How I managed to beat Pep (doing Pep's things)

[NilsFreedhom]

Hi everybody: here Nils Freedhom and I just wanted to share the thinking process that I made before a Big Match against Man City in which I surely wasn't expecting a win.

First of all I want to apologize for my bad English, I'm Italian . 

Team & usual Tactical shape
Currently managing Brighton (first year), this is the tactic that I created:

Focal Points:

• Creative and aggressive football. Double pivot to constantly retain possession of the ball and creative freedom on the wings. Passes are set to shorter but the front-four have take more risks. I'm also trying to learn the traits that can support this style: tries killer balls, one-two often, move into spaces etc.
• Aggressive pressing strategy, also supported by inside pressing trap achieved by showing the opposition full-backs onto the opposite foot. Due to the slow CBs that I have I'm not confident in pushing the Defensive line too much higher but as soon as I have quicker players I'll try to do so.

The Pre-Match Strategy

 

• Finding the weak spot and leave him almost unmarked: Nathan Aké.
  Why? He's a CB moved to LB. Probably He's the one with the weakest technique set of skills in a team in which everyone can hurt in lots of different ways.
• Man Marking 1v1 throughout the entire pitch except for our weak spot, so we start the match like this:
  - Kouamè (ST) on RCB - Ruben (Trigger Press)
  - Tsyganov (Right AM) on LCB - Laporte (Trigger Press)
  - Szobo (Left AM) on RB - Walker (Tight Marking + Trigger Press)
  - Akè free to roam and build-up
  - Mac Allister (AM) on DM - Rodri (Tight Marking + Trigger Press)
  - Lallana (Left DM) on Right CM - KDB (Tight Marking + Trigger Press)
  - Caicedo (Right DM) on Left CM - Gundogan (Tight Marking + Trigger Press)
  
  - Our back line constantly in a 4v3 against their attacking trio.
• The entire team is showed onto weaker foot

The Match

• We overload the left side, Szobo finds Kouamé with an enormous pass. Kouamé with the extra pass for Tsyganov who slips behind Aké and makes 1-0.

• In their build up phase our 1v1 take place. The only free man is Akè who is ignored by Rodri who throws a ball which our CBs (2v1 against Haaland) will recover.

• Again from the left side, we are attacking with 8 men, Lallana finds a great assist picking Kouamé between Left CB and Akè. Header and 2-0.

• Lallana loses KDB who finds the gap and makes 2-1. From this moment on, I reduce the pressure while keeping the man-marking system all around the pitch and basically, even if we're in the 30th minute is game-over....

• Again 8 men attacking, Estupinan finds Szobo who scores his first with Brighton and our third in the match.

• Akè: 58 passes (attempted) - Walker: 38 passes
  
  
  

I honestly don't know if it was luck or not. Maybe yes, but I want to be honest. This thread is only here for one reason:

- I want to give incredible credit to lot of users of this Forum that I follow since I started to play this game lot of years ago: @Rashidi, @crusadertsar, @Cleon, @Ö-zil to the Arsenal! and, last but not least @Jack Joyce who's been a huge inspiration with his YT channel. This is the right way to play FM and if I'm writing here sharing a useless virtual joy it's only because of your work.

 

Hope this will be useful to other people.

Edited November 14, 2022 by NilsFreedhom

[The3points]

Quite the masterclass.  However, I am confused as to why Ake is ignored by Rodri in the last screenshot. If he makes that ball they are through, vs the long ball to Haaland. I thought Pep was all about the free man: and it doesn't get freer than that!

[NilsFreedhom]

29 minuti fa, The3points ha scritto:

Quite the masterclass.  However, I am confused as to why Ake is ignored by Rodri in the last screenshot. If he makes that ball they are through, vs the long ball to Haaland. I thought Pep was all about the free man: and it doesn't get freer than that!

