[FM24] Expedition Andes

[SixPointer]

The Andes are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The Andes extend from north to south through seven South American countries: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.

The quest is to journey through these countries winning every top division along the way, the catch the clubs have to be from the Andes, not just the country.  Now there is no plan to work a certain route, mainly because north to south or vice versa does not coincide with the footballing Hierarchy, nor do i want to restrict myself with rules, rather leave it to flow naturally unlike my previous challenges.

The Andes are the location of several high plateaus, some of which host major cities such as Bogotá, with a metropolitan population of over ten million, and Santiago, Medellín, Cali, and Quito.

In football terms these cities are of course powerhouses not only in the Andes but the continent itself.  Atlético Nacional, of Medellín have two Copa Libertadores, Colo Colo of Santiago have one as does LDU Quito. Columbia, Chile and Ecuador all represented with the highest honour on the continent.

Other cities in or near the Andes include Bariloche, Catamarca, Jujuy, Mendoza, Salta, San Juan, Tucumán, and Ushuaia in Argentina; Calama and Rancagua in Chile; Cochabamba, Oruro, Potosí, Sucre, Sacaba, Tarija, and Yacuiba in Bolivia; Arequipa, Cajamarca, Cusco, Huancayo, Huánuco, Huaraz, Juliaca, and Puno in Peru; Ambato, Cuenca, Ibarra, Latacunga, Loja, Riobamba and Tulcán in Ecuador; Armenia, Cúcuta, Bucaramanga, Duitama, Ibagué, Ipiales, Manizales, Palmira, Pasto, Pereira, Popayán, Sogamoso, Tunja, and Villavicencio in Colombia; and Barquisimeto, La Grita, Mérida, San Cristóbal, Tovar, Trujillo, and Valera in Venezuela.

This gives me a plethora of options, I plan on starting unemployed but as always with a former player who is suited to such a quest.

Fabricio Coloccini (born 22 January 1982) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a centre-back.

Coloccini began his club career at Boca Juniors in his native Argentina attracting the attention of A.C. Milan. After making his reputation at Deportivo La Coruña he joined Newcastle United and was promoted to club captain. Coloccini returned to Argentina to join San Lorenzo, his boyhood club. At international level, Coloccini represented Argentina on 39 occasions between 2003 and 2014.

On April 1, 2022, Coloccini was announced as the new Venezuela U20 manager.

Now I usually have a tactical idea at this stage but this year I feel like just finding my way as I go. Coloccini left Venezuela 20's after a brief spell, so it ties in that he is still trying to find his way as manager, but has a nice profile for me to replicate as best as i can and get stuck into the Andes.

Edited December 30, 2023 by SixPointer

[Shrewnaldo]

Nice idea, will be reading along

It'll be interesting to see how you take advantage of the inherent altitude advantages you'll have for home games. When I played in Peru, it really was debilitating for my coastal club (Cantolao) to visit the likes of Cusco or Huancayo. Something you can certainly turn to your benefit. 

[_Ben_]

Very excited for this! I know that things outside of your control have limited your game time and depth of writing, but I really hope to be reading some tactical stuff from you soon!

[SteinkelssonFM]

Lovely stuff mate, one day I will get my teeth stick into a journeyman. Maybe pick up my old 'Down the Danube' series, for now I will simply look forward to your updates as I continue my save in Amsterdam. 

[SixPointer]

4 hours ago, Shrewnaldo said:

Nice idea, will be reading along

It'll be interesting to see how you take advantage of the inherent altitude advantages you'll have for home games. When I played in Peru, it really was debilitating for my coastal club (Cantolao) to visit the likes of Cusco or Huancayo. Something you can certainly turn to your benefit. 

It’s definitely something I need to utilise, it may have an effect on tactics. Could potentially sit in and hit teams on the break as they tire we could exploit them or vice versa dominate the ball and burn them out from side to side.

Interesting you should mention Cusco, one of the first options on the table.

3 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

Very excited for this! I know that things outside of your control have limited your game time and depth of writing, but I really hope to be reading some tactical stuff from you soon!

I do have some time at the minute due to waiting on machine parts, am also off Sunday Monday for the new year but will most likely be out celebrating. Every Sunday off, so potentially I’m going to write up full seasons at a time. One big update. Would mean once a month a write up I think. Will see how we go.

Tactically I have no clear plan at the minute, I think it will be another area that will grow as does Fabricio. I would expect him to be well versed in the dark arts though!

2 hours ago, MattyLewis11 said:

Lovely stuff mate, one day I will get my teeth stick into a journeyman. Maybe pick up my old 'Down the Danube' series, for now I will simply look forward to your updates as I continue my save in Amsterdam. 

I would love to see you back on the journeyman trail, although the stuff you pack into these short one team saves is really incredible bud!

[Rikulec]

Here for your next journey! Best of luck with the save mate.

[SixPointer]

11 hours ago, Rikulec said:

Here for your next journey! Best of luck with the save mate.

Thanks bud! Things are already getting very controversial in the Andes. 

[SixPointer]

Two options were on the table in the Andes, Cusco in Peru which was arguably a better job and here.

Merida is the capital of the municipality of Libertador and the state of Mérida, and is one of the main cities of the Venezuelan Andes, and with Fabrico just leaving the Venezuelan under 20's this felt like a realistic first club in the same country. This city sits on a plateau nestled in the valley of the Chama River, which runs from end to end. The town of Mérida is located at an altitude of 1,600 metres (5,200 feet). As background on the horizon rises the country's highest summit: the Pico Bolívar with an altitude of 4,981 metres (16,342 feet).

The fans wanted the Argentinian in, and they got their wish. The club is adequate across all fronts, with a new stadium in 2007 for Copa America. They won two league titles (1980 and 1985), two Copa Venezuela (1971 and 1975), has been sub-national champion five times and has participated in several Copa Libertadores and Copa Conmebol, Copa Merconorte.

Games between Deportivo Táchira and Estudiantes de Mérida are known as the Clásico de Los Andes (meaning Andes' Derby). Deportivo are arguably the biggest team in Venezuela.

Things had been going so well, perhaps too good, only beaten once competitively in 15 games. South American football is never far from controversy and drama, and in the short managerial stint in Merida that was just the case.

[Rikulec]

Wait, what?

[Shrewnaldo]

Were you applying for loads of jobs or publicly declaring interest in other jobs? 

[SteinkelssonFM]

We need more background information on this please. 

[SixPointer]

16 hours ago, Rikulec said:

Wait, what?

Yeah it happened 

13 hours ago, Shrewnaldo said:

Were you applying for loads of jobs or publicly declaring interest in other jobs? 

Something like that

10 hours ago, MattyLewis11 said:

We need more background information on this please. 

update is pending 

[SixPointer]

Very controversial, Coloccini has crossed the Venezuelan Andean derby divide. He was sacked after applying for a rival managerial position.

When I did my research on all the Andean clubs, this was one that really piqued my interest and was number one on the list for Venezuela. So when they started to struggle I thought I had to take my shot. I think it adds an interesting spin on things already so early in the save, it certainly will light up the Andean derby!
 

Edited January 2 by SixPointer

[SixPointer]

Deportivo Táchira Fútbol Club, is a Venezuelan club whose main sport is football. It is based in the city of San Cristóbal, capital of the State of Táchira.

It is located in a mountainous region of Western Venezuela. The city is situated 818 metres (2,684 ft) above sea level in the northern Andes overlooking the Torbes River, 56 kilometres (35 mi) from the Colombian border.

Deportivo Táchira is one of the great Venezuelan teams and since its foundation in 1974 has participated in the First Division of the Venezuelan Football Championship, making it the only Venezuelan team that has never fallen or participated in the lower category. Currently it holds the first position of the historical classification of the Venezuelan Primera División with 2229 points.

At the international level, it is the Venezuelan club with the most appearances in the Copa Libertadores. Its best international participation was its advance to the quarter-finals unbeaten in the Copa Libertadores 2004. It is one of two Venezuelan clubs that have advanced past the first phase of the Copa Libertadores, or reached the quarter-finals.

Games between Deportivo Táchira and Estudiantes de Mérida are known as the Clásico de Los Andes(meaning Andes' Derby). However, in recent years games between Deportivo Táchira and Caracashave been known as the modern derby, because of the successful performance of both teams.

The team's supporters are known as aurinegros("gold-and-blacks"). The supporters are mainly divided into three groups; La Torcida Aurinegra , La Avalancha Sur, and Comando Sur.
Several of the team's supporters have committed violent acts in the past towards the supporters of opposing teams. One of the most tragic events took place on December 17, 2000, when the club and Caracas drew 2–2, which gave the Copa República Bolivariana de Venezuela's title to Caracas, causing angry supporters of Deportivo Táchira to burn the Caracas team bus.

While it was a tough decision whether to apply or not I think it's clear to see this is a huge upgrade in terms of club stature. So making the four hour journey down the road wasn't taken lightly, especially as my old club sat top of the pile.

