Emulating Leicester City

[Jean0987654321]

Hmm...I'm trying something right now. I hope I can post my system later in the week...

[Ji-Sung Park]

Okay, I had to try this out. I decided to try out on a Championship side with Leicester-esque players, to make it challenging. I chose Brighton because most of the players are poor mans Mahrez/Morgan etc. Instead of Mahrez we have Knockaert, we have Duffy as a makeshift Morgan, we have Hünemeier as Huth and Tomer Hemed as Okazaki.

The hardest player roles to replicate are of course Vardy and the Drinkwater/Kanté dynamic. Here I am still searching for the optimal setup. The hardest part of the shape aspect was finding a compact 4-4-2 without using fluid, I failed in that regard and had to go with a counter/fluid system. I agree with Ö-zil earlier here, they are not fluid. Still I can't find the compactness using anything else.

The Tactic

This is the setup I went with. I am not a fan of the 'fluid' shape for a Leicester based tactic, but it can't be helped.

I tweaked the CM(s) to fit the Drinkwater role a little more. I use Dale Stephens in this role and he is brilliant. He is similar to Drinkwater in key areas - ability to pass and tackle, plus the long shots. So I give him to permission to roam and take more risky passes. We want those balls in behind the defense to put our strikers clear on goal. It is working okay in that regard. The Mahrez role (WP(a)) is left as is, also performing extremely well with 5 goals and 4 assists in 10 games or so.

The WM(s) on the left should really be a defensive winger. Albrighton scored 2 goals in 38 outings last year, because he rarely got forward. He held his position to give Fuchs room to go forward. But okay, I don't have that type of player to use there.

The strike partnership of using a DF(d) and DLF(s) is producing some very appealing football. Both of them scores goals and gets assists. I would like the DF to fall even deeper, but you'd have to have him man mark specifically if you want that. Bit of a hassle. The same can be said for the Mahrez role. Although it is possible it'll improve if you set him to support and 'get further forward'.

GK kicks it long.

PS. After writing this I changed the width to balanced. Fairly narrow made it very crowded when attacking and just produced more long shots than anything else. We are now top of the league, joint with Newcastle.

10 games in, we're in 5th place so far.

You'll see we concede quite a bit. It is of course in the Championship, clean sheets are rare, but I feel there is still more to do with this tactic. I will tweak and update.

 

The reason for not going with direct passing in the TI's is that you'll have an average pass completion in the 65-67% range. According to squawka Leicester had 72% last season. By using mixed passing I'm currently on 73% in game and about 50% possession.

[Ji-Sung Park]

Just a quick followup on the above post.

There are some weird issues that happens once  in a while, especially after an opposition set piece:

My RB and my RW are like chained together, so the pass is easily distributed to their left back who has all the time in the world to cross. This is seconds after they have a free kick.

Other than that, it plays more or less exactly like Leicester at times. Going too deep with the d-line is not a good plan, I really don't have the mental attributes in my squad to do that. The CM(d) will be quite a few yards behind the CM(s), sweeping and tackling. He will also be very much like where Kanté was when Leicester had the ball going forward - slightly behind, providing cover against counters.

[Fosse]

Okazaki doesn't really play as a striker, I've found using an AM-S a fairly accurate representation of his role, he scored five goals and didn't get any assists last season as his job is to link play and help maintain the level of compactness in midfield rather than being a particularly offensively orientated player. Deploying a player with a high teamwork and work rate attribute in that role means you can use a ball winning midfielder in midfield when they invariably go chasing after the ball maintaining the defensive compactness that was vital in us keeping clean sheets.

[Jean0987654321]

I got this so far

Counter/Very Fluid

GK

FB (s)-CD (c)-LD (d)-FB (a)

WM (a)-RPM-DLP (d)-W (s or a)

DF (d)-AF (a)

 

TIs

More Direct

Pass Into Space

Higher Tempo

Close Down Much More/Stay On Feet/Tighter Marking/Prevent Short GK Distribution

Hit Early Crosses

Whipped Crosses

Be More Disiplined

 

PIs

GK: Distribute Quickly

CD: Close Down Much Less, Hold Position, Ease Off Tackles

LD: Close Down Much Less

WM (a): Dribble More, Cut Inside With Ball, Cross Less Often, Roam From Position

RPM: More Direct, More Risky

W (s) has no PI but I use Roam From Position when I use W (a) in that spot

DF (d): Move Into Channels, Man mark the deepest CM unless the oppo has a DM

AF (a): Roam From Position

[jorgvandervloed]

I've had a crack at this as well; only played pre-season matches against lesser opponents but it seems to be pretty solid so far. Scoring lots of goals so far, with a fair few coming from counters, do have to say that I've taken the Leicester City tactic as a template and adjusted it to Football Manager. As Football Manager is a game based on numbers I think we need to understand that we dont actually have control over how the team counter-attacks, but can only try to set up the team as best as we can to trigger as many counter-attacks as we can. 

