Rafa Benitez's Newcastle Tactics

[Nlittle1892]

Hi all, 

Now the winter update is amongst us, It's time for me to make Newcastle great(possibly).

As a suffering Newcastle fan, our great hope atm is the leadership and tactical genius that is Rafa Benitez,

 

he simply must stay on at the end of his current contract  or the club will once again self implode in front of the nation once more. So in respect of the great wise one I'm looking to recreate his tactics at Newcastle currently( the 5-2-3/3-4-2-1 depending on opinions) and not the often criticised (9-0-1 whenever a big team rolls in to town). Since the January arrival of Miguel Almiron we actually have crossed the half way line more than once, and look as usual solid in defence. I have had mixed results making my own tactics in the past, normally just rip something off online/forum and tweek it but this time I'm determined to do this from scratch. 

Now in terms of the formation I'm clear it's a 5-2-3 with wing backs

 

The player roles/team Instructions are what I'm worried over, the back 3 are 100% what is being played at Newcastle with Lejuene/Schar flanking Lascelles, WB on both flanks. I'm justr struggling with the midfield and wide players. Almiron definitely is flying on the left behind Rondon, Perez is the one I can't pin a role on. He plays right but I wouldn't class him as an Inside Forward/winger and I'm stuck between raumdeuter/advanced playmaker. His defensive work is poor when tracking players so feel this suits more. 

Anyway I'm hoping I can pick the brains of you fine people and help me settle on a tactical set up before I launch the dream. 

[alanfishead]

I'd be interested to see how this pans out. As a fellow Newcastle fan I've been toying with the idea of trying to replicate how we've played since Almiron arrived. 

I've been looking at playing Almiron and Perez more centrally though with PIs to pull them wider in attack. However last couple of games, especially Everton, Perez was up top often beyond Rondon. Rafa seems to chop and change how he plays Perez from game to game so it's tough to pin one single role to him. AP(a) with roaming is probably the closest you'll get.

You could also try Almiron as a Mez in a midfield 3 as he often starts from deep and helps out defensively more than an attacking inside forward.

I'm not great at creating tactics so not sure if what I've said above accurately relates to FM terms but just food for thought.

 

[Nlittle1892]

7 minutes ago, alanfishead said:

I'd be interested to see how this pans out. As a fellow Newcastle fan I've been toying with the idea of trying to replicate how we've played since Almiron arrived. 

I've been looking at playing Almiron and Perez more centrally though with PIs to pull them wider in attack. However last couple of games, especially Everton, Perez was up top often beyond Rondon. Rafa seems to chop and change how he plays Perez from game to game so it's tough to pin one single role to him. AP(a) with roaming is probably the closest you'll get.

You could also try Almiron as a Mez in a midfield 3 as he often starts from deep and helps out defensively more than an attacking inside forward.

I'm not great at creating tactics so not sure if what I've said above accurately relates to FM terms but just food for thought.

 

Perez moved centrally after 60 minutes against Everton and came alive, so I was tempted to go 4231 as per all last season with Miggy/perez/Ritchie behind Rondon

[Ghents]

I've been messing with this too, but I had Perez as a Treq and Almiron as an SS in the middle. I'm just not sure how exactly to get Perez and Almiron playing like they do IRL.

[Robson 07]

Hi.  Nice to see something that feels a bit fresh and different to a number of recent posts.  I wish you well.  Not been following Newcastle too closely but something tells me Raumdeuter doesn't feel right for them / Rafa but like you I'm unsure what to suggest.  Good luck with the project.

[andre62]

Can you share your tactic?

[NLH]

6 hours ago, Ghents said:

I've been messing with this too, but I had Perez as a Treq and Almiron as an SS in the middle. I'm just not sure how exactly to get Perez and Almiron playing like they do IRL.

Perez as a PF - Att and Almiron as a Mez - Att with Rondon as a TM/PF - Sup in a 5-3-2 maybe?

[Ghents]

I don't think Perez plays a true forward role. He's almost like a raumdeuter but he seems to always end up centrally, which is why I was thinking Trequartista

 

Could make make it like a 343 with Perez and Rondon uptop with Almiron behind

[alanfishead]

I had Rondon as TM with Almiron and Perez behind as SS and AP(S). But couldn't get it work as I'd liked! A treq does sound more like Perez as he does very little defensively. 

