Blac and Nents silly match reports

[Nentsia]

4-2-3-1

A game against The Blac is never the same. Recently we did a match Milan - AS Monaco. My Milan, lined up in a classic 4-4-2, initially conceded through an own goal by Romagnoli. A penalty earned by one of my strikers was missed by Bacca. It seemed like one of those matches where just nothing goes the way it should. But then, a few minutes before half-time, Bacca netted the equalizer. The match then proceeded to degenerate into boring-nothing-is-happening until, suddenly, in the 80th minute, Monaco's defenders struggled to work a ball away out of their box and Milan exploited the error to score the winning goal. The match left both of us seething with anger, wanting to hit our players for failing to adhere to some basic instructions.

More recently, we've had a couple of games in which I wanted to try something new: using Blac's favorite formation. Blac opts for his hallmark 4-2-3-1 most of the time, and I only do it when its absolutely necessary, and I do so while closing my nose with my fingers. But I force myself to learn to work with every kind of formation, and 4-2-3-1 is not one that you can easily ignore since it's the most used.

With Dortmund, my 4-2-3-1 was completely powerless. It failed to generate any offense at all against the most Silly Blac, while he punched me in the face twice with two goals. Later that day I was River Plate, the Blac's his usual Schalke. First game he won 3-0, with again, my version of 4-2-3-1 being powerless. By that time it was getting very annoying since it isn't the most difficult formation to work with, and it should be good at attacking - lining up no less than 4 attackers! The second game with River Plate went much better. Before 15 minutes into the game, I was leading with 2-0. Normally I do not give away leads, and certainly no two-goal leads. But then the Blac and his silly, tall, East-European defenders began to score from corner kicks against my Argentines, whose average height was probably about 150 centimeters.

2-1 is still a lead though. But then the Blac got a penalty kick because my defender thought it was wise to break someone's ankles on the edge of the penalty box. 2-2. I tried not to panick and instead try not to give away any other scoring chances, and hope for a late winner. The late winners came for Blac, as again a tall Yugoslav scored from a corner kick. At this point I could throw my computer out of the window.

I went back to the drawing room. We did a final game for that day: CSKA Moscow vs Zenith St. Petersburg. Again we both lined up in 4-2-3-1 formations, and within a few minutes my CSKA Moscow took the lead. Ezequiel Garay, a Petersburg defender, thought he could safely pass the ball to the full-back. It was intercepted by Zoran Tosic, a quick winger of mine, who quickly passed to my striker who then fired it into the top right corner. A similar goal also happened with River Plate. I think, one of the things the Blac will have to be careful of when I line up with 4 attackers is that, although I seldomly press, I tend to leave my attackers a bit higher up the pitch to wander around a bit. They're seemingly passive and not doing much, but they're preying on these kind of things. Usually I only leave 2 attackers up the pitch, so its easier for Blac to play around. With a 4-2-3-1, things get more tricky.

A short while later, my CSKA broke out down the left flank. The counter-attack ended in a throw in on Blac's half. This provided my team a rare opportunity to actually have an attack with most players on Blac's half. Before that, they barely got out of their own half. The throw in was taken, my winger tried to cross from the left side of the penalty box, but he lost the ball. The attack seemed over - Blac's defenders were already abbandoning their stations. But the ball ended before the feet of Schennikov, my left full-back, who curled it directly to the far post where Zoran Tosic was still... wandering around a bit, while his marker had already left him. 2-0.

The River Plate scenario was now looming over me again: an early 2-0 lead, how to hold on to it? Blac's team continued to dominate the game, in my half, and my team was willing to give up on attacking altogether. That match my team generated a pass completion rate of 65%, so basically every third pass ends up in a turnover. With such a low pass completion, its impossible to generate any offense - unless you manage to get the ball to the opponent's goal in 2 passes. After Zenith lost the ball after a corner kick early in the 2nd half, there was again a wonderful opportunity for CSKA to break out again. The ball went to the left flank, to the runners in the middle, then back to the left flank. It was lightning speed. Musa, my left winger, then hit a long cross into the penalty box, where that little fox - Zoran Tosic - was standing ready to score. 3-0.