Whereas it's clear to see why the Deportivo manager was sacked, trailing the top of the league by 11 points and playing two more games. They remain in the Copa Venezuela and to make things even more interesting they have drawn Merida in the fourth round.

The club has two of Venezuela’s biggest talents, in Yerson Chacón and Carlos Vivas. Both are attracting interest in Europe already and it will be a task to hold them but the money earned should allow us to re-invest in an already fledgling youth system. Players of the calibre will now allow me to get tactically innovative.

I feel like this is home for a while now, this is the place to win the two major trophies up for grabs here and try to make an impression on the continental front.

[_Ben_]

Bit of a strange old start but nice to see that ‘you’ feel settled and happy. Looking forward to seeing what you can do here - the conveyor belt (to Europe) is something I’ve seen you utilise well before in the non-Top 5 leagues so expecting you to recruit well off the back of those inevitable sales. 

[warlock]

13 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Games between Deportivo Táchira and Estudiantes de Mérida are known as the Clásico de Los Andes

Easy to see why the Merida board might have sacked you . A controversial move indeed! Hopefully, you'll be there for a good while.

[SixPointer]

7 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

Bit of a strange old start but nice to see that ‘you’ feel settled and happy. Looking forward to seeing what you can do here - the conveyor belt (to Europe) is something I’ve seen you utilise well before in the non-Top 5 leagues so expecting you to recruit well off the back of those inevitable sales. 

Things started really well in Mérida, but the players weren’t going to be able to play the style I want to this year. The two best players were 35 and 38 and there wasn’t really much talent coming in. Would I have made it work most likely, as we were playing well counter attacking.

Deportivo however a set up for much more long term success and have a decent bunch of youth players ready to grow into the style of play.

The conveyer belt is something am very excited to get going. Vivas signed a new deal which is a real bonus but chacon will need to go this window as he’s not for signing. 

[SixPointer]

3 minutes ago, warlock said:

Easy to see why the Merida board might have sacked you . A controversial move indeed! Hopefully, you'll be there for a good while.

Yeah, I can’t have any complaints really. I was hoping it would have been kept from the board a little longer so that I would have had a more clean cut decision. But the minute I applied that was me sacked 🤣

[SixPointer]

The first season on the Andes is complete, while it was disruptive due to a change of club there were some good foundations built, some harsh lessons learnt but overall it now has its hooks in me.

Competition performance - In the league we just missed out on a Copa Libertadores slot, while I thought it was down to goal difference, apparently it comes down to a random choice as we tied for fourth place. In the end the board is satisfied enough with the slight turnaround in fortunes since Fabricio arrived.

The Copa Venezuela was a sore spot. We did however go out to the league winners in ¼ finals, Caracas our rivals knocked them out on their way to winning it. As for the Copa Sudamericana, a shambles as we get knocked out in the preliminary rounds by a team that finished 6 places below us in the league.

Our attacking performance stands above average, we scored +12 over our XG which is one of the most pleasing aspects from the first season. Our pass completion is above average but from the dynamics you can see it needs to improve for it to become the best in the league.

Defensively again we are ranked above average, a real plus point is how much possession we won and the amount of clean sheets, but averaging 1.46 goals against isn't good enough and needs to be addressed as conceding 41 goals as season will get us nowhere fast, especially seven over two games against the league winners.

Our pressing also needs improving and is probably a large part of the problem, OPPDA sitting well above average but our defensive line height is improving. I feel like this is the one area that's going to take some time to tactically perfect.

Our tactical periodisation for a game week, Our aim is review and recover from the previous game, take what we learned and begin to apply it to our next game. The start of the week is aimed at recovery and the fundamentals of our game, then as the week progresses we work tactically on the next game then apply more specific sessions for the upcoming opponent.

The intensity through the week is tapered up then down, allowing the players to be in the best physical and mental condition coming into the next game, while each induction session is to be trained in game-like situations the entity is managed.

In its most basic form tactical periodisation is a methodology which prioritises preparing the players for the games by making the training game like. Each session is devoted to the style of play and tactics, and in game scenarios. Training must be well thought out and planned to achieve ultimate preparation for each game.

Attributes which are key to our tactical ideals, game model and are now going to be our basic level DNA, have been Identified, I have eight crucial attributes, that i will demand of each player am going to settle for 10 as acceptable for the time being, younger players at this level ill accept 8, with a view of improving them. 

