Saddlers 4-4-2 Simplicity And The Class of 99

[Torskus77]

Intro

 

Before I dive in to the main theme of my thread, I'd like to speak a little about myself and Football Manager. I am probably one of the older players who still play the game (hopefully not the oldest) I have been playing since the                   Championship Manager days, have taken many breaks through the years, but have always found my way back to it. I have always done pretty well, I'm no great player, there have been times where I have done well, and not really been sure why, or cared that much, because winning is fun right? With each new game that comes out, it feels a little bit tougher, sure we have a huge advantage over the AI, but they seem to be adapting better all the time. Along comes FM 18, and I'm not going to lie, I have struggled a bit. I pretty much always start with my team, Walsall, sounds boring, but the connection with my team is something that keeps me interested.

I started a save with Walsall as I usually do, and did really well, back to back promotions, built a team capable of competing at the top of the Premier League, but it felt flat, I had no real plan with what I was trying to do, kept changing     tactics, making random changes in the hope that something works (sounds like a few managers we've had at Walsall) and I honestly just got bored. I didn't really have motivation to play any more, I wasn't enjoying it at all, and if it is no fun, then I can't justify wasting so much time on it.

I still kept popping on here, to read what others were up to, and the thing that come across most from the main posters on the site, was having a plan of what you wanted to do. I read it half a dozen times, from some of the best people on the site. It got me thinking, but I still lacked any real inspiration. Then one Saturday night, after another depressing performance by Walsall, was sat in the pub with a mate, talking about Walsall past, trying to dig out some good memories to numb the pain of our current plight. Found ourselves talking about the class of 99. This wont mean anything to anyone who doesn't follow Walsall. To us, right up there with one of the greatest seasons in our history. That was it, I knew what I was going to do. The thread is actually tactics based, and will focus on tactics once the initial posts are set out. The story may not be of much interest to a lot of you, but it will add to what I am trying to do if you give it a chance.

 

 

The Class of 99

 

 

So you probably opened up the thread to read about Liverpool, or Man United, afraid not, a little story, almost fairy tale about my own little club Walsall.

 

The summer of 1998. We had narrowly escaped relegation by one point. This doesn't tell the whole story, we had a few fantastic cup runs in that season. We had some very useful players, and when they wanted to play, they could play. Manager Jan Sorenson was pretty clueless tactically, and failed to motivate the team, unless it was a big game, when no motivation was needed. He was relieved of his duties at the end of the season, and some of the better players we had, also left the club. We were left with 8 senior players on the books and no manager, odds on favourites to go down with the bookies. It was also made clear, the playing budget would be drastically reduced, due to the money that had been spent the previous season, quite a mess, and a very worrying time. It was going to be a tough league too, there were some very good 3^rd division sides. Preston, Gillingham, Wigan Stoke, Bournemouth, all had good teams, that's not to mention Manchester City were coming down to join us, and big spending Fulham were coming up to join us. Fulham were one of the first big bankrolled clubs, that were without doubt heading to the top flight at some point, they had spending power way beyond anyone else at our level.

 

Fast forward a little, and Ray Graydon was appointed as first team manager. He had never managed before, but very experienced coach. Didn't really fill anyone with much hope. Bit by bit he started to sign players and build a team, mostly players I'd never heard of, or with records that didn't really fill you with any confidence.  Free transfers and cast offs, this is nothing unusual at Walsall, but somehow this seemed even more depressing than usual, especially after the       previous season, where we actually had some quality in. We had an awful pre-season, losing to many non league clubs, and looking lost for ideas to be honest. Season began, we won the first game 1-0 away, with an own goal deciding the match, and then for the next month or so it was very unconvincing stuff. What we all thought was our best player hadn't been picked for any of the games, and was finally sold, this was going to be a bad season for sure.

Gradually though, without anyone really taking much notice, we started grinding some wins out , 1-0 was a common scoreline for us, especially away from home. Many managers bemoaned how fortunate we had been, catching them on the break after they had “battered us” It became more apparent that this wasn't happening by chance. We were sucking teams in, and hitting them hard on the break. This team that he had patched together was somehow climbing the    table at some rate.

To cut a very long story short, we ended up finishing 2^nd and getting promoted, finishing above Manchester City with 2 games to spare, but quite a way behind big spending Fulham. It was a miracle of sorts, in any given season, this would have been a massive achievement for us, but in this season, it was beyond anyone's dreams that we could actually get promoted. I was fortunate enough to talk to Ray Graydon about football, on several occasion's and he revealed a lot about how they achieved it, the philosophies he had about football, which I will talk about in a moment, and those philosophies are what I am going to base my save on.

 

 

Sir Ray's Philosophies

 

As I said above, I was fortunate enough to speak to Ray Graydon about football on several occasion's. When he spoke, you just wanted to listen more and more, he made it very clear to me, he is no tactical genius, he even indicated that no such thing existed. The first thing he wanted to do on arriving at Walsall was set up a simple game plan, that everyone understood. I think he kind of indicated that footballers aren't always the brightest people :-) He would never say such a thing, as he is a gentleman, but anyway, he wanted to have game plan that everyone knew there role, everyone had specific duties in the team, and were fully accountable for mistakes this way. He went on to say, he wanted every player to be doing a role doing something they were good at. In modern football, you see so often square pegs trying to be fit in to round holes, he didn't want this. He knew he couldn't sign top class players even at our level, what he wanted was to sign players with specific attributes to fill a certain role/duty within the team. Sounds simple right? Well that's what he wanted, simple.

It was always going to be 4-4-2, he made that clear, there wasn't really any 4231, 4123 etc etc kind formations then, 4-4-2. 4-5-1 the odd 5-3-2 were the basis of most teams set ups. He had several ideas of what he expected from the 4-4-2, a few things I can remember him talking about, and several things I can remember from memory of how he set up.

 

 

• Two banks of 4 when defending

• Every player bar one (Poacher type player) Expected to contribute to defensive phase

• If one full back overlapped, the other side had to stay back

• Usually a deep defensive line to draw teams out

• Big Man (hard working) Small quick man combo upfront

• One attack minded winger/wide man was key to a lot of counter attacks

 

Further to this, the real key to the success I believe was some key attributes that pretty much all of his players had. Even if they didn't before he arrived, they soon got it.

 

• Team Work

• Work Rate

• Determination

 

I can still picture some of the games from that season, with players literally throwing their lives on the line, to block a shot, or a cross. Busting a gut to get on the end of a ball, and so on. It was in some ways an extremely structured set up, but somehow he moulded this structured set up, with different cogs making a well oiled machine, that you could also have seen as a very fluid set up, without the creative freedom.

He also talked a lot about the discipline he installed in the dressing room. The respect he commanded from his players, not just from himself, but for the club. They all had to wear suits to travel to away games in. No mobile phones allowed in the dressing rooms, he even made several players have hair cuts and a shave ! He wouldn't tolerate players arguing with refs, he in fact substituted several who defied him, and a few players got pushed in to the cold for getting needlessly red carded. This is all very nice for me to talk about, probably could talk all day, but I want to get on to how I am going to implement some of this in to my game.

 

Club DNA

 

Before I outline my tactical plans, I want to set out some rules that will help me achieve the things I want to achieve. All part of having a plan, rather than aimlessly playing a long, chopping and changing all the time, without any consistency, leaving it hard to measure where you are at. Obviously these can be flexible over time, and open to change, if it is for a good reason. Mostly based on all I talked about above, with a little bit of my own input in certain areas, as I am planning on being Walsall manager for many years, so can think a little bit more long term, than Graydon could.

 

• Formations

• Transfer Policy

• Key attributes

• Tactics/ Style

• Man management

 

Formations

 

4-4-2. Non negotiable, it was what the success was based on, this simple formation, that seemed to almost disappear at one point, but notably has made a bit of a comeback over the past few years. Will be a proper flat 4-4-2 to begin with definitely, I reserve the right to use 4-4-2 with one or two defensive midfielders in the future, I actually thought about this from the start, but no I am going with 4-4-2. I also may use 4-4-1-1 in the future, keeping the 4-4-2 shape though. The main point is, to keep it simple, but giving it room to evolve is also important too I feel.

