Advice On Valverde's 2017/2018 Barcelona Tactics vs My Barcelona Tactics And Possible Scope For Improvement

[FMunderachiever]

Hello Everyone

I started a thread a few days ago about how Man City and Barcelona always seem very weak when under the control of the AI. Barcelona constantly languish between 3rd to 6th and are absolutely miles off the title in every save ive done over FM18 and FM19.

So i took Barcelona on as manager, and i know after the summer departure of Neymar, and the subsequent long term injury to Dembele, Valverde had been using a 442 formation quite often at Barcelona throughout the season en route to winning the title.

I watched a little of Barca on Sky, but not a huge amount. But hopefully, with the knowledge of others who did watch them, id like advice on what Valverde was doing with the 442, compared to what I am doing with my 442.

What im not looking to do is EXACTLY replicate Valverde, but to understand what Valverde was doing differently to me, and whether my own 442 can be improved.

My 442 looks like this:

I have Dembele as an out and out attacking winger, but I believe that Valverde was using Andre Gomes quite often in a right midfield role, and so would have most likely assumed a wide playmaker or wide midfielder role as he isnt really suited to this role.

Also, i have swapped out Paulinho who is back in China for Arthur who is a player i like a lot, but i think the Mezzala role captures what Paulinho was doing in his role and Arthur plays the role very well. The other midfield slot, i tend to go with Rakitic as a DLP, but opponent dependent i will also use Busquets as a central midfielder on support, and tell him to hold position, and try fewer risky passes.

Im not sure exactly what role Coutinho was filling for Barca after his January move, but the inverted winger role suits him really nicely in terms of interacting with either Jordi Alba at left back, or Clement Lenglet who fills in very well in a supporting wing back role. Coutinho has a PI to shoot less often, which i like as we can create 2 v 1s but he can also slide through balls into Suarez or reverse passes into Alba.

The plan is to play relatively safe football, without the use of a high press or a counter press that seems to leave us vulnerable at the back, whilst capitalising on our dribbling and creative ability. The deeper defensive line and line of engagement allows the opponent on to us a little to give us space to play in and use fast counter attacks, and guards against the through ball and ball over the top.

Ive done just about half a season so far, and for now im just focusing on domestic results. We won the Spanish Super Cup 2-0 v Sevilla, and domestic results so far are not too bad, but we are still trailling Atletico Madrid who, as usual, are blowing almost everyone away:

Im not overly disappointed, as 40 points from 16 games in any normal season would be a total that should at least have a team top of the league.

Is there any obvious scope for improvement with this tactic, and how did it differ to the real life 442 Valverde would use when necessary?

 

Thank you everyone

[Experienced Defender]

I cannot tell you how similar (or dissimilar) your tactic is to Valverde's because I'm not familiar enough with Barca's style under him, but what is striking to me in your setup is that even 3 of your 4 midfielders are on attack duty, which is defensively very risky, especially in a system without anyone in a DM position, such as a flat 442. Plus, the roles that are on attack duty are the most offensive ones in their respective positions (MEZ in central midfield and W/IW in wide midfield). Maybe it can work for Barca due to the strength and quality of the team, but in general I would strongly recommend against such an adventurous approach. Ironically, a lower d-line makes it even riskier because while your back line might (arguably) be less exposed to killer through balls, it is now very much exposed to opposition runs from midfield, where a quick interchange of quick one-two passes can easily put your defense on the back foot.

[FMunderachiever]

6 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

I cannot tell you how similar (or dissimilar) your tactic is to Valverde's because I'm not familiar enough with Barca's style under him, but what is striking to me in your setup is that even 3 of your 4 midfielders are on attack duty, which is defensively very risky, especially in a system without anyone in a DM position, such as a flat 442. Plus, the roles that are on attack duty are the most offensive ones in their respective positions (MEZ in central midfield and W/IW in wide midfield). Maybe it can work for Barca due to the strength and quality of the team, but in general I would strongly recommend against such an adventurous approach. Ironically, a lower d-line makes it even riskier because while your back line might (arguably) be less exposed to killer through balls, it is now very much exposed to opposition runs from midfield, where a quick interchange of quick one-two passes can easily put your defense on the back foot.

It actually in the match engine plays quite cautious, with long spells of possession and we dont tend to suffer on the break. However, like you said this may just be because i am Barcelona and can dominate a weaker opponent without having the tactic spot on.

 

Im thinking of experimenting with dropping the central midfielders back into the DM slots for the el classico game and using Busquets as a DM/S coupled with Vidal as a segundo volante on support with a PI to get further forward and lower the mentality to cautious.

 

Its just like you said though, perhaps i am afforded license to be so bold and get away with it, simply because im a very good team and the tactic is actually bad

Its a strange one because although the tactic appears aggressive, the buildup is slow and we dont seem very vulnerable defensively with players caught high up the pitch. If anyting our two problems seem to be conceding from set pieces and being beaten in the air from crosses which are less usual ways to concede on this version.

