The Botvinnik Aproach: How a new fm player will try to develop a superclub inspired by a non-footballer

[Fortiscataphractus]

Introduction:

 

Meet Mikhail Botvinnik, the patriarch of russian chess. He was the chess world champion throughout the 1950's and helped developed the game into the profesional sport it is today. While he is widely regarded as one of the five strongest players to ever live, his main work was as a theorist, from the very first moves on the board to the very last, to outside the board. Many of the routine training methods, both mental and physical used by the world's leading chess players today were devised and promoted by him. He also played a large role in creating the earliest chess computers making him the most influential chess player in history and a true pioneer.

When I was a kid I thought of football as a fairly easy to understand game; 10 players and a keeper, attack, attack and attack again. If we aren't scoring we blame the strikers, if someone scores against us we blame the keeper. I couldn't care less about the part of football outside of the field and had no interest in managers and tactics.

Now, in my early adulthood, after years of watching reading and playing football in an amateur team I have come to realise that things are very different and a proper squad must consist of twenty something players capable of complimenting each other and covering for each other's weaknesses so that a proper challenge can be presented before the opposition throughout the 40 to 50 matches a team plays in a regular season.

Knowing very little about Football Manager I intend to make assessments about the game and develop a pack of free different tactics intended to maximise my club's success. To do so I will tinker with three similar formations, roles and team instructions to find the optimal (that is, the closest to perfection something can reach) combinations for my intended use of them. I will also try to create effective set piece routines and a train my players to get the most out of their ability and potential.

My Club: 

 

 

I have chosen Inter Milan as my club for a number of reasons; first, they were the first club I ever admired back in the early 2010s (I feel a whole decade older after writing that) so if I want to make a club succeed I might as well devote my time and energy to my first love. Second, being a big yet not gigantic club there is room for improvement but a fairly respectable base from which to build. Third, the wide array of tactics played in Italy will allow me to approach each game differently, instead of facing the re-skinned clones you can find in other leagues. Last, I happen to like several of Inter's players in real life.

The first team: I will give my general impressions about all my first team players who are currently available for this season, that is everyone who is not out on loan from the first team. For the record I consider all attributes above 15 to be "good enough for first team football" and all important attributes below 12 to be "not good enough for first team football"   

Goalkeepers: My first choice keeper is obviously handanovic, he is a great option with 20 reflexes, 17 one-on-ones and 16 handling but this is his 7th season with the club and he is already 34 years old so I must prepare for the future. Neither Padelli or Berni interest me, they are way too old to replace Handanovic and lack the ability to be a first choice keeper. The last man to talk about is therefore Raffaele Di Gennaro, he will never be a first choice goalkeeper but I intend to keep him as the cup keeper if only because I could save money that way.

wing backs/fullbacks: Vrsaljko is my first choice in the right, he seems to be a pool of energy (19 stamina, 16 pace, 15 work rate, 16 fitness) and I can trust him as a defender (15 tackling, 15 aggression, 15 bravery) but I wish he had better offensive attributes (14 crossing, 13 off the ball, 10 dribbling, 10 vision). He is also a perfectionist which I think means I can trust him to give his all during training and he is a great mentoring asset, making him a must sign after his loan is over. D' Ambrossio is simply an inferior version of the same player whose only addition to my team is that he is more aggressive (17>15), naturally playing wider and being able to play on the left side, which makes him an adequate back-up. Asamoah is a tad inferior to Vrsaljko and I can't see him as my long term left winger but I don't feel like selling him just yet. Dalbert is a fast (16 acceleration, 17 pace) wingback but I see little more to him.

Centre Backs: Milan Skriniar is everything I could ask for as a defender (17 marking, 15 anticipation, 16 tackling, 16 concentration, 15 positioning, 16 heading, 16 strength, 15 Jumping reach) plus he is only 23 years old and a perfectionist, I would sooner eat my own right hand that watch him leave. De Vrij is just as good (16 marking, 17 tackling, 16 strength, 15 jumping reach, 16 heading, 17 anticipation) as Skriniar plus he is more technically gifted. I believe I can get a good 4 or 5 years from them as a pair. Miranda is a fairly good option as rotation and at 33 I think he will make an enviable substitute for two more years. Ranocchia is clearly inferior as a complete product but his 6'4 feet height and his 18 heading, 18 jumping reach make him an aerial ace in the hole.