 

Transfer Policy

 

This is more of my own making than anything Graydon did. Looking long term here, I want to look sign young players I can improve, and sell on for a profit. Walsall are a selling club, always have been, it's pretty much how we have existed, by selling on players. Pretty much every club bar an elite few are selling clubs to be honest, if you look at the Coutinho saga, a club like Liverpool never had a chance of keeping him, once one of the big guns came in for him. I don't want to be rebuilding a full squad every year, but have to accept that if players do well for us, other teams will want them, and providing they will pay what I think they are worth, then all is good. I want players that want to play for the shirt, when they begin to have their heads turned, then their days are going to be numbered.

 

Add to this I want a mix of youth and experience, this is so I can tutor young players, and give them the desired personalities where possible. Looking for certain attributes in my signings, which I will discuss further shortly.

 

Setting a wage structure is difficult from the off, Walsall pay poor wages in real life, and this is reflected in FM, so for now it is more a case of doing the best I can with what I am given. Hopefully in time I will be able to dictate my own wage structure. Bear in mind, I don't want or possibly need is a better term, a team full of well rounded players, I want players with key attributes to do specific jobs. With success though, they will demand more money, just some thoughts for the future.

 

Key Attributes

 

Closely connected to transfer policy, key attributes that I will be looking for when signing players. That doesn't mean I will turn down the chance of signing a good player, if he lacks some of these attributes, but I want the team to be made up largely with these attributes.

 

Primary attributes

 

• Team Work

• Work Rate

• Determination

 

These are fundamental to what I want to try and do. It is what the whole thing was built on in my opinion. A team that will bust a gut for each other, no one player is worth any more than any other. A team that is never beaten until that final whistle has blown. A team that will work hard for each other from the first whistle until the last.

 

Secondary Attributes

 

• Bravery

• Aggression

• Speed (Pace and Acceleration)

• Strength

 

Not all players will need all of these, but they are attributes for certain positions I will be looking for. Bravery, I don't want a team of players that bottle out of challenges, I want players that are going to go in full on when trying to win the ball back. Aggression isn't required for all positions, in fact some positions it could be harmful, I'm not sure I want all my defenders going crazy, but I want a certain amount of steel with in the side, Strength goes hand in hand with this. Speed, I want to catch teams on the break a lot, so speed is going to be needed, I like players that get around the pitch quickly.

Obviously, this leaves a little bit of a creativity void, I will need one or two players within the team in carefully selected roles, that may or may not compromise on a few of the above for a little more guile. It's going to be tough in the           beginning, to an extent I am going to have to go with what I have got, but this is a plan to pursue over the coming seasons.

 

Tactics/Style

 

As described above, 4-4-2 is my formation of choice, that is just the outline though, how am I going to add my style to it?

I thought long and hard about Team Shape, I feel that the large amounts of creative freedom mean that Fluid or Very Fluid shapes are a no no. I feel it probably was something like a structured set up, but possibly flexible, allowing the roles to dictate. Still undecided, and may change at any given time between Structured and flexible.

I don't want to be pressing like crazy, sucking teams in and then hitting them on the break is high on the order, so possibly going to be counter, with normal D-Line, and pressing, with selected roles that will add extra pressing in some      areas.

I want to stick to very simple set of roles and duties, no playmaker roles, no player is more important than any other remember, I don't want one player attracting the ball all the time, although it can have it's advantages at certain times. This is about me learning too, if I can see how these roles work , by sticking to simple set of roles, I can gradually begin to understand what I am doing, and how to change things as I go.

 

As for the actual roles and duties, I will set those out shortly, based loosely around how that team of 99 set up, with what I have got to start with.

 

 

Man Management

 

Maybe not the most important part of Football Manger, but something I want to take a bit more of an interest in now. Being able to manager multiple personalities is important to get the best out of a team. Morale still plays a part in results on the pitch too. Graydon was very much the disciplinarian, as I mentioned earlier. No player is bigger than the team, I want to follow this the best I can, without going crazy and losing key players, and upsetting everyone, which does happen.

Players that get sent off needlessly will be fined, not warned. Players that complain about contracts and moves to other clubs constantly, will be sold at my earliest convenience. Training will be tough as I can make it, without inducing needless injuries. Graydon had the players in doing fitness work on afternoons, whilst other teams players just trained in a morning. I can't push it too hard or I will just upset everyone and have a bunch of injuries. But training will be based around a mix of Fitness and Tactics.

 

That's enough ramblings, on with the plan.

 

First Day In The Office

 

 

So I have had a meeting with Jeff Bonser, and he has assured me, I will be like any other manager at Walsall, and have very little in the way of playing budget. Any money I make on player sales, he will be taking a 50% cut of it. Met my staff, didn't take long, there aren't many of them, but the ones left are on at least 2 year deals, and I can't afford to offload them. Team meeting done, I tell them I think we can avoid the drop, which was the objective set by Mr Bonser. They all seemed okay with this,not over excited, but no real arguments either. I met the media, they seem sceptical of me, and the questions were somewhat boring, when I have other matters to tend to. I probably need to make some friends in the media, but I don't want to be the kind that just rolls over to them either.

 

First job, I got in some staff in areas that I had spaces, mainly medical staff, had room for a couple of fitness coaches, I got the best I could, they aren't great, but they are not awful either. Then I set my staff responsibilities, it made me wonder a little what I employ them for, as I am set to do most of the work. That's fine, ultimately, the buck stops with me, if I fail, I get the sack. I set up  pre- season training, largely based on Cleon's guide, I'm okay with copying him, he knows what he is doing, I'm not going to argue. I also set up a bunch of friendlies, mostly against really poor teams, with the odd one against similar teams to us, so I could have a little gauge at how we really are doing. Mostly it is about fitness and team bonding, and making the tactic as fluid as possible. I will be watching the games closely, even though you can't take too much out of friendlies you can see how the movement of your team is working, and that is what I am going to be  looking at.

 

Analysing the squad

 

Okay, as you may or may not know, our manager in real life has recently had the sack, he has left quite a mess behind. The team is very different with the winter transer update, we had a couple of decent strikers on half season loans, that killed it for me in my last save. They are gone now, I also had a decent winger on loan, that is now also not in the squad. That's the downside of things. There are a few positives. Firstly despite being left with a bit of a mess of a squad, it is largely built up of strong , aggressive players, decent amount of work rate among them, lacking a little in creativity, but that's okay, there are a couple of options in that area, one of whom is probably our best player.

Added to that, there are a few new loans in the squad, one was a center back, that I have immediately sent back, he's played okay for us actually, but on FM his attributes are awful, and I had the option to terminate the loan, so that is what I have done, I can't justify paying him, as I see no place in the squad.

We have a tidy center back on loan from Arsenal, that actually hasn't played a game for us, but he looks very useful, and I know he did really well at Birmingham in the Championship last season ,so I am expecting him to be a key player. We also have a speed demon striker/wide forward from Stoke on loan, I am looking to utilise him as one of our key players, even though he is lacking in some attributes, I feel his speed will compensate a lot for that.

 

I could spend hours, adding screen shots of all of my players, and descriptions, but I feel it isn't really needed, we have a pretty poor squad, possibly one of the worst I have ever started a Walsall save on any version of FM with. I will add a few screenshots of a few key players, and talk about what I am hoping for from them.

 

  

 

I have high hopes for this lad, looks real quality for League 1, could possibly play in the Championship with those attributes. Ticks a lot of key attributes from the club DNA. 

 

 

 

Pretty awful defensive stats for a full back, would like to possibly use him in the left midfield slot at some point, but for now he is probably going to be an attacking full back, and just hope we can cover for him. 

 

 

 

He will be my Defensive Forward / Target Man. I actually sold him sharpish in my last save, but he has pretty ideal stats for what I am looking for. Great Work Rate and Team Work, Strong , Aggressive. Would have liked a better first touch, but can't have everything.

 

 

My Poacher. He doesn't actually have the stats I want in a poacher, his off the ball stats could do with being much better, Composure and Finishing aren't great either, but we are in League 1, I am hoping his speed is going to compensate for a lot. I am expecting him to miss quite a few chances, but hopefully he will be able to do a good job for us. I don't have anyone else, my next Poacher is a 17 year old prospect, which I will probably have to use.

 

 

The Tactics

 

The meat and gravy, and the main focus of the thread from now on. In the words of Mike Bassett “ We are playing 4 4 flipping 2, or words to that effect :-)

 

Before I begin a few words. The tactics will be loosely based on a team that gave me a lot of pleasure to watch. A team that over achieved by some distance, based on a simple plan, hard work and determination. I will be making mistakes tactically, I am no genius at this game, I am trying to learn to be better, whilst hoping to get a lot of fun out of it too. I am open to questions, advice, criticism, whatever you want to say, feel free.

