I adored that galactico era, and that was probably the only reason why i wasn't too disheartened seeing becks leave (being a manchester united fan myself). That latest article on VDB is absolutely immense and a good read
I also remember watching that free kick on tele a few years back. Beckham is still class in my opinion.
Back on topic:Good work mate
Ok have it your way
How-to: Play (decently) successful possession football
- To discover the main aspects in how to retain possession.
- To achieve a certain amount of success with possession-based tactics on potentially successful teams.
Article #3: The 'How-to' Series
Tuesday, 25th January 2011
So it's been nearly a fortnight since my last article, which looked at the current style and play of Spanish La Liga outfit, Villarreal, where the el Submarino Amrillo manager Juan Garrido, has been praised for his fluent football in which has been successful this season, leading them to third place in the league - nine points behind Real Madrid C.F. The article can be found here. But this article is going to go into a different series this time, instead of the 'modern series. This article will be based around playing decently successful football, based around controlling possession. I have been working on this for a while after thoughts on the next article and dabbled with a few teams here and there in seeing the main aspects in achieving this. So, lets move on into the article.
Possession in football ...
Arguably your greatest friend in football if you can grab it and use it to your advantage. But it can be your worst enemy if you have a lack of it and are put to the sword every game that you don't have it. It's like oxygen to the lungs - you need it (to be more literal) and, without oxygen, you cannot breathe. The same is in football, where teams cannot be successful in their tactics if their teams hasn't actually had a touch of the ball. If you look at today's dominant teams in Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, Barcelona, Real Madrid - they all play a certain style of football that has been praised over time for the way it is played, regardless of if it's attacking or defensive.
Arsenal play fluid passing and attacking football, week in, week out and they boast (tied with Manchester United) the most goals scored in the Premier League this season. The exact same can be said about Barcelona's dominating, yet inspirational football. Their 64 goals scored this season in comparison to 11 conceded shows that it cannot have been done, to an extent, without possession. It's almost impossible. So the same can be said about it in Football Manager.
I love playing possession football. Watching my team's colour dominate the opposition's colour whilst watching the match on Key and referring back to the Match Statistics and seeing at one point I am dominating over 60% of the play makes me feel calm inside. Domination of the ball, especially in modern football, is key to winning matches, as it would be amongst other things. And I say the word dominate because it is. Possession is a battle and if you lose the battle, you're more than likely to be exposed by the opposition. Even if you park the bus. But if you are to play possession football, it requires a number of things. The first we will cover is the overall team itself.
Requirements from your team to play possession football
If you have played Football Manager 2010 or regularly play the latest out, then when you start a new save, you will often have your introduction to the team (blah blah blah) and then you have advice from your backroom staff. The men parked next to you in the dugout every match giving you tactical and player advice in-and-around the club. Once you go into this, you have them introduce themselves and their best areas of training, recommended players in the team's weakest positions, the players and who should take the free-kicks, corners, throw-ins, the best players at being playmakers and target men but then there is the assessment of the team and what they are best at in comparsion to other teams in the league.
Now, if you are one of the most dominant teams in the league and have probably the best chance of winning the league, you will have your team being one of, if not the best in almost every department. But with possession football, you must achieve 'High' or 'Good' in certain areas - or risk dwelling in the relegation zone three-quarters into the season and your best players out through suspension or injury.
(Instead of bullet-pointing them, I will explain as I go along with screenshots)
Contrary to thoughts, I picked Bayern Munich at random, and like I mentioned earlier, this is the usual screen that you have tactical advice from your new backroom staff. Here, you will have your squad's strengths and weaknesses in comparison to the other 19-or-so teams in your league. You would use this to depict what kind of formation you will use over the coming season and which to improve through the purchasing of players or the upbringing of youngsters through the club's youth system.
Now were are going to run through what you need to play possession football from your team:
High Aggression
This is required because your team should have it's tackling set to either Default or More Aggressive - whichever floats your boat and depending on the philosophical side of your tactic. A highly aggressive squad should be able to retain possession easily and be better at winning the ball off an opposition who may have players who do that job too. This is probably the most essential requirement from your squad.
Good Strength
Coupled with aggression, strength allows your players to battle the ball off of opposition players and be stronger on the ball. Without it, your team would find it hard to maintain possession and not be as good trying to regain possession - even if they are the most aggressive in the league. Strong teams are better at winning and maintaining possession.
High Concentration
Mentally, better concentrated players are able to focus on having the ball in their possession at most, if not all times. Low concentration means that passes may fall astray or tackles may turn into horrendous ones and actually have players who have poor aggression sent off or suspended on a regular basis. Players who are able to concentrate on the task at hand are then able to pass to the better option, find better ways of keeping the ball in their favour and adhere to the manager's instructions. This is regardless of their Creativity, Anticipation or sometimes Decisions.
High Determination
Essential as a mental stat, even if you're not playing possession football. If a team is highly determined, not only if they the possession rates are in the 60's, they are determined to maintain it. When they don't have it, they are determined to win it back again. Combine it with concentration, and they will concentrate on maintaining it and being successful in their short passes, tackles and attacking opportunities that arise if they are to counter the opposition.
Good Height
A tall squad should be good when winning aerial battles from the set-piece or even just generally. If your team has one of the shortest squads in the league, then you should look at your central defenders, defensive and central midfielders, and strikers being at least 6' 2 and above. At the least. Mix that with decent Heading and Jumping abilities and working on your set-pieces, you should be able to quell the danger quite well after goal kicks or long-passes from back to front.
Good Passing (optional)
Not a necessity, but is useful. A team that can pass the ball well have a good way of maintaining possession at a much better rate, as opposed to those who are just good in the areas that I covered in the abovementioned. Really, at least one of your central defenders, two-three of your central midfielders (or defensive midfielders) and one of your wingers should be accomplished in passing. They can expand the game in the counter attack or when possession is at a large enough rate to take the game to an inferior opposition that are trying to defend as best as they can.
Good Fitness (optional)
Again, optional. Fitness would be prioritised if you're playing a largely attacking game and have players who may not be able to keep up. Possession-based games often have the opposition tire out, rather than your own team, since you're the ones passing it around and them chasing it. Counter-attacking only really comes as a way of addressing this, but having a generally fit squad is useful if you want to start attacking fiercefully during the latter stages of the game.
Formations, formations, formations ...
When it comes to formations, you have an array of tactical set-ups that have their own advantages and disadvantages from the start. The 4-4-2 itself is the most commonly-used tactic in football, but it's use of a two-man midfield and standardised wingers makes it quite bare. To the very least, talented squads will be able to pull it off in a 4-4-2, or teams who address the key areas with flying colours. Here are some beneficial formations to choose from.
- 4-3-3/4-5-1: Utilises a triangular three-man midfield that can be varied in a workaholic midfielder, aggressive-tackler and a creator from deep. The two wingers can be used on the counter with pace and the lone centre-forward can drop deep to offer options.
- 4-2-3-1 (Normal and deep) : The two central midfielders (or defensive midfielders if you have them deep) can often be used to destroy attacks from the opposition and give it to the attacking four or the central attacking midfielder, who then passes it on to three more options. Wingers can drop deep to make it two banks of four at times and make it difficult to attack (see Arsenal vs. Manchester City from this year, Emirates Stadium)
- 4-1-4-1: Has a defensive midfielder sit ahead of the defence and can be played in two ways. A destroyer of attacks as the 'last midfielder' or as a playmaker to create from deep. Can be utilised again because of the two central midfielders ahead like in the 4-3-3/4-5-1 because of the triangular shape. Creates two banks of four and a middle man.
- 4-1-3-2/4-3-1-2: Often used in Italian football, this formation, with it's lack of width, can be used successfully on the counter-attack, as the fullbacks push up and the attacking midfielder can join the attack and make it a 3-4-3, as one of the central midfielders drops deep to make a third centre half.
There are others but I don't want to ramble on further.
So here is the tactics screen on default. The formation is the 4-3-3 because it's my favourite for playing possession football. Now, when playing possession football, you can only really pick two styles, but they can be expanded on if you really want to. There is the fluid, controlled-based type, where you control the possession but, when you have the majority of it, can attack fiercly without many consequences. This is popular in most cases because you can turn the possession into goals, and with that, win quite comfortably. My experiment with such will come up soon.
Style 1
Like I said, there are two styles. This is the first style. If teams that have a decently aggressive, strong and tall team, they will most likely pick this. It compliments their attributes in playing an organised game in which frustrates the opposition by maintaining possession and tires them out at the same time because they are continually chasing the ball. Why do you think defenders pass it across their line every now and again? Not all the time obviously.
A rigid philosophy enforces organisation and good positioning (especially by the defence) so that they cannot really be exposed at the back and only a couple of players can really come out of position. It varies. A controlled strategy is kind of the key to the door. If you don't have it on Control really, you are going to struggle in maintaining possession. Hence it's name.
