WINNING Matias Almeyda Tactic
Matias Almeyda has not won the league title this season with AEK Athens, even though they tried.
But his recent tactic caught the attention.
This tactic recreation is based on the most recent games AEK Athens played and Matias Almeyda’s appearance on The Coaches’ Voice en Espanol YouTube channel.
The Argentinian earned 40 caps for his national team, famously playing for River Plate twice, Lazio and Inter Milan among others.
His second time at River Plate was not that good, the team getting relegated to the second division for the first time in their history.
But this relegation, painful as it was, became the first milestone in Matias Almeyda’s managerial career.
He managed to get the club promoted to the first league, before moving to Banfield, Chivas Guadalajara in Mexico, San Jose Earthquakes in the USA and now AEK Athens in Greece.
His managerial style changed over the years. He started from a 4-2-3-1 with River Plate and then adjusted according to each squad he managed.
We will look at his 4-4-2 approach, but interestingly, this setup can become a 4-2-3-1 in game, at times.
Matias Almeyda’s 4-4-2 at AEK Athens is based on keeping possession of the ball and attacking the opposition’s goal when the moment arises.
A sweeper keeper in goal. This player must be confident on the ball, as he becomes an extra passing option when needed.
In front of him, a back 4 made of 2 wing backs on support duty, a ball playing defender and a central defender, both on defend duty.
The wing backs are set on support, so they would go up in the attack gradually, as possession of the ball is progressed.
They have cross more often and stay wider as player instructions. They are told to stay wider, to evade the opposition’s pressing game.
A midfield 4 in front of them, made of two wingers one ball winning midfielder and a central midfielder.
In his walkthrough of the tactic, Matias Almeyda has mentioned that he would rather play with a defensive midfielder and a more creative one. For this reason, this setup was chosen. Also, in the match engine, this played better than a defensive midfielder – segundo volante setup.
The wingers, in his approach, are viewed as creative outlets. Thus, they are given free license to get further forward and cut inside when the opportunity is there to do so.
The central midfielder is meant to go up in the attack as possession of the ball is progressed and to become a dangerous option late in the attack.
He is told to take more risks, as his forward teammates are going to fly in front, looking for free channels, so he must play high risk passes to find them.
Great passing, technique and vision are needed for this player, if he is to be able to play the way the coach intended to.
The ball winning midfielder is told to dribble less. He is on support duty, as Matias Almeyda expects this player to get forward when possible. But you can also play him on defend role if you feel that he is neglecting his defensive responsibilities.
Two strikers in front. A more creative one – the deep lying forward and a more incisive one – the advanced forward.
The deep lying forward is meant to be the link between midfield and attack. This player does not have to be a pure striker. For example, I turned Akis Spachis from an attacking midfielder to a forward.
As mentality, positive fits this setup. You can also go with attacking if you are the dominant team.
In possession, fairly wide attacking width, overlap and play out of defence. Shorter passing directness and a slightly lower tempo. The passing setup is meant to preserve possession, tire the opposition and attack when the opportunity is created.
In transition counter-press, counter and distribute the ball to the defence through short kicks. We don’t rush the ball distribution from the goalkeeper.
Out of possession high press, higher defensive line and trigger press more often.
Matias Almeyda likes his teams to be aggressive when they are not in possession and to recover the ball fast.
In his own words, the sport is meant to be fun. In football, to have fun you must have the ball. This is paraphrasing, of course.
But the idea is to keep possession of the ball, deprive the opposition of it and use this to create and score goals.
In my building a nation save in Romania, with FC Voluntari, we won the double – Romanian league title and the Supercup.
At this point, we are quite dominant domestically, so I find it more important to know how we did in the European competitions.
And in the UEFA Champions League we did reach the playoff round, being narrowly knocked out by Paris Saint-German, after finishing just outside of the top 8 in the League phase.
I am not a fan of possession-based football – in real life and the game. But this tactic was fun to play with.
Matias Almeyda may has had his up and downs in his managerial career so far. But he seems to have solid principles and great ideas. I do hope that his career is going to be as bright as the early signs show.