Thank You @The3points!
I really don't know why Pep should've been mad! 
Maybe it's a normal error made by a player who is pressed, maybe he was looking for Haaland or maybe he just doesn't trust Akè...

[Cam NBH]

Love the pressing and leave the weak spot plan, thats great 

[NilsFreedhom]

32 minuti fa, Cam NBH ha scritto:

Love the pressing and leave the weak spot plan, thats great 

Thank You! Appreciated! 

[NilsFreedhom]

And we managed to do this again..

After few matches we are off to the Emirates and I can recognize a sort of deja-vu. A very technical side that will try to overload one flank to hit on the other. 
The pattern is almost the same. 

The striker goes against the CB who plays on the side that I want to trap and the winger on the side of the "weak spot" presses the other CB leaving without marking the LB (Tierney).
In this case I decided to trap the right side because of the creative abilities of Smith Rowe if compared to Zinchenko's. 
My left winger is man to man to Tomiyasu and the AMC will mark on of the 2 DMs. 
My other DM (the most defensive one) will drop to trap Odegaard and Zinchenko and Smith Rowe + Jesus are left 3v4 against my back-line.

     

That's it. Left side completely open whilst the other flank is overcrowded. As you can see from the pass-map, they tried to build, without success on the side of the weak spot.

And here we have the result: 0.69xG vs 1.48 xG  away at the Emirates for me it's a great result but the greatest thing is having the possibility to see how the players react to the instruction both team and individual ones.

 

[cmonreds]

A good piece of craftmanship, very interesting read 

[NilsFreedhom]

28 minuti fa, cmonreds ha scritto:

A good piece of craftmanship, very interesting read 

Thank you!  

[bosque]

Great explanation. I have one doubt. You ask your players to man mark and press more often or do you trigger the press with the OI's?

[VeniVV]

So long as your tactic has high enough pressing, it'll be fine. 

[NilsFreedhom]

2 ore fa, bosque ha scritto:

Great explanation. I have one doubt. You ask your players to man mark and press more often or do you trigger the press with the OI's?

Both 

[Dereka]

Absolutely loved reading this, great work! I'd love to read more, especially when you go up against different formations (f.e. Liverpool who play 433 I assume)

[w_x]

12 hours ago, NilsFreedhom said:

And we managed to do this again..

After few matches we are off to the Emirates and I can recognize a sort of deja-vu. A very technical side that will try to overload one flank to hit on the other. 
The pattern is almost the same. 

The striker goes against the CB who plays on the side that I want to trap and the winger on the side of the "weak spot" presses the other CB leaving without marking the LB (Tierney).
In this case I decided to trap the right side because of the creative abilities of Smith Rowe if compared to Zinchenko's. 
My left winger is man to man to Tomiyasu and the AMC will mark on of the 2 DMs. 
My other DM (the most defensive one) will drop to trap Odegaard and Zinchenko and Smith Rowe + Jesus are left 3v4 against my back-line.

     

That's it. Left side completely open whilst the other flank is overcrowded. As you can see from the pass-map, they tried to build, without success on the side of the weak spot.

And here we have the result: 0.69xG vs 1.48 xG  away at the Emirates for me it's a great result but the greatest thing is having the possibility to see how the players react to the instruction both team and individual ones.

 

The pass network looks like they played Tierney on the right side?

[NilsFreedhom]

21 minuti fa, w_x ha scritto:

The pass network looks like they played Tierney on the right side?

@w_x Yes! After 20 minutes Arteta swapped Tierney and Tomiyasu and played them as IWB. So, as a result, I shifted the man marking side leaving Tomiyasu open on the other Flank.
This year the AI manager adapt a lot quicker to the tactical situation they face. Nice!

 

 

2 ore fa, Dereka ha scritto:

Absolutely loved reading this, great work! I'd love to read more, especially when you go up against different formations (f.e. Liverpool who play 433 I assume)

@Dereka I played Liverpool right after Arsenal but I didn't want to write another post because the result was quite the same.