From the articles I read online I got that Claudio Ranieri tactics actually are really simple so I think we shouldnt overcomplicated things to begin with. Lot depends on the players you have at your disposal as well of course, I've started a save with Crewe Alexandra so not exactly a high level team with players that dont even come close to the current Leicester city team. 

To keep it simple I went with a Counter Mentality and a Flexible System. They are a counter-attacking team so this made sense to me, once again not making things too complicated. A Counter Mentality comes with a lower defensive line, less closing down, lower tempo, more direct from the back and overall less risk taking. I am happy with the lower defensive line as we need to draw out the opponent so we have space to attack. In my opinion, Leicester do close down a fair bit, but in their own half; lower tempo and little risk taking will cause that the players will keep on to the ball, also something Leicester City doesnt do. Need some Team instructions here to make some adjustments. 

What system to choose was giving me more headaches, going fluid would mean more creativity for all my players, I see Leicester as a very structured team, but in return there would be less space between the lines. Going structured would mean less creativity, something that resembles Leicester, but will also mean that my players would be further apart from each other. Not being able to make up my mind I just went for something that gives me a little bit of both worlds, Flexible. My players wont be too creative with this option and will be positioned decently close to each other as well. Not the perfect option, but the best we can get in my opinion. 

Now that I settled for a mentality and system, the only other thing I needed to do is select some team instructions to get a closer resembles. These are the ones I selected: 

• Pass into space
• Higher tempo
• Close down more

Once again, not a lot of team instructions as I wanted to keep things simple. As Leicester City isnt a team that kept hold of the ball I figured that Pass into space and Higer tempo would cause my team to have a bit more urgence in their attacks. Close down more I selected for two reasons, in Football Manager I sometimes have the feeling that players back off a little bit too much when they are playing on a counter mentality and Leicester is a very hard-working team that covers a lot of ground and closes down a fair bit in their own half, so this made sense to me. 

Saving the best for last, my formation. As you will see it will probably look like some formations that have been posted here already. Once again, I tried to replicate their style but with my own twist to it. Mainly to, hopefully, get good results in Football Manager.  Probably good to mention is that I went for a standard 4 - 4 - 2 system.

 

GK (Defend) - No personal instructions given

Wing back (Support) on the right - Cross more often

Centrale Defender (Defend) - No personal instructions given

Centrale Defender (Defend) - No personal instructions given

Full back (Support) - No personal instructions given

Wide Playmaker (Attack) on the right - No personal instructions given

Central Midfielder (Defend) - No personal instructions given

Central Midfielder (Support) - No personal instructions given

Winger (Attack) on the left - No personal instructions given

Defensive Forward (Support) on the right - No personal instructions given

Defensive Forward (Defend) on the left - No personal instructions given

 

I think that Mahrez would be a Wide Playmaker on the right in real life, they really search for him when they attack. The role in Football Manager drifts around and cuts inside, so to benefit from the space he creates I have chosen for a wing back on support to make runs into space created by the player in front of him. This shouldnt be a problem defensively with the Central Midfielder (defend) next to  the wide playmaker. Also, at Crewe this player is one of my best players so I want him to shine. 

On the left I opted for a Winger (attack) while this in real life would probably be just a wide midfielder (support) or maybe even a Defensive winger. Once again, George Cooper at Crewe is probably one of my best players and I like to play him in his best role. From what I've seen so far is that he will contribute a lot more in terms of goals and assists. Sometimes he will act as a third striker, make late runs into the box, and finish off crosses from my Wing Back on the other side. 

In the Art of Counter-Attacking written by Cleon (great article btw), he writes that he would not have more than two attacking roles in a counter-attacking tactic, plus by playing with a defend and support role in attack you basically play strikerless at times. So it will draw out the opponent, which we can hopefully benefit from. 

