Right, let’s go through quite a lot of information. Firstly, I’ve played the entirety of Euro 2024, so we need to cover the tournament itself, and how we did. However, the more interesting discussion – and analysis – for me is the tactical future of this side. I want to use this post as a case study for the new system we’ve used, and look at whether it’s something we can use moving forward. Last time, we looked at our preparation for Euro 2024 in Germany, and I had some serious concerns about our 4-4-2 diamond that we were using, that was ported over from FM23, where it worked gloriously. Pre-patch, it had also worked well, but it looked less than glorious post-patch, as can so often be the case with Football Manager. You can catch up with all of the posts in this series so far here. So, how did Euro 2024 in Germany go?
Well, the group stage went pretty well in terms of our results. We bagged extremely comfortable wins over Norway and Croatia, beating them by several goals and scoring plenty of goals. However, we ridiculously ended up drawing 3-3 with Israel in a game that once again caused me to have some significant concerns about our stability. I’d made the discussed tweaks to our diamond and we’d gone into the tournament with this. However, I came out of the group stage feeling that at no point had we ever really controlled the games we’d played. I know this seems ridiculous having beaten Norway and Croatia – both decent sides – so soundly, but the Israel game felt like what could happen when the system’s aggression in all areas went wrong. This was then confirmed when we struggled to beat Wales in the second round, eventually going through after extra time on penalties. Our games and performances just weren’t convincing, and I was worried.
I actually left a couple of real life days in between playing the second round and the quarters, and it gave me the time to devise another approach, and find a direction (as the post title suggests), one that was far more Italian. *insert many Gazzetta references here* 🇮🇹☕️🍨
This is what I came up with for the remainder of the tournament, although this wasn’t the lineup that I used, Zaniolo wasn’t taken (a decision I’ll now admit was a mistake), and Berardi was injured early in the tournament, and with Gnonto also being injured, it left Tommaso Baldanzi as our only proper Number 10, and I don’t think he was quite ready for that responsibility.
I also used a back three of Bastoni – Cristante – Felipe in the tournament proper, again something I’m now experimenting more with, as I found Cristante inconsistent in the centre-back role. What you see above is likely my first choice back three now, with Scalvini looking to break into it somewhere, most likely in the middle. Someone I’ve not spoken about at all throughout this save so far is Luiz Felipe of Real Betis. Thus far, he’s just been rotation for the previously two centre back spots, but now with three up for grabs, he’s muscled his way into my starting lineup after a fantastic Euro 2024, where he was simply faultless in the spot on the right. I have several questions remaining about what my best lineup is in this system, but I’ve got until the 2026 World Cup to figure that out – although I think I may already have the ideal pair of 10s in Berardi and Zaniolo.
First things first, in terms of our results with the 3-4-2-1, we made it to the semis, before being knocked out by the Germans in an infuriating game that we absolutely could have won. Their third goal came from a cross that was poorly cleared by Donnarumma, and tapped in by nameless German player (for some reason, the name fix hasn’t come over with the save from FM23). I also felt like their goals came out of nowhere, especially their second, a random shot from the edge of the box. Nevertheless, the Italian FA were more than happy with my performance with gli Azzurri for the Euros, and we move onto the next phase with the national team. What I really want to look at, is whether my opinion of this system is correct, evaluate its effectiveness, and decide whether this is system I can work around moving forward.
My first instinct is that this is a defensively strong tactic, and being that I’m Italy, this is something I kinda love about it. Statistical analysis backs this up – granted only from four matches played using this tactic – with the system producing an average xGA of 0.69. If you remove the ridiculous 3-2 loss against Germany, the xGA drastically reduces to a quite ridiculous level of 0.38. I don’t think this is the most amazing attacking tactic – backed up by the 1.34 xG over the four games we’ve used this tactic – but if we’re so stingy in front of our own goal, then we only need to score a few to win games, and therefore tournaments.
I’ve also gone onto a random point in the Germany game with us in possession to have a look at that. You can see a really clear buildup shape that’s a mix of a 3-2-5 and a 3-1-6, with Barella’s positioning playing a big role in what shape we end up in at any time, and Verrati moving around Barella as the deep creator – Verratti was so good in this game that he is now more than in with a chance of being my starter at the World Cup. What I particularly like about this is that we have a really strong defensive triangle that will also turn into a diamond. This is something I wrote about a long, long time ago, ironically as manager of Italy, when I wrote about the ‘defensive P’. It means that we’re already in a good shape to regain the ball if it is lost, and we are certainly in a great position to press if the ball is lost higher up, with the line of five attackers, plus Barella sitting slightly deeper with the ability to form a 6.
We’ve also got good width through the wing backs, who I’ve told to stay wider as well, meaning we can stretch the pitch in possession. I think another little interesting wrinkle is how the AP-S Berardi has moved slightly more into the middle of the pitch than he normally would due to the nearby presence of Barella as the Segundo Volante. I wouldn’t say this is perfection, but it looks pretty decent as an attacking shape. Just from my gut instinct, it feels like the form of Barella as my first choice SV will play a massive part in our attacking success. If he can get forward and make late runs like he did against Germany in the 3-0 win, we can go as far as he’ll take us.
As we move through the next phase of this save, and hopefully continue to use this 3-4-2-1, I’ll look to do more game analysis, specifically on defensive shape if we continue to limit the opposition to minuscule amounts of xGA. It is infuriating that there are elements of analysis that you just can’t do as an international manager, which isn’t realistic. Gareth Southgate will have analytical data for England games that he can use to make informed decisions. There’s also the training issue at international tournaments, but I’ll discuss that another time. So, until next time, thank you for reading, and always always should you have any questions about my approach to international management, and my plans for Italy as we move past the Euros, please feel free to ask in the comments section of this blog or on Twitter (@JLAspey). Thank you once again, and Forza Azzurri! 🇮🇹
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