And as it goes along, short passing, a disciplined game and aggressive tackling really enforces organisation. That is the key to style one. Organisation. Marking zonally allows defenders to just mark the space, rather than the man, and doesn't drag them out of position, unlike man-to-man marking. Floating crosses was just done because your playing a slow tempo anyway and if you are playing a tall target man (as you should in defensive formations) then he is most than likely to win a good amount of headers - provided the aerial service is good.
A deep defensive line, again, allows them to not be exposed very easily, narrow width keeps the middle of the pitch congested and midfielders finding it difficult to get around because they will be outnumbered and a slow tempo, coupled with moderate time wasting keeps the possession in-and-around the defence and midfield. Focused passing down the wings allows the wingers to use their pace when needed and catch the opposition off-guard. Ticking the 'Counter-Attack' box allows your team, when defending a corner, defending a goal kick or having just retained possession, to again, catch the opposition off-guard and get a quick and sneaky goal to devastate them. Especially useful away from home.
Style 2
Style two is actually interesting because it's what I, amongst others, like to call 'controlled attacking'. You have the possession, in which benefits you in several ways. But it benefits you the best because you can actually choose when to attack. The ball is literally in your court, or to an extent, your half of the pitch. Whenever you really want, you can take the game to the opposition and force them to sit deep and endure the onslaught, or tire them out by passing it around your defence and play to your crowd whilst they laugh and jeer the opposition players who slip and slide from failed attempts in gaining possession.
The philosophy in 'controlled attacking' can vary, because it really depends on your team's abilities. If your squad boasts some of the best players continentally, then playing fluid football will, not only be attractive, but utilise the abilities of your 'world-class players'. Again, the Control strategy is essential because, really, you want to have as much possession as possible in order to take control of the game. You can, however, change this during certain stages of the game where you feel that your team is just not doing enough to trouble your opponents.
Like style one, short passing benefits because your passing to the closest option. Concentration is needed here, as you want to be sure that the closest option is also the safest option. He could be man-marked, and that then gives a striker that may resemble Carlos Tevez to poach the ball and put it in the back of the net within seconds. Expressive freedom is needed because you want to have the ability to take the game to them, but in style. It benefits creative players or players with large bouts of creative freedom in their PI's and then make your team quite unpredictable.
There isn't much need to press. If you play a high line, then pressing is already done. And besides, you're already playing possession football, so pressing them will leave you exposed, rather than them. Aggressive tackling is quite a necessity because you are really wanting to have as much possession as you can, and playing cautiously won't necessarily do the job as well as aggressive tackling. Again, zonal marking keeps your team watching the space, rather than the man. But, if your team if your defenders are very good and highly efficient mentally, you can vary this in setting it to Default and just focus on players who may not be that good marking-wise. I forgot to put 'Drill Crosses' so forget that and More Roaming, coupled with More Expressive, gives that fluid football feel and unpredictability.
Like I mentioned earlier, playing a decently high defensive line presses into their half anyway, and the fullbacks push into their territory. And also, Press More with More Aggressive will have you booked a lot more times than if you were to leave it on default. It should only be equipped if you're playing extremely attacking, which is ill-advised.
Keeping the width narrow has benefits because you're congesting the midfield and making it difficult for the opposition to move around and just generally, for them, unable to expand. You don't have to play a slow tempo, but somewhere close to it allows you to control the game and it is recommended. You want to control the game, so playing a slow game can be beneficial. You cannot control the game possession-wise if you are playing a fast tempo. Put Time Wasting to about mid-way, mix around the passing so that it, again, makes it unpredictable and tick the 'Counter-Attack' box so that you are essentially ready whenever they are. Cover all corners of the pitch.
Defensive organisation - in both styles
With testing tactics comes saves where you need to play at least half a season and tweak. I did this with F.C. Porto and have had great success. Here is a screenshot of when I played Sporting Braga in Liga ZON Sagres (and beat them 4-0) where we are off the ball. Braga have taken a goal kick and the ball has been headed down. Fernando wins the header, but that is not what I am focusing on. I am focusing on the defensive organisation of the team.
At the back, there is Jorge Fucile (#13) Nicolas Otamendi (#30) Maicon (#4) and Rafael (#2). Infront of them are strikrs Elton (#81) and Meyong Ze (#81). Now, the team is zonally marking the strikers infront and maintaining a defensive shape, yet high line in order to exploit them with the offside trap - to an extent. Played with Fluid philosophy, they still maintain their shape and line, whilst the ball is trying to be recovered.
