An [Amateur] Tactician's Chalkboard for FM11

[SS19]

what about barrios?

If you are talking about my article, I made those roles only for the star players of Argentina, and used the players they use IRL. Also Lucas Barrios plays for Paraguay, not Argentina.

 

[Marquinh0s]

What's the best formation for playing beatiful game?

Thanks...

 

[iNickStuff]

If you are talking about my article, I made those roles only for the star players of Argentina, and used the players they use IRL. Also Lucas Barrios plays for Paraguay, not Argentina.

Indeed. The Borussia power forward represents Paraguay and not Argentina. It is a good article and deserves credit. Well done.

What's the best formation for playing beatiful game?

Thanks...

Well, the 4-4-2 and 4-3-3 formations are good for a start. Maybe you can try with them?

 

[EduinJBL]

The Box-to-Box Playmaker​

Aims:
-To explain the downfall of the traditional enganche
-To show the evolution of the new role, which I have termed ‘the box-to-box playmaker’
-To recreate ‘the box-to-box playmaker’ in FM
-To evaluate the recreation of the role in FM through in-match analysis

The Downfall of the Enganche

The year is 1992; a 19 year old defensive midfielder, born in the Democratic Republic of Congo recently transferred to FC Nantes is brought into the first team. Once in the first team he began to ever so quietly and subtly spread his influence upon the game, becoming a key component in the Ligue 1 winning side of 1995. His name is, of course, Claude Makelele. The emergence of him and fellow ‘anchormen’ such as Esteban Cambiasso or Javier Mascherano has led to the downfall of the traditional enganche. The anchorman is massively popular in Central Europe at the moment, usually as part of the 4-1-2-2-1 or a 4-2-3-1. Even worse for the Riquelmes of the footballing world it is not uncommon for another defensive midfielder to be played alongside the Anchorman, an example of this being Rafa Benitez’s side use of Xabi Alonso along side Javier Mascherano.

The overall effect of this tactical shift is a massive reduction in the space allowed between the midfield and defence of a side. This is the space in which traditional No. 10 could operate. In Argentina where football is still seen by many as an art, rather than a science, the enganche is seen as the artistic conductor of the team linking midfield and attack; all of the other members of the orchestra rotate around him. This is beauty to behold in Argentina where the standard formation is still the 3-4-1-2, this allows the enganche a great deal of space in comparison to the 4-2-3-1’s of European football where the enganche can be marked by the anchorman (Javier Mascherano) and the regista (Xabi Alonso) can cover if the enganche evades his marker through technical skill. Combined with pressing, this completely stifles the enganche’s creativity and so the creativity of the entire side.

You can see that vs. a 3-4-1-2 there is no-one alongside the enganche in their creative zone and subsequently they are free to dictate the tempo and control the game, however against the European 4-2-3-1 the enganche has two defensive midfielders in their zone.

In my opinion, the majority of recent tactical evolutions are attempts to find space between the midfield and defence, while evading the defensive midfielders. Because of this the traditional enganche has either been replaced by a central winger, who creates from wide, or by a false ten and a false nine who play higher up the pitch between the defensive midfielders and the centre backs.

The Role
Another option; however is to withdraw the playmaker into midfield, where there is often more space. This has often been successful for registas, such as Xavi and Andrea Pirlo, this relies upon exceptional passing ability to create from deep. However successful this has been, the regista cannot link the midfield and attack from deep. This then is where I come onto the aim of the article; to replicate a new evolution demonstrated recently by players such as Luka Modric. Modric control’s the game from central midfield while at times using clever off the ball movement or dribbling ability to drive into the creative zone. This is shown by looking at a heat map of Modric’s passes provided by Guardian Chalkboards. It shows that the majority of his passes are from central midfield although 25% of the passes are from higher up the field.

Another reason the classical enganche is unsuitable for the modern game is that their game is completely one-dimensional. They create, that is all. This is in no way compatible with the modern game, which is all about universality. Modric, due to his high stamina, and deeper positioning, in effect acts as a box-to-box midfielder who closes down aswell as helping out in defence, hence, why I have termed them as ‘box-to-box playmakers’. Modric is a poor tackler and due to this, his main defensive contribution is interceptions.Their more defensive game is shown below by comparing the number of interceptions (with the help of the Total Football Iphone App) made in the same game by Luka Modric and the more traditional No.10 Sneijder.

