SixPointer

I’m looking forward to the first holy war of your journey!! I adore city rivalries especially when there is only two big teams and they really hate each other! Maybe something to do with the Scottish league. Rangers - Celtic. Hearts - Hibernian

Superb progress matty! I have to make a very bold statement….. I love the way present your updates and how you pack them with info but don’t go over the score. I would definitely say it’s my favourite style of writing on the CU forum. 😎

Screams give youth a chance which we know the club loves to do.

Great finish on the angle

Congratulations on the first season! Anderlecht Is a big ask but stranger things have happened

Great first season and loving Prusseit’s progress

I wish I had stuck to passing positional play. This gegenpressing isn’t as easy as I thought 🤣

Very very solid start and the solid defence proving to be the foundation of something special

Yeah it was a very strange experience, something I would never seen in Scotland! But I understand the thinking behind it and the affiliations.

Sublime team choice! I used them for my tactical replication of Gian Piero Gasperini a while back. I fell in love with the idea of a save with the club after reading this article…. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/47961674.amp

I was just at the cracovia vs lech game a few weeks back that end 0-0. I went to krakow for the weekend and had to pick between the krakow teams as both were playing at home. I chose the 0-0, and wisla game ended 3-3! was a very strange experience seeing both cracovia and lech ultras mixed together. But I know these are friends! Due to my save as Ruch a few seasons back I know abit about the polish game.

Congratulations on the league title! it’s Party time

Wisla certainly need to build for the long term! So think it’s wise to have a plan for holding on to certain players but also about selling at the right time to increase profit

Phenomenal form!

Congratulations on the league win

Great club choice!! I actually played around with them on the Beta after a trip to krakow. Some exciting young players you’ll need to nurture after years of financial mismanagement. Best of luck following

Love the thinking behind making more space for the WP. sometimes it’s nice for overloads having two players coming into the same space but I think you have it spot on here, the combination of the roles works perfect now. The af stretching the defence will cause havoc for anyone coming to press the wp.

Sickening!!!

Very solid form!! Can see there being another huge party come the end of the season

Crazy performance shame you didn’t win it

Tough UCL group but that’s the level to aspire to!

Here We Go!

Last year was the first time I used. IWB and I fell in love with them, they are fantastic tools for positional play, mainly overloading the half space. Plus the fact they transition to and from different slots in the pitch so early. I love the shape making the 235 and found it so successful last season especially getting third man runs by using two AMC (A). what am intrigued to see from you is how this will all play with the adjustment to how pivots work. Have you noticed any differences? I won’t be using this system this year so be keen to see how the IWB’s and CMS all link in your save.

I totally agree with this! Both are key stats that helped me decided my style of play this year. But the word underwhelming you used it’s so fitting. I was hoping to see graphs and comparisons. Instead am just left with a number.

