High Positive Possession Percentage - is it possible?

[Braincomplexa]

We all know the ME fault in defensive teams suddenly becoming peak Barcelona passing around their defensive third like the world will never end.

I've found that maxing out my LOE and defending wider helps to gain possession again. But what about when teams pass around their middle block? Has anyone been able to figure out how to gain possession then? 

Do I need go max pressing urgency? But then my split block pressers suddenly become standard press rather than urgent. Do they work harder with that TI or less?

Maybe pressing and hard tackling their midfield will do trick?

I will try these myself rn but has anyone found a way to keep both the tempo and possession percentage high?

Yes, this is a possession obsession. I loved this thread, but my ideal is create a mixed possession of Guardiola and Klopp: nice, neat, numerous passing and possession yet deadly on the counter with a quick switch of the ball to the other flank. (One of my fav traits in the game especially for the DM) 

 

FYI I normally play with higher tempo, in this case the team I'm playing extreme presses to mitigate their pressing somewhat I went extreme too. Maybe I don't need do that, and higher tempo can bypass their press as well? Also I normally start with higher DL and standard LOE, and only go max when I'm losing the possession battle. And in this I'm defending narrow still because the analyst report said they mostly score from through balls so I don't want wider space allowing an easy ball through.

I understand the risk and reward part and can't have it all, but is it possible?

 

[Justified]

Do you mean when the midfield pass around or?

I'm guessing, looking at your tactic, that your wide men don't help defensively so maybe that's why it's easier for opposition to pass around their midfield? Depends what you're seeing in your matches.

[Braincomplexa]

2 minutes ago, Justified said:

Do you mean when the midfield pass around or?

I'm guessing, looking at your tactic, that your wide men don't help defensively so maybe that's why it's easier for opposition to pass around their midfield? Depends what you're seeing in your matches.

Yes, looking at their touches their midfield is on fire! 

Interesting point, I want my wide men to play like Liverpool but maybe I can achieve that with them on support while gaining possession. RN they're not firing at all cylinders so I wont be losing much attacking threat anyway...

[Braincomplexa]

I seemed to gain a 3% swing straight away when changed both IF to support and narrow, thank you. Granted it's only one match but their mentality is still very attacking so that's encouraging altogether. 

[Justified]

It's probably because the lack of variation in attack which is leading to that. It is a little one-dimensional. Even with Liverpool I'd say Mane is closer to a support role then attacking which Salah is. Mane, in possession (not the counter) prefers the ball to feet because he likes to run at defenders. Salah likes the ball played into space which is created by the players around him. He is almost like a Raumdeuter on the right at times.

[Justified]

1 minute ago, Braincomplexa said:

I seemed to gain a 3% swing straight away when changed both IF to support and narrow, thank you. Granted it's only one match but their mentality is still very attacking so that's encouraging altogether. 

You're probably going to run into other problems though. You'll have no attacking roles now so your attack is going to suffer.

[Braincomplexa]

5 minutes ago, Justified said:

It's probably because the lack of variation in attack which is leading to that. It is a little one-dimensional. Even with Liverpool I'd say Mane is closer to a support role then attacking which Salah is. Mane, in possession (not the counter) prefers the ball to feet because he likes to run at defenders. Salah likes the ball played into space which is created by the players around him. He is almost like a Raumdeuter on the right at times.

Good points, I've noticed that too. 

 

4 minutes ago, Justified said:

You're probably going to run into other problems though. You'll have no attacking roles now so your attack is going to suffer.

But if their *personal mentality (not personality, smart brain) is still very attacking would it really change much? I'll try a IFs and IWa on positive team mentality as they both have very attacking personally then. Thanks for the head up

 

OH NO, nowhere is safe

Edited April 7, 2020 by Braincomplexa

[Justified]

You'll have to watch the games and see what is happening. I never play on attacking so I don't know enough to give advice but if the team mentality is getting them moving then it's possible. The key to attacking is making space and exploiting that space so if you width and player movement is making space and pulling the opposition from side to side then great. If you're getting high possession and no chances then you're going to have to have a re-think.

