“Trading Places” - La Plata: Vice #FM22

January 31, 2022

Previously on La Plata: Vice, Ángel Bastardo plotted towards war.

Intro

Make no mistake, I am loving this save. After a difficult 6 months in MLS (documented here), Inter Miami have finally accepted Ángel Bastardo as the Head Coach to steer them into the path of glory. Does this mean a first ever club trophy win? No sweat: a 2021 Supporters’ Shield for being absolutely the best side in the league. Most goals, most points and sexy football too. Inter Miami have been sensational in the final few months of the domestic regular season, I can’t wait to share it with you in this blog.

Today’s blog therefore brings readers up-to-speed on the happenings of the The MLS Network Save, which features fellow blogger Chris aka FM Eadster, as we look ahead to the climax of Season: the 2021 MLS playoffs. But firstly, I’m going to write about something that has been an enjoyable sideshow in the save so far: the league’s Trading system.

Vamos.

Trading Places

Think back to the 1990s school playground in the height of Merlin Premier League sticker season, you'd do anything to get that shiny Eric Tinkler sticker. If you're too young to remember those, or were yet to exist, think Pokémon or whatever it is nowadays…an NFT blockchain monkey John Terry dressed in a football kit?

In those times, we'd trade. We’d do anything to complete the set…money changed hands, favours…I even coaxed my dad into taking me to the McDonald's Fast Food chain to SitNSwap. My experiences in Football Manager 2022's Major League Soccer is a throwback to those times. 'Trading' is a unique way to build your side, a dynamic between MLS clubs that is similar to the 90s playground.

For trading to work well, not only can you use the league's dollars (from the pot known as 'General Allocation Money'), you can also trade ordered draft picks, player rights, international slots and also players themselves (read FM Eadster’s handy guide here for more info). In The MLS Save, I did a mix of some of these things in a busy September; as shown in the below graphic:

A critic (let’s call him Stan Fear) could say that giving away an International Slot for a DP of 4 months is desperate business, but I still feel I played the Trade System well having built up a surplus of International slots in the first place. I replaced a Right Back like-for-like. I swapped an unhappy squad player, and replaced him with a risk-free DP signing of Nani and ended up +1 International slots for next season (2022 year). To top all that, I have several early picks in the MLS Superdraft, meaning that I could possibly acquire a couple of promising youngsters to leave a little legacy at Miami. This system was really fun, well done Major League Soccer. Now how did those signings do?

Season 2021: Regular Season Climax

It’s often said that “a picture paints a thousand words”, so here is a quick high-level overview of the trophy laden drama of our first attempt at regular season in Major League Soccer. Obviously, we have the playoffs still to come…but this is a really impressive haul of success for Chris & I:

At the midpoint of the season, Orlando City were 15 points clear of Inter Miami. But the onset of their slide was caused by the Flordian Derby defeat to yours truly back in August. It obviously helped further when I took Nani from them via a trade. Weaken.A.Rival is probably the lesson learned here, as we traded places in MLS two weeks before the regular season ended.

13 wins (including one away at Chepiga’s Portland Timbers) in the final 19 games of the season saw us rise up to top both Eastern Conference, and also win the prestigious Supporters’ Shield. Inter Miami’s first ever trophy, built on entertaining soccer, is another footnote in the legend of Bastardo 😍

As for the incoming trades mentioned earlier, Graham Zusi played a lot more than I originally thought (8 starts/730 minutes). He has been solid and will probably feature in a few further playoff minutes (however a replacement Right Back is still a must for Season 2’s recruitment). Nani’s 4 month stay will probably be best remembered for his two goals Vs Atlanta, the first being linked below as a #GIFGoal. It’s one of the best strikes I’ve seen in FM22 so far, and you can read what Chris Eadie thought about it below. I’m hoping he can produce similar bits of magic during the playoffs, before we wave goodbye to him and use the DP slot on somebody a bit younger and more consistent.

**SUPER NANI USA**

*“It was lovely. Right up in the top upper 90 quarters”* Chris (FMEadster)

442 - “Going into Lockdown”

I mentioned last time in the blog that I was cautiously optimistic about how we’d do in a 4-4-2. Early signs were suggesting we’d be a threat on the flanks and produce more entertaining soccer (a Club Vision), and it’s certainly been realised with the amount of goals we scored over the regular season. However, an overlooked quality is the ability to see out a game in this 4-4-2, something I was keen to do after that horrific 3-2 home defeat Vs Orlando City (as mentioned last time out). Chris (@FMEadster) and I often use the term "lockdown" during the streams to mean shutting out a game. But what is it? I explain in the below Loom video…

So far Lockdown in the 4-4-2 has been a rip-roaring success, having sacrificed a winning position from minutes 70 onwards on just one occasion (Vs Columbus Crew which finished 2-2). Is it time you entered lockdown too?

