I thought quite a lot about how to write this post because it’s not easy to put all my thoughts about the second part of the opening season of my Football Manager 2023 save together. It’s mainly about trying to improve the tactic based on the lone central defender. I have too many notes for one standalone post and I decided to concentrate on two matches against the same opponent as both performance & result were different in both matches after I made changes to our system between these two matches. And check what changed the most in terms of the cooperation between the central defender and our wide defenders.

THE INITIAL PLAN

As you who read previous posts about the save with the VVV-Venlo, I’m playing with the formation containing just one central defender. I named it the 3-2-3-2 formation. My initial thoughts were not too complicated:

• The central defender won’t be with the stopper duty as he would be too high up the pitch + we will have two defensive midfielders here

• I need to close gaps between the central defender and both wide defenders

• I didn’t want to use the Half Back role despite the fact I knew it would probably be the most ideal role thanks to the fact that a player in this role would drop the most from all other roles.

• Combining a DM player dropping down, an ML player cuts inside and a wide defender move forward to create different attacking variations on both sides of the pitch while using CWB + WM or IW & FB + W combination.

• Combining a pressing forward with the target forward creates enough space for the CM(A) player for his runs through the middle of the pitch.

• Test some new defensive instructions and compare them with the previous version(s) - especially as I tried this formation at the end of the FM22 cycle in a short side save and it worked very well.

• + some more small tasks.

Some notes about the player roles & individual instructions within the initial plan:

• GK and CD(D) have no particular instructions

• FB(S): Take Fewer Risks, Dribble Less, Hold Position and Sit Narrower.

  • The aim was to keep him as close to the central defender as possible and also don’t allow him to go too high up the pitch. I know the modern full-back has to attack, cross, press, attack, cross, press and repeat, but I wanted exactly the opposite.

• CWB(S): No individual instructions, that role is demanding enough by itself.

• DM(D): I added the Take More Risks instruction to see less predictable passes.

• Anchor: The one who was set to defend the Mark Specific Position, usually AMC or ST position/area depending on the opposition formation and the number of their AM/ST players.

• Winger and CM(A) have no particular instructions

• WM(S): Cross Less Often, Cut Inside With Ball, Get Further Forward and Sit Narrower.

  • The reasons for these instructions were simple - I wanted this player cuts inside and creates some space for the CWB(S).

• TF(S) and PF(A) have no particular instructions.

Eerste Divisie, Round 11: Jong Utrecht 4:2 VVV-Venlo (14. 10. 2022) ⭕️

We went to this match with the above and Jong Utrecht played with 4-4-2 Diamond Narrow. I probably already mentioned in the previous post but this match was an eye-opener to me because most of the things that happened in this match were happening also in previous matches but not too often as no other teams played with AM + 2 strikers combination so I was able to ignore these mistakes/issues.

We conceded 4 goals within the opening 36 minutes and despite the statistics of the match being level, Jong Utrecht should lead by four of five goals after the first half. The attacking trio Rijks, Oehlers and Sanches Fernandes was unstoppable and they were absolutely everywhere. But mainly, they were able to take the advantage of big gaps between our central defender and wide defenders and they were free to do whatever they want in the channels between all our lines.

The best example of this match is from the second half in the two pictures below. Their four players are ready to run behind our defensive line while their central midfielder receives a simple pass from the defender, turns around and sends the ball over the line. If I mentioned the AM + 2 strikers’ deadly combination but there’s also Jenner who played as Mezzala and that’s a combination that I was covered in sweat every time they had the ball.

The biggest issue here is that the CWB(S) is still too wide and the Anchor absolutely ignores the fact he has to cover the ST area of the pitch (Rijks just behind him) to help our central defender while we are without the ball. Oeehlers didn’t score in this specific situation but I checked the analysis screen and he had five absolutely the same situations like this.

As I said, the statistics of the match (see below) were level. But for me, their performance was the best possible alert to make changes if I want to be more successful and I don’t want to hide under the desk every time I will play against formations containing an attacking midfielder and two strikers. Btw. just a week later (in-game time) after this match we played against Dordrecht, they played the same 4-4-2 Diamond formation and we lost 2:3.

You can see, there is nothing that our lone central defender should do against these three opponent players after this long pass by their keeper. Both defensive midfielders ignored the fact they should help the central defender despite being set to defend the specific area and specific player. Maybe the most fun thing of all of this is that the central defender stopped moving back and one defensive midfielder was earlier in the penalty area. But I’m not surprised, I would do the same despite one of my favourite phrases/quotes within football “Who returns back, doesn’t trust the goalkeeper.”

For me, personally, the most disappointing thing was that no matter what I tried in terms of the defensive line, drop off more etc., it was still very the same every time we faced formations with more than only one striker. Another thing was the positioning of the right defender who was set to sit narrow while we have the ball. But the picture below shows that he was even wider with the ball than without the ball. There were just too big gaps and too much free space for the opponent if they were able to take advantage of it.

SELECTING THE RIGHT WIDE DEFENDERS

It was obvious that we have to change something and we have to tweak the wide defenders and the cooperation with the central defender. And ensure they will be closer and they will cooperate better with both defensive midfielders. [I would just like to point out that this next phase started after the first twenty matches of the season when we were 4th in the table].

