llama3

Use of a Trequartista depends heavily on the way you press. As he doesn’t press much/at all, it can cause gaps in your press. You might find a single player doesn’t make much difference, but I wouldn’t use it in a Gegenpress system personally. I’d be using him to work gaps and space in a possession system instead. But a Trequartista can definitely play instead of AM(s)

If someone is able to translate they can get in contact. Unfortunately my language skills are not up to much...

No problem @Pete Sottrel- mighty job as always.

I can't see the information I put in on club sponsorship and club finances in this update for Arsenal.

Playing as Arsenal - some of the kit selections are a bit odd: Arsenal and Sheffield United both wear home colours in both home and away fixtures, even though both are wearing a mixture of red and white. Similarly Arsenal and Crystal Palace both wear home colours - whilst this clash is less of an eyesore, teams generally err on the side of caution if a suitable alternative is available. Arsenal should be wearing white at Selhurst and Palace should be wearing black at the Emirates. Away to Southampton, Arsenal should be wearing blue definitely due to the fact Southampton use both red and white on their home shirt. Arsenal's 2nd choice GK kit simply isn't used at all - clearly the game deems it a clash with our home kit Some of the more general observations on current kit usage trends in real life vs in-game: Goalkeeper kits in real life aren't used as "home" or "away" - they're heavily rotated. I recall seeing the Premier League handbook and other sources describing that the priority of kit selection is: home > away > referee > home GK > away GK. Naturally referee kits are also heavily rotated. In reality the last 3 on that last should see a much greater degree of randomisation. Most away and third kits are also fairly interchangeable too, the game should be simply looking at which is the best fit, rather than trying to prioritise them in order.

Yes, I agree - I'd go with a support duty there in AMC position.

If you don't get caught out - great. Good to see you have a solution that helps avoid it. It is a risk of the approach though and that's why I suggest caution with it. I've used systems with both wide players on a flank on attack before and been happy with it. But what my guide is for is building logical, sensible tactics.

On 2 x separate occasions in recent matches: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has taken a penalty, which has been saved On each occasion he does not react to the loose ball and a certain opportunity to score On one occasion a teammate reacts and converts, on another nobody reacts and I go on to lose the game (guess which one prompted me to post my examples!) See PKMs attached Arsenal v Wolves - Llama3.pkm Burnley v Arsenal - Llama3.pkm

Helpful, but not always. It's the movement which is the most important factor.

I prefer the width offered by Saka on the left, stretching high and wide - Lacazette the casualty of that approach. The CF(A) is for when you want the best of both worlds - link play and a threat in behind. The AP(s) is not as much of a chance creator for me as I would expect in previous years. I know the flanks are where I create most, so the 10 is effectively a decoy to attract attention.