They were unbeaten with 14 consecutive wins in PL. Tons of goals scored and only 4 conceded. There were all the ingredients for us to be blown away.
Jurgen Klopp went for the classic 4-3-3 and, if compared to Arsenal and Man City formations, they clearly didn't have a weak spot on one flank.
Anyway, fortunately, neither Trent or Robinson started the match: here's their starting 11.



I focused my marking on the left side, trying to exploit the weaknesses of Matip and Gomez, and prevent Virgil Van Djik from the build-up phase.
So as always, man marking everyone except for the right back, leaving their front 3 against my back 4.

 

 

I cannot say to be satisfied with the performance but we didn't conceded against the best attacking side of the league. We were too passive and surely lucky. We didn't create enough so, I think that if I play this game 10 times probably I'd lose 8 

Because of the lack of aggression I decided to create an alternative version of the tactic moving the intensity a little bit higher, as follows:

 

As you can see, after the L'pool win, we managed to blow away Brentford which, for me is always a tough opponent and we came back after the World Cup (won by France in a 3-1 final against Brazil) with a Huge win against Aston Villa who were just few points behind us.

 

We're currently in race for a Champions League spot, but I'm expecting a fall. I would love to qualify for the Europa League and start from there before face the best opponents.

Let's see, the journey continues...

[w_x]

7 minutes ago, NilsFreedhom said:

@w_x Yes! After 20 minutes Arteta swapped Tierney and Tomiyasu and played them as IWB. So, as a result, I shifted the man marking side leaving Tomiyasu open on the other Flank.
This year the AI manager adapt a lot quicker to the tactical situation they face. Nice!

 

 

@Dereka I played Liverpool right after Arsenal but I didn't want to write another post because the result was quite the same.

They were unbeaten with 14 consecutive wins in PL. Tons of goals scored and only 4 conceded. There were all the ingredients for us to be blown away.
Jurgen Klopp went for the classic 4-3-3 and, if compared to Arsenal and Man City formations, they clearly didn't have a weak spot on one flank.
Anyway, fortunately, neither Trent or Robinson started the match: here's their starting 11.



I focused my marking on the left side, trying to exploit the weaknesses of Matip and Gomez, and prevent Virgil Van Djik from the build-up phase.
So as always, man marking everyone except for the right back, leaving their front 3 against my back 4.

 

 

I cannot say to be satisfied with the performance but we didn't conceded against the best attacking side of the league. We were too passive and surely lucky. We didn't create enough so, I think that if I play this game 10 times probably I'd lose 8 

Because of the lack of aggression I decided to create an alternative version of the tactic moving the intensity a little bit higher, as follows:

 

As you can see, after the L'pool win, we managed to blow away Brentford which, for me is always a tough opponent and we came back after the World Cup (won by France in a 3-1 final against Brazil) with a Huge win against Aston Villa who were just few points behind us.

 

We're currently in race for a Champions League spot, but I'm expecting a fall. I would love to qualify for the Europa League and start from there before face the best opponents.

Let's see, the journey continues...

Very cool!

[NilsFreedhom]

22 ore fa, w_x ha scritto:

Very cool!

Thank You 

[NilsFreedhom]

Brighton vs. Tottenham
Let's try the marking system against Antonio Conte's back 3.

      

That's how they lineup.

What do I expect?
Eric Dier according to my analysts will be their BPD, so, the first source of their build-up that we want to shut down.
By sticking my CF (Kouamé) on him, we assure to apply pressure and force them to play through the wide men. 
AMC (Gross) will press the more technical CB of the two remaining, leaving the weight of the build-up to one wide CB.
We go man-to-man to the flanks also, so it's Szobo&Estupinan on their right side and Tsyganov&Lamptey on their left. In the same way, we go man-to-man against Bissouma&Hojbjerg.

That's what happened..

