GUARDIOLA'S MANCHESTER CITY
[video=youtube;EjBSmrauguo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjBSmrauguo[/video]
Some may remember my tactical recreations from FM17 and I'm happy to say, I'm back with yet another... just in time before the Manchester derby
It is very important to note that this is not a one touch, heavy possession based tactic that only plays short tiki-taka passing football like some people seem to think all Guardiola sides do and have done so over the years.
This is a tactic that recreates how Guardiola's Manchester City have played and aimed to score goals this season, while also retaining plenty of ball possession and maintaining a high passing completion percentage within the constraints of the FM18 match engine, without sacrificing on goal scoring ability.
Do NOT expect to consistently have 65%+ possession. In some matches you will achieve 70%+. But against the stronger sides, you will probably walk away with around 55%. It is possible to achieve this with tweaks, however you would significantly sacrifice the number of clear cut chances created. The FM18 match engine is a lot more mature in comparison to previous match engines.
THE FORMATION
Just as Pep Guardiola tweaks and modifies his teams width, depending on opposition, you too will benefit from doing the same. You should also tweak the roles of your full backs to exploit opposition too. For example, up against Chelsea, feel free to use Delph as an Inverted Wingback for example to free up De Bruyne in midfield just as Guardiola instructed his side to do in real life too.
Tweaks such as increasing the Sweeper Keeper's mentality or decreasing Silva's mentality (which is part of what the away tactic does), are more than welcome and won't hinder performances.
I recommend keeping Kevin De Bruyne as a Box to Box midfielder, as this seems to get him as close to real life as possible. Ensuring he comes deep in his own half to pick up the ball and also contribute in the final third with plenty of long shot goals.
THE TRAINING REGIME
The tactic will do fine with most strong teams with the right style of players in the right positions. What you focus on in training is up to you, this year it seems to make sense that once you've achieved 90%+ tactical familiarity, switching your match preparation to whatever area you feel you are lacking makes sense. My assistant manager kept choosing Attacking Movement.
THE OPPOSITION INSTRUCTIONS
I used no Opposition Instructions, however if you think you could benefit from a higher level of closing down/pressing than what is already there, you can feel free to add that or if you are trying to exploit a specific opposition weakness, go for it.
THE TEAM RESULTS
We still had the most possession and passing completion percentage in the league, even though it isn't as dominant as City in real life. There are several reasons for this, but mainly down to the fact that I don't believe it's possible to achieve this in "plug & play" fashion. I do however think I could've achieved 5%-10% higher possession statistics on average if I had actually adapted during games where we had the lead. For example, going for a control mentality, slowing down our tempo, reducing player mentalities and so on. Instead, I just plug & played the tactic & had games on full speed. So if you take more care, there is no reason why you can't get closer to Guardiola's Manchester City in real life.
Results vs. Top 5 Teams:
2-1 W - vs. ARSENAL (AWAY)
4-1 W - vs. LIVERPOOL (AWAY)
1-0 W - vs. MAN UTD (AWAY)
1-0 W - vs. SPURS (AWAY)
1-0 W - vs. CHELSEA (HOME)
1-0 W - vs. MAN UTD (AWAY - FA Cup)
1-0 W - vs. MAN UTD (AWAY - EFL Cup)
THE PLAYER RESULTS
I'd have liked more assists from both De Bruyne & Silva as a whole, but I think De Bruyne certainly made up for it with goals. But I don't see this as a significant issue because their average ratings say it all and most of the time, it's them who finds the wide man who goes on to assist the striker.
THE CONCLUSION
Generally speaking, I'm pretty pleased with the style that has been created that provides a nice variation of different types of goals that are very similar to Guardiola's Manchester City this season. You can watch their first 30 goals of the season here:
https://www.mancity.com/citytv/features/2017/october/man city goals video highlights sergio aguero
However, please bare in mind that my results are achieved by plug & playing, as well as holidaying between matches. With a little care, you should be able to achieve better possession stats & slightly better results by keeping players happy and adapting to different opposition!
THE DOWNLOAD
MIRROR #1 (.RAR WITH BOTH TACTICS
MIRROR #2 (HOME TACTIC)
MIRROR #2 (AWAY TACTIC)
[video=youtube;EjBSmrauguo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjBSmrauguo[/video]
Some may remember my tactical recreations from FM17 and I'm happy to say, I'm back with yet another... just in time before the Manchester derby
It is very important to note that this is not a one touch, heavy possession based tactic that only plays short tiki-taka passing football like some people seem to think all Guardiola sides do and have done so over the years.
This is a tactic that recreates how Guardiola's Manchester City have played and aimed to score goals this season, while also retaining plenty of ball possession and maintaining a high passing completion percentage within the constraints of the FM18 match engine, without sacrificing on goal scoring ