The St. Gallen Save: Day One (Ish)

Ahh the first day on the job. Sitting at my fancy new desk (my sofa), the smell of a freshly-brewed cappuccino brought to me by my new PA (I made it myself) wafts through the air. As any new manager worth his salt would, I've pored over hours of footage of my new players ahead of the 2022/23 campaign to try and get a handle of the strengths and weaknesses - individually and collectively - of my new squad.

I have a style of play I'd like to implement at St. Gallen, but what kind of players will I need for it to be successful? What attributes will be important, and which should I prioritise? Which of the current squad are well-suited? Can anyone 'do a job' for me in the mean-time? Who should I look to be moving on quickly, and where are my most urgent recruitment needs?

But first, some admin.

Setting The Scene

In case you missed it, you can read the introductory post here. But now, I set about trying to get to grips with my new surroundings as quickly as possible on a whirlwind first day.

1. Board culture - Play attacking football, play high tempo pressing football, sign players under the age of 23, develop players using the club's youth system, sign young players to develop for profit, work within wage budget.

2. Objectives - Qualify for Europa Conference League, Challenge for the Swiss Cup.

3. Supporter Culture - Develop players using the club's youth system, become an established Super League team.

4. Media Prediction - 5th

So I'm pretty comfortable with the culture/expectations from all directions, there. Purely in terms of performance, qualifying for the Conference League requires us to finish 5th. Given there are only 10 teams in the Super League, I'd imagine a top-half finish is well within reach.

My style of football (which I'll talk a little more about later) is based on an attacking style with an emphasis on pressing the opponent and winning the ball back quickly, so that fits with what the board want and - as discussed in the introduction - I do aim to make youth development and academy talent a core element of this save. So I'm comfortable with all of this to start with.

Tactical Direction

I'm a little wary of talking tactics, and I'm not an expert in football strategy - whether that be real life or in the virtual world. Although I mentioned that I aim to play "good" football in the introduction, that term is purely subjective and the notion of good football will vary from person to person. Ultimately, there is no right or wrong way to win football matches, and the style in which you try to do it comes down to personal preference. It is also pretty difficult to say that a teams tactics are definitively good or bad without any context. As long as your tactical decision-making makes some sense in relation to the players you have, your opponent and the state of the game you shouldn't go far wrong.

With that *disclaimer* out of the way, I'll give a little outline of how I'd like to see my team play. I prefer a proactive approach in and out of possession, so I want to see my team dominating possession, building from the back and always playing with plenty of intent to create chances and score goals. When we lose the ball, the default aim will be to try and win it back as quickly as possible and press the opponent high up the pitch.

The finer details will become clearer as I progress through the friendlies and the early League matches and I start to get a better idea of what my team is/isn't capable of doing.

Making Sense Of The Attributes

Since I now have a clear idea of how I'd like my team to play, I can start to consider what attributes my team, in general, will need to have in order to make it a success.

In possession I want to dominate the opponent and build from the back, so realistically it is important that most, if not all, of my players are comfortable in possession. So I'm probably looking at First Touch, Passing, Technique, Composure & Decisions as being key attributes for building a possession-based style.

Out of possession, I mentioned that I want my team to react quickly and press high up the pitch. So I need players who have the intelligence to read the game, the willingness to work hard and follow their instructions to shut the opponent down and put them under pressure, as well as having the physical capability to actually do it effectively. So I'm maybe looking at Anticipation, Aggression, Determination, Teamwork, Work Rate, Acceleration, Pace & Stamina as being the important attributes for becoming an effective pressing side.

Obviously, these attributes will be more/less important dependent on the position in question and players in certain positions will need to bring other, specific qualities to the team in order for us to be successful. But as a jumping off point this is a decent start.

At St. Gallen, it is unlikely I'll be able to put together a squad who excels at both sides of the game any time soon, so I need to be a little clever about how I construct my squad. Against stronger opponents, our pressing and counter-attacking arguably becomes more important. Against a team sitting in a low block, our technical quality and creativity will probably be the more prominent attributes. So I'll be needing players with different skill sets who can be of particular use against certain opponents.

Assessing The Squad

So with all of that in mind, let's see what we are working with. I've disabled the first transfer window, so at least for the first half of the season I'll be forced to work with what I have.

The goalkeeper, no matter the tactics, is an important player and our No. 1 for this season is Ghana's Lawrence Ati-Zigi.

