FM16: VFB Stuttgart - Engineering German Success

[LPQR]

So, first of all, welcome everybody  In this thread I will attempt a project that I hope will revive my passion for the game.

The idea is to take a club that has fallen from the graces of success in recent years back to glory whilst implementing a strict home-grown policy with youth development obviously playing a big part in this philosophy.

 

In FM terms, that would mean:

-having only players with the nationality of the club's playing nation in the squad

-a club strategy oriented towards having as many players 'trained at club' (15-21) as possible as soon as possible

 

So, having researched potential clubs to start the save with, I came across 5 times Bundesliga winners, freshly relegated to the German Second Division, 

VFB Stuttgart:

A brief overview of the club

Facilities

- Top Corporate Facilities

- Superb training facilities

- Superb youth facilities

- Extensive youth recruitment

-Good junior coaching

Stadium

-60.000 seater (49.000 used in normal matches) Mercedes-Benz Arena

-Owned by council (4.6 million+8% of gate receipts paid for rent)

-Undersoil Heating

Trophy cabinet

Finances and Reputation

- overall balance of £29.M

-loan debt of £3.64M

 

The downfall:

Following the German First Division title in 2006 the club has had a horrible time in the league, ultimately leading them to be relegated in the current season

So, all in all, a fantastic club with some great history, spanning  over 123 years and with an amazing foundation in place for what I want to achieve

 

[LPQR]

A first look at the current squad:

A very strong squad for the current level. However, most of the strongest players are not German, thus a massive re-build looks likely in the current transfer season.

The encouraging part is the 'club trained' mini-legion already in place, with Baumgartl, Besuschkow, Mart Ristl and Georgios Spanoudakis(under 19s) looking like they could hit the big stage in a few years time

So, here are some flashes of a fantastic initial recruitment stage:

 

Managed to snap a ton of exciting German youngsters from other clubs in the division for pretty much nothing. Really excited about Eggestein and Avdijaj as they could form THE deadly duo upfront for years to come.

Here's how the u19 team looks now:

 

I would love to get some of these 5 star potential guys to play in the first team, however, under current league regulations, players must be at least 17 in order to feature in the first team. Massive disappointment there....

On the bright side, here's the first team squad after the transfer season:

 

So, an all German squad, as per the club's policy. 

Avdijaj and Henrichs have a £15M and £14M buy-out clause, respectively, which I hope to successfully activate by the end of the season as I don't think they'd be willing to sign for the club now.

Both could turn out to be world-beaters and they're both 18, which means they can get 'club trained status' if I manage to keep them at the club for 3 years.

The biggest investment has by far been Serge Gnabry's return home - £11 million with another 5 in bonuses

 

The reasoning behind that?

 

-born in Stuttgart and trained at VFB academy for 2 years before being snatched by Arsenal,  thus achieving 'club-trained' status by the end of this season

-potential star player 

-potential club legend

As you can see, I made a hefty profit of around £29 million as a result of transfer dealings. My initial thought was to keep the money until the end of the season and then invest it in the two loanee's mentioned above.

Couldn't resist it though....

 

 

I took a bit of a gamble and asked the board to buy the stadium and confronted them repeatedly until they gave in. I couldn't believe it when they  said yes.... I just couldn't... wow!

I'm delighted with the board, all these improvements are all a giant step in the direction of the club's strategy as well as a guarantee of financial and reputation improvement. Pressure is on me to deliver now

Tactics and season progress update next

stay tuned...

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Hi. Really like this idea so good luck. 

If I was to make 1 small suggestion though... your pictures aren't very clear. They are very small initially but even when you click them and they pop to full size, maybe my eyesight isn't what it once was, but they still don't appear very clear. 

 

Anyway, good luck. 

[LPQR]

26 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Hi. Really like this idea so good luck. 

If I was to make 1 small suggestion though... your pictures aren't very clear. They are very small initially but even when you click them and they pop to full size, maybe my eyesight isn't what it once was, but they still don't appear very clear. 

 

Anyway, good luck. 

Hi mate, thanks for the tip. That's a wee bit strange, just checked and images appear in perfect quality upon pop-up. If anybody else has the same problem seeing the pictures, let me know and I'll work smth out

But yeah, cheers and thanks for the encouragement

[Ceching You Out]

21 minutes ago, LPQR said:

Hi mate, thanks for the tip. That's a wee bit strange, just checked and images appear in perfect quality upon pop-up. If anybody else has the same problem seeing the pictures, let me know and I'll work smth out

But yeah, cheers and thanks for the encouragement

A little blurry for me as well when popped-up. Might try cropping a bit before you upload?