Midfielders: Nainggolan is my best central midfielder, a proper box to box player with great tackling and marking for a midfielder (17, 15) that can offer an attacking option from deep with his 16 long shots ,16 off the ball in combination with the traits shoots from distance, shoots with power. He is also a real fighter with (18 aggression, 20 bravery, 18 work rate and 19 determination). His only weakness is his aerial game given that he isn't the tallest and has a lacklustre jumping reach (8). I like Brozovic since I see him as a jack of all trades, slightly more technical than Nainggolan but slightly less physical, for me that will make him an excellent rotation player. I am not sure about Gagliardini he has nice mental attributes (16 bravery, 18 teamwork, 16 work-rate) and is a decent distributor (15 passing, 14 technique, 15, first touch)  but the rest is nothing to write home about, I don't see him rising above the role of back-up in the future but he might be of use for a few seasons. I see little place for Vecino in this squad and he will most likely be sold before the season starts. Valero is old but he can do a great job as a playmaker so he will stay for this one season but next season he will most likely be sold or released. Joao Mario is my number 10. Good technique (16 passing, 16 technique, 16 first touch) and good creativity (15 vision, 15 teamwork, 15 decisions) but I can't shake the feeling I must find better options in the future.

Wingers: In the right Candreva can do a solid job with 16 crossing, 15 dribbling and 16 off the ball but even if he has inferior attributes I expect Politano to become the first choice by january. I think FM underestimates Perisic but his pace (17), acceleration (16), off the ball (18) and anticipation (16) make him an incisive option on the left flank. Keita Baldé is almost as technical as Perisic but the 6 year difference shows when comparing mental attributes, I would like to keep him at the club but I think Vrsaljko should be my first priority when it comes to loanees.

Strikers: Icardi is an excellent striker (19 finishing, 19 anticipation, 20 off the ball, 18 heading, 18 composure, 18 decisions, 15 first touch) I know that as long as I manage to create clear cut chances for him he will deliver the goods and at 25 he will be on top for half a decade and he is also a perfectionist. If he ever goes on a dry spell it will be my fault and that is the kind of effectiveness I demand of my strikers. Young Lautaro Martinez is on the path of becoming a second Icardi (16 finishing, 16 first touch, 15 of the ball, 16 anticipation, 17 technique) but he still has a long way to go before I can be satisfied with him, his determination (20) and professional personality should help him develop into a great number 9. Facundo Colidio looks like the kind of player who will develop into a first team striker for the serie A but with Lautaro and Icardi before him I don't think he will find a place in the team. 

Conclusions: I have 25 players at my disposal including 4 keepers (way too many) 4 centre-backs (might need a fifth one) 4 full-backs (the sweet spot) 4 midfielders (should be enough) 2 number 10s (again should be enough) 4 wingers (2/2, a good distribution and 3 strikers (which are all the same kind of player, for better or worse). I expect Icardi, Perisic, Nainggolan and Skriniar to be my key men during the season. I will most likely get rid of Padelli and Berni and sign a deep playmaker. I am not sure what I would do with the 25th slot maybe a left fullback.

Understanding my players is key to developing my system and knowing what options I have at my disposal and which ones I lack, for example, I lack a creative striker or Target man which means I should go for a one striker formation and my fullbacks are not the best when it comes to attacking which means I should employ wingers or other wide roles on the flanks to provide goal scoring chances for my strikers. With this information and other observations I can create the set of three formations in a way that they compliment the team I have.

 

The Youth

 

U20: I will comment on every youth with a 3=< star potential, what I expect to see when they develop and their place in the squad.

Pinamonti: yet another goal-hungry striker, he  has very good finishing for his age but he will most likely fail to reach the level of Lautaro and Icardi. Develop and sell/keep as back-up.

Bastoni: Tall centre-back who might become a second Ranocchia, I will keep him and try to develop him into a towering defender.

Dimarco: a young fullback who could become an offensive asset for the team, since he is 20 years old I will make a decision on his future once he is back from loan.

Emmers: a young playmaker with time to improve, I think it is too early for me to take anything for granted regarding his future.

