Counter attacking with an underdog team

[zyfon5]

Inspired by @Zemahh counter attacking thread, I will like to open a thread to see if I can overachieve by playing counter attacking football with an underdog team as I feel there is a lack of discussion of counter attacking football in the FM community. The team that I will be managing will be West Bromwich Albion Football Club, one of the oldest football clubs in England.

 

Background

West Brom is the third club I am managing in my current journeyman save, and having won the Championship last season (predicted to finish 2^nd) when I got the job halfway through the season, the odds are against us to fight for relegation this season in the Premier League. We are predicted to finish 18^th this season so let’s see if we can overachieve and avoid relegation.

Board Expectations:

Salary per annum:

Main Tactic:

Positive mentality- So that our players is willing to take some risk and push forward when they can counter attack

The formation that I have chosen is a 41221 as it is a flexible shape that fits a lot of different playstyles and is a solid defensive shape.

In possession

Play out of defence- To create as much space as possible. The opposition players either press us too high which leave them vulnerable behind their defensive line or their press becomes disjointed leaving spaces between the lines for us to exploit

Low crosses- As our forwards do not have a height advantage putting in low crosses will help with our forwards which are quick and have high anticipation and off the ball ratings

Higher tempo*- Encourage the team to move the ball forward as quickly as possible to take advantage of the vacant space

Pass into space*-Obvious instruction to exploit space behind with quick forwards

In transition

Regroup- I do not want my players to disrupt our usual 451 defensive shape so they will need to get back into defensive shape before they start to press. I want my players to defend collectively as we will be outskilled if we try to defend 1 on 1.

Out of possession

Narrow shape*- Together with the player roles that I have chosen for my midfielders we will be able to block most attacks from the central areas and channel opposition attacks to the wide areas where they are less of a threat.

Lower line of engagement- To draw players to attack us before we win the ball and launch a counter

More urgent pressing- I want to encourage my players to put pressure on the opposition players as much as possible without compromising our defensive shape. Too little pressure on the opposition players will give them time and space to pick a pass

*Instructions that I might change from time to time depending on suitability

Transfers done during the transfer window:

Player selection criteria: quick front three to exploit space behind, defenders that are good in the air and defending, hardworking midfielders with decent defensive skills

Edited July 10, 2020 by zyfon5

[zyfon5]

End of season review:

We have done much better than I have ever imagined placing 11^th when we are predicted to finish 18^th. We were also quite solid defensively.

Upon checking team stats, it is clear our tactic is working as intended. We ranked near bottom of the league in possession and pass completed but still managed to put in a healthy amount of goals for a newly promoted side. We also managed to keep 15 clean sheets.

 

And some news that come as a surprise for me…….. Our starting goalkeeper, Nicolas Hansen who I bought from Napoli at a fee of just 9.5M won the Premier League Golden Glove award! I have to admit he has been superb for us throughout the season as you can see from his player stats this season but him winning the Golden Glove award is something I didn’t expect.

So this is the end of Season 1 for West Brom in Premier League. I have some new plans for the new season as I am considering a switch of formation to a 532 to better utilize my current wingbacks that are better at attacking while keeping our brand of counter attacking football.

Edited July 10, 2020 by zyfon5

[Zemahh]

Very nice, love that Clean Sheets stat. 

Personally, I always found 4-1-2-3 quite tricky to set up for counter-attacking, either it was my lone striker that kept getting isolated, or the wide forward on Attack duty wasn't tracking back enough, but you clearly made it work very well.

Looking forward to how you continue!

[zyfon5]

1 hour ago, Zemahh said:

Very nice, love that Clean Sheets stat. 

Personally, I always found 4-1-2-3 quite tricky to set up for counter-attacking, either it was my lone striker that kept getting isolated, or the wide forward on Attack duty wasn't tracking back enough, but you clearly made it work very well.

Looking forward to how you continue!

