Arteta’s Arsenal recreation

[_mxrky]

Haven't seen a single 4411 or 442 which is pretty disappointing considering that's the settled formation of the ball arsenal play at least when playing against back 4s 

[CKBrahMa]

Il y a 1 heure, _mxrky a dit :

Haven't seen a single 4411 or 442 which is pretty disappointing considering that's the settled formation of the ball arsenal play at least when playing against back 4s 

If it disappoint you, why don’t you do it then ?

I don’t get the point ton come to a thread, while several of us tries to recreate something, and just judge it without any argumentation ?

 

Furthermore, it has been debunk that the formation you see in your tactic is not the formation without the ball ?

why is that ? Because it is highly different if you counter press or not, counter or not, press much more often…

I play a 433 formation (I redone it, won the PL yesterday, final of EUL. I will post it when the season is over). Sometimes, my team defend like a 442, other time like a 451, or a 4411 and sometimes like a 433.

How do you explain it, then ?

[crusadertsar]

1 hour ago, CKBrahMa said:

If it disappoint you, why don’t you do it then ?

I don’t get the point ton come to a thread, while several of us tries to recreate something, and just judge it without any argumentation ?

 

Furthermore, it has been debunk that the formation you see in your tactic is not the formation without the ball ?

why is that ? Because it is highly different if you counter press or not, counter or not, press much more often…

I play a 433 formation (I redone it, won the PL yesterday, final of EUL. I will post it when the season is over). Sometimes, my team defend like a 442, other time like a 451, or a 4411 and sometimes like a 433.

How do you explain it, then ?

I don't think he was judging your thread. Just making a general observation. Why attack the guy? There is definitely a lack of variety or originality in the typical Arsenal recreations on this forum. 

From what I remember there was a good Arsenal 4-4-1-1 recreation last year by RDF:

https://www.rdftactics.com/post/mikel-arteta-s-4-4-1-1-manipulating-space-fm22-tactic-tactical-analysis

Edited November 25, 2022 by crusadertsar

[_mxrky]

1 hour ago, CKBrahMa said:

If it disappoint you, why don’t you do it then ?

I don’t get the point ton come to a thread, while several of us tries to recreate something, and just judge it without any argumentation ?

 

Furthermore, it has been debunk that the formation you see in your tactic is not the formation without the ball ?

why is that ? Because it is highly different if you counter press or not, counter or not, press much more often…

I play a 433 formation (I redone it, won the PL yesterday, final of EUL. I will post it when the season is over). Sometimes, my team defend like a 442, other time like a 451, or a 4411 and sometimes like a 433.

How do you explain it, then ?

I did show my replication in page 1 of this thread.

yes it’s true that the formation does change its pressing shape, but when the other team has settled possession majority of the team it will be a 433 regardless of what roles/instructions you use.

imo once you use 433 solely it’s not really that close to a proper replication. In fact the most interesting part for me would be to see if anyone could get a 4411 or 442 working reasonbly well

[The3points]

3 hours ago, _mxrky said:

Haven't seen a single 4411 or 442 which is pretty disappointing considering that's the settled formation of the ball arsenal play at least when playing against back 4s 

I tried a 4-2-3-1 but honestly it is quite hard to get a CAM to move to the right halfspace

So instead I do 4-3-3 and get Odegaard to man mark the DM

[_mxrky]

12 minutes ago, crusadertsar said:

I don't think he was judging your thread. Just making a general observation. Why attack the guy?

There is good Arsenal 4-4-1-1 from last year by RDF:

https://www.rdftactics.com/post/mikel-arteta-s-4-4-1-1-manipulating-space-fm22-tactic-tactical-analysis

Thanks I think I seen this one before. Odegaard as shadow striker is interesting. It’s definitely the best option to replicate the 442 press, but then he becomes far too aggressive when the teams with the ball. I still haven’t figured out a way to make other amc roles to press consistently to become part of the front 2 unless you play strikerless which brings on a whole load other issues in terms pressing high.

[_mxrky]

2 minutes ago, The3points said:

I tried a 4-2-3-1 but honestly it is quite hard to get a CAM to move to the right halfspace

So instead I do 4-3-3 and get Odegaard to man mark the DM

Have you tried offsetting the amc to amcr?

[_mxrky]

I did a thread on Arteta replication earlier this year as well which you might want to check out:
https://community.sigames.com/forums/topic/564191-guardiola-and-arteta-inspired-4-4-2-strikerless-fm21/

[CKBrahMa]

Sorry if it wasn’t your aim to be judgemental. Tbf, the « pretty disappointing » feels like it haha

[_mxrky]

1 hour ago, CKBrahMa said:

Sorry if it wasn’t your aim to be judgemental. Tbf, the « pretty disappointing » feels like it haha

Your right I should have worded it differently 

[lomekian]

8 hours ago, The3points said:

I tried a 4-2-3-1 but honestly it is quite hard to get a CAM to move to the right halfspace

So instead I do 4-3-3 and get Odegaard to man mark the DM

Easily done if you abandon symmetry. I've not had a symmetrical formation on FM for years, and my tactics tend to be very effective.

With this challenge, its tricky because the best tactical coaches innovate quicker than FM can adapt, so the roles of Ben White and Xhaka in particular are not possible to fully replicate in game, because they fulfill multiple functions in matches. Same with Fabio Vieira when he was at Porto.

That said I'm pretty happy with what I;ve come up with. I haven't got round to screenshots and image hosting yet, but I've uploaded my tactic if anyone wants a look. Martinelli is killing it as IW(a) - 18 goals, 13 assists in 16 games in season one (15 games in the EPL). Odegaard drifing into the right half space and playing diagonal balls behind the full back has accounted for half of those.
 

Needs a bit more work to get the team doing more pull backs to arriving attacking midfielders. Not sure its possible to get White both tucking in and overlapping without the match enging nerfing the link with Saka, or indeed the Xhaka unique position combo of DLP, RP, MEZ, AM, IWB that he can regualrly play in the same game, but I'm pretty happy with the rest.

Lomekian meets Arteta.fmf

[The3points]

Fair enough, but I feel the 4-4-2 perfect shape is lost if you've got your AM wider

[lomekian]

19 hours ago, The3points said:

Fair enough, but I feel the 4-4-2 perfect shape is lost if you've got your AM wider

But do you want to be a 442 in possession as well? Out of posession you can create the same to a degree by getting your AM & CF to mark respective centre backs (or to certain degree setting pressing in opp instructions).

[cocoadavid]

My aim was to focus on a few fundamentals of Arteta's tactics and trying to recreate it, as I think it is impossible to create every aspect of his gameplan.
What I focused on:

• Fluid left side with Xhaka, Martinelli and Zini
• Odegaards movement 
• 4-4-2 / 4-1-4-1 out of possession
• 2-3-5 /3-2-5 in possession

 

Fluid left side
The 3 fundamentals of Arsenal's fluid left side are:

• 1 player providing the width
• 1 player attacking the left half space
• 1 player covering

Most of the time Martinelli stays wide, Xhaka attacks the half space while Zinchenko is covering. But this left side is really fluid, the roles can change, sometimes Zinchenko is wide, Martinelli comes inside to attack the half space and Xhaka is covering, etc., they interchange a lot. I think the best way to creating this fluidity is to play all of them on support duty. Below you can see 4 in-game examples for this, in each of the pictures the roles are interchanged.

IN-GAME EXAMPLES

1) Martinelli: wide, Xhaka: half space, Zinchenko: cover

 

2) Martinelli: wide, Zinchenko: half space, Xhaka: cover
 

 

3) Zinchenko is providing the width, while Xhaka is the deepest of the three

 

4) Xhaxa:: wide, Martinelli: half spice, Zinchenko: cover 

 

PLAYER ROLES AND INSTRUCTIONS
Below you can see the player roles of these 3 players, Martinelli is instructed to stay wider:

 

 

Odegaard's movement, 2-3-5 in possession, 4-4-2 out of possession

When you look at Odegaards heatmap on sofascore you can see that he mainly operates in the right half space closer to the opposition's penalty area, but occasionaly he drops deep.
In possession Arsenal's formation is 2-3-5 / 3-2-5, while out of possession he often joins Gabriel Jesus to form a front 2 in a 4-4-2 defensive shape.

