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Everything TOTAL Football (From Cruyff's 343 to Guardiola's Overloads) - UPDATED Feb 28, 2023


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43 minutes ago, Powello said:

If youre United, Bruno is awesome as the Libero, Pogba does ok but needs time.

Pogba is on his way out now PSG are after him.

I could use Bruno has it looks Hannibal is now ready for a first team place and take over in midfield.

Although in the couple of games vs Liverpool Garner did very well as the Libero. 

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8 minutes ago, g-sandhu said:

Pogba is on his way out now PSG are after him.

I could use Bruno has it looks Hannibal is now ready for a first team place and take over in midfield.

Although in the couple of games vs Liverpool Garner did very well as the Libero. 

Mejbri is ready for the first team right from the start :D

Yeha Garner is good as well

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5 hours ago, Powello said:

What do you mean with which?

You said you use a lot of role switching, so who do you have switching with who? And what has been the most successful?

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3 hours ago, OJ said:

You said you use a lot of role switching, so who do you have switching with who? And what has been the most successful?

Depends which tactic you're talking about.

In one I have the ST and CM switching, FBs switching with the wingers and Libero with the other cm

Another I have one of the widemen switching with the striker.

And many others. I always have players swicthing in almost every tactic, usually works great, seen lots of space openining up. I am sure the AI has marked my wingers specifically, in some games,  as when my wingers and FBs swap, the FBs have so much space as the opposition fbs have followed my wingers :D

 

 

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On 19/05/2020 at 19:16, crusadertsar said:

I'm going for a looser interpretation. Trying to capture the fact that United played Strikerless without a real frontman. The front three's movement and position swapping captured my imagination. There was more than a hint of Total Football about how Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo played.

Also it was more about the players available to Ferguson. It's hard to recapture with any team at start of FM20. But a few years into my save I have a likely candidate. The weirdness that happens in FM sometimes when save goes on for a few years.

You might enjoy this.

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Didn't really like how the Carrilerro work before.

Changed it to Mezzala and it will tear defenses apart.

My latest iteration.

Untitled.thumb.jpg.7b2446d6dbcf9741c9b179bb4d1e8396.jpg

 

Sometimes, it will have 9 players attacking the opponent box with just the 2 CB guarding. :lol:

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37 minutes ago, skyline72 said:

Didn't really like how the Carrilerro work before.

Changed it to Mezzala and it will tear defenses apart.

My latest iteration.

Untitled.thumb.jpg.7b2446d6dbcf9741c9b179bb4d1e8396.jpg

 

Sometimes, it will have 9 players attacking the opponent box with just the 2 CB guarding. :lol:

what are your results with it?  i tried this kind of system also.. but it was to leaky in the back :P

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6 minutes ago, henkheikens said:

what are your results with it?  i tried this kind of system also.. but it was to leaky in the back :P

On a winning streak!

Teams are always on the backfoot against me. 

Too much firepower for them to handle. 

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Once again if the images don't work or if you prefer to see my article in its original formating, then check out:

In a series about Total Football, you might wonder why I am writing about Sir Ferguson's Manchester United? While Ferguson's Man United achieved amazing success between 2006-2009, they were not known for playing Possession-style, associated with Total Football. Or for that matter one cannot really pin point a specific style of play or formation to that legendary team. However, one constant that contributed to Ferguson's success was his masterful management of his players. Sir Alex Ferguson was a people manager like no other, who perfected the concept of player rotation. He instinctively knew how to match personalities, traits and individual playing styles to max effect. So what can we learn from him in FM20? And especially in the context of replicating Total Football.

 

Myths and Misconceptions

Unlike other historic sides, Manchester United did not use one specific formation between 2006-2009. Instead Sir Alex used a variety of formations, from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2, and too many others to recount. The myth that Sir Ferguson favoured a traditional 4-4-2 is really that, a myth. His overall strategy was much more complex and fluctuated markedly depending on whether it was a home or away match, domestic or European. Yet they played beautiful fluid football with a lot of attacking intent and flair, not seen in Europe since Ajax and Dutch National sides of 1970s. So in that sense, Fergie's Manchester United of early 2000s was a Total Football team through and through.

Sir_Alex_Ferguson_2667566a.jpg

One must keep in mind that Total Football, is not only about tactics and styles. On a bigger scale, it is a philosophy and a way of viewing football as more than just a game. In this sense, we cannot look at players as simply numbers or interchangeable cogs in a machine. Much of both Sir Ferguson's and Johan Cruyff's success can be attributed to how they treated their personnel. Both managers viewed their players as unique individuals with specific playing styles. And they were able to bring these individuals together for greater effect by matching them like jigsaw puzzle pieces.

