Tactics

Football Manager 2019: My Training Philosophy

Written by Troy @FMLife2016

Football Manager over the years has developed in to one of the most realistic video simulation games of all time. From tactics to scouting and everything in between and the team at SI have always strived to make every new edition more realistic than the last. In FM19 we finally received what I believe to be the greatest step towards realism in the world of Football Manager and that of course is the new training module. So why don’t we all use it?

In previous versions of the game training was a set and forget task most handled at the start of their first season in charge. On one side of the fence some players didn’t understand the benefits of training and the key components to set it up convincingly. The most common mistakes I would see is players would alter their training too much, not giving enough time on a certain training schedule to have any effect. The second mistake I would see is that players didn’t quite understand that at the core of training it develops attributes and not much else. Sure you could get a 1-2% boost going into the next match using match preparation but the main purpose of training is developing attributes. On the flip side there were players that knew the ins and outs of training, mastering the act and developing elite talent without a thought. For me it all became uninspiring and a simple set and forget task I would visit once and while.

In FM19 this has all changed. Sure the core idea of training is still to develop attributes, however with the multitude of training schedules and sessions available to us it's anyone's guess as to the best way to master training in FM19. SI have put theirs players on a need to know basis when it comes to training. They are staying tight lipped on how one would “master” training however they’ve given us the tools and the information to develop our own training philosophies. This year there's no right or wrong way to approach training and it's up to you as a Football Manager to decide what your team needs to become champions and reach their potential.

My Training Philosophies

  • Club DNA or Fibra Training

  • Tactic Training

  • Improvement training

Club DNA or Fibra Training:

Let me start off by describing what “Club DNA” or “Fibra” is. The phrase club DNA was coined by community legends Bustthenet and Foxinthebox and its a list of core attributes you look for in a player across every playing position from your Centre half to your forward. Fibra is pretty much the same thing however it sounds foreign and exotic.

In my current Sporting CP save I’ve developed this training method with my core attributes being:

First Touch - Composure - Decisions - Work Rate - Stamina

I’ve narrowed down the training schedules that work on these attributes while trying to hit as many of my Fibra attributes as possible.

Below is each training schedule separated and I’ve listed everytime one of my “Fibra” attributes are trained in each category. When setting up my weekly training schedule I’ll be giving preference to those categories that hit the most attributes eg. Outfield, Possession, attacking patient, transition press etc. I’ve made 2 different weekly schedule one for General training and I’ve grouped the other categories together to not complicate things.

I’ve tracked any improvements via the “team report - squad comparison” screen all be it hard to tell as new players arrive and players exit we are showing improvements in 3 of the designated “Fibra” attributes.  

 
 

I still need to adjust from week to week as we have mid week games and I’ll issue different match prep training depending of the calibre of opponent we face that week.

 
 

Tactic Training

Training attributes to suit your tactic may be the best way forward for some but first you must understand exactly what your tactic is. How does it play? Why does it work? and what is needed to make it better. Are you playing Gegenpressing or Tiki Taka? What are the attributes that are needed to be successful at implementing your tactical approach.

Taking the Gegenpress as the example what are the key Team instructions in this tactic:

  • High Tempo

  • Counter

  • Closing down

Playing with a high tempo your player will need Good mobility, control, and movement on and off the ball. So key attributes to look for and train in your player would be. Anticipation, decisions, team work, vision, acceleration, agility, pace and off the ball.

Playing on the counter your players will need good mobility, endeavour and movement. So the key attributes you’ll need to look for and train in your player would be. Anticipation, team work, acceleration, agility, pace, off the ball, work rate and stamina.

Playing a pressing game while closing down your player will need good Endeavour, mobility and good defensively. So the key attributes you’ll need to look for and train in your player would be. Anticipation, bravery, work rate, acceleration, tackling and positioning.

So overall anticipation - off the ball - acceleration - work rate - agility - pace

Are your core trainable attributes that make the tactic work and by using my first example on narrowing down which training schedules cover these attributes you’ll be able to focus your training on improving your players to suit your tactical philosophy.      

Improvement Training

Improvement training is improving your team's weakest attributes through training. First you’ll need to identify the weakest attributes compared to the league your playing in. To do this you’ll need to have a look at your team report - comparison. Filter down to Technical, Mental and Physical to determine what attributes are low compared to the league.

Technical attributes below my standard: Heading and tackling   

 
 

Mental attributes below my standard: aggression and bravery

 
 

Physical attributes below my standard: Jumping reach

 
 

All up we have heading, tackling, aggression, bravery and jumping reach so tailoring your training to increase some of those attributes will help as we can see tackling aggression and bravery are key attributes when it comes to closing down and as a whole my Sporting CP lack in those areas.

Because your team train in Units(GK,DEF,ATTK) you might want to add those filters when on the team report - comparison screen as this might show different weaknesses and the units will differ in terms of the training schedule.

——

Thanks Troy - FM-Life

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4-4-2 Diaries - Broad Strokes

Written by Simon Kean

Thanks to the #WeStreamFM crew for the offer to provide some blog content for the site. I’ve been a regular in many of their streams and listen to the podcast while I’m in the shower.

Background: This blog post is an addendum to my 4-4-2 Diaries series from on my own site. My “Angel of the Norf” save has the objective of starting in non-league football with two goals:  taking a team from the North East of England into Europe (as per Robson’s Newcastle or Schteeve’s Middlesbrough) and to do so playing a different variation on a 4-4-2 every season. I started two and half seasons ago with Gateshead and won back-to-back promotions before I recently took over mid-season at Sunderland in the bottom half of in the Championship.

