Total Football: Tic-Tac Magick

***PATCH 11.3***

I’ve built this tactic with the view of trying to emulate “Total Football”. Although this isn’t a tactic specific to Barcelona, I have based it on the way they play simply because I believe they are the modern day representation of Total Football; they also have the right players with which to emulate the fluid style of Total Football.

I’m releasing the tactic in the hope that the FM community can help improve it, as there’s no better testing than to have many people using it with a variety of teams. I’ve played 15 games using this tactic with great success – Ideally I would have liked to test it for a full season, but I’m struggling for time these days.

One last thing, the tactic was built in the Classic view so touchline instructions won’t work with it. I’ve explained later on in the post how I built the tactic, as I stick to this method for all my tactics.

1) Total Football

Introduction

The best way to defend is by keeping the ball away from the opposition. The Total Football of Ajax in the 90’s was once said to be dead – a distant memory. Yet we now have a Barcelona team which is unrivalled in their ability to keep the ball and produce dynamic displays of attacking football. One of the greatest games I’ve seen in recent times is the second leg of the Champions League semi-final, where Mourinho took his Inter team to the Nou Camp and came away with a ticket to the final. It’s the only time I’ve seen this Barcelona team doubt their ability to score a goal. But that was an anomaly; you had one of the greatest tacticians in command of some of the best defensive players in the world. The only thing which separated those two teams on that night was the determination to win, or more accurately, the determination to not lose.

Applying Barcelona’s Style in FM

So, it’s simple, Barcelona play attacking football with short passing – This is all the information I need to reproduce their style of play in FM, right? Wrong. Admittedly, trying to emulate any team’s style of play in FM is virtually impossible, but there are ways of coming close.

There are three tactics which will be created for this Barcelona team; these will be the following:

- A possession based tactic used to see out games

- A standard style of play which will be implemented in all normal situations

- An attacking style of play used when the team is looking for a goal

The Formation I have chosen to use is a 4-3-3, where the 3 in midfield are positioned in a flat midfield. The 3 in attack are positioned with 2 out on the wings in the AML/AMR roles, with the other being a lone striker.

Before we start, let’s first break down the Barcelona style of play in terms of FM. The most prominent tools we have available in FM are the sliders, with there being eight sliders in total.

Mentality: Barcelona will always be looking to score within the match. However, this doesn’t necessarily translate to an attacking mentality within FM. The most important thing for Barcelona is to control the game, and they do this by controlling possession. Therefore, we need to avoid wasteful passes within the game. To do this, I’m going to use a pretty neutral mentality. As we know, the mentality of a player determines their position, but more importantly it determines their passing. A player with a high attacking mentality will ultimately look for more attacking passes, meaning they sacrifice the success rate of the pass in favour of trying to find a player in a forward position. If you look at Xavi in the heart of the Barcelona midfield, the majority of his passes will be sideways, little one twos, and finally a killer through ball once the space has been created. So although it might be tempting to put him on a high mentality, it will ultimately be wasteful and inaccurate.

Creative Freedom: Unpredictability is the name of the game. With such world class players throughout the entire team, if not the entire squad, you want them to “do their thing”. This means I’ll choose a pretty high overall Creative Freedom for the side. If we stick to using Xavi as our example, we see that our earlier use of a reduced mentality causes him to play a more controlled game in relation to his passing. But, because his mental stats are phenomenal, we want him to use his ingenuity when he sees fit. This means increasing his Creative Freedom which will cause him to play killer balls when he decides the time is right. However, I’m not a fan of excessive use of Creative Freedom as I believe any extreme will bring negative effects; therefore, I won’t be using an extremely high value.

Passing Style: Needless to say, Barcelona’s passing is very short. It involves one touch passes with every member of the team getting involved. The players’ high Off The Ball movement and Work Rate are key stats when implementing such a short passing style. You need players making themselves available for the pass, alleviating the pressure on the man with the ball.

Closing Down: It’s one of the many aspects which separates Barcelona from the other teams in Europe. Their work rate and desire to win the ball back is truly exceptional. Arsene Wenger has openly admitted that Arsenal, a team whose ambition is to match Barce’s style of play, lack this area of their game. When an opposition player has the ball, there are immediately two or three Barcelona players looking to reduce the space in which the player can play. Therefore, the Closing Down will be high in order to emulate Barce’s style. I’ll also mention Tackling within this section as I feel it’s appropriate to mention it here. You will rarely see a Barcelona player sliding into a challenge. Their style is to pressure the opposition, forcing them into making a mistake. The one thing they don’t want to do is give away free kicks because it allows the opposition to regroup, waste some time, and disrupt the flow of the game. Therefore, the majority of players will have Easy Tackling so as they don’t go to ground and concede wasteful free kicks.

Defensive Line: Barcelona plays with a high Defensive Line. By doing this they compact the play within the opposition’s half, creating constant pressure on the opposition. It also allows the defenders to get involved within the general play, offering a passing outlet for the midfielders. This is why it’s so important to play with a high Defensive Line if attempting to play a short passing game, and can be seen in the Premiership with the way Arsenal play. From a FM perspective it is important to play with a high Defensive Line because, from my understanding, it is the reference point from where the team begins to close down. As we are trying to play a high pressing game, we want the team to begin closing down as soon as they lose the ball – Hence a high Defensive Line.

Width: How often do we see Barcelona get to the byline and put in a high floating cross to a forward player? Rarely, if ever. The focus of Barcelona’s play is through the middle of the pitch, where Xavi and Iniesta lurk. Messi, a left footed player, plays on the right hand side of the pitch whereby he can receive the ball in space, cut inside, and run at the defence. The only width Barcelona has is from their attacking fullbacks, but even these are only there to offer passing options for the midfielders. The closest one of their fullbacks gets to a cross is maybe a pullback or a drilled cross along the six yard area. Considering all of this, we can safely say that Barcelona play with a narrow width. Playing narrow will mean the players are closer together, which gives two benefits. The first being that the players have enough passing options for the short passing style being played. The second is that the space is further reduced when combined with the high defensive line, allowing for a greater amount of pressing and cover when closing down the opposition.

