Eternity RPC Board
06-24-2017, 02:56 PM
Blac vs Nents in the New FM17
![[Image: 2xISvHM.jpg?1]](http://i.imgur.com/2xISvHM.jpg?1)
(Arsenal legend Dennis Bergkamp (ex-Inter Milan) against Inter Milan legend Javier Zanetti)
For the first time in FM17, me and Blac were going to face each other. The Blac was his annoying Arsenal, I picked Inter Milan. Both teams have a reputation for being consistent under-achievers, at home and abroad. Arsenal always manages to screw up its own season, and in the Championsleague they have been bullied by Bayern Munich for years. Inter Milan, in a similar fashion, was the lame one of the big Italian three (Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan) between 1980 and 2006. Juventus and AC Milan both dominated Italy and European football, and Inter Milan sort of competed with them, boasting stars like Ronaldo, Bergkamp, Roberto Carlos and Hernan Crespo, but never won anything. In 2006-07 however, they received a little help from the authorities as AC Milan and Juventus were found guilty of fraud and given punishments. They won the Serie A and the Champions League, but nowadays theyre back at being under-achievers.
![[Image: H4jaKFn.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/H4jaKFn.jpg)
Lack of compactness costs Arsenal
Inter Milan lined up in a 3-4-1-2 formation, which I have wanted to test against Blac for ages. Arsenal used Blac's hallmark 4-2-3-1 system. Playing with three central defenders against a lone striker is a bit of an overkill and it could bite me in the tail because I could end up having one men short higher up the field, but my formation also had one advantage over Arsenal's. By playing with only one winger on each flank, I have an extra man to deploy in the center of the pitch, thus confronting Arsenal's defence with two central strikers and a central attacking midfielder operating behind them. Arsenal's defenders would be playing a very tricky game as they were more or less playing without any covering teammates. On the map you can see the average positions of both teams throughout the match.
My Inter Milan was trying to create a midfield-block for Arsenal to prevent them from having an easy attacking build-up, because I know that Blac wants to attack and create as many scoring chances as possible. With a midfield block, I hoped to isolate Giroud from his attacking midfielders (Ozil, Sanchez & Chamberlain) and to force them to try more long balls to bypass the midfield. It was working insofar as that it succeeded in disrupting Arsenal's attacks which often stranded prematurely. My own backline wasn't well-positioned either however, and was therefore not watertight.
The real problem for Arsenal was however its lack of compactness. English teams, the entire Premier League in fact, is well-known in Europe for its lack of compactness (hence the insane amount of running and shooting). Blac's Arsenal was no different this time. Arsenal's frenzied attempts to charge forward led to a quick loss of possession once they tried to get beyond the midfield, and for some reason, their average positioning without the ball was less compact than if they had the ball. So on average, the Arsenal players and lines were closer together when they had the ball than when they had lost it. It might have been the result of an ineffective attempt to press Inter Milan, but then only the midfielders of Arsenal tried to press while the defenders were just standing there a bit - expanding the distances between them. Although it would be realistic for an English team to actually do that, I'm sure thats not what Blac told his players to do.
Inter Milan should be taken into account here. My team never spent one second too long on the ball, tried to exploit the vast open spaces with quick attacks - often losing the ball quickly again, and returning to its midfield-block defensive shape. In other words, before Arsenal could reorganize into its defensive shape, they had the ball back again in many cases. Which might make it seem on paper as if their defensive shape is larger than it actually was. But it still doesn't explain that it actually became ~larger~.
One explanation might lie in Arsenal's attacking intent: when they lose the ball, they regain it before having entirely settled in their defensive shape, after which many players charge forward and expand their shape. Basically, except from Mustafi and Koscielny, all Arsenal players charged forward in attack. Had Inter Milan given them the space to build up their attack, Arsenal might have overwhelmed my defence with so many players.
This made Arsenal extra vulnerable when Inter Milan intercepted a ball in midfield, out of which many goals for Inter Milan resulted. The first match it quickly became 3-0 for Inter Milan, after which Arsenal got back into the game to 3-2. Inter then expanded the score to 4-2, only to see Arsenal respond and make 4-3, upon which Inter made it 5-3. All goals came from my two strikers, as Arsenal's two central defenders instinctively charged the ball carrier in midfield - giving space for my strikers. My Milanese defence was leaky because the there was a poor distribution of defensive tasks that caused confusion among my defenders - especially concerning the marking of Giroud and how to respond to situations if one of Arsenal's wingers drifted into the penalty box.
In later games, Blac's teams became a bit more compact, while I sorted out my defensive organization. The second game Icardi scored for Inter Milan in the 45th minute, just before half-time. Leading with 1-0, Inter Milan became increasingly reactive, hoping to give Arsenal the death blow on the counter-attack. Around the 80th minute, Eder did so, scoring 2-0. Arsenal still scored from a long shot, but lost 2-1. Our final game ended 2-2. Arsenal took an early lead, but Inter Milan came back to 1-1 from a corner kick. Early in the second half Inter took the lead from an individual mistake by an Arsenal player, but couldn't hold on to this lead as Perisic and Miranda together knocked down an Arsenal player inside our own penalty box. Arsenal equalized 2-2 late in the game from the penalty kick.
