Leverkusen - Season 12 - #4 Inspiration

[westy8chimp]

Challenge #4 - Using inspiration https://community.sigames.com/topic/442579-tactical-challenges-4-inspiration/

What inspires me?

In season 3 I tried to take influence from one of the most inspiring football sides of all time, 1958 world cup winners Brazil, using touches of flair and expression as an homage to the Ginga style of the legendary Brazil sides.

Teams that play attacking football, in a stylish manner excite and inspire me. The Wenger era and Guardiola recently, plenty of great Ajax and Madrid sides. I'm inspired by the Italian giants in the early to mid 90s who could boast several of the worlds best talent in their lineups...I'm also inspired when great players light up the big stage... Pele, Eusebio, Original Ronaldo, Zidane, David Batty

That said, inspiration also comes from the great underdog stories.

Who couldn't be inspired by the 2015/16 Leicester team lead by the Tinkerman

Promoted after the 13/14 season, in 14/15 Leicester were relegation favorites having a terrible start to the campaign. They finished 14th with a really strong finish to the season.

With a key signing, Kante, The Tinkerman was at his best in 15/16. Mahrez and Vardy hit form and never stopped.

Here's how I see their formation; Fairly standard back 4, Fuchs more adventurous than Simpson, with Albrighton cutting inside as a defensive winger/wm. Mahrez on the other side had a lot of freedom as IF/IW. Drinkwater and Kante extremely hard working fit CMs, Danny the playmaker, Kante the ball winner. Vardy running the line relentlessly paired with the industrious Okazaki

-------------------------------------------------------------

But this is all a bit too easy and a bit too obvious.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Before the Foxes there were the Wolves!

 

Before the Tinkerman there was Penfold....

Before Vardy there was Grafite

Before Mahrez there was Misimovic

And before Kante there was Josue

 

Wolfsburg had been in a bit of a rut - finishing mid table for a number of years, where the Volkswagen money should have made them annual challengers. The closest they had come to a trophy was runner up in the German Cup 1995!

Magath after back to back championships with Bayern was rather harshly dumped by Die Bayern for a slump in the 06-07 season.

He joined the Wolves. Brought in two strikers who were unknown at the time,  Grafite and Edin Dzeko. He also signed industrious midfielders Gentner and Josue...and magical creator Misimovic.

After a season bedding in in 07-08 ...the league was about to be taken by storm. Grafite (28) and Dzeko (26) went on to make a record breaking partnership of league goals (56), with Misimovic amounting 20 assists.

The attacking trio earnt the name "The Magical Triangle"

I like to think of another analogy for the trio... with Misimovic acting as the fuel (passing, creativity, flair) for Grafite oxygen (hard work, stamina, pace) and Dzekos heat (touch, finishing, movement)

I love this image trying to encapsulate the tactics employed by Magath. It's not a genuine reflection, more of an exaggerated indication of that attacking trio up top

------------------------------

This season, as @herne79 was keen to point out in the challenge, is inspired by ... not a tactical recreation.

I want to take 3 elements;

• attacking front 3 triangle - assists from the attacking creator, goals from the strike partnership
• hard working midfield trio - less involved in goal scoring, keep it safe, win the ball
• attacking full backs - Schafer and Riether were very quick to get end-to-end and I will be looking to Costa & Lopera to supplement the assists

Initial tactical ideas

 

[westy8chimp]

Tactics

I started the season with a 4312 narrow - using Defensive mentality (the first time I've dipped below Standard in this 12 season save)

• defensive - with no DM I wanted to try and engineer the more hardworking aspects using mentality. Deeper D line, lower tempo, generally more caution at the back
• highly structured - but I wanted my attacking trio to remain intent on attacking. The structure allows me to create specific units - defence, grafting mids, attacking trio.
• roles - attack duty on the front 3 as mentioned, also on the full backs to get them thinking forward once we have possession. Hard working midfielders with little forward momentum (DLP on support does progress to be an option to pass to during attacking moves)
• Retain possession - the theory ties in with 'defensive' we wanted to keep the ball, allow the front three to make space or runs and then move when the time is right
• POD - same as above
• PSKD - pretty much a default selection of mine now. Strikers seem to pick up at least 5 goals a season picking up bad back passing. Not sure if it's directly as a result of this TI but I use it anyway
• NO PI or OI

I was a bit more Tinkerman, in the first half of the season, than the stern rigidity of Felix Magath. I toyed back and forth on personnel, I chopped and changed the AP to ENG to TQ, I flipped between CF and Poacher on left striker, TM and AF on right side. Even the midfield trio were CMD with 2 x CMs at times.

Second half of the season I really simplified things and moved back to my comfort zone of standard;

I kept the high structure as that was vital to the core aims of the season. Removed the overkill of defensive, retain, pod and just used TI to drop a bit deeper. The roles and duties did all the necessary work from here on in. (Form for the season to follow in next post)

I also settled on the AP-A role, but tweaked it a little. First half of the season there was no indication of the AP getting anywhere near 20 assists (I'd rotated too much and each AP had just 2-3 assists each)

Transfers 

My primary objective was to find an additional hard working midfield combatant to join Pinto (profile in last season 'Regista' thread).

I needed a new CB after a clearout (season 12 and not a single CB on the game I would consider world class compare to my 15 season PSG save... same leagues loaded...)

And I wanted another playmaker to join Havertz, Alena and Allwein (as I had DLP and AP to fulfil)

Here is the window... several hundred mil on the move again..

In January I signed a couple of kids, and brought Tierney back as Brorman (broken leg 6 months) and Costa (shin 2 months) were both on long term injury

[westy8chimp]

Analysis

Goal 1 - I liked this one as it showed how the midfield triangle and attacking triangle stayed as separate entities throughout majority of build up.