Merola: With so many young talented strikers he just won't make it big with us. Develop and sell

Ryan Nolan: Could become a decent centre-back but he will most likely be overtaken by another youngster by the time he has a chance with the first team. Develop and sell.

Rey Manaj: see Merola above.

Vanheusden: his determination and technique may earn him a chance in the future as a ball-playing defender.

 

U18: Every player with a potential above three stars gets a mention

Esposito: being only 16 and already having ridiculous technical attributes for his age(14 finishing, 14 first touch, 14 dribbling, 13 technique) I expect Esposito to become the pride and joy of Inter's academy. I will immediately move him to the first team so that he gets better training and be mentored by Icardi while he plays with the U18s. He is my blue chip prospect.

Salcedo: another 16 year old, while he is not as technically gifted as Esposito he has good mental and physical stats. He could really become a more second striker kind of player, something the club currently lacks so I will train him as a number 10. He might be on loan from Genoa but I fully intend on signing him permanently.

Squizzato: Good first touch (12) good passing (13) good decisions (13). being also 16 years old there are a lot of possible paths to take but his attribute spread seems to lean towards a holding midfielder.

Lorenzo Pirola: Promising centre-back (13 heading, 13 marking, 13 positioning, 11 tackling) he lacks great mental attributes but being 16 I expect him to gain those by the team he is ready for first team football, I will train him as a Non Nonsense defender because he doesn't have good technical attributes.

Eduardo Alcides Dias: 15 years old full-back. With 14 first touch and 14 technique along with a relatively good pace I will retrain him for a more attacking role further up the flank. since he is quite short and he has a low jumping reach (6) I don't trust him as a defender so I will convert him into a winger where it shouldn't be that much of an issue.

Kevin Rossi: 16, a number 10, nothing to write home about. Develop and sell.

Matias fonseca: He might be a winger but he is 6'3 feet tall and has decent finishing (13) pace (13) and jumping reach (14) so I will make a Target man out of him just to have a different kind of striker up front.

Van Den Eyden: he has several promising attributes for a centre-back (14 marking, 14 tackling, 14 acceleration, 14 pace, 13 positioning, 12 heading 14, agility) meaning he is already superior to the two years older Nolan and his team mate Pirola. He is already faster than any of my first team centre-backs and under Skriniar's mentoring he could develop into a solid defender, a cover to Bastoni's stopper. The defender I am most interested in from my academy.

Felice D' Amico: I don't entirely believe in him: with some interesting attributes (18 flair, 13 dribbling, 14 agility, 13, technique) he might become an explosive and entertaining number 10 but his low work rate (9) composure (6) concentration (8) and decisions (8) might hold him back and see him become a Quaresma, a cautionary tale about wasted talent. If I can curve those attributes he could become an interesting player but I don't think he will be as good as Salcedo.

Conclussion: Esposito, Van Den Eyden, Salcedo, Bastoni and Fonseca are the players I am most interested about, I have a clear vision for them and will promote them to the first team so they all get properly mentored but they will be playing with their respective teams until they are good enough to deserve chances at first team football. The five of them should end up being my first team options in the years to come, because Bastoni and Van Den Eyden are two very promising centre-backs I know I don't need to sign any new one. Esposito and Fonseca will both play a part in the future as strikers alongside Icardi and Lautaro, it is now clear that Facundo will leave Inter in the future. This means that my main concerns in the transfer market are the midfield and the flanks. None of my Goalkeepers is good enough which makes finding a heir to Handanovic one my priorities in the market.

Having young prospects so alike my first team is great news since I can know start thinking about the system without worrying too much about acquiring the right talent for the future.

 

In future posts I will be discussing the three tactics I have chosen and how they ought to work. If at any point while reading this you find I have made a mistake or said something which was factually wrong please post an answer correcting me since I happen to be new to the game and this is little more than a didactic experiment. 

[Fortiscataphractus]

The first formation:

My first formation will be the main tactic in the system and the one I will employ as a base for most matches. I have chosen the 4-2-3-1 DM Wide. I have chosen this formation because I believe my strikers are better suited for direct football and this formation is the go to for this kind of football when you don't have a holding striker for a 442. The team will in theory split itself into a defensive unit of 2 centre backs, 2 full backs and 2 defensive midfielders and an attacking unit of a striker, a number 10 and 2 wingers. The fullbacks and one of the midfielders should in theory help with the transitions.