Playoffs, Next

I am really liking the MLS league system, having a knockout competition after a league campaign is a throwback to both my Colombian (Junior - FM21) and Uruguayan (Peñarol - FM20) saves. Alongside CONCACAF qualification, another reward for winning the Supporters’ Shield is a bye to the Semi Final of the Eastern Conference playoffs. These are single legged ties, which I will play at home (another reward for topping the Eastern Conference table). ‘IF’ I make it to the Final and win…I’ll enter the coveted MLS Cup where I will face the winner of the Western playoffs.

Could that final be a rematch with Ruslan Chepiga? Tune in to find out: 📺 twitch.tv/fm_grasshopper (Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays).

As always, thanks for reading/sharing and caring.

Tony / FM Grasshopper

“Angels Are Terrifying” - La Plata: Vice #FM22

January 18, 2022

Previously on La Plata: Vice, Ángel Bastardo lost a Designated Player and survived a team uprising.

Portland, Oregon

Ruslan Chepiga's floating desk was a truly incredible and innovative piece of furniture, Ángel Bastardo mused as he ran his index finger along the metallic surface. With the magnetic forces to levitate it, Chepiga’s place for ‘accounts’ floated almost 1m above the floor with long metallic wires protruding from its four corners and into the floor. The final cost of development, construction and installation came to a monstrous US $1.6 million, all funded from Inter Miami Billionaire General Manager Herb Simon’s hospitality accounts.

Herb’s gift was just one strategy in securing the services of Ruslan, who would be needed when things escalated in America. Escalate they would. Hugo Ojeda had increased the amount of money that now need to be laundered, and Chepiga’s intelligence had identified Colombian operatives spying on all those that now sat in front of Chepiga: Nathasha Sibiski, Herb Simon, Carlos Valderrama and Ángel Bastardo.

The four men and the lady were discussing their next moves, on the eve of the crunch MLS tie: Portland Timbers Vs Inter Miami. How can they avoid the clutches of Hugo Ojeda and, in Ruslan's case, avoid the death threats made from the Ojeda-Barranquilla Cartel? Perhaps Ruslan did not need much convincing to get his hands dirty after all. He needed allies after defecting Mother Russia for the US.

“Do you know why I wanted a desk, Comrades?” asked Chepiga in his typical monotone Russian accent. His tone neither raising or lowering in pitch, and before anybody could answer, Ruslan continued: “It’s because I’ve spent my life doing the dirty work of men behind desks. Men who raised above their station from factories as part of the communist dream. Not anymore. Once we deal with this Devil called Ojeda, I sit behind the desk”.

Ruslan Chepiga finally understood the game, Ángel Bastardo thought. The days of the Russian Agent were over and Ruslan could have whatever he wanted after all of this. Bastardo’s fight was with Hugo Ojeda, and he didn’t care what came after that. The boy he left back in Mexico had acquired unimaginable wealth and power. With those luxuries came the biggest ego ever. An ego made of glass, Hugo’s vulnerabilities had made him dangerous and unpredictable. Public death threats were one thing, but his advances on Natasha Sibiski could not be ignored and overlooked. Bastardo had to look out for her whilst the tectonic plates of Bastardo and Chepiga rubbed up close against the Ojeda Cartel. People will die, and it could not be her.

“To take down an empire, you have to divide it,” Bastardo said to the group. “You’ve heard my plans. Natasha will head to Mexico to sow the seeds of discontent between the disenfranchised Cartels where Ojeda once called home”.

Natasha nodded, with a slight gaze to Billionaire Herb Simon who had clearly heard her siren’s call. No doubt, Miss Sibiski had men under her charm…but a near 90-year-old Billionaire was a surprise.

“Herb” Bastardo called, waking the old man from her spell, “You will continue to clean the money. Real estate, sponsorships…everything you’ve been doing for us. Once this is done, I promise assets will be reacquired back to you, and more”.

Turning to his Assistant Head Coach, a beaming Carlos Valderrama, “Carlos and I will continue to play the farce in Major League Soccer, but we will make sure Miami is ready for what’s about to happen once the money is to be shipped back to Colombia”.

