifying prospects in week 9. The Ticos were 1 point ahead of Mexico. A win over the United States combined with a Mexico loss to Honduras could mean Costa Rica qualifies regardless of what the final result between Costa Rica and Honduras is.

Michael Bradley opened the US account in the 28th minute, throwing Costa Rica on their heels. The Ticos did begin a more effective attack and Saborio leveled the match in the 53rd, but Donovan scored the winner on a breakaway attack to make Costa Rica's match against Mexico a "live-or-die" situation. We, on the other hand, was only a win against 5th place Trinidad & Tobago from maximum points.

T&T had only 7 points from 9 games, there was little for us to be concerned with.

We didn't exactly play our best football, but we certainly displayed lethal finishing. Aron Johannsson scored a pair of goals, Julian Green added one, and a T&T own goal made it 4-0. With an undefeated final stage of qualification, the USA had set a record and established high hopes to succeed in Brazil. We do have one friendly scheduled before the end of 2013, a home match against Scotland.

[DavidBeckham]

DavidBeckham Looking forward to seeing how you get on. I toyed with the idea of Belgium before going with Chile

Thanks mate! Belgium has a really good squad in most positions but could do with a few better quality full-backs! I am done with the World Cup and will do up the write-up soon

Gah. Continue a few days and then I get a load of injuries.

Really unlucky mate, good luck and hope to see you do well!

[Arab]

So I've named my 30-man squad just prior to the Colombia game (first of four pre-tournament friendlies).

Goalkeepers: Allan McGregor (Hull), David Marshall (Cardiff), Matt Gilks (Blackpool)

Defenders: Russell Martin (Norwich), Paul Caddis (Birmingham), Andrew Robertson (Dundee United), Lee Wallace (Rangers), Danny Wilson (Hearts), Grant Hanley (Blackburn), Gordon Greer (Brighton), Charlie Mulgrew (Celtic)

Midfielders: Liam Bridcutt (Sunderland), Darren Fletcher (Man United), Tom Cairney (Blackburn), Jamie Ness (Leyton Orient), James Morrison (WBA), Craig Bryson (Derby), Graham Dorrans (WBA), Ryan Gauld (Dundee United), Shaun Maloney (Wigan), Steven Naismith (Everton)

Forwards: Jordan Rhodes (Stoke), Jamie Mackie (Nottingham Forest)

Considering all of my injuries I'm fairly happy with the squad, I guess. Souttar, Brown and McArthur will be massive misses. Gutted to lose them.

e: Oh, just realised I have to cut the squad before my first friendly. Well... Just going to edit this post to take note of who has been dropped.

Biggest omissions from the squad (who are fit and available for selection), I guess would be:

Steven Fletcher, Robert Snodgrass, Alan Hutton, Steven Whittaker, Gary Mackay-Steven (Gauld got the nod ahead of him) and Johnny Russell (last minute decision to take Jamie Mackie instead after the Forrest striker had a great season down south, scoring 20 goals in 40 games).

Jamie Ness? You're the manager but surely theres someone better. I know I'm biased but what about Stuart Armstrong ?

[NakS]

Some really, really good analysis in here. KUTGW everyone!

--

Japan - Spain 0-1 (A) Friendly

First loss against overwhelming favorite Spain in a friendly game. I simply decided to park the bus as much as I can hoping to have some chances on the counter with space to exploit. Spain is either 4231 or 4213 sometimes with DMC or with MC, short passing and closing down.

I simply went again with the strikerless 41410. The idea is just to have an adequate defensive shape with one spare man at the back, move back AML/AMR deeper to monitor opponent fullbacks and have them in space for the counter. It's that simple. My midfield is deep with an HB-D + DLP-S to escape a high press when I regain possession. I still keep a CWB-A + a B2B-S + Wing-A to provide some sort of running into space if available. The Treq-A will try to find space behind the Spain midfielders or at least drag them out of position to open up space for the B2B-S to run into.

Regarding team instruction, I went defensive (and counter actually at some point) and very rigid because I wanted my wing players to be quite cautious. I still choose the push higher up and play narrower to restrict space for spain creative midfielders and not being too deep. Regarding the attacking phase, higher tempo and pass into space have been employed and removed to see if a more simple passing game would help me somehow.

