G's & M's 2-2-3-2-1 Barca style of play

Hey there Gump,

something I noticed during the last season I played with your tactic was that you can hugely increase the overall amount of passes by putting a player with the "Dictates Tempo" PPM in your Mascherano CM position. Any 'normal' bloke on CM was rather struggling to find into his game, often having around 20 passes only. But once I put a decent regen who got his PPM from tutoring in CM, passing went right through the ceiling. Not only was passing shifted from the outside CMs onto the central one (the CML/CMR didn't have their passing reduced at all), it just looks more realistic now, with passing diagrams spread way better across the field (with a classic CM on center the play was extremely biased to the left flank, got that fixed now, but it really depends on your players), overall this is a beauty to behold. :)

Despite this I only made some minor tweaks to suit my players. Cover/Stopper defenders here, a ball-playing defender there, you get the idea. Regarding touchline shouts "Get Stuck In" and "Hassle Opponents" add to your possession % without being too much of a risk booking-wise (also, depends on how useful your players are at pressing/tackling).

As a theoretical aside, your results in possession and passes do vary a great lot depending on your opposition. The 'perfect' opponents would play a defensive style with poor pressing, poor tackling and poor strength attributes. Any side that plays with 9+ players in defense should be a great punching bag; while these teams park the bus, you are forced into passing and probing your way through their defense patiently. Weirdly, I got better results (i.e., passing- and possessionwise) against teams like Juventus or Hannover than in friendlies or cup matches against third-or-worse-class opposition. Those weak teams just don't get their zones covered properly and allow too many chances. Awkward thing to say. :)
 
Hey there Gump,

something I noticed during the last season I played with your tactic was that you can hugely increase the overall amount of passes by putting a player with the "Dictates Tempo" PPM in your Mascherano CM position. Any 'normal' bloke on CM was rather struggling to find into his game, often having around 20 passes only. But once I put a decent regen who got his PPM from tutoring in CM, passing went right through the ceiling. Not only was passing shifted from the outside CMs onto the central one (the CML/CMR didn't have their passing reduced at all), it just looks more realistic now, with passing diagrams spread way better across the field (with a classic CM on center the play was extremely biased to the left flank, got that fixed now, but it really depends on your players), overall this is a beauty to behold. :)

Despite this I only made some minor tweaks to suit my players. Cover/Stopper defenders here, a ball-playing defender there, you get the idea. Regarding touchline shouts "Get Stuck In" and "Hassle Opponents" add to your possession % without being too much of a risk booking-wise (also, depends on how useful your players are at pressing/tackling).

As a theoretical aside, your results in possession and passes do vary a great lot depending on your opposition. The 'perfect' opponents would play a defensive style with poor pressing, poor tackling and poor strength attributes. Any side that plays with 9+ players in defense should be a great punching bag; while these teams park the bus, you are forced into passing and probing your way through their defense patiently. Weirdly, I got better results (i.e., passing- and possessionwise) against teams like Juventus or Hannover than in friendlies or cup matches against third-or-worse-class opposition. Those weak teams just don't get their zones covered properly and allow too many chances. Awkward thing to say. :)

Nice feedback :)

And regarding the results vs weaker teams, well friendlies are always friendlies, they never say the real truth, or so it has been for me. Ive always got a better result vs weaker teams.

Now regarding the Dictates Tempo CM guy, the guy should work extremely defensively and not participate too much in the build up play. But he gets the ball a lot, cos hes always available for pass. Thats what I have been trying to work on -> To get the playmakers going into holes, being in a free space and always available for pass instead of the CM guy. Something else Im currently struggling to do is indeed the passing -> I want em to contribute more passes, probe their way into the net. Now they have started to go too attacking and too fast, maybe its about the tempo and mentalities / creative freedoms.. I shall continue my testing on this matter.

Maybe I will make it so that all the 3 CM's are ''Playmakers'' (Xavi - Fabregas - Iniesta)..

We shall see.... But may the force be with us all.
 
has any 1 tried it with out shouts if so how did they get on with it?
 
hi Gump,

Im using ur tactic with my Man City , possession is sweet. I love how the 3 MC own the middle of the pitch. Spraying passes everywhere .However I untick the 'playmaker' box, and increase through ball for the Adv playmaker MCR.
While possession is nice, sometimes I struggle to create chance because of the set up of the front 3. The ST often come deep to combine with the CMs and this make my team dont have a 'real ST' . The front 3 also have the 'hold up ball' which means they'll keep it simple instead of trying more advanced passes. And none of them is allowed to dribble a lot.
I've played 5 friendlies and 1 league match with it. In 4 friendlies we have good amount of CCC. The ST (Tevez) constantly in space because he always drop deep, combining with the MC, then he run from deep for my MCR slip a through ball to him for a 1 on 1 with the GK. I once have my MCR (Silva) with 6 key pass. However sadly this dont happen all the time. Sometimes the front 3 just keep passing and I once have 0 key pass for all of my player in 1st half, although I have 60% poss. Also the winger doesnt look threatening that much , not many key pass and shot ( I've set them to roam, and RWB sometimes).

In my league match against Valencia I save before the match cause I want to test something. The match ended with 1-1 draw, they score early with a corner. We have +65% poss, they have only 4 shot (shame) and I have about 12-14. Then I reload the save and I made these tweaks : ST is set to Advanced fwd with 16 attacking mentality, RFD sometimes, RWB often, and no 'hold up ball'. I raise the passing length for the wingers, through ball often, roaming and no 'hold ball'. We won the match 4-0 nicely with 22 shot, 4CCC and 63% poss .I think I have made the right tweak but it's not certain yet before I play more match with it (I'll play a season and give you more feedback!).