Well my two cents, hope you enjoyed the read  

[shaunwwfc]

8 hours ago, jorgvandervloed said:

I've had a crack at this as well; only played pre-season matches against lesser opponents but it seems to be pretty solid so far. Scoring lots of goals so far, with a fair few coming from counters, do have to say that I've taken the Leicester City tactic as a template and adjusted it to Football Manager. As Football Manager is a game based on numbers I think we need to understand that we dont actually have control over how the team counter-attacks, but can only try to set up the team as best as we can to trigger as many counter-attacks as we can. 

From the articles I read online I got that Claudio Ranieri tactics actually are really simple so I think we shouldnt overcomplicated things to begin with. Lot depends on the players you have at your disposal as well of course, I've started a save with Crewe Alexandra so not exactly a high level team with players that dont even come close to the current Leicester city team. 

To keep it simple I went with a Counter Mentality and a Flexible System. They are a counter-attacking team so this made sense to me, once again not making things too complicated. A Counter Mentality comes with a lower defensive line, less closing down, lower tempo, more direct from the back and overall less risk taking. I am happy with the lower defensive line as we need to draw out the opponent so we have space to attack. In my opinion, Leicester do close down a fair bit, but in their own half; lower tempo and little risk taking will cause that the players will keep on to the ball, also something Leicester City doesnt do. Need some Team instructions here to make some adjustments. 

What system to choose was giving me more headaches, going fluid would mean more creativity for all my players, I see Leicester as a very structured team, but in return there would be less space between the lines. Going structured would mean less creativity, something that resembles Leicester, but will also mean that my players would be further apart from each other. Not being able to make up my mind I just went for something that gives me a little bit of both worlds, Flexible. My players wont be too creative with this option and will be positioned decently close to each other as well. Not the perfect option, but the best we can get in my opinion. 

Now that I settled for a mentality and system, the only other thing I needed to do is select some team instructions to get a closer resembles. These are the ones I selected: 

• Pass into space
• Higher tempo
• Close down more

Once again, not a lot of team instructions as I wanted to keep things simple. As Leicester City isnt a team that kept hold of the ball I figured that Pass into space and Higer tempo would cause my team to have a bit more urgence in their attacks. Close down more I selected for two reasons, in Football Manager I sometimes have the feeling that players back off a little bit too much when they are playing on a counter mentality and Leicester is a very hard-working team that covers a lot of ground and closes down a fair bit in their own half, so this made sense to me. 

Saving the best for last, my formation. As you will see it will probably look like some formations that have been posted here already. Once again, I tried to replicate their style but with my own twist to it. Mainly to, hopefully, get good results in Football Manager.  Probably good to mention is that I went for a standard 4 - 4 - 2 system.

 

GK (Defend) - No personal instructions given

Wing back (Support) on the right - Cross more often

Centrale Defender (Defend) - No personal instructions given

Centrale Defender (Defend) - No personal instructions given

Full back (Support) - No personal instructions given

Wide Playmaker (Attack) on the right - No personal instructions given

Central Midfielder (Defend) - No personal instructions given

Central Midfielder (Support) - No personal instructions given

Winger (Attack) on the left - No personal instructions given

Defensive Forward (Support) on the right - No personal instructions given

Defensive Forward (Defend) on the left - No personal instructions given

 

I think that Mahrez would be a Wide Playmaker on the right in real life, they really search for him when they attack. The role in Football Manager drifts around and cuts inside, so to benefit from the space he creates I have chosen for a wing back on support to make runs into space created by the player in front of him. This shouldnt be a problem defensively with the Central Midfielder (defend) next to  the wide playmaker. Also, at Crewe this player is one of my best players so I want him to shine. 

On the left I opted for a Winger (attack) while this in real life would probably be just a wide midfielder (support) or maybe even a Defensive winger. Once again, George Cooper at Crewe is probably one of my best players and I like to play him in his best role. From what I've seen so far is that he will contribute a lot more in terms of goals and assists. Sometimes he will act as a third striker, make late runs into the box, and finish off crosses from my Wing Back on the other side. 

In the Art of Counter-Attacking written by Cleon (great article btw), he writes that he would not have more than two attacking roles in a counter-attacking tactic, plus by playing with a defend and support role in attack you basically play strikerless at times. So it will draw out the opponent, which we can hopefully benefit from. 

