Barcelona style in FM 2012

[krunccrni]

BARCELONA OBSESSION

This thread inspired me to share my "obsession" with you.

BARCA LA HISTORIA

Ive have great admire for Guardiola and his Barcelona tactic.I was trying in whole year to get same in fm 2011. It was possible to get possession, but amount of passes was impossible. Now when FM2012 is finally here i hope that ME gonna alove more passes. So here is tactic that I used in fm 2011, now with few tweaks iam using that tactic in fm 2012.

My goal is to have constant statistic as much as barcelona in real life.

Its easy to win trophies win Barca, but it isnt easy to play like Barcelone in "real life", and to have that kind of statistic.Actually to have same statistic is impossible...

PEP GUARDIOLA

great blog about Guardiola tactic

http://paradigmaguardiola.blogspot.com/

from article:

"We play in the other team's half as much as possible because I get worried when the ball is in my half," he says. "We're a horrible team without the ball so I want us to get it back as soon as possible and I'd rather give away fouls and the ball in their half than ours." The stats bear that out: Dani Alves makes the fourth highest number of touches in the opposition half in La Liga. He is a full-back. Typically, only the two centre-backs and the goalkeeper spend more than 50% of the game in their own half.

Then there is possession: the top nine passers in La Liga are all Barcelona players. But that is not just an attacking option, it is a defensive one too. "There is no rule like in basketball that says you have to hand over possession or shoot after a certain amount of time, so 'attack' and 'defence' don't exist," Lillo says. Not in Barcelona's model. Barcelona attack to defend; when they lost to Arsenal, Guardiola was angry with Alves not for attacking too much but for attacking badly. That Barcelona lost because they were caught up the pitch is one reading; Guardiola's reading is that had they scored they would not have been caught on the break.

"Barcelona are the only team that defend with the ball; the only team that rests in possession," Lillo says. "They keep the ball so well, they move so collectively, that when you do get it back, you're tired, out of position and they're right on top of you." Lillo knows: his Almería side were defeated 8-0 by Barcelona.

Michael Laudrup, the Mallorca coach, said: "They move the ball so fast that by the time you get there, it's gone. You end up desperate, and shattered." As Rexach notes, Barcelona even waste time with possession. Most teams would go down to the corner; Barcelona would rather keep the ball between themselves.

In order to achieve that dominance, technical ability is fundamental, as is the pressure that is the coach's greatest obsession. But so is positioning. Barça's game is all about creating numerical superiority, opening up angles of passes. "We do a lot of positional work," Vilanova says. "That gives you options and prevents you from making unnecessary effort." Running, as Rexach famously put it, "is for cowards". "At Sevilla, you had to go looking for the ball," Keita says. "Here, it arrives at your feet."

Yet those fundamental lessons do not mean a lack of flexibility or invention. Nor does the faith in their identity mean ignoring the other team. Guardiola was accused by some of being tactically out-thought by José Mourinho last season or by Wenger at the Emirates. If so, it was not for lack of thought. Guardiola is every bit as obsessive a coach as, say, Rafa Benítez. "You wouldn't think so," Barça's reserve goalkeeper, Pinto, says, "but Guardiola controls every little detail." "Every decision is made according to the opposition," says one of Guardiola's collaborators. "Every one."

Messi's withdrawn role was initially employed – in 2009 – to confuse Real Madrid. Barcelona won that Clásico 6-2, Christoph Metzelder saying: "Centre-backs hate being dragged away from that position and we just didn't know whether to follow him out." As one of the staff puts it graphically: "With no No9 you leave the centre-backs to kick each other." Messi has now made that role permanent but not entirely inflexible. The reason is partly tactical, partly a response to the Argentinian's own desire. A different solution with Zlatan Ibrahimovic was aborted because of personal problems.

That means no Plan B – if by Plan B you mean a Big Man. But there are nuances and variations: plans C, D, and E. Besides, seeing tactical awareness only in terms of changing a game in course is a red herring; Guardiola would rather change the course of the game first; a successful coach ends up looking like a less interventionist coach. Against Athletic, he made his players receive on their own byline, four of them lined up around the area to receive from the keeper. "We knew they would pressure high and that risked us being dragged into long balls – which they would inevitably win," he said. Every move was 120 yards long. But if that's what has to be, so be it.

Against Valencia last week, there were three centre-backs and two wing‑backs. Within five minutes, there were also five long, uncharacteristic diagonals. The idea was to force Valencia to think twice about their high pressure. The plan did not entirely work – although Messi had countless chances – and this time Guardiola, suffering with sciatica, did make the change. On came Pedro. Messi got the goal; the assist came from Adriano, the man least expected to be included and the favourite to be removed.

There is a discernible Barcelona philosophy, a style. It is Guardiola's style, one so clear as to appear to suggest rigidity and insularity. The impression is not entirely true. When Guardiola travelled to South America, Menotti encountered a man who "reads, studies, listens and shows an enormous capacity for observation". And the observation is applied to opponents. Guardiola only knows how his team is going to play when he knows how the other team is going to play

Opta: Barcelona the keep-ball kings

Barcelona go into the Champions League final against Manchester United boasting some astounding statistics on ball retention and pass completion, as Opta reveal.

Considered by many to be the greatest side in recent years, Barcelona have won the plaudits not only through their silverware but also through their unique style of play. Below, Opta highlight some of the tactics used by the Blaugrana that makes their style of play so inimitable.

Guardiola ends the European Super Cup final with six central midfielders

Possession

Barcelona have averaged 73.4% possession in their league matches this season, where the next highest by a side in La Liga is 57.0% at Valencia, and the next highest in Europe’s top five leagues is Bayern Munich with 61.5%. In the Champions League this average goes up to 74.3%, with Bayern once more in second place on 62.3%.

The last time they had under 50% possession in a Champions League match was against Werder Bremen in December 2006 (43.5%). They have played 51 matches in the competition since then.

Possession statistic

La Liga season from 2009-2010

Average per game 68%

lowest against Getafe 50%

highest against Tenerife 83%

La Liga season from 2010-2011

Average per game 75%

lowest Valencia 56%

highest Zaragoza 82%

Tiki-taka

The blaugrana’s style of play focuses on the constant movement of the ball to retain possession, otherwise known as tiki-taka. This is underlined by the fact that Barcelona have averaged 747 passes per game in the league this season, over 200 more than any side in Europe’s top five leagues (Arsenal have made 530 per game).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiki-taka

The build-up

Barcelona tend not to pass the ball around their own backline too much, but rather around the middle of the pitch. Just 12% of their passes have been in the defensive third this season in the Champions League (the lowest proportion in the competition), while 61% have been in the middle third of the pitch (the highest proportion).

Xavi Hernández

Barcelona’s schemer-in-chief has put in some astounding performances this season, averaging 122 passes per game in the Champions League, 34 more than any non-Barcelona player (Schweinsteiger has made 88). In his most recent appearance (vs Levante in the league), he made 175 passes, his highest tally in a match for which Opta have data (since 2006/07).

