FM Boss Tactical Guide

Analysis of FM Boss Tactics

2012 4-1-3-2 of Updated for FM 2012

The Reborn of Italian National Team

Fratelli d'Italia, l'Italia s'e desta... Brother of , Italy woke up... These are the first words of the Italian National Anthem. One country, 4 world cups numerous friends and enemies. But one thing the nobody can deny is the masterclass of Italian Coaches. Excellent in tactics, always extremely well prepared team and above all intelligence and flexibility. The last representative of the big Italian Coaching School is Claudio Cesare Prandelli. An ex player of Juventus, he played under the guidance of legendary , winning recognition and trophies. A real fighter, despite he lost his wife in 2007 he continues to have the same desire and ambition for the game. Born in Orzinuovi in 19.8.1957 he was always the most hard working player in every club that he played. Outside of the pitch he is always smiley and humble.

The Italian football federation after two failed choices trusted him till 2014. The immature experiments of Donadoni and the old time classic stubbornness of Lippi are over. Cesare keeps his nose down, he is not selling magic ideas and he is trusting a standard squad. He gives always chances to in-form players but he keeps on mind that Squadra Azzura represents whole nation so he needs to be serious and concentrated on what he does. He never speaks for the past and he rarely comments or compares opponents. Like we said before... humble and hard working. He is trusting mostly young ambitious players and he is not afraid of make them protagonists by giving them responsibilities and tough duties. He is aware of the challenges and he knows to handle with them.

Cesare Prandelli worked in the bankrupted Parma and Venezia, he persuaded Della Valle (Fiorentina's boss) that football is not buy and spend and he persuaded Italian Federation that a "football circle" in a national team is from World Cup to World Cup and not from competition to competition. No doubt, iron willed. Now he needs to make the results to be equally impressive.

In his new Italy, he removed all the problematic players with irrational behavior. Its not code of ethics, it's a matter of professionalism. Balotelli, Cassano, Legrotagglie, Miccoli and others are simply not normal people. They are not able to accept roles, rules and generally they cannot be members of a competitive group. Maybe Cassano has become more mature but he remains an explosive Italian from south Italy. So Prandelli needs to have alternative options.

Giuseppe Rossi, Montolivo, Marchisio, Bonucci, Ranochia and many other players have the chance to be key players in the group and yes, Italy after 3-4 years seems to be a group again. Fancy sun burn tourists are over. Training schedules are organized, team plan is working and generally you see that team is working like a proper top club. Finally...

Prandelli is not a wizard. He is using tight marking, he gives creative freedom in Montolivo, he allows Cassano and Rossi to exchange positions and to swap roles, his back-line is solid, resolute and they play quite simple. The lines are close and you rarely see gaps and his 4-1-3-2 is becoming easily 4-3-3 or 4-3-2-1. He has teach this formation exemplary so you hardly can see disorganization in the pitch. Criscito(DL), Bonnuci, Chiellini (DC), Montolivo (DMC/AMC), De Rossi, Marchisio, Mauri or Pirlo are his basic options. Rossi and Cassano upfront. It doesn't seem impressive but what is not popular became after some time top hit. Try and you will not miss.

My results were very good, excellent defense, very solid attack and just to tell you that in 20 games I conceded just 4 goals. In all of my teams, I was rarely conceding goals. I was conceding 1 goal every 7-8 games. That was my record. 4-2-3-1 of Rene Girard for FM 2012

The hottest tactic for Football Manager 2012. Transform a relegation battling club into a top class side.

They have brake our balls the last two years with PSG. The new heavy rich yankees who want to dominate football by purchasing everything. Unfortunately for American minded investors who have Arabian origins, the word "knowledge" is very crucial as well. You need to have apart from big wallet, big knowledge about football.

As I can see, the fact that they leave the control to the ex-playboy footballer Leonardo says everything. This person tried to make AC a brazilian carnival and transformed Inter into a zoggler sided team. Not just this, they overpaid Sirigu and Pastore like they bought Schmeichel and Maradona respectively. Money laundring and ridiculous decisions in total.