I was a bit surprised myself. This was literally my third shot on goal in the entire game (and would remain so). I must admit, with those wingers, attacking midfielder, and striker, the 4-2-3-1 can be brutal on the counter-attack. I now understand why Mourinho loves it. Kokorin, Zenith's striker, immediately answered with a goal to make the score 3-1. After that I further tightened up defensively, and killed off the game until it was finished. Finally, I've gotten the 4-2-3-1 to work for me.

The match statistics were even more of a surprise. They showed a completely one-sided game: only 39% ball possession for CSKA, and 3 shots in total. Blac's team had 61% ball possession, 18 shots fired (6 on goal), 12 corners (I had 1), and an 80% pass completion. I have never seen in FM before that a game that one-sided, can still produce a 3-1 victory. Marvelous!

Show ContentAverage player positions:

CSKA Moscow


Zenith St. Petersburg

Notice how deep Moscow is positioned. I've never seen my teams sitting that deep throughout a match. Orange = without possession, green = with possession/attack phase, blue = average.

Show ContentAction zones:

Left side is CSKA Moscow's goal, right side is Zenith.

Show Contentshot locations:

Left are Zenith's shots on CSKA's goal. Right are CSKA's shots on Zenith's goal. Green = goal; yellow = missed target; orange = saved by goalkeeper; red = blocked by a defender.

Show ContentMatch statistics:

[Nentsia]

FM 17


Sorry Blac... I couldn't stop myself. I noticed it was on sale, and I was a bit done with FM16... so I bought FM17. I still have FM16 on my computer though so we can still play our games c: (but if you can, get FM17 because they've definetely made it more realistic + sexy up to date squads and player ratings).

So the best way for me to see how the not-so-new FM 17 works is by picking the team that I most often use in my self-proclaimed tactical laboratories, implement the tactics that I often employ, and see what happens. First conclusions: football is harder in FM17. In FM16, a player instructed to dribble more almost always succeeds in running past his man down the flank and either deliver a cross, or he manages to get a corner-kick. In FM17, players running with the ball are likely to simply lose it. Crosses: in FM16, crosses are extremely accurate. They always reach the player it was intended for, and its a lottery whether they score or not. In FM17 the crosses are not that accurate anymore and simply miss their target. Passing: in FM16 one could set short passing or retain possession, and the opponent would be left chasing the ball forever. In FM17, I saw already on two occassions that defenders blatantly mishandled the ball or a pass and lost it to an attacker during the build up. In other words, build-up from the back is no longer an automatically useful thing to do. Same for long balls: it depends much more on the strikers now whether they can win those aerial duels or run after passes into space. So these things don't automatically work, and are potentially disastrous. Shooting from just outside the box: Be very afraid. In FM16 there was a low scoring chance if shots were fired from the edge of the box. Now they're devastating - as in real life - but not yet overpowered from what I've seen. And the players are much harder to coach, they're more inclined to do there own thing with the ball, regardless of the instructions or what you expect them to do in such and such role.

Show ContentMy Inter Milan setup:

I tested my beloved 3-4-1-2 system against AS Roma that was set up in that dreaded 4-2-3-1 formation. In the first game I literally set it up as I'd done in FM16, and I was shown that FM17 is more punitive when it comes to tactical errors. In FM16 those wingers (Candreva, Perisic) and the side defenders (Andreolli & Miranda) would've easily taken turns in plugging the holes in the wide areas of my defensive line so that AS Roma's winger's wouldn't get into scoring positions. The FM engine did this largely automatically. In FM17 they scored twice within the first half exploiting the gaps in these areas. The only reason I kept watching the game because after 1-0 my team immediately answered from the kick-off with a splendid goal. So the game remained tight, but I lost 2-1 nevertheless.