    

 

Davinson Sanchez is pressed by Szobo and showed onto the weak foot. He plays a slow pass to Eric Dier but Kouame comes right to him for the steal and the 1v1 agains Lloris that he won't miss. It's the 10th minute and our plan has already worked.

 

Another match in the book for us. We stopped Tottenham at 0.74 xG.
Next step will be, trying to improve our possession stats. I assume that we cannot retain the ball due to the lack of positioning of my players that are always out of position in order to follow the men marking instruction. 

I'll let you know..

[cmonreds]

37 minutes ago, NilsFreedhom said:

Next step will be, trying to improve our possession stats. I assume that we cannot retain the ball due to the lack of positioning of my players that are always out of position in order to follow the men marking instruction. 

I'll let you know..

It is an interesting observation and someting I have pondered about as well. Affected positioning should be a logical consequence of applying OI and man-marking. It is about finding the optimum between two purposes:

• What is the optimal use of OI/man-marking  vs achieving possession
• What is the optimal risk taking for creating chances vs  achieving possession
• and so on..

It could mean that your transition from out of possession (OOP) to in possession (IP) is affected as well. There is possible solutions/helpful measures in this phase of play for what you want to achieve.

[NilsFreedhom]

1 ora fa, cmonreds ha scritto:

It is an interesting observation and someting I have pondered about as well. Affected positioning should be a logical consequence of applying OI and man-marking. It is about finding the optimum between two purposes:

• What is the optimal use of OI/man-marking  vs achieving possession
• What is the optimal risk taking for creating chances vs  achieving possession
• and so on..

It could mean that your transition from out of possession (OOP) to in possession (IP) is affected as well. There is possible solutions/helpful measures in this phase of play for what you want to achieve.

that's surely the main problem.

Right know I'm not too worried about this. I'm in my first year, the team is a good one but we're far from being competitive for a champions league spot or even for the title, even If I'm about 15 points clear of a "non-european" place. 
I'm playing all games on comprehensive highlights and writing post here is helping me to review matches and have a clearer idea of the tweaks I have to make.

Right now I think that the main problem is also the simplest one: I have to improve the quality of the players. We're kinda slow in transition (CBs are not properly adapt to this playing-style except for Webster who, last year also in my Brighton Save was a top-performer).

In the middle of the pitch I have Caicedo who is the only one already on that level, but the others are too young and not ready to go (Gilmour, Enciso, Sarmiento) or too old and probably not fast enough to play such a heavy football. I'm well aware that I cannot ask to Lallana who is playing AM to press the opponent CB and sprint back to build up the play. 

I'm gonna work on this in the January transfer window, but I'm kinda afraid to revolutionize the team. 

Thank you for the answer anyway  @cmonreds

[NilsFreedhom]

Small off-topic update:

I was sharing my results on Twitter and this happened:



That made my day 💙🤍

[w_x]

Nils for gaffer!

[NilsFreedhom]

1 ora fa, w_x ha scritto:

Nils for gaffer!

I tried to ask them if they need an assistant manager. I'm Italian so I can communicate without problems with Roberto De Zerbi 

[w_x]

11 minutes ago, NilsFreedhom said:

I tried to ask them if they need an assistant manager. I'm Italian so I can communicate without problems with Roberto De Zerbi 

you miss 100% of the shots you don't take!

[Dereka]

Awesome Twitter moment!

Great job on the Spurs result too. Do you find yourself applying your man-marking set-up in every game or only against the top 6?

[XaW]

@icedgate - Please create a thread of your own if you need tactical advise.

[NilsFreedhom]

21 ore fa, Dereka ha scritto:

Awesome Twitter moment!

Great job on the Spurs result too. Do you find yourself applying your man-marking set-up in every game or only against the top 6?

@Dereka The more difficult is the match, the more man marking is involved. When I face a weaker team I often try to limit the two or three best player or to exploit their weak spot. When a team doesn't seem to have weak spots I extend the marking system to the entire 11 

 

 

[sugarbear0511]

@NilsFreedhom first of all great results with BHA! second, when you say man mark do you use the OI tight mark instruction or do you go to the players personal instruction and tell them to specifically mark someone?

