THE BARNSLEY PROJECT
This will be my first project in the 10.3, using my new frameworks. Just like in the previous projects, I will try to tell you about my reasoning as how and why I will use frameworks, versions, tweaks to the d-line and wide play etc, etc.
AS we have a restricting of 4 screenshots/post, further posts, matches, transfers etc etc, will be put in the thread as usuall and linked to here in the OP so that I ca
We start of by looking at the actual squad and what possibilities that opens up for us this season. Screens of all the players are put up in links that you have to click
Media prediction: 22nd
Balance: £1.6 m
Transfer Budget:Adjusted to £25k
Wage budget: Adjusted to £65k/w
Current wage bill: £61k/w
THE SQUAD
DEFENDERS
Rob Kozluk
Steve Foster
Ryan Shotton - Loan from Stoke ( pre-start)
Bobby Hassell
Nathan Doyle
Darren Moore
O´Neil Thompson
Carl Dickinson - Loan from Stoke ( pre-start)
Here we find a few adequate players. Foster is our best DC and our fullbacks can play the part although we only have one left footed DB, Dickinson, and he is on loan. Darren Moore is a player that should have retired a few years ago and if I have to play him, then I dont expect to win. Hassel is a player that will need to cover up in midfield as we have too few MCs
CENTRAL MIDFIELDERS
Hugo Colace
Anderson Silva
Jacob Butterfield
Too few players here actually and we will probably have to use some of our defenders in this positions as well. Anderson Silva is rather good and cab we used both as an attacking Mc and a DMC. Colace on the other hand can only be given defensive duties as he lacks in off the ball, only having 5 in that stat
Butterfield is a player that can play both roles although not being really good at it
WIDE MIDFIELDERS
Martin Devaney
Adam Hamill
Iain Hume . Injuried the first day of training, 4-5 Months
Mounir El Haimour
Emil Halfredsson - Loan from Reggina ( pre-start)
Hume being out Injured is a blow as I consider him being a good player for the level playing at. Our loan from reggina, Halfredsson, is our star player and he will probably also be used in a FC position as we dont have that many attackers
ATTACKERS
Daniel Bogdanovic
Jon Macken
Andy Gray
Jamil Adam- Reserve team player
Bogdanovic knows how to put the ball into the net but the rest is poor
The SWOT - a summary
The main Strength of the team are
Our determination. This is a team that should be able to fight for the points, not giving up when 2-0 behind
The main Weaknesses are..
The squad depth and lack of specific competence up front.
Too few MCs to play 3 central midfielders
Too few attackers
The main Opportunities are...
Our healthy economy will provide us with more options in the future
Finding some free transfer bargains
Selling some of our players on high wages, making it possible to add more squad depth within the wage budget
The main Threats are the...
Players wanting out: Both Foster in defence and Bogdanovic attracts interest of better clubs and as they wont bring in that much money of sold, we will struggle to get equally good players as replacements.
Injuries: If getting one or two defenders out, we will struggle big time. The same goes for if Bogdanovic gets injured
Conclusion - Framework and formation and framework to be used
As we only have one good FC, it would be easy to come to the conclusion that we should play a 451 but as we have even fewer MCs. this is not an option. I am also not sure if Bogdanovic is good enough to play as a lone FC, a positions that in my opinion needs a player that have better stats in Creativity and strength.
