Building a 3–3–4 tactic for Football Manager 18

Calcio is coming…

This time I’m going to start the development of my Glerean inspired 3–3–4 tactic, if you want to know more about Mr. Glerean simply read my previous article, in the second part of this piece you’ll discover the chosen club for this experiment.

The starting shape

As I wrote in my opening post, 6 players defend and 4 attack, this is why standard mentality coupled with a fluid team shape look like a decent choice.

Take the roles with a pinch of salt cause some of them could easily change during this test, I don’t have too many doubts regarding the three central defenders, while midfield and attack could need some tweaks, I don’t know exactly how the carrilero plays so I’m going to try it.

Team instructions

But what are the basic skills these players need according to Glerean thought?

• Keeper: aerial reach and good passing ability cause sometimes he’ll have to look for the target man with long kicks
• 3 Dc’s: heading is the key attribute here, leaving the flanks exposed we’ll have to cope with a huge number of crosses, then jumping, positioning, anicipation and acceleration
• 3 Mc’s: teamwork, determination, stamina, strength and tackling cause they will help a lot defensively
• 2 IF’s: dribbling, acceleration, agility and flair, they need to beat their men and create numerical advantage in the last third of the pitch
• Strikers: the first is a strong player good in the air, with bravery, pace, determination and decent finishing skills. The other one is the classic seconda punta, more creative and technically gifted, he’s the main man up top.

Picking a club

Now it’s the turn of the club where this experiment will take place, after a lot of tinkering I decided to give Glerean a chance in serie A, he’s 61 years old and never managed a Serie A team, back in 1999 he was very close to Genoa but preferred to stay at Cittadella, this man and his ideas deserve a chance at this level.

Of course, to make things more interesting, Ezio won’t be in charge of a top club, but will start from the very bottom of the league with a newly promoted club: Benevento.

This will be challenging, Benevento in real life lost all the games played so far, 12 consecutive losses, 5 goals scored and 31 conceded; impressive, isn’t it?

They already sacked the manager who led them to promotion from serie B last season, Marco Baroni, but things aren’t improving.

To be fair the small club from Campania region can’t compete at this level, they’re still a serie B club, could Mr. Glerean save them in the virtual world of Football Manager?

5 things you should know about Benevento in FM 18

1. Media prediction 20th place
2. Transfer budget available 1.5 M
3. Board expectations- avoid relegation
4. Stadium “Ciro Vigorito” 15.000 seats
5. Founded in 1929, never played in Serie A

Targets?

Well, avoiding the sack while playing 3–3–4 is the first one , if we survive, at the end of the year a proper plan could be put in place, for now I’m just trying to enjoy the ride staying committed to the original Glerean concept.

Thanks for reading!