ericstpeter

Love this.

Give this a look: https://dictatethegame.com/2019/03/29/la-grande-inter-bringing-catenaccio-to-2019/#more-15170

Hi All, In passed years of FM there were certain sliders that were hardwired to be altered with just changing mentality and others that weren’t. Does anyone know definitively which TI sliders are automatically influenced by changing mentality and which aren’t? Looks like it influences: Passing Directness Tempo Attacking Width Time Wasting Line of Engagement Defensive Line Pressing Intensity Am I missing any?

Great replication. Plays well.

I think this is a very unique look at tactics and I liked reading! I’d like to read more form you.

A Tactical Replication for Modern Football Taken from the blog www.dictatethegame.com Why does it seem like the Catenaccio preset in Football Manager 2019 doesn’t work? Or at least, certainly not work for a long term system. Well, it’s because the system itself no longer works in the modern football game. I’ve heard chatter that Sports Interactive didn’t replicate the system instructions the “right way” but I think they did… and that’s why it doesn’t work. So I ventured to “replicate” the tactics of Helenio Herrera’s Inter in the 1960’s. They were perhaps the most well known pervayors of the “door-bolt” but I wanted to make it work in the modern FM world. Herrera was not the inventor of the famously defensive ‘Catenaccio’ (door-bolt in Italian) system, but he was perhaps its most successful exponent. Having tried in vain to introduce Barcelona’s more fluid attacking style in his first campaigns, he moved a midfielder back to act as sweeper, adopted a rigid man-marking policy, and freed his left-back to attack at will. Armando Picchi emerged as a world-class ‘libero’ under Herrera, while Giacinto Facchetti shone as one of the first attacking left-backs. A solid defence, however, was not everything. Skillful midfielders and pacy forwards were key to the lethal counterattacks launched by Inter. “I want vertical football at great speed, with no more than three passes to get to the box,” said ‘Il Mago’ (the magician). “If you lose the ball playing vertically, it’s not a problem – lose it laterally and you pay with a goal.” In thinking about the above quote I created the hybrid “Catenaccio/Direct Counter-Attack” system you see below. The idea is we take a “Catenaccio” preset and take the best of the “Direct Counter-Attack” to give ourselves the quick forward movement described in “Inverting The Pyramid”. This should give us the forward movement and goals we need to win defensive games. OBJECTIVES: Create a Defensive mentality system of play that mimics Hererro’s “Catenaccio” Concede less than a goal a game Win the EURO I also wanted to make this a very Italian set-up so I used a Trequarista, Regista, and Sweeper (Libero). The only thing we don’t have is a Mezzala and a Carrilero (Sorry). No player instructions here, we’re using the roles as intended and I leave the opposition instructions for my staff… hire good people and let them do their job. Having recently taken over the Italy side in my current save, I thought it was the perfect time to see what we could do about reviving Catenaccio, or at least a “Modern Catenaccio”. Let’s see how we did going into the EURO 2024. First match against Ukraine and although I don’t love giving up any goals when trying to bring the Door-Bolt back, it was a junky own goal in stoppage time of the first half. What I did like to see is the heat map… As you can see we are very close to what we’d want the side to look like out of possession (which we all know is what the starting positions in FM represents). Game two was the same scoreline with another good win over Belguim (with their only goal coming in the 91st minute plus). What is really starting to stand out to me is the possession we are getting in a DEFENSIVE system but if we have the ball, they don’t and they can’t score. Last game of the group stage saw us grab a win against the Czech Republic in more of a “Catenaccio” style. Under 50% possession and no goals allowed. I chalk this up to the players becoming more tactically aware. At the end of the group stages you can see swept the field with 9 points out of 9 and we’re on to the second round. I’m going to run through the rest a bit quicker because I think everyone gets the idea. More competitive game than I thought against Austria. Very much a grinder that saw us win in penalties. Quarter Final… If we are talking about a modern catenaccio we are seeing the influence of possession in the games. I find this interesting for a couple reasons: One, people seem to be overly concerned with possession in general in FM. Folks are always trying to get over the magic 60% mark and we’re averaging 55% whilst playing productive football in a DEFENSIVE mentality system. Two, is that the general feeling is that possession football killed the “Catenaccio” and we’re almost creating a melding of the two. Can “Modern Catenaccio” take the best from both worlds and resurrect the door bolt with it’s own tricks? Not this time. But I will tell you that this France team is fantastic. Griezmann, Pogba, Mbappe, Dembele, Laporte, Pavard, plus a host of others all in their prime. We held on the ball looking for attacks but just couldn’t find them. The EURO final was no surprise after playing them. OBJECTIVES MET?: Create a Defensive mentality system of play that mimics Hererro’s “Catenaccio” – I’d say yes. Watching it play it does feel like how Herrero’s Catenaccio is described, although there is much more offensive intent in this system. Concede less than a goal a game – Sort of… We gave up an average of a goal per game although France got us by two, Ukraine’s goal we scored on ourselves (own goal ’47 min) and the goal in the Belguim game was a garbage time goal. We could make the argument that 0.67 GPM is a truer representation. Win the EURO – Nope. Viva La France! Overall I’m very happy with both the way the team played defensively but offensively as well. Solid defence with lightning fast counters. It’s very interesting to watch and I hope you have a good time using and watching it in your own FM saves! If you enjoy these types of replications and would like to see us take a crack at another, please feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments below. Find me @ericstpeterFM on Twitter Taken from the blog www.dictatethegame.com

Steam workshop

Maybe a third simulation with the other suggestions? I like the way it’s evolving

Interest suggestions, interesting results! Increased the GPG 1.72 (from 1.27) and the GAA 0.79 (from 0.57) so it basically increased the output by a half a goal per game and gave up a half a goal be game as well. 50% more efficient on the offense and 25% less efficient. defensively. Net gain of 25% I used the "raumdeeper" settings for the Fredy role:

Interesting suggestions! I’m going to change the set up with your suggestions and see how it turns out simulating it the same way as the original article.

INVINCIBLE ARSENAL Recreating the 2003-2004 Unbeaten Season on FM 19 Hello everyone! There seems to be lul in or lack thereof of tactical replications on FM 19 as compared to past versions. We can maybe attribute that to the ease of use of the tactics set-up screens but I'll leave that discussion for another time. After my Inter 2009 and Real Madrid 2002 Galacticos recreations from last year, I decided to try my luck at the often duplicated tactic from the Arsenal 2003-2004 undefeated season... but, with a twist. I kept it simple and let it fly! As I write here, I'm simulating the first half of the 2003-2004 season with my system using the AWESOME 2003-2004 database (which you can find in the steam workshop). We'll see the tactics and results (for better or worse) shortly, but first some background for those of you who don't know it (courtesy of goal.com). Arsenal usually lined up in a 4-4-2 formation, though it could also be labelled a 4-2-3-1 due to the way Dennis Bergkamp dropped into the 'No.10' position between midfield and attack. The team is mostly remembered for its attacking genius. Thierry Henry was at the peak of his powers and finished second in the Ballon d'Or voting in 2003 and fourth in 2004, and while Bergkamp was nearing the end of his career he had not lost his brilliant movement or vision. Left winger Robert Pires provided a secondary source of goals, netting 14 in the league, while Patrick Vieira was both the heart and brain of the team from central midfield. On the right, Freddie Ljungberg was a ferocious box-to-box player who raised his game for the big occasion. What is not mentioned as often - particularly when comparing the Invincibles to today's Arsenal team - was that the Gunners were also outstanding defensively, conceding just 26 goals. Sol Campbell and Kolo Toure were a brilliant mix of athleticism and intelligence at centre-back, Jens Lehmann brought international class in goal and Ashley Cole and Lauren were a dynamic full-back pairing. It was not just the quality of the personnel, however, but also the way they set up. Arsenal were more like Atletico Madrid than Barcelona, with both Gilberto Silva and Vieira tasked with shielding the defence and Cole and Lauren not allowing their desire to attack and overlap compromise their duties in their own half. Pires and Ljungberg did not hang around high up the field but were expected to track back and turn the ball over. That commitment to defending made Arsenal an even better team going forward than their talent alone would suggest, because they were able to absorb pressure in their own half before launching lethal counter-attacks led by Henry. Who was manager of the Invincibles? After the victory over Leicester City that completed Arsenal's unbeaten season, the Guardian writer Kevin Mitchell labelled Arsene Wenger the most astute manager in the Premier League, and "probably all of football at the moment". Wenger had not only revolutionised Arsenal but the entire division, introducing new training, fitness and dieting regimes that forced managers across the country to