A Tactical Evolution at Club Atlético Lanús (from 4-2-3-1 Control Possession Preset to 4-3-3 DM) #FM23Beta

Hi Everybody 👋

I planned to go all things Catenaccio with Spezia Calcio during the #FM23Beta, until I remained winless in the first 6 games of Serie A and “didn’t feel it anymore”.  Instead, I felt like I needed a bit of fun/magic, something away from Europe, and as I perused some of my favourite leagues around the globe I fell on 41-year-old José Sand:

 

This is the guy, his name is José Sand ♥

 

Those that know me will cite my love for Argentine Oldies, and there’s not many older than José Sand in the game database.  ‘Pepe’, as he is affectionately known, continues to regularly feature in the Argentine Premier Division aged 41.  His team, Club Atlético Lanús, are a nice blend of experience and some exciting youth prospects: Julián Aude, Maximiliano González, Franco Orozco and Pedro de la Vega (injured for the first 7-8 months of 2022) to name just a few.

Firstly, let’s take a closer look at Sand, because he is the player that piqued my interest for this beta save…

José Sand in FM23.

You can see that Sand is a great finisher and intelligent off the ball. He is ultra-aggressive, brave and hard working for his team mates.  His weaknesses are twofold: his flair (ability to do ‘magic’ when on the ball) and his relatively slow quickness.  Just from a brief look at these attributes, I’ve already ruled out a number of Striker roles such as Advanced Forward, Complete Forward, Deep Lying Forward and Trequartista.  He isn’t one to make regular sprints throughout 90 minutes of football, and he will not be very effective in a creative striker role.

His traits of ‘Play Short Simples Passes’ and ‘Does Not Move Into Channels’ further refine what he probably can and cannot do effectively.  It looks like there are only a few roles I want to select him in: Poacher (Attack), Pressing Forward (Defend and Support) or Target Forward (Support and Attack) because neither require the player to move into channels and stretch the play.  But before I choose, I want to see what other roles I can place around him…

4-2-3-1 Control Possession

Has anybody tried to pass off a preset tactic from SI as one of their own? Because that’s exactly what I am doing today on the blog .  But in all seriousness, the game makes it easier for newer players these days.  But that being said, I’ve been recommended a trio of tactical styles: Route One, Fluid Counter-Attack or Park The Bus, neither of which really fit in how I would want to meet the Supporters’ vision of playing attacking football.  That’s not to say those styles can’t bring about high shots/goals-to-game ratios.  But I personally feel that we should be more proactive; whereby we take the game to the opponent and dictate the play.  Afterall, Lanús are supposedly a top 6 team based on the Media’s prediction.

I therefore decided to use the Control Possession preset.  The style is a lower tempo, counter-press…whereby the ball is worked into the box…a box that hopefully will be filled with Pepe Sand.  I’ve ignored a recommended 4-3-3 Wide and 5-2-3 Wide, because I would like to see how a No.10 does when working off Sand.  Instead, I’ve plucked for a 4-2-3-1 Wide…but there are a number of things I want to change from the roles initially offered in the preset:

Default roles in 4-2-3-1 Control Possession. Not great, not terrible.

  1. Firstly, I’m not a fan of the Complete Forward-Attack role for Sand for reasons previously mentioned.  Changing this in turn means I’d also want to change the No.10 role behind him.  I’m leaning towards an attacking role in the AMC slot, somebody to roam around and have full creative freedom.  There’s one role that pushes this to the max: The Trequartista.

  2. IF we go with a Treq…I’m keen to ditch the idea of a Target Forward (one of the three roles I had left in my head to choose from).  My thinking is that there will be an over reliance on pinging balls into the central striker area, because both roles are ‘ball magnets’.  A Poacher could certainly work, but I’ve instead chosen a supportive Pressing Forward mainly because I think Sand could do a great job of holding the ball up for us…allowing wider men in the 4-2-3-1 to be brought into play.

