A Long-Term Tactical Vision

As the title suggests, this update is primarily about setting out a long-term tactical plan for Karlsruher SC. It is, however, also at least bit about me being a moody so-and-so – let’s get that part out of the way first, shall we?

THROWING A STROP

I suggested on Twitter that I had planned a big update for the German Cup game with Dortmund, and I really had, but things first took a hit when I realised that I wasn’t able to access the highlights of their games to really analyse their play. Because I’d done some groundwork, and because this is (nominally) intended to be a learning exercise for me, I’ll present here what I’d put together in case anyone wants to offer any comment on my thought process, alternatively feel free to skip this part if you don't want to read my inconclusive gibberings...

I was under no illusions though, this was going to be a huge tie to get any kind of result from, and I needed to do some major homework. Even then it was likely to be damage limitation at best, with names like Rakitic and Reus on their roster it was difficult not to get overawed from the outset.

SCOUT REPORT

 

I’ve highlighted some points of interest here. I don’t always take a great deal of notice of goal times, but here the percentages seem significant enough for me to do so. It looks like Dortmund are likely to adopt a patient approach, letting us tire before hitting some deep through-balls (or balls over the top?) for their guys to run onto. Given their high rating for pace, it would seem that I do not want to be trying to play a high line against them.

On the flipside, an early attacking outlook may pay dividends – just for the first 10 minutes or so – and it would appear that some good deliveries from out on our right may be the key. My initial notes, therefore:

• Come out fast, attacking from the start, just for 10 minutes or so. Favour the right flank, but more passing than crossing.
• Then adopt a deep-sitting Counter-attacking approach.

Potential weaknesses? Who am I kidding, man-for-man we’re screwed.

  

HOW HAVE OTHERS BEATEN THEM? WHAT TO WATCH OUT FOR?

Next thing I wanted to do was look back through some highlights of recent games. I was looking for confirmation of my beliefs about their attacking game, and also to understand how they’d been beaten – for the latter the Köln game, where the hosts thumped Dortmund 5-0, was an obvious reference point, and whilst I couldn’t rely on Dortmund repeating their 7th minute sending off it would still help to build a picture. 

The problem is that I wasn’t allowed to look at highlights of Bundesliga games. In fact I can’t watch highlights from any game from a competition that I’m not involved in. When did that happen?! 

That left me with only one opportunity, the first round 3-4 win at Münster that had taken Dortmund through to our impending clash; at least it had a few goals at both ends. I watched through the highlights, but nothing in them gave me any huge insights – other than the fact that Dortmund like their wide men (MR/ML) to cut inside and drive into the area. That works for me though, if we’re going to sit deeper then I’d likely be looking to sit narrower too; our fullbacks should be in a position to be picking up those runs.

SHAPING UP

Dortmund were expected to line up in their familiar 4-4-1-1, presumably with Rakitic sitting in behind Christian Benteke up front. With their added pace and strength, and my match plan, a defensive midfielder was a no-brainer. With that in mind I was looking at a solid 4-1-4-1, but that didn’t necessarily suit the fast start that I wanted to go after.

My plan was to start out with a 4-4-2, with Valentini as the second striker. After the initial phase, whether we managed a goal or not, I would then drop him onto one flank. Therefore I’d need to start someone out wide who could then come into the middle.

I was thinking something like this, albeit with some tweaks to Mentality and Team Instructions. From the off we’d play fast, getting the ball forward to Alibaz and Torres and hopefully getting some balls into the box. After that initial phase we’d tighten up and aim to clog up the middle of the pitch – looking for quick breaks when the opportunity arose.

 

ONTO THE PITCH

The opening 5 minutes or so were promising, and we made inroads into their third whilst coming under little pressure ourselves. Several times Rakitic would drop wide to collect the ball, and then look to switch play to the opposite flank – each time our fullback was alert and stepped forward to collect the ball and release our front line.

Unfortunately some poor decision making meant that we didn’t capitalise, I put it down to the players being overawed – against other opposition I would genuinely have expected us to make something of one of the moves. I was beginning to consider leaving our shape and mentality for a while longer than planned, but as we ticked past the ten minute mark Dortmund started to apply pressure and stuck a couple of useful through-balls into space. We recovered well, but I was conscious that we couldn’t keep chancing our arm ; I was also aware of the need to not tire ourselves out too early. 

The switch to the 4-1-4-1 felt solid, and whilst our deeper line saw Dortmund get into the danger area more we didn’t look rattled. Our back four, with Peitz sitting just in front, dealt well with what was essentially a 4-2-3-1 coming forward.

The issue was turning our possession into any sort of threat, with ‘Conan’ missing we really didn’t have the height up front to do much against what often looked like two flat banks of four in the Dortmund area. With that in mind the first tweak was to switch to drilled crosses......

 

My intentions to continue to track the entire match, and make reactive tweaks, took a further hit when I ‘Got the Arse’ (that’s a technical term), the result of conceding this goal after 20 minutes of very promising football…

As a consequence of ‘Getting the Arse’ I promptly set about chasing the equaliser and, by the break, was 2-0 down. I calmed myself down a bit, but I’m not too proud to admit that I still ‘Had the Arse’ to some extent. The second half saw me take a better (less childish) approach, and we actually created some half-decent chances. Ultimately we were on a hiding to nothing though, and I was happy to get away with nothing worse than a 3-0 scoreline.

I didn’t tell the players that though, I gave them the semi-hairdryer, and they actually appeared to respond positively to it. Which was nice.