• Passing
• First Touch
• Technique
• Anticipation
• Composure
• Decisions
• Teamwork
• Vision

Tactically I stated i wanted to grow into a style, with that in mind i still have to the basis of what i want to end up at, and with the changes to FM24 player roles, i think it's only fair i go back to a positional style of play, much like i did with Ruch, and Sparta Rotterdam previously.

Positional is a commonly used systematic ideology for a team to play within. Players are encouraged to occupy certain zones on the pitch, which advantage the team’s structure and individual dynamics.

It works to enable teams to progress the ball forwards through the creation of triangles or diamonds that give the ball-carrier space and several passing options at any given time. Then, by drawing an opponent towards the ball, a player will free up a teammate elsewhere to receive the next pass.

The most obvious proponent of the system is of course Pep, but there are many others, in fact it originated from the great dutch total football teams before Johan Cruyff brought it to Barcelona and Pep. El Loco, Marcelo Biesla was called the best in the world by Pep so it would be foolish of Coloccini not to take notice of his fellow countryman.

A season down and while it was unsettled by changes of club, it already clear that at this level your not going to be able to tick every single box tactically, i have already learned the hard way, at both clubs i found i was to expanse and conceded many goals, so this is where the growth of the tactical system will come.

On the other side of the coin there have been some good examples of overloads, and 1v1, 2v1 and fluent attacking football, so the foundations have already started to form at such an early stage, which is good considering the disruption.

A small teaser of hopefully more of what's to come, clearly you can see the left hand side overload pulling the opponents defence over, while leaving 1v1 and 2v2 in attacking positions.

I will also cover transfer and squad building in the second season previews.

[Hootieleece]

I like your new training plan and will add it to the schedules I use in France......except I will add Team Bonding to the schedule on Sunday.

 

[TheGoodRebel]

I'll be following along with this one for sure! My Missus is from Venezuela so it has definitely piqued my interest!

[_Ben_]

11 hours ago, SixPointer said:

apparently it comes down to a random choice as we tied for fourth place

I think that is likely an error on behalf of the creator of the league, if I'm honest!

You've done really well to get this into your save, given your constraints and timings in a completely obscure league. Looking forward to seeing where you can take the positional play elements of the match engine.

[bestbrother]

Following this, where did you get all the South American leagues as a mod?

[SixPointer]

On 04/01/2024 at 11:58, Hootieleece said:

I like your new training plan and will add it to the schedules I use in France......except I will add Team Bonding to the schedule on Sunday.

 

Team bonding definitely a welcome bonus. Especially when trying to improve teamwork which is one of my key attributes. I’ll add it in myself 

On 04/01/2024 at 21:28, TheGoodRebel said:

I'll be following along with this one for sure! My Missus is from Venezuela so it has definitely piqued my interest!

Welcome aboard! I must say in my research it’s was always going to be my first stop!

23 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

I think that is likely an error on behalf of the creator of the league, if I'm honest!

You've done really well to get this into your save, given your constraints and timings in a completely obscure league. Looking forward to seeing where you can take the positional play elements of the match engine.

Yeah, suppose it’s the drawbacks of custom database but the guys making them do such a great job! I take my hat off to them really.

Yeah it’s starting to take shape but I’m still inbetween a mix of styles. A proper pre season and a good recruitment drive should open up more doors.

Loving some of the new behaviours from roles but I would be foolish to say I’ve mastered how to combine them just yet. But that’s what has my focus now, I finally feel like I can grow a tactic.

I don’t want it to end up like a plug in play either much like my last save. Where I didn’t have to change much at all game to game. I feel like am getting back into the tactical depths, which we both know i adore. 

22 hours ago, bestbrother said:

Following this, where did you get all the South American leagues as a mod?

Welcome along my man! You can find them in the steam work shops. You just subscribe to them there. If you need help doing so drop me a message and I can show you. The people making them do an amazing job, for all over the world packs. 

[SixPointer]

Is there anything more South American than a goalscoring goalkeeper? The legendary Brazilian Rogério Ceni, scored 129 goals, Paraguayan José Luis Chilavert has scored the second most goals (67), Paraguayan has recorded the most goals scored in international matches (8), and is the only goalkeeper to score a hat-trick. Until now.

Alejandro Araque and his 14 for penalty taking is proving to be very useful, he currently 5 from 5 this season. but he just buried a hat-trick making him only the second goalkeeper to do so.

Can he go down like other legends before him Ceni (Brazil), Chilavert (Paraguay), Johnny Vegas Fernández (Peru), René Higuita (Colombia). At 29 with 9 goals in his career time isn't on his side but it's a nice little side story.
 