Tempo: Tempo is quite tricky as all teams vary it throughout the match depending on the amount of pressing being employed by the opposition, whether they are looking for a goal, etc. Barcelona tend to play with a slow tempo, allowing them to maintain possession and probe the opposition defence.

Time Wasting: I’ve decided to keep Time Wasting quite low. The reason for this is because Barcelona are always looking to score, but they do it in a controlled manner. The control comes from the slow Tempo, whilst the eagerness to score comes from the reduced Time Wasting. This may be flawed logic, but it seems to work. Again, Time Wasting is altered during the match i.e. lower when trying to score, whilst higher when trying to see out the match.

A brief mention about Player Instructions

Firstly, when dealing with such high quality players, I prefer to not use the Often setting. I’ve read quite a few topics on here over the years and I remember reading one of SFraser’s topics regarding Player Instructions; so credit for this goes to him

Forward Runs (FWR): Personally, I’ve never had much success with Forward Runs when set to Often. When playing a passing game, I’ve found forward players with FWR Often tend to remove themselves from the play. As well as the centrebacks, I also play my defensive minded midfielder, my playmaker and my lone striker with FWR set to rarely.

Run With Ball (RWB): Here you might be thinking I would break the rules and play Messi with RWB Often – I don’t. With him having high Creative Freedom, he tends to follow his Preferred Moves and makes plenty of dribbles without me specifying it. Quite a few of the other players are on RWB Rarely, as I want to play a passing game as opposed to an individual kamikaze dribbling game.

Long Shots (LS): An easy one – Everybody is set to Rarely. I’m trying to create Clear Cut Chances, and these only come from close range efforts. Even though everybody has LS set to Rarely, I’ve seen a few cracking goals from long range. It seems with the high Creative Freedom the players decide whether it’s a worthwhile attempt. With all the players having such high decision making, they seem to make the right decisions 90% of the time.

Try Through Balls (TTB): The only players who have TTB as Mixed are my two wide forwards and my two attack minded midfielders; the rest have all been set to Rarely. I’m trying to have it so as only those capable of producing killer balls will play them, whilst the rest play a supporting role for these creative players.

Cross Ball (CB): Everybody is set to Rarely. Barcelona don’t cross the ball because they know it’s not one of their strengths. The chance of Villa, Pedro, or Messi scoring a header when facing aggressive six-foot centrebacks is pretty much null – Thus, crossing just wastes possession and plays into the strengths of the opposition.

Marking: Everybody is on Zonal Marking, including the two centrebacks. In FM I used to set the centrebacks to Man Mark, but I’ve witnessed some shocking defensive play whereby they have been dragged way out of position, allowing the opposition to score.

Roaming: Very important when trying to emulate Barcelona’s style. I have 4 players roaming from their position, these are: the playmaker (Xavi), the attack minded midfielder (Iniesta), and both the wide forwards (Pedro and Messi). The Roaming allows them to utilise their high Off The Ball stats, causing them to find space in dangerous area of the pitch. We’re also playing with a narrow width, thus having more players roaming will counteract the negative effects of congestion.

One last point before I talk about how I actually built the tactic. It was my belief that the wide forwards would be suited to having their Wide Play set to “Cut Inside”. Whilst this brings relative success, I’ve found it’s better to keep their Wide Play set to “Normal”. It appears that when the two wide forwards Cut Inside everything becomes congested within the centre of the pitch. When the two wide forwards are kept out wide they offer good passing outlets for both the fullbacks and the midfielders. It allows them to isolate the opposition fullback before attempting to dribble past them into the area. By setting the Cross Ball instruction to Rarely, combined with their stronger foot being the opposite to the wing they are on, I find they naturally cut inside with the ball, as opposed to drifting inside without it. Both players are contributing to a lot of goals; Messi has been scoring but also creating a lot of assists, whilst Pedro has been on fire when it comes to scoring.

I think I’ve gone through the most important settings when it comes to my philosophy in building this tactic. I’ll be providing the tactic so anything I’ve missed can be found by downloading and looking through the tactic.

2) General Overview of How I Build My Tactics

Introduction

Firstly, I prefer to build my tactics in the Classic view. I think it’s just a habit ingrained from the earlier versions of FM, when the Tactic Creator wasn’t available. I spent a long time trying to figure out what the sliders actually did and I now feel more comfortable using the Classic view as opposed to using the Tactic Creator.

I like to keep things simple when building my tactics, which may sound ironic when I’ve told you I like to use the Classic view. My basic philosophy is that real world football teams would have global settings. i.e. Fergie would tell his team to play attacking football, keep the passing short, press the opposition, etc. However, it is also true that certain players will be more defensive or attacking based on the position they play. i.e. Ferdinand is going to be playing less attacking than Scholes, with Ferdinand’s passing and closing down being slightly less. So my ambition was to find a balance of rigidity (try pronouncing this) within a global framework.

Slider Mechanics

Individual Sliders

The following sliders can be set individually:

- Mentality

- Creative Freedom

- Passing Style

- Closing Down

I’ll first focus on the Individual sliders then I’ll talk about the Global sliders. The Individual sliders have values from 1-21, where a value of 1 equates to 0 clicks and a value of 21 equates to 20 clicks.

*() = Slider value

*[] = Slider Clicks

Each Individual slider has three primary ranges; these being:

- Low: (1-7)= [0-6]

- Mixed: (8-14)= [7-13]

- High: (15-21)= [14-20]

Therefore, the mid-point of each of these ranges can be calculated as:

- Low: (4)=[3]

- Mixed: (11)=[10]

- High: (18)=[17]

These mid-point numbers constitute the base values of each range. Hence, 3 clicks up will give the upper value of that range, whilst 3 clicks down will give the lower value of that range.