  3. From the base 4-2-3-1, I ditched the Winger role and replaced it for an Inside Forward.  Why?  Because I felt the Winger would not have a great deal to cross for.  It could work, but I’m thinking Club Captain Lautaro Acosta is more of a threat cutting inside and playing off Sand as an IF.

  4. Looking at the deeper roles.  The next domino that kick-starts a few extra changes is related to the penetration I want from the central area.  DM-S and BWM-D are a solid pivot, but for games I expect to win (certainly ones at home) I have opted for a Segundo Volante on Attack.  This is a deeper version of a box-to-box midfielder, and on attack should be regularly linking up with the Trequartista.  For away games, I will look to curb the advancements somewhat and will choose a Support mentality. 

  5. IF we go with a Segundo Volante.  I first wanted to try an Inverted Wing-Back to fill the void in the DM space when in possession.  But sadly this does not seem to work in x2 DM systems for another year, so instead opt for a supportive Wing Back.  I’ve also adjusted the mentality of the right sided Wing Back to further exaggerate that natural overlap on the right hand side with the Inside Forward cutting in.

  6. The last tweak is an extra Ball Playing Defender, but on Stopper duty in order for him to move forward if the Segundo Volante is caught up-field and unable to press oncoming opposition.  I’m confident that this could work well having a few CBs with high Aggression and relatively high Decision attributes.

So, this is how we set up for the first 6 months of Argieball (January-June 2022):

4-2-3-1 SandBall. A nice balance of Attack-Defence-Support.

Season 2022

2022 Copa de la Liga Profesional

In the first 6 months of fútbol, there was not much in the way of game-to-game changes.  In terms of player roles, I mentioned previously that dropping the Segundo Volante mentality down was a common tweak when I’ve gone in front and looking to close out the match.  I would also consider only having a Support SV when I am in a big away game (e.g. Vs ‘The Big Five’ teams).  In terms of instructions, I turn off Counter-Press when there is no need to be so risky when we are out-of-possession.  I also turn off Work The Ball Into Box when I feel like my wide players are better off pumping the ball into the box from wider areas.

Sand hit form as soon as the season commenced as our Pressing Forward on Support duty, reaching 10 goals in his first nine league games.  But then went seven games on the bounce without netting, as we struggled with fixture congestion and fatigue due to the 2022 Copa Sudamericana.   He ended up at the midpoint of the season with 13 goals (all comps).  You can see how inconsistent we were throughout the first 6 months:

 

Traffic Light FM 🚦

 

2022 Argentine Primera División

With a 40-day break before the second half of the Argentine season commences, I thought I would see if I can get a Director of Football into the club to make some deals.  83-year-old Roberto Saporiti, who played for the club in 1962, answered the call.  His first task was to see if he can bring in a flair based player via a short Recruitment Focus, until I realised that the transfer window was also disabled for the second window of the save.  Bug OR my ignorance on database creation?  I think the latter, I had started in February…so what I think is the second window is actually the first.  Never mind, I’ll go all Arsène Wenger and say that the returning Pedro de la Vega in 5-weeks would be “like a new signing”.  However, Sand also signed on for a further two years to take him into his 44th year, well done Saporiti!

I cannot go into the Data Hub to determine where things could do with a tactical adjustment ahead of the 2nd half of the season.  This is because the Hub only populates with league game data…and the opening league system is [possibly incorrectly] coded as a cup tournament.  So, it feels like I am playing a pre-Data Hub edition of FM, but luckily I have watched all of the matches played.  For the second half of the year, I propose the below tactical tweaks:

  • I’ve not seen enough of the Segundo Volante (just 3 goals) to warrant its continued inclusion, despite it being one of my favourite roles from other saves.  He’s getting forward in the highlights I’m seeing, but I can tell it's far from perfect.  However, it’s the No.10 position that worries me more (3 goals and 1 assist from my 1st choice ffs).  I changed Treq to Advanced Playmaker on support duty…but more importantly brought him down into the central midfielder area, alongside an attacking Mezzala.  My reasoning is that the playmaker can now get on the ball more and see players ahead of him, which now also includes an attacking Inside Forward - who I hope can get beyond the supportive Pressing Forward who drops deep and holds up the ball.  Elsewhere, there are a few other little tweaks in the midfield and within the backline.  But largely the same roles throughout.

