"El Loco" Philosophy (4-1-4-1, 3-3-1-3)

[Pattric_b]

 

Intro

Each year I like to try and re-create real-life tactics in the game. This year, given how successful Marcelo Bielsa has been in the Championship, I’m surprised I haven’t seen dozens of Bielsa based threads on this forum (If there have been then I must have missed it, sorry). Bielsa is such an interesting manager to me and in some ways seems more like a mythological figure than a real person. His fellow managers have such high praise for him (Pochettino, Guardiola, Simeone, etc). Managers who have had a lot more success than Bielsa. Yet, when given the chance, they heap praise upon him and call him the best.

The reason for this is because he is a true football man. His life is nothing without the sport. He is also extremely ambitious and demands a lot from his players. It’s safe to say that his ideas and work rate alone have gained him a reputation as being one of the best managers in the world. Please join me as I attempt to re-create his philosophy as best I can on FM 2019. In this opening post, I will just be discussing the basic ideas surrounding his playing style. Followed by pre-season analysis, training regimes, finding the right players and more. Also just wanted to mention I will be primarily focusing on how his Leeds side plays only. 

 

Save background:

I’m in the year 2036 and I had recently been managing Newcastle. We won everything in the five years I was there and decided to resign and look for a new challenge. During that same time I was holidaying through waiting for teams to sack their manager, I saw O-zil’s old threads popping back up here on the forum. After looking through, I remembered he attempted the Bielsa philosophy but the thread never seemed to progress anywhere. I found that particular old thread and was reading through it realizing almost immediately that I wanted to try it myself.

Bielsa has had great success with Leeds in real life even though they seem to be falling off as of late but the fact he has them competing for automatic promotion (at the time of writing this) is a testament to his managerial skills. In my save, Leeds are still in the championship and are a struggling mid-table side. A similar situation to when Bielsa took them over. They sacked their manager midway through the 2035-36 season and I agreed to join them after the season ended so I can start with a fresh squad. So here we are. 

 

Noticeable Characteristics Of Bielsa’s Philosophy:

• Positional Fluidity: He is known for putting players in positions we aren’t used to seeing. It’s common to see players filling in for others and swapping around. Ex) Vidal playing LWB for Chile. Gary Medel as CB. Or even this year, playing Kalvin Phillips as RCB in a 3-4-3 formation. He is also known for playing fullbacks in a back 3 because he thinks they are ‘better able to carry the ball’.
• Intense Pressing: Bielsa’s special. He’s known for his teams ferocious pressing and intensity. You must be physically fit to play for him. 

• Keep Possession: He likes his players to be technically talented as well. He has Leeds passing it short and quick for the most part. That's not to say there will never be direct passing. I just want to play how Leeds play currently and keep it short to dominate possession. 

 

Tactic Base Shape:

 

Defensive shape (A rough 4-1-4-1):

 

In Possession Shape (3-3-1-3):

 

 

Ignore the team fluidity in the second screenshot. It only changed because I changed the players' positions around for the sake of showing how I want to look in possession. 

 

 

Team Instructions:

 

 

This is a very general view of how Leeds play. We are going to try and adapt the key components of how Leeds has been playing this season. 1) Intense Pressing 2) Positional Fluidity 3) Short Quick Passes 4) Majority of Possession and 5) High Energy

Mentality: Attacking

“This mentality is best employed for matches where the team are favorites to win and expect to dominate possession in the opponent’s half. It aims to exploit space in the final third by employing a fast tempo and more direct passing. If the team has a high chance of losing the ball by attacking, they would, however, opt to recycle the ball to retain possession. It focuses heavily on getting players forward and into space and allows them the creative freedom to express themselves.”

Team Fluidity: Very Fluid

All players must defend as a unit and attack as a unit. Very similar to Total Football in that regard. I'd also like to see the players fill in and swap with each other. Roaming in a way but disciplined. Also, the fact that we have chosen Attacking mentality I don't really want to have players on attacking duties. I'll let the overall team mentality determine how attack-minded they will be. 

