Emulating Carlo Ancelloti's Napoli

[Delial]

Hi everyone,

Starting a new save and I'm suprised by the fact that it seems like there's no subject about emulating Ancelloti's Napoli this year.
IMO, Napoli is a better team under Ancelloti then Sarri and their football is way more mastered this year, even if it's still not enough to really worried Juventus for the title.

Anyway, I'm trying to emulate his very flexible 442 but I must admit that if defense and middle seems to be ok, I have some issues with the attack.
My two strikers aren't involved enough IMO. I won the first 3 games in championship and I'm leader of the league but I'm not really happy with the team is playing.

Here is my tactic :



 

My main problem is that most of my shots are from my middlefielders or Simone Verdi outside the box. So a lot of shots but only a few are really dangerous.

If you guys have some ideas to improve my tactic, you're welcome!

[Raymond85]

At a glance i see the tactic is a little bit one dimensional. Not much running in space, and while you have a trequartista who roams and looks for space, and it helps, i would switch out a couple of things to get more aggressive attacking and less supporting:

- i would give allan a DPL-D roleon the left, with mario rui bombing forward

- Zielinski CM-a so he makes some forward runs and he is exceptional arriving late in the box

- 1i'd switch around the strikers, making Insigne a F9 to create space for Callejon and Zielinski's runs in the box

- well Mertens is the one i'm undecided on, i love a PF-a in my 4-4-2 formations, and i think he could do that very well. Either that or a Poacher, as i think as an AF he is a little penalised by his low strenght and balance.

 

That's what i'd try out with this base tactic, i mioght remove pass into space as the roles now look at making space naturally, maybe even work ball into the box, but that only after observing full matches to see if they dwell too much in the final third.

[davidbarros2]

I don't know if it's ok to share external links but here it goes:

https://sparkyunited.wordpress.com/2019/02/13/the-4-4-2-diaries-1-angel-of-the-norf/

I find this very close to my interpretation of Ancelotti's Napoli... hope it helps!

 

[Experienced Defender]

On 06/04/2019 at 14:05, Delial said:

I have some issues with the attack.
My two strikers aren't involved enough IMO

No wonder that your strikers aren't involved enough when you are playing both of them on attack duty in a tactic that is primarily possession-based (judging by your team instructions, except for pass into space) and in a system with none in an AMC position. In short, there is a discrepancy between the setup of roles/duties and team instructions.

Btw, not sure if 442 is the formation Ancelloti plays with Napoli.

[Bluebird123]

442 is absolutely the formation Ancelotti plays with Napoli. 

 

OP I think you need to have a support role up front to help bring the midfield together. 

[Delial]

Hi everyone and thanks for your answers. 

I tweaked a few things after watching some videos of Napoli this year : 

Raul Albiol is now BPD(D)

Zielinski is now CM(S) (after trying cm(a), but not involved enough IMO) with PI - go further more - move into channels - dribble more - take more risks)

Allan is now CM(S) with PI - close down more - Mark tighter - dribble more - take less risks

Callejon is now W(S) - he was doing way too much runs to finally lose the ball next to the box. He is playing more with his teamates now

Mertens/Milik are now PF(A)

I can’t put screens for now because I’m at work but the first two games played after those tweaks were won 5-0 with nearly 60% possession. 

So I’m pretty happy! But I still can’t reproduce Insigne’s moves. I think I’m gonna try him as CF(S) with some PIs. I thought that even is Trequartista if on Attack duty, he would be the link between middle and attack. 

 Same for Allan who is not the awesome complete middlefielder he is IRL yet. Still working on it but the team starts to play the way I want.

[Nima2708]

On ‎06‎/‎04‎/‎2019 at 14:05, Delial said:

Hi everyone,

Starting a new save and I'm suprised by the fact that it seems like there's no subject about emulating Ancelloti's Napoli this year.
IMO, Napoli is a better team under Ancelloti then Sarri and their football is way more mastered this year, even if it's still not enough to really worried Juventus for the title.

Anyway, I'm trying to emulate his very flexible 442 but I must admit that if defense and middle seems to be ok, I have some issues with the attack.
My two strikers aren't involved enough IMO. I won the first 3 games in championship and I'm leader of the league but I'm not really happy with the team is playing.

Here is my tactic :



 

My main problem is that most of my shots are from my middlefielders or Simone Verdi outside the box. So a lot of shots but only a few are really dangerous.

If you guys have some ideas to improve my tactic, you're welcome!

Great to see someone try this one

My feedback is only as Ancelotti fan:

Ospina: SWG - D. He is part of the team when they play out from defense but he keeps it simple. 