IN-GAME EXAMPLES

1) We have a 2-3-5 shape, Odegaard high up the pitch in our front 5.

 

2) Here he comes deep to receive a pass from Thomas Partey

3) Out of possession, here he joins G. Jesus to press the defenders, forming a 4-4-2 / 4-2-4 defensive shape

 

PLAYER ROLES AND ISNTRUCTIONS

Below you can see the player role of Odeggard, instructed to stay wider. In real life I don't think he plays as a playmaker, because he has approximately the same number of touches as Xhaka, and usually he stays in the right half space, rather than always coming close to the ball. But in FM23 I play him as a AP(s) in the AM strata beause that way he occasionally comes deep to receive the ball (like in real life), and since he is in the AM strata, he starts his defending higher up the pitch.

Summary

I don't share the whole tactic yet because I think these are the parts of it that work as intended, it is a good starting point. Other parts of the tactic are really flexible and you can achieve similar results with different approaches.

Edited November 27, 2022 by cocoadavid
typo

[vrig]

9 hours ago, cocoadavid said:

My aim was to focus on a few fundamentals of Arteta's tactics and trying to recreate it, as I think it is impossible to create every aspect of his gameplan.
What I focused on:

• Fluid left side with Xhaka, Martinelli and Zini
• Odegaards movement 
• 4-4-2 / 4-1-4-1 out of possession
• 2-3-5 /3-2-5 in possession

 

Fluid left side
The 3 fundamentals of Arsenal's fluid left side are:

• 1 player providing the width
• 1 player attacking the left half space
• 1 player covering

Most of the time Martinelli stays wide, Xhaka attacks the half space while Zinchenko is covering. But this left side is really fluid, the roles can change, sometimes Zinchenko is wide, Martinelli comes inside to attack the half space and Xhaka is covering, etc., they interchange a lot. I think the best way to creating this fluidity is to play all of them on support duty. Below you can see 4 in-game examples for this, in each of the pictures the roles are interchanged.

IN-GAME EXAMPLES

1) Martinelli: wide, Xhaka: half space, Zinchenko: cover

 

2) Martinelli: wide, Zinchenko: half space, Xhaka: cover
 

 

3) Zinchenko is providing the width, while Xhaka is the deepest of the three

 

4) Xhaxa:: wide, Martinelli: half spice, Zinchenko: cover 

 

PLAYER ROLES AND INSTRUCTIONS
Below you can see the player roles of these 3 players, Martinelli is instructed to stay wider:

 

 

Odegaard's movement, 2-3-5 in possession, 4-4-2 out of possession

When you look at Odegaards heatmap on sofascore you can see that he mainly operates in the right half space closer to the opposition's penalty area, but occasionaly he drops deep.
In possession Arsenal's formation is 2-3-5 / 3-2-5, while out of possession he often joins Gabriel Jesus to form a front 2 in a 4-4-2 defensive shape.

IN-GAME EXAMPLES

1) We have a 2-3-5 shape, Odegaard high up the pitch in our front 5.

 

2) Here he comes deep to receive a pass from Thomas Partey

3) Out of possession, here he joins G. Jesus to press the defenders, forming a 4-4-2 / 4-2-4 defensive shape

 

PLAYER ROLES AND ISNTRUCTIONS

Below you can see the player role of Odeggard, instructed to stay wider. In real life I don't think he plays as a playmaker, because he has approximately the same number of touches as Xhaka, and usually he stays in the right half space, rather than always coming close to the ball. But in FM23 I play him as a AP(s) in the AM strata beause that way he occasionally comes deep to receive the ball (like in real life), and since he is in the AM strata, he starts his defending higher up the pitch.

Summary

I don't share the whole tactic yet because I think these are the parts of it that work as intended, it is a good starting point. Other parts of the tactic are really flexible and you can achieve similar results with different approaches.

Gorgeous post.

[_mxrky]

9 hours ago, cocoadavid said:

My aim was to focus on a few fundamentals of Arteta's tactics and trying to recreate it, as I think it is impossible to create every aspect of his gameplan.
What I focused on:

• Fluid left side with Xhaka, Martinelli and Zini
• Odegaards movement 
• 4-4-2 / 4-1-4-1 out of possession
• 2-3-5 /3-2-5 in possession

 

Fluid left side
The 3 fundamentals of Arsenal's fluid left side are:

• 1 player providing the width
• 1 player attacking the left half space
• 1 player covering

Most of the time Martinelli stays wide, Xhaka attacks the half space while Zinchenko is covering. But this left side is really fluid, the roles can change, sometimes Zinchenko is wide, Martinelli comes inside to attack the half space and Xhaka is covering, etc., they interchange a lot. I think the best way to creating this fluidity is to play all of them on support duty. Below you can see 4 in-game examples for this, in each of the pictures the roles are interchanged.

IN-GAME EXAMPLES

1) Martinelli: wide, Xhaka: half space, Zinchenko: cover

 

2) Martinelli: wide, Zinchenko: half space, Xhaka: cover
 

 

3) Zinchenko is providing the width, while Xhaka is the deepest of the three

 

4) Xhaxa:: wide, Martinelli: half spice, Zinchenko: cover 

 

PLAYER ROLES AND INSTRUCTIONS
Below you can see the player roles of these 3 players, Martinelli is instructed to stay wider:

 

 

Odegaard's movement, 2-3-5 in possession, 4-4-2 out of possession

When you look at Odegaards heatmap on sofascore you can see that he mainly operates in the right half space closer to the opposition's penalty area, but occasionaly he drops deep.
In possession Arsenal's formation is 2-3-5 / 3-2-5, while out of possession he often joins Gabriel Jesus to form a front 2 in a 4-4-2 defensive shape.

IN-GAME EXAMPLES

1) We have a 2-3-5 shape, Odegaard high up the pitch in our front 5.

 

2) Here he comes deep to receive a pass from Thomas Partey

3) Out of possession, here he joins G. Jesus to press the defenders, forming a 4-4-2 / 4-2-4 defensive shape

 

PLAYER ROLES AND ISNTRUCTIONS

Below you can see the player role of Odeggard, instructed to stay wider. In real life I don't think he plays as a playmaker, because he has approximately the same number of touches as Xhaka, and usually he stays in the right half space, rather than always coming close to the ball. But in FM23 I play him as a AP(s) in the AM strata beause that way he occasionally comes deep to receive the ball (like in real life), and since he is in the AM strata, he starts his defending higher up the pitch.

Summary

I don't share the whole tactic yet because I think these are the parts of it that work as intended, it is a good starting point. Other parts of the tactic are really flexible and you can achieve similar results with different approaches.

love this. What's the role of your amr?

[frukox]

11 saat önce, cocoadavid said:

My aim was to focus on a few fundamentals of Arteta's tactics and trying to recreate it, as I think it is impossible to create every aspect of his gameplan.
What I focused on:

• Fluid left side with Xhaka, Martinelli and Zini
• Odegaards movement 
• 4-4-2 / 4-1-4-1 out of possession
• 2-3-5 /3-2-5 in possession

 

Fluid left side
The 3 fundamentals of Arsenal's fluid left side are:

• 1 player providing the width
• 1 player attacking the left half space
• 1 player covering

Most of the time Martinelli stays wide, Xhaka attacks the half space while Zinchenko is covering. But this left side is really fluid, the roles can change, sometimes Zinchenko is wide, Martinelli comes inside to attack the half space and Xhaka is covering, etc., they interchange a lot. I think the best way to creating this fluidity is to play all of them on support duty. Below you can see 4 in-game examples for this, in each of the pictures the roles are interchanged.

IN-GAME EXAMPLES

1) Martinelli: wide, Xhaka: half space, Zinchenko: cover

 

2) Martinelli: wide, Zinchenko: half space, Xhaka: cover
 

 

3) Zinchenko is providing the width, while Xhaka is the deepest of the three

 

4) Xhaxa:: wide, Martinelli: half spice, Zinchenko: cover 

 

PLAYER ROLES AND INSTRUCTIONS
Below you can see the player roles of these 3 players, Martinelli is instructed to stay wider:

 

 

Odegaard's movement, 2-3-5 in possession, 4-4-2 out of possession

When you look at Odegaards heatmap on sofascore you can see that he mainly operates in the right half space closer to the opposition's penalty area, but occasionaly he drops deep.
In possession Arsenal's formation is 2-3-5 / 3-2-5, while out of possession he often joins Gabriel Jesus to form a front 2 in a 4-4-2 defensive shape.