Franz Schiemer Franz Schiemer, Jesse Marsch’s former assistant manager at Leeds and RB Salzburg, has returned home. He was linked with a job in Ralf Rangnick’s backroom team but has opted to go back into first team management. Schiemer came through the youth ranks at SV Ried and made his professional at just 17 years of age, he made 53 league appearances for the club. He moved to Austria Vienna then onto RB Salzburg where he finished his career. The centre back was capped 19 times for his country. After an injury plagued career, he retired and became assistant at FC Liefering (RB Salzburg s feeder club) He then came back to SV Ried the club 20 minutes from his village and became sporting director and brief spell as caretaker manager, before joining RB Salzburg’s coaching team then onto Leeds. Tactical Identity This year I have opted to move away from my possession based, total football, positional play philosophy. The changes to the out of possession instructions and the work SI have done on defence football and some additional key stats has led me to a more out of possession focused style of play. This year I aim to be more fluid tactically in the sense that I will adopt my systems to counter my opponents, using pressing traps, varied blocks, different types of build up structures and of course formations. There will be a sense of Identity among the players, staff and fans as the importance of having a specific DNA at the club is crucial, especially the style of football we want to play. Its about being fluid within some of these key aspects. Franz Schiemer wasn’t picked as my character solely because of his previous connections to the club and the area, I liked his links to managers and clubs who are well know for a certain type of football. Rangnick and Salzburg both being key on this front. The godfather of Gegenpressing has influenced so many managers and clubs, many of the former being Austrian. Now I won’t be replicating his style mainly as I don’t want to be an out an out high pressing team, I will simply take elements from it and apply it to my thinking as such becoming influenced rather than replicated. I want this to be a tactical journey as well as a journey across Europe another reason for my choice of club and manager. A few key things I want to identify (not necessarily all at once) • Intelligent pressing (setting traps, shifting between high and mid blocks, counter pressing, increasing and lowering intensity) • Progressive passing (after turnovers making passes into the offensive third, quick vertical passes breaking the lines) • Creating overloads (especially in the half space, using triangular and diamond shapes allowing us to play with few touches) • High intensity attacking (pace to attack the space in behind, quick combination passes, fluid movement in forward areas) The DNA With all this in mind I have set myself some attribute and personality parameters to work to. again, this will vary as the club and save progresses, I would be naïve to expect perfect players at this level so I must keep it in context. I’m considering 14 as exceptional, 10-13 as capable anything below is unacceptable. I have 6 keys for the whole team with off the ball for attacking players and positioning for defensive players. I’m aware that the likes of aggression, natural fitness, pace are all missing, this is mainly due to the level and can be used to spilt players and will come into play as we advance. • Bravery – committed players willing to put it on the line for the cause. • Determination – commitment to how much he wants to succeed and do his very best. • Teamwork – how well a player follows tactical instructions while working as a team. • Work Rate – there ability to his full capacity while going over and above there call of duty • Acceleration – reflects how quick a player can get to top speed from standing start • Stamina – ability to endure a high level of physical activity for extended periods of times. All six of these point towards committed hardworking players who are willing to fight for the team and can do so at high intensity. This will be the corner stone of our DNA. Desired personalities such as driven, resolute, determined, Fairley determined and resilient will come at a premium but are certainly the aim. Coaches to be sought out with similar thinking, but also must match up with at least 2 out of three of the following. • Tactical style (Counterattack or Gegenpressing) • Playing style (Direct or Standard) • Formation (5-2-2-1 or 5-2-3 or 4-4-2) Training Model Just as before I will be following tactical periodisation as my training method. There are more and more people on the forum joining this kind of thinking and applying it to their saves. People all have different views on how it should be applied, personally I think SI needs to do more on this front, as only the match prep and set pieces have a direct effect on your next opponent. My issue is how do I know defensive shape is working on dealing with a fast striker I have identified. However, I do love the training module as a whole and had good success applying it to the total football philosophy previously. For anyone unsure on the methodology I would suggest reading this article, it is very in depth and a lot to take in, but it really does cover all bases. To begin with I will work with the one schedule only tweaking it for each match and monitor performance then I may adjust when I start to see specific tactical trends when coming up against certain threats, or stronger or weaker teams or home and away matches. Again, I want training to be a journey with fluidity and chance to grow and progress as the save does which will see certain aspects of the game model tweak. Defensive Organisation – Zonal Defending with early pressing in a midblock Attacking Transition – Exploit opponents disorganised defence attacking quickly Attacking Organisation – Possession with the intent to penetrate with passes into final third Defensive Transition – Counter press and prevent ball progression and recover possession Our game model at a very basic level, counter pressing to win the ball back if it can’t be won fall into a mid-block and await pressing triggers. If the ball is won look to attack instantly with progressive passes into the final third. It’s not complex unlike my previous tactical plans but its more about being prepared and knowing your opponent and the executing the plan. Match Day +1 (Recovery) - recover, review and analysis the previous match. (5% of Match Intensity) Match Day +2 (Active recovery) - Morning overall session to get the legs moving again working on a bit of everything. Then a tactical session to lay out the plans before applying them to training (33% of Match Intensity) Match Day +3 (Acquisition Day) - Morning endurance session as we look to take it up a notch followed by a session working as a team before working on the defensive transition. (65% of Match Intensity) Match Day +4 (Acquisition Day) - Morning Quickness session working on speed of movement, before the afternoon is dedicated to speed of play working on attacking organisation and transition (70% of Match Intensity) Match Day +5 (Acquisition Day) - Physical morning session to round of the last high intensity session before working on the defensive organisation (60% of Match Intensity) Match Day +6 (Taper) - The morning is used to analyse our opponents before heading out for a match practice to finalise any small details in any part of the game plan working on all 4 component (45% of match intensity) Squad Building & Recruitment Policy I feel like squad building and recruitment is an area that I have almost went into auto pilot in previous years. I often try to have three players for every position a first teamer, back and then a youth prospect. While this isn’t a problem, I often try to have players of a similar build, so everything is like for like. Its means a player comes in to do the exact same job. After seeing the above image at the Athletic, I decided this year I’m going to need different players for different jobs, especially now as I look to become more fluid and ready to counter specific threats and exploit certain weaknesses. For instance, I may need a forward who can carry us up the pitch at times, but I may also need a forward who is explosive and plays on the shoulder to stretch the opponent’s backline. Armed with this and the DNA means i need to be finding players to fit the overall philosophy but, are either an improvement of what we already have at the club or offer something different to current players in their position. But what about the direct recruitment side of things? Last season with a help of inspiration from a few of the Guru's I dipped my toes into using data for recruitment reasons, I am new to this approach I do use data for a lot of my tactical aspects. This year I look to continue that improvement and zone in on recruiting with statistics, to aid this I have adopted another one of Rangnick pillars, targeting players who I can improve and sell on for money. Moneyball is the term I believe to be used while I do see me adhering strictly to all of it, I will base most of it on this. The scene is set, roll on Tuesday!