In Possession:

•  Much Shorter Passing
•  Play Out Of Defense   
•  Work Ball Into Box

While reading about how Leeds plays and watching a few matches myself. They like to keep possession and the stats show they have the highest possession percentage in the Championship. They also tend to make quick short passes on the floor; hence ‘much shorter passing’. Although, I didn’t want to add too many possession team instructions as it could become overkill and just complicate things. So, for now, I’m going to start with this and see how we play. They also use width to their advantage but I opted to leave the width as it is since playing with attacking mentality already has it preset to standard.

In Transition:

• Take Short Kicks
• Distribute to Center- Backs
• Counter
• Counter Press

Bielsa has Leeds transitioning very quickly whenever they regain possession. And when they lose possession... we already know how intense their pressing is. The keeper instructions is to attempt to stop him from booting the ball down the field and immediately giving away possession. 

Out Of Possession:

• Much higher defensive line
• Much higher line of engagement
• Extremely Urgent
• Prevent short GK distribution
• Use offside trap

These are the ‘Gegenpress’ default instructions. He requires his teams to press like madmen so we will start with these. 

 

Crucial Player Attributes:

• First Touch
• Passing
• Anticipation
• Determination
• Decisions
• Teamwork
• Work Rate
• Acceleration
• Pace
• Stamina
• Natural Fitness

The tactic will be very demanding on the body and mind so while there are plenty of important attributes, these are an absolute necessity. You simply cannot play for the club if you are sub-par in any of the above-listed attributes, doesn’t matter how skilled you are. Talent is nothing without hard work.

 

Position Overview:

Center-backs: Need to be comfortable with the ball at their feet. Capable of playing simple and not panicking and booting the ball up-field. The team mentality will affect their passing so I may look to further adjust their individual player instructions if they aren’t skilled enough. And it wouldn’t be a true Bielsa tactic unless I at least try to play full backs in the back line. Or even cm’s in the wingback role. Depending on their attributes, obviously.

Wingbacks: Need to provide me with width and also comfortable with the ball at their feet. They will have the freedom to underlap and overlap past the wingers in order to stretch the defense out and open up space.

Defensive Midfielder: This is Kalvin Phillips position and I see him described as the ‘heartbeat’ of the team. He shields the defense when out of possession. And when in possession, slips between the two CB’s. He will see a lot of the ball. We will basically be looking for a player who plays like Busquets but has the work rate of Kante. Should be easy…

Right Center Midfielder: When in possession he will be in line with the two wingbacks to form our second row of 3 (although the wingbacks will push forward as we advance up the field) and will assist the three center backs in maintaining possession. He will be our deep screen for the back three.

Left Center Midfielder: He will essentially turn into an Enganche. Our main playmaker in the team who attacks forward and takes up the position of a traditional ’10’ when in possession. A ‘hook’ for the attacking moves.

Wingers: Will play out wide in order to stretch the opponents and create “overloads in the wide spaces with the wing backs”. They are also expected to attack the spaces the striker creates for them by dropping deep. Ideally, I would prefer them not to have to touch the ball too much until we are in the final third. Depending on the opponent, the wingers could turn into Inside Forwards and the wing backs could turn into IWB’s. Again this depends on the opponent and how they are set up.

Striker: He is the first line of defense and must press hard. He regularly drops deep to pick up the ball dragging the center backs out of place leaving space for the wingers to exploit. Our striker must be competent at passing and holding the ball. Must also be capable of getting himself into position to receive a pass.

Squad View:

The first team had 34 players when I first joined. That is way too many players for my 8 man coaching staff to manage so I will be looking to sell and loan if we cannot sell. I want every one of my players to have at least a 12 in every core attribute listed. But since it's my first season and I don't have any wage budget remaining, I will cut some players slack if there are one or two attributes they don't live up to expectations. According to my coaches, my best player is my right back Lazmi. Unfortunately for him, his work rate is 9. He has no future at this club plain and simple. My wide players are going to be doing a lot of running and I can't have any slackers holding us back, doesn't matter how many gold stars you have. One weak link in the chain can cause a break and it's not a risk I want to take. 