Role for Role:

Goalkeeper: Regular goalkeeper, I don't need him to recycle possession or play from the back so no Sweeping.

Fullback (attack): I expect my fullback to be a solid defender but also go forward to cross the ball. Therefore I have chosen The fullback role (the wingback might be a bit too aggressive) with an attacking mentality (I might change their mentality to support because my players already have "get further forward" as a PPM. I will make a decision after seeing the team play.

Centre-backs: I am not focusing on possession football and I don't play a high line so this should do.

Anchorman: A holding midfielder who in theory (I am not entirely sure I understand all the midfield roles) is a very conservative ballwinner. As far as his description and Instructions suggest he will busy himself with winning the ball and passing it forwards.

Segundo Volante (support): A blank slate. I expect him to work as a IRL box to box midfielder would, going from one edge of the are to another. I have him in DM so he shares defensive duties while being the man who will connect my team' s attacking and defensive units.

Winger (attack): As I have already said, I am going to rely on my strikers as the main scorers and engineer the rest of my team around crafting chances for him. This role with this mentality should see my players go further forward in order to beat any possible offside and cross the ball inside for my striker to beat his mark and gain a one on one on the keeper.

Advanced Playmaker (support): I am playing direct football, my midfielders will instinctively look for the playmakers in the team, therefore a deep playmaker makes for a less direct game while a more advanced one will benefit teams who aim to be more efficient (I might be wrong but that is just a matter of testing)

Poacher: I had seven possible striker roles with an attack mentality. Poacher, advanced forward, pressing forward, Target man, Complete Forward, Deep lying forward and trequartista. The trequartista is out of the question since he is clearly tailored to behave as Totti or Del Piero did. A complete forward is unnecessarily all encompassing, I don't need him to craft chances for others. The Target Man has a holds up ball Instruction which is the opposite of what I want him to do but I do like his other instructions and the fact that my players will be more tempted to cross him the ball. The pressing forward has some nice instructions and I might try him in the future. The deep lying forward seems to be just a holding trequartista so again not of use to me. The advanced forward was tempting but apparently he will step out of his primary role to abilitate other players, this might be great for other tactics but not what I am looking for. In the end I settled for a poacher + "shoot more often" instruction.

 

Team Instructions:

 

Balanced Mentality: I don't know how my roles will interact with each other so I am not going to change mentalities right now.

Slightly more direct passing: to encourage my defensive unit to pass the ball to the attacking unit as soon as they can.

Low crosses: My strikers aren't very big so low crosses should help them against the defenders.

Counter: Again we are trying to be fast and direct.

Regroup: I am not sure, Counter press might force the opposition to play a long pass into my defensive unit. I will try both of them as the experiment progresses.

Lower defensive line: to play direct football you need spaces behind the other team's defensive line so I expect my players to sit deep and invite the opposition into our own half.

Much lower line of engagement: I picked it for solidity but I would like to try having a low defensive line and high line of engagement to see what happens. 

 

In my next post I will show how I intend to train my players individually to fit this tactic as well as the early training schedule for pre season. If any of you see anything blatantly wrong with the tactic above feel free to point it out.

Thank you for your time.

 

[Experienced Defender]

On 03/02/2019 at 12:30, Fortiscataphractus said:

If any of you see anything blatantly wrong with the tactic above feel free to point it out.

I won't say it's "blatantly wrong", but what I clearly don't like is the one-dimensionality on the flanks in terms of roles and duties. That is likely to make it easier for opposition to defend. So IMO you should add some variety. Personally, I would try something like this:

PO/PFat

IFsu         APsu          Wat

 

AC     VOLsu

FBat     CD     CD     IWBde/FBsu

GK

The attacking FB on the left can create a natural overlap with an IF on support. Also, when the IF gets inside, the left FBat provides a nice passing option on the flank.

IWBde or FBsu as the RB are more conservative than your original FBat. That's because you need better defensive cover for the volante who gets forward and the winger on attack. IWBde can also help in the midfield to recycle possession when needed. 