I do think Almiron operates a bit deeper than that though so a Mez alongside Hayden and Shelvey/Ki. Something like this...

                              TMs

                              Treq

                 Mez(a) CM(d) DLP(s)

WB(s)                                               WB(s)

                 BPD(d) CD(d) BPD(d)

 

I'd look to get the left WB higher up and tell him to stay wider to open the channel up for Almiron and try and take advantage of that with Schar and Lejeune pumping balls up to Rondon to knock down for either Perez or Almiron. Just so it's not so one dimensional, I'd look to have Shelvey, Yedlin and Perez keep the ball on the right and try and move the opposition over there to expose the left flank for a switch of play from Shelvey or a cross from Yedlin. 

This is obviously all theory (dreams), but I currently don't have access to FM until tomorrow so it may not work but it's a starting point I think. 

 

 

 

 

[Nlittle1892]

2 hours ago, alanfishead said:

I had Rondon as TM with Almiron and Perez behind as SS and AP(S). But couldn't get it work as I'd liked! A treq does sound more like Perez as he does very little defensively. 

I do think Almiron operates a bit deeper than that though so a Mez alongside Hayden and Shelvey/Ki. Something like this...

                              TMs

                              Treq

                 Mez(a) CM(d) DLP(s)

WB(s)                                               WB(s)

                 BPD(d) CD(d) BPD(d)

 

I'd look to get the left WB higher up and tell him to stay wider to open the channel up for Almiron and try and take advantage of that with Schar and Lejeune pumping balls up to Rondon to knock down for either Perez or Almiron. Just so it's not so one dimensional, I'd look to have Shelvey, Yedlin and Perez keep the ball on the right and try and move the opposition over there to expose the left flank for a switch of play from Shelvey or a cross from Yedlin. 

This is obviously all theory (dreams), but I currently don't have access to FM until tomorrow so it may not work but it's a starting point I think. 

 

 

 

 

Yeah I'd considered this formation I just feel Almiron is definitely higher up than central midfield. I will be starting this tonight so still open to suggestions for team tactical roles etc before starting. Cheers. 

[upthetoon]

I don't think it's possible to recreate perez and almiron role in this current ME. My opinion but maybe the tactical gurus have different ideas. 

Perez and almiron move into central areas in attack and move wide and defend from the wings, but they also defend centrally based on how the opponent is moving out from the back. perez also stays closer to rondon and almiron runs in from deep. 

Its like their spot is in between the AMC and AMR/L zone. It's quite difficult to pull it off in game, but shows just how good rafa is tactically. 

[upthetoon]

6 hours ago, alanfishead said:

I had Rondon as TM with Almiron and Perez behind as SS and AP(S). But couldn't get it work as I'd liked! A treq does sound more like Perez as he does very little defensively.

Not true. Perez does all the defensive work from the front. Which is why rafa sticks with perez even though he fires blanks upfront because of the defensive side of his game. 

[melogroovy]

Been toying with this as well.  I've been working with Rondon up top as a PF(s),  Perez as SS(a) and Almiron as AM(a).  I want both to stay wider and run the channels.  Hayden is a CM(d) and Shelvey as DLP(s).

 

Interestingly, Hayden would make a fine BPD as part of the back 3.  An issue with Schar is he has a PI that prevents him from bringing the ball out of the defense as he has a tendency to do.

 

 

[Nlittle1892]

Afternoon all, 

So I managed to start this afternoon on trying to recreate Rafa's tactics. 

Early doors obviously but I'm not liking it at all after 3 friendlies, I'm conceding too many shots(65 in just 3 games against 3 sides I'd consider myself to be stronger)

At first glance a typical 'Rafa' performance, 35% possession but a clean sheet and a win. We created 8 chances of note 3 CCC and 5 HC and all 3 of the attacking players scored,  1 from a set piece, 1 a pure hump up the pitch and the other after a long through ball. Worryingly is how many shots against us, 24! 8 were from inside the 18 yard box.

This was a scrappy game, the only game so far we have had the majority of possession(51%) but we done little of note with the ball. A clark header from a set piece the winner. Again the worry was against a side than we were stronger than we conceded 20 shots to zurich with 9 inside the area. We on the other hand mustered 10 attempts, 7 inside the area.