They fired Kombouare for no reason and they hired Ancelotti who won only one Scudetto in 8 years with AC Milan. Galliani admitted that they were keeping Carletto because he was a close friend with most of players and mostly with Berlusconi. Galliani admitted all of these before Carlo moves to Chelsea. Ancelotti had for years some of the best of the world. Despite he won Champions League twice Milan never was consistent and they suffered from minnows team constantly.

The last example but most recent was the Cagliari of Maximiliano Allegri which over played Milan in-out. Home and Away. Allegri stated after the two matches, it wasn't so difficult to outclass a predictable over-aged team. Now Carletto signed his last luxury contract. The fools will never die.

Our hero in this Article is RENE GIRARD. A humble person, hard working who is closing mouths every weekend the last 3 years. Since he took over Montpellier in the summer of 2009 he managed to transform a relegation battling club into a top class side which is able to play top quality football without having expensive overrated footballers. Girard is showing to all the pseudo experts that working hard in trainings and having regular squad is more important than paying newspapers.

I will post you all the results of Montpellier because maybe some people will wake up from dreams. Girard is showing to every football observer that when you are methodic, open minded and on the ground, you don't afraid anybody. He formed a stable defence without having top players, he uses two hard working midfielders and upfront he uses all his talented footballers.

Jourden - Badimo as attacking left back - Bocaly plays right back and third stopper - two DC Stamboulli and Yanga-Mbiwa are always sweeper of eachother. The two MC are Marveux and Estrada. We go now upfront to the nuclear weapons : Utaka, Belhada, Cabella. All of these are moving constantly, the exchange positions and upfront the reference point of the attacking efforts : Girourd. All these players improved at least 50% under Girard. See them 2-3 years ago. Totally different players who have now personality and self confidence. The president of Montpellier announced that his team now has 3 times higher value since Girard took over in 2009. If this is not enough, no more words...

Leave the other well paid liars journalists to promote their own guys as top coaches.

History never says lies. Montpellier is writing history this season. Others, try to purchase history...

Montpellier Matches for season 2011-12

4-3-1-2 of AC Milan

The winning formula of Allegri

I think we can all agree that the hiring of Allegri gave to Milan a chance to breathe a collective sigh of relief, but with his hiring now comes a myriad of unanswered questions regarding the team, formation and personnel. I don’t want to portray the hiring of Allegri as a negative by any means; in fact I am excited to have a young and innovative tactician at the helm to instill fresh ideas during the rebuilding of the team. My concerns are actually rooted in his system of play and the player’s available to implement the 4-3-1-2.

When I first look at the roster of the team the last formation I really think of is the 4-3-1-2. The formation calls for a CAM play maker who can check into the midfield to receive the ball, turn, face play and make the pass or run that the two strikers can thrive off of. At this point outside of Seedorf there is no one who has ever really played in that role, let alone be successful. The CAM also has to have an element of grit in order to be able to stop the opposing DM or CM from having a carte blanche at the midfield line, at this point the dream #10 is Wesley Sneijder and while I have no doubt in my mind a player can found to fill that void the question becomes who and how much are Fester and Co. willing to play for such a pivotal position?

The midfield three in this formation actually operate very similarly to the midfield in Carletto’s XMAS tree so in that sense we have the perfect fit, but then the issue becomes width. We can certainly count on Antonini to be a viable option next season on the right or left, he has earned that much, but the question then becomes where do we find the other back? Allegri didn’t neccesarily call for that type of width at Cagliari, probably because due to lack of personnel, but offenses become exponentially more dangerous when the full backs add numbers to the attack, forcing defenders and midfielders out of position to cover their deep runs. Do we stick with Abate and all his growing pains, or will the Otamendi, Taiwo, or Eboue rumors come true? Until then it leaves another gaping hole in Allegri’s potential formation!

Coaches have a tendency to stick to what they know, and while I have no doubts Allegri is banging his head on the wall much like we are, figuring out how he is going to make this work, he may have to adapt with what is available to him or the lack thereof for that matter. We all know ’s failures behind the strikers, and when you have a team with both he and Pato, maybe the 4-3-3 is the way to go! But even that presents major problems as evidenced last season with the formation being exposed for lack of balance in the midfield whenever Seedorf was on the pitch. The team had no problem going forward but defending was a nightmare, if Allegri does choose to stick with the foundation Leo has laid down, then a LM in the form of Galloppa, Asamoah, or Lazzari is an absolute must. While some of you may argue the lack of quality in these players, it needs to be said that function is more important at this point to the balance and deployment of the formation and the well being of the team! We can all salivate as we watch players at the World Cup, but have your rational thinking on and understand that there is a budget here and players actually wanting to come to Milan is a thing of the past!

A 4-3-3 featuring Ants, Nesta, Silva, RB, LM, Pirlo, Ambro, Dinho, Borri, Pato has it’s advantages. Abate, Rino, Flamini, and KJH can all be used to supplement and even useless players such as Mancini or Janks can even find a niche, but the weaknesses are still evident. Even if Allegri went full steam ahead in his preferred formation, and deploying Pirlo as the #10 (which I have misgivings about because of his ability for the long pass and being so close to goal) as follows: Ants, Silva, Nesta, RB, LM, Ambro, Flamini/Abate, Pirlo, Borri, Pato. It still leaves holes in the 3 man midfield and RB, and presents Old Silvio’s favorite question where do you play my precious Ronaldinho? Versatility is not really our strong suit now is it?

As you can see Allegri has his work cut out for him, I am sure an assessment of his personnel has already begun but will he at least get the players he needs to make this work? You could even make a case for a promotion of De Vito and moving Antonini to RB, or playing Verdi/DiGennaro as the #10, but even then the name of the game becomes patience as the team will surely struggle with growing pains. It goes without saying I find little comfort in the fact that our management continues to chase strikers despite the position being relatively FULL on our roster, and continuing to neglect other areas of the pitch that need desperate depth, as well as starters, but at this point it has become the norm, as frustrating as it may be.

Again, I am excited for Allegri, he has some tactical guile, and can bring a desperately needed breath of fresh air to Milan’s stale tactics, but I certainly wouldn’t want to be in his shoes at the moment!

TIPS

Turn this formation onto 4-3-2-1 or 4-2-3-1

Avoid push up and wing play ,your lines will open a lot

Use midfielders who are fast and good defensively .

Dont be afraid to move players who play as wingers in the position of AMC or Striker .Just think that instead of wasting the energy of the players by putting them in the wings ,move them centrally in a more productive role .

Always trust mentally balanced players in the defence .This formation demands good tactical understanding .

Watch carefully how the opponent is moving in his own half .If he plays too much possesion football ,you can use more agressive pressing and more direct tempo .Use your players more centrally and focus build up through the middle .

Make your players winners by giving them roles according to their style .For example ,never give attacking duties or freedom to players who are not creative enough .They will make the game slower by trying to make things that simply are not made of .

Use zonal marking and adjust passing game carefully .Possesion is fruitful only if score goals .Convert your domination into mature football .

You can see some schemes here to take an idea how to apply this formation is a romagnolo from Fusignano, a city close to Ravenna. He has studied accounting and he plays football. His father is wealthy as he has a small shoe factory. Arrigo grows up in the middle of the perfumes of the province. He is natural and dry, he wants right away his Porsche, he is torn between the demands of changing the world and to enjoy the easy life thanks to the wealth of his father. He chooses the latter and works for his father in his factory. He stops playing football without football noticing it. He falls in love with the Dutch ways.

Then one day, he decides to leave and and goes around Europe meticulously and carefully studying the football of the others. He is particularly interested in the teaching of football to the youth. Sacchi believes that football starts from there. At the age of fourteen, a boy learns everything. He would know how to play in zone, the offside rule, pressing, diagonal, everything as he has a free spirit. At the age of 25 the boy becomes what he has learned. When he comes back from his Europe tour, he knows what is duty in life is. Sacchi remains profoundly convinced that the international experiences contribute a lot in forming a young footballer. When he trains the Cesena Primavera, he wants the club to send as much as possible the team to play tournaments abroad. And this team grows as a small chef d’oeuvre, balanced and mature. These boys win the league and they would all end up playing in and A.