So we now have the 3 basic ranges, but we now need to calculate the transitional ranges. i.e. those which link both the Low and High ranges to the Mixed range. The ranges are as follows:

- Low-Mixed: (4-10)=[3-9]

- High-Mixed: (12-18)=[11-17]

With the mid-point of these ranges being:

- Low-Mixed: (7)=[6]

- High-Mixed: (15)=[14]

To summarise, we now have 5 slider ranges for the Individual Sliders:

- Low: (1-4-7)=[0-3-6]

- Low-Mixed: (4-7-10)=[3-6-9]

- Mixed: (8-11-14)=[7-10-13]

- Mixed-High: (12-15-18)=[11-14-17]

- High: (15-18-21)=[14-17-20]

I’ll just mention one thing about the transitional ranges (Low-Mixed, Mixed-High). They are slightly weighted in the sense that the Low-Mixed is 4 clicks within the Low range and 3 clicks within the Mixed range; the Mixed-High is 4 clicks within the High range and 3 clicks within the Mixed range. So, using Mentality as an example, the team would be slightly in favour of being defensive when in the Low-Mixed range, yet slightly in favour of attacking when in the Mixed-High range. As such, these mentality ranges are used when I’m creating a Counter Attacking tactic or a Control tactic.

Global Sliders

The following sliders are set Globally:

- Width

- Tempo

- Time Wasting

- Closing Down

For some strange reason, the Global sliders have values from 1-20, or 0-19 clicks. As such, the Global values differ slightly compared to the Individual values. I split the slider into two halves; the “Lower Half” and the “Upper Half”.

*() = Slider value

*[] = Slider Clicks

The Lower Half consists of the following values:

- Extremely Low: (1) = [0]

- Low: (4) = [3]

- Low/Mixed: (7) = [6]

- Mixed: (10) = [9]

The Upper Half consists of the following values:

- Mixed: (11) = [10]

- Mixed/High: (14) = [13]

- High: (17) = [16]

- Extremely High: (20) = [19]

I then choose which Half I wish to use. i.e. I may decide I want to play a high Defensive Line, but I may not want to leave too much space in behind the back four; I therefore choose a value of 14.

The whole process of splitting the sliders into ranges is for simplicity. Using these ranges allows me to quickly transfer my ideas into slider values with relative accuracy.

3) Applying Barcelona’s Style to the Slider Mechanics

Using the information from Part 1, we can now apply our theory into slider values:

Mentality (Neutral): (8-11-14) = [7-10-13]

Creative Freedom (Mixed-High): (12-15-18) = [11-14-17]

Passing Style (Short): (1-4-7) = [0-3-6]

Closing Down (Mixed-High): (12-15-18) = [11-14-17]

Width (Narrow-Mixed): (7) = [6]

Tempo (Slow-Normal): (7) = [6]

Time Wasting (Low): (4) = [3]

Defensive Line (Mixed-High): (14) = [13]

Goalkeeper (Valdes):

The role of my goalkeeper is simply to behave like a goalkeeper. So long as he’s keeping the ball out of the net then I’m happy. I want his distribution to be to one of the fullbacks, so as we can build up play from the back. I don’t want any long kicks as this will inevitably gift possession to the opposition.

Mentality: (8) = [7]

Creative Freedom: (12) = [11]

Passing Style: (1) = [0]

Closing Down: (12) = [11]

Centrebacks (Puyol & Pique):

My centebacks are there to clear up any attacking play which gets passed the midfield. I want them to play simple balls when in possession, either to one of the deep lying midfielders or one of the fullbacks.

Mentality: (8) = [7]

Creative Freedom: (12) = [11]

Passing Style: (1) = [0]

Closing Down: (12) = [11]

Fullbacks (Alves & Abidal/Adriano):

The fullbacks serve two important roles. Their first role is to offer a transition option between the defence and midfield. They are there to receive a pass from the centrebacks, carry the ball forward and then distribute a simple pass to the midfield players. Their second role is to provide width when the team is in possession, offering an outlet to the midfield players if they come under heavy pressure. In this situation they can look for another simple pass either to one of the wide forwards or back to the midfield, depending on who is available for the pass.

Mentality: (11) = [10]

Creative Freedom: (12) = [11]

Passing Style: (4) = [3]

Closing Down: (15) = [14]

Holding Midfielder (Busquets/Macherano):

This player simply wins the ball back, clears up the opposition’s attacking play and then distributes the ball to one of the more creative midfielders. The player is expected to stay back within the midfield and play a simple game.

Mentality: (8) = [7]

Creative Freedom: (12) = [11]

Passing Style: (4) = [0]

Closing Down: (12) = [11]

Playmaking Midfielder (Xavi):

This player is the beating heart of the midfield. His job is to make himself available for passes from the centrebacks, fullbacks and other midfielders. He is the link between the defensive strata and the attacking strata. Therefore, he will hold is position in the centre of the park and look to keep the ball moving before looking for a killer ball to the forward players.

Mentality: (11) = [10]

Creative Freedom: (15) = [14]

Passing Style: (7) = [6]

Closing Down: (15) = [14]

Attack Minded Midfielder (Iniesta):

Another creative player within the central midfield trio. His job differs slightly to the playmaker in the sense that he is free to advance forward with the attack. Once in the advanced position he can either look to play a through ball or get into the box to support the attacking forwards.

Mentality: (14) = [13]

Creative Freedom: (18) = [17]

Passing Style: (7) = [6]

Closing Down: (15) = [14]

Wide Forwards (Messi and Pedro):

These two players are the ones who will open up defences with their Dribbling abilities and their Off The Ball movement. They are out on the wings in order for them to find space, away from the congestion in the middle of the pitch. Here they offer another outlet for the midfielders where they look to receive the ball and run at the isolated the fullback, or cause confusion by moving in between the centrebacks and the fullbacks looking for the through ball from midfield. They are expected to contribute to both goals and assists.

Mentality: (11) = [10]

Creative Freedom: (18) = [17]

Passing Style: (4) = [3]

Closing Down: (18) = [17]

Striker (Villa):

This player will look to hold his position with his back to the defence and play link up passes, or look to turn with the ball and run at the defence. When the team is advanced high up the pitch, the striker can then look to latch onto a through ball from midfield or poach chances within the 6 yard area.

