A group of players go out and win a game in a style that gets the best out of the team. That’s the key to management.- Sam Allardyce
Route one football. Why does it have such a bad reputation? I’ll tell you why? FOOTBALL MEDIA! Playing in this style has been viewed as negative, or even anti football and I find that quite ridiculous because as I’ve mentioned in (Season 2: Episode 2: Team instructions), it is simply another tactic that, if used properly, can lead to very positive results. Nevertheless, it’s a bit too late to convince anyone to make playing it their primary style of play but that dosent mean it shouldn’t be used sparingly, or better yet, at least understood by the millions (AND MILLIONS!) of Soccermanagerites across the globe.
Long ball style of play is all about getting your team from defence to attack in as quickly and efficiently as it possibly can be. The football may not look pretty but it surely is quite effective based on the personnel at your disposal and the opposition you are facing. There are a few advantages of using this style of play:
- Your team will perform better with lower percentage of possession
- You do not need highly rated players to make the most out of this system
- It’s a great style of play when managing relegation threatened teams
The personnel required to get the best out of this pattern of play will be physically dominant players who are on the taller end of the scale, with a few key creative players within your XI (namely a Ball playing Defender, Deep-lying Playmaker or traditional ‘Playmaker’, and orthodox Wingers or Wide Midfielders). The players don’t have to be skillfull, extremely creative, or the best in their position. They just have to be decent. In my opinion, this makes selecting an XI (or even a 23, for that matter) all the more stressless because you don’t have to worry too much about the quality of players at your disposal.
For our illustrations, we’ll be taking a look at one of the best teams that use the Long ball style of play to very effective standard. That team is the Burnley team that used to be managed by Sean Dyche. The way this team made it difficult for their oppoents to have a comfortable game gave Dyche a very good reputation. Here, we’ll take a look at a match where they played Aberdeen in the Europa League from the 17/18 season:
Charlie Taylor (note that there will be a red circle following the positon of the ball, only)
Wow!!! We’ve come to the end of the Patterns of Play brought to life series!!! I took a lot of pride in writting about the different method of implementing tactics towards your various team within Soccermanager. I hope this series was impactful, as well as entertaining!
There is, however, one last thing that MUST be done before we can move onto Season 4, and that is…well… I’ve got some air to get out of the room. See you in a bit. ✌️
The Soccermanager Experience 