Fantasista10

Season 3 Preview (2025-2026) A quick recap of our Title Winning Season in 2024/2025 with The Athletic's Serie A Review, tells us that we were the league's biggest overachievers in the previous campaign. That should come as no real surprise since we only had expectations of challenging for a Champions League spot, and the media prediction was 5th. Now, after winning the title, even if it was unexpected, expectations have risen. The media now predict us to finish 3rd this year, and the board expect a title challenge. So we go into a season with a bit of pressure for perhaps the first time in this save. But it wasn’t just how we performed (or over-performed) on the pitch last year, we clearly did some great business in the market as well. The top two signings of the season were both Atalanta players. Nobody could argue with CDK, but it was pleasing to see Joao Marques up there too after his excellent season. The upcoming Summer window is shaping up to be the busiest window of the save thus far, with a big focus on bringing quality youth players into the club, and being quite ruthless with talents who perhaps haven’t developed as we would have liked after two years. Time will tell if we can ‘win’ the transfer window again. Pre-Season There has been something of a manager merry-go round in Serie A during the off-season. Perhaps the biggest name coming into the league, is none other than the hot headed Argentine, Diego Simeone. El Cholo takes charge of one of his former clubs from his playing days, Inter. I look forward to what is sure to be a challenging tactical battle against him. Focusing on ourselves, when it came to friendly matches, we were flawless during pre-season. I was pleased with the performances, continuing our dominant displays which dragged us over the line last season. So there is plenty of optimism, no doubt helped by getting a rare victory of Milan (albeit a friendly). Transfer Window Using our DNA Scores to Assess A Player’s Future: Going into our third season, there were just two first team players who were entering their final 12 months of their contracts: the experienced Club Captain, Marten De Roon, and our backup left back, Sead Kolasinac. Our two most experienced players, both are very influential in the dressing room, with great personality’s along with high Determination, which I value very highly, particularly for mentoring younger players. So we had a decision to make. De Roon, as mentioned, is also club captain after Toloi’s departure, and a valued leader in the dressing room. With that in mind, and given that he has always performed well, I moved quickly to extend his deal since a couple clubs showed interest. Even at 34yrs old, he remains an important player. We would certainly miss his personality, exceptional work rate and teamwork. An added bonus is he agreed to a wage decrease, from around 65k to 45k p/w. There are few players at the club who boast his mental attributes of Kolasinac. But before I could decide what to do with Sead, the Saudi sharks came in, with a reasonable offer of 9.25m which isn’t bad for a 32yr old with a year left on his deal. Given the fact he was not a starter for us (Ruggeri has been first choice since Day 1), the decision was a simple one in the end, we cash in on him now. Sead unfortunately never felt like an Atalanta player for me. His mental were great, but his technical weaknesses highlighted by his DNA score, never filled me with confidence. Speaking of DNA, I fired up the old spreadsheet again, making some adjustments to the attributes which we measure our DNA against (removing some of the physical attributes as I thought it was a little redundant for youth players who obviously need to and will improve physically). The DNA score has now been heavily influenced by the Ajax T.I.P.S Model, and I’ve split the score into two categories, with the overall score combining both the Technical + Insight attributes (TI DNA), and the Personality + Speed attributes (PS DNA). Here’s the U18’s for example: I spent a long time focussing on the youth teams, trimming the squads down to around 16-18 players to ensure sufficient game time and a pathway into the first team. The B Team had the biggest overhaul. I decided that those players who were 21 or over, would be out. If good enough (and none were) they would be promoted to the Senior squad, or sold. Those who did not attract interest for a permanent move away, were loaned out. The reason behind this was to ensure that our best talents, regardless of their age, would get exposure to senior football. Playing in Serie C is great for the development of these young players. I have also set a rule that no player can play for more than two seasons in the B Team, as this will reduce the opportunities for players in the U20 and U18 squads from getting Serie C experience. Once a player has played two seasons, even if they are under 21, the same rules of promotion to first team, sale or loan will be applied. I won’t delve into the detail around which youth players were cut, but there were many. Our Youth Teams are now looking leaner, and filled with more talent than at any point in this save so far. Which is great, as I look to continue Atalanta’s proud history of developing some of Italy’s top talent. Going back to the First Team, revisiting the DNA scores was helpful once I started to consider extending the contracts of key players. Here is how the First Team DNA scores looked at the end of Season 2: The Squad in this image is inflated by the B Team players which I have promoted (as discussed above). Those highlighted in Red were deemed to have no future at the club, and I would try to sell. There are two players highlighted in Green: Juan Musso (Goalkeeper), who has the lowest DNA score of our First Team, and Berat Djimsiti who was the lowest scoring Outfield player in the First Team - their scores will serve as the Benchmark score for any newcomers into the First Team. If I have a youth team outfield player whose score is around 180, he will be integrated into the First Team. De Roon leads the way with the highest score (217), backing up my decision to extend his contract. Ederson was another one of those players whose score backed up his importance, and we rewarded him with a new contract (which he asked for). I am in the market for a player to compete with him however, because as it stands we rely on him and CDK too much. If we lose either of those to injury, the drop off in quality is massive. Adopo, Adli and Cortinovis aren’t up to the standard for a team that wants to consistently compete for the title. We also gave Scamacca a new deal, as he had just two years left on his contract. He becomes the highest earner at the club, eclipsing Scalvini’s 120k p/w wages, but for a striker entering his prime with a high market value, I see plenty of upside in this deal. We just need him to hope he can find the net more regularly than last season! There were to be a few more outgoings from the First Team: Despite having decent DNA scores, Aldi, Orsolini and Toure have thus far failed to convince me. For El Bilal Toure, his future was determined by the Scamacca decision, since both of them had deals expiring in 2027, I was certainly going to keep one and sell the other.So Toure was placed on the Transfer List, and we managed to do a deal with Valencia for 30m. Time will tell if that was the correct decision, and he is certainly a talented forward but the average levels of Determination, Teamwork and Work Rate would always be an issue for me. Adli only started 12 league games in one and half years at the club, never really pushing on as I’d have hoped. I thought we could cash in on him, and recruit a significant upgrade in this area to compete with Ederson (more on that later). We received an offer of 18m from Villarreal, and although I’d offered him out for more, it was reasonable enough and we make a profit of 12.75m on him. The departure of Orsolini was not high on the priority list, but it was certainly accelerated when he came to me demanding an improvement to his £66k p/w deal, which I straight up refused. For me, he had a disappointing campaign last year and is quite clearly our backup option to Joao Marques. Why would I want to give him a bigger salary when I don’t deem him good enough to start? His Teamwork of 10, compared to Joao’s 14, is telling. Joao also led the team for assists, and when Orsolini played, with that pesky Shoots From Distance trait, his selfishness resulted in many good attacking moves ending with a speculative shot whistling over the crossbar. Add to that his anger around not getting a new deal, and subsequent poor training performances, it was an easy decision to part with an unhappy player with unreasonable wage demands and playing expectations. In all honesty, Orsolini was always going to be a stop gap-player. He arrived at a time when we had no wingers and I had a desire to implement a 4-3-3 in my first season, despite having inherited a squad suited to a back five. He served his purpose in his two seasons but we have now outgrown him. We offered him out to no avail. Forced to decrease the asking price to a measly 15m, we received a bid from Lazio, before something I have never seen before popped into my inbox. The board stepped in to stop the sale of Orsolini, because it was £1m less than what they deemed the minimum - ridiculous. I tried to talk to the board, but they weren’t having it, and blocked the deal. In the end, he ended up going on loan to Monaco for a 400k fee, with an option to buy for 17.75m - not sure if they will trigger that, if they do then fair play to the board, but it seems like a bad decision to me. There were a number of players on the fringes, who had either been on loan or involved with the B Team, that we decided to part ways with. One of those was Idumbo Muzambo. Signed on a free from Ajax just one year prior, he did not develop as much as I’d hoped, and despite his enormous potential, we decided to make a very healthy profit on a player who’s Teamwork and Work Rate lagged considerably behind his peers. We struck a deal for just over 10m with Aston Villa, including future sell on clauses too. Another young player on the fringes that faced a similar fate, was Delle Monache. Signed in the summer of Season 1, I had high hopes for him, but he failed to impose himself on the first team. We capitalised on a decent loan spell he had at Spezia, and managed to offload him to Bournemouth for 8.5m, with a sell on clause. We pocketed a healthy profit of 4.7m and interestingly he has been immediately loaned out to Derby in the Championship, a strong indication of his current ability (or lack of). The departure of these two young players might normally be cause for concern, but I have a number of Atalanta youth products coming through in attacking positions, and selling these two for a profit also creates a more viable pathway for them. That was that in terms of big name departures, but with several B Team players also being offloaded (essentially all those highlighted in Red or Orange in the DNA spreadsheet), we managed to reap in £88m in player sells - impressive considering we did not part with any ‘key’ players. This gave us plenty room to manoeuvre in the market, adding to our considerably small starting budget of just £20m. Arrivals: First in the door, and a very ‘Atalanta’ signing, is a player I’d had tabs on for a while. The Udinese wonderkid, Simone Pafundi. Pafundi was entering his final year at Udinese, and we were able to prize away one of Italy’s top young talents for just £12m. I will look to train him to play in central midfield, with the possibility of deploying him as either the AP(S) or MEZ(A) in our system. He has the versatility to play on the right wing as a W(S) or even up front in a F9 role too. A star in the making, who will also don the Number 10 shirt. The next player to come through the doors in the summer of 2025 was Luca Ranieri of Fiorentina. With Kolasinac departing, I wanted a ‘like for like’ replacement, without breaking the bank. Ideally he would be an upgrade technically, but he must be a defender first, and therefore very adept at the Inverted Fullback role. He suits the role well, and although I’d prefer someone better technically, to play second fiddle to Ruggeri, and for just £5.5m, he will do. The third first team arrival, and the reason why I was keen to sell Bilal Toure, was because of the opportunity to sign this wonderkid, for a great price: Esposito, who is the youngest of three footballing brothers (Salvatore and Sebastiano are the other two), had enormous potential and is quite similar to Scamacca in terms of profile. Which is great, because ideally I want my striker to be either a creative/false nine type, or a physical target man. Bilal Toure was neither of those, and Pio Esposito can play as an understudy to Scamacca without me having to change the role/system at all. For £10.5m, I think it's a great but of business which Inter may live to regret. Orsolini’s replacement, another young Portuguese wonderkid, Joao Rego was the fourth man through the doors: Signed from Benfica for what I feel is a steal at £11.25m, his only weakness is his Teamwork and Work Rate but hopefully we can work on those, especially the work rate. Comfortable playing in numerous positions, I envisage him playing a backup role to Luariente on the left wing (Winger on Attack), and instead Zerbin will now provide cover on the right wing (Winger on Support) and rotate with Joao Marques. The fifth and final first team arrival, our marquee singing of the summer, and one which smashed the Atalanta transfer record… welcome to Bergamo, Nicolo Fagioli! I think it speaks volumes about where we are as a club, that we can poach key players from Juventus. A sure sign that we are becoming a ‘Big’ club. No doubt it was a hefty fee, but I like to think his unique skillset is worth it. There are not many players under 24 with his exceptional playmaking attributes, and available at this price. This is the player who will not only compete with Ederson in midfield, but hopefully lead this team to greatness in the years to come. He only has one cap for Italy, but with his ability and hopefully the exposure we will give him, I envisage him becoming a key player for club and country. Hopefully he has put his gambling problems behind him, and I’m very excited to have this player at La Dea. We had other targets, such as the well known wonderkid Joao Neves, but he would have cost more, and demanding a lot more in wages. We also need to keep an eye on our Home Grown quota and the young Italian helps us with that too. Also, have we finally replaced Koopmeiners?! Losing Teun was a massive blow at the end of Season 1, and we haven’t got anyone near his calibre or skillset, but Fagioli is probably the closest we could get, and a few years younger! Unsurprisingly, Fagioli isn’t just an excellent DNA fit, he now leads the pack in that regard. Here is the summary of our transfer activity. With no fewer than eight players signed to beef up our various youth teams, and some huge talent coming into the strengthen the first team, our Net Spend was just 1m. Not bad! Safeguarding Our Future It’s not just about signing young players... Our success on the pitch has prompted the board to consider building a new, bigger stadium for our ambitious future. As our financial update showed (prior to the record signing of Fagioli), we are suitably placed to become the footballing powerhouse of Italian football which I am aiming for. By ensuring we are sensible in the market, never spending beyond our means, and always looking to move players on for a profit (especially those who may not be first choice), we can sustain our strong financial position. This is of course enhanced by consistently qualifying for the UCL - something we have done for two years on the bounce now. IRL Atalanta managed to qualify for three years in a row between 2019 and 2021 before dropping out and have not returned since, I will try to continue getting this club into Europe’s elite as a minimum, without breaking the bank. With the club boasting a strong financial position, I was able to convince the board to invest into various areas of the club. For starters, we needed to upgrade our Training Facilities, which are already at an ‘Excellent’ level, but we can and should strive for better. The next items on the agenda was to focus on improving both our Youth Recruitment and increasing our Junior Coaching budget. Ensuring the quality of newgen we bring into the club is of the highest standard is essential for a club like Atalanta, who have always looked to develop young players. Hopefully the investment pays dividends in the years to come. Right, time to get stuck into the Season proper now. Wish me luck for Season 3, it should be a good one! #GoAtalantaGo!