 
 

Fantastic Tactics and How to Build One

There’s a lot of content out there regarding building tactics. I’ve read and re-read Cleon’s writings on tactics many times over along with FridayNightFM, Strikerless, Dictate The Game and others that have influenced my own efforts in tactical development. I’ve absorbed content regarding recreating real-world systems or implementing a specific style of football and these are scenarios when you have a preconceived idea about a style you want to play. But what about if you’re not in that situation and don’t have a preconceived tactical concept? I often go into situations such as taking over a struggling club mid-season with no real knowledge about the squad, so I there’s no sense in forcing a style on a team that they may not be up to playing. I’m a fan of Ancelotti who is probably the most pragmatic big name manager out there. He takes over a gig and simply works with the squad he has to find the right tactical fit.

When taking over a struggling club, I’ve usually got a chairman that is expecting results to turn around right away and Sunderland is no exception. This bloke wants us to make the playoffs! In circumstances like this the biggest problem you have is time. You’re not in the pre-season with the luxury of being able to experiment and develop a tactical approach over a number of games and you need results now. You’re essentially starting with a clean slate but need to work something out quickly...so that’s what I’ll do.

I try to get FM to reflect real-world football as much as possible and seek inspiration from my football knowledge and experiences to influence how I play the game. For the situation with Sunderland, I’ve looked at a number of managers who specialise in taking over struggling teams and turning things around. Most adopt a common sense approach that focuses on two things: (1) sorting out the defence, and (2) playing a simple system with players in their best positions that work well together. “Well done Captain Obvious” some may say but in the FM community, I often see folks trying to brute force a complex tactical system on their squad expecting immediate results.If things don’t work out they compound the problem by making changes every five minutes and wonder why they’re losing matches. The poor old players usually end up getting the blame. I’m as guilty as anyone else of building a tactic with loads of instructions based on what I think will happen before we’ve kicked a ball. But here’s the thing: you can win matches on FM without using any instructions at all.  

Mackem My Mind Up

With Sunderland, I wanted to really dumb things down and implement a top-down tactical approach by identifying the squad’s strengths and weakness via gameplay and have that dictate what tactical system we develop. Having just joined the club I don’t know all that much about these players. I also took over without any backroom staff so any Team Reports or other information on tactical suggestions is probably garbage and not worth looking at. In this situation, I’m going to build a tactic based on only what I actually see happen in the match engine (….I know, crazy man). I may use a couple of analysis tools to check our passing stats and positioning but our tactical changes will be reactive based on what I see, and not what I think should happen.

For the first game I will purely focus on roles and mentality and play without any instructions. I’ll make notes throughout the match, and limit myself to changing player roles, making subs and adjusting our mentality. Every every decision needs to be validated by visual confirmation in the match engine.  Given we need results quickly I need to be decisive but I’m only looking at things in terms of broad strokes right now.

Building the team sheet takes patience and critical thinking. I’m sticking with the principles I spoke about earlier: keep it simple and put our best (available) players in roles that suit them. I then tweaked some roles to ensure they complemented each other on a relational basis as I want a balance of conservative roles and movement between the lines to cope with sides that play three in central midfield against our 4-4-2. When building the lineup I noticed that our creative and attacking players are on the left side of the pitch so I balanced this out with more conservative roles on the right side along with a CM-D in the left CM slot to provide that side with some defensive cover.  Here is the team sheet and I’ve included some markups to indicate the movement I’d like to see (which needs to be validated by the match engine):

 
 

Match Validation

I documented both the what and why behind tactical changes during two consecutive matches where I developed the basic structure of the tactical system I’m going to use at Sunderland. This includes some things I got wrong and how I tried to rectify the problems. Just to make things even more challenging both matches were against teams in the top 3 of the Championship. Brentford managed by Bielsa and Birmingham were strong favourites against us. I watched at least a half of each match in Full Game mode with the remaining time on Comprehensive Highlights.

Match One Notes:

  • Brentford line up in a 4-2-3-1 DM formation.

  • I start out with a Cautious Mentality as we aren’t favourites to win and I’m prioritising defensive solidity.

  • 3rd minute: 1-0 Sunderland. A long ball over the top from El Yamiq (CD) to Nketiah (AF) finds him in behind the Brentford defence after a lovely inside channel run and he fires home.

  • 6th minute: we concede a cheap penalty from a set piece from a corner but luckily our keeper saves it.

  • 14th minute: 1-1. I just got totally FM’ed. Honeyman scores a bizarre own goal when attempting to clear the ball.

  • 29th minute: El Yamiq (CD) fails to clear a long ball and heads it into the path of Brentford’s #10 who smashes it into the top corner. It’s 2-1 to Brentford.

  • 35th minute: Tactical change - Mentality to Balanced to try and ease the pressure on our defenders and create more some chances of our own.

  • 37th minute: 2-2. Game on! Nketiah makes another lovely run into the outside right channel and Honeyman finds him with a perfectly weighted thru ball from the middle of the park. Nketiah crosses to Boateng who is waiting on the edge of the area. He pivots and smashes it home.

  • Half Time Analysis: our front two have bossed this game and barring a couple of defensive errors, we’d be in total control of the game. The Mentality change totally transformed our play.

  • 66th Minute: Adomah! Maguire breaks down the left and fires in a cross to the back post where our right winger is there to head it home! It’s now 3-2 Sunderland. While I’m tempted to drop our mentality to Cautious and go into preservation mode, I decide to leave things along.

  • 78th Minute: the defensive positioning from our two banks of four is like a double brick wall and Brentford cannot break us down. What does Bielsa have up his sleeve (or in his bucket) for us? He switches to a 5-3-2.

  • 87th Minute: Tactical Change - Mentality down to Defensive Mentality to close the game out. Our blokes are dead on their feet but we keep the ball beautifully and kill the clock. We go on to take all 3 points in a terrific encounter.