Show ContentSay hello to Salah:

FM17 is thus on the one hand more realistic, with players making more natural errors, and it's harder to make everything go as you planned, but it is at the same time more punitive (this will also play into my hands as well later on). So for the return game I tried to take meassures to minimize my vulnerability on the flanks, and then see what happens.

AS Roma scored in 30 seconds. But it was from a long ball on Dzeko, and even the game counted the goal as caused by an error of my goalkeeper. Other than that, it looked defensively quite secure. Roma's wingers had little space and if they even received the ball they were quickly under heavy pressure from two players. As AS Roma was in the lead, my team automatically took more initiative to control the game, but without rushing things.

What I like to do in FM, and its not easy to get this message across to the game and my in-game players, is to use ''concealed'' or clever attacks. Rather than going into attacking overdrive, flying around the pitch, like they do in the Premierleague, I want my team wait, hold back, give the opponent a false sense of security. ''When we are near, we must seem far away. When we are preparing to attack, we must seem unable to.'' In this FM, where errors are more likely to be punished, that works quite well. (In FM16, opponents are much less likely to self-defeat, and you run the risk of not creating any scoring chances throughout a match). In the 20th minute such a goal occurred for me. In a midfield battle with interceptions by both teams, the ball was picked up in my own half by Miranda who took his time. He passed it wide to Andreolli, who also took his time. He decided for a dump ball to Palacio, who semi-lost his duel and the ball landed before Mario's feet, near the half-way line. Until then, everyone was stationary and no danger seemed to exist for Roma.

But Mario initiated a tempo switch, quickly reached Icardi ahead of him. Icardi moved the ball to Palacio, and then people started running. Palacio dribbled diagonally to the right with the ball, Icardi went diagonally left, moving into the space while Roma's defenders were all distracted by the sudden danger posed by Palacio. Then came Palacio's diagonal pass to Icardi who was standing by the edge of the box and scored. I took off Icardi a second later because of an injury for Eder.

Show ContentPalacio and Icardi splitting Roma defence apart with their sudden actions:

In the 40th minute my team took the lead after a corner kick. The corner kick itself failed, but Eder picked the ball up on the side of the penalty box. Roma defenders weren't paying attention to Murillo who was left unmarked, and he could score near the far post.

In the 53rd minute, while my team was sitting back and passed the ball around with no other purpose than to keep it away from Roma, Eder took advantage of Roma's failing concentration. Inter had possession in Roma's half, but rather than moving forward, Perisic gave the ball to Medel. Medel and Banega, my two holding midfielders, then played a bit back n forth between each other. Everyone was stationary again. But Banega then hit a straight pass to Palacio, skipping Mario and thus surprising Roma. The defenders were forced to respond, upon which Eder quickly drifted into the space that opened up. Palacio immediately reached Eder who scored with a stylish shot in the upper left corner of the net.

Show ContentRoma forgetting about Eder:

For the remainder of the match my team sat deep and cleared balls away so as not to give away the comfortable 3-1 lead.

Another fancy FM17 feature is that it has included this passing analysis in the match analysis:


Im not really sure how to read it, but this is a schematic overview of the most-used passing combinations. The thicker the line, the more often this combination was used. It shows for example, I instructed my goalkeeper for most of the game to play the ball short to one of the defenders. Banega, nr. 19, was the player most frequently involved in passing combinations. It also shows what I already saw on the pitch, that many of my build-ups were like this: Keeper plays short to Miranda. Banega drops deep and receives the ball. Banega then, depending on his options, either goes for Candreva, Medel or Mario. He was most likely to pass to Medel or Candreva. Candreva was likely to look for Mario or Palacio. Alternatively, Banega played a longer pass to Mario or even to Palacio. It also corresponds to the statistic that no less than 47% of my actions took place in the central areas, 35% down the right flank, and only 19% down the left.