[FrazT]

@icedgate  You have been asked to open your own thread for advice, so please do not post in another users thread unless it is relevant to that thread.

[NilsFreedhom]

13 ore fa, sugarbear0511 ha scritto:

@NilsFreedhom first of all great results with BHA! second, when you say man mark do you use the OI tight mark instruction or do you go to the players personal instruction and tell them to specifically mark someone?

@sugarbear0511 Both. But the most important one is definitely the player's personal instruction. 

[NilsFreedhom]

This team is insane!
We did it again!

Again, that's the plan:
- In Blue all the players who have been man-marked
- In green the weak spot
- In Yellow the 3v4 created

We played a wonderful, wonderful game. We've absolutely blown them away.

      

2.83 xG vs. 1.36xG (They had a penalty also, saved by Robert Sanchez)
I also had a look at the team stats and I noticed the numbers of interception made by us. Significant!

Just to update the stats against L'pool this year: 4 pts in two games. 0 goals conceded. Their total count is 80 goals for and 17 against.

 

 

I start to believe that a Champions' League spot is possible...

Edited November 20, 2022 by NilsFreedhom

[sugarbear0511]

1 hour ago, NilsFreedhom said:

@sugarbear0511 Both. But the most important one is definitely the player's personal instruction. 

interesting. So you're doing full press and rely on counter attack then? I'd assume it's hard to retain your tactical form if you man mark almost everyone. How's your team physical condition after each match?

[NilsFreedhom]

@sugarbear0511 I've no problems of condition at all. The training plan is studied to guarantee a nice fitness form throughout the whole season. When I play twice a week I rest the starting eleven for a day after each match. 

According to the physios the expected injuries should have been 124. We had only 56 which is surprisingly good.
The secret is to find a balance between match intensity and training intensity without stop the development of the youngsters. 

As I said few messages before the tactical form is the next problem I'll fix because I want to have more possession, but it's a sort of risk-reward thing. I don't want to have possession against everybody and lose all the big matches against top 6 teams...

[Yisz]

Interesting read!

Could you show your OI?

Do you instruct tight marking through PI?

Edited November 21, 2022 by Yisz

[jc577]

One of the best threads i've read on the forum in a long time, I'm inspired! Brilliant work @NilsFreedhom

[RogerC]

Following, definitely want to give this a try! Looks great.

[NilsFreedhom]

20 ore fa, Yisz ha scritto:

Interesting read!

Could you show your OI?

Do you instruct tight marking through PI?

 

15 ore fa, jc577 ha scritto:

One of the best threads i've read on the forum in a long time, I'm inspired! Brilliant work @NilsFreedhom

 

2 ore fa, RogerC ha scritto:

Following, definitely want to give this a try! Looks great.

 

thank you guys!

@Yiszthe OI regarding the man-marking system change in relation to the opponent. Usually I tight-mark only the creators and less quick players!

[sugarbear0511]

I never like the PI man marking because it will eventually pull your player(s) out of position. I usually use it on my attacking players to mark some of opposing defenders but I rarely use it on my midfielders or defenders. The OI tight marking on the other hand I think has been much improved compared to FM 22 and I think if you don't have an OI ready for each match you're really reducing your chance of winning a match.

[The3points]

I used the same principles against Man city in my save with Arsenal. We won, with a penalty from Mac Allister and there was another pen missed by Jesus. There was a point where they would pass and split us apart and make us worried but our defence was good enough to block and we actually ended up taking the game to them in terms of possession. You must of felt so good pulling out that sort of masterclass!

Edited November 25, 2022 by The3points

[prudhvi.a]

Very interesting thread, loved it will try and use it in my saves.

I have doubt though, all the teams you have used this have a front 3 which made it easy for 4v3's at the back in your favor but what is your plan if the teams have 2 strikers up front?

