We venture into another long ball Bonnanza and we’re hoping that you’ve been motivated to actually make an effort towards utilizing the Long Ball style of play going forward…
You may be surprised to know this but the T.T.M and Long Ball is actually way more easier to use than the Mixed and Long ball since it requires majority of the ball whilst in possession to be located between the widths of the goal posts and provide a better opportunity for balls directly heading toward the mainF(C) upfront, as well as swift crosses heading into the box whenever the ball happens to venture into wider regions.
We also realized that we’ve made an error in terms of a formation from a previous episode. During Episode 8 (Through the Middle and Direct), we thought the formation of use was a 3-5-2, but in reality it was actually a 5-3-2. We apologize for that error… 🙏
Anywho… Let’s get to the main event of today’s episode:
DEFENCE
Since our intentions for this team is to play most of the possession throughout central areas, the 3-5-2 (😶) is going to work wonders since it is already a centrally biased style formation in terms of the number of players in the central region, as well as usually not having ball hogging players outwide.
We start off in the defence where we have a solid back 4 of Spanish and Real Sociedad number 1 Alejandro “Alex” Remiro, who brings that all too familiar Spanish technical prowess and will be starting most of the plays via his accuracy of long range passes. Then we have a D(C) 3 of Englishman Lewis Dunk, Congolese international Chancel Mbemba, and French starlet Mohamed Simakan. While Mbemba and Simakan are the aggressors of this team keeping things relatively simple on the ball, Dunky will be the one assisting Remiro with the spraying of long range passes towards the front line, and with him being one of those D(C)’s who thrive in the center of a back 3, we surely expect him to absolutely ball out when in possession
MIDFIELD
For the sake of clarity, I think we’ll have to start with the elephant in the room. I believe that this is the first starting XI within the history of S.M.B that has a player playing “out of position”, and there’s a good reason for that.
Back in Season 10, we did an in-depth look at J.W.P as a player within SM24. We raised the awareness on the fact that Ward-Prowse is no way near a ‘Playmaker’ and it is a lazy representation of the Englishman’s style of play. We firmly believe that Ward-Prowse is a ‘General Midfielder’ who doesn’t quite excel at anything (other than his World Class ball striking skills) but is very efficient in playing various roles at a decent level.
Image from Season 10 episode of J.W.PTherefore, we firmly believe that J.W.P will do wonders off the right of this 3-5-2 as a ‘Beckhamesque’ type ‘Wide Midfielder’ who will deliver some of the juiciest crosses throughout an entire season for the attacking players to feed off. On the opposite side, we have a much more common ‘Wingback’ who will aim to collect the ball to feet and attack the byline, make darting runs towards the byline, and use his physical prowess to successfully maneuver against his opposition. Destiny Udogie may still only be 22, but he has already displayed huge levels of maturity during his current time as Tottenham Hotspur’s main starting DM(L). He has also showcased his versatility as Big Ange has been utilizing him (as well as Pedro Porro) as ‘Inverted Fullbacks’ from time to time.
Onwards to the men in the middle and we have a trio of Villareal ‘B.W.M’ Hugo Guillamón, Athletic Club superstar Oihan Sancet, and Marseille stalwart Jordan Veretout. Guillamón will be responsible with simply mopping things up off the ball while keeping things relatively simple when in possession, Veretout is quite good at being the conductor in the midfield and will be responsible for such activities, while Sancet will play a very important role further up the pitch as someone who is responsible for getting in and around the front 2 in order to be a focal point himself and display his technical prowess in and around the 18 yard box
FORWARDS
We have a very interesting mixture as a front two in 2 young starlets who have every chance to become World Class so long as they live up to the slight hype that they currently have at this moment. Additionally, we had to make a sacrifice when it came to utilizing one of them at their best as we needed to have a focal point and have chosen the more technically gifted Ferguson to do just that, with Hojlund using his physical prowess to hassle the opposition defenders with his non-stop off the ball running and tireless pursuit of defensive capability. Between the two, we personally feel that Ferguson has a higher ceiling (although Hojlund is more popular due to being at Manchester United and starting for Denmark at Euro 2024), so he will be responsible for holding up the ball while also seeking to drop slightly deep whenever the chance permits. For the most part, Ferguson will be the main target of these long balls and since Hojlund is actually an ‘Explosive Target Man’, it’s safe to say that he knows a thing or two about getting unto high balls!
PLAYER INSTRUCTIONS
This team is filled with quite a lot of youngsters but there is still some of that all too important experience, and we have given the captain’s armband to no other than Lewis Dunk; if you know anything about J.W.P you’ll know that he is a top 5 in the world at set piece taking so its a no-brainer decision of giving him the responsibility of taking all of the set pieces (including P.K’s which he used to take while at Southampton and might regain if Paquetá decides to leave West Ham this summer). As for the ‘Target Man’, it will be Evan Ferguson who will be linking the play and is responsible for getting other players into the game with Hojlund constantly stretching the play causing the opposition to concede a lot of space that the likes of Sancet and Veretout can take advantage of (in addition to those continuous balls coming in the box from J.W.P and Udogie)
I hope that the Through the Middle has been good for you! Let’s keep up the momentum while switching gears a lil with the next one! 😉
The Soccermanager Experience 