To solve the problem of lone striker getting isolated, I have two strikers with different traits. One striker is very quick and can dribble very well. Another striker Neal Maupay has come deep for ball traits and is quite good at holding up the ball a more well rounded striker. So different striker for different situations. For the wide forward on attack duty I will put PI so that he will mark the opposing full back if I feel I do not need to take so much risk.

[zyfon5]

Season 2

Season Expectations:

Salary per annum:

Transfers done during the transfer window:

Player selection criteria: defenders that are good in the air and defending, hardworking midfielders with decent defensive skills, physically strong forward to act as a target man, wing backs that are decent in the air and equally good at attack and defending

 

 

[zyfon5]

Main tactic:

Secondary tactic:

Positive mentality- So that our players is willing to take some risk and push forward when they can counter attack

The formation that I have chosen is a 532 as it is a solid defensive shape and I will like to utilize fully my two wing backs who are good at attack. However the bottom heavy formation did give me some problems at the start as I have to find a balance between attack and defense.

In possession

Pass into space -Obvious instruction to exploit space behind

Be more expressive- As the tactic that I have chosen is a bottom heavy tactic, I will like to give more creative freedom to the attacking players during the transition phase to compensate for the lack of attacking edge

Dribble less* - This instruction is added when I faced better teams to avoid losing possession too easily. It will also encourage players to release the ball early to bring more players into the attack

I will also adjust the tempo from time to time depending on the opposition

In transition

Regroup*- I do not want my players to disrupt our usual defensive shape so they will need to get back into defensive shape before they start to press. I want my players to defend collectively as we will be outskilled if we try to defend 1 on 1.

Distribute quickly – The goalkeeper is encouraged to quickly play the ball forward to give more chance for counter

Counter – Due to the bottom heavy formation that I have chosen the players will be encouraged to move forward more than usual when there is a turnover of possession to support the counter attack

Out of possession

Higher defensive line- From my observation a combination of higher defensive line and standard line of engagement works the best. It keeps the formation compact while still inviting the opposition to attack us due to the bottom heavy formation. In game it looks more like a mid block which still serves its purpose without allowing too much pressure on our defense.

More urgent pressing- I want to encourage my players to put pressure on the opposition players as much as possible without compromising our defensive shape. Too little pressure on the opposition players will give them time and space to pick a pass

[zyfon5]

End of season review:

We have improved on last season placing 8^th when we are predicted to finish 14^th. We were also quite solid defensively, keeping more clean sheets and conceded less than last season.

Upon checking team stats, it is clear our tactic is working as intended. We ranked bottom of the league in possession and pass completion but still managed to put in more goals than last season. This is largely attributed to our team being much more efficient in attack this season which is one of the primary reasons for the switch of tactics this season. Our cross completion ratio is the best in the league at 25% and our conversion rate is at 12% (2^nd in the league) which is better than last season at 9%.

Season 2 will mark the end of my short counter attacking thread with West Brom as I do notice that teams start playing more cautiously against me so the approach of counter attacking for the whole season is going to be unsustainable for the whole season. Hopefully my counter attacking thread could inspire others to try out a counter attacking tactic.

[zyfon5]

On 10/07/2020 at 22:37, Zemahh said:

Looking forward to how you continue!

Season 2 as promised!

[Zemahh]

Another sweet write-up!

Nice to see you made the 5-3-2 work just as well. I tend to shy away from narrow formations too often, but I imagine 3 towering CBs could deal with crosses quite comfortably. Were overlaps down the flanks much of a problem when sitting back?

[zyfon5]

4 minutes ago, Zemahh said:

Another sweet write-up!

Nice to see you made the 5-3-2 work just as well. I tend to shy away from narrow formations too often, but I imagine 3 towering CBs could deal with crosses quite comfortably. Were overlaps down the flanks much of a problem when sitting back?

Personally didn't find too much of a problem with overlaps as I selected hardworking midfielders. They will follow wide players and defend. The wide centre backs will also step up to close down players so you have to be careful with how you line up the centre backs.