The winter was great fun, actually. For the first time since coming to Miami, I felt properly involved in building the squad rather than simply being handed players and working out afterwards what I could do with them. The recruitment team did a fantastic job because we went into those meetings with quite specific profiles rather than a list of names: I wanted different types of centre-back, more variation in the pivot, another way of playing at left wing-back and, particularly, more options across the front three. We didn’t get absolutely everything, because nobody does, but we got bloody close. More importantly, I don’t think we’ve just added better players. We’ve added different players, and that gives me the opportunity to change how we behave without abandoning the football we’ve spent the last eighteen months building.

This is probably the deepest squad I’ve had as a manager and, bueno, now comes the difficult bit: working out what to do with all of them.

The Defenders

Dipping my toes into the transfer water has led us to Matai Akinmboni and Barnaby Williams, two players who give me quite different options through the centre of the pitch. Akinmboni is probably the easiest one to explain. He’s 22, 6’3″, quick, strong, physically excellent and, at $46k a year, isn’t costing us a fortune either. He’s not coming here because I think he’s going to stand in the middle of the back three and play thirty-yard passes through a press all afternoon. That’s not him. I wanted somebody who can defend the horrible moments: when we’ve committed players forward, lost it and suddenly somebody is running into forty yards of grass. Fifteen acceleration, fifteen pace, fifteen strength, good in the air. Sometimes Football Manager makes the explanation quite easy for you. Williams is almost the opposite signing. He’s here because I want to find out how far I can push the centre of the back three in possession. I now have five different types of player: He’s not even a defender, yet, but will be someone that allows us to throw players forward in order to break down low blocks.

We still keep Gielen, the progressor, who largely plays off the left side of the defence. Having a wingback ahead of him who inverts allows him to carry or pass the ball forward better than pretty much anyone at this level. I want him to be more comfortable at bringing the ball out of defence, rather than just moving forward when space allows. Jonathan Tomkinson, on the other hand, is the defender who I want to stay back and recycle possession. I wouldn’t quite have him down as a recovery defender, but he’s certainly the further player back in our build up. Lastly, I like Nico Carrera because he can do a little bit of it all and gives it everything when he is on the pitch. The perfect backup defender in my eyes. The defensive shapes are pretty straight forward but, as I said, very much new to what we’ve been able to do:

With Matai playing, Wout naturally gives me more with the ball from the left, Jonathan is happier defending from the right and Matai stays in the middle. Stays is important there. He’s weak on his right foot and I have absolutely no interest in trying to manufacture some clever version of him at RCB or LCB when the obvious answer is staring at me. He’s a CCB in this shape. Put him there, let him see the whole pitch, let Wout and Jonathan work either side of him and use that ridiculous recovery speed if we get something wrong. With those three, I don’t need a centre-back wandering into midfield to create superiority because Christian Cappis can do it from left wing-back. That gives me the stable version of the team and, right now, probably the one I’d trust against the best transition sides. Unfortunately, we have no continental football this season but it’s certainly the shape that will be used in the US Open Cup against MLS sides.

Williams is where it gets more interesting. If he plays, he also has to play centrally for me. So it’s either him or Akinmboni at CCB, not some attempt to squeeze both into positions that don’t suit them. With Williams in there, though, I can start looking at the Advanced Centre-Back role properly. He can step out. Gielen and Tomkinson remain as the two, Williams moves into the next line and suddenly I’ve got the 2+3 build that I’ve watched so much of in South America. I love that. One movement changes the entire structure.

The Pivot

It is what sits ahead that further excites me. Two additional signings – Bryce Duke – on a free from Greenville, the club I brought him to three years ago – and Gazão, from Brazil, add two very different profiles to the team. Bryce gives me the midfielder who wants to go, Gazão gives me the one who is quite happy staying behind and making sure everybody else’s fun doesn’t become his problem.

Add those two to David Sibrián and John Ruvalcaba and suddenly I’m not looking at one double pivot and some backups anymore. I’m looking at combinations. That has probably been the biggest development in how I’ve thought about the squad this winter. I don’t necessarily want a second David when David doesn’t play. I want another way of playing the game.

My intention is, probably, to have the first choice pivot as David and Bryce – in the same manner that I’ve had this year: one deeper playmaker and one box to box midfielder. Yet, there have been games when that hasn’t really worked. Part of the decision to bring in Williams and sit him alongside those two should vindicate the signing; another creative player, albeit slightly deeper than may have a true impact, is going to be useful.

But I think that we can be the team that forces our opponent into thinking, into changing their style and into something that is completely nullified. This is where Gazão becomes really important. If I’ve got Sibrián and Gazão ahead of Williams, I feel comfortable letting Williams go. David can organise possession, Gazão can protect the space and Williams can become the extra man. Gazão does not need to turn around and think he’s Busquets because I’ve put him in the pivot. Win your duels, attack the second ball, play the simple pass, keep us connected. Perfecto. I actually think there is something quite beautiful about a player knowing that his job is to make everybody else’s job easier. If Williams goes and Gazão stays, David doesn’t suddenly have twenty-five yards of empty grass behind him to defend if we lose the ball.

But I might want to pair Ruvalcaba with Duke against a truly low block or use Gazão in a team that also contains Akinmboni when we are really under the cosh, need some immediate presence but also having some deeper cover if that is bypassed. It’s all about combinations and exposing weaknesses against opponents.

The Wide Men

But none of those partnerships make sense without the wing-backs. Francisco Castillo is still the aggressive one on the right. I want him high, brave and repeatedly arriving in positions where the opposition winger has to decide whether he really wants to spend his evening following a wing-back towards his own penalty area. His ten assists last season weren’t an accident. When Francisco goes, somebody else has to balance him, and that’s where Christian Cappis has been so valuable. Christian starts at LWB but can become another midfielder, giving me that extra body beside or around the pivot and allowing Francisco to attack without the whole thing becoming suicidal.

I’ve added another familiar face over the winter, too. Markus Anderson – also once of Greenville and my first signing for the club after I moved there from Knoxville – gives me another interpretation on the left. He’s more conventional there, which becomes particularly useful if Williams is playing centrally behind him. I don’t need Christian inverting to create the extra midfielder if Williams is already stepping out of the back three. That’s what I mean about the pieces affecting each other. Akinmboni at CCB probably pushes me towards Cappis because I need that midfield player from somewhere; Williams at CCB can push me towards Anderson because the extra man is already arriving from behind. Same 3-4-3. Completely different mechanisms underneath it.

Again, the purpose of the squad build is to ensure that we have options. Narrow sides would see us with Castillo and Anderson down the flanks with a double pivot, possibly Sibrian and Williams, or Sibrian and Gazao, depending on the opponents. We are in a position whereby we can change the game depending on how the opponent plays. For me, that is really powerful.

But don’t even get me started on what I want from my attackers, yet…