IN-GAME EXAMPLES

1) We have a 2-3-5 shape, Odegaard high up the pitch in our front 5.

 

2) Here he comes deep to receive a pass from Thomas Partey

3) Out of possession, here he joins G. Jesus to press the defenders, forming a 4-4-2 / 4-2-4 defensive shape

 

PLAYER ROLES AND ISNTRUCTIONS

Below you can see the player role of Odeggard, instructed to stay wider. In real life I don't think he plays as a playmaker, because he has approximately the same number of touches as Xhaka, and usually he stays in the right half space, rather than always coming close to the ball. But in FM23 I play him as a AP(s) in the AM strata beause that way he occasionally comes deep to receive the ball (like in real life), and since he is in the AM strata, he starts his defending higher up the pitch.

Summary

I don't share the whole tactic yet because I think these are the parts of it that work as intended, it is a good starting point. Other parts of the tactic are really flexible and you can achieve similar results with different approaches.

Inspired by your ideas I developed this and I found this really efficient in possession and scoring. There are lots of PIs; that is everyone marks tight except for the backline, wingers staying wide and getting forward, front four closing down more, AMC holding position and stay wide(never stays where I want him to be(I don't have fm23), midfielders trying killer passes and some roaming up front. However, it gets things down mostly.

It's inverted on purpose for my team.

Edited November 27, 2022 by frukox

[The3points]

11 hours ago, cocoadavid said:

My aim was to focus on a few fundamentals of Arteta's tactics and trying to recreate it, as I think it is impossible to create every aspect of his gameplan.
What I focused on:

• Fluid left side with Xhaka, Martinelli and Zini
• Odegaards movement 
• 4-4-2 / 4-1-4-1 out of possession
• 2-3-5 /3-2-5 in possession

 

Fluid left side
The 3 fundamentals of Arsenal's fluid left side are:

• 1 player providing the width
• 1 player attacking the left half space
• 1 player covering

Most of the time Martinelli stays wide, Xhaka attacks the half space while Zinchenko is covering. But this left side is really fluid, the roles can change, sometimes Zinchenko is wide, Martinelli comes inside to attack the half space and Xhaka is covering, etc., they interchange a lot. I think the best way to creating this fluidity is to play all of them on support duty. Below you can see 4 in-game examples for this, in each of the pictures the roles are interchanged.

IN-GAME EXAMPLES

1) Martinelli: wide, Xhaka: half space, Zinchenko: cover

 

2) Martinelli: wide, Zinchenko: half space, Xhaka: cover
 

 

3) Zinchenko is providing the width, while Xhaka is the deepest of the three

 

4) Xhaxa:: wide, Martinelli: half spice, Zinchenko: cover 

 

PLAYER ROLES AND INSTRUCTIONS
Below you can see the player roles of these 3 players, Martinelli is instructed to stay wider:

 

 

Odegaard's movement, 2-3-5 in possession, 4-4-2 out of possession

When you look at Odegaards heatmap on sofascore you can see that he mainly operates in the right half space closer to the opposition's penalty area, but occasionaly he drops deep.
In possession Arsenal's formation is 2-3-5 / 3-2-5, while out of possession he often joins Gabriel Jesus to form a front 2 in a 4-4-2 defensive shape.

IN-GAME EXAMPLES

1) We have a 2-3-5 shape, Odegaard high up the pitch in our front 5.

 

2) Here he comes deep to receive a pass from Thomas Partey

3) Out of possession, here he joins G. Jesus to press the defenders, forming a 4-4-2 / 4-2-4 defensive shape

 

PLAYER ROLES AND ISNTRUCTIONS

Below you can see the player role of Odeggard, instructed to stay wider. In real life I don't think he plays as a playmaker, because he has approximately the same number of touches as Xhaka, and usually he stays in the right half space, rather than always coming close to the ball. But in FM23 I play him as a AP(s) in the AM strata beause that way he occasionally comes deep to receive the ball (like in real life), and since he is in the AM strata, he starts his defending higher up the pitch.

Summary

I don't share the whole tactic yet because I think these are the parts of it that work as intended, it is a good starting point. Other parts of the tactic are really flexible and you can achieve similar results with different approaches.

Interesting re Odegaard getting too much of the ball. As an AP-A in my tactic, we've become a circle shape with Partey in the middle. Mind you the width is "Fairly Wide" in the middle of the slider but our central play is completely dead.

I ticked off GFF and it is working a little better now though. 

[cocoadavid]

 

2 hours ago, vrig said:

Gorgeous post.

Thanks!

 

 

1 hour ago, _mxrky said:

love this. What's the role of your amr?

Thanks! My AMR (Saka) is a Winger on attack duty, that way he usually stays wide, but when he gets the ball then more often than not he cuts inside because of his preferred left foot and player trait. I wanted to make sure he stays wide, that's why I played him as a winger. I have not tested the Inverted Winger role in FM23 extensively, that could work too with the stay wider instruction.

 

 

39 minutes ago, frukox said:

Inspired by your ideas I developed this and I found this really efficient in possession and scoring. There are lots of PIs; that is everyone marks tight except for the backline, wingers staying wide and getting forward, front four closing down more, AMC holding position and stay wide(never stays where I want him to be(I don't have fm23), midfielders trying killer passes and some roaming up front. However, it gets things down mostly.

It's inverted on purpose for my team.

I'm glad to see you got inspired and it's working for you! My setup was similar to yours, White as a FB on support duty, instructed to sit narrower and T. Partey as a DM on support duty.

 

 

20 minutes ago, The3points said:

Interesting re Odegaard getting too much of the ball. As an AP-A in my tactic, we've become a circle shape with Partey in the middle. Mind you the width is "Fairly Wide" in the middle of the slider but our central play is completely dead.

I ticked off GFF and it is working a little better now though. 

It's hard to get the perfect balance between how it works in real life, how to translate it into FM and at the same creating something that also works well in the ME, it can be time-consuming. That is why I try to create it little by little, sometimes all it takes is to make a small change like changing a player's duty or the width, etc.

[frukox]

@cocoadavidI think I've found the holy grail thanks to everyone in this thread, especially you: 2-3-5/2-2-6 when overloaded on both flanks in attack, 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 mid-high aggressive block in defence.

I'm preparing a very detailed post with lots of illustrations. Stay tuned!

 

[frukox]

Introduction

This is going to be a very long post about my recreation of Arteta's 22/23 Arsenal which creates a 2-3-5 attacking pattern in transitions, then turning into 2-2-6 when deep in the opposition territory. From a defensive point of view, he has created a wall in front of his goal in a 4-4-2 shape. This aspect of the tactic is inspired by @cocoadavid . Thanks to him for his great contributions to the thread. Although we can't recreate every player's role in the match engine completely, I believe we can at least devise a general plan which may work in all kinds of matches barring being a major underdog.

 

Arteta's Philosophy

Arteta is a positional play manager allowing fluid movement down the flanks aiming to isolate opposition flank player 1 vs 1, typical of Guardiola and never lets his striker be devoid of support by advancing his offensive midfielders behind him (Xhaka's positioning and play this year is his genius), then the rest of three players covering at the back, sometimes creating a double pivot or support the attack at the edge of opposition penalty creating marking dilemmas in the half-spaces, which makes it a nightmare to defend for other managers. This philosophy is imo the reason why his team now tops the most prestigious league in the world.

Good defending is the base of a good attack determining where transitions into attack start and this must be done with purpose to breach through defence. Unsurprisingly, he does it by adopting a strict, compact and aggressive 4-4-2 high block. If the opposition manages to play through the press then they retreat into 4-4-2 mid block and 4-4-2 deep block. I wasn't able to recreate this aspect of the tactic when the team is the defensive third. So this must a match engine thing. The press starts in the final third which forces opposition defenders passes to the wings. His team then marks every possible player in the ballside of the pitch not allowing easy access to opposition attacking line forcing a turnover or a hoof to the flanks or strikers, which is easier to defend if you have fast and reasonably tall defenders to win physical duels rather letting them play through you only to be cut open slowly. They retreat into a disciplined block in their half if opposition manages to advance the ball to their front 5 marking every player covering passing lanes by staying compact and protecting half spaces. 

