Not a Footium Blog

Can it win us back?

As some of you will know, we used 4-5-1DM throughout our entire season in Division 6. It’s what we built our squad towards, but with it underperforming massively in Division 6, it pushed us towards experimentation this season.

The Season So Far

We thought it would be a good time to recap on the season so far. In terms of squad strength; MV = Marrouck Villa (us!) and OS = Opposition Strength. We have calculated squad strength using the average rating of the starting 11. The brackets number is how much better (or worse) our average starting 11 player was!

Look at the season so far below:

• Drew 3-3 Using 3-4-3 vs 4-1-2-1-2-WB. MV 39.2 vs OS 39.3. (-0.1)
• Lost 0-1 Using 3-4-3A vs 5-2-3. MV 42.5 vs OS 40.3. (+2.2)
• Drew 2-2 Using 4-2-2-2 vs 4-5-1DM. MV 42.6 vs OS 35.5. (+7.1)
• Lost 0-6 Using 5-2-3A vs 5-2-3A. MV 36.7 vs OS 40.1. (-3.4)
• Won 1-2 Using 5-2-3A vs 5-2-3. MV 36.5 vs OS 33.5. (+3.0)
• Drew 3-3 Using 4-3-3D vs 4-2-3-1DM. MV 39.5 vs OS 36.4. (+3.1)

Leaving us 6 points out of a possible 18 at this stage of the season.

The Line Ups

Our Line Up

So today, we were back to a classic. We realised we needed to start pulling in some points, so with us up against a high-flying team, decided to go for a strong squad.

Average Squad Strength: 44.6

This is by far our strongest squad of the season.

Opponents Line Up

Regular old 4-3-3, and a really strong squad for this level of Footium!

I was especially worried about their left side, with a 51 rated LW and 53 rated LB!

Average Squad Strength: 44.5

Two incredibly closely matched teams!

Real Life Context

When looking at Footiums’ version of 4-5-1 DM, it is almost more akin to a classic 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, but more defensive.

It offers great defensive stability, with the potential for 8 or even 9 outfield players to be behind the ball a lot of the time.

It has been used by some key teams over the last few years, particularly off the ball, where teams such as Jurgen Klopps Liverpool or Gareth Southgates England dropping into this when defending.

Jose Mourinho’s Title-Winning Chelsea also used it to great effect.

Strengths:

• Width. As the midfield can cover the entire width of the pitch with 5 players, it offers a lot of width across the entire breadth of the turf.
• Variance. Given the ability of the midfield in particular to adapt, it offers various routes of attack. The wingers can come inside or push on, the midfielders can drop deep or bound forward, and the lone striker can even drop in to free up space.
• Defensive stability. Particularly off the ball, it is incredibly strong as a defensive unit.

Weaknesses:

• Isolation. Both the striker and the wingers may become isolated at times.
• Transitions. Particularly if the team is stuck in a low block, as only the CF will be left forward, it can make it difficult to transition at pace.

The Match.

With such even teams, we thought this would be a tough one.

The first half was a tetchy affair, with the first goal coming to us in the 40th minute.

We then had the equaliser against us really quickly after half time, in the 47th minute.

We responded quickly, going back to 2-1 up with the 2nd goal from our CF in the 56th minute.

I regret not swapping to defensive mentality, instead sticking to balanced. This left us perhaps more exposed than we should have been, and we conceded the equaliser in the 77th minute.

The stats are below:

Strangely enough, BOTH of their goals were penalties. The refereeing gods did not smile on us today.

We had far more passes and possession, but perhaps not enough cutting edge.

See you all on the pitch!