Tactics & Training Forum - 2014 World Cup Thread

[Jimbokav1971]

You're really setting an example here for us newcomers

Definitely the attempt I like best (apart from RTH's; that was magical stuff)

Keep up the good work

I'm a complete newcomer when it comes to this forum. I have been a member of these forums, (and the old one's), since about 1999 and this year was the first time I ever entered into this particular forum, (or it's equivalent). I'm very average at tactics and completely clueless at team-talks. This is just me having a laugh and trying to encourage others to have a go.

[Jimbokav1971]

Does anyone know why we have different fixtures?

I'm just reading through the thread for the 1st time and see that RTH has different fixtures from the same qualifying group. How does that work? :confused:

[sporadicsmiles]

Well, I thought this sounded interesting, so why not give it a go. I cannot promise any detailed tactical insights into my performances, but I will give it a go. Anyway, this has given me an idea to try each of the nations one at a time, alphabetically whilst the World Cup is running. Thus, Algeria is my first team!

Algeria

INTRODUCTION:

Algeria have previously qualified for 3 World Cups, but they have never progressed passed the group stage. Their best performance was in 1982, where they won 2 games and finished with 5 points. My aim for the current game, apart from qualifying for the World Cup itself, is to get out of my group. This could potentially be a tall order.

There are not many star players in this team, the best three would be Sofiane Feghouli, Yacine Brahimi and Ishak Benfodi. These are all attacking players, so I will probably be looking to get them as involved as possible.

The only other relevant thing is that the team has already qualified for the final phase of the AFC qualifying phase, so we just have one more stage to negotiate before we can book our place in the finals!

The Tactic

I have decided that I will use a tactic I have used to good success with Arsenal in a previous save. The problem I feel I may have is that this tactic may rely a little to heavily on having skillful players, especially in midfield. And given the weakness of my defense I am not sure how well it is going to function. I guess time will tell. The tactic is shown here;

We will see how that goes, I am not convinced my tactical instructions will work out so well for this team, but the tactic has been sound previously. I'd be interested to have people's thoughts mind!

First game: Algeria vs Argentina.

So, we have a baptism of fire here, a friendly with Argentina was already arranged. I did not expect this to go to well, but I will put out what appears to be my strongest side. Here are the lineups.

Seems like a horribly strong team being put out by Argentina, but I think I am set up well to handle a 4-4-2. Anyway, the game started horrifically, on 6 minutes Aguero put Argentina ahead after a cross from the right. However, we are not being over-run and I was pleased with the way we were playing, especially in midfield. We equalised from a badly cleared corner on 29 minutes, and then took the lead from another badly cleared corner on 35 minutes. We had not created anything of note from open play, but neither had Argentina.

We then had a terrible 3 minutes before half time. Excellent movement by Aguero completely disrupts my defensive shape, and then plays a lovely ball to Messi, who does not miss from inside the box. Then 2 minutes later in stoppage time before half time, Messi beats my right back and puts in a lovely ball from the right wing. My LB is AWOL, and Higuain has a free header at the far post. The 'keeper saved it, but it fell straight to Di Maria who buried it. Still, 3-2 at half time is not so bad.

We actually started the 2nd half very well, Argentina made 3 changes at half-time and they were a little disjointed. We created a couple of chances without putting them away. Then we get another set piece, and a far post corner was headed in by Bougherra for his second goal. 3-3, and playing really well. By this point we are well on top of the game, and work the ball nicely down the right with some nice interplay between RW and RB. The Argentina LB gets drawn out of position closing down the RW, and the RB gets a cross in. My striker beats the DC to the ball at the near post, and he puts the ball in the net. 4-3 to Algeria. Madness.

Then it gets better, 5 minutes later we played the ball down the left, and a blocked cross ricochets around the penalty area. It eventually falls to my STC, who again sticks it in the net. 5-3 to Algeria, and I am quite shocked. With 6 minutes left I decide to try to sit back, go defensive and waste time to get a famous win. I have a little scare on 86 minutes when Maxi Rodriguez hits a screamer from about 35 meters into the top corner. 5-4, and one of the craziest games I have ever played in. We then manage to withstand the remaining attacks, and hold on for a famous win.

As you can see, we actually matched up pretty well to Argentina here (albeit in a friendly). Particularly creating a lot of good chances - we scored 2 of the 4 CCCs. We also passed well, and were completely dominant in the air. I still however think this was a somewhat fortuitous victory; we are not going to score 3 goals from set plays every match. But we are not going to come up against a team with as much attacking talent as Argentina very often either, so Ican definitely take a lot of positives from this match.

Next match is away to Rwanda, and I will try to post further updates asap. And hopefully much more condensed, I was going to play and update until the draw for the final phase of AFC qualifying, but as you can tell this one friendly took up a lot of space! Hence I also left out more detailed analysis of the way my tactic performed. The bad point is, things really can only get worse from this point =D.

[RTHerringbone]

Does anyone know why we have different fixtures?

I'm just reading through the thread for the 1st time and see that RTH has different fixtures from the same qualifying group. How does that work? :confused:

It's "legal" stuff.

SI aren't allowed to capture the actual results in the qualifying campaign to date, so the fixtures are randomised.

[RTHerringbone]

5-4 against Argentina sporadicsmiles!

[JOSEPH!]

Haven't had a chance to catch up with other people's contributions here or in fact write up my own as I have been and will be very busy unfortunately! I know that you're all waiting on the edge of your seats.... cough.... but rest assured I have got past the World Cup in my Brazil save and I do have an interesting tournament to report back on! Bare with me:thup:

[sporadicsmiles]

5-4 against Argentina sporadicsmiles!

I couldn't do it again if I tried, I am sure! I now have a probably misplaced sense of optimism that is likely going to see me knocked out in the final round of qualifying and not even making the Finals!

[lewis999]

Have they removed the training tab from International Management or am I wrong in thinking there was one in the first place?

[Jimbokav1971]

Have they removed the training tab from International Management or am I wrong in thinking there was one in the first place?

Yeah they have. You can still concentrate on specifics via the tactics page though, (bottom right corner).

[Jimbokav1971]

Qualification Round-Up.

Rankings. (Down to 12th).

The Tom Huddlestone, (I'm actually a fan in real life), inspired loss to Poland sees us drop in the rankings, (not that it makes a big difference, or even a little difference). I guess I have just got used to keeping a track on them because it's vital in my San Marino save.

I know this might be a bit boring, but as this is a bit of a short-term one-off save, please allow me to go into a little more detail stats-wise. (You can of course just ignore it if it bores you).

These stats are obviously from just 4 games, but the fact that England had already played both their San Marino games surely puts them at a disadvantage when reviewing these stats.

Goals.

After being ignored by Woy at the start of the campaign, (and missing both San Marino games), Defoe has done well to get up there with the best. Also it's surprising, (pleasantly), to see both Walters of (IRE) and Brunt of (NIR) up there. (Must admit I'm a bit of a Brunt fan in real life).

Assists.

Nobody there from (ENG) but then again with us swapping our wide players, (and to a lesser extent Ravel, Shelvey & JWP), it's not exactly a surprise either.

Great to see Wes Hoolahan up there but who the hell us Will Grigg? (I have honestly never ever seen that name before).

Clean Sheets.

