GUARDIOLA TREBLE WINNING 3-2-4-1 2022-23

tikitakamaster · August 13, 2023

Hi guys, this is my emulation of Pep Guardiola's 3-2-4-1, the tactic he used in the later part of the season 2022-23 winning the treble. I tested the tactic playing an entire season with Ajax by myself but to make it faster I skipped some Champions leauge matches such as the match with AC Milan when I got knocked out. I won the Erdedivisie, scoring 87 goals and allowing only 28 (best attack and second best defense) and Lorenzo Lucca won the best striker title with 31 goals in 34 apps in the Erdedivisie(on the whole season he scored 43 goals in 46 apps). But Lucca wasn't thye only one who scored a lot, Tadic also scored 16 goals, Kudus 10 and Berghuijs 9. I did not buy any player neither sold anyone, I blocked the summer 2022 transfer session and refused all offers in January 2023 session, so the squad is as it is in the game. At the same time and on the same save I tested the tactic also with Borussia Dortmund on holiday mode. I finished 5th, won 18 games, draw 5 and lost 11 games, 78 goals scored and (!) 72 goals allowed, I did not touch anything on the formation I just sent my coach on holyday since July 2022 to June 2023 when all the competitions ended, the tactic is very offensive and I think it's not good for holiday mode, but it's very good if you want to play yourself, it allows your team to always control the game and possession (with Ajax I had 75% in many games), makes your team plays very beautiful games, a lot of beautiful passes, exploiting the spaces and gaps between the opponent players. Let's examine how I created the tactic: first of all, the defensive line and the goalkeeper. Ederson is a sweeper-keeper who is very good at playing the ball and passing, so if you want to use this tactic and build the play from defense, you need a keeper with good passing values. I set him on defend to avoid too many risks. The 3 defenders: we have 2 wcb on support and one bpd on defend as center back who must take less risks and be ready to stop the opponent. In the midfield we have a regista (Rodri) on support who can roam between position and sometimes (but not often ) he ventures forward (the goal against Inter is an example, he arrived from the back) and an half back (Stones) on defend. The half-back roles allows my player to move to help teammates building the play more than a defensive midfielder or a dlp would do, he is always ready to receive passes from his teammates and also to stay wider to stretch opponents, obviously, the right wcb has to pay attention to cover the gap behind the half back. The 4 players behind the striker are two inverted winger (Grealish and Bernardo Silva) on support and two AM (Gundogan and KDB) one on support and the other on attack. About the two wingers, I asked them to stay wider to stretch the opponent and create space for other teammates to underlap in the centre. KDB's role could also be a shadow striker or an advanced playmaker but I chose an AM - attack because it allows my player to roam more into spaces as KDB does in reality. Lastly, Haaland is a complete forward on support, he will drop down to link the play and create opportunities for his teammates, he will create links with Grealish and KDB in particular. In the second tactic, more defensive, I created the box structure in the midfield with 2 mezzalas (De Bruyne and Gundogan) playing not behind the striker (Haaland) but in the center of the midfield just near Stones and Rodri). Let's examine now the team instructions The mentality is positive. In possession we have: a fairly wide width, underlap left and right to exploit better the central area, play out of defense, a must in Guardiola's tactic, shorter passing (if you want to retain possession even more you can set it to much shorter) and slightly lower tempo (much lower if you want to retain possession and take less risks), low crosses, work the ball into the box and dribble less. In transition: counter press, slow pace down, distribute to center backs, distribute to full backs. Out of possession: high press, higher defensive line, trigger press slightly more often, drop off more (to avoid the opponent plays too many long balls and scoring too much), trap inside (to force the opponent to play in the central area where it's easy to stop them. This is the tactic explanation, I hope you enjoy it

Please tell me your opinions about this tactic in the comments and if you have some advice or question I am here.

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