Bastardo signed off with one last cold stare to the man behind the floating desk: “Ruslan. Ready Portland for war, you have 1 year”.

Ruslan rarely smiled. In fact, this was probably one of the only times Ángel Bastardo had ever seen it. The smile could have been lifting the desk itself, it was infectious. The Russian nodded and chuckled to his audience, as he wagged his index finger towards his audience. The finger wore a large pulsating red jewel, which displayed the hammer and sickle: “You know Comrades, I was not religious until I met the man they call Ángel Bastardo. But, let me tell you, Angels are terrifying”.

Notes from the Editor - Chris (FM Eadster) said I write some lovely placeholders. He has therefore allowed me to borrow his character in the shared Bastardoverse in order to show the plotting towards some of the climaxes of La Plata: Vice. I guess this is the definition of a placeholder, not much happens…but we are at least starting to see the journey towards the fireworks. Bastardo has brought together the right people that could bring down the Ojeda-Barranquilla Empire. But will they? That’s all TBA.

For more Football Manager specific Bastardo-Chepiga content, head to twitch.tv/fm_grasshopper TONIGHT. It’s Portland Vs Miami in The MLS Save.

Thanks for reading/sharing/caring,

Tony / FM Grasshopper

Football Manager Data Analysis: Trequartista feat. @afmoldtimer #FM22

December 15, 2021

Hi,

As part of my Football Manager Tactics series, I recently wrote about a 4-3-1-2 tactic with Western United, during a short one season save in Australia’s A-League. The system was partly based on replicating the 2000 Italian era three striker attack using Puntas & Fantasistas. At the heart of this side was 38-year-old Alessandro Diamanti as the Trequartista, the player operating between the lines of the opposition’s defence and midfield in the AMC position. It was only after publishing that I received a DM from A FM Old Timer (Chris), who suggested that it would be good to take a deeper [statistical] dive into Diamanti and the Trequartista role. I agreed, and sent him over the save file.

With this objective, Chris has produced a short report below that evidences the Trequartista role’s behaviour and output within the Football Manager 2022 Match Engine. This allows us to answer several questions we had about the role. Questions such as: How did Diamanti’s metric stack up against his peers? Was Diamanti good value as the sole Designated Player at Western United? And: Does the outcome from Chris’ statistical analysis align with the preconceived thought processes I had when embarking on the original tactical post?

If any of that interests you, then please stick around for more below. Over to Chris.

Tony / FM Grasshopper

Passing - Chance Creation & Retention

Taking a deeper dive into Diamanti’s attacking metrics, you can see how creative he was for his team mates, with 5.05 key passes/90. This was the second best in the A-League, and makes it little wonder that he averaged an assist every other game (0.50 A/90). His pass completion of 82.39% was also impressive, given he operated at the cutting edge of the pitch, yielding more pressure and an increased likelihood of passes being cut out by blocks from defensive midfielders or opposition defenders. It would be rare for an attacking midfielder to average north of 90%, because they simply don’t have the time and space due to opposition players pressing and looking to make tackles or interceptions.

Yet if you look at his passes attempted per 90, you begin to see how trequartista’s differ from advanced playmakers in the attacking strata. Whilst he looks for space, play isn’t run through him. Instead, he's looking for space to exploit and unlock the opposition defence. As such, he received the ball far less frequently, and this is played out in his 49.68 passes per 90, well below average for a midfielder.

Let's dive further into this - if he attempted 49.68 passes per 90, and 5.05 of these were key passes over the same measure, then 10.17% of the passes he attempted were key. Key passes are only passes completed, so he was even more prolific in his chance creation if that metric is used - a staggering 12.35%. This is a remarkable frequency of passes that led to a likely chance of a goal being created. Little wonder then that his creativity shows up in his assist numbers - 0.48, practically one every other game.

Yes, his turnover rate (possession lost) per ninety was pretty high at 9.79/90, but remember the type of passes he would be trying to make, trying cutting open defensive set-ups, unlike more defensive midfielders who have the option to lay the ball back to their defenders for a safe and easy pass. Even if he did have this option, it's not in the trequartista's make-up. Add to the fact that he is without the ability to run at opponents due to his lack of pace and acceleration to vary his attacks - they know he’s going to pass rather than take on the dribble, and they should be able to set themselves up accordingly. Digging into his dribbling, he only completed 13 dribbles (or 0.48/90) the entire season - if he could avoid running with it, he did.

