Football Manager 2011 — Understanding tactics and ‘The Manchelona’

In the beginning Football had no shape; every player would chase the ball with no regard for tactics, formations or even strategies. The sport we have grown to love was about physicality, manliness and couldn’t have been more different from the modern game. Over time a handful of influential coaches changed all this and created Football’s first formation, the 2-3-5. That’s right, just two defenders, three midfielders and an incredible five forwards.

Over time, managers and coaches alike have developed tactics from mere numbers to style, philosophies and strategies. The two man defence of old has now turned into ‘the back four’, the midfield area is generally populated by four to five players as opposed to the old three man system and those five strikers have been cut to just one or two. Despite the attacking appearance portrayed, that 2-3-5 of the past didn’t provide more fluidity than today’s more defensive looking tactics.

Some may suggest that the quantum leap in quality and skill is to thank and that the modern day Footballer is far more equipped in ball control and finishing. A very valid point and certainly one I agree with, but there are bigger reasons for our more defensive looking formations providing more fluid and attractive Football than the 2-3-5. If understood and used correctly my reasoning’s could make us all better Football Managers and open a door that may have been closed to the coaches of old. More importantly, we as gamers can implement a better way of thinking while manufacturing our tactics on Football Manager. This is why I’m writing today, I want to share my thoughts on the modern game and at the end show my result, ‘The Manchelona’.

The deception of modern day formations

OK, to help me explain this I’ll ask you a question. When you hear 4-4-2 and 4-5-1, which formation sounds and feels more defensive? The truth is neither, while most may consider a 4-5-1 in English Football more defensive than the two man attack of a 4-4-2, fans of the Spanish game would loosely call Barcelona’s formation a 4-5-1 and only a mad man could consider their Football defensive. Before I get hounded, yes Barcelona’s formation isn’t officially a 4-5-1 but in essence it is. Guardiola still uses a three man central midfield system (maybe one CM drops a little deeper), he still keeps a flat back four and the lone striker remains as in any 4-5-1 formation. The key difference in shape is that of Guardiola’s wingers. Rather than been in line with the midfield three they push on into a more attacking role.

Now to expand this further yet, I could argue Guardiola’s formation is actually a 2-1-2-2-3…sounds crazy I know, but hear me out. If we look at the attacking movement of each individual player, my proposed formation will start to take shape. The wide defenders are used as wing backs and therefore push on past the half way line during attacking movements. At the same time Guardiola’s wingers move more central to join the lone striker while the two central midfielders move into a more attacking midfield role. My opinion is that Barcelona’s more defensive midfielder, centre backs and goalkeeper are the only players to hold their ground during the attack phase.

What I am trying to say is if you create tactics with one formation in mind, that of which you see in the tactics creation screen, you may be missing out. I have just demonstrated that Barcelona take one shape while defending (the shape you see while creating a tactic,) but then a drastically different shape while attacking (the shape that isn’t invisible while creating tactics.) So while we are looking at one formation within our tactics creation screen, WE control the way these players move within that system, meaning WE control what formation is formed while our little men defend and attack. So my conclusion is that tactics have come a long way since that historic 2-3-5 of old, so far in fact that we see numbers representing a far more defensive formation, but these modern day formations aren’t just one shape, they are many different shapes within one formation formed to cope with each phase of play meaning one formation transforms into another while a team attacks. I.e. Barcelona defend in a 4-5-1 but attack in a 2-1-2-2-3 (that may not be completely accurate, but it serves my point.)

More than just formations

We all know that the formation you select sets the tone within a tactic, but it isn’t the most pivotal part. That title lands with your style of play. FMS co-owner, Johnny Karp, has created one of the most spectacular tactics I’ve seen. His 4-4-2 looks bland and boring to the untrained eye, but look a little deeper and you’ll see the detail and intricate play he aims to create. Each players role is set to keep a consistent pattern through each phase of play, so while Barcelona tend to change their shape drastically, Johnny’s tactic remains the same throughout. Meaning the entire team move forward as one unit and hold possession incredibly well. Barcelona hold possession but in a completely different way, they move around and are difficult to track whereas Johnny’s 4-4-2 leads to three steady lines moving forward for the ball to float along. However, the general style is that of Barcelona’s, short passing, and pressing high up the pitch, complimented by fluid and attacking movement.

Now, if Johnny changed his tactic to a more rigid and defensive mentality, what is the same formation would become a totally different tactic. To take this one step further, Johnny could adjust his passing to more direct and watch on as his team launch the ball up field as opposed to the short intricate game Johnny has become accustomed to. By changing three team instructions, we have transformed a beautiful, attacking tactic into a gritty old English style kick about. Just demonstrating that a formation does not depict what tactic and style of Football you play.

