Bababooey Goes To Inter. To Save Them. Hopefully.

[Jambo98]

Yup thats an interesting thought mikcheck.

At the moment i had to switch FM off and take a break. After winning 6 straight, we lost 3 of the next 4 including losing 3 nil against an Inter team who were down to 10 men for 60mins (and scored all 3 goals with 10men). That one pushed me over the edge and made me take a break!

I still think there is something in this shape, i just need to go back and look at the losses. What is annoying is that at least 2 of them came just because we stopped being able to finish. We still had the same amount of possession, in the same areas, and we created the same chances (visually i mean - not the arbitrary "CCC" stat in game, which remains broken). Losses like that happen in football but are annoying because you cant pull much analysis or learning, and in FM world they impact the morale too much which knocks on to the next games etc etc etc.......

I will load back up this arvo, and perhaps give a tray vto the Play wider shout, see if it opens up more spaces between fullbacks and centre backs for me to exploit hopefully.

I am also suffering a bit because my first 11 has 9 players who were new signings, and my bench has about another 4. The team will not be gelled at all which causes additional issues. Its tricky to seperate those from tactical issues. I also need a better back up striker as the 3 i have at the moment have combined for 0 goals in about 14 sub appearances

[Jambo98]

Having played a bit more, i can see a bit more of where i am struggling with the tactic.

1) The DLF(s) - I cant get this guy to perform at all. Have 2 players who have played there, who are reasonably suited to it, more the tricky dribbling types than the strong/hold up type players. With our fullbacks set up, the play tends to focus wider down the right which means perhaps this guy is not as involved because of the way i have offset the forwards. I might try them as a more convential front 2, or try another role

2) The CM(a) - Doesnt quite get forward as much as i would like. I have noticed this in a few formations this year that that CM(a) doesnt seem to get forward as much as he did last year. Maybe need a PPM to fix this, or try another role

3) The team shape - This is one area i have barely touched in FM15. I stick with "flexible". I might try fluid to see if we can get players more involved.

Overall, with a team predicted to finish 14th we are sitting 6th after 16 games which is reasonable. I just am not 100% happy with the consistency of the formation. Will probably keep trying to tweak this. Hopefully some others will try it too

[Torskus77]

You can give the CM(A) a player instruction to get further forward.

No you can't, already active this year.

[Jambo98]

Yup i already looked at that, couldnt really see a PI which will help which is why i might need to go with PPM (Gets further forward).

In 14 i could get a CM(a) to get beyond a striker but this year seems slightly more restrained, which might be fair. You need a very specific type of player to really drive forward.

I made a few tweaks.

1) Changed the DLF for an F9, just to experiment a bit

2) moved the middle CM to be the CM(a) and the left CM to be a CM(d). So its no 2 x CM(d) flanking a CM(a).

What i am finding is not altogether suprising for this formation. It struggles more against better teams (most of my defeats come against teams above me in the league - Roma/Milan/Napoli etc) and it is vunerable at times down the flanks to teams who look to exploit that and have good wide men. Of course its strength is the ability to dominate the middle of the pitch, and the 3 attacking players means we can create a lot of chances against teams at the same level or below us.

I will strengthen the squad and see how it gets on with slightly better players hopefully. I am considering trying a more attacking left back, to give me width down both flanks, but without a DM it might be suicidal.

[kubo]

I always found Serie A one of the easiest to crack on 14. With middling teams like Parma and Fiorentina it was quite possible to put together a challenge, as outside of Juve there is not the quality at the top you will find in Spain/German/England/France.

The challenge when working in Italy, IMHO, is all the weird and wonderful formations you'll come up against.

For example, in one of my FM14 saves, Bologna(!) ran away with the Scudetto since no one could handle their frankly bizarre overload-the-middle 3-4-2-1. IRL, that same squad got them relegated. In the other big leagues, you pretty much know what to expect from your opponents, tactically. In Serie A, every game brings a new puzzle to solve.