Anyway, best of luck! Youth-oriented challenges are always exciting to me and there's a good audience around here for this type of thing.

[LPQR]

Season 15/16 review:

 

- won the second division comfortably while giving the youth plenty of game-time

- lost in the 3rd round of the German Cup which is disappointing

- good financial profit from sales of players that don't fit the all-German philosophy

 

 

 

Tactics

during the season I used two tactics. one of them a basic 4-4-2, and the other is more of a specialized system to specifically exploit the strengths of the players at my disposal:

I'm not going to go too much in depth about how it plays but basically it's a 4-4-2/4-3-3/4-1-4-1 variation, depending on the phase of play.

Apart from the fact that it allows me to use the players in what I believe to be their best roles it's great at creating space and exploiting it. Apparently it plays some good football too as I constantly get updates from the board with how please the fans are with our playing style.

Now this is actually quite an important part of the game that often gets overlooked, as I've noticed it affects your attendance numbers and the number of season ticket holders which is important for creating revenue and increasing the popularity of the club.

 

Player development

One of the highlights of the first season has got to be the incredible development of Max Besuschkow. 

A player produced by the club's academy and with no senior appearances until this season, I gave him a first team spot, alternating him either on the left as a WP or right as the Raumdeuter.

It all happened when I managed to snap Sven Bender in January for 3.5 million and got him to tutor Max. So, this is the before/after tutoring story:

start of season:

 

end of season 1, after 5 months of tutoring by Sven Bender:

 

 

I'm really excited about this kid as he's incredibly versatile, and if I keep playing with my current system he can cover 5 positions for me. His attributes have improved massively, but what really matters is that his personality has now changed to 'professional' and his determination has gone up considerably. This means he is a player which will work harder in the training ground, conduct himself with minimal fuss and improve faster and better as a player. 

In other news we have Eggestein, Avdijaj and Heinrichs developing really well, probably down to the great level of facilities rather than division-2 level football, and I expect their growth to be much more prominent next season in the Bundesliga. 

 

Transfers overview:

first season 

- managed to extend Avdijaj's loan for another season, while keeping the option to buy at £15M

- signed Heinrichs on a permanent basis 

 

start of season 2

 

Orban is a top quality center back I'm honestly quite surprised we got him that cheap. Potential captain material. 

Leibold and Regasel have both got the potential to be a really good left-back and right-back respectively, if not already better than my current first team choices. Both of them an absolute steal for those prices.

And finally, Klose was more of a strategic signing as he is one of the few model professional players that I can get in my squad under the current recruitment policy. He will be a great tutor for the likes of Eggestein and Avdijaj as well as a decent 4-th choice striker. 

Let's see how we do in our first season back in the BundesLiga

[-Ironhide-]

Great idea and it looks like you've got it covered!

[LPQR]

Season 16/17 review

-Finished 3rd in the Bundesliga

- German Cup Winners

 

A great first season in the Bundesliga, as we manged to finish in a CL spot for next year  

The 3rd place finish in the league plus the conquest of the German Cup made for an impressive enough overall domestic performance to boost our reputation to 4 stars 

This will help with the quality of players brought into the club via youth intake amongst other benefits

 

First team squad 

Under19 Squad

 

Over the last two years our youth system has produced some fantastic prospects:

Branko Golenja    Ilhan Yldirim

Rafal Kocot     Kristian Hoxha

Vangelis Maladenis

Really excited about these guys, especially Golenja and Maladenis. A potential complete forward and Box to Box midfielder capable of making the first team squad in a year or two by my estimation.

 

Tactics

 

 

A bit of a tactical change due to having major strength in midfield positions

- Worked really well, as we overachieved massively (6 places above our 9th place predicted finish) however I feel our lack of stamina and work rate on the side midfielders could cost us in Champions league

- Despite a very impressive season as a Shadow Striker, I still believe Gnabry's position is best out wide given his lightning speed, stamina and work rate

 

 

Player Development

The 16/17 season has been marked by the successful introduction of a number of German youngsters in the first team squad:

Mathias Rapp 

Lennart Grunenberg

Fabio Hesse

Tim Eichinger

Rapp has it all to become one of Germany's finest attacking midfielders, I'm still juggling with the idea of training him as a shadow striker or whether to use him in a deeper role like Roaming Playmaker.