Post-Match Notes: I think we proved we can be successful just with a balanced lineup and the right mentality. I still think we can improve things, but the once we moved to a Balanced Mentality the pressure was off our defenders and our passing improved. While our defensive shape was good, I think adding Tighter Marking would help along with Hold Shape as our counter-attacking efforts were pretty shite and I don’t think that’s our strength. I’d rather just keep the ball and start our build up again. I’d also like to get our goalkeeper to distribute to centre-backs as he simply lumps it upfield otherwise and we lose possession. Play out of Defence and Shorter Passing would probably help us retain the ball a bit better as well.

With one match under our belt, I’m starting to form an idea towards building a tactical philosophy that fits this team based on what I’ve seen so far. I’m inclined to harken back to Serie A’s glory days and move us towards a slow, short passing, possession style of football that also denies space to our opponents. We don’t look like we have the pace to be a pressing or long ball side and I don’t trust that we can handle the pressure of playing a low block. What we do have is a couple of blokes in the squad who can drop into the hole and hold the ball up and I’d like to see if we can pass into their feet and let them bring others into play. Our off the ball movement was terrific at times today so I’m keen to see more of that. Today’s game met my objective of starting to put the picture together with broad strokes.

Match Two

With only 3 days in between matches, we needed to rotate a couple of players due to minor injuries and fatigue. I also changed a few roles mostly in midfield based on my notes from game one as I wanted a bit more structure and solidity in our shape possibly at the expense of some creativity but I’ll let the match engine tell me if that’s the case in game two. I also added the instructions I mentioned in my analysis from the last game so our tactic for this game now looks like this:

 
 

Match Two Notes:

  • Birmingham lineup in a 4-4-2

  • 24th Minute: Tactical Change - Wyke role change from DLF to TM(s). He’s moving into channels but I want him in the centre of the pitch to provide us with a focal point when we move forward rather than lateral movement (which Nketiah provides).

  • 28th Minute: the above change has improved our shape and Wyke validates the role change with some gorgeous link-up play with Nketiah who forces the keeper into a great save.

  • 38th Minute: 1-0 Sunderland. Cracking direct free kick from Douglas.

  • Half Time Analysis: we’re a goal to the good and deserve to be.  We’re dominating possession with over 60% of the ball and have made the better chances. I’m pleased and don’t feel it necessary to make any half time changes.

  • 60th Minute: Substitutions - Honeyman for Maguire (IW) and Adomah (W instead of WM) comes on for Leadbitter. McGeouch moves into the DLP role and Mumba to the CM-D spot.

  • 67th Minute: Goal for Nketiah! It’s 2-0 Sunderland. Wyke comes deep again to receive the ball into feet. He turns and plays in his strike partner who runs across his defender into the inside-right channel. He fires across his body with a marvellous finish!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtt5Tabi98o

  • 88th Minute: Tactical Change - Mentality to Defensive to close the game out and we do exactly that. It’s a pretty darn near perfect 2-0 victory against a tough opponent. Well done lads!

Post Match Notes: the match engine validated the instructions we added after the first game so I don’t feel compelled to change anything. Shifting Wyke from DLF to his more natural Target Man role was a bit of a masterstroke and we played the ball into his feet beautifully (it’s not just a role for hoof ball) and his back to goal capabilities really showed. I’m pleased with these two victories over tough opponents and in the course of these matches I think I’ve quickly found a tactical philosophy that should bring us some success. As the season progresses I may add (or even subtract) instructions to refine our approach but I’m confident were on the right track.

Summary

The above approach is something I’ve in the past on other saves and not just in situations where I’m taking over a team. Sometimes my tactics simply aren’t working and I need to turn things around so wipe the slate clean and start again. I think you can get good results with some ordinary players if you make the effort to put the right combination of players in roles that complement their attributes, traits and other players around them in a logical formation. It sounds really simple but I think there’s a bit of an art to it. I’ll see how the rest of the season progresses and may follow up if there’s much tactical evolution worth blogging about.

Sparky, out!












To DMC or not to DMC? That is the question.

Written by @MaddFM

🎵 Suggested tune: "It's like That - Run DMC ft Jason Nevins" (1997)

 
 

Anchor Man; Holding Midfielder; Destroyer; Half Back; Ball Winning Midfielder; Brick Shithouse; Volante de Marca, Trinco, Volante de Concención - there have been many different names and types of Defensive Midfielder applied over the past 100 years in the football universe, and although at times it hasn't suited every strategy, it is clear that some of the most successful teams in history have reaped the benefits of deploying a more defensive minded player in the middle of the park, not only providing cover at the back but also enabling and empowering more creative or attack-minded players to thrive with the resulting freedom and support that the role continues to offer at the highest levels of world football. 

They aren't pretty; they don't score, they rarely get assists, your kid probably wouldn't ask for their name on the back of a shirt; but yet - when executed effectively, a top Defensive Midfielder or Anchor Man can completely change and influence a game, and can be the difference between success and failure, between victory and defeat, between one point and three, and in the case of a few notable icons of the role in recent history - almost the difference between life and death as was the case when Roy met Alf a few years back. 

But what is it that makes this role so pivotal in the beautiful game? (both in real life and of course in the Football Manager world). In this article, we will delve in to some of the most influential and effective DMC's that have ever graced the turf and in turn analyse the attributes that are crucial in order to successfully utilise the Defensive Midfielder role in Football Manager. We will look at some of the top DMC’s and prospects within FM19 and how they compare to previous legends of the game, as well as conduct a few FM experiments to explore the various roles a DMC has to offer, and in turn formulate what we would call the "perfect" Defensive Midfielder. I write this not as an expert or someone who has mastered using a DMC (although I have always found it to be highly effective in the FM world), but as a big admirer and advocate of the role and the impact it can have when embarking on a new save adventure. 

