Diego Simeone Inspired l 4-4-2 l Counter Attacking/Pressing :: by Artisan
INTRODUCTIONHello again football manager fans! its Artisan again and I am here to present my first tactical recreation for FM15. As some of you might know, I am a massive fan of tactics that hope to emulate real life setups and whenever I play the game, that is what I strive to achieve (H).
Now, on to the tactic at hand. The brightest among you would have guessed by now that this tactic will be a 4-4-2 and be based on Diego Simeone's very successful team of 2014. I have had a lot of success so far but instead of me just talking about it, have a look at the screenies below (we know how much you love them)
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TEST RESULTSI tested this tactic with Southampton as I thought they had the right personnel for the tactic and also because they are not too strong and not too weak in the premiere league. I had some really amazing results with the team being the most potent side in font of goal and not doing so bad defensively as well (H).
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TACTICAL INSPIRATION
Diego Simeone is right now one of the most respected manager in world football. With his team of what many would have called average players, he was able to finish top of La Liga and reach the finals of the champions league. He focusses on defensive organisation, relentless pressing and counter attacking opposition with precision
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Similar to the great achievements of Jurgen Klopp's succesful tactical philosophy two season before, Simeone has his team swarm around opposition players to win the ball back. The way both teams press however is actually quite different
Jurgen Klopp likes his team to press very high up the pitch with his offensive players putting a lot of pressure on high up the pitch. Simeone however is happy to sit back and soak pressure and carry out a type of pressing I like to refer to as funnel pressing
Atletico Madrid try to force the opposition into wider areas where play is more predictable. As soon as the ball is sent to the wide man, the players swarm him and win the ball back before launching a counter attack. They do this by leaving these wide players basically in free space whilst tight marking the central area.
SOURCE INFORMATION
When trying to recreate a tactic in football manager, one of the most difficult things to do is to accurately analyse how the real life team play. I was lucky however to stumble on to a series of articles that do this perfectly. There is also analysis on other teams and all my recreations will be using this site as source material.
Atletico Madrid Tactics (Part 1): How has Diego Simeone set-up his side? | Outside of the Boot
Atletico Madrid Tactics (Part 2): How do they build play up from the defence and midfield? | Outside of the Boot
Atletico Madrid Tactics (Part 3): What is their approach in the attacking third? | Outside of the Boot
Atletico Madrid Tactics (Part 4): What is their defensive set-up? | Outside of the Boot
As I mentioned in my previous posts, being able to completely recreate a real life tactic in FM is almost impossible, so don't hassle me if your players don't funnel press the opposition players into submission and score goals of the season every game.
This tactic will come as close as possible to the Simeone's high intensity counter attacking football whilst also remaining stable. My tactical Setup in FM is shown below:::::
At the moment, I only have one tactic and recognise that there might be some need for a time waisting/park the bus tactic to complement this one. Will work on that.
It is also quite evident that the opposition instructions for this tactic are extensive and are required for the funnel press to work. You can see that the wide players are left alone initially but closed down as soon as they receive the ball. DO NOT LEAVE OPPOSITION INSTRUCTION TO YOUR ASSISSTANT MANAGER !!!!!
When the ball is won back, the team can either play out of the back with quick intricate passes or launch the ball to the Target Man upfront
PLAYER ROLES
The FullBacks as you would expect will have to be both defensively and offensively adept. They will bomb forward and deliver killer crosses into the box. On the right hand side, the full back will offer most of the width whilst on the left side, the full back will be more supportive and help overload that flank
The Central Defenders will are just conventional/traditional defenders and will need to be good markers, headers and tacklers of the ball. They will either clear the ball forward to the STCR or pass it out of defence to either the fullbacks or the central midfielders
The Defensive Central Midfielder is your insurance policy for fullbacks bombing forward. He will sit deep and look to sweep up clearances. He will also be aggressive in winning the ball back and will be able to start offensive moves with tidy safer passing. There are three main passers in this tactic and he is one of them
The Box to Box Midfielder is a tank in midfield. I like to refer to him as the midfield general due to his relentless defensive work in winning the ball back, and his support in the attacking phase. He is a main passer in the team and will be often times used as a fulcrum to switch play to the opposite flank. He has to be composed on the ball with very good vision because him loosing the ball could instantly lead to an opposition attack.
The Clip below shows how pressure is put on opposition players before a counter attack is launched
The Wide Playmaker is the last main passer in the tactic and as the game describes will drift into central areas from wider positions. He will occupy the space that is created when the defensive central midfielder sits deep. He will also close down opposition players aggressively and provide another central passing option for his team mates.
The Wide Midfielder will also sit narrower but instead of sitting behind the ball like the wide playmaker will make attacking runs into the box. When he receives the ball to feet, he will run wide and deliver killer crosses. Just like the wide playmaker, he will close down opposition players relentlessly to win the ball back.
The clip below shows how the ball is won higher up the pitch before launching a quick counter attack
The Defensive Forward is there to be a pest to to opposition deeper players. He will hassle defensive midfielders and centre backs to prevent them from playing out from the back. He will move into channels where he can run on to the ball before delivering a cross. He will also make runs into the box as a conventional striker would do.