 

The Tactic

Simple, eh? By the way, it's inverted to be compatible with my team. Why those TIs? Arteta isn't into possession football for the sake of it. He wants to do it with a clear aim: play through opposition as fast as possible. There are lots of ways of doing this but Arteta prefers to play out of the back but they are not shy of trying a long-range diagonal ball when one of the players see Martinelli, Jesus or Saka in space so I didn't tick any passing or tempo instruction. There is a clear overload on the left-hand side and I wanted to strengthen it by making MEZ and DM get closer to them to isolate Martinelli(right IWA) for 1 vs 1 duel.

With regard to the in-transition-instructions, Arteta's team aims for a lightning-fast attack after catching opposition off guard due to a forced turnover thanks to immediate counter-press. Still, some of the teams are playing with a bit of a risk against Arsenal. That's probably why they can still find some space behind defence.

Defensively, I've talked about it above. A high narrow block with offside trap to make the defensive third unplayable as much as possible while compressing space for the opposition attacking line, which enables Arsenal's defenders support attacking play as early as possible.

 

Player Roles and Instructions

I racked my brain to optimize the attack without compromising the defence which forced me to think about it in terms of the principles of a good tactic summed up perfectly by @Cleon in the series of " The Art of ............." .

I always start creating a tactic by selecting the role of my striker(s) which then allows me to decide on the type of the scorer, be it on the wings or his striker partner. So let's get down to business:

 

1) False Nine

Gabriel Jesus is the focus of the tactic. He drops deep when possible to support central overloads and stays central in the final third. His ease at skinning past his marker and picking out a runner is exceptional, a perfect choice. He is instructed to:

-Close down more: The first player to press opposition defenders

-Mark Tighter: To shut down a passing lane to a central defender or a DM

 

 2) Inverted Winger(Left)

Saka is able to combine perfectly with Odegaard and White. When he cuts inside he opens up some space for White or Odegaard. Staying wide he creates space for Odegaard pinning opposition winger or fullback. He is also a goal threat from wider areas. That's why he's on attack duty. He is instructed to:

-Stay Wider: To create some space for Odegaard to operate in with ease by pinning the opposition fullback.

-Close Down Less: A part of the second four in the defensive block. He presses further up the pitch without this.

-Mark Tighter: To shut down a passing lane quickly down the flank or in the left half-space.

 

3) Inverted Winger (Right)

Martinelli is an intelligent dribbler and scorer allowing a fluid movement between him, Xhaka and Zinchenko. When he stays wide Xhaka operates in the half-space giving advanced support to Jesus and Zinchenko covers the area behind them. If he cuts inside early this time Xhaka goes wide to fill the vacated space. He is instructed to:

-Stay Wider: To create some more room in the right half-space for Xhaka for incisive passes or crosses by pinning the opposition fullback.

-Close Down Less: A part of the second four in the defensive block. He presses further up the pitch without this.

-Mark Tighter: To shut down a passing lane quickly down the flank or in the right half-space.

- Roam from Position: When cutting inside early in the middle third he sometimes goes in to the space where Xhaka in so this lets them swap positions (a rotational run)

 

4) Attacking Midfielder

Odegaard is one of the best attacking midfielders in the world helping the build-up play by coming deep and spraying passes to the players in front of him and can set them up perfectly. This is why he's on support duty. He is also the one who joins Jesus in high press completing the front two. He is instructed to:

 

- Take More Risks: He has the ability for killer balls and runners(Saka, Xhaka, White, Jesus and Martinelli) in front of him.

- Hold Position: This is a compromise I have to make him stay in the left half-space as much as possible due to the match engine I have. Normally, I'd let him roam like Xhaka. 

- Stay Wider: This is clear, I guess. He operates in the left half-space.

- Close Down More: He forms the front two when pressing along with Jesus and this is why he is on AM strata.

 - Mark Tighter: The more Arteta's side are able to restrict opposition centrally the more difficult it is for central defenders to play through the middle. 

 

5) Mezzala

 Xhaka is having his best days thanks to Arteta's acumen and genius these days. He was never spectecular in defence picking up some red cards but he can play a laser pass to anyone and a long shot threat, for sure. Arteta moved him up the pitch and did the best thing for his side. He now operates in the advanced half-space helping his team with assists and a couple of goals. That is why he is on support duty and runs late into the penalty area creating some space for Martinelli to work his magic. You can't mark someone moving constantly. He is instructed to: 

- Take More Risks: Come on, he's X-h-a-k-a:)

- Mark Tighter: To shut down a passing lane in the half-space or in a central position as much as possible.

- Close Down Less: A part of the second four in the defensive block. He presses further up the pitch without this disrupting our shape.

 

6) Defensive Midfielder

Partey is the spine of the midfield when covering the central channel with his physicals as well as his passing ability to switch the point of attack in an instant to destabilize an organized defence. He operates behind the attacking five but giving them proper support and being able to take a pot shot from time to time when deep in the final third is crucial to unlock a stubborn side. He is instructed to: 

- Take More Risks: There are lots of movement in front of him; Jesus creating hard-to-solve dilemmas for defenders whether to follow him or not by staying central and dropping deep, inverted wingers pinning fullbacks and ready to run behind a high line. White or ,at times, Zinchenko marauds down the flanks. Dispatching them with a diagonal pass is sometimes what you need. In short, playmaking ability is crucial for a defensive pivot and Arteta has what he needs.

- Close Down Less: Protecting back four alone is a big business and you can't do that by closing down up the pitch when there is a threat or two in front of central defenders as this will cause a chain reaction between defenders about covering each other- who's gonna cover the player covering; that is, when he has to step forward when Partey is absent?

- Hold Position: Someone needs to be more disciplined than the rest in the middle of the park as well as being a backpass option to recycle possession. He has to be there to maintain the depth, in short.

- Mark Tighter: To shut down a passing lane to a striker or an AMC as much as possible.

 

 

P.S: The back four should only be instructed to mark tighter to complete the marking scheme throughout the team but I didn't do it because of my players.

7) Inverted Wing-Back

Zinchenko joined the team this summer and solved Arteta's last year problem in the central channel with his intelligence and passing ability despite the fact that he is somewhat a liability in defence and he is prone to picking up injuries. He creates space for Martinelli by forcing opposition wingers inside to mark him and lets Xhaka go forward without any problems. He forms a mobile double pivot with Partey, which is partly the reason why Arsenal is so good at moving opposition from side to side this year disrupting their balance frequently. Moreover, when there is some space on the flanks he fills the gap and keep creating from there leaving Partey alone.

 

8) Wing-Back

Although Ben White is primarily a part of the middle three, he goes forward to create a flank overload and this helps the team to find an outlet out wide the play is a bit narrow due to Zinchenko tucking inside. He's on support duty to overlap Saka quickly in case he cuts inside to maintain the width helping team stretch the opposition defence a bit more. He doesn't usually cross the ball. Instead, he helps Odegaard and Saka giving support they need outside. 

 

The rest of the roles are pretty standard for a team building play from the back. The only thing worh mentioning is sweeper-keeper being on support duty, which sometimes allows the team to dispatch wingers bypassing the entire half and thus catching the opposition in cold. 

 

Now, I will let my pictures talk:) You are going to see a number of illustrations of the team in various phases of the play and my comments in them which explains why the system works like Arteta's.

 

Attacking Phase

Left Flank

Attacking Through Center

Right Flank

Transition to Attack

To be continued with the defensive side of the system.

Edited November 29, 2022 by frukox

[frukox]

Defensive Phase- High Press 4-4-2

Mid Block

Left Flank Defence

Right Flank Defence

 

 

Edited November 29, 2022 by frukox

[davidbarros2]

@frukox amazing detail!!! 

