Total Football Thread

Welcome one and all to the phenonmenom known as Total Football.

What is Total Football??

Total Football is a playing style which consists of high pressure, high speed, high roaming, high line attacking soccer. One the many examples of this playing styles are Dutch national team in the 70s along with Ajax in the 70s. Such a playing style has influenced other playing styles such as Bielsaball, Zemanball, and, yes, tiki-taka.

How is Total Football different from tiki-taka??

Total Football is less about keeping possesion but more about what is done when in possession. For example,

[video=youtube;AGyxPi9HdiE]

How to apply it in FM??

It is not difficult to apply Total Football to FM but you need the right players that can play such a style. A player has to be able to play many positions. They also must be creative, fast, strong, able to mark/pass and able to position themselves to press.

They are two tactics that I made that can emulate total football. A flat 4-3-3 and a 3-3-3-1

Attacking/Very Fluid

4-3-3

SK - Pass It Shorter, Distribute to FBs, Roll it Out, Distribute Quickly

Analysis - The SK has a responsibility to distribute the ball instead of hoofing it up field.

WB (s) x2 - Shoot Less Often, Stay Wider, Tackle Harder

Analysis - I want the WBs to Overlap my Raumdueters as they will stretch the defenders enabling the Wide play

BPD (d) - Tackle Harder

BPD © - Tackle Harder

Analysis - No team uses a Libero anymore and I think a BPD © can do all that a Libero can do.

(Flat 3 Midfield)

BBM - Shoot Less Often, Tackle Harder, Pass It Shorter, Move Into Channels

BWM (d) - Shoot Less Often, Pass It Shorter

RPM - Shoot Less Often, Tackle Harder, Pass It Shorter, Move Into Channels

Analysis - The Midfield three has a responsibility of stretching the play and also attack and defend

R x2 - Shoot Less Often, Tackle Harder

Analysis - The best role I got that emulated the runs of the Winger was the Raumdueter as they had a job as a Winger and a Striker.

F9 - Shoot Less Often, Tackle Harder, Pass It Shorter

Analysis - The False 9 roams from his position from dropping off to get the ball and hit the channels to stretch the play

3-3-3-1

Sk - Pass It Shorter, Distribute to FBs, Roll it Out, Distribute Quickly

BPD (d) x 3 - Tackle Harder

A (d) - Pass It Shorter

BBM x2 - Shoot Less Often, Tackle Harder, Pass It Shorter, Move Into Channels

EG - Shoot Less Often, Tackle Harder, Pass It Shorter

W (a) x2 - Shoot Less Often, Tackle Harder, Roam From Position

F9 - Shoot Less Often, Tackle Harder, Pass It Shorter

TI:

More Direct Passing

Pass Into Space

Pump Ball Into Box

Whipped Crosses

Exploit the Flanks

Look for Overlap

Play Wider

Much Higher Defensive Line

Roam From Position

Close Down Much More

Get Stuck In

Use Offside Trap

Prevent Short GK Distribution

Much Higher Tempo

Be More Expressive

PPMs:

W/R - Plays one-twos, Cuts Inside, Places Shots

ST - Plays one-twos, Comes deep to get Ball, Places Shots

Training - Fitness/Tactics preseason

Fitness/Attack Mov during season

Now, go out there and dominate

Crikey.

What success have you had with this?

If it has been successful, and based on how you have presented the OP, would this be better transferred to the downloads section? This forum is usually for tactical discussion and help, rather than "here's a tactic now go dominate"? .

Total football? Total instruction overload more like! Wow, are there any you haven't used! Anyway as herne says think you need to post this somewhere else. Enjoy though!

It doesn't really contain the level of info required for the download section yet either. Ordinarily, threads in that section are accompanied by some sort of evidence of the sort of performances the tactic can deliver over a sustained run of matches, and at a variety of levels.

Oh, and they need to confirm what pitch size you use, and what OIs you use

Crikey.

What success have you had with this?

If it has been successful, and based on how you have presented the OP, would this be better transferred to the downloads section? This forum is usually for tactical discussion and help, rather than "here's a tactic now go dominate"? .

Calm your tits, its an expression. Nothing else now. And also, the discussion can happen but people have to discuss first

As for results,

My Manchester team won the league (not by a large margin we clinched the title with a game to go). We had a load of players that had double digit goals that year. (Rooney, Falcao, Depay, Lacazette). This team played like the dutch of old. I'll post some highlights for you guys to take a peek when I get home

I used mostly the first tactic to accomplish this but when my team had a slight injury bug at the back at the tail end of the season, I used the 3-3-3-1 tactic

Total football? Total instruction overload more like! Wow, are there any you haven't used! Anyway as herne says think you need to post this somewhere else. Enjoy though!