The Deep Lying Forward is the main outlet for your team in counter attacking situations. He will act as a kind of target man but will also be gifted on the ball as he will be running with the ball and delivering killer passes.
The clip below shows hoe the formation attacks from a GK long kick
General training is kept on balanced with very high intensity and match preparation is kept on the highest level for match tactics only. No specific match training for individual matches.
This setting should be used about three days before the first competitive game of the season. General training is kept on balanced with high intensity and match preparation is kept on the second lowest level. The main focus for the match preparation is not very important as you will gear it directly towards the opposition.
So for matches where you are the favourites or stronger team, you use attacking movement and when you are the weaker team defensive positioning. You can see this in effect on the screenshot where against Everton away I went defensive and the weaker teams attacking.
RECOMMENDED PLAYER ATTRIBUTESWith this formation being very high intensity and counter attacking, all players ideally should have high attributes in Work Rate, Stamina and Determination.
2. Match Preparation: Please be more conservative when selecting match preparation for away games.
3. Formation Fluidity: Load the german league as unplayable along with the league you want to play in and make sure you choose the start data as June to coincide with the start of the German league. This allows you to get an extra month to get your team familiar with the tactic.
4. Team Talks: There are many threads about team talks so google and this forum are your friends. Team talks are very important so try to understand how they work
5. Improving your Odds: At the start of every season, you have the chance to select the teams collective bonus for their final placement in all competitions. Setting this to the highest level will keep the morale of your players high.If you are worried about how much you will have to shell out at the end then I have a little tip for you. The lower you transfer budget, the lower the squad payout. So edit your budget to increase wages and reduce transfer budget.
6. Keep Players Happy: Tip 5 helps with this but also making sure all your players get some first team football is advisable. Use your rotation and backup players in cup games and rest first team players to keep morale high across the board
7. Team Cohesion: If you sign a lot of players for the first team then tactical fluidity and cohesiveness will suffer. This is something to keep in mind. You can train team cohesion for about a months period after all players have been signed to help with this issue.
Hope you guys enjoy the tactic and would love some feedback
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DISCLAIMER !!!
This is not an exploit tactic and you will still need the right players with the right stats to do well. Not Messi or Ronaldo, but players who have the right stats. This a tactic based off of Atletico Madrid which is a team with disciplined quality players. I have not tested it with very bad teams so not sure how it would work.INTRODUCTION
Now, on to the tactic at hand. The brightest among you would have guessed by now that this tactic will be a 4-4-2 and be based on Diego Simeone's very successful team of 2014. I have had a lot of success so far but instead of me just talking about it, have a look at the screenies below (we know how much you love them)
.TEST RESULTS
View attachment 295828View attachment 295827View attachment 295826View attachment 295825View attachment 295824View attachment 295833View attachment 295830View attachment 295829View attachment 295831View attachment 295823View attachment 295822 View attachment 295832
TACTICAL INSPIRATION
View attachment 295821
Similar to the great achievements of Jurgen Klopp's succesful tactical philosophy two season before, Simeone has his team swarm around opposition players to win the ball back. The way both teams press however is actually quite different
Jurgen Klopp likes his team to press very high up the pitch with his offensive players putting a lot of pressure on high up the pitch. Simeone however is happy to sit back and soak pressure and carry out a type of pressing I like to refer to as funnel pressing
Atletico Madrid try to force the opposition into wider areas where play is more predictable. As soon as the ball is sent to the wide man, the players swarm him and win the ball back before launching a counter attack. They do this by leaving these wide players basically in free space whilst tight marking the central area.
SOURCE INFORMATION
Atletico Madrid Tactics (Part 1): How has Diego Simeone set-up his side? | Outside of the Boot
Atletico Madrid Tactics (Part 2): How do they build play up from the defence and midfield? | Outside of the Boot
Atletico Madrid Tactics (Part 3): What is their approach in the attacking third? | Outside of the Boot
Atletico Madrid Tactics (Part 4): What is their defensive set-up? | Outside of the Boot
TACTICAL ADAPTATION IN FOOTBALL MANAGER ENGINE
As I mentioned in my previous posts, being able to completely recreate a real life tactic in FM is almost impossible, so don't hassle me if your players don't funnel press the opposition players into submission and score goals of the season every game.
This tactic will come as close as possible to the Simeone's high intensity counter attacking football whilst also remaining stable. My tactical Setup in FM is shown below:::::
At the moment, I only have one tactic and recognise that there might be some need for a time waisting/park the bus tactic to complement this one. Will work on that.
It is also quite evident that the opposition instructions for this tactic are extensive and are required for the funnel press to work. You can see that the wide players are left alone initially but closed down as soon as they receive the ball. DO NOT LEAVE OPPOSITION INSTRUCTION TO YOUR ASSISSTANT MANAGER !!!!!
HOW THE FORMATION PLAYS
The formation has a counterattacking high intensity philosophy where the players sit behind the ball in a narrow setup allowing space out wide. By doing this, creative opposition central players have no space to operate. The wide players are more predictable because they only have two options which are to either run down the flank or cut inside.