A few seconds after, Porto are in possession. Belluschi (#7) plays the ball onto energetic fullback Rafael as he starts to run down the wing in order to supply the overlap, as Belluschi is not a very fast players unfortunately. Now, in response to the movement of Elton, the striker, Maicon has dropped deeper to, not man-mark him, but to mark him within the zones that have been instructed. Otamendi, somewhat parallel, has his sights on Meyong Ze and is keeping tabs on him with zonal marking. Fucile, further up the pitch at left-back, is not necessarily in-line with Maicon and Otamendi, but because of the tactic, is allowed the ability to roam in certain lines of his position. Creative freedom, mixed with the freedom to roam, gives him this opportunity.
It is critical to have good defensive positioning in such styles of football, because leaving yourself exposed at the back allows counter-attacking football from the opposition to work successfully and to then make you owning the possession, seem like nothing. The attributes that would be required for such defending (your centre halves usually) are:
- Concentration
- Decisions
- Anticipation
- Marking
- Tackling
- Team Work
- Heading
- Jumping
- Determination (optional, but useful)
The playmaker, and his role
Yes, I have stressed it in my other two articles, but in these modern times, you cannot really argue. There is always the need of some-sort of creativity. Regardless.
Now that you know why I chose Joao Moutinho are the cover for this article, Moutinho has been central to my Porto midfield and to my advances with a possession-dominating tactic. His passing abilities are uncanny to the majority of playmakers in the Portuguese top-flight and has already attracted interest from Spanish outfit Valencia - but I am not interested. With my three-man midfield always comes the need of variation, and Moutinho's role as a playmaker is expanded heavily because of his contribution to the team. Just look at his statistics so far:
Incase you cannot see the numbers and writing, the blue lines going across, generally mean a good thing. Moutinho has played every match for Porto this season in the 25 we have played, coincided with having completed 1,171 passes out of 1,271, which averages 92% of his passes being successful. That is actually better than Xavi's passing rate on my current game, who has, although completed more successful passes than Moutinho, has a 73% passage rate. 19% decrease from Moutinho's.
Aside from passing, his abilities as a team players is of similar success, having won 71 tackles from 97 attempted, averaging 73% success. He has won 29 headers from 48 attempted (averaging 60%) and covered 255.2km in distance, averaging also 10.3km over 90 minutes. Out of the 25 games he has played so far this season, he has won 23.
Now, my saves ...
Having seen screenshots from my F.C. Porto save, I want to now show you the success I have had on it. I am currently unbeaten all season, having won almost every game I've played and only drawn twice (three times if you count pre-season) . In the league, I am top of it, having won 11, drawn two and never lost, scoring 36 goals and conceding four (giving me a 32+ goal difference) and ahead of the team below me, S.L. Benfica, by six points. I have qualified for the next round of the Champions League after going unbeaten against Dynamo Kyiv, Maccabi Haifa and Stabaek IF. I beat S.L. Benfica in the Supertaca, whilst making it to the sixth round of the Taca de Portugal and third round of the Bwin Cup. Here are screenshots.
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Also, I have a Sevilla save in which I have had success in, but nowhere near as good as the F.C. Porto save. Also half a season, I have managed to get into sixth place, now challenging for fourth spot whilst having a tough challenge in beating Inter Milan and getting a step closer in one of my board's expectations and make the semi-finals of the tournament. I have also faced Barcelona three times out of six this season, only winning once and have to face them another two times in a Copa del Rey semi-final double and one more time in the league to a rapturous Sanchez Pizjuain crowd. Not to mention that I am around a similar time to the present times of Sevilla, who in real-life, are eigth.
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And finally, when you play possession football ...
- Play a narrow pitch to attribute a congested midfield.
- Listen to your coaches. Vary your defensive line when playing away from home and adjust the width of your play to make it either contained or expansive.
- Balanced and Fluid philosophies when adapting Style 2 don't really matter, but Fluid football just gives you that edge.
- You don't need to play an offside trap if you're adapting Style 2. You are already pressing high enough to attribute an offside trap.
- Possession football requires good attackers, and good attackers get you goals. So beware of that.
- Don't press and play aggressive tackling, it will get you into hot water with referee on more than several occassions.
- Be safe.
Hi mate,
I have some questions about possession column, what the different with Hold Up Ball & Run With Ball? And how good when playing possession football, the playmaker with holding ball instruction or no?