Thanks! Appreciate you taking the time to comment There will be an update either later today or tomorrow hopefully. Just started Season 3!

Thank you! Yes it will be interesting to see how he does over a season, because Cagliari at home isn’t the most challenging opponent! On paper, the role works in my system so fingers crossed he keeps firing. Thanks I’m pleased we got it working in the end, the challenge is to keep it up now! We have a decision to make about Scamacca, and his backup Bilal Toure, as both of their deals expire in two years. It’s unlikely I’ll keep both. Scamacca does have the edge over Toure though, and as mentioned above I’m curious to give him more time in the new Target Forward role. Thank you mate! I’m really happy with how the system works right now, it did take a lot of tweaking to get there. Agreed, I love a cutback and especially if you’re using Wingers, it makes sense. Even with Scamacca in the side I am tempted to keep it on. Thinking about how @Hootieleece said he works as a Target Man like Giroud - and when I think of Giroud, he scores an awful lot of goals with his feet, flicking on near post cutbacks. It could work with Gianluca… Thank you! Yeah it has changed a bit, especially the instructions. In my mind, the theory hasn’t changed at all - but in game I have been constantly tweaking little things to try and get it as close to how I want it to play, and also finding the sweet spot with what works in the game. Ideally I won’t have to tweak much more, but who knows. Always looking for ways to improve!

Thanks for taking the time comment I would definitely recommend managing in Italy. It’s much more competitive than it used to be, and all the more fun now that there isn’t one team (Juve) winning every season. Have had bad experiences with face packs/logo packs in the past where it makes my game crash, so I’d rather go without.

Thank you mate! It was tough, and unexpected, and the future is bright with this team so let’s see if they can win a few more!

Season 2 Review (2024-2025) What a season. There were some hairy moments along the way, and for a while I thought Milan’s resurgence would not be stopped and we would be the bridesmaid once more. Somehow, we kept our noses in front, and can celebrate an outstanding treble winning season. I hope this is just the beginning of a new reign in Italy. There are many reasons to be optimistic for the future, as we have a very young, but talented core of players. As is usually the case with a team that wins the title, we finished 1st (thanks Michael Owen ) but this was another club record record broken, as it was obviously the club’s first top flight title. Another record, a low number of league draws… we drew just four games, losing another four. Still, 30 wins from 38 is impressive - let’s see if we can better than next season. Who else but CDK? Probably the best 20m I’ve ever spent on FM. An absolute no brainer to make his loan spell permanent last season, but even I didn’t expect him to have the kind of season he had this year. 24 goal contributions in 36 league appearances is ridiculous. He really thrived in the attacking Mezzala role, but he also played a handful of games either up front or on the wing, a testament to his versatility. To be named Serie A MVP at 24yrs old, hopefully the best is still yet to come from CDK. CDK was joined by five of his teammates for the Team of the Year. Juan Musso winning both Goalkeeper awards (I’ve never understood why we have two in Italy?) was no surprise. Most clean sheets by a distance, breaking a club record in the process, and making some crucial saves when we needed him. Our League Title by The Numbers The summary of our stats makes for very pleasing reading. We lead all the defensive metrics - defence wins you titles as they say. We were also very much up there when it comes to possession and goals too. Our xG numbers are very encouraging. League leading xGA and 3rd best for xG, it’s important that we continue to outperform those metrics too, as all the top teams do this. Pitch Tilt is probably my favourite metric. If you want to be dominant, you should be spending the majority of the game in the final third. If you’re doing that, naturally you should be creating more goalscoring chances whilst preventing the opponent from getting out of their half and into your final third. So it’s pleasing to see us have the best Final Third passes Against, and this goes hand in hand with having the best xg Against (and fewest conceded). For next year, we’ll look to increase our Final Third Passes even more, and hopefully improve our attacking output. Unsurprisingly based on the Final Third Passes, we pass the ball more than anyone else in the league, and boast the second best pass completion rate. A hallmark of our style of play, it’s nice to see the stats back this up. More of this next season please. Another metric that shows our dominance. We’re keeping the ball, playing the opposing half, and this naturally results in less shots on our own goal, equalling a ‘Quiet and Impenetrable Defence’. Perhaps the only metric which instantly stood out to me as an area of improvement, is our no. of opposition passes per defensive action. It’s still at a good level, but given how high our defensive line position is (league leading), I’d like to see a reduction in how many passes we allow them to make before engaging. This is probably a drawback of using a 4-3-3 shape, which does not have a natural high block like a 4-2-3-1. Interestingly, the two sides with the best OPPDA, Fiorentina and Milan, play a 4-2-3-1 and a 4-2-4 respectively. Now that we have tweaked our system to play a Much Higher Defensive Line and triggering a press Much More Often, we may see this metric improve next year. For the players, there were two standouts (aside from CDK) who broke club records along the way. As touched on above, the exceptional Juan Musso broke the record for most clean sheets (23) and new signing Joao Marques broke a record for the most assists (12) in a season. Musso also had the most Player of the Match awards, which is surprising, since he faced the fewest shots in the league, you would think he would not have too much to do. Title Deciding Tactical Tweaks? It’s hard to say if the tweak to the system is what made the difference, because we got a helping hand from Fiorentina who beat Milan, but we played a full month (five games in all comps.) with this tweaked system, winning every game and conceding zero. Maybe it wasn’t decisive, but it certainly helped, and the reason I am most pleased with it, is because I’ve finally created something which plays almost exactly how I want to play. We can probably never reach perfection (or at least what I see as perfection) but all the theory and discussion in this thread has finally cultivated into a system which creates the closest to perfection, so far: Dominating possession with triangles and Diamonds over the pitch, aiding ball retention and positional fluidity Creating good goal scoring chances through the use of overloads and isolating wingers Mastering transitions with our 3-2 Rest Defence Intense pressing to win the ball back and holding shape once possession is regained, before starting our attacking play again Compactness out of possession (much higher defensive line) As always, there is a caveat - this was just five games, so let’s see how we go next season where the aim is to use this system almost exclusively. For those interested this is the tactic in full. The only change is Scamacca playing as a Target Forward in the game vs Cagliari. The main difference between our TI’s and the Tiki Taka preset, is the Higher tempo. I want us to play quite close together to aid possession and combination play, hence the Fairly Narrow width - but I want our passes to be quick, with the hope of unsettling the opposition and beating a press. When Scammaca plays, we can untick Low Crosses due to his effectiveness in the air. It’s important to note that my obsession with control and dominance, means I often drop the tempo to the default (or Lower) and add some time wasting, to take the sting out of games with 15-20 minutes to go - if we’re winning of course. At this point of the save, I have no problem with the occasional boring game. As we improve, hopefully we can release the shackles a little bit. PI’s are as follows: BPD shoots less often Libero shoots less, takes more risks DM shoots less AP roams Wingers cut inside and roam DLF (or Target Forward) roams I wanted all five of my attacking players to roam from position, more than by default, to add some more fluidity to our attack. I am a staunch fan of positional play, but with the addition of TI’s such as Much Shorter Passing, Dribble Less, Work Ball into Box, and Hold Shape, I am cautious of us becoming too predictable. So adding roaming to certain players, allows for a bit more freedom in what I think is an already very structured and disciplined setup. Financial Summary An interesting snippet regarding money spent in Serie A. La Dea sit at the top of the pile when it comes to transfer profit - we made almost 25m over the last year, stark contrast to our title rivals Milan who made a 50m loss. We also have the second lowest wage to turnover ratio in the league, so we have plenty room to grow if necessary (hopefully our players don’t see this though!). Although in terms of actual revenue, we lag some way behind the big boys still: Despite our financial position looking pretty strong, we were only given a transfer budget of 20m (again), for the next season. There is a 215k p/w surplus in the wage budget though, which is not too shabby. Nevertheless, the way the playing squad has gone from strength to strength over the past year, it’s hard to see how we can actually improve our current first XI with just 20m. So unless there are some unexpected departures, we will probably continue to search for hidden gems and younger players, in true Atalanta fashion. It’s probably going to be a a quiet off season in regards to player movement, since the squad looks to be in good shape, and the size of the B Team, U20 and U18 are much smaller now too. As I said, unless we see any unexpected departures, there may not be any significant incomings for now. I would like to focus a little more on youth development, especially now that we have a few more exciting prospects coming through. Perhaps more on that in a future post, for now it’s time to bask in the glory of our very first Scudetto win. It’s Prosecco time… —————— #GoAtalantaGo!

