How I Want To Play Football
The most important part of the tactic.
How I Want To Play Football
In preparation for writing this series, I spent some time reading the classics.
If you haven’t read it yet, you really need to read what Cleon Hobson writes about tactical creation over at View From The Touchline. In particular, I spent some time studying this article on his 5-2-2-1 system.
Now, one thing you’ll learn when you start reading is that Cleon doesn’t come right out and tell you what to do. He spends a lot of time talking about the way he wants his team to play.
That’s an important step — and a step that most of us skip. We tend to want to experience the thrill of victory without ever thinking about how we want to achieve that victory.
Well, let’s take that step.
How I Don’t Want To Play
I’ve watched PanSa East F.C. play for 3 seasons now. If you want to watch them, too, be my guest.
We’re not an awful team — well, at least we’re not awful relative to the league. We won the league our first season, finished in second the second season, and were competitive the third (I won’t spoil things for you).
However, we don’t have a great attacking approach.
Our players tend to lump the ball up the pitch, aiming for Toa Maile. Sometimes it works. He’s fast, and has a tendency to get behind the defense from time to time.
However, it doesn’t always work. There are times when we work hard to win the ball back only to give it up in less than 10 seconds with a ridiculous high risk pass.
I don’t want to play an all-or-nothing game. Gambling on offense doesn’t work all that well, and usually leaves me with a big headache.
I also want to see our team actually play defense. We’ve given up many more goals than we should, given the quality of our players (and, remember, this is American Samoa, where the standard of play isn’t exactly high). I’m pretty sure this is a tactical issue, and I want it to be fixed.
How I Want To Play
This is actually a really easy question to answer.
I want our team to be in control.
I don’t care so much about having a certain percentage of possession. I just want to see us work the ball up slowly and calmly, making sensible runs and passes when necessary to create goals.
I want to see a defense that works well with the midfield, one that doesn’t lead to numerous interceptions. I want to see passes completed, but I also want to see passes that lead to goals, not to passing the ball around aimlessly.
I want to see goals, of course — but I want to see goals that are logical and controlled, not goals that rely on lumping the ball down the field to catch a defender off guard.
I don’t necessarily want to see a dominant “total football” aproach. I’m just hoping to see players play like they know what they’re doing.
How To Figure This Out
Okay — so how do you figure out what you want?
Unfortunately, the best way to get to this point is to start messing around and playing the game. You don’t really know what you’re looking at until you’ve spent time looking at it.
Now, don’t go crazy. I’ve seen gamers advise new Football Manager players to play the game with the highlights turned to comprehensive at first. It’s somewhat interesting and informative, yes, but that’s simply overkill. You can get what you’re looking for by watching extended highlights, without needing to watch every single thing.
You can also figure this out by watching YouTube highlights and paying attention. However, keep in mind that a lot of content creators and “tactic testers” use strong teams that skew the results. If you’re playing as Manchester City, even the worst tactics are going to make you look like a genius — like a retail stock investor in a big bull market.