[crusadertsar]

2 hours ago, frukox said:

Introduction

This is going to be a very long post about my recreation of Arteta's 22/23 Arsenal which creates a 2-3-5 attacking pattern in transitions, then turning into 2-2-6 when deep in the opposition territory. From a defensive point of view, he has created a wall in front of his goal in a 4-4-2 shape. This aspect of the tactic is inspired by @cocoadavid . Thanks to him for his great contributions to the thread. Although we can't recreate every player's role in the match engine completely, I believe we can at least devise a general plan which may work in all kinds of matches barring being a major underdog.

 

Arteta's Philosophy

Arteta is a positional play manager allowing fluid movement down the flanks aiming to isolate opposition flank player 1 vs 1, typical of Guardiola and never lets his striker be devoid of support by advancing his offensive midfielders behind him (Xhaka's positioning and play this year is his genius), then the rest of three players covering at the back, sometimes creating a double pivot or support the attack at the edge of opposition penalty creating marking dilemmas in the half-spaces, which makes it a nightmare to defend for other managers. This philosophy is imo the reason why his team now tops the most prestigious league in the world.

Good defending is the base of a good attack determining where transitions into attack start and this must be done with purpose to breach through defence. Unsurprisingly, he does it by adopting a strict, compact and aggressive 4-4-2 high block. If the opposition manages to play through the press then they retreat into 4-4-2 mid block and 4-4-2 deep block. I wasn't able to recreate this aspect of the tactic when the team is the defensive third. So this must a match engine thing. The press starts in the final third which forces opposition defenders passes to the wings. His team then marks every possible player in the ballside of the pitch not allowing easy access to opposition attacking line forcing a turnover or a hoof to the flanks or strikers, which is easier to defend if you have fast and reasonably tall defenders to win physical duels rather letting them play through you only to be cut open slowly. They retreat into a disciplined block in their half if opposition manages to advance the ball to their front 5 marking every player covering passing lanes by staying compact and protecting half spaces. 

 

The Tactic

Simple, eh? By the way, it's inverted to be compatible with my team. Why those TIs? Arteta isn't into possession football for the sake of it. He wants to do it with a clear aim: play through opposition as fast as possible. There are lots of ways of doing this but Arteta prefers to play out of the back but they are not shy of trying a long-range diagonal ball when one of the players see Martinelli, Jesus or Saka in space so I didn't tick any passing or tempo instruction. There is a clear overload on the left-hand side and I wanted to strengthen it by making MEZ and DM get closer to them to isolate Martinelli(right IWA) for 1 vs 1 duel.

With regard to the in-transition-instructions, Arteta's team aims for a lightning-fast attack after catching opposition off guard due to a forced turnover thanks to immediate counter-press. Still, some of the teams are playing with a bit of a risk against Arsenal. That's probably why they can still find some space behind defence.

Defensively, I've talked about it above. A high narrow block with offside trap to make the defensive third unplayable as much as possible while compressing space for the opposition attacking line, which enables Arsenal's defenders support attacking play as early as possible.

 

Player Roles and Instructions

I racked my brain to optimize the attack without compromising the defence which forced me to think about it in terms of the principles of a good tactic summed up perfectly by @Cleon in the series of " The Art of ............." .

I always start creating a tactic by selecting the role of my striker(s) which then allows me to decide on the type of the scorer, be it on the wings or his striker partner. So let's get down to business:

 

1) False Nine

Gabriel Jesus is the focus of the tactic. He drops deep when possible to support central overloads and stays central in the final third. His ease at skinning past his marker and picking out a runner is exceptional, a perfect choice. He is instructed to:

-Close down more: The first player to press opposition defenders

-Mark Tighter: To shut down a passing lane to a central defender or a DM

 

 2) Inverted Winger(Left)

Saka is able to combine perfectly with Odegaard and White. When he cuts inside he opens up some space for White or Odegaard. Staying wide he creates space for Odegaard pinning opposition winger or fullback. He is also a goal threat from wider areas. That's why he's on attack duty. He is instructed to:

-Stay Wider: To create some space for Odegaard to operate in with ease by pinning the opposition fullback.

-Close Down Less: A part of the second four in the defensive block. He presses further up the pitch without this.

-Mark Tighter: To shut down a passing lane quickly down the flank or in the left half-space.

 

3) Inverted Winger (Right)

Martinelli is an intelligent dribbler and scorer allowing a fluid movement between him, Xhaka and Zinchenko. When he stays wide Xhaka operates in the half-space giving advanced support to Jesus and Zinchenko covers the area behind them. If he cuts inside early this time Xhaka goes wide to fill the vacated space. He is instructed to:

-Stay Wider: To create some more room in the right half-space for Xhaka for incisive passes or crosses by pinning the opposition fullback.

-Close Down Less: A part of the second four in the defensive block. He presses further up the pitch without this.

-Mark Tighter: To shut down a passing lane quickly down the flank or in the right half-space.

- Roam from Position: When cutting inside early in the middle third he sometimes goes in to the space where Xhaka in so this lets them swap positions (a rotational run)

 

4) Attacking Midfielder

Odegaard is one of the best attacking midfielders in the world helping the build-up play by coming deep and spraying passes to the players in front of him and can set them up perfectly. This is why he's on support duty. He is also the one who joins Jesus in high press completing the front two. He is instructed to:

 

- Take More Risks: He has the ability for killer balls and runners(Saka, Xhaka, White, Jesus and Martinelli) in front of him.

- Hold Position: This is a compromise I have to make him stay in the left half-space as much as possible due to the match engine I have. Normally, I'd let him roam like Xhaka. 

- Stay Wider: This is clear, I guess. He operates in the left half-space.

- Close Down More: He forms the front two when pressing along with Jesus and this is why he is on AM strata.

 - Mark Tighter: The more Arteta's side are able to restrict opposition centrally the more difficult it is for central defenders to play through the middle. 

 

5) Mezzala

 Xhaka is having his best days thanks to Arteta's acumen and genius these days. He was never spectecular in defence picking up some red cards but he can play a laser pass to anyone and a long shot threat, for sure. Arteta moved him up the pitch and did the best thing for his side. He now operates in the advanced half-space helping his team with assists and a couple of goals. That is why he is on support duty and runs late into the penalty area creating some space for Martinelli to work his magic. You can't mark someone moving constantly. He is instructed to: 

- Take More Risks: Come on, he's X-h-a-k-a:)

- Mark Tighter: To shut down a passing lane in the half-space or in a central position as much as possible.

- Close Down Less: A part of the second four in the defensive block. He presses further up the pitch without this disrupting our shape.

 

6) Defensive Midfielder

Partey is the spine of the midfield when covering the central channel with his physicals as well as his passing ability to switch the point of attack in an instant to destabilize an organized defence. He operates behind the attacking five but giving them proper support and being able to take a pot shot from time to time when deep in the final third is crucial to unlock a stubborn side. He is instructed to: 

- Take More Risks: There are lots of movement in front of him; Jesus creating hard-to-solve dilemmas for defenders whether to follow him or not by staying central and dropping deep, inverted wingers pinning fullbacks and ready to run behind a high line. White or ,at times, Zinchenko marauds down the flanks. Dispatching them with a diagonal pass is sometimes what you need. In short, playmaking ability is crucial for a defensive pivot and Arteta has what he needs.

- Close Down Less: Protecting back four alone is a big business and you can't do that by closing down up the pitch when there is a threat or two in front of central defenders as this will cause a chain reaction between defenders about covering each other- who's gonna cover the player covering; that is, when he has to step forward when Partey is absent?

- Mark Tighter: To shut down a passing lane to a striker or an AMC as much as possible.

 

P.S: The back four should only be instructed to mark tighter to complete the marking scheme throughout the team but I didn't do it because of my players.

7) Inverted Wing-Back

Zinchenko joined the team this summer and solved Arteta's last year problem in the central channel with his intelligence and passing ability despite the fact that he is somewhat a liability in defence and he is prone to picking up injuries. He creates space for Martinelli by forcing opposition wingers inside to mark him and lets Xhaka go forward without any problems. He forms a mobile double pivot with Partey, which is partly the reason why Arsenal is so good at moving opposition from side to side this year disrupting their balance frequently. Moreover, when there is some space on the flanks he fills the gap and keep creating from there leaving Partey alone.

