2022-05-13, 08:43 PM - Word count:
Before we kick off I'm going to post my predictions about the expansion teams. Don't worry this will go well over 300 words. I'm betting that the two teams are going to be Accra, Ghana and Brussels, Belgium. The African team may be Cote d ivore but I'm thinking that the marker might just be a little to far to the east for that. For the euro team its not near anything in Germany or France (absolute meme if they pick a franco-german team in the Allscae Lorianne valley) So I'm guessing Belgium. Brussels is the clear choice from there as its the capital of the EU.
After the last US open game I saw (yes I was at Allianz during the great flood and went back the next day I had great tickets) I watched the loons win using a 3-4-3 system that produced a lot of great looking soccer that was also really dangerous.
Sure they only scored 2 goals and the game-winner was just king ray doing king stuff but it was a completely dominating performance and only looked in jeopardy on the counter.
But this was something genuinely new that I saw on the field and it was something I had been doing in football manager all year this year. The 3-4-3 is the real deal and I'm going to tell you why.
I'm putting off my "things I wish I knew as a manager" for a few weeks or more to recharge and think of new things. From here I'm going to write about a few tactics, their history and their impact/impact on them from other tactics as well as history.
Now to be clear the 3-4-3 I'm discussing is the pure 3 line system with 3 centrebacks a flat 4 midfield and 3 attackers in a more narrow configuration than having attacking wingers. Think of that Hollywood trident from the early days with two strikers in deep-lying forward and one striker leading the line as an attacking forward.
The goalie is a sweeper keeper on defense. I will repeat this constantly, just put your goalie on sweeper-keeper defend and don't ask questions.
The defender line is two wide center backs on defend with a Libero on support. You need width in defense and 3 centrebacks can afford some space between them. Those wide centrebacks are now sitting in the channel and can laugh off wingers with delusions of being messi. The libero in the center requires a big boy that has some sort of ability to play with the ball. Gee isn't that a ball-playing defender?
And before I go on mark this theme I will knock on. This formation does not need new players to be invented.
So you have two wide center backs and a ball-playing center-back. That ball-playing center back doesn't need to be cautious and nervous all the time, they have two big lads backing them up. This ball player can now move out with the ball and move forward, forcing the other team to either press across the entire length of the pitch without having the numbers to do so that it requires. Congratulations you've broken the other teams ability to press by having one guy who can dribble and pass forward and having two big guys back him up. You always want your buildup to have some sort of pressure valve to get rid of pressing. Now thats not your center backs.
What might confuse people now is the midfield line. "Ah jeeze Sermo we need some more help on defense but also provide creativity in the buildup" well yeah but have you heard about our lord and savior the 4-4-2? Yes just import the players that have been playing a 4-4-2 in the midfield and keep going. You've got wingers (I prefer defensive wingers in FM but thats just me) and you've got your BBM-DLP runner-sitter parring that just works on a fundamental level. This has been proven so much and I'll cover it on a 4-4-2 formation article in two weeks, 4-2-3-1 is next week.
The attacking trident is very interesting I feel. You've got your striker leading the line as god intended to provide penetration to your attack, stretching the defense vertically, but you've also got those dangerous withdrawn strikers that have worked from the days they danced the Danubian waltz (inverting the pyramid great book for anyone who loves football). In football managers they stick to their wonderful withdrawn striker role, being able to rip apart defensive shapes by their very presence, but in real life they provide something even more incredible.
See the most basic logic is that both teams have equal players, this means that both teams have the ability to put equal players to mark the other teams players. The most basic logic of Modern soccer is that having more players than the other team in an area is a good thing. I'm going to do a rant series where I start drinking something and just put a rant to words about a topic. One will be about goalies being on sweeper keeper defend, Another will be about having some sort of player stretching the field vertically, be that an attacking winger on winger attack or an advanced forward. Just do it on some player for the love of god please its just math.
ANYWAY in real life you can have your main striker pushing the other teams center backs forward while these withdrawn strikers can now dive outside. The other teams center backs have to stay narrow to prevent your striker for jinking one way and having an easy goal. What this allows for however is for one of these deep lying forwards to jink and get an easy path forward to collect the ball on a deep pass to one of the corners of the field. Now you've got the easiest pass to make and you've got one of your attackers getting the ball in the final fifth with space to operate. The loons would use this to score a goal in the first few minutes of the game. It wouldn't work in the rest of the game but that was because they realized over the next 18 hours that it would be smarter to stay back as much as possible to prevent this from hurting them so bad.
Yes it wouldn't work long term for the loons because they have too many good attackers and not enough defenders/defensive midfielders. In this formation, you need 8 defensive players and 3 offensive players. In MLS this means you can have 3 DP offensive players and have the rest of your team be much cheaper defensive options that don't have to be superstars to do their roles.
Today is my birthday. The weather was nice and I enjoyed it when you're not a teenager anymore thats the best you can hope for.
After the last US open game I saw (yes I was at Allianz during the great flood and went back the next day I had great tickets) I watched the loons win using a 3-4-3 system that produced a lot of great looking soccer that was also really dangerous.
Sure they only scored 2 goals and the game-winner was just king ray doing king stuff but it was a completely dominating performance and only looked in jeopardy on the counter.
But this was something genuinely new that I saw on the field and it was something I had been doing in football manager all year this year. The 3-4-3 is the real deal and I'm going to tell you why.
I'm putting off my "things I wish I knew as a manager" for a few weeks or more to recharge and think of new things. From here I'm going to write about a few tactics, their history and their impact/impact on them from other tactics as well as history.
Now to be clear the 3-4-3 I'm discussing is the pure 3 line system with 3 centrebacks a flat 4 midfield and 3 attackers in a more narrow configuration than having attacking wingers. Think of that Hollywood trident from the early days with two strikers in deep-lying forward and one striker leading the line as an attacking forward.
The goalie is a sweeper keeper on defense. I will repeat this constantly, just put your goalie on sweeper-keeper defend and don't ask questions.
The defender line is two wide center backs on defend with a Libero on support. You need width in defense and 3 centrebacks can afford some space between them. Those wide centrebacks are now sitting in the channel and can laugh off wingers with delusions of being messi. The libero in the center requires a big boy that has some sort of ability to play with the ball. Gee isn't that a ball-playing defender?
And before I go on mark this theme I will knock on. This formation does not need new players to be invented.
So you have two wide center backs and a ball-playing center-back. That ball-playing center back doesn't need to be cautious and nervous all the time, they have two big lads backing them up. This ball player can now move out with the ball and move forward, forcing the other team to either press across the entire length of the pitch without having the numbers to do so that it requires. Congratulations you've broken the other teams ability to press by having one guy who can dribble and pass forward and having two big guys back him up. You always want your buildup to have some sort of pressure valve to get rid of pressing. Now thats not your center backs.
What might confuse people now is the midfield line. "Ah jeeze Sermo we need some more help on defense but also provide creativity in the buildup" well yeah but have you heard about our lord and savior the 4-4-2? Yes just import the players that have been playing a 4-4-2 in the midfield and keep going. You've got wingers (I prefer defensive wingers in FM but thats just me) and you've got your BBM-DLP runner-sitter parring that just works on a fundamental level. This has been proven so much and I'll cover it on a 4-4-2 formation article in two weeks, 4-2-3-1 is next week.
The attacking trident is very interesting I feel. You've got your striker leading the line as god intended to provide penetration to your attack, stretching the defense vertically, but you've also got those dangerous withdrawn strikers that have worked from the days they danced the Danubian waltz (inverting the pyramid great book for anyone who loves football). In football managers they stick to their wonderful withdrawn striker role, being able to rip apart defensive shapes by their very presence, but in real life they provide something even more incredible.
See the most basic logic is that both teams have equal players, this means that both teams have the ability to put equal players to mark the other teams players. The most basic logic of Modern soccer is that having more players than the other team in an area is a good thing. I'm going to do a rant series where I start drinking something and just put a rant to words about a topic. One will be about goalies being on sweeper keeper defend, Another will be about having some sort of player stretching the field vertically, be that an attacking winger on winger attack or an advanced forward. Just do it on some player for the love of god please its just math.
ANYWAY in real life you can have your main striker pushing the other teams center backs forward while these withdrawn strikers can now dive outside. The other teams center backs have to stay narrow to prevent your striker for jinking one way and having an easy goal. What this allows for however is for one of these deep lying forwards to jink and get an easy path forward to collect the ball on a deep pass to one of the corners of the field. Now you've got the easiest pass to make and you've got one of your attackers getting the ball in the final fifth with space to operate. The loons would use this to score a goal in the first few minutes of the game. It wouldn't work in the rest of the game but that was because they realized over the next 18 hours that it would be smarter to stay back as much as possible to prevent this from hurting them so bad.
Yes it wouldn't work long term for the loons because they have too many good attackers and not enough defenders/defensive midfielders. In this formation, you need 8 defensive players and 3 offensive players. In MLS this means you can have 3 DP offensive players and have the rest of your team be much cheaper defensive options that don't have to be superstars to do their roles.
Today is my birthday. The weather was nice and I enjoyed it when you're not a teenager anymore thats the best you can hope for.