We didn't get trashed as I expected with a 100% tackling ratio (26 on 26), 5 shots on target out of 7 (4 scoring chances) with only 33% of possession. Spain goal came from a Xavi's direct free kick after a foul on Negredo, back to goal and not from open play. They didn't have too many on target shots (3 out of 11) even if Spain hit the woodwork twice though (one with another Xavi direct free kick, the other one following a corner). Actually, only one shot on target was from open play...I feel they were contained quite enough from open play by a brave Japan team. Negredo, Spain's forward for the whole game didn't shot and only complete 17 passes.

[DavidBeckham]

Japan - Spain 0-1 (A) Friendly

Really unlucky to have lost to a direct free-kick, had more shots on target as well..

KUTGW mate

[JD nawrat]

Jamie Ness? You're the manager but surely theres someone better. I know I'm biased but what about Stuart Armstrong ?

Armstrong is a wide player. I need a box-to-box player willing to get stuck in and Ness suited that more than anyone else considering I've lost the likes of Brown and McArthur. He's only a back-up to Bryson so it's not too important, he won't feature much. He looks good in-game (don't rate him one bit IRL) and he had a great season with Orient, getting promotion, so worth a call-up I think.

[Uncle_Sam]

Final match of 2013 is a friendly against Australia. Not much to say except we trotted to a 2-0 victory:

My wingbacks dominated this game, easily getting in behind their wingers and creating a lot of attack. Fabian Johnson even scored a goal.

I decided to set up a friendly against Croatia in March to begin preparing for our inevitable Euro opponent in the World Cup. I immediately regretted that decision when the draw came out on December 6 and it turned out Croatia is in our group:

Oh well, at least now we will have a great chance to see what they do. It's a good draw for us because we managed to earn a top 8 seed following our perfect final round of qualifying. The rest of the draw looks like this:

That's a pretty balanced draw, hard to find a real group of death.

I did go ahead and set up my pretournament friendlies to prepare myself for my opponents:

The 3 international opponents give us teams similar to our opposition, and Flamengo will help us maintain fitness as we begin.

[Arab]

Armstrong is a wide player. I need a box-to-box player willing to get stuck in and Ness suited that more than anyone else considering I've lost the likes of Brown and McArthur. He's only a back-up to Bryson so it's not too important, he won't feature much. He looks good in-game (don't rate him one bit IRL) and he had a great season with Orient, getting promotion, so worth a call-up I think.

Fair do. Never seen much of him in FM14. Enjoying your career (and everyone else's)

[DavidBeckham]

The World Cup

Group Stage (Qualified as runners-up)

What a roller coaster ride! We kicked off the tournament with a 2-0 victory against Jamaica with the help of Romelu Lukaku's brace. Uruguay was up next and we were absolutely robbed in injury time when Lukaku lost possession near the corner flag and they countered brilliantly to score the equalizer in a dramatic 2-2 draw. A draw against Turkey would see us through to the next round and the boys went one better to bag all three points. However, Uruguay's superior 5-0 win against Jamaica meant they finished top and we faced France in the next round.

Fixtures

Lukaku was absolutely on fire against France and his hat-trick propelled us through to the quarters. Italy was up next in the quarter-finals and even though chances were aplenty, both keepers were on fire as we went into the penalty shoot-out after a stalemate. Thankfully, we won the lottery and the mighty Argentina awaited our jaded players in the semis. Thibaut Courtois was the hero once again as he kept the Argentinians out on numerous occasions in the game. Lukaku came on to grab the all important winner in extra-time and we were in the finals! Disappointingly, the two 120 minutes took its toll on the players as we fell at the final hurdle in a 3-1 defeat against Holland.

Awards

It was so near yet so far for Lukaku despite his eight goals at the World Cup. He finished runners-up to Robin Van Persie, whose hat-trick in the final won him both the cup and the Golden Boot.

He had to settle for the consolation prize.

Tactics

The lack of depth in the full-back positions meant I had to play the same back four in most games and they eventually succumbed to fatigue in the final. Nevertheless, the attacking 4-1-4-1 formation employed was successful and helped us over-achieve at the World Cup.

The Defense

We conceded only three goals from open play throughout the tournament and two were from crosses when our full-backs were exposed due to their lack of pace. Alderweireld and Vermaelen played in the full-back positions for most games as we did not have great specialist full-backs. The last open play goal conceded was the late equalizer against Uruguay where they countered swiftly after we lost the ball deep in their half.

Even though we adopted the attacking strategy, the team was still solid in defense as illustrated in the screenshot above. The back four was positioned deep enough due to the Much Deeper Defensive Line instruction to prevent balls over the top. The midfield Anchor (circled) played a crucial role in defense as it protects the space between the two banks of four. Italy's full-back Santon had the ball in the left wing and was marked tightly by our right-winger who had tracked back well. Italy's front three (1 AMC and 2 STs) were out-numbered by our back four and the midfield anchor.