DMC: Origins🔎 

I have read a lot about the history of the Defensive Midfielder (some great reference articles and literature at the bottom of this post), and how it kicked off all the way back at the turn of the 20th century where it was evidently developed in Italian football and subsequently adopted by some of the stronger South American international teams for success on the global stage.  

Without going in to too much history or detail, it is argued that the first real adaptation or implementation of a defensive midfielder or half back was put forward by Vittorio Pozzo who coached the Italy national team in the 1920's & 30’s. Largely influenced by his time studying in Manchester and the emergence of the "W-M" tactic implemented by the great Herbert Chapman of Arsenal legend, Pozzo's "Metodo" system is credited as being the first to really utilise a "Centromediano” or “Centrosostegno" (Centre Half Back), which placed an additional defensive player ahead of two more static full backs therefore giving his team more superiority in the middle of the park and allowing wide players to get forward when in possession or attacking with the ball.  

 

The "Metodo" - Italian and English versions (courtesy of Wikipedia)

 

This strategy was also utilised by the then most dominant International team of the era who won the first ever World Cup using this system - the Uruguay national team, who's defensive strength allowed them to win back to back Gold Medals in the 1924 and 1928 Olympic Games before taking home the first World Cup trophy in 1930 beating rivals Argentina in a 4-2 thriller played in front of 93,000 fans. An interesting piece of football trivia legend also occurred in this game, whereby a dispute over the match ball led to FIFA ruling that the Argentinians could choose their own ball for the first half (wherein they were 2-1 up at half time) before switching to the Uruguayan's ball for the second half where the Uruguayans proved too powerful winning the game 4-2 overall, and were presented with the World Cup trophy by a gentleman by the name of Jules Rimet. Let's just pause for a moment to appreciate the tools that these teams had at their disposal with which to ply their trade at the time: 

 

Argentina ball (left); regulation boots; Uruguay ball (right)

 

How Football Manager sees a DMC

As mentioned earlier, Football Manager offers a number of options when deploying a Defensive Midfielder, breaking it down in to different roles depending on the strategy, tactic and individual player being utilised. Below is a summary of FM's view on the different types of DMC available (focusing on the more defensive roles rather than playmaking etc): 

 
 

Notable DMC's 📰 

The Defensive Midfielder role became more prominent in English football in later decades, primarily in the 1960's with the emergence of the "Destroyer" ball winning midfielder through the likes of Nobby Stiles and Billy Bremner who still to this day are renowned not only for their tough tackling "hard man" approach but also the value they each contributed to their title winning teams by nullifying the opposition's attacking threats and enabling more technical and creative players to advance higher up the field and dictate the game. Bremner was instrumental in Leeds' spell of dominance whereby he captained the side to the First Division, FA Cup, League Cup and final of the European Cup in 1975, and Leeds took full advantage of his aggression and tackling ability in deploying him in a more defensive role alongside Johnny Giles. Stiles on the other hand, was a more composed and tenacious ball winning midfielder which allowed more skilled players such as Bobby Charlton and George Best to take full advantage and avail of the attacking freedom they were given as a result of Stiles positioning between the defence and midfield - it was this defensive awareness and ability to take players out of the game that was crucial in England's World Cup win in 1966 where Stiles played in every match and most notably marked the famous Eusebio out of the game in the Semi-Final versus Portugal. 

 

Stiles and Bremner - "tackling tenacity"

 
 

Nobby Stiles FM Profile courtesy of Top Notch FM's WC Legends DB

 

Evolution 🌍 

As football progressed and skill/technique became more prevalent and essential in the game, the DMC role also began evolve - not necessarily losing the "hard man" approach, but more so adding an enhanced level of footballing grace and prowess to the role whereby the Half Back or Ball Winning Midfielder evolved towards a more Defensive Midfielder / Ball Carrier type of player who was not only responsible for winning the ball and breaking down play, but also participating in and often initiating the subsequent counter attack that resulted from dispossessing the opposition. During the late 80's and early 90's and the re-emergence of a number of powerhouse clubs from mainland Europe, teams such as Ajax, A.C. Milan and Bayern Munich thrived on the implementation of a deep lying defensive / holding midfielder. Frank Rijkaard epitomised this role for both Ajax and Milan, whereby he was effectively converted from Centre Half to one of the best Defensive Midfielders of his generation wherein he won Euro 88 with Holland, three European Cups, 6 domestic league titles and amassed 73 international caps across two World Cups and two European Championships. 

 

Frank Rijkaard FM18 Profile courtesy of @jadog9495 on Steam

 

Similarly, Lothar Matthaus also frequently made this transition from Sweeper to Holding Midfielder for both club and country, and is regarded as one of the greatest defensive players of all time with two records to his name; ( i ) playing in the most World Cup Finals matches ever (25), and (ii) being the most capped German International of all time. His ability to move between the roles of Sweeper and Holding Midfielder were instrumental in Germany's 1990 World Cup victory and allowed him to continue playing at the highest level for almost 20 years. Even at 35 the guy was still a monster DM. 

Lothar Matthaus CM2 Profile courtesy of @cm9798

A relatively dry spell on the International stage for Brazil (having not won a World Cup since the iconic team of 1970) finally came to an end in World Cup 1994 in the USA, and it was here that Brazil displayed a resilient steel and spine to their squad that had been missing for many years - largely led by their Captain and Anchor Man Dunga, who alongside Mauro Silva served as the defensive backbone of the side which enabled them to neutralise their opponents attacking threat and in turn advance on their opponents through the likes of Romario and Bebeto. Dunga's leadership, composure, anticipation and tendency not to dive into tackles made him an extremely effective DMC for Brazil and earned him 91 caps for his country. 