Shot & Goal Creation

It’s not just that Diamanti was good at finding space and creating passes for his teammates, he also had a large number of shots for a midfielder - 2.35/90. These shots led to an xG of 0.23/90, which he did beat the xG, but only by 0.04/90 - though there are two penalty goals thrown in here, which would ideally be discounted.

By adding his actual goals to his assists on average over the course of the season, his goal contribution per ninety was 0.77 - an expected goal or an assist every 116 minutes. It's frustrating not to be able to compare this to his expected goal contribution due to the lack of expected assists in game, but one could imagine that with the frequency of key passes that Diamanti's expected assists could be even higher, meaning with better quality teammates, his actual goal contribution could have been higher still, despite playing on the twilight of his career.

Thanks to FM Stag for this handy infographic

Defensive Actions

Where things look a little less rosy on first inspection, if not that much of a surprise for a trequartista given their player instructions of press less, is Diamanti winning/losing possession stats. With his inability to quickly close opponents down to enact a press in an attempt to force a turnover due to his lack of a burst of speed, he yielded a net -6.27 gains in possession. Simply put, he turned over the ball to his opponents 6.27 more times than he won it back from them with a tackle or a block/interception. Equally, he only made 1.39 tackles and interceptions (combined) per 90 - the lowest of any player to play 1,000 or more minutes in the attacking central midfield berth - though there were only six players given the small number of teams and the fact that most teams opted not to field someone in this strata. That said, this figure of 1.39 is still 0.74 below the next ‘worst’ player.

However, this actually makes complete sense, at least in terms of why this number is likely to be below zero. He should be reserving his stamina for when the ball is given to him rather than going and looking for it in a hurry, instead relying on others around him to cease back possession. This is precisely because he lacks the necessary turn of speed over short distances that forces opponents into a mistake. Furthermore, in engaging in such a press, this would put him nearer to defenders such that he would find it harder to find the little pockets of space to make those defence splitting passes. It's speculation, but it's very probable that increased pressing, and as a result boosting his defensive actions, would very likely have resulted in a decrease in his attacking output.

It certainly would have reduced his ability to complete games, with Diamanti only being substituted on two occasions and missing the final A League game against Melbourne City entirely. Racking up 2,177 minutes out of a possible 2,340 across an entire league season is no mean feat for someone of his age. The mark of a class player doesn't always lie in their goal contributions, defensive actions or even saves percentages, it's in his availability. On this simple yet often overlooked metric, Diamanti had the stamina of someone ten years his junior, when players are said to be at the peak of their powers.

If this report interested you and you’d like a similar analysis of players, or even suggestions for recruitment based upon player metrics, DM me on A FM Old Timer on Twitter.

“Welcome To Miami” - La Plata: Vice #FM22

December 12, 2021

Previously on La Plata: Vice, Hugo Ojeda sent Carlos Valderrama to Miami.

Welcome to Miami.

How has Major League Soccer treated me so far? Well…

I signed a Billionaire Property Tycoon as General Manager to handle contracts and transfers, who is 84 years older than the club. Is this an FM record?
He secured a new contract to our World Cup winning Designated Player for a further two seasons. Days later, this player then broke his leg and retired.
We were leading the Florida Derby (Vs Orlando City) 2-1 in injury time, but ended up losing 2-3.

Strap yourselves in for a save update, which spans the first 6 months of The MLS Network Save with fellow blogger Chris aka FM Eadster (who is managing Portland Timbers). It’s been a wild first semester so far…

El Pibe & The Grandfather

El Pibe

Chris and I decided to turn off the 1st transfer window because we wanted to work within the 2021 squads. So, this meant a greater focus was made in fleshing out the backroom staff. My first choice Assistant Head Coach was Carlos Valderrama (as mentioned in my Bastardoverse piece a couple of months back). But unfortunately he became a “retired person” in the FM22 database and I had the choice of finding another heartthrob OR editing him back into the game prior to save creation.

I obviously chose the latter, and to placate Chris’ jealously I allowed him to choose a similar MLS icon to become his Portland Timbers No.2 via the FM Editor. I’ll leave him to wax lyrical about who he chose and why, but doesn’t matter to me because El Pibe (The Kid) is back:

Carlos Valderrama finished 1st at the Miami Class 1 World Powerboat race 2021.