When the ball is won back, the team can either play out of the back with quick intricate passes or launch the ball to the Target Man upfront
PLAYER ROLES
The FullBacks as you would expect will have to be both defensively and offensively adept. They will bomb forward and deliver killer crosses into the box. On the right hand side, the full back will offer most of the width whilst on the left side, the full back will be more supportive and help overload that flank
The Central Defenders will are just conventional/traditional defenders and will need to be good markers, headers and tacklers of the ball. They will either clear the ball forward to the STCR or pass it out of defence to either the fullbacks or the central midfielders
The Defensive Central Midfielder is your insurance policy for fullbacks bombing forward. He will sit deep and look to sweep up clearances. He will also be aggressive in winning the ball back and will be able to start offensive moves with tidy safer passing. There are three main passers in this tactic and he is one of them
The Box to Box Midfielder is a tank in midfield. I like to refer to him as the midfield general due to his relentless defensive work in winning the ball back, and his support in the attacking phase. He is a main passer in the team and will be often times used as a fulcrum to switch play to the opposite flank. He has to be composed on the ball with very good vision because him loosing the ball could instantly lead to an opposition attack.
The Clip below shows how pressure is put on opposition players before a counter attack is launched
[video=youtube_share;z1DzdHOqAQs]http://youtu.be/z1DzdHOqAQs[/video]
Notice how before Noble looses the ball the first time, he has very few passing options. The ball is won back and quickly sent forward to the deep lying forward. He runs with the ball but as Pelle is not the best on the ball looses it. The ball however is quickly won back again which then leads to the goal. Also notice how many attacking players end up pushing forward right before the goal is scored.
The Wide Playmaker is the last main passer in the tactic and as the game describes will drift into central areas from wider positions. He will occupy the space that is created when the defensive central midfielder sits deep. He will also close down opposition players aggressively and provide another central passing option for his team mates.
The Wide Midfielder will also sit narrower but instead of sitting behind the ball like the wide playmaker will make attacking runs into the box. When he receives the ball to feet, he will run wide and deliver killer crosses. Just like the wide playmaker, he will close down opposition players relentlessly to win the ball back.
The clip below shows how the ball is won higher up the pitch before launching a quick counter attack
[video=youtube_share;5fBU8ZzEZ5U]http://youtu.be/5fBU8ZzEZ5U[/video]
The Defensive Forward is there to be a pest to to opposition deeper players. He will hassle defensive midfielders and centre backs to prevent them from playing out from the back. He will move into channels where he can run on to the ball before delivering a cross. He will also make runs into the box as a conventional striker would do.
The Deep Lying Forward is the main outlet for your team in counter attacking situations. He will act as a kind of target man but will also be gifted on the ball as he will be running with the ball and delivering killer passes.
The clip below shows hoe the formation attacks from a GK long kick
[video=youtube_share;bd4fLQm1Tu8]http://youtu.be/bd4fLQm1Tu8[/video]
General training is kept on balanced with very high intensity and match preparation is kept on the highest level for match tactics only. No specific match training for individual matches.
DURING THE SEASON
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This setting should be used about three days before the first competitive game of the season. General training is kept on balanced with high intensity and match preparation is kept on the second lowest level. The main focus for the match preparation is not very important as you will gear it directly towards the opposition.
So for matches where you are the favourites or stronger team, you use attacking movement and when you are the weaker team defensive positioning. You can see this in effect on the screenshot where against Everton away I went defensive and the weaker teams attacking.
RECOMMENDED PLAYER ATTRIBUTES
EXTRA INFORMATION & TIPS
1. Bogey Formation (4-3-1-2): This formations usually played by Man Utd seems to cause the formation trouble because of the overload of central players. Defenders will usually get drawn out of position leaving the strikers in acres of space. I am currently working on fixing that.2. Match Preparation: Please be more conservative when selecting match preparation for away games.
3. Formation Fluidity: Load the german league as unplayable along with the league you want to play in and make sure you choose the start data as June to coincide with the start of the German league. This allows you to get an extra month to get your team familiar with the tactic.
4. Team Talks: There are many threads about team talks so google and this forum are your friends. Team talks are very important so try to understand how they work
5. Improving your Odds: At the start of every season, you have the chance to select the teams collective bonus for their final placement in all competitions. Setting this to the highest level will keep the morale of your players high.If you are worried about how much you will have to shell out at the end then I have a little tip for you. The lower you transfer budget, the lower the squad payout. So edit your budget to increase wages and reduce transfer budget.
6. Keep Players Happy: Tip 5 helps with this but also making sure all your players get some first team football is advisable. Use your rotation and backup players in cup games and rest first team players to keep morale high across the board
7. Team Cohesion: If you sign a lot of players for the first team then tactical fluidity and cohesiveness will suffer. This is something to keep in mind. You can train team cohesion for about a months period after all players have been signed to help with this issue.
Hope you guys enjoy the tactic and would love some feedback
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