Huddlestone has a lot to answer for here. But for his abberation, (yes I am choosing to ignore that we then conceded a penalty), we would have had the best clean-sheet record with 4/4. Can you tell I'm finding it hard to let it go? :o

Average rating.

These figures are skewed for Adam Johnson as he was very much 2nd choice to Craig Noone. Look at big Jon Walters though. He has either just had 1 really good game or Ireland have been absolutely pulling up trees in qualification. (Can't wait to see how they have done now).

Distance covered.

With 3 Welsh players on the list for "Distance covered", I suspect that their games have been end-to end thrillers. (Up and back, up and back, up and back. Repeat.)

Distance covered per 90 minutes.[/url]

Average distance covered tells a different story though. Kyle Walker is there, (very attacking instructions for my right back), but of course he was rested against Moldona and only come off the bench against Poland. I have never tried a CWB role but I have been noting with interest elsewhere how effective they can be. (Certainly food for thought at right-back at least).

Group 1 shows Belgium at the top, (as expected), and Scotland doing well to finish 3rd against both Serbia and Wales.

Group 2 sees Italy top the group, (as expected), and Czech beating the Danes in the race for 2nd. Armenia collecting 10 points is pretty impressive though. (Bulgaria must be absolutely awful).

Look at this for a belting performance from the Jon Walters inspired Paddy's. Of course Germany topped Group 3, but the Irish took points off them and beat both Austria and Sweden to Runners Up in the group, (with a little bit to spare it must be said). I hope they get a decent draw in the Playoffs. (Just not the cheating bloomin French!)

100% record for the Dutch in Group 4. Turkey beating Romania in the race for 2nd.

What jumps out at me from Group 5 is Cyprus in 3rd. You might remember that I played them in my 1st friendly and it was 1-0 for a long time before we got a late 2nd to finish them off. They were really competitive and I remember being unable to target individual players because of either low bravery or high aggression. (That really is quite unusual and although I mentioned it, I didn't mention it as much as I thought about it. (It really is unusual). This mental strength, (should have looked at personality), obviously served them well as they finished 3rd in what was a really good competitive group with all teams winnning but equally everyone losing at least twice. Switzerland obviously had the edge when it came to goal-scoring and this proved vital.

On an un-related note, only 6 members of Switzerland's current 20 man squad, (I don't know what happened to the other 3), don't have 2nd Nationalities. Interesting. (At least to me).

Group 6 saw Portugal at the top, but Nor'n Iron beat both Russia and Israel to 2nd spot and beat Portugal, (in Portugal) to shock Europe. (They certainly shocked Portugal). Paddy McCourt scored the 2-1 winner and while he is I'm sure a name known to many, the 1st goal-scorer, (on debut), is far less well-known. Take a bow Caolan Lavery of Sheff Wed.

Group 7 saw Bos & Herz lose out (Are they splitting to 2 separate Nations in real life? It's hard to keep track). Greece though are showing better form than when they won the EURO's. (Not that hard I would agree).

Group 8 shows our magnificent 100% record..... Oh wait. I forgot. grrr. Poland almost sneaked 2nd, but they should never have beaten us so it should not have been that close. Ukraine certainly the 2nd best team in that group and deserved qualifiers, (at least for the Playoffs).

Group 9 saw Spain and France dominate proceedings and really it was such an easy group.

3rd Place Table.

The 3rd Place table shows that Turkey have been the one's to miss out, but that both Irish teams will be competing in the Playoffs. (Lets hope they manage to avoid eachother and France/Ukraine).

How on Earth are N.Ireland there!

3rd Place Playoff Fixtures.

The draw is kind to them as they both avoid eachother, (and importantly Ukraine and France). In hindsight, maybe playing eachother would have at least seen 1 team make the Finals so maybe that's not such good news.

[Taleron]

Jimbokav1971, would love to hear a little more on using OI's (I know you already went into it in the Cyprus post). So from that post, it looks like you set Hard tackling OIs on players with low Bravery and close down Fullbacks, but what do you do when you say you target aggressive players you think can get sent off?

[lewis999]

The tactic familarity on this game annoys me beyond belief. Played about 6-7 games and nothings even competent yet.

[Jimbokav1971]

The tactic familarity on this game annoys me beyond belief. Played about 6-7 games and nothings even competent yet.

Why would you expect it to be within an International team? :confused:

At best they have a couple of training sessions and then a match followed by another couple of sessions and another match. Then they have to go back to their clubs again.

When they meet up again they are not starting from where they left off because that was a month or so ago.

Compare that to a club side who train and train and train and train and train and train and then play a game, and then go back to training, training, and more training before training again.

[Jimbokav1971]

Jimbokav1971, would love to hear a little more on using OI's (I know you already went into it in the Cyprus post). So from that post, it looks like you set Hard tackling OIs on players with low Bravery and close down Fullbacks, but what do you do when you say you target aggressive players you think can get sent off?

Well it's really something that I have developed over the years (real life years), and especially as I tend to play longer-term saves where there is currently an issue with the bravery of newgens, (in the main).

I look for extremes to exploit. High aggression. Low bravery or composure. Composure might not be an obvious one, but the way I think about it, even if a centre-back might be technically good at tackling, if his composure is low, (not exactly a priority in big lumbering centre-backs), then can I exploit this by closing them down the whole time and pressuring them. If I can link this with low bravery, then maybe I can exploit a mistake in even what most of us would class as a good defender.

Let's look at this player as an example.

I look at him as someone who might be a decent Championship defender.

Heading, marking, tackling, determination, positioning, jumping and strength all decent or better. He's not hamstrung with poor pace and the only thing that really jumps out at me as an issue is a concentration attribute in single figures. I wouldn't really have an issue with signing a player such as this if i was managing in the Championship.

Now let's imagine that instead of signing him to play in my team, I am going to be playing against him. Don't get me wrong, he's still not rubbish and it still wouldn't stop me signing him, but he is an almost perfect example of the type of player I want to exploit.

For a start he is very aggressive. Ideally the high aggressive stat would be linked with low bravery, but that's not very realistic is it. Still though, if I can get a brave player, (he has to be brave or he will be uncomfortable going in hard on Mills), to go in hard on him, then Mills runs the risk of getting carded early for an aggressive tackle and after that it will either impact on his game as he tries to not do it again, or better yet he will do it again and get sent off.

The next thing to consider is his ability with the ball when I am going to close him down, (this is separate to trying to get him booked and/or sent off). If I am pressuring him, what comes into play that might work in my favour. Well for a start his concentration is in single figures. Only just but it still jumps out at me. There is the possibilty of exploiting that and getting at him. Then there are a few things that to my mind all tie in together. Passing, technique, first touch and composure. We already know that I want to pressure him, (and will be going in hard too), but unless this bloke is just playing hoof-ball I can get at him. His first touch is average so I can look to get at him anyway, but even when his first touch is good then his composure on the ball, his technique with the ball and his basic passing stat mean that I can have a pretty good expectation of the ball not going where it's intended. As an opposition manager, my eyes properly light up when I see a player like this. On the other hand, like I said, his weaknesses in certain areas would not stop me signing him because I would have a fifferent metaphorical hat on.