Recreating the role

I have used Luka Modric to recreate the role, in a 4,6,0 which has allowed for him to have both expansive options with the runs of Bale and Lennon, while also have simple options in the form of Sandro and Tom Huddlestone.
These are the PI’s I settled on after much experimentation:

And here are the PPMs in order of priority:

1. ‘Play’s One-Two’s’ This is to help him combine with midfielders better and so use his movement to get in between the lines.
2. ‘Dictate’s Tempo’
3. ‘Runs with ball through the centre’
4. ‘Arrives late in opposition area’

Obviously, these aren’t completely necessary but they do help.

In Match Play
Here is an example of Modric’s passing game (from a 0-0 draw with Everton, after some awful finishing) in which he controls of play.

Modric (#14) is given the ball at the half-way line and lays it to Sandro (#30).

Sandro plays the ball back to Gallas (#13) who passes to Assou-Ekotto, this causes him to be closed down by the Everton player, seeing this Modric moves into the space vacated and receives the ball.

Modric plays a one-two with Bale and holds off Arce’s tackle, steadily advancing.

He then has space to dribble into drawing the Everton player (#6), leaving VDV free for a pass, which Modric gives him.

VDV then returns the ball to Modric who cuts inside, moving into the central zone of the traditional enganche skilfully after a few quick passing combinations.

Modric plays the ball through to Lennon who was clear through…

Had the lazy ****** bothered to stay onside! Honestly, after all that work from Modric.

Half Season Review
I played half a season with this setup, Modric has played pretty well, and with amazing consistence with an average rating of 7.21. His passing has been great, as he had above 90% pass completion in the majority of the games, and a good deal of key passes, his rating would’ve been higher had I played with a striker, he averaged 2-3 key passes each game but only got 4 assists as the majority of goals were from crosses after through balls. A typical passing performance is shown below:

The other screenshot above shows his average position from a 3-2 away win at Arsenal where it is notable that unlike the traditional enganche he spends time in both boxes.

He has made a good contribution defensively as well, and made loads of interceptions, which is similar to in real life (see above).

In conclusion, I feel that I have done a decent job of recreating the role which I call the ‘box-to-box playmaker’. I think I got the PIs right overall, but I possibly think that the role would be more effective in a different formation, where he has more attacking options, through the centre.
Thanks
n.B. Credit for all perceived tactical knowledge must go to Jonathan Wilson’s articles and book ‘Inverting the Pyramid,’ which I highly recommend.

 

[iNickStuff]

Linked to the OP. Good job.

 

[EduinJBL]

thanks

 

[Fracpen]

Great Article
I always wondered how to play modric and VDV together without losing defensive stability
Also what are the fundamental attributes for this role

 

[EduinJBL]

Thanks and Stamina, Creativity, Passing, Dribbling, Technique, Decisons, First Touch. Pienaar's good in the role

 

[Fracpen]

Thanks

 

[mudiiiiii]

Are you going to make player roles for specific players under the "F.C.B. roles" ?
sorry just read the first screen and found the answer, looking forward to this part!

---------- Post added at 06:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:46 PM ----------

EduinJBL: nice role, good work. do you think it will fit iniesta, i know i should try myself and im going to, but i also want to hear others opinion about it.

 

[Montanaro]

Is there any way to play a Second Striker alongside a central attacking midfielder?