Grunenberg and Hesse have the potential to become the club's first-team CB pairing for decades.

Eichinger is like a mini-Gnabry, really looking forward to re-training him as an AMR as he's way too fast to be used as an AM

 

Player tutoring has been equally succesful this season

 

Eggestein is about to become a monster after being tutored by Miro Klose.

Before tutoring           After tutoring

Max Besuschkow has stepped into an entire new level after a second spell of tutoring by Sven Bender.

Before tutoring         After tutoring

Timo Baumgartl has stepped out of the average zone after being tutored by Willi Orban and is now regarded as one of the finest young German CB's in the league.

Before Tutoring       After tutoring

 

Special mention award goes to.....

 

Mart Ristl - the unsung midfield hero

 

A player produced by the club, he has really impressed me with his dynamic displays this season. Does a great job at winning back the ball and intercepting passes as well as providing a good passing option. Potential captain material as well.

 

Okay, so all in all, some great stuff in our second season. I'm delighted with player performances and growth overall, and I only plan to re-inforce the goalkeeper options for the next season.

Some people might have to leave as well, as I want to give playing time to the amazing options from the youth academy.

Champions League, wir kommen!

 

[LPQR]

Season 17/18 review

 

 

I'm delighted. It only took us two years to win a domestic double with what is not only an all-german squad, but increasingly an all-academy team. The performance in the CL is not particularly disappointing as we were knocked out by Galata who eventually went to win the competition. So, here is the squad that has achieved this fantastic performance this season:

First team

 

Youth development is also going extremly well. Kocot, Maladenis, Golenja and Yildirim look set to join the first team in a year or two maximum. All four of them academy products.

U19 team

 

Revelation of the season:

Mathias Rapp

10 goals, 6 assists, 7 Mom and an AVR of 7.41 are pretty impressive for an 18 year old who looks like a legend in the making

Player of the season:

Max Besuschkow

Great stuff from our Golden Boy who just keeps getting better and better. An AVR of 7.76 speaks for itself.

Encouraging point:

 

All six players in our front three positions have performed incredibly well, racking up a total of 72 goals and 40 assists between them.

[LPQR]

Season 18/19 review

 

Nerve-wracking finish to our 4th season as we finished equally with Bayern on both points and goal difference. Managed to win the league thanks to our head-to-head performances.

Our conquest of the German Cup makes it three in a row!

Beaten by Madrid in the CL, I'm not too disappointed with it. Our performance wasn't too bad, we just need some time for our talent do develop.

 

First team

 

U19's

 

Our youth academy has produced yet another potential star this year:

Bjorn Bundt

really excited about this kid

 

Revelation(s) of the season:

Max Mauersberger  Rafal Kocot

promoted from the Stuttgart II and from the u19s respectively, the performances of these two this season are a testament to the club's youth development policy.

Player of the season:

Johannes Eggestein

What a player and what a season...42 goals and 14 assists in 50 apperances over the course of this season. Enough said.

Oh yes, that as well

 

[LPQR]

Heartbreak..

two of the most exciting youth academy products developed over the last 3 years have chosen to represent their secondary nationality, despite both of them being born in Germany and being potentially good enough to play for the Mannschaft:

 

 

 

Consequently, they have been moved to the reserves and will be shipped out in January.

[clarkehwbu]

1 hour ago, LPQR said:

Heartbreak..

two of the most exciting youth academy products developed over the last 3 years have chosen to represent their secondary nationality, despite both of them being born in Germany and being potentially good enough to play for the Mannschaft:

 

 

 

Consequently, they have been moved to the reserves and will be shipped out in January.

That's a shame, both with 'wonderkid' tag too!

[LPQR]

On 9/27/2016 at 10:52, clarkehwbu said:

That's a shame, both with 'wonderkid' tag too!

absolutely gutting. They were the two stars of that generation. Another common issue with managing in Germany is the huge amount of Turkish players with dual nationality turkish/german that you get coming through the youth system. Almost everyone of them ends up playing for Turkey eventually. These are three that were produced by the club during the last 4 years:

Anil Kocabylik  Guney Yuksel  Ilhan Yildirim

All three fantastic prospects that, unfortunately I can't play in the first team due to the German-only policy. Out they go in January too....
 

