As the title says, I want to recreate Louis van Gaal's Ajax tactics that brought them so much success, including the Champions League in 1995. I think I've got a squad that can replicate the tactic fairly accurately.
The basic shape of the tactic used was something like this
View attachment 372887
I've put some names on where I think players will play. To make it easier I would have separated it into defensive, midfield and offensive sections, but the whole team is so fluid in transition that it would be impossible.
As you can see there are numerous triangles and diamonds throughout the pitch which should make keeping possession quite easy, the most obvious is the diamond between the midfield 4.
Obviously Vermeer in goal, nothing fancy here.
Next up we've got Toby Alderweireld, he's already a great ball playing centre back and with the right training I think he'd be an excellent sweeper. He'll be replicating Danny Blind's role in the '95 team, playing just behind the two centre backs when defending, I might play him as a libero because I think he has a lot to offer when in possession.
Now onto the two centre backs, as there's no full backs these 2 might have to cover the wings when necessary, however in the '95 team it wasn't their responsibility.
Just in front of the back 3 was Frank Rijkaard, a midfield general. In my team I've pencilled in Yttergard Jenssen to act as a controller.
Ahead of him are 2 players that will be absolutely vital to the whole system. The 2 box to box midfielders (Ronald de Boer and Edgar Davids) had unbelievable stamina and work rate, along with great technical skills and outstanding game intelligence.
Defensive phase - As the defence is very narrow, a glaring weakness is the attacks from the wings, the box to box midfielders are tasked with tracking the runs of the wingers.
Attacking phase - These 2 are just as important going forward, making penetrating runs into the box, in the gap left between the winger and the central striker. This amount of running is superhuman, and I may have to find a way around it for it to work in the match engine. An alternative would be to have the DMC and one of the box to box midfielders (depending on what side we're defending) tracking runs whilst the other one can concentrate more on the runs into the box.
When the box to box midfielders are dragged back into the full back positions, the AMC (in '95 it was Litmanen, in my team it'll be Eriksen) has to drop back in midfield to prevent the DMC (Rijkaard/RYJ) from being over run. He won't be tasked with a great amount of defensive work, just back there to make up the numbers.
Going forward he'll play as a traditional a 10, I'll give him the licence to roam and pick up pockets of space in areas that he can be dangerous.
The two wingers (Overmars and George) were both extremely quick, they held their positions on the flanks, stretching opposition defences and creating more space for the likes of Litmanen.
Kluivert and Sigthorsson are very different players, one of them would probably play as a target man whilst the other excels as a poacher, I might start with him as a poacher and switch to an advanced forward if it doesn't work out.
Suitable team instructions would probably be Very Fluid - Control.
Not sure how I'll counter the threat of the wingers effectively whilst not straying too far from the original tactic.
I think this will be the basic shape
View attachment 372927
Having the AMC starting in a CM position might mean he stays a bit deeper when we don't have the ball. Don't know how to make the BBM's defend the wings.
Please comment and create a bit of a discussion, it'd be great if we could accurately recreate a tactic that was put into place so successfully by a team that would have gone on to win so much more if it had stayed together.
The basic shape of the tactic used was something like this
View attachment 372887
I've put some names on where I think players will play. To make it easier I would have separated it into defensive, midfield and offensive sections, but the whole team is so fluid in transition that it would be impossible.
As you can see there are numerous triangles and diamonds throughout the pitch which should make keeping possession quite easy, the most obvious is the diamond between the midfield 4.
Obviously Vermeer in goal, nothing fancy here.
Next up we've got Toby Alderweireld, he's already a great ball playing centre back and with the right training I think he'd be an excellent sweeper. He'll be replicating Danny Blind's role in the '95 team, playing just behind the two centre backs when defending, I might play him as a libero because I think he has a lot to offer when in possession.
Now onto the two centre backs, as there's no full backs these 2 might have to cover the wings when necessary, however in the '95 team it wasn't their responsibility.
Just in front of the back 3 was Frank Rijkaard, a midfield general. In my team I've pencilled in Yttergard Jenssen to act as a controller.
Ahead of him are 2 players that will be absolutely vital to the whole system. The 2 box to box midfielders (Ronald de Boer and Edgar Davids) had unbelievable stamina and work rate, along with great technical skills and outstanding game intelligence.
Defensive phase - As the defence is very narrow, a glaring weakness is the attacks from the wings, the box to box midfielders are tasked with tracking the runs of the wingers.
Attacking phase - These 2 are just as important going forward, making penetrating runs into the box, in the gap left between the winger and the central striker. This amount of running is superhuman, and I may have to find a way around it for it to work in the match engine. An alternative would be to have the DMC and one of the box to box midfielders (depending on what side we're defending) tracking runs whilst the other one can concentrate more on the runs into the box.
When the box to box midfielders are dragged back into the full back positions, the AMC (in '95 it was Litmanen, in my team it'll be Eriksen) has to drop back in midfield to prevent the DMC (Rijkaard/RYJ) from being over run. He won't be tasked with a great amount of defensive work, just back there to make up the numbers.
Going forward he'll play as a traditional a 10, I'll give him the licence to roam and pick up pockets of space in areas that he can be dangerous.
The two wingers (Overmars and George) were both extremely quick, they held their positions on the flanks, stretching opposition defences and creating more space for the likes of Litmanen.
Kluivert and Sigthorsson are very different players, one of them would probably play as a target man whilst the other excels as a poacher, I might start with him as a poacher and switch to an advanced forward if it doesn't work out.
Suitable team instructions would probably be Very Fluid - Control.
Not sure how I'll counter the threat of the wingers effectively whilst not straying too far from the original tactic.
I think this will be the basic shape
View attachment 372927
Having the AMC starting in a CM position might mean he stays a bit deeper when we don't have the ball. Don't know how to make the BBM's defend the wings.
Please comment and create a bit of a discussion, it'd be great if we could accurately recreate a tactic that was put into place so successfully by a team that would have gone on to win so much more if it had stayed together.
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