His idea is that the man is more important and counts more than the player. In the sense that if a footballer is not a serious man, he would never be a good footballer. Serious means being humble, being always ready to learn, to make sacrifices, to respect the fatigue to the point of understanding its necessity and key role in his system; to play for the others rather for oneself; to understand that if a partner doesn’t help, he won’t be helped and if he doesn’t help the team won’t exist. There’s finally an entire evangil of Sacchi which is at the base of his working methods. Translated onto the field, his thought means two training sessions a day, sometimes three, in a world where one doesn’t go beyond 3 training sessions per week plus the friendly match on Thursdays.

That means a strict regime, a continuous study of one’s and the opponents’ movements; it means continuous discussion about one’s own limits, about being dust and about the infinite predisposition to become it. It means to totally immerse oneself into the philosophy of football and finally, to dive into the tunnel of excessive and unknown professionalism. When he arrives at Milan, he is a young technician of 41 years old who has never set foot in . welcomes him royally at Milan and surrounds him of grandeur. Sacchi defends himself with his hunger of glory, his evangil of work ethics of his region. He has spiritual eyes and a fixed smile. As Brera (great Italian journalis/writer of the 70s to 1990, Interista) writes, he often seems in direct conjonction and contact with God. His players are not listening to him. To , he shows footage of Signorini, the Parma libero in Serie B.

He is not understood, he is underestimated, then when the team loses a few games, a certain incredulity and scepticism comes as well. He feels faced with a duty bigger than him. After all, who is he? That’s the question most people are wondering in Milano, and worst of all, inside the dressing rooms. Thus, one day, he takes all the players apart, closes the doors of Milanello and yells that he is ready to go back to Fusignano but that they (the players) have not won anything and that they will not win anything. No one really knows whether it was his frank and direct way of talking or his charisma, but the fact is that all the Milan players come out of this meeting extremely pumped up. Berlusconi respects him and starts to believe in him again. And when the team goes to play a crucial game away to Verona, also crucial for Sacchi, the president stands at the doors of the dressing rooms and repeats convincingly to each and everyone of the players the same thing: “Between Sacchi and the team, I choose Sacchi”. The message is clear and goes well. Milan wins. And would not stop for a very long time. And this says it all on the fact that to have a great team, it is indispensable to have a great club.

Discussion on the methods of Sacchi

Sacchi doesn’t invent a new football but a new manner to play football. He plays zonal on the natural basis of the 4-4-2. He presses the opponents in their own half by holding his defence at the level of the half line. Attacking this Milan during that time was difficult. Rare were the teams which succeeded. The team is very compact, tight and close with only one forward (Virdis) and a lot of versatile players (Donadoni, Evani, Gullit and Ancelotti.

On the right wing, Tassotti and Colombo take care of the marking and help each other and take turns in crossing; on the left wing, the young Maldini and Evani do the same. Baresi plays in line with the defenders and orchestrate the off-side. However what is spectacular in the Sacchi method is the capacity of playing in a collective manner. In general, the collective play doesn’t distinguish itself on the fact that the ball circulated and moves around between all the players of the team but rather of their total movement. In order to have a good coherent play, the players of the team have to move all together and in the same direction that the ball is going. It is not easy to do that. You will often see 5 or 6 players moving but not all. This means that there is no harmony, that that there’s a technical or physical difficulty.

Sacchi’s Milan, when it was moving, looked like the migration of a people. The players move up and down not only together but by staying at the same distance of each other, a metre away from each other. It is quite difficult to play against such a machine, so developed and well oiled. Numerous were the games were Galli, the goal keeper did not touch the ball. Milan win all their matches at home and without losing away and conceding only 14 goals in the whole season. The team is lacking a great deep , like a Rijkaard whom would join the following year. Ancelotti does not have the calibre to fill that role, he does his job well and can do the playmaking job well when needed but it is not his best position. Berlusconi says that Milan does have a chef d’orchestre, but he doesn’t know the music and tune. The Man or the Scheme?