Edited January 8 by SixPointer

[higgins]

I like the idea behind this and I also really appreciate the style of the updates you chose to use.
The South American leagues represent a black hole when it comes to Football manager for me, I will follow your progress with curiosity.

[Carambau]

Catching up! Great idea for a save  I always remember Coloccini for his curly locks, not for being good though  nevertheless - go Fabricio! 

[_Ben_]

18 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Can he go down like other legends before him Ceni (Brazil), Chilavert (Paraguay), Johnny Vegas Fernández (Peru), René Higuita (Colombia). At 29 with 9 goals in his career time isn't on his side but it's a nice little side story.

Chilavert was something else! I like this little add on you've got here - it's all about the engagement for you with unknown players, so it's something I'd look at, too.

[SixPointer]

On 08/01/2024 at 09:29, higgins said:

I like the idea behind this and I also really appreciate the style of the updates you chose to use.
The South American leagues represent a black hole when it comes to Football manager for me, I will follow your progress with curiosity.

Glad you’re enjoying it already! Yeah I’ve only done a couple of saves here myself and both were for tactical recreations not for long term. So I’m pretty excited to see where it takes me. 
 

21 hours ago, Carambau said:

Catching up! Great idea for a save  I always remember Coloccini for his curly locks, not for being good though  nevertheless - go Fabricio! 

thanks! must say it’s been an eventful, start to see the least at the halfway point in season too. But my works now started in Angolan so won’t have an update out till Sunday unless I can squeeze one in midweek but doubt it.

yeah he was very rash as a player at times, looks like he pretty erratic as a manger as well.

12 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

Chilavert was something else! I like this little add on you've got here - it's all about the engagement for you with unknown players, so it's something I'd look at, too.

Well that’s it bud. A nice wee sideshow. Although after writing up about his goals I dropped him a few games after, because he was throwing them in his own net 

[SixPointer]

Season Two Review

Our first full season in San Cristobal with Deportivo Tachira fc. The first season was about turning around a bad start, this year was about getting the foundations right to go win multiple titles and become the undisputed champion of Venezuela.

We were tipped as favourites to win the league, but there has been a huge player turnover from the minute the Argentine arrived, that coupled with Fabricio Coloccini trying to implement his positional tactical philosophy would make for a very interesting challenge.
Team Competitions - Deportivo lived to the early season billing and brought home their 11th league title, they now trail competitive rivals Caracus by 1 title. Caracus from the capital would have some joy though as they knocked out the team from the andes in the Copa Venezuela, which Colocinni’s' old team and fellow Andean rivals Merida went on to win for the first time.

This year Deportivo qualified for the Copa Sudamerican, they faced off against the great Boca Juniors two time winners, Cerro Porteno the Paraguayan powerhouse who often rival Olympia to rule football in Paraguay and finally fellow Andean club Cusco from Peru which gave us a nice Andean clash. Depor topped the group, something no one would have expected, and make it through to the second round.

On top of that they came away with a famous 4-0 victory at a packed out La Bombonera. Going up against one of the top teams in South America was always going to be a huge occasion for us, but they stuck to their game plan and passed the ball well, making use of their excellent set plays. The arrogance from Boca's manager added an edge to the tie and in the end he turned out to be a very sore loser.

Three systems used throughout the season, all designed to offer the same principles and philosophy of positional play. Creating overloads and underloads, creating man for man isolation, players between the lines. As you can see the team instructions this season have been kept very simple, nothing elaborate allowing the roles and duties to create our patterns of play.

4-4-2 - Something a little bit different and in truth still a working progress, originally i had a Libero at the LCB role, and two IFB roles, but my centre back was lacking the ability to play the libero role. Looking to draw the opponent to our right hand side, the DLP, DLF and IW all linking on that side to try and free up the Winger and AF on the opposite flank. This one of all three is the least used at the minute but I think once we have a libero it could become lethal because when played this season the front two have linked well.

4-3-3 - The safest system of the three, a pretty standard positional play setup. The half back role this year is exactly what i have wanted it to be for years, salida lavolpiana is seamless now, as the half back drops into the back line, to overload the first line of the press. Double Mezzala, and inverted wide men dominated the half spaces while the wing backs offered width. I would prefer a complete forward but at this level hard to come by, so DLF is used to draw the opposition's backline out.

A good example of the build up shapes and passing patterns from the 4-3-3. You can see how the half back drops in and becomes the conductor of the team. Something Pep did in the early days at Barcelona, with Sergio Busquets being absolutely incredible in the role, his football intelligence was off the chart, his positional awareness second to none. The shape creates lots of diamonds and triangles, allowing us to progress the ball, the wide men are asked to stay wide to stretch the play and they do just that and get 1v1.