[Mutumba]

On 16/11/2022 at 15:12, cmonreds said:

On 16/11/2022 at 14:26, NilsFreedhom said:

Brighton vs. Tottenham
Let's try the marking system against Antonio Conte's back 3.

      

That's how they lineup.

What do I expect?
Eric Dier according to my analysts will be their BPD, so, the first source of their build-up that we want to shut down.
By sticking my CF (Kouamé) on him, we assure to apply pressure and force them to play through the wide men. 
AMC (Gross) will press the more technical CB of the two remaining, leaving the weight of the build-up to one wide CB.
We go man-to-man to the flanks also, so it's Szobo&Estupinan on their right side and Tsyganov&Lamptey on their left. In the same way, we go man-to-man against Bissouma&Hojbjerg.

That's what happened..

    

 

Davinson Sanchez is pressed by Szobo and showed onto the weak foot. He plays a slow pass to Eric Dier but Kouame comes right to him for the steal and the 1v1 agains Lloris that he won't miss. It's the 10th minute and our plan has already worked.

 

Another match in the book for us. We stopped Tottenham at 0.74 xG.
Next step will be, trying to improve our possession stats. I assume that we cannot retain the ball due to the lack of positioning of my players that are always out of position in order to follow the men marking instruction. 

I'll let you know..

What do you mean by going "man-to-man" on the flanks? Do you mean that your winger and fullback man mark? Who do they man mark? Does Szobo man mark their wing back? Because you also write that Szobo pressed Davinson, who is a cb. If you could just elaborate further on OI, pressing and so on when coming up against a back 3.

 

[_mxrky]

Love this thread but it highlights some of the flaws in this game. If you left a ‘spare man’ against Man City irl they’d rip through your press. Also it’s annoying that you can’t properly press a 433 (unless you play a 343) as full backs can’t press opposition full backs high the pitch whilst you invert  wingers to press the cbs and have the amc man mark the DM, so they always have a spare man if you use a front 4 or a front 3.

[NilsFreedhom]

Il 25/11/2022 in 23:25 , prudhvi.a ha scritto:

Very interesting thread, loved it will try and use it in my saves.

I have doubt though, all the teams you have used this have a front 3 which made it easy for 4v3's at the back in your favor but what is your plan if the teams have 2 strikers up front?

Against two-strikers formation I often switch to the 3-4-2-1, in this case we'll have a 3v2 or a 5v4 if you want to include WBs and Wingers! 

21 ore fa, Mutumba ha scritto:

 

Against a back three most of the time is like this:

We press 2 of the 3 CBs, leaving the less-technical one free to build up
On the flanks we go man to man so, my Wingers man mark their Wing-Backs and my Wing-Backs man mark their Wingers. 

In the middle of the pitch is where we trap, so we show the wide players onto the opposite foot (Left if they play on the right and viceversa) in order to conquer the ball high up the pitch with the DMs.

I hope it is clear

[Mutumba]

10 hours ago, NilsFreedhom said:

Against two-strikers formation I often switch to the 3-4-2-1, in this case we'll have a 3v2 or a 5v4 if you want to include WBs and Wingers! 

Against a back three most of the time is like this:

We press 2 of the 3 CBs, leaving the less-technical one free to build up
On the flanks we go man to man so, my Wingers man mark their Wing-Backs and my Wing-Backs man mark their Wingers. 

In the middle of the pitch is where we trap, so we show the wide players onto the opposite foot (Left if they play on the right and viceversa) in order to conquer the ball high up the pitch with the DMs.

I hope it is clear

Very clear, thanks! Do you use tight marking and trigger press against both CBs in a back 3 - or just trigger press?

 

How do you decide which side to trap? Do you only go by the weakest player in the backline, or do you take into consideration the players team mate on the same flank? i.e lets say that your opposition has their star man as a LW, but their weakest player is at LB.

Edited November 27, 2022 by Mutumba
Further questions