tk23

Arteta and Pep's DM rarely make long range passes, they are there for continuous recycling of possession and to keep the ball no matter what, to play these huge risky switches is kind of against what I'm going for but I appreciate the Cautious idea!

Yeah, after all thats the scientific method! Thanks for your advice I appreciate it

Yeah I figured, just wanted to try something new with the narrowness though in hindsight it didnt make a lot of sense. Pep is ultimately what I'm going for obviously so I was thinking that I would have the width narrow to make passing options shorter distances and then use W-A to keep them wide and in space but in reality it just doesnt work

I know what you mean, this tactic is after testing probably hundreds of different tactics, adding width with these instructions/roles doesn't result in the success that I am looking for unfortunately, so I was trying to experiment with narrowness/overloading the centre. I don't want to blame the ME but it has made it exceptionally hard to find a way to be able to play the way I want unfortunately

Kind of sad, won't be able to play how I want to but thanks for trying to help anyways

Thing is, adding attack or defend duties in certain areas massively affects the ability to keep the ball resulting in low pass moves, directness etc. Whilst I may generate more xG from that, the chaos it induces is not conducive to greater results in the future, at least in real life I would play very controlled, progressing incrementally through the 1st and 2nd phases and camp outside the opposition box retaining the ball, counterpressing when we lose it and then keeping the opposition in their own goal essentially. Do you see my dilemma in terms of wanting that and perhaps its just a limitation of my own imagination, I havent exhausted every single role, position and formation including instructions yet so I was wondering if anyone had gotten to that point in some capacity

So here's how my tactic currently looks, I'm going for, as the name of the tactic suggests, suffocation of the opposition in their own half with very narrow players and close combinations with as much of the ball as possible. Unfortunately this translates to very low xG numbers but happily, equally low xG against us. Atalanta aren't slouches but then again they aren't the cream of the crop. I turned on hit early crosses and whipped crosses to try and emphasise some half space crosses in an attempt to stimulate some more chance creation ala KDB/Trent/David Silva etc but to no avail. I feel I may have to use W-A if I want to use IWBs as IF/IW dont keep the width that I really want, but then W-A dont make the movement I really want either. Its tough and I'm not too sure what to do here. I am getting the ball retention but I cant seem to find the right mix of ball retention and chance creation/denial. I've tried most everything in a vacuum but if anyone has any ideas for formation, roles, tactics ,instructions I am more than happy to try anything out. I do want to keep the essence of possessing the ball as much as possible.

Yeah understood, my main issue is that my team on lets say much shorter passing and lower tempo is not able to move the ball in any other way other than vertically that generates space/chances, so playing at that speed/passing style generates virtually 0 chances. It seems the meta is shorter passing and much higher tempo which is a shame because it seems to be the only thing that works and is not my preferred way to play

I am not sure if it is just me struggling, but I took a break from the game for a couple of months and for some reason am really struggling with maintaining and retaining the ball. I can't figure out how get my team to make these horizontal and backwards passes that are necessary to shift the opponent block around in order to open up spaces and end up either a) hoofing the ball and praying a striker latches onto it or b) a player in midfield holds the ball until an opponent tackles them and counters. If anyone has any ideas for tactics, combinations, player roles, instructions, please do let me know as tactics especially possession based ones are what make the game fun for me! Thanks!

Two AM on AT seems to work nicely for the attacking midfielders! Need something to build around that I suppose

What player instructions do you use? Gonna try it out on FM23!

When I watch City play or Arsenal or any dominant side of Pep's in the past few years, they love to suffocate their opponents, force them to stay in their own half and even stay in their own box for prolonged periods, unable to escape the unrelenting waves of pressure. They slowly move the ball up the field with players rotating within set positions, shifting the opponents block until they must defend their goal inside their own box. I love this idea of total control through possession of the ball, the only thing that can win or lose a game. I want to be able to generate chances through sustained pressure on the opponents in their own half/box. I'm having real trouble with this, I can't figure to make this sustained pressure play work, chances are only really created in transition or over the top balls, not very many movements into space, no passing combinations, infrequent cutbacks from the half spaces, struggle to overload and switch to take advantage of the space, wingers cant beat FBs 1v1. I'm not too sure if this is purely my experience or just how the game is but if anyone has ideas/tactics in such a way that can recreate the Pep way, I would really really love to see it in action. The reason I make this post is because I feel like I have tried everything to make this kind of suffocating possession based style work but it never really seems to come together unfortunately. Anyways, again if you have any ideas on how to make this playstyle that I am slightly obsessed with work, let me know!

Yeah I've noticed that specific position marking is pretty useless, specific player marking is the way to go imo

Just wondering, what kind of instructions are you using to get this going? Mark specific position? Player? Roles? Anything that helps would be great!

I'll try a PF out, with the winger do you mean "Mark specific position" for the winger? So like Have the winger specifically mark the right CB, then the PF on the left CB and then the wingback on their FB? Sounds interesting I will have to try it out!

Ooooh this looks really intriguing! Im gonna mess around with the wingback slot and see what I can cook up, thanks!

I was wondering if anyone has discovered a way to press in a way that is similar to how the possession coaches of the world typically press? By this I mean the Striker moves to the CB with the ball between the CBs to block the pass, the Winger on the far side will move to the other CB and the FB will move to the opposing FB. Then the rest of the team matches up all over the park and this is how they press most teams typically. I am struggling to get those wingers to invert onto the CBs while pressing and with trying to get my FBs to press the opposing FBs. I have managed to get that 4411/442 pressing shape that they typically use whilst maintaining the 235/325 shape in possession. If anyone has any ideas let me know, meanwhile I'll post my treble winning tactic with here. Amazing possession, aggressive goalscoring, gorgeous moves.

Ive tried the 235 often but have decided to shift more towards an Arteta Arsenal style of play since for me, they are the best team in the world as of now: Mark tighter tackle harder on all players to win the ball back as soon as possible Shoot less often on all players to retain possession and look for high quality chances Sit narrower on wingers in order to make sure they press the CBs with the SS Take more risks, move into channels, dribble more and cross more often on the CM-As More direct passing on the Anchor Dribble more on both CBs with Stay wider on the left one so it creates a back 3 Stay wider and cut inside with the ball on the FB I tend to dominate games with high xG numbers and around 60-70% possession, although I do concede a decent amount of chances on the break, if anyone has ideas to conteract it let me know

Pep has described many times his love of pinning the opposition into their own goal by recycling the ball around the opposition box constantly, counterpressing and sustaining pressure in the opposition final third by holding the ball there with dynamic runs from all players in the 235/325 formations. I am not having much success trying to replicate this tactic and philosophy of playing, does anyone have any idea how I can pin oppositions into their own box tactically?