The Grandfather

Simply put, I wanted the best negotiator I could find as my General Manager (GM). My GM will handle player contracts and initiate transfer deals with clubs, so acquiring somebody with Negotiating 14 was an upgrade on what I previously had (42-year-old Niki Budalic with Negotiating 12). To my surprise, whilst on stream negotiating his contract, it appeared Herb Simon was twice as old as poor Niki. Not only this, he’s also a mother f’king real estate Tycoon. This is the kind of investment opportunity Ángel Bastardo needs in Miami in order to clean some Ojeda drug money…

There are other appointments too: an MLS return for Freddie Ljungberg as an Attacking Coach, plus a few more Scouts. But the headline appointments are clearly Carlos and Herb, who join Ángel Bastardo to make Inter Miami the envy of Major League Soccer.

Return from La Plata

The injury

Just look how sexy Blaise Matuidi was, and just how good could he have potentially been for me in FM22?

Blaise on Day 1 of save. Au revoir mon prince xoxo

Blaise Matuidi did not play competitive football for my Inter Miami side. He sadly broke his leg in our final pre-season friendly Vs Sacramento Republic FC, days after signing a contract extension to keep him at Miami until 2023. The original diagnosis was 7-9 months but, after a period of reflection, Blaise decided to call time on his career leaving me with an unused International and DP slot (annoyingly after MLS squad registration and waiver draft deadlines). Grrrrr.

Return from La Plata

What Herb Simon decided to do in response was nothing short of sensational, it’s almost as if virtual Herb has been reading my blog. As I wrote in my save introduction:

If you want to see an example of Inter Miami’s short-term approach, then look no further than the treatment of ex-Estudiantes de La Plata forward Matías Pellegrini - who was bought out from his contracted and loaned to lower league affiliate club Fort Lauderdale…just so Matuidi could be properly registered [again] for the 2021 MLS season. After training for a number of weeks away from the squad, the 21-year-old eventually re-signed with Estudiantes on loan.
Source: https://coffeehousefm.com/fmgrasshopperblog/2021/9/6/why-inter-miami-in-fm22-la-plata-vice

Big Herb gave a new contract to Matías Pellegrini and we recalled the La Plata boy back to Miami to link up with Estudiantes legend Bastardo. It’s a great narrative to see play out and softened the blow of losing Matuidi, who surely would have been one of my key players for 2021 year.

6 Months of Soccer (2021)

Soccer hasn’t been easy. President David Beckham has the ambition of finishing in the top five of the Supporters’ Shield, which is absurd…but we’ll at least try.

We began this save using a vanilla 4141/433, which had few Team Instructions meaning we didn’t really have a distinct style of play. I simply wanted to use advanced wide men supporting a lone forward, DP Gonzalo Higuain. You can go back and watch the various streams, but you can see below that we were quite inconsistent. We were also not getting enough out of Higuain, who managed just one goal from open play in the first two months of MLS 😮

What do you think they're smoking over there in the Boardroom?

June was a horrible month. Performances were dull, and we exited the MLS Open Cup at home Vs Philly. The 433 (and also the v22.02 FM22 Match Engine) were on their last legs. With the last game under both being the 3-2 home defeat in the big Florida Derby, conceding goals 90+2 and 90+5. Awful.

I don’t want the Orlando City result to define my Miami legacy. I can’t buy my way out of a hole with the transfer window closed and I can’t jump ship to another club just yet...so, just like in the last few FMs I turn to 442 as my saviour. Fortunately, I am all too aware of my weaknesses and as a result had been training a version of 4-4-2 not too dissimilar to the below since the start of pre-season:

Depth wise we’re a squad lacking in quality, but it’s all about embracing that and just having a system that gets some excitement and goals...whilst accepting it’s not always going to go well. Three victories and two defeats in five probably shows this. But the board and supporters finally seem happy about the entertaining style of play, we earn plenty of xG (whilst also giving it away). It’s exciting apparently. Are you excited?

We are stereotypically 442: attacking wide men being released with the Pass Into Space and Counter instructions. These guys supply the ammunition to the Complete Forward and Poacher up top. Despite leading a mutiny team meeting against me earlier in the month of July, Complete Forward Higuain now has two goals in his last two games and he has already withdrawn his concerns about my managerial ability. Hopefully no Ted Redwood Infamous parody for me!