 

Graydon's Set Up

 

As discussed earlier, I feel it was a structured set up, but there could be arguments for a more fluid set up. There was little in the way of creative freedom in this side, they all had their jobs, and wasn't expected to deviate from it too far. Having said that, all players barring maybe one, were expected to help in the defensive phase. This is something I am probably going to struggle with in terms of FM. I am going to settle on Structured for now, and assess at a later date, I don't want to make to much of a chore out of this.

 

Below is my interpretation of his set up in terms of roles and duties, from memory, and a few looks at the odd video that is still knocking about.

 

 

Starting from the back, Sweeper Keeper, I think he could be classed as that. He was very small for a keeper actually, but still managed to pull off saves that defied logic and science that season. He swept up nicely through balls, and his distribution was excellent. Mostly long kicks.

 

The Center back pairing was a solid one. One player that definitely was a Defensive Center back, his main job was just clearing the ball, he would head anything away, kick anything away, never looked to play any passes as such. On the left side was a bit more of a cultured defender, still willing to block anything, but I have marked him as a Ball Playing defender, more in the sense of how one works on FM than the real life description. I wouldn't say he brought the ball out of defence, but he often launched long diagonal balls to either our right midfielder, or to the target man, or over the top.

 

The two full backs was difficult to decide, because as I mentioned earlier, one would often wander forwards, and the other side would always stay back. This is impossible to replicate in FM as far as I am aware. Both of them both launched balls forwards from the back at times too. Based on what I remember, our right back played more long balls forwards, either down the wing to our right midfielder, or for the target man, where as the left side would be found putting in crosses more often, so that's how I decided on the roles here.

 

In center midfield, this was pretty clear cut. We had a ball winning midfielder, and a box to box midfielder. It is possible the the box to box midfielder was at times asked not to enter the attacking phase, but mostly he was an end to end all action type player that linked things up nicely and had a bit of creativity about him.

 

The wide men, our right midfielder was a key part of this team, from memory he scored something like 15 goals and 17 assists. He was a key outlet to the team, I think he was close on being classed as a winger, but I don't recall him running wide with the ball often, would more often start wide and come inside, although he was right footed. The left side, we had several different types of player play here over the season, but none of them were as attack minded as the right side. Both of them were expected to track back in the defensive phase for sure though.

 

 

In attack, I think we definitely had a target man, he won headers, held the ball, and was generally a big battering ram, that would put his head anywhere. Didn't have much in terms of vision, or creativity. Next to him would always be a more nippy striker, who would be the only player excused from the defensive phase.

 

 

The main plan was to sit deep, suck teams in, and catch them on the break. Our tactics when not on the counter, were generally direct balls, either up to the target man, or over the top,usually down the right hand side, with the midfield pushing up to pick up the second balls. It really was that simple.

 

Below are just a couple of videos of that season that are still knocking around.  V Oldham when we clinched promotion and then v Title Winners, Kevin Keegan's big spending Fulham after we had already got promoted. They can be a little misleading as we signed a striker on loan for the last few months of the season, that was a little different to the poacher type that played next to our Target Man most the season, but what it does show is how direct we were at times and how deep we defended.  The Oldham game, there was little in the way of counter attacks, they were fighting against relegation and came for a draw basically, but the first goal v Fulham shows a little insight to how quickly we broke, although it was through the middle, we often would break down the right hand side.

                                                                                                                                                                           

                                                                                                                                                       

 

 

Translating in to FM

 

Okay, so now it is time to try and implement some of this in to FM. I have been left in a bit of a mess here by Jon Whitney, but I am confident over time I can build the team I want. For now I may have to adjust certain aspects, with the long term plan still very much in mind. I have to try and mould what I have in to a functioning football team.

 

 

So as discussed, a structured , Counter set up. The only team instruction I have added for now, is Higher Tempo. I don't want any dilly dallying with the ball, even when not on a counter attack. I'm interested in possession. I want to get the ball forwards quickly, and despite the fact we are playing a counter mentality, we should always pretty much have the two strikers up field to battle for these balls. I considered more direct passing, but I believe counter mentality gives the defenders slightly more direct passing, and the defensive center back with more direct passing by default. I'm not trying to be 1980s Wimbledon, just a quick transition. I also considered a lower defensive line, but lets see how leaving it as it is works out for now.

 

Starting from the back as always.

 

 

• Sweeper Keeper

 

No distribution instructions yet, considering making him play it long to me strong striker, but am happy to watch how it goes for now. I have to reasonable keepers actually, the younger one having 16 for passing, which seems random, but could be interesting to try a few things with him. He is my second choice though for now.

 

• Center Back (D)

 

I don't have a player I feel is good enough to play the ball playing defender just yet, I considered two defensive center backs, but my main defender has plays short simple passes player trait, so I will let him do just that for now and see how it goes.

 

• Defensive Center Back (D)

 

Pretty simple, defend and clear the ball up the pitch, for the strikers to tussle for, run on to , etc etc.

 

• Full Back (A) (Left Side)

 

I had to make a decision what I was going to do with the full backs, I can't get one to attack and one to cover in rotation, so I had to decide what to do. The best left back at the club has pretty poor defensive attributes, and decent attacking ones, so there is little point making him a defensive full back. May as well play him to his strengths, which is one of the main parts of Graydon's philosophy. It is more than possible I will use this player in the left midfield slot in the future. He looks far more suited for that kind of role. I did sign another left back, that has decent attributes in defence and attack, so it is possible they may both play together at some point.  Player Instructions – Stay Wider

 

• Full Back (S) (Right Side)

 

Considered a Defensive Full Back, but was a little concerned about the gap between him and the wide midfielder. Player Instructions – Hold Position

 

• Ball Winning Midfielder (D)

 

Could yet become a Center Midfield (D) Will have to keep an eye on the pressing. Main job is to just break up play and lay the ball off. Simples.

 

• BBM (s)

 

This was a tricky one, I am struggling for the kind of player I want here, I'm not certain what exactly I want here, without seeing the rest of it all connect up. I really considered a standard Center midfielder (s) here, that I can easily add Hold Position PI too if needed in game. However I like the idea of a player that gets up and down the pitch. This is the one position that in the future I may be looking for a more rounded player, that can do a bit of everything, including creating. That is just a dream for now though.

 

• Wide Midfielder (S) (Left Side)

 

What I want here is just a nice simple role, who will support and play balls through for the Poacher sometimes, with the option to his left of the overlapping Full back. I have my key player ear marked for this role. He does unfortunately have the shoots from distance trait, but he is still a creative type player, that should do well. He also has the dictates tempo trait. He is actually an AMC naturally, and only awkward in this position, I'm not going to over worry that.   Player Instructions - More Risky Passes. Shoots Less. Often Cross Less often

 

 

• Wide Midfielder (A) (Right Side)

 

I want this player to be my attacking outlet from midfield. He is expected to be a a goal threat, and put crosses in. I decided against the winger (for now) Not sure I want him hugging the touch line, and even though I don't mind him putting some crosses in, it's not his main function. No player instructions , for now, until I have assessed how the role works.

 

• Defensive Forward (D)

 

Really , this should be a Target Man, inline with what Graydon did. However, do I want him to battle for the ball, win headers, be a battering ram, hold the ball up? Yes to all, do I want him to be the main target? No not really, I don't want my Poacher and Wide Midfielder on the right being ignored. So I am hoping he will play kind of a target man role, without being an actual target man. Put him on the Defend Duty, in the hope he will drop deep and put pressure on defensive midfielders when they play those pesky 3 in midfield formations against us, it's not a role I have used much so will have to monitor how it goes.

 

• Poacher

 

The simplest of roles, I just want this man to focus on scoring goals, again have little experience of this role, have always favoured the Advanced Forward, but I don't want or need him running out wide, or wasting time trying to create goals.

 

 

 

So that is it, my initial set up. I am certain it is going to need some changes, but I want to focus on how it is working and make small changes. Big changes will only be made, if big changes are really required.

 

 

I have completed a full season now, and have a whole more to add sometime in the next 24 hours. Including..

 

• Some Tactical Analysis

• Some thoughts on Set Pieces

• Pros and Cons of the 4-4-2 Formation

• Changes made , based on what I watched

• Changes made after key players sold

• End of Season Analysis

 

 

For now, I just want to get this up on the board, and then finish off editing the rest.