There is a common misconception that neither Cruyff nor Ferguson were great tacticians. That their success was really only due to teams stacked with world-class talent. It is true that Cruyff had his Total Football Dream Team. And Ferguson was fortunate to manage some of the best players of the generation. The likes of Ronaldo, Rooney, Giggs, Tevez and Carrick only come around once in a lifetime after-all. But this view does not take the importance of player management into account. And both Cruyff and Ferguson were magicians at this. They knew you can't just buy up world-class talent and expect to win everything. Otherwise, wouldn't Paris Saint-Germain Globetrotters win 10 Champions Leagues by now?

harlem-globetrotters-international-inc-b

Breaking Records

But enough clowning around, football is for most clubs a serious and highly competitive business. And Ferguson's United in its time was one of the most competitive and successful clubs ever. In the short time-span of 3 years, Fergie's United won a grand total of 10 domestic and continental trophies! That included 3 Domestic Titles, 3 Cups and 2 Shields. On the World Stage they had 1 UEFA Champions League and 1 FIFA Cup World Cup, no less.

spt_ai_siralexferguson_10.jpg The King of Old Trafford

Three is a Magic Number

When forwards attack from wide to inside, they are far more dangerous.

Sir Alex Ferguson, speaking to The Guardian

The 2007-2008, the year of the European Double, is probably the best season to showcase Ferguson's tactical versatility. For most of that season Manchester United alternated between the variants of 4-3-3 (more like 4-5-1) and 4-4-2. I say variants because at times his tactics were more akin to an amalgam of the two. The 4-4-2 sometimes resembled the 4-3-3 in attacking phase and the 4-3-3 (which Ferguson mostly used in Europe) had some elements of the classic 4-4-2. This was especially apparent when Park Ji-Sung, the hard-working wide midfielder would act more as a defensive presence in the midfield than a true winger. So he would join the other three midfielders while Rooney and Ronaldo were the two forwards upfront. In the 4-3-3, Park's job, especially during the tougher European games, was to shut down the opponent's key attacker.

man-utd-roma-tactics-2008.jpg

While the 4-4-2 was essentially a 4-3-3 with the deadly trident of Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez roaming in the front. In essence, the hard work of both Rooney and Tevez compensated for Ronaldo's adventurous antics. You had two False9s (Rooney and Tevez) occupying the opposition while Ronaldo used his immense physicality to cut in from the right. So while Rooney and Tevez worked their socks off, Ronaldo posed the real goal threat from the wing. In midfield you also had three midfielders. Without getting into the specific roles, Ferguson also went with the magic three there. Usually two withdrawn midfielders, in Carrick and Scholes, and one more attacking one such as Anderson (or Giggs).

v1.PNG.d2687449ab84fe567fba6ca39ef284c6. Here you can see that Ferguson's most used shape, the 4-4-2, was in reality a 4-3-3 in its attacking phase.

This was true even with the 4-4-2. There Ryan Giggs, despite being a left winger on paper, acted as the third, more attacking (and playmaking) midfielder. Giggs was already 33 and no longer the nimble player of his youth and thus not as useful on the wing. So to take advantage of his exquisite technique, vision and off the ball movement, Ferguson had him come inside from the left and thus join the central midfield trio during attack. This also allowed Evra, the speedy left-back, to go forward and provide width on the wing.

When in Rome Do As The Romans Do

Another remarkable thing about that Manchester United side is that they played without a player in the traditional striker spot. For two years between 2007 and 2009, Manchester United essentially played as a Strikerless side. The deadly trio of Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez were basically two withdrawn, highly-technical, hard-working supporting forwards and one energetic beast of a winger. No classic poacher line-leading forward among them. If anything it was similar to the system that Klopp has going with Firminho, Salah and Mane. Except Ferguson preferred to play with two Firminhos, and... Ronaldo. By far any recreation of Ferguson's strikerless trident, is that elusive Ronaldo role. To date there is no single player that is like Ronaldo. Although modern players like Salah and Sterling have similarly embraced the goal-scoring winger role. The biggest piece of the puzzle was the unpredictability and dynamic movement of Ferguson's Man United.

Another remarkable thing about the Man United's Trio, was how dynamic it was. Their positions on the field changed often during the course of the match. The roaming was ever-present. The fluid three roamed and interchanged so much that it's sometimes difficult to pin-point exactly where they played. If there is such a thing as a "free role" in football, we had three of them at Man United. But if we are to make a simple generalization, Ronaldo was most often to the right of Rooney and Tevez. Or at least that is where he most often started during the defensive phase. While Rooney and Tevez tended to share the central and left-sided spots. Rooney favoured the left flank because he had the pace to cut inside. But he could just as easily drop into midfield as a shadow striker while Tevez and Ronaldo ran past him. Again, versatility.