[Braincomplexa]

2 minutes ago, Justified said:

You'll have to watch the games and see what is happening. I never play on attacking so I don't know enough to give advice but if the team mentality is getting them moving then it's possible. The key to attacking is making space and exploiting that space so if you width and player movement is making space and pulling the opposition from side to side then great. If you're getting high possession and no chances then you're going to have to have a re-think.

My watching game analysis is on extended and the only thing I look for is goals. I think I may have to notice runs and spaces being made more often.

Yes, I don't want tiki taka football, I want heavy metal football with some nice orchestra music in-between. Thanks for all the help, buddy

[Rashidi]

I think they are bypassing your midfield press because your two IF(A)s are on attack, you can get around this by telling the IF(A)s to mark specific postiion, ie mark opp fullbacks or alternatively you can at least drop one of them down to IF(S)

[Braincomplexa]

7 hours ago, Rashidi said:

I think they are bypassing your midfield press because your two IF(A)s are on attack, you can get around this by telling the IF(A)s to mark specific postiion, ie mark opp fullbacks or alternatively you can at least drop one of them down to IF(S)

Hey man, nice to catch you on here. You've helped so much to get enjoyment out of this brilliant game, thank you

Do you mean mark through OI or PI or both? Also, I read somewhere doing this may reduce stamina and thus effectiveness in attack for wide forwards, is that true or nay? 

I did notice a 3% percentage swing in possession when I changed IF to (S) as @Justified posted earlier too, and that does make sense in winning a possession battle, but it's a risk and balance of doing that and not losing too much attacking prowess

Edited April 8, 2020 by Braincomplexa

[Experienced Defender]

On 07/04/2020 at 12:48, Braincomplexa said:

I am not 100% sure what your exact question is - do you want to achieve high possession stats (percentage) or you just want to regain the ball as quickly as possible after losing possession?  

[Braincomplexa]

1 minute ago, Experienced Defender said:

I am not 100% sure what your exact question is - do you want to achieve high possession stats (percentage) or you just want to regain the ball as quickly as possible after losing possession?  

Both, please? I want high percentage high intensity split-block counter-pressing heavy metal with some orchestra music in-between football, if that's possible.

In all seriousness, like you say a form of progressive possession but a high percentage at the same time. I've found tweaking to max LOE, defending wider, marking and pressing opposition defenders through OI and PI helps against weaker sides that like to pass around the defensive block. But what about "stronger" teams who are winning the midfield battle and passing around their midfield where my 5 man split block seems to be easily bypassed? Here's my current starting tactical set up:

:

The attacking flanks is one dimensional, but I've found IWs get into more possession play while still being both an attacking threat and defensively sound. 

[Braincomplexa]

Thinking of changing F9 to DLF(a) and DLP(d) to DM(d), would you agree @Experienced Defender?

[Experienced Defender]

28 minutes ago, Braincomplexa said:

 

28 minutes ago, Braincomplexa said:

Both, please? I want high percentage high intensity split-block counter-pressing heavy metal with some orchestra music in-between football, if that's possible.

In all seriousness, like you say a form of progressive possession but a high percentage at the same time

Well, your tactic does not have to do much with the style I personally call "progressive possession" (maybe you use that term for something else). 

What you described above as your preferred style sounds to me like some sort of the "poorman's Kloppball". 

Anyway, the key problem with your tactic (IMHO) is the same as with most tactics people post on the forum - unbalanced setup of roles and duties. No matter how aggressive or attack-minded you want your style of play to be, tactical balance is always key (and this even rhymes  

16 minutes ago, Braincomplexa said:

Thinking of changing F9 to DLF(a)

Depends on how you tweak the rest of the setup. 

 

17 minutes ago, Braincomplexa said:

and DLP(d) to DM(d), would you agree @Experienced Defender?