I hope you have enjoyed reading so far. It's a big read, and a lot of it is based on something that may not interest a lot of fans, but hopefully the simple 4-4-2 , going forwards, will appeal to some.

 

 

 

 

[Torskus77]

I had a whole bunch of images, and writing saved  to edit and put together on here, on my laptop. Sadly my Son was kind enough to spill a big glass of juice all over the laptop, which now appears to be fried.  Pretty gutted, as I had put a lot of time and energy in to it, but these things happen. I am still going to put something together, just going to take a bit more time, and I will lack some of the images I saved as I went a long.  I will be updating quite a lot though, so all is not lost, there is still plenty to come for those that are interested.

 

Pros and cons of the 4-4-2

 

I would just like to say, these are my thoughts and opinions only, I am not stating anything as fact. I am a football fan, not a football coach. Everything I know (or think I know) about football, is from what I watched, read, hear, then I make my own decisions what I believe in or don't.  Please feel free to post at any time, to agree, disagree, argue, I don't mind, I wont take offence, this thread is as much about me learning as it is about giving something for you all to read. Football is a game of opinions, my main focus of the thread, is to stick to the DNA and the plan I have set out, and try and learn more as I go along, and hopefully have a lot of fun while doing so.

 

Pros

• Good coverage of the football pitch

I have read about and heard this said many times, and when I look at a 4-4-2 in it's most basic state, it makes a lot of sense.  The players are spread out nice and evenly on the pitch, forgiving that there is space between the lines in the defensive midfield and attacking midfield zones ( I will touch on this in a moment)  This is what your roles and duties are for.  When I spoke to Ray Graydon, he spoke about it too, he also mentioned the simplicity of it, and how he thought a lot of managers just over complicate things, when all that is really needed is a plan where each player knows exactly what they are doing. He also spoke about how he could pin point where the mistake had been, when a goal was conceded. He was very adamant that any goal that is conceded would be through a mistake at some point, no matter how brilliant the goal may have looked.  It then made it easy to put these things right, and yes players were held accountable.

 

• Creating 2 v 1 overloads down the wings

One of the plus sides of 4-4-2 is the ability to create 2 v 1 situations down the wings, usually with an overlapping full back, of particular use against narrow formations, or formations that use wing backs. Accepting you will have one man less in the center of the pitch, this is a great way of finding space to exploit.

 

•  Two Strikers Are Better Than One !

Okay, I am pretty sure that statement isn't 100% true, but some of the greatest club sides I have seen in my life time have played with two striker combos. It is a pivotal part of any 4-4-2 in my opinion. I am thinking Liverpool of the late 70s, and early 80s (when I started watching football)  Man United of the 90s, and one of the greatest club sides I can ever remember, AC Milan of the late 80s early 90s. Dalglish/Rush, Yorke/Cole  Gullit/Van Basten, and so on. There are many ways two strikers can combine, and their partnerships are going to be key to how the 4-4-2 performs. Partnerships are important all over the pitch, something I want to talk about at some point in the future, the partnership of the front two, will to an extent dictate how the team attacks. 

 

Cons

 

• Outnumbered in midfield

The single biggest pitfall of the 4-4-2 is surely being a man light in midfield against a lot of modern day formations. I don't know this for a fact, but I always assumed that the 4231, 4123 and so on, were designed to combat the 4-4-2. Wasn't it Jose Mourinho who said he had an instant advantage over any team that played 442 against him?  Possibly why the 442 went on a back burner for some years. I'm not about to argue with Jose, don't want him spitting his dummy out. I am sure there is a lot of truth in what he says, although the mini revival of the 442 would suggest that managers are finding ways to adapt the 442 to combat the extra man in midfield.

 

• Those pesky attacking wide players

Obviously relating to above, a player in the central attacking midfield area is going to give you a problem to think about, speaking directly from my experiences playing FM, the wide men in the attacking midfield strata can cause problems too, especially if one or both of your full backs get over committed.  There are several options to deal with this, stopping the supply being the best option if possible. That said, all to often, some of the top heavy formations can get over crowded in the attacking zones on the pitch, all about managing the space to  your advantage in any given situation.

 

•  The Golden Zone

I am sure most people who follow football these days, have heard of the golden zone , also known as Zone 14. 

 

 

As the name suggests, it is basically the golden area, where most key attacks either begin, or assists are made from.  If you have a player(s) in this area who are skillful, have good vision, can spot runners, or make quick passes to change the direction of the attack, then you can cause a lot of damage. The 442 doesn't have anyone in this zone naturally, neither does it have anyone in zone 5, which would be the oppositions golden zone. This is where your roles and duties really come in to play, along with the whole set up of your tactic.   The opposition having an attacking midfielder playing in zone 14 doesn't mean you are beat before you start though, there are many ways to combat any problem, if you think about it logically, and even with a world class attacking midfielder, he would still need good options around him to be really effective.

 

I am sure there is much more that could be said about the pros and cons, and please do fee free to add your thoughts. Some things to look out for as we progress. I am sure some of these will come up in discussion.

 

 

In The Beginning there was light

 

So I have my squad together now, can't say as I am over joyed with it, but with the money I had available I feel I have done alright. I still feel a bit gutted I had to sell Joe Edwards, who was a center midfielder with a great engine, and ticked most the boxes in terms of the primary stats I was looking for. Being a manager is full of tough decisions, and this was one of them. As much as he would have fitted perfectly in to my set up, him and Oztumer were the only players I could really get any money for.  No way I was selling Oztumer, he is my main attacking player, I am hoping to get him to sign a new deal at some point, he isn't interested at this point, so we may well end up selling him later, but for now it was a straight out choice between the two, and Edwards had to be the one I let go. If I hadn't sold him I would have been dangerously short in defence, Key decisions like this, are every bit as important as the tactics you use in my opinion. If you are managing Man City or Barcelona, then such decisions may not be forced upon you, but when you are managing a League 1 club, with a League 2 budget, these key decisions are going to have a huge impact on your success.

 

I played a total of 12 friendlies, most against very very weak sides, local non league sides, and a couple of League 2 sides. I used all of my players including all of the youth players, and managed to win 11 of the 12 games. I somehow lost to Boreham Wood, by underestimating them, and playing to many of the 16 year old players. No big deal I guess, but a bit of a knock to the morale we were trying to generate. Gave the team a roasting at the full time whistle, which gained a positive response from all players, so maybe not to much damage done. I guess it's important to see how players react when they lose, although I'd rather have won the game, but we move on.

 

 

So we are working with the tactic above. During the friendlies, it is pretty difficult to see where you are at, we were blasting most teams out of the water, as I'd expect given the difference in class, it all looked alright, but at the same time it also felt a little disjointed at times. Maybe it was that the players and tactic weren't fluid, but in my mind something wasn't quite right.  I spent some time watching some of these friendly games back, and had a eureka moment.

 

 

I will admit, I am not very good at doing the whole screen shot and explanation thing, but I will give it my best shot. Would take a whole bundle of images to give the full picture, but here is my best attempt.  On the ball is my main man Oztumer,  He has Leahy our attacking left back making his overlap, all good there, that's what we wanted. Number 8 is the ball winning midfielder, giving the short pass option, and staying back to cover if possession is lost, all good there.  The position of number 6 who is our box to box midfielder is fine, although he is well marked, he will make an attempt to find some space.  The wide midfield right is getting ready to attack the box from wide.  The problem I see here and I saw it a lot in the first few friendlies I played, is the distance between the poacher (number 10) and Oztumer.  In my mind when I put the tactic together, I visioned him closer to the poacher.  Okay, now it is time to earn my money as a manager, not that I get paid a lot, even in the virtual world of being Walsall manager, but let's take a bit of pride in our work.

 

First thoughts, make Oztumer an attack duty, seems a reasonable option , this will surely push him closer to the poacher. This is probably in the past what I would have done, but that one little change, changes so much, and for once I did actually think about the consequences of this move.  Firstly, the overlap I wanted down the left will be gone, or if not gone, not the same as I wanted it to be. That's not the end of the world, but it takes a bit away from what I am looking for. Oztumer, in the role I have him playing is meant to be a creator. Attack duties can be creators I am certain, but Oztumer even though he has pretty good vision flair and reasonable passing, also has average team work, and also the shoots long trait. I could easily see him turning in to something completely different to what I am looking for down that side. Also who is then going to feed him the ball? It opens up a whole new set of problems. Okay, I am going to admit, I tried it ! And it pretty much did what I said above, so that's not the answer. 