Misc. Information:

• When I was hired the board asked me to develop players using the youth system so I will also look to do that to the best of my abilities. Leeds actually have very good facilities in my save so it’s definitely possible. Difficult, but possible. As if trying to replicate El Loco’s tactics wasn’t hard enough haha…
• Bielsa relies heavily on opposition scouting reports. In order to replicate Bielsa’s style fully I need to bring in and expand the clubs analyst department. I have to make sure my scouts bringing back opposition reports are reliable. Preparation is key.
• Given he also spends A LOT of time on the training ground I feel it wouldn’t be a proper Bielsa replication unless I at least attempt to make training programs for my team. Up to this point, I have avoided the new training system entirely but will have a go at it for this save. 
• I didn’t really touch upon it but Leeds have taken a lot of long shots this season. It’s not something I plan on trying to implement because long shots feel somewhat broken this year on FM. As the squad quality improves I will also focus on the attacking players’ flair or ‘gambeta’ as Bielsa calls it. He likes his players to improvise and having higher flair rating improves a players unpredictability.
• As the squad quality improves I will also focus on the attacking players’ flair or ‘gambeta’ as Bielsa calls it. He likes his players to improvise and having higher flair rating improves a players unpredictability 

Online Resources:

https://totalfootballanalysis.com/head-coach-analysis/marcelo-bielsa-leeds-united-tactical-analysis-statistics

https://www.whoscored.com/Teams/19/Show/England-Leeds#team-squad-stats-summary

https://www.dreamteamfc.com/c/news-gossip/417508/marcelo-bielsa-leeds-roofe-phillips-klich/

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next post will be how we got on in pre-season and I will show any adjustments I think are neccessary. The goal is to play how Bielsa dreams, so realistically it will be difficult but I want to try and get as close to it as possible. 

 

 

[Pattric_b]

Comparing the Squads;

Before I start analyzing how it plays in the match engine, I want to look at and compare the real-life Leeds players to my current squad. This is something I wanted to do mainly because if my squad matches up nicely with the players Bielsa has at his disposal then there's no reason I won’t be able to overachieve. And if we don’t compare well at all… I’m still expecting to overachieve lol

 

So let’s start first with Bielsa’s Best XI according to FM:

If you’ve been watching a lot of Leeds this seasons then you will notice a few things;

1. So far this season, Forshaw has made 18 (11) apps. Of those games he started, only 5 of those have been as a central midfielder. So it seems Bielsa views him more as a defensive midfielder than an attacking one.
2. Kiko Casilla is considered the best player in the squad according to the coaches but Peacock-Farrell has 10 more starts than Casilla irl.
3. FM chose Alioski over Jack Harrison, not super surprising. Alioski is super versatile and can play a number of positions.
4. In FM, Tyler Roberts (not selected) is a natural striker and an ‘unconvincing’ central midfielder. Roberts has started 13 games in central midfield this season. This shows you how much Bielsa rates his potential and his flair.

Other than that, everything else looks like a typical Leeds team this season.

One more point of interest about Bielsa’s squad. He only has about 20 players who feature in his matches consistently. He favors a small squad to a larger one, it’s part of his philosophy. As is intense pressing, hard tackling, attacking football, relentless running… you already know where I’m going with this. Player fitness and squad rotation are going to be crucial if I’m going to be successful with a small squad like him.

 

Anyway, let’s compare their Best XI with mine. 

I'm going to put the screenshots inside spoilers so you guys don't have to scroll all day.  

 

Goalkeeper:

Spoiler

 

I'd take Casilla over Antonio personally but he isn't tooo far off. I like keepers who have some ball skills and Antonio is more of a traditional keeper. But can't complain he looks like a decent Championship keeper.

2

 

Centerbacks:

Spoiler

 

Jansson and Mackie seem like the best two to me, followed by Cardenas. Cardenas aerial abilites is a concern, but I'm hoping his strong positioning and overall strong mentals offset his negatives. Mackie is actually a former player of mine but couldn't get a game at Newcastle because the starters were too good. All and all I think we look good compared to these two.