After the Dortmund game, and knowing that I was being stroppy, I wanted to take a step back and give myself something to focus my attention on. I was already feeling like I needed a ‘project’ or a longer term tactical goal, rather than just posting random tinkering and updates; with our strikeforce still depleted it felt like a good opportunity.

PLAYING THE ROVERS (FM2012) WAY

I’ve previously dipped the occasional toe into 4-2-3-1 waters, but now I was encouraged to do so further. Despite injuries I still have the pairing of Micanski and Valentini available, but with no further backup I decided to take the plunge and give 4-2-3-1 a proper go for a few games. On the plus side, as it’s a shape I’ve enjoyed in the past, it’s on my tactics board and general familiarity has been achieved already.

THE ROVERS WAY

I first started to play a 4-2-3-1 in FM2012, thanks mostly to the musings of the late Steven Fraser. His numerous pieces are all superbly written and, whether you agree with his theories or not, make for great reading. Following his untimely death, the guys over at the SI Forums took the step collecting them together into a Memorial Thread - go take a look, I promise you won't regret it. 

Starting the game with my team, Blackburn Rovers, and making some key signings over two or three seasons, I set about building a team to suit this shape. The fact that Chelsea were prepared to let Daniel Sturridge go on a free in FM2012 still bemuses me; along with the likes of Steven Davies, and the two Kyles (Walker and Naughton), we built up a great young-ish roster. Add in the occasional veteran on a short-term deal (Carrick, Van der Vaart) and we proceeded to become regular contenders at the top end of the league(8th, 7th, 2nd and 2nd) until I hit a terminal date-bug.

Here’s how we shaped up back then.

Initially I played with a narrow three in attack (AMCL/AMC/AMCR) but ultimately evolved into the wider shape seen above.

One of the keys to the operation of the tactic, made easier for me to achieve by way of the departed sliders (and some now defunct player instructions), was the relative fluidity of the front four, backed up by a more disciplined defence and midfield. In attack I like the opposition to always be on edge, keeping them guessing with unexpected movements. My initial squad at Ewood, and my subsequent signing policy, allowed me to make good use of some of the tactical tweaks.

Frequently Sturridge would be set up to ‘Swap Position’ with my left Inside Forward, meanwhile my AP-S and BBM (or right Inside Forward) would have similar instructions - Steven Davies, and either Jonjo Shelvey or Jack Collison did this quite well. Sometimes I'd switch it up and have the Inside Forwards swapping with each other. It meant that a player may not always feature in his number one choice of role, but he would always be at least competent in both slots.

On top of the player swapping, individual instructions to the AM line would allow them significant freedom to roam and make their own decisions.

Sitting in behind our offensive line, a pair of central midfielders would have varying Roles depending on the situation; generally speaking a DLP-S would create a double pivot, whilst a BBM would create additional threats for the opposition defence to keep track of. Where we faced stronger opponents, this might change to a DLP and CM-D combination. At the back a solid defensive core would be flanked by fullbacks who wouldn’t be discouraged from getting forward, but were rarely encouraged to push all the way into the attack.   

ADOPT AND ADAPT

In the long term my intention is to take Karlsruhe to the upper end of the Bundesliga and, when I do, to be playing something close to this brand of football. We feel like we’re a better team this season and, whilst I’m not expecting an easy ride, I decided to have a go at replicating the style of my Rovers side as much as possible.

There are of course some things that can’t be easily replicated. Specific player (or position) swapping is gone – only available now for ‘Wide Players’. I think it’s doable though, through the right combination of Roles and Player Instructions.

Here’s my start point…

Ignore the out-of-position players, it was just a quick screen-grab.

That’s what the team has been familiarising itself with, but I’m under no illusions that it needs work. Early tweaks involved changes to the Roles within that shape, and then changes to the shape itself. As an example Micanski was often not involved in direct attacking play at all, but switching him up to Target Man – Support sometimes saw him present more of a threat. That seems counterintuitive to me, but is no doubt a reflection on the supply he receives when dropping that little bit deeper – he has a habit of scoring from the edge of the area after all.

Longer term I’d like to precisely replicate the Rovers model, but Pace and technical skills are high on the wishlist for that, and we’re lacking at present. On that basis I started thinking about stop-gap tactics which maybe start to get us attacking in something that’s ‘on the way to’ a 4-2-3-1, whilst not requiring as much work to get back into a defensive shape. For instance, could the 4-4-1-1 that I used at Strasbourg be adapted to get the wide men forward more and cutting in somewhat like an Inside Forward?

Here’s what I came up with, including Player Instructions....

It hasn’t been terrible, but it really lacks impact and I mostly end up back in the 4-2-3-1 shape. Whilst the instructions do indeed see the wide men playing narrower, they lack the penetration of a genuine Inside Forward and often end up occupying spaces 20+ yards out looking to lay off passes – instead of being the man on the end of such a pass.

I’ll continue to pursue the ‘hybrid’ idea though, and you can expect me to reference back to it on a frequent basis. For the time being, despite often tinkering mid-match, we’ve played seven games notching four wins (three home, one away) and three draws (all away). Whilst teams have closed the gap on us a little we remain unbeaten in the league since game #4, and I’ll take that!

I'll leave it there for now although, as ever, I'm a little further down the road and if you follow me on Twitter (@flipsix3_FM) you'll probably already know the outcome of the season - and may therefore be bemused by the way my updates keep jumping between past and present tense. Sorry about that!

As ever, if you have any feedback on anything at all, please let me know either through the comments or on Twitter. 

Thanks for reading...