Problems.

By: Samir | November 4th, 2009

2-1 Problems. Problems. What a ~~bad~~ not so good start. Only one day at Villareal and I already have problems. Couldn’t have wished for worse. What is the problem, you may ask. Simple, Villarreal already bought 3 non-EU players, the maximum for a Spanish team. I was already thinking on a player, young, but, unfortunately, non-EU. His name is James Rodriguez, and I tried him in the demo, he was incredibly good. A lot of teams want him, including Milan and Arsenal. What should I do, buy him for next year or leave it there? I tell you, he’s great and should get him for a little more than a million.
James Rodriguez stats

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After this short introduction in which I talked of my first of many problems I will face at the lead of Villarreal, let’s talk about my debut. After only one day being Villarreal’s manager, I will face an intersquad friendly match against the Villareal “B”. I remember my debut in FM09 with Napoli, it was an official match for the Uefa Cup against Hibernian. I was very nervous, but won 3-0. This time it is very different, first of all, it’s FM10, second, it’s a friendly, third, my team seems very good.

Just before the match, I was presented to the press. It went ok, and I declared I wanted an attractive, attacking game. And after that, for the first time, tactics. As Weston clearly pointed out in the last post’s comments, Giuseppe Rossi ain’t no good, but I have some reasons to disagree.

Villareal vs. Villareal “B”:
In my first game, I knew I would have to face new tactics, so I decided an easy 4-4-2, rigid philosophy(new thing in FM10, it means how much the players need to take serious their positions somehow), direct pass down flanks, quick, high pressing and floating crosses. This was the formation:
Villareal vs Villareal B formation
So my first game at El Madrigal had officially started. The first I saw in the first 5 minutes was that Nilmar was always offside and the team was very high, so I tried my first touchline instruction, play deeper. It definitely worked. In the 8th Rossi ran from the midfield and when he was a distance of 35 yards from the net, he shot and got the woodwork. Good job Giuseppe, I think Weston may have an apologize to do! In the 21st Rossi got a cross from Cazorla in the left and scored the 1-0. I sort of jumped off my chair when it happened, but remembered it was just a friendly. 9 minutes later Gonzalo Rodriguez took a Cazorla corner and scored the 2-0. In the second half I tried just to control the match, but my tactics failed and they got to score a goal with Mandi, but I still won. By the way, Rossi got another woodowork and had an 8.0 rating, maybe it was only the reserves, but it is a good start.

In the meanwhile, Liverpool said they wanted Senna, but I issued hands of warning. He is an important player, but he didn’t do much in the first match, maybe I could get some good money.

Things to point out after the first match:
1. The 4-4-2, although I liked Cazorla’s and Fuster’s runs in the left and right, is not Villarreal’s formation, maybe I could try a more narrow formation, such as the 4-3-1-2, or the 4-1-2-1-2. Please give your opinion.
2. Senna in the middle didn’t do much, and I really preffered the other mid centre, Ibagaza. Should Liverpool’s offer for Senna interest me? Please give opinion.
3. Rossi and Nilmar just don’t connect up front. I know this was only the first match, but I was thinking, should I think of a replacement for one of them, or more easy, try Llorente? Give opinion.

Ok. Now we got some other friendlies, in which I will not only follow your opinions, but I will make 2 or 3 formations in which all the players play at least 90 minutes so we can judge them for the start of the new season.