Mentality: (8) = [7]

Creative Freedom: (15) = [14]

Passing Style: (1) = [0]

Closing Down: (15) = [14]

***Tactics***

The Standard tactic (Extensively tested) - Used both Home and Away

http://www.mediafire.com/?6x696bc2iqd2ham

The Attacking tactic (Tested, but not as much as the Standard tactic) - Used if looking for a goal, or if I want to try and destroy the opposition at Home

http://www.mediafire.com/?v63k8n7l991wy1w

The Possession tactic (Tested, but not as much as the Standard tactic) - I only really use this during the last 15/20 minutes when I'm leading by a few goals. The slower tempo and higher Time Wasting prevents excessive tiredness.

http://www.mediafire.com/?p17ttmpz8rtx7p7

**Edited Tactics**

Home Tactic

http://www.mediafire.com/?u7jqxjnaj3kk2ll

Away Tactic

http://www.mediafire.com/?gs41kaon6gijjg6

Change List:

PLAYMAKER IS NOW ON THE RIGHT (MCR)

1) Mixed forward runs for the playmaker -- Allows him to follow the ball forward with the attack

2) Removed tight marking from playmaker

3) Removed Hold Up Ball on striker -- Now turns more with the ball and looks to run at the defence

4) Increased Defensive Line to 17 (16 clicks)

I've also set the default Tempo to a slightly lower value, but I tend to change Tempo and Time Wasting throughout the match. The away tactic has a lower mentality of 4 clicks for every player with a slider range of 8-14, whereas the home tactic has a slider range of 12-18. I use the Home tactic most of the time, except when I'm playing big teams.

***Screen Shots -- Updated Every 15 Games**

Fixtures and Results

http://img861.imageshack.us/f/fixturesresults.png/ -- 15 Games

http://img689.imageshack.us/i/fixturesresults30.png/ -- 30 Games

http://img858.imageshack.us/i/fixtureresults.png/ -- 47 Games

http://img101.imageshack.us/i/fixturesresults.png/ -- 62 Games

League Table

http://img46.imageshack.us/i/leagueh.png/ -- 15 Games

http://img21.imageshack.us/i/league30.png/ -- 30 Games

http://img195.imageshack.us/i/leagueo.png/ -- 47 Games

http://img130.imageshack.us/i/leaguey.png/ -- 62 Games

Player Stats

http://img220.imageshack.us/i/playerstats.png/ -- 15 Games

http://img848.imageshack.us/i/statsazmsmr30.png/ -- 30 Games

http://img814.imageshack.us/i/playerstats.png/ -- 47 Games

http://img806.imageshack.us/i/playerstats.png/ -- 62 Games

Manager History (W/L & Transfers)

http://img43.imageshack.us/i/managerhistory30.png/ -- 30 Games

http://img141.imageshack.us/i/profilepp.png/ -- 47 Games

http://img849.imageshack.us/i/managerprofile.png/ -- 62 Games

Youth Team League table (Same tactic as first team)

http://img4.imageshack.us/i/youthteam.png/

***Barcelona Vs Zenit: How the stats can sometimes lie.***

Total Passes were 651, which is high for any game. Don’t be alarmed by the high numbers of Passing by the defensive players, this is explained below. Notice as well the lack of crosses – all of them either pull backs or short passes.

http://img153.imageshack.us/i/passes.png/

Action Zone: Although defenders have high amounts of passing, it’s because they are supporting the midfielders -- as can be seen by the midfield zone being dominated by Barcelona. High Possession and Pass Completion, but few Clear Cut Chances.

http://img822.imageshack.us/i/statsazmsmr.png/

The Average Positions tool is also a good tool to use in order to show the above. The defence are just short of the halfway line for most the match; from here they can pass it around and allow Xavi and Iniesta to find space to receive a pass.

http://img860.imageshack.us/i/avpositions.png/

Also, the defensive minded midfield would seem better placed in DMC, as cragswfc said. But I want this player to press in the opponents half and team-up with the other players. Also, I don’t think a DMC is suited with such a high line, they seem to get too close together from what I’ve seen. I’ve dropped his mentality by 3 (in accordance with the slider methods in Post 2) so as his position is dropped slightly *relative* to the other midfielders. I can see a lot of people ask why the DMC isn’t there, so I thought I’d mention it in detail to save some time.

Half-chances were plentiful though, and I felt if one had gone in then we would have got a couple – but all managers say that, right?

http://img200.imageshack.us/i/chances.png/

***Feedback***

1) Do you use OI? No. I know I've got the best team and they play best when they stick to what they know.

2) What you select to match preparation? Grey area for me at the moment. During pre-season I usually introduce my tactics so as I can have them ultra high training on "None" until they are fluid in everything (newly formed teams take longer). Then I drop it down so it's slightly higher than neutra, just for safety.

3) What pitch size? Maximum pitch sixe. It might sound strange, but more space is available to Roam into -- That's why roaming is so important.

*mattycrewe: Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, players with low Composure, Decisions, Off The Ball and Technique will suffer with this tactic. Those Sunderland results are pretty promising, though. Tottenham would be a great team because of their strength in midfield; Modric as the playmaker on the left and Van Der Vaart in Iniesta's role. Bale would provide the perfect left back. I guess you'd have to invest in wide forwards who had good Creativity, Finishing, Dribbling and Off The Ball movement.

***Updates to tactics (As of: 19th March 2011)***

1) Maybe worth testing the fullbacks on Normal Tackling to try and dominate possession even more. I’m thinking the more aggressive tackling might stop opposition players higher up the pitch, as opposed to a little too much shepherding.

2) I've just noticed "Play Offside" is not checked -- I must have missed that. I'd have it on for both the Standard and the Attacking

3) Flohrinho mentioned playing Xavi on the right and swapping the roles of both those positions. That sounds good as play is focussed down the same side as Messi -- It might inspire a Xavi/Messi partnership.

It's good to see a wide range of diversity with this tactic, with a good amount of success. This is quite exciting because we seem to be playing percentage football. I believe the Match Engine has come a long way since the days of tactics which took advantage of its flaws. I think it’s the MEs sophistication which is now shining through; we can now truly play percentage football. The mentality to try and search for flaws in the ME only hinders people from taking advantage of its strengths, which now far outnumber its weaknesses.