This had partly to do with Perisic, and partly to the tactics, I think. Both Banega and Palacio were positioned right-of-the-centre, and due to their player roles they were allowed more flexible movement and they were allowed to collect balls while the rest of the team worked for them. So naturally, the activity gravitated towards the right-of-the-center of the pitch. On top of that, Perisic is more of a wide attacker than a wide midfielder, and thus less comfortable in his role on the left. The players might thus find it safer to skip him or pivot to the other flank with Candreva.

The alternative build-up route, through Andreolli and Medel shows that Medel was more inclined to look for Mario than for Perisic, which basically means Perisic was being skipped. Especially since Medel also showed a great tendency to simply play it back to Murillo in the middle of the defence. Mario on the other hand did frequently look for Perisic if he couldn't reach the strikers.

[Nentsia]

The Dark Arts


Even in ugliness there can be beauty. I couldn't resist to begin a new season in this new game with AC Milan. For once I'm trying to do something different though: develop young players, rebuild the club, and develop a positive, stylish kind of football based on technique and skill, balance and flexibility.

In the pre-season the team got on quite well immediately, mostly because the squad excels in passing skills and I am working on a system that relies on passing. So far in the pre-season, the team hadn't even conceded a single goal, while being quite effective in attack. I intend to stick with my balanced, possession-oriented style, as I want it to become part of the club identity while I let the youth players grow into it. The board wants me to play attacking football, so I'll give them that.


Bayern Munich

But then I saw I had to play against Bayern Munich in the pre-season. For just this one match, I wanted to see if this team could also play a bit more ...cynical. I wanted to see whether they can take on the big Bayern Munich of ex-Milan legend Carlo Ancelotti - not by out-passing Bayern in the possession game, or beating them by skill (they have better players), but by out-smarting them on a tactical level. I wanted to see if it's possible, because then I know whether it is another weapon in our arsenal in case we play against big boys like Juventus for the Serie A title. I have committed myself to attacking football with this team, but the results remain the highest priority.

Bayern Munich arrived in a 4-3-3 formation in San Siro with most of its stars, except Robben and Neuer. My team was lined up in its standard 3-4-1-2 formation, only now the players were encouraged to resort to the Dark Arts. Win by all means necessary. I sat down to watch the entire match so that I can precisely see what the players are doing on the pitch. I believe I have never seen a team of mine in FM play football in such a dirty, cynical, scandalous manner. I can already reveal now that they won 3-1. But its the way they did it that makes me proud: Milan has shown they are a mature team, ready to do whatever it takes to go for the kill.

The opening phase of the match was rather poor as both my team and Bayern failed to hold the ball long enough to generate some serious attacks. A typical midfield battle, I'd say. Besides, both sides tended to kick eachother's players down as soon as something of an attack started to get going. After 10 minutes, Keisuke Honda - the creative mind of my team - received the ball on the edge of Bayern's penalty box from a throw in and perfectly placed the ball into the far corner of their goal.

From then on, the bullying started. The frustrating, the provoking, the kicking, the harassing and annoying of Bayern took off. Apparently, my Rossoneri are experts when it comes to taking their opponents out of the game. Bayern meanwhile, struggled to break down my defensive organization. By the 30th minute, one of Bayern's players had had enough of it. While hanging on to the ball, Bayern defender Rafinha, without any reason, tackled him from the back with both legs forward. Rafinha was sent off with a red card, and my Milan was now in a comfortable position. Four minutes later, Suso, my right midfielder, showed up in Bayern's penalty box but he remained calm, reached my striker who finished it clinically from nearby. Another sudden goal.

The game carried on with Milan frustrating Bayern, and Bayern being more or less powerless to change the tide. My players continued to knock down a Bayern player occassionally, with the referee not even noticing. At some point Gustavo Gomez, one of my defenders, knocked down Bayern-star Lewandowski, forcing him to leave the pitch with a head-wound. The referee didn't see it. In the 70th minute Romagnoli also knocked a Bayern player down, just outside my own penalty area (he was waiting for the player to leave the penalty box and as soon as he did he struck him down). That wasn't a very clever move because David Alaba scored 2-1 from the free kick. The team focussed on defending the lead for the remaining minutes of the game. After a dive by my striker, Carlos Bacca, in Bayern's penalty box however the players managed to secure their victory. Bacca scored from the penalty kick in the 86th minute.

