Spel gidsen & Digitale inkt

Review (EN): Samba Italia

11-07 09:21, door Guido

The team

I’ve chosen to manage Vicenza in this test. I’m intending to do more of these reviews, all of those with Vicenza, so tactics can be compared with each other. Vicenza are a mid-table side, predicted to end 12th in the Italian Serie B. There were no specific instruction to bear in mind.

This is the team I will be using for the opening fixture.

The results

Vicenza 2 – 0 AlbinoLeffe
Modena 2 – 2 Vicenza
Vicenza 4 – 0 Rimini
Vicenza 5 – 0 Grosseto
Treviso 4 – 4 Vicenza

Benefits

+ The results.

Unbeaten run of five, with three decisive home-wins and two draws away from home. 60% winning rate, 100% not-losing rate, maintaining an unbeaten run is always a good thing. The offence surprisingly enough matched that of Indoctrins tactic, scoring 17 goals in total, which means an average of 3,4 goals a game. Defence was also better than Indoctrins tactic, conceding 6, averaging 1,2 goals conceded a game. Pretty good results, if you ask me… And basically you are asking me, because you’re reading this review.

+ Wingbacks provide plenty of attacking options.

Well, the wingbacks keep overlapping the outside midfielders, creating a wide midfield and a strong offensive formation. The wingbacks are a real threat to pretty much any team, you’re forcing the opposing team to keep their wingers in midfield back to combat your wingbacks coming through at every available moment. Just notice the amount of space on the wings.

+ One touch positioning football.

What I really liked about this tactic was the smooth, attacking football it gave me. I saw my midfielders playing one-touch football. Passing the ball around quickly and exploiting the movement of the wingbacks and the other midfielders.

+ Good tactic for home-games.

The ultra-offensive style of football works wonders in home-games. I dominated most games easily, 60% possession minimal in all three home games and at least 15 chances a game. As you can see, the results in home-games are quite good, as I won every home-game and I scored a lot of goals in home-games.

The offensive style of playing blitzes the opponents and you’re overrunning an opposing defence. Most teams have no real answer to the wingbacks running all over the place like crazy.

+ Through Balls.

Your midfielders often come into the position where they can give excellent through-balls. They always have several options, due to many players moving around the pitch.

Downsides

- Through balls.

I’ve also listed the through-balls as a downside to this tactic. The team appears to be relying upon such passes, heavily even. You really need a midfielder able to give such passes or you’re royally fucked offensively. A lot of times, the midfielder has to be able to notice gaps like the one below and give the pass in a split-second. This cannot be done by average players, you need classy midfielders to pull this off.

- Set Piece Defence.

To be perfectly honest, the Set Piece defence has been appalling at times. I’m not sure why, but the players who are supposed to cover the posts just don’t move after a corner has been cleared, which leaves the defence in a lot of trouble when the clearance is brought back in quickly. To illustrate my point:

I’ve numbered the amount of players left unmarked by defenders. Imagine that cleared ball being brought back in with a long pass or a cutting through-ball. The attackers wouldn’t be off-side… I’ve seen this happen quite a few times…

- Gaps in defence.

One of the inherent weaknesses of the formation is it’s vulnerability on the wings. The wing-backs are moving forward a lot which leaves the central defenders exposed to runs of the wingers. It’s true that the offensive wing-backs are a strength of your tactic, but defensively they have no added value and they’re a liability. Just look at the huge gaps they’re leaving behind them…

- Too offensive away from home.

Basically, this tactic is not fit for away-games, it’s just too darn offensive. Your wings are left exposed and basically your own defence is coming under pressure. A lot. Your defence generally gives away possession to easily. The results back my conclusion, away from home we were lucky to grab draws, as we gave away too many chances and conceded too many goals.

- No goals from Set Pieces.

Five matches played and not a single goal scored from an in-direct free-kick or a corner? That’s basically pretty shitty… Even if you’re not exploiting the corner bug, you should be able to score at least once every three to four games from a corner or IFK. You need to tweak the settings a bit here, since every other test team I’ve used has scored at least once from Set Pieces. Andreolli and Zampagna were lethal in heading them home for everyone else, yet they seemed to be out of position every time in this tactic. Sort it out, man!

Conclusion

If this were part of a tactics-set, it would be a tremendous home tactic or a tactic used to force a break-trough. It’s offensive potency is enormous; it’s great for overrunning and overpowering a defensive side. It’s a tactic that relies on possession and positioning and movement in midfield. You can dominate matches really well with this tactic. Unfortunately, you’re not supposed to dominate away from home. Not when you’re managing with a mid-table side or a relegation candidate. The defence is just not good enough. Also, the Set Pieces really need sorting out, both defensively and offensively.

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