While Barcelona’s tactic looks completely different to Johnny’s 4-4-2 in shape, it looks closer in the match engine than I’ve seen anyone else come trying to use the same formation as Barcelona and copycat what they see from TV pundits and newspaper analysis. My point is your formation doesn’t depict how defensive and rigid you are, that is all controlled from the team instructions. Meaning you could turn a defensive looking formation/shape into something very attacking and risky with a few clicks of your mouse. But beware, as you must complete a complicated jigsaw including player roles to create an attacking, fluid tactic that doesn’t leak goals and player selection has a big role to play also. Why do you think I’ve always been so cautious with my tactics? ;)

More than just a player role

How many of you select a player’s role to suit his attributes? If so you are not alone as I fell into that trap myself. Picking one role to get the best out of a single star will not have the same effect as picking 11 roles to form a team unit. For instance, I’m sure Pedro and Villa of Barcelona would prefer to be played as the lone striker, but Guardiola sees them as instrumental to a bigger picture. They both tend to start out wide in order to offer their threat from the wings cutting inside and causing havoc. Add to this the fact that Barcelona’s formation can transform into a three man attack and you’ll see Pep’s thought process.

The same can be said for a central midfield three; the roles you hand out in midfield can transform a good tactic into an incredible one. And the beauty is all these roles should vary depending on your style of play. For instance, if you like to play a more direct style within a 4-5-1 formation, you’d be best organising your players into three categories, defensive, attacking and supporting. A poacher works well upfront so he can chase long looping passes and also wingers as opposed to wide midfielders to dart down the flanks. Your midfield three should be assigned three different roles, all to cover the previously mentioned categories and therefore each phase of play.

Now what happens if we switch this more defensive and direct 4-5-1 into a more fluid and attacking tactic with short possession play? Well I wouldn’t recommend keeping the same player roles; in fact I’d change almost all of them. Remember with a direct and more defensive tactic you have little creativity to force an opening so instead find the team making long searching passes and therefore stretching the game. When you switch to a possession orientated tactic these roles should be adjusted to bring players closer together and therefore offer passing options within every phase of play. There’s no point in playing a short passing style if your players are separated like in the direct style mentioned above because part of keeping possession is having options to pass the ball to like in Johnny’s 4-4-2.

Picture each player not as you see them in the formation, but as they’ll be within their role. You may have a striker all on his lonesome upfront, but assigning him the role of complete forward with support duty will see him drop back to fill in the space when required and therefore offering another passing option. That is just one example of many and you’ll see a pattern arise within my new tactic shown below.

‘The Manchelona’

While enjoying some great success with Newcastle United, I have started to feel frustrated by our balanced philosophy and as Johnny would call it ‘negative tactics’. Sure these win games when used correctly, but my usual 4-5-1 with direct passing style just isn’t that great to watch and I’m sick of researching every opponent to allow for their strengths and weakness’. I often found Newcastle finishing a match with less possession than weaker opponents and relying heavily on a swift counter attack. Having been a negative manager for god knows how many years, how could I change this?

I started by researching real life tactics, reading an excellent book entitled ‘Inverting The Pyramid’ and also testing Johnny Karp’s possession play 4-4-2. After spending a week or so with my head buried in books, TV and my trusted laptop I found the solution. Johnny has found an excellent tactic in his 4-4-2 and a bold one at that. It balances risk on a knives edge, but works in keeping possession and providing the right results. Unfortunately I’m not as bold as Johnny and decided to create something with less risk, but I believe it comes close to Johnny’s possession play while offering a little more security in defence.

To create such a tactic I took inspiration from two clubs, Manchester United and Barcelona. During the 2011 Champions League final we saw possession play dominate the more direct style of play, but that is not what inspired me to create a tactic around these two teams. Both are similar in domestic domination, but couldn’t be further apart in the way they play. While Manchester United has one of the most organised defences in Europe, Barcelona use their defence as a weapon in attack. On the same note United use a solid strategy and rigid tactic to hold the ball and also win possession back while Barcelona do the opposite to keep possession.

My plan was to use both these tactics fused together to make one unstoppable FM 2011 tactic that never has to be tweaked or adjusted for any opponent (well, 95% of the time anyway.) That’s right; I have attempted to use United’s industry, Barcelona’s flair and merge them for both a possession orientated tactic that also offers an ironclad defence. Was it successful? Well take a look below and download my new tactic at the end of this post. For anyone who still doesn’t get the tactics name let me spell it out. :) ‘Man’, for Manchester United and ‘celona’ for Barcelona. Fuse Man Utd and Barcelona together, then what do you get? ‘Manchelona’, cheesy I know! Well, I’m done blabbering so go to the next page and read about my actual tactic as well as getting the download itself.

Go to next page for explanation and download of ‘The Manchelona’

The tactic itself (finally!)