While this is just 1 player, and he has 10 other teammates to look after him and cover up for his weaknesses imagine if you could target and exploit a few different players in the same team at the same time. Imagine targetting Mills and his centre-back partner, (also Matt mills), (just go with it for a minute), so that they would just aimlessly hoof the ball clear when in possession, (or risk you nicking the ball off them), and at the same time have your centre-backs bullying the opposition lons striker and both wide players, (who all had low bravery), which isn't that unrealistic at all. Then, as the ball keeps coming back again and again and Mills and Mills, you choose to run at the defence, inviting an aggressive tackle. You don't play the ball in the air and make it easy for them and instead use a wide AP(s), to get around a packed midfield and get at Mills and Mills.

That's just an example using one particular player and a hypothetical situation, but even good players often have weaknesses. If you have the ability to first identify and then expoit these weaknesses then it can make all the difference. The impression I get is that a lot of people concentrate on certain stats in certain positions and often have blinkers on when it comes to other stats that might be related.

You might notice that a certain Ashley Young has not featured in any of my squads so far. As I am already without quite a few wide players, that might be considered a little surprising, (despite the other options available). While I highlight Young, similar might be said of Jarvis & Downing too, (who have also not featured it must be said).

While these players each have their own strengths, they do not fit with my preference to press high up the pitch, close down full-backs and pressure the ball. Yeah the work rate is decent on all 3, but they would not be able to do what I wanted as well as I would want it done. If the useless centre-back can just pop-off an easy pass to a free full back when pressured, and the full-backs is not going to be properly threatened, then it gives the opposition an out and all it does is drag my players about and tire them out.

There are sort of plans within plans that I like to use. Standing off a poor passer of a ball while completely hammering into his very good passing technical partner, (especially in midfield), can have great results, but of course that you have to remember your own players in this. Asking..... Adam le Fondre, (who I am a big fan of irl), to go in hard on John Terry for example, is just going to be counter-productive. On the other hand, asking Andy Carroll to go in hard on John Terry might have just the desired result.

Something to look out for if you are trying this is nervousness within a match when the position of the match is not something that you would expect to generate nerves. What exactly is the player nervous about? Maybe the player is getting kicked to high heaven and just doesn't fancy it. Maybe you have asked him to go in hard on some beast and he is thinking to himself "you must be joking!"

It's not an exact science and as mentioned previously it is more effective in longer terms saves where there is an issue with the generation and development of bravery stats.

[lewis999]

So there's no chance of getting a tactic to full familiarity? Or it takes like 2-3 years of internationals? I don't mind if other nations can't under CPU management but I suspect there's will be full when it get's to the world cup.

[Jimbokav1971]

So there's no chance of getting a tactic to full familiarity?

No chance at all.

[lewis999]

Where's yours at? Also which month are you in? If RT can answer as well that'd be good as i'm curious as to what levels his were at when he got to the World Cup. If people are doing well at the world cup with competent tactics then thats fine just didn't want to be missing a trick and putting myself at a disadvantage.

[Taleron]

Excellent stuff! Really enjoyed the post!

My big take-away from what you wrote is that it works because you make sure you have the right players and the right tactic for these specific strategies. So the OIs are really just a natural extension of your tactical setup and your roster building strategy.

[sporadicsmiles]

So, after the madness of last night and having a wonderful match against Argentina, it is a couple of games of against less stellar opposition; Rwanda in my final qualifying game of this stage, and Zambia in a friendly. Then I will learn my opponent in the final of the AFC qualifying.

Rwanda vs Algeria

Looking at the lineups, I was pretty confident going into this game. There is a giant hole in their team between midfield and attack, where my midfield is situated. I figure that with the closing down I employed I would be able to stop really pressure them and win the ball back easily. This is exactly how it worked out, as shown in the pic below. There is no way for their midfield to pass except backwards, or long. They would give the ball away in situations like this all match.

In the end it was an easy 2-0 victory. Both of the goals come from some dodgy defending. The first when both LB and LM closed down my RB, which allowed my RW to receive the ball unmarked in the box. The second came when a defender headed the ball back across the box after it was cleared straight to one of my players, who scored. As you can see, it was really easy.

We end up top of the group, winning every match with no goals conceded.

Zambia vs Algeria

A friendly, and a chance to try out some new players. Fairly strong team because we have excellent moral and I want to keep that going.

This was another game that went superbly well, ending in a 5-0 win for me. I will not describe every goal in detail, but there was some superb interplay between my midfield and striker in this game. In particular, I discovered that my DMC Lacen who started this game has the PPM 'gets forward whenever possible', which really caused havoc in this game. He made a late run into the area which led to the first goal, because there was nobody picking him up. He was also important in the 3rd goal, where he made a run across defenders that created space for the STC to score. In the end this game was not really a challenge, but it is the second friendly in a row where I have scored 5 goals! 2 clean sheets too! Here are the stats from the match.

So far, so extremely positive. However, I could have wished for a better draw in the final. Standing between my team and a World Cup are the mighty Cameroon. Away leg is first, so this will be decided in front of my own fans! I am sad that I missed out on playing either Mozambique or Zambia though. I hope this excellent start doesn't go to waste! Next update will be after the first leg, and a friendly against Ecuador.

[Jimbokav1971]

Excellent stuff! Really enjoyed the post!

My big take-away from what you wrote is that it works because you make sure you have the right players and the right tactic for these specific strategies. So the OIs are really just a natural extension of your tactical setup and your roster building strategy.

Taleron. I am not one of these guys who is really good at the tactical side of the game so please take everything I say with a pinch of salt. It's just personal opinion and I'm hopeful that if some of the more experienced guys read stuff that they just don't agree with they will jump in and say so, (and why).

My background in sport is rugby rather than football. In rugby it's a huge deal to try and create mismatches. It's just the game at it's most base level. I was still playing back when I started playing CM/FM, so it often moulded how I thought about things. In rugby we are desperate to get a quick guy running at a big slow bloke or a big slow bloke running at a little guy. It reminds me of Top Trumps.

Now, even after I have stopped playing, it still impacts on how I think. A full-back with poor positioning and a winger with good off the ball. Isn't he going to find just the space that the full-back should be in, (and isn't)?

The bravery was the thing that has always jumped out at me. A long time ago ran an experiment to see how many consecutive headers a player could win, (within running my own career game), and it makes you think about different things when you really concentrate on the details.

Why was by TM good at winning headers?

What sort of players were capable of competing against him?

How could I impact on their performance?

How could I impact on my own players performance?

In the end I managed to get him up to 67 consecutive headers won, (over the course of multiple games of course).

I just try to take that sort of micro-analysis into any area that I am having an issue with and it goes from there. Sometimes I learn stuff and at other times it's just a complete and utter waste of time. At other times I take the wrong conclusions from a situation and just confuse myself further.

You are completely right in that the the OI's are an extension of the tactic. Of course they have to be. If I was standing off, with fewer bodies in midfield and had lots of low bravery players with great technical ability, how do I expect them to close down and hassle the opposition? Jermaine Defoe isn't exactly what I want in a striker with this in mind, (despite my man-love for him), but for a variety of reasons I find myself unable to call upon Carroll, Lambert & Crouch, Alan Shearer, Ian Wright, Steve Bull and Kevin Keegan.

