Trying to Recreate Barcelona's pressing game-Discussion

[batata169]

Hi all,

It is not too long ago, as almost everybody still remembers, when barcelona thrashed arsenal, at the Emirates, and the camp nou.

Although Arsenal were able to draw at the emirates, their performance was below-par.

Here is an article written by jonathan wilson, which discusses barcelona's pressing game during the first leg.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2010/apr/06/question-pressing-crucial-modern-game

Now, is it possible to recreate this type of pressing on FM, possibly using different combinations of marking, or OI ?

Please discuss and share your ideas, I'd be interested in hearing what the tactical geniuses of this forum (SFraser,Iam,heathxxx,cleon,and others) think on this matter.

[Silky]

I'm no 'tactical genius' but surely

Pressing - All over the pitch would do it?!

[batata169]

Ehmm, everybody knows that mate, but there are other factors to consider at the same time.

[batata169]

Just a thought came to me, does the mentality slider affect how aggresive the players will be in closing down the opposition players ?

[SCIAG]

It's a lot simpler than you'd think.

Required attributes from players: bravery, determination, stamina, work rate, team work, tackling, anticipation, concentration, and medium aggression. Pace and acceleration would be useful too. The first five will help your players get about and give them the will to keep going, tackling speaks for itself, anticipation and concentration should help with interceptions, and aggression should mean they'll go in strongly but won't dive in. I also hope pace and accel. speak for themselves

Initially, you want all your players bar three (most defensive midfielder and centre backs) to be on high closing down. There should be some element of staggering, but not much. The strikers, attacking midfielders and wingers should be on the very highest. The central midfielders should be slightly below them, and the full backs slightly below them. I'd still expect full backs to be several clicks over halfway. The defensive midfielder should be a few under halfway. Your DCs should be further than that.

Now, you're hassling players at every chance. What next? Well, when a team is pressured like this, the centre backs tend to do a lot of passing to the full backs, who, when presented with no option, return the pass. This would be a good time to intercept the pass and have a chance to attack. Therefore, I suggest you set your striker(s) to "man mark" and "mark tightly". They'll mark the centre backs, presenting a chance to intercept return passes. Furthermore, showing the full backs outside may make it harder for them to return the pass successfully. In OIs, set the opposition right back to "show onto right foot", and the opposite for the left back.

What if the full back manages to get a pass up the line? It's something you're encouraging him to do, but the number of bodies may make it tricky for him. However, just in case, it's advisable that you have your full backs mark their wingers tightly. Also make use of OIs, so if someone else happens to be filling in for the full back, he'll mark them tightly. This also means you'll need to get your centre backs to man mark, otherwise your defence will not be in harmony.

Let's talk TC for a bit. The sliders are an easier way of setting up the staggered closing down, but the TC will probably aid you immensely. Adjust closing down to "more". Manually override your strikers' closing down to the highest value. You'll want him to keep pressing, as Barca's attackers did after they eased off a little at the Nou Camp. Set your team to "fluid", and your strategy to "attack". Adjust passing to "shorter", set the side to "more expressive" and roaming to "more".

Remember to set up the OIs and marking schemes I outlined above.

In the match, begin by activating "push up", "hassle opponents", "retain possession" and "pass to space". The first two will aid the pressing, retain possession will ensure you retain control of the ball once you get it, Barca-style, and "pass to space" will encourage a lot of dangerous through balls. If you want to attack even more, switch "retain possession" for "get ball forward", and add the hard tackling shout (dive in?). If you're winning, I suggest you take it easy and use "take a breather", "stand off opponents", "drop deeper", and "pass to feet". You'll see now why I told you to override the strikers. You should probably sub them at some point, unless they have tremendous stamina. You can always go for another goal later on, but high pressing takes a lot of energy, and it needs to be preserved for the most crucial parts of the season.

As an experiment, you could try "play wider" and "exploit the middle". I'm not sure if you can use both shouts at once, if not, don't use either. Barca are basically a narrow side, with wingers coming inside and full backs overlapping, hence "exploit the middle", but "play wider" will help you press the full backs quicker and will stop you wasting energy.

[batata169]

But what instructions should i give my wingers?