Barcelona play percentage football – there defensive work is equally as good as their attacking. I’ve always loved to keep clean sheets, so I would build a very stable 4-3-1-2 with Inter. It was simple, boring and effective. i.e. Mourinho. But this Barcelona team are conceding far less and we constantly break through with 1-0 victories, even with the brick walls of defences which Santa seems to bring opposition teams at Christmas. We never look like losing, but we seem to be getting a few CCCs but dozens of half chances. But that’s still enough to win, which is what all great teams can do. Even this season Barcelona has had quite a few 1-0 victories, where the three goal leads have become less frequent, yet they still manage to win. They always look to win and they know they go out there with the best chance to win, even before the team sheet has been selected. Barcelona football is a philosophy, played throughout their youth academy up to the first team.

Barcelona in the years leading up to the Ronaldinho era, were virtually bankrupt. But they made a plan and built a philosophy of football which in theory would dominate modern football with its flamboyant style. That was then broken down by a rigid style of play, which stifled the attack and countered the defence frailties. So they were forced to defend, but defend in an attacking manner. If you apply constant pressure and do it well, you increase the percentage of you winning the ball back. You further enhance the likelihood of success by minimising your own failures; so players always stay on their feet, in numbers and shadow the player into snares of more oncoming Barce players. By playing with a Narrower width, you push the players closer together, so there is a high pressing unit on the pitch. The only decision now is where to place this unit to do the most damage to the opposition, which is undoubtedly in their half of the pitch because that’s where the goal is. So you play a high Defensive Line and push this unit into their half. All the sliders can be used and therefore linked together.

So hopefully we are transferring percentage football into the game – Which is exactly what real world teams can do. Obviously it can never last forever, so we can monitor what changes we can make to successfully navigate through all the challenges which teams create. Opposition players in the Attacking Midfield role might cause problems, but do you counter it by covering your weakness, or exploiting their weakness? I’m going to go on the attack and play an AMC (Iniesta) to counter the hole left by the opposition midfield. I’m going to play aggressive and always look to win, but aggressive tactically not just playing really attacking, sacrificing possession (control) for wasteful passes.

Anyway, thanks for the updates. It’s great to see the success being had with this tactic – keep it coming.

***Tottenham Vs. Barcelona: Champions League 1st Knockout Round***

Just had an epic game against Tottenham in the Champions League 1st knockout round. We were controlling play, yet Gallas managed to get a goal from a corner. Tottenham were playing with an extremely high pressing game, so I had to increase the Tempo the try and counter this. We had a few chances before half-time, yet went in 0-0. Then Tottenham came out and got another goal from a corner, to which I increased the Tempo to its furthest amount, upped the Defensive Line and decreased Time Wasting. This is where Barcelona has the technical type of players required to play like this.

Match Stats

http://img576.imageshack.us/i/matchstats.png/

Overview

http://img560.imageshack.us/i/overviewx.png/

Passes: Tottenham 283 (116 completed) : Barcelona 421 (349 completed)

Here I can show you what I mean when I say Barcelona’s defensive play is equally as good as their attacking play. Their ability to keep possession with all those creative and highly technical players is demonstrated by the lack of passes Tottenham had compared to Barcelona. So already we are reducing the chances of the opposition scoring by taking away the amount of time they have on the ball. The passes completion stat just shows how good this style of high pressing shadow play is in forcing the opposition to make a mistake; we are winning the ball without having to tackle. Therefore, we reduce our chances of giving away fouls, gifting possession back to the opposition.

Barcelona passes:

http://img98.imageshack.us/i/passes.png/

Tot Passes:

http://img215.imageshack.us/i/totpasses.png/

We managed to create more chances, even if they were half-chances. The extremely high Tempo and low Time Wasting caused this, but it was needed to overcome such high pressing from Tottenham. We allowed a lot more chances than I would have liked, but we were attacking for the majority of the game.

Barcelona chances:

http://img31.imageshack.us/i/scoringchances.png/

Tottenham Chances:

http://img543.imageshack.us/i/totscoring.png/

**Formation: False 9**

I’ve been trying to create a 4-3-3 system where the wide forwards in the AML/AMR positions would advance beyond a forward who’s come deep to find the ball. I used to play a 4-1-2-2W-1 formation and have the wide player’s forward runs set to often; but it didn’t work because they would just remove themselves from play. It was their positioning which wasn’t very good, so I tried everything to get them to advance beyond the striker, but I had no real success. I think I’ve stumbled across it using this formation with the flat three in midfield. When you look at it on paper, it appears you gain little advantage from having an extra man in the midfield. But on the pitch, those two midfielders are closer to the flanks, so they can offer cover for the wide forwards to advance on. If you play a 3-4-3, you’ll often see the wide midfielders further back than the central midfielders when looking at the average positions. They are trying to offer cover down the flanks, as opposed to looking for attacking opportunities – the same happens with the wide forwards when you have no cover down the flanks when playing a DMC or AMC. The AML/AMR are actually advancing beyond the striker naturally now that they have cover, and will drop deep to find the ball (Roaming) and carry it to their position, or play a one-two link up to get back there. They now drift naturally behind the back line, instead of a 15 yard sprint.

I've found it works best with a high (14+) Defensive Line.

http://img200.imageshack.us/i/formationtl.png/

Note how the opposition flanks and channels have been completed exposed, we can quickly create a three on two attacks. I’m keeping everything the same, maintaining a high Defensive Line (17 at times), but I’m playing around with Time Wasting and Tempo to see I can move the ball about the pitch. Try using the Global Slider settings as templates to change Time Wasting, and then have a look at the effects. i.e. how quickly the ball gets from the back to the front, regardless of tempo. The objective of a football match is to score a goal; Time Wasting is how much you deviate away from doing this. Goals are only scored when the ball is up the pitch, so when we aren’t wasting anytime, then the objective is to get the ball up the pitch. If your players are allowed to play direct passes, then they’ll most likely hoof it; if your players are passing short, then you’ll see 3/4 passes before it reaches the front players. If you combine that with a high Tempo, with the players being allowed plenty of creative freedom and roaming, whilst having the mental stats to deal with such instructions, you’ll see little one-twos passed quickly up the pitch. So try to use Time Wasting as your tool as to how quickly you want the ball to get played up the pitch. Use Tempo to determine how quickly the players move the ball about, which can be determined by seeing how much pressing the opposition is doing; if it’s high pressing, the move the ball about quickly.

If we can master the use of Time Wasting and Tempo, based on the different amounts of pressing employed by the opposition, then we have a base tactic which can be easily tuned to work throughout the season.