 

Another problem I saw a lot, which probably can't be picked up from one still screen shot, is the box to box midfielder wasn't finding space, he was running in to the defensive forward more than anything, and there was a big gap the other side, between the BWM and the Poacher. So I swapped the sides of the Defensive Forward, and the Poacher. Now the defensive forward started to link up with the left side where Oztumer is, and the box to box midfielder started moving in to the space the Poacher vacated. An added bonus which I never saw coming, was an overload it created down the right hand side. The poacher, even though he didn't have move in to the channels ticked, still did move out wide a lot, and created this deadly combo with the Wide Midfielder (A) on the right hand side. It literally transformed how it looked in action, I'm not going to lie, this was a sweet moment. I wish I could show it better in images.

 

So that was it, we are all ready for the season to begin, pretty happy with our pre-season work. All players are fully fit and in good condition, tactic is 90% fluid in all areas, morale is good, team isn't properly gelled yet, but that will come I am sure. We have ironed out some creases in the tactic, but we wont truly know where we are at until we have got some competitive games under our belts.

 

 

First month of the season went amazingly well.  Better than I could have expected to be honest. Including two wins v Good championship teams in the league cup. I am fine with 1-0 wins, that is what Graydon built the success on, I think we won a record amount of games 1-0 in that 99 season. I monitored closely the BWM role, as I thought it could be too aggressive in a two man midfield, but it seemed fine, added a bit of bite to a set up that wasn't over aggressive. Broke up attacks nicely, and came across well to cover for the attacking left back quite often.  Was over the moon with the win against Villa, I wouldn't say they are rivals as such, they aren't on the game, but they are probably the biggest club local to us, and where I grew up in Walsall, it was full of Villa fans, so it was a sweet victory for us, although it came in extra time, which I could have done without, but it was well worth it.

 

Moving forward, the next month...

 

 

Can't argue with the results as such. First defeat to Oxford, they are a useful team, and it was just an odd game, I wasn't over disappointed with the performance. Started to leak some goals now though, which is a concern. I made two changes in this month. First one, If you notice on my tactic, I have a defensive center back on the same side as the poacher.  We were creating quite a few chances by him just launching the ball over the top, and our ridiculously fast poacher racing on to the ball and either getting in on goal, or centering it for the defensive forward, who would pretty much always be there in the middle waiting for the cross. I decided to give my right full back the defensive full back role, in the hope he could offer similar balls. I thought about just giving him more direct passing, but I was a little intrigued by how the defensive full back would work. I didn't really require him to off any kind of overlap. It worked really well, he still goes forward and offers a ball backwards if needed, he did indeed offer more balls down the right side, which caused all kinds of havoc for our opponents.

 

Second change came after the Oxford defeat, nothing as such to do with the defeat, we we just starting to conceded goals, and it was noticeable it was down our left side. I kind of expected this, as firstly we had an attack minded full back down that side, and secondly he was pretty awful defensively anyway. I had some injury problems and ended up having to play our 37 year old DM in the BWM role, he has premier league mental stats, aggressive, all that is needed, but he is really really slow, and wasn't getting there in time. Changing him to CM (D) Didn't work, I tried, it cut his pressing down, but that just made it worse.  So I changed something to do with personnel. Leaky Leahy was moved in to the WM (L) slot, he has decent attacking stats, reasonable crossing relative to the division, good team work and work rate.  Not so much the creative type like little Oztumer though, so it is quite a big change. Oztumer gets moved on to the right hand side as our Wide Midfielder (A)  He has no rating for this position at all, so starting from scratch. He definitely has the stats to play there though. He is left footed, so it will change the dynamic quite a bit, I still have my right winger on loan from Swansea to play there too when needed.  I didn't add cut inside player instruction, although it did happen naturally of course.  This change transformed the team even further. Leahy was just superb on the left of midfield, putting in beautiful crosses, coming in on the back post to score goals, and still feeding our other left back on the overlap. Oztumer became probably the best performing player in the league of the coming months, so much so, bigger clubs were starting to take notice.   You will notice a nice 5-2 victory v Sheffield Wednesday , the scoreline flattered them, they just couldn't handle our attack down the right hand side.

 

Some Thought's On Set Pieces

 

I have played FM for many years, without really paying any attention to set pieces. I have always scored what I'd consider a normal amount of goals, and got mildly annoyed at times by how many I have conceded from corners in particular. I'm not going to go in to too much detail about this, but I do know that one of Graydon's biggest bugbear's was conceding goals from set pieces. So I thought I would spend just a little time seeing if I could do anything with it.  Focusing mostly on defending corners. For attacking corners/free kicks, I am not going to bother talking too much about them for now, I am just going to say , I became more focused on making sure we didn't get caught on the break from them, rather than finding a way of scoring a couple more goals a season. This again in line with how Graydon would have thought, was all about the clean sheets.  I still scored more than an average amount. Personally I feel scoring a lot from set pieces is as much about the quality of the player delivering the ball, and the people attacking it, regardless of how you set it up.  I can't remember getting caught out on the break too much from clearances with the set up I used, other than one game when my corner taker didn't play, and I was left a player short at the back, noted, wont happen again.

 

Defending Corners

The age old question, players on the posts or not?  In this instance, I am talking about FM only, I'm not certain about real life examples, I guess it depends on how you plan to defend the corner. Personally from watching many many games on FM i don't remember too many examples of players clearing the ball off the line. I want to defend the cross so the ball doesn't get there in the first place. There is a lot of talk about Zonal Marking on set pieces in real life. I think for a real life Example, Liverpool have come under scrutiny for it several times, under a few different managers.  There are some managers, or football pundits that believe marking space is never going to work, because space doesn't score goals right? There are plenty of top class managers that have got this to work over the years though (possibly not so much in England) It is more about the execution and the players understanding of what they are doing. I decided to try a zonal marking set up for defending corners, with no real idea what I was doing  

 

 

 

 

Not reinventing the wheel here, or coming up with any genius tactical revelation. A simple set up. All Zonal Marking Options ticked. Center Backs covering the most central areas, although I did consider having one on the near post to head near post corners away, watched how it worked, and it seemed fine as it is. Then 3 players just set to go back, including the bigger and stronger of our two strikers.  Oztumer left on the edge of the box, to pick up lose balls and possibly start counter attacks. He is 5 foot nothing and pretty useless for defending a corner anyway. Our speed demon left up front on his own, to battle for long clearances.

 

I will say now, without spoiling to much the rest of the write up, we conceded only 3 goals from corners all season, and scored probably as many on counter attacks from them. So all in all, pretty happy with that. Not sure how that compares to just leaving it as it was, but it was an extra bit of fun along the way.

 

 

January Transfer Window

 

So the end of the year, we are still doing amazing well, starting to pull away at the top, well clear of 3rd place. Can't remember exactly cos I lost the screen shots, but I think it was something like 13 points clear of 3rd spot, with Blackburn in 2nd place, about 8 points behind us. Pretty good considering the difference in resources between us and Blackburn.   I had some nice transfer clauses I was hoping would get cashed in. Over recent years we have sold on some players with clauses attached. We managed to get 100k in for Tom Bradshaw playing 50 games for Barnsley, which Bonser actually allowed me to keep 80% after I requested the amount was increased. The bloke is just an open wallet honestly   Rico Henry at Brentford has some great clauses attached. 500K For 25 appearances 3 times !  Great apart from the fact they didn't play him for the first 3 months of the season, he was just a handful of appearances short of triggoering the first one, but wasn't going to happen in January.  Also one other big one, which we actually missed out on in real life several times now. Troy Deeney, 15% sell on clause, and he is valued at 20 million, this would be quite a big hit for us, there were teams interested in him, but no one bid. I can only hope at some point he gets sold, or the club negotiate a buy out clause. His loyalty is somewhat annoying !