Also, what did you mean by man mark and mark tightly for my striker, is it the tight marking in the OI or something else ?

[SCIAG]

In "player instructions".

What should you say to the wingers? Basically, whatever you like, but keep closing down high. "Defensive winger" would be a good role if you are using the TC- no need to over-write closing down either.

[batata169]

Thanks SCIAG, will try it.

But doesn't hassle the opponents keep my players on man+tight marking ?

[dz47]

It's a lot simpler than you'd think.

Required attributes from players: bravery, determination, stamina, work rate, team work, tackling, anticipation, concentration, and medium aggression. Pace and acceleration would be useful too. The first five will help your players get about and give them the will to keep going, tackling speaks for itself, anticipation and concentration should help with interceptions, and aggression should mean they'll go in strongly but won't dive in. I also hope pace and accel. speak for themselves

Initially, you want all your players bar three (most defensive midfielder and centre backs) to be on high closing down. There should be some element of staggering, but not much. The strikers, attacking midfielders and wingers should be on the very highest. The central midfielders should be slightly below them, and the full backs slightly below them. I'd still expect full backs to be several clicks over halfway. The defensive midfielder should be a few under halfway. Your DCs should be further than that.

Now, you're hassling players at every chance. What next? Well, when a team is pressured like this, the centre backs tend to do a lot of passing to the full backs, who, when presented with no option, return the pass. This would be a good time to intercept the pass and have a chance to attack. Therefore, I suggest you set your striker(s) to "man mark" and "mark tightly". They'll mark the centre backs, presenting a chance to intercept return passes. Furthermore, showing the full backs outside may make it harder for them to return the pass successfully. In OIs, set the opposition right back to "show onto right foot", and the opposite for the left back.

What if the full back manages to get a pass up the line? It's something you're encouraging him to do, but the number of bodies may make it tricky for him. However, just in case, it's advisable that you have your full backs mark their wingers tightly. Also make use of OIs, so if someone else happens to be filling in for the full back, he'll mark them tightly. This also means you'll need to get your centre backs to man mark, otherwise your defence will not be in harmony.

Let's talk TC for a bit. The sliders are an easier way of setting up the staggered closing down, but the TC will probably aid you immensely. Adjust closing down to "more". Manually override your strikers' closing down to the highest value. You'll want him to keep pressing, as Barca's attackers did after they eased off a little at the Nou Camp. Set your team to "fluid", and your strategy to "attack". Adjust passing to "shorter", set the side to "more expressive" and roaming to "more".

Remember to set up the OIs and marking schemes I outlined above.

In the match, begin by activating "push up", "hassle opponents", "retain possession" and "pass to space". The first two will aid the pressing, retain possession will ensure you retain control of the ball once you get it, Barca-style, and "pass to space" will encourage a lot of dangerous through balls. If you want to attack even more, switch "retain possession" for "get ball forward", and add the hard tackling shout (dive in?). If you're winning, I suggest you take it easy and use "take a breather", "stand off opponents", "drop deeper", and "pass to feet". You'll see now why I told you to override the strikers. You should probably sub them at some point, unless they have tremendous stamina. You can always go for another goal later on, but high pressing takes a lot of energy, and it needs to be preserved for the most crucial parts of the season.

As an experiment, you could try "play wider" and "exploit the middle". I'm not sure if you can use both shouts at once, if not, don't use either. Barca are basically a narrow side, with wingers coming inside and full backs overlapping, hence "exploit the middle", but "play wider" will help you press the full backs quicker and will stop you wasting energy.

You certainly can employ both ‘play wider’ and ‘exploit the middle’ shouts. And they work very well with a team like Barca.

[SCIAG]

Thanks, dz47. I've never tried it, but I thought it made sense.

You're right, batata, it does. In that case, there's no real need to get your strikers to mark tightly manually. I'd forgotten about the third function of hassles opponents.

[batata169]

how do i show opposition wingers who cut inside outside, as i dont want them near my penalty box ?

[SCIAG]

It may be worth them being allowed in anyway, as you'll have more people to tackle them. However, you could simply show them onto their weaker foot and hope you can deal with the crosses that come in.