No tactic will work for every game -- You have to vary your Tempo and Timewasting, like above.

***Season Summary***

Played: 62

- Won: 56 (90%)

- Drew: 3 (5%)

- Lost: 3 (5%)

Barcelona won the following:

- LIGA BBVA (106 points\/+93 goal difference)

- Champions League (F: Man Utd. SF: Real Madrid, QF: Lyon. L16: Tottenham)

- Spanish Cup (F: Real Madrid)

Goal-scorers: Top 3

- Villa: 44 goals (Played 41): Injured for 8 weeks

- Messi: 30 goals (Played 50): Played better in the second half of the season.

- Pedro: 22 (Played 57)

Assists: Top 3

- Xavi: 31 assists (Played 45)

- Messi: 23 assists (Played 50)

- Iniesta: 18 assists (Played 45)

Highest Ratings: Top 3

- Messi: 7.97

- Villa: 7.83

- Pique: 7.69

Sorry for the lack of replies to your questions. Fortunately, there are quite a few people offering answers to the questions people have asked. The feedback advice is really usefully because they've all played through a full season and encountered the different playing styles which emerge throughout this time. I'm currently looking at how Tempo, Time Wasting and Defensive Line can be used to alter play throughout a match -- These are the key areas in making this tactic sustainable throughout the season; don't be afraid to experiment with these three sliders. This is why I chose to use the above slider range system; you can easily change the settings when there's only a few clicks to choose from.

Also, try using the attacking tactic too. But change the Tempo, Time Wasting and Defensive Line to suit the way you play. If you're unsure, just make these three sliders the same as the Standard tactic and work from there. You can then use this tactic to weight your play in favour of attack instead of being neutral -- You should still maintain possession well, but your midfielders will try more aggressive passing.

I'm also starting to build up my backroom staff so that I can work around making Training schedules. I made a previous post before about training; the first half is correct, but I think I made a few mistakes with weighting each schedule in relation to how many stats they train. I've since read that this is wrong, so I'm going to go back and tweak it. Then I'm going to attempt to make some schedules for my team, working high in areas crucial to this style of play (Aerobic, Ball Control & Tactics being the most important, with Attacking & Shooting being the next important). Hopefully, in building schedules suited to the tactic, we can generate a philosophy of football dedicated to beautiful play. A Tactic and Training Set could then be used to transport this philosophy to any club we want (within reason). I'll also include Youth Schedules so that we can mould our youngsters, both with training and the use of the tactic in all their matches. This way we can build a squad which is fluid and interchangeable throughout a season. This tactic is heavy on players, so if we can build players for the tactic, we can interchange them with high success. That's the dream.

***Defensive Line, Time Wasting & Tempo:***

Defensive Line effectively positions the Unit on the pitch. We want to be playing around, preferably in, the opposition’s half. Therefore, we choose a Defensive Line from the Upper Range of the scale (Post 2). I prefer not to go below a Defensive Line of 14, or above a Defensive Line of 17. If the opposition’s unit drops deep, then we can advance (17).

When I think about setting a Time Wasting slider value, I first ask where I want the ball to be played within my unit. If I want the ball to be played within my midfield section, then I set a neutral value. If I want it focused to the forward section, then I give a low setting; the opposite can be applied for focus in the defensive section. Whilst this isn’t necessarily true, it is when you look at the effects of Time Wasting on passing. With a neutral base mentality, decreasing the time wasting to rarely causes an increase in how quickly the ball is played up to the forward positions; as in the most direct route possible. Whilst increasing the Time Wasting will see the team play it around a lot, with many back-passes, etc. So if the opposition is camped on the edge of their area, play a neutral time wasting for a while so as the ball is played sideways, back and forth, along the edge of their area. Once you’ve found the right balance whereby you’re keeping possession, but having the right amount of good attacking balls, you can then set the Tempo.

The Tempo primarily dictates how fast the ball is moved around. If you’re facing a high pressing team, then you need to move it around quickly. This is where the better teams will cope, but the weaker teams might not – I’m unsure because I didn’t think the original tactic would be so diverse, yet it was. If the pressing is low, then you’re going to have to use a slower tempo and draw the opposition out. Once you’ve got the right balance between Time Wasting and Tempo, then you’ll maintain your dominance throughout the match.

Implement the above in both the Standard and Attacking tactics. The Attacking tactic is weighted so that your passing will be more aggressive – It’s around 20% more attacking in nature, if you consider each click to be worth 5%.

**Sorry for my lack of feedback -- Work is pretty busy at the moment, so I can only contribute to this thread at the weekends. It's great to see Franklin is tweaking the tactic and releasing it for the use of the FM community. The idea of this thread is to find improvements for the tactic, so that we can keep building on the template. I'm going to be playing around with the Time Wasting and Tempo, to try and find different ways of moving the ball around the pitch. I'll also be having a look at the Width of the tactic to see if we can spread the play during times of heavy opposition closing down, or times when the opposition is camped on the edge of their area.

Thanks for all the feedback!

****POSTING TACTICS****

Anybody can post whatever variation of the tactic they've made. I released it so that it would get properly tested, and improvements made. It'll hopefully become a community tactic. Write down what changes you've made and anything which you've noted -- Just so we can learn what's effecting what.

***UPDATES***

***Player Filters***

http://www.mediafire.com/?160805y6mb1t9in

Gee_Simposon and Cragswfc came up with this idea. All the key attributes are listed in these filters, you just need to import them into the search filter. (Filters --> Manage Filters --> Import --> *Location of where you saved the files*)

***NEW TACTIC***

I've tweaked the home tactic yesterday and the initial results have been impressive. I'm going to carry on testing it for at least another 15 games (Total 20), then post it. I'll also post a 2nd Season update this weekend; it's been going really well so far -- 37 wins in 38 games. I've managed to get two good young players (Henrique and Jovetic) to bolster the squad for rotation. I've also bought this guy Gustavo who was recommended by my scout as having the potential to be as good as Xavi, an he has decent mental stats, so I'm training him to be a potential world class Barce midfielder. He's played 4 games and been a sub 13 times, with him grabbing a goal and 5 assists (7.15 av rating) -- He's just gone 19 (5 years time?)

wow! lots of effort gone in here. only comment so far would be that from when I watch Barca, Messi plays in the middle as a false nine and Villa actually plays wide.

http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/1473/barcaespanol.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/BddlR.jpg

my god, that was some op, well done

only played a couple of games with this, getting some really impressive stats, oh im liverpool, last match against sunderland 78% possession and 91% pass completion, i know its only sunderland but to me that is still amazing, played 4 games all really high possession, cant wait till its fluid in everything. so far so good, thanks.