I personally would look to avoid having 2 PMs (too) close to each other, so replacing one of them is generally a good idea. But which one that should be really depends on what you want. I can only tell you that AP on attack duty is not really a good idea if you want a possession-oriented tactic (because AP on attack duty tends to look for pretty fast transitions and is therefore more suited to counter-attacking styles). 

[Braincomplexa]

1 minute ago, Experienced Defender said:

 

Well, your tactic does not have to do much with the style I personally call "progressive possession" (maybe you use that term for something else). 

What you described above as your preferred style sounds to me like some sort of the "poorman's Kloppball". 

Hey man, how did you know I was poor?  

1 minute ago, Experienced Defender said:

Anyway, the key problem with your tactic (IMHO) is the same as with most tactics people post on the forum - unbalanced setup of roles and duties. No matter how aggressive or attack-minded you want your style of play to be, tactical balance is always key (and this even rhymes  

And, you know, I thought this tactic was balanced. Different opinions I guess, but I value yours greatly as a mod and all, so how would you make it balanced? I tweaked the tactics again below.

1 minute ago, Experienced Defender said:

I personally would look to avoid having 2 PMs (too) close to each other, so replacing one of them is generally a good idea. But which one that should be really depends on what you want. I can only tell you that AP on attack duty is not really a good idea if you want a possession-oriented tactic (because AP on attack duty tends to look for pretty fast transitions and is therefore more suited to counter-attacking styles). 

Good points. My thinking was to have more central play in the middle with two playmakers close to each other, but I've noticed DM on (s) or (d) gets the best rating of my team when used, so I'm leaning toward it again. I've chosen AP(a) because it allow the PI of 'get forward' which it doesn't on (s) or as a RPM, as my reasoning was the more my split block pressers get forward the more chance they have to press the backline as they're already high up. But the RPM is hard coded i think to drive forward with the ball and get forward, so I'll in fact try that in my next match!

Here's my current starting set up; would you say this is a little better?

[Experienced Defender]

3 hours ago, Braincomplexa said:

 

3 hours ago, Braincomplexa said:

Here's my current starting set up; would you say this is a little better?

Sorry for being honest, but not really. For one, I would definitely avoid having all 3 forwards on attack duty, and even more so when both wide ones are played in the same role. Not just that it makes them a bit disconnected from the rest, but is also making your attacking play too one-dimensional. 

In terms of your midfield trio, this highly mobile (non-holding) CM setup can work if you are managing a really strong (top) team. And given that I don't know your team, I cannot tell if you need to tweak it or not. 

A CWB does not make much sense as a role in this type of system, although is not totally wrong per se. But in general, CWB as a role is more suited to narrow systems (where he is the only wide player on his flank). 

[Braincomplexa]

3 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

 

Sorry for being honest, but not really. For one, I would definitely avoid having all 3 forwards on attack duty, and even more so when both wide ones are played in the same role. Not just that it makes them a bit disconnected from the rest, but is also making your attacking play too one-dimensional. 

Honesty is the best policy, I appreciate it even more coming from a mod. My front three haven't been exactly prolific so I will look into the roles and combination with everyone around them, thank you.

3 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

In terms of your midfield trio, this highly mobile (non-holding) CM setup can work if you are managing a really strong (top) team. And given that I don't know your team, I cannot tell if you need to tweak it or not. 

Well, my team isn't predicted first by the media, but I believe in the team, I'm their manager after all! Right now, I have a RPM and AP(s) in midfield, although the RPM (Tonali) isn't scoring high ratings so I guess more tactical tweaks are due, again... 

3 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

A CWB does not make much sense as a role in this type of system, although is not totally wrong per se. But in general, CWB as a role is more suited to narrow systems (where he is the only wide player on his flank). 

I have a player, Rayan Ait Nouri, who is like a Trent-lite basically, and my wide forwards are set to narrow, so that was my reason for utilizing a CWB. 

I have one defensive question for you if you don't mind buddy:

Do front player press harder on 'more urgent' PI press on a standard TI press or press more intensely on 'more' or 'extremely urgent' TI press yet they then become standard and 'less' on their PI? 

 

[sporadicsmiles]

There are two aspects to possession that you need to master (well, assuming you do not just want pretty numbers, then you can go 2-0 up and spend the rest of the game playing keep ball at the back).

1. How are you going to keep the ball?

2. How are you going to stop the opposition keeping the ball?

You cannot have a true possession based tactic without considering either of these factors. To be contrary, I will start with point number two. I could reorganise them, but I have wrote it now!

If there is one take home message from the thread on the 451, it is that you need bodies high up the field if you want to press high up the pitch. If you want to win the ball back, that is. In that particular tactic have a split block with a press to keep the defenders on their toes and a packed midfield to take away forward passes. This does not give me good possession in terms of raw numbers. So if you want to press, you need players high up the pitch to do it. 3 may be enough, but 4 would be better. You aim is to force a mistake or force a long ball. 

You also should bear in mind you do not need a relentless press to obtain possession against all teams. Some teams I play will be very passive in defence and very direct in their passing. If they are lumping the ball to me anyway and not trying hard to get it back, the press is kinda pointless. And actually can be actively dangerous, since you can press to high and get caught out by a direct team. This is my go-to tactic for handling press-heavy teams in FM. Draw them in, sucker them with passes that takes out half their players in one go. Football is situational, and you should learn when you actually need a press. 

Using the 4141 wide you have here, I would be using a split block. The 3 front players should be set to press more (tight marking and harder tackling if you feel it helps). Then perhaps one of the midfielders can join in against those teams who play from the back. Against teams that do not, you do not need it. They will look to get the ball forward quickly so you want bodies back as well. How you set that up is then up to you. I'd keep a neutral press in general with a higher LOE to start, and change it depending on what you see. There will not be a fixed setting for this. Every team will have a different demand. 

Now for point 1. The corollary to this is How are you going to score? I am not going to answer that one here, because I know exactly how I set up this formation to score. But that is for me, and I do not care about possession. So this is something you should develop. So how do you keep the ball? Well, you want to play from the back. You want to distribute to defenders. You want support players near each other to keep passing lanes short and have many available passes. You want to avoid too many playmakers who will make riskier passes. 

For the forwards, I would have 1 attack duty from the 3. And different roles on the wings. Exactly which depends how you want to score. IW are not great for a possession tactic because that role dribbles, a lot. Maybe less on support, I cannot remember. 

In midfield you need to define your pivot or pivots and your runner. A 4141 needs a body from midfield to get forward when you attack. For possession not one that gets forward right away though. I always use a single pivot (the DMC) here. But you can easily use one of the CM, or a CM and a DMC if you want to have two pivots. Their job is to be available to recycle the ball (think Busquets) and keep your attacks moving. They always need players around them to pass to. I typically have a playmaker in midfield also, but there are many options. You just have to think about how the players relate to each other. Think in triangles, and look at each player and what passing options they have during a match. 

Defenders, well, there are so many options. One support role at FB to help bring the ball out is probably a good idea. 

As with everything in FM, if you can get your brain thinking in the right way, it will come naturally. 

[Braincomplexa]

4 minutes ago, sporadicsmiles said:

There are two aspects to possession that you need to master (well, assuming you do not just want pretty numbers, then you can go 2-0 up and spend the rest of the game playing keep ball at the back).

1. How are you going to keep the ball?

2. How are you going to stop the opposition keeping the ball?

You cannot have a true possession based tactic without considering either of these factors. To be contrary, I will start with point number two. I could reorganise them, but I have wrote it now!

If there is one take home message from the thread on the 451, it is that you need bodies high up the field if you want to press high up the pitch. If you want to win the ball back, that is. In that particular tactic have a split block with a press to keep the defenders on their toes and a packed midfield to take away forward passes. This does not give me good possession in terms of raw numbers. So if you want to press, you need players high up the pitch to do it. 3 may be enough, but 4 would be better. You aim is to force a mistake or force a long ball. 

