HaroldHammond Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 Introduction It's 2086, France are in a state of limbo. The World Cup has just finished and France failed to get out the group. A team of such talent, amazing potential mixed with star veterans, again failing to impress. They had not won a major trophy for 50 years, and for fans and the FA, this just wasn't acceptable. Were they not good enough? Were they unlucky? Or did they lack a system that they could call their own? You look at the likes of Iceland, Wales and Italy at the recent euros. Teams with a 'system' that you could identity them with, they did very well. Maybe this is what France were missing. Despite the turmoil, I decided to come out of my 'battery recharge' as the press would call it, and take on the momentous task of the France job. So I made my system, thought long and hard, studied the players available to me and settled on a tactic. 2 years later, a fantastic Euro campaign ended at the final hurdle, losing to a brilliant Spain side, but there was progress. France's first final in 30 years, and a brilliant and exciting campaign. Time to prepare for the World Cup. A flawless qualifying campaign preceded one of France's best ever world cups. Nearly 100 years on from their last World Cup victory, we had done it again. Beating the likes of Brazil and Belgium on the way to the holders Portugal in the final. It was the system that had done it, the media were finally able to identify France to a tactical philosophy: The nation that mastered the art of Space creation and exploitation. Wanting to go out on a high, I left France. It was take to test the system on the club stage. The Club I've chosen Borussia Dortmund. I have taken over in 2105, with the club in a bit of a slump. BVB enjoyed fantastic success for a long period of time, but a former manager had brought unsustainable success and now the club was left with a lack of youth and a lacklustre, ageing squad. A decent chunk of cash had been made available for me and I made the necessary signings, for the system I will now explain. The System This whole tactic is built around both creating and exploiting space. You may say 'well every system is designed to do that?'. You would be right, but I wanted to take it one step further and assign roles to specifically do that throughout the team. It's an asymmetric 4-1-2-2-1, although I must stress that formation is literally just what we start with. It's far from that for most of the game. I wanted to press consistently, but have avoided the high block and high tempo. It involves patient play, to wait for that moment where we can draw the space and execute. I have toyed with a higher tempo, trying to use our quick play to drag players out of position and capitalise quickly, but as it stands my players just don't have the tactical and technical intelligence to pull this off without messing it up due to the snap decisions needed. Maybe I will go back to this in the future when I have done a few years of squad building. Goalkeeper - Nothing special, he has instructions to throw it out to our centre backs, which go hand in hand with our play out of defence shout. Inverted Wingback - A role i haven't used before, but have always wanted to. I want this guy to cut inside, bringing opposition players with him which will hopefully free up space for my winger on the left. Also on the ball I'd like him to sit along side my CM(a) to cover up that gap in midfield. - Mark Tighter Centre backs - I have one centre back on cover here, in an attempt to combat the overpowered crossing in this years game. - Close down much less - Pass it shorter Complete wingback - Our source of width on the right. The PIs already on this guy by default are good enough, and I see a lot of assists from him. - Mark Tighter Deep lying playmaker - This guy acts as our holding midfielder, but is given creative freedom too. He stays back most of the time, and collects the ball of the centre backs when the keeper rolls it to them. From here we start our attacks, a key role in our team. Also fills in slightly when our right back bombs up, giving us balance in that area. - Tackle Harder - Mark Tighter - More Risky Passes - More Direct Passes Central midfielder - A source of goals from midfield, this guy needs the physical attributes to be everywhere. He is our runner from midfield, which every team needs, but also acts as a great pressing tool and helps out a lot defensively. - Mark tighter - Move into channels Winger - Our width on the left, his sole purpose is to get past his man and cause havoc in the final third. A sort of deviation from the whole space creating element of this tactic, I don't want us to be too predictable. - Mark Tighter Shadow striker - This is where things start to get interesting, the SS is there to overlap the F9, and cause positional chaos. From experience this player is normally the top goal scorer, and actually acts as a bit of a playmaker given the right instructions/ppms. My best player currently plays here and plays a key role in everything we do. Even though he is a shadow striker, he almost acts similarly to our DLP, but higher up the field, like an AP. A key role. - Shoot more often - Mark Tighter - Roam from position Raumdeuter - Of course this translates literally to 'space investigator', and it couldn't be closer to the truth. With our F9 opening up gaps all over the front line, this guy regularly has a field day. He is expected to both overlap and interchange with the false 9, but also to open up space by dragging defenders away for our CWB on the right. The wingback could not hope for a better role here as I constantly see him in space. A key source of goals, and off the ball movement is a key attribute here. - Mark Tighter False 9- The player to make it all happen. Dragging defenders left right and centre with his constant movement, he is essential to allow the SS, CMa and RMD to find space in between the opposition defence. This guy is the most experienced player in my team. I decided to go away from my usual philosophy of signing