SixPointer

I have three systems with the same overall philosophy and principles. But with slight tweaks. They can mostly cover all scenarios, they focus either down left, middle or right. And the roles are built to do so. But on occasions when needed like changing to half back to counter act the 2 man front line i definitely tweak. I would say it’s mostly a role or duty, or personnel that gets changed. In this instances all three. The half back for the role, the IWB onto attack to create the central overload higher up. And Hernandez shifting to the RWB to be the more defensive option on Neymar. The other option could have been to use a IFB(D) and leave the half back as the DM. But that would take the RB away from neymar as he was making up the back three to overload the front two. Small tweaks, but you need to know the opponents game plan and study them properly and it doesn’t always work but it certainly makes the game more enjoyable as your changing something and looking at the match properly to see it working for me that’s the most enjoyable part. Especially when it works like here. Yeah that’s the key, not re doing everything. If you’re looking for a good place to start i apply real life ideas Alex Ferguson’s use of Park Ji Sung man marking players is one I like, think he done it to pirlo. A good example of using a particular player with a skill set for such a task.

Congratulations on the league title

Great work identifying weakness in the system this early on using the numbers to make clear concise decisions. I’ve always found pure counter attacking systems hard to create myself so am keen to see how you go about it.

Phenomenal

Often when I discuss my tactics I'm talking about attacking patterns, oberloads, 1v1's rotations and passing shapes. I suppose when trying to implement a positional playing style, these are the things that are the most interesting. This past season there has of course been huge positives in this area, but something that Coloccini has been implementing has been eye-catching and at times more effective, his defensive planning. The last line of defence is of course the goalkeeper, Los Azules recruited well in the summer to replace Chilean number one Campos with the young upcoming Yerko Ovalle. He had 15 clean sheets and only conceded 18, quite the first season. His excellent jumping reach, aerial reach, commanding of area, determination and the fact he is 6ft5 makes cross balls a real strong point. Another side story is he can take a penalty having scored his first one at the end of last season, something Coloccini has been known to do before. Coloccini has been quoted as saying he believes that the only way to succeed defensively is to have everyone collectively working together with the same principles, this started with an aggressive pressing striker leading from the front. A well executed high press will bring turnover in dangerous areas, this is not rocket science but a badly executed one will cause so much damage. The Argentine has its defensive line sitting the highest in all the league, and they rank second for possession won, which is impressive considering they rank joint top in the league for average possession. Interceptions are slightly above average which could be an area to work on, as with a good high press they should force poor passes or a lack of options and clear passing lanes. Thus said La U allow the least final third passes against, but more interestingly they rank 13th for OPPDA, so while the press is aggressive they do allow the defenders to have the ball. The first example we have here is the Clásico Universitario derbies, up against the pacey Carlos Escobar, who's been in form. The early stages of more focus on defending properly, the focus was to drop off more and invite crosses, try to nullify the pace in behind. This was the case in both games and twice they failed to register a shot on targets, with Escobar ranking 6.3 and 6.5. This seemed to be the turning point for Los Azules defensive structures. The Chilean Superclásico's were played three times this season with the extra cup tie. In the first league game up against the league top scorer Ethan Magnasco who also has pace to burn, the system was used again. Here in the overview can now see the plan has been further tweaked to trap outside as well as invite crosses and standing off. The game finished 0-0, but the fact the home side were reduced to 2 shots on target and 0.30 XG and a 6.3 from the striker meant that Coloccini's game plan was vindicated. He would take it a step further in the second league game of the season, destroying the away side 6-2 in the process. Lowering the defensive line, dropping off more to limit space in behind. Then forcing play wide by setting pressing traps, then inviting crosses to a aerially superior defence and now the wingers would be shown onto the flank side foot, full backs marked to ensure the play was forced centrally to begin with so that the CM's could be pressed again aiding the plan to force the opponent wide proved to be instrumental in stopping the pacey strikers. now of course Colo-Colo scored twice but from an XG of 0.40 and one goal being when the game was dead and buried. The other side of the coin, is against tall strikers who like to win crosses in the box, is to of course step up, trap inside and stop crosses and force play inside unfortunately i never captured any screenshots for example of this but im sure ill be able to cover it in detail at some point. Fluminense There is no show without punch and I can't do a small tactical update without sharing some more detail of Coloccini's excellent ability to spot weakness in an opponent's systems and exploit it with fantastics positional plays and attacking flair. The Brazilian side had been on a poor run of form leading into the first leg and a solid 1-0 win put Los Azules in the driving seat, it also allowed them to size up their opponent. They opted to stick with their 4-4-2 system which was heavily reliant on the legendary winger Neymar on the left, at 36 he lacks pace these days but as you would expect he still has a trick or two up his sleeve. To combat the 4-4-2 and the flamboyant Neymar, Hernandez would shift out to RWB from RCB to man mark Neymar and it was evident that Coloccini told his team to force play down the right side and make Neymar defend. He also switched to a halfback to make a 3v2 in the back line, but the masterstroke was inverting his LWB, Ryena. This allowed him to overload the midfield two, this also forced Fluminese to attack down their right rather than left keeping the ball away from Neymar, this stopped much of their link up play. The opening goal came from some wonderful positional play, the right hand side overload has drawn the home team over, the IWB Reyna has moved inside and is now forcing confusion between the CM & CB of who will pick him up. Diaz then drops off the front to take the ball on the half turn. He slips the ball into Reyna who then threads in through for Ordenes who's been left 1v1 the Chilean wonderkid slots it home and leaves the Brazilian side a mountain to climb. The second goal is almost a carbon copy on Ordenes part, breaking in behind the full back again to link onto Sierra's perfectly weighted through ball. The build up play is similar in the sense that Reyna comes centrally and links play with Diaz, before Sierra unleashes the killer ball. Notice how Loyola has dropped in to make the back three while Reyna makes the double pivot when the attacking phase is formed, this draws the opponent narrow and allows the wide men to get 1v1.