  • I downsize in Team instructions though.  I’m no longer forcing so much through the middle, but we’re keeping the controlling style of play.  I have also permanently ditched the counter press, and in turn have decided to also do away with the high lines…instead settling on a Mid-Block.  One of the benefits I see here is that I can adjust the lines, and add out-of-possession bits as I see fit during the games themselves.

Here is SandBall v2, which is now a 4-3-3 DM…

The 4-3-3 with DM was the most popular shape during FM23 Beta.

Annoyingly I wished I had made the changes sooner, but I was determined to smash Continue and review at the season mid-point.  The v2 of the tactic has made a real difference, despite initially earning a few too many draws…I could see a real difference in the style of football, in the xG I was now accumulating and eventually the results!  We hit form, building up a sequence of wins to put us into the Copa Libertadores places after the first 10 matches after the re-start.

I’ve clipped some of the gorgeous interplay that has led to goals below.  When we were good, we were really good.  Although we have been prone to the odd narrow defeat, usually in the crunch games against super clubs like Boca and River or those in ridiculous form like Club Atlético Unión de Santa Fe and Vélez Sarsfield.

Seeing as I had no transfer window in the end, it forced me to give plenty of minutes to some of the brilliant youngsters that Lanús have in the squad.  This save started out all about a 41-year-old but I enjoyed seeing the young wonderkids come into the match day squad and surprise me too:

Julián Aude (1,578 minutes), Maximiliano González (1,240 minutes), Franco Orozco (3,436 minutes) and Pedro de la Vega (954 minutes) all receive glowing recommendations from me. They’re awesome!

2022 Argentine Primera División final table.

We ended up finishing 5th in the Premier Division with 50 points, which secured qualification for the 2023 Copa Libertadores which is above the board expectation (top half) and a place above the media prediction of 6th. Furthermore, this feat was superseded by a Copa Argentina penalty shootout win against Barracas Central. Although it did come at a huge personal cost as 34-year-old Club Captain Lautaro Acosta broke his leg in the showpiece final, who is now considering retirement. He faces 8 months out of action.

WE DID IT™

However, José Sand brought me here; so it’s only fitting I should sign off with one last mention to our top scorer of 2022 with 20 goals (all comps).  His goal rate may have plateaued by the end of the year, but he had a solid season and justified the extra two-year deal to remain at Lanús until his 44th year.  It sounds incredible, but also typically Argentine Primera División!

Too boring/long/short; did not read? Hopefully this tactical journey has been an interesting read [to some]. The finished style which I ended up on is not overly complicated, it does not require a detailed commentary on the inner-workings. It’s simply a modified preset, tailored to the nice squad I inherited here at Lanús. I won a trophy, got 20 goals out of a 41-year-old and captured some nice #GIFGoals.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you continue to enjoy the FM23 Beta.

Tony / FM Grasshopper

Latte Quarterly - a development ☕📖

Dear Readers,

In the last couple of years I have developed an intolerance to coffee, which sucks.  But at least coffee helped me through the first 6-7 years of fatherhood.  Whilst it irks me that I’ll never taste my favourite fruity Colombian blend again, there is a certain amount of comic irony in how I continue to administrate the coffeehousefm.com website, and co-edit the Latte Quarterly e-magazine.  It seems coffee and I remain inseparable

At the time of writing this, Latte Quarterly e-magazine has been going for three full years now.  A quarterly cycle has been maintained, and we’ve seen it flourish into a cult favourite for a fair few folk.  Matt (fmadventure) and I have always been guys to dwell on things (a trait that can be seen as both negative as well as positive in FM).  Afterall, the e-magazine itself took about a year to get off the ground,  but it's been a collaboration I’ll never regret.  It has always been our intention to one day print LQ…at a time when print is in decline and writing about Football Manager has been dwarfed by the visual side of content creation.  But that does not bother us, we’re still committed to doing this more than ever.