Xavi passing statistics

March 31, 2010 Arsenal v Barcelona: 95 - successful passes

April 6, 2010 Barcelona v Arsenal: 105 - successful passes

April 20, 2010 Inter v Barcelona: 93 - successful passes

May 28 Barcelona v MAN UTD: 142 - successful passes

November 24 Panathinaikos Barcelona: 105 - successful passes

November 2 Copenhagen 1-1 Barcelona: 98 - successful passes

Xavi Is Barca’s Conductor

Xavi’s brilliance is to make the art of playmaking look almost laughably simple:

1) get the ball (you know already where your team-mates are and where they might run to; you know where your opponents are too)

2) control it instantly

3) shield the ball from your opponent (if you have to)

4) pass it to a team-mate, usually on the ground

5) find space, asking for the ball back if necessary

5) Repeat until Messi gets the ball

It’s not as if Xavi stays in the centre circle either. He covered more distance (12.56km) at Camp Nou last night than any other player.

And that’s Xavi’s other trick: staying in the shadows. He is a silent assassin. He keeps his head up, literally, but he also keeps his head down, meaning that he aims to attract as little attention as possible. How does he do this? Well, he is undemonstrative, unflashy, unremarkable even. He plays without ego. Nothing he does screams “Look at me!” He gets football. The team thing. If the fans can see what you are doing, then you can be sure your opponents see you too.

I suppose this is why Xavi remains underrated – relative to Messi, at least – by a lot of football fans, especially in England where we are told repeatedly that Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard would “walk into any team in the world” (neither would get close to Barca’s starting midfield).

The one thing Xavi’s game lacks is goals, but for both Barcelona and Spain, he has his little helpers – Messi, Torres, Villa. Xavi doesn’t need to score wonder goals. After all, he doesn’t want to blow his cover

FC Barcelona 2010/11 Season in Review: Xavi Hernández

Report: Before the club season began Xavi led Spain to World Cup glory. As with Barcelona he orchestrated every play Spain made and ended the campaign with seven games played (all starts) and one assist. That last stat might not show the true importance of Xavi to the Spanish national side, but he is a key component.

Had it not been for the World Cup Xavi might have undergone surgery to repair the damaged Achilles tendon that has been bothering him for the past few season. Because there was no time questions were raised if Xavi will be able to play at his unbelievably high standard. He did. Xavi was simply brilliant throughout the season even though his minutes on the pitch were down from previous years, because he was substituted in nearly half of the games. But most of them came late in games.

Despite the tendon problems Xavi extended the streak of 50+ games played per season to five consecutive years; his only other 50+ appearances season came in 2001/02 season. Xavi was constantly among leaders in passes, passes attempted and successful passes. Those stats tell that he is involved in every play Barca make and he very rarely loses the ball which results in an extremely high pass success rate.

Star-divide

The most interesting stat of Xavi's season is that he made only 7 fouls during in all competitions combined, but he got 6 yellow cards. None of them came for a foul. Another notable stat is that Xavi ended the La Liga season tied for third on the Barcelona team in assist at seven (behind Lionel Messi and Daniel Alves.

Scientometrics, Knowledge Management, and Social Network Analysis

Dani Alves

Watching Barcelona it can often feel as though they have an extra player on the pitch, and in a way, with Dani Alves, they almost do. The Brazilian full-back has made 796 touches in the opposition half in the Champions League this season, second only to Lionel Messi and Xavi in this respect, as his attacking instincts often give Barcelona the extra offensive option they need.

from: http://www.itv.com

[video=youtube;I6A_K8oWqfk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6A_K8oWqfk"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6A_K8oWqfk

Six ways to get your football team playing like Barcelona

It’s no lie that Barcelona are the envy of the footballing world right now. Apart from their contingent of world class players, renowned youth set-up and decorated history, their unique brand of attractive passing football is what has made Pepe Guardiola’s men such a pleasure to watch in recent times.

Intense pressure, high possession and fluid short passing have become trademarks of their game and Sir Alex Ferguson amongst others have already acknowledged that their cerebral style of play is indeed the future of football. So with the world seemingly ready to adapt to the Catalonian’s style of play, where does that leave the teams who aren’t quite blessed with the skill and drive to compete on the European stage week in-week out? What happens to the Hope and Anchor Inn FCs of this world? Or the Woseley Wanderers and Pilgrim United’s of ‘Chiswick and district League division two East?’ Well fear not because La Liga Blog will offer it’s advice on how any team can begin to implementing this unique brand of sexy football.

Choose the Right Formation

So where do we begin? Well the key to any successful footballing side has always been a consistent tactical formation and Barcelona’s set-up is a massive part of how they’re able to hold on to possession with such ease. Guardiola more often than not fields a 4-1-2-2-1 formation for his side’s matches leaving much room for Barca to orchestrate their extensive passing game. We’ve conveniently used football manager’s tactical match engine to visually demonstrate how Barcelona line-up each week.

Because Barcelona’s players are so evenly dispersed across the field, this provides Barca many more passing options whilst formulating an attack making it so effective. Argentine defensive midfielder Javier Mascherano sits just behind play-makers Andreas Iniesta and Xavi whilst guarding his side’s back 4 and wingers Pedro and David Villa occupy either flank in an attacking midfield position leaving Lionel Messi to fight it out alone up top.

This, one assumes is why in recent times the 4-4-2 formation has come under much scrutiny for it’s lack of flexibility and rigidness. In order for this style to work at a lower level of football, a side needs to be used to playing at a very high tempo in confined spaces as the accuracy of ball delivery and movement here is crucial.

Teams should be accustomed to how their team-mates move across the pitch during games and regular practice using one and two touch passing games in training is necessary.

Employ Intelligent Movement

Lionel Messi’s movement off the ball is just phenomenal. The Argentine has a real knack of dragging entire defences out of position leaving every team he faces hopelessly exposed. Take Barcelona’s 5-0 El Clasico win over Madrid this season; countless times Messi would drift seemlessly in and out of the middle of the park taking the whole of the Madrid back four with him which is why Iniesta and Villa were able to exploit so much space out on the wings.

It’s impossible to say whether Barcelona’s playing style is wide or narrow because it changes all the time keeping sides on their toes and making them almost impossible to beat. A team adopting this style of play needs to be clever and not be afraid to let wingers play very loose position-wise.

Perfect the Barcelona Passing Game

Here’s an interesting statistic for you. In this year’s Champions League final at Wembley, Xavi averaged a total of 141 successfully completed passes out of 148 with a whopping pass completion rate of 95%! Michael Carrick from opponents Manchester United on the other hand managed a measly 17 passes out of a possible 29 which equals to a completion rate of just 59%.

It just goes to show that Barcelona’s game is all about accuracy and patience. Trying to be too direct whilst in possession usually leaves attackers isolated and as has been proven all season, no matter how defensive a team a go, Barcelona will always find a way through in the end.

Utilise Lionel Messi’s ‘Fake Number 9′ role

We touched on the impeccable movement of Lionel Messi earlier in this article but his role as the ‘fake number 9′ is key to Barcelona’s attack. The term ‘fake number 9′ has mainly come into popular domain this season and has been used to describe how the Argentine ghosts in and out of a fake number 9 strikers role to drag defenders out of position during a match.

Whilst we’re not expecting teams to possess a player who moves the same way Messi does, a team’s centre forward needs to be very creative when moving into space and possess a canny footballing brain to force defenders out of position and open up space behind.

