Recreating Diego Simeone's Atlético Madrid in FM18

[Solosin]

Much has been said about the achievements of 'El Cholo' Simeone, and we all know how good of a manager he is. In a span of about 5 years, he transformed Atleti and made them into a European powerhouse. He reached 2 UCL finals, won a La Liga title and numerous other cups with a very distinctive and characteristic style of play, which is what I want to recreate here.

Disclaimer

1. I am aware that many here are already playing FM21, but there is something about FM18 that makes me want to keep playing it. I love the 'Team Shape' feature in the tactics creator, and there are many little things that make the game dear to me, mostly nostalgia. I'm sure this tactic can be easily translated into FM 19, 20 or 21 by the very talented people here, so I'll just get into it. 
2. This is not the end result, rather the start of a journey. I'll be tweaking the tactic continuously till I am satisfied, and of course taking into account the feedback I get here, if I do. 

Resources

• Spielverlagerung analysis of a 2016 Madrid Derby
• Spielverlagerung analysis of the CL Semi Final vs Bayern Munich
• Tifo Football Analysis 
• Footballia.net
• @O-zil-to-the-arsenal's excellent posts over the years which inspired me a lot with my understanding of the game.

Core Principles

Before I get into the tactic itself, I want to lay down some core principles of Simeone's philosophy that I want to emulate. 

1. Pressing from the front: Simeone's forwards were very hard working and would often press the opposition midfielders and defenders to disrupt their build-up play.
2. Solid, deep defense: Goes without saying, Simeone likes his defense to be deep and compact. Unlike the forwards, the defenders keep their shape when the opponent is in position.
3. Quick transitions: Once we win the ball back, especially in deep areas, I want them to go direct and attack the space. Lightning fast counter attacks should be a regular occurrence. 
4. Play a 4-4-2 formation: Again, goes without saying.

Getting Started

I want to keep it simple, so I will be playing as Atleti themselves.

 

Team Shape and Mentality

Now comes the tricky part. Like I mentioned earlier, Atleti are very quick in changing the mentality of the team from defense to attack, and vice versa. It almost looks like they are on 'Attacking' when they have the ball and on 'Contain' when they don't. Especially in big games, they can sit behind the ball for 89 minutes and if they smell a counter at the 90th, they'll attack at pace and as a team.

Translating this into FM, I have three options:

1. Play a conservative mentality with attacking player roles in the wings and the forwards, to facilitate the fast counter attacks.
2. Play a more attacking mentality with support and defend roles in the midfield and for the forwards, to get them to defend more responsibly.
3. Play a Standard mentality as a compromise.

If I go for a Standard mentality, it becomes too 'calm' for my liking, as Simeone's side is just too intense to play a Standard game. The intensity and pace isn't there. If I go for a conservative mentality, I will face a lot of fellow teams playing conservative mentalities in the league, as Atleti are one of the strongest. I want to dominate smaller teams like Atleti do in the league. So I decide to go for a 'Control' mentality and 'Fluid' team shape. ('Positive' in further FM editions, I believe.)

• Why 'Control'? - It is the least attacking of the attacking mentalities. It gives the 'supporting' players a decent attacking mentality while also letting them defend. Standard is too vanilla and Attacking is too spicy.
• Why 'Fluid'? - If there is one word to describe the ethos of Atleti, it is 'team spirit'. So naturally I am leaning towards the more 'Fluid' shapes. 'Very Fluid' is overkill because even though Atleti play as a team, there are definite 'Attacking' and 'Defending' units in the team, which is exactly what the 'Fluid' shape offers.

Team Instructions

I want to keep things simple, so after some brief consideration, I want to start out with just  5 simple team instructions:

1. Pass Into Space - A fundamental component of our counter attacks.
2. Drop Deeper - A control mentality pushes up the defensive line, so this is to offset that effect. 
3. Close Down More - Just 'more', not 'much more'. Atleti press usually but not as much as Klopp's Dortmund, for example. So this setting is optimal.
4. Tighter Marking - Just by watching many of their games, I feel there are a lot of aerial and ground duels.  I want my team to go toe-to-toe with the opposition, and 'Tighter Marking' achieves that.
5. Be More Disciplined - Above all, I want my team to remain a team at all times.

 

 

Player Roles and Duties

I have a preferred starting XI, and I will be starting out with these roles and duties, and I've also specified the player instructions, if any. These are simply just what I personally feel like the roles their real life counterparts play, there isn't much to explain here. 

GK -  GK(De) - Jan Oblak - Distribute Quickly

RB -  WB(Su) -  Juanfran - Stay Wider

RCB - CD(De) -  Diego Godín -  N/A

LCB - BPD(De) - José María Giménez - N/A

LB - FB(At) - Filipe Luis - Stay Wider

RM - WM(At) - Saúl - Stay Narrower, Close Down Much More

RCM - DLP(De) - Gabi - N/A

LCM - CM(Su) - Thomas Partey - Roam From Position, Close Down Much More

LM - WP(Su) - Koke - Close Down Much More

STL - CF(Su) - Fernando Torres - Move Into Channels, Close Down Much More

STR - F9(Su) - Antoine Griezmann - Roam From Position, Close Down Much More

Here it is, all in one picture 

A couple of quick points:

• Ideally, Griezmann would be a Trequartista with a high defensive work rate. But since Trequartistas are hardcoded to close down much less, they have no place in a Simeone team. So I went for a False 9. DLF(Su) was also an option, but I feel like F9s link up better with the midfield.
• It was tempting to use Saúl as an Inverted Winger(At), but I feel WMs track back better, and the IW has too many hardcoded instructions that it becomes one-dimensional. I want Saúl to pass the ball if the option is there, run if he wants to or play one-twos if he wants to. A WM(At) is a clean slate and Saúl can write whatever he wants in it.
• It was tempting to use "Look for Overlaps", but I felt it's redundant to use it as a FB(At) and a WB(Su) will get forward anyway and it might slow down counters.

Friendly vs Racing Club - An Analysis

Not long after I took charge at the club. I arranged a friendly to see if my ideas are working as intended. If they are not, the earlier I correct it, the better. These are what I observed in the game.

• Solid 4-4-2 shape in defense

 

• Midfielders harass the player in possession while the back 4 form a solid defensive line

• If the midfield press is bypassed, the team contract into a deep block

• Quick transition on the counter. Here, Filipe Luis wins the ball back and gives it to Koke, who plays a perfect ball to release Torres into space.

• And El Niño cuts it back to Griezmann, who scores with a world class curler into the top corner. 

The Result

I know I know, this is a very un-Atleti result.  But if you look at the stats, you'd see a better picture. Racing Club had 3 shots on goal the whole game, one of them being a penalty after Saul brought down their striker, and they scored from all of those 3 shots. We were devastating on the counter, having 11 shots on target with only 42% possession. Of the 5 we scored, 4 came from counters, except the Godin goal which was from a free kick. Griezmann finished the game with 2 goals and 2 assists, very impressive. If this is any indication of the future, I'm pretty satisfied. I will be playing this save for the next month or so, the goal is to win La Liga and if possible, UCL. I will be updating this thread whenever I find time.

Thank you for reading!