Dunga CM2 Profile courtesy of @cm9798

It was also around this time that a young tenacious Irish midfielder was making a name for himself at Manchester United after completing a then British record transfer fee of £3.75m from Nottingham Forest, and clearly stating his intent on competing with and ultimately replacing Bryan Robson and Paul Ince in the heart of the Red Devils midfield. Roy Keane was instantly recognizable for his aggression and fearlessness in the tackle - usually preferring to go to ground as opposed to Dunga's timed anticipated approach. This, combined with his ability to read the game and his quick pass & move approach, gave a new meaning and value to the role of a DMC for Man Utd and the Republic of Ireland for whom he earned 67 International caps and eventually captained for most of his international career (let’s not mention Saipan). While his temperament was (and still is) questionable at times, there is no denying that Keane's role as a combative Ball Winning Midfielder was instrumental during Man Utd's spell of dominance throughout the 1990's and early 2000's - again, in the same regard as Rijkaard and Matthaus, this allowed more creative players such as Scholes, Ince, Sharpe, Beckham and Giggs to play much further up the field as well as giving full backs Gary Neville and Denis Irwin the freedom to push on when attacking knowing that Keane would be there to support and cover on the break. He was immense in this role for more than 10 years for both club and country and is often hailed as one of the best defensive midfielders of all time – not bad for a small lad from Cork in the South of Ireland. 

Roy Keane CM97/98 profile

We mentioned how the evolved DMC moved away from that of Hard Man Destroyer / Half Back towards a more influential and rounded Deep Lying DM responsible for both winning back the ball as well as initiating repossession and subsequent counter attacking football, and few were better at this than French World Cup winning Captain Didier Deschamps who excelled in this role for both Juventus and France during a time in which both teams were dominating at both domestic and international level. While Eric Cantona mockingly referred to Deschamps as a "water carrier" for the team (i.e. there to provide the ball to more talented players), the reality was that Deschamps’ high work rate, vision, intelligence and leadership made him less like a water carrier and more like a quarter back for both club and country whereby he dictated the game and the pace of play with ease. He led his country to back-to-back victories at World Cup 1998 and Euro 2000, winning over 100 international caps and becoming only the second Captain since Franz Beckenbauer to lift the World Cup, European Championship and Champions League trophies. 

Deschamps CM97/98 profile

Leadership

It's interesting to note that the five legends mentioned above all went on to become Football Managers after retiring from playing the beautiful game, and experienced varying levels of managerial success at both domestic and international level. Rijkaard was instrumental in kicking off what would become two decades of Barcelona dominance, and guided the club to two La Liga titles and one Champions League between 2003 and 2008; Deschamps as we know has already led France to World Cup glory in 2018 after finishing as runners-up at Euro 2016 not to mention leading Marseille to their first League 1 title in 18 years prior to that. It is clear that not only is the Defensive Midfielder strong in the tackle and skilled at reading the game and breaking down the opposition - these players generally also possess excellent leadership qualities and are highly influential in the dressing room, which naturally is the catalyst for these players to progress in to management at the end of their careers. While perhaps not as highly regarded as some of their peers during their time as players, Defensive Midfielders such as Pep Guardiola, Diego Simeone, Antonio Conte and Ruud Gullit all went on to manage at the highest levels and this is a clear indication that leadership, communication and influence are also key attributes of an effective DMC. 

 

From bossing the midfield to bossing the dugout

 

Reading the Game  

The turn of the 21st Century saw a continued utilisation and successful implementation of the Defensive Midfielder, whereby a number of teams reaped the reward of intelligent ball winning midfielders that possessed exceptional positioning and anticipation, and almost controlled games single handedly due to their ability to anticipate their opponents next move and ability to cover huge amounts of ground during the course of play. Widely regarded as the best Defensive Midfielder of the last 20 years, Claude Makélélé almost redefined the DMC role or was at least responsible for reigniting its importance and powerful impact when he joined the Roman Abramovic revolution at Chelsea following a £16m move from Real Madrid - so much so that it has since been branded "The Makélélé role", which is largely based on a DMC with a powerful engine who breaks down play through exceptional positioning, winning the ball and playing simple passes to then build up his own team’s return attack. Claudio Ranieri hailed Makélélé as the "battery" of the team, and similar to some of the players mentioned above - his strength and defensive reliability allowed creative players such as Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Damien Duff and and Arjen Robben to shine during Chelsea's title winning season in 2004/2005. 

 

"The Makélélé Role" (profile courtesy of @MadScientistFM's 03/04 DB)

 

Gennaro Gattuso was also an example of a hard-working intelligent player whose ability to read the game and strength in the tackle more than compensated for what he might have lacked in terms of touch and technique. Similar to the Makélélé <-> Lampard partnership, Gattuso's position as a tenacious Ball Winning Midfielder granted much creative freedom for his midfield partner Andrea Pirlo, and the duo were central to Milan's success during the early 2000's where they won two Champions League finals and two Serie A titles - a partnership which was also replicated at International level in 2006 as the pair guided Italy to their first World Cup win in 24 years. 

 

"Ringhio " - The Snarl (profile courtesy of @MadScientistFM's 03/04 DB)

 

Modern Day & Covering More Ground 

It's safe to say that the majority of the players above were all masters of the DMC role, largely based on their ability to read the game, break down the opposition play and most importantly win the ball for their respective teams. Nowadays, with the increased speed and physicality of the game combined with the more modern and perhaps international influence on present day football, players who traditionally would have occupied the Defensive Midfield role are now expected to cover far more ground and perhaps are evolving to a more Box to Box midfielder approach as teams push higher and higher up the field. Patrick Vieira's style probably best reflects this - initially signed as a Defensive Midfielder thus allowing the likes of Petit, Platt, Ljungberg and Pires to get further forward, Vieira quickly showed that he was equally adept at getting forward as he was in winning the ball, and this made him a formidable opponent in heart of Arsenal's midfield. He was exceptional in the tackle and had the uncanny ability of sending a defence-splitting pass to create a goal immediately after winning the ball from the opposition - this made him an instrumental figure during Arsene Wenger's success at Arsenal, in particular their famous unbeaten title winning side in the 2003/2004 season. 

 

Vieira profile courtesy of @MadScientistFM's 03/04 DB)

 

In the years that followed Patrick Vieira's departure from the Premier League, the role and importance of the evolved Box to Box Defensive Midfielder continued to be illustrated in successes enjoyed by clubs overseas as well. Daniele De Rossi, already a World Cup winner with Italy in 2006, is a perfect example of a combative, hard working DMC who also contributes hugely to Roma's attacking and build up play, again almost playing the quarter back role and shuttling between boxes dictating the pace of the game. Xabi Alonso also embodied the defensive box to box midfielder position consistently at the top level, winning trophies in the English, Spanish and German leagues as well as being part of Spain's back to back World Cup and European Championship teams in 2010 and 2012. More recently, we have also seen Casemiro at Real Madrid undertake this role for club and country, perhaps not with the same defensive tenacity but equally functional and effective in terms of his propensity to contribute both defensively and in attack.  

 

Daniele De Rossi - FM18 Profile

 
 

Xabi Alonso - FM15

 
 
 

However, there is one player that stands above all in this regard who has continually executed the Box to Box Defensive Midfield role, and has arguably contributed the most success to his team as a DMC in recent years....that player is one-club-man Sergio Busquets, who has been the backbone of Barcelona's midfield for more than 10 years and has been one of the least credited driving forces behind their dominance in Spanish and European football over the past decade. Busquets' ability to read the game, his tactical intelligence and positional awareness, as well as his combined tackling and passing ability have made him quite simply one of the best midfielders of his generation, and it is easy to see why he is one of the most decorated footballers in the current game having won the World Cup, European Championship, 3 Champions Leagues and 7 La Liga titles with Barcelona (as well as multiple domestic and world club cups etc). Busquets is the perfect Box to Box DMC and is a clear representation of how the role has evolved as time and football have progressed simultaneously. All together now: what a player. 

 
 

Back to the Future ⌚ 

So what is next for the future of the DMC role? It is arguable that we haven't seen a more influential Central Midfielder embrace the Premier League since the likes of Vieira and Keane (maybe Yaya Touré comes close?), and even now in 2019 a lot of the top clubs do not tend to deploy players regularly in defensive specific midfield roles, but rather demand more from these types of Box to Box midfielders who are expected to contribute to both defensive and attacking phases of play. Recently we have seen impressive results from Manchester City's use of Fernandinho in this role which has added a level of steel to their approach that perhaps they missed in previous years. However, the arrival of N'Golo Kanté at Leicester in 2016 served as a sharp reminder to many managers that the "Makélélé" role is still very much an effective weapon to have in their arsenal; Kanté was relatively unknown before his £5.6m move from Stade Malherbe Caen however Leicester scout Steve Walsh spotted something special in his ability, not least the fact that Kanté recovered the ball more times in the previous season than any other player had done in the whole of Europe. He made an instant impact at Leicester in his first season, and while players such as Vardy and Mahrez stole much of the headlines during their phenomenal title winning campaign, it was Kanté who was the driving force behind their success, playing in 37 games and finishing the season with the most tackles (175) and interceptions (157) in the entire league. This as we know led to a multi-million pound move to Chelsea where he would again win the Premier League as well as winning the Football Writers Player of the Year, and Leicester were never the same without him after his move to Stamford Bridge. Kanté is probably our best current example of the closest thing we can get to the perfect DMC; his tackling, positioning, anticipation, work rate, teamwork, aggression, stamina and determination all make him an exceptional asset to his team.

 
 

So...what's the point? 

What have we learned? Do we know what makes the perfect DMC? Can any of this real life analysis actually be applied in FM? In order to make this transition from real life to Football Manager and to try and give context to what we have discussed above, we need to answer a few questions:  

  1. What are the main attributes to look for in a DMC? 

  2. How can I use this information effectively in FM? 

  3. What does the perfect "DMC" look like? 

  4. Who was the best?! 

To answer these questions, I have conducted a "Moneyball" type analysis below whereby the strongest attributes shared across all of these great players (combined with the key attributes for each role as per FM) have been analysed, and it produces some really interesting and intriguing results which we will use to form the main conclusions from this study and answer the questions above. 

 
 

The DMC Matrix🕶️ 

Q.1. What are the main attributes to look for in a DMC? 

While FM advises of the key attributes for each specific role, we can also identify the strongest attributes based on our control group of DMC legends. If we look at the above data, it tells us that Teamwork (18), Work Rate (17), Anticipation (17) and Determination (17) are the highest scoring attributes within our player pool followed by Tackling (16), Positioning (16), Composure (16), Passing (16) and Stamina (16). This is a really interesting revelation in that traditionally I would have only searched for a DMC focusing on things like Tackling, Aggression, Positioning which aren't even among the top 4 attributes above.  

Q.2.How can I use this information effectively and apply it in FM? 

While we know that Football Manager offers us plenty of options in terms of searching by attributes and also searching for players by refining a search based on a similar player (i.e. the Find Similar Players option) - this obviously only applies to current players within the game, however if you are old fashioned like me and a fellow FM / IRL nostalgia enthusiast, using the above information we now have the option to refine our search based on a specific player from the past and try to replicate this within the FM universe.  