Come What May (La Dea - Season 2 Finale) May 2025 Internazionale Milano (H) We begin the final month of the season with a mouth watering Lombardo derby against Inter: We go into the match as heavy favourites due to the respective league positions of the two clubs. Inter have been faltering since sacking Inzaghi, and strangely deciding to stick with the Interim Manager until the end of the season it seems. I must admit despite being favourites, I wasn’t entirely confident. Matches against Inter have usually been goal-fests and with the talent at their disposal, anything could happen. I had an idea before this big game, and in all honesty I didn’t know if it would work because a lot of my tinkering can fail to deceive. Nevertheless, I went ahead with it anyway. I’ve been growing frustrated with the lack of control in recent games. I feel like this team is good enough to dictate the tempo of matches better, and play more on the front foot. Momentum tends to swing a little too often for my liking and if we are to become a top side, and actually win this title, we need to wrestle back control. So in order to turn our dominance up a notch, I decided to tweak some Team Instructions: Reduced passing directness to ‘Much Shorter’ Increased tempo to the max (Higher) Added ‘Hold Shape’ and ‘Dribble Less’ from the start (previously only added these in game if situation calls for it) Increased Defensive Line to ‘Much Higher’ Increased Trigger Press to ‘Much More Often’ The TI’s bore some resemblance to the Tiki Taka preset, and to be honest, when you read the description of the tactical style, it is pretty much what we are after. The game also describes it as an extreme variant of Control Possession, and this ‘extreme’ possession hungry approach form us, worked a charm… We patiently probed, controlling the game and creating some decent chances whilst not giving them a sniff. They failed to hit the target with any of their shots on goal. In fact six of their eight attempts on our goal were speculative long shots which did not cause us any issues. It was a Tiki Taka masterclass from La Dea. Our dominance in this match can be demonstrated by the Match Momentum. We were on top for virtually 90 minutes against quality opposition. Perhaps my tweak might become a permanent fixture. Bologna (A) In the end it wasn’t the finest display of free flowing attacking football, with our winning goal coming from a corner, courtesy of Caleb Okoli, deputising for the injured Djimsiti. However, just as we did against Inter, we controlled the game brilliantly, just like a side locked in a fierce title battle should: don’t give anything away: Maybe I am being a bit harsh, as our xG shows that we probably could have, or should have scored one more at the very least. Once again, our Match Momentum looked impressive, despite being away from home we were still able to stay on top for the majority of the game. But our result against Bologna was not the most important of the weekend, because in Florence, the unthinkable happened: A 90th minute winner from Alfred Duncan sends shockwaves throughout Italy, leaving the Serie A standings looking like this with just two games to go: We will head into our next league game knowing that we are just one point away from lifting Atalanta’s first Scudetto in their history! Advantage, La Dea! Coppa Italia Final - Internazionale Milano (N) But we will have to put the Prosecco on ice because before we can play the title decider, there is a break from Serie A action as we get a chance to retain the Coppa Italia, against a recent opponent: Inter Milan. It would also be a cup double if we were to lift the trophy, after we won the Super Cup in December. I must say though, I’m really not a fan of the scheduling of this final, for the second year running. We find ourselves in the middle of a title race, having to play a Cup Final on a Wednesday just 72 hours after our league victory over Bologna. We then have another league game to play the following Sunday… it’s just bizarre to me. Anyway, I sound like Jurgen Klopp, it is what it is and my players will just have to recover as much as possible. We go into this final as slight favourites, with the bookies perhaps giving Inter more of a chance due to it being neutral ground, and a cup final of course. We would be without our Captain, Berat Djimsiti, so it’s Caleb Okoli who comes in to partner Scalvini just as he did against Bologna. I’m never as confident when Okoli plays, as his technical abilities have been quite suspect, even though he has improved considerably in that regard. For the type of football Atalanta want to play, our defenders must be very comfortable on the ball, and at times he has given the ball away far too frequently in dangerous areas. Hopefully he can cut those out, because defensively and physically he is a very exciting prospect. For the match itself, it was to be a repeat of the recent Serie A clash, another mature performance from this side that is really coming of age now: A successful defence of our Coppa Italia title! Just like the league game, we restricted Inter to just 8 attempts and 33% Possession (1% less than the league encounter), although they had a slight increase in xG from the league game, but so did we: Another comfortable, controlling victory with our Tiki Taka approach. Again, Match Momentum is almost completely in our favour, demonstrating our dominance over proceedings. The Prosecco can remain on ice though, and there will be next to no celebrating as of yet due to a huge Serie A game just three days later… Cagliari (H) Interestingly the Italian Football Express headline opted to focus on Cremonese and their relegation battle, rather than the prospect of Atalanta winning their first ever league title As the article states, with a six point lead, a single point will be enough to secure the title at home against Cagliari. Which is a huge positive, since I don’t fancy our chances going into some final day drama away to Fiorentina. Let’s try and wrap it up in front of our fans at the Gewiss Stadium. The cup win is a huge confidence booster as well going into this decisive game. Here we go then… for what is without doubt, the biggest game of the season and probably the biggest game in the history of this proud club from Bergamo, this how we line up: After a recent discussion on this thread, Scamacca starts the game in a new role: Target Forward. Hopefully this will get the best out of his exceptional physical abilities, and more importantly, get him back firing again. We are without Djimisti again who has been ever-present alongside Scalvini until now, so Okoli, who has been put in some outstanding training performances, comes into the side. We start the game on the front foot as expected, and less than two minutes into the game, the role change for Scamacca was already paying off… He was played through on goal by our playmaker Ederson, and powered a finish into the roof of the net. 1-0 to La Dea. And in the 38th minute, it was two. Another goal from Scamacca, this time perhaps a little fortunuate. CDK is definitely going for goal here, but his shot flicks off the head of our 6’5” target man and into the net. It was a great header by Scamacca in fairness, who would not have had much time to adjust his body and flick it on. 2-0 to La Dea, and the fans were in party mode. We added a third goal in the second half, courtesy of our top scorer CDK, to round off another truly dominant performance… …and secure Atalanta’s FIRST EVER SCUDETTO! In doing so, we completed a famous Treble, adding the Serie A to the Super Cup and Coppa Italia. An incredible achievement in just our second season. The result was never in doubt really. Once Fiorentina beat Milan, I knew we would do it, especially up against Cagliari, who even in the midst of a relegation battle and desperately in need of points, could not spoil the party. The board were understandably delighted, as we delivered the league title three years ahead of schedule. Once again though, our refined tactic which places an emphasis on control by dominating possession and maximum pressing to win the ball back, resulted in another one sided Match Momentum graphic. Also the 81% possession achieved in this game is the highest I can remember from a competitive game in this save. As mentioned above, the role change for Scamacca proved to be a masterstroke. Thanks to @Hootieleece for the suggestion! But it is just one game against a poor Cagliari side, so I won’t get too excited right now - let’s see how he goes next season with this role. One thing is for sure, he will play on a Support duty as I’ve come to realise this season, just how vital it is that the striker in a 4-3-3 plays on support, especially if you want to play a possession based style. Fiorentina (A) After winning the Scudetto in the previous match, the pressure was off for our visit to Florence. I decided to give a run out to our squad players, many of whom have had to accept substitute appearances and the occasional cup game without kicking up a fuss. We won the game 2-0 but can definitely thank our subs (the usual starters) for turning the game around, because despite the Momentum being our favour, we did not have a single shot on goal in the first half. Every highlight was a sloppy ball at the back or in midfield being pounced on by La Viala’s high pressing 4-2-3-1 system. It’s a miracle that they did not capitalise. However, a drastic decision to make three subs at half time paid dividends. Scalvini, Clem and Ederson came on to assert more control and add creativity, and it worked a treat as Scalvini set up Ederson for the opener. My fourth sub, CDK came on towards the end to seal victory with a beautiful curler from the edge of the box. The stats may suggest Fiorentina got FM’d, although they failed to create anything clear-cut and once some of our starters entered the game, they were outplayed. All of our shots (four) came in the second half, but the home side only managed two attempts in that time as well. In all honesty I learned a lot from this game: if we are to retain the title next year, we need to keep our best players fit because the second string side is probably not of the quality required. This victory, however unconvincing, meant our results in the Merry Month of May were nothing but green: —————— I'll end this post here as I've hit the upload limit for images, but in Part 2 of this post I'll review the fantastic season that we had! #GoAtalantaGo!

Yeah that’s fair enough, I wouldn’t expect a goal machine but certainly a decent contribution. With a MEZ on Attack, and a Winger (or potentially an Inverted Winger) on Attack, we should have enough goals spread across the team. You’ve definitely given me something to think about

The low crosses is a recent change to be fair as I want to generate more cut backs, but you’re right, maybe it doesn’t help since he is much more suited to regular crosses. Coming to think of it, he has scored a lot of headers, maybe Floated Crosses is an idea.

Not a bad suggestion actually, I might give that a try. That’s probably the one role I’ve not used as it’s always been a bit underwhelming, but he certainly fits the Target Man mould. Does a TM on Support score enough goals in your experience? I’m looking for my striker to play a supporting role, but obviously it’s important to chip in with goals, not just link play.

Approaching the Business End of the Season: Picking up from my previous results update, we head into an action packed February, with games across three competitions: Serie A, Coppa Italia and the Champions League Knock Out Play Off Round, where we drew a little known club called Real Madrid… February 2025: We kicked off the month in style, with four wins in all competitions, with a couple of impressive victories against Lazio and high-flying Fiorentina in the league. But the winning run came to a halt when we took a short trip to Turin to play rivals Juventus in our next game. We held them to a goalless draw, restricting them to very little, without creating too much ourselves - but the stats will show that we were the better team. On another day, maybe we snatch a 1-0 win, but we’ll take the point against a top side away from home. The draw against Juventus took a lot out of the players, and we only had a few days to recover before the visit of our Champions League Playoff opponents, Real Madrid. It doesn’t come much bigger than Real, and to face them in the Knock Out Play Off round is quite unfortunate and our chances of progressing to the Knock Out proper may be slim. Nevertheless, we took the game to them at the Gewiss, losing narrowly. The attempts and xG were very close, and like the Juve game, on another day we probably get a more favourable result. It what was set to become the toughest run of the season so far, our UCL matchup against the Spanish Giants was sandwiched between a Lombardo Derby against fierce rivals Milan, now managed by Unai Emery and his 4-2-4 is particularly challenging to play against - evidenced by our 2-0 defeat at San Siro earlier in the season. This result was a real sickener. It just feels like nothing is going our way in this run of games. It was a lesson in clinical finishing from Milan, who scored three goals from an xG of 0.77 - made worse when you factor in our xG was 0.99 more than theirs. Hardly surprising that their goals came in the 74th and 81st minute as our already tired legs began to tire even more. Once again I lament our luck, as we really should have come away with three points, yet it was the Rossoneri who took all the points away from Bergamo. It was also a game which could have huge ramifications for the title race, as Milan have been on somewhat of a resurgence after a slow start. After beating us, they close the gap to just 5 points. I really hope this underserved defeat does not come back to bite us in May. The tough run continues, as just a few days later we had to play the return leg against Real Madrid, and try to overturn the 2-1 deficit. So a month that started perfectly, ended about as bad as it could have. Sure, we faced some top teams, but we go into March feeling incredibly hard done by with the results against Juve and Milan and wishing for an easier draw in the UCL Play Off. March 2025: The next month was a lot more promising for us: Return to league action saw us held to a goalless draw against newly promoted Cremonese, extending our winless run to five games in all competitions… the most we’ve gone without a win since we started this save! I rotated the side a little, but it was still a really poor performance. We had the lions share of possession, but did very little with it. Perhaps on another day we score a goal from our xG total of 0.80 but it wasn’t near good enough against a considerably weaker opponent. Thankfully we got back to winning ways against Sassuolo, before beating newly promoted Parma and then Salernitana after the international break. Off the pitch, we announced our annual youth intake. It wasn’t quite the ‘Golden Generation’ that was predicted, but still a good intake, and much improved on last year. Mattia Tondi is the pick of the bunch, another Deep Lying Forward, similar to our best pick from a year ago, he could develop into a top player. April 2025: We had a pretty typical FM draw for the Coppa Italia which saw us play Jose Mourinho’s Roma three times in three weeks: After a 2-2 draw at home in the Cup, followed by a goalless draw at home in the league, we were eventually able to get the better of them in the second league of the Cup. In the Coppa Italia matches against Roma, I wanted to experiment tactically. I wrote about my desire to use a 3-1-6 build up more often in my Tactical Interlude above. So, in the games against Roma we tried to do just that - but from a completely different base formation. Inspired by recent Serie A matches IRL, I opted to go for a 3-5-2 system inspired by high flying Inter Milan. Simone Inzaghi has them playing brilliantly, and given the lack of game time for two of my centre backs (Okoli and new signing Renan), I thought a move to a back three would allow them to both start and give security to an out of form Yacine Adli playing as a Regista. You can see the beautiful 3-1 Diamond shape at the base in this system. It’s much cleaner than using a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1, and you can see how our attacking six pin Roma into several 1v1 situations. Overall I found the shape to be a little bit too defensive, and it does not fit the profile of the playing squad anymore (ironically it would have been great at the start of the save) which is evidenced by our No.7 (Orsolini) having to play as a CWB-A on the right hand side. Alas, it got the job done and was a fun experiment. Going back to the league campaign, we reverted to our usual 4-3-3 and had some pretty routine victories against inferior opponents. Prior to the final game of the month against Torino, we got the exciting ‘Title race heads to the wire’ email in our inbox which also gives us a side by side of the run-in for both teams. Interestingly both Milan and ourselves have to play Bologna, Cagliari and Fiorentina - so these three teams could play a significant part in determining where the title goes. Overall, our run-in is tricker with fixtures against Torino and Inter significantly tougher than Spezia and Monza. As I predicted, the trip to Torino was tricky - a side in good form, we had to find a late winner from super sub Orsolini. The goal came just one minute after Vlasic levelled from the spot (Torino’s npxG was 0.83). The drama didn’t end there as we had a heart in mouth moment in the 95th minute when Sanabria put the ball in the net, thankfully VAR ruled it out for offside and we hung on to claim all three points. The late winner meant we finish the month with three league wins and one draw, extending our new unbeaten run to eight games. So at the end of April, with just four games to go, we still sit at the top of the table but Milan are really breathing down our necks, with just three points between us. Milan’s rise up the table has been nothing short of exceptional, and somewhat frightening. After a bit of a slow start, they have not lost a game since mid-December, and only dropped points twice, winning the rest of their games. It is certainly going to be a tense run in, against an in form juggernaut intent on retaining their title. Before I wrap up this post I thought I would also give a quick update on Player Stats, giving an indication of who our key performers are, for those who are interested. You might have seen from the image above that CDK is our top scorer, but here is how we’re looking as a squad: CDK as we’ve already seen, is absolutely smashing it. He does take some penalties, but only six are from the spot so far. Worryingly, our next top scorer, Scamacca, has now gone 10 games without a goal, with just one assist in that period. After starting the season on fire, he has chosen a really bad time to go cold in front of goal! Admittedly one of those fixtures were against Real Madrid, but it’s one goal and one assist in his last nine league games. Left winger Lauriente is the third and final player in double figures at this stage of the season. Meanwhile, summer signing Joao Marques is the assist king in the side, with an impressive figure of 11, with 6 goals too. —————— I’ll leave it there for now, I’m flying through the save at the moment so expect the final update of this season to come in the next few days… wish me luck for the title race! #GoAtalantaGo!

