The Best In The Business

[Magic817]

I think a lot of people read both this diary and others but don't interact therefore it can seem like no one is reading/cares. Diary updates for WCOOP would be good and its down to people to interact more as I know I am guilty of reading rather than posting.

[booder]

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/174/poker-goals-challenges/pads1161-bracelethunting-1508230/index103.html

TY...had a scoot over there and last post was:

I'm also managing a football team now, so happy about that, extremely motivating and one of my legit goals is to be a professional manager after poker finishes. Let's see how we do in first season. I'll be updating here with results, tactics I use etc, if you don't like football (soccer) I'm sorry!

Need to rest and recover before moving house tomorrow and then wcoop starts the next day.

Let's cross fingers for being well for all of wcoop.

Vamos

Found the football manager bit really interesting but the thing is I don't doubt  that many on here would be interested in that as well! Hope you post it in here....

Yes , please post here.

[pleno1]

I'm actually extremely, extremely geeky with football strategy. It's my favourite thing to read about.

Our first session for the team (ever) was this week and we only had 11 players (+me)

We do two sessions a week, the first is fitness without a ball and the second sessions (im only present for the second session) is on artificial pitch. On the second day my players will never ever do any "fitness" but we work with 100% intensity where we work just as hard as if we were running shuttles all night.

We are going to play in a 4-3-2-1 formation. I'm not sure how to upload photos from my phone here, but will go
Into the exact strategy of the formation when I'm on my PC as I feel it's very modern and the way most teams are trying to ad adapt to (most unsuccessfully!)

So yesterday we had half pitch, one full sized goal with a goalkeeper, back four and defensive midfielder protecting it. We then had a number 8, number 10, number 11/7 and a number 9 who tried to break them down. The defenses goal was to obviously stop us scoring, but when they had the ball they had to counter attacking and get over the half way line by dribbling the ball. So they were playing counter attacking style and working on breaking out with the ball. The attacking team had 100% creative freedom.

Every time the ball broke down out of play it would start again with me at the centre circle, the defensive team had to push out and I would play the ball to 6/8 and we would go again.

Our "wingers" are more like inside forwards, our goal is for them to make inward runs cutting inside behind the full back and scoring or supplying the striker. We have a very very strong midfield. Our two central midfields, one used to play for Brescia and one is currently taking trials at professional teams in Germany. Our two wingers are raw but very quick and direct so it's a perfect strategy.

First problems we had was our midfield players taking too many touches so we progressed to playing two touches, once we did that we actually really struggled which was a surprise. We went back to all in and then they played very good.

The second problem was our defense was perhaps playing a little too much. Combined with this was because out attacking team wasn't defending correctly and defending by themselves rather as a team. So we changed the rules for how the defense scored by they only had to kick the ball over the half way line to score. This meant that they had to do a proper pass (as if passing to the strikers feet/chest rather than "hoofing" it) this forced our attacking team to press a lot earlier and quicker otherwise the defense had an easy way to score.

The final problem we had was we weren't penetrating enough as an attacking team when we had the ball, we were going sidewards too much so the new rule I put in was our first touch always had to be forward. Even if there is a defender there we be positive and try to take the ball past him or we make our movement in a way where we have space. This meant we start thinking before we get the ball what we are going to do rather than simply getting the ball and making a decision.

It was the first time I had ran a training session for an adult team, but it went down really well and all the changes we did were things I thought of on the spot because of problems I saw arose. I really enjoyed it and look forward to them in the future too.

[Longines]

I stopped coaching an u16 team last season and one of our drills was almost exactly the same.

Any plans to do your coaching badges?

[pleno1]

I stopped coaching an u16 team last season and one of our drills was almost exactly the same.

Any plans to do your coaching badges?

I have them already. I did two years in professional sports academy from 16-18 before I decided to do journalism at uni. I'm not sure how things have expanded since that time as it's almost 7 years ago.

[Longines]

UEFA 'A' I guess? The 'B' is a big commitment from what I remember. (might have them back to front)

[Eso Kral]

Nice to see you back posting Pads!

[baldock92]

I understand your reasons, as you know you're updates will be a big loss!

With your football team, who actually plays? Is it a local team that was already set up or have you recruited a group of players and are trying to build something from the ground up?


Best of luck in WCOOP!

[pleno1]

Love some geeky football tactics talk!

4-3-2-1 is a very interesting formation and I agree that most teams don't adapt correctly to it. It is pretty difficult to have good balance in that system though. While you will ideally be dominating the center of the pitch, which is good, because you can maintain a high quality of ball circulation in buildup with lots of passing options etc, the formation has some obvious downsides.
If your "wingers" do a bunch of inside cutting, the oppositions full backs will be left wide open after loss of possession, which can lead to easy overloading on the flanks etc. Seems like you have good ball handlers, which is important. You will need very good pressing and counter pressing mechanisms, which have to be created as a collective and not individually. That can require a lot of training and some players are intuitively better at this than others.
You can also move your own full backs higher up the pitch to have some access to the opponents full backs. But that leads to difficulties concerning compactness in the last defensive line, where you could have your 6 drop between the center backs.