Even with the perfect striker, how do I close down just a basic back 4 if I were to be playing a sweeper or an anchor man for example? I could ask, but would they be effective at doing it? Probably not. The same might be said if I were playing 442 against an opposition with an extra man in midfield. The circumstances have to be right. I have to create the right circumstances. I HAVE to have parity at least in the middle. The AMC role (when used), can't be a fanny. (Sorry but it's the best description), and so Shelvey fits right in there. You may notice that during Poland-gate I had an issue with Huddlestone as Regista. I know that something wasn't right there but if I'm honest I don't know what it was. If this was going to be a longer term save than just the WC I would have to look at it. I just don't know what the triggers were there that caused the issue. All I know is that "something" wasn't right so either the tactic mix or the player had to go. The tactics have stayed and he has gone.

I guess at the most base level I am trying to create then imprint for the way the match will be played. If it works then my chances of winning are greatly increased. If it doesn't then the opposite is the case.

I think I'm rambling but does any of that make sense.

[RTHerringbone]

sporadicsmiles - doing well!

My only concern would be the proportion of shots that are off target.

Who are the main culprits? Have you done anything to rein them in a bit?

[lewis999]

RT - What was your familarity like all through qualifying and the World Cup?

[Jimbokav1971]

RT - What was your familarity like all through qualifying and the World Cup?

I haven't even got to the World Cup so am not in a position to comment but.....

In another save I have been San Marino manager for.... about 18 years.

The tactics have changed over time, but only very gradually.

I'm in May 2032 and shorter passing for example is a team instruction that has been activated from day 1 without exception.

England familiarity.

Need I say more?

Most of the squad have played in my club side at some point or another and we also play with shorter passing active.

[Edit]

This is my England tactic in before the 1st of 2 November friendlies.

How and why is the England tactic so much more familiar than the San Marino one? :confused:

I have never got my San Marino one anywhere near that.

[RTHerringbone]

RT - What was your familarity like all through qualifying and the World Cup?

It wasn't an issue for me, as I use FMC

[Jimbokav1971]

It wasn't an issue for me, as I use FMC

What does that mean? Does FMC not have familiarity?

[sporadicsmiles]

sporadicsmiles - doing well!

My only concern would be the proportion of shots that are off target.

Who are the main culprits? Have you done anything to rein them in a bit?

I am still living in fear that it will all come crashing down in the games against Cameroon. One bad day in defense and we are done for. I did not play the match tonight because I was knackered and want to concentrate! It is all meaningless if I lose these next two games!

Regarding the shots, one of my midfielders (Guedioria) has a shoots from distance PPM, so I doubt there is anything I can to curb this. Otherwise, the CM(A) player typically will take some pot shots at goal when there is nothing else on, or he receives the ball in space. I have a PI to shoot less often, but it is often ignored.

The other main source is balls onto the weaker foot of my two wide men. In particular, Boudebouz seems to be very left footed and does not do well with shots on his right. In an ideal, club world I would consider either playing someone else in his position who was right footed and see how that works, or bring someone more comfortable on with both feet. But he is one of the best players in the squad, and is scoring goals despite the misses. I have Karim Ziani as a backup for his position; not as talented but right footed, so he will get a run out against Ecuador to see what happens.

The obvious problem is that when we come up against sturdier defenses, these missed chances could really cost me. I have a single friendly game between the two Cameroon matches if you have any suggestions for things to try!

[Jimbokav1971]

November 2013 Friendly squad for Georgia and Iceland.

So quite a few injuries, there but as they are just friendlies it will give me an opportunity to try previously uncapped players. The main area for concern is central midfield. I like Tom Carroll and would have probably have tried to play him in the AMC position, possibly as an AP(s). That role seems to encourage a lot of tracking back and closing down, and especially with my recently discussed OI's it would have helped the team press high up the pitch. With Nolan also out, and me looking for a 2nd AMC to select with Shelvey, I will have to step up the search and look elsewhere. I'm tempted to give Puncheon a go in there as he doesn't seem to be getting a look-in out wide, (which is a shame because I'm a big fan).

DM is another area where selection will be interesting for the World Cup squad. With Huddlestone currently out of favour after Poland-gate, maybe the much maligned Michael Carrick, (recovered now from a broken ankle), will take the opportunity to impress. With the absence of the grafting Scott Parker, there will be a few opportunities for players to put their hand up for the chance to go to Brazil as back-up to Leon Britton. The fact that Nicky Bailey of Millwall has scored 5 goals in the opening 13 games of the season makes him a dead cert for this friendly squad. I keep being drawn to Gareth Barry, but so far I have kept strong and held his averageness at arm's length. If he makes the World Cup it will be with a heavy heart, (and major injury problems), that he is selected.

I have tried to search for similar players to Leon Britton and the names Busquets, Sandro and de Jong were prominent. (Maybe this is a feature I should use more?) When I filtered out non-English players however the list became empty. I completely removed balance which was one of the attributes used and Lucas Leiva, Blind and Alonso were added to the list. When I remobved the non-English again however the list was still blank. The only attributes left were Teamwork, Work Rate, Anticipation and Composure. (That's an interesting selection wouldn't you agree?) Instead of removing one of them I dropped them all by 1 point. Still nothing. I then dropped Anticipation to 10 and it gave me...... Huddlestone and Spearing. Huddlestone is a no-no. I can't have him at Regista unless I know what is wrong so that I can fix it. Spearing..... Maybe.

So this is the squad I decided upon.

England Squad announced.

Shawcross has a slight injury, (cut or gash or something), so will miss the 1st game so Hobbs will probably make debut. Carl Jenkinson makes his 1st appearance in a squad for me and I have been keen all along but he has been injured. (Is he injury prone?) I am tempted to trial the DR as a CWB. Have never used that before so this is the perfect opportunity.

Nicky Bailey comes in as back-up to Leon Britton. For those of you who don't know about NB.... he's brilliant. End of. Michael Carrick and Steve Sidwell also come into my squad for the 1st time. With the absence of so many senior midfielders, these 2 really jumped out at me. JWP is retained as support to Shelvey.

Up front I have opted to bring in ALF. He has different strengths and I'm hoping we will give him the service he thrives on. I will be honest and admit that it's big Andy Carroll that I want, but he's still injured. If I could just unleash Jenkinson from right back and a fit Carroll up front, I might just be able to take over the World.

[RTHerringbone]

What does that mean? Does FMC not have familiarity?

That's right! So tactical schizophrenics like me can switch from a high pressing 3-3-4 to a stand-offish 5-4-1 from match to match with no arbitrary penalties.

It is a Jekyll and Hyde players' paradise!

[lewis999]

That's right! So tactical schizophrenics like me can switch from a high pressing 3-3-4 to a stand-offish 5-4-1 from match to match with no arbitrary penalties.

It is a Jekyll and Hyde players' paradise!

Would you recommend it? What else is missing? Because tactic familiarity is really putting me off this game at the minute. The penalties are too severe, talking more at club level.

[Jimbokav1971]

That's right! So tactical schizophrenics like me can switch from a high pressing 3-3-4 to a stand-offish 5-4-1 from match to match with no arbitrary penalties.

It is a Jekyll and Hyde players' paradise!

Can you? Or are the penalties just not visibly obvious? It's the same ME right? It must still have an impact.

No?

