[FM19] Replicating Sarri

[bdixon]

For the last couple of FM's now, replicating Sarri has become an obsession of mine and it is the only way I would like my teams to play.  I’m creating this thread to hopefully start a conversation about Sarri’s tactic and would love to hear other people’s thoughts and opinions. Some good reading material I consider to be very helpful when creating Sarri’s philosophy are:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWJkzjouJgk Sarri's Napoli
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-a4-aBoNm0Q&t=27s Sarri's Chelsea (New)
https://www.esdfanalysis.com/manager-analysis/tactical-profile-maurizio-sarri/
http://www.thefalse9.com/2017/11/maurizio-sarri-tactics-napoli-formation.html

Formation

Since joining Napoli and since Chelsea, Sarri has played using a 4-3-3 with one holding midfielder, two midfielder who attack the box. The left central midfield occupying the left half space and creating close link up play with the left back and left forward.

Defending
Sarri like his teams to press aggressively within the opponent’s half utilising a high defence line which helps with the high press. The aim is to win possession back quickly or force errors. Counter pressing is also a big part of Sarri philosophy, so now that it has been implemented within FM19 hopefully we will be able to see a closer attempt of replication.

Attacking

Verticality is key, the idea is to move the ball forwards but if the option is not there then they will retain possession until it is. Retaining possession, but not for possession sake. Sarri like his teams to retain possession within the teams own defensive third to invite the opposition to press.

Within FM19

Unable to upload picture at this moment in time.

So far in FM19 I have mainly used this version but I'm not too happy with what I'm seeing and would love some help going forward.

Mentality - Have I chosen the correct mentality which reflects how Sarri has his teams playing? The reasons I chose positive was due to my interpretation of verticality. Now correct me if I'm wrong but to achieve forward passing you need a more attacking mentality, or do I, could I selected a lower mentality on the ladder and go with more direct passing. This is something I debate for ages and can never be 100% happy with my choice.

Any help would be massively appreciated. 

 

[alexcelsior]

The "vertical tiki-taka" is effectively the Sarri-ball, so I'd say it's a good starting point if you want to replicate Sarri 

[mhaffy]

1 hour ago, alexcelsior said:

The "vertical tiki-taka" is effectively the Sarri-ball, so I'd say it's a good starting point if you want to replicate Sarri  

I am playing Chelsea as my main save and trying, subject to ME, to play Sarriball. Agree that Vertical tiki-taka preset is good starting point but I have found it necessary to make several changes to it. Just into early 2019 and 2nd in Premier League and enjoying possession, watching build up play and results. Team playing well out of defence, build up patient and plenty of forward movement to create passing options. Early days still but planning to persevere. Employing in game shouts more than I ever have done in previous versions of FM and often making in game tactical "tweaks", depending upon how the match is going.

5 hours ago, bdixon said:

Mentality - Have I chosen the correct mentality which reflects how Sarri has his teams playing? The reasons I chose positive was due to my interpretation of verticality. Now correct me if I'm wrong but to achieve forward passing you need a more attacking mentality, or do I, could I selected a lower mentality on the ladder and go with more direct passing. This is something I debate for ages and can never be 100% happy with my choice. 

I have found Balanced/structured approach to work best. Positive seems to encourage more speculative shots when I have tried it.

[RF Todd]

Trying to recreate (or something akin to) Sarriball myself in FM with inconsistent results. I'm using the same formation as above but I've been experimenting using 3 at the back as well. My main negative point is that I'm leaking a lot of goals, It's very early days so my team is nowhere near familiar with it yet.

Interested in what everyone comes up with in this thread going forward.

[mhaffy]

Worth looking at this thread re Vertical Tiki Taka. Inlcudes screenshop of my current tactic referred to above.

Extract from Premier League team stats to date - 20 games in. Chelsea featuring....

[RF Todd]

I'll definitely give this a read through. Cheers!

[bdixon]

I think the pressing and counterpressing is rather simple to replicate given the new options within FM19. The trouble I seem to be having is trying to replicate the attacking play, can it be done within the constraints of the ME, I don't know. 

The options I have selected are:

Mentality - Balanced - could this be deemed too plain in terms of allowing my players to play the forward pass??
Shorter passing - To replicate Sarri preferred short passing style, I didn't select much shorter passing as I think this is the retain possession short of old and I don't want to stop them playing the through ball if the options is on.
Pass out of defence - To allow patient build up play from the back, hopefully inviting the press from the opposition. 
Dribble less - To instruct the players to focus on a pass first mentality.