[clarkehwbu]

Who have you got as feeder clubs? It might be that you have a club from one of those nations and hence why you keep getting these through?

Option could be go into international management too and give them those caps for German team

[LPQR]

21 hours ago, clarkehwbu said:

Who have you got as feeder clubs? It might be that you have a club from one of those nations and hence why you keep getting these through?

Option could be go into international management too and give them those caps for German team

no feeder clubs at all  and i'm inclined to think the second would qualify as cheating

[LPQR]

The Golden Generation

I think it's fair to say that Stuttgart have been responsible for producing and developing the new generation of hope in German Football over the past 5 years. This post is about paying tribute to an extremely talented batch of footballers of similar age (19-21) that will no doubt have the responsibility of leading the Mannschaft to glory over the next decade:

Central Defenders

Fabio Hesse

Lennart Grunenberg

the unstoppable duo, although not produced by the VFB academy, have spent their last 5 years at the club and matured into one of the best defensive partnerships in the league

Midfielders

Max Mauersberger

Vangelis Maladenis

Matthias Rapp

two DM's, one more technically gifted, the other more hard working and combative and of course, the iconic shadow striker - Rapp

Forwards

Tim Eichinger

Johannes Eggestein

A pacey shadow striker/raumdeuter with good potential and the legendary Eggestein - a complete forward already beating all of the club's scoring records

 

 

 

[LPQR]

Mid-season update

Tactical revelations

So, my computer crashed and I had to start the season again. I thought I'd implement something different this time, and after considering the players I have at my disposal I decided to implement a very fluid system with a 3-4-1-2 base shape

Main issues considered

- My fullbacks are decent but far from world-beaters 

- I have a lot of talented DM's, and most of them have high workrate, stamina and strength

- I have the best defensive trio in the league with Orban, Hesse and Grunenberg, and it would be a shame to leave one of them on the bench

- Same goes for the attacking trio of Eggestein, Avdijaj and Rapp, although using Rapp as a shadow striker allows me to exploit his creative prowess in midfield

- There's plenty of strength, pace, work rate, stamina and tactical intelligence in the squad to be playing deep, absorbing the pressure and create quick transitions

- I have a shortage of wide, winger-style players, Gnabry being the only one that stands out

 

*the left midfielder cuts inside and is more of a defensive playmaker

*right midfielder attacks the wide space

*normal defensive line so that we can exploit our speedy midfielders

*two DM's - both physically astute,  one of them them running forward to support attacks, the other sitting deep and dictating tempo

*maximized width so we do not concede the flanks too much 

*very fluid shape for compactness, creativity and team-play

Half season results:

 

Best defence, best attack, still going strong in all competitions and some amazing player performances:

Attacking trio

                                                                                                                                                                                              apps   gls  ass   mom

say what you want, but 33 goals and 8 assists by December is pretty impressive
 

Overall

 

 

 

 

Let's see where this gets us this season  

[john1]

Impressive squad you have built, Rapp looks quality!! Heartbreaking to see those two youngsters switching to other nations

[Ceching You Out]

Quite ridiculous results! Congrats on the performances and the team you've built. Excited to see how far you can take this.

[LPQR]

59 minutes ago, john1 said:

Impressive squad you have built, Rapp looks quality!! Heartbreaking to see those two youngsters switching to other nations

Absolutely mate, it makes the save more challenging though. Rapp is slowly turning out to be one of my favourite players in this FM series. Watching him grow was what makes these save worth the effort

31 minutes ago, Ceching You Out said:

Quite ridiculous results! Congrats on the performances and the team you've built. Excited to see how far you can take this.

Cheers

[LPQR]

More drama in Stuttgart...

I have tried getting Avdijaj to sign a new contract for two years now and every time I did the agent asked for the inclusion of a non-negotiable release clause which was even lower than the already existing one, so I couldn't possibly give in to such foolishness. Well, last hour of the last day of January transfer window and here we go, Madrid activated the release clause....

With Eggestein out for 3 weeks, I have a month of football to play without any forwards at my disposal. Lovely

 

He was never mesmerizing until this season, really, but I've always liked him. A lot of useful movement of the pitch, great team-working abilities and some good finishes too.

 

 

Well, that's that, another club-trained player leaves Stuttgart...

[LPQR]

Season 19/20 review

 

A great season which marks our 3rd consecutive domestic double  

The second part of the season was a massive let-off compared to the first, but we still managed to pull of some great results. I have tried to stretch youth development as far as possible and rely on signings as little as possible but given that most of our best prospects have left the club (the nationality issue) I was faced with a massive lack of squad depth. It has had a great effect on our performances and I believe some new signings are absolutely necessary because we play across three competitions and our players just don't keep up. Eggestein is the best example:  30 goals before december, then a 3 week stop due to lack of rest and he scored 14 after the injury in twice as many games. Avdijaj's departure has left us in shambles with a demoralized squad and having only one player able to play as a forward. Had to retrain Eichinger to a false nine and he did a wonderful job, however I don't think you can win anything with only one and a half strikers in the team. So, looking forward to spending some money after 2 years of abstinence on the transfer market. I will try to sign the best available players that were produced by Stuttgart and then we'll see....

We were knocked out 5-2 on aggregate by a Man City team which thrashed Juventus 6-1 in the quarters and eventually went to win the CL, so I can't fault the boys. Of course, some part of me still thinks we could have done it if our players were in better condition, but I will have to be satisfied with that for now.

 

 

*funnily enough, Arianit Ferati is a player produced by Stuttgart's academy and I strongly consider signing him for next season

 

 

Revelations of the season

Vangelis Maladenis/Tim Eichinger

both exceeded my expectations tremendously. Eichinger filled in for Avdijaj in the second half of the season, which saw Heinrichs moving from DM to AM to rotate with Rapp, which consequently meant more game time for Maladenis. I guess this is what one calls a domino-effect  

Maladenis has played 7 u21 matches for Germany and has now been called up by Greece. If he plays a game and changes nationality I'll smash some stuff in my room, for sure.

 

Youth intake

*note: Only players marked with green color are part of the intake, I seem to find no other way to view the reports of just the youth candidates without viewing the whole u19 team

Jean Marc Benoit/Oliver Munz

Not too bad but not amazing either. Annoyingly, two of the three best players of this intake have dual nationality, and judging how this has played out so far, I think I can anticipate were this is going.

In other news....

 

I really enjoyed this season. It has been the most challenging so far, with a lot of drama as well as good developments and, overall I believe we should only be moving up from here. I also plan to do a full squad review, player by player style once I get the time

[LPQR]

I don't think I can take this anymore....

 

 

 

meh... at least some consolation...

 

aand another one goes due to selecting to play for Turkey

 

[LPQR]

Bjorn Bundt promoted to the first team due to lack of options in the striking department 

A player produced by the (by now) famous VFB academy, Loris Karius returns to where he started from after 11 years away from the club

 

[LPQR]

Leon Goretzka signed for 21M as replacement for Maladenis, making him our most expensive ever transfer

 

Gunther Roth joins for 15Million from Bayern to finally add some depth to the striking department

[LPQR]

Besuschkow gains Legendary status while a few others, including myself become club icons

 

Career

 

[cfkllasdfaslkdfj]

Sad to say, but you have the fake German National Team due to license issues (it's treated) and a small number of championships (only Big Five is loaded). Hence every solid player with 2nd nationality will be played for another team differs from Germany in your save.

[LPQR]

1 minute ago, cfkllasdfaslkdfj said:

Sad to say, but you have the fake Germany National Team due to license (it's treated) and small number of championships (only Big Five is loaded). Hence every solid player with 2nd nationality will be played for another team differs from Germany in your save.

woah, cheers mate, where were you in 2015?  well, lesson learnt, I suppose I have no excuse to moan about it and blame it on fate anymore

[LPQR]

For the 3rd year in a row, Bayern beat us in the supercup....