Well my two cents, hope you enjoyed the read  

Good post, hope you keep us updated!

[jorgvandervloed]

Small update from my side, havent had much time to play to be honest. Played about 5 matches; 4 in the league and 1 in one of the cups cant remember which one it was. Lost the one in the cup, played a Premier League team though so this was to be expected; score was 2-1 so not too bad. Drew 1 in the League and won the remaining 3. 

Positive thing is, that besides the goal in the cup, teams are yet to score against me in the League. My team scored about six goals, we created a bunch of good chances though so could've been even better; blame this on the player quality as we are the worst team in the league. My DF (S), the Vardy role, has scored three goals out of five matches so he is getting a good return, couldve been even a bit better but cant complain. 

Small things I've changed to the tactic:

• Changed the Winger (Attack) to a Winger (Support). So now only playing with a WP that has an attack duty. 
• Added a corner tactic as with two Defensive forwards there is no one outside of the box when defending a corner. 

I've one question and maybe someone here could answer it. If you use the team instruction ''play higher up'' does this mean that the whole team is pushed up or is just your line of defenders that will play closer to the midfield? So the rest of the team isnt affected, just the gap between defence and midfield becomes smaller. Could be an interesting thing to add. 

 

Cheers

 

[timbo1988]

I have a game where I emulated Leicester's tactics. I took Accrington from League 2 to the Premierleague and survived in the first season (currently mid way through season 2). 

The tactics I used were: -

442 - Counter with structured. 

Instructions are Direct passing (2nd most bar), deep defensive Line, Highest Tempo there is, pass into space, whip ball into box, discliplined approach. Close Down more (2nd most bar), Hard tackling.

GK - with instrucitons to kick ball over defence and quickly and basically all insturcitons to distribute as direct as possible.  -I made sure the keeper was strong in kicking (minimum 15).

DR - Defend option - Just looked for a player with solid attributes in Marking, tackling and positioning (again as close to 15 as possible in those attributes).

LDC - Both Centre Backs Limited defenders and look for 15+in Marking, Heading, Tackling, Strength and Positioning. I ideally went for one CB who has strong mental attributes but might not be the quickest (i.e. Huth) and then one who is more athletic and quick (i.e. Morgan).

LB - FB support - Look for an all round good full back.

RM - For the Mahrez role I agree with others it is Wide Playmaker Attack with go forward, more direct passing, dribble more. I also want to teach him to run with ball often.

LM - I went Wide Midfielder support role but this could be defensive winger. I wanted a player with high work rate and stamina, decent pace and acc, decent crossing and dribbling.

Kante Role - I think is BWM Support with instructions to close down as much as possible, tackle hard, pass it short, mark tighter.  Need a player who is high in Tackling, natural fitness, stamina and work rate (15+)

Drinkwater role I have as a CM Defend but a player who is basically a DLP with instructions and training moves (Dictate Tempo, try killer passes, try long range passes, plays one twos).

Vardy Role - Defensive Forward Support - With a player who is Pace and acceleration 17+ and preferably work rate as 15+ and finishing 15+.  Then teach moves, Beat offside trap, move into channels, knock ball past opponent and run with ball often. 

Okazaki role - Defensive forward Defend - Just sign a player who is 15+ in Natural fitness, stamina, work rate and teamwork. I set this player to mark the DM of the opposition or the deepest CM. 

 

Results are great. 3 successive promotions and then overachiveing in the PremierLeague.

[Ji-Sung Park]

2 hours ago, timbo1988 said:

I have a game where I emulated Leicester's tactics. I took Accrington from League 2 to the Premierleague and survived in the first season (currently mid way through season 2). 

 

This looks very interesting. How are your match stats typically? I assume the possession is below 50% and pass accuracy maybe mid 60s?

[shaunwwfc]

3 hours ago, timbo1988 said:

I have a game where I emulated Leicester's tactics. I took Accrington from League 2 to the Premierleague and survived in the first season (currently mid way through season 2). 

The tactics I used were: -

442 - Counter with structured. 

Instructions are Direct passing (2nd most bar), deep defensive Line, Highest Tempo there is, pass into space, whip ball into box, discliplined approach. Close Down more (2nd most bar), Hard tackling.