Player instructions I would use:

- get further forward for the volante

- sit narrower for the RB (if a FBsu is used instead of IWB)

- move into channels for poacher or PFatt

- roam from position for IFsu (AML)

Regarding team instructions, I like your idea to play a more direct (as opposed to possession) style of football. However, I don't think you need to go to extremes with your DL and LOE settings. Instead of lower DL and much lower LOE, I would opt for standard DL and lower LOE. Then you need to be a bit more aggressive in trying to win the ball. Consider the "more urgent pressing" and "get stuck in" TIs (either together or separately). Because in order to counter-attack successfully, you first need to win the ball and intercept an opposition attack in appropriate areas of the pitch. You could also try with a bit higher tempo, to encourage your players to move the ball forward faster and try to catch opposition off guard (I assume Inter players are good enough to be capable of playing on a higher tempo). 

On 03/02/2019 at 12:30, Fortiscataphractus said:

Regroup: I am not sure, Counter press might force the opposition to play a long pass into my defensive unit. I will try both of them as the experiment progresses.

You also have an option to leave both regroup and counter-press turned off (i.e. to use neither). But of course you can experiment to see what suits your players better in a given situation / against a particular opponent.

[Fortiscataphractus]

Apologies: My laptop's charger cable broke at the head so I was unable to use play the game or update this topic since battery was scarce. I will focus extra hard on the game this weekend as compensation.

Goalkeepers:

I am not using a sweeper keeper so all my goalkeepers are being trained as regular goalkeepers, since handanovic is getting old there is not much to do in regards to a special training focus.

Defenders:

Skriniar is being trained with a central defender routine with a defensive positioning focus and double intensity, I chose the intensity because his good work rate, stamina and perfectionist personality should allow him to push himself further than other members of the squad. I chose central defender because I want to build him as a pure defender so he doesn't need the confidence on the ball.

Miranda is being trained as a non nonsense centre-back to preserve his most important attributes against old age.

De vrij is my best creative outlet from the back so he is being trained as a Ball playing defender with a quickness focus because I think he is a tad too slow.

Ranocchia is on the same regimen as Miranda.

Van den Eynden is training as a central defender with a strength focus (10 jumping reach, 6 strength) once this attributes improve to a decent level he will be getting first team football, most likely next season. Double intensity because he is young and won't be playing loads of matches during pre season. He is in a mentoring group with Skriniar and miranda.

Wingbacks:

All wingback are being trained as Complete Wingbacks because I happen to like the attribute spread it trains. Vrsaljko is focusing on final third because I found it lacking. 

Midfielders: Nainggolan, Brozovic and Vecino are training as box to box midfielders and are very balanced players so I feel no extra focus is required. Gagliardini and Valero are training as roaming playmakers. Joao Mario and Salcedo are training as Trequartistas with Salcedo training at double intensity with an additional focus on passing. I have chosen roles that cover a wide variety of attributes because I am using very specific roles in attack and defence so I want my midfield to add versatility to the team.

Wingers: All wingers are being trained as wingers with a focus on attacking movement but this may be subject to change.

Strikers: All strikers safe Fonseca are training as poachers. Icardi is on double intensity and a quickness focus to improve the only area of his game where he isn't an absolute beast. Lautaro is on an attacking movement focus and double intensity. Colidio is on a shooting focus. Esposito is on double intensity and an attacking movement focus, in addition he is learning the "tries to beat the offside trap" PPM. Fonseca is training as a Target Man with a focus on strength and double intensity. All my strikers + Salcedo are on the same mentoring group.

 

This covers all my first team players, I have left the training of the youth team to the backroom staff. I have a few questions:

1.- What are some good PPMs for a Target Man?

2.- Should I reduce double intensity to normal of double match weeks? on regular weeks?

3.- Is there a way of focusing on keeper attributes other than aerial reach?

[Experienced Defender]

You don't have to train players for the role you intend to play them in. For example, I always train a keeper as a sweeper-keeper, even if I use him as a standard GK. I also train my central defenders in a BPD role, even though I very rarely use a BPD in my tactics. Strikers as complete forwards. Fullbacks as complete wing-backs. DMs as half-backs or volantes (depending what type of DM I need). And so on. The point is to train players for roles that will develop most of their attributes, no matter whether you'll actually play them in those roles or not.

16 minutes ago, Fortiscataphractus said:

What are some good PPMs for a Target Man?

"Plays with back to goal" can be a nice PPM for a TM (for example).