 

 

[abdi1721]

20 hours ago, FMunderachiever said:

Hello Everyone

I started a thread a few days ago about how Man City and Barcelona always seem very weak when under the control of the AI. Barcelona constantly languish between 3rd to 6th and are absolutely miles off the title in every save ive done over FM18 and FM19.

So i took Barcelona on as manager, and i know after the summer departure of Neymar, and the subsequent long term injury to Dembele, Valverde had been using a 442 formation quite often at Barcelona throughout the season en route to winning the title.

I watched a little of Barca on Sky, but not a huge amount. But hopefully, with the knowledge of others who did watch them, id like advice on what Valverde was doing with the 442, compared to what I am doing with my 442.

What im not looking to do is EXACTLY replicate Valverde, but to understand what Valverde was doing differently to me, and whether my own 442 can be improved.

My 442 looks like this:

I have Dembele as an out and out attacking winger, but I believe that Valverde was using Andre Gomes quite often in a right midfield role, and so would have most likely assumed a wide playmaker or wide midfielder role as he isnt really suited to this role.

Also, i have swapped out Paulinho who is back in China for Arthur who is a player i like a lot, but i think the Mezzala role captures what Paulinho was doing in his role and Arthur plays the role very well. The other midfield slot, i tend to go with Rakitic as a DLP, but opponent dependent i will also use Busquets as a central midfielder on support, and tell him to hold position, and try fewer risky passes.

Im not sure exactly what role Coutinho was filling for Barca after his January move, but the inverted winger role suits him really nicely in terms of interacting with either Jordi Alba at left back, or Clement Lenglet who fills in very well in a supporting wing back role. Coutinho has a PI to shoot less often, which i like as we can create 2 v 1s but he can also slide through balls into Suarez or reverse passes into Alba.

The plan is to play relatively safe football, without the use of a high press or a counter press that seems to leave us vulnerable at the back, whilst capitalising on our dribbling and creative ability. The deeper defensive line and line of engagement allows the opponent on to us a little to give us space to play in and use fast counter attacks, and guards against the through ball and ball over the top.

Ive done just about half a season so far, and for now im just focusing on domestic results. We won the Spanish Super Cup 2-0 v Sevilla, and domestic results so far are not too bad, but we are still trailling Atletico Madrid who, as usual, are blowing almost everyone away:

Im not overly disappointed, as 40 points from 16 games in any normal season would be a total that should at least have a team top of the league.

Is there any obvious scope for improvement with this tactic, and how did it differ to the real life 442 Valverde would use when necessary?

 

Thank you everyone

I am a Barca fan so I'm fairly familiar with last season. Most of the roles are very good, only thing I would change if you really want to be spot on; Jordi bombs down the left in most of the games he plays so I would give him an attack duty, also if you want to go full realism for this Barca played most games with Busquets in a DLP-d where Rakitic is. In more important games the shape looked more like an asymmetric 4-1-3-2 with Busquets as a dm Iniesta on the left (Coutinho in this year), Rakitic and Paulinho as the mezzala. Also if you want to go fully realistic with this Jordi bombs up the flank every single game so I'd give him an attack duty.

Going to shoot up my Barca save see how I can get on

[FMunderachiever]

1 hour ago, abdi1721 said:

I am a Barca fan so I'm fairly familiar with last season. Most of the roles are very good, only thing I would change if you really want to be spot on; Jordi bombs down the left in most of the games he plays so I would give him an attack duty, also if you want to go full realism for this Barca played most games with Busquets in a DLP-d where Rakitic is. In more important games the shape looked more like an asymmetric 4-1-3-2 with Busquets as a dm Iniesta on the left (Coutinho in this year), Rakitic and Paulinho as the mezzala. Also if you want to go fully realistic with this Jordi bombs up the flank every single game so I'd give him an attack duty.

Going to shoot up my Barca save see how I can get on

Great advice. Ill have a look at a back up tactic as a 4 1 3 2 

[abdi1721]

Currently using these 3, been working alright through preseason, about to start the regular season. 

[FMunderachiever]

Just now, abdi1721 said:

Currently using these 3, been working alright through preseason, about to start the regular season. 

Your first tactic is almost exactly like mine except the tweaked midfield role and higher defensive line.

 

Would love to hear of your progress. Im sat on 45 points after 18 games but im 2nd as atletico have only dropped 4 points all season!

[abdi1721]

59 minutes ago, FMunderachiever said:

Your first tactic is almost exactly like mine except the tweaked midfield role and higher defensive line.

 

Would love to hear of your progress. Im sat on 45 points after 18 games but im 2nd as atletico have only dropped 4 points all season!

Actually took it as a base to see how it worked out!!