GK - with instrucitons to kick ball over defence and quickly and basically all insturcitons to distribute as direct as possible.  -I made sure the keeper was strong in kicking (minimum 15).

DR - Defend option - Just looked for a player with solid attributes in Marking, tackling and positioning (again as close to 15 as possible in those attributes).

LDC - Both Centre Backs Limited defenders and look for 15+in Marking, Heading, Tackling, Strength and Positioning. I ideally went for one CB who has strong mental attributes but might not be the quickest (i.e. Huth) and then one who is more athletic and quick (i.e. Morgan).

LB - FB support - Look for an all round good full back.

RM - For the Mahrez role I agree with others it is Wide Playmaker Attack with go forward, more direct passing, dribble more. I also want to teach him to run with ball often.

LM - I went Wide Midfielder support role but this could be defensive winger. I wanted a player with high work rate and stamina, decent pace and acc, decent crossing and dribbling.

Kante Role - I think is BWM Support with instructions to close down as much as possible, tackle hard, pass it short, mark tighter.  Need a player who is high in Tackling, natural fitness, stamina and work rate (15+)

Drinkwater role I have as a CM Defend but a player who is basically a DLP with instructions and training moves (Dictate Tempo, try killer passes, try long range passes, plays one twos).

Vardy Role - Defensive Forward Support - With a player who is Pace and acceleration 17+ and preferably work rate as 15+ and finishing 15+.  Then teach moves, Beat offside trap, move into channels, knock ball past opponent and run with ball often. 

Okazaki role - Defensive forward Defend - Just sign a player who is 15+ in Natural fitness, stamina, work rate and teamwork. I set this player to mark the DM of the opposition or the deepest CM. 

 

Results are great. 3 successive promotions and then overachiveing in the PremierLeague.

That is enough to make me want to launch into a save right now and go right into it. Did you do much tweaks along the way or pretty much decide on that setup straight from the off?

[timbo1988]

6 hours ago, Ji-Sung Park said:

This looks very interesting. How are your match stats typically? I assume the possession is below 50% and pass accuracy maybe mid 60s?

Possession is usually 35-45 percent but I create lots of chances and lots of key scoring opportunities!

The player in the Kante role (Andre Ceitil for 4 seasons) was the top tackler in each division! 

[timbo1988]

4 hours ago, Shauny1990 said:

That is enough to make me want to launch into a save right now and go right into it. Did you do much tweaks along the way or pretty much decide on that setup straight from the off?

I set the tactics at the start and have hardly tweaked since although had 10-12 games of trying it on attack rather than counter! 

Then it took me 1 season of mid table finish to allow me to sign enough players with the right attributes as described in my first post! Accrington are very poor financially so that's why it took a season to get everyone in and I had to do a lot of it on free transfers at first! 

Now I am in the premier league it's easier to get the players I want!

tomorrow I will post some screenshots of my tactics in a bit more detail!

[shaunwwfc]

1 minute ago, timbo1988 said:

I set the tactics at the start and have hardly tweaked since although had 10-12 games of trying it on attack rather than counter! 

Then it took me 1 season of mid table finish to allow me to sign enough players with the right attributes as described in my first post! Accrington are very poor financially so that's why it took a season to get everyone in and I had to do a lot of it on free transfers at first! 

Now I am in the premier league it's easier to get the players I want!

Just to clarify, what are you TIs regarding passing and tempo? Is it mixed, direct or route one with passing? Normal, higher, much higher with tempo?

[timbo1988]

8 minutes ago, Shauny1990 said:

Just to clarify, what are you TIs regarding passing and tempo? Is it mixed, direct or route one with passing? Normal, higher, much higher with tempo?

Passing is direct!

tempo is much higher!

get stuck in is ticked

defensive line is deeper

pass into space is ticked!

be more disciplined is ticked!

counter attack and structured!

balanced width!

whip in crosses

[iamneallyons]

On 31/08/2016 at 15:24, Rashidi said:

Leicester have low possession numbers 

@deejjay10. I am afraid people wanted to emulate the stats too.

what do you mean by this rashidi??? 

whats your opinion should it be defensive/counter or attacking? going off the description in the game attacking is aimed at dominating possession in your ops half and Leicester never dominated a game through possession. 

[mikcheck]

I've never really got 2 strikers on a support duty work because i there was lack of presence inside the area.