 

I wasn't really looking to buy anyone to be fair, everything was going smoothly, I fancied our chances of promotion, without adding to the squad. Maybe looking ahead of myself a little too much, cos we had achieved nothing yet, but the quality of players I could attract now, may not be good enough for the Championship next season (fingers crossed) so it could possibly be a waste of money, and disrupt the dynamics of the team, which was now starting to come together nicely.  Oztumer was now starting to drop hints he saw his future away from Walsall, and with his contract running out at the end of the season, and no chance of him signing a new deal at a wage we could offer, when I managed to get an offer of £1.1 million with a sell on clause attached from Middlesborough, I couldn't really turn it down, as gutted as I was to lose him. He was by far away now the most productive player in the division in his new Right Midfield role, and it was going to hurt us for sure. Again, decisions that need to be made. I am sure I could have got through January without selling him, but would he have been happy about it ? I doubt it, plus that kind of money is just too much for us to turn down.  I also had a 650k offer for George Dobson, with some good add ons. He had been playing a mix of BWM and Box to Box midfielder, mostly BWM. He had done "okay" but when Aston Villa offered that kind of money, I said yes pretty quickly, I had a decent replacement in mind for him, that I was about to sign on a bosman for next season. I ended up having to pay 40k for him to get him to come now, but chicken feed in comparison, and I feel he will be a better player for the role than Dobson anyway.  Bonser sneakily had dropped my cut back down to 50% without me even noticing, not that it really mattered, I had no plans to use much of the money. I signed a right sided midfielder to kind of replace Oztumer,  Josh Windass, from Rangers, he wasn't really a replacement as such, ended up being a bit of a panic buy, as I was struggling to find someone. I felt I could at least make a profit on him in the future, and he would fill the gap for the rest of the season, along with Daniel James who was on loan from Swansea and doing pretty well when he had played instead of Ozzy.

 

 

This is the lad I got in for the BWM role, almost perfect. Work Rate, Aggression, Team Work , Bravery, good mental stats all round mostly. Plays short simple passes, which is want I want him to do. He looks like he can still improve too. His decisions doesn't look too good, I wouldn't mind him being a bit quicker and stronger maybe, but then again I wouldn't mind a 20 year old Gary Lineker as my poacher either. For 40k and £1200 a week, just about as close as I am going to get to a perfect match. Resolute character shouldn't go unnoticed either, will be ready to tutor within the next year or so.

 

 

End Of Season Review

 

I am not going to go on to much more with this season now, it is a little pointless as it all run very smoothly, and I didn't come across many problems. The sometimes problematic mid to end of season slump never really happened. We threw away a couple of 2-0 leads at some point, I had some awful injury problems, mainly because I made some mistakes with my training set up, and had players on a hard work load, when I thought they were on medium. My main poacher, the speed demon, he missed a lot of games, and my only real option was to play a 17 year old kid, who looks like he has some potential, but he is no where near ready, it made a big difference, but we still did okay. There were times when I had 2 or 3 young kids filling in, and still we did reasonably well. When these players were playing in defence, it showed a little, we started to concede more goals, but the whole set up remained a good one in my opinion.  I am sure I will have much more to talk about next season. I'm not sure how much of the money I raked in from Oztumer and Dobson I will be given to spend, but I am pretty sure it will be way behind what the other teams in the Championship have to offer, plus with our poor reputation wont be easy to attract players. The plus side being, we should be able to continue to play against teams on the break.

 

 

 

 

As you can see, we were one of the lowest payers in the division, we were actually the lowest, but after our dabble in the market pre season and then again in January, pushed us just above Rochdale. Although we made almost 2.2 million in net profit for the season. Wigan and Blackburn both had a salary per annum of over 7 million, that is some way beyond what we could dream of.  Very much in line with what the class of 99 did, achieved success without the big financial resources of the bigger clubs.  Lets hope before deciding our budget for next season, Mr Bonser takes in to account the money we have brought in, and maybe gets a visit from the ghosts of Walsall Past, Walsall Present, and Walsall Future.

 

 

As you can see, we won the league with some ease, whilst Blackburn and Wigan with their huge resources, had to settle for the play offs. Blackburn did a big bottle job, they were on our tails for a long time, but faded badly in the end. We did reasonably well in the cups too, in particular the carabao, with some nice wins v Championship sides. Eventually Leicester just had too much quality for us, same in the FA Cup v Swansea. Was a little disappointed to not win the Checkatrade cup, would have been a nice trip to Wembley, and we wont be able to play in that competition now, providing we don't come back down. Can't have it all though.

 

I could post a whole load of images of how well some of the players did. Our Poacher was joint top scorer for the league, despite missing a lot of the season. Leaky Leahy excelled in his left midfield role, I am sure when I click continue I will have a fair few players in team of the year, a few surprising ones too, that I never expected to do so well. 

We broke the points record for League 1 (just about with a win on the last day) all in all, a very satisfying season, with all the hard work ahead, but looking forward to the challenge.

 

Season Observations

 

To conclude, a few thoughts on the season.  With the changes I made in pre season, the right side of the pitch was deadly in attack, it just killed teams, I don't think any team really found a way to deal with it. Teams stopped playing 4-2-3-1 against us, I assume because we had the measure of it. Any team that played wing backs, we were playing with an advantage without any doubt. I have checked up on the stats, and it confirms this. Teams that played formations like 4-1-2-3 did a bit better against us, but nothing of any major concern yet.  Ngoy;s pace in the poacher role was just devastating, but at the same time, we coped well without him, and was still effective.  Towards the end of the season, we must have started to gain a bit more respect, because teams weren't leaving much space in behind, and our possession stats went up, especially at home. Our best performances of the season were when we had less possession. 40% seemed to be a sweet spot, we gave Wigan two real hidings, 4-0 at home and 5-1 away, both with 40% possession, beat Blackburn away 3-1 could have been 10, same kind of thing.   We still did alright when teams sat back against us, but I will need to keep an eye on this in the future, may be I have to adjust some things, like passing length and tempo, and maybe look at other ways to open teams up.

 

Noticeably, even with one of the strikers with a defend duty, he still stays up top most of the time, and your team needs to be able to compensate for this, which I feel I have so far. Looking to the distant future, if we actually have more quality players, and are at a higher rep for the division we are in, I may look at changing the Defensive Forward and dropping that slot in to the AM strata (Still on the left side) Not for now, still very much focused on the flat 442, but it is always good to have a long term vision, and having different options is always good, when I have more resources, it will probably be possibly to have both options available to me.

 

My aplogies this didn't turn out to be the post I had hoped it to be, but I have had to put double the effort in to get this up. I hope you found in enjoyable to read.

Within the next day or so, I am hoping to make a post including the following...

 

• Thoughts on how to approach next season
• Recruitment plans
• Thoughts on any tactical adjustments for next season
• Partnerships on the pitch
• Managing Team Morale

 

Thanks for reading

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Torskus77]

A Manager's Work Is Never Done

 

Then end of season meeting took place, I told the players I thought we could try and avoid relegation next season, with the right additions. They all seemed delighted at this. I avoided making any promises about keeping them all and giving them all a chance. So off they go, jetting off on their holidays, or on what Walsall pay, probably a weekend in Brighton, who incidentally are one of the big boys we will be facing next season. Meanwhile I am left back in Walsall, with no time to really celebrate last season's success. Time to start thinking ahead and making plans to try and compete with the wealthy big boys in the Championship.

Last season's success even amazed me, but success is soon forgotten if it is followed by failure. I have no intention of making whole sale changes to the way we play, but I don't think it can do any harm to just take a little look back, see if there is anything I have overlooked, before making any more plans.

 

 

 

Let's take a look at assist locations for last season. I have marked it for the last 50 games, and chosen league games only, to make it a fair assessment, not really fair to include games that could have been against non league teams, or Premier League teams in cup games. Despite choosing the last 50 games, it has only given stats from the last 41 league games, not sure why, but it's a big enough sample to take something from.

 

 

First thing that stands out, is that we have conceded more down our left side, than any other part of the pitch. This is no real surprise, given that Leaky Leahy was playing in the left back slot for the first half of the season, and also we have played with an attacking full back, the whole of the season. Gaps are bound to appear there. I changed it to the last 25 matches, approximately when Leahy moved in to the more advanced position, and we only conceded 4 in that time, so that is a bit of an improvement, and an indication it was more about the player than the set up. At this point, I am not planning on changing the left back role, it's all about risk and reward, and as we will see the reward appears to outweigh the risk. I really like the overlap down that side too.

 

Looking at the right side was a real shock, only 1 goal conceded from that position in 41 games, that is astounding, especially as I had two very young full backs covering that position through injuries. Although one of them did do better than I expected, and has got me considering him being in my plans for next season. In my opinion that more than compensates for the goals conceded down the left, which wasn't an awful amount by any means anyway. That Golden Zone looks like it was a little problematic, but I feel you are always going to concede some goals through that area. Maybe we are a little bit passive at times, with how we sit back, I'm not over concerned, and the center of midfield is a position I am looking to strengthen anyway. Florent Cuvelier played there most of the season , along with Dobson before he left, and a few other kids filling in. Cuvelier is a useful player, has good bravery, determination, but less than average defensive skills, and not the required team work or work rate that I really want, this could make a big difference if I can get the right player in for this position.