Afterwards the newspapers wrote ''AC Milan take the spoils in ding-dong battle'', and they defined the game as ''heated'', ''emotional'' and a ''remarkable victory''. The spokesman of one of the Milan supporters' clubs refused to even celebrate the win. The players went out on the pitch, and they broke Bayern emotionally and physically to win the game. It was anti-football in its purest form, and Milan won 3-1 without creating a single goal-scoring opportunity. But that is precisely why it is beautiful. If the best team would always win, nobody would watch football anymore.

[Nentsia]

Blac vs Nents in the New FM17


(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.

[Nentsia]

''L'Arte di Arrangiarsi''




L’Arte di arrangiarsi is a famous Italian expression, the art of surviving, popularized by a 1950’s classic Italian movie with the same title. The main character of that movie was an opportunistic politician, who constantly changes his political colour depending on his needs and the situation. In Italian football, the expression is sometimes applied to teams that, despite having the odds against them, somehow manage to get away with a result. Perhaps the most famous example in recent memory was the historic Euro 2000 semi-final of the Netherlands against Italy.

The Netherlands was one of the favourites for the title that year, boasting a golden generation of players and having crushed one team after another with big numbers. In the 35th minute, Italian wing-back Zambrotta took a red card, and Italy had to ‘survive’ against the Netherlands. Despite several penalties, shots hitting the post, and many scoring chances, the Dutch simply failed to score. The Italians survived until the shootouts, and they managed to win those – progressing to the final, against all odds.



Inter Milan vs Napoli

With my Inter Milan project, I was facing Napoli at the beginning of the season. Due to my Oil money, Inter has returned to the top of the Italian league, being somewhere below Juventus, but above Napoli and AS Roma.

Before 60,000 spectators in the Giuseppe Meazza stadium, I intended to demonstrate a new way of playing that the team had been working on during the pre-season. I had abandoned my rather attacking 3-5-2 system in favour of a more controlled 4-4-2 system. Where my 3-5-2 relied on fast-paced wingers and creativity from the central midfield – and breaking open defences by force if necessary, my 4-4-2 system is based on intelligence and craftiness. I must give credit to Italy and Marcello Lippi’s 4-4-2 that won the world cup in 2006 though, for the inspiration.

Before the game, one of my analysts told me that one of the weaknesses of Napoli is that its players have poor concentration and tend to concede in the first 15 minutes of the game often. I did not make any specific adjustments for that, but I was confident that if Napoli showed a lapse in concentration, my team would exploit it.

That opportunity arose in the 2nd minute of the game. After Napoli’s first attack broke down in my half, my team brought it to Napoli’s half where Marco Verratti was looking for options. Eder, one of the strikers, dropped far back into midfield, completely dragging a defender out of position. Verratti played to him, Eder gave it back to Verratti, who then sent a long ball to the right flank where Candreva was making a run into the newly created space. On the side of Napoli’s penalty area Candreva looked for a low cross and found Icardi, unmarked, in front of Napoli’s goal. I couldn’t have wished for a better start.

For the next half hour then, it was Napoli’s turn, often trying to attack down their left flank with Mertens cutting inside for a shot on goal. Inter Milan was happy to let Napoli try to find room for shots on goal, but they were completely unable to get through the crowded area in front of my goal. After a while, Davide Santon took an injury, but I had to keep him on because I had no substitutes for him due to injuries. After 30 minutes, my destroyer in midfield, Gary Medel, committed a horror tackle and was sent off with a red card.