The 4-2-3-1

Our most used and effective system but some distance, with this in mind i'll take a much closer look at this system, delving deeper into my tactical workings.

The idea is to transition from a 4-2-3-1 to a 3-2-5 shape, with an emphasis for overloading the left side of the pitch then scoring on the right.

Transitioning into a back three allows us to cover against counter attacks, the BPD on cover adds a further line of defence to balls over the top of our high line, while the IWB moving into the pivot ensures we are outnumbered centrally.

As the IWB transitions into the midfield the RCB moves wider (stay wider PI) the BPD drops into the centre and the IFB tucks inside to create a numerical advantage over the opposition front line, allowing for better ball progression. The IWB has now created a diamond shape in the centre with the BPD, DLP and AF.

The wide men again stretch the play and look to get 1v1, the Mezzala moves forward in the half space on the right to make a triangle, the AP shifts to the left aided by the focus of play down the left, he now becomes a real ball magnet and draws the opponents with him.

A great example of the overloaded left side drawing our opponents over and allowing a 2v1 on the right hand side, the playmakers link and then switch the ball at the perfect time for the winger to attack the back post and score.

This time I'm going to zone in on the important role the IWB plays in linking the play, and covering for counter attacks. Looking at his positioning here he can offer himself to be the man to switch the play to the 1v1,s on the right side. He is also well positioned to cover the gap between the BPD and the RCB. 

On the left the diamond overload has formed and pulled six opponents into the area, allowing the AF(A) to get 1v1, and the MEZ(A) and W(A) that's all three attacking duties ready to exploit the space in their man for man zones.

Now the IWB has possession, the wide triangles have formed on the right hand side there is a clear 2v1 now on, the full back has a real decision to make if the play is switched. The AF still has space to attack in his 1v1 and the IWB could easily play direct straight into him. The AP and IW have space to attack as the ball advances. 

The IWB opts to play the Mezzala in the half space who draws the full back with him and opens up the channel for the winger to attack, the Mezzala lays the ball back to the inverted wing back who lift a great pass in behind the defence, the winger exploits the space and fires home into the far corner, attacking positional play at its very best. Passing one side to score on the other.

In the same game but this time building up on the right, the overload opens up the other side. This is absolutely crucial in terms of keeping the opponent guessing although we are aiming to use the left the right still has to offer an overload to stop playing being predictable.

It does just that here, in this instance the ball has been progressed by the RCB, and now the DLP has its centre of the pitch, the IW has come narrow to join in with the AP and AF to overload the RB and RCB 3v2. The ball is switched to the back post and the RB has chosen to narrow his position this allows the IW space to get on the ball and fire past the keeper.

The great thing about postional play, the systems can be flipped very easily. If i come up against and opponet whos formation is suited to me playing the 4-2-3-1, but lets say me overloading the left side of the pitch suits their system, for insatces they could have very strong defensive players, or and attacking out let that could expolit my agressive right wing and get 1v1 with my RCB.

So flipping the system becomes adabanatges, here you can see the IWB comes from the left back slot and the winger is now the number 10. Nothing reallt changes the wide men still hold width for 1v1. the back three still forms and the half space is still where we want our advanced midfulers to expolit, with the double pivot giving them license to get forward.

The comparison of the pass maps when the systems are flipped. It's a great way of showing how the roles and the shift of focus to a side effects our passing patterns. This is a good weapon to have up your sleeve with the 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 aren't viable options and play is stagnating down one side.
 

UP Next

Having covered the tactical systems next i will look into the team stats and player stats and the squad building and youth development since Fabricio Coloccini took over at the club, i had intended it to be one post but i get carried away tactically and end up getting in too deep, so ill cover it separately.

[Shrewnaldo]

How have you been finding the altitude? Much impact on you or your opponents? 

[warlock]

A good season 

Always interested in a good tactical explanation, and that 4231 looks very nice!

[Rikulec]

Nice tactical write-up, some interesting ideas in there. 

[_Ben_]

@SixPointer - you're back! Lovely bit of tactical work there. I've never been a fan of the 4231 shape with central midfielders instead of defensive midfielders as I worry about the lack of defensive cover. However, you seem to have it covered!

[SixPointer]

15 hours ago, Shrewnaldo said:

How have you been finding the altitude? Much impact on you or your opponents? 

