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Chevie

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Posts posted by Chevie

  1. Thank you very much @DefinitelyTaylor, @warlock And @Jogo Bonito! Hopefully season 2 won’t be a relegation scrap as I feel the quality jump between the leagues isn’t too bad (I’ve jinxed myself now - out by Christmas!)

    I’ll have to check when I’m home who made Yeovil so good and who ruined Grimsby!

    1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

    Great stuff! That is indeed a very good defensive record, something I’ve never been able to achieve. Did you play a deep defensive line as well?

    Yeah it was a deep defensive line and a deeper line of engagement. My tactics are on page 5 of this thread if you want to check them out :)

  2. Oldham Athletic - Season 1 Part 3

    Champions!

    After one year in League 2 I have managed to return Oldham to their home. Back to League 1 we go! We set a record points tally, number of wins and number of defeats.

    image.thumb.png.3c9eb26a6e08349111e0550faef7588a.png

    We sealed the title in game number 45. With a 3 point lead over Exeter City we traveled all those miles south to St James Park and with one of the most satisfying performances of the season we grabbed a deserved 1-0 win to seal the title.

    One thing I was most proud of was the low amount of goals conceded. My tactic was set up as low block, designed to keep tight at the back and, as you can see, I was very successful here.

    On loan Sam Surridge and Danny Rowe were my top scorer and assister respectively with 16 each. I will be looking to potentially get these two on loan again next year after their performances in my system.

    Onward to League 1 we go.

  3. @Dong21 thanks for the welcome! Hopefully I can turn Oldham into a real force in return.

    @Jogo Bonito Luckily the squad I inherited had a few very good players already (Jose Baxter is certainly above this level) and the loan signing of Simpson and Rowe have helped push me into promotion contention.

    Oldham Athletic - Season 1 Part 2

    September

    image.thumb.png.80efd7cd519b02788e050670e4eab608.png

    September was a really good  month for us with 5 wins from 6 games. The 5-3 win against Crawley definitely standing out as an anomaly result since we've not had anything similar since. The only defeat came against top of the table Colchester, a result I believe was not fair on my players as we probably shaded the balance of play.

    October

    image.thumb.png.f80a2582cae7e23d963cb702c9afefff.png

    Unfortunately, Ocotber wasn't quite as good but we have ended the month in 3rd place and, therefore, in the automatic promotion places. The highlight being a 2-1 win away at promotion rivals Northampton and the low point definitely conceding a 94th minute equaliser against Carlisle.

    Current Table

    image.thumb.png.51d789afd1e9c9ea03c3d2d038740cae.png

    As you can see, it's currently very close with only 3 points separating myself and and 8th placed Swindon. The aim at the start of the season was to finish in the play offs so I'm very happy with how the season is going so far.

    Another update will be provided in 2 months time!

  4. image.png.d446c6a7d0eb32105f344dea5c5f7fbc.png

    Oldham Athletic - Season 1 Part 1

    With Oldham playing outside of the third tier of English football for the first time since 1997, I decided it would be good challenge to try and rebuild the side and, eventually, return them to the promised land of the Premier League after they were one of the founding members in 1992.

    Transfer Budget: £0

    Remaining Wage Budget: £139

    As you can see, I didn't have much room to manoeuvre here. So I only made a few loan signings (Tilley, Simpson, Rowe and Bossin).

    image.thumb.png.7df99ee54417fb4f3f49f0e377ca8248.png

    Tactics

    I am running with three tactics, all based on a low block and set up to try and break on the opposition if we can catch them over-committed:

    image.thumb.png.c6054180ecaf616bfedb20457c5ad856.pngimage.thumb.png.d55a8f773b7ee0c5607e4c284e718d8b.pngimage.thumb.png.165852f6b9ab1fd280b1eef15cf50cc2.png

    Each one is used for different opposition. The 4-4-1-1 is for teams of similar quality, the 4-1-4-1 is for stronger opponents and the 4-4-2 is for when we are the favourites.

    Pre-Season

    image.thumb.png.01e5262a2bf4b051fdd3f541c89cd24d.png

    Although the results were pretty mixed, overall it was a positive pre-season. The three defeats we suffered were against teams from the division above and all the games were very close. The other four were nice confidence boosters as the players got used to the style of play I'm attempting to implement.

    August

    image.thumb.png.3e8c18d77d44f9114d11330591ee881e.png

    August was a, well, slow month. Only 4 goals scored and 3 conceded in 6 matches is hardly exhilarating football! At least the low block I am attempting to employ to frustrate the opposition seems to be working, I just hope my attacks begin to click soon and we start to score some more goals or else this could be a long season.

    However, it's still an unbeaten start in the league and being out of the League Cup this early could be a blessing in disguise as the squad can now concentrate more on the league.

     

    So that's where I am so far, hopefully we'll hit some form before my next post!

  5. Result so far:

    image.thumb.png.9120e5078766f152aac27346c0cd143b.png

    Not the greatest at all. I may be being harsh considering the level of opponent I have played so far but the idea of strikerless was to exploit the space big teams gave me and this has only happened once (even then, Tottenham were admittedly the better team).

    Also, the tactics above haven't had the desired style of play even though Obiang now has the trait Tries Killer Balls Often. I've now got him learning the PPM Dictates Tempo and will start him on Comes Deep To Get Ball once he is done as I feel these will help get Obiang playing the style I want from him.

    However, back to the tactic, he has only been playing 1 key pass per game ... MAXIMUM. This was not the idea I had. I've been using the 3-1-4-2-0 so far as I felt in pre-season that this was performing the best.

    This may be because of the role selected. Although it allowed for the most direct passing of all the roles with a defensive mentality, the half back hardly screams creative. Because of this I have decided to change to a Regista as I hope this will make Obiang the central figure in my tactic.

    I also think that the space required for Obiang to pass into currently isn't there, for whatever reason, so I hope this new tactic I have designed will create an overload on one side of the pitch for a killer pass to exploit the space on the other.

    image.thumb.png.e0da08ddc0f6301f2ce2861650461636.png

    As you can see, I hope all my support duties on the right side draw the opposition across to create space for my left back and left midfielder who, in turn, should supply my attacking midfielder.

    The wingers on either side in my old tactic also left me very vulnerable down the sides so this formation should be a little more solid in defence.

    The original one tactic will remain to give me a choice but the above will become my new first choice.

    I'll update again soon to say if this goes any better!

  6. One almost perfect bit of play from Obiang here:

    As Fabianski throws the ball out to the right sided defender, you can see that Obiang (Number 14) is deeper than the central defender, waiting for the ball. So the Half Back choice working as I wanted in terms of positioning. Yarmolenko (Number 19), in the now amended AM (A) role, starts a forward run into the space.

    image.thumb.png.21b6926c478ce096bae49cd0f8320da2.png

    From this deep position, Obiang send a long pass into the space that Yarmolenko is moving into.

    image.thumb.png.f25dde0169564f0212379ef812a0ead9.png

    Yarmolenko gets on the end of this pass but is fouled by the covering defender (under his name on the screen grab).

    If moves like this continue and start leading to chances then I'll be very happy!

  7. 4 hours ago, herne79 said:

    The Treq being lazy is a bit of an urban myth

    Lazy was probably the wrong way of putting it on my behalf.

    Quite naively, when choosing this role and seeing it only comes with only an attacking duty, I assumed this meant it had Get Further Fowards as a PI. When checking back it actually didn’t and it’s also blocked out as something you’re not able to choose.

    My idea was to have this player pushing into one of the 5 zones which needed this PI. Hence the change to an AM (A).

  8. Early Tactical Re-Think

    Having watched and analysed the stats from my first three friendlies, I already wasn't happy with how the tactic was performing so I made a couple of changes. Hooray for friendlies!!! :hammer:

    Remove Shorter Passing - Obiang's passing, although more direct than the rest of the team, was still not as long as I wanted when I can up with the style of play I was aiming for:

    image.thumb.png.0eec4003019b41e19b55fa91d9216ce0.png

    In place of this, I have given PIs to the players who surround Obiang to shorten their passing and encouraged them to play fewer risky passes. In my mind this will keep the team playing it simple to Obiang who will then hit it long into space. As you can see, his passing directness is now a lot higher:

    image.png.b1a157f8517a45f82b048457cda5138c.png

    This will hopefully be reflected in the upcoming friendly matches.

    Add Drop Deeper - Making my team drop slightly deeper will hopefully encourage more space in behind the oppositions defence.

    Add Lower Tempo - Along with the TI to Drop Deeper, I hope that this will tempt the opposition to creep forwards and leave me more space to exploit. It will also give my players who are attacking from deeper positions a chance to get forward.

    Trequartista to Attacking Midfielder (Attack) - As you can see, my Trequartista wasn't threatening in behind anywhere near enough:

    image.thumb.png.3014fc4cfc20e6f1ce1d57cbdceb01ff.png

    I watched this player's movement after @zlatanera's comment about how lazy this role was. This was even when I used a player with the PPM Gets Forward Whenever Possible. Changing to an Attacking Midfielder means this player now has the PI Get Further Forward which should make them a threat in behind.

  9. 1 hour ago, Jommelb said:

    Noticed one thing: why a HB with 3 central defenders?

    I was hoping with one defender on cover that the HB would still drop in and almost create a back 4 all at CB but from my first couple of friendlies this certainly hasn't been the case :(

    4 minutes ago, zlatanera said:

    Maybe try DLP for that system?

    The passing directness of a DLP, although close, is shorter than for a HB:

    HB: image.png.b2323e248592820907e6516352e3644d.png

    DLP: image.png.2c3e1a4143803668b72cb4b8d9b2acd8.png

    So even though it won't quite have the desired effect in terms of positional play it should help with the style of passing I'm hoping to achieve.

  10. The Idea

    Not only did I want to try this strikerless challenge, but I also have an idea of the style of football I'd like to play.

    Hopefully the formations and mentality I choose will tempt the opposition defenders to creep forwards, leaving masses of space in behind. To exploit this, I want to use a deep midfield player to ping long passes in behind for my players breaking into that space.

    This is the one position where I'm not sure what role to choose. I'm trying to decide between a Half Back (Defend) or a Deep Lying Playmaker (Defend). Both will have the PIs More Direct Passing and More Risky Passes to encourage this ball in behind the defence (coupled with a few PPMs but more on that later).

     

    The Tactics

    I've created the following three tactics:

    image.thumb.png.a674f3a7c70ccf0c79bc2201024cb056.png

    image.thumb.png.43b01e7a8d895a314cdf8d685262a93f.png

    image.thumb.png.90d769d6865c758dedda285ace06117d.png

    My thinking about these was pretty much completely inspired by @westy8chimp and his 7th season at Leverkusen where he planned to have a player attacking each of the 5 zones. In the 3-1-4-2-0 I have the Winger, Trequartista, Shadow Striker, Mezzala and Winger. In the 4-2-2-2-0 I have the Wing-Back, Trequartista, Shadow Striker, Segundo Volante and Winger (This tactic has also taken a lot from the France tactic suggestions from this year's World Cup Interpretations thread). In the 4-3-2-1-0 I have the Wing-Back, Inverted Winger, Shadow Striker, Segundo Volante and Winger.

    Mentality - Counter - This should make my team sit deeper and a little more compact compared to default.

    Team Shape - Structured - From what I've read on this forum, I may have understood wrong, this shape should mean that my players with attacking duties concentrate on attacking more than they would on fluid. This will hopefully help me exploit the 5 zones with my 5 attacking mentalities.

    Shorter Passing - This encourages the team to focus on shorter passing meaning that it should mainly be my Half Back / Deep Lying Playmaker who is aiming to find the space with his passing which is my vision for how I want to play.

    Pass Into Space - Passing that ball in behind a defence that has slightly pushed higher. Exactly what I want.

    Not many PIs. Obviously I have the two I mentioned earlier for the DMC and I've got a couple on the goalkeeper for his distribution.

     

    The Team

    The main reason for choosing this team is the player they have for my HB/DLP:

    image.thumb.png.3141430ffde0e729b77c7af9c5b75909.png

    Here are his attributes and PPMs. Before I decided on who I wanted to play here, I earmarked three PPMs which I thought would be perfect for the player in this role:

    Likes to Switch Ball To Other Flank - A PPM that encourages longer passing. This one could be useful when my HB/DLP is slightly to either side of the pitch and a Wing-Back or Winger has space to attack.

    Tries Killer Balls Often - Killer Balls. Ideal.

    Tries Long Range Passes - Rather obvious this one. My idea is for this player to knock the ball long into the space behind the oppositions defenders.

    As you can see, this player already has two out or three of these desired traits (and the final one will be trained ASAP). I also like the attributes he already has. 14-15 for Passing, Technique and Vision which will hopefully improve with training which focuses on these attributes.

    This player is Pedro Obiang - This guy will, hopefully, be a key cog in my team - Therefore, I have gone for West Ham. I am on an updated database with summer transfers so I won't be making any transfers on for this save.

     

    I will update at intervals during this season, hopefully all goes well!

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