Defend High Up The Pitch

Whilst most teams at all levels have a habit of retreating frantically back to their defensive trenches whenever they’re caught in possession, Barcelona tend to do the exact opposite and push deeper up the pitch exerting even more pressure in an attempt to win the ball straight back.

It’s no coincidence that Barcelona conceded an average of just 0.55 goals a game last season in La Liga thus proving that defending from the same position you lost the ball can work wonders if you have a team with the fitness and commitment to adhere to such a physically draining tactic.

Be Disciplined

Especially at amateur level there is a burning desire for most players ‘to get rid’ when under pressure in possession and hoof the ball aimlessly away to safety but watch Barcelona for 90 minutes and you’ll rarely see them play the ball over waist height. What has made Barcelona so successful in recent years is their will to win but in the right way.

No longer is the result the most important aspect of a game and the belief that playing the correct way first and caring about the result second has now been firmly been embedded into the Catalonian club’s culture forever. Barcelona would rather play attractive football and lose as apposed to winning in an ugly way and this is a huge pyschological barrier for teams to overcome if they wish to model their game on Barcelona. Coaches of sides wishing to adopt this style of play need to emphasise that for the short-term winning isn’t important and that teams should always look to play the short simple pass instead of trying the too often unsuccessful long-ball hoof up-field.

So there you have it – the six main ways any side can start to employ Barcelona’s winning formula.

Please be aware the list above is merely a guide on how teams far and wide can begin to model their style of play on Barcelona. If Pepe Guardiola’s men play football in supposedly the correct way, there is no reason why all teams no matter how good shouldn’t begin to do the same.

Teams need so much more than the points mentioned in this article but by sticking to these few principles all sides can begin to emulate Barcelona’s much sought after style of football.

by Andy Macfarlane Written on July 21, 2011 at 11:24 am

http://www.laligablog.com/2011/07/21/six-ways-to-get-your-football-team-playing-like-barcelona/

So i wanted to create tactic same like Barca use with three most important tasks:

1.possession 65%+

2.completed passes 400+

3. Xavi passes 100+

Ive accomplished first two, but to make Xavi 100+ passes per game is more difficult...

But obviously not impossible

[krunccrni]

Its classic tactic, imported from my fm 2011 save, with some tweaks, players positions looks like

this. If you want you can try to change from classic to regular maybe FM 2012 match engine will be

more "friendly" to amount of passes then fm 2011.

I still need to find a way to force other players to pass more to Xavi, and to force Xavi to want

ball more, to more open for recieving pass.

Maybe train other players expecially full backs to play one-two, and make full back to pass more to Xavi.

So iam gonna share this tactic with you, and with other FM fans that are interesting to make tactis in FM 2012 that will be replica of Guardiola real life tactic.

Hope that you will try it, any suggestions how to improve tactic are more than welcome.

[krunccrni]

[krunccrni]

Iam very curious to see when Puyol and Pique gets fully recovered wiil Guardiola play new tactic, or will he get back to 433.

So here it is link, try it, tweak it, share it

http://www.fileserve.com/file/Gahwc4U/Tic-Tac_barca_1.3a_%28Barcelona,_Sep_2011%29.tac

[Rekoil]

I love threads like this where real life tactics are dissected and replicated in FM. Thanks for the time and effort that you've clearly put into this, sir. It's great stuff.

[GREEKkOPITE]

are you using MCR as playmaker?

pitch size ?

[krunccrni]

I love threads like this where real life tactics are dissected and replicated in FM. Thanks for the time and effort that you've clearly put into this, sir. It's great stuff.

thx for comment still have a lot work to make it as real as possible

[krunccrni]

are you using MCR as playmaker?

pitch size ?

yes MCR. Ive tried him at dmc, but he cant get more passes because opponent marks him tightly and its more easy for opponent to mark him that way because he is in centre of pitch.

Pitch size maximum.

He is playmaker, and he takes all corners and free kicks.

Now Iam working on some more tricks to get him even more involved in team passing, like set throw in to short, and only him to come short, so throw in taker throw ball to him.

[krunccrni]

[krunccrni]

Xavi

[krunccrni]

[ireland64]

match preparation?

[GREEKkOPITE]

your striker scoring ?

cause i start with Liverpool and I'm playing with Suarez as striker but he just scored 1 at 6 apps (friendlies)

I'm thinking to add some notches to his mentality.

[krunccrni]

match preparation?

assistent manager take care of that, not yet full

[krunccrni]

your striker scoring ?

cause i start with Liverpool and I'm playing with Suarez as striker but he just scored 1 at 6 apps (friendlies)

I'm thinking to add some notches to his mentality.

yes, you shoud put him high normal mentality, and to run with ball sometimes. messi and villa will score no mather what mentality are they on. I think that with few tweaks tactic can be used with Liverpool

[GREEKkOPITE]

I bought Tevez and playing him as striker (change his mentality slider one before attacking) put Suarez right winger also removed swap positions

and now they both scoring

[kawaii]

realy good post we've got here =) i'll give it a try, i'll come back with some results...but im gonna try with some smaller team, but where the tactic also can fit, and see how it goes.. cheers mate!

[caser]

krunccrni what settings would you suggest to change so it can be used whit Juventus?

[ipswichjon2]

I've been trying to build a Barca' style tactic using the wizard and thanks to having a look at your settings I've managed to tweak my tactic effectively.

Great possession stats but the striker isn't scoring much II think I need a much quicker and more clinical player for him to be effective) but I am Ipswich Town so not expecting to bang in 5-0 every week. Won all 11 pre-season games, 60%+ possession, at least 3 CCC and without conceding except a 2-0 away defeat to Colchester where they scored with their only 2 shots both from corners.

Krunccrni would it be okay to post a link to my version here (that's of I can work out how to do that!!!?) as my version has been significantly influenced by looking at yours, cheers.

[krunccrni]

I've been trying to build a Barca' style tactic using the wizard and thanks to having a look at your settings I've managed to tweak my tactic effectively.

Great possession stats but the striker isn't scoring much II think I need a much quicker and more clinical player for him to be effective) but I am Ipswich Town so not expecting to bang in 5-0 every week. Won all 11 pre-season games, 60%+ possession, at least 3 CCC and without conceding except a 2-0 away defeat to Colchester where they scored with their only 2 shots both from corners.

Krunccrni would it be okay to post a link to my version here (that's of I can work out how to do that!!!?) as my version has been significantly influenced by looking at yours, cheers.

60%+ possession and 11 wins sounds great. How is your team passing? Set your striker to more att mentality, maybe put him as target men.Also try to set up defending corners and free kicks to match ability of your players.

Yes of course you can upload it, you can put some screenshots if you want

[krunccrni]

krunccrni what settings would you suggest to change so it can be used whit Juventus?

Set your striker to more att mentality, maybe put him as target men.Also try to set up defending corners and free kicks to match ability of your players.

Pirlo as playmaker, Krasic, Giaccherini, Pepe as wingers/inside forwards, Vucinic, Del Piero, Quagliarella as strikers...

