It seems I've jumped onto the bandwagon of trying to replicate real team tactics. I've seen a lot of recreation of Klopp's Dortmund and Guardiola's Bayern Munich, so it took me awhile to decide on what other teams I'd try and replicate. The choices came down to Atletico Madrid or Real Madrid and I ended up choosing the later.
When Ancelotti took over Real Madrid, he knew the team had quality, but stressed that they needed to find the right balance. In order to do so, he went through many systematic and formation tweaks, ranging from the 4-4-2, 4-2-2-2 variant, 4-2-3-1 formations. He eventually settled on the 4-3-3 as both and the players themselves found that they were more comfortable with this formation.
A key part of Ancelotti's 4-3-3 formation is his use of Angel Di Maria in central midfield, basically as a "central winger." Normally, wingers would use their speed down the flanks to race past defenders and whip in crosses, but because of their positioning on the flanks, they are limited to a 180 degree range of movement. So, in a sense, good defenders can predict their movements. But when positioned in central midfield, they now have a complete 360 degree range of movement. This makes it much more difficult to defend against.
Ancelotti has often said that he wants the team to "find the solution with the fewest amount of passes." With a slow buildup, the oppositions have time to limit the space the forwards can work in. So he stressed quick and direct movement. The team instructions are meant to try and replicate that.
Complete Wing Backs: Your typical Marcelo or Jordi Alba. They will contribute greatly to the attacking phase by delivering killer crosses, but it is also important that they are defensively capable as well.
Central Defenders: Your no nonsense central defenders. Their main job is to stop the opposition forwards and break down plays. Because of the high defensive line, they need to have a bit of pace to close down opposition players.
Deep Lying Playmaker: The Xabi Alonso role. He sits in front of the defense and looks to dictate play. He is responsible for initiating counter attacks with long balls to the flanks. Also needs to be defensively sound to help break down plays.
Advanced Playmaker: Your Luka Modric. A mobile playmaker who acts as the link between the midfield and attack. Needs to be creative in order to unlock defenses.
Central Midfielder: Your "central winger". Ideally, he needs to possess the raw stats of both a playmaker and winger, thus becoming a "central wing maker." Good dribbling and speed are needed to race past opposition players.
Inside Forwards: Your Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale. They need to possess raw speed, technique, and finishing ability. They will look to cut in from the flanks and run at defenders.
Complete Forward: Will be responsible for pressing the opposition defenders and drifting wide to provide space for the inside forwards and central winger.
No signings were made for this test. Liverpool was predicted to finish 7th (if I recall correctly), but for the first half, we are at the top of the table and eight points ahead of 2nd place Everton. And after the full season, we finished with a record 96 points, blowing everyone away.
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Version 2
I did some tweaking to the tactic. The changes for version 2 includes: Complete striker is now a Deep-lying striker, Counter mentality, and a few team/player instruction changes.
The reason for this tweak is because it seems like the AI have started to adapt to the "central winger" tactic after just one season. The results are still just as good. We won the league and FA cup again and made it to the quarter finals of the UEFA champions league - losing to Bayern Munich on away goals. This was done with almost the exact same squad (only about 2 new names e.g Andre Ayew and Gino Peruzzi).
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For individual training, set it to whatever position your players are played as. The central midfielder should be set to Winger to help boost his speed, dribbling, and crossing stats.
When Ancelotti took over Real Madrid, he knew the team had quality, but stressed that they needed to find the right balance. In order to do so, he went through many systematic and formation tweaks, ranging from the 4-4-2, 4-2-2-2 variant, 4-2-3-1 formations. He eventually settled on the 4-3-3 as both and the players themselves found that they were more comfortable with this formation.
A key part of Ancelotti's 4-3-3 formation is his use of Angel Di Maria in central midfield, basically as a "central winger." Normally, wingers would use their speed down the flanks to race past defenders and whip in crosses, but because of their positioning on the flanks, they are limited to a 180 degree range of movement. So, in a sense, good defenders can predict their movements. But when positioned in central midfield, they now have a complete 360 degree range of movement. This makes it much more difficult to defend against.
Ancelotti has often said that he wants the team to "find the solution with the fewest amount of passes." With a slow buildup, the oppositions have time to limit the space the forwards can work in. So he stressed quick and direct movement. The team instructions are meant to try and replicate that.
Player Roles
Complete Wing Backs: Your typical Marcelo or Jordi Alba. They will contribute greatly to the attacking phase by delivering killer crosses, but it is also important that they are defensively capable as well.
Central Defenders: Your no nonsense central defenders. Their main job is to stop the opposition forwards and break down plays. Because of the high defensive line, they need to have a bit of pace to close down opposition players.
Deep Lying Playmaker: The Xabi Alonso role. He sits in front of the defense and looks to dictate play. He is responsible for initiating counter attacks with long balls to the flanks. Also needs to be defensively sound to help break down plays.
Advanced Playmaker: Your Luka Modric. A mobile playmaker who acts as the link between the midfield and attack. Needs to be creative in order to unlock defenses.
Central Midfielder: Your "central winger". Ideally, he needs to possess the raw stats of both a playmaker and winger, thus becoming a "central wing maker." Good dribbling and speed are needed to race past opposition players.
Inside Forwards: Your Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale. They need to possess raw speed, technique, and finishing ability. They will look to cut in from the flanks and run at defenders.
Complete Forward: Will be responsible for pressing the opposition defenders and drifting wide to provide space for the inside forwards and central winger.
Liverpool Test
No signings were made for this test. Liverpool was predicted to finish 7th (if I recall correctly), but for the first half, we are at the top of the table and eight points ahead of 2nd place Everton. And after the full season, we finished with a record 96 points, blowing everyone away.
View attachment 389352View attachment 389351View attachment 389350View attachment 389349
View attachment 389348View attachment 389347View attachment 389346View attachment 389345
View attachment 388278View attachment 388277View attachment 388276View attachment 388275
View attachment 388274View attachment 388273
Version 2
The reason for this tweak is because it seems like the AI have started to adapt to the "central winger" tactic after just one season. The results are still just as good. We won the league and FA cup again and made it to the quarter finals of the UEFA champions league - losing to Bayern Munich on away goals. This was done with almost the exact same squad (only about 2 new names e.g Andre Ayew and Gino Peruzzi).
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Opposition Instructions
None
Training
During Preseason, set to Team Cohesion (Very High) and focus to Tactics. When the season starts, set training to Attacking and focus to Defensive Positioning.None
Training
For individual training, set it to whatever position your players are played as. The central midfielder should be set to Winger to help boost his speed, dribbling, and crossing stats.
Tactic Download
Note: If anyone can share their results (so I can add it to this first post), that'd be great!
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Note: If anyone can share their results (so I can add it to this first post), that'd be great!
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