Very well presented in the OP!!

I´m just wondering about the tempo wich you have set to slow.. Doesn´t the tempo affect how quickly your players will press the opposition? :confused:

And from the screenshot I can see that most goals come from your striker, and Messi´s goalscoring record isn´t all that impressive..

Probably has something to with him NOT cutting inside..

And how is the posession in your matches? Anywhere near the 65-70% that Barca usually have?

Again, very impressive and detailed OP!

Very well presented in the OP!!

I´m just wondering about the tempo wich you have set to slow.. Doesn´t the tempo affect how quickly your players will press the opposition? :confused:

And from the screenshot I can see that most goals come from your striker, and Messi´s goalscoring record isn´t all that impressive..

Probably has something to with him NOT cutting inside..

And how is the posession in your matches? Anywhere near the 65-70% that Barca usually have?

Again, very impressive and detailed OP!

i can vouch for the possession, 4-1 away win against spurs, 68% possession, iv played 5 games i think, won 4 drew 1 with reserves played, if you look above you'll see the sunderland possession stats, i'll check the 3 before, sorry iv played 4 games, 3 games been 67%, 55% with reserves and then the sunderland then spurs, they were in 4th and doing really well, i tootally destroyed them with this.

are you using a playmaker in this tactic??

yes playmaker, next match 80% poss 3-0 home win over wolves, i only play the games with commentary on, i think i need to watch this in 3d match, iv been trying a lot of tactics today but so far this is the only one has got me excited lol, i'd hate to see this with barce lol

oh i meant to say it seems like my commentary bar is always red

iv got 4 more games and then iv chelsea and man u to play, they'll be the big tests, i'll report back after these

are you using a playmaker in this tactic??

yes im using raul merieles here, lucas in the middle and gerrard on the right

Wow, this tactic is fantastic!

I'm Newcastle United and i've played two matches with this tactic:

Newcastle - Man City: 2-0

Liverpool - Newcastle: 0-2

FANTASTIC!

excellent opening post. but do you think the Busquets/Macherano role shold be just infront of the back four? well not when Busquets playing but when Macherano plays.

Realmadrid_2007

Do you use OI?

What you select to match preparation?

What pitch size?

ok just beat chelsea 2-0 away who had beat man u 4-0 at old trafford, miranda, not having a go there is the most amazing op at the top, which for once doesnt say that lol, i hav been using minimum, no oi,s , using team blend, cause i bought a few players

will8578 do you think this work with any team?

what would you suggest with match pep?

ok just beat chelsea 2-0 away who had beat man u 4-0 at old trafford, miranda, not having a go there is the most amazing op at the top, which for once doesnt say that lol, i hav been using minimum, no oi,s , using team blend, cause i bought a few players

Wow! Nice result! How was your posession away to Chelsea?

And who do you use on the wings and as striker? And how is the goals divided between them? Does the wingers contribute with goals for you?

Thinking about giving this a go with 1.FC Köln.. That way I guess we could see if this works with a mid table team.

i dont know about weak teams, i only enjoy destroying teams so i never be weak teams sorry, i think the poss was 62% against chelsea, iv just played utd at home, 2-0 win 72% poss 91% pass completed, amazing, iv been using suarez up front, jovanivic on the right and kuyt, kuyt has scored more, maxi on aml, this has to be the best barce esque tactic, i mean there have been millions, but for poss and the other things, this is as close as you'll get, i hope it does work for weak teams because its such a good tactic!!!!

oh and how funny a real madrid man has made a barce tactic, lol, thank you, i was loosing the will to live on 11.3 but this has got me buzzing again lol

1 last ramble before i go and enjoy my new found love lol, i actually have stopped looking to see how much i score, i actually get excited at the end to see how much possession i end up with.

This work with what patch?

*

will8587: Haha, good to see it working -- Thanks for the updates.

This work with what patch?

miranda you ask some rally daft questions sometimes he tired to make a Barcelona tactic

All right!

I have started a new save, and things are just about to get serious with my 1.FC Köln team now..

Just finished my last preseason trainingmatch in wich my playmaker Adam Matuszczyk managed 115/109 passes before he was substituted after 73 minutes!

Really excited now to see how it works in competetive matches with a mid table team now.. Media prediction before the season is 13th..

Haven´t bought any players yet. I´ll get back with updates after a few matches!

i cant download your tactics

All right!

I have started a new save, and things are just about to get serious with my 1.FC Köln team now..

Just finished my last preseason trainingmatch in wich my playmaker Adam Matuszczyk managed 115/109 passes before he was substituted after 73 minutes!

Really excited now to see how it works in competetive matches with a mid table team now.. Media prediction before the season is 13th..

Haven´t bought any players yet. I´ll get back with updates after a few matches!

good luck :-)

Hey RealMadrid_2007 really liked your op so after i managed to read it all lol i really understood what you wanted to implement into your tactic which was great. I have tried it with Sunderland just to test it an i think its very good at scoring and i liked how attractive alot of the play was but i was conceding a few aswell and i believe this was because the sunderland default team don't have very good passing but an abundance of pace so i dont think it suits them that good as alot of passes were getting misplaced to the opposition and they sometimes scored from this from the counter. The tactic is very good though and i like what you have done with the pressing as they often cause the opposition to panic and make mistakes. I believe if you give this tactic time and bring in some quality passers i think this will be a brilliant tactic, don't know who to start a career with want to be a good passing team that are not top teams like barca got any suggestions.

my record with sunderland was played 10 won 8 drawn 1 lost 1 gs 22 gc 13 most of them causesd by misplaced passes

Hope this helps

TY!

First match of the season in the Bundesliga done now, and I just had to post this post match picture because I think it says alot about this tactic...