You have certainly become that Ben. You have went an applied your data that you used for transfers way back and applied the logical thinking into the tactics, the change here looks like you could become unstoppable force. a chance every 49 minutes, 12 straight wins, 9 clean sheets that is formidable!

Invincible………. Says it all

Definitely, bit of strange update the last one but trying to round off a season took me months to complete is strange. My plan is to do a sizeable tactical piece and squad building which will outline the goals at Uni de Chile.

What a phenomenal season mate! If it goes unbeaten then it’s truly remarkable at this stage of the save. Unfortunate in champions league but that’s not far away my friend

A domestic treble for La U, Campeonato, Copa Chile and the Super Copa. On the continent a Quarter final appearance in the Copa Libertadores. The league was won by a landslide of 19 points, breaking the league record for number of points total in the process, and the club record for number of wins. Drawing twice and losing twice, both losses came after continental games which shows there's still work to be done on squad depth Scoring 93 goals and only conceding 23, showed our strength at each end of the pitch. 15 Clean sheets for the young Ovalle led the league for player and club, 28 goals from set plays, 20 of them being corners, something Fabricio has become well renowned for. Leading the way on every front...... Copa Chile was a strange run, beating our great city rival Colo-Colo in the third round proved to be the biggest game. As the final pitched us against minnows from the Tercera division, Club de Deportes Rengo. Who were on a fairytale run to the final, while I'm sure everyone would have loved the fairytale ending Colocini’s men ensured it was not, running out 5-0 winners. Rumours have been swirling about the Argentinian, but he's affirmed that regardless of winning everything in Chile he feels settled here and most importantly he feels like the club is building something special. Losing to eventual finalists River Plate in the quarterfinals of the Copa Libertadores is going one better than last year, but more impressive was the opponents overcame to reach such heights. Getting out of a a real tough group, with the current reigning champions of three times Flamengo, champions of Uruguay National and Argentinian champions. The highlight of the group coming from behind at home to beat Boca 4-2. Their manager knows nothing about football claiming it was a fluke?. This is the second time Coloccini has gotten the better of Boca, winning against them in his time in Venezuela. Onto the second and the dismantlement of 2024 champions Fluminense & legendary winger Neymar in the second round showed more progress from the club in Santiago going one round better than last year. The Brazilian club were in a bad patch of form and the Chilean champions heaped more misery on them, especially the second leg smashing them 6-1, it was seen as a shock result but also shows the progress being made by Coloccini and his men. Loz Azules were on the wrong side of hammering in quarter final, at the hands of River Plate. 4-0 over two legs, showing that while there is improvement and big results, there is still a gap to close. 1-0 in a very boring home leg was the major downfall somewhere LA U have turned into a fortress having only not won twice at home all year. River went on to be runners up.

It’s a very good plan! I’m very similar this year. I’ve only ran with two systems, both same philosophy but offer slight difference for certain opponents. But am starting to look at things a lot differently defensively which I’ll cover at some point if I get a minute. I think the crucial bit is you know why it’s working, your not winging it and hoping for best. Allows you to make adjustments and makes it more enjoyable when the game-plan works as you’ve seen what you what to see from the team.