follow suit and demand greater professionalism and discipline from their players. Gone were the days of victories being celebrated with fatty food and several pints of beer. The Frenchman's record of identifying players no one had heard of and moulding them into full internationals was also unmatched at that time. Toure was signed for £150,000 from an Ivorian club and converted from midfield and full-back into a central defender, while Ljungberg cost £3 million from Halmstads in Sweden. Perhaps the most flattering compliment you can pay Wenger is that he was Sir Alex Ferguson's first true equal. The Arsenal boss has seen his star fall since, but in his first decade in north London he was a brilliant combination of tactical nous and ruthlessness, assembling teams that played scintillating football and were not intimidated by anyone. Who were the key players of the Invincibles? Thierry Henry can lay legitimate claim to being the greatest player of the Premier League era. He is not the only star in the conversation and some may argue that Alan Shearer and Ryan Giggs did it for longer, but only Cristiano Ronaldo has hit the heights of Arsenal's No.14 at his peak. The Frenchman has been voted the Gunners' greatest ever, anyway, and netted a career-best 30 league goals during the unbeaten campaign. Quite simply, everything Henry did was fast; whether it be running, shooting or passing, it was as if he could do and see things twice as quickly as everyone else around him. As was the case with about half of Arsenal's starting XI, Henry arrived at Arsenal with a much lesser profile than that which he left them with and had struggled on the left wing during a solitary season at Juventus. Wenger, who had coached him previously at Monaco, paid £11m to cut his stay in Italy short and made him a centre forward. His partnership with Bergkamp was the perfect blend of speed, skill and intelligence. With the Dutchman's tendency to drop into the hole and Henry's fondness of pulling out on to the left flank, they were brilliant at finding space and left opposition centre-backs wondering whether to follow them and be dragged around the pitch or leave them unattended. As you can see I kept it very simple. We'll see if it was TOO simple... Using the great video from Tifo Sports as a reference the above is what I came up with. As for Team Instructions we use just a few. A balanced mentality with just overlapping on both sides, counter in transition, and a higher line of engagement. As for player instructions, Henry has "Stay Wider" and "Run Wide With Ball", and both Ljungberg and Pires have "Get Further Forward" added. The Results As you can see, we are hardly invincible at 7-6-6 BUT with a closer look at the results you can see that of our six losses only ONE was by more than one goal (a 1-4 thumping to Manchester City). The rest of our losses were 0-1 losses and one 1-2 loss to Manchester United. We are VERY close to being invincible with a very strong defensive team giving up only 19 goals in the 33 we played while scoring 42. That's a 0.57 GAA while scoring 1.27 per game. I'm looking forward to using it more in the current timeline and hearing your success or failure, tweaks, etc. Until next time, good bye and good night!

I hadn’t seen the FM16 until it was brought up the other day and I really love it (especially as an American). I’d love to see a full adaptation to FM19.

I like it. What are is your tactical mentality, in possession/in transition/out possession instructions?

I've been working on an update. Looking to hopefully post it tonight.

Loving this so far @goqs06. I think the new tactics system is going to lend itself to some awesome recreations in FM19