[krunccrni]

maybe not a ton of shots at goal, but lot of cc

[krunccrni]

currently testing and trying a few more tweaks

More possession, less concedeing

[krunccrni]

Nice and big win even without Xavi

[FuSS]

I've grabbed the older uploaded version of this, very different from the kind of tactics I'm known for making, but what the hell...it's a demo and this looks fairly inspirational.

Any idea when you'll up the latest version?

[intergral]

yeah could u please upload v2.0. im having alot of goals conceded

[krunccrni]

yeah could u please upload v2.0. im having alot of goals conceded

what team are you using? because it needs probably tweaking if you using other team and to match ability of your players

[krunccrni]

36 games

32 wins

4 draws

0 losses

FIXTURE LIST

87 goals for

11 goals against

Goal scoring time

Most goal conceded from corners, and kind of strange mistakes of my players

[UnlikelyStory]

Nice and big win even without Xavi

Small query, but wouldn't the AMC need moving to AMCL and AMR moved to AML? Just because I believe Villa plays best in the AML position. Hard to get a starting lineup to include all of Barca's main men. I'm guessing you would have Iniesta in the AMCL role with Xavi as the playmaker.

[krunccrni]

GOAL ASSISTS

Tactic used

Tactic against

CONCLUSION

Possession, and team passing are satisfying.

Possession; all games are over 60%, and most of them near or above 70%.

Team passing: all games above 400 completed passes, most of them 500 or above.

Xavi passing: still impossible to get him constant 100+ passes. His average is around 70-80 completed passes. I was trying to change his position but it seems that other managers uses tight marking on him and hard tackling, he was two times injured during match. Maybe with some other teams where other managers wont using tight marking on playmaker would be easier to achieve 100 passes.

[krunccrni]

Also during the match i like to change players positions, because option "swap player" doesnt work the way I would like, and also when players swap position they also swap duties, so if I swap position Xavi-Mascerano, Xavi will have little creativity, hard tackling, etc...

The point is to change formation and players position without changing duties.

You can start match with this tactic shape

then you can change it to this

And of course it depends who is your opponent, example against real madrid- ronaldo is threat on flanks so full backs must be pushed more back.

[oneskyride]

could you upoad your new tactic?

[krunccrni]

Small query, but wouldn't the AMC need moving to AMCL and AMR moved to AML? Just because I believe Villa plays best in the AML position. Hard to get a starting lineup to include all of Barca's main men. I'm guessing you would have Iniesta in the AMCL role with Xavi as the playmaker.

Its Barcelona, they all can play on all positions. I am trying all kind of solutions, during that match I actually put villa on aml, thiago mcr, and iniesta amc. Fabregas was playmaker.

After I finished half season I can tell that match engine is still the same.

There is still that strange "left side problem" where my gk,(defender collect, pique) and most of players force to pass ball on left side. That was an issue in fm 11.

One of most annoying thing is when is ball near corner, or side line players run on the ball and push it over the line, not one single time player actually manage to retrieve and save so the ball doesn't get out of play.

[krunccrni]

could you upoad your new tactic?

I will upload it very soon, I'm working on two sets of tactic, first is regular, and second is when team has advantage, I want to get more passes.

[yonko]

After I finished half season I can tell that match engine is still the same.

There is still that strange "left side problem" where my gk,(defender collect, pique) and most of players force to pass ball on left side. That was an issue in fm 11.

One of most annoying thing is when is ball near corner, or side line players run on the ball and push it over the line, not one single time player actually manage to retrieve and save so the ball doesn't get out of play.

I've noticed the same strange "left side problem" too. It is so annoying!

I've been working on my own Barca tactic while playing as them on the Demo (yes, I've looked at your tactic which you've uploaded, just for reference and ideas). My tactic is made with the TC but very modified. The MCR (Xavi/Fabregas) makes more passes than the MCL (Iniesta/Thiago), but my DL (Abidal/Baines) and my DCL (Vertonghen) make far more passes than my DR (Alves) and DCR (Pique). My GK is set to "defenders collect" and to distribute to Pique (he has slightly lower mentality than Vertonghen. The MCR is selected as my Playmaker and he has the same Mentality as my DM ( both lower than anyone else on the team, even the DCs). If I'm not mistaken in your tactic your GK distributes to your DCR and your MCR is the playmaker too, right?

I've tried all kinds of combinations of instructions, but the "left side problem" is always there. It seems like the ME prefers the left side, at least when it comes to building from the back. I say that because my AMR (Pedro/Sanchez) outperforms my AML (Villa/Neymar), even though they have identical instructions (RFD = often, RWB = sometimes, TTB = sometimes, everything else on rarely). My passing focus is set to "through the middle" but my width is set to "wide" (to create more space).

I've been thinking if the footedness of my DCs have anything to do with it? Vertonghen is left footed (thus probably preferring to play passes more to the left side) while Pique is right footed (preferring to pass to the right side). I haven't played Puyol at DCL yet as I'm still early in the save/season, when he is still not fully fit from his injury he starts the game with.

I guess I'll have to experiment further with different combinations. Here is what I'm thinking:

1. Switch the DCs - Pique to DCL and Vertonghen to DCR (distribution is still to the DCR)

2. Keep DCs the same, but switch MCL and MCR along with their instructions ( Xavi = MCL set as playmaker, Iniesta = MCR)

3. Switch both DCs and MCL with MCR (try distribution to either DC)

My other problem that I've seen so far with the ME is that the Inside Forwards (AML and AMR) don't move inside as well as they did in FM11. And when they do move inside, my STC's (Messi, whose settings make him play very close to as he does IRL) through balls aren't as effective as they were in FM11 with the exact same player settings. I think I see that FBs in FM12 ME do a better job at tracking such infield runs from wide players.

Overall, so far I'm pretty disappointed with this ME as it is the same as before IMO too. There have been some nice changes with FM12, but the most important part of the game (for me at least, the ME is the heart & soul of this game) hasn't been changed all that much. It just looks a little more polished on the surface and the graphics look better, but how players actually play according to their instructions hasn't been improved.

BTW, my tcatic's familiarity is almost to the max, so I've ruled out that as cause for my problems. And lastly, I play/watch my games on "Extended highlights". How do you play/watch your games? On FM11 I'd noticed that my players make more passes (and complete more of them) when I watched games on "Key highlights". But on FM12 I've noticed that more injuries occur when I watch my games that way. Do you think that watching the games on different modes has any effect on the passing as far as total number and pass completion/possession %?

Thanks, keep up the good work, btw!

[E.Gray]

Is there anyone who gets 60+ possession at home, but away they struggle to get 50 percent even against the average teams?

[rune_star]

How can the ME be unchanged when inside forwards apparently doesn't work as before, or when fullbacks are better than in FM11???

[krunccrni]

I've noticed the same strange "left side problem" too. It is so annoying!

I've been working on my own Barca tactic while playing as them on the Demo (yes, I've looked at your tactic which you've uploaded, just for reference and ideas). My tactic is made with the TC but very modified. The MCR (Xavi/Fabregas) makes more passes than the MCL (Iniesta/Thiago), but my DL (Abidal/Baines) and my DCL (Vertonghen) make far more passes than my DR (Alves) and DCR (Pique). My GK is set to "defenders collect" and to distribute to Pique (he has slightly lower mentality than Vertonghen. The MCR is selected as my Playmaker and he has the same Mentality as my DM ( both lower than anyone else on the team, even the DCs). If I'm not mistaken in your tactic your GK distributes to your DCR and your MCR is the playmaker too, right?