The Athletic Article on Arsenal’s Rest Defence: The most underrated weapon in the title race Keeping with the theme of Rest Defence, I read this article which was released today on The Athletic, which heaped praise on Arsenal's Rest Defence. The article goes into detail about why this is their biggest weapon in the title race, and the reason why their defence is so strong. Here's the link, you will have to subscribe to read in full unfortunately. https://theathletic.com/5326484/2024/03/11/arsenal-rest-defence-title-race/?source=user_shared_article Key Takeaways Here are the key takeaways from the article and what I found thought provoking and relevant to my tactical piece above: --- "Arteta likes flexible attacking, with plenty of rotations, but there is structural consistency. Whereas Arsenal built up in a 3-2-5 shape last season, tucking one full-back deep and moving one centrally, in 2023-24 they are attacking more through a 2-3-5. Here is how that looked on Saturday, with Ben White on the ball. All 20 outfielders are in the Brentford defensive third and, collectively, Arsenal are no more than 50 yards in width and 20 yards in length — you could almost fit them all into the penalty area. The distances between individuals are small, so they are able to connect with short passes, and Arsenal have bodies around the ball to counter-press. This compactness and proximity to the man in possession are essential. The advantage of a 2-3-5 means both full-backs are closer to the pivot, Jorginho, rather than in a 3-2-5. It makes counter-pressing easier but also puts those full-backs in position to connect play to the wingers or make under/overlapping runs, essential in games like this where Arsenal’s wingers often face a double team." --- Plenty to ponder...

Thank you Sorry I did not include any Team Instructions in the post, as I wanted to focus more on the structure of the team which is defined more so by the player roles and duties you select than TI's (in my opinion). Here is what I would call the 'Base' set of instructions I have been using. Keep in mind that they are not set in stone, and some which are missing I add situationally. For example, 'Counter Press' is something which I've experimented with only using against weaker sides, due to wanting to preserve the shape of my team against better teams. However, I'm not sure I've seen a great deal of difference. 'Hold Shape' is another which I use from time to time, and I never use 'Counter', rather keep it off and allow natural counter attacks to occur rather than forcing it, and potentially losing the ball more frequently. In a future post I will touch on Team Instructions in a bit more detail, because I've been experimenting with this recently, tinkering to find the sweet spot.