The movement between the three, left opponents scratching their heads, not sure who to mark or where the threat would come from. But it was not the first time that centre-backs faced such a dilemma.

cec351beaae3f912f4828ea8751743d8.jpg?fit

It was the example of Spalletti's 2007 Roma side that had the most influence on Manchester United at this time. In 2007 Luciano Spalletti started setting up his team in a Strikerless manner. And it was not so much by choice as by a lucky accident. Spalletti's strikers were injured so he had no choice but to play his talismanic, ageless Trequartista Francesco Totti in the more withdrawn AMC position. There Totti played his usual creative role of moving into the gaps between opposition defence and midfield. This created a new problem for opposition defenders, who suddenly found themselves without anyone to mark. And because Roma effectively played with four players in the midfield along with the two wingers, they could easily dominate possession and create deadly counter-attacks. It was a recipe for surprising success. If only it worked more consistently.

roma_totti_vucinic_perrotta_de_rossi_piz

At times Roma's 4-6-0 worked spectacularly (6-2 victory over Inter), while at others not so much. Being crushed by Manchester United 1-7 was one such time. Although they bested them in the Champion's league, Ferguson's Manchester United learned what they could from Spalletti's Romans. The cat was out of the bag and football would never be the same as the effectiveness of strikerless systems was revealed.

Fast forward to 2008, and the trio of Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo has become one of the most efficient goal-scoring threats in the Premier League, without any one of them playing a traditional striker role. Between 2007 and 2008, they played 42 games together, where Ronaldo scored 34 goals, Rooney - 17, and Tevez - 15. They also combined for 25 assists. Again these are only the goals and assists for the games where they were all on the field together. At the same time, at Roma, Spalletti converted Mirko Vucinic from a regular striker into an inside forward. Vucinic would position to the left of Shadow Striker Totti in order to ensure a goal threat from the wing. Vucinic respectfully amassed 34 goals in Spalletti's system. On the other hand Totti's 26 goals in 2006/07 alone won him the European Golden Shoe. Not bad for a 31 year old!

unnamed.jpg Vucinic - decent centre-forward turned into a scoring machine when played on the wing in Spalletti's Roma

FM Applications

The combined example of both Spalletti's and Ferguson's set-ups, inspired me to make my own experiment in Strikerless Tactics. That last piece introduced the roles of the libero and the shadow striker. It showed how they could be used to unlock stubborn defences. Hopefully the rest of this article will show just how one can set up a strikerless tactic to trick your opponent into giving up space. Because such a tactic can both overwhelm in possession and strike fast on the counter.

This is the latest iteration of my Total Football tactic. As you can see I decided to switch the role of the Libero to that of a DLP. For practical reasons.

Untitled3-1.png?fit=662%2C506&ssl=1

To be honest, I was a little disappointed with the Libero. I think there is a problem with it in FM20, even-though it's probably the best representation of the role in Football Manager yet. The problem is that it acts too much like another centreback and not enough as a playmaker. In reality a Libero is the team's best playmaker acting in a deep #6 pivot role. Players such as Franz Beckenbauer or Pep Guardiola were not just simple defenders. No, the all-important #6 role should be the best player in the formation. It is the rule first set by Cruyff, and religiously followed by his disciple Guardiola. It is a player who starts attacks and through whom opposition has to get through first. And while liberos in the game can put up some respectable numbers, they cannot act as a real #6.

FerroStats.png?fit=662%2C372&ssl=1

The above is my Libero's stats from the whole season playing in this role. He put up some decent passing numbers and has great attributes for this role. But it was far from what I expected from him. So for my tactic to further improve in 2nd season, some changes needed to be made.

Tactical Changes

Another reason behind the tactical change, was to finally attempt a Pep Guardiola Manchester City-inspired tactic. So far I dabbled with 1970s Ajax, 1980s Barcelona, and 1995 Ajax. It was time to honour what is probably the best modern adaptation of the Total Football style to date. Guardiola's Positional Play. The way Manchester City play right now. It certainly feels like Guardiola's current Juego de Posición is his best Total Football attempt yet. It is a concept that took Guardiola over a decade to perfect, in a long process he probably started when first learning his craft under Johan Cruyff. So now it feels good to arrive at the culmination of both my series and modern Total Football. First with Tiki-Taka and now Positional Play, Pep has become a modern force behind both honouring and reinventing Total Football.

Obviously, some aspects of Guardiola's philosophy's are impossible to model accurately in FM20. Yet I feel that a strikerless 4-1-4-1 shape is a pretty good model of how Man City lines up in defensive phase at least. Ferguson's Three "Free Players" got me thinking that their roaming movement and interchanging roles could be right at home in a Total Football tactic. And to closely represent the front three in Guardiola's Man City, Aguero (who could be right at home as a shadow striker with his tireless hard work off the ball and timely forward runs) and Man City wingers need to be given lots of freedom. So that is where the Wide Midfielder on Attack role comes in. In my opinion it is a perfect "free" wide attacker role.