So, I am delighted to report we’re almost there.  A physical copy of LQ at a relatively low fee in order to recover its cost if a certain number of copies are sold each quarter.  That’s where you come in.  Do you want a physical copy sent to your door, ensuring you’ll be the coolest person in the coffeehouse next time you visit?  You’ll be an environmentalist too, as it’s printed on recycled silk paper, carefully edited and composed by the most ardent of FM fans.  I feel you want this…maybe even deserve it, for sticking by us.

A printed version of Latte Quarterly Issue 12 (August 2022) is now available to buy for £3 (plus £1.50 postage) for UK readers on coffeehousefm.com/lattequarterly.  We have a Patreon for £2 per month to support us too, with quarterly issues henceforth delivered to your door.  If none of this interests you, but you still just want to buy us a coffee…you can do that also on the coffeehouse page.

 
Latte Quarterly - Issue 12 (August 2022) Latte Quarterly - Issue 12 (August 2022)
Latte Quarterly - Issue 12 (August 2022)
£3.00
 

Our Patreon: www.patreon.com/LatteQuarterly

But please don’t worry if you do not have money to spare on this, or are worried about the future of the magazine, it will always be available to read online for free.  It continues to be Matt and I’s insanely geeky hobby, and we’ll strive to always do our best with this.

Thank you for reading,

Tony / FM Grasshopper

How 17th Century Japanese strategy can make you a better Football Manager

Intro

Inspiration can come from unlikely places. I have a continually expanding list of football literature to read, and whilst they are interesting on the most part; it’s rare for them to get my creative juices flowing. Instead, I often sidestep and read up on other subjects that interest me, and Japanese military strategy is an example of that.

Of course, I’m no expert in military strategy…but the subject of Japan, especially it’s martial arts, has always fascinated me. Miyamoto Musashi, the author of The Book of Five Rings (1645) that has loosely inspired this offbeat FM blog, was a swordsman of the Kenjutsu school. Despite being published in the mid-17th Century, Musashi’s thoughts on philosophy and life through the engagements of battle can not only be applied to many parts of modern day real-life, but also in Football and in Football Manager too.

 
 

In this post, I’ll share a quote from Miyamoto Musashi and explain why I think it can make you a better Football Manager.

“The principle of strategy is having one thing, to know ten thousand things”

In a broader sense, this quote (and its wider chapter) highlights the difference between Oriental and Western outlooks on education. Simply put, the East likes specialisms…whereas us in the West like to educate our children to have a broad sense of many specialist areas. Musashi wants the reader to know that total proficiency in one’s pastime/skill can bring about a greater knowledge of other things in life.

Specialise your save

“There’s no link to FM here Tony?!?”, I hear you ask. Well, what if you accept that your new save is about focussing in one area of the game? Be it: being a journeyman, maintaining a philosophy, focussing on transfers as a Director of Football, training for gains or youth development. The staff responsibilities screen, and the ability to delegate can drastically alter your save. I would even go as far as saying that many people who have been absent from Football Manager series for a decade do not know about the levels of customisation to make the game more streamlined. This ought to be screamed from the rooftops to get legacy players (who feel they no longer have the time to play) back into the game. It’s ok to “know one thing”.

Specialise your players

My other Football Manager sidestep is how I now play the game and rate its players. From time-to-time I have managed at a low level; whether that’s Mexico’s 2nd Division (FM20) or Brazilian lower leagues (FM22). By managing in a lower level, you accept that players will be inefficient at certain things. But it’s also worth keeping in mind that so too are the league opposition. Everything is relative. If a Winger has great acceleration and pace, but not much else…he can still be effective in a lower league. A defender with literally no Technicals is fine, just keep his play simple…have him specialise as a destroyer or non-nonsense type player. The players become specialised. It’s ok that they “know one thing”.

“It is difficult to move strong things by pushing directly, so you should injure the corners”

Miyamoto Musashi’s comments here relate to large scale battle, but the principle of what he is suggesting can be applied on the football pitch. Sometimes facing up your strength against the opposition will not be enough. Perhaps you need to find a weakness and alter your attack to “injure a corner” …and thus not engage the opposition head on.

There are several ways to do this in Football Manager. One way is consulting the scouting reports of the opposition each week. Not got a staff member doing that just yet? Get him/her focussed on providing you with one ahead of each game, there may be useful insight included which you can exploit.

Another way is simply a brief squad overview or previous line up analysis. Who’s in bad form right now? Whose condition is weakened by a run of games OR is a player coming back from long-term injury? Who doesn’t match up well against one member of your squad? Align your troops and “injure the corners”.

“The mountain-sea spirit means that it is bad to repeat the same thing several times when fighting the enemy (…) If you attempt a technique which you have previously tried unsuccessfully and fail yet again, then you must change your attacking method”

Miyamoto Musashi quote is based on a chapter around 1v1 sword technique. In 17th Century Kenjutsu, you’d likely have a maximum of two opportunities to change from a failed attack. Repeating it a third time would, in Musashi’s view, lead to a defeat.

In Football Manager strategy terms, this has been a common piece of discourse on the GrassNGear podcast, as Dan and I have often stressed the importance of attacking in a varied way. It’s a common sight, a tactic that has duplicated roles on each side…completely symmetrical. It can work…but you’re relying on the difference of those players through traits and attribute make-up to make the attacks varied. The same could be said for set pieces (Hi Ondrej), having more than one tailored to your side will add variety and could bring about the marginal gain that changes your season.

 

Example of perfect symmetry.

 

It would be much better to mix up where, and how, you attack the opposition. ‘Swap Roles’ option is a great technique (and something I wrote about here).

But also consider if you replace players on a like-for-like basis when making in-match substitutions. Do you? I’ve certainly done this before, and it’s only natural to recruit similar players who can interchange easily with those in your squad if the tactic is ‘working’. But sometimes it may be better to take off, for example, a Target Forward and replace him (and his role) with a different style of attack, e.g. an Advanced Forward who will look to get in behind of the opposition. The reasoning here is that the Target Forward may be having a bad game against similarly strong defenders who have nullified his threat, so use the “mountain-sea spirit” and attack variedly.

“People are always under the impression that the enemy is strong, and so tend to become cautious. But if you have good soldiers, and if you understand the principles of strategy, and if you know how to beat the enemy, there is nothing to worry about”

I am guilty of playing Football Manager over cautiously. Miyamoto Musashi’s words echoed in my head for a day or so from reading this chapter, because it rung true. Even in most successful ‘defensive’ teams, there is always a plan to win the match. A route to goal. It is easy for setups to become naturally entrenched in a defensive mindset, with little thought in how to attack. Throw caution to the wind, find the combination that works in your side, and don’t be too cautious.

If you know the three of four ways you regularly want to attack (refer to that mountain-sea spirit as mentioned above), make sure you check that it’s flourishing. Your Attacking players, and the chances they get, are the temperature gauge of how good your strategy is. I’m not talking about number of shots; rather the number of high xG chances per game. If you have confidence in this, then “there is nothing to worry about”.

Concluding thoughts

Not my kids.

This post is neither an FM Guide or book review. But it’s intended to act as an aide memoire for me, and to hopefully to serve a purpose in helping others too. The Book of Five Rings was a surprisingly enjoyable holiday read, having only encountered it by chance in a ‘bibliothèque libre-service’ (a pop-up cabinet with books). It’s rare to find English books as good as this in them, inspiration really does come from unlikely places!

Thank you for reading,

Tony / FM Grasshopper