Yes Gk distributes to dcr, but despite of that he likes to pass or throw ball to left side... MCR is playmaker, I also tried to move him to MCL so he can grab some more passes on left side, but he didnt get anymore passes than on MCR position. I noticed that after first half AI manager always put tight marking on my playmaker.

I've tried all kinds of combinations of instructions, but the "left side problem" is always there. It seems like the ME prefers the left side, at least when it comes to building from the back. I say that because my AMR (Pedro/Sanchez) outperforms my AML (Villa/Neymar), even though they have identical instructions (RFD = often, RWB = sometimes, TTB = sometimes, everything else on rarely). My passing focus is set to "through the middle" but my width is set to "wide" (to create more space).

I've been thinking if the footedness of my DCs have anything to do with it? Vertonghen is left footed (thus probably preferring to play passes more to the left side) while Pique is right footed (preferring to pass to the right side). I haven't played Puyol at DCL yet as I'm still early in the save/season, when he is still not fully fit from his injury he starts the game with.

I guess I'll have to experiment further with different combinations. Here is what I'm thinking:

1. Switch the DCs - Pique to DCL and Vertonghen to DCR (distribution is still to the DCR)

2. Keep DCs the same, but switch MCL and MCR along with their instructions ( Xavi = MCL set as playmaker, Iniesta = MCR)

3. Switch both DCs and MCL with MCR (try distribution to either DC)

That is what I've been testing.(must due to injuries)

RB(left foot) CBR(right foot) CBL(left foot) LB(right foot)

maxwell pique abidal puyol

maxwell and puyol through ball tick to sometimes so they try to pass more to middle to MCR or MCL.

Ideal player for puyol role would be philippe lahm, adriano is good because he can play with both foot.

My other problem that I've seen so far with the ME is that the Inside Forwards (AML and AMR) don't move inside as well as they did in FM11. And when they do move inside, my STC's (Messi, whose settings make him play very close to as he does IRL) through balls aren't as effective as they were in FM11 with the exact same player settings. I think I see that FBs in FM12 ME do a better job at tracking such infield runs from wide players.

Overall, so far I'm pretty disappointed with this ME as it is the same as before IMO too. There have been some nice changes with FM12, but the most important part of the game (for me at least, the ME is the heart & soul of this game) hasn't been changed all that much. It just looks a little more polished on the surface and the graphics look better, but how players actually play according to their instructions hasn't been improved.

I agree, ME is reason way I rather play FM then some others manager games. Iam a little disappointed with ME.

In fm2012 I like the most tactical analysis of played games.

BTW, my tcatic's familiarity is almost to the max, so I've ruled out that as cause for my problems. And lastly, I play/watch my games on "Extended highlights". How do you play/watch your games? On FM11 I'd noticed that my players make more passes (and complete more of them) when I watched games on "Key highlights". But on FM12 I've noticed that more injuries occur when I watch my games that way. Do you think that watching the games on different modes has any effect on the passing as far as total number and pass completion/possession %?

Thanks, keep up the good work, btw!

I've tried to watch full game, and key highlights and for now i didnt noticed difference in match statistic. For me in fm 11 my players had more passes when I was watching full game.

Thanks for your post

[krunccrni]

Is there anyone who gets 60+ possession at home, but away they struggle to get 50 percent even against the average teams?

what team? If you using my tactic rry to adjust players positions, depend on what formation is AI playing. For example if he plays 442 or than you can move your dmc to mc. sometimes you can move your sc to amc, or aml to amc

[yonko]

How can the ME be unchanged when inside forwards apparently doesn't work as before, or when fullbacks are better than in FM11???

The ME hasn't changed in terms of passing, possession and certain old tendencies such as the aforementioned preference towards the left side. It hasn't changed the fact that despite setting up a specific player to be the playmaker and a specific player who the GK distributes to, both of them being on the right-hand side of the field (DCR and MCR in this case), the match analysis still shows "left side" as seeing more action in terms of passing and ball movement. The same was on FM11, hence why I said not much has changed in the ME.

I said I've noticed problems with my Inside Forwards moving in field, which different than on FM11, but that could be also due to my AML and AMR lacking PPMs. I mostly noticed that when playing Neymar and Sanchez on my Barca save - they each have only "moves into channels" as PPM, while the wide play instructions are "cut inside".

I realize the fact that even when I set someone like Xavi as the playmaker the opposition might try to mark him out of the game, therefore my team will try to redirect the play away from him. However, someone like Xavi is very hard to mark, IRL and in FM given his attributes and abilities. Moreover, I've also noticed that my MCL (Iniesta or whoever else that is not set as playmaker) is also tightly marked by the opposition just as Xavi is. Most teams I've played against also use just one STC against me. He can't be possibly marking only my DCR and I haven't noticed him doing so when viewing my matches on extended highlights, like I've noticed both my MCs being tightly marked.

So what else explains this prefers towards the left-hand side of the field? Perhaps it is a flaw in the ME? And it is not just me who has noticed that, as the OP has noticed that too. FYI, my MCR is set up with much lower mentality and no RFD compare to my MCL. My DCR also has lower mentality compare to my DCL. I have done everything there could possibly be done with the instructions (including keep my passing focus through the middle at all times, whilst alternating between playing narrower or wider) to ensure that my DCR and MCR see more of the ball. Having said that, my MCR makes and completes more passes than my MCL, but it is the opposite with my DCs - the DCL makes almost twice as many passes as my DCR. Yet, my DM makes more passes than both of my DCs and more or less the same amount as my MCR. Oh, and also must say that my DL makes almost twice as many passes as my DR. The visual picture on the tactical analysis shows clearly more passes exchanged on the left-hand side in my defensive half of the field and I can see that when I watch the match highlights as they unfold. Curiously, the passing exchange is shown as pretty even further up field in the opponents half of the field.

I will go into the game and take a screenshot to show what I'm talking about, but you can pretty much have a look at the screenshots already posted here by the OP - mine look similar, albeit with slightly less amount of passes.

Yes Gk distributes to dcr, but despite of that he likes to pass or throw ball to left side... MCR is playmaker, I also tried to move him to MCL so he can grab some more passes on left side, but he didnt get anymore passes than on MCR position. I noticed that after first half AI manager always put tight marking on my playmaker.

That is what I've been testing.(must due to injuries)

RB(left foot) CBR(right foot) CBL(left foot) LB(right foot)

maxwell pique abidal puyol

maxwell and puyol through ball tick to sometimes so they try to pass more to middle to MCR or MCL.

Ideal player for puyol role would be philippe lahm, adriano is good because he can play with both foot.

I agree, ME is reason way I rather play FM then some others manager games. Iam a little disappointed with ME.

In fm2012 I like the most tactical analysis of played games.

I've tried to watch full game, and key highlights and for now i didnt noticed difference in match statistic. For me in fm 11 my players had more passes when I was watching full game.

Thanks for your post

You are welcome. Barca is my favorite team (for a long time, even when they weren't successful) and I enjoy trying to play on FM like they do IRL. It is very hard thing to do due to the limitations of the ME every edition, but it is a challenge and there aren't that many of them when using Barca on FM, considering I win everything with them every season.

