This is post three of a wider series. A series for FM22.
“A stark lesson about how punishing top-level football can be.“
2 February 2022
Daniel Gray is a seasoned European football journalist for the online sports subscription website theangrylinesmen. He and Honvéd manager Glenn Árnason vaguely know each other from the short spell the Icelander spent writing for the site. As with all office relationships however, the pandemic ruined any chance of frequent or meaningful in-person collaboration between colleagues. Daniel has covered central Europe for the site since 2017 and is something of a Danubian football expert.
After a two-year spell covering the Slovakian league, Gray made the move south to Hungary just in time to see Ferencváros win the first of their three back to back OTP Bank Liga titles leading to the present day.
On a wet February afternoon, Honvéd are away at Paksi Football Club, a team perpetually in the top flight but never threatening to top the table.
The below is an excerpt from Daniel’s match report article.
“We have reached the 71st minute of this one-sided affair. Honvéd winger Nenad Lukić has a powerful left foot. He has a free kick lined up on the edge of the Paks box. We have seen him in this position before. A nervous collective of dishevelled defenders in white shirts wait to leap all at once or freeze in unison. It turns out to be the latter.
The free kick is drilled low and hard past the flailing goalkeeper to put Honvéd 4-0 up. Paks would pull one back via a Martin Ádám penalty later in the game, but the consolation strike and the pouring rain can’t dampen the mood in the away end of Fehérvári út, where the tiny band of 90 Honvéd fans haven’t stopped singing since the first goal went in.
This result means that Honvéd have picked up back-to-back league victories for the first time since September. This proves that manager Glenn Árnason switching back to his original 4-4-2 system which was successful at the start of the 21/22 campaign was the right gut instinct to follow. He and Honvéd’s brief foray into 3-4-1-2 was a failed experiment and a stark lesson about how punishing top-level football can be when the system isn’t quite right.”
The System
Daniel Gray is absolutely correct. With five wins and two draws from Honvéd’s eight opening fixtures, Árnason’s 4-4-2 system, which actually played out more like a 4-2-4 given how advanced the wide players pushed on the pitch, was working well.
After three defeats in late October (the 4-1 away mauling at lowly Mezőkövesd the final straw) it’s fair to say I panicked.
I made an emotional decision rather than a rational and logical one, and changed the system entirely, in an attempt to shake off this collapse in form.
A new 3-4-1-2 system was devised, with the direct approach expelled in favour of a possession-based short passing tactic. The positive effect was instant. We smashed MTK 3-1 in front of our own fans and I felt vindicated from the shame of the losing streak. Unfortunately this quickly proved to be a false dawn.
With only one more win in the next run of seven games, the early cracks had become gaping chasms in our armour. Opponents driving through them with ease, as our position in the table plummeted.
On the 22nd of January 2022 away at Újpest, the plans were eventually torn up, and the trusty 4-4-2 was put back in place. A credible 1-1 draw was captured, arresting the slide. The 4-1 win at Paks marked Honvéd’s third win in a row and a triumphant return to form since then.
TL:DR – trust your initial instinct on the best tactical setup for your team for a little longer than three defeats. Sometimes it pays to stick, rather than twist.
Recruitment
New faces were needed as the January window opened. Having dropped as low as 7th in the table, fresh impetus was required. With funds almost non-existent, we still managed to capture three new names.
Raouf Benguit is a creative midfielder in the Xavi mould. Certainly not in terms of talent, but in dimensions and playing style. 5′ 7″ with good technique, vision and agility. We needed someone in the middle of the park with more of a creative spark than our current functional yet unexciting options. With the trait where he likes to ‘switch the ball to wide areas,’ our wingers should be fed more readily with effective passes, ultimately leading to what we seem to do best, crossing. Raouf was a free agent and at 25 years old, is playing for the first time in Europe after years in Algerian and Tunisian football.
Denis Laptev arrived next. Denis is a powerhouse. 6′ 4″ with incredible strength (17) and jumping reach (18), Laptev is a typical target forward. Or is he? If you look a little closer at his profile, he has 14 for vision and incredibly, 14 for tackling. So he’s a monster in the air who can also spot a defence-unlocking pass when he has the ball at his feet. And when he doesn’t, he has the defensive capability to win it back high up the pitch. The sacrifice here is of course speed, but with a pace attribute of 10, he’s hardly a complete slouch. Laptev could be our key man in attack in the second half of this first season and beyond. His total fee rises to £88,000 with conditions. A great purchase.
In the eye test, our first-choice goalkeeper Péter Szappanos doesn’t make many noticeable frustrating errors. That said, the numbers tell a different story. According to the goalkeeping metrics within our Data Hub, Péter very much existed in the lowest performance bracket of goalkeepers in our division in terms of xG prevented and successful save percentage. In comes Filip Gacevski to fight for the gloves. Filip was another free agent after a career based mainly in Macedonia and is known for his accurate distribution from the back (16 passing).
In conclusion
We are 4th in the table after 19 games of a 33 game season. One loss can drop you as low as 7th while one victory can raise you to a European qualification position. Hungarian football success has fine margins.
We’ve pivoted back to our initial 4-4-2 system and recruited three new players to complement this approach.
Inconsistency is our biggest issue, but as our xPts shows, we have created enough chances to be in a better position. Whether it’s poor luck or individual errors, it’s hard to say, but the outlook for the second half of the season is relatively bright.
With the return to 4-4-2 bringing joy back to the Bozsik Aréna and the new arrivals settling in, toppling Ferencváros won’t be easy, but we are ready to give it a real good go.
Next time – We review the opening 21/22 campaign and analyse some of our performances and players.
Thanks for reading.
FM Stag