Bournemouth - Decent 1st season but more refinement

[Marabak]

Hey everyone. I've wrote this post partly as a learning exercise for myself, partly as a request for refinement possibilities and partly as a general interest post. Hopefully it will serve a purpose as one of those things.

Due to a good save on FM19 and the death of my laptop at the start of "lockdown", I've only recently got a new laptop with FM20 and I am currently in my first season as Bournemouth - a nice challenge to try and play possessive attacking football whilst having little budget, small stadium and a desire to remain competitive. Coming to the end of the first season, with 3 games to go, I am in 8th place, in amongst a small selection of teams on 51-54 points but 12 points clear of 12th and 7 points behind 6th (who have two games in hand). Scored 49 and conceded 43 (8th and 9th in the league) puts me firmly in nice safe midtable performance as well. A FA Cup Semi 2:1 extra time loss to Manchester United can't be looked at in bad light either.

 

At the start, my tactic was based on vertical tikataka, a nice possession based tactic but with a bit more of an attack. This comes with a slew of TIs obviously, so I scaled a couple back. Formation-wise, a 433 seemed reasonable, but with a bit of a downside that Bournemouth don't have that many (fit) central midfielders at the start of the game. I wanted to play a nice patient passing game, building from the back whilst pressing from the front, a little inspired (but not a direct copy of) a combination of Pep's Tikataka and Sarriball, seasoned with a bit of pragmaticism. My final formation is attached with my "general" first 11 but I am very much a rotating manager so that is quite fluid.

The main reason for the TIs I wanted was to compress and press the opposition (high line and high line of engagement), attack the opposition on transitions (counter and counter-press) and playing nice football in attack (low tempo, short passing and narrow to keep the ball until opportunities arise). Hopefully, this will result in an unpredictability in tempo, with fast tempos when counterattacking but remaining patient when the opposition get set, prioritising keeping the ball as a defensive technique and probing for openings.

I generally start on Balanced and adjust accordingly within the game between Positive and Cautious as needed, with occasional Very Attacking when chasing a goal. Most of my playmaking roles are actually quite deep to encourage playmaking from the back and unpredictability from attack (rather than a player attracting the ball all the time). Ideally, I'd like my teams to play around at the back and draw the opposition out before playing an incisive ball up to my attackers and through on goal. This works quite well at the moment, and although I recognise this might become a bit stale against teams that just defend, as Bournemouth most teams seem to think that they can get a win against me.

 

The roles I have chosen along with the strengths/weaknesses of the players I play are outlined below:

GK - SK(S) - Ramsdale - a great young prospect who has come on quite well in his first season as first choice. Not a lot of backup at Bournemouth with Boruc leaving on a free in January and Begovic out on loan. He isn't a natural at SK(S) with poor Rushing Out and Acceleration but with a high line, I needed my GK to at least attempt to sweep up. Schwabe was a new signing in January for 900k and is much better at the sweeping aspect attribute wise, but isn't as good as a overall GK. Might look to strengthen in the summer depending on finances.

 

RB - FB(S) - With an attacking FB on the other side, this side needs to be a little more conservative and restrained so I went with a Support duty. Smith and Stacey have been great rotating through the role, but the Smith was injured at one point and Clyne become available for £1.1m so I snapped him up. Now I have 3 fit RBs however, all vying for first team positions. Clyne is the most attacking of the trio with Stacey not far behind (both have aggressive traits of getting forward and hugging line). I might offload Smith as he has a trait of running through the centre of the pitch (not great for my midfield trio and narrow TI).

CB - CD(D) - I lost Steve Cook to Leicester for £20m in January, but to be honest Mepham was already taking his place at that point. Just a basic CD role to compliment the BPD next to him. Don't have much depth at CD at the moment (and don't the squad like complaining about that!)

CB - BPD(D) - Ake is the best player in my defence by far, and probably better in midfield that most of my midfielders. A trait of Bringing Ball out of Defence compliments my TI perfectly and he has great attributes to do it. Mepham is also capable of playing this role, and probably will if I lose Ake to Liverpool (who are sniffing around), but he has a trait of "tries to play way out of trouble" which sounds perfect for playing out from the back but is possibly a little too risky (I've already had several heart attacks watching games with him at CD).

LB - FB(A) - With an IF further up the field, I want an FB to get up the pitch and provide some width in the attack (particularly as my general attack is TI Narrow). Ballo-Toure is a new signing and has quickly become first choice, despite Rico having a good start to the season. BT is generally better attribute wise across the board and has Hugs Line and Runs Down Left as good traits for what I want this role to do (Rico has Shoots with Power only).

 

DM - DLP(D) - The "Jorginho" role, Cook has made this is spot this year with Surman as backup. Cook has great attributes for this, but has an annoying trait of "runs with ball through centre" which concerns me. I don't generally see this in game though, so it hasn't been too bad. "Comes deep to get ball" probably counteracts this. I often see some good interplaying between DLP(D) and the two CDs playing triangles to get out from the back. Surman is decent here and "more natural" based on his position, but has a weird trait of "cuts inside from both wings" which is irrelevant for this position. At 33 though, I've phased him out to backup.

CM - Carr(S) - With the attacking FB and IF on this side of the pitch, I needed a little more security on this side of the pitch so I went with a Carr. This isn't a natural role for anyone in my squad but Billing has done a decent job. Cook and Lerma would probably be better fits but both are playing in other key areas. Gosling has decent stats to play this position but has traits that cause him to get into the opposition box rather than holding position (he has also request a new challenge so I am happy to offload him for transfer funds in the summer).