We turnover the ball, everyone has gone deep apart from the front 3. Notice the space Havertz is in, creating a 3vs2 counter (happens a lot)

the attack broke down and ball is back with keeper, those triangles form again as we transition to attack once more

DLP does tend to top the midfield triangle a lot as he remains a passing option. Not usually taken though as the front 3 aren't inclined to pass back!

Goal 2

Opposition build up - I have defensive weakness, we often have the WB (Lopera) slightly out of shape due to his role and duty. The front 3 have no interest in defending.

As the opponent adventure forward the space starts to open up for my attacking trio who just stay forward.

Havertz is quite often the right side of his marker to make sure he can receive the ball to feet in the event of a turnover. This happens, the gaps close up quickly though, so he sends it wide to the attacking Costa. He plays in Hernandez who squares to Niegenfink for the goal.

Goal 3

DLP (Alena) to AP (Havertz) doesn't work the first time, so for once we do recycle and go again, Second time around the through ball is on for Havertz and he cuts the opponents defence right down the middle.

Goal 4

with attack duty, which I don't use often on AP, it is nice to see the occasional more direct run. Even, as in this case, if it's just a few 'jinking' feet...

A few pass maps to show other key assists

 

[westy8chimp]

Further Analysis

Spoiler for the form post to end this topic... but this years European final was not the CL but EC! We were diabolical in the CL groups...

Still, this was a perfect game to end the season and sums up in one match how the tactic worked brilliantly in the second half of the season.

Both sides playing an AMC in the hole, neither playing a DM to stop it. Should be good news for Havertz...let's hope my industrious trio are better than their duo at closing down the golden zone.

I'll show the game in goals.

1-0 - Rashford runs into a dead end, my attacking triumvirate stay forward (again that 3vs2 counter is on)

2-0 we win the ball early and straight away Havertz turns it into a goalscoring opportunity

3-0 this time Havertz plays in Pellegri, but he chooses to useLopera in space rather than drive at goal. Lopera delivers as usual.

4-0 (corner, not worth showing)

HT we are very happy. Havertz on fire, Allwein controlling it from deep

5-0 - bags of space again for Havertz. We play out from the back, he only has a tiny piece to play, but vital movement - receive - shift it on to the striker and they do the business

6-0 This one is pure class, Tierney wins the ball, runs wide, through ball to Hernandez -> through ball to Havertz -> dribble and goal!! Spuds must be on overload by this stage to leave so much space

Perfection was ruined in injury time by two quick fire goals from Rashford. But at 6-0 we could afford to take our foot off the gas

[westy8chimp]

Form and Stats

Coming off the back of an invincible league season, it was a shame to lose 4 games. Most of the damage was done in the first half, just lost those big games where the defensive mentality allowed too much pressure for too good a player. It really showed, even more so, in the CL group where I complacently underestimated some good sides.

We turned it around in the Europa though as seen above by the 6-2 win in the final

The major scare was the semi when my GK was injured with no sub GK on bench - Allwein proved again he really is the jack of all trades

German cup was never a doubt (very much a doubt vs Dortmund actually)

Second half of the league season was vastly improved

Final Table

We dominated the attacking stats again too

Squad view by goals, assists, rating respectively. You will see the heavy slant towards the attacking trio and fullbacks in all three categories. But the midfield all did a solid, if not magical, job.

I really think if I'd started with the standard 4312 and played Havertz, Hernandez & Pellegri consistently, we would really have matched (probably blitzed) Die Wolfe's magical trio of 08-09

[westy8chimp]

17 hours ago, westy8chimp said:

this time Havertz plays in Pellegri, but he chooses to useLopera in space rather than drive at goal. Lopera delivers as usual.

 

 

@kpsia518 see how Lopera (wb-a) starts the move pretty much hugging the touch line, but when the through ball is made it invites him to make the 45 degree run and cut into the area for the cut back cross.

Both the ball player and receiver have attack duties... Invites the players to drive into space. 

The wb-a likes to get forward more... But isnt instructed, nor have ppm, to stay wide. 

Often its my ap making the pass to elicit this behaviour... Hes instructed to play risky passes and more direct, again this helps them play the ball into the space more than to the player. 

Summary: use attack duties to run at space, attacking creative players looking to exploit space (could use ti 'pass into space' as well).... And rather than ball being played to the wide mans feet... Itl be played infront and increase the chance of them crossing from nearer the goal

[kpsia518]

2 minutes ago, westy8chimp said:

@kpsia518 see how Lopera (wb-a) starts the move pretty much hugging the touch line, but when the through ball is made it invites him to make the 45 degree run and cut into the area for the cut back cross.

Both the ball player and receiver have attack duties... Invites the players to drive into space. 

The wb-a likes to get forward more... But isnt instructed, nor have ppm, to stay wide. 

Often its my ap making the pass to elicit this behaviour... Hes instructed to play risky passes and more direct, again this helps them play the ball into the space more than to the player. 

i means only WingBack ?

no winger or IF ??

[westy8chimp]

2 minutes ago, kpsia518 said:

i means only WingBack ?

no winger or IF ??

It will work for them... I was using wb in that tactic... But use the same principle i. E. Dont deliver to the winger too early and he wont cross from too wide. Also try to have a winger that doesnt have ppm like hugs line or stays wide etc

[kpsia518]

10 minutes ago, westy8chimp said:

It will work for them... I was using wb in that tactic... But use the same principle i. E. Dont deliver to the winger too early and he wont cross from too wide. Also try to have a winger that doesnt have ppm like hugs line or stays wide etc

i did have it once,but any idea why they didn't do it more.