This considerably changed my game plan. Instead of being comfortably in charge of the game, I now had to find away to defend that 1-0 lead with a man down until the bitter end. With Italian nationals like Bonucci, Verratti, Candreva, Santon, and Darmian on the pitch, I had to place my hopes on their survival mentality, the Italian art.

I took off Eder for Kondogbia, a tall Frenchman with athleticism, and opted for a 4-4-1. When Marcello Lippi suffered a similar scenario in 2006, he switched to a rather daring 4-3-2 system. But I’m not Lippi, and I just wanted to keep my double defensive lines of four. Why keep on a striker with a 1-0 lead?

It was rather easy to hold out until half time, during which I gave the players a morale boost in the dressing room to keep fighting. In the second half, Inter Milan withdrew further and further, inflicting some injuries here and there, giving away free kicks and corner kicks – but never letting any Napoli players get through. I left Icardi alone up the pitch and instructed my left winger, Douglas Costa, to quickly charge forward if the team had the ball, and hopefully snag a second goal on the counter-attack. In the middle of the second half, this miraculously resulted in three modest scoring opportunities – also thanks to the stupidity of Napoli’s defenders. Despite being a man down, Icardi continued to be a threat to Napoli and ensured they could not go all-out on attack.

Napoli meanwhile had switched from 4-3-3 to playing 4-2-4, thus playing 1v1 against my defenders. In the 75th minute, they nearly succeeded in breaking through my defence. It was therefore time to resort to rigorous measures and to protect my goal by all means necessary for the remaining minutes. I took off Candreva and added a fifth defender, Davide Bettella. The boy was only 16 years old, but all my other central defenders were injured. It was a gamble: I could retain my 4-4-1 shape, with the risk of Napoli breaking through; or I could take the risk of adding an inexperienced youth player, hoping that the numerical superiority in defence would compensate his individual lack of experience.

From the 80th minute until the last, Napoli besieged my goal with long shots, crosses and corner kicks. But they all missed, and on several occasions my goalkeeper saved the day. The asymmetric 5-3-1 seemed to hold out, but then the referee gave Napoli another corner kick, 30 seconds after the game should’ve ended. Icardi meanwhile was playing for dead at the other end of the pitch to waste time. The corner kick failed and then the whistle sounded. We had survived and triumphed! Of course after the match, all the media could talk about was Medel’s horror tackle, and my team’s ‘dirty’ and ‘abrasive’ style of play. Even the Napoli coach applauded the ‘combative’ mentality of my players. Were there tactical fouls? Yes. Did players take injuries on both sides? Yes. Did we intend to play ‘dirty’? No. But the circumstances dictated it. It was a matter of survival. This Inter Milan possesses that killer-mentality that I’m looking for.

[Nentsia]

''Nervosismo''


After picking up my season with Inter Milan again after a while, I faced a number of big games: AS Roma (away), Fiorentina (home), Juventus (away), AC Milan (away), and Napoli (away). In true Italian fashion I claim this is a conspiracy of the Italian Football Federation against Inter to give it such a tough schedule.

AS Roma was a bit of a difficult game. The team was reckless with its scoring opportunities, and gave away a goal to AS Roma. It was in the 93rd minute that Inter finally equalized from a free kick by Candreva. Fiorentina was a relatively easy victory, but then they had to confront Juventus. Two days later, they'd have to play the Derby della Madonnina, the game against city rivals AC Milan.

The club atmosphere at Internazionale has always been one of nervosity, ''nervosismo'', as opposed to that of AC Milan which has a long tradition of dominant football, international success, and the accompanying of a sense of self-confidence and pride. The Nerazzurri have suffered a lot more bad luck in the years that the Rossoneri dominated Italian and European football, leading to an all-pervading inferiority complex, a deep sense of insecurity, impulsive management, bad results - and a neverending stream of coaches to be appointed and sacked five months later. The pressure of the boardrooms, media and the Tifosi resting on the shoulders of the Inter Milan players led to nervosity and fear on the pitch. Some of the best players in the world could not deal with it: Dennis Bergkamp, Roberto Carlos, Clarence Seedorf, Andrea Pirlo - none of them could deal with the pressure and their performances suffered. They fled Inter Milan when they could, and they all played as reborn for many years to come.