It’s too early to say if I’ve cracked it and changed our fortunes for the long term, but I believe I’m seeing better play now and more importantly: decent goals. We’re turning over the play, we cross into the endzone and our offense are touching it down. Team Miami with the Ws 🤞🏻

The MLS Save

These streams are best described as conversations with your mates down the pub (e.g. “What did you have for dinner tonight mate?”). I am keeping up with traditions by going faceless™️, however I am led to believe the streams at least have decent audio and are in High Definition. Thanks to FM Stag for his help with that.

The details of the stream are in the graphic below, if you wanted to drop in and say howdy you would certainly be made to feel welcome…

📺 twitch.tv/fm_grasshopper

Happy Holidays

I think this is my final blog post of the calendar year, so I want to wish readers a great festive season and best of luck in 2022.

There has been a lot of changes to the website over the last 6 months (IRL), as I moved default domains from fmgrasshopper to coffeehousefm. Some great bloggers have come together, and there’s a nice mixture of styles and approaches. Furthermore, as a group we now host the Latte Quarterly e-magazine and also Ondrej’s fabulous Rensie Skin…things any FM fan would enjoy 👍🏻

Thanks for sticking with me, and the rest of the guys, and we hope you enjoy 2022 with us.

Tony / FM Grasshopper

Follow @FM_Grasshopper

Football Manager Tactics: My Calcio inspired 4-3-1-2 (Western United FC) #FM22

November 29, 2021

Intro

For the first time in this series I’m not basing a tactical replication on one Manager’s particular tactic or philosophy. Instead, I am partly focussing on a player role: The Trequartista - and the cultural phenomenon that has been built around such an iconic role on the pitch.

The side I have chosen to use hosts an ageing Trequartista, who perhaps never hit the heights as some of his Italian predecessors (and successors): Western United’s 38-year-old designated player, Alessandro Diamanti.

Australia’s A-League is the next destination for this tactical series. A one season save with the aim of getting the best out of Diamanti as the Trequartista, whilst also hoping to turn West Melbourne’s fortunes around after they finished the 2020/21 A-League season losing eight straight league games. Let’s begin...

Team Philosophy & Formation

I have gone into this save, and this subsequent post, knowing that I wanted to use a Trequartista - and perhaps more importantly, make him the MVP of the side. Alessandro Diamanti ticks all the boxes. He’s the sole ‘Designated Player’ at Western United and is the key man from set plays. We’re only going to do well if I get Alessandro Diamanti dancing to the tune of the Italian Fantasistas of old.

But what does this mean? How would I get the best out of a 38-year-old maverick such as Alessandro Diamanti? Well, I turn to history...and to the systems that have employed a Trequartista, usually in front threes, in the era I know quite well: 00s Italy.

Puntas & Fantasistas

The famous front threes of Italia follow a similar pattern of playing a prima punta (first striker), a seconda punta (second striker) and a fantasista (Trequartista). But how do they differ?

Prima Punta

This is your physically strongest striker of the three. A guy that holds off defenders, but still mobile enough to displace them with good movement and also score goals. Gianluca Vialli is a good example of this kind of striker, but a more recent example is Luca Toni. I’d say they are limited as Target Forwards and were probably more akin to Deep Lying Forwards. Personally, it was an easy choice to place Western United’s Aleksandar Prijović into this role too. He’s strong, but clearly a technically good player for Australian A-League standards.

Seconda Punta

The secondary striker is one who relies more on Acceleration and Pace to get the goals. He’ll obviously benefit from the space opened up by the movement of the Prima Punta (DLF-S) but he can also create goals too. It’s for the latter reason that I chose Advanced Forward over Poacher. At Western United Dylan Wenzel-Halls is clearly my pacier striker, and the guy I would expect to get goals like the Batistutas and Shevchenkos of old.

Fantasista

Now to the aforementioned Fantasista. The guy operating behind those two strikers, between the lines of the opposition’s defence and midfield. There can never be too much Flair and Technique for this role, he’ll look to score and create...the Trequartista is the obvious choice of player role here. Some of the iconic Italian sides adopted the Trequartista: Juve’s Roberto Baggio, Roma’s Francesco Totti and Milan’s Kaká. Now I hope Western United’s Alessandro Diamanti can be the next Italian icon, at least in Australia...

