A different way of managing

[olivermain83]

The beauty of this game, in my opinion, is that it reveals a lot about a person in a strange way. At least from a footballing point of view.

I, myself am an idealist. As soon as I click 'start game' I know what formation and style of football i'll be trying to create and I have little concern about whether the players at my disposal can do what I ask. This method has brought me great success and keyboard smashing frustrations in equal measure.

I've been struggling of late to get into a save at the minute though and have instead been trying to improve my general skills set by starting a game for a season at random clubs trying to employ various footballing styles.

After watching Man Utd v B.Munich last night though I noticed something that (whisper it) quite impressed me about David Moyes. He assessed his squad and Munich's, knew they were no match and formulated an almost very successful game plan. On another day it could easily have been a Man Utd win, they were perhaps unlucky that Welbeck can't keep his head in one on ones and Spanish referees aren't fans of high feet.

This pragmatic, reactive style of managment is the opposite to how I play. If I was in charge i'd have probably just played my game, let them worry about me and end up getting thrashed. I guess it's not in my nature but I thought it'd be interesting to go against my instinct and play a season in this pragmatic style, building a tactic around the players at my disposal, trying to get the best out of my star player negate weaknesses, emphasize strengths etc.

Disclaimer: I have no idea how to do this so would appreciate all help.

So with all this in mind i've started a game on FMC loaded all the Italian leagues as I wanted to be a team I would be relatively unfamilar with and clicked 'Choose team for me'.

FM was kind enough to give me a decent club in the 3rd tier of Italian football, Vicenza. Predicted 4th with a 4 point deduction to start with and not much of a transfer budget means i'll have to make do with what i've got. Ideal for this experiment really.

I guess the first task at hand is assess the strengths and weaknesses of the squad and try to decide what type of football would be most effective.

Comparisons

So what does the team comparisons tell me about my squad?

Let's start at the back...

Defense:

Well the defense looks very strong to be honest. No weakness at all in there. They're not the fastest in the league but they're by no means slow. This gives me some flexibility already which is nice. My only concern is that the GK is more of a shotstopper than anything else and would maybe suit a higher line but the defense with their excellent positioning, marking, jumping and strength seem most suited to sitting deep. The GK's not so great one on one stats are making me more inclined to a deeper line though.

Midfield:

The first thing that jumps out at me is the poor tackling. How that would affect what things i'm not sure. Do you need to be a good tackler to play a pressing game? Maybe. I should probably tell my team to stay on their feet though. The reasonably high Teamwork, Technique, Creativity and Decisions make me think that they would be capable of unlocking defenses with a short passing game.

Attack:

Finally the attack. The first thing I notice is the Pace, we need to utilise this. The acceleration lets them down though so I guess they'd be more likely to win a race over a longer distance than shorter. Maybe playing on the counter would get the best out of them to give them space to use that pace. The high jumping ability shouldn't be overlooked either. I need to be sure i'm getting crosses into the box.

So a few things are making me think 'Counter' in these reports. The sheer quality of the defense would make me feel more comfortable allowing teams to come at me more which would hopefully in turn create space for my pacey attack.

I'm at odds as to what to do with the Midfield. They appear to to be a set of playmakers and there's no gritty tacklers in there. The combination of the qualities of the defense and attack seem to suggest a direct game but bypassing a creative midfield seems a bit silly.

Looking at the 'All Positions' comparison as a team we are one of the best passers in the division. Combine that with the decent decisions of the team and i'm edging towards a mixed passing style which should suit my midfield a bit more too.

So that's the first task done now and I have a rough idea of where our strengths lie. I've not actually looked at any players yet so i've no ideas as to formation or what individuals I have at my disposal.

The next task at hand then is to identify the key players in my team and see how I can get the best out of them.

[genesimmons]

Surprised no one replied yet. Good post, please continue with updates.

[olivermain83]

Thanks. Just been having internet issues but i've played a season with mixed results. I'll post what I did and see if people can see why things went wrong with my first attempt.

[olivermain83]

After having in my mind a general style that I thought would suit the attributes of the team I needed to look at the actual squad to decide on a formation next and see if there were some key players upon whose shoulders success might rest.

The first thing I noticed was that there were quite a few talented players. Especially for this level of football.

I identified these players as the key spine of the team:

A great keeper. Easily my best player and in what i consider to be the most important position.

Slightly underrated by my Ass Man if you ask me. Looks like he'll be able to deal with most aerial challenges.

Another player who looked too good for the division. I'd defintely want this guy getting forward a lot.

Good crossing, pace, agility, dribbling. Between him and my RB we've got a very dangerous looking right flank.

And finally the man I expect to be getting most the goals.

The second thing I noticed though was that it was practically impossible to select a formation. The only formation that would fit the players would be 4231 deep. My issue with that though was that i intended on playing defensive football, using the pace of my wingers and forwards to hit teams on the break. 4231 with it leaving 4 men up top at all times didn't strike me a very suitable defensive formation. My only other option was a 442 although we lack quality on the left wing it was at least more balances with 8 men defending rather than 6. Plus we had a lot of strikers so it made sense to use 2 rather than 1. So, I ended up with this:

TI's

Stay On Feet

Pass Into Space

Stick To Positions

Be More Disciplined

So with a starting tactic with the idea to try to defend deep with the classic "two banks of four", I felt I was ready to start my journey down the route of reactive management.

I was very wrong...

[Brick_Tamland]

good reading!