Emil AC 2007 Season 4-4-2
What changed in this 4-4-2?
The primary concept for it is that a narrower and more compact formation will hopefully help me avoid the dreaded nip and snatch.
Up top, the forwards are pulled back as far as they can be. In the previous formation, they had been given diagonal arrows away from goal*. In this formation, I’ve tasked Hamsun with holding up the ball, and Gutierrez with making the cutting runs looking for finishing positions.
The midfield is also more compact, with both wingers tucked in. Dodo has been instructed to prowl the half-way line — I want him covering my defense. Ximelez is given arrows to cut inside primarily to free up space for Jaric to run in to. Super Jaric has an 84 Long Pass Accuracy, the best on the team.
I’ve changed the midfield pairing from two center midfielders to a DMF / CMF partnership. Ideally Minanda will support the attack from behind the line — some attacking midfielders in PES 6 seem to want to lead the line. What I’d love to see is a holding midfielder willing to move forward in support but lurk outside the box looking for cutbacks, and patrolling for clearances and scything down counter-attacks with reckless commited challenges
My back line is also pushed forward as part of the new compactness — this could be risky, I’ll have to see. But I am much more confident in a back four that includes El Mou, Vornander, Libermann and Jaric. I will keep the back line set to C so they ideally remain cautious and somewhat protected against that little chip over the top that for whatever reason only the COM can do accurately.
I’ve indicated the starting 11 that I think might give us a chance at promotion. Big Ulf Vornander takes over Iouga’s spot in the center of defense on account of his height and strength. He will be initially partnered with Liberman, but if all that big, dumb and slow starts to hurt us, Stein or Iouga might be called in to do a job. El Moubarki is undroppable — second on the team sheet after Ivarov. Jaric is third on the sheet at left back, as his height makes him less of a liability on set-pieces than Ruskin and his crossing ability and delivery on set pieces are indispensable.
Dodo is our best DMF, although on the rare day when he isn’t selected, Stein is a more than able stand-in. Jaric could also do a shift at DMF (and his long passing might be even more useful from a central role). Minanda is still our best creator, but his deputy Ettori will see quite a bit of the pitch. Minanda is playing in the CMF role because I’d like him to be more available to Dodo and the side-backs during build up, rather than out in front of them. We’ll see if he has the stamina to play box-to-box. Ximelez gets the nod on the left for his dribbling and long passing accuracy, while we’ve established that Macco Works Every Time™
Gutierrez starts up top on the right, because despite his poor debut season, he has to come good eventually — in the long run, he has the most potential of any of Les Baudets, and the club will only go as far as his class takes us. His passing stats among the best in the side, and I can see a more mature Guti in a creative role as well as a finisher, possibly playing in the hole. Hamsun is our #9, because at 188cm, he’s big enough to get on the end of crosses, and his Post Player star will help him hold the ball up for the other strikers. His passing stats are nothing special, but he is registered as an AMF, which tells me the developers intended him to be a bit of a creator as well as a target-man.
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*This was done in the vain hope that the forwards could be instructed to make runs to the outside of their markers, where my wingers might be able to find them. No such luck.
I don’t know what mechanic controls the runs strikers make, but I do know it’s not entirely down to the arrows. Some forwards make great runs, but most make “hiding runs” — sprinting to get a marker between them and the ball.