Not too many conceded from assists out of the oppositions half, which makes sense, given that we play pretty deep.

 

Looking at where created our goals from, was more than a bit surprising, I would have wagered a lot we created more down the right hand side. Ngoy seemed to be forever waltzing down that right hand side and simply sliding it in the box for Bakayoko to score a tap in. I think it shows what a good move it was moving Leahy to the left wing slot. He weighed in with 11 assists in the league, which is pretty good going I think. We also notched a nice amount in that golden zone, which is pleasing, and an amazing 21 inside the penalty box, I am putting this down to the combination of the two strikers.

 

 

Above is a list of formations we have faced, again for the last 41 league games. It just goes to show that your initial interpretation of things is a little off. I would have said we did better against 4-2-3-1 than any other formation, in fact teams stopped using it v me. Whether that was just cos other teams in league 1 don't use it much, I don't know. If you look at the games we played against the two 4-2-3-1 formations, including the 2 DM version, we created chances fine against it, but allowed chances to be created against us a lot too. It kind of makes sense, as it is a formation that leaves a lot of space, but can play very attacking against you. I get the feeling I will face these formations quite a bit in the future, especially if at some point I make it to the promised land of the Premier League, so it is worth taking note now. I mentioned earlier I thought 4-1-2-3 had done well v us, well not according to this, no chances created against us in 519 minutes. I know the stats for chances can be a little of, but it's still a good indicator of how we are doing. Maybe I was results orientated and we lost a couple of games against this formation, I'm not sure. 4-4-2 was actually the most popular formation we faced, and I consider those to be pretty good stats overall, given that we probably had one of the weaker squads in the division.

 

One final thing from my assessment of last season, we came from behind a lot, I never felt we were out of a game until the final whistle was blown. This is really pleasing, and very much inline with the class of 99.  I am thinking this is down to high levels of determination throughout that squad, another part that matched exactly what I was looking for, long may it continue, and hopefully even improve, once I have my own set of players.

Recruitment Plans

 

Time to start assessing our squad, and see what we need for next season. This is made ultimately easier by the fact that we know exactly how we are going to play. I see no need to make any changes to the set up for now. I assume teams in the Championship will see us as whipping boys initially at least, allowing us to take advantage with our direct counter attacking style.

 

It isn't made any easier with our playing budget though. I am a little disappointed with what I have been allocated, given I made over 2 million in profit on transfers, and we cashed a £500k transfer clause for Rico Henry playing 50 games for Brentford.

 

As you can see above, we have been allocated £924k in transfer budget and £23k in our budget for wages. I have the freedom to reallocate some for extra wages, It sounds a lot, but to attract quality Championship players, it really isn't that much. You will also notice there is a buy out clause for George Dobson, they are offering £392k to buy out the 40% profit of his next transfer. No brainer for me, I don't think he is that good to be honest, and will probably fade away at Villa. That makes it over a million pounds for a very ordinary player, I am happy with that. A few clicks later I got some more good news...

An offer of £.3.41 million for the 15% of Troy Deeney's next transfer. There are some teams interested in him, but at this point, that kind of money is way too much to turn down, and risk getting nothing. Also got an offer of £377k for Rico Henry appearance money, which would be £500k if it was triggered. I have already received one of these payments,the next one will probably trigger this season, I am happy to accept their offer, instead of waiting another season, and risk not getting anything. This extra money will really boost what I can do in the transfer market.

 

 

After cashing in all these clauses, and moving a bit of it to the scouting budget, to allow us a better scouting package, and adjusting it, to add a bit more to wages rather than transfer budget, I am left with £1.76 million for Transfers, and £58.87k p/w in wages. Relative to the rest of the division, it probably isn't that much, in Walsall terms, it is huge, and it is very important I don't waste it. My usual transfer policy at this point is to sell everyone from last season, and try and build a new team. I am going to try a different approach this time around, and try and keep more players on from last season, and add quality where I can. We have a good dynamic at the club, the feel good factor is high, and I don't want to tear the heart out of that.

 

I have signed up 3 of the loan players from last season for another season. Beilik, the young center back from Arsenal didn't require any thought, I can't get that kind of quality for 2k a week anywhere else. Ngoy, our speed demon poacher required a little more thought. He still concerns me with some of his attributes, but his pace just caused so much damage last season. Maybe it is some kind of an emotional attachment signing, he costs 5k a week in wages, which isn't that cheap on a gamble, but I have a sneaky feeling he will repay my faith. I signed up Daniel James (Right Midfield (A) for another 12 months based on the fact, he did quite well last season, and he costs nothing in wages to loan. Had I had the clauses to cash earlier, I may well have left him, but it is done now, and I only signed him on loan as a rotational player, rather than first team this time around.

 

I gave new contracts to Luke (Leaky) Leahy to play on the left side of midfield mainly. Amadou Bakayoko (Defensive Forward) Florent Cuvelier who played mostly center midfield in the box to box role, only signed him as a rotational player. He was out of contract and I thought about letting him go, but he is marked at the top of the dynamics hierarchy, marked as a team leader, and has a useful personality for tutoring too, got him to sign cheap as chips, so pretty pleased with it all in all.

 

I understand this is a lot of talk about Recruitment for a tactics forum, but I do honestly believe the players you sign are very important, you need to fit your signings in to the system you want to play to give it a chance of working. Now we know what we have to spend, I can work out exactly what positions need strengthening, and begin to look for players to fit, based mostly on the primary and secondary attributes I set out in part one, and of course to fit the roles they will be playing.

 

 

 

Transfer Targets

 

I'm not going to list a load of players that I am targeting, would take far too long, I haven't put the time in to search for them them and I am keen to get back talking about tactics. Before I can search for players, I firstly need a good plan of what I am looking for.

 

I will be looking for my primary attributes in most players, and secondary attributes more depending on the role they will play.

 

• Left Back

 

I need another attacking left back, I have they one I signed last season, who did reasonably well, I also have Leahy who can play there if absolutely necessary, but remember we already identified that he was a bit of a problem in that role, so another man is definitely required. Looking for Work Rate vital in his role, Stamina because of the amount of work he is going to be doing. Some decent ratings in all the defensive stats would be very useful, the better they are, the better I expect our defence to perform. Off the Ball The better I expect him to be going forward when he doesn't have the ball. Bravery, Strength, Andy any other good attributes would be a bonus. Not too worried if he is Aggressive, I wouldn't be put off signing a player with high aggression, but I don't actually require him to be as such.

 

• Ball Winning Midfielder

 

We have Andre Ceitil who we signed last season in the January window. I have confidence this lad is going to do a good job, but we have little or no cover, so at least one more player to play this role. All the obvious attributes here I will be looking for. Any good defensive mental attributes, Strength , Bravery, Aggression, Tackling, I do prefer someone who isn't really slow, any technical ability is a bonus.

 

• Box to Box midfielder

 

I have Cuvelier and a few young kids that can play this role, and that is it. Cuvelier isn't really the required standard, will just do a job when needed. I really need at least one player here, possibly two. It's a key role in the team actually, and the one I will be focusing most on filling when I do my summer shopping. Ideally, I would like two slightly different kinds of players. Both will need an engine, to get up and down the pitch, but if I could get one that has a little more creativity about them, it could be a great option. It is possible that the other one could play both the ball winning midfielder and the box to box midfielder as and when required, would keep the cost down, and keep the squad to a manageable level, I don't want a huge squad, although it is nice to have options, to big and it causes more problems than it solves sometimes.

 

• Strikers

 

I only have two first team strikers in the squad now. Mitch Candlin played as the cover for the poacher role last season, he turns 18 soon, is developing nicely, but I'm fairly sure he wont be up to Championship standard just yet. Last season a loan striker that was in the squad when I joined covered for Bakayoko in the defensive forward role, he isn't the required standard, and isn't being re-signed. So I need at least one, if not two strikers.

 

 

Those are the key signings I am looking to make. I could also do with signing a better center back, and selling one of the lads that played as cover last season. Possibly an addition on one or both of the wide positions would be nice, but that is very dependent if there is any money left in the pot.