Changing both wide defenders to Inverted Wing-Backs is not the right thing to do even maybe someone would point it out as one of the first solutions. Why not? Because of the description of the IWB role itself:

“The Inverted Wing-Back will function defensively much like a standard Full-Back or Wing-Back. However, while a normal Wing-Back will offer width to an attack, the Inverted Wing-Back (when he has a player ahead of him and where there are fewer than two defensive midfielders) will attempt to drift inside and create space for players around him.”

I know the bold part of the description is mainly for the possession and attacking part of the game but it affects the defensive phase a lot too from what I saw while watching highlights. Mainly because of two defensive midfielders, neither left nor right defender was closer to the middle of the pitch while playing as an Inverted Wing-Back and there was no change in their play. No matter if I tried them with the defence or support duty.

It was obvious I have to change the CWB(S) role because the same as I love this role (when there is an ideal player for it), the same I hated it during some parts of this save because this player was too attacking-minded, he was unable to defend properly when we were facing the counter-attack and in the end, he was not as productive as I would want.

But it was only my fault because I was too ambitious and I thought it can work. But sometimes, facing formations with more attacking players, was almost like playing without a left defender. It worked great during friendly matches but maybe it was just because we played against not-so-great (read = higher reputable) teams and we were the dominant team. But the league games showed us the reality.

My first thought what to try the No-Nonsense Full-Back role. It’s available just with the defend duty and the default instructions are the ones I would like from the wide defender within this system.

Less risky behaviour with holding the position. But one default instruction is not for me - More Direct Passes.

I think I saw one or two nice passes near the right pitch line from the right defender in two matches, the ball flew over the defender nicely and our winger was free to advance with the ball towards the opposition goal.

But when both defenders passed the long ball to the opponent about twenty times per match without a particular reason, I lost my nerves. I’m not suited for this football. It was the same as when I wrote about it in the post about my Grenoble tactic.

As I mentioned, the No-Nonsense Full-Back role has ideal instructions bar one. So, I decided to change both my wide defenders to FB(D) with these instructions:

• Take Fewer Risks, Cross From Deep, Hold Position - default

• Cross Less Often, Dribble Less, Shoot Less Often, Close Down Less - additionally added

I also saved this as a simple “FB(D)” preset within the player's individual instructions screen to have it saved for the future and also to apply it easier for both wide defenders. Originally, I played the first two matches without the last mentioned instruction with close down less. But I like the idea of having it together with holding the position and taking fewer risks.

Eerste Divisie, Round 30: VVV-Venlo 3:1 Jong Utrecht (10. 3. 2023) 🟢

Moving forward within the 2022/2023 season and I decided to stop in March after a match against Jong Utrecht as we played the second match against them this season. Five months after the 2:4 defeat. I made some more changes within the tactic but will concentrate on the defensive phase mainly as we faced the 4-4-2 Diamond again and they played with Mees Rijks (AM) and Aurelio Oehlers and Derensili Sanches Fernandes upfront again.

We went to the match with our tweaked tactic and I hoped it would work the same as in the previous weeks against other opponents. It lasted for five minutes before Sanches Fernandes was the most swift behind the penalty area and opened the score.

But it was just a coincidence in the end. The unfortunate bounce of the ball was because we were absolutely dominant in the rest of the match. We had one clear-cut chance and six half chances. But the main important thing is that the goal shot by Fernandes in the 5th minute was the only dangerous shot by all of them during the rest of the match. Fernandes had two other shots on target but nothing dangerous. Rijks and Oehlers had both one shot on target together. They were perfectly marked and both these full-backs remained closer to the central defender.

One of the biggest changes (and an important one) is the behaviour of at least one full-back while facing long goal-kicks or long passes over the line. As shown in the gif below, the right full-back made it to the centre after a goal kick and won the header. This is something that both full-backs ignored successfully in the previous variation.

I am reconciled with the fact it won’t be possible to stop every opponent and it will be only harder against better and better teams. But fighting against these invisible opponents in the positioning game is fun and I will try to tweak it as much as possible.

Eerste Divisie 2022/2023 - promotion

As I mentioned in the previous post and at the beginning of this one, we were 4th in the table after the first 20 league matches. And how the seasons finished after making tactical changes here and there?

Well, we moved to third place after a 4:0 win against Almere in the 24th round and we remained here for the next five games before we moved to the 2nd place. We already had the play-off spot secured thanks to winning the third period of the season but in the end, we finished second behind PEC Zwolle and earned the automatic promotion to the top tier.

The play-off was hard for the rest of the teams as no other teams won the promotion. That means only Zwolle and Venlo will fight in the Eredivisie in the 2023/2024 season.

What next?

Well, I’m sure it will be a big challenge to survive in the Eredivisie with this formation as there are a lot of teams with big attacking power. But I will try. I’m looking forward to rebuilding the staff squad partly. And I plan to use the new corner kick routines in a similar way to how I wrote about this one during FM22. But the routine will look different.

Thanks for reading and have a nice Christmas time whenever you will be.