 

18 minutes ago, Fortiscataphractus said:

Should I reduce double intensity to normal of double match weeks? on regular weeks?

Here I always follow a physio recommendation. But I'm not sure if that's the best approach 

[Fortiscataphractus]

hace 4 minutos, Experienced Defender dijo:

You don't have to train players for the role you intend to play them in. For example, I always train a keeper as a sweeper-keeper, even if I use him as a standard GK. I also train my central defenders in a BPD role, even though I very rarely use a BPD in my tactics. Strikers as complete forwards. Fullbacks as complete wing-backs. DMs as half-backs or volantes (depending what type of DM I need). And so on. The point is to train players for roles that will develop most of their attributes, no matter whether you'll actually play them in those roles or not.

I have chosen more narrow attribute spreads because mt players have a limited potential and I am not playing Total Football so I'd rather have my players develop in a more focused way. for example, If I am not going to build from the back I don't want my defenders to invest part of their potential on passing.

[Experienced Defender]

Just now, Fortiscataphractus said:

I have chosen more narrow attribute spreads because mt players have a limited potential and I am not playing Total Football so I'd rather have my players develop in a more focused way. for example, If I am not going to build from the back I don't want my defenders to invest part of their potential on passing.

Okay mate. That's also perfectly legitimate  

[Fortiscataphractus]

so the  match against my U20s was not that good (2-2):

One day after joining Inter I play a match against the youth squad in which I was most interested in seeing my original tactic at work, as Experienced Defender pointed out my attack turned out to be too straight forward, Icardi was too isolated to be a threat and the only reasons I managed to score at all were a penalty on De vrij from a corner and a long shot effort from my segundo volante. 

We were caught offside 7 times and only created one clear cut chance (Icardi heading a ball from a cross) and a half-chance (our volante's goal). We lost the ball 7 times and missed three interceptions, two of them in or penalty area and the other one right in front. We lost 26 headers, 12 of them inside the opponents area and none on ours. 18 of our crosses were intercepted and only 6 of our 9 completed crosses were received by one of our players. We had 21 shots in total, 11 failed to hit target, 8 where either saved or blocked and the other two where goals (including a penalty). 17 of our passes ended up outside and 66 were intercepted, having made 398 good passe that leaves us 83/481 failed passes (17.25%), which I deem as too high.

on the bright side of things. We intercepted 12/15 dangerous passes, we won 46/72 headers, we won 14/15, we only had to make 3 fouls, we had a 59% possession.

I am going to change several things about my tactic based on the recommendations i received from Experienced defender and try it out on my next match too see if I manage to chance anything for the better. 

[Experienced Defender]

Good luck mate  

[Fortiscataphractus]

The Second Try:

After the disappointing draw against our own youth I have had to make some important changes to my team, especially in attacking and transitioning. To do this I have decided to add more support roles and introduce an IF(s) + Wb(a) combination on the left. I have also instructed my players to run at defence, play with a higher tempo and press in a more urgent manner. To make better use of my wingback I have chosen overlap left. To retain an attacking attitude despite the increase of support roles I have raised the team mentality to positive.

 

 

[Fortiscataphractus]

Beating Unione Sanremo (1-5)

We have played much better against Unione Sanremo and yes part of this is because of their lower quality compared to our U20s but it is clear that the team has played much better. All goals save a penalty have been achieved via crosses and Icardi has scored 4 of those.

We missed 10 passes and had 27 passes intercepted by an opponent, if we sum them to our 264 passes gives us a 12.3% of failed passes, the lesser number of passes most likely comes from the "run at defence" instruction. We completed 16 crosses but they were able to intercept 32 crosses. We won 33 headers but lost 25. we won 11/12 tackles. we intercepted 4 balls and created 1 clear cut chance and 6 half chances. we were only caught offside twice. 

Our next opponent is the MLS team Chicago Fire a much stronger opponent, before facing them I will try to develop a corner routine for both defence and attack.

[Experienced Defender]

1 hour ago, Fortiscataphractus said:

Be careful with the "Run at defence" and "overlaps/underlaps" TIs, as well as with pressing levels in general. Run at defence can disrupt your defensive shape to a certain extent (even though it's an "attacking" TI), while overlaps and underlaps increase the mentalities of you fullbacks/wing-backs. Btw, you already have a so-called "natural" overlap on the left, since the wing-back is on attack and the IF on support 

That being said, I don't mean that you should not use over/underlaps at all, just be aware of the abovesaid mentality change.