 

8) Wing-Back

Although Ben White is primarily a part of the middle three, he goes forward to create a flank overload and this helps the team to find an outlet out wide the play is a bit narrow due to Zinchenko tucking inside. He's on support duty to overlap Saka quickly in case he cuts inside to maintain the width helping team stretch the opposition defence a bit more. He doesn't usually cross the ball. Instead, he helps Odegaard and Saka giving support they need outside. 

 

The rest of the roles are pretty standard for a team building play from the back. The only thing worh mentioning is sweeper-keeper being on support duty, which sometimes allows the team to dispatch wingers bypassing the entire half and thus catching the opposition in cold. 

 

Now, I will let my pictures talk:) You are going to see a number of illustrations of the team in various phases of the play and my comments in them which explains why the system works like Arteta's.

 

Attacking Phase

Left Flank

Attacking Through Center

Right Flank

Transition to Attack

To be continued with the defensive side of the system.

Bravo 

[_mxrky]

seems to b a flaw in 2-3-5 shape when the oppo just smashes the ball into channels especially when they have two attack duty strikers. In real life you usually stop this transition, but you occassionally get ripped apart on fm from this 

[frukox]

1 dakika önce, _mxrky said:

seems to b a flaw in 2-3-5 shape when the oppo just smashes the ball into channels especially when they have two attack duty strikers. In real life you usually stop this transition, but you occassionally get ripped apart on fm from this 

I am rarely caught on counterattacks even if they have two players upfront because my team moves up and down the pitch together mitigating that kind of risk dramatically; my defenders are some of the best players in the league, which is the same situation for Arteta. 

[crusadertsar]

52 minutes ago, frukox said:

I am rarely caught on counterattacks even if they have two players upfront because my team moves up and down the pitch together mitigating that kind of risk dramatically; my defenders are some of the best players in the league, which is the same situation for Arteta. 

Are you using a Ukrainian team? Major props 

[frukox]

5 saat önce, crusadertsar said:

Are you using a Ukrainian team? Major props 

Yep, Metalist:) 

[_mxrky]

10 hours ago, frukox said:

I am rarely caught on counterattacks even if they have two players upfront because my team moves up and down the pitch together mitigating that kind of risk dramatically; my defenders are some of the best players in the league, which is the same situation for Arteta. 

Might be the quality of oppo you are facing. I’m in 2050 and leeds have 2 speed demons as strikers who are both world class and they destroy me in the channels occasionally

[frukox]

3 saat önce, _mxrky said:

Might be the quality of oppo you are facing. I’m in 2050 and leeds have 2 speed demons as strikers who are both world class and they destroy me in the channels occasionally

Mate, I realised how open my left side was as the matches went so I changed left FB to FBS and it's much more stable now and now have depth on the left flank and channeled his passes inside. Try it out quickly:)

[frukox]

I'm close to the ideal Arsenal system. Look at the beauty of the first goal . This match was 2-1 and missed a couple of good chances. It's inverted to fit it into my team. 

By the way, Gabelok is a natural stupid left-footed CM converted to right winger.

 

 

Edited December 5, 2022 by frukox

[frukox]

Another gif showing how IWB creates space for the left modified BBM(Odegaard) by cutting inside while the F9 is staying central to keep CBs pinned. He turns and shoots to score a goal for us. Pay attention to how wingers keep their width in the final third creating space for each other.

Edited December 5, 2022 by frukox

[frukox]

This is my favorite showing how fluid my right side is. First, WMA(Martinelli) stays wide and go inside due to roaming PI then my modified MEZS(Xhaka) stays to fill the gap vacated by IWBS. IWBS decides to go wide keeping the ball in the right HS for a sequence of tiki-taka. Space is opened the middle for right WMA(Martinelli) to pick out F9(Gabriel Jesus) for a simple finish who is in a vast amount of time and space.

[frukox]

This time I'll show how we create differently from the left-hand side. We start the build-up play on the left flank. FBS(White) is supporting the play after getting ball from my modified wide BBM(Odegaard). WMA(Saka) goes inside pinning FB and thus creating space for White to run into and crosses low for the other WMA for an easy tap-in. Pay attention how my DMS is destabilizing defence with a diagonal ball. Mentality is important. Probably a defensive DM would pass it to my MEZS ruining a potential attacking opportunity due to his caution and will to keep possession.

By the way, my FBs is a converted left footed winger/forward. I don't care about his attributes. His advantages outweigh potential risks.

Edited December 5, 2022 by frukox

[frukox]

This is going to be the final gif showing what an F9 can do with a lovely sequence of tiki-taka and positional play. Notice how all players are close to the player on the ball to progress the ball further and at different angles with each other.

The sequence starts with my DMS(Partey). Then, he passes the ball to IWBS(Zinchenko). He then finds MEZS(Xhaka) in some space and my F9(Gabriel Jesus) comes deep to get the ball and slips the ball in for Gabelok and opts for an audacious low chip over the keeper.

Edited December 5, 2022 by frukox

[Mutumba]

19 hours ago, frukox said:

Another gif showing how IWB creates space for the left modified BBM(Odegaard) by cutting inside while the F9 is staying central to keep CBs pinned. 

1

Is this the tactic you showed earlier with a screenshot or a new one? Cant see a BBM in that tactic

[frukox]

39 dakika önce, Mutumba said:

Is this the tactic you showed earlier with a screenshot or a new one? Cant see a BBM in that tactic

I revised the system after watching it in action in a number of games and now it's a lot more stable. We are now able to create different kinds of combinations to unlock the game in one way or another. I am waiting for the season to end as well as the national cup competition to determine how it will fare against bigger teams to see its full potential. Only then am I planning to show you the revised version of the system along with its PIs. 

Advantages of the Revised Version

- Playing out of defence more easily most of the times 

- GK starts build--up plays with his closer options more often. He picks out options on the flanks more rarely. 

- Left-hand side play is fluid like Arteta's Arsenal. One of the players maintains the width, the others combining well in the half-space confounding opponents with unexpected off the ball movement

- Right-hand side play results in more cutbacks like in RL.

- Saka is nearly always isolated like in RL for 1 vs 1 duels.

- The team moves up and down together rarely experiencing counterattacks down the right flank thanks to a couple of changes related to FB role and a TI.

- Possession is almost always above %60.

- The system consistently places players on every channel(Wings, halfspaces and center) allowing for better connections across the pitch.

Disadvantages of the Revised System

- We can't consistently start pressing in a high block any more due to the defensive shape and used PIs. 

- 4-4-2 defensive shape is only visible when the ball is close to the middle of the pitch.

- Inverted wingers can only find space early during the counterattacking phase or when we are able to change the point of attack very quickly which happens more frequently when opposition press higher due to TI changes made to fix static movements detected on the flanks.

 

[frukox]

Please take note of the beauty of this passage of play ending in an easy finish by my F9.

https://gyazo.com/ab67824a72c943bd0fd2ae11f1ae6aab

 

Edited December 7, 2022 by frukox

[davidbarros2]

1 hora atrás, frukox disse:

Please take note of the beauty of this passage of play ending in an easy finish by my F9.

https://gyazo.com/ab67824a72c943bd0fd2ae11f1ae6aab

 

Lovely stuff! Well played 

[frukox]

26 dakika önce, davidbarros2 said:

Lovely stuff! Well played 

Thank you. I'm almost done with the testing. Now I detected a problem while playing against three-back systems or deep 2 dm systems and now I am trying to fix it. The end product is almost ready. Stay tuned!

Edited December 7, 2022 by frukox

[_mxrky]

3 hours ago, frukox said:

Thank you. I'm almost done with the testing. Now I detected a problem while playing against three-back systems or deep 2 dm systems and now I am trying to fix it. The end product is almost ready. Stay tuned!

 3-1-6 build up shape usually works against that

[frukox]

2 saat önce, _mxrky said:

 3-1-6 build up shape usually works against that

Possible but I feel like I need a role dynamically running between the lines and that is able to distract defenders giving them a hard time to mark him because in matches I often see opposition defenders sit comfortably against my striker and I have to have them think about who to mark in front of defence for a better working system.