You also should bear in mind you do not need a relentless press to obtain possession against all teams. Some teams I play will be very passive in defence and very direct in their passing. If they are lumping the ball to me anyway and not trying hard to get it back, the press is kinda pointless. And actually can be actively dangerous, since you can press to high and get caught out by a direct team. This is my go-to tactic for handling press-heavy teams in FM. Draw them in, sucker them with passes that takes out half their players in one go. Football is situational, and you should learn when you actually need a press. 

Using the 4141 wide you have here, I would be using a split block. The 3 front players should be set to press more (tight marking and harder tackling if you feel it helps). Then perhaps one of the midfielders can join in against those teams who play from the back. Against teams that do not, you do not need it. They will look to get the ball forward quickly so you want bodies back as well. How you set that up is then up to you. I'd keep a neutral press in general with a higher LOE to start, and change it depending on what you see. There will not be a fixed setting for this. Every team will have a different demand. 

Now for point 1. The corollary to this is How are you going to score? I am not going to answer that one here, because I know exactly how I set up this formation to score. But that is for me, and I do not care about possession. So this is something you should develop. So how do you keep the ball? Well, you want to play from the back. You want to distribute to defenders. You want support players near each other to keep passing lanes short and have many available passes. You want to avoid too many playmakers who will make riskier passes. 

For the forwards, I would have 1 attack duty from the 3. And different roles on the wings. Exactly which depends how you want to score. IW are not great for a possession tactic because that role dribbles, a lot. Maybe less on support, I cannot remember. 

In midfield you need to define your pivot or pivots and your runner. A 4141 needs a body from midfield to get forward when you attack. For possession not one that gets forward right away though. I always use a single pivot (the DMC) here. But you can easily use one of the CM, or a CM and a DMC if you want to have two pivots. Their job is to be available to recycle the ball (think Busquets) and keep your attacks moving. They always need players around them to pass to. I typically have a playmaker in midfield also, but there are many options. You just have to think about how the players relate to each other. Think in triangles, and look at each player and what passing options they have during a match. 

Defenders, well, there are so many options. One support role at FB to help bring the ball out is probably a good idea. 

As with everything in FM, if you can get your brain thinking in the right way, it will come naturally. 

Love the long response, buddy! Let's do this wrong way round then. 

On your second point, well, press, press, press! And high! I've used the split block press on 'standard' urgency without much success as I don't see too many attacks starting from winning the ball high up the pitch, so I now I have gone to more urgent press atm with my midfield duo set to press higher. But I fear this will mean my midfield is then easily bypassed by quick exchanges or a quick switch. HMM, much foods for thoughts in your reply. And I appreciate your point about not needed to press all the time, I would take that under consideration, and do indeed use this complex brain of mine! 

On your first point - I prefer to see and score quick one-two exchange passes or a quick switch of the ball to the other open flank. I have the traits for it on most players, but I feel like the 'get forward whenever possible' trait may be hurting my possession obsession the most as my midfield players are not moving slightly without ball but more further from each other causing the need for longer passes thus lowering the possession percentage!   But I do manage to get higher percentage in 6/7 of 10 matches, so I must be doing something right some of the time.

Right now, I'm playing two CM pairs with different PI and traits with a DLP pivot which just beat Liverpool with it! It But I'll consider taking off the make more risky passes PI on both as they already have the killer ball trait. I'm assuming both the trait and PI together increases riskiness even more, or it's moot using both, IDK...

I'm indeed looking into tweaking my front three. Now I have DLF(s), and two IW(a), but what you say makes sense. Would you say a RMD is more suited for possession play, maybe? But now i'm tempted to play two RMDs.

 

 

 

[Braincomplexa]

I'm gonna risk it and play two RMDs on my final game of the season fighting for the last champions league spot. It's sounds stupid but I'm gonna do it. I'll report here how it goes.