[RTHerringbone]

Would you recommend it? What else is missing? Because tactic familiarity is really putting me off this game at the minute. The penalties are too severe, talking more at club level.

There are no team talks, no real control of training, no Analysis Tab, but it is faster, retains the same ME, and is just excellent

[RTHerringbone]

Can you? Or are the penalties just not visibly obvious? It's the same ME right? It must still have an impact.

No?

No. There is no Tactical Familiarity in FMC. Zilch. Zip. Nada.

[lewis999]

There are no team talks, no real control of training, no Analysis Tab, but it is faster, retains the same ME, and is just excellent

What about newgen distribution? Assuming you have done a fair few seasons is there still a steady flow of top young players? One of my main concerns with switching to FMC.

[Torskus77]

What about newgen distribution? Assuming you have done a fair few seasons is there still a steady flow of top young players? One of my main concerns with switching to FMC.

I'd imagine this would work exactly the same to keep the game flowing. However I believe there is no tutoring, which could be a problem with some of the players developing to full potential.

[RTHerringbone]

What about newgen distribution? Assuming you have done a fair few seasons is there still a steady flow of top young players? One of my main concerns with switching to FMC.

It's all fine, I have a 100% newgen squad in 2024.

To avoid this becoming a FMC thread, may I suggest you have a look through these linked FMC threads from that section of the forum?:

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/368896-FMC2014-Wishlist-Thread

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/368897-FMC2014-Official-Feedback-Thread

[llama3]

Sporadicsmiles - really enjoying your Algeria save. Was hoping someone would give them a go.

[Jimbokav1971]

November 2013 Friendly games against Georgia and Iceland.

World Rankings. (Down to 13th).

Georgia (Home) (Friendly).

I'm changing things about a little now. It's only a friendly and I'm going to start with ALF, (and play Jenkinson as a CWB), so let's get back to some proper wing-play and some crossing. If it doesn't work then at least I find out now in a friendly rather than in an important group match at the WC. There are a few changes.

The wide players have to be creative, (but not cross that often), so it's AP(a) for Noone on the left and I want to get Lennon in off the right to free up space for the hopefully rampaging Jenkinson, so I have given him a IF(s) role.

Shelvey has been given a new role AP and an (s) duty. Let's see if we can really attack with some pace and hopefully ALF will provide the precision finishing and Shelvey will provide the creativity.

The introduction of Carrick means that I have changed his role slightly. Gone is the BWM(s) role and instead he is being tasked with BBM(s) which hopefully will suit him more. I was going to play Nicky Bailey but with such an attacking style I have opted to stick with Britton who will hopefully provide some solidity.

We will be playing a higher defensive line and with that in mind, a number of players have been asked to pass the ball shorter. I have also asked Shelvey not to dribble with the ball. It's not a strength. I just want him to pop the ball off and play others in.

I'm not really bothered about a higher line. Ruddy is playing as a SK(a) anyway, so anything in behind is down to him.

Georgia seem to have 1 good player. (Targamadze). He is playing on the left wing and I can't see any stats but is valued at £4.7M. I'm tempted to delay the CWB(a) experiment to keep someone on him, but on the other hand, let's drag him back to the edge of his own penalty area is probably just as effective. I shouldn't be worrying about Georgia!

(CWB) Complete Wing Back experimental tactic.

We were decent going forward and ALF scored on debut, but the real star of the show was John Ruddy who despite not keeping a clean sheet, (grrrrr), spanked home a nice free-kick to again ask the question....... "Why do GK's seem more adept at putting the ball in the net from set-pieces than outfield players?"

If I am honest with you though, I was having kittens a lot of the time and being so open just isn't for me. I hated watching the game and I kept wanting to change things. Had it veen a competitive game I surely would have swapped to something more.... not defensive, balanced I suppose.

I'm sure it was down to the instructions, (and remember this was my 1st go at CWB), but it just didn't do what I wanted it to do. I wanted Jenkinson to go outside the IF Lennon and cross the ball, (his strength). Instead Jenkinson was often inside the box with Lennon and the right flank was completely empty. Not what I had in mind at all.

England v Georgia. Match Stats.

England v Georgia. England Stats.

England v Georgia. Overview.[/url]

In for a penny, in for a pound is how the saying goes though. These games are friendlies, so let's try and stick with it and go with the flow. I was going to try and get Jenkinson to stay wide but I'm bored.

Iceland (Home) (Friendly).

England v Iceland. Match Stats.

England v Iceland. England Stats.

England v Iceland Overview.

I was a little bored, (meh! friendlies), so didn't pay too much attention here but as you can see my OI's came to the fore again.

I know I was thinking about going in hard on the GK, (who was injured), but if I'm honest I think I did it against Georgia and NOT against Iceland, (so I can't claim that I'm afraid).

Not really feeling this save at the moment and am desperate to get back to San Marino. What I will probably do is play my matches in real-time. I will go through the build-up to the World Cup itself today and then play each match as England play their matches.

[Jimbokav1971]

So the Groups have been drawn and I have just realised that I had forgotten to see who had qualified via the Playoffs.

So Ireland squeeked through against Croatia on pens and N.Ireland went through against Slovakia. Both are pretty impressive performances.

Group A.

Brazil.

Cameroon.

South Korea.

Switzerland.

Group B.

Costa Rica.

England.

Germany.

Zambia.

Group C.

Ireland.

Italy.

Jamaica.

Paraguay.

Group D.

Colombia.

Egypt.

Iran.

N.Ireland.

Group E. (aka The Group of Death).

Belgium.

Holland.

USA.

Uruguay.

Group F.

Chile.

Mexico.

Portugal.

Ukraine.

Group G.

Algeria.

Argentina.

Australia.

France.

Group H.

Greece.

Japan.

Senegal.

Spain.

When I lose with England, I might be tempted to go back and have a crack with N.Ireland.

I have created some random friendlies.

[sporadicsmiles]

Sporadicsmiles - really enjoying your Algeria save. Was hoping someone would give them a go.

I plan to continue this evening, try to do the two games vs Cameroon and update. World Cup pub duties got in the way yesterday =P. Watching with - by the end - an extremely angry Croatian made it interesting!

[sporadicsmiles]

Cameroon vs Algeria

Well, the key game is here. I would like to draw, prefer to win, and hope if I lose we do not do so by too many goals. There was not really any information available on how Cameroon play with such a small sample size of games for me to form any coherent plan for dealing with them, so I decided to stick to my current tactic as is, which has been successful so far, and make changes as the match progressed as needed. Here are the lineups;

I have a couple of injuries to Brahimi and Djebbour, so Abdoun and Slimani come in. In terms of Cameroon, I am really worried about midfield. They are far stronger than me there, and also their defense looks pretty fearsome compared to the quality of my attackers. Very early in the game it became clear that Cameroon were going to play extremely offensively, pushing both FBs up the pitch, but dropping Enoh deeper to provide cover.

The quality of football was terrible in the first half. Both teams cancelled each other out, and there was only one real chance, a volley from a poorly cleared corner which was easily saved by the Cameroon 'keeper. The worrying thing for me was that my midfield was being completely dominated in terms of losing the ball - or rather giving it away far too cheaply. I decided I would try to combat this by attacking down the flanks; this seemed like a good idea given it might force the FBs of Cameroon to push less far forward. As you can see from the stats below, we really defended well and gave them no space to create anything. I was happy with this so far, but concerned about midfield.