Tactical Interlude: Before I begin, I don’t want to be accused of plagiarism or anything like that, I have actually had this in my drafts for a couple months… but the opening segment of this is going to be very similar to the excellent thread which @Rashidi recently put together on Rest Defence. If you haven’t read his thread, I encourage you to do so: I will of course put my own spin on the theory of Rest Defence, but my focus for this little tactical interlude is going to be around my general tactical ideas with Atalanta. This will encompass what Pep Guardiola calls “The Three P’s”, which is Position, Possession, Pressure. Hopefully I can tie it all together at the end with some concluding thoughts on how I want to set my team up with the overall tactical shape and ideology. This will be image heavy as I try to demonstrate certain aspects, so due to the majority of my screenshots hitting the upload size limit, please use the hyperlinks to Gyazo to view the images. Position: The Theory of ‘Rest Defence’ in football There is a really good article from the brilliant people at spielverlagerung.com (all their tactical content is fascinating to me) on the theory of Rest Defence which I encourage you to read if you haven’t and if tactical theory is your thing, of course: » Tactical theory: the various forms of rest-defence They sum up what Rest Defence is really well: “Rest defence translates to having players positioned in deeper areas of the field when in possession with the means of controlling defensive spaces in case of an opposition counterattack. These players are positioned in optimal locations/spaces to control the game by limiting opposition counterattacks simultaneously supporting teammates in possession for combinations and recirculation. This is done by maintaining a structure in areas behind the ball against ‘opposition attack protection’ whilst the team are attacking in the final third.” I think one of the key words from that paragraph is structure. A good Rest Defence will give you structure, and stability to your attacks. There are of course, numerous ways to structure your team when you are attacking, some good, some bad. What I want to do is go through the different build up shapes and rest defences which I use with Atalanta, and why I use them. The structure which I deploy will change, depending on the opponent, the availability of players and their strengths/weaknesses. This will determine the first ‘P’ which I outlined: Position. The focus of this post will be around the 4-3-3. This shape, which morphs into a 3-2-5 attacking structure, has been my go to since FM24 came out. I like it because of the security that it brings. In this image you can see our pretty standard 3-2-5 build-up shape. We have progressed the ball up field and our attackers are camped around the halfway line. Kolasinac is in possession, and about to play the pass out wide to #11. This is a perfect example of the benefits of setting up in this 3-2-5 shape. We are structured and positioned to keep hold of the ball (retention), but also we have the perfect Rest Defence, if we are to lose the ball, essentially ‘safe’ from an opposing counter attack. So by setting up in this shape, we are in total control. “By structuring the rest defence in a proper way, a team can achieve dominance over their opponents transition and consequently diminish the threat of the opponent breaking out through counter attacks. This rest defence structure can be created in numerous ways, depending on the formation used during the attacking stage, the game model implemented by the coach and the qualities of the individual players. However, there are certain commonalities that all rest defences adhere to. One of the similarities that all rest defences share is a layering within the structure. Each layer has different functions that relate to how teams deal with transitions.” Another key word from that paragraph, is layering. So we’ve identified that we need a structure, now we need to think about the layers within that structure. If you compare this diagram below to our 3-2-5 build up in the above link, we use the same amount of players to set up our rest defence (five) but just flip the first and second line (layers). We have three players back in our first line and two controlling the centre of the pitch in the second line, as opposed to the 2-3 structure in this image. Now in this image here, we are setup in a 4-3-3 again but this time using a 2-3 build up with double IWBs, giving us a very similar shape to the above diagram. In theory, a 2-3 Rest Defence can be optimal against a side playing with just one striker, who have more men in midfield, as you can use your 2 in the first layer to control the lone forward, and then your 3 in the second layer, to mitigate counter attacks/win the ball back. However, I’m not sure it’s so effective in FM24 due to how narrow the IWB’s now position themselves. If you look at this image of us in possession, I’ve highlighted in yellow circles where I’d actually like them to be. Where they are currently, they leave us vulnerable to counter attacks down the wing, especially on our right hand side as the opposition’s #7 is in acres of space if they can get the ball to him! So maybe this is not the ideal Rest Defence for us to use. So what is the ideal Rest Defence for how I want to play? Well the two most common in today’s game are in fact the 2-3 (formerly used by Pep at Bayern and City, now seen by Ange at Spurs) which we’ve established is less ideal, and the 3-2 which is more widely used today (by top sides such as City, Liverpool and Arsenal). I’ll park the 2-3 for now, and the focus will now be on the 3-2 shape, which we use for the majority for the time. However, I’ve recently been playing with a slightly more adventurous, 3-1 build up. I’ve touched on this before in the thread as a shape which I had used sparingly, often against deep blocks, but maybe it has the potential to become our go to Rest Defence / build up shape in the future. There will definitely be some flexibility required, as against certain teams, and this is something else I learnt from @Rashidi , they may be committing 3-4 players forward (their Rest Attack). So the number of opposition attackers should define how you set up your Rest Defence. For example, in this image, we are in a 3-1-6 settled build up shape, but the opponent has committed three players forward. Sure, we outnumber them still by four to three, but it could still be quite risky. Using a 3-2 shape here would certainly be safer, but it’s about balancing risk and reward as we commit six players forward to attack their back five. In certain match situations if we do not adjust our Rest Defence accordingly, we could be swamped and murdered on the transition. Going back to this image with our 2-3 build up, the opponent has 3 players forward, positioned for a counter attack. I’m happy with the number of players we have back, five should be able to control that space, but it’s the positioning of them that I would need to address here. So a simple 3-2 shape would control our right flank (and their attacking left winger) much better. Due to them having two attacking players central, I’d be unlikely to opt for a 3-1 shape here as the opposition #9 and #37 could dominate a lone pivot here. Aside from setting the team up in a 3-2 base for example, there are other tools we can use to exaggerate this security even further. I could also add the Team Instruction ‘Hold Shape’ which would see us attempt to retain the ball immediately after winning it back (in transition) instead of launching a counter attack. It would encourage us to play a bit safer, and allow ourselves to get into our set positions before attacking, thus settling into our Rest Defence before launching an attack. In fact this is a change I often deploy in games once we’re a couple goals ahead, just to take the sting out of games as we seek to increase our levels of control even further. Build Up with the 4-3-3: So we have established that the 3-2 build up is the more stable, balanced option. Let’s look at some examples of how we build up play in this shape using the 4-3-3. The aim is not only to have a good Rest Defence, but also creating Numerical Superiority which is vital for both keeping possession and progressing the ball up field. In our early build up shape using the 4-3-3 as our defensive formation, I quite often see the team look like this. We have created clear numerical superiority here, with a 5 vs 2 in the first phase, with a staggered line of five, with the central defender sat a bit deeper. He has four easy and safe options to progress the ball. Granted, you won’t get this in every game as it’s very much dependent on the opponent’s shape. Having said that, with the roles we have used, I feel confident that we can outnumber and break through most presses. This is the benefit of using a Libero and two IFBs, over using an IWB on one side. The IWB will position himself more or less as a standard full back in the first phase, and then move into midfield later on. So we almost exclusively have a 5-5 shape with the front five occupying opposition midfield and defence, and five in the first line meaning we can play through Juve’s hopeless two-man press. The beauty of the Libero is that he moves up alongside the DM slightly earlier, and with two IFBs, we create the 3-2 shape much earlier in build up. And as seen above, even before the 3-2 takes place, you get a more close-knit five in the back line, than you would using an IWB. Of course, if a key player like Scalvini is injured, I might be hesitant to use the Libero role as it requires a special player. Therefore we might be more inclined to use an IWB, who will tuck into midfield but from a wide starting position. But all things being equal and first choice personnel are available, it will be the opponents press and overall shape that dictates how we build up from the back. Ideally you want to use as few players as possible to beat the press, using attacking players to pin back their defence. So as I said, we alternate between using a 3-2 and a 3-1 build up (occasionally 2-3) depending on how many players we need to use in the first phase. Here’s an example of us playing through a press with the 3-2 build up. We have plenty of options surrounding the ball carrier, notably all of our ‘back five’ are in good positions, with two central midfielders also ready to drop deep and receive. Once we pass the ball out to our left back, a diamond shape is created in the left half space, giving Ruggeri three passing options to retain possession (Numerical Superiority) and play through the press. It almost resembles a ‘Rondo’ training drill! Possession: Attacking the Opposition So we’ve talked about controlling spaces and protecting ourselves from opposition counter attacks with our 3-2 build up, but what is the plan when we have the ball? How do we hurt the opposition? It’s a game of patience, making the field as wide as possible, probing and creating gaps to exploit within their defensive structure. This is my favourite part, where we look to play our attacking football in the final third. We want to have possession, but it must not be possession for possession sake. We need to have some bite and intensity, attack with purpose. Thanks to the match engine enhancements which allow for a very realistic positional play experience, certain midfield roles (such as MEZ, RPM, BBM) will push much higher up compared to previous years, and form part of the attack, even before you reach the final third. This more attacking approach can help you turn stale possession, into purposeful possession. So it’s not necessarily about racking up high possession numbers - that is great, but what are we doing with the ball? Where do we want to focus our attacks and cause the most damage? I’ve previously spoken about the importance of the Half Space in this thread and about having players in the five vertical zones of the pitch. This is a ploy which most top teams utilise today, and even their training pitches have these markings to help drill this into the players. For me, the Mezzala is the best role for occupying and attacking the half spaces Having Wingers stay wide, creates space for Mezzala’s playing inside of them, and this also means the centre forward has an advanced number #8 either side of him, giving him more support. The line of five helps to pin defences, and will naturally outnumber a back four. Against a back five, you may find it harder to break through and often the best teams will add an extra player, often resembling a 3-1-6 shape. As I mentioned previously we have experimented with this attacking shape, and it is slowly becoming my favourite shape due to the problems it creates for the opponent. In the next image you can see how our shape in the middle third can at times resemble a 1-4-5, and how that five line attack is pinning back the defence. I also really like how our central defender sits quite predominantly behind play, and that creates a sort of flat diamond with the four in front of him. The benefit this gives, is for any of our ‘base’ players, there is always an option. The emphasis that the positional play system puts on creating triangles or diamonds within a set structure, allow for easy ball retention and progression into the final third. For example in the previous image, the ball is with right back, Holm, we have freed him up and he can now carry the ball forward unopposed since we have three players occupying three defenders, and as he travels up field, he has the potential to play a pass into either #72 or #59 should they make a darting run in behind. The space for Holm to drive into is helped by the very wide positioning of the wingers, a vital part of this style. The Winger’s wide positioning has helped to open up the half space, which in that example, our right back Holm has taken advantage of. Perhaps the main beneficiaries of the wide wingers however, are the two no. 8s which play as Mezzala’s in our setup. Regardless of whether our build up is 3-2, 2-3 or 3-1, the two ‘no.8s’ in our system really take advantage of the half spaces and it’s from here where we create our most dangerous opportunities. The theory, in this image, is a wide player, typically a Winger, has dragged his marker out and created space for an attacking player inside, typically a number 8, who can attack the half space or channel between full back and central defender. Putting this into practice, in this attack, our left winger Zerbin has the ball and is in a 1v1 battle with the fullback. Our LCM, or left eight in this image is #17 (CDK). He is positioned himself in the half space but crucially is ahead of his marker (also in a 1v1) and in the cover shadow of the right back who can’t see the run he is making behind his back. He attacks that half space channel which was opened up due to the wide positioning of the winger, and is played through on goal to score. That brings me onto the next weapon of our attack: Isolating Wingers. Earlier I spoke about achieving Numerical Superiority, particularly in the first phase. Another aspect of our game is to achieve ‘Qualitative Superiority’, and that is when you have established that you have a player who is simply better than the opponent that he/she is going up against. Typically, in Positional Play, qualitative superiority is most commonly found in the wide areas where a winger or attacking wingback can get 1v1 and beat his man. Again in theory, in this image, you want to have your best 1v1 players, or your ‘Unstoppable Guys’, in a favourable match up. This is exactly what we try and do in our system. Whether I play Wingers or Inverted Wingers, they are instructed to Stay Wider. The reason is twofold: Open up the half spaces for penetrating runs from left/right eights Create 1v1 opportunities where they can demonstrate their qualitative superiority to beat opponents You can see how we’ve put the theory into practice again here. Our right winger, Orsolini, received the ball out wide in space, and our other winger #11 (circled) is staying very wide and is completely free when we switch the play to that side of the field. When he receives the ball, he has two very good options: Play in our left eight in the half space who is ready to make a penetrating run Drive towards goal hoping to create an opportunity for an easy cut back or shooting chance We also want to create overloads, or numerical advantages, all over the pitch. One of the best ways to do that, is by using plenty of support duties. One position which is perhaps crucial for aiding overloads and numerical advantages in a possession system, is the use of a supporting or dropping centre forward. Think Messi at Barcelona, or how Gabriel Jesus leads the line for Arsenal. Two players of different abilities of course, but neither of them played the role of a classic No. 9 who played off the last man and tussled with defenders, perhaps like Haaland. Having a striker drop deep, or move out wide, helps to create an overload which can help to retain possession, but also drag the defender over to one side, which makes it easier for you to attack the underloaded side, perhaps where a pacey winger or midfielder can attack the space. For example here, I have used a Complete Forward on Support (Toure) who has dropped off a little to receive, and is able to turn and pick out the onrushing winger to score. Pressure: Utilising A High Press The third and final ‘P’, is Pressure. So, when we have failed to retain possession of the ball, and an attack is repelled, what do we do? We’re going to fight like hell to get it back. Counter pressing is an essential part of the modern game, especially for a team that wants to dictate the flow of a game. If you want to be the dominant side and play on the front foot, you must be able to apply constant pressure on the opposition. To help us with our pressing scheme, there are certain elements which are necessary to apply to all of our tactics: Firstly, it’s a high line to go along with our high press, of course. If we play anything less than a high line, we risk opening up spaces between our players and becoming less compact, vertically. This could make passes between the lines easier for the opposition. Secondly, it’s having the system or structure in place to press high. You will find it much harder and less effective to press high if you play a 5-3-2 or 5-4-1 for example. More top heavy systems, like a 4-2-4 or 4-2-3-1 will generally have more success due to the higher positioning of players. But a 4-3-3 can also be affective at pressing high up the pitch. Thirdly, it’s trapping the opponent. Pressing traps can be very effective and you can either target a specific player who is perhaps poor on the ball, or trap any player who enters a particular zone of the field. I find using Opposition Instructions to be very good at setting traps, and have found that less is in fact more. Focus on who their best build up player is, try and mark him out of the game, so that play is funnelled to a weaker player, who can then be targeted with a trigger press, hard tackle, and perhaps showing him onto his weaker foot. Here is an example of our high press in action. You can see how our front three, backed up my our most attacking central midfielder #17 (CDK), are applying pressure and cutting out easy passing lanes. We also mark tight all over the pitch (no mark tight PIs have been used, I imagine it’s a result of using Prevent Short GK Distribution + High Press). The result, Natan on the ball is forced to go long since he has no option to play out from our press. Taking a look at one of the most important metrics, Pitch Tilt. It tells me that we are a dominant side, who play the majority of the game in the opposition half as we have many final third passes, with few against. It’s a hallmark of a team who keeps the ball well, and recovers it quickly, applying good pressure. Putting It All Together To summarise my tactical waffling, it’s important to consider all three of the principals (The 3 P’s) which I outlined, but most importantly, do not ignore your Rest Defence. When it comes to Rest Defence, and our first ‘P’ (Position), I also think it’s important to be flexible/adaptable. Of course you need players who can perform multiple roles, but if you think you can go into FM24 and ignore your Rest Defence setup, and play the same tactic/shape against every team, you may learn the hard way. Lately I have been watching the first few minutes of games on Full Match, before going into Comprehensive highlights as this will give me ample opportunity to see how the opponent sets up their Rest Attack, and then we can make adjustments to our Rest Defence if necessary. This might seem reactionary, but I think it’s essential if you want to dominate all phases of play. You might think by creating an attacking system which keeps the ball and camps in the opposition half will dominate, but what happens when you lose the ball? That’s where games are won and lost: in transition So whether we set the team up in a 3-2 or 3-1 (or 2-3) we are putting that theory of Rest Defence into action, and very effectively too. By positioning ourselves deliberately in certain areas of the field whilst attacking, we have set the perfect rest defence which helps us to fulfil all of the following purposes: Preventing or controlling opposition counter attacks (Position) The structure also allows for easy ball circulation to support teammates on the ball (Possession) Enabling us to sustain wave after wave of attack if we can win the ball back during a transition (Pressure) It’s almost impossible to achieve those goals and be ‘dominant’ in a game if you don’t have a good rest defence, since a lot of football is played in transition. If you can control the transitions, and look after the ball, you should be able to sustain attacks and dominate matches. Our successful Rest Defence set up can be evidenced by our excellent, league leading defensive record: As you can probably tell, there has been a lot of experimentation, without changing too much at once, but we have now settled on a preferred system which tries to encompass everything I’ve discussed: Our main 4-3-3 which settles into a balanced 3-2-5 Rest Defence Secondary 4-3-3 which creates a more aggressive 3-1-6 Rest Defence but with the change of one role, can transition back into a more balanced 3-2-5 or 2-3-5 In conclusion, if we execute the three P’s successfully, it will go a long way to achieving the overall aim of how I want my Atalanta side to play football: to suffocate the opponent. Keep the ball, win it back as soon as we lose it, and then hold onto the ball and keep sustaining attacks. Don’t let them breathe! Perhaps a next step in the save is to utilise the 3-1-6 shape on a more regular basis. Something to keep in mind anyway, as I love the look of this image below: I may be going about it in a different way, but I like to think my approach is in line with how Atalanta play football IRL, wanting to be an attacking side that plays on the front foot and entertains. —————— I hope you enjoyed this rather long read, and that it made some sense to you regarding how I try to apply my tactical ideas in the game. I will shortly be posting the next update with some tricky fixtures in February and March, particularly in the Champions League! #GoAtalantaGo!

Mid Season Update (December ’24 / January ’25) Before we begin with the results from December and January, our Youth Intake preview came in, and it looks very promising! We look to have some top talents coming through which is very welcome after a disappointing intake last year which only produced one ‘good’ talent in my opinion. Hopefully the actual intake in March reflects this preview, and we will see a ‘Golden Generation’. December We negotiated a tricky December without losing. The goalless draw at home to Bayern was a highlight despite not winning, we outplayed the Bavarian side whilst reducing them to very few chances. Inter away was a bit of a crazy game. We had a 2-0 advantage and seemed to be cruising before two quick goals from Inter stunned us and we looked beat. It would have been a comeback for the ages, but we scored a late leveller, which was more than we deserved, and sealed an impressive hat-trick from our player of the year so far, CDK. At the halfway point of the season, we still sit top of the table which was very pleasing indeed: January We began the new year with a break from Serie A action, in what should have been a winter break for us, with a chance of some early silverware in the Super Cup. We got the better of Inter, manager-less after sacking Inzaghi, who lined up in a 4-3-3 which was a radical change from the previous manager’s 5-3-2 system. That semi final victory set us up with a tasty final against rivals Milan: It was a tough game, as it always is against them, and in the end it was decided by a shootout. Not a bad start to the save as we pick up our second cup winners medal after 18 months at the helm. Our return to Serie A action saw us continue our fine form, until Napoli came to Bergamo: The Neapolitan’s are fast becoming my bogey team in this save. The stats suggest we were incredibly unlucky as we restricted them to very little. In the end it was a brilliant ball over the top of our defence from Kvara to play in Retegui who beat Musso 1v1. The end of the month saw us finish the UCL ‘League Phase’ and clinch a play off spot. More on who we drew, and how we got on, in the next update. Transfer Window The winter window was relatively quiet but as has become the norm in this save we had more outgoings and incomings as I look to further trim all four squads at the club. There was to be one fairly big departure: Captain Rafael Toloi left the club to join Saudi Pro League side, Al-Ain. With Toloi being 34yrs old, and previously kicking up a fuss about not being able to move to Saudi, his departure has been on the cards for some time. Add to the fact he always trains poorly, requiring me to give him a ticking off every week (which he does not appreciate), I was more than happy to let him go. Inevitably we needed to dip into the market to replace him. Even though he was only backup to Scalvini as the Libero, with Scalvini currently out injured, we only have Nagalo who has the technical capacity to play such a demanding role, and he’s been playing at right back until now. The replacement I had lined up was more of a pipe dream in all honesty. Very highly rated, and being courted by a host of top clubs, Pavlovic was a left footed centre back who I saw as not just a replacement for Toloi, but an ideal partner to Scalvini. Alas, he chose to join Los Blancos and I can’t say I blame him - we are some way off being able to compete with the likes of Real. Our eventual replacement, Robert Renan, was much more realistic, and some way off the level of Pavlovic, he will definitely be a back up/rotation option. Although he does have some nice traits such as Tries Long Passes and Switches Ball to Wide Areas - two things you’d like to see in a Libero. Comparing him to Pavlovic, it’s clear that he is much more suited to the role, even if he’s not as good a defender. The roundup of our window can be seen in the yellow boxes I’ve highlighted. Just the one arrival, with several leaving across the four squads. The only other first teamer to depart was Delle Monache who joins newly promoted side Spezia on loan for some much needed top flight game time. This update is short and sweet but the Tactical Interlude is coming next, should be posting in the next day or so, and it’s a long read… #GoAtalantaGo!