15 mins on comprehensive has not been encouraging, I guess now I'll think properly about the front three roles.

Edited April 8, 2020 by Braincomplexa
not gone too well

[Experienced Defender]

3 hours ago, Braincomplexa said:

Do front player press harder on 'more urgent' PI press on a standard TI press or press more intensely on 'more' or 'extremely urgent' TI press yet they then become standard and 'less' on their PI?

Individual players - not only front/forward ones but all players - press more when team pressing is set to more urgent or extremely urgent than when team pressing is set to standard and their PI to more urgent. That's why a split block is my preferred option when it comes to pressing.

[Braincomplexa]

 

1 minute ago, Experienced Defender said:

Individual players - not only front/forward ones but all players - press more when team pressing is set to more urgent or extremely urgent than when team pressing is set to standard and their PI to more urgent. That's why a split block is my preferred option when it comes to pressing.

That makes sense, but the wording in game needs a little working with, but tbf there are more pressing (pun indeed intended) issues to deal with.

[Uncle_Sam]

I think sometimes we out-think ourselves. If you're really trying to have high possession, as others have said, you don't want your wide players too high up the pitch. On attack duty, that's exactly what will happen. You should have at least one on support duty. These other guys certainly know more than me, but I've found is that even with the "Get Further Forward" instruction an AMR/L on support duty will still make himself available.

I've also found (and maybe this is just me) that the complete wingback or even wingback often either get too far forward or too wide (or both) when the center backs have the ball. There are other ways to get the DR/L into the attack when you've moved the ball into the final third, if you look at my tactic below I have FB-Support for both fullbacks, but I have given them the "Get Further Forward" instruction. Another option is to get a player who gets further forward as a player trait, leave him on support without the get further forward instruction. In my experience both of those options will still have the fullbacks helping the build up. Look at your DC's passing percentage. If they're high 70's-low 80's, then it should be higher and it's probably because the DR/L are too far away when building up from the back.

Here is my base tactical setup:

And here are my stats:

[Braincomplexa]

9 hours ago, Uncle_Sam said:

I think sometimes we out-think ourselves. If you're really trying to have high possession, as others have said, you don't want your wide players too high up the pitch. On attack duty, that's exactly what will happen. You should have at least one on support duty. These other guys certainly know more than me, but I've found is that even with the "Get Further Forward" instruction an AMR/L on support duty will still make himself available.

I've also found (and maybe this is just me) that the complete wingback or even wingback often either get too far forward or too wide (or both) when the center backs have the ball. There are other ways to get the DR/L into the attack when you've moved the ball into the final third, if you look at my tactic below I have FB-Support for both fullbacks, but I have given them the "Get Further Forward" instruction. Another option is to get a player who gets further forward as a player trait, leave him on support without the get further forward instruction. In my experience both of those options will still have the fullbacks helping the build up. Look at your DC's passing percentage. If they're high 70's-low 80's, then it should be higher and it's probably because the DR/L are too far away when building up from the back.

Here is my base tactical setup:

And here are my stats:

OH I like that average possession percentage! And I appreciate the three playmakers in the middle of the park.

Your points about having more support player has been echoed here and makes sense especially on the 'get further forward' instruction, in total footballing sense it would be that way too I think. The issue I have with myself is I get too bogged down with player ratings over overall structure of the team so when I see a low rating of a support duty I quickly assume the role isn't working, but that may be thinking wrongly. Also, I find I'm too concerned with player mentality where I prefer 'very attacking' on my wide forwards, but I guess I need to think more about how I want them to play during build up play, after all I want to win the possession battle.

I do remove the 'more risky passes' instruction of players who are below 80% passing accuracy after a season, But now I will indeed try and notice more players on support duty and their movement with and without the ball.

Yes, my downfall is constant tactical tweaking where I may get it right but the moment I see it doesn't work I'm too reactionary to overhaul the system. I will try to not do that.

