Photograph: Nigel Roddis/Reuters
Tactical preperation
So it’s still pre-season, and one of the major innovations of this edition of FM must be dealt with: match preparation. Basically, your team can learn and be drilled in up to 3 formations. This means that in a match you can switch tactically and your team won’t unrealistically be perfect or, alternatively, spazz out like a chicken on meth.
So firstly:
4-2-3-1
4-2-3-1 formation, Fabregas set as main playmaker in the team instructions
This is probably now the most prevalent formation in football. The philosophy is that two ‘pivots’ in central midfield give a base for a 3 pronged attack ahead, with a single forward. I’m using a version which does not use traditional wingers, but utilises 3 ‘Attacking midfielders’:
I set one as an inside forward (basically a winger who cuts inside and attacks the goal or supports the other attackers, e.g. Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi: very fashionable). My main candidate for this is Eden Hazard
A Trequartista (basically a deep-lying striker who creates, chances sitting behind the main forward. You can station him higher up the pitch or behind the striker, a.k.a. a number 10: e.g. Alessandro Del Piero, Francesco Totti: very Italian). I propose to use Samir Nasri in this position.
And an Advanced Playmaker, for example, Zinedine Zidane. However, this will not be my principle ‘playmaker’ in the squad, as Fabregas will sit in central midfield and be the main dictator of play and the tempo of the match. This is because Fabregas (see above) is more suited to sitting in the centre of the park than in an advanced position. My main candidate for this is wonderkid Jack Wilshere.
I will shuffle around the instructions of the main forward according to the game, but I intend to mainly play Robin Van Persie and use his wide-ranging skills as a complete forward who plays practically every ‘role’ a forward can- in the air, in the wider positions dragging around defenders, attacking the goal. I set him as my main target man for crosses, playing the ball to his feet principally. This will allow him to pass it or run with the ball rather than head the ball, bringing in the 3 behind.
Importantly as well, I set both Sagna and Clichy as wing-backs. A wing-back can be deployed as a starting position further up the pitch, but I prefer the defensive cover that the pairing sitting deeper provides, as Sagna is a handy tackler. The deployment of both Vidal and Fabregas in the centre means that there is some cover provided to the defence. I instruct that the ball be principally played through the middle so as to go through the double pivots, allowing Sagna and Clichy to run forward with less likelihood of being marked. This formation, overall, fits my team perfectly- everyone functions well within it, but there is one headache:
What to do with Theo Walcott?
Walcott is, effectively, the successor to Thierry Henry. However, unlike Henry, Walcott is often described as not having a ‘footballing brain’. I think this is because of his age, but also because he is very reliant on his pace. However, this is not surprising as he is one of the quickest players in the footballing world.
Notice that in this game he is treated as a striker first and as a winger second. Also notice that he doesn’t fit into the centre- this is principally because Walcott likes to out pace players on the touchline, cutting inside as he goes and attacking the box. This often results in him taking a shot rather than making the pass. Here, however, he does pass and it was a crucial, well-worked goal which showcases his acceleration, even with the ball. Pace like this, breaking quickly, can rip apart defences especially if their full backs are slow and unresponsive, in this case Aurelio who was caught far up the pitch, and Hypia cannot cover the position and make a red-card foul:
Therefore, I think Walcott is a very useful player- although I have signed Hazard, Walcott is incredibly useful too and should not be dropped. I will primarily keep him on the bench, unless I play a 4-3-3 where I envisage him starting in a front troika.
Other formations
I do consider a 4-6-0 (lining out as a 4-2-4-0, essentially), and I may even switch to this later in the season, but I have kept open two options: a customised 4-3-3, which looks more like 4-3-2-1, but with the ’2′ out wide. This is because I feel Chamakh and Van Persie will not be that useful next to each other as both will compete too much for the ball. Sometimes minimalism helps. I envisage Walcott taking a wide position, possibly being moved forward to the top of the pitch so that he starts very high, receiving the ball and moving past the oppositions’ full backs easier. I like to give him a ‘run-up’ though and this also allows the orchestration of other players into the attack.
My other formation is a very boring 4-4-1-1, which I will use as a makeshift 4-5-1, with the emphasis on us playing further up the pitch. This is a more rigid formation but this should be useful against teams which give my other two formations trouble – the advantage of the ’1′ behind the lone front man is that player can pressurise the opponents’ midfield and bring central midfield players into the game. He will also act as a link man. I can see Nasri, Wilshere or Hazard starting in this position, all of whom possess good creative skills and dribbling. This excellence of technique permeates the squad, however, which you can see illustrated here with ‘tec’ meaning ‘technique’:
We also possess good off-the-ball stats and some extremely creative players, mainly (and perhaps naturally) in the midfield. Arsenal’s squad lends itself, then, to an expressive playing style where the passes are kept on the shorter side- this should allow players to move in and out of play easier, and to pass if they run into trouble, rather than hopelessly kicking it long. I also believe that the pace in this team lends itself to a fast, aggressive style, and this tempo can be adjusted in a match to take advantage of teams: the squad is good enough to play slow and patiently, but also has some fast legs which should be exploited, such as the wing-backs.
Next update, because these are very long and are taking me ages, I will showcase a contest with Aston Villa to show I’m not all-talk.
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