Thank you! Yeah the 3-1-6 is very adventurous, even a little bit crazy! I only use it sparingly but it’s great when at home facing those pesky deep blocks. Attacking with a front six is very effective when facing a back five. Really pleased with the signings as well, always on the look out for a great prospect who doesn’t break the bank! I’ll try my best but work is quite busy at the moment so play time is a little limited. I’d like to get an update out over the weekend but my tactical write up is quite long already (and it’s been in the works for a few weeks!) so it could be next week. But you’ll be pleased to know it’s going well, despite quite a bit of tactical tinkering. I feel like I’ve settled on something for now.

La Dea - Season 2 (2024/2025) Season 2 has been going very well so far, despite losing our best player, Koopmeiners. In this post I will delve into our transfer business, some tactical experiments and tweaks, and of course, our results to this point. Transfers There has been a fair amount of change at the club, and I focussed a lot of our pre season in shaping the look of not just the first team squad, but also our B Team, U21 and U18 sides. I used my DNA Spreadsheet, particularly for the B Team and below, to focus in on what players fit our way of playing, and had to be ruthless with those who did not make the cut. Outgoings: Annoyingly, the departures of Koopmeiners and Zappacosta, because they were sanctioned early in the window, count towards last seasons outgoings apparently. This makes it difficult to see all the outgoings from this season under the Transfer History tab. But in my eyes, they were this seasons departures. In terms of what the game counts as our actual departures this season, the list is still quite long. After Koopmeiners and Zappacosta, the only other players from last season’s first team that went for a fee were Miranchuk and Bakker. It was difficult to part ways with Miranchuk, he did a good job whenever he came into the side to give Orsolini a rest, and his DNA score showed that he was definitely at the level required to be part of the squad. Bakker, on the other hand, never looked like a player who would fit in my system and his lack of game time and development, along with the sheer number of fullbacks, meant it was an easy decision to part ways. Soppy and Piccoli, although technically part of the first team squad, were both out on loan last term and despite being on the fringes of the first team I ultimately deemed them not good enough to make the the grade. We let go of some experienced, long servants. Luis Muriel should, in my eyes, go down as a bit of a legend at the club. The same goes for Duvan Zapata, who spent last year on loan at Torino. I’m glad to get both of them off the wage bill, because despite being great players over the years, they were past their peak for sure. You could put Palomino and Hateboer in the same bracket too. Gollini could have done a job but we already have two great keepers, and he was another player with a sizeable wage. So we may not have generated a lot of money, aside from the Koopmeiners sale, but we shifted a lot of dead wood and saved a huge amount on wages. The sheer amount of outgoings is demonstrated by the Transfer Window Roundup proving it was a busy window for us, with a big focus on getting players out the door. As a result we now have a much more streamlined first team squad, and in fact the club as a whole has a much healthier, sustainable number of players. Incomings: With Koopmeiners departing, I had lined up his replacement long before the window opened. I initially had this player in mind as a long term De Roon replacement, and that is probably where he will play - rotating with the experienced Dutchman at the base of our midfield. That player, is the talented young Dane, William Clem: Spoiler: He has been developing superbly so far. Now labelled as a ‘Wonderkid’ too! We managed to prize him away from Copenhagen for a relatively small fee, and most importantly, we fought off strong competition for his signing from the likes of Borussia Dortmund. It’s for that reason, that I went back into contract negotiations and bumped up my initial offer of 30K p/w to 40K p/w with the hopes of persuading him to join us over the German giants. The next arrival was completely unplanned. He was a player my scouts found, but only really came to my attention when Napoli bid for him. I didn’t plan on buying a winger, since we had sufficient cover there. But when I looked at his report again, I quickly realised how much of an improvement he would make to the side. So our new recruit on the wing is Joao Marques from Estoril for an initial fee of £16.75m: Capable of playing on both flanks, and in central midfield, it’s his technical quality and high levels of Teamwork and Work Rate which made him a must buy for me. With Zappacosta departing, we only had one natural right back in the squad after triggering Emil Holm’s option to buy. As with the other arrivals above, I stuck to my deliberate strategy of signing young players. Adamo Nagalo is another fine product from FC Nordsjælland in Denmark, and for just £5.75m, an absolute steal: Nagalo fits the Inverted Full Back role perfectly. Naturally a centre back, he’s got superb technical ability, mentally switched on and physically imposing. He ticks every box, and he’s got plenty of room for growth too. Here is the summary of our arrivals. Those highlighted in yellow spent last season on loan with us, and we triggered the options to buy. Bernasconi is a youth player who will spend the season with the B Team. CDK was a no brainer as I touched on in the previous post, and Emil Holm established himself as our first choice right back last season - he will now face stiff competition from other new arrival, Adamo Nagalo. As the window was about to draw to a close, we had to bat away a sizeable offer for our star player, and Bergamasci wonderkid Giorgio Scalvini from PL giants Chelsea. Fortunately, Giorgio didn’t kick up a fuss about moving, seeming very content with life at Atalanta. Despite having four years left to run on his £24.5K p/w deal, I decided to offer him a bumper new contract to reward his loyalty and keep the player happy at the club. He now becomes our highest earner on a whopping £120K p/w but I think it’s money well spent. Although not technically a piece of transfer business, tying our local wonderkid down to a new contract certainly feels like the biggest move we could have made. Looking at the wage expenditure for Serie A, we are placed rather modestly in 7th, just ahead of Fiorentina. It’s a testament to our recruitment (both IRL and in this save) that we can compete with the huge spending power of Juventus and the Milan clubs. We also lag behind quite a lot on the commercial front. I hope that our success on the pitch starts to bring in more money for the club. August & September: With our new players beginning to gel, we had a good start to the season, winning against newly promoted Spezia and then at home to Monza. Although to be fair, both games we were expected to win at a canter. However, the 3rd game of the season proposed a big challenge. Away to Napoli under the stewardship of Ernesto Valverde, we narrowly, and quite fortunately, beat them in the Coppa Italia final last term, so I knew we would be in for a tough game at their place. Here is where I went ‘Full Pep’. I don’t mean tactical masterclass, I mean overthinking a big game. Tactical Tinerking Since mentality in FM is a risk slider, I had an idea of using lower mentality’s for tougher games. It was this game away to Napoli in just our 3rd game of the season, where I had an idea of dropping our mentality down to Cautious. The reason was twofold: By using a lower mentality, we will play with less risk, and in theory it should create a safer possession based approach in which will most likely lead to ‘stale’ possession where we don’t create as much - but will bring a much needed element of control against a top side. If I only drop the mentality and leave the other instructions the same, namely our intense pressing and very high defensive line, I can create essentially a ‘scaled down’ version of our usual aggressive setup. I’ve used Arteta’s Arsenal as inspiration for this in how he has set them up for the big games (and wins) against Man City and Liverpool. Out of possession, the intensity must remain the same, but on the ball we should be less gung-ho. So that is what we did, sticking to our usual 4-3-3 shape, and keeping roles and duties more or less the same, we knocked the mentality down a couple notches. You could be mistaken for thinking that it was not a success. We lost 1-0 but that does not tell the true story of the game, and the idiotic decision which I made at half time… The game started well. Not too exciting, but our more conservative in our approach was paying dividends in keeping the hosts at bay. The first half really had a feel of “we must not lose this game”, and I don’t think that’s a bad approach when facing your title rivals. it was a boring affair, but our plan was working. However, because of how comfortable we looked in regards to keeping Napoli quiet, I felt confident. I then proceeded to make the stupid mistake of reverting back to a Positive mentality at half time. It took just 7 mins for Napoli to punish me for being too ambitious. Of course, I don’t know how different the result would have been if I stayed on Cautious for the second half, but I would have taken a 0-0, so I’m annoyed at myself for doing that. We restricted them to just 3 shots in total but the xGA is quite high considering the lack of attempts. The goal was their only meaningful attempt in which Raspadori was able to score a tap in from 2 yards out. Perhaps exaggerated by the Positive mentality, it looks like the use of ‘Much More Urgent’ pressing hindered us here. Look how far Scalvini has followed Zielinski in a bid to close him down, and has been dragged so far out of his centre back position, where he was previously in line with his partner, and in the end he retreats without actually trying to win the ball, and desperately tries to get back into position. It was too late, and the Napoli man is left in acres of space in the box to tap it home for the only goal of the game. Okoli could do better and get across his man here, but really his partner should be next to him. We bounced back from the Napoli defeat, with victory over Hellas Verona thanks to another tactical idea I had, but this time for home games against weaker opponents. Enter the 3-1-6 Possession Shape: By adopting this approach, we maintain a solid defensive foundation, with the 3-1 providing great rest defence. However, we also have the potential to flood the defensive line with 6 players. In the screenshot above, our opponents are lining up in defensive 5-2-2-1 (3-4-2-1). By adding a sixth player to our attack, we should in theory, outnumber their back five. To create the extra man, I opted to use a Roaming Playmaker at the base of the midfield. This role, roams and pushes forward far more than any other ‘holding midfield’ role in the game. Therefore it leaves the Libero as the ‘1’ in midfield. Our RPM in that screenshot, is Ederson. Just look how far up he has pushed, basically alongside our striker! The 3-1-6 shape was to be put on the shelf for the time being however, as we entered a run of tough games. Determined to give the Cautious mentality another go, we used it in our away draw to Porto in the UCL, but their wing play 4-4-2 which fed off tonnes of crosses, caused us some defensive problems. It wasn’t until we faced Lazio away, where I would see our first victory using Cautious. Again, just like the Napoli game, we restricted the home team to very little. Just 5 shots, they fed off scraps. We didn’t create much ourselves, which is a worrying trend, but our clinical finishing meant this was not an issue for the moment. After Lazio, and feeling vindicated by my approach, I decided to take the same system into our next game against bitter rivals Juventus. Another team which caused us problems towards the end of last season, dispatching us 3-1 in our own backyard, revenge was on the cards. I must admit, I didn’t expect us to be this solid once again. We gave them absolutely nothing. I was beginning to feel like Jose Mourinho. Another defensive masterclass provided us the foundation to go and win the game. Sure, the lack of chances created, which was becoming a theme, was a worry and something we’d need to keep an eye on, but to this point, it was going brilliantly. Until it wasn’t… October As you can see, October was a tough month, especially to begin with. Going away to Barcelona was always going to be a struggle for Atalanta. So, in wake of recent good results using the Cautious mentality, I thought it was necessary to take this pragmatic approach to the Nou Camp. But it didn’t work, we were embarrassed. These things can happen though, so we picked ourselves up and went again. This time, a trip to reining champions AC Milan, now coached by Unai Emery after Stefano Pioli left to take the Italian national team post. However, it was more of the same. We didn’t give much away, and annoyingly the opener came from an indirect free kick in which the entire defence just left Chukwueze free. He then gets an easy opportunity which he converts against a powerless Juan Musso. We also created the better chances, as the xG would tell, but ultimately came away from San Siro defeated 2-0 just as we did last season. Atletico at home was history repeating itself once more. Is this the end of the Cautious experiment? It looks that way. As you’d expect we bounced back to win our next two games, reverting to our more orthodox Positive approach to beat both Sassuolo and Parma. A much needed boost going into a busy November… November Now that is more like it! A jam packed month of football, I couldn’t be happier with our 100% win record this month. The Cautious experiment has been permanently ditched (I think) and we have been tinkering with the use of Attacking mentality for certain games. This has allowed us to use an extra attacking duty whilst keeping the team fluidity at ‘Flexible’. For reasons which I can’t really explain, I hate seeing ‘Structured’ or ‘Highly Structured’ team shapes! The game of the month, and perhaps of the save since I am a massive Arsenal fan, was the victory over Spurs. Somehow, before we put them back into their place (sorry to any Spurs fans reading this) they were top of the Champions League’s new league table! We dominated them and attacked them right from the off. No more Mr Mourinho with his Cautious approach, we let them have it. Of course that meant that as the game went on, they had a couple of chances themselves but in all honesty we looked comfortable. And all this without our best defender, and several other key players as we were in the midst of an injury crisis. All the more impressive. We wrapped up the month with some great football and lots of goals scored as we begin to click in an attacking sense. So you might be wondering where this leaves us in the Serie A table? Top. We are TOP! It’s still very early on with just 14 games played so far but there is plenty to be pleased about - like our 7 goals against. If we can continue to be solid at the back whilst now creating tonnes of chances with our new attacking approach, we should be in a good position come May. The UCL table looks a little more bleak. But after the victories over Spurs and Rennes we now find ourselves in the playoff spots with three games to go. It’s all in our hands for the moment. So as we begin to edge closer to the halfway stage, it’s going very well. I am conscious of too much tinkering so we will look to settle on two approaches: a big game setup, and a more attacking approach for the games we’re expected to win. Next I will go through those set ups in some more detail, explaining my tactical ideas. #GoAtalantaGo!