Left Wing back: WB in support, but ask him to move more forward. You use him in attack and he will be very forward minded with the ball, and he wont be that good in possesion wise. LB in Napoli stands high up in the field, makes moves forward, but dont take that much riskes with the ball.

Left CD: BPD as a stopper. 

Right CD: CD - dont take that much risk 

Left midfielder: IW-S (ask to drible more and shoot more)

MCL: Roaming playmaker ore ADP 
MCR: Midfielder in defense, plays short simple passes dont take risk 

Mr: should move up as AMR and maybe as Raud. ore a Winger in support 

SCL: Trequista 
SCR: Poacher ore Pressing forward 

 

[denen123]

On 06/04/2019 at 13:05, Delial said:

Hi everyone,

Starting a new save and I'm suprised by the fact that it seems like there's no subject about emulating Ancelloti's Napoli this year.
IMO, Napoli is a better team under Ancelloti then Sarri and their football is way more mastered this year, even if it's still not enough to really worried Juventus for the title.

Anyway, I'm trying to emulate his very flexible 442 but I must admit that if defense and middle seems to be ok, I have some issues with the attack.
My two strikers aren't involved enough IMO. I won the first 3 games in championship and I'm leader of the league but I'm not really happy with the team is playing.

Here is my tactic :



 

My main problem is that most of my shots are from my middlefielders or Simone Verdi outside the box. So a lot of shots but only a few are really dangerous.

If you guys have some ideas to improve my tactic, you're welcome!

Decent, but I'd argue he uses both Fullbacks to the max. Shape also assumes a diamond in most transition of play. But a flat 4-4-2 can pass for a fair interpretation. However, with two attack duties, upfront, there's a disconnect. Maybe your Treq drops to AMC strata, but he assumes the AMCL spot to (a) Create an overload on the left (b) allow the STRC enough time to pick good position to exploit. Can also utilize a support role (DLF/CF) to avoid isolation of STRC. 

Also, don't really understand the need for that many TI's. Little or less can help you spot important tweaks to make. PI's & 'coded' movements can offer you the necessary movements, if needed. left flank might be a key input.

BBM? Like the role, but all that roaming + a DLPsu can be a very aggressive combo. Maybe DLP on defend & CM on support with PI's?

Great post, lets see how you progress.

[Experienced Defender]

8 hours ago, Delial said:

I thought that even is Trequartista if on Attack duty, he would be the link between middle and attack

Then you should play him in an AMC spot. 

[Experienced Defender]

You have really good players with which you can make various tactical combinations. One possibility could be:

F9      AF

 

IWsu     DLPsu    MEZsu     IWat

 

FBat    CDde    BPDde      IWBde

SKde

Allan would be the DLP/MCL and Zielinski MEZ/MCR. Allan is so good that he could play any role in central midfield, but the problem is that the lack of DM in 442 is limiting your options to some degree. That's why I opted for a DLP here, because you need at least one holding role in the midfield, and Allan's defensive attributes are way better than those of Zielinski.

The F9 role would suit Insigne very well in this system IMO, with the Roam from position PI to allow him maximum freedom. As for TIs, I would use Be more expressive instead of Pass into space. Underlap right can also be an option to think about. That would make Hysaj a bit closer to his more advanced teammates during attacking build-ups while at the same time slightly reducing Callejon's mentality, thus creating a combo that should produce nice interplay on that side.

[Delial]

Hi everyone and thanks for all your answers.

I read everything and I tried to come up with picking few things from everybody and here's my tactic now.

GK = SW(d)

FBR = FBR(d) - Sit narrower - mark tighter

CBR = BPD(d) - mark tighter

CBL = CD (d) - ease off tackles - mark tighter

FBL = WB (s) - stay wider - take fewer risks

W (s) - mark tighter - close down more - take fewer risks

CMR (s) - pass it shorter - take fewer risks - dribble more - close down more - mark tighter

CML (s) - take more risks - dribble more - get further forward - move into channels - mark tighter

IW( s) - take more risks - get further forward - sit narrower - close down more

PF (a) - pass it shorter

F9 (s) - pass it shorter - roam from position - move into channels - close down more

 

Let's see how the next games are going to go!