[VirgilFanDijk12]

This is a really great thread with lots of debate on the different ways/variations of recreating Arteta's tactics. I have just started thinking/playing around with my interpretation Here is what I have done:

I went with 4-2-3-1 (4-1-1-3-1)

v1

                             GK: Sk (s)

RB: FB (s) CB: BPD (c) CB: BPD (d) LB: IWB (s)

                    DM: DM (d)

                                       CM: BBM (S)

  RW: W (A).      CAM: T (A).      LW: IW (s)

                          ST:  DLF (A)

RB: sit narrow, hold position, run wide, dribble more

DM: tackle harder

BBM: stay wider, get further forward, cross more

IW: Stay wider, get further forward

W: roam from position, mark DCL (to create pressing front 2)

 

v2

                            GK: Sk (s)

RB: FB (s) CB: BPD (c) CB: BPD (d) LB: WB (s)

                    DM: DM (d)

                                       CM: BBM (S)

  RW: W (A).      CAM: T (A).      LW: IW (s)

                          ST:  DLF (A)

RB: sit narrow, hold position, run wide, dribble more

LB: stay wider, dribble more (for Tierney variation)

DM: tackle harder

BBM: stay wider, get further forward, cross more

IW: Sit Narrower, get further forward

W: roam from position, mark DCL (to create pressing front 2)

 

TIs for both v1 and v2 would probably be:

Shorter passing, play out from D, low crosses, work ball into box, focus play L and R, Fairly narrow

take short kicks, counter press

Higher def line, High press, more often

 

• I really like Ødegaard as a T because he creates overloads either side and links nicely with Saka as he does in real life.
• I think Saka as a W (a) on the right is as close as you can get.
• With Xhaka being limited as a CM on fm23 it's a shame he isn't perfect for BBM or an SV as that is his real role.
• You could also easily do a 4-3-3 by shifting Ø into the midfield 3 as a AP (a) and Xhaka as a Mez (s), the variations are endless.

[bosque]

On 07/12/2022 at 06:39, frukox said:

Thank you. I'm almost done with the testing. Now I detected a problem while playing against three-back systems or deep 2 dm systems and now I am trying to fix it. The end product is almost ready. Stay tuned!

Did you continue working with this?

[frukox]

On 08.01.2023 at 21:13, bosque said:

Did you continue working with this?

I did for a while but then I moved on to the double false nine system I've longed to create.

The final system, inverted for my team was:

                             F9

WMA     MEZA            BBM      WMA

                           DMS

FBS        CDD              CDD       IWBS     

                            SKS   

F9: Mark Tighter, Close Down More

MEZA: Mark Tighter, Close Down More

BBM: Mark Tighter, Get Stuck In, Stay Wider, Get Further Forward, Risky Passes

Left WMA: Mark Tighter, Close Down More, Stay Wider, Cut Inside

Right WMA: Mark Tighter, Close Down More, Cut Inside, Roam from Position

DMS: Hold Position, Risky Passes, Mark Tighter

FBS: Get Forward, Mark Tighter

IWBS: Mark Tighter

 

In-possession:

Shorter Passing, Dribble Less, Play Wide, Play Out of Defence, Low Crosses

In-transition:

Distribute to CBS, Counter-press, Counter, Take Short Kicks

Out-of-possession:

Defend Narrower(Invite Crosses) , Much Higher DL, Higher LOE(High Block), Stay on Feet, Play Offside Trap(Drop Off More)

 

[CKBrahMa]

Hello everyone !

After months and my failed attempt to make Saka a Ballon d'Or winner, WE ARE BACK WITH NEW IDEAS to RECREATE ARSENAL 22/23 !

The differences with the first attempt are, basically, my understanding of the system. Some new stuffs poped up :

• The new meta of Football : the box midfield ;
• The use of IRL heat maps for : Martin Odegaard ; Bukayo Saka ; Gabriel Martinelli ; Granit Xhaka ; Thomas Partey ; Gabriel Jesus ; Ole Zinchenko ; Ben White ;
• Looking on how Arsenal create their goalscoring chances : the use of cutbacks ;
• An in-depth video on how Arsenal play with the ball : Warning it's a french baguette video ;
• Rashidi "old" videos that i suggest : Passing triangle ; Football Intelligence on FM

 

So, let's start with what stay the same : the SHAPE

Indeed, we're still going with a 4-3-3.

Some can argue that Arsenal defend in a 442, a 4411 or even in a 451 shape.

However, stating this is, IMO, forgeting something essential about Arsenal (and IRL football) : IRL football teams are way more fluid that what FM allows us to be. Or, to be even more precise, if you want to emulate at best what Arsenal create IRL, you should :

1. have different shape ready : a 433, a 442 and an agressive 4231. Why that's ? Because Arteta doesn't ask the same thing during the game to his team. Indeed, he ask them to be very agressive at the beginning of each 45 minutes. So, you "should" ask them to start with a 4231 for the first 15 minutes of each half-time, then go with a 433 to control the game and a 442 to kill it ;
2. be ready to adapt for each game you face in FM. Even though we can translate some guideline of Arteta's principles, he still reacts and adapts depending on the opponent. It is why that, sometimes, the build-up phase starts with a 3 at the back, and sometimes only two, why sometimes you see Ben White overlapping and sometimes staying a bit deeper ;
3. finally, it is WRONG to say that FM is static. Depending on your players, your pressing intensity, your width and the opponent shape, even if you have a 433, they can still defend in a 442'ish shape.

 

The principles

 

In a press conference while he was an Assistant of our Lord Pep Guardiola, Arteta stated that he wanted his team to :

• produce an expressive and engaging football ;
• not be entirely focus on the opponent ;
• dictate the tempo and create chances ;
• entertain our fans.

In FM terms, we can translate these like this :

1. not going route-one or a counter-attacking playstyle : he wants a possession-based tactic ;
2. we should ask the question to our opponents, and not answer theirs : he wants a possession-based tactic that can be used over and over (which is nice for FM) ;
3. we decide if the game is played slow or quickly at the condition that we're still the ones producing the most and better chances : he wants an agressive possession-based tactic, that can be used over and over (meaning, we don't want possession for the sake of it) ;
4. we want emotions, we have to take risks to score goals : he wants an agressive possession-based tactic in order to win whatever it takes, that can be used over and over (meaning, we play to win, a draw must feel like a defeat).

In other word, it really looks like the vertical tiki-taka preset of FM. And it is going to be our starting point, even though we're going to tweak it.

The roles and duties

We're going to focus on some roles and duty :

The Zinchenko role : IWB-s

Heatmap

As you can see, he starts wide but can play very centrally (way more than Ben White, who stays wider without overlap that much).

Zinchenko is a huge creator, that can also contribute during the attacking phase to be a passing outlet and recycle possession.

Furthermore, he's one of the player in the 'midfield box", along side...

The Partey role : DM-s

Heatmap

Not much to say : he is the fixing point to build from defence to midfield. He's the 2nd player of the bottom of the midfield box.

The Ødegaard role : Mezz-s

Heatmap

IMO, it is the hardest role to figure out. His heatmap suggests that he's eaither a Mezz-s, a CM-a or an AP-a. Why do I choose the Mezz-s :

1. Even if he can be central, his heatmap suggest that he stays a bit more in the right half-space. So, if he was a CM-a, I should add the PI "Run on the flanks with ball" ;
2. Being an AP-a means he becomes a ball magnet, which is 1. not true and 2.not what we want in FM (we're not looking for an overload on this side). Furthermore, it means that he may drops deeper to get the ball which is, according to his heatmap, not true ;

The Xhaka Role : BBM-s with PIs

Heatmap

He is a problem : he's the last member of midfield box but have to be up & down the pitch and wider when Martinelli comes in.

That's why we aim for a BBM-s, with "Run wide with the ball" PI's.

If we take a look at the vertical Tiki-Taka preset, we're not that far from what Arsenal is producing :

Regarding our analysis, this is our version :

Which, in possession should look like this :

You can see that we occupy the 5 channels, like the positionnal play of Arsenal suggests to.

Some may say that we lack of penetration on the box (with only the IF and the DLF-s coming late).