It’s going well, I’ll be posting an update either later today or tomorrow. All will be revealed! We have tried to stick with the Atalanta way though, of recruiting young, lesser known talent. Tactically we are more or less the same but I have been experimenting with a 3-1-6 in possession shape for home games in which we expect to win/against parked buses and this is working a treat. I’ll touch on that in the post. In my most recent game however, I created a tweaked version of the below post from RDF’s fresh take on a positional play system. The use of standard Full Backs on Support being the key difference compared to how we previously set up with two IFB’s.

Love your stuff RDF - and this is really interesting. Anything related to Juego de Posición always catches my attention, and the Enganche makes this all the more intriguing since it's become a bit of a forgotten role! You inspired me to use traditional Fullbacks on Support in my own system, especially when facing a back five so I can create a natural 2v1 overlap. I think with the introduction of the new roles like IFB (or the improved positioning of the IWB), which are really cool, I feel like I have to use them to create the 3-2-5 or 2-3-5 attacking shape. However, having FB's wide helps stretch a defence, they can also tuck in and form a back three or midfield three in certain phases/transitions. I tried this out in my recent game away to Roma with Atalanta, winning 3-1 and I'm now seriously considering adopting something like this long term. For example, here we have just scored, after our right full back (#5) joined the attack venturing into the box and played it back to the edge where Emerson played our striker in. But look at the 2-3 shape we have formed, with the #23 being our left back playing as a FB(S): And now in this attack, for our second goal, there are three things I've highlighted. First, the pink lines show our rest defence, which the right FB(S) is helping us to form. You can then see the 'Crystal' as you called it (the blue lines) with our midfield trio. And lastly, the left FB(S) has advanced forward with the ball and created a 2v1 against Roma's wingback (yellow circle). Sorry for hijacking the thread, and the star of the show might well be the Enganche role, but it's the versatile fullback on support which has given me so much food for thought! Keep up the good work!

Loving the detail, keep up the good work mate. I like the idea of using focus play actually, it makes perfect sense in theory but I’ve not seen it really work for me in the past - although not given it a go in FM24 with the new positional play, so I’ll give it a try! Overload to isolate and all that.

What a fantastic read! Following this with great interest. I enjoyed the detailed background about Universidad de Chile and their rivals. Always nice to see positional play tactics, and you’ve explained your ideas brilliantly - and given me much to ponder for my own save. Interested to know how you provided width in your last game where you said you deployed an AP on the right flank? I’ve never thought about doing that in my system, because I use IFBs on both sides with the Libero too, meaning there’s no width from the fullbacks so I need the wingers to stay wide. Your passing combinations look quite wide though! Some great results as well, the Libertadores will be fun!

Yeah I’m pleased with how it went, challenge now is to at least match what we did last season without our best player in Koopmeiners! But like you say, a good fee and it has a touch of realism about it - signed for 12m and sold for 55m is about as Atalanta as it gets!

La Dea - Season 1 Review: I wasn’t planning on skipping to the end of the season, but I ended up getting pretty hooked on the save and breezing through it, playing on Extended Highlights. February and March 2024: We picked up where we left off from January, with some great results, especially the 3-0 victory over Jose Mourinho’s Roma. Unfortunately, our unbeaten run ended at 29 games at the hands of table toppers AC Milan, who beat us convincingly. But, we were able to bounce back from that defeat and went on an impressive winning run which saw us keep six clean sheets in a row in March. Youth Intake I forgot to take a screenshot of the youth intake back in March, but it was marked as ‘Average’. I was left feeling frustrated because we have excellent youth facilities, coaching and recruitment and also a really good Head of Youth Development who has great attributes, suits my 4-3-3 playing style and boasts a Determined personality. I suppose not every year can produce a Golden Generation, but hopefully next season brings an improvement in that regard. I’ll keep a close eye on how they develop, and as usual tailor training plans for them and look to give relevant game time and create pathways to the B Team and First Team where appropriate. Without doubt, the most exciting prospect is 16yr old Leonardo Gilardi, who is already attracting interest from the likes of Inter Milan, but I have no fears of losing him at this time. Most suited to a Deep Lying Forward role, he has the potential to be retrained as a central midfielder too, perhaps as a playmaker. April and May 2024: April was easily are worst month of this save so far. I mentioned earlier about the fear of a sudden drop in form, and the those fears became a reality. I’m still not completely sure as to why, but all of a sudden we could not defend. Teams were tearing through us, and everything I tried to do to counteract it, seemed to make it worse. The four goals conceded away to Marseille was a low point, even though we were able to reverse the deficit in the second leg. We went toe to toe with Inter, picking up a good draw away to our rivals who were putting pressure on us in the battle for second place. Juventus at home was really disappointing however, we had no answer to their attacking quality. Strange, because in the reverse fixture we won comfortably (2-0) limiting them to just 0.40xG Early in the season I removed all Opposition Instructions as I think I had selected too many, and it reached the point where I no longer see what benefit they were bringing. So we stripped that back, and results improved. When things started to go wrong defensively, I started using them again, but in conjunction with either Trapping Inside or Outside. This didn’t really have the desired effect. In the end, I realised that the best thing to do was to change very little, as tweaking too much would only harm our tactical familiarity and worsen our fortunes. One of the changes I did make which seemed to help, was increasing our pressing intensity. By essentially ‘maxing’ it out, we created good chances by winning the ball high up in transition, but also limiting time on the ball for the opponents to play through us. With the trigger press being set to ‘More Often’ previously, I was disappointed at how often teams played through us, with very little resistance. I’ve only used ‘Much More Often’ sparingly, so time will tell if this tweak will benefit us in the long run. On paper, it suits us well as we have players with good work rate, teamwork and stamina to press. Anyway, our results improved in May, and we managed to reach two cup finals come the end of the season… First Taste of Silverware Our first cup final was a success, and there was to be some much welcomed silverware in our first season. We defeated Napoli 2-0 in the Coppa Italia final, which was strangely held a couple of games before the league season had finished. It was to be Atalanta’s second triumph in the Coppa Italia, with their last victory coming 61 years ago in 1963! We got lucky in this game, newly appointed Ernesto Valverde set Napoli up in a 4-2-3-1 shape with Osimhen (up front) and Kvaradona (on the left) looking much more like the Napoli who won the league last year, rather than the five-at-the-back long ball Napoli which beat us earlier in the season under Walter Mazzarri. They beat us on xG, quite comfortably too, but it was our clinical finishing (and some great goalkeeping by our number 2, Carnesecchi) which ultimately made the difference. Regardless of the xG, we lifted the trophy and it was nice to get a piece of silverware in Season 1, especially as Atalanta have endured so many baron years. Europa League Final Weirdly, we had another cup final before the Serie A season had finished. It was not much of an issue however, as we had already secured a top four finish at this point, so our focus was solely on the final against outright favourites, Liverpool. The result was pretty much to be expected, however we gave them a real good game. I actually started this game with a back five. Unimpressed by our recent defensive record, I was terrified of the prospect of going up against Mo Salah and co. And it worked. That was until Alexis Mac Allister scored from a direct free kick just after the half hour mark. We went in at half time a goal down, so I reverted to our 4-3-3 which made us more threatening but alas, pushing too many players forward we allowed Darwin Nunez to seize on an error from my cup keeper Carnesecchi to clinch it for Liverpool. Still, we can hold our heads high after reaching a European final for the first time in the club’s history. UEFA Champions League Return Despite a shaky end to the season, we managed to clinch a top four and UCL finish with several games to spare. We ended the season second in the league, but 12 points behind the champions, Milan. However we did finish 7pts clear of Inter, who will no doubt lament the fact that they could not convert enough draws into victories. A look at the xG table tells us that we were worthy of our second place finish, despite conceding 8 fewer than we should have. Nevertheless, we had the best defensive record in the league, conceding just 26 times in 38 matches. Juventus rounded up the top four, with Roma in fifth and most likely going into the UCL courtesy of the Serie A’s coefficient rating gaining them an additional place in Europe’s elite competition. After securing Champions League qualification, the board set the initial budgets for next season. Sure, I would have liked a bigger budget, and probably expected a bit more, but Atalanta is not the wealthiest club in Italy by any means, and it may take several years of consistent UCL football before we start to see larger budgets. However, once I saw we had a budget of over 20m, I only had one thing on my mind… I said from the beginning that triggering the option to buy on CDK’s loan was a top priority of mine, and his performances and excellent development over the season made it a no brainer. £20.5m for a player of his quality, with his potential, is not to be sniffed at - even if it has consumed almost all of my budget. £100k p/w will make him the highest earner at the club, a little more than the £98k p/w Scamacca currently earns, but this is the price you have to pay for top talent. Hopefully Charles will help propel us to Scudetto glory in the years to come. Breaking Records It was a record breaking season in the end for La Dea. Our second place finish will go on record as the best ever performance in the club’s league history. We also set a record for the number of wins, and points. It doesn’t mean much, but it was nice to also be named the best team in Serie A (not sure how Milan will feel about that…) Planning for Next Season The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed I’m already at the start of pre-season (1st July 2024), and therefore a couple of transfers have already been completed - only outgoings thus far. First out, was a player who had requested a transfer due to not enough playing time. We reluctantly parted ways with Zappacosta, a player whose personality and mental attributes I valued highly, but he did not fit the current system as either an Inverted Full Back or Inverted Wingback. Still, £11.75m for a 32yr old in his final year is not too bad. The big news, however, and it may not come as a huge surprise given his quality and interest in him, is that Teun Koopmeiners has left Bergamo. Man United came in with an initial bid of £47.5m, but we managed to negotiate a slightly better fee of £55m which was enough for me to part with a player who was keen to move on, with a year left on his deal. As you can imagine I was incredibly reluctant to let him leave, but he had no interest in signing a new deal so it was either take £55m and try to replace him, or keep an unhappy player for a year and lose him for nothing. He will, without doubt, prove incredibly difficult to replace and looking at his attributes more closely, it’s clear that he is world class and one of a kind. More on any potential replacements and squad planning in the next post, which should wrap up pre-season of Season 2. I still aim to release a tactical post at some point in the near future. Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed Season 1! #GoAtalantaGo