(Arsenal legend Dennis Bergkamp (ex-Inter Milan) against Inter Milan legend Javier Zanetti)
For the first time in FM17, me and Blac were going to face each other. The Blac was his annoying Arsenal, I picked Inter Milan. Both teams have a reputation for being consistent under-achievers, at home and abroad. Arsenal always manages to screw up its own season, and in the Championsleague they have been bullied by Bayern Munich for years. Inter Milan, in a similar fashion, was the lame one of the big Italian three (Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan) between 1980 and 2006. Juventus and AC Milan both dominated Italy and European football, and Inter Milan sort of competed with them, boasting stars like Ronaldo, Bergkamp, Roberto Carlos and Hernan Crespo, but never won anything. In 2006-07 however, they received a little help from the authorities as AC Milan and Juventus were found guilty of fraud and given punishments. They won the Serie A and the Champions League, but nowadays theyre back at being under-achievers.
Lack of compactness costs Arsenal
Inter Milan lined up in a 3-4-1-2 formation, which I have wanted to test against Blac for ages. Arsenal used Blac's hallmark 4-2-3-1 system. Playing with three central defenders against a lone striker is a bit of an overkill and it could bite me in the tail because I could end up having one men short higher up the field, but my formation also had one advantage over Arsenal's. By playing with only one winger on each flank, I have an extra man to deploy in the center of the pitch, thus confronting Arsenal's defence with two central strikers and a central attacking midfielder operating behind them. Arsenal's defenders would be playing a very tricky game as they were more or less playing without any covering teammates. On the map you can see the average positions of both teams throughout the match.
My Inter Milan was trying to create a midfield-block for Arsenal to prevent them from having an easy attacking build-up, because I know that Blac wants to attack and create as many scoring chances as possible. With a midfield block, I hoped to isolate Giroud from his attacking midfielders (Ozil, Sanchez & Chamberlain) and to force them to try more long balls to bypass the midfield. It was working insofar as that it succeeded in disrupting Arsenal's attacks which often stranded prematurely. My own backline wasn't well-positioned either however, and was therefore not watertight.
The real problem for Arsenal was however its lack of compactness. English teams, the entire Premier League in fact, is well-known in Europe for its lack of compactness (hence the insane amount of running and shooting). Blac's Arsenal was no different this time. Arsenal's frenzied attempts to charge forward led to a quick loss of possession once they tried to get beyond the midfield, and for some reason, their average positioning without the ball was less compact than if they had the ball. So on average, the Arsenal players and lines were closer together when they had the ball than when they had lost it. It might have been the result of an ineffective attempt to press Inter Milan, but then only the midfielders of Arsenal tried to press while the defenders were just standing there a bit - expanding the distances between them. Although it would be realistic for an English team to actually do that, I'm sure thats not what Blac told his players to do.
Inter Milan should be taken into account here. My team never spent one second too long on the ball, tried to exploit the vast open spaces with quick attacks - often losing the ball quickly again, and returning to its midfield-block defensive shape. In other words, before Arsenal could reorganize into its defensive shape, they had the ball back again in many cases. Which might make it seem on paper as if their defensive shape is larger than it actually was. But it still doesn't explain that it actually became ~larger~.
One explanation might lie in Arsenal's attacking intent: when they lose the ball, they regain it before having entirely settled in their defensive shape, after which many players charge forward and expand their shape. Basically, except from Mustafi and Koscielny, all Arsenal players charged forward in attack. Had Inter Milan given them the space to build up their attack, Arsenal might have overwhelmed my defence with so many players.
This made Arsenal extra vulnerable when Inter Milan intercepted a ball in midfield, out of which many goals for Inter Milan resulted. The first match it quickly became 3-0 for Inter Milan, after which Arsenal got back into the game to 3-2. Inter then expanded the score to 4-2, only to see Arsenal respond and make 4-3, upon which Inter made it 5-3. All goals came from my two strikers, as Arsenal's two central defenders instinctively charged the ball carrier in midfield - giving space for my strikers. My Milanese defence was leaky because the there was a poor distribution of defensive tasks that caused confusion among my defenders - especially concerning the marking of Giroud and how to respond to situations if one of Arsenal's wingers drifted into the penalty box.
In later games, Blac's teams became a bit more compact, while I sorted out my defensive organization. The second game Icardi scored for Inter Milan in the 45th minute, just before half-time. Leading with 1-0, Inter Milan became increasingly reactive, hoping to give Arsenal the death blow on the counter-attack. Around the 80th minute, Eder did so, scoring 2-0. Arsenal still scored from a long shot, but lost 2-1. Our final game ended 2-2. Arsenal took an early lead, but Inter Milan came back to 1-1 from a corner kick. Early in the second half Inter took the lead from an individual mistake by an Arsenal player, but couldn't hold on to this lead as Perisic and Miranda together knocked down an Arsenal player inside our own penalty box. Arsenal equalized 2-2 late in the game from the penalty kick.