The Stuttgart Academy Of Higher Learning – An Attempt to Learn to Master the Game

[Madminister]

So, I promised a PPM overlay and here it is. Hope it's readable.

I think I've got an interesting mix here. 3 players who likes short simple passes. If I had a better backup at right back I'd play Kvist in Nwanganas position as a BWM. I can see Khedira, Kvist, Denílson and Kuzmanovic passing it around nicely. There are still a couple of days left of the window so there might be time to rectify the situation. The season preview highlights Tasci and Alderweireld as the key to our season and I do hope they will provide a solid foundation. I tried to persuade Tasci to not Dive Into Tackles, but apparently he likes doing laundry. I hope this is offset by Alderweireld not diving into tackles. Kvist at right back is like having an extra playmaker out wide, but he does get forward and have provided an assist already. On the left side I have Molinaro bombing forward, and some good youth prospects to cover for him. I just signed a 16 year old Portuguese left back with bags of potential. I'm retraining him to be a right back in the hopes of creating an inverse wingback as per the thread of the same name, but that's in the future.

Up front I have Bendtner an Ibisevic, Cacau is still around and will get games, but Bendtner and Ibisevic are my main strikers this season. In addition to Cacau there is a handful of very good prospects. One thing I've noticed with Bendtner is that when it says he comes deep to get the ball it means he really does come deep. Cacau has the same PPM, but I didn't notice that as much last season. I'm experimenting with Ibisevic selected as Target Man with Run Unto Ball on the team settings. I've yet to determine the results of this.

I've played 3 competitive games so far a cup game with a team of youngsters in which we dismissed Münster with some confidence in a 3-0 win. Then we drew Valencia in the CL best placed playoffs. Not the draw I hoped for to be honest. We did not have a good time in the first leg at Mestalla and lost 3-1, fortunately we got the away goal which gives us a shot at it at home. Next up was the first league game away at Westfalenstadion. Dortmund is tough opposition and I would have sold it for a draw before kickoff. When they got a man sent off at 33 minutes I figured we could get the win. As the final whistle approached it seemed neither team would get more than a point from the game.

That is, until Ulreich our young keeper took matters into his own hands. He decided Reina had nothing on him and inspite of having plenty of defenders closing down Lewandowski who was bombing down the wing he decided to join the party. To his credit he got to the ball first and made the clearance. Which landed at the feet of a Dortmund midfielder put it into the back of the net with a controlled long shot.

Next up is the home fixture against Valencia. I'll try to walk through match prep and all that in this thread. Don't hold your breath though, it won't happen in another 12 or so hours

[Madminister]

My approach to preparing for the second leg of the CL qualifier is heavily inspired by lam's match preparation thread.

As you can see all players in my first XI are pretty knackered having just played Dortmund. This second leg match against Valencia is the third in 7 days with 2 days between each game. Since it's a run consisting of Valencia away, Dortmund away and Valencia at home I haven't really had the opportunity to rest any first team players during that period. In preparation for the home tie against Valencia I decide the players need a days rest before the game. I'm hoping that will help them regain more of their fitness.

My scout recommends focusing on defensive positioning due to Valencia's strong attack. We had a taste of that during the first leg so it sounds like a good idea. The last thing we want is conceding another goal. On the other hand we do need to score two goals ourselves so it's not necessarily a straight forward decision.

Valencia are managed by Stuart Pearce and primarily play 4-4-2. That is a piece of information that could be very useful when we know who where up against.

When my scout told me they had a strong attack he wasn't kidding! Soldado and Jelavic would be a tall order for quite a few teams!

Unfortunately their defence is also pretty strong. What I noticed is that by default squad strength is compared to your team. I'm assuming 3 stars mean we are about equal. For a standard flat 4-4-2 all of their first choice players are stronger than mine, if I go by that assumption. Defensive positioning is starting to look like a good choice.

This is the first screen in which I find a bit of solace. Now, Valencia seem to score a fair amount of their goals early in the first half and in the middle of the second half. What's really interesting, however, is that they seem to concede a fair amount of their goals late in both halves. That is something I can use to my advantage. I think it would be sensible to start each half with a cautious approach and then apply pressure toward the end of each half.

Valencia score the majority of their goals from placed shots, but also score a fair number of goals from headers. Also they concede the majority of their goals from placed shots.

Valencia get most of their assists from passes, crosses and long balls. They concede most of their goals from passes and crosses. How do I read this? Well, for the past 3 screens it's been difficult to ignore the pitch on the right side of the screen. It seems Valencia get their assists from a wide variety of places. You can't guard against everything, not effectively anyway. I'll have to take a closer look at who's making those assists.

That same pitch also reveal the vast majority of goals they concede are created out wide. I have 2 wide players in my squad and I'm seriously considering pushing them up (setting them both on attack duties) to take advantage of this.

[Madminister]

There are very few things in those screens offering hope. Their attackers are good headers, but not excellent jumpers. Our midfield works slightly better together than theirs. Other than that we seem inferior in most areas. These are screens I'd really like to be able to customize. I'd really like to do a direct comparison of defence vs. attack. When applicable. I have to do that manually as it is now.

The first thing I notice is their attackers are considerably faster than my defenders. I'm thinking a drop deeper shout might not be a bad idea.

It is also clear that while my attackers are better jumper than their attackers, they are no match for the Valencia defenders. The Valencia defenders have a higher top speed than my attackers, but considerably lower acceleration. Something to exploit with through balls?

Now, there are significantly fewer assists on this screen than on the match prep screens above. That's because the match prep screen covers 20 games, but since the season has only just begun far fewer matches have been played. Thus far their assists have come from their midfield. 3 from Tino Costa and one each from Dani Parejo, Sofiane Feghouli and Jérémy Mathieu. I need to be aware of their midfielders.