[Uncle_Sam]

1 hour ago, Braincomplexa said:

I do remove the 'more risky passes' instruction of players who are below 80% passing accuracy after a season, But now I will indeed try and notice more players on support duty and their movement with and without the ball.

Just because a player has a low passing percentage doesn't mean he is set to try too many risky passes. It could be down to a lot of factors. For one, it could be that he is isolated, like the DC who's fullback has bombed down the field and has no other outlet. It could be because the tempo is too high so he's forcing balls he shouldn't. It could be that it's too low so he's sitting on the ball when he needs to circulate it. It kind of depends on your overall tactics and how your opposition is playing against you.

[Braincomplexa]

3 minutes ago, Uncle_Sam said:

Just because a player has a low passing percentage doesn't mean he is set to try too many risky passes. It could be down to a lot of factors. For one, it could be that he is isolated, like the DC who's fullback has bombed down the field and has no other outlet. It could be because the tempo is too high so he's forcing balls he shouldn't. It could be that it's too low so he's sitting on the ball when he needs to circulate it. It kind of depends on your overall tactics and how your opposition is playing against you.

All good points, I'm currently reading the brilliant gegenpress thread by @AceAvenger, and I''ll try to apply everything that has been said here and there and hopefully create a style of football I want, a poor mans Guardiola and Klopp hybrid. Thank for the help, buddy

[melogroovy]

If you want to win back the ball quickly in the midfield why not compact that area of the field?

[Braincomplexa]

1 hour ago, melogroovy said:

If you want to win back the ball quickly in the midfield why not compact that area of the field?

I have realized that and I'm currently gaining the possession numbers I want (61%) and winning every game so far in the first 5 games of the premier league. This is my current starting set up:

Notice the support roles compacting the middle and especially the 3 playmakers in the middle keeping the ball masterfully, in my view currently they're playing like a Guardiola team by getting the most touches and combinations between them 3. This system is a 5 man split block press (top 5 players), and indeed it has a lot of PIs and players with traits to counter act the one dimensional roles.

When I don't start the first 10 mins with the possession percentage I want, I do a few changes step by step. First max the LOE, then defend wider, then max pressing urgency, then lower tempo one notch, then mark the player making the most passing combinations. These steps work 9/10 times so far it seems. So far so good this season. 

[Pep468]

On 09/04/2020 at 16:23, Braincomplexa said:

I have realized that and I'm currently gaining the possession numbers I want (61%) and winning every game so far in the first 5 games of the premier league. This is my current starting set up:

Notice the support roles compacting the middle and especially the 3 playmakers in the middle keeping the ball masterfully, in my view currently they're playing like a Guardiola team by getting the most touches and combinations between them 3. This system is a 5 man split block press (top 5 players), and indeed it has a lot of PIs and players with traits to counter act the one dimensional roles.

When I don't start the first 10 mins with the possession percentage I want, I do a few changes step by step. First max the LOE, then defend wider, then max pressing urgency, then lower tempo one notch, then mark the player making the most passing combinations. These steps work 9/10 times so far it seems. So far so good this season. 

Could you either include a download link or the player instructions please mate? Would love to try it out 

[Braincomplexa]

4 hours ago, Pep468 said:

Could you either include a download link or the player instructions please mate? Would love to try it out 

Unfortunately I have saved over that tactic file with the one posted below, so that pic is all there is; it played nice intricate passing in the middle with the three playmakers, but it was not good enough against better sides. I think you need a top team to pull that tactic off. The tactic below just beat Liverpool 3-0 and had 55% possession while playing a similar Klopp style, I'm predicted to finish 6th tho so take that as you want. I've also attached the tactic file mate, but the FB(a) are changed to WB(s), and HB to DLP(d) but the PIs should all be the same with the central midfielders told to push forward and roam.

Here are the OIs that helped me gain possession against a 4231 and a better team:

https://easyupload.io/hr8tyq

Edit: I'm a little flattered someone asked for my tactic, but I don't know what I'm doing half of the time, so

Edited April 10, 2020 by Braincomplexa