[Fortiscataphractus]

My first corner attacking routine:

Here you can see my first attempt at an effective corner routine. It is currently untested and will wait until I have 50 corners in our favor to make any adjustments. I have based this routine on one of the many routine I coach with kids so I might happen that real life approaches might be sub-optimal in FM corners.  

I will try to explain my reasoning:

The corner taker will aim a ball to the far post, in principle this are harder for the keeper to intercept but also harder for the corner taker to nail. I have one of my centre-backs attacking the far post and he will be my main threat. My other centre-back is challenging the keeper but I am not entirely sure this will do something in FM. I have three players going forward and a man on the near post to support my centre-backs and try to get to any pass of deflection of the ball. My playmaker is lurking outside the area (I think this will mean he will try to make a pass out of any ball he gets) and my striker is arriving from deep because he is not very physical but he has great mental and technical attributes so he can beat any possible zonal marking and get a surprise header in.

So in theory my centre-back gets the ball and either heads it hard or passes it to one of several options. There are many players on attack because in theory that will give defenders a harder time and an own goal is slightly more likely (although that could be my IRL experience manifesting itself, this are meant to be professional players not U16 kids.

[Fortiscataphractus]

American Tour Over:

My two matches during the American Training camp went very well with a 3-0 and 3-1 victory over Chicago Fire and Columbus respectively. 3 out of the six goals came from corners which I take as a god sign of my ideas being correct. Chicago Fire played with a brazilian box and dominated possession but only had two shots on goal thanks to our deep midfielders and out of possession instructions. Columbus played a 442 and possession was quite evenly spread between both teams, despite their two ranks of four they were incapable of "lowering the verticality of our attack" and because they defended deep our deep midfielders were able to command the centre with ease.

Because these two matches were friendlies against lower leveled opposition I am not going to bother you with more detailed stats but next friendly is against Atletico Madrid so a more nuanced post is in order.

Just before the Training Camp I signed both Rajkovic as our future keeper and Tonali as our future Anchorman. I am now scouting spain for future talent (spanish release clauses are a joke and a serious threat to their clubs future foundations) and have a specific assignment for young promising left-backs. 

[Fortiscataphractus]

A nice draw against a huge team:

               2-2  

 

 

I was honestly expecting to lose this one but my boys were able to not only reduce their chances but also make the most out of ours!

An indirect free kick from Politano was headed by Vecino at the 8 minute mark to put us on the lead early on. Thomas Partney took a shot from outside our area that hit the woodwork, Vitolo was able to outrun Asamoah and score, 15 minutes gone 75 remaining. Joao Mario saw Vrsaljko make a run for it down the right flank and passed him the ball, Vrsaljko crossed the ball inside where Icardi headed the ball and beat Oblak, 23rd minute, 3 goals in less than half an hour. Diego Costa scored from a corner at the 40th minute, leaving the match even by half time.

At that time I decided that this friendly was the perfect time to try and see if my "parking the Bus" tactic was good enough as a situational weapon. 

I decided to play it as a deeper version of my 4-2-3-1 so that I can switch between them whenever I feel like using one or the other. The objective of this tactic is not to score but to sit out a goal advantage against a desperate team or hold the line against a stronger squad. I chose the roles with minimal attacking responsibilities and a direct fast style so that my team doesn't have to attack as a group. The tactic held the line for 45 minutes against the combined efforts of Costa, Griezmann, Vitolo, Koke and Lemar.

We minimised their chances inside their area to two (Their two goals) and they had to try eight shots from outside our area. We made 30 good tackles and only failed to gain the ball this way twice, we also made 23/25 interceptions.

Our crosses  had a 33% success rate and we had a healthyish 5 shots out of 11 inside the opposition area. We missed 21.8% of our passess which I found surprisingly decent if we take into account the team before us has a reputation as arguably the most solid team amongst the big clubs.

I would have to run this match several times to be sure this wasn't a fluke but I think I can be happy with a tactic that allows "not full strength Inter" to draw against 9 first team Atletico players + two back up fullbacks.