Untitled4.png?fit=662%2C372&ssl=1

Firstly, with an attack duty, WM can have a very attacking mentality. This allows it to get high up the field and to act essentially like an attacker in AML/AMR position when in attacking phase. Secondly, and most importantly, this role does not start with a lot of Player Instructions. The only one really is the "Get Further Forward". This means that the role can be tweaked extensively to act exactly how you wish it to. Previously I already used it as a base to create an Deep Raumdeuter role in FM19. Or you could use this lack of PIs to get a more varied, dynamic behavior from your wide player without being limited by the role. Even if I want my player to hug the line, I might not want him to dribble and cross incessantly as a winger role would demand.

For instance, lets take a look at a player like Rafa at Benfica.

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Rafa has "cut inside from left" trait and is pretty comfortable with both feet. This means that telling him to swap positions with your Right WM, can make Rafa act very differently once he is on the right wing. There, because his PPM only applies to the left flank, he will tend to run along the right side and act like a traditional winger. At the same time the player that swapped with Rafa, has a "cut inside from right" trait which won't be active when he is on the left wing.

Thus with this simple swap move, you can program alternating complex behaviour in your wingers. At one point in the match they will act like wingers and then switch to being inside forwards when swapped. It is really rather simple, but nevertheless effective in confusing the AI. It is a somewhat primitive attempt at recreating Guardiola's hybrid winger/inside forward roles, but I can't think of better way to model what Sterling does for Man City. Now if only I could figure how to do this for the fullback roles? But that's a topic for another time.

TELEMMGLPICT000161866884_trans4sP3TmjXI0 Raheem Sterling - new archetype of a modern goal-scoring winger who can play on both sides of the field. But how do we represent that in FM?

Finally, as I mentioned in my last article, I am a big fan of the Shadow Striker role. I believe that it is probably the best representation of Messi's False9 role in 2008 Barcelona. As a role that starts deep and then goes forward in attack and relies strongly on its creativity and intelligence, it is the best role to get a player to both score and assist goals. Exactly what Messi does best. And Pizzi didn't do bad also!

Untitled6.png?fit=662%2C372&ssl=1 Pizzi- my best Shadow Striker at Benfica. He finished his first season with 28 goals and 16 assists in all games!

But I am getting too far ahead of myself. I will be delving deeper into my strikerless 4-1-4-1 tactic and its two "Free Eights" roles in my next update where I will be giving you a tour of one of world's best football academies.

 

 

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14 minutes ago, Vico Vito Pep said:

Did u have a tactic download for this or maybe more specifically what’s the PIs for your WM/a ‘s? 

Spoiler

As always to be certain @crusadertsar will have to answer.

I do think he does not have any. He lets the traits or PPM's decide what the player does. Thats how the dynamic swich when players swap sides. They often has traits thats only "active" on one side of the pitch.

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1 hour ago, Djuicer said:
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As always to be certain @crusadertsar will have to answer.

I do think he does not have any. He lets the traits or PPM's decide what the player does. Thats how the dynamic swich when players swap sides. They often has traits thats only "active" on one side of the pitch.

Exactly. @Vico Vito Pep Trying to keep it simple and let the traits decide. I'm looking ideally for alternating cutting inside behaviour by swapt players that only cut inside from one side. And there's no download yet. But i plan to put one up once I did more testing with this version of the tactic.

Edited by crusadertsar
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On 24/05/2020 at 20:33, henkheikens said:

wich kind of PI you use? i want to try it :)

 

CF - Shoot less often, pass it shorter

IW - shoot less often, pass it shorter

SS - Roam from position, close down more

 

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1 hour ago, Djuicer said:

As always you deliver!

Nice way to use under-used roles. Especially uplifting to hear anything about the "extinct" defensive winger. No one seems to use it.

Thanks man! It was just a little piece to hopefully make people think differently about this underused role. Glad you liked it.

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2 hours ago, crusadertsar said:

Progressing well in my next article :D

Tentative Title - Guardiola and the Legacy of Vittorio Pozzo. 

Innovating Total Football by going back into the past.

You mentioned you will be delving deeper in to your ''free eights" will you still be doing that? Brilliant as ever btw.

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Hello. I've been following this thread for a little while as I was fascinated with the tactical approach of overloading one side and taking advantage of the open space on the opposite side. Looking at my tactic, do I have something going right, or have I misunderstood the whole concept?

433.png

Edited by Lasson
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2 hours ago, Lasson said:

Hello. I've been following this thread for a little while as I was fascinated with the tactical approach of overloading one side and taking advantage of the open space on the opposite side. Looking at my tactic, do I have something going right, or have I misunderstood the whole concept?

433.png

That seems correct. For even bigger effect you can move the playmaker to the side you want to create the overload (in your example in the mezzala's position).

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1 minute ago, Djuicer said:

That seems correct. For even bigger effect you can move the playmaker to the side you want to create the overload (in your example in the mezzala's position).

So if I understand you correctly:

DLPs -> DMd or DMs

and

MEZa -> RPMs, DLPs or APs

Right?