Nothing worse especially after a lay off. I’ve been away some time and luckily finished the season of well to re focus my interest! Things are going very well at Leverkusen and I think everyone in real life now has a soft spot for the after Xabi’s exploits

Here for the ride as always! A great academy well worthy of the investment!

Beautiful written and a fantastic idea for a good long term save. Very interested to see your team shape when in and out of position. I like the idea of the rotations on the left hand side of the system. Could throw up some wicked combos when you counter.

Nice idea for a save. Following along and best of luck

Congratulations on the Copa del rey shrew. I feel like I’ve been away for ages, but am so happy your stuck to your guns and won a trophy. The hard work you put in to create such a wonderful academy topped of nicely. Superb stuff as always.

Your implementation of the bielsa man marking its wonderful. Also like how effective you have the high press working. I can get my defensive line high but I still allow too many oppda.

Congratulations on the Copa del rey! A league and cup double at this stage would be truly remarkable. Love your system as well, nothing over complicated well balanced and very effective!

Some of his slide through balls are things of true beauty. Usually to the real star of the show Oredenas! I’ll get to him in the next update when I cover all the results etc

The start of the season feels like it was an age ago, well it was. I knew at the start of the season that the squad needed bolstering, we had won the title comfortably but there would be no time to rest on our laurels, a few positions needed upgrading a creative CM top of the list, while depth needed to be added in defence. Our starting keepers release clause was met by the Saudi's which added 5 million into the pot, but left us wanting for a replacement. After looking through a few options domestically i stumbled across a 17 year old with great potential. He cost 1.2 million which is a decent fee on the domestic scene, but when compared to the league's best keeper who is 9 years his senior it was clear to see why. Standing tall at 6 ft 5 and with jumping reach and aerial reach real plus points defending crosses wouldn't be an issue. Communication, handling, kicking, 1v1 and reflexes were all good. His determination and personality and performances would lead to great progression in his first season. Picked as the goalkeeper for the team of the year, he led the league in clean sheets with 15 only two shy of Campos record the season before. Called up for the national side but yet to make his debut. Galdemes was moved on for 600k, which left us very thin at RCB & LCB. Two players I had been tracking all of last season would become part of the side. Víctor González & Bastian Sierralta would offer superb depth, Victor being right footed and Bastian being left footed provided us with the perfect cover for Hernandez and Arancibia. Bastian caught the eye after finishing the previous season with 82% of his headers won, 1.58 of them being key per 90, 76% tackles won, 9 of them being key, 86% pass completion with 5.82 progressive passes. When compared to the other two highly rated left footed CB's he came out the best value for money at 1.2 million. He finished this season with only 11 starts mainly down to the superb and ever present Arancibia keeping him out the side, his averages dropped as well but there's no doubt he can do a job when called upon and his 6.95 average rating and progess on the training ground was enough to assure me of that. Víctor González had a lot more competition being right footed, but even up against the top defenders in the league he came out shining at the young age of 18. He won 82% of his headers, the highest percentage in the league, 79% of his tackles completed while attempting 42. He cost 650k and turned out to be a real bargain and backed up my gut feeling while using the data. He finished with 84% completed headers, the most out of the group he was compared against for signing, he also scored 6 goals from corners showing his strength in both boxes. He progressed nicely and got more chances with Hernadez shifting to RWB on occasions. Matías Cornejo & Gerson Celedón were added in the midfield for a combined total of 1.25 million. Matias is a number six which I've been trying to work on the defensive side of his game to make him more complete, he has shown signs of improvement over the season and the creative element of his game is good. Loyola is 100% the main man here, mr consistent and does the dirty work that allows the creative players flourish but Cornejo looks a capable understudy after his first season. Gerson at 525 K looks a tremendous bargain, he's being trained to play on the right flank as well bringing more versatility to his game, thus keeping the squad size down. 7 goals and 4 assists in 10 starts and 13 sub appearances is a superb return for a player who statistically in the second tier ticked a lot of our boxes, now showing he was good enough to step up and realise his potential. If we can get him natural at the RW slot it will allow us to avoid the market for a wide man next year as well. That's five Chilean signings, all had varied degrees of success, Ovalle of course the standout perhaps that was down to him being thrusted into the first choice keeper at 17, the sink or swim worked in Coloccini favour here. Gonzalez had a great first year as did Celedon, while Cornejo and Sierralta did well with limited chances. The key thing is the domestic signings are a must, the foreign player rule is 6 under 21 or 4 over 21, so cherry picking Chilean talent has to be at the very top of the list before then supplementing with special foreign players. Emmanuel Ojeda & Kevin Duarte were solid