Being Bill Belichick

[fdawsoniv]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Belichick

For those who don't know, he is the highly successful head coach of the NFL's New England Patriots. He won three Super Bowls in four years and has taken the Pats to two additional SB games. He is also the only coach to lead a team to a perfect regular season record since the schedule expanded to 16 games.

Personally, I hate the Patriots. I don't care for Belichick or Tom Brady, either. But there is something about the Patriots, especially in their heyday of the mid 2000's, that I admire. That is their ability to adapt to their opponents. Whatever you were good at, they could stop you. Whatever you were weak against, they could exploit.

I like the mindset of "make your opponent adapt to you," as I feel athletics contests often favor those who have the initiative. I have learned quite a bit on here lately (again) and am trying to solidify some ideas for a system I want to implement into my own team. However, despite all this, there's a part of me that wonders if it's possible to be the Patriots in FM.

That is, is it possible, to develop and maintain a squad that could be put together, on any given match day, to counter any given team. If not all possible opposing tactics and formations, then the majority. Can a team take anyone's best shot and counter them, and counter with anything they leave open? I don't just mean counter-attacking as in always sitting back with a defensive wall then breaking with speed into attack. That could be the strategy, if that's what the opponent was weak against. But countering like a boxer, hitting the exposed area, and pressing his advantage with a flurry when it's open. Patient, attacking, cagey, evasive. Whatever the situation calls for.

Is this possible? What would such a team look like? And no, saying "all the best players in the world" is not what I'm looking for. I think this kind of thing could be possible even without being Barca. My first thoughts are that you would need mega mental attributes everywhere. You'd need a diverse set of specific talents. You'd also need good and accurate scouting. And your skill at team selection must be elite. You only have three substitutes, so if your scout is wrong, or you get it wrong, or the opponent changes mid match, it would be hard to counter. That substitute rule may be the key limiting factor here. Even with flexible, mentally strong, rounded players it could be difficult to change midgame if needed.

Anyway, enough rambling. Anyone else have thoughts to share?

[LlamaZA]

As a Patriots fan this topic peeked my interest.

My take on the Patriots has been the ability of the offence to adapt througout the seasons with one if the greatest QBs of all time leading the way.

The 16-0 season was a shift in philosophy from defence to attack, but it also resulted in ending at 18-1.

The question is how do you create a dynasty in FM. I think the first step is to build around a player, a wonderkid that will be face of your team. Beckham, Messi, Xavi, Ronaldo etc are all the type of player that you could build around.

Depending on the support cast you change your strategy and style (take for the example the switch in offence style with Hernandez/Gronkowski).

Another facet of the Patriots has been the value buys around Brady (consistent trading down of picks). This isn't exactly transferrable to FM as bigger clubs end up with big salary and transfer budgets, but you could copy the style by splitting your budget around the rest of your squad with few other stars.

Lastly, I think the best example in the EPL to how the Patriots have built a dynasty is Ferguson at United. Consistently adapting to his resources, building around a star (Cantona, Beckham, Ruud, Ronaldo, Rooney).

To go back to your direct question, i.e. how to adjust to opponents. I've considered this a bit myself. It wouldn't be easy but conceptually you'd require vesatile players. The same players should be able to play with a back four and a back three. This requires fullbacks that can play as centrebacks, a centreback that can move to DM or CM. You'd need to have a two and one striker option, so the 'other' striker would need to play as a wing or AM.

My default tactic would be pretty balanced with default settings and I'd rely on shouts to make the adjustments.

Finally, prepare to watch a lot of games on full so that you know how and when to react.

[fdawsoniv]

As a Patriots fan this topic peeked my interest.

My take on the Patriots has been the ability of the offence to adapt througout the seasons with one if the greatest QBs of all time leading the way.

The 16-0 season was a shift in philosophy from defence to attack, but it also resulted in ending at 18-1.

Yeah, I forgot to mention how interesting it was that they've become an offensive juggernaut even though he's a defensive mind.

The question is how do you create a dynasty in FM. I think the first step is to build around a player, a wonderkid that will be face of your team. Beckham, Messi, Xavi, Ronaldo etc are all the type of player that you could build around.

Depending on the support cast you change your strategy and style (take for the example the switch in offence style with Hernandez/Gronkowski).

Another facet of the Patriots has been the value buys around Brady (consistent trading down of picks). This isn't exactly transferrable to FM as bigger clubs end up with big salary and transfer budgets, but you could copy the style by splitting your budget around the rest of your squad with few other stars.

These are good points. I already tend to use a fairly hard wage structure. But you're right, they particularly emphasize just one guy: Brady. They are not afraid to offload guys to save money, no matter how productive they've been, even in the prime of their careers. Translating to FM, a good youth setup would be good (isn't it always?), and when you do bring in outside players, find good value, guys with good mentals who can be moulded into playing "the Patriot Way." I don't see a way to translate their draft strategy. Even if you were playing in the MLS. But that's lesser than emulating their on-field approach, to me.