 I'm not too surprised to be honest, the best team we could field had absentees in the names of Rapp, Hesse, Grunenberg and Mauersberger due to them all being either injured or too tired to play

[LPQR]

August 2020 - Overall career review so far

                                                                                          Season 15/16 - 2.Bundesliga - Champions

                                                                                          Season 16/17 - Bundesliga - 3rd place, German Cup winners

                                                                                          Season 17/18 - Bundesliga - Champions, German Cup winners, German Super Cup winners, CL - knocked out in first round

                                                                                          Season 18/19 - Bundesliga - Champions, German Cup winners, CL - knocked out in quarter final

                                                                                          Season 19/20 - Bundesliga - Champions, German Cup winners, CL - knocked out in semi final

A total of 9 trophies in 5 years at the club 

Squad

VFB Stuttgart has overtaken Bayern Munchen as the most reputable club in Germany

5th most reputable club in the world

 

12th richest club in the world

Top players developed/produced by the VFB Stuttgart academy

Klaas Jensen - Manager Profile

 

A very successful 5 years at Stuttgart and quite an amazing experience so far. Even though I can field a match-winning first 11 consisting only of players trained at club my aim is to have a complete squad consisting of players trained by the club and of course, win the CL with it, so plenty of work ahead  

It is a great shame I did not pay enough attention before starting the save to fix the German national team issue, as it would have added a great dimension to the game, and sadly, it can't be fixed in-game. However I'm still proud of what we managed to achieve here, in Stuttgart, and I believe making the transition to an all youth team will make the journey and the laurels even sweeter, so here we go, another season ahead, a lot of talent and ambition in the team and a lot of pride in our chests for what we have already achieved

 

[LPQR]

apparently we're still considerable outsiders for the CL this season 

[LPQR]

meanwhile, good to get some acknowledgment from the football community

 

[LPQR]

aaaaand it just looks like it might finally work!

Yes Yes Yes and a thousand times Yes!

Players seem to have taken the news well

This is how Germany  lined up against Iceland

8 Stuttgart players in the line up!

Rapp ended up breaking his arm in the Iceland game and was taken out of the NT squad

many thanks to @BoxToBox and @cfkllasdfaslkdfj for helping me solve the licensing issue! a virtual 1 litre pint of Paulaner to both of you!

[LPQR]

December 2020 - Squad overview

Here is a more detailed view of the squad we've managed to assemble so far 

Goalkeepers

                            

Defenders

Midfielders

 

 -  -  - 

 

Forwards/Shadow strikers

 

[BoxToBox]

It worked, brilliant!

Shame it led to Rapp getting injured.

[LPQR]

4 minutes ago, BoxToBox said:

It worked, brilliant!

Shame it led to Rapp getting injured.

Thanks again mate! I know, spoiled the party a bit. It's 4 weeks injury though, so nothing serious he'll miss 6 matches in which Bundt can have some game time

I can't help but think what would have been the case if I would have done this earlier, maybe the likes of Kocot, Maladenis and Golenja would have been playing for Germany now... who knows

 

[LPQR]

Tactical musings

this is an updated piece on the thread I have made in tactics section of the forum, just thought I'd share it here. 

Given my relative success with the following system I'd like to explain my thought process towards how and why it works

I will make a few points about how important it is that you figure out how you want to/can play and adjust accordingly. I notice a lot of people thinking any tactic could work with any team or any team can play any style of football, which I believe to be the reason for their struggles. At the end of the day, if football would be that simple it wouldn't actually exists in its current competitive form. It's a very complex game with infinite amount of variables, however the one thing that you can or have to do as a football manager is know how you will play.

 And when I say that I don't mean being 100% sure from the start, everybody adjusts and learns along the way exactly because of the complexity of the game that i mentioned earlier on. You're bound to be faced with unknown scenarios in the game one way or the other. The one thing that you can do is analyse your squad, try to understand the parameters of the tactical creator and what options it gives you and then come up with a solution to implement an idea. For example, team shape is a key thing in this FM I believe as it influences pretty much every aspect of how you play. So it's important that you understand the implications of playing a flexible or fluid approach before deciding which one to use. With the team above, employing a very fluid shape makes sense because I have very all-rounded players and a lot of what they do on the pitch is more down to their own talent rather than my specific tactical instructions. However, that is an instruction in itself! It is a decision you have to make whether you want your players to be free in making those decisions or not. My advice is to not tick things left and right and expect for a magical cocktail, keep it simple and, most importantly, make sure you can observe and understand the results of your decisions!  

so, key question:

What are your squad characteristics?

so, let's say you have good to excellent players, let's say defenders that can pass the ball 7 out of 10 times and midfielders that can tackle successfully 7 out of 10 times, which is how I would describe my squad at the moment. I have decided to field my strongest 11 and see which one performs best in which position and how I can fit it all into a system.