Arsenal (2020) So I thought I would share how I was getting on with Arsenal. I've incorporated a lot of the principles outlined here re: positional play, with the principles I usually adhere to in Pairs & Combinations. So, the theory: Despite the fact that Partey is actually a more complete player, than the way I am using him - he's very balanced, takes account of Xhaka's lack of mobility. The DLP(s) & CM(d) shields the centre backs really effectively, which is good considering my wing backs are getting forward and we hold a high line. We're less likely to be outnumbered on the break. Sometimes trying to push one of the central midfielders forwards can actually restrict your own space when getting into the final third too, so this works nicely. The right flank has Pepe staying wider, with Bellerin getting on the overlap later on. The IW doesn't get into central areas as quick, or early as the IF - he stretches play a little, but then cuts in around the corner of the penalty area. Bellerin will get to the byline, offering an overload and an overlap. Bellerin can drive along the byline, cross, or lay it back to Pepe who may be in space. The left flank has a few variations. My preference is for Saka staying high and wide, stretching play, using his pace and trickery to get to the byline. Basically the opposite of the right flank in that the winger gets to the byline, with the WB(S) the out-ball to lay it back to. Sometimes when I am lacking a bit of central penetration, I move Aubameyang there as an IF(a), to get closer to Lacazette in the middle. Final third has Ceballos there as the AP(s) - by being close to the DLP(s) it can mean play can slow down if you're not careful, but what it does here is it draws opponents in as we retain the ball centrally - before spreading it to the wide areas, where I have most quality. Let's be clear - Pepe, Saka, Bellerin, Willian etc., offer more creativity than Ceballos, Xhaka and Partey. In a nutshell - draw them into the middle, then punch in wide. Aubameyang as a CF(A) is the mixture between getting in behind and linking play. It encourages movement into channels too. It's a good role to play both possession and dynamic systems. Not much to say about the centre backs and keeper. They retain and distribute the ball well, looking for passes into the feet of central midfielders, or to play it into space on the flanks as we try to punch a hole in the opponents. If we wanted to focus more on retention I'd be using a central defender in there, rather than 2 x ball playing defenders. I use the Control Possession template primarily - this is a little less extreme than Tiki-Taka. It allows us to play comparatively a touch wider (which suits the fact my wide players are my best attacking creators), dribble at the opponents a little more as well - which is useful to break down sides which sit deep and compact. A couple of set piece bits that are quite crucial. Throw in's - the focus is on retention of the ball, so same as we want 2-3 good passing options in open play, there's no reason to change that for a throw-in. See how I keep the forward and opposite winger forward, the opposite side central midfielder in a central position as out-balls, as well as my other defenders in a good position to cover if we lose the ball. I have 3 x players all available to receive the ball - the central midfielder, attacking midfielder and winger of the same side. Corners - we keep at least 2 x players back, along with one of the central midfielders. I have a player outside the area, who both helps cover defensively if the ball breaks out, as well as to recycle possession or take a ranged shot if needed. We keep a mixed aim, as we have players attacking each post, along with a couple of other players in the box, and a short option. We remain defensively secure at all times. So in the league our record is very strong: As you'll see we don't concede many goals and have got more prolific in attack. We're yet to lose a league game, with only 2 away draws. We're overperforming our xG (scoring 2.31 per game, expecting 1.86), we're also slightly overperforming defensively too (conceded 0.62 compared to expected 0.72) - we may well regress to the mean at some point. We're taking plenty of shots per game, keeping the ball well. We're getting shots in good areas as you can see, converting most of our high xG shots. Defensively, we're not allowing many shots in dangerous areas. Most of those that are have been saved. Essentially, the stats are backing up that we're playing well. We're mildly overperforming, but nothing to suggest this is going to come crashing down.

Hi @bigman- I'm making some assumptions that your team instructions are all default vertical tiki-taka... Basically it's generally quite close to being just right. I think your front 3 all on attack duties, all trying to occupy narrow areas is a bit of an issue. If you could vary that by mixing up the duties a bit, and/or changing a wide player into an IW, it just opens up some different angles of attack. I really like the Mezzala on the same side as the Inverted Winger. Basically the way to think about how the duties behave (in general, there are some exceptions - notably playmakers) is that attack duties will make runs ahead of the ball, support duties will stay with play and want it into feet, defend duties hold position. If your front 3 are all on attack duties, it can mean your front 3 get separated from your midfield. One of your attackers needs some link with the midfield. I'd consider making Lacazette a DLF/CF(s), forming a diamond with midfield, Aubameyang an IF(a) and Pepe an IW(s) - but frankly there's so many variations in there you could use.

The spread of home to away fixtures is very unusual in the Premier League - there are too many consecutive home/away fixtures. In real life there are no more than 2 consecutive home or away games, most often it's 1 and 1. I'm seeing several chunks of 3 home or 3 away in a row.

Europa League fixtures - I have played away twice in a row in the group stage (20/21) to open my fixtures. Teams away in matchday 1 are always reversed for matchday 2 and vice versa.

@santy001its a loud minority giving us a bad name.@Dan Ormsbyhas done an excellent job with the data. He always does and there is very little reason to gripe. It’s bang on that we (the paying customers as a whole) should remember a little more courtesy when talking online. I think we’re privileged to engage over ratings with a researcher in the way you can’t for many other games.