In the previous screenshot, Italy looked to attack down the wings. This screenshot showed how we lined up when the Italians tried to play through the middle. Their full-backs were deep in their own half and our wingers tucked in to protect the central areas. The midfield line is arched due to the aggressive closing down of our central midfield pair. Again, their front three is well-marshaled by our back four and the midfield anchor protected the zone between the lines. In conclusion, apart from being exposed in our full-back positions and set-plays, the defensive set-up was solid enough throughout the tournament.

The Attack

Moving on to our attacking play, Lukaku was our top goal scorer and most of his eight goals were scored in the manner as shown in the screenshots below.

Playing in False 9 role, Lukaku would often drop deep at the start of our attacking play as shown in the screenshot above. The player ahead of Lukaku is our midfield raider (CM-A) and he would often break forward ahead of the False 9 to offer a passing option. However, as Lukaku and Benteke are average passers, we failed to capitalize on the late midfield runs from our ball-winner and midfield raider throughout the tournament. In this move, Lukaku chose the easier option of spreading play to our right winger.

The thing I like about the False 9 role is that he does not stay put after linking play. As shown in the screenshot above, Lukaku broke forward into the box the moment he played the ball to our right winger (Januzaj).

Subsequently, Januzaj released our over-lapping right-back (Alderweireld) and he put in a great ball for the on-rushing Lukaku, who connected and scored the all-important winner against Argentina. It was also worthy to note that our midfield raider (Hazard) made another late run to add bodies in the box.

Conclusion

Even though it was a pity to have gone so close without winning the World Cup, I had a great time and the games showed a few things about my favored formation. With a couple of better quality full-backs, I believe the Red Devils can go on to be a force in international football.

[JD nawrat]

Got round to playing my pre-tournament friendlies at last.

Colombia 0-0 Scotland

Mexico 1-3 Scotland

Ghana 2-3 Scotland

Atletico Mineiro 1-2 Scotland

We've yet to taste defeat under my management! I decided to use these friendlies to test out my 433 and it was a lot more dangerous than the 4141 but also gave up more opportunities to the opposition so I'm not sure what to go with in the first game v Belgium. I'm thinking 4141 because it worked out great in our WCQ.

[JD nawrat]

Belgium 1-2 Scotland

Scotland 1-0 Japan

Uruguay 4-1 Scotland

Okay so losing to Uruguay that way was embarrassing. BUT, I did so because of two reasons: 1. We had already qualified so I wasn't too fussed about winning - either way we'd be facing Colombia or England, both very tough and I'm not sure who I'd rather face; 2. a lot of our players were in need of a rest so I rested 8 players from the Japan victory in order to keep the players fresh for the first knockout game.

I'll get some analysis up soon. Note: It's not great, because I'm not going to lie here - I'm struggling big time. I scraped past Belgium, managing to hang onto victory, and Japan absolutely bossed us but thankfully we took advantage of a corner kick. I'm not sure what use - if any - my analysis will be able to provide because my tactic was essentially "SCORE! DEFEND! PRAY! DEFEND! HANG ON FOR DEAR LIFE! PRAY SOME MORE!"

e: Uruguay 4-1 Scotland + England 2-0 Colombia = The Auld Enemy in 2nd Round

Lost 5-3 on penalties young Ryan Gauld missing his penalty. We had really awful kick takes out there - all the players I'd depend upon for that sort of thing were either injured, subbed or benched. Had only three players I was comfortable picking and they came in at 1/2/5 (although 4 scored tbf). Whereas the England takers were like Rooney, Baines, Wilshere and Lampard ffs.

Winners - Argentina

Runners-up - England

Third place - Romania (!)

Fourth place - Netherlands

England 4-5e Argentina Sounds like a crazy game. Romania did really well, too. Bit annoying. They've stolen my thunder as overachievers

Our showing in the World Cup makes us 15th in the World Rankings. Most impressive. I took the team from 52nd to 15th and last 16 of the World Cup in 12 months

[llama3]

Good campaigns with Belgium and Scotland there. We have only had 1 winner in the thread so far - RTH's England campaign!

[RTHerringbone]

Good campaigns with Belgium and Scotland there. We have only had 1 winner in the thread so far - RTH's England campaign!

I'm still really keen to see someone have a pop with Brazil or Argentina.

I think this thread has been great so far. Really pleased by how people have got into the spirit of things, and the analysis has been terrific.