As all the fundamentalists, Sacchi has few doubts and he is very rigid. Whatever change that is proposed or suggested to him, he sees it as an attempt to work less. He would get rid of any player who would not be enthusiastic with his methods. Van Basten, one of the all time greatest forwards often asks him: “Mister, why are you treating me like the rest?” And Sacchi answers him: “Because you are intelligent and you would not ant a different treatment.” Indeed, Van Basten is one of the most worried under the weight of the pressure. He finds himself often substituted. He then asks: “Mister, why?”. “Because you were playing bad.” .”Yes, but the others were also playing bad.” “Yes, but the others were trying with application.” Generally, Sacchi is very demanding with his players, probably too much. writes in his book, Il Calcio (Sperling and Kupfer edition, 1996), “that the Sacchi tactic was very tiring and exhausting. After a few years, we could not continue at these rhythms”. Sacchi wanted to take the pressure all the way to the penalty box of the opposition. We would feel an enormous fatigue as a result of this tactic. A lot of players of great quality would suffer from it and dread it, others would have to adapt to the tactical demands of the Sacchiano scheme. This would create a legend and an equivoque. The legend being that Sacchi always adapts his men to his scheme and never the scheme to his men at his disposal. The equivoque being this very same legend.

In reality, his football and the zone that he generates give a big importance in a general manner to each player and to their imagination, but always with the scheme in mind. In a few words, a left wing back, on his zone, can do everything that he wishes. He cannot do it in another part of the field. It is not a principle which limits the imagination. It’s a principle which limits anarchy. A player has to follow his own instinct, but the instinct cannot be an ideology or a tactic. The truth lies somewhere in between. It is the men who make the success of a scheme, but a scheme must be for everyone. Football is not a game that we can follow only with our instinct because it is played with 11 individuals, that is with 11 instincts. One cannot progress without the triumph of the imagination; one progresses without the auto- limitating confusion. It is clear that if you have Maradona on your team, you let him decide to whom he should give the ball in the last 20 metres. There is no scheme where you limit such a player. And should there be one, it would simply be an incorrect scheme. To be there, at such a moment, even Maradona would need to be in movement (therefore fit and well trained), in the middle of the team in movement. It is important fantasy in football is put in the service of who has less of it…If we following the imagination, we would need to go alone for the goal and it’s never easy. This is taking the highest risk with a little profit. Which would be a mistake.

The integrism of Zeman

I believe that the schematism of Sacchi has been at least equal to the schematism of those who have wanted to judge him. There is no doubt that in today’s football, some technicians have ended up being really more advanced because they are extremely schematical Zdenek Zeman is the master of the second big fundamentalist wave. Zeman is the most integrist. For ever, he faces the same values and limitations, but he doesn’t change…It is certain that Zeman, even more than Sacchi doesn’t distinguish between player and player. As much as Sacchi was talkative, as much Zeman is silent and mysterious. Daniele Adani, a defender from Correggio, a starter for who was for when he was 20, for 4 months at Lazio under Zeman tells that he has never heard a word from his coach towards his person in 4 months. When he found the courage to inform him of an offer from another club, Zeman told him that being young and talented, that he should accept the offer. Generally, Zeman opts for a total integrism. He believes in a logical football which can only be one. In order to apply it, the players need to be very very fit and well trained. Not making any difference between the players. They all must do the same things both as far as the preparation than the execution are concerned. Whether they are tall or short, heavy or thin. I don’t know whether this is an advantage, but I have my doubts. Up until today, this type of football taken to the extreme had had excellent results as far as the construction phase of a project is concerned, without however, winning anything. It is often a spectacular method, and there is no doubt that Zeman is an excellent producer of football…

The limits of the “Sacchism”