For example - if I know I would love to have a Roy Keane type player in my ranks, based on the above I would focus on finding a player with strong Teamwork, Work Rate, Anticipation, Stamina, Aggression and Determination. However if I am looking for a more graceful player in the same mould as the likes of Didier Deschamps or Xabi Alonso, I would focus more on Positioning, Passing and Concentration as well as on Teamwork and Work Rate etc. Below are some examples of FM19 search results when I have used specific attributes to locate similar players to some of our DMC legends above – interesting results! 

Q.3. What does the perfect "DMC" look like? 

The easy answer to this question would be a DMC that has a rating of 20 across all attributes, however the reality is that an ideal DMC should echo what we have established above and possess really good mental, defensive, technical and physical attributes. To illustrate what the perfect DMC might look like, I have created a fictional DMC to reflect how this would appear in the FM universe (and of course he is Irish and plays for Newcastle ⚫⚪☘️): 

 

The "Perfect" DMC

 

Q.4. Who was the best?! 

Now that is the question!! Of course there are many determining factors when we talk about who the best DMC was e.g. the role they played, team they were in, trophies won etc; however sticking to our Moneyball analysis and focusing solely on player attributes (as is the language of Football Manager) - the stand out DMCs from our pool of legends are powerful Sweeper/DMC Lothar Matthaus; fearless Irish talisman Roy Keane; Claude Makélélé - the man so good they named a role after him; hard as nails Italian World Cup Winner Gennaro Gattuso and former Arsenal and France enforcer Patrick Vieira. Gattuso is the one that surprises me a little, however his attributes in CM03/04 were outrageous and as a holding midfielder he was certainly up there based on his contribution for both Milan and Italy. If I was to give my own preference I would probably lean towards a Keane or Makélélé but again I am old fashioned and have a tendency to favour the hard-tackling BWM when scouting a DMC in my saves. Who would you choose? 

The Experiment 🔬 

I was curious about the different roles and how much of it matters in a game situation - i.e. if the player is good enough in FM, does it matter what specific role they play in? To compare the roles, I selected 4 players from FM19 whose natural positions are Defensive Midfielder, Ball Winning Midfielder, Anchor Man and Half Back respectively, and below is an analysis of their performance in each role in Champions League games where their team has won and they have played 90 mins per game: 

 

Heatmap illustrating movement, tackles, interceptions & key passes

 

At first glance this doesn't really tell us a whole lot but if we look closely we can make a few assumptions from the heatmap in particular looking at where tackles and interceptions have been made. We can see that Casemiro in the DM role spent a lot more time in the opponents half than any of the other three roles, making quite a few interceptions and tackles higher up the field. By contrast, Eric Dier in the BWM role didn't seem to actually complete any challenges until the ball was in his own half, despite the map showing he did spend time in his opponent's half. Danilo Pereira, playing the Half Back role, also completed most of his challenges in his own half but it looks like a good portion of these occurred while covering for his full backs - while we can see Javi Martinez in the Anchor Man role making a good few interceptions and tackles in and around his own box, suggesting that he naturally spent a lot of the game sitting right in front of his Central Defenders if not almost falling back on to the defensive line.  

Admittedly this experiment is only based on a single game however it is interesting to think about what each role can bring to the team and what to expect when deploying it as part of your match tactic. If you are looking for someone to plant themselves in front of the defence (e.g. to neutralise a top quality opposition Number 10) then perhaps Anchor Man is more effective than a standard DM – if your goal is to cover your onrushing full backs/wing backs, then perhaps a Half Back might suit in order to cover these when on the attack. As it has often been said with this game, there is no right or wrong approach in FM – it is down to what works for you and what you find to suit your style of play (or for many of us, its about finding out what doesn’t work usually the hard way). 

My FM19 Tips 

Again, I am admittedly no expert however taking all of the above in to account and having played a sh*tload of FM19 since it's release in November 2018, below is my hitlist of Top FM19 Transfer Targets for the DMC position, some of whom are already well known / hot prospects and some perhaps not so well known (yet!). Feel free to click each name to view their FM profile and observe their preferred role and natural positions etc. 

Summary 

I guess that's it! (although be sure to check out the hilarious quotes section below regarding some of the more infamous DMCs over the years). Hopefully you found this post to be interesting, informative and somewhat relevant to your own FM adventures - as I said before, I am a huge admirer of the role and value that these players have brought to their teams over the years (both in FM and IRL), and I am a big advocate of utilising a strong DMC to form the backbone of my team in order to provide both defensive support / brick-shithousery as well as a fulcrum through which quick short-passing counter-attacking football can be played. Scouting for a decent DMC is actually not the easiest thing in the game especially when you bring in the more advanced attribute analysis in to your search, and equally it isn't too often that a DMC consistently scores above a 7.0 average rating (as they don't usually get goals, assists or clean sheets etc). However, what I will say is that regardless of which league or level you are managing at, if you can find that core Defensive Midfielder and deploy him effectively to do the job you need done, it will usually yield solid results and allow you to then get creative in other areas of the field where you can look at punishing your opponent. 

———-

Thanks for reading - if you have any thoughts, comments, feedback or questions please be sure to post them in the comments below or on my Twitter page – follows and retweets are always appreciated! Also, if you enjoyed this post and would like to read more of my FM content, please feel free to check out my blog here – my latest conquest is with CD Tenerife in Spain, where we are attempting to dethrone Barcelona and the Madrids from the peak of Spanish football (appropriately entitled “Roy De Los Rovers”). For now I will leave you with some of my favourite quotes that I discovered during my research which pretty much sum up the DMC role in a nutshell: 

"Aggression is what I do. I go to war. You don't contest football matches in a reasonable state of mind" Roy Keane on his tenacious playing style.

 

"Why put another layer of gold paint on the Bentley when you are losing the entire engine?" Zinedine Zidane on Claude Makélélé 's departure to Chelsea and David Beckham's subsequent arrival in 2003.