Aleksandar Prijović (PP)

Dylan Wenzel-Halls (SP)

Alessandro Diamanti (F)

Real World Calcio

Below are some real-life Calcio three-striker systems that I enjoyed watching in the 2000s. These all follow the similar structure of Puntas and Fantasistas, and I have noted the front three’s goal returns:

2001 Roma. Vincenzo Montella (Prima Punta), Gabriel Batistuta (Seconda Punta) and Francesco Totti (Fantasista). Capello’s Roma 5-2-1-2 / 3-4-1-2. 55 goal return.
2005 Milan. Hernan Crespo (Prima Punta), Andriy Shevchenko (Seconda Punta) and Kaká (Fantasista). Ancelotti’s 4-3-1-2. 51 goal return.
2009 Chelsea. Didier Drogba {Prima Punta), Nicolas Anelka (Seconda Punta) and Frank Lampard (Fantasista) - Ancelotti’s 4-3-1-2. 78 goal return.

The 4-3-1-2

The three attackers fit into a 4-3-1-2, as shown below. It’s shape is in part replicating Ancelotti’s approach over the last two decades, with 2005 AC Milan and 2009 Chelsea as good examples. Three attackers with three industrious midfielders behind them, and a back four. I’ve made a focus on set pieces (which I will come on to shortly), but largely kept it very simple in-and-out of possession. We will distribute long to Aleksandar Prijović (via Distribute to Specific Team-Mate function), who will drop deep with his back to goal who should have quick passing options either beyond or behind him. His strength will allow us to build attacks from, whilst also getting the ball up field and away from our goal.

I’ve enjoyed seeing the left sided Full Back (on Attack) move upfield and join in attacks. His licence to advance forward is supported by both the Central Midfielder (on Support) and defensive Ball Winning Midfielder holding position. On the other side of midfield, the supportive Mezzala offers a sprinkle of width on the right hand side. The chosen player is Sebastian Pasquali who has been educated at Ajax’s academy, and it shows! Pasquali has the technical attributes to be a threat in advanced areas, and he often links up well with all three attackers. He ended up being the side’s 2nd best assister in this save, behind you know who…

Set pieces

Good Trequartistas will naturally be effective from dead ball situations, because there is a correlation of good Technical and Mental attributes that help when striking/delivering the ball. Diamanti should be special from set plays with 17 Technique, 17 Free Kicks, 14 Vision and the ‘Curls Ball’ player trait.

So, the supply looks good. But the demand from set pieces should also be outstanding. “The Giants of West Melbourne” were another compelling reason for me wanting to play as Western United. Just look at their set piece attributes, incl. their size/weight:

I already knew Léo Lacroix from my FM16 save in Switzerland, he’s perfectly suited as the target for our set pieces at 197cm tall. Alongside him, we have Captain Nikolai Topor-Stanley who is similar in makeup to Lacroix. The two centre-backs can alternate their roles in the position, or fill in for one another when one is absent, which unfortunately they had to do with overlapping big injuries. I only played my first choice CB pairing towards the final 1/3 of the season.

I have the Prima Punta (DLF-S) lurking in routines in-and-around the 6-yard box, another guy in the 190cms. As mentioned previously, not only is Aleksandar Prijović strong and up for the fight, he reads the game well with a solid 13 Off The Ball score. Lurking means he will be ready to pounce on flick-ons or mistakes. Lastly, we have a deep runner (Rene Krhin) who will run from outside the box and attack the ball. Krhin is strong mentally and will launch himself into the set piece battleground with the other big boys.

You will also see I have instructed a player to come short. This is my Seconda Punta (Advanced Forward) who is relatively weak from set pieces, in my view he does not offer much in the box. My reasoning for moving him short is that the Opposition will weaken their penalty area by moving a player out to track him (and chances are that this could be a decent defender seeing as I’ve sacrificed a Striker on this occasion). This gives more space in the penalty box, which I hope our four big guys can exploit.

All routines are obviously delivered by the Trequartista (when he is on the pitch), he will hit the Near Post or Far Post targets more often than not 🎯…

Near Post Routine goal Vs Melbourne Victory.

Trequartista in the 4-3-1-2

I often wonder whether it’s the player or the role that has more sway on the behaviour in Football Manager. I know the answer is a bit of both, and the complex sandbox that is Football Manager will never provide a definite answer. Maybe it does not really matter, maybe Alessandro Diamanti’s God-like performances are just a blend of player, role, formation and tactics all coming together perfectly?

As the Trequartista, Diamanti is constantly dropping in the hole and making good use of the ball. Most of his attacking outputs came from effortlessly releasing the Advanced Forward (see just two examples below). But player traits also meant he wasn’t afraid to switch the ball and go long.