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  • 2 weeks later...
My next update is getting really long so I decided that I would release it in two parts. The historical background and my theoretical reasoning today and then the FM20 tactical analysis and the actual tactic reveal (with download on Monday). Sorry about the long wait :)

I could have called this piece, "Total Overloads Take 3.0" before settling on a more catchy title. Some might remember my old article exploring Pep Guardiola's tactics and overloads. It's okay if you do not, I don't mind. There's been so much change in my writing and tactics since FM19 that I don't even remember everything myself. It has been an educative journey into football history and learning the intricacies of FM games. I prefer to think of my series as an evolving improvement process with each new article. Sometimes it's a fascinating topic but it peters off without influencing future articles. Mostly, I retain something I can integrate into my ongoing quest to create beautiful fluid football in FM20. Total Football if you will. So you can think of the following as a culmination of all my efforts to master FM's tactic creator and use it to the max.

 

Lessons from History

6624942a9583c1990cb3eaef8c0ea833.jpg?fit

There are not many people these days who still remember that trophy-brandishing elderly man in the photo. His face might not be as instantly memorable as that of Rinus Michels or Alex Ferguson. But he is probably the greatest manager of all time? Why? It is simple, he is the only football manager to ever win two FIFA World Cups. And his name was Vittorio Pozzo.

Pozzo was the manager of Italy's national team during 1930s. It was the time of much political upheaval as Dictator Mussolini's hold over the country tightened. But it was also when Italy was at the top of World's football. At the world stage nobody had the answer to Pozzo's revolutionary "Il Metodo" system. His innovation was rather simple. It was to take two forwards and drop them into midfield as supporting inside forwards or half-wingers (mezzali in Italian football terminology). This way his formation looked almost like a prototypical 4-3-3 in its defensive phase. In attack it would quickly turn into a 2-3-5, which was more common at the time. A seemingly small change. But one that would eventually mean everything for technical possession-based football and the evolution of the Dutch 4-3-3 system.

Sport-Soccer-Football-Formation-2-3-5-Py The Pyramid. The first well-documented football formation. It was very effective and very attack-oriented. It famously won Blackburn Rovers, the first major club to adapt it, 5 League Cups!

Before Pozzo's Metodo, the 2-3-5 shape was all about attack. A very top heavy formation with its five forwards, it did not allow much room for patient passing game or slow transition build up. From late 19th century to pre-1930s era, that is generally how the game was played.

Fhistory2.jpg

Aggressive, almost no-holds-barred, attacking football. The Pyramid (because 2-3-5 actually looked like an inverted pyramid) was how that first ever successful football formation was known. Since 1890s the Pyramid spread from Cambridge University to permeate in 30 years almost every top-level team in the world. Then in 1930s, change came from two sources, over 1000 miles apart.

herbertchapman1932_205x285.jpg Herbert Chapman (Left) and Vittorio Pozzo (Rigth)

Sistema and Metodo

In the years after World War I, by evolution, from the pyramid, two tactical systems originated simultaneously: the WM, or 'sistema', practiced by the Arsenal side of Herbert Chapman, and the 'metodo', whose fathers are commonly identified as Vittorio Pozzo and his friend and rival Hugo Meisl, who served as the manager of the Austria national football team for 25 years.

pict-association-football-soccer-formati The WM name came from the shape that the formation assumed in its attacking phase.

Herbert Chapman oversaw one of the most successful eras in Arsenal's history. The success was largely due to his modification of the old and tested 2-3-5 Pyramid. Chapman saw the offside rule change in mid-20s as his cue to reduce the striker number and increase the number of defenders. This led to the introduction of a centre-back role to stop the opposing centre-forward, and to balance defence and offence. A rebalancing act that allowed Arsenal and Champman's new WM formation to become one of the best counter-attacking systems of the time. Thus it was much more defensive than the simultaneously-developed Metodo. In attack WM resembled a 3-4-3 and relied on quick transitions and direct forward play. In Italy, Chapman's WM was very influential and became simply known as Sistema. Later, without the System there would have been no Catenaccio.

Compared to sistema, Pozzo pushed the centre-back forward, not to act as a third defender but as a deep playmaker. By filling the gap between the half-backs and the mezzali, the style of play was affected. At the same time, by pulling the inside forwards (mezzali) back, affected the nature of the formation. As a 2-3-2-3 or WW, Metodo relied much more on central passing build-up rather then absorbing pressure and direct counter-attacks. 

The Metodo system was basically the Tiki-Taka of its time. And not that different from how the Orange played in the 1970s. The Method required a highly technical team that favoured a slower game of possession and lots of short passing. This was in contrast to Chapman's Sistema, with its faster, more aggressive, and athletic gameplay. Both were successful in their own way, but Pozzo definitely laid the foundation for that beautiful fluid style, that we love and cherish as Total Football.