 

Wingbacks:

Spoiler

Big fan of McDaid here. Signed him on a free. Clearly not a great crosser or dribbler but is strong everywhere else. Got a good head on his shoulders. Douglas and Ayling are very different players to mine and seem stronger in attack. If I had to pick two starters I'd pick Mcdaid and Ayling.  

 

Defensive Midfielder:

Spoiler

Again, very close. I'm a fan of Phillips and everything he's done this season but his PPM's could cause issues, especially in a high pressing tactic. I still think I would take Phillips over Richard though. Phillips' physical attributes is what did it for me. 

 

Center Midfielders:

Spoiler

Two sets of very different central midfielders. I was intially planning on using Mazzarella as he appears to be more defensive minded, but his PPM's changed my mind. I love the idea of having him higher up the pitch tackling the opponents and closing them down quickly. He is very different from Klich who is much more of an attack minded player and loves to take shots from outside the box as we've seen this season. What Brito lacks in defending and attacking attributes (compared to Forshaw) he makes up for in physical and speed attributes. So no he may not be in the right position as often as Forshaw but has enough speed to get to the right place and recover. Deciding out of these four is pretty hard to choose but I think I would go with Mazzarella and Forshaw.

 

So far our "dream team" looks like this;

1. GK- Kiko Casilla
2. RWB- Luke Ayling
3. CB- Danny Mackie
4. CB- Pontus Jansson
5. LWB- Danny McDaid
6. DM- Kalvin Phillips
7. RCM- Adam Forshaw
8. LCM- Nicola Mazzerella
9. RW- ?
10. LW- ?
11. ST- ?

Bielsa- 5

Me- 3

Although some can change, I could easily see myself picking Klich over Mazzarella in some matches. 

I'm going to have to continue the rest of the team in another post because it's saying I've exceeded the max total size for files lol. I'm interested though how you guys feel about my selections? Who would you pick if it was your team?

 

 

 

[Pattric_b]

Reserved

[cristhianlinhatti]

bielsa's and Ajax 2018/19 inspiration:

PIs:

High 4 + press and roam.

CM stay wider

 

 

[Bluebird123]

Excellent start mate. Looking forward to see where this goes

[Pattric_b]

7 hours ago, cristhianlinhatti said:

bielsa's and Ajax 2018/19 inspiration:

 

 

Thats interesting, what made you choose the 4-2-3-1 base formation? 

2 hours ago, Bluebird123 said:

Excellent start mate. Looking forward to see where this goes

Cheers buddy.

Another thing I didn't touch on was the way Leeds have scored this season. The majority of their goals come from the lone striker (Roofe and Bamford) but we also see goals from the 'enganche' player and the wingers. Basically, the goals are spread out from all over the pitch and I think that unpredictability has made Leeds that much harder to defend against. 

[cristhianlinhatti]

with 2 defensive roles in midfield we have a good ball circulation. the WBs widen the pitch to movement of 4 players (roam). 

so, I try aplicate principles of bielsa football with 2019 Ajax's inspiration

 

 

 

[cristhianlinhatti]

my 334:

 

problem with width

 

[Mutumba]

3 hours ago, cristhianlinhatti said:

my 334:

 

problem with width

 

Post your 334 tactic, or at least post some screens of that tactic.

 

You 4231 was working quite well for me!

[cristhianlinhatti]

54 minutos atrás, Mutumba disse:

Post your 334 tactic, or at least post some screens of that tactic.

 

You 4231 was working quite well for me!

my 334 is not consistent

[Jean0987654321]

Did I miss something, OP? You didn't tell us the roles? :?

[Pattric_b]

6 hours ago, Jean0987654321 said:

Did I miss something, OP? You didn't tell us the roles? :?

No you didn’t. I did it on purpose because I wasn’t 100% sure which roles I wanted to use. It will come soon. 

[Pattric_b]

I updated the second post. I take a look at the current Leeds squad and see how my players stack up against Bielsa's. Who would you guys pick if it was your team?

Also I saw today that Tifo Football put up a new Bielsa video. This time it gives you a brief history of the man himself. It's pretty amazing how obsessive he is about the sport and how many hours of matches he will watch everyday. 