We started the second half really positively, having a series of corners and crosses that forced a couple of good saves and interventions. I was feeling mildly optimistic here, but that was to be the only good point of the performance. Cameroon started to play much better in this half, and my midfield and striker went to sleep. The number of misplaced passes by them was just far too high in the second half, and I responded by taking off the offending players; Slimani and Feghouli. Also I felt Guedoria would better be able to match up with the Cameroon midfield. Sadly, it was giving the ball away that eventually cost us in the 77th. We lost it in midfield, and the ball was quickly transitioned to the right flank. By LB closed down the wrong player, somewhat bizarrely, and was beaten by the RW. He put in a wonderful cross which was met by the head of the Cameroon Striker D'Jheng. The fault lay with Bougherra, you completely lost his marker when he should have easily been able to track the run. From this point on, we were over-run by a now confident Cameroon side. I admit to being at a loss of how I could get back into the game again at this point, so I tried to shut up shop and keep it down to 1-0. We did manage to do this thanks to some good goalkeeping. But it was a deserved 1-0 win for Cameroon. All to play for now in the return leg! We know we have to score and not concede or the dream is over before it began! The stats at the end of the game.

I must admit I am not rooting for Mexico =D!

[sporadicsmiles]

Algeria vs Cameroon

Well, it is crunch time. Can we get the win we need? I have not bothered to describe the friendly I played against Ecuador because really I did nothing of note in it. A 2-1 loss where I had a look at my reserve players to see what they were up to. The answer was not much. The lack of depth in this team will be the undoing of them.

Anyway, Eto'o returns for Cameroon, and I have yet more injuries, now missing a couple of players who I would really like in my team. However a spirited team meeting has led to there being good moral. The line-ups today look like this. The main change tactically for me is I am going to try and take Emana out of the game by man marking him with Lacen. After watching the previous game again I realised he was roaming all over the pitch causing trouble. It was drag Lacen from his holding role, but if it stops Emana it is a worthy exchange.

The game appears to have started wonderfully well. We get a free kick on 33 seconds on the left hand side of the pitch. The marking appears to be terrible and Bougherra is unmarked at the back post and smacks it in. I shout and fist pump because that is going to be perfect for moral. But then the flag is up! He was off-side. And as you can see he was as well. That was a kick in the teeth I must say.

Then the story of the game was much the same as the last. The quality of the Cameroon defense and midfield meant that really we could create nothing of note. We had a few nice moments but we never really looked like we was going to score from open play. You can see that by the number of long shots we had. Again my striker was just dominated and could not link up the play, as much due to his inability to pass to a team-mate as anything else. Cameroon actually had a few dangerous moments in the first half, but a lot of this was down to the fact I gave attack duty to my LB and the DMC was being drawn from position. I decided to remove this instruction after a while, it was clearly causing me problems.

Starting the second half, I decided it was now or never. So I decided it was time for a much more direct style of football. So putting pump ball into box, more direct passing and a higher defensive line. I knew this would open me up, but I needed to score. Actually, it did help in terms of me being a lot more dangerous. We had a couple of half chances, and we looked like we could eventually get the goal. Then came the sucker punch counter attack. A long ball to Eto'o, who was free of defenders. He shot and my 'keeper actually pulled off a great save. But the rebound fell to Moukanjo who an open goal. 81 minutes, and needing 3 goals. I admit I threw in the towel here. Here are the final stats, you can see Cameroon deserved this win, and were the better team over two legs.

I have to say I am extremely disappointed with this, and more than a little annoyed at the draw I got. I had just about the worst draw I could have had, given I destroyed one of the teams in the draw - Zambia - in a friendly. But if I cannot beat Cameroon I cannot see how we would have got out the group in the WC, which was my aim. On a more interesting note, Egypt were defeated by Mozambique (how I wish I drew them) who made it to their first final!

What I learnt

Well, on the positive side I learnt that I am quite capable of setting up a side with almost no knowledge of them and get some good results. The 5-4 against Argentina was a result I will remember for a long time. I also really managed the moral of the players well, we were almost always very good or superb throughout my time as manager.

The bad thing I learnt, specifically about myself, is that I am not very good at making insightful changes even when I knew what was going wrong. I knew we were being dominated in midfield by vastly superior players. But the changes I did make did not work, and I could not get my players to change how they were playing. So I think I need to learn how to be more pragmatic when being outclassed, something to work on. I also realise that I need to consider making much larger changes tactically when things are going badly for me. For example, perhaps putting two up front would have helped stop Cameroon dominating my lone striker. But I guess I lacked the confidence to know what I was doing.

Well, I am sorry guys! No Algerian fairy-tale. Maybe one of you guys can do better! Next up alphabetically would be Argentina. Lets hope I get further with them, or I am not as good as I hope I am!

[Jimbokav1971]

I guess that due to a mix of this thread, the San Marino thread, the Son in the game thread, and the My Fat GK thread, I have reached my bandwith limit so my pics/links are unavailable until.... 19th June which is Thursday.

I have gone back and edited quite a few of the pics to embed them, (is that the term?) and will do more so that it hopefully doesn't happen next month.

Too many pics.

[isignedupfornorealreason]

Sorry, I can't provide pictures... - I did have fun with this sort of challenge in FM12, a mate and I decided to see who was the better tactician by playing a throwaway Wales game. Got them to the World Cup, all the way to the Quarter finals where, the curse of the English (I'm English) continued and we lost on penalties to Germany. Was a fun game, 0-3 down and I honestly gave up... And yet, my craptastic lads netted for 3-3 and extra time. Most ridiculous game I've had the pleasure of managing.

Anyway, Wales was a painful experience, crap regens, poor board expectations.

I have a throwaway save on FM14 for England though, I decided that since everyone says you don't need to use AMR/L players and can get them to work via MR/L positions I would have a go with them...

I set up a 4-4-1-1 and a 4-1-4-1 with a 4-4-2 for good measure. Counter, drop deeper and work ball into the box. (First time I've not used 'pass shorter')

No Rooney or Gerrard for the first few fixtures - Gerrard got a serious injury for like 3months and Rooney kept disrupting the dressing room. He fell out with Baines cos Rooney said the team was too young, then pissed off Lampard when he tried saying friendlies were meaningless matches. Luckily he got injured most of the time so i never had to use him until late on.

First friendly was against Slovakia at home. I lined up 4-4-1-1 with Barkley as the AMC.

It was the first time I've used an AM/S, I HATE the AM/A role as I feel it does nothing well aside from go into the box... Maybe it won't work on 4-2-3-1's or 4-4-1-1's. But I was pleasantly surprised that an AM/S will actually drop back to defend and stay as the tip of the midfield trio. I had plenty of attacks from the CM/A (Wilshire) but was never happy with the wingers on the basic midfield area.

Nevertheless, despite conceding to an early freekick we beat Slovakia 4-1 with Wilshire scoring the equaliser and Welbeck netting a double of headers from crosses. Lennon also contributed with a goal from a Baines cross.

Qualifying Matches:

Moldova (Away) - I went 4-4-1-1 and we won 5-0, again mostly wing-play got the goals, wasn't too happy with the central proceedings.