Well this is my feedback Gump, the tactic have lots of potential especially the way it restrict the opposition. I'm not saying it cant create chances at all but there are rooms for improvement, if you can have possession + CCC then it's quite unstoppable. Cheers^^)
 
hi Gump,

Im using ur tactic with my Man City , possession is sweet. I love how the 3 MC own the middle of the pitch. Spraying passes everywhere .However I untick the 'playmaker' box, and increase through ball for the Adv playmaker MCR.
While possession is nice, sometimes I struggle to create chance because of the set up of the front 3. The ST often come deep to combine with the CMs and this make my team dont have a 'real ST' . The front 3 also have the 'hold up ball' which means they'll keep it simple instead of trying more advanced passes. And none of them is allowed to dribble a lot.
I've played 5 friendlies and 1 league match with it. In 4 friendlies we have good amount of CCC. The ST (Tevez) constantly in space because he always drop deep, combining with the MC, then he run from deep for my MCR slip a through ball to him for a 1 on 1 with the GK. I once have my MCR (Silva) with 6 key pass. However sadly this dont happen all the time. Sometimes the front 3 just keep passing and I once have 0 key pass for all of my player in 1st half, although I have 60% poss. Also the winger doesnt look threatening that much , not many key pass and shot ( I've set them to roam, and RWB sometimes).

In my league match against Valencia I save before the match cause I want to test something. The match ended with 1-1 draw, they score early with a corner. We have +65% poss, they have only 4 shot (shame) and I have about 12-14. Then I reload the save and I made these tweaks : ST is set to Advanced fwd with 16 attacking mentality, RFD sometimes, RWB often, and no 'hold up ball'. I raise the passing length for the wingers, through ball often, roaming and no 'hold ball'. We won the match 4-0 nicely with 22 shot, 4CCC and 63% poss .I think I have made the right tweak but it's not certain yet before I play more match with it (I'll play a season and give you more feedback!).

Well this is my feedback Gump, the tactic have lots of potential especially the way it restrict the opposition. I'm not saying it cant create chances at all but there are rooms for improvement, if you can have possession + CCC then it's quite unstoppable. Cheers^^)

Nice feedback this one too. :)

First thing first, what ive noticed during the long testing phase of this version, I noticed if you allow the Inside Forward to Roam from position, U will lose effectively possession amount. It will be nearer 60% than 70 - 75%. Even if they aint allowed to roam, they will still cut inside (and will do even moar cutting inside if U allow them to run with ball). But I recommend not allowing em to roam as then the pressing will fail as the opposition can easily move the ball via flanks. At least for me this has been like this.

I'd recommend not taking the friendlies into account since they are always friendlies, not real matches.

For your lack of creating chances, I always have +2 +3 of em, best ive got is +9 if my memory serves me correctly. And besides, it doesnt have to be a CCC to score ;)

Im working on a version 2, but not anything special to comment about it.
 
Version 2 Update:

My Focus with v2 has been getting more passes and keeping possession near 70 - 80% and I can say that Ive partly accomplished that. Negatives are that CCC's have started to vary from 7 - 2 and less goals.

Need to find right balance with this and all help are welcomed of course if you have sum ideas etc..

Gotta say that my team has made 275 Goals and conceded 41 in 1,5 seasons. My Win ratio is 85%
Overally ive lost 1 game, drawn 14 and won 86 games :)

some screenies:
 
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@luckiboy

I wouldn't recommend unticking Hold Up Ball on your striker for counter-attacking reasons. The thing is, you'll want your lone striker to not lose the ball after i.e. having cleared a corner kick against you. So you'll have him waiting up forward until his attacking mates come charging up front. Letting your forward Hold Up Ball creates magnificent counter-attacking occasions.
Hold Up Ball works rather counter-intuitively anyway. It doesn't make your players just sit around the corner of the pitch with the ball in possession, but it lets them think about their next move and wait for better passing opportunities. So it effectively helps improve your passing %s and possession rate.

Six games isn't that much at all. Just give your boys some time to gel in, after around half a season it gets much more fluid. :)


@Gump
Looks nice already :) I like how you also struggle getting your guys play right through the centre rather thank going for the flanks. Let me guess, your CML/CMR play a lot of passes with their corresponding WBL/WBR and AML/AMR, effectively ignoring the existence of something like 'the other flank'? ;) Seems to be a common issue with centre-focused poss tactics, hopefully FM12 gets this fixed.
But just give this one a try, if you can get a 'playmaker' player type with exceptional defensive attributes, put him in CM and make him your primary playmaker. He won't get lots of assists, but gives you a more balanced pass distribution without compromising your actual creative players in CML/CMR. Don't worry about his defensive duties, I didn't touch your original settings and my CM still plays around 8 yards deeper than his CM teammates.

Regarding touchline instructions I found 'Take A Breather' quite useful, especially when playing clearly weaker opposition and/or with lots of aging players in your squad. Playing 50+ games per season wears your players out quite badly, so it is advisable to sit on some dirty 1:0 wins from time to time, especially with smaller squads or players with weak constitution or those more prone to injuries.
 
I thought it was for FM12!

Only played one game though (Fm12), and I owned Hercules with this one, notching up 75% posession.

Is there an original FM12 tactic for this one...????
 
I thought it was for FM12!

Only played one game though (Fm12), and I owned Hercules with this one, notching up 75% posession.

Is there an original FM12 tactic for this one...????

Nope, I havent got this working properly anymore and didnt notice U had posted here 4 weeks ago :D
 
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