no one over 24 to bring in a 30 year old, purely for his mental state and understanding of the role. He has been a brilliant signing and really allows the midfield to shine, whilst still helping himself to a few goals whilst he's at it. - Mark Tighter - Roam from Position Standard - I wasn't sure whether I wanted to go on counter, in an attempt to draw them out and create space that way, or whether I wanted to try and control the game and make space with good movement so I've opted to keep it in the middle, and it works fine. Of course I change this depending on the game situation. Flexible - Also kept in the middle to give us balance, but this does not stay static. If i want my team to have a bit more creative freedom (at home to lower teams, or needing a goal), i'll stick it on fluid. There are also times I put it on structured, if I want my attackers higher up the pitch for example. Low Tempo - Initially I wanted to play on a higher tempo, as i mentioned earlier. Maybe in a few years, but as for now I want my team to patiently play and wait for that killer ball when we've opened up the space. Close down much more - I don't think I ever make a system without using this. I haven't gone for a high defensive line, in an attempt to draw the opposition out slightly more to create that magic word (space), but I always want my players to aggressively press, and my opposition instructions also reflect this. Use Tighter Marking - Simple, the idea that if you are closer to your man when he receives the ball, then you have less ground to cover whilst closing him down, meaning he has to make a quicker decision, forcing mistakes more frequently. Play out of defence - I don't want to waste possession much, not much more to say here. Pass into space - What would be the point in using a system that creates space, if we didn't pass into that space? Roam From Positions - I want my players to constantly move around and interchange. Eventually the opposition will tire out mentally and that's all we need to make our move. With all our mobility, they will give up space at numerous times during the game, and that is when we have to capitalise. Does it work? Well it won me the world cup In all seriousness, at club level I am still squad building, so although at times we dominate teams, we are still searching for strong consistency. I am considering looking at interchanging the SS/F9 postitions, however I need the players to do this, again.. Squad building takes time. The false 9 is so important, and with the recent signing of a more experienced player, we are working a lot better. The raumdeuter is a bit hit and miss. Some games he is out of this world and defences just can't deal with his constant moving, and others he seems to just drift through games. However I do believe our system offers multiple sources of threat. We have the constant wide play from our winger on the left, offering us penetration with dribbling if our passing and mobility aren't working. Our CMa offers late runs from midfield, the 3 interchanging forwards are just a nightmare, and our CWB is always there for an overlapping pass if we can't quite create the space with the mobility of our front men. All in all this is still a work in progress but I'm confident with a few years of recruitment and tweaking, this can become a truly devastating system. Over the coming days I plan to analyse how the tactic works in game, with a few goal highlights. Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly welcomed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earnie is God! Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 Looks very interesting and I look forward to seeing how this works out for you. I've used assymetric formations before but not for a while. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magpiestarnz Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 Very aggressive roles there! A clear plan too. I can see how you would dominate, with the possession TIs, the 3 midfielders attacking the box, a F9's movement , and width provided by the attacking winger, and attacking wing back. Doesn't leave much back to defend though? How do you go against disciplined teams set out to defend deep, deny space, and counter attack with pace behind your wings, after they avoid the initial press? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaroldHammond Posted July 27, 2016 Author Share Posted July 27, 2016 40 minutes ago, Earnie is God! said: Looks very interesting and I look forward to seeing how this works out for you. I've used assymetric formations before but not for a while. A big fan of assymetric formations myself, allows players to attack from all different kinds of angles. However it does leave slight gaps in our pressing which is an issue.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaroldHammond Posted July 27, 2016 Author Share Posted July 27, 2016 33 minutes ago, Magpiestarnz said: Very aggressive roles there! A clear plan too. I can see how you would dominate, with the possession TIs, the 3 midfielders attacking the box, a F9's movement , and width provided by the attacking winger, and attacking wing back. Doesn't leave much back to defend though? How do you go against disciplined teams set out to defend deep, deny space, and counter attack with pace behind your wings, after they avoid the initial press? It doesn't, it's certainly a high risk high reward system but the DLP does offer a bit of defensive cover for the right WB. Those kinds of teams are certainly my nemesis. I didn't encounter many at the world cup so it wasn't a major issue there but at Dortmund i'm still trying to adapt to those teams. Dropping the defensive line is the main thing I will do, to try and draw them out a bit. As Dortmund's reputation grows further I feel this may become a major issue with this tactic and I will certainly have some work to do get past teams that deny the one thing that makes this successful. Any suggestions are welcome Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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