Poland (away) - I went 4-1-4-1 and we won 1-0 via a Lambert header off a central cross.

Montenegro (home) 4-4-1-1 and a 4-0 win Baines with a double, Henderson and Jagielka scoring. Mostly goals from set-pieces, still a bit worried as we did create chances we just fluff them.

San Marino (Away) 4-4-2 a 3-0 win with Rooney finally starting, Lampard with a freekick and Shawcross scoring from a corner.

I was concerned, because the movement and play was wonderful to watch at times if 'sporadic'. It came in phases, and we never really dominated per-se. A few things I identified were a lack of pace on the wings, Lennon and Young aren't particularly fast. But also, our strike-force get plenty of chances but like to hoof them at the keeper, even chances that were wonderfully made that put them in a solid position with no pressure on them. It was frustrating to say the least. I don't like the "Inside forward" in the ML/R slots, they don't quite work for me. That said, I honestly think I prefer the AM slots for wingers simply because it gets them much further forward and pressures the opposition to punt the ball up. However, you can't argue with the defensive stability of the formations, the friendlies would go on to prove that...

Holland (Away) 4-1-4-1 and we nicked it 1-0 via super-sub Sterling (his pace did it). Heintinga was a rock for Holland and we should have won by more. At times we conceded tons of possession, but it was a lovely demonstration of compact and solid defending.

Romania (Away) 4-1-4-1 because they put out a 4-2-3-1 narrow. Romania held 60% of possession, my attempt to exploit the flanks failed, though we did win 3-1 and they only conceded because Baines threw it to their striker to tap in... (What that was meant to represent in the ME i don't know...)

Denmark (Away) 4-1-4-1 again to beat the 4-2-3-1, again another 3-1 win, this time we went 0-1 down however and we left it very late to rescue the game.

The World Cup draw was:

England,

Iran,

Cameroon,

Argentina.

Reasonable group with the exception of Argentina.

I did friendlies against Zambia (4-1), Israel (2-0) and Brazil's club Bahea (3-0)

Alarm bells were ringing because the players weren't performing particularly amazing, I was tinkering with the formations trying to get the wingers to get further forward a bit more. It wasn't happening though!

First game:

Iran (Win 1-0) - Lennon

I lined up 4-4-1-1 because I felt we had the quality to dominate against Iran. I wasn't expecting their unusual 4-1-2-2-1 formation. That is... DMC, MC, MC, AMC, AMC.

I thus toggled to exploit the flanks, go with natural wingers, despite conceding possession to Iran (they went away with 57%, yikes!) they never really got a shot off on our goal due to the compact nature of my formation. On the other hand, we were wasteful and the media criticized our finishing. Welbeck and Sterling wasted some good opportunities. Lennon scored by blitzing by two defenders to smash in with some help from the keeper, but otherwise we were pretty bog-average.

Cameroon (Win 1-0) Welbeck

I decided to revert to a 4-4-2 in this game as Cameroon went with a 4-2-3-1 Denmark. The idea was, Rooney in the DLF/S can drop into space while the wingers pushed on. Cameroon were stifled even without the DM being there, they had one chance they really should have put away from a long hanging corner, but they fluffed their lines and sent it into the crowd.

As for us, I noticed plenty of 'long searching passes', one that Rooney pulled off had the Cameroon defenders barging into each other and Welbeck clean on, he skewed it into the keeper though. He also missed a pretty simply header, and another simple chance, only scoring from a cut-back from Rooney that had him flicking it in from 3 yards out.

The inconsistency of my forwards to get shots counting was annoying me. The midfield was wonderful, setting up plenty of clear chances. I wonder if Welbeck just doesn't have the composure neccessary to score sometimes!

Argentina had won both their games by considerable margins, so that meant we were going to be 2nd whether we drew or lost due to goal difference. I had decided to go 4-1-4-1 against them, because, Messi is a pain in the arse.

Argentina (Draw 1-1) Rooney

Argentina lined up with a surprising 4-4-2. They were however, getting their left winger so far up he was by all accounts sitting on the corner flag. I had to specific man mark with Lennon of all people, because he was being a real handful.

Argentina took the lead but only because Aguero absolutely flat-footed his marker and thumped it into the top corner. We were compact and stubborn, the Argentines managed 7 shots all day long and 5 of them were from long range. It was an absolute masterclass in stifling their creativity.

Rooney's goal was another bit of lovely 'long range passing'. Carrick picked it up in the middle of the park but instead of launching a defence splitting pass, gave it to Lennon who DID do the pass. Rooney was clean through, rounded the keeper and slotted it in.

Lennon hit the post from an acute angle, Walcott fluffed his lines when he was put through one on one and saw his shot punched away. Limited chances, good ones too, but still not scoring freely. =/

We finished 2nd, but that was actually a good thing because the fixtures turned out like this:

Argentina Vs Holland

England Vs Turkey

I'd rather play Turkey than Holland when we're in this 'form'.

2nd Round: Vs Turkey

We both lined up with a 4-4-1-1. I felt we needed to skimp on defence to start putting the ball in the back of the net, scraping by 1-0 wasn't going to be good enough for me.

The match saw a few chances for Turkey, but we had a emphatic SEVEN Clear cut chances, there was some lovely interplay in the middle. Unfortunately, Welbeck and Sterling were both happy to miss open goals / smash their chances at the keeper from 6 yards out on a cut back, or get wibbly wobbly on a beauty of a through ball!

That said, they both did score eventually!

Welbeck slotted home a clean on one on one (shockingly!) while Sterling nipped round the back post for a late Baines cross to slot in on an open goal.

The final score was England 2-0 Turkey. However, though the average rating bumped up a bit, the MC's and AMC's both stayed a flat 6.7-6.9, they just wouldn't fire on all cylinders, even though they were dismantling the team with passes. I wonder if the forwards fluffing chances impacts on their ratings?

We drew Portugal in the Quarter Finals -_-;;;;;

We lost it 0-1. We just didn't turn up at all, I watched every game on Comprehensive highlights and this was the most dire performance I ever saw. Countless misplaced passed, no movement at all. We restricted Portugal to the one goal and it was a rather drab affair, but we just didn't turn up. I look at the Portugal game and wonder if I was tactically inept!

So, what did I learn?

I learnt that it is so, so easy to craft a formation that absolutely suffocates the opposition. I learnt it's easy to make wonderful looking football with nice combinations via midfield triangles. I learnt that England need a striker that will bang away the bloody chances!

I noticed, the DLP/D sits so far back he's almost a DM player even if he's playing in the MC slot. I have a renewed love of the MC/S and MC/D roles. I really don't like inside forwards in the WM slot... And an AM/S is a lovely role, willing to track back and defend (so why can't you lot over in the AMR/L do that?).

However, after that World Cup, I've returned to trying to perfect the 4-2-3-1. I have plenty to think about with the defensive roles now that I've studied the DLP more, and I know I can score from overloading via the 4-2-3-1, so my next task in the Euro quals is to think about making the 4-2-3-1 as defensively capable as the 4-1-4-1 and 4-4-1-1's that I used for the World Cup.

That's my journey.

[sporadicsmiles]

isignedupfornorealreason: Seems like you got England down to a tee. Get to the quarter finals, play Portugal, play badly, get knocked out =P.