Olanda-Germania-Est-2-0-Neeskens-apre-le

The Birth of The Metodista

Metodo1.png

Centromediano metodista was the linch-pin of Vittorio Pozzo's WW formation. He held the key position at the bottom of the diamond formed between the two half-wings and the central forward. This important role also sat in central position in front of the defence and between the two half-backs. This was unlike Chapman's system where the big idea was to play with an extra central fullback, centre-back if you will. Pozzo's central halfback, centromediano in Italian, was not a purely defensive role. Centromediano metodista, was effectively a precursor to the regista or deep-lying playmaker role. The metodista's responsibilities in Pozzo's system were not entirely defensive but more creative. The role was not so much tasked with breaking down possession, as it was with bringing the ball up and starting attacking plays after winning the ball back. Sounds familiar?

x2RSh6iepikfEa6PJutZJH-1200-80.png

The Advantage of Shape

My ideal in Total Football tactic recreation is always to create a 2-3-5 shape in the attacking phase, with at least 5 of my players attacking the opponent's penalty box. Depending on the formation. some of my previous tactics were more successful at this than others. But if done properly, it can be a good way of breaking down stubborn defences. It seems backwards, especially with a strategy used over 100 years ago, but sometimes much can be learned from history. In fact, it might be groundbreaking and innovative now. Recently, the best teams in the Premier League have all attacked with 5 players. This interesting article by Michael Cox proves just that, the 2-3-5 might not be that crazy any more. Especially when facing parked bus defensive teams.

Liverpool example of a 5-pronged attack:

liverpool-front-five-michael-cox.png

And Manchester City:

city-21.png

There are two main ways that one can create the legendary 2-3-5. And both stem from clever utilization of the same 4-1-4-1 shape. Because of clever use of roles and duties, this formation can be solid in defence with 5 players staying back and then quickly turn into a 5 Pronged Attack in attacking phase. For this reason a good old 4-1-4-1 formation is ideal for this type of 5 Player overload. And in both cases we cannot just overload the opponent willy-nilly with five attacking duty players. No that invites you to be countered (especially by a very defensive side) and is an instant recipe for disaster. On the other hand, the team needs to attack as a compact whole. For this to be achieved in FM20 we need a clever utilization of both team and player mentalities. But more on this later. So let us think it through.

Two Roads to Overload

In the past I often went with the wingback option for width creation. As you can see in the image below, the attack comes from the inside forwards/inverted wingers, the width - wingbacks and defensive cover - three central midfielders. Thus the formation can be very defensively solid as well as dangerous in attack. In attack, the ideal 2-3-5 shape is achieved.

For any successful attack, there are two essential factors to be taken into account. You need to create width and have sufficient defensive cover to back up your attack. Depending on the tactic, a 4-1-4-1 shape can provide width in two main ways: through wingers or wingbacks. Or sometimes a mix of the two. But no 4-1-4-1 can be consistently successful in attack and be very narrow. It's the reason why I frown upon all the wide players coming inside in the same formation. It is just not going to work well. Constricting the field and playing very narrow might trick a few opponents, especially if you are by far the superior team. But it is not the best way to use possession. Often it will make it even easier for a defensive side to defend. Contrarily, your formation needs to create space in order to break down such teams.

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Image of 1st formation example with HB, DLP (S) and CM (S).

The second method to create 2-3-5 is to create width though your wingers. It's less popular due to the recent shift in the predominance of the inside forward over the traditional winger. It is however the method that Guardiola prefers, ever since his stint with the German giant Bayern. In Germany when faced with many a parked bus, Pep had to think outside the box. And so inverted wingbacks became key to his overall strategy. Guardiola's strategy involves wingbacks moving centrally to join the Defensive Midfielder in providing defensive cover. Simultaneously, the brunt of attack comes from the central midfielders, where Guardiola puts his best, most creative players. All while the two wingers provide the width. Although sometimes it is the wingbacks who provide width and things get a little complicated. But again more on this later.

Guardiola's Hybdrid 8/10 - New Role?

The days of playing with a lone classic #10 advanced playmaker are over. Yet the role is far from dead. It simply moved down one strata and teams started to play with two of them instead of one. This change is most apparent in Manchester City's current set-up. Just look at the powerful partnership between Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva. Two classic #10s who had no choice but to adapt. Modern football demands so much to the point that a new hybrid role was necessary. The hybrid #8/10, or Free 8, is a new breed of the attacking midfielder that's taking Premier league by storm. It is also becoming essential to high-pressing possession football. Today most teams play with at least one Defensive Midfielder so simply having one classic #10 is not enough. Besides two is always better than one.

IniestaHernandez_original_crop_north.png

But as are all things in football, the Free Eight is not something that is completely new. Just think back to Pozzo's Inside Forwards (mezzali) and how he used them to focus formation's creativity and attack through the middle.