 

[Bluebird123]

 

Another from Tifo on Bielsa. I'd love to see if getting the 3-3-1-3 shape in attack is possible from a 4-3-3. His football is my dream football in FM

[Pattric_b]

It is possible but there are some aspects of his philosophy that aren't in FM (for me to create at least). I have a hard time with the wingers. I want them to play super wide but when we attack and move the ball forward, turn into inside forwards. I probably just don't have the right players at the moment and PPM's could help with creating this movement. Also have a hard time with the striker in this tactic. Roofe's role has been hard to replicate for me. 

I been busy with work (and currently away on training) otherwise I would have posted more in this thread but my tactic analysis is coming soon!

[Experienced Defender]

1 hour ago, Pattric_b said:

I have a hard time with the wingers. I want them to play super wide but when we attack and move the ball forward, turn into inside forwards. I probably just don't have the right players at the moment and PPM's could help with creating this movement

Have you watched Rashidi's videos with his Liquid 4123 system? Might be useful for what you want to achieve with wingers.

[ericstpeter]

On 01/05/2019 at 14:54, Bluebird123 said:

 

Another from Tifo on Bielsa. I'd love to see if getting the 3-3-1-3 shape in attack is possible from a 4-3-3. His football is my dream football in FM

Give this a shot ;-)

[Pattric_b]

22 hours ago, Experienced Defender said:

Have you watched Rashidi's videos with his Liquid 4123 system? Might be useful for what you want to achieve with wingers.

I just watched it and was very informative. There are definitely aspects of his Liquid system that is similar to Bielsa's so it's good food for thought. The winger issue did come down to PPM's as I assumed. The problem with my wingers is they have PPM's that lead them to dribble up the sideline as a traditional winger would. So my only option is to use Inside forwards with 'stay wider' PI. 

[Experienced Defender]

20 minutes ago, Pattric_b said:

So my only option is to use Inside forwards with 'stay wider' PI. 

Or perhaps put a left-footed player on the right flank and a right-footed one on the left, and play them as wingers (role). You can try and see if and how it works.

[yellowforever]

47 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

Or perhaps put a left-footed player on the right flank and a right-footed one on the left, and play them as wingers (role). You can try and see if and how it works.

Big fan of doing this, and I think aside from PIs or a new role in the game, it's the best option for what you're trying to achieve.

22 hours ago, ericstpeter said:

Give this a shot ;-)

How's this going for you? Looks decent. Have you tried making the width wider?

[ericstpeter]

It’s very similar for me to the tifo video

[cristhianlinhatti]

 

433 -> 3313

so, not working...

edit: mc(a) = cm(a) sorry

[Pattric_b]

So this is the tactic I been running with lately. 

Defensively it has been very good actually. We've played 14 matches scoring 17 and only conceding 8. Currently we're 4th in the Championship so we haven't been bad but when I watch us attack I don't really get the sense that this is a Bielsa team playing. I'm at the point where I'm willing to concede possession in order to start scoring more goals but haven't been super successful.

We are ranked 9th after all so I'm not upset with the way things have gone, we have grinded out some tough games to our credit. It just doesn't seem like how Bielsa would have his squad playing. Back to the drawing board.

[Pattric_b]

Very happy with how the season has gone. We led the league in possession, overall passes completed and highest pass completion percentage. All while playing attacking football. We weren't even supposed to make the playoffs... 

My primary goal scorers were the front three, Borja (ST), Day-Neil (RW) and Buchanan (LW). My wingers were also responsible for creating the most chances. Something else you'll notice that I was pleased to see, are the amount of goals my CM's scored. Never before have I had my CM's collectively score that many and it pleased me because this is a similar characteristic to Bielsa's current squad. They create plenty of open shot chances for their central players and they score some nice goals (see Klich's highlights). Also you'll notice we scored 77 goals in the league were as Leeds irl scored 73. The biggest difference between my team and Bielsa's was the defense. We allowed 20 less overall goals in the league and that essentially won us the league. So basically, I'm better than Bielsa... 