We only lost one game at home all season, and we dominate the ball a lot. But I would need to do more digging to see if other teams tire out a lot quicker.

10 hours ago, warlock said:

A good season 

Always interested in a good tactical explanation, and that 4231 looks very nice!

Thanks bud. Yeah I’m trying to get back to my tactical ways after last years speed playing! 4-2-3-1 has been very effective which we all know only to well as it’s really the most generic formation these days.

8 hours ago, Rikulec said:

Nice tactical write-up, some interesting ideas in there. 

Thanks, it’s definitely all a working progress but the basic philosophy is there. 
 

 

3 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

@SixPointer - you're back! Lovely bit of tactical work there. I've never been a fan of the 4231 shape with central midfielders instead of defensive midfielders as I worry about the lack of defensive cover. However, you seem to have it covered!

It’s good to be back. In truth the 4-2-3-1 isn’t my favourite of formations but going up against a lot of 4-4-2’s it’s allowed my two attacking midfielders to run riot at times. The IWB is acting as the double pivot also helps.

I really wanted to get the 4-4-2 going but a need a better libero. 

[higgins]

Nice tactical work here, I agree with you about the half back role, I'm using it coupled with a back four line and it really allow a lot of freedom for the wingbacks, enabling the central defenders to spread out naturally.

[SixPointer]

8 hours ago, higgins said:

Nice tactical work here, I agree with you about the half back role, I'm using it coupled with a back four line and it really allow a lot of freedom for the wingbacks, enabling the central defenders to spread out naturally.

It’s a role I’ve used down the years. But you always had to move the wingbacks into the DM line to get it so drop between the CB’s and even then it still wasn’t as good as the reworked one for FM24. It does a great job now 

[SixPointer]

A quick update to round up last season, some stats, some transfers and Youth Development.

We are far superior than most clubs in attack in the league. Our aggressive but clinical nature is something I am very happy with. The aim is to create lots of chances and try and take as many as possible. I don't mind being overly aggressive as the law of averages and how we perform it will eventually pay off, in theory. Outscoring our XG by 14 points is a sign of our ability to find the net with lower quality chances.

Our 18 goals from corners is an incredible amount, I always pride myself on set plays, especially my corner routines. You can see we favor the front post which aims for a specific player, but also switch it up to the back post to hit another player to keep our opponents on their toes.

Our possession stats have certainly improved from last season, I think we have found the balance of being a good passing side. Some issues still lie in our out of possession, we do not press as high as I would like, but we still boast the best defense in the league, but conceded two more goals than expected. We don't allow a lot of passes against us and win our fair share of tackles, which means the press is effective, so maybe i am being over critical, increasing the OPDA may lead to more goals being conceded.

Something definitely worth managing, I have found myself using the drop of more instruction at times, so a full blown high press is maybe still a while away, but as the saying goes, if it's not broken don't fix it.......

Of course to pull off this style of play you need a certain level and type of player, now at this level they can be hard to come by. As you can imagine there has been some amount of turnover of players at the club, some have actually come and gone. With having such a small scouting team, trials have been a huge part of finding players, we've had over 100 players on trial at Deportivo alone.

The plan really has been to stick to players known in the league, or using the suggestions from scouts and Imediaties who brung some ideas in, after a big player sale we added to the youth setup but also increased our scouting range this brought about some more finds.

The first season brought up a rather large spend......... well a huge spend. But it was calculated, Yerson Chacon had already agreed to sign for AC Milan for 600k, with a 25% sell on, unfortunately he got a really bad injury on his third game which will hinder his progress, i also knew that come the next season their would be a large chunk of players that would be moved on, reaching 1.8 million pounds. We also received a good amount from Samuel Sosa sell on clause, 25% of 625k giving us a nice 275k

So players brought in, there is a vast amount so ill zone in on a few so you can get the just of my recruitment process.

Abraham Bahachille - signed for 300k, a deep lying playmaker signed from Cabello in our league, he finished the season as player of the year and top scorer at the club, he is the front post targetman at corners.

Juan Camilo Pérez - signed for 100k from the relegated Carabobo, a very exciting winger who would be far to good for the level below, he finished the season with 10 direct goal involvements

Diego Osio - signed from Cabello also for 350k, The man i thought could be my libero, but he never really got going in truth, he's been a steady performer but hoping for more next season.

Kervin Andrade - signed for 400k from  Deportivo La Guaira, who surprisingly aren't playing him. He has been a standout since he got fifteen assists and six goals, he does take his fair share of corners which skews this slightly.