 

 

Conclusion To Part 3

 

This wasn't the big update I had hoped for. I want to talk about how I manager team and player morale, and also partnerships on the pitch. When it came to it, I could do with it being during the season, to offer good examples, so I promise I will address this in my next update. May be a week or two before I update again, I have put a lot of work in to this, and I now want to go back to actually playing the game for a while. I intend to update when I get to around the half way point in the upcoming season. This way I can do a little at a time as I go along and hopefully do a really strong update next time around, including what I mentioned above, with a big focus on the actual tactics.

 

Thanks for reading, keep it real, (and simple)

 

[Torskus77]

Reserved

[Torskus77]

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[Torskus77]

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[herne79]

As requested by torskus77 I've removed a few posts just to get his reserved posts up to the top for future updates.

And a great OP it is too.  Really top stuff .

[Torskus77]

Thanks herne, and apologies to those who's posts have been removed, the kind words were much appreciated. Will be updating again sometime today, possibly tonight actually, it's match day,  someone has got to watch us

[Brian]

Such a common issue, that people just buy and win but at the same time don't have a clue whats going on. Something I still struggle with since I stopped using other peoples tactics. 

Inspired me to start FM up again and start with my local team or another but the most important thing - Pick a inspiration where you hold on to and build on. Many thanks and I'm looking forward how it works out for you. 

[TheJanitor]

I like that your not just trying to re-create a tactic, you are the trying to replicate an entire club philosophy of a manager. Even though I'm unfamiliar with that Walsall side, your great OP gave me ideas for current save I will definitely follow this.

[Matt98]

Well done Torskus, it is an interesting challenge.

After playing FM17 with 3 ST and now FM18; I was fed up a bit 3 upfront which I find that ME struggles to co-op hence possibly winning majority games and  many promotions. 

I am a bit old fashioned person  and like 442. I was felt that I needed to go back my favorite setup of 442.  I started to play my new save as 442 no matter happens at the of the season . I picked up Gateshead for that as a challenge and 2 games left to finish the first season and got promoted already by using 442. Next season your idea inspired me in a different aspect.   

Now, you are giving another thought on that and keenly waiting your input. 

[Torskus77]

3 hours ago, TheJanitor said:

I like that your not just trying to re-create a tactic, you are the trying to replicate an entire club philosophy of a manager. Even though I'm unfamiliar with that Walsall side, your great OP gave me ideas for current save I will definitely follow this.

 

Yes, I understand, that not many people outside of Walsall will know much about it, possibly if you supported one of the teams in the division at the time, but it was almost 20 years ago, I am guessing a lot of players weren't even born. I know finishing 2nd and getting promoted doesn't sound like that much of a big deal, it is actually for us, but it was more the way it came around, the fact we were odds on for relegation,and somehow he moulded this team together, that looked better on the pitch, than it did on paper.  My words can't really do it justice, it was just something very special, built in a certain way, not by accident at all. The simplicity of it is what always stands out to me, I watch football a lot, not as much as I used to, but still a lot, and the amount of times you see players playing out of position is unreal. The simplest thing in the world is to get players playing to their strengths, this without any kind of tactics at all is an advantage, and yet so few managers follow it.

I am hoping to get some more up tonight, had a bit of a computer disaster and lost some work I did, but I can still put something solid up, just going to take me a bit more time than I imagined.

[Atarin]

Great thread mate. I can't wait to hear more. I love LLM and I especially love simple systems. 4-4 'flippin'-2 indeed!

[kingjericho]

4-4-2 is the way to go, and a simple approach like this is my favourite!

[FlairRA]

Good luck man, this will be enjoyable to read, hope you can stay solid defensively! 

[Torskus77]

Updated in post 2.

[tote]

Great Torskus77. I love the apparently very simple tactic, because...why we have to overcomplicate things a lot? Simplicity is fantastic most of the time.

I understand the only change you have made in the tactic posted in your image is the change between the 2 attackers, isn´t it?

[Torskus77]

2 minutes ago, tote said:

Great Torskus77. I love the apparently very simple tactic, because...why we have to overcomplicate things a lot? Simplicity is fantastic most of the time.

I understand the only change you have made in the tactic posted in your image is the change between the 2 attackers, isn´t it?

 

I changed the right back to a defensive full back too, and very occasionally I would change little things, which I probably should have mentioned, but was tired when finishing off that last piece.  Sometimes I would change the defensive forward to a support duty, mainly against teams that had no defensive midfielder, this was to have him press the defenders rather than drop back and hassle. I saw little difference in his positioning when attack, possibly a bit deeper, but nothing too extreme, I would like him to drop just al little deeper, and am wondering if a flexible team shape would make this happen, but I haven't tried that yet.  Also sometimes I would up our mentality to standard, not very often at all, not necessarily when we were losing either, just if I felt we were being just a little too passive.  It's very difficult to change things, when they are working so well, I am sure in the upcoming season, there will be more problems to discuss.  One simple change of swapping the forwards, changed so much, it opened up a whole new dimension, on the flip side it could have created a world of problems, I am beginning to see why when I used to make so many changes at once, it often failed.

[FMunderachiever]

The kind of save i like reading about.

 

Bielik looks excellent too

[jc577]

Really good read this, keep it up mate @Torskus77

[Swindon69]

A genuinely interesting read - good luck for next season.

 

[Torskus77]

Updated in post 3

 

If any mods know why there is a large gap of space being left once I edit, could you please advise me. Thanks

[Atarin]

Hey mate, what attributes did you give yourself at the start of the save?

[Torskus77]

13 hours ago, Atarin said:

Hey mate, what attributes did you give yourself at the start of the save?

 

I didn't take too much time thinking about it, you can overthink everything if you aren't careful. I just maximise mental stats as much as possible, to gain respect from players more, get my own way with the board more etc, then maxed out Attacking and Technical, because defensive coaches are much easier to come by in the game.

[Park]

Good read, Torskus. I like how all the decisions are being made to fit into a larger plan.

It was interesting to read about the change to the defensive full back and how it helped the attack.

Looking forward to more.

[davidbarros2]

Amazing thread!

The kind of story that makes me wanna play LLM again.

I have a cousin that actually played for Walsall, Jorge Leitão, but he only got to the club 1 ou 2 years after 1999!

[Jean0987654321]

Are you @Cleon in disguise, OP? The writing is very similar. I know nothing about Walsall of old as they were before my time (started watching soccer in 2001) but I think you nailed everything...

[Torskus77]

56 minutes ago, davidbarros2 said:

Amazing thread!

The kind of story that makes me wanna play LLM again.

I have a cousin that actually played for Walsall, Jorge Leitão, but he only got to the club 1 ou 2 years after 1999!

Wow. Yes indeed, it was 2 years later. We actually got relegated the following season from my story in the op. Fought bravely, but didn't quite have enough, took it to the last game though. The only time I can ever remember a manager getting a standing ovation after his team got relegated.

Anyway, I just can't believe you are Jorge's cousin, Graydon signed him for £150,000 which was unheard of us spending that kind of money on a player. We had him on a trial before we signed him, went on a pre-season tour to Scotland,  we didn't know his name, he was just marked as a trialist, we had to sub him, cos he was that good, other scouts there were taking an interest. 

We got promoted again that season, through the play offs this time.  Jorge is a Walsall legend, was a sad day the day he left, no one has forgotten him at Walsall.  I wish we had players of that quality now. Every single minute he wore the shirt he gave 100% always. If you speak to him, give him my best wishes, and tell him we all still love him.

[Torskus77]

33 minutes ago, Jean0987654321 said:

Are you @Cleon in disguise, OP? The writing is very similar. I know nothing about Walsall of old as they were before my time (started watching soccer in 2001) but I think you nailed everything...

 

Nope, I'm no Cleon, he is actually good at the game, and far better at writing than I will ever be. He has been an inspiration though many times.  The problem is, people just want to copy him, and I admit I have been guilty of this before. If you actually just stop and read how he thinks about the game, you can learn much more.

 

This has been my best save ever, because I came up with this idea all by myself, and knew pretty much what I wanted to do. It's a game, you are never going to get a complete replication of a tactic or system, but I have actually seen many things in my save that remind me of that team.  The season I am playing now, is going well, but has been frustrating at times. This is good, because it has forced me to think about things.  The system I am using is solid in my opinion, I see some weaknesses in it, but I also see the strengths. I  am at the point now where I can see if a player is having a bad game and causing the team problems. It's very underestimated how important players are, you don't need top class players, but you do need players that can perform what you are asking of them, and if a few are having an off day, it really shows when you don't have quality throughout your team.