roganp Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Marcelo "El Loco" Bielsa Introduction/Career Idea Ever since becoming aware of Marcelo Bielsa, he has been a coach who's character and footballing philosophy has fascinated me. Often described has someone who is obsessed with the tactical side of the game, Bielsa's innovative style of management has seen him become one of the most intriguing managers in world football. It's reported that Bielsa is a manager who is a fanatic of football video's, watching and analysing numerous tapes for each individual in his team in order to prepare them for them for matches and even having players in different positions train at different times, showing his incredible attention to detail. Now, with all that being said it's time to get into what this thread is really about - Can Biesla's approach to management, in particular his tactics, be emulated successfully on FM? Well, first of all in order to create this thread I needed to do plenty of reading (aswell as actually watching his teams matches) in order to gain a detailed understanding of his tactical philosophy and after doing so, I came to the conclusion that the main elements of his approach is based around : Playing an intense, high pressing game Quick transitions from defence to attack High tempo, attacking football Always deploying a spare man at the back to match up to the oppositions forward line After thinking about how I should I go about this save I decided that instead of travelling the globe or staying in one particular continent, I would begin my career in South/North America, build up my reputation there (much like Bielsa did) and then after hopefully having some success I will then look to see if I can further develop my skills at clubs in Europe, possibly even venturing into international management. Although, if I do chose to manage an international side I've told myself that I will not manage a club at the same time. Now let's move on to the actual details of the save... The Save Setup For this save I will be loading all leagues from the following nations : Argentina Brazil Chile Colombia England France Germany Italy Mexico Netherlands Peru Portugal Russia Spain Ukraine Uruguay Database - Large Player Count - 76,000 Attribute Masking - Enabled The Manager Name - Ignacio Alvarez Age - 28 Nationality - Argentinian Past Experience - Sunday League Footballer Reading that inspired this save: 1. Bielsa set to thrive in Bilbao 2. Marcelo Bielsa - Method in the madness 3. Tactics: the genius of El Loco 4. Bielsa's Chile the most tactically exciting side Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roganp Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 Reserved for career summary. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 ooh exciting - I loved reading about Bielsa's approach in the run-up to the last World Cup. Should be an interesting read! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roganp Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 July 17th 2012 - Defensa y Justicia - The Journey Begins Club Social y Deportivo Defensa y Justicia (usually known simply as Defensa y Justicia) is an Argentine football club from Florencio Varela, Buenos Aires. The team currently plays in the Primera B Nacional, the second division of the Argentine football league system. Home games are played at the Estadio Norberto "Tito" Tomaghello which has a capacity of approximately 8,000 seats.The institution was founded on March 20, 1935, by a group of friends who wanted to form a local team. There are no sources explaining how the name was given to the club. Presided by Norberto Tomaghello, Defensa y Justicia affiliated to Argentine Football Association, built its stadium, which was opened in occasion of a friendly match against Boca Juniors reserve team in December 1977. Taken from wikipedia The Estadio Norberto "Tito" Tomaghello Well, it hasn't taken me long to find a job as I've been given the chance at Argentinian 2nd division side Defensa y Justicia. I was offered one other job at Chilean outfit Curico Unido, but seeing as the nationality of my manager is Argentinian I thought it was logical to start out my management career in his home country. That's all for now, in my next update I will taking a look at how I faired during pre-season, aswell as taking a look at the tactical set up of my team. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roganp Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 ooh exciting - I loved reading about Bielsa's approach in the run-up to the last World Cup. Should be an interesting read! Thanks, I hope you enjoy reading. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 I'm guessing your manager will also have a fiery temper, and routinely destroy the morale of the players by training them onto exhaustion. Good luck, Bielsa teams are hugely enjoyable, I will follow this with interest. Cracking stadium and job for a new inexperienced manager to start in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.W.G Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Best of luck in Argentina.Hope you will be able to emulate Bielsa one day. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roganp Posted December 21, 2012 Author Share Posted December 21, 2012 Defensa y Justicia - 2012/13 Season Preview Budgets | Transfers | Pre Season Friendlies | Board Expectations After landing the Defensa y Justicia job I quickly got to work to prepare a team that would ready to compete in the upcoming season. My first task was to analyse the playing staff I inherited and judge whether I had players who would fit into the Bielsa way of playing. I immediately highlighted stamina, work rate and natural fitness as areas my players would have to be strong in and thankfully I was able to find players who were already at the club who could fit into the system I would be trying to implement. However, there was also a large number of players that I felt would not have been able to adjust to such an intense style of management, so as you can see there were a number of departures and also several acquisitions in order to have a squad that would be comfortable with the Bielsa approach. After highlighting the players that needed to be moved on and looking at potential signings, I then began working on the tactics my side would be playing... Tactics 1st Tactic This was the first tactic I created and it was designed in order to come up against sides who play with a lone forward - in line with Bielsa's idea of making sure you have a spare man at the back. As you can see a high defensive line has been set along with instructions to close down more, which should result in our defenders playing high up the pitch and looking to win the ball back as quickly as possible in order for us to begin transitions from defence to attack as fast as possible. I've also decided to deploy a fluid style of play with a control strategy in order to encourage plenty of movement and freedom from my players, but also I want to make sure they are comfortable on the ball and are not scared to retain possession if there's not an immediate opportunity to attack. In defence we have a player in Juan Tejera who is almost perfect to play in the role of ball playing defender, partnered by a new signing in Nicolas Lopez who will look to drop a little deeper in the defensive line. In the full back positions we have two players in Marcelo Cardozo and Pablo Jerez who love to get forward, which is why I have set them to as wing-backs with attack duty's. They also have instructions to "move into channels" as a feature of the way Bielsa sets up his teams is that the wingers push up high and wide, pulling opposition full backs with them, opening up space for the full backs and runners from midfield to exploit. Finally, Mariano Messara will be the creative force in the side and will look to float around the middle of the park as the playmaker. 2nd Tactic Now, this a system that looks very similar to the one Bielsa used whilst in charge of Chile and will be deployed against teams who play with two man attacks. As you can see the way the team instructions are set up is pretty much the same as the 1st tactic, but there will be a slight change in personnel as a man from midfield is moved into the defence. This is where I will look to play Martin Wagner as a third defender. He is primarily a midfielder, however it is well known that Marcelo Bielsa is a big fan of playing defenisve midfielders in the back line due their increased mobility and superior passing ability compared to natural defenders and Martin Wagner's attributes suggest that he will be able to do this. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roganp Posted December 21, 2012 Author Share Posted December 21, 2012 I'm guessing your manager will also have a fiery temper, and routinely destroy the morale of the players by training them onto exhaustion. Good luck, Bielsa teams are hugely enjoyable, I will follow this with interest. Cracking stadium and job for a new inexperienced manager to start in. I'm hoping I will be little less loco than Bielsa . Best of luck in Argentina.Hope you will be able to emulate Bielsa one day. Cheers mate . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 Mad times ahead! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roganp Posted December 23, 2012 Author Share Posted December 23, 2012 The Bielsa approach - Defensa y Justicia - August 2012 Fixtures League Table Well, this certainly was wasn't the start I envisioned when I decided to take the job. In the opening game against Huracan a sending off in the opening 10 minutes of the game meant we were always going to struggle to take any points, but even then we showed great spirit to equalise after they took the lead, however a second goal from them and another sending off for us soon killed off the game. Unfortunately, great spirit was something we were severely lacking in the following two fixtures of the month as we were on the wrong side of two thrashings to leave us with 3 defeats from 3. It seems the players are having a hard time adjusting to a new radical philosophy, or possibly I'm being too ambitious with the way I want us to play? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roganp Posted December 23, 2012 Author Share Posted December 23, 2012 The Bielsa approach - Defensa y Justicia - September 2012 Fixtures League Table Disastrous. 8 games played and we find ourselves rock bottom of the table with not a single victory to our name. Although we did manage to pick up some points to stop the run of straight defeats, we were always second best in those games and at the moment are really struggling to assert any kind of dominance on matches. I think it may be time to have a serious look at our tactics... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 Oh dear, I've seen better starts to a career... Hope you can turn things around! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt_1979 Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 Really looking forward to reading this. I am intrigued by the philosophy, especially the always having a spare man at the back one. Got to think it will leave you sparse in midfield though. Can't you drop your AMC back deeper? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 That's not gone well Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roganp Posted December 24, 2012 Author Share Posted December 24, 2012 Oh dear, I've seen better starts to a career...Hope you can turn things around! Really looking forward to reading this. I am intrigued by the philosophy, especially the always having a spare man at the back one. Got to think it will leave you sparse in midfield though. Can't you drop your AMC back deeper? That's not gone well Thanks for your comments I can reveal that after tinkering with my tactics, performances have greatly improved. I should have a couple of months worth of updates up on boxing day, plus an update on the changes made to my tactics . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roganp Posted December 24, 2012 Author Share Posted December 24, 2012 The Bielsa approach - Defensa y Justicia - October 2012 Fixtures League Table That's more like it! A change in tactics (which I will go into in a separate post) seemed to bring about a change in fortunes as we finally picked up our first 3 points of the season in a goalfest of a game against Independiente Rivadavia and managed to avoid defeat during the whole month. As you can see there is still quite abit of work to do as we are leaking far too many goals for my liking (probably to be expected with the attacking style of play that's been adopted) but it feels great to finally get some wins on the board and lift some of the pressure that has been building during my very short time at the club. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roganp Posted December 24, 2012 Author Share Posted December 24, 2012 The Bielsa approach - Defensa y Justicia - November 2012 Fixtures League Table A poor start to the November as we were outplayed at home by Rosario Central, but we made up for it with good wins during the month against Crucero del Norte and Banfield, showing that the team now really seem to be adjusting to the style of play I'm implementing. The draw against Boca Undios was slightly disappointing, but overall it was a good month for us and one that showed we are heading in the right direction. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roganp Posted December 24, 2012 Author Share Posted December 24, 2012 The Bielsa approach - Defensa y Justicia - December 2012 Fixtures League Table Well, after two solid months, it seems we've really been brought back down to earth. Two home defeats and a cup exit was not something I had anticipated when I looked at the fixtures for December, but we were incredibly poor and didn't deserve to take anything from the games that we played. Now, after this month of fixtures I planned to make a post explaining the changes I had made to my tactics, but after the Instituto game this happened... I must say I am a little disappointed that the board have decided to cut ties with me as we showed in the months of October and November that some progres was being made, but I guess at the end of the day this is a results business and after such a poor month in December that saw us drop back down the league table and exit from the cup, the club felt we were going backwards once again rather than fowards. Anyway, I will look to learn from this experience and hopefully I will have a much better time at whatever club I join next. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iHeadHunta x Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Rather chelsea like saking you so early, hopefully a new club soon! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 Shame, just as things were improving Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roganp Posted December 25, 2012 Author Share Posted December 25, 2012 Rather chelsea like saking you so early, hopefully a new club soon! I've managed to find myself a new club so I may look to get an update up later on today . Shame, just as things were improving Yeah, I was little surprised at the timing of the sacking as although we had a poor month in December, the two months prior to that clearly showed that the team were beginning to adapt well to the philosphy I was trying to implement. Anyway, hopefully things will work out better at my new club. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roganp Posted December 25, 2012 Author Share Posted December 25, 2012 January 1st 2013 - CD Coquimbo Unido - A Fresh Start Coquimbo Unido, is a Chilean football club based in the city of Coquimbo. The club was founded August 15, 1957 and plays in the second division of the Chilean football league. Their home games are played at the Estadio Francisco Sánchez Rumoroso stadium, which has a capacity of approximately 18,750 seats.Taken from wikipedia The Estadio Francisco Sánchez Rumoroso Club Information | Club Facilities | League Rules Less than a month after being sacked in Argentina I've been given a second chance in football management by Coqiumbo Undio, a second tier Chilean outfit. Similar to Defensa, I've joined the club during pre-season so for now I will be looking to asses the current playing and backroom staff, see what changes need to made and then I will dive straight into setting up tactics, hopefully learning from the mistakes I made during my brief spell with Defensa. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roganp Posted December 25, 2012 Author Share Posted December 25, 2012 I was taking a quick look at the squad and I saw this fella : Probably the oldest player I've ever managed on FM. Still looks like he has something to offer though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 gutting about the Defensa exit. Chile's a lot of fun to manage in - hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roganp Posted December 26, 2012 Author Share Posted December 26, 2012 gutting about the Defensa exit. Chile's a lot of fun to manage in - hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Cheers mate . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roganp Posted December 26, 2012 Author Share Posted December 26, 2012 The Bielsa approach - Coqiumbo Unido - 2013 Season Preview Budgets | Transfers | Friendlies | Board Expectations As expected pre-season was a busy time for us as I began to build a squad in time for the new season. As you can see there was plenty of transfer activity as I tried to re-coup some cash for players who I felt would not fit into the style of play I would be trying to implement. We also added quite a few new players to replace the departed and add depth as the first team was pretty thin on numbers when I joined. With the board expecting promotion this season there will be pressure on me to get results, so hopefully the players can quickly adapt to the philosophy I will be trying to stamp on the club as I don't want to experience another sacking. Key Players Victor Osorio - A player who was sitting in the reserves transfer listed when I joined, but he was swiftly made unavailable and moved back into the first team. His versalitlity should make him a valuable assest. Pedro Irala Vergara - One of the new additions to the squad. He's getting on abit now, but still has the solid workrate, natural fitness and stamina attributes that will be required for an intense pressing game. Mauricio Donoso - Coming towards the end of his career now, but he still has some excellent technical and mental attributes that should make him a key player at this level. Cristian Munoz - Munoz was at the club when I arrived and he's probably the player who I'm most excited about seeing in action. He looks to be the perfect player to play the role of playmaker, just behind a lone striker. Next up - a tactical update Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roganp Posted December 26, 2012 Author Share Posted December 26, 2012 Tactics Comparing these tactics to how I set up at the start of my time at Defensa (see 8th post) you will notice that the shape of both systems has been kept exactly the same, but what you would have seen had I been given more time in Argentina, was the changes I made to the general strategy and player instructions that began to bring about a change in fortunes before I was given the boot. Firstly, one of the main problems I encountered during my first 8 games at Defensa was that our full backs were bombing forward far too often and their lack of ability when it came to getting back quickly led to us being easily exploited down the wings, with the majority of goals we conceded in those opening games coming from crosses into the box from the wing. Changing their duty's from attack to automatic seemed to work alot better has the full backs still got forward, but were slightly more conservative about when they decided to do so and didn't leave us as exposed at the back. Therefore, this is why I will setting up the wing-backs with automatic duty's and like I did at Defensa, they will be instructed to move into the channels when they go forward. Another issue I came across at Defensa during the very early stages of my time there was that although the team were set up to close down the opposition, we would still allow them to have the ball and would not work hard enough to have quick transitions from defence to attack. To combat this I set tacking to "more aggressive" and it's something that seemed to work as the players would look to win the ball back alot quicker, allowing us to get on the attack at a much faster pace - something Bielsa likes his teams to do. Finally, something that was evident at the start of my time in Argentina was that my team weren't playing the high tempo football Marcelo Bielsa likes his sides to play, which is why I increased the tempo slider to a quicker pace, but retained the control strategy in order to ensure that our although we would be looking to get forward quicker, our attacks would be controlled and players would not be afraid to keep the ball if there was not an immediate opportunity to break through the oppositions defence. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 Shame things didn't work out in Argentina, albeit if you can take tactical lessons out of it you'll be a better manager in the long run. Chile seems very interesting and a believable Bielsa-esque destination, hopefully they will give you the chance to build up your reputation in a less stressed way. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.W.G Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 Shame about what happened in Argentina,seemed the firing was a bit too quick.Hopefully Coqiumbo Unido will give you more of a chance and that they can help you build your reputation. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roganp Posted December 27, 2012 Author Share Posted December 27, 2012 Shame things didn't work out in Argentina, albeit if you can take tactical lessons out of it you'll be a better manager in the long run. Chile seems very interesting and a believable Bielsa-esque destination, hopefully they will give you the chance to build up your reputation in a less stressed way. Lessons have definitely been learnt from time at Defensa and as you say, in the long run, that experience will only improve me as a manager. Although the board are expecting promotion which does put abit of pressure on me, I somehow don't feel it as much as I did in Argentina. Probably because I'm winning more . Shame about what happened in Argentina,seemed the firing was a bit too quick.Hopefully Coqiumbo Unido will give you more of a chance and that they can help you build your reputation. Thanks B.W.G . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 Bad luck with the sacking. Unfortunately, they don't have a lot of patience in Argentina (something I can vouch for too ) Hope your fortunes improve in Chile! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roganp Posted December 29, 2012 Author Share Posted December 29, 2012 Bad luck with the sacking. Unfortunately, they don't have a lot of patience in Argentina (something I can vouch for too )Hope your fortunes improve in Chile! Thanks for your comment mate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roganp Posted December 29, 2012 Author Share Posted December 29, 2012 The Bielsa approach - Coqiumbo Unido - February 2013 Fixtures League Table My opening game in Chile ended in a dull goalless draw, but the rest of the month brought us plenty of entertainment and we were able to a get a couple of wins under out belt, immediately announcing ourselves as a team who would be in the hunt for promotion and that we would be doing it playing an attacking brand of football. I'm hoping that we do not become a you score 3, we score 4 type of team, but for now I'm just happy to get off to a good start which was something I wasn't able to do in Argentina. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roganp Posted December 29, 2012 Author Share Posted December 29, 2012 The Bielsa approach - Coqiumbo Unido - March 2013 Fixtures League Table A disappointing month as we failed to win any of our 3 games in the month against sides who in all honestly we shouldn't have had too many problems beating if we consider ourselves one of the top teams in this division. Despite the month being a poor one in terms of results, there were positives to take from it, such as the form of Cristian Munoz who is taking the league by storm at the moment with some excellent performances in the AMC role. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roganp Posted December 29, 2012 Author Share Posted December 29, 2012 The Bielsa approach - Coqiumbo Unido - April 2013 Fixtures League Table Our run without a win stretched to 5 games in the month of April as we first drew at home to San Luis, a game that left me incredibly frustrated as we raced into a 2 goal lead, allowed them to get back on level terms, took the lead once again in the 88th minute and then somehow managed to concede again in the 92nd minute of the game to allow them to come away with a point. We then put in a pretty pathetic peformance in the game against La Serena, but ended the month on a high by beating leaders Everton to end our winless streak. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roganp Posted December 29, 2012 Author Share Posted December 29, 2012 The Bielsa approach - Coqiumbo Unido - May 2013 Fixtures League Table It's becoming very apparent that consistency is something this side is really struggling to achieve at this moment in time. We kicked off the month with a fantastic performance against Magallenes, a game where we probably played some of the best football we've played so far this season. However, we followed up that performance with two consecutive defeats which has now left us in the lowest position we've been in this season. I'm hoping we can pull ourselves together quickly as it's getting to a point in the season where we really need to find a consistent run of form if we want to finish in the top 4 and qualify for the 2nd phase of this division. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AcidBurn Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 As you pointed out consistency is a real problem at the moment. Good luck for the rest of the season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falahk Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 As you pointed out consistency is a real problem at the moment. Good luck for the rest of the season. id suspect that its much down to the playing style roganp have opted for, when you play attacking football you will take more risks which means a higher number of bad games, but also that the good results will shine even brighter.this is probably also why many new players struggle with consistency on there saves, they simply play to attacking Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 Still looking pretty good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 A 7 team league. Mental. Doing alright although I think I read your side's board expectations is to get promoted? You're still within close distance of the top but really need to improve on the consistency. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Can't say I'm familiar with the Chilean leagues, but I suppose finishing fourth would be a good result. Keep it going! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roganp Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 As you pointed out consistency is a real problem at the moment. Good luck for the rest of the season. id suspect that its much down to the playing style roganp have opted for, when you play attacking football you will take more risks which means a higher number of bad games, but also that the good results will shine even brighter.this is probably also why many new players struggle with consistency on there saves, they simply play to attacking Still looking pretty good. A 7 team league. Mental.Doing alright although I think I read your side's board expectations is to get promoted? You're still within close distance of the top but really need to improve on the consistency. Can't say I'm familiar with the Chilean leagues, but I suppose finishing fourth would be a good result. Keep it going! Thanks for your words of encouragement everyone, but I have some news : So there it is, another sacking. After playing a few months ahead nothing really changed, our form was still inconsistent and to be honest we were probably getting worse as the 1st phase of the division reached it's climax. Nevertheless, I still had a chance of reaching the boards expectations of promotion as we qualified for the 2nd phase by finishing 3rd. Qualifying meant we went into a 8 team league with the other 3 teams from North phase and the 4 teams who qualified from the South phase. With just two promotion spots up for grabs and only 14 games to play it was important for us to get off to good start and build some momentum, but after defeat in our first game the board decided to sack me, showing again that there seems to be no time for patience in South America. With that I am now unsure if I want to continue with this save. At the moment I am not having much fun with FM13 in general and I don't really see the point in playing a game that I do not enjoy playing. This is why I have decided that I will return to FM12 as I had a save on that game that was one of most enjoyable I've ever had and a thread that I had fun updating. In truth, I probably ended that career too prematurely as I felt there was plenty more that I could have achieved. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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