[isignedupfornorealreason]

isignedupfornorealreason: Seems like you got England down to a tee. Get to the quarter finals, play Portugal, play badly, get knocked out =P.

Pretty much! haha!

[Jimbokav1971]

Pre-Tournament Friendlies.

England NZ game.

A mix of low bravery and high aggression is always a dangerous mix. The Kiwi's have a real (not realistic at all), bravery issue and it was just easy to go in hard on all but one of them and just bully them. 2 of them were also targetted in the hope of getting them booked/sent off, and one of them took the bait. Nicky Bailey crunched Duncan, and Duncan crunched him right back. The contest was over immediately and it was a poor performance by us.

England v New Zealand. Overview.

World Cup Preliminary Squad.

Walker, Johnson and Walcott all miss out on selection through injury. (I can't remember why Cole isn't in the squad but it can only have been for injury). carroll on the other hand just didn't impress when given the chance and was not selected.

Players cut to trim the squad to 23.

Congo v England. Overview.

What an awful game. We were shocking and I have little idea why. Yeah we dominanted both possession and chances, but the only goal we scored was an OG and that just won't cut the mustard at the World Cup. As if that wasn't bad enough, we then lost on pens! I have a feeling I am going to go through all the trouble of getting there only to go out with a whimper.

England v Peru. Overview.

I reverted to the Regista tactic, (after some time away from the save). I was astonished that I had lost to Congo on pens and I suppose suitably chastened so decided to revert to something more stable. RTH, (and the Bobby Robson England Semi in Italia 98), have got me thinking about back 3's. (I'm desperate to try them but not in this save). As if to rub my nose in it, Peru of course play with a back 3. (Of course they do!) Strangely though, they don't play with wing-backs, or even a back 3 that is actually a back 5. They properly play 3-5-2. No idea how this is going to go. I think one of us will tear the other one a new one. (I'm just not sure who will be on the receiving end). My scouts seem to have gone on strike and I don't have much to go on at all pre-match. Nobby Solano is the only Pervian I have ever heard of, so I really don't have much to go on.

It was actually a much much much better performance and although we only scored 1 goal, their only shots were either from long-range, free-kicks, or both. Never looked like conceding. The pick of the players was probably Nathaniel Clyne at right back. The only problem I could see that both full-backs were still crossing too much. I dealt with that in the PI's, but why didn't I deal with it before now? Time is ticking away and I am still finding glaring errors in my tactics. I think it must relate to my failed little attempt to intergrate Big Andy Carroll into the team.

England v Mozambique. Overview.

Sticking again with the Regista triangle, (I no longer trust the AMC triangle), I opt for a more attacking line-up with both Shelvey and JWP playing in the middle with Parker in at Regista. really though I am selecting the squad based on match fitness and condition.

This can't be a record surely?

(It should be 11 games unbeaten under me anyway). Huddlestone grrrrr.

England v Bulgaria. Overview.

We looked good defensively again but looked poor in front of goal. I kept Austin on for the full 90 and he didn't impress. In particular he had late chance that he squandered after we impressed down the right. Ruddy obviously converted his spot kick, (he was 1st up again), and after Ruddy saved their 4th, Leon Britton gave us a penalty win to boost morale. Yeah I know this way of playing isn't going to win me many fans, but it never seemed to bother the Italians as they fround out another win, (or the Germans of old for that matter).

So that's up. Next up, the Germans in Brazil. (Don't expect a thriller).

[jens_dewit]

Good going!

Also, pervians. Hehehe.

[Jimbokav1971]

Pre-Tournament Familiarity.

I'm astonished by how good this is. I have got nowhere near this with my San marino squad. maybe it's because of the additional games played and the time spent together before the tournament.

England v Germany. LineUps.

I don't like their formation. I really don't like that formation. Knowing that the game is likely to be tight and not full of goals, I opted to spend some extra time trainning on attacking set-pieces. It's been poor all the way through qualifying and build-up, so let's see if I can change that.

Not many goals and lots of cards is my prediction for this game.

England v Germany. Overview.

England v Germany. Match stats.

England v Germany. England stats.

So that went pretty much as expected. It was a game of few chances and although our aggressive style only injured one of them, and didn't incite them to retaliate, (gutted about that), it did knock them out of their stride and stop them playing. The negative knock-on effect of this is that we collected 4 yellow cards, (all to midfielders), but the positives are that we have a point on the board and if players get suspended it's really not a big deal as it's the system rather than the particular star players who are the strength.

Zambia beat Costa Rica in the other Group B game, which leaves the table looking like this.

Group B after Match 1.

England v Costa Rica. Line Ups.

Surprisingly I have 3 players who need rest. Lennon, JWP and Clyne. Is this my tactics running them into the ground, too many pre-tournament games, or just end of season fatigue?

How we only led at Ht by 1-0 I have no idea. We hit the post, the bar, the GK and a fairer reflection on play and c hances would have been 5-0 at least. This is the downside of such a tactic though. Will our profligacy come back to bite us on the arse in the 2nd half?

Costa Rica v England. Overview.

Costa Rica v England. Match stats.

Costa Rica v England. England stats.

So that went quite well. We absolutely tore them apart in the 1st half but as soon as we got the 2nd goal it seemed to wake them up. Either that or we just stepped off the gas. It wasn't until they scored to make it 2-1 that we started to dominate again. I'm obviously not happy about conceding, but scoring 3 is s reasonable balance, (even against Costa Rica). Our aggressive style seemed to again bear fruit as we completely dominated the middle fo the pitch, but as well as losing Gibbs to injury, (only for a couple of days), we will also have JWP suspended for the next match. While that in itself is not concerning, that we have 6 other players on yellow cards, (5 of them midfielders), is a little more worrying. I could do with a couple of them getting booked in the next match just so that they don't all get suspended at the same time.

Germany beat Zambia 1-0 in the other Grpoup B game., which leaves the table looking like this.

Group B after Match 2.

That brings me up to date with real time. That will do me for now I think. Let's hope watching the real England is more fun than watching "Not Roys England".

[Jimbokav1971]

I have mentioned our aggressive tactics already and I am of the opinion that the game tries to replicate/mirror what the human manager does in certain circumstances, (it's not as simplistic as that but it's hard to explain).

Anyway, there have been 32 games in the World Cup so far. In those 32 games there have been 13 red cards. Now I see this as symmetry because of the way we play, (even if I haven't actually had a player sent off).

[isignedupfornorealreason]

I have mentioned our aggressive tactics already and I am of the opinion that the game tries to replicate/mirror what the human manager does in certain circumstances, (it's not as simplistic as that but it's hard to explain).

Anyway, there have been 32 games in the World Cup so far. In those 32 games there have been 13 red cards. Now I see this as symmetry because of the way we play, (even if I haven't actually had a player sent off).

Red cards for more overloading basically?

On that note, I gave up on the 4-2-3-1's and 4-1-2-1's and all that and played a 4-4-2 for the Euro Quals with Switzerland, Iceland, Montenegro and Faroe Islands...

0 goals conceded, 0 defeats, 0 yellow cards, 0 red cards and a stonking 21 goals scored.

I'm not sure I could better that as a 'perfect' record. (Yes all games won)