In his match preparation thread lam use this screen to find weaknesses. This is something I generally have trouble doing. I'm considering commenting on Lukaku because he is evasive and doesn't have great morale, but his mental stats look pretty good so I chicken out.

Interestingly Jelavic is only just coming back from an injury. I'm hoping he won't make it back, but if he does and is used I may be able to take advantage of lacking match fitness.

Right now, since this is an important game, I'm going to do something I usually never do. I'll look at the most probable and predictable starters. What I want to do is try to find the best among my players to match that player.

Jonas and Soldado are fast. So I need some of my fastest defenders. Since Aldereiweld is injured he's out of the picture. Of the remaining defenders the fastest are Tasci, Cotton and Rüdiger. Unfortunately both Jonas and Soldado both have great movement. Far better than my defenders Positioning. I'm liking Rüdiger as the partner for Tasci in this one, he has better overall defensive attributes than Cotton.

Costa has been their main goal creator.

He looks a solid midfielder. He isn't too strong, and doesn't jump very well. I'm thinking about putting him up against Kuzmanovic who is strong and can jump. I'll simpy try to muscle him off the ball.

Costa's partner is Dani Parejo. Unfortunately I can't see all his stats, but he looks more technical.

Victor Ruiz is a likely opponent for my strikers. He looks solid as a defender, but may have a weakness. His PPMs says he likes to play out of trouble. I'm thinking it would be a good idea to harrass him on the ball.

His partner Adil Rami is also quite good. His PPMs reveal that he like to get forward whenever possible. Coupled with a Concentration rating of just 12 he may make mistakes late in the game.

So here is my battle plan in list format.

Start cautious and increase pressure in each match (LATE IN HALF: Get ball forward, Pump ball into box)

Exploit wings

Play narrower

Drop deeper

Pass into space?

Push wingbacks up

Close down and tight mark Victor Ruiz

Kuzmanovic against Costa

Tasci and Rüdiger in defence

I'll admit I don't usually go to all this trouble. I'm hoping someone will be able to point out mistakes I make in my analysis of this.

Now I'll play the game

[Madminister]

Btw, is there a word count limit for posts?

Oh, and I won't actually play the game tonight. Getting up for work early and doing something as comprehensive as the match prep would take too long. The good news is I can still adapt to any recommendations

[Babak G]

Been trying a 4-4-1-1 formation like the one described here but it really is not working. I find the space between by central defence and central midfield to be too costly. Did you get yours to work by the end or just gave up on it?

[Madminister]

Been trying a 4-4-1-1 formation like the one described here but it really is not working. I find the space between by central defence and central midfield to be too costly. Did you get yours to work by the end or just gave up on it?

I gave up on the 4-4-1-1 I'm afraid.

[Madminister]

How do you analyze a game?

For the life of me I can't read a game. It's a discipline I'll have to work hard at. So after all the prep work here's what happened in the second leg against Valencia.

The screen above shows how we lined up. Since Bendtner was below 90% I decided to start with Cacau instead. I played Kuzmanovic in the MCR position to deal with Costa. Additionally I used opposition instructions to target Ruiz in an attempt to put pressure on him when he tries to play out of trouble as per his PPM.

I also started the game with the Drop Deeper, Play Narrower and Exploit Flanks shouts.

The following screenshot is after 6 minutes.

I'm worried about our pass completion and our possession. A minute goes by and I decide to check Valencia's stats.

I notice Pereira and Feghouli look a bit tired. At this point I utilize the Play Out of Defence and Work Ball Into Box shouts and decide to ask Ulreich to distribute the ball to Molinaro. The latter decision is to take advantage of their weakened right wing.

Then it happens.

Cacau runs with the ball.

He makes the cross. It ricochets of Rami.

And it's GAME ON!

Two minutes later Ibisevic gets the ball and runs with it.

He shoots.

He scores!

Before the game I intended to put them under pressure towards the end of each half, but being ahead by to and at the moment through on aggregate I lose my nerve and decide to remain cautious. We make it to the break ahead by two.

5 minutes into the second half Khedira takes a knock.

I sub him with another young DMC, Yalcin, who fits the Anchor man pretty well. At this point I'm still pretty conservative in my approach to the game.

During the next 15 minutes Valencia establish a siege on our penalty area. The lads are knackered and I decide I need to bring on some fresh legs.

I bring on Bendtner and Holzhauser for Cacau and Denílson. Valencia have now switched to a wide 4-1-2-2-1 and their fullbacks are putting pressure on our wings. My reaction is to use OI's to force them into the middle of the pitch.

We make it to the whistle and go through on away goals. Two times CL finalists Valencia have been knocked out by Stuttgart who's greatest European achievements are silver medals in the Cup Winners Cup in 98 and the Uefa Cup in 89. Breathe!

Ok. That was rough. Especially those last 15 minutes. Not sure about my reading of the game as it happens, but I'd like to believe the prep work did the job.

Valencia's wide players didn't have the best of times and Costa was a non-factor. Rüdiger was imperious in the air winning 15 of 16 headers. In fact, both Tasci and Rüdiger played very well.

[Babak G]

What instructions did you put to force them centrally?

[Madminister]

OIs to force them to go central were Close down often, easy tackling and then show onto foot (left foot for the right back and right foot for the left back).

[Babak G]

What has always made me hesitant to try the 4-2-2-2 outside Brazil has been question marks over defending the wings when you go up with formations that have 2 vs 1 on the wings. How do you combat that? Do you have your 2 defensive midfielders or central midfielders given instructions to move into channels?

[Madminister]

It's true you can be a bit exposed on the wings. I haven't done much to deal with it. The wingbacks need to be hard working. I've found the DMs tend to support my wingbacks when it's needed.

[Babak G]

You're playing counter and rigid normally with short passing?