Welcome back to another post from Trondheim, Norway. In my previous post, I introduced you to my latest save with Rosenborg BK, and how I want to engineer the club to return them to their former glory.
Before I get to work on reshaping the current squad, I feel it is important to discuss the cultures in bold below:
- Club Culture #1 – Ensure that the squad personality is determined.
- Club Culture #2 – Rebuild a 4-3-3 formation and ensure attacking and exciting football; much like Rosenborg during the 90s.
- Club Culture #3 – Build a defensively sound 4-5-1 formation for the European games where we are expected to be underdogs
- Club Culture #4 – Recruit players between 15 & 17 for first-team development.
- Club Culture #5 – Ensure that youth players are given a chance to perform for the first team when they are deserving of it.
I did note that some cultures may be tweaked in due course; other cultures may be introduced. Cultures 4 & 5 will be discussed in chapter 3, as I review the squad’s ability as a whole, and identify plans for the current crop of players.
Achieving an overall determined squad personality is fairly simple – I need to ensure that players brought into the club have a positive personality to benefit the club. At the start of the save, my senior squad is 25 strong and, thanks to SaS24 skin, averages out to be a professional bunch.
My assistant, Jordi Gonzalez, also notes that the squad possess high levels of technique, strength, balance, determination and concentration. All key factors in churning out a winning mentality.
But what of those players who are already at the club who lack this positive personality?
Thankfully, I don’t need to worry too much as all three squads – Senior, Rosenborg 2 and U19s – contain none. I have been relying on FM Inside’s article on personalities found here to determine what is and isn’t a negative personality.
But what does alarm me, is the number of players outside my senior squad.
After reviewing Rosenborg 2, I am aware that there is a lot of work to be done for senior squad support – essentially, it is an U21 squad, but filled with U19 players. The next alarming thing is that there are not enough players for positions. We lack central midfielders whilst being very top-heavy in the striking department.
Our U19 situation is even more dire. The best thing I can do in this situation is to move the players who can play for the U19s back into this squad as they have National U19 Championship games scheduled. Rosenborg 2 compete in the Third Division, but at the time of writing, there are no fixtures planned for them.
Should this remain the case, then any player who is 19 or older and not ready for first-team opportunities at Lerkendal, will remain in Rosenborg 2. I will make this “squad” a feeder club, which in turn points back to Eggen’s thought process of youth developing in a first-team situation instead of playing football at a lower level.
For the senior and U19 squad, I will be targeting a total of 25 players in each squad. This will allow me the idea of 2 players per position, and 3 additional players that will be more versatile and cover around the park.
My senior squad is just about there, but I will be delving into the current crop in the next post.
The next culture I want to focus on is the structure of my teams. Rosenborg in the 90s were known for their attacking, dominating football, and that is something I want to replicate in this save.
Main Formation
The idea is to set up in an attacking manner so that we remain on the front foot throughout the 90 minutes. The team will set up fairly wide, with the two wing-backs looking to overlap down their respective side and deliver whipped crosses for the frontmen to attack. Passing is intended to be shorter, whilst we will dictate a slightly higher tempo to disrupt our opposition.
Continuing the trend of disruption, the team are instructed to counter-press with the goalkeeper given clear instructions to distribute quickly to his back-line. If we hunt in packs to win the ball back high up the park, then we should look to dominate the ball and our opposition. If our goalkeeper is getting the ball back into play in a timely manner, then we aren’t allowing the other team to get set in their own structure.
Finally, when we do lose the ball, I’m hopeful that our much higher defensive line will put our opponents under immediate pressure. Limiting the space to their half should suffocate the team, and our front-line is playing under a high press, triggering it much more often and preventing short distribution to cause panic. Our team’s spine is the strongest point, and with the instruction of trapping inside, I’m hopeful that we can contain teams in the middle of the park.
Secondary Formation
Given the strength of Molde and Bodø/Glimt over recent years, I know that Rosenborg’s quality is not what it used to be. I can’t expect to walk over every single team in the league with one 4-3-3 variation, so I have something that will solidify the team a bit more, but still carry enough of a threat.
We will drop our mentality down to being balanced – something in between being defensively sound but sensing when to carry an attacking threat. We remain fairly wide but this is the only instruction I have when in possession of the ball; I don’t want our wing-backs to be caught out of possession every attack, so their supporting roles should keep them in check.
During the transition, I don’t want the side to go gung-ho in regaining the ball, but to play it smart and counter when the opportunity presents itself. I won’t budge away from building from the back, so the goalkeeper will be asked to distribute to the backline still, but there is no quick demand on this one.
Finally, when we are out of possession of the ball, the defensive line will drop back slightly to a higher line. This may create a bit of a gap between the attack and defence, but with our 3rd midfielder becoming a CM on support, he should be around to plug any gaps and give us the extra man in the middle of the park. We will still look to trigger the press more often and force our opposition inside.
European Formation
I briefly spoke about Rosenborg playing a 4-5-1 in Europe in my introductory post, and with that in mind I have come up with the following:
This is one that I will need to tinker with, as I am not big on more defensive-minded formations. However, the idea is that in transition, the wingers get forward enough to turn this into a progressive 4-3-3, but they know they have a job on their hands to get back and help out.
Taking a more cautious approach, I have faith that our team has the quality in it to carve open chances and be a threat, but I am aware that European teams may have more quality throughout the side than ourselves. I want to keep our fairly wide approach to the attacking sense there, but when we do have the ball, I don’t want us to lose it so easily. A slightly lower tempo and shorter passing combo should see us retain the ball more frequently, but if the chance for an early cross is on, I want us to take it.
During transitions, we will look to regroup upon losing the ball, which then goes hand-in-hand with the counter instruction so that we can perhaps find gaps during these transitional battles.
Finally, when we are out of possession, I want to keep it simple for the players. Our front line will offer a mid-block to give a bit more security over the defence, but I do want our defence to play higher. My logic is that if we close the distance to the opposition goal, then we could hit on the break quickly and effectively.
This is going to be a massive work in progress, but it is something I think could be effective in European competition.
Next time out, I will dive more into the playing squad, along with specific individuals that I have high hopes for throughout this save. As well as this, I will look to design a pathway for our youth prospects into the senior team, whilst considering short and long term plans for the current senior team.
I’m also doing a bit of homework on potential recruitment focuses at the time of writing, and I will lay out my findings and my plans for my scouting network.
Thanks for reading once again.
CameronFM
The FM Boot Room 
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