So, as a fairly unknown manager with only a National A License who’s had professional football experience on a local level, we find ourselves in the gaffer’s seat on ACF Fiorentina premises.
THE USUAL SUSPECTS
Here’s the squad that greets me:
The first team squad seems to have 4 players who were brought in on loan. Gerson and Pjaca are definitely the ones I am going to keep, while I am unsure about Edimilson Fernandes and Kevin Mirallas:
Hard one to decide – this guy obviously has the potential which will reach to its fullest in a few years at the earliest and I’ll definitely not be the one who exploits that. He’s a mediocre Mezzala, a Mediocre Regista and would be a very poor choice as an AMC of any sort. Definitely a “jack of all trades” but that will not warrant a £75K fee & £27K salary per month, so we’re sadly gonna have to part ways in one month. The situation is similar with Mirallas, who has already picked up an injury and I’ll have to pay for him for 3 months until he is back – no thank you.
The stars of the team are definitely Giovanni Simeone, Chiesa, Pjaca and Gerson – and Chiesa does stand out.
Having already attracted 6 of the world giants, he goes on and makes a fuss about the fact that I rejected a £30M offer for him.
We thwart the danger successfully for now by promising him that we’ll qualify for a continental competition. Heh, kids these days..
TACTICS
So the latest installment of the FM series gives us some preset tactical styles.
I’ll go over the ones that interest me.
CONTROL POSSESSION: Now, I generally like to have the possession with primarily short passes & low tempo unless I’m behind. I’ve had success with this approach with some teams that are top tier in their league. But with a mid-table team such as Fiorentina, I fear that “patiently waiting for openings” is a good idea since many teams in the league actually match my side’s strength and every match will be like rolling a dice on which team concedes first. Wouldn’t want to concede or have goalless draws while patiently waiting.
WING PLAY: We’ve got Chiesa as well as Pjaca on both wings, so this approach doesn’t sound too far off. The minuses are – our full backs are not really good dribblers, and we don’t have a target man who would take advantage of most of the crosses. Sure, I could try delivering whipped crosses, however our young star Simeone’s not a fast striker either. We’re definitely gonna bring in a deep lying forward/target man in the future, but still I’m on the fence with this one.
GEGENPRESS: My inner Jürgen Klopp is screaming for this one. One little issue is that this approach requires fast central defenders, and relatively fast outfield players, with the team having a good overall work rate.
We are neither fast nor hard workers, so the notion of having a very high defense line kind of freaks me out.
TIKI TAKA: This approach requires us to distribute the ball to center backs and start the game from there, with much shorter passing, much higher defensive line with an offside trap in place. So we field central defenders with poor technical capacity and average speed, which is what we all have, and the opponents nick goals with through balls behind our slow defense line – a manager’s nightmare. To top it off, this approach dictates that we overlap on the wings with short passes and then deliver low crosses towards center. The thing is, we have wingers who are not Jordi Alba rapid, and again, taking our time and working the ball into the box could cost us points when our opponent gets on with it faster. It’s workable, but I don’t think I’m at the Manchester City level yet with these fellas.
VERTICAL TIKI TAKA: Our wingers are natural at sides that oppose their stronger feet, which means I could play with two inside forwards. I could play a low tempo, but a more direct and urgent play, looking for goal immediately after kick off. Veretout would make a good Mezzala; Benassi is a decent Box-to-Box midfielder. Backup plan during a game when I need a bit of creativity would be to take Gerson off the right wing and put him in place of Veretout, put Chiesa to the right wing as a winger and bring on Pjaca to cut inside from the left (his preferred move). This approach does require us to have a higher defensive line, if not higher, but as long as we watch out for opposition’s threats and adjust accordingly in-game, I’m hoping we would be just fine.
4-1-4-1 suits this style best, as well as my current squad. Initially we’re gonna need a good regista, someone who is creative and play-make from behind midfield. We have some candidates in the squad of course, however, none of them fills up the majority of the requirements of this position really.
WEAKEST LINK..
Dabo on the right is also a “jack of all trades”, being able to play as a rightback, a DM and a CM in a few roles. He’s a good player, no doubt, but having just 9 concentration means I cannot rely on him on defense as well as defensive midfield. He’s able to play as a box-to-box midfielder, however 10 Finishing & Long Shots means he’s gonna squander many clear cut chances. We are going to need an attacking right back who is good with the ball and knows how to defend as well. Not an easy task.
Up front – Simeone is decent, obviously has room to grow, however I am unsure whether he could be the best deep lying forward in the world. He’s a good poacher though, so he’s gonna definitely start in many games. However I am going to need a rather strong front man who can see a bit more far ahead than a few meters and actually able to pass the ball there. Obviously a good finisher, too. Our options are kinda limited here given our stature and finances, and I doubt that I could find a very good forward that meets all these requirements.
Finally, our left back and midfield are other areas subject to a possible upgrade.
The next post will be about my activities in the transfer market.