One worry I did have was a potential clash with the supporting Deep Lying Forward dropping into the same areas as the Trequartista in order to get a hold of the ball. At times they would enter similar pockets of space, but the Trequartista was always more absorbed/obsessed by the ball; moving horizontally around the pitch wherever the ball went…in contrast the Deep Lying Forward moved more laterally. In fact, the DLF would more often than not enter the left channel - I think this is helped by having no advanced wide players. Ultimately, DLF-Treq clashing was no issue for me, but perhaps it’s something to keep an eye on if you use this tactic.

Alessandro Diamanti finished the season as a 39-year-old, but out of all of his 22 professional seasons, this was one of his most productive years: 7 goals and 13 assists in 27 matches. He finished with an average rating of 7.40 and as a result signed a two year deal keeping him at Western United until 2024…when he would be 41-years-old. Diamanti proves it’s never too late to become the next Italian icon (in Australia, at least)!

4-3-1-2 Dream Goal - a breakdown

A great team goal, which I wanted to explain for a few minutes, is shown below. It involved every outfield player, with two special cameos from our Fantasista Diamanti. I have used Loom experimentally to explain why this goal is so pleasing to me; and how it encapsulates the 4-3-1-2. If you feel this is a good method, please let me know and I will consider placing more into blogs in the future…

A Season Down Under

A-League (Regular Season)

The fact that I am finishing up this one season save with the job security of ‘untouchable’ should be enough to tell you that my time with Western United has been a huge success. We had the aim of a top half finish, but instead we completely surpassed all expectations (including my own). No signings were made, the first transfer window was disabled and in the subsequent window I had very little wriggle room in the budget to get anybody in. My approach was to trust in the 4-3-1-2 and enjoy the new game, which I played most of the season alongside my podcasting partner Dan Gear on a bed in Thurso, Scotland.

We were top on Game Week 5 and stayed there the whole season, with only back-to-back defeats in the January Melbourne derbies giving me fear that we would burnout and slide down the league. Alas, that was not to be. We actually went on a 3 month unbeaten run and ended up with a 10 point gap over City rivals Melbourne Victory.

A-League (Finals)
For those unfamiliar, like I was, the Australian A-League breaks away into single legged finals. Places 3-6 will face off first, before the winners meet the top two. It all culminated in an eventual match-up between the two Melbourne clubs who’d won the league in the first place. United Vs Victory.

Annoyingly I had a pre-match crisis on my hands, with three players requiring injections: our Goalkeeper, Left Back and Central Midfielder. Injections did not stop us taking the lead with a near post Lacroix header from a Diamanti corner in the 1st half. However, it was sadly another Italian that stole the headlines with a goal and assist: Sebastian Giovinco. It was a step too far for us, and although I am disappointed to crash in the Grand Final hurdle, our 4-3-1-2 had already surpassed expectations. Western United 1-3 Melbourne Victory.

Assist & Goal Types
You can see that I am not over reliant on set pieces, or crosses, like what FM Twitter would have you believe. In fact, a huge amount of our goals (60%) are assisted from through balls. The most common assist is Trequartista releasing the Advanced Forward to run in behind and score, Diamanti ends with 13 assists. As a team, we end up with the most amount of goals in the league (56), with our Advanced Forward ending up as the league top goal scorer with 20 goals:

2021 Western United. Aleksandar Prijović (Prima Punta), Dylan Wenzel-Halls* (Seconda Punta) and Alessandro Diamanti (Fantasista) - Grasshopper’s 4-3-1-2. 45 goal return*.

*Despite topping the goal scoring charts with 20 goals in 26 starts. Dylan Wenzel-Halls was injured for a couple of months and his replacement, 18-year-old Ayom Majok, banged in 7 goals.

Conclusion and Download

This 4-3-1-2 is obviously tailored with instructions to suit the squad I had at Western United. But I found the 2000s Calcio three-striker system really easy to implement. All you need is three good (but varied) central attackers, follow the principles of Puntas & Fantasistas and you can’t really go too wrong. The interchange and balance between all three strikers is nice to see, and you just need to make sure you have a structure in place behind them. If that balance is in place, then the Trequartista can really flourish…even one as old as 38!

I’ve uploaded the tactic to the Stream Workshop if you can’t be bothered to set up the tactic as detailed above, or play in another language. As always, if you use it I would love to know how you get on.

Thanks for reading,

Tony / FM Grasshopper