 

My starting shape didn't change much from the first post, I only dropped the wingbacks back in line with the CB's and changed a few roles here and there depending on the situation in game. I'm just another manager heavily influenced by Bielsa and I actually did better than him in my first season at Leeds  I am not a Leeds supporter in any way but I would love nothing more than to see a Bielsa team in the Premier League. It would also be very interesting to see 

A lot of people seem to be having problems making their tactics work and I can tell you that once you have a clear logical vision of what you want your players to do, the game becomes pretty simple. My advice to anyone having problems making working tactics is to study a real life team and try to copy how they play. For example, I have watched and read everything I could about how Leeds have played this season. I looked at the players' stats, looked at them in the game to see their PPM's and what their attributes look like. I knew that they were a hard pressing team so I started with "Out of Possession". I simply picked gegenpressing TI's as they are very similar to how Bielsa likes his team's play. My defense was solid from the start of the season, all I had to do was play with the "In Possession" TI's until I found a combination that A) worked and B) still suited the way Leeds play in real life. 

My next post will be about how I plan on recruiting players who will improve our squad and fit into the Bielsa Philosophy (smart, determined and physical). We aren't going to be able to attract world class talent but I have my scouts all throughout Ireland and the UK looking for ideal Leeds players. 

More to follow soon, thanks for reading!

[cristhianlinhatti]

 

PI's?

 

I'm bielsa's fan. He's the top 2 coach for me (pep is 1).

 Don't replicating their philosophies in game is the bigger frustration for me. I did give up replicate the "juego de posición". Remains for me try play like bielsa.

[Pattric_b]

2 hours ago, cristhianlinhatti said:

 

PI's?

 

I'm bielsa's fan. He's the top 2 coach for me (pep is 1).

 Don't replicating their philosophies in game is the bigger frustration for me. I did give up replicate the "juego de posición". Remains for me try play like bielsa.

I don't use any PI's usually but sometimes I add 'get further forward' to the central midfielder on support. I do that because the striker can sometimes drop really deep and drags defenders with him, so I like to try and exploit that space with the inside forward and central midfielder. 

Honestly, even Bielsa himself has a hard time getting his teams to play the way he wants because he is extremely demanding and you need very particular kinds of players. Maybe one day if he gets to manage a huge club we will be able to see his ideas come to fruition. On FM it is possible but again, you have to sign the right kinds of players. My journey has just begun.  

[cristhianlinhatti]

4 horas atrás, Pattric_b disse:

I don't use any PI's usually but sometimes I add 'get further forward' to the central midfielder on support. I do that because the striker can sometimes drop really deep and drags defenders with him, so I like to try and exploit that space with the inside forward and central midfielder. 

Honestly, even Bielsa himself has a hard time getting his teams to play the way he wants because he is extremely demanding and you need very particular kinds of players. Maybe one day if he gets to manage a huge club we will be able to see his ideas come to fruition. On FM it is possible but again, you have to sign the right kinds of players. My journey has just begun.  

this have:

physical, concentration, technical and movement.

including "flair" you have the "improvisation"

 

edit:

 

about mez role:

 

Are you don't consider change to cm(a)?

this make sense because the "enganche + 3 puntas" is a bielsa's mark...

4-1-4-1 without ball
3-3-1-3 with ball

[Pattric_b]

On 08/05/2019 at 21:13, cristhianlinhatti said:

this have:

physical, concentration, technical and movement.

including "flair" you have the "improvisation"

 

edit:

 

about mez role:

 

Are you don't consider change to cm(a)?

this make sense because the "enganche + 3 puntas" is a bielsa's mark...

4-1-4-1 without ball
3-3-1-3 with ball

I like how the mezzala plays on support. He is usually right outside the box when we are in the final third which is where I want him. The player playing in the mez position definitely has opportunities to score goals like Klich does irl. 

Flair is a luxury for me as of right now. Leeds aren’t anywhere near a top side and the recruitment has been rough in the pre season leading to up to the premier league. You’ll have teams signing players for 100m+ meanwhile I’m loaning Liverpool’s  deadwood. Cheap flair is simply to hard to come by in my save.