Week 3 Results

Formation : 4-2-3-1



Injured Players
Ciprian Marica
Juan Rodriguez
Mehdi Lacen

DEFENSIVE TACTICS

We narrow the pitch forcing them to go wide, FB to keep them on outside. Terry pick up main striker. Midfielder to follow and jockey runners. Wingers track back and help. Totti drop back and sit on their DM.

ATTACKING TACTICS

FB to push up giving us width, wingers to come inside and link in centrally. Midfielder take turn to push up look to play quick balls to forward. Totti look for space and shoot or play ball. Letafi use your speed to stretch them always stay on move.

------------Wolf-------------
Selassie-Prodl-Lukimya-Garcia
------Kroos---Junuzovic-----
Elia-------Obraniak----Bartels
-----------Beister------------

4-2-3-1 formation.

Defensive Instructions - We want to play an attacking game today but we may come under some pressure at times and it's down to you guys to work as a block of 4 which Kroos and Junuzovic will add to to make a 6 man defensive core. Bartels and Elia i want you both to drop back when defending and support the wide areas to relieve the full backs of pressure.

Attacking instructions - We should have plenty of pace in our attacks to get at the oppositions defensive line, i want us to play strongly in attack which should hopefully lead to us having plenty of the ball which will also relieve the pressure on the defence. Beister you are the man up front today, you will have support from central areas and wide areas, i want them to feed the ball to you as much as possible and for you to make plenty of movement in the oppositions half.

Subs:

70th minute: Petersen to come on for Beister.
75th minute: Ekici to come on for Obraniak
80th minute: Makiadi to come on for Junuzovic.

Marsman-
-Rosales-Bjellend-Bengtsson-Schilder-
-Corona-Tiago-Gutiérrez-Tadic-
-Castaignos-Cassano-

Teamtalk:
I'll be frank with you all, this is going to be hard, I'm coming in to give you a team talk at the last hour against a strong side. What we know of the opposition is that they have a number of fast paced attacking options so we're going to play with two deep rows of four and allow them no room in the final third of the pitch. Go out there and convince me to retain your services for the coming season with commitment, concentration and teamwork.

Defence
Men behind the ball at all times, allow the opposition space on the ball in their half and conserve your energy until they approach the final third, close down play, no rushing in on tackles and nullify their threats by doubling up where neccesary.

Attack
Cassano to link up play with Castaignos, Castaignos to stay up the pitch and look for counters whilst Cassano is to annoy their deeper midfielders with off the ball antics to rile them. Conserve energy as an attacking force, invite the opposition further into our half and then go up the gears when they're overexposed.

Tactics:

We're going to stick with the system thats won us both games so far, Donati comes in to shore up a defense missing Distin. We remain defensively solid, attempt to draw our opponents onto the front foot, and utilise the wings.


Defense:

Midfield trio sits deeper, don't press until they get past the halfway line. Should allow us to cramp Cassano and their midfield for room to work in the final third, as well as covering the FBs with 3 men in there. I expect the wingers the track back today.


Attack:

Break with purpose when we get it, with both FBs offering overlapping runs. One of Livermore and Hallfredsson to get forward and support the play from the middle, other stays to prevent us being countered in turn. Expect Origi to keep moving, keep their CBs on their toes and make a nuisance of yourself. Wingers look to get crosses in and take on the FB in equal measure.

---------------------Koteles--------------------
---Aurier---Koulibaly---van Buyten--Durm---
--------Aranguiz-----Diaz-----Kumordzi------
Buffel------------------------------------Depay
----------------------Klose---------------------

BENCH
van Hout
Simaeys
Tschimanga
Gerkens
Gorius
Camus
de Ceulaer

TACTICS
Basel are a strong side and have some good attacking players, it is essential we press them at a high tempo in the middle of the park and stop them getting their attacks going. We also want to counter attack down the wings as they have attack minded full backs. They do look weak in central midfield and we can get at them quickly there to dominate the middle of the park and we should get at them with fast football with high energy in midfield. Defensively, we want to hold a strong back four, with three sitting just in front looking to press taking it in turns, with one sitting deep and the others getting in the faces of Lallana, Stocker and Campbell. Look to be quick in winning the ball back. We should look to quickly hit them on the counter attack, focussing on wing play and getting the ball to our skilful widemen who can play a ball into the box.

------------------Sommer------------------
Johnson-----Schar-------Unama----Safari
--------------Blind------Eleney-------------
Campbell----------Lallana--------Stocker
------------------Streller---------------

Subs , Sio ,Suchy

Defence
, CB will mark zonal if two and Schar will man mark with 1, both FBs will push forward and look to overlap and deliver balls for Streller , but only in moderation and one at a time, play direct to Streller when clearing and use him to make attacks.

Midfield
Blind and Eleny will sit back and both look to snuff out the opposition midfield, they will take turns in engaging the midfielders while the other sits back, The front 3 will play tight pairing football and always looking to interchange, Campbell will look to blitz his man and run at him all game while stocker will look to cut inside and create chances , lallana will be the hub and will look to play in teammates , all allowed to shoot from range and Costa t balls into box towards the head of Streller. lallana will Harry there midfielders when not on the ball and both wingers to track back.

Striker, target man role, look to get in the box for crosses and knock down to the 3 attacking mids , look to get tough early and dominate e CB throughout

Subs
If losing 70 off Eleney on Sio , 4-4-2

If winning 80 off Lallana on Suchy 5-4-1

–––––––––––––– Pionnier –––––––––––––––
Bocaly –––De Vrij ––– Romagnoli ––– Tiene
–––––––––– Pirlo ––––– Bentaleb –––––––––
Bakkali ––––––– Cabella ––––––––– Mounier
––––––––––––––– Niang ––––––––––––––––

Subs: Pionnier, Congre, Hilton, Stambouli, Saihi, Ait-Fana, Montano
Injuries: Geoffrey Jourdren + Souleymane Camara + Jeffrey Assoumin

Attacking instructions:
- Niang to run across the line, make darting runs between CBs and make the CBs uncertain as to your movement. Bakkali, Cabella and Mounier are all capable of beating men – run at the defence, put fear in them – always make sure there is an overlap or drop pass to make. Get crosses in the box and shots on goal.
- Pirlo to orchestrate from deep, seek out Niang and Cabella’s runs ahead and those of Bakkali and Mounier out wide.
- FBs to join attacks sensibly, provide an overlap and get crosses into the box. When FBs attack, Bentaleb will cover for them, allowing the FB to join the winger and beat the opposition FB and get crosses in to the box.

Defending instructions:
- Soak up the pressure, then hit Palermo on the counter. The pace of Bakkali, Cabella, Mounier and Niang will be far too much for them to handle – keep the game tight, win the ball and spring the counter quickly.
- CBs to keep a good shape, keep a good line and ensure communication is clear at all times. De Vrij to be the man-marker of the main striker – keep tight on him. FBs to keep wingers out wide, and don’t let them cross at any time. Force them inside if you have to so that Pirlo and Bentaleb can deal with them.
- Bakkali, Cabella and Mounier to chase and harry the opposition with their youth to allow Pirlo space to launch the counter attack when we win the ball back.

Sub on 70mins:
Stambouli on for Mounier. Keep the same formation, but Bentaleb plays LW and Stambouli sits as a DM next to Pirlo.

Last 10 minutes instructions:
- If winning, keep closing down the ball and keep the opposition away from goal.
- If drawing, keep the game tight but look to spring Niang & Bakkali with their pace.
- If losing, push the de Vrij up front and the FBs higher up so that Pirlo, Romagnoli and Stambouli can marshal the back line and play passes forward to get the goal we need.

Full disclosure here, I hadn't realised my centre backs were such no-names. So I've gone with a solidified tactical plan to frustrate my opponent and aim to counter them on the wings.

Defensive

Back four aren't coming apart today, and they're keeping a solid line to make themselves obdurate and difficult to break down.
The defensive midfielders are sitting deep and sweeping in front of the back four, looking for interceptions and direct passes to transition to attack.
The goalkeeper has a set of comedy gloves if all else fails. Size matters.

Attacking

Our main aim is to allow them to come on to us and then hit them with speed on the wings on a counter-attack. This will require patience but when the ball is won back, the wingers must streak away and look for space. Run with the ball, commit people and get us to their goal quickly.
Hernandez will lurk in the middle and Dybala will play off him picking up scraps and waiting for pull backs. His secondary role is hassling their deep midfield, and he'll have a shift to put in when we lose the ball.

------------------------------Glykos----------------------------------------------
Stones----------------Vitor------------------------------Marquez--------------Lino
-----------------------Maduro------------------Katsouranis----------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ninis----------------------------------Valdivia-----------------------------------------Stoch
-------------------------------------Salpingidis------------------------------------------------


Tactics

Overall: Sit in and be solid in defence with two DM's screening the back four, the three behind the striker to break at pace, and interchange throughout. All look to create chances through movement, Salpingidis occupy the CB's and create space for the three behind.

Defence: Maduro/Katsouranis to sit in DM, and screen the back four, track midfield runners. Stones/Lino be restrained and narrow. Keep them ahead of us, don't let them in behind, so sit a little deeper.
Attack: Will be based off the counter attack mainly, look to spring through Stoch/Ninis. When we have possession look to get Valdivia on the ball to create. Three behind Salpingidis interchanges throughout

Starting XI

Abbiati
Foulquier---Vlaar---Ilori----Angulo
Iturra---Recio
Brahimi------Klaassen------Januzaj
Gilardino

Subs: Fernandez, Murillo, Mainz, Fateu, Piti, Buonanotte, Riki

General: Direct attacking football, with plenty of movement and quick passing.

Attacking Tactics:
Gilardino to play as main focal point, with fluid 3 AMs behind, all interchanging and making it hard to pick them up. Quick, pacey pass and move, not giving opposition time to settle. Recio playing box to box joining attacking 4 when we go forward

Defensive Tactics:
Back four to stay back. Recio and Iturra to sit in front and protect, Brahimi and Januzaj to support FBs when we are defending. Pressing from the front to ease work load on midfield and defence.

Subs:
Losing on 70 minutes, Recio off, Riki on, go 4-4-2
Winning on 70 minutes, Klaassen off, Fateu on, go 4-5-1