The limits of the “Sacchism” are that every coach is not Sacchi. Being Sacchi means to be a coach who coaches a lot, who studies a lot, who demands a lot. A 360 degrees engagement and commitment that no other coach has ever demonstrated. Sven Goran Eriksson, for example, who’s one of the oldest and most respected in Europe (despite being 50 years old, he has won titles in Sweden, in Italy and in Portugal), doesn’t do the work of Sacchi. Eriksson is more coach than technician. Same for . I don’t believe that this means one is better or worst, it simply means something else. Eriksson lives with his players, he is rigorous technically speaking; he doesn’t pretend to be teaching and lecturing from an existential point of view. To live and let live. And he authorizes discussion. When he arrived in Italy, 15 years ago, Eriksson played exclusively with an integral 4-4-2 elaborated in Sweden from an obvious English inspiration. Then, he moved onto a 3-5-2 with Sampdoria, then 4-3-3 in the first part of his reign at Lazio to come back to a 4-4-2. A “Sacchista” would have never done it.

You would never see Zeman put a defender instead of a or vice-versa. A wing player replaces another wing player; a central midfielder with a central midfielder and so forth. They can change players, but not their scheme. This is for some, a limitation. For Zeman, it is a force. It is clear that a certain rigidity brings with it, its fair share of clash with players with strong personalities. Players that believe not to be nor too right nor to appropriate to give their best during trainings; players who need lots of motivation before and during a match. Finally, it is clear that football just like life is made of individuals, each with their own particularities and traits. Managing men means knowing them and keeping in mind what we know about each of them. Being tough, demanding with this type of player, is it always just? Above all, is he always in agreement with the interests of the club? Alen Boksic, when he was playing with Zeman at Lazio, was always injured and unhappy. The same Zeman was not hiding his desire to get rid of him. Same thing for Van Basten, Baggio and Panucci with Sacchi. Or for Romario and Ortega with Ranieri. And there are countless other similar examples…

Differences between zonal tactics since Sacchi

Playing the zone is now very little indication of the behaviour of a team. A lot of teams now play with the zone. The problem and difference is how and what kind of zone. Capello’s zone is not Sacchi’s and even less Zeman’s. But it is not Malesani’s either, which in itself is different than all the others. Lippi has his own manner to play the zone, with a lot of aggressivity and attention, almost an Italian way of the zone system, with fixed and focused marking and the capacity to change system during a match. What differentiates one type of zone from another one? From a general point of view, it has to do with the manner to press and to apply the offside trap. One can apply pressing at about the half way line, at about ¾ of the field or close to the opposition’s penalty box. Pressings are defined “high”, “median” or “low” based on how far it is applied from the penalty box of the opposition.

The more it is applied inside the opposition’s half, the more the pressing is “high”. Of course, this type of pressing is a lot more demanding and tiring and requires more energy as it means that the whole team is required to apply it regularly. Every player does their best not to concede a goal by preventing the opposition from entering into their own half. On the other hand, if the defence is positioned on the half way line, going beyond that line without ending up offside is very difficult for the opposition. What this boils down to is to completely asphyxiate the opponents physically inside their own half by pressing them as soon as they have the ball. This type of zone is highly suggestive and almost impossible. This was the zone of the first years of Sacchi. But it is nowadays only a romantic expression and souvenir. Impossible to achieve that type of a zone but only for a few minutes in a match.

A more human and realizable zone is Fabio Capello’s zone. The “we must absolutely do it” of Capello took place of the exhaustion of Sacchi. The team was no longer able to stand nor manage the physical demands and workload of this Sacchiano system. Capello made a lower pressing and transformed it into a type of forcing. What’s the difference between the two types of zone? Simple. The simultaneous pressing and attacking of 2 or 3 players on the carrier of the ball. If you attack the opponent who has the ball with one man, it is called forcing. The difference is considerable and it implies a game plan and model almost entirely different. Pressing man by another man is normal. The forcing is when everyone presses with aggressivity their designated opponent. Pressing the opponent who has the ball with 2 or 3 players means being in numerical inferiority somewhere else on the field, meaning that if 3 men are on this zone of the field, these men will not be on at least 2 other zones. And the numerical superiority is at the base of the goal.