We’ll start explaining ‘The Manchelona’ with formation, something you’ll be very familiar with as its my 4-5-1 with two wingers pushed up to AMR and AML. Not much to talk about here, as the interesting parts come with player roles and team instructions.

Moving onto what makes the tactic tick, ‘team instructions’. My inspiration for these came purely from Barcelona’s passing game and I tried to set the instructions to match their possession play and creativity. Fluid philosophy means each player is free to roam from their position and an attacking strategy is in place to ensure my side control the game and take it to the opponents. With such a fluid style, man marking can be tough so I assigned a zonal marking system. Barcelona have so much creative freedom and this shows on the pitch, to mimic their efforts I selected ‘more expressive’ for creative freedom. My short passing game is a given in order to keep possession and play quick attractive football while the defensive line, width and tempo are all default to the attacking strategy. One important setting is closing down, I set this to ‘press more’ so the players will hunt the ball down in the opponents half like Barcelona do. Due to such a high defensive line, players with pace and good work rate are required to track back fast and cover a lot of ground. What will make this tactic come to life are players with great creativity, flair and technique. These attributes are important to ensure the tactic works and you must have fast defenders or risk being caught out on the break. Having said all that, these attributes should be great in relation to the league your playing in. For instance, I played with Southampton in League One and waltzed to promotion using this tactic because they have the right attributes in relation to the opponents they face.

Before I go into great detail, let me list the player roles and explain what type of player suits each one best.

GK: Sweeper keeper (defend) — The usual attributes required, but good pace and rushing out are preferred.

LB & RB: Full back (support) — Usual defending attributes, also needs good pace and crossing ability. (good work rate is bonus)

CB’s: Limited defender (defend) — Usual defensive attributes, but good pace is a must have, slow defenders get caught out.

CM: Ball winning midfielder (defend) — Great tackling, marking, technique and passing ability, work rate is important.

CM: Deep lying playmaker (support) — Must have decent tackling, incredible passing and technique as well as creativity. First touch is also important. This guy is the one to pick out passes and move the ball quickly so make sure he’s quality.

CM: Advanced playmaker (support) — The teams official playmaker and nucleus of the side, he can get forward from time to time arriving late in the box so good finishing is a bonus. But amazing passing, technique, flair and creativity are top of the list.

RW: Inside forward (attack) — Tends to support the lone striker and while he requires good crossing what really matters is great pace, acceleration, dribbling, and finishing. You could even use an actual striker for this role if required.

LW: Advanced playmaker (attack) — Must have top passing ability and creativity, this guy wonders midfield waiting for an opening so pace is also needed with dribbling and crossing ability.

ST: Complete forward (support) — Most important to have good technique, dribbling, finishing and pace. However, this guy can act as a playmaker at times so needs decent passing and creativity.

Within all these roles please remember work rate and technique are vital to get the correct style of play. Now its time for me to explain how this little puppy works. :) I have just shown you the formation as we see it from the creation screen, but that isn’t how I visualise this tactic. The whole team very rarely keeps that shape and due to the roles assigned, tend to morph into something completely different. Below is the shape my side can take while attacking, please note the below formation is not what is visible, but my image of where each player will move in the attacking phase. The arrows represent other areas of the pitch my players can move into…its quite like Barcelona in that every player can roam far from their station making it hard for the opponent to mark them.

To prove my point further yet, take a look at the screenshot below. I have shown the match engine while using this FM 2011 tactic, hopefully you can see the attacking movement I’m talking about. Not only do we get bodies forward, but wingers turn into forwards and therefore form a three man attack. The full backs tend to move with play and while they do attack, they limit themselves as to when.

OK, so we’ve seen the attacking effects of ‘The Manchelona’ and hopefully you’ll see my recent thought process mentioned near the start of this post. Now its time to see the defensive side, I’ll do this through another diagram. As you can see below, my side hold a good shape, but also hunt the ball down when it arrives within their area. This is due to the press more command and fluid philosophy. Assigning one CM the ‘ball winning midfielder‘ role is vital, while defending he drops back to help out meaning the other two CM’s can await a loose ball to launch deadly attacks.

I have tried and tested this tactic till I’m blue in the face, I personally think its a big success and the beauty is you can use it in any division. The real key is to have decent technical players that can pass the ball around well. While playing with Southampton, I went my first season unbeaten and also enjoyed a great cup run beating Championship sides and EPL sides too. Anyway, for those who still aren’t sure, the below video should sway you. Its only short and well worth the watch.

‘The Manchelona’ tactics analysis video (click here to watch)

Now its time for what you’ve all been waiting for, the download itself. Just click the download icon below and then after downloading extract file to Documents>Sports Interactive>Football Manager 2011>tactics folder. Then after starting your game up, the tactic will be visible in your archived tactics under ‘The Manchelona’ tactic (Darren).