GUIDOLIN'S VICENZA 1997-98 4-4-1-1

Hi guys, today I want to introduce my new tactic emulation: the great tactic used by Vicenza in the season 1997-1998 when the Italian club came close to reach the Cup Winner's Cup final, losing against Chelsea in the semifinal. It was very difficult to emulate this tactic, a 4-4-1-1 mainly because of Lamberto Zauli's position. Emanuele Atturo, in an interview conducted with Zauli himself, described him as "a strange beast, in a football world accustomed to dividing the phenotype of the playmaker between the fast and short and the tall and elegant." The peculiarity of a player capable of combining raw physicality with pure quality was also reflected in the difficulty of assigning him a role in the final 30-40 meters, as was the case with most creative players blossoming in the 90s, confined within the rigidity of Sacchi's 4-4-2 formation. At Ravenna, he was used as a left midfielder in the 4-4-2 (perhaps why, at the time, there was talk of him as a possible replacement for Jimmy Maini, despite the latter starting from a more central and withdrawn position). I chose to create two tactics to have 2 different options to emulate Zauli's position (and also one of the 2 midfielders and the forward). I tested both tactics during the season and I believe the first one, with Zauli (in the game the young Vicenza's cantera kid Leonardo Zarpellon plays in this position) as a shadow striker works better than the second one with Zauli as an advanced playmaker on attack. The center forward (Pasquale Luiso in Vicenza during the season 1997-1998) works well both as complete forward-support as in tactic 1 and as deep lying forward-support as in tactic 2. Pellegrini, a young Sassuolo's wonderkid on loan to Vicenza, played a great season. Finally, the last variation between the two tactics is the right central midfielder in the first tactic he is an Half-back on defense and in the second tactic a Deep lying playmaker in defend, to better emulate Domenico Di Carlo's role in that Vicenza he was the core of the play. But I believe that in Football Manager Half-back and Volante are a great combo. Let's examine now the other roles: the two full-backs are one a simple full-back on defend Gustavo Mendez was a more defensive player compared to Fabio Viviani or Francesco Coco on the other side. Also in the previous season, Beghetto was more offensive than Mendez. So I chose a Wing-Back for my left-back position. The two central defenders are two simple CD on defense. Now, another position who was difficult to emulate was Gabriele Ambrosetti, a great winger who played free from any tactical instructions, sometimes he cut inside, sometimes he stayed wider and dribbled a lot. I chose the inverted winger-role for him, in the video you can see also how he loved to dribble and ignored other teammates, he was compared to Ryan Giggs after that season and he went to the Premier League but he came back just after 1 year. This also means that Guidolin maximized his versatilty and skills and that makes us understand the value of this great coach. Also other players of that Vicenza did not have a great career after leaving the club. As for the right wing, Marco "Ciccio" Schenardi was a typical winger, just a bit more defensive than Ambrosetti, the two wingers were the triggers of Guidolin's play. So I chose to set Schenardi as a winger-support. Finally, the forward, Pasquale Luiso, he can be emulated both as a complete forward on support and a deep lying forward on support. Why on support? Because I want him to drop down and link the play, as you can see in the video my forward, Pellegrini often drops down and links the play too. As for mentality and team instrucitons, the mentality is balanced, team instructions in possession are: attacking width: fairly wide, I let the players decide according also to their personal instructions , overlap left and right to exploit the flanks, pass into space because Guidolin wanted his players to exploit the open spaces, hit early crosses (this was the two wingers' task), whipped crosses, be more disciplined (Guidolin did not give much freedom to his players.) In transition: counter-press, counter (when Vicenza gained the ball back they started a fast counter-attack, they actually did not like to play from the back or patiently), distribute quickly, pass to the CD, roll it out. Out of possession: a mid block and a standard defensive line because Vicenza pressed the opponents but not too hight, to avoid leaving too much space behind the 4 defensive line and when they were defending they build a 4-5-1.