There were a few more squad players that arrived from the league as well, but for the last couple I'll bring you a few that Immediately brought to my attention.

Alexander Díaz & Florián Monzón both arrived on loan deals, Monzon has since signed permanently after his deal at Velez ran out, he shone in his first 10 games so went ahead and made the pre contract deal, since then he tailed off. Diaz has a 500k option in his loan deal, and has scored 11 goals in 22 starters, so am on the fence with him right now.

Enrique Taborga - at 525 k is our biggest outlay to date, i wanted someone on the left hand side that could invert as a full back but also do a job as a IWB, he started like a flash at the end of last season 5 games 3 assists but second season he never hit the heights again, this coming season am expecting bigger things.

Luiz Henrique - at 17k from Santos and with 15 direct goal involvements is the bargain of the save so far, the Brazilian has excelled in the attacking midfield slots.

Youth Development

I will be the first to admit this is a real weakness for me when it comes to football management, it's something I have never truly mastered. Yes I have had some really great players come through but i haven't got a clear plan or philosophy when it comes to it.

The nature of the save doesn't lend itself to becoming a huge youth development save either, I'm planning on jumping around a lot, but I thought I would share a few players that have come through that look like they have some real potential.

Gabriel Rodríguez the young right wing back came through in our first intake and has already made 14 sub appearances and 5 starts, mainly because Vivas plays the inverted role but if we use an attacking wing back this kid has the ability to attack. Daniel Mejias was the top talent from the second intake, at 15 he already has some standout attributes for becoming a solid attacking midfielder, he got some game time along with Freddy Scaramelli at the tail end of the season.

Now like I said, not a strong point of mine so open to some suggestions on how to get the best out of two good intakes. I'll document some progress, but it's never going to be a fountain of youth save I am afraid. I tend to lean more to the tactical side of things.

Edited January 20 by SixPointer

[SixPointer]

The Proof Is In The Pudding

[Hootieleece]

11 hours ago, SixPointer said:

The Proof Is In The Pudding

This objective is often about how good the facilities and training levels of the youth as much as the talent of the players. Get a few players that are good enough for your first team but are young and leave them in the reserves. Also helps if their Transfer worth is Sky High.

[El Payaso]

Haven't given this thread a read yet but definitely will. Was actually following South American football a lot while living in Argentina in 2017-19. Seems really interesting. 

[SixPointer]

2 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

This objective is often about how good the facilities and training levels of the youth as much as the talent of the players. Get a few players that are good enough for your first team but are young and leave them in the reserves. Also helps if their Transfer worth is Sky High.

Yeah, frustrating that it’s actually down to the board to improve the facilities and they are complaining to me.

Okay never thought of that as an idea perhaps something I can do. 
 

13 minutes ago, Litmanen 10 said:

Haven't given this thread a read yet but definitely will. Was actually following South American football a lot while living in Argentina in 2017-19. Seems really interesting. 

Appreciate that! The idea to manage in South America came from reading a book on holiday, Tears at la Bombonera. Christopher Hylland telling his stories of living in South America and his love with the football as he toured many places for the football. He also lived in Argentina for a long period. If you like reading something you should give a read. Especially having lived there yourself. 

[PequenoGenio]

How do you approach you training in a 2 games week?

[Sheriff7]

I don't know why but i just catch up this. Great idea and of course i will follow.

[SixPointer]

4 hours ago, PequenoGenio said:

How do you approach you training in a 2 games week?

Monday is usually both shadow plays with a general tactical session. Then Tuesday match tactics, game Wednesday, Thursday recovery and review. Friday match tactics and Saturday game.

But depends what the gap is between game. The general idea would to be get as much tactical sessions in before the game and make sure we have rest, recovery and review after. 

[SixPointer]

3 hours ago, Sheriff7 said:

I don't know why but i just catch up this. Great idea and of course i will follow.

Thanks bud! Hopefully get the season of to a start tomorrow on my night off

[SixPointer]

Alejandro Araque sends us to the Copa Venezuela final, hitting his 9th goal of the season, 9/9 from the spot, i dont think i have had a more ruthless penalty taker in all my saves. Pitty he has been awful at keeping the ball out his own net this season. @Jimbokav1971 i know your a big fan of the goalscoring keepers!

[Deisler26]

Get in! Final time!

[SixPointer]

1 hour ago, Deisler26 said:

Get in! Final time!

Season is done hopefully tomorrow evening I can have the review done. If not it will be on Monday morning after my night off on Sunday!

[Carambau]

Congrats on reaching the Cup final  Who will be the opponent?