Blac and Nents silly match reports

[Nentsia]

Searching for Pragmatism


(Italy striker Ciro Immobilè battling with Spain's Dani Carvajal and Gerard Piqué)

Show ContentItaly Formation:

While Italian football has become a ruin, an antique relic of past glory, I prefer to escape reality by inventing and crafting out tactical systems on Football Manager, some of which I may or may not use against the evil Blacaria.

While Italy’s national team missed the World Cup against Sweden, I have taken charge of Italy in FM. Italian football is known for its drama, the controversies, passionate clashes, but also its elegance and the refined technique, flair and vision with which the Fantasisti decide the thrilling matches. Another key ingredient of Italy’s football culture has been the cynicism of its players; the dirty fouls, the diving, the manipulation of the referees, psychological warfare and the extreme tactical organization intended to frustrate and shut out their opponents.

My Italian squad, like its predecessors, needs to be rooted in pragmatism, adaptability and flexibility. The players at my disposal dictate the formation, and the circumstances dictate our strategy. Offensively, the system has to bring about the best qualities of our attackers, and defensively there must be a well-planned organization that complements the system. The basic layout is a 4-1-2-3, but depending on our opponents and the needs of the match, it can vary enormously how this team will play. In general, my Italian squad will look to control the game, maintain ball possession, and give nothing away. But when a more extreme or heavy-handed approach is needed, the team can easily switch.

When we are in need of a goal, this team will basically play with six attackers, occupying the entire width of the pitch, looking to play through the defence using both vertical and horizontal combinations and a lot of distraction runs to confuse and disrupt the opponent’s organization. The attackers enter the box from all angles. A siege would be a fitting description, but always relying on technique and precision – no English-style pumping the ball into the box. With midgets like Insigne and Verratti it would be useless anyway to play high balls.

Confronting Spain

Against Spain however, the expected group leader in my World Cup Qualification Group, I resorted to the defensive page in my playbook. When necessary, we can retreat deep in our own half as well, and park two busses in front of our goal, shutting out our opponents. It requires a lot of discipline and concentration from the players, moving in a very compact 4-5-1 shape and constantly double-marking the opponent’s ball carrier. It has some similarities to Jose Mourinho’s methods with FC Chelsea, staying with virtually 9 men in front of the goal. Bonucci will then act as a defensive director behind the defensive lines, organizing everything.

But just like Mourinho, and the historical predecessor of his strategy - Catenaccio - it would be foolish to think this extremely defense-oriented system cannot attack. Insigne and Candreva on the wings will be ever ready to bomb forward when the team intercepts the ball, and with Bonucci, Verratti, and Marchisio in the center it has the technique and capabilities to supply them with accurate long passes from the back, quickly converting defense into offense.

Sometimes it is difficult to predict with FM how your plans will actually play out on the pitch. In this case, things went exactly as planned. Completely against the odds, Italy beat Spain with 0-2, both goals being scored on the counter-attack. The team defended as a 9-man blue block from the first minute.

Show ContentItalian Defense:

I must admit that the opening fase of the match was tough for my team, with Spain pinning the team back in its own area from the first minute. Of course this is precisely what we wanted, but as often in the opening minutes, it was a bit nervous and we didn't feel safe at all. Just like in my previous post, nervosity took a hold over the team.

After almost 15 minutes however, Spain lost the ball in my half, and finally we had an opportunity to launch a real counter-attack. Verratti reached Candreva, functioning as the link-man down the right flank, who immediately launched it long towards Immobilè. He entered the Spanish penalty box, could've even passed it to Insigne (playing as a second striker coming from the left flank), but instead opted to score himself.

Show ContentCandreva sends Immobile deep:

Fifteen minutes later, Spain walked into the exact same trap again. They lost the ball fairly deep in their attacking midfield, thus being defensively extremely vulnerable. But this counter-attack, in Italian called ''Ripartenza'' (Restart), was a true beauty in its execution. Verratti, with his silky passing and vision of an eagle, launched an enormous pass into space behind the Spanish defenders for Insigne to run into. It was perfectly placed for Insigne to pick up, who dribbled to the side of the goal and then played it to Immobilè waiting in front of the goal to score.

Show ContentVerratti killer ball:

In the second half I let the team play ever more defensively, eventually abbandoning all our attacking capabilities by replacing Candreva with Zappacosta and letting my wingers play as defensive wide midfielders. I instructed my lone striker to just run his socks off to harass and disrupt the Spanish build-up play, while keeping all 9 remaining players closely in front of my goal. Most of the Spanish attacking threat had to come from long shots and corner kicks (of which they got many), but other than that they failed miserably to break through our double lines of defenders.

Spain's 15 attempts on goal versus my 5 attempts on their goal was enough to ensure our 0-2 victory. After the match, Spain manager Lopategui was furious at the press conference and blamed his own players' ''poor performance''. But it was really his own mistake: with a few minor tactical adjustments he would've been able to blunt my counter-attacks and the game would've likely ended in a 0-0 draw. Spain was essentially defeated by itself, precisely as Sun Tzu would have predicted.

4. The good fighters of old put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy. To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.

Show ContentLook at dat compactness: