Thread by @DGear86

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A while back I wrote a thread about The Brazilian Box (Magic Rectangle) 4-2-2-2 and this is a continuation, a second part of that. If you didn't read the first one you can find it below #FM23

Further Refining #FM23

The longer you play and the further you get into your save, you need to refine your tactic, shape or strategy even more. Or maybe you’ve never stopped refining and tinkering to get things as close to perfect for you, as you possibly can.

So in this part of the book, I want to discuss ways and methods that we can use to aid us even further, as there is a lot of stuff I’ve not mentioned yet like the data hub.

Data Hub

I’ll be honest here and say this isn’t something I use as much as I should but that’s more because I tend to use the data available in a game or straight after the match. But the data hub can be a brilliant feature if used correctly and makes it much easier to spot tactical trends both good and bad over a large period.

It can also provide helpful information on past opponents and the next one. You can find out a vast array of different things in the hub that can help you with refining your tactic and making it better. So let’s take a look at how we can transfer this data to possible tactical tweaks. #FM23

On the general performance chart, you can see how you stack with certain metrics compared to the rest of the league. This can be good when used as a quick snapshot to see how you measure up but I don’t think you should put too much stock into this as it doesn’t really tell you much about how you play or the things you do right or wrong. #FM23

On the team performance tab, the key findings section can tell us a bit more about the things we are doing well and the information displayed in this bit is dynamic so can change. If we take a look at my side currently it looks like this; #FM23

The momentum one I don’t really care for as it's for the last match and we already took a quick glance at the general performance one. So let’s take a look at the passes attempted and see how this translates to how the tactic works. #FM23

We are almost 300 passes per game above the average for passes here which means we seem to be using the ball a lot. What we don’t know though is why my average is far higher than every other club or if these passes are excessive or not without knowing the full context of what is happening.

That’s something we will have to find out later as we explore more. It might not be an issue and everything might be working as intended but at the same time, it could be a cause for concern and see us passing about needlessly and not really doing much with the ball.

Us having more passes in the defensive third than expected isn’t a shock either when you remember we are using the Brazilian Box formation. The shape naturally lends itself to having passed in these kinds of areas due to the defenders, two defensive midfielders and two central midfielders.

We also play out from the back so it makes sense that we’d be much more active when passing in the area just before the halfway line. The metric here also shows us we only have a combined 14% of passes in the final third. Again this is kind of expected because of the roles we use.

But it also doesn’t show us if this is good or bad. Are we simply not creating enough in the final third in terms of passing output, or are we just more clinical with our passing overall and being really efficient. The percentages on their own aren’t a cause for concern and regardless of whether it is low or high, they have no context to them other than passes attempted in general #FM23

You might think that this doesn’t make for good reading because we are by far the worst side in the league for dribbles per game but you’d be wrong. If you think back to the roles we use in the tactic, we don’t actually have any roles that focus on dribbling with the ball.

Yes, some roles might do it depending on the phase of play from time to time but literally, none of the roles used to focus on dribbling at all. Instead, the side is set up to pass the ball around and get from A to B by passing #FM23

If we take a look at the report tab inside the data hub, this tells us information about the tactics we’ve used and also which tactics we’ve faced. It also gives us a brilliant snapshot of both how we score and concede goals. As you can see in regards to scoring, we are getting a lot of assists from through balls and from just outside the penalty area.

This tells me that the side is getting into good areas because this is happening regularly. It suggests we are getting into the box enough to be able to control this area of the pitch.

The goals we are conceding don’t seem to be too concerning based on the assist location data from above. Neither is the pitch location for the assists either. However, 5 of the goals scored within the first fifteen minutes of the second half are worth investigating as this seems to be a regular trend.

A third of the goals I’ve conceded have all come during this period. Maybe it’s related to my team talks, it could perhaps be that the opposition is making changes and I’m unaware and don’t realise. It’s not been a problem in the sense that I’m still winning games and keeping clean sheets on the whole but long-term it could be a warning sign that something is wrong. I could likely ignore this as I’m still winning and picking up points right? Wrong.

It’s very easy to turn a blind eye to things when you are winning because, on the face of it, nothing seems wrong even though the warning signs are there. What you need to remember though, is, that everyone is likely to have a bad patch somewhere and the little things that don’t currently matter now will matter way more during those times.