What I'd be happy in seeing is short, quick passing triangles among my players and at the moment I'm very rarely seeing it. Do PPMs need to maybe be considered?? possibly.

[bdixon]

Not a clue if it is my tactical choices or the ME but the movement from the front 3 seems rather questionable and there seems to be a lack of through balls occurring.

[yonko]

It's an issue with the ME when it comes to the movement of the front 3, specifically the ST and in the final third. There is pretty much zero combinations between the CMs and the ST.

I have AP-A and RPM as my 2 CMs and my ST is False9. Zero interactions between them in the opponents half or the final third. 

Even if I move my ST at AM position and go strikerless, it's difficult for them to get anything going in the final third. 

This is one of the few let downs at the moment compared to FM18.

But I find it normal because SI had to tweak the ME codes to incorporate the new tactics module. This always happens every few years when new tactical options are included in the game. So it's gonna take them awhile to get it right, I suspect. We have to be patient.

[Fabbio]

A key feature of sarriball is "to attack on a small pitch and to defend on a large one". Namely, it just means to keep the team wide in possession and narrow in defence.

In addition, i woud set:

Short passing, high tempo, time wasting sometimes, high creativity, roam from position. I haven't tried it yet, but i hope in this way the players will spontaneusly get close to the ball keeper to create high Local density and new passing lines, as in real chelsea's/napoli's games

[thomasbey]

Am I the only one who sometimes has the feeling that what you specify in the tactics can barely be seen on the pitch? 

In my last tactic I've made 4-4-2 narrow diamond with short passing, but all I saw was long balls into space towards my forwards. 

[RF Todd]

1 hour ago, thomasbey said:

Am I the only one who sometimes has the feeling that what you specify in the tactics can barely be seen on the pitch? 

In my last tactic I've made 4-4-2 narrow diamond with short passing, but all I saw was long balls into space towards my forwards. 

Yeah, I've noticed this in some of my tactics. When I try to make sure I have short passing for everyone I tend to see huge long passes which ultimately are intercepted. I think this has more to do with PPM's than tactics though?

[saintrainhard]

First of all you should apply positive / attacking mentality. The team also playing with so much fluidity

Play out of the defense, shorter passing, with some of the midfielder given the instruction for risky passes (will work great if they have try killer balls PPM, high vision, passing and decision)

Higher tempo, higher defensive line, counter press if the enemy have the possession

[masno]

I don't know how you could build Sarri team in FM,but I can give you some ideas saying how he plays in real life.

His prefered formation is the 4-3-3 (or 4-1-4-1 DM wide), and he setup it almost in the same way for most the season. Defensively,he likes to press the ball, he put his defensive line higher and like to force the ball wide. His team plays from the back, with their keeper, defenders and DM creating 2 triangles. Usually they play the ball vertically, using his midfielders. The striker usually use the space upfront to create space or play it to the wingers or to the midfielders. In the offensive phase, the team prefers to plays on the left side, because the players on that side are the ones that get way up in the field, and the striker also go for through balls and crosses.

Key players for this tactic:

• Keeper: He needs to use his feet and be good with it, Sarri expects use every player in the field,and his keeper is one of them.
• DM: He need to be very familiar with the ball,and also needs to be good defensively (Jorginho is exactly this guy)
• Left winger: In Sarri tactic, the AML is a inside forward, having the license to cut inside and cause havok in the defence (Hazard and Insigne)
• Striker: The role that is most demanding. Your striker need to be good with and without the ball, because Sarri expects him to create chances or when the opportunity appears, score goals.

His setup was something like this:

Defenders: They need to be familiar with the ball, and very good defensively, because you will be in a high line, so expect counters against lesser sides.
Left fullback: Like I said before, he overloads his left side, so the fullback in this side is way offensive thant the other
Right fullback: This side his player keep his pace and just stay more behind.
Right midfielder: This guy is usually a work-horse in his tactics. A box to box midfielder that usually conserves possession and don't appear that much in the attack.
Left midfielder: This guy needs to be good offensively, because he expects this midfielder to get more upin the field to help the attack.
Right winger: This guy can do 2 different things under Sarri. 1: Be a Raumdeter and exploit the space that the left side leaves open (Callejon and Pedro), or 2: Be the winger and give a wide option in case the left side is populated.

You need to remember that he expects the team to work possession, but be offensive (like vertical tiki-taka).