Our ambition this season will be based in reality and as the media predicting us 22nd is a rather fair one, our aim will be to get a safe middtable position by grinding out results when playing away and try to play attacking at home. If we get injuries in midfield or defence, we might have to play attacking in all matches
as we simply wont be good enough in defending ( remember Reading in the EPL )
So knowing this, we will play a wide 4132, using the following formation and tactics that will be slightly tweaked before each game
Download Links
Defensive
Balanced
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The Barnsley project
First match of the season
Sheffield Wednesday - Barnsley 0-3
Match odds: Even...11/5...11/5
Managers preferences: Nothing special
Pitch: Rather long and narrow
Weather: Noting special
Tactical reasoning and tweaking:
Starting version: Defensive
A more cautious approach where we hold on to the ball a lot and stay in our defensive shape with the aim to perhaps ****** a point late in game
Tweaks
As the pitch is rather long, I dropped the d-line slightly and to be sure that out wingers flood the midfield, I let them cut inside, focusing the play through the middle
Attackers: Bogdanovic is used as the more creative FCr as as his ppms is " runs with ball down right flank", I want him to have a free role, hold up ball and cross often and from mixed into the box. When I saw that he was tight marked and closed down always, I let the Fcs swap position
We controlled the game perfectly and they where restricted to long shots/blocked shots. Bogdanovic was behind all 3 goals.( screens of 1-0, 2-0, 3-0 was a penalty after he went down in the area)
---------- Post added at 11:57 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:57 AM ----------
The Barnsley project
League Cup
Port Vale - Barnsley 0-2
Managers preferences: Nothing special
Pitch: Rather long
Weather: Nothing special
Tactical reasoning and tweaking:
Starting version: Balanced
A balanced version between attack and defensive. Again,we use lots of players holding up ball to keeo possession beter
Tweaks
As the pitch is rather long, I dropped the d-line slightly. Our wingers are still set to cut inside but in this version, I give the ML more creative freedom and he often goes down the line to cross. AS the versions plays rather narrow, the free role on the wingers combined with cut inside actually makes them cut inside to provide easy passing option and then using their free role to find space wide.
Again, we controlled the game perfectly and had no problem winning. Port vale was just too poor
The Barnsley project
Match 2
Barnsley - Coventry 1-1
Managers preferences: Nothing special
Pitch: My homeground has a normal pitch
Weather: Nothing special
Tactical reasoning and tweaking:
Starting version: Balanced
As I am yet uncertain if we can play a quicker and more attacking game, using a high d-line, I again went for Balanced to keep possession
Tweaks
As they formed a defensive 4141, I removed the cutinside option for the wingers
We controlled the game perfectly but failed to score so instead of 2-0, they went 1-1. I finished the game with Attack but it only resulted in them alsmot wining. No more high d-line for me...
---------- Post added at 11:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:57 AM ----------
The Barnsley project
Match 3
Barnsley - Preston 1-3
Managers preferences: Closing Down high, play down the flanks
Pitch: My homeground has a normal pitch
Weather: It started to rain heavily
Tactical reasoning and tweaking:
Starting version: Balanced
As I am yet uncertain if we can play a quicker and more attacking game, using a high d-line, I again went for Balanced to keep possession.
Tweaks
Here, I wanted to test if our team was good enough to play against a team pushing forward down the flanks, putting us under heavy pressure. the answer was simply...NO !!
Our right flank with Doyle behind Butterfield just could not cope at all with their ML Wallace and United loan, FCleft Danny Wellbeck. This is what happens when you have **** defenders up against much better and pacer attacking players.To me, this is a slight flaw of the game, some players ability giving them multiple advantages over an opponent but then again, its my fault as the manager to actually not checking he was playing on their team
After going 2-0 down pretty early, I switched to defensive instead and after that it was n even game with us pushing forward the last 10 minutes for an equalizer, conceding another goal instead
---------- Post added at 11:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:58 AM ----------
The Barnsley project
Match 4
Leicester - Barnsley 0-3
Managers preferences: Nothing
Pitch: Short
Weather: Nothing
Tactical reasoning and tweaking:
Starting version: Defensive
No tweaks, I just used the default one uploaded in the Post 4, hopping for the same scenario as in the game against Sheff Wed,,,and it happened
Short cross in to the box- Goal
Short passing sideways into the center - Goal
Third goal was an error from their GK
---------- Post added at 11:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:58 AM ----------
The Barnsley project
Match 4
Leicester - Barnsley 0-3
Managers preferences: Nothing
Pitch: Short
Weather: Nothing
Tactical reasoning and tweaking:
Starting version: Defensive
No tweaks, I just used the default one uploaded in the Post 4, hopping for the same scenario as in the game against Sheff Wed,,,and it happened
Short cross in to the box- Goal
Short passing sideways into the center - Goal
Third goal was an error from their GK