 

"Don't talk nonsense, let's not confuse Nutella with shit" - Gennaro Gattuso when asked if he thought that his tenacious tackling and defensive work did as much for Pirlo as Pirlo had done for him.

 

"We knew that Zidane, Raúl and Figo didn't track back, so we had to put a guy in front of the back four who would defend." Arrigo Sacchi describing the importance of a holding midfielder such as Claude Makelele when playing versus Real Madrid

 
 

"If it had come to a fight, Patrick could probably have killed me." Roy Keane on Patrick Vieira.

 
 

"If every manager in Britain were given his choice of any one player to add to his team some, no doubt, would toy with the idea of George Best; but the realists, to a man, would have Billy Bremner.’ John Arlott, Sports Journalist.

 

References/Interesting Reads 📖: 

"Inverting the Pyramid" - Jonathan Wilson 

"50 Best Defensive Midfielders in History" - Michael Cummings, BleacherReport.com 

"The Defensive Midfielder: A History" - Aidan Gibson, @theshortfuse 

"How the Makélélé role redifined English football" Zain Mahmood via Sportskeeda.com 

www.premierleague.com 

www.wikipedia.com 

www.transfermarkt.co.uk 

























FM19 Tactics: The Aldershot Way

Written by @CurtyFM

I want to start by saying that this is by no means a guide for lower league management (LLM), but after completely altering how I set up my LLM 442 formation after I was lucky enough to have a ‘Golden Generation’ youth intake, I wanted to share the transition I made from an incredibly basic system, to something a little more complex which aims to get my key players as involved as possible during build-up play. 

I recently started a LLM save with my beloved Aldershot Town. If you ever look for guidance on creating a LLM tactic, the advice is generally always the same: keep it simple, stupid. Lower league players have lower attributes in most areas compared to anyone playing in higher divisions, so it makes sense to keep things as basic as possible, right? Well, to an extent this is true. Players will still be capable of moments of brilliance, it’ll just happen much less often in the lower leagues. Personally, I think when recruiting for a lower league team, aim to focus on a couple of key attributes for a player, rather than all of the attributes the game recommends for a role. Need a winger? All he’ll need is pace and crossing. Need a striker? Look for finishing and off the ball. Anything else is a bonus at this level.  

With this in mind, when I first took over my Aldershot team, I wanted to create something basic which would complement the starting squad. Here’s the aptly named ‘Curty Brexit’ formation: 

The general idea behind this system was that I wanted to make full use of our quick wingers. We had a real lack of ability in central areas, so building up play from central midfield made little sense. I wanted to get the ball wide, starting from the goalkeeper, and then bombard the opposition box with crosses. The idea was effective as you can see below: 

 
 

We scored 105 goals during the season, over 20 more than any other team in the division. Defensively we had issues - predominately caused by our aggressiveness down the flanks and slightly kamikaze roles in central midfield - but my ethos was to score more than the opposition and it proved fruitful. I also made use of pressing forwards who constantly put the enemy defenders under pressure. If you’ve ever managed at this level you’ll be aware of some of the highly questionable decisions defenders can make when they’re caught on the ball. The pressing forwards were there to create indecision and panic if the opposition decided to build from the back. It’s fair to say they got their fair share of goals from defensive errors. The system was basic, but effective for the level. 

During the youth intake in season one, we were blessed with some real talent coming through the ranks. However one player stood out amongst his peers. Meet Daniel Elechi: 

 
 

As soon as I saw Elechi, the cogs in my head started turning. How can I possibly build this guy into a 442 formation? Will I have to change the system completely to accommodate him? What can I do to get the best out of him? 

Elechi made his debut in that first season, once the title was won. He became Aldershot’s youngest ever first team player and the clubs youngest ever goalscorer. His journey had started. My focus going into season two was to build the team around Elechi. Despite the fact he was only 16 years old at this point, he was comfortably my best player and my best prospect. I wanted to make the most of him before some horrible big bully club came along to snatch him from my grasp. 

Initially we tinkered with a 4231, playing him in his natural AMC position. Now, I’m not sure if the team wasn’t set up well enough to get the most out of his ability, or whether most AMC roles in this version of FM are slightly underpowered, but no matter what I did, he struggled. We then moved to a 4141 and tried to use him in the central midfielder role on an attack duty, but again, perhaps it was his unfamiliarity playing from that position, or the general team set-up, but he wasn’t getting involved in build up play, or getting on the end of chances we created. In the end, he played a bit-part role during the season as we struggled to a mid-table position, failing to win any of our last eight matches to miss out on a playoff spot.  

I decided at the start of season three to go back-to-basics, well, sort of. I wanted to go back to a 442 formation, but still try and get the best out of Elechi. Here’s what I’ve been playing in pre-season:  

My inspiration was very much based on Atletico Madrid and their style. I decided to play with a low block, but keep a positive mentality in my players when they’re on the ball or countering. This allows them to take more risks in attacking transitions, which still gives us a good platform to create good football in opposition territory.  

The deep-lying forward role seems made for Elechi so far. The wide playmaker role doesn’t encroach into his space but still feeds him the ball regularly. Once Elechi’s on the ball, he generally has several options with the CM support and wide playmaker around him, or the advanced forward offering an out ball. It’s incredibly early days for this system, but so far it achieves everything I want. The narrow, low block makes us extremely difficult to break down, the CM roles are kept nice and simple – the CM on support can be altered to hold position or get further forward depending on the match situation – plus I’m getting my most creative players on the ball when going forward. The positive mentality also gives these guys a little more creative freedom to express themselves, not always a good idea for lower league football, but with a talent like Elechi, it’s a risk I’m happy to take. 

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If you want to see the system in action, you can catch me live at 2pm every weekday over at twitch.tv/Curty.  



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