[Experienced Defender]

45 minutes ago, Delial said:

GK = SW(d)

FBR = FBR(d) - Sit narrower - mark tighter

CBR = BPD(d) - mark tighter

CBL = CD (d) - ease off tackles - mark tighter

FBL = WB (s) - stay wider - take fewer risks

W (s) - mark tighter - close down more - take fewer risks

CMR (s) - pass it shorter - take fewer risks - dribble more - close down more - mark tighter

CML (s) - take more risks - dribble more - get further forward - move into channels - mark tighter

IW( s) - take more risks - get further forward - sit narrower - close down more

PF (a) - pass it shorter

F9 (s) - pass it shorter - roam from position - move into channels - close down more

Honestly, I am not much of an optimist on how this setup is gonna work. But try it and see, maybe you prove me wrong 

[Delial]

il y a 5 minutes, Experienced Defender a dit :

Honestly, I am not much of an optimist on how this setup is gonna work. But try it and see, maybe you prove me wrong 

Explain dude!

[Experienced Defender]

59 minutes ago, Delial said:

Explain dude!

The system looks as though it's designed to dominate possession just for the sake of it. No penetration from deep, a bit "sterile" midfield with both standard CMs, and both of them on the same (support) duty, as many as 3 players told to move into channels (PFat by the hard-coded PI, and the F9 and CML via your customized PIs), a number of players are told to take fewer risks, even though these players aren't bad ball-passers at all, nor are they lacking creativity. And on top of that you don't even use the Counter TI in transition to try and potentially utilize good speed and movement of your more advanced players. 

Defensively, you told all 6 non-defenders to close down more even though you are already using counter-press, which to me is a sort of overkill, and even more so when you have nobody in DM to more directly protect the defense and patrol the space in front of them that can be left exposed if/when the counter-press fails. You are happy to have really good players, so this may not be as much of an issue as it would be with a weaker team, but is still needlessly too risky.

[Delial]

il y a 6 minutes, Experienced Defender a dit :

The system looks as though it's designed to dominate possession just for the sake of it. No penetration from deep, a bit "sterile" midfield with both standard CMs, and both of them on the same (support) duty, as many as 3 players told to move into channels (PFat by the hard-coded PI, and the F9 and CML via your customized PIs), a number of players are told to take fewer risks, even though these players aren't bad ball-passers at all, nor are they lacking creativity. And on top of that you don't even use the Counter TI in transition to try and potentially utilize good speed and movement of your more advanced players. 

Defensively, you told all 6 non-defenders to close down more even though you are already using counter-press, which to me is a sort of overkill, and even more so when you have nobody in DM to more directly protect the defense and patrol the space in front of them that can be left exposed if/when the counter-press fails. You are happy to have really good players, so this may not be as much of an issue as it would be with a weaker team, but is still needlessly too risky.

Yeah I hear what you say.

My last game away against a weaker team (Frosinone If I’m correct) was kind of full of signs of what you’re saying. 60% possession, almost 30 shots but « only » won 1-3 with two goals in the last 10 minutes, thanks to a penalty and Insigne coming out of the bench. 

So yeah, I have good players but the way the team is playing could be better. I’ll try to tweaks a few things and let you know how it works. Thank you mate

[Mrng]

On 08/04/2019 at 10:11, denen123 said:

Decent, but I'd argue he uses both Fullbacks to the max.

Absolutely wrong. 

 

Carlo is using a system that has been somewhat common in football this season, with the 4-4-2 transforming into a 3-4-3 in possession. 

The right side full back stays put with both centre backs, while the one on the left side stays up in line with both midfielders and the right attacker.

 

Braga is a team that has also been doing really well playing like this.

[Robson 07]

Should both central mids be on a support role?  Why have you asked then each to dribble more as a PI instruction?

[denen123]

8 hours ago, Mrng said:

Absolutely wrong. 

 

Carlo is using a system that has been somewhat common in football this season, with the 4-4-2 transforming into a 3-4-3 in possession. 

The right side full back stays put with both centre backs, while the one on the left side stays up in line with both midfielders and the right attacker.

 

Braga is a team that has also been doing really well playing like this.

Would argue that it transitions to a 2-4-4 in attack, with both Fullbacks and wingers hugging the flank, especially given some of the games + analysis done. He's more flexible than Sarri, so I'd understand the tactical adaptions in some games against some teams, that may cause the confusions.

Either way, fair debate👍🏿

[Mrng]

4 hours ago, denen123 said:

Would argue that it transitions to a 2-4-4 in attack, with both Fullbacks and wingers hugging the flank, especially given some of the games + analysis done. He's more flexible than Sarri, so I'd understand the tactical adaptions in some games against some teams, that may cause the confusions.

Either way, fair debate👍🏿

 

Yeah, it's understandable that a man like Carlo isn't going to restrict himself to one plan. But I genuinelly believe that's how they've been setting up. Of course on the odd game where Napoli are in control he can sacrifice someone at the back line for an extra man upfront.