His tendency to rush out fits with my plan to play a high line, but I'm a little concerned that his speed and decisions may undermine that a little bit, so that's something to keep an eye on this season. As back-up, we've got 26 year-old German, Lukas Watkowiak.

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In central defence we've got 20 year-old Swiss, Leonidas Stergiou and his partner Matej Maglica, a 23 year-old Croatian.

Stergiou is a little on the small side for a centre-back, which is reflected by a relative lack of Strength and Jumping Reach, but the upside is that he looks to be pretty comfortable in possession, and could be an important player in helping us build from the back. Maglica is essentially the complete opposite. At 6'6" I expect him to dominate aerial duels, but he could also be an enormous threat from attacking set pieces.

A third CB option is 26 year-old Austrian, Albert Vallci, who is more or less a happy medium between the first-choice pairing.

Dauda Guindo, on loan from RB Salzburg, is a good option at left-back and I quite like the look of 27 year-old Filipino full-back Michael Kempter - despite the club having him as available for transfer. Options at right-back are more limited. Patrick Sutter will have to be first-choice, but should really only be considered a back-up at best. His deputy, David Jacovic won't feature much. I may opt to retrain Isaac Schmidt in that role.

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While I'm not overly impressed by my options in midfield, I am immediately drawn to our 27 year-old German, Lukas Gortler. In terms of Aggression, Bravery, Determination, Teamwork, Work Rate, Stamina & Strength he is exceptional. He lacks the vision to play in a creative midfield role, but has plenty of use as either a midfield anchor, ball-winner or even potentially as someone who could make late runs into the box. He is a perfect example of somebody who will almost certainly be a key fixture in big matches for us.

Elsewhere we have Jordi Quintilla, a 28 year-old Spaniard, and Randy Schneider, a 20 year-old Swiss midfielder.

Quintilla is someone who has a pretty good spread of attributes. He is comfortable in possession, without necessarily being the most creative, and has the intelligence to read the game, without having the kind of speed and acceleration that would make him very good at pressing. He is among the better options in the squad when it comes to set pieces, so will definitely be useful this season. Schneider is a slight, but technical midfielder with plenty of room to grow.

Other options include Basil Stillhart, who is a fairly versatile midfield player and Gregory Karlen - who I'm really not a fan of at all. Elsewhere, we have Yago Gomes and Christian Witzig, neither of whom appear good enough.

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In forward areas we have a little variety to choose from:

• Chadrac Akolo has decent technical ability which, coupled with his Flair, Acceleration and Agility makes him a dangerous & unpredictable attacking player. He also has good Aggression, Teamwork & Work Rate.

• Isaac Schmidt and Alessandro Krauchi both appear to be decent options, particularly Schmidt, and both are versatile enough to play either wing and cover at full-back.

• Julian Von Moos is competent all across the front three, and is another who can potentially improve with time.

• Emmanuel Latte Lath, on loan from Atalanta, is more of a defensive liability than the others, but has very good Dribbling, Flair, Acceleration, Agility and Pace for this level.

Akolo appears to be the best of the bunch, offering attacking threat and pressing suitability. Latte Lath carries attacking threat but is less useful in a high press, while the others are decent all-round forward players for the Super League.

Up front we have Jeremy Guillemenot who is an interesting player. Clever movement and good First Touch & Technique make him potentially a good choice to link play. His Teamwork and Work Rate indicate he will at least try to press, but Aggression of 7 may undermine that slightly.

Then we have Fabian Schubert who appears to lack any real technical ability, but looks to have some value as a pure finisher and aerial threat, which could make him a useful poacher. We've also got Alessio Besio, an 18 year-old striker with pretty solid all-round attributes, and he's one I may look to focus on a lot in training.

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So my first impressions of the squad are as follows:

1. Our first choice XI is pretty good and should be able to carry out the style of play I'd like to implement, but we lack depth.

2. One of our CBs potentially offers a huge set piece threat.

3. We will need to recruit for both full-back positions next Summer, if not in January.

4. We lack proper depth in central midfield.

5. Lawrence Ati-Zigi, Leonidas Stergiou, Matej Maglica, Isaac Schmidt, Randy Schneider, Julian Von Moos & Alessio Besio are all good candidates for development, and may benefit from some extra training focus.

Next time, I'll be planning my first pre-season, taking a look at training and tinkering with the tactics during our friendlies. See you then!