Attempting to get Almiron a bit more involved, I switched the IF to a AP centrally, it had little effect. We mustered 45% of possession(I dont expect much more at any time) our pass completion at 70%. 5 chances of note but a 2-0 defeat with 21 shots faced again highlights the tactic is just inviting trouble. I'm petrified to what big clubs will do to us. Teams are getting shots away every 4 minutes atm, and thats teams who we are supposed to be stronger than. 

This is what I'm using ATM, I've added PI's to a my attacking players to stay wide, My WB's to mark tighter and press slightly higher. 

I'm keen to see if anyone has any advice to cut down on shots faced. 

Thanks

[Nlittle1892]

22 minutes ago, upthetoon said:

Not true. Perez does all the defensive work from the front. Which is why rafa sticks with perez even though he fires blanks upfront because of the defensive side of his game. 

Perez defends well in the opposition half but seems to stop once he crosses back into our half, Opposition FB's have had a field day down our right due to him not tracking effectively. Charlie Taylor and Lucas Digne both had good games against us in the last few weeks as they had the freedom to get up the pitch without any real tracking. 

[zlatanera]

@Nlittle1892 Have you looked at where all those shots are coming from? If you have a low possession, face lots of shots but don't concede it tends to go one of two ways: 1) You're awful but your goalkeeper is playing a blinder or 2) you're holding the opposition at arms length and they're just aimlessly pinging it from distance. If it's 2) then you're doing alright. 

[Nlittle1892]

1 hour ago, zlatanera said:

@Nlittle1892 Have you looked at where all those shots are coming from? If you have a low possession, face lots of shots but don't concede it tends to go one of two ways: 1) You're awful but your goalkeeper is playing a blinder or 2) you're holding the opposition at arms length and they're just aimlessly pinging it from distance. If it's 2) then you're doing alright. 

25 of the 65 shots faced came from inside the area. Gonna keep the tactic as is till I've played 4/5 competitive games hope for tactical awareness to get better.  

[zlatanera]

43 minutes ago, Nlittle1892 said:

25 of the 65 shots faced came from inside the area. Gonna keep the tactic as is till I've played 4/5 competitive games hope for tactical awareness to get better.  

Good shout, friendlies aren't really that good for sussing out your tactic. Make sure to schedule Match Review after the first few games, helps boost the familiarity. 

[Experienced Defender]

I am not familiar enough with Rafa's tactics at Newcastle, but from what I do know - while he generally tends to play on lower "mentalities" (speaking in FM terms), he likes to have d-line a bit higher, even against the strongest opponents, in order to deny them space in which they can work the ball. He also likes to apply pressure a bit higher up the pitch by certain players, so in FM that would be better achieved by upping pressing intensity for those players via PIs than via the team instruction.

Regarding Rondon... while he is played as a TM, I very much doubt that he's on attack duty.

[Jean0987654321]

Looks good for the most part but I wouldn't bother with the TM role for Rondon. The players will just look to hoof it to him all the time. I like the DLF role better.

[upthetoon]

I think replacing the DLP with perhaps a carreilo role might be better. Because shelvey as DLP but he really doesn't have anyone to thread the ball through and will lower your possession rate due to turning over possession needlessly. 

[upthetoon]

13 hours ago, Nlittle1892 said:

Perez defends well in the opposition half but seems to stop once he crosses back into our half, Opposition FB's have had a field day down our right due to him not tracking effectively. Charlie Taylor and Lucas Digne both had good games against us in the last few weeks as they had the freedom to get up the pitch without any real tracking. 

Perez takes up good defensive position in our half. Whoscored website has defensive positioning as his strength. Also, I think it has to do with rafa instructions on perez pressing zones and he stop inside our half. 

[Ghents]

@Nlittle1892 I think the aysymmetric is a good idea. I think SS or Treq is right for Perez and I'd probably swap Rondon to a TM-S. Maybe have Almiron and Perez set to swap positions to get some of their movement? CF-S might work too if you end up seeing it hoofed way too much.

 

I'm thinking about going with 3 at the back, Ritchie as a CWB-S, Yedlin as a WB-S, DLP-D/BWM-S midfield, Almiron as IF-A and Perez as an AP-A at AMCR with stay wider PI and Rondon as a TM-s