Jean0987654321 Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 A long time ago, Carlo Ancelotti fielded arguably the greatest team ever. Now, it is time to emulate such a tactic they played during those days. I'll explain almost everything in full as we go along here. Attacking - AC Milan were an attacking team that played such a style in which lead to a CL win Fluid - The players were involved both ways in the defensive and attacking transition Team Instructions: Shorter Passing - They weren't always hoofing the ball up. They played short, simple passes and build from the back often as they can. Play Out Of Defense - Goes in Conjunction with Shorter Passing Play Wider - The team would tend to use the wings as a passage to attack Push Higher Up - The team would push the opposition to their own box and reaped the benefits from that Whipped Crosses - Balls were sent in for the Poacher (a Pippo ) to head in Close Down More - They were relentless with their pressing which caused oppoenets problems when trying to keep the ball. Get Stuck In - They were also known for their dirty plays (well Gattuso was ) in trying to get the ball back Much Higher Tempo - They did not play games when they got the ball. Opting to move as quick as soon as they got it Be More Expressive - They were given creative freedom in which the Kakas and Seedorfs of the world loved Plan A: GK CWB(a)-CD-CD-CWB(a) BWM(s)-DLP(d)-BWM(s) AP(a)-AP(a) P(a) Plan B: GK CWB(a)-CD-CD-CWB(a) BWM(s)-DLP(d)-BWM(s) EG(a) P(a)-DLP(s) Player Instructions: GK: Pass It Shorter, Distribute to FBs, Roll it Out, Distribute Quickly CB: Pass It Shorter CWB: Run Wide With Ball, Shoot Less Often DLP: Close Down Less, Dribble Less BWM: Shoot Less Often, Mark Tighter, Run Wide With Ball AP left: Sit Narrower, Roam From Position AP right: Sit Narrower, Run Wide With Ball, Roam From Position DLP: Move Into Channels, Roam From Position, Run Wide With Ball, Pass It Shorter, Shoot Less Often PPMs: BWM: Dives Into Tackles, Marks Tightly DLP: Tries Killer Balls, Tries Long Range Passes AP: Tries Killer Balls P: Tries to Beat Offside Trap Training: Individual: Train Players into their position (eg. ST -> Poacher) Main: preseason: Team Cohesion/Tactics Team Cohesion/Attacking Movement Now as I progress in my Crewe save. I'll give some feedback on how the tactic went. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jambo98 Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Always interesting to try and recreate real tactics, particularly fairly iconic and unique ones (not suggesting this team were the only one to play 4321, but it was unusual). I think its a fairly big stretch to argue they were ever one of the best teams ever however! The barely scraped the CL win against Liverpool, and were a distant 4th in the league that year? That said, as i say, interesting tactic to recreate. The system of deploying Pirlo Deep as a playmaker, with Gattusso as the snappy aggresive ball winner in front was lovely to watch. The forward line varied quite a bit based on personell but clearly some very good players there. Be interested to see which sources you looked at - did you try and create the tactic from a specific game or set of games? Also be very interested in how you get the poacher to work. Its such a lost role in modern football and i have played around a little at getting it to work but not had much success. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ceefax the cat Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 They didn't play with a furious tempo at all. It was a relatively slow buildup dictated by Pirlo, working the ball from side to side to give him opportunities to pick out long diagonals and look for gaps through the middle. Their fullbacks moved forward and kept the pitch wide all the time, so I agree with that, but don't they pretty much do that anyway without a 'play wider' instruction? I wouldn't describe their style as 'attacking' - it was much more 'control' or 'counter'. Again, they were happy to keep the ball circulating if it meant Pirlo got a chance to have a nose about and get plenty of touches, but they also had in Inzaghi a gifted counterattacker, always looking to run in behind the second Milan intercepted a sloppy pass or a defender overcommitted, so on balance I'd say 'counter' would do it. They weren't necessarily relentless with their pressing. Gattuso ran and ran and ran, but that was partly because he was doing some of Pirlo's work for him, covering a huge area on the right side of the pitch as well as making it his personal mission to kill off counterattacks. If the opposition gained possession, Milan were often quite happy to drop off into a 4-3-1 or 4-3-2 shape and wait for the attack to break down, so I'm not sure I'd agree with 'push higher up' either, even if Nesta was a fantastic 1-on-1 defender and quite happy to leave himself with a lot of space to cover. Not sure about crosses. Depends who's playing up front really. Inzaghi would rather have it drilled across the face of goal or whipped in quickly to the near post, so maybe even 'low crosses'. As for whether the tactic was fluid, balanced or rigid... The two supporting attackers + Pirlo had an awful lot of freedom, the rest much less so. I'm not sure what it'd equate to in FM terms, really. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brawla123 Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 I agree with ceefax. I would often fall asleep watching them play in Serie A because their build up play was so slow. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggiana Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 I would have thought the team as a whole would be more disciplined, with Kaka in particular then given quite a lot of personal freedom. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ceefax the cat Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Pirlo could do more or less anything he wanted too, and Seedorf cropped up all over the place. I don't think that necessarily equates to telling the team to be 'more expressive' but 3 roaming playmakers in the XI is pretty freewheeling. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean0987654321 Posted February 16, 2015 Author Share Posted February 16, 2015 Pirlo could do more or less anything he wanted too, and Seedorf cropped up all over the place. I don't think that necessarily equates to telling the team to be 'more expressive' but 3 roaming playmakers in the XI is pretty freewheeling. 3 RPs are not good in keeping the balance of the midfield line. As you read the sticky, you need one defend at least and having two RPs is overkill. The reason why Pirlo is not a Regista for that reason alone. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ceefax the cat Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 I meant roaming playmaker as in the real-world thing, not the role on FM Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingjericho Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 I'd like to give my thoughts on this. We're discussing the 2006/07 squad, although this is a system that was developed since the 2002/03 season, with some tweaks by Ancelotti to further enhance it. Recreating this shape on the TC gives us a weird setup, a 4-1-2-2-1 of sorts. Visually, the tactic looks more like a 4-3-2-1, but I don't see Pirlo in the CM slot as he is the epitome of "creating from deep"; on the other hand, using 3 defensive mids seems excessive, and it creates a large gap between these players and the attacking mids. So, this would be my setup: Very rigid or rigid/counter - Milan were a pragmatic side, not rushing the play at all and playing possession, controlled football, but always looking to hit the opponents with venom passes on the counter attack. The fluidity is set according to the player roles, and it's more related to the game itself than with the real life tactic. GK/D - standard keeper WB/A - the only wide attacking players, so they would have to be attack-minded. Not a CWB imo though as that role has too much freedom and roaming for the players that Cafu and Jankulovski were. CD/D - standard defender CD/D WB/A REG/S - Pirlo with full freedom to dictate play from deep. His freedom his more evident by the fact that there was another player on the pitch to compensate what Pirlo lacked in defense. BWM/D - the tireless role of Gattuso, always in a fight to get the ball and quickly laying it to a more creative teammate. CM/D - to me Ambrosini was that player that was overshadowed by the rest of the team, but his importance was crucial to keep the team balanced. He's the only man of the first 3 mids with a clear mission of tactical discipline and a large focus on his positioning, rather than a creative playmaking role or a ball winning role that covers a big area of the pitch. SS/A - I could also go with a more standard AM/A but it seems to me that this role's instructions fit what Kaká did very well. His runs into the box were absolute venom, and aligned with his deadly passing he was always one of the team's best scorers and assisters. AP/S - Seedorf was the man responsible for controlling the play in the attacking midfield. His main focus was to provide to the marauding wing backs, to the striker, and to Kaká who looked to surge in the box. P/A - this is Inzaghi's role. I loved how he would basically do nothing but score, that's what a real number 9 was back then. Inzaghi was not a good passer, not a good dribbler, not strong physically, but was he a good goalscorer. His ability to break the offside trap and to always be at the right place at the right time was fantastic. I'm not a fan of many TIs as the shape and roles we choose already benefit a certain style. E.g. even if we would select the 'exploit the flanks' TI the team would still play mostly through the centre because that's where the core of the team is. I would go with: drill crosses - Pippo was not very tall and strong, thus his ability to score from crosses was better with his feet than with his head. shorter passing - with all the proficient midfielders it would be a waste not to take advantage of their technique, and Ancelotti saw that too. pass into space - this would tell players, especially Pirlo and Seedorf, to look for open spaces to where their teammates can run into. I'm looking for the run-ins by the wing backs and by Kaká. No if this actually works in the game is another thing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dSquib Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Now as I progress in my Crewe save. I'll give some feedback on how the tactic went. LOL. No offence meant to Crewe... but the word bathos springs to mind. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.