Look, man, I’ve had enough. I know that’s a rubbish pun for the title of this post, but I think it sums up the situation perfectly In this update I’m going to run through the results from December and January, highlighting the crucial game against Juventus, before summarising the ins and outs from the winter transfer window. The Game of the Season (So Far) Picking up from where we left off in my previous post, the next game was a trip to Turin to take on rivals Juventus. There aren’t many bigger games in the calendar for Atalanta, an away fixture against the biggest team in the country. This would be a true test of our levels, and we would have to do so without Koopmeiners and Ederson, who were both injured. It would be a very difficult game on paper given the quality they posses, and although we sat three places above them in the league there was just the single point separating us. With Zerbin out with a short term injury, I’ve had to turn to the disinterested Lookman for the past few games. He has been really poor, perhaps due to the fact he doesn’t want to be here, and has failed to contribute a single goal or assist in 7 games (he hit the 007). So naturally, in perhaps the most important game which he has featured in thus far, he stepped up to become the match winner for us: We were on top for virtually the entire game, and despite starting well we couldn’t make the breakthrough and went in level at half time, although definitely the happier of the two sides. We came out the blocks in the second half with more of the same relentless attacking style from the first 45 and it was Lookman who broke the deadlock for us just three minutes into the second half. He then sealed victory for us from the penalty spot with around 20 minutes to go. An excellent solo goal epitomised everything I want my wingers to do. He picked up the ball and stretched the defence by going wide to the touchline, before cutting inside his fullback and scoring what should only be described as a ‘Thierry Henry finish’, opening his body up and placing it into the far corner. (I’m struggling to create GIFs to upload, if I can find a way to do it I’ll post the goal at a later date). If that was to be Lookman’s parting gift, then at least he leaves the club on a high. As the stats show, it was a dominant performance against Juve, in their own patch no less. Without a doubt our best game so far in this save, it was more or less perfect. We limited them to just 8 shots worth a measly 0.40xG whilst we had the lions share of possession and creating an abundance of chances with it. If I could rate this game I’d give the team 10/10. What’s more impressive is that we did it without our best player, Koopmeiners, and first choice Mezzala, Ederson. So that’s 2/3 of my first choice midfield missing and we were still able to get a result like that. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come as the tactical familiarity increases across the squad. Here is the rest of our results for December and January: We continued our fine form, extending our unbeaten run to 27 games and counting! We set a new club record on the way, beating the previous record of 24 games, which we’ve now already surpassed. We currently sit 2nd in the table, time will tell if we can keep this up! As we’ve discussed in the comments prior to this post, sticking with the system and ‘trusting the process’ has paid off. I’m now waiting for the inevitable FM dip in form because it seems too good to be true at the moment! January Transfer Window The January window has now closed, and I thought I’d give an update on how the first team squad is looking. I’ve highlighted in yellow, our transfer business for the month. A host of departures but the majority were B Team players who I deemed to have no future at the club, or U20s who needed some game time on loan. In regards to the first team, it was essentially two out, two in. Out: Ademola Lookman -> Valencia (£20m) The Saudi’s came knocking for both Koopmeiners and Lookman earlier in the summer window, but I rebuffed both offers as they were a little insulting (worth less than £20m) given the calibre of players, and knowing the wealth of these clubs, I felt we could get more. However, no more offers came in, and since they were both key players, we chose not force a move. Koopmeiners didn’t take it too badly, he was initially ‘Unhappy’ for a short while but is now showing a ‘Perfect’ morale and appears to be enjoying his football. Lookman on the other hand, became somewhat of a mercenary. He had thrown his toys out of the pram towards the end of pre-season and following low training ratings, an ‘Abysmal’ morale, and with a handful of poor performances, I decided to drop him entirely. I then proceeded to lower our market valuation and offer him out for sale. His agent was happy with me setting a £20m asking price, and we immediately had bids from Nottm Forest, Palace, Celta Vigo and Valencia. Interestingly, the Saudi clubs, although showing some interest, did not return with a bid. The Premier League clubs only offered £15m, and refused to go higher, meanwhile, somewhat unrealistically, it was the cash strapped La Liga sides which met our £20m valuation, and so Lookman agreed a move prior to the opening of the January window: Naturally I was disappointed, as I viewed him as a key player in this team, particularly as we don’t have an abundance of wide players. Unfortunately, after he’d agreed a future move away (back in December) he started to bang the goals in, leaving the club with a tally of 4 Goals and 2 Assists in 10 appearances - with all those goal contributions coming in his final three games! Turns out a few players in the dressing room, led by club captain Toloi, were disappointed that we sold him. I wasn’t really left with much choice, and felt like keeping an unhappy player would also hurt the morale of the squad. In: Armand Laurienté <- Sassuolo (£11.9m guaranteed, £14m after bonuses) With Lookman’s departure on the cards for a while, I had ample time to eye up a replacement. Since we only had one player who is ‘decent’ at Serie A level, Alessio Zerbin, an upgrade on him was the priority, but without breaking the bank. The 20m fee received for Lookman is good, but I didn’t want to blow that all on a replacement since I would like to trigger the option on Charles De Ketelaere if possible, in the summer. So with that in mind, the best option (and for the best price) that our scouts identified, was a target which I’ve kept an eye on since we played against him in the first game of the season: Armand Laurienté from Sassuolo. He’s 25yrs old, which is great because we need someone in or approaching their prime to make an instant improvement to the side. You can see from the below graph how similar his profile is to Lookman, something which I wanted to maintain. I’m pleased with the finances on the deal, we managed to prize him away from another Serie A club, who were initially reluctant to sell mid season, for just £2.9m up front. A further £9m will need to be paid in instalments, and some bonuses, if triggered, will take the deal up to £14m. I did come close to moving for Gabriel Veron from FC Porto, but he would have cost around the same, and although just 21yrs old, he fell some way short of Laurienté in terms of current ability and DNA fit. I’ve probably shown a bit of short-term bias here but I’m quite big on mentals, and Veron, probably due to his age, was severely lacking in that regard - especially in the three important attributes of Determination, Teamwork and Work Rate. New signing Laurienté comes in with a really good DNA score of 256, actually a slight improvement on Lookman’s score of 253. Out: Mario Pasilic -> Al-Ittihad (£14.5m) There was to be another high profile departure from the first team squad. I had no intention to lose Pasilic, especially as he was in fine form for us. However, an offer from Saudi came in, and like others before him, nothing could convince him to stay at the club. Who could blame him when he’s been offered £550k a week! The offer wasn’t great, and I negotiated several times but this was the best I could do. The board were not pleased with the fee received, neither was I but as I found with Lookman, the Saudi’s don’t seem to want to pay big fees, rather big wages - which is terrible news for selling clubs. They did, however, allow me to ‘Sign a replacement first’. My scouts had found another diamond in the rough from FC Nordsjælland: Mohammad Diomande. However, it wasn’t to be: He had a release clause of just 6m and looked to be a perfect replacement for our Mezzala role, but alas, he chose to join Chelsea over us. In: Yacine Adli <- AC Milan (£4.5m) Losing Pasilic was unplanned, and I did not find it particularly easy to replace such an attack minded #8 as he is. So when looking at a replacement, I needed to think about what my first choice midfield looked like: DLP(S): Koopmeiners / De Roon MEZ(S): Ederson / Pasilic MEZ(A): De Keteleare / Cortinovis I’d come to realise over the first half of the season, how vital Marten De Roon is to the side - rewarding him with a new contract, with his current deal due to expire in 2024. I initially wanted Koopmeiners at the base instead of him, due to his far superior technical ability. The DLP at the base of midfield, in the #6 role, is arguably the most important player in the team. Think Rodri at Man City, Busquets at Barcelona, Xabi Alonso at Bayern/Real Madrid. However, what De Roon lacks technically, he more than makes up for both defensively and mentally. So with that in mind, and his good form, I decided I would not replace my backup #8, Pasilic. Instead, I will shift Koopmeiners further forward with De Roon at the base, and simply move to sign a backup DLP. Step forward, Yacine Adli. I was surprised how easy he was to prize away from Milan, given he is having an outstanding season for them IRL. For just £4.5m (and a further £1m in bonuses), we were able to get our man. He’s very capable technically, but also boasts the mental and defensive attributes you want from a sitting midfielder. At 23yrs old, he’s got 9 years younger than De Roon and I expect he will make that position his own in good time. One for the Future: Stanis Idumbo Muzambo <- Ajax (Free/Pre-contract agreement) Another player I’d had on my radar for the left wing, Stanis is certainly one for the future. I thought it made sense to sign him on a Bosman upon his contract expiry with Ajax in the summer. Technically and physically he’s superb for an 18yr old, and can also play in a variety of positions. He’ll have some development to do in terms of his mentals but he’s blessed with 16 Determination and a great Personality which I hope will help his development. Not Today, ‘Super League’ On Deadline Day I practically laughed off a pathetic loan offer from Arsenal for my best player, Koopmeiners. Never in a million years. You may notice his transfer value is at £66m, this is a figure which I have set as the ‘asking price’ since a number of clubs have been interested in him. £66m is the maximum his agent would be happy with, and for a player entering his final 18 months of his contract, a fee I would accept. However, I’d much rather keep him and tie him down to a longer deal which I will be working on. Although the initial conversation with his agent hinted at wanting around 100k a week, a bit above what we can afford right now. Roundup: At the closing of the window, we were apparently the highest spenders in the country, with a pretty low figure of £16.5m quite accurately depicting the financial perils within Italian football at the minute. We also had the most players out, but just 2 of those 12 were from the first team. A big goal of mine has been to reduce the player count at the club. We currently have four squads (First Team, B Team, U20 and U18) and I’d like to trim those squads down to a maximum of 23 players in each. ———————————— I will touch on squad planning/player development in a future post. For now I’ll leave it here, and hope to dive into a tactical analysis piece next. #GoAtalantaGo!

Yeah you are bang on, can definitely feel the rewards for sticking with it now as players become familiar with the tactics. I didn’t want to tinker, but I still think the temporary switch was ideal in playing certain players in more familiar positions and making us harder to beat. However, we’re now at full tactical familiarity and the system is playing out exactly how I envisioned. I agree, it’s not something I really thought of at the time but players definitely suffered with morale and obviously there is a lack of cohesion early on. I’m glad it worked for you, it’s nice to know the theory behind it works too. Interesting use of a much higher line, I’m always a bit nervous doing that unless I have really rapid defenders! I’ve also stopped using OIs completely. I think I got lost in them, was selecting too many instructions and you kind of lose sight of what they were supposed to be doing. I’ve been really happy with the Libero in our new 3-2 base. I actually think it forms a midfield ‘double pivot’ much quicker, and hence more effectively than using an IWB, because it starts from a more central position. You can see #42 Scalvini (circled in pink) has stepped into midfield to form the ‘2’ with De Roon. Since the player next to him is a DLP and a bit of a ‘ball magnet’ you can often see them swapping positions/sides whilst maintaining the double pivot. It certainly helps having a player of Scalvini’s calibre. He often picks the ball up and drives past a few players even grabbing a goal and the odd assist! I plan to do a more in depth tactical analysis at some point in which the Libero features heavily.