This nervosismo also got a hold over me when looking at these fixtures, despite all the success in the season so far. Fabio Capello, the Italian football coach, and several Italian football players commented that this psychological element is unique to Italian football culture. In South America, players want to have fun on the pitch. In England players want to work hard on the pitch. In Spain the players want to perform on the pitch. In Italy, the players don't want to be on the pitch at all. They're under pressure, they're frightened, and they're insecure.

Brutti e Sporchi

Show ContentFormations:

Before the match started, I was told AC Milan would deploy a 4-3-1-2 formation. I therefore abandoned my own standard 4-4-2 shape. Being well-known with the 4-3-1-2 formation, I knew how devastating it is against teams playing 4-4-2, so I did not want to take that risk. My solution was to employ the same formation myself, since it is already the standard alternative of my team. But AC Milan turned out to have adopted the 4-2-3-1.

From the start of the match, it was a brutal game with lots of fouls. Inter Milan gave away two free kicks within the first two minutes, and continued to kick, punch, push and hold up AC Milan players. AC Milan too at some point began to start kicking back, having no intention of allowing itself to be bullied into submission in front of its own crowd. Then it started raining yellow cards, and that was the point for me to signal my players to tone it down a bit. My Inter Milan, from the start, had not the slightest intention of playing a nice game of football. All energies were directed at frustrating AC Milan. If we had the ball, the players had to lose it as quickly as possible. Usually they simply knocked it forward to Eder or Icardi.

Our focus was on stopping AC Milan from playing. Inter used a rigid man-marking scheme to control the centre of the pitch and to avoid AC Milan from gradually building up their attacks. By marking Romagnoli, Kuco, Montolivo, Fernandez, and Bacca, AC Milan was forced wide where its wingers were isolated against my defenders.

Our negative play was rewarded in the 37th minute, when Santon attacked down the right flank. Instead of crossing the ball into the box, he passed it back to Kondogbia, waiting at the edge of the penalty box. From there he had room for a shot, and scored thanks to a slight error by the goalkeeper.

At half-time I noticed that AC Milan had a trick up its sleeve: they had abandoned their 4-2-3-1 in favor of a narrow 4-3-3 shape. The trick is in the 3 central attackers deployed by this system: it is almost impossible for a 4-man backline like I have to contain 3 central strikers, because it creates a central overload. AC Milan would always be able to have at least one of its central attackers free and without marker. I changed around my own marking scheme to control the midfield, and then see how that goes.

After Joao Mario picked up an injury however, and AC Milan created some dangerous situations for my team, I seized the moment to come up with a tactical answer. I removed Joao Mario, and replaced him with Miranda, a central defender. We switched to a 5-3-2 system, enabling three central defenders to play 1v1 against Milan's three attackers. The combination of man-marking and having superior numbers in defence helped to stabilize the situation at the back, until the 77th minute. Jeison Murillo, who had already been booked since the first half, took a second yellow card and was sent off. I therefore took off Eder, a striker, and added Andreolli, another central defender to keep my 5-man backline for the remainder of the match.

At 80 minutes, AC Milan went all-out on the attack. Inter, in a defensive 5-3-1 shape, retreated further and further, until we arrived at the parking lot outside the stadium. Virtually all players were tracking, marking, and harassing their immediate opponents, while Icardi, my lonely striker, was doing all he could to hold up any ball he got to delay the game. Before the final whistle AC Milan was given a corner kick, but it was easily intercepted and the game was over. 0-1 for Internazionale! It was a scandalous display, with both teams barely being able to complete 70% of their passes. Inter Milan had a meagre 5 attempts on goal throughout the entire game, while AC fired a total of 17 shots. The Evil Spirit of Catenaccio had taken over me and my Nerazzurri, but it makes the victory taste even better.

[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: