June 22, 2010

In the first article I discussed the nuts and bolts of the tactical plan I had set up. Essentially it is a 4-2-3-1 with the left winger withdrawn slightly. It is designed to prevent the opposition from using their possession to any effect, and then when we finally regain the ball we will be in a good position to launch effective attacks through the gaps. This is the sort of play Mourinho devised for Inter Milan in their big matches last season against sides who were likely to come at him and try to beat him. So, let’s look at my settings in a little more detail and explore why I made the choices I did.

The Tactical Plan

First of all, the team instructions. I chose to close down less, because this is a good way of keeping team shape. The point of the tactic on the defence is to mark the opposition’s forwards and prevent them from receiving any decent balls. As the passing stats from the 2010 Champions League final show, nearly the whole Bayern side completed more passes than Inter; but as Fernando Duarte pointed out, most of those passes were sideways. If you can’t penetrate, it doesn’t matter whether you have 40% of possession or 80%.

I then chose the counter strategy so that the team would withdraw slightly but attack hard once they got hold of the football. Finally, the rigid philosophy will keep the team playing in definite bands across the pitch, to keep their shape on the defence and to allow a progressive placement of players from the defenders through to the attackers.

The player instructions are designed to get the following movement from the players; Higuaín as a poacher will stay high up the field to be available as an option for the counter-attack. Kaká can put pressure on the opposition midfield, but can also sprint forward to join Higuaín when we regain the ball. With Ronaldo able to push hard up the line and slightly inside, and Drenthe stepping beyond the halfway line, the formation will take a sort of 4-2-4 shape on the attack. Xabi Alonso will move slightly further forward to offer another passing option in the centre, while Diarra, Pepe and Albiol can remain in position in case we lose the ball unexpectedly. This just leaves the full backs who can push on to assist the forwards, but must always be aware of their defensive duties.

In at the deep end

As first games go, it could have been much easier; but Barcelona at home will at least give us the opportunity to try our style against a very good team who like to play possession football. If we can make Barcelona toothless then things will look good for the rest of the season.

A couple of small points on our own team for this game. Injuries and suspensions have ruled out Sergio Ramos, Drenthe and Pepe. In order to strengthen the squad I have signed Juliano Belletti from Chelsea as cover for a number of defensive positions and Ibrahim Afellay from PSV Eindhoven. He can play through the middle as well as covering on the two wings.

I also made sure that I used opposition instructions on their DL, DR, AML and AMR. I chose to always close down and always tight mark. The reasoning was two-fold. First, defence in FM10 is much more stable when you put pressure on the opposition’s wide players because the marking system is far from perfect in this area of the pitch. Second, tactically it will force my wingers to track back in their defensive duties if for nothing else than to track any wing back that decides to burst forward out of defence. Between the two of them, my full back and winger on either flank should be able to work together to stop anyone driving deep down the wing to put in a cross.

The Game Plan

The following two diagrams show how my initial tactical plan should work against Barcelona’s 4-3-3. Their starting lineup for this match had a conventional back four (Márquez and Piqué in the centre, Daniel Alves and Abidal as wing backs), a defensive midfielder (Touré), two central midfielders (Xavi and Iniesta), two wingers (Henry and Krasic) and finally a lone striker (Ibrahimovic).

The first diagram shows the defensive shape of the team. Our full backs will be required to stay goal-side of their wingers, with our two centre backs keeping a watchful eye on Ibrahimovic. Our DMCs will match up with their MCs. Afellay will aim to track back fully and keep goal-side of Daniel Alves. Ronaldo, however, will keep an eye on Abidal but will not come as deep. He should be able to break away into the space on the right wing when we get the ball to launch a counter. Similarly, Kaká will monitor but not stick too tightly to Touré to allow him to break forward. Higuaín will sit on the shoulder of a centre back, ready to receive the ball in space.

The second diagram shows our shape on the attack. Kaká moves to support Higuaín, with Ronaldo also bursting forward, creating a line of three players in attack. Afellay supports this by moving into the final third and dropping in slightly behind the front three. In the gap between Alves and Xavi, he can play between the lines as well as getting back easily into positions should we lose possession. Note that Abidal’s position on Barcelona’s attack and on his defence is quite drastic. Either Abidal will be forced to stay in the right back position, or Ronaldo will exploit the space in behind him. Xabi Alonso is able to move into the space between Barca’s midfield and attack, offering a great outlet for a sideways pass. Finally, the full backs will watch the opposition wingers and not commit themselves too much to the attack.

The plan is very much designed to maximise our use of possession while allowing Barcelona to continue to pass the ball to nowhere. Despite being the home side, therefore, I would expect (and hope) to find the following:

• Low possession percentage is fine, but only if Barca are toothless in attack. Anything higher would either suggest we are not attacking quickly enough (and are therefore passing the ball around without penetration ourselves) or that we a completely dominating a poor Barcelona side.
• Barcelona should primarily be taking long shots. I hope that their shooting is from range as they get frustrated by our defensive set up. This should, in turn result in the following…
• We should create more Clear Cut Chances (CCCs). This is also related to the previous point – we shouldn’t be taking too many long shots. We should be able to attack swiftly and decisively and get a number of shots from inside the penalty area.
• We should reduce Barcelona to one goal at most. That might sound a little ridiculous as a statement. But if we have constructed an organised, Mourinho-style defensive system then even the fire power of Barcelona shouldn’t penetrate our goal more than once. It shouldn’t…

Nothing left to do but kick off

Fingers and toes crossed, we go to the game. In the next article I will take you through the game and show you how the match worked in practice. If the theory works, then we should win this match. If not then it is important to understand why. There are a number of people who argue that the game does not show you why you lost and that there is inconsistency in results. The next article (and later articles in this series) will show you how I analyse a game and how you can show why you won and why you lost. This sort of information will definitely help you to understand why your team might be performing inconsistently.