By the way.. I had 65% posession and created 5 CCC´s!! All Nürnberg had was 5 longshots and 0 on target!

Exciting start I must say!

i cant download your tactics

its working thankx

Wow, I have to admit that this tactic has got me excited. I would love it if I could get my team (Hearts) to play a similar style to that of Barca's although I doubt it would work nearly as well in the SPL where the standard of players is pretty low.

Is there any specific training schedule you use with this? Also what attribute requirements are needed for each position? Only If you want to though as it may be a bit of a pain posting requirements for every position, maybe upload filters instead?

Thanks.

P.S. - Great OP btw

OK. Here´s a little update with my 1.FC Köln save so far.

Match/Result / My posession / Shots on target

Elversberg 0-2 Köln / 69% / 2-6

Nürnberg 0-2 Köln / 65% / 0-7

Köln 1-0 SC Freiburg / 49% / 2-3 (I got a player sent off just after half time..)

Schalke 04 2-2 Köln / 55% / 5-7 (I created 5 CCC´s to Shalkes 2))

Köln 3-1 HSV / 61% / 4-3

Köln 1-0 Hoffenheim / 67% / 2-1

Werder Bremen 2-2 Köln / 57% / 0-4 (HOW!??)

So 7 matches played (5-2-0) and a goaldifference of 13-5. Nicely placed in 3rd in the Bundesliga behind Hoffenheim and Wolfsburg. Not too shabby for a Köln team that the media predicted on 13th place before the season!!

I´ll report back after I have played half a season next.

Cheers!!

Started a new game on patch 11.3 with Blackburn, Standard team have not purchased any new players, We won all of our pr seaon games conceeding only 1 goal. Played 2 games in the prem, We beat Arsenal 2-0 away ! and Stoke 1-0 at home. So far it looks very good indeed.

Ok m8 ill give it a go with totty and i always start with the default squads an im gonna try and retrain bale for right att mid because i think he will be immense there and play lennon on the left and where would you play modric and vdv in the mid spots

This is the best 11.3 tactic so far, I would say, it fits my liverpool quite well. May be have some struggles against big 4, even at home.

Already got 7 WINS IN ROW since the league starts until lost 1-4 to Arsenal at home with the same squard and same tactic (the only player missing was poor injured Gerard). In that game against Arsenal, team talk's fairly done, completely couldn't understand why the game was turned over after i led 1-0...

But anyway, this is the best tactic for 11.3 so far, in my opinion.

Realmadrid_2007 excelent work.

Your opening post is awesome and gives a lot of insight on how your tactic works which is extremely useful for people like me who are still learning to build their own tactics.

I adapted your concept and reshaped my 4-2-3-1 into this 4-3-2-1 which seams to work pretty awesome since I barley did lose any of the attacking punch but gained a lot of stability.

Really great work and I'm going to post some results when I have played a few more games with it.

I'm confused.. should play offside be ticked?

I'm confused.. should play offside be ticked?

Yes, I have modified the tactic to have offside ticked in the Standard and Possesion tactic as that's how I understood it should be. Seem's to be working well.

WOW!! 11 league games played so far, and I´m currently sitting top of the table 4 points clear of Wolfsburg in 2nd! I have beat Bayern Munchen (2-1) and Dortmund (2-0) both at home so far.

This is INSANE!!

WOW!! 11 league games played so far, and I´m currently sitting top of the table 4 points clear of Wolfsburg in 2nd! I have beat Bayern Munchen (2-1) and Dortmund (2-0) both at home so far.

This is INSANE!!

which one do you prefer or use ? std att or poss ???

Used this tactics for about 10 games now with Arsenal. Must say that it is really impressive! My record is W9 D1, the draw came after i had a man sent of early and they scored from a penalty.

Possession is crazy, my average possession is about 65%, some games against weaker teams i have had up to 80% possession!

I'm in to my third season so i have a great team but no other tactic i have tried has given these consistent results and beautiful game to watch.

So, great work and a really nice opening post!

which one do you prefer or use ? std att or poss ???

Usually start with standard, but if I´m up against a weak team at home wich i expect to win against I sometimes start with attack. I only use posession when i want to control the game after I lead the match. I never start with the posession tactic.

By the way.. just lost my first match away to Wolfsburg.. played 17 games (13-3-1) so far.

Usually start with standard, but if I´m up against a weak team at home wich i expect to win against I sometimes start with attack. I only use posession when i want to control the game after I lead the match. I never start with the posession tactic.

By the way.. just lost my first match away to Wolfsburg.. played 17 games (13-3-1) so far.

Sounds great, glad to hear this.

Keep us informed

Usually start with standard, but if I´m up against a weak team at home wich i expect to win against I sometimes start with attack. I only use posession when i want to control the game after I lead the match. I never start with the posession tactic.

By the way.. just lost my first match away to Wolfsburg.. played 17 games (13-3-1) so far.

thanks for the information

to real madrid, im rubbish at making tactics, not tactical expert or anything, but i have to say this whole thread is amazing, you made a brilliant tactic, which you went into great detail to describe, i like the updates part where you help people out, i know dking will like this thread, as he said too many threads end up with rubbish in it and not much tactical help, KUTGW matey, thanks.

i wanna try this with man utd, but feel i will need a few signings to fit the tactic. any suggestions on players for the

xavi role

iniesta role

messi and pedro roles

AMAZING tactic!

15 games with Internacional.

14 Wons 1 Draw

THX!

i wanna try this with man utd, but feel i will need a few signings to fit the tactic. any suggestions on players for the

xavi role

iniesta role

messi and pedro roles

xavi role = scholes/carrick

iniesta role = giggs/anderson

messi and pedro roles = nani (on right) and valencia (on left) / can also try rooney for valencia, so you can put berbatov/hernandez up top

Which midfielder is the PLAYMAKER? MRC , MC or the MCL I geuss the MRC??

and we put that player in the playmaker box (teaminstructions)

Which midfielder is the PLAYMAKER? MRC , MC or the MCL I geuss the MRC??

and we put that player in the playmaker box (teaminstructions)

I tick MCR.

Look what Carrick did in my save: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3051872/michaelxavi.jpg