As they’ll pile on top of the other issues you’ll be going through. So I always think it's best to get to the bottom of things if possible. Even if you don’t make any changes based on it, at least you can be prepared and make a mental note and be aware of what’s causing it. #FM23

My favourite tab in the data hub though is the matches one, especially the last 5 matches tab.

We can see tactical trends here too both good and bad. You can also click the checkbox on any of the 5 games to exclude them from the data too, so you can see which issues arise in which games and how the trends change. It might also throw up different trends that aren’t currently listed too. Let’s start with all the good things my current tactic does though before discussing the issues.

From the information in the positives column, it says we are scoring goals from close range, which means we are working the ball into the box well and finishing off chances. The touches-to-shots ratio seems good too and iT shows we aren’t messing around when we do have the ball in these types of areas.

It also says we’ve scored 11 from 37 shots inside the box. While this might be on the positives list, it also suggests we are being wasteful as I like to aim for 50% of all shots I have to be on target. Now I’ve not checked yet but my overall number of shots might be 50%. But I’d like to explore these 37 shots in more detail. For this, though, I'll have to go back to the individual games and check them all one by one for that kind of detailed info.

The final third entry isn’t a shock either considering how the tactic is narrow and heavily focused on central players. So this type of analysis is expected, in fact, if it wasn’t listed I would be majorly worried something was drastically wrong.

There are also a couple on here mentioning defensive stuff too. One of those is opposition goals from inside the penalty area, it says we have conceded 0 in 23 shots which is really pleasing to see.

While 23 seems a high amount it's worth remembering we have played 31 games so far, so it's a really low amount. It tends to indicate that the shots we do give up in these areas are either low quality or ones where we can apply pressure to take away the danger.

The other thing mentioned under the positives is that we tend to win the ball back and regain possession in our own final third, in central areas. Again this shows that from a central point of view, the defensive midfielders and central midfielders are doing a good job at recovering the ball and doing their defensive duties.

Now if we focus on the negatives on this screen, there aren't as many as I assumed there would be, I was expecting at least 4 or 5 here. Before we discuss the 3 it does list it’s worth pointing out that they might not be negatives at all, just like earlier when I thought one of the positives was actually a negative because I’d had less than 50% shot conversion, the same applies here.

The things listed in either column are arbitrary rather than contextual. So what that means is the stats that make up all of the information we are presented with here, don’t account for your formation, your player and team settings. Nor does it know the overall style you’ve created or trying to create. So if something is listed here it doesn’t mean it is an actual issue.

The analysis says we’ve had 25 long-range shots and scored 0, that’s quite worrying. While the overall amount of shots is low for 31 games played, it does suggest that when we do shoot from the range we score.

So what I need to do here is check the individual analysis for the players from the games so far and see if it's a cause for concern or not. I’m actually not checking just because we haven’t scored one but I also want to check to make sure that when we do shoot from range, it isn’t killing a perfectly good move where a pass would be better suited.

Also want to ensure that we aren’t shooting from the range because we lack forward options or the players shooting, aren’t isolated and left with no other choice but to shoot from areas/angles they have no chance of scoring from.

One of the negatives listed is that we have allowed the opposition to score 1 goal from 10 shots from long-range. So the advice is now telling me to play with a higher defensive line, which is something I don’t really want to do. I play with a low line for a specific reason which I discussed earlier in the book.

Why it’s telling me to play with a higher defensive line is because it is logical that the further up the field we start from, the more distance between the defenders and the keeper meaning the opposition strikers, shouldn’t be in shooting distance.

The recommendation does make sense. However there are two issues here; It doesn’t suit the playstyle I’m creating and secondly, it opens up a whole new issue that I’d like to see happening.

That would be through balls and possible opposition players running in behind the higher defensive line. Either way, I’m never going to nullify every single threat that’s not realistic nor is it possible.

Every single shape, playstyle, setting etc has a weakness attached to it. It basically comes down to a choice you have to make between risk vs reward. For me, the risk of someone scoring a long-range effort is worth it for everything else that goes in my favour.

If I was to make any change it would have a knock-on effect elsewhere and possibly take away something good. So it’s up to us to learn how our systems and playstyles function, so we are aware of this.

Then you can make an informed decision about if the risk is worth the reward. If so it’s worth sticking to what you already have. If you think it’s not then simply make a change but then be aware of how this has a domino effect on everything else and could alter your current system or playstyle in a subtle way. #FM23

Tomorrow I'll also add a third thread that focuses on the players data before concluding the series the day after, with further match analysis. Hope you enjoy the series :) #FM23