This is where the TI's are coming to play...

 

 

Edited March 12, 2023 by CKBrahMa

[CKBrahMa]

The TEAM INSTRUCTIONS

Let's take a look at the TI's for the vertical Tiki-Taka TI's :

Due to the change of roles, some TI's should change.

TBF, none of the out of possession and In transition should change.

Some can argue about the Counter TI.

I think it is wrong to say that Arsenal is not looking to counter attack. They have great passing skills and very pacy wingers : if there is space, they want to exploit it !

Furthermore, when Arsenal get the ball, all the players are looking forwards. They don't do nonsense passing. They want the ball up the pitch because, even if they loose it, it's not in their hald and they can counter press in the opponent half.

However, maybe we should let it unticked. We'll see

The only TI's I will change are the ones in the "In possession" section :

What I don't change :

1. the width : when talking about Pep Guardiola, a lot of the players think that when he says that he wants his winger to be wide, it means that the team should be wide. Stating this is a non-sense ; the idea to have your wingers wider than the rest of the team helps to stretch the defense. And, remember one of Arteta's principle : we want to ask the opposition question, not answer theirs. Meaning, we want them to deal with a problem. If you have winger in a wide system, both problems (width and winger) have the same answer : defend wider. However, by having a narrow system and wide players, you force the opposition to give up space either on the flank or in the middle. Also, being narrow helps us for the counter press ;
2. Passing shortness : most of the time, Arsenal isn't playing risky passes. The players who tries it are Odegaard (who has the "Tries killer ball" PPM) and Zinchenko (who has the "Long pass" PPM). In add, most of the role upfront as the PI "Take more risk" PI's ;
3. Tempo : as we said, we want to control the game, dictate the tempo as Arteta said. Having a higher tempo can lead to give up the ball more often (failing the possession-based tactic), which leads to let the other team to dictate the tempo bu having the ball (failing one of Arteta's principle)

The one's I may tweak considering the game :

1. WBIB : it can slow the game too much, especially against teams that park the bus ;
2. Be more expressive : it goes with the Arteta principle. However, having this as a TI's means it applies to all the players. As most of them are instructed to be expressive by their role/duty/PI's, I may untick it ;

The one's I change :

1. The underlaps : it slows the game, by waiting the player to underlap. In add, we already have the IF-a, the DLF-s and the Mezz-s that move into the channels. Having to wait that they underlap means that we give more time for the opposition to press our wide player ;
2. focus on the middle : with an IWB and an IF-a, a DLF-s, we already have plenty of people in the middle. No need to overkill it ;
3. Crosses : we add "low crosses". I let you see this video that explain how Arsenal heavily relies on cut-backs/low crosses.

For the mentality, I may switch to "Positive", but it is more a tweak then a true change.

 

Our TI's :

[CKBrahMa]

First game with this tactic : 4-0 against West Ham

I would like the IWB to be more narrow, the DM more deeper and the 2 CM's to be higher, but it's a great start !

[CKBrahMa]

Some of the goal we scored :

1-0

Révélation

3-0

Révélation

4-0

Révélation

 

[julle17]

Best replication of Arsenal i've seen on here so far, not really anything in terms of roles i disagree with, and i think your reasoning is sound.
One question though, and it might not be anything you've tried, but i'm still going to ask.
Have you ever tried replicating the specific way Artetas press is, where on of the wingers tuck in to press a cb, and then the full back would come support that press going on the full back left by the winger?

5 hours ago, CKBrahMa said:

Hello everyone !

After months and my failed attempt to make Saka a Ballon d'Or winner, WE ARE BACK WITH NEW IDEAS to RECREATE ARSENAL 22/23 !

The differences with the first attempt are, basically, my understanding of the system. Some new stuffs poped up :

• The new meta of Football : the box midfield ;
• The use of IRL heat maps for : Martin Odegaard ; Bukayo Saka ; Gabriel Martinelli ; Granit Xhaka ; Thomas Partey ; Gabriel Jesus ; Ole Zinchenko ; Ben White ;
• Looking on how Arsenal create their goalscoring chances : the use of cutbacks ;
• An in-depth video on how Arsenal play with the ball : Warning it's a french baguette video ;
• Rashidi "old" videos that i suggest : Passing triangle ; Football Intelligence on FM

 

So, let's start with what stay the same : the SHAPE

Indeed, we're still going with a 4-3-3.

Some can argue that Arsenal defend in a 442, a 4411 or even in a 451 shape.

However, stating this is, IMO, forgeting something essential about Arsenal (and IRL football) : IRL football teams are way more fluid that what FM allows us to be. Or, to be even more precise, if you want to emulate at best what Arsenal create IRL, you should :

1. have different shape ready : a 433, a 442 and an agressive 4231. Why that's ? Because Arteta doesn't ask the same thing during the game to his team. Indeed, he ask them to be very agressive at the beginning of each 45 minutes. So, you "should" ask them to start with a 4231 for the first 15 minutes of each half-time, then go with a 433 to control the game and a 442 to kill it ;
2. be ready to adapt for each game you face in FM. Even though we can translate some guideline of Arteta's principles, he still reacts and adapts depending on the opponent. It is why that, sometimes, the build-up phase starts with a 3 at the back, and sometimes only two, why sometimes you see Ben White overlapping and sometimes staying a bit deeper ;
3. finally, it is WRONG to say that FM is static. Depending on your players, your pressing intensity, your width and the opponent shape, even if you have a 433, they can still defend in a 442'ish shape.

 

The principles

 

In a press conference while he was an Assistant of our Lord Pep Guardiola, Arteta stated that he wanted his team to :

• produce an expressive and engaging football ;
• not be entirely focus on the opponent ;
• dictate the tempo and create chances ;
• entertain our fans.

In FM terms, we can translate these like this :

1. not going route-one or a counter-attacking playstyle : he wants a possession-based tactic ;
2. we should ask the question to our opponents, and not answer theirs : he wants a possession-based tactic that can be used over and over (which is nice for FM) ;
3. we decide if the game is played slow or quickly at the condition that we're still the ones producing the most and better chances : he wants an agressive possession-based tactic, that can be used over and over (meaning, we don't want possession for the sake of it) ;
4. we want emotions, we have to take risks to score goals : he wants an agressive possession-based tactic in order to win whatever it takes, that can be used over and over (meaning, we play to win, a draw must feel like a defeat).

In other word, it really looks like the vertical tiki-taka preset of FM. And it is going to be our starting point, even though we're going to tweak it.

The roles and duties

We're going to focus on some roles and duty :

The Zinchenko role : IWB-s

Heatmap

As you can see, he starts wide but can play very centrally (way more than Ben White, who stays wider without overlap that much).

Zinchenko is a huge creator, that can also contribute during the attacking phase to be a passing outlet and recycle possession.

Furthermore, he's one of the player in the 'midfield box", along side...

The Partey role : DM-s

Heatmap

Not much to say : he is the fixing point to build from defence to midfield. He's the 2nd player of the bottom of the midfield box.

The Ødegaard role : Mezz-s

Heatmap

IMO, it is the hardest role to figure out. His heatmap suggests that he's eaither a Mezz-s, a CM-a or an AP-a. Why do I choose the Mezz-s :

1. Even if he can be central, his heatmap suggest that he stays a bit more in the right half-space. So, if he was a CM-a, I should add the PI "Run on the flanks with ball" ;
2. Being an AP-a means he becomes a ball magnet, which is 1. not true and 2.not what we want in FM (we're not looking for an overload on this side). Furthermore, it means that he may drops deeper to get the ball which is, according to his heatmap, not true ;

The Xhaka Role : BBM-s with PIs

Heatmap

He is a problem : he's the last member of midfield box but have to be up & down the pitch and wider when Martinelli comes in.

That's why we aim for a BBM-s, with "Run wide with the ball" PI's.

If we take a look at the vertical Tiki-Taka preset, we're not that far from what Arsenal is producing :

Regarding our analysis, this is our version :

Which, in possession should look like this :

You can see that we occupy the 5 channels, like the positionnal play of Arsenal suggests to.

Some may say that we lack of penetration on the box (with only the IF and the DLF-s coming late).

This is where the TI's are coming to play...