I run a 4-1-2-1-2 (1 dm, 2 cms, 1 am)

 

[victor__]

First, I apologize for my bad english

I play with Liverpool. My first eleven:

1. Rejna - GK
2. Gl. Johnson/ M. Kelly - full back - automatic
3. D. Agger/ Skrtel - Central defender - defend
4. Carragher/Wilson - Central defender - defend
5. F. Coentrao/Robinson - wing back - Attack - more run from deep
6. Lukas/ Casemiro - Ball winning midf. - Defend
7.M. Sissoko/ Meireles - Box to Box - Suport - more run from deep
8. D. Kuyt/Maikon - Winger - Attack - hug touchline and crossing
9. Suarez/ Hazard - Inside forward - Atack - cut inside
10. Gerrard/ Sotiris Ninis - Adv Playmaker - Support - more run from deep
11. A. Carroll/ Lukaku - TM - attack

Casemiro - DMC from Sao Paolo
Maikon - ST/AMRL from Lokomotiv Moskow
Ninis - AMC from Panatinaikos


Team instructions are:
Philosophy - Balansed
Starting STr. - Control
Passing Style - More Direct
Creative freedom - More Expressive
Closing Down - Press More
Tackling - More Aggressive
Markin - Zonal
Crossing - Float
Roaming - Default
TM supply - When I plau with Carroll - to head, when I use Lukaku- mixed

Def. line - push Up
Wight - normal to wide
Tempo - normal

The problem, no, The problems are following:

Against big team like Man. U. Man.S Chelsea and Arsenal i lose often
Against mid table - difficult wins or much draw, and againts small team win are comparatively easy

A. Carroll is very, very dissapointing. Lukaku too. A try to play with Suarez up front like a Complete, Advanced and like a poacher but and that not working

The defence is the other big problem - a lots of goal after terrible individual mistakes.

Shot on target - about 15 per game, but about 10 of them is from long range and only 2-5 on target. I try with touchline shouts like work the ball into box, but it doesnt work

I think i have made i big mistake with my tactics but I can't understand what is. Please help with advice. Thanks

 

[EduinJBL]

EduinJBL: nice role, good work. do you think it will fit iniesta, i know i should try myself and im going to, but i also want to hear others opinion about it.

Tbh, he probably will do well in any role, I don't think it would really suit him as he doesn't have enough stamina, or acceleration he's probably better in a more advanced role.

 

[jojko]

Vidal will be awsome on this position box to box playmaker. I trying to create some tactic for Juventus. I will be add this box to box instruction to it. Do you have some other advice for midfield attack and defend?

 

[SS19]

I wouldn't recommend using direct passing with control, as control has slow tempo and high time wasting. Direct passing suits more attacking style, quicker tempo and maybe counter attacking. Also you have lots of players instructed to run from deep often. This draws them out of position, meaning that the player in possession doesn't have enough passing options. Especially for your advanced playmaker (I guess this is also your primary playmaker?), as the job of a playmaker is to get the ball to his feet and pass look for through balls, or if that isn't possible then keep the possession.

And using lone striker as a target man simply doesn't work too well in FM, you should use 2 strikers in that case, using big man/small man combo, target man being the big man played alongside a quicker poacher or advanced forward. Lukaku and Suarez would be good upfront.

 

[EduinJBL]

Vidal will be awsome on this position box to box playmaker. I trying to create some tactic for Juventus. I will be add this box to box instruction to it. Do you have some other advice for midfield attack and defend?

Yeh, Vidal does nicely. Could you rephrase your question? I'm not sure what it means.

 

[jojko]

I mean that i try to create some tactic for my Juve side. And i add yours box to box instruction for Vidal and im now wondering what instructions add for rest of the squad. I want to play 424 formation. And i dont know what instructions add for defenders what for wingers and the second central midfilder to make this balanced.

---------- Post added at 09:29 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:26 AM ----------

Maybe you send me your tactic on PM and i will look how you play and try to tweak this to my juve

 

[EduinJBL]

just for future reference, this isn't really the place for it and you should've either posted in The What Approach suits my team best/I need a tactic thread or PMed, this is iNickstuff's thread not mine. Anyway, if you'd like I could send you my 4-2-2-2 tactic with the box-to-box playmaker, would quite like it to be tested so feedback would be nice. I'll PM it to you.

 

[rafihaha]

Thanks and Stamina, Creativity, Passing, Dribbling, Technique, Decisons, First Touch. Pienaar's good in the role

can i play either fletcher or carrick at this role ?? or maybe Defour ??

 

[EduinJBL]

Defour would be perfect except he can't dribble so you'd have to reduce the run with ball setting, Carrick would be alright aswell, Feltcher is better as a normal box to box mid as he is not that creative.