To go back to your direct question, i.e. how to adjust to opponents. I've considered this a bit myself. It wouldn't be easy but conceptually you'd require vesatile players. The same players should be able to play with a back four and a back three. This requires fullbacks that can play as centrebacks, a centreback that can move to DM or CM. You'd need to have a two and one striker option, so the 'other' striker would need to play as a wing or AM.

My default tactic would be pretty balanced with default settings and I'd rely on shouts to make the adjustments.

Finally, prepare to watch a lot of games on full so that you know how and when to react.

So I should just play 10 versatile midfielders, eh? Actually, I'm only half joking. Cleon linked to an article in her SI thread, that I'll add here later when I have more time to go hunting for it. It was an interview with Guardiola and he declares his love of midfielders, due to their versatility, and their ability to handle the ball anywhere on the pitch. There was another (and the interview may have mentioned it) to a zonal marking analysis of a game where Barca deployed 1 outright defender (a fullback) and nine midfielders. With this kind of system, surely you could employ more man marking, right? Since you've a team full of midfielders, there's really no such thing as being drug out of position, as everyone can play everywhere.

Thanks for that, you've given me some good things to consider. I'm not sure what kind of end product will come of this, if any. Just lots of things swirling through my head now. Good thing my workload is fairly heavy, or I'd have trouble concentrating at work.

You're spot on with the last point. This would take a long time to build, if only because you'd have to pay so much attention to the matches. Once you found a rhythm, though, I think you could get away without watching every minute of every match. But even then, you'd need to start off on full so you could set up against your opponent.

[LlamaZA]

Don't spend too much time time on finding the articles, I know which ones you're referring to.

From a Patriots perspective that versatility is key as you see with Hernandez and Woodhead lining up in different positions to create mismatches.

[achilles-the-victorious]

In terms of countering your opposition, if I manage a team in La Liga I am not too concerned with Mallorca, or Villareal's moves in the offseason, I am watching the top 3 or 4 challengers for my title. If they make a big move you see if the player they added has any weaknesses, or what you think that player might provide them (winger, attacking mid, pacy striker, dominant CB, etc). So any way, if there is a shape that is giving you trouble, a 4-5-1, or 4-1-4-1 or 4-1-2-1-2 or whatever, the best way to nullify its advantages is to set your team to take the same shape. This will make the game decided more by individual matchups,your striker vs their CB, your midfielders vs theirs. An advantage in strength or athleticism can make the difference.

Basically, my strategy is to have a shape that will break through most teams, who play a 4-5-1 or 4-4-2 against me, midtable and lower teams mainly. Then I will try to have a Nemesis-beating strategy, which is designed to nullify the opposition, specifically their best striker or midfielder, by mimicing their shape.

Other times you have to be confident that you can impose your will, though, and stick to your best shape against tough opposition. Besides just beating and completely demoralizing teams I enjoy seeing them having to change their formation midgame once they are already down a goal or two!

[Ricard78]

The Patriots were also caught filming other teams in practise and gametime illigally, which is why they won so many games and superbowls.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2008/03/12/out-damned-spot.html

[Sir Stuart Wilson]

My interest of American football never extended beyond Joe Montana '94 for the Mega drive sadly.

[higgins]

My interest of American football never extended beyond Joe Montana '94 for the Mega drive sadly.

Great game!

[furiousuk]

I don't really get what the OP is getting at, surely adapting to your oppositions strengths and weaknesses is a key part of actually being a manager? I know people play FM in lots of different ways but if you want to play in any way realistically then adapting to your opposition is not just a desirable skill, it's absolutely necessary. FM has evolved over the years and now favours reactive managers, hence the decline of plug-and-play tactics.

Belichick and the Patriots didn't invent reactive play, they were just better at it (and plenty of other things too) than anybody else! Most NFL sides will have 3 top-quality wide-receivers but will rarely line up with them all on the field, instead they'll pick and choose, similarly, if I can afford it I'd always want at least 3 top-quality strikers (assuming I'm playing 2 up-top). And I wouldn't want 3 Randy Mosses or Darren Bents either. There'd have to be some variation in the abilities of the players.

English football has come in for a lot of flak recently due to not reacting enough to the opposition, in some quarters the lack of English progression in European tournaments is being blamed on a lack of reactivity. Guardiola and Barca don't swap between 3 at the back and 4 at the back just because they feel like it or due to form/injuries, they do so in order to react to the strengths/weaknesses of their opponent. Arguably they don't need to as they are currently the best but it would be arrogant and foolhardy to assume that no opponent can hurt you and therefore ignore them. I'd wager just about every team in real-life changes their setup in adaptation to their opponent, whether they are Barca or a team far lower down the tree with far less resources. There might be times when they don't but this would be the exception not the rule.

Any squad so should strive for this. If you have 2 creative midfielders then you'll probably choose to buy the bruiser rather than the artist with your next midfield purchase. It doesn't matter what level you're at, it's just common sense. As for using that squad well and when to make use of different players, well, that's the skill - its the operation not the intention that is difficult here.