FM 2013 Barcelona Tactic: Possession, chances, goals, football!

It seems I have finally managed to create a good Barcelona tactic for FM 2013, I’ve been testing and testing since the beta. Now I can say that the testing is (almost) over, and I’m happy to offer it to you for download. This tactic gave me good possession, plenty of chances each game and lots of sexy football to enjoy. Let’s see how it works and, most important, what kind of results I was able to achieve with this FM 13 tactic.

FM 2013 Barcelona Tactic formation

The formation is fairly simple, a 4-3-3 involving a defensive midfielder and a pair on inside forwards. The key element in this tactic is the trequartista, he’s the man who will have the most chances and probably score the most goals. The two central midfielders are also very important as they will hold the team together on both ends of the pitch. The full backs are also quite important on both ends as they will often support the attack and even move into the penalty area to score their own goals.

FM 2013 Barcelona Tactic team instructions

The team instructions screen shot is fairly self-explanatory: fluid style, attacking strategy, short passing, lots of creative freedom, aggressive when it comes to pressing, the players are allowed to roam from their positions (especially the attacking trio), a fairly high defensive line.

Please note: there also are some individual player instructions set, mostly restricting their shooting from distance and tweaking their passing style. You also have to know that there is no designated playmaker and no designated target man.

Here’s how they stand on the pitch, fairly compact, just as I like it ;)

FM 2013 Barcelona Tactic in action

I’ve taken a few screen shots to illustrate how the tactic works. The first one shows how the team defends. As you can see the back four form an almost perfect line at the edge of the penalty area, but they will rush out of that line to intercept when needed. The three midfielders stick together, pressing the opposition midfield, while the two inside forwards tend to stay fairly close to the opposition fullbacks. The trequartista keeps the opposition centre backs pinned and will run at them if we get the ball back and launch a counter attack.

And that is shown in the second screen shot: the midfielders got the ball back inside our own half, passed it to Messi who then picked David Villa’s run on the left flank. This move ended with a goal :)

And now a normal positional attack. The players tend to pass the ball first time quite often, and in this case it gave us a goal. Pedro cut inside from the right flank, passed short to Alex Song (CMR) who then passed first time through the hole and inside the penalty area to Messi, who then scored. The blue spray paint arrows show an alternative ending to this attack, in which Song could have passed to Fabregas (CML) who then could have passed it through to David Villa inside the box.

The last of these screen shots shows the surprise element that the fullbacks can bring. In this case Jordi Alba went higher up the pitch than David Villa, who retreated outside the box to receive a short pass from Fabregas before playing it through for Alba. It was a clear cut chance but unfortunately Alba smashed it against the near post.

FM 2013 Barcelona Tactic results

I haven’t played a full season this time before posting, I have played just five competitive games. But I have two reasons for that, or maybe three. Firstly, the results of those five games were impeccable: five straight wins, including two over Real Madrid and another good away success at Atletico Madrid. Messi, Villa, Xavi and Pedro scored two apiece in these games but it was Messi who had the most clear cut chances, by far.

Secondly, the team played so well, even though they were not yet fully familiar with the new tactic. Just a few numbers:

Clear cut chances created in those five games: 3 per game on average, 7 in the best game.

Clear cut chances against: 0.6 per game on average, not more than 1 in a game.

Ball possession: 57% on average, 63% in the best game.

And I am sure that those numbers will improve once the team reaches higher familiarity levels.

Last but not least, I haven’t played a full season because I want to start a story on our forum with this save! It will be a game with a twist, but I won’t be revealing more now, just visit the forum and you will find out soon enough. ;)

Click the image below to download the Barcelona FM 2013 tactic:

How to install the tactic in FM 2013

1. Put the downloaded file into this folder: Documents>Sports Interactive>Football Manager 2013>tactics

2. Start your game and go to your team’s tactics screen.

3. Click on the little arrow located to the right of your starting tactic name, move your mouse cursor over “archived tactics” and select “Barcelona_4-3-3″ from the menu.

If you like this tactic please share it with your friends on the social networks, that helps them get better results and it also helps us reach a wider audience. If you have questions or comments, go right ahead, I’m here to answer.