My version of the Barcelona 4-3-3

[Sean Connery]

Hi fellow managers!

In my opinion the 4-3-3 is by far the best formation in FM09.

And the way Barcelona plays it in real life inspires me.

So i've tried and tried and then tried a bit more to create the perfect 4-3-3. And haven't had any luck, until recently. I think i've found it.

I've had succes with Nigeria and Brøndby. With Nigeria i came in 3rd in the World Cup (lost 2-4 to Italy in Semi and then played Ivory Coast in 3rd Place Playoff and won 1-0.) And with Brøndby 6 consecutive League titels, Danish Cup 4 times and have reached the Euro Cup 2nd Knockout Rnd 6 times (lost one time) and the other time i made it to Qtr Final and then lost. Not the biggest succes in European tournaments, but with young players and limited budgets i'm satisfied.

Take a look - and then maybe give it try.

It's a global tactic, except for 4 players.

The DC's - More defensive minded than the rest of the team and less CF.

The DCM - More defensive minded than the rest of the team and less CF.

The AMR - More CF.

Individual instructions:

GK - FWR, RWB, LS, TB and CB all set to 'Rarely'. And distribution set to 'Defender Collect'

DR - FWR and RWB set to 'Mixed', LS and TB set to 'Rarely' and CB set to 'Often'.

DL - FWR and RWB set to 'Mixed', LS and TB set to 'Rarely' and CB set to 'Often'.

DC - FWR, RWB, LS, TB and CB all set to 'Rarely'. Man and tight marking.

DMC - FWR, TB set to 'Mixed'. The rest is set to 'Rarely'. Man/Tight marking. Hold Up Ball.

MC - FWR, RWB, TB all set to 'Often'. The rest is set to 'Mixed'.

AMR - FWR, RWB, CB 'Often'. LS 'Rarely'. TB 'Mixed'. Tackling 'Easy'.

AML - FWR, RWB, CB 'Often'. LS 'Rarely'. TB 'Mixed'. Tackling 'Easy'.

ST - FWR, RWB, LS 'Mixed'. TB 'Often'. CB 'Rarely'. Hold Up Ball.

Team instructions:

As you can see i've ticked both 'Use Target Man' and 'Use Playmaker'. And this combination works really well. I like to use the DCM as my playmaker as he is most likely to have the most space around him - this gives him the time to spot the right pass.

And the target man is the lone striker.

I'm sorry that i haven't been able to upload the tactic as a .rar file. So if you wanna give the tactic a try, you need to apply the settings yourself.