So, you have tried different combinations, especially the one where you move the MCR to MCL (along with his individual player settings) and you haven't noticed any improvement in the passing? Ok, how about this: have you noticed then a tendency for the passing to switch more towards the right-hand side of the field in the match analysis? I mean when the playmaker is at MCL and especially when you add the DCL as someone who the GK distributes to.....

I wonder if this tendency we both notice exists because of which side these two players are playing on. I wonder what happens if the playmaker plays in a MC, AMC or STC (as Trequartista) positions. Have you experimented with that or have you experimented not setting a specific player for the GK to distribute to and no specific player as the playamaker.

I'm gonna spend some time experimenting. Hopefully you have the time and desire to do the same. We can exchange our findings at some point perhaps. Just a reminder: your tactic is in Classic mode, while mine is with the TC (manually adjusting all settings as necessary).

[E.Gray]

what team? If you using my tactic rry to adjust players positions, depend on what formation is AI playing. For example if he plays 442 or than you can move your dmc to mc. sometimes you can move your sc to amc, or aml to amc

I apologize for been too vague, but i was just talking in general (i have now fixed the problem).

Been doing a little bit of experimenting with my own barca tactic, it pretty simple and i am not any where near other people's level of knowledge in terms of tactics but this happened which i thought someone liked to see, the possession is pretty poor but....

no cesc or messi either

[däkkä]

I have noticed the left-side preference too and it's pretty annoying because it has knock-on affects. Left-back and left wide forward grab more assists than their right-side counterparts and thus get better ratings and higher morale. I'm wondering if it's opponent tactics that have too much of an impact on yours. The playmaker tight marking is overly effective in my opinion and it's not the only issue. I'd like to hear what you guys think.

If they focus their passing down right flank, it'd be only natural that ball is played on that side of the pitch more. Statistically, right sided (footed) players should be of a higher calibre than left sided simply because there are more of them. I can see the AI playing to its strengths and exploiting human manager's weaknesses. I don't think that's the case really but it's a theory.

A more valid theory for me is that the left-sided defenders are under less pressure and have more space and time. It's only empiric data from FM11 and '12 demo, but it seems my DL makes to some extent more panicky clearances than DR and my DCL more than DCR. You know the way how he's allowed to have the ball for ages, no opponent will close him down and none of his team mates make themselves playable. I constantly see the DL and DCL not closed down and it doesn't happen with the two right-sided defenders.

[yonko]

Well, this left-hand side preference has kind of disappeared with my tactic. All I did was to remove the DCR name from the "distribute to" box for my GK individual instructions. Now he just has "defenders collect" without any specific name in it.

In addition, I now use Puyol as DCL (since has recovered from his knee cap injury) next to Pique. Dani Alves is on the right, Baines/Abidal is on the left and of course Busquets or Mascherano as DM. Now the number of passes each of them make is more evenly split between them. However, they all make as many (and sometimes even more than) passes as my MCR (Xavi/Fabregas) makes (he is still set as my Playmaker).

My passing has been set to "through the middle" and the passing patterns have NOT shown any left-hand side tendencies (I've played 4 matches since the change). In one game, I switched the passing focus to "mixed" and the passing pattern was all over the field, from wing to wing. So that "virus" has been cured so to speak......

Now I have to find a solution to how I can make my MCR make the most/the highest number of passes in every game. As of now, he makes around 50 passes per game, completing about 90%+ of them. But my defensive 5 unit also gets very close to that number and sometimes even surpasses it. I think it may be an issue due to my Tempo and/or Time Wasting. Most pass exchanges occur around the center circle just inside my half, suggesting that perhaps the ball is passed too much between my 2 DCs and my DM. My Tempo is set to "slow", 3-4 clicks from the left, while my Time Wasting is set to the first click of "sometimes".

Does anyone have any suggestions regarding Tempo and Time Wasting? I'm still a little confused as to what they mean/do, especially in terms of aiding possession. Isn't Tempo how quickly players play and isn't Time Wasting how eager players are to get the ball up the field?

Anyway, here is a little bit more info on how my team is set:

Mentality = default TC setting for Balanced Philosophy with a Standard strategy ( I often change that to Control )

Closing Down = default, except for the DR, DL and STC who are manually adjusted to the max setting

Passing = manually set to various levels of short. If 1 = shortest and 6 = highest short, then:

GK = 3

DR/DL = 5

2DCs = 1

DM = 1

MCR = 2

MCL = 4

AMR/AML = 5

STC = 3

Creative Freedom = middle of Normal for the defensive 5, lowest High for the 2 MCs + AMR/L and max freedom for STC.

Tackling = Easy on everyone, except the GK who is on Normal

Runs from deep = DR, DL, MCR, MCL - mixed, AML, AMR - often, STC - none

Run with the Ball = AMR, AML, STC - mixed, none for the rest of the team

Long Shots = none

Try Through Balls = 2 MCs, AMR, AML, STC - mixed, none for the rest

Cross Ball = none

Wide Play = AMR, AML - cut inside (default), STC - normal, the rest on normal too

Roaming = AML, AMR, STC - yes (I've experimented with both MCs on "yes" too)

Hold up Ball = I've gone from "yes" on everyone from "none" for everyone ( I only see more possession but not necessarily higher number of passes)

That is my set up in a nutshell.......Any suggestions, anyone?

Thanks

[krunccrni]

The ME hasn't changed in terms of passing, possession and certain old tendencies such as the aforementioned preference towards the left side. It hasn't changed the fact that despite setting up a specific player to be the playmaker and a specific player who the GK distributes to, both of them being on the right-hand side of the field (DCR and MCR in this case), the match analysis still shows "left side" as seeing more action in terms of passing and ball movement. The same was on FM11, hence why I said not much has changed in the ME.

I said I've noticed problems with my Inside Forwards moving in field, which different than on FM11, but that could be also due to my AML and AMR lacking PPMs. I mostly noticed that when playing Neymar and Sanchez on my Barca save - they each have only "moves into channels" as PPM, while the wide play instructions are "cut inside".

I realize the fact that even when I set someone like Xavi as the playmaker the opposition might try to mark him out of the game, therefore my team will try to redirect the play away from him. However, someone like Xavi is very hard to mark, IRL and in FM given his attributes and abilities. Moreover, I've also noticed that my MCL (Iniesta or whoever else that is not set as playmaker) is also tightly marked by the opposition just as Xavi is. Most teams I've played against also use just one STC against me. He can't be possibly marking only my DCR and I haven't noticed him doing so when viewing my matches on extended highlights, like I've noticed both my MCs being tightly marked.

So what else explains this prefers towards the left-hand side of the field? Perhaps it is a flaw in the ME? And it is not just me who has noticed that, as the OP has noticed that too. FYI, my MCR is set up with much lower mentality and no RFD compare to my MCL. My DCR also has lower mentality compare to my DCL. I have done everything there could possibly be done with the instructions (including keep my passing focus through the middle at all times, whilst alternating between playing narrower or wider) to ensure that my DCR and MCR see more of the ball. Having said that, my MCR makes and completes more passes than my MCL, but it is the opposite with my DCs - the DCL makes almost twice as many passes as my DCR. Yet, my DM makes more passes than both of my DCs and more or less the same amount as my MCR. Oh, and also must say that my DL makes almost twice as many passes as my DR. The visual picture on the tactical analysis shows clearly more passes exchanged on the left-hand side in my defensive half of the field and I can see that when I watch the match highlights as they unfold. Curiously, the passing exchange is shown as pretty even further up field in the opponents half of the field.