The TIs do work tho. It isn't as if I slapped a ton of instructions out of my behind there, mate. I will once again show some highlights when I get home.

It doesn't really contain the level of info required for the download section yet either. Ordinarily, threads in that section are accompanied by some sort of evidence of the sort of performances the tactic can deliver over a sustained run of matches, and at a variety of levels.

Oh, and they need to confirm what pitch size you use, and what OIs you use

HAHA

Calm your tits

My tits are perfectly calm thank you .

If you want some discussion, that's fine. It just wasn't apparent from your OP.

So, you say "It is not difficult to apply Total Football to FM but you need the right players that can play such a style. A player has to be able to play many positions." How have you managed to get the fluid and seemless interchangeability of players, something I didn't think the ME was capable of doing?

My tits are perfectly calm thank you . If you want some discussion, that's fine. It just wasn't apparent from your OP. So, you say "It is not difficult to apply Total Football to FM but you need the right players that can play such a style. A player has to be able to play many positions." How have you managed to get the fluid and seemless interchangeability of players, something I didn't think the ME was capable of doing?

Once again, you need a player that can play many positions. Juan Mata can play AM, but I made him a BBM. Lucas Digne can play LB but I made him a LCB and he was able to make some timed forward runs to disrupt the attack. Depay is a LW but he was finishing like a ST.

pump ball into box? from what ive seen Cruyff was no Mama Sidibe

pump ball into box? from what ive seen Cruyff was no Mama Sidibe

You have to see the video a little closely as the ball was pumped into the box at times

pump ball into box? from what ive seen Cruyff was no Mama Sidibe

Seriously? Total football with Pump the ball into the box, and direct passing?

Suggest you watch the first 80secs of the 1974 world cup final.

I think the issue here is the definition.

In terms of what has been defined in the OP ("Total Football is a playing style which consists of high pressure, high speed, high roaming, high line attacking soccer") then the presented tactic may well achieve this.

However, I'm afraid that misses the main strategy of "Total Football" which is for players to be able to move out of their nominally assigned positions into other positions and be replaced by one of their team mates - thus keeping the organisational structure of the team. Which is impossible to create in the ME.

Yes, have players in the team who are able to comfortably play in multiple positions, but they need to be able to swap into those positions during the course of a match. In the ME, and to follow the Mata example above, an AM being played as a BBM doesn't mean he will suddenly become an AM again at certain points of the match, nor does it mean someone else will swap into his starting MC position even if he did.

So, by all means say this tactic may be inspired by Total Football, but don't say this IS Total Football .

Okay guys, I have posted the highlights and heat map from the few games from my league winning season with these tactics

4 in the back

3 in the back

index=1

I think the issue here is the definition.

In terms of what has been defined in the OP ("Total Football is a playing style which consists of high pressure, high speed, high roaming, high line attacking soccer") then the presented tactic may well achieve this.

However, I'm afraid that misses the main strategy of "Total Football" which is for players to be able to move out of their nominally assigned positions into other positions and be replaced by one of their team mates - thus keeping the organisational structure of the team. Which is impossible to create in the ME.

Yes, have players in the team who are able to comfortably play in multiple positions, but they need to be able to swap into those positions during the course of a match. In the ME, and to follow the Mata example above, an AM being played as a BBM doesn't mean he will suddenly become an AM again at certain points of the match, nor does it mean someone else will swap into his starting MC position even if he did.

So, by all means say this tactic may be inspired by Total Football, but don't say this IS Total Football .

It is impossible to emulate any real life playing styles with this ME BUT does not mean we can't try as they are a lot of people trying to get their teams to play like Barcelona 2009 in this ME as evidenced in the other thread and they are struggling to get it perfect

total football is the most impossible style to be replicated with the current ME. coz it's using positional switch between all players (except the GK) far too many and extreme compared to our modern football's switch position term. it's not simply switching player A with B, C to D. a player in a true total football, can play almost anywhere during a match. the current description of very fluid team shape is somewhat inaccurate. it should be the description of pure total football.

I'm seeing a constant theme around Jean's tactics!

That a tactic works is not evidence that it is a good tactic.

If you have good players going attacking/very fluid will be successful. That doesn't mean it is the best possible tactic for those players or for the style you going for.

For instance, those instructions are absurd. Many of them won't do anything at all because they will already be in play by the choice of mentality. Teams that are playing attacking will already use the offside trap. Ticking the box doesn't help and it might hurt. More importantly, it creates information overload so that you won't know why things are working even when they do work. Same thing with much higher line and close down much more. You are already attacking. These aren't going to do anything, at least nothing good.

Instructions should be used parsimoniously, one at a time, for deliberate effect. Each one should be treated as a coherent whole onto itself. You don't have to go pass it shorter + lower tempo because pass it shorter already lowers tempo. Now you can use them both if you want, but you should have an independent reason for doing so.