Andrés Iniesta and Xavi operated similarly in 2008-2009 Champions League Winning Barcelona team. Both players had the smooth-passing skills of top playmakers while also providing the attacking threat from deeper midfield position. It was Guardiola's experience playing under Johan Cruyff that made him realize that only one #6 holding-type defensive midfielder was sufficient to provide defensive cover for the two more offensive midfielders in front of him. And when playing the possession game, you cannot be too careful, as afterall if you always kept the ball then why need multiple hard-tackling midfielders. One Busquets or Fernandinho is more than enough.

The two 8/10s in front of the deep-lying #6, then operate as hybrid players with both playmaking and attacking responsibilities. Similarly to 2008 Barca, at Manchester City, Guardiola asks Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva to operate in two phases of play. Initially they support the attack as a part of the central midfield trio. Then as the team transitions into attack, the duo practically turns into two deep shadow strikers. They drives through the middle with their penetrative runs or arrive late to finish off team moves. Sometimes both or a combination of the two. Unpredictability and dynamism define the role. It is a unique breed of player that can both create chances and finish them within the same play.

To achieve all this Pep Guardiola instructs his two #8s to play much further forward, almost in attacking midfield positions. From there they can drift into the half-spaces usually reserved for the #10. Furthermore, with the help of two intelligent wide attackers, who alternate between going wide or cutting inside, Guardiola is able to overload centrally or on either flank, depending on the situation. The kind of movement that is created is unprecedented and is much more dynamic than we ever saw from Guardiola's Barcelona. I believe, the football we are seeing from City now, is the closest we've been to seeing modern Total Football. The clips below show exactly what I mean. Sit back and enjoy.

Got to agree with the pundit that the City were playing on a whole different level from United. They were channeling some major Oranje spirit.

Total Overload Version 3.0

To be continued....

The full tactical analysis and the rest of the article coming on Monday here and at

 

Edited by crusadertsar
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23 minutes ago, skyline72 said:

Yet another fantastic writeup from you, @crusadertsar.

May I suggest, how about you upload some gif/video to show how the team play? Im sure it will further illustrate the total football being played. 

Good idea for sure. To be honest the time it took to edit this monster took longer than expected. I think it was my longest article yet :hammer:

But now over the next couple of days I'll try to do exactly that. Post some vids on here of some goals and near goals. I feel like it took almost to December for my team to learn the tactic. Now they are starting to mesh and it's looking good.

Edited by crusadertsar
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17 minutes ago, crusadertsar said:

Good idea for sure. To be honest the time it took to edit this monster took longer than expected. I think it was longest update blog yet :hammer:

But now over the next couple of days I'll try to do exactly that. Post some vids on here of some goals and near goals. I feel like it took almost to December for my team to learn the tactic. Now they are starting to mesh and it's looking good.

Do you still encounter the opposition defenders playing among themselves? :lol:

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1 hour ago, skyline72 said:

Do you still encounter the opposition defenders playing among themselves? :lol:

I do although not as much as in the early days of the tactic. We still manage to power through with at least one goal, most of the time. As I mentioned in the article it will probably get easier as my young attackers improve their attributes. But at the same time, it's nice to have a very good defensive record. As of end of December, its 6 conceded goals from over 20 games. The opposition may sit back but they also don't really try to counter me. I think my next version of this tactic will be a little more adventurous and top heavy.

Edited by crusadertsar
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16 hours ago, crusadertsar said:

1.png 

Keep up the good work! :D

DLPde is a good choice at DM, I am just curious on your decision to use DLPde instead of HBde or REGsu? I am guessing it is to keep the players in a strict 2-3-5 formation during attack.

 

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5 hours ago, Starsurfer said:

Keep up the good work! :D

DLPde is a good choice at DM, I am just curious on your decision to use DLPde instead of HBde or REGsu? I am guessing it is to keep the players in a strict 2-3-5 formation during attack.

 

Pretty much that.

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And as promised here are some clips of the latest tactic in action. @skyline72

A 19 touch play that started with my keeper throwing it long to my Ballplaying Defender who then dribbles with the ball before passing into the midfield. It did not result in a goal but the vertical pass and move sequence was quite nice.

And here is something completely different, just showing how unpredictable the tactic could be at times. And the importance of having a DLP with "Dictates Tempo" PPM (in this case the marvelous Dantas playing deep).

And here is another Tiki-Taka play. Can you count how many passes? I lost count after 20 :D

 

Edited by crusadertsar
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1 hour ago, crusadertsar said:

Thanks! I especially like that through ball goal. It just laughs in the face of the ongoing ineffective one on ones myth. No one on one goals?! Rafa would like to say differently :cool:

I do see plenty of through ball on my end also. On FM18 though. 

 

When I played on FM20 previously, 1 on 1s are incredibly hard to score. The goalkeepers are like on drugs. :seagull:

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1 hour ago, skyline72 said:

I do see plenty of through ball on my end also. On FM18 though. 

