Basingstoke: start of 3rd season

Welcome back my friends! We’ve shaken off last season and the team is ready for another shot at promotion. Hopefully without too much distress. I’ve had some constant issues with my tactics. I make adjustments that usually work out great… but then comes some dark periods where I tend to change things a bit to cover up lapses in defence och weaknesses in attack. But doing so usually bring forward new issues. Then the lack of quality restricts what I can push from my players as I can’t expect them to play a perfectly flowing attacking football. But I’m trying to find that balance where we can attack with confidence and still be secure in the middle and safe att the back.

My idea of deploying a sweeper has had some good results. The sweeper or ‘libero’ handles the play from the back in offensive situations allowing the centre backs to fan out a bit pushing the wingbacks further up. In defensive situations the libero acts as a lone ranger, intercepting  through balls while the centrebacks mark the strikers. The wingbacks drops back and acts as normal fullback creating a 5-man defensive line. This is at the same time a problem which shows itself if the opposing team is very good on the ball and strong in midfield. They can really take control of the game by pushing my backline into this defensive set-up.

To work around that problem I’ve taken a look at the midfielders. I need to create some solidity and control in the middle of the pitch to help keep possession or to play ourselves out of dangerous positions. I’ve tried every possible lineup here. Anchor man, defensive midfielder, two central midfielders and even 3 central midfielders. If the opposing team has a ‘trequartista setup then an anchorman is an optimal approach which limits their creativity. If they play a 4-4-2 then I can deploy a more simplified midfield formation with two central ones and a playmaker infront of them.

The only real problem I can’t seem to find a good solution for is the wingbacks. They tend to not find their place. They aren’t really good defensivly and they aren’t especially dangerous in attack, although they do create some disturbances with their deep crosses and those plays gets them really good ratings after the games. But I’m still not overly satisfied. There’s also not to many natural wingbacks in the game and I usually have to train them in that position myself. It’s exactly the same thing with sweepers, which is a real bother and a miss from FM in general as most centrebacks with some intelligence should be able to at least function in that position.

The strikers preferred setup is Complete striker(support) + Poacher. I’ve tried different combinations like a deep lying striker and poacher which works good too. But this is usually the best way to go and I’m happy with their work. A target man style of play is probably a way to go, but I’m not confident it’ll work out great with a compact offensive play with lots of passing involved and some quick counter-attacking.

Well, at least you get some ideas of what I’m trying to do with my team.

Here’s the summer activity.

As you can see this one covers the whole season, including the sale of Patrick Wilson.

This could be somewhat telling of how it went, but I’m not sure. I’ll do another full season report in my next post.

I’m not going in-depth about the signings as they aren’t much better than what I’m currently in management of, but at least they create a better depth and evens out the squad. Sean Newton is a solid leftback. On-loan Oastler is a good defender who can also act as a DMC. McCabe is a smart midfielder who’ll probably get a lot of chances. Filipe is my only real sweeper at this point and will be important and Proctor is a real catch as a right wingback. I have some real scottish quality players in my team.

Hold on until my next post. Be Safe!

Majk