I will go into the game and take a screenshot to show what I'm talking about, but you can pretty much have a look at the screenshots already posted here by the OP - mine look similar, albeit with slightly less amount of passes.

You are welcome. Barca is my favorite team (for a long time, even when they weren't successful) and I enjoy trying to play on FM like they do IRL. It is very hard thing to do due to the limitations of the ME every edition, but it is a challenge and there aren't that many of them when using Barca on FM, considering I win everything with them every season.

So, you have tried different combinations, especially the one where you move the MCR to MCL (along with his individual player settings) and you haven't noticed any improvement in the passing? Ok, how about this: have you noticed then a tendency for the passing to switch more towards the right-hand side of the field in the match analysis? I mean when the playmaker is at MCL and especially when you add the DCL as someone who the GK distributes to.....

I wonder if this tendency we both notice exists because of which side these two players are playing on. I wonder what happens if the playmaker plays in a MC, AMC or STC (as Trequartista) positions. Have you experimented with that or have you experimented not setting a specific player for the GK to distribute to and no specific player as the playamaker.

I'm gonna spend some time experimenting. Hopefully you have the time and desire to do the same. We can exchange our findings at some point perhaps. Just a reminder: your tactic is in Classic mode, while mine is with the TC (manually adjusting all settings as necessary).

1.Does your GK like to throw or pass ball to LB, even if other players like DCR or DR have more space for clear recieving of ball?

That is one of main reasons, maybe we need left hand GK

I also noticed when I play with one DMC and two MC, both MC are tight marked (its easier to mark them for AI) and they have less passes. So I move one MC to AMC and DMC to MC, and now MC and DMC/MC have more passes, because AI needs to mark one more player (AMC) and cant tight mark all of them.

Also i like to put AMR to AMC during match, so RB have more space and its more harder for AI manager to tight mark them.

Tight marking by AI is very good, almost too good, I would like to see more from great players like Xavi, Iniesta or Messi to get rid of players that mark them.

Who can play against Barcelona man on man defence? And AI

managers on fm use that too much, I dont mind that, but they are to good at that or Barca player are too bad when they are under pressure.

2. I was trying with playmaker on SC, AMC, DMC positions be he can get amount of passes like on MC.

If I play without playmaker then cant get more then 70 passes from player.

If GK has no player to distribute to then he pass all ball to left side. Maybe left footed GK is left handed and he plays more ball to right side.

I will try to experiment with right/left foot to see how will that reflect on passing.I have classic tactic because I did get more passes from classic tactic in FM 2011.

Its nice to see that someone else is trying to emulate barca tactic.

[krunccrni]

Well, this left-hand side preference has kind of disappeared with my tactic. All I did was to remove the DCR name from the "distribute to" box for my GK individual instructions. Now he just has "defenders collect" without any specific name in it.

In addition, I now use Puyol as DCL (since has recovered from his knee cap injury) next to Pique. Dani Alves is on the right, Baines/Abidal is on the left and of course Busquets or Mascherano as DM. Now the number of passes each of them make is more evenly split between them. However, they all make as many (and sometimes even more than) passes as my MCR (Xavi/Fabregas) makes (he is still set as my Playmaker).

My passing has been set to "through the middle" and the passing patterns have NOT shown any left-hand side tendencies (I've played 4 matches since the change). In one game, I switched the passing focus to "mixed" and the passing pattern was all over the field, from wing to wing. So that "virus" has been cured so to speak......

Nice,I will try it.

Now I have to find a solution to how I can make my MCR make the most/the highest number of passes in every game. As of now, he makes around 50 passes per game, completing about 90%+ of them. But my defensive 5 unit also gets very close to that number and sometimes even surpasses it. I think it may be an issue due to my Tempo and/or Time Wasting. Most pass exchanges occur around the center circle just inside my half, suggesting that perhaps the ball is passed too much between my 2 DCs and my DM. My Tempo is set to "slow", 3-4 clicks from the left, while my Time Wasting is set to the first click of "sometimes".

Try this

I also noticed when I play with one DMC and two MC, both MC are tight marked (its easier to mark them for AI) and they have less passes. So I move one MC to AMC and DMC to MC, and now MC and DMC/MC have more passes, because AI needs to mark one more player (AMC) and cant tight mark all of them.

Also i like to put AMR to AMC during match, so RB have more space and its more harder for AI manager to tight mark them.

Does anyone have any suggestions regarding Tempo and Time Wasting? I'm still a little confused as to what they mean/do, especially in terms of aiding possession. Isn't Tempo how quickly players play and isn't Time Wasting how eager players are to get the ball up the field?

Anyway, here is a little bit more info on how my team is set:

Mentality = default TC setting for Balanced Philosophy with a Standard strategy ( I often change that to Control )

Closing Down = default, except for the DR, DL and STC who are manually adjusted to the max setting

Passing = manually set to various levels of short. If 1 = shortest and 6 = highest short, then:

GK = 3

DR/DL = 5

2DCs = 1

DM = 1

MCR = 2

MCL = 4

AMR/AML = 5

STC = 3

Creative Freedom = middle of Normal for the defensive 5, lowest High for the 2 MCs + AMR/L and max freedom for STC.

Tackling = Easy on everyone, except the GK who is on Normal

Runs from deep = DR, DL, MCR, MCL - mixed, AML, AMR - often, STC - none

Run with the Ball = AMR, AML, STC - mixed, none for the rest of the team

Long Shots = none

Try Through Balls = 2 MCs, AMR, AML, STC - mixed, none for the rest

Cross Ball = none

Wide Play = AMR, AML - cut inside (default), STC - normal, the rest on normal too

Roaming = AML, AMR, STC - yes (I've experimented with both MCs on "yes" too)

Hold up Ball = I've gone from "yes" on everyone from "none" for everyone ( I only see more possession but not necessarily higher number of passes)

That is my set up in a nutshell.......Any suggestions, anyone?

Thanks

I've tried mixing tempo, time wasting, with mentality of players and I got best results when mentality is on normal, one tick to att, tempo slow (two ticks from left), wasting time on rarely (two ticks from left)

[yonko]

Nice,I will try it.

Try this

I've tried mixing tempo, time wasting, with mentality of players and I got best results when mentality is on normal, one tick to att, tempo slow (two ticks from left), wasting time on rarely (two ticks from left)

I appreciate the suggestions, but I was looking more for alternate player/team instructions, not so much for alternate formations. I'd like to stick true to the 4-1-2-2-1 as much as possible, with perhaps only considering 4-3-2-1 (2=AMR/L) as a slight alternative. Having 3MCs vs oppositions' 2MCs might make it harder for them to tight mark, especially the playmaker.