 

When I played on FM20 previously, 1 on 1s are incredibly hard to score. The goalkeepers are like on drugs. :seagull:

Haha It works both ways though, Mile Svilar is like a wall for me.

 

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2 hours ago, Joey Numbaz said:

@crusadertsar thanks for this awesome thread and series of articles, truly great stuff.

Question re: training, did you keep the same training with the latest tactic? Any tweaks?

Thank you :) glad you are enjoying the series. 

Actually, no I'm still using the same training scheme I outlined a few articles back. It's working quite well with big improvements on some key players like Ferro, Dantas and Ramos. I hope to showcase their progress in a future update soon.

Edited by crusadertsar
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@crusadertsar going to give this a whirl in my current Gladbach save....only thing I've been a bit disappointed in with the 1st couple of Total Football Tactics is the Possession % has been around the mid to high 40s.  Otherwise getting a lot of great chance generated & a lot of goals. As far as clubs w/ a great Youth Academy outside the typical choices....Think a club like AZ would be an interesting squad to work in this system

Edited by Vico Vito Pep
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7 hours ago, Vico Vito Pep said:

@crusadertsar going to give this a whirl in my current Gladbach save....only thing I've been a bit disappointed in with the 1st couple of Total Football Tactics is the Possession % has been around the mid to high 40s.  Otherwise getting a lot of great chance generated & a lot of goals. As far as clubs w/ a great Youth Academy outside the typical choices....Think a club like AZ would be an interesting squad to work in this system

AZ is a great choice. Was thinking about them myself before settling on Benfica. 

I wouldn't pay attention to Possession %. It is not calculated properly in the game. Defensive teams will tend to get high possession numbers unlike in real life because the game calculates it as a time on the ball and not by the number of passes. I'm starting to see it as what you do with your possession that matters. Generating chances, nice fluid passing moves (like in my videos above) and of course goals from open play. Beautiful flowing football, that's is what Total Football is all about and not possession for the sake of possession. 

Edited by crusadertsar
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@crusadertsar

Nice tactic and team plays. :applause:

On FM20 I'm staying away from Strikerless version. I'm sticking with False 9 instead. I like to set my flanks with some variations. One side is with IF and Overlap, while the other side is with IW and no overlap. 

However, when I want to control possession the most, then both flanks use IW and no overlap. Also in the midfield I would then use DM-D, DLP-S and AP-S combo. I average 61% possession for the season with 93% passing rate and still created the most chances in the league. I use Much Shorter Passing and half of the time I add Pass Into Space. 

 

501572140_poetryinmotiontactic.thumb.png.05b73b087f50c8bd7c1805d6da6a8c24.png   

649653147_teamstatsdetails.thumb.png.52902e1150763b79f937c84fd23b3251.png

 

When facing defensive tactics with 3 CBs then both flanks use IFs. Fullbacks move to Wingback positions and become CWBs with Overlap on both flanks. And I use 2 Mezzalas. I would add Width if necessary. Next step is to remove Work Ball Into Box. 

I believe small tweaks are needed to maintain control and breakdown sides. Also, against strong opponents like Real M, Liverpool, City, etc. I remove Focus Play Through the Middle - it is not working so well against high strong press. Removing it opens up options to play the ball wide and around the press better. 

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39 minutes ago, yonko said:

@crusadertsar

Nice tactic and team plays. :applause:

On FM20 I'm staying away from Strikerless version. I'm sticking with False 9 instead. I like to set my flanks with some variations. One side is with IF and Overlap, while the other side is with IW and no overlap. 

However, when I want to control possession the most, then both flanks use IW and no overlap. Also in the midfield I would then use DM-D, DLP-S and AP-S combo. I average 61% possession for the season with 93% passing rate and still created the most chances in the league. I use Much Shorter Passing and half of the time I add Pass Into Space. 

 

501572140_poetryinmotiontactic.thumb.png.05b73b087f50c8bd7c1805d6da6a8c24.png   

649653147_teamstatsdetails.thumb.png.52902e1150763b79f937c84fd23b3251.png

 

When facing defensive tactics with 3 CBs then both flanks use IFs. Fullbacks move to Wingback positions and become CWBs with Overlap on both flanks. And I use 2 Mezzalas. I would add Width if necessary. Next step is to remove Work Ball Into Box. 

I believe small tweaks are needed to maintain control and breakdown sides. Also, against strong opponents like Real M, Liverpool, City, etc. I remove Focus Play Through the Middle - it is not working so well against high strong press. Removing it opens up options to play the ball wide and around the press better. 

Thanks for the tips! I'll keep them saved for the next time I face that pesky parked bus, which is A LOT with Benfica.

Any particular reason you don't want to use strikerless? I feel like it's less of an exploit than in previous FM versions. And I found it gets my "striker" way more involved in the build-up which before not even False9 would do.

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