CM - Mess(A) - This roles started life as a BBM(S) but it wasn't getting forward enough to support attacks as I would have liked (especially with two other "defensive" midfielders alongside them). A CM(A) worked pretty well but Lerma seemed to perform better as a Mezz(A). Despite poor finishing, Lerma has done well in this spot (probably because of his great physical stats), but I will likely try to improve this area and move Lerma into the Carr role for next season. Again, Gosling can play this role but lacks some key attributes (poor flair and balance etc.)

 

LW - IF(A) - The role of the IF is to get forward and get in the box to support the lone striker, leaving the width to be provide by the FB(A). King has been great in this role despite a bunch of injuries, and has great attributes for the role (although could improve shooting). I also have a few other players that have returned from long term injuries (Fraser, Danjuma) who are decent and a new signing (Layouni) who I bought as a Winger option for this side as an alternative for when I might need to stretch play (all the other players 

RW - W(A) - With a Narrow TI, the winger on this side has to try and maintain some width to stretch the opposition. Ibe does a decent job here (and the trait of Cuts Inside from Both Wings actually helps this sometimes by making the attacks varied rather than losing the width as I would have expected). Fraser can also do a decent job here and Brooks has come back from a long term injury and has pretty good attributes and traits for a Winger(A) despite him "preferring" to be an IW or IF on this side.

 

ST - DLF(A) - With a lone striker easily becoming isolated with a deep midfield trio, a DLF is an obvious choice to get involved in play, with an Attack duty so that they are still a goal threat. With 19 goals in 32 games (which started with an 11 game goaless streak), Wilson has done a great job here and has great attributes for the role. If I was to be nit-picky, I'd say I'd have liked a few more assists though (only 5). Player traits of rounding keeper and trying tricks don't seem to have much of an impact on the game though. Solanke hasn't been great when called into this position however, with 2 goals from 22 appearances, although in his defence 16 of those appearances were as subs. I'm not keen on his trait of moving into channels though, as this often leaves noone in the centre of the pitch when attacking.

 

In summary, I'm quite happy with the team and it is working pretty much as intending. Results are decent, although we'd all like to score more and concede less obviously. I do find that sometimes the ball is played a little too much around at the back when players are open further up the pitch but with my funds and status as a club, average vision and decisions probably hinder this and I can't complain about retaining the ball instead of hoofing it long. I need to strengthen the depth at CB in the summer as a key area, especially with the threat of losing Ake, and I'd like additional central midfielders and maybe a backup striker if I was to move Solanke on.

 

 

Edited September 3, 2020 by Marabak

[Marabak]

To follow up on my earlier post, I finished the season in 10th after some awful results at the end of the season (5:3 and 5:2 losses to Sheff Utd and Southampton respectively, who were both in the relegation zone at the time). Overall though, it was a great season with some good memories of beating some top teams and getting to within extra time of the FA cup final.

Now, out with the old and in with the new. I received £90m in transfer fees by offloading some deadwood (and losing some great wood for £54m) and managed to get some good players in in return. My general approach has been one of realism, trying to buy players that Bournemouth may have signed in the real world and only working on in-game knowledge (i.e. no searching for wonderkids by name). Most of the players I signed were either transfer listed or free agents.

 

I needed backup and strength in depth at CD as a priority for the team. Holding is a great CD option and is good enough to play as BPD if needed, so despite being transfer listed for quite a large amount was a target of mine early on. Ake has had lots of teams sniffing around but no bids as yet (with transfer window due to close soon) so I am preparing for him to leave with a first choice pairing of Mepham and Holding. Weirdly, Holding almost instantly learned a trait of "moves ball to right foot before attempting to dribble" which I am trying to get him to unlearn. No idea how he developed it in such a short time period, but I don't fancy my defenders dribbling anywhere really. I also needed some depth at CD, so Maripan came in from Monaco and Miazga from Chelsea for little money. Both are decent youngish CDs but don't quite have the vision for the BPD role yet. If I lose Ake though, I'm happy with Holding/Mepham as first choice, with Maripan or Miazga stepping in to the CD role if required.

With Wilson going, I needed to sign a first choice striker and Origi seemed like a good option. He can comfortably play DLF(A) that I have in my tactic, is better aerially and has better vision than Wilson, but lacks some of his pace. 2 goals in 3 Prem games has been a decent return up to yet and he will be my first choice striker. Giroud was also available on a free transfer and was willing to sign a 1 year contract for not much wage, so makes a great impact sub. He has great attributes for the DLF(A) spot and could possibly play as first choice all season, but I want Origi to be my main man and to get enough game time to try and develop a bit more.

The biggest gamble however is Matuidi. I needed to bulk out my midfield trio a little, especially with offloading Gosling and Arter. Matuidi was available for a free and lots of teams were interested, so I chucked my hat in the ring and I was as surprised as anyone when he joined me on a 1 year deal. Despite being 33, he still have great stats across the board and my first thought was to play him as my carrilero but he has quite attacking traits (gets forward where possible, gets into opposition area) which might take away a little from what I expect from this role (which is to provide cover for the FB(A) and IF(A) on the left). Unfortunately, he doesn't quite have the attacking stats for the mezz position (poor finishing, vision etc.) This needs some thought, but with great mental stats and pretty good physical stats, I can't really afford to not fit him into the system somehow.  Barkley was also available on transfer, and was a good English player which suits the mezz role perfectly, so I snapped him up.

 

Tactically wise, I've only made a slight adjustment to my tactics for this season, widening my attacking width to stretch the play a little more. I'll keep a keen eye on this though to make sure that it doesn't come at the expense of losing possession too much.

 

7 points from the first three games of the season has been a good return though, including a 3:1 win at home against Arsenal.

 

Edited September 5, 2020 by Marabak