 - So I have 3 CB's that can do a decent job on the ball, one of them slower than the other two, who have 16 for acceleration and 15/18 for pace. This means playing a back three should not be problematic as the 2 side CB's are quick enough to cover a lot of ground on both the wide and central areas of the pitch. Additionally, they are tactically intelligent enough to cover for each other and again, quick enough to come back to a central position from a wide position(for example challenging an opposition winger). 

- I have 4 DM's in the squad that are very strong, fast, hard working and good in individual duels. This enables me to have them deep enough to protect the backline and rely on their speed to support the team high up enough in transitions. The choice of roles is tied to a different issue: the overall style of play. So I have a normal defensive line and a standard mentality and a normal tempo, which means I will usually sit pretty deep and absorb pressure looking for an opportunity to either break away at speed or build up play in a favourable area (pass into space TI). Anyway, this is what I want. Why? Because:

- I have Rapp  (16Acc 18Pac), Gnabry(16Acc 15Pac), Eggestein(15Acc 14Pac) and Eichinger (17Acc 17Pac) that are all really quick players with good dribbling that can break away at speed as well as having high attributes off the ball which means they are intelligent enough to find space and exploit it. 

- So why DLP(D) and RPM(S) for the DM's? I decided I want two playmaking roles that will decide how the transition unfolds from deep. There are mainly two scenarios: We win the ball back and the DLP is responsible for picking up that long ball that opens up space or the RPM drives forward with the ball looking to initiate a more dynamic attack. I do not want any playmaking roles in the final third as that disrupts the flow of the movement, as players will look to pass to the playmaker even if another player is in a better position to pass to. 

- Naturally, in this system, I would rely a lot on the work-rate and stamina of the 2 wide players to cover the wide areas. Luckily, both at my disposal have really good attributes there. However, I decided that it would still be too risky to solely rely on those two, so I adapted the tactic to ease off the pressure on them. How? I maximized the team width. How does that help? It means that when the team is defending we have a bank of 5 players defending looking like this:

Here you can see my RPM challenging Atletico's forward for the ball whil the DLP marks the other forward while covering the space between the LCB and CB. You can also notice that the RCB and LCB are wide enough to challenge the wide players if needed (that is if the LWM and RWM fail in challenging or marking them), and the space they leave is covered by the two DM's, both instructed to tackle hard and mark tightly.

The Very Fluid team shape also plays a big part in how this system works. It's effect on this particular aspect of play(defending) is obvious: look at how close the lines are to each other. The team is very compact and allows little space to the oposition.

- The Shadow Striker and why is it working so well in this system: Matthias Rapp is a player I picked up when he was 15 and developed him in what many believe to be the finest German player of his generation.  

 

- notice the high work rate and the good tackling and marking stats

- Comes Deep to Get the Ball PPM

The combination of these factors play a decisive role in how Rapp interprets the SS role. In defensive situations he will come deep and help the midfield(see picture above) while his speed helps him transition quickly in attack and join the two forwards in no time.

- what I mean by adapting and suiting your system to the players you have: If I didn't have a player like Rapp I would have probably gone for a CM(A) in the midfield strata. This could turn out to be a viable solution if your side is weaker as well, as that would solidify the defense with a bank of 5 midfielders in the defensive stage of play. Additionally, if my 2 DM's wouldn't be so good in both challenging for posession and creating play I would probably have to change their roles and the whole idea of the system would change as a result.

Off the ball and passing are also very important in this kind of system, as a very fluid shape means the team relies on the player's ability to fill in for each other's positions and not waste passes when in critical situations. Overall stamina, work rate, good tactical attributes(anticipation, decisions, concentration) of the players also play a massive part in it as I rely on the players ability to cover ground due to the width mentioned earlier on. 

Also, my left midfielder cuts inside, and if he wasn't as technically gifted as the WM's I've got at my disposal I would probably instruct the team to exploit the right flank. I have opted not to for two reasons: one of them is the one above and the second is because I rely on the overall tactical intelligence of my team to 'pass into space' correctly, i.e. I leave the decision whether to exploit one side of the pitch or the other to their ability to read the game and interpret the right call. An overall weaker squad might struggle with that.

See how it's all interconnected?

[LPQR]

Tactical musings - part II

So, about adapting,  for example, last season and in the early stage of this season I was faced with an injury/lack of squad depth crisis in the striking department

I've decided to switch the tactic to something like this

 

- the new formation changes the dynamics of play so adjustments are necessary

- 'cut inside' instruction is removed for the left midfielder as Rapp has been pushed to the left and occupies that area of the pitch, additionally this allows Hoxha to make more runs out wide and explore his pace 

- the AM is given a support duty because he has three players around him making runs from deep out of which two with attack duties. This is actually very important, because an absolutely key part of my tactical set-up was analyising the support/attack roles and how they're distributed on the pitch in relation to how the player's roles and instructions make the move

- Gnabry is now able to stay a bit wider because the AM, Besuschkow covers enough defensive ground to ease off that responsibility on him

- the RPM is now able to make an impact in the advanced areas of the field, with the AM holding up the ball while he overlaps him with his speedy runs from deep for both him and the RW

- the CF, Eggestein is playing with a support duty because he has two players 'moving into channels' in behind him that could break the opposition defense if given the right pass. In the previous system that was the job of the F9 and with the AM now sitting much deeper, Eggestein has to be given that task. Speaking about inter-connectivity, this example is a great one because at the end of the day, the thought that I've focused on while making these instructions is how the team will play or how the system will work rather than on individuals. One might be inclined that a striker on support duty is 'less attacking' but hey, football is not an individual's game, especially in a very fluid system. So, how did he fare in the new system so far?

 

not too bad

overall team performance until December?

 

 not too bad

[Ceching You Out]

9 hours ago, LPQR said:

Tactical musings

this is an updated piece on the thread I have made in tactics section of the forum, just thought I'd share it here. 

Given my relative success with the following system I'd like to explain my thought process towards how and why it works

*Snip*

Very well laid out and spot on!

[deltablue]

For legal reasons the German NT thing can't be discussed on the forums.

[LPQR]

1 hour ago, deltablue said:

For legal reasons the German NT thing can't be discussed on the forums.

noted

[davehibb]

Loving this thread and your Dynamo Dresden one mate. Big fan of the Bundesliga.

Looking forward to your updates.

[LPQR]

56 minutes ago, davehibb said:

Loving this thread and your Dynamo Dresden one mate. Big fan of the Bundesliga.

Looking forward to your updates.

cheers mate, always refreshing to see the effort appreciated

[LPQR]

22 hours ago, Ceching You Out said:

Very well laid out and spot on!

 Thanks mate, I really enjoy writing these pieces. I sometimes feel the 'tactical journey' of the careers gets ignored in favor of the spotlight of club and player achievements, but I personally find it really interesting to see how people change and think their tactical approach and succeed or fail and what's their reasoning behind it all. After all, quite a big part of being a manager  

[LPQR]

January 2021 

For a second year in a row, one of our players wins this award.

after Eggestein last year, it's Timmy's turn. and what a player he has become, I must say he exceeded all my expectations towards his development and most notably, performances

 

btw, remember me saying he's like a mini-version of Gnabry back in 2016?  spot the difference now

speaking of which, Gnabry has been shortlisted for the Ballon D'or this year after registering an average rating of 8.16 across all competitions in 2020. LEGEND

 

[davehibb]

Eichinger looks as good as, if not better than Gnabry already. He must be a lock for the Ballon D'Or in a year or two.

 

[LPQR]

1 hour ago, davehibb said:

Eichinger looks as good as, if not better than Gnabry already. He must be a lock for the Ballon D'Or in a year or two.

 

yep, he really kicked it off last year, after Avdijaj left. He's still just 21 as well so, plenty of improvement time ahead! Rapp, Eggestein, Gnabry, Eichinger, all of them could end up there in spotlight, but if I'd choose I'd obviously go for Rapp

With 17 Goals and 20 assists in all competitions last year I wonder how he didn't find himself shortlisted for any of the European Awards...

 

 

 

[LPQR]

in other news... we've pretty much made the DFB Pokal competition our own

 

[LPQR]

February 2021 - Youth Intake

[update after computer crash, new intake]

Dominik Sauter / Kay Bayerschmidt

decent intake, a left back coming through the youth ranks is very good news 

[update]

meanwhile, our academy is confirming its status as the un-questionable force in Germany

 

[LPQR]

great... computer crashed, have to start over from January... youth intake post above will be updated