UTT

So I have swapped my IFa to an IFs - would you still recommend a creator type striker? Good shout

Glad it isn't just me! I used to find AF brilliant for this system but had no luck this year. Similarly, I've had little success with the DLF or the PF but am happy to try. Oddly though the PF in a 4-3-3 high press system was fantastic I put "be more expressive on" as a way to break teams down - just not scoring enough and I had hoped that would help. With regards to tempo - are you suggesting trying to shift it up or down?

I've given the IW a PI to stay wider. I don't really have an aerial presence in the box up front and I didn't really think that crosses into the box were a great fit for the team, given the preference for a more possession style to I kept away from the winger role

I'll try a switch to an IFs and a FBs. The segundo volante is great, they arrive late at the edge of the box for cutbacks from the IW. The description in game is a bit vague (like many of them) but its been a good role to have

Generally speaking, results have been pretty good - as I said, I managed a clean sweep of the League, Cup and Libertadores. But it was heavily based on a solid defence and goals from set pieces. I want to improve this. Hadn't thought of this. I'll try bringing the line of defence up and dropping LOE by a notch. Yeah, I had noticed that it was congested at the top, I'm barely getting anything noticeable contribution wise from whichever striker that I play. The idea of the players from deep running forward was to help in shuttling the play forward. I had thought that the FBa will move into the space vacated by the IF, occupying the opposition ful back and allowing the IF to run at the half space. The WBs was meant to be less aggressive and get into the space vacated by the VOL (albeit not as central as I still wanted to cover the wing) and be a passng option for the DLP

I'm currently in the midst of a Pentagon challenge where I seek to win the champions league on 5 continents. I am also trying to be quite flexible with each team that I take charge of rather than simply taking the one tactical approach and shoe-horning it in everywhere. Anyway, after spending 5 seasons in South Africa, I won the CAF Champions League twice and left to take up the vacant role at River plate. In South Africa, I utilised a high pressing 4-3-3 as there was a lot of physical ability but a lack of technique. When I took over at River, I obviously inherited a more technically proficient squad. Furthermore, I actually have some excellent attacking midfielders and I wanted to utilise them. I had always liked the balance of a 4-2-3-1 as it allowed for the use of both wide players and a traditional # 10. My plan was to evolve my previous tactics in light of my better quality squad and to shift to a more possession orientated style of play, but also being one that fit with the board expectations of being attacking and entertaining. That being said, I am not looking to have possession for possessions sake, I would like to have a sort of progressive style that is more meaningful and positive that the traditional tiki-taka (a more hybrid system, not sure how to describe this overly well). Knowing that the 4-2-3-1 had a habit of being defensively suspect, I initially went with a variation that employed 2 defensive midfielders: This did garner me success in that I won the Libertadores, the Cup and the League but this was mainly on the back of a solid defence, a reliance on set pieces and a large slice of luck in winning 4 penalty shootouts. I know that conventional wisdom will be to not change what isn't broken, but I would like some advice to improve upon this as whilst I am happy with the results, the methods were a bit dull. The reason for this is that whilst my deep midfielders and my wingers were excellent, the general play going forward was highly lacking. I could never get a reliable contribution in terms of goals or assists from my AMC or ST and the majority of my wins were as a result of set pieces or long range shots from my AML or my segundo volante. We never really hit that gear where you could turn the opposition over, and thus I feel that there is actually a lot in terms of setup and style that could be improved. I was very pleased with the contribution of my DM's and my wide AM's although I did feel that there was a lack of penetration into the box I would appreciate any kind of wisdom that could be shared about my roles and duties, although I would largely want to keep the same formation as it matches the players and positions in the squad. I did wonder whether the play was too compressed in the final third of the pitch and whether I would be better suited to a fully deep 4-2-3-1 (with the 3 in the midfield strata). I also do wonder that I haven't chosen the right combination of roles and duties to make this work properly. Many thanks in advance to you all.

Hi, Fadlu Davids and Maahier Davids should have each other set as favoured personnel as they are brothers - http://www.dailyworthing.com/index.php/2019/01/18/mahier-davids-is-yet-to-be-assigned-an-official-position/ Apologies, I don't have their Id's to hand

I won't lie , I have had some luck (2 wonderkids and a great DLP once I retrained him) but Gallardo has sold a lot of decent players for a pittance. Somehow though, I've fluked my way to a Libertadores win < 4 months after taking over. 2/5 down!

So I've left Sundowns. I wasn't sure that I wanted another season in South Africa so I started to apply for jobs - initially Sport (Brazil Serie B) and Qingdao Huanghai (CSL). I was originally heading to China but I then saw jobs with River and Atlético. Got rejected in Madrid but have taken over at River. I must say, I think I'm regretting it a little. The squad is horribly unbalanced (a real dearth of CB's and I have no DM's), some unrealistic board expectations and I'm suffering tactically. Dunno if I'll last long, although I am in the quarter finals of the Copa Libertadores so I could fluke a victory somehow!

Second season with Sundowns finished rather successfully - winning the CAF Super Cup, MTN8 and back to back CAF Champions League and ABSA Premiership wins, the latter an unbelievable unbeaten season (29 wins, 1 draw). I was looking to quit and move to. Asia but there were no appealing jobs available and I haven't been offered anything. Not sure how/why, the managers of Supersport and Kaizer Chiefs left mid season to join Deportivo and Villarreal respectively.

So, it turns out the Club World Cup has changed to a 4 year cycle so I won't be in that. Nevertheless, still with Sundowns as I'm hoping to win some more silverware and get an offer from abroad. Had a tough January transfer window - lost Luke Le Roux for 4 million (+ 50% sell on) and Abubaker Mobara for 1.4 million and there isn't a lot of ready to go replacements available. Sticking some real faith in some young players and hoping they hit the target!

Well, my 3rd season with Tuks was very successful. We finished 6th in the league, comfortably avoiding relegation. A sensational run also saw us with the CAF Confederation Cup. I also got to the final of the Telcom Cup but was beaten by Orlando Pirates. At the end of the season I was interviewed by Mamelodi Sundowns. I took the job and completed a treble (MTN8, CAF Champions League and the Premier League). I've stuck on for another season for now as I want to play in the Club World Cup. Will look to leave at the end of the season and move to Asia.

After a very slow start in Season 2 with Tuks we had a surprising end. Despite losing right winger Kgodiso Monama on a pre-contract agreement to Kaiser Chiefs (I refused to play him after that) we managed to hit form after Christmas. Lone front man Shungu Dutiro hit an inspired 24 league goals on the way to a title win (and promotion) by 9 clear points. We also managed to win the Nedbank Cup so I've somehow wrangled my way into the African Europa League equivalent! Unfortunately, I've been given no money to spend, Dutiro wouldn't sign a new contract and left and my entire scouting team has been poached. We shall see how long I can last...

Sure - as stated above, I do agree. But is the issue that Venezuela is too low, or is Bolivia too high? The issue I have is that some of the young players in Venezuela, if I were to raise their CA the game would recommend much larger PA's than is realistic.

Hmm, would have to look at this with @Daniel Dionisi. I'm not sure that we should arbitrarily raise the CA of Venezuelan clubs based solely on this (plus, I don't know what the Bolivian CA16 is). I'm also not entirely sure that looking at isolated results like that should dictate the strength of a league either. I'll wait and see what Daniel wants to do EDIT: Essentially, I guess that there shouldn't be a huge difference between the two but I don't know whether we need to increase Venezuela, decrease Bolivia or some combination of the two to meet in the middle