enough options in the middle of the pitch, but would they take us to the next level most likely not and both took up foregin slots. Odeja in particlar was an standout in the first full season but at 30 it was time to cash in for 800k and Duarte went for the same price. Andrade had already arrived the prevous summer and shown what can be done if you find the right player.... Step forward Breiner Sierra, a free transfer from Independiente Medellín he could prove to be the ultimate bit of business. He has absolutely what you would want from a creative midfielder, he also has the personality and consistency to reach the very top, we had to battle some bigger teams to secure him but we did. We were rewarded with a stunning hat trick on his debut and he hit another 7 goals throughout the rest of the season and created 14 goals second only to Andrade who hit 21 (he takes corners and freekicks) He was given a bumper deal half way through the season, but the Saudis are lurking and i cant get his agent to go above 3 million on the release clause, but i do have option to extend which will spare him for sometimes because 3 million isn't enough he will no doubt make his way to a top club at some point and am surprised europe isn't calling for him. Winning player and young player of the year will naturally draw attention so I think it's a case of enjoying his wonderful through balls for as long as we can. Emiliano Martínez a half a million recruit from Danubio, activating his release clause in the process. The 19 year old Uruguayan has gone from strength to strength since he arrived and looks like a superb signing, the mental side of the game for a young man is superb and he's very much a team player. He has already improved in such a short space of time after arriving in the mid season window and has now been capped by his country. Looks like he could be a mainstay at RWB for years to come,but he also has the ability to play inverted on the left side. He does however have massive competition for the place now that Nayel Mehssatou arrived on a free transfer, the Chilean international is real coup, at first he wanted to be star player and 14,000 a week after a four week trial he dropped down to a squad player 4,200 a week which is the only reason i took him, squad player should mean he is happy to play second fiddle, but i need this level of quality in every position if we are to make a dent on the continent. He arrived outside the registration period so he is yet to start a game but next season am sure he will be ready to challenge the youngster. Squad Overview -GK- -RWB- -RCB- -LCB- -LWB- -DMC- -RCM- -LCM- -RW- -LW- -STC- Goalkeeper Ovalle has my trust and Rodriguez looks like a steady deputy who can still progress. Right back is packed with competition with Martinez and Mehssatou while Medina will be sold. LWB Reyna had another standout season with 12 goals at the near post and 12 assists, he needs stronger competition though so left back is required, Diaz for 1 million has been a flop and bit of poor business on Coloccini watch. Centre back is strong Hernandez and Arancible have formed a solid partnership and Gonzalez and Sierrelta are great alternatives. Loyola is the rock in the middle and Cornejo is trying to provide competition but it may be an area to address. Sierra and Andrade in front have linked beautifully and while Venezuela doesn't seem rated he is lethal at set plays and often over performers. If Celedon ends up suiting the flank better a left footed CM could well be on the shopping list. Ordenas is the star of the team (18 goals and 11 assists) and at 18 years old he might just be the best player i have ever brought through and developed handing him his debut at 16 was a masterstroke, he has Palacios number now which is saying something as the former player of the year is a good player himself. Assadi on the other side had a slow start to the season but in the business end he showed why he was the main man last year, again backup may be required but all three can play on either side and we have a couple player who can shift out there in emergency (Rios,Celedon, Arias) Diaz was the starter and he returned 23 goals and 5 assists. His ability in the complete forward role was exceptional, often dropping deep and linking play then bursting in behind afterwards or getting on the end of cutbacks. Rios hit 12 goals himself and looks like he's ready to really challenge and Ulloa offers some depth and a different style. On the whole the squad depth is good, a left back and left footed midfielder should really see business close, unless a special player takes my notice. We have several players that can play multiple positions so I would rather keep the squad small and competitive, using rotations when shifting between systems. so players invert better than others, some players are better against a strong opponent, some are better against quicker. The idea now is to have the correct tool for the correct job without deviating too far from the philosophy ( ill cover this more in my tactical update)

That Real Madrid result!! Battered at the Bernabéu

Finally the season is finished. My plan is to break this update down, it’s been played over such a long period of time so I have loads of notes from months back. So I’ll break it down into sections to get a feel for getting the bigger picture again. Transfers, some tactical stuff and of course goals goals goals.

Thanks bud 👍🏻👍🏻

Great summer business and a great start to season. Barcelona and Real always going to be a big ask but first couple of seasons you already look in good shape to mountain a challenge in the coming years

A great season regardless of what happens. It shows how difficult it is to fight on two fronts at the elite level when going into final stages! Best of luck against PSG!