Thumbs up for not playing a boring 4-2-3-1

I actually think the biggest problem with 4-3-2-1 in amateur level is usually the distribution of the goalkeepers and centre defenders. Its usually pretty poor and with this tactic you need to really build a lot and recycle the possession which amateur defenders are usually uncomfortable with. Especially if you have a right footed left side centre half as they usually have to open out on back foot and move possession forward but instead they take the ball and front foot and go back into where we've just came from which is really frustrating.

In terms of being wary of counter attacks when wingers make inward runs, generally both full backs should be both supporting the attack meaning as soon as the ball is turned over we are able to instantly press from the front and win the ball back. In fact one of the highest % of amateur goals comes from giving the ball away and then getting it back. The defence is usually out of position and we are often in behind them way easier rather than when they are just sitting back and letting us play in front of them.

[pleno1]

You can see here:




Strategy -

When we have the ball:

We play short, quick passes, always with the intention of going forward and attacking, but are careful with possession and recycle the ball and go 1 step back to go 2 steps forward if we need to. Our goal is to pass through their team and then do through balls to players 7/9/11 who will be making angled runs in behind the defence.

When we don't have the ball:

We press high as a team, our full backs press high up the pitch, our front 3 put pressure on the defence and out midfield pushes up the ass of their midfield. Our goal is to get the back as soon as possible.

Goalkeeper (Number 1)- Needs to have a very high starting position, we are pushing up the pitch and often will need to be a sweeper. Very important to have good distribution as we build from the back and the first pass is often the most important.

Wing Backs (Numbers 2/3) - I say wing backs on purpose even though its a back four. Our front 3 will be making inward runs meaning that our full backs have to offer us full support in wide areas. They both need to be very fit and be able to attack and defend.

Centre Halfs (Numbers 4/5) - Generally will stay back at all times, offering us support and stability however need to be very comfortable on the ball and they start the majority of our attacks.

Anchor (Number 6) - Sits in front of the 2 centre halfs at all times, doesn't go into the final third almost ever. Is the most vocal player on the team dictating how we play. Generally will never use more than 3 touches and will be the link from defence to midfield. Needs to help defensively by pinching balls and stopping them reaching the opponents striker. Always needs to receive the ball "side on" so we can go forward.

Passing midfielder (Number Box to box midfielder, supporting the Anchor defensively and helping our playmaker attacking wise. Needs to be good on the ball, good defensively and fit.

Playmaker (Number 10) Our most attacking midfielder in the centre and the player we look to get on the ball to give us our final pass to the front 3. Needs to support the other two midfielders defensively and get back into position but needs to give us a lot of creativity moving forward.

Wingers (Number 11/7) Defensively will get back into position and help the team out, but attacking wise will be using pace and clever movement to help us get behind the opponents defence. When on the ball will be looking to commit and take on opponents full back

Striker (Number 9) Leads the line and is our main goalscorer, needs to be all round striker as we have only one. Defensively is just as important as offensively, will be first line of defence and goal is for the ball to either not reach the opponents midfield or to not let them play a perfect pass.

Things to consider:

Midfield three should almost never look to dribble past opponents. If there is space they drive in and run forward but if not they pass around opponents, if we give the ball away here our full backs are high up and out of position and it is very dangerous.

Balls to 7/11/9 need to be angled, we never play a long "straight" ball.

If we can go straight to number 6 without passing to 4/5 first then we do it.

If we are under pressure or have small lead we change 4-3-2-1 into 4-1-4-1 and become more compact

If strategy isn't working can change easily to 4-4-2 and play more direct.

[pleno1]

Any flaws people see in system or ways to improve it? This is very much a first draft.

[pleno1]

liking the football talk
I've played all my life since I was 4, then competitively since 11. Personally, I am not a great tactician but I will still talk about what I have seen/experienced.

The wingers' focus has always been more so concentrated on taking the ball wide and crossing into the box. The quicker the ball is moved, the greater the element of surprise and harder it is to defend.


gl with this man should be fun!

I think in general playing it out wide to get balls into the box from a winger isn't a great strategy. Lets say you're on the touchline, you're pretty far away from the strikers, you usually have 1/2 players stopping you crossing and most systems these days play only 1 striker so he is outnumbered too. I think making the runs inwards from the wingers makes them an inside striker and then creates space for the full back to be free on the touchline (opposing defender will track inside forward) and then if we do cross from that angle it means we now have more players to aim at. Generally the wingers should play on the wing of their opposite foot meaning when they cut inside they can cross/shoot of create an overlap for the full back to overload.

[Tal]

Any flaws people see in system..?

You'll be using footballers for this exercise, right?

[GreekStein]

did you play in the WSOP world cup thingy?

[pleno1]

did you play in the WSOP world cup thingy?

Nah was dying I'll then. Was really gutted.