Earlier, I forgot to write down the Roles and Duties of my players and that is important because of me opting to keep Mentalities and Closing Down on default TC settings. Here they are:

GK - Sweeper Keeper - support

DR - Wingback - attack

DCR - Ball Playing Defender - cover

DCL - Central Defender - defend

DL - Fullback - attack

DM - Defensive Midfielder - defend (if I decide to play with 3 MCs, he would be Ball Winning Midfielder on defend)

MCR - Deep-lying Playmaker - support

MCL - Advanced Playmaker - attack

AMR/L - Inside Forward - attack

STC - Trequartista - attack (but his Mentality is lower than the Inside Forwards)

An alternative would be to use the Wingback/Fullback on Support, the DM (MCC, if using 3 MCs) as Deep-Lying Playmaker on Defend, MCR as Advanced Playmaker on Support and keep the STC as Trequartista or change him to a Role that has Support Duty (Complete Forward or Deep-lying Forward).

Have you experimented with Roaming on the MCs and if yes, what have you noticed? Do they get more of the ball or less? Does that help them evade tight marking from the opposition or does it detach them from their teammates (forcing the defenders to play passes more between themselves)?

I'm happy just as you are that someone else is working on recreating a Barcelona tactic. I think is good also that we are working at it on two different Tactic modes - Classic vs TC. I think it will be pretty impossible to get the playmaker to make consistently 100 passes like Xavi IRL, but we can at least come up with a tactic that achieves it as close as possible. But what I'm more after is that I want most of my passes/possession to be in the Midfield Third, slightly just into the opposition's half. That diamond (magnificent) 4 of Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta and Messi makes a lot of passes between them IRL and Alves on the right too.

Anyway, I'm off to experiment with a few things and see what I can achieve. I will report later (I'm in USA, btw - it is 1:47pm at the moment).

Keep up the good work. BTW, do you have any more (recent) screenshots of your passing analysis, with or without experiments?

[cragswfc]

I appreciate the suggestions, but I was looking more for alternate player/team instructions, not so much for alternate formations. I'd like to stick true to the 4-1-2-2-1 as much as possible, with perhaps only considering 4-3-2-1 (2=AMR/L) as a slight alternative. Having 3MCs vs oppositions' 2MCs might make it harder for them to tight mark, especially the playmaker.

Earlier, I forgot to write down the Roles and Duties of my players and that is important because of me opting to keep Mentalities and Closing Down on default TC settings. Here they are:

GK - Sweeper Keeper - support

DR - Wingback - attack

DCR - Ball Playing Defender - cover

DCL - Central Defender - defend

DL - Fullback - attack

DM - Defensive Midfielder - defend (if I decide to play with 3 MCs, he would be Ball Winning Midfielder on defend)

MCR - Deep-lying Playmaker - support

MCL - Advanced Playmaker - attack

AMR/L - Inside Forward - attack

STC - Trequartista - attack (but his Mentality is lower than the Inside Forwards)

An alternative would be to use the Wingback/Fullback on Support, the DM (MCC, if using 3 MCs) as Deep-Lying Playmaker on Defend, MCR as Advanced Playmaker on Support and keep the STC as Trequartista or change him to a Role that has Support Duty (Complete Forward or Deep-lying Forward).

Have you experimented with Roaming on the MCs and if yes, what have you noticed? Do they get more of the ball or less? Does that help them evade tight marking from the opposition or does it detach them from their teammates (forcing the defenders to play passes more between themselves)?

I'm happy just as you are that someone else is working on recreating a Barcelona tactic. I think is good also that we are working at it on two different Tactic modes - Classic vs TC. I think it will be pretty impossible to get the playmaker to make consistently 100 passes like Xavi IRL, but we can at least come up with a tactic that achieves it as close as possible. But what I'm more after is that I want most of my passes/possession to be in the Midfield Third, slightly just into the opposition's half. That diamond (magnificent) 4 of Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta and Messi makes a lot of passes between them IRL and Alves on the right too.

Anyway, I'm off to experiment with a few things and see what I can achieve. I will report later (I'm in USA, btw - it is 1:47pm at the moment).

Keep up the good work. BTW, do you have any more (recent) screenshots of your passing analysis, with or without experiments?

could you upload it please

[krunccrni]

Keep up the good work. BTW, do you have any more (recent) screenshots of your passing analysis, with or without experiments?

This is last two games, I was at work so didn't have time for more matches... I cant wait for weekend hehe

[krunccrni]

I appreciate the suggestions, but I was looking more for alternate player/team instructions, not so much for alternate formations. I'd like to stick true to the 4-1-2-2-1 as much as possible, with perhaps only considering 4-3-2-1 (2=AMR/L) as a slight alternative. Having 3MCs vs oppositions' 2MCs might make it harder for them to tight mark, especially the playmaker.

Earlier, I forgot to write down the Roles and Duties of my players and that is important because of me opting to keep Mentalities and Closing Down on default TC settings. Here they are:

GK - Sweeper Keeper - support

DR - Wingback - attack

DCR - Ball Playing Defender - cover

DCL - Central Defender - defend

DL - Fullback - attack

DM - Defensive Midfielder - defend (if I decide to play with 3 MCs, he would be Ball Winning Midfielder on defend)

MCR - Deep-lying Playmaker - support

MCL - Advanced Playmaker - attack

AMR/L - Inside Forward - attack

STC - Trequartista - attack (but his Mentality is lower than the Inside Forwards)

An alternative would be to use the Wingback/Fullback on Support, the DM (MCC, if using 3 MCs) as Deep-Lying Playmaker on Defend, MCR as Advanced Playmaker on Support and keep the STC as Trequartista or change him to a Role that has Support Duty (Complete Forward or Deep-lying Forward).

Have you experimented with Roaming on the MCs and if yes, what have you noticed? Do they get more of the ball or less? Does that help them evade tight marking from the opposition or does it detach them from their teammates (forcing the defenders to play passes more between themselves)?

I'm happy just as you are that someone else is working on recreating a Barcelona tactic. I think is good also that we are working at it on two different Tactic modes - Classic vs TC. I think it will be pretty impossible to get the playmaker to make consistently 100 passes like Xavi IRL, but we can at least come up with a tactic that achieves it as close as possible. But what I'm more after is that I want most of my passes/possession to be in the Midfield Third, slightly just into the opposition's half. That diamond (magnificent) 4 of Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta and Messi makes a lot of passes between them IRL and Alves on the right too.

Anyway, I'm off to experiment with a few things and see what I can achieve. I will report later (I'm in USA, btw - it is 1:47pm at the moment).

I watched many full matches and it is impossible with 4-1-2-2-1 formation to get with Xavi 100 passes, maybe one or two games per season. Its all because of tight marking. With only two players as MC, and AI playing with 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2, AI manager will always tight mark two MC. Problem is because Xavi and Iniesta cant shake of opposition players, or switch position to be open for receiving ball, and that is main difference between FM and real life playing.I was hoping that would be in FM 2012 somehow more realistic...So for now i found that solution to put one MC to AMC.

Roaming is ticked on lot of my players. They have more solutions in attack, and they are more dangerous for opposition goal. I will try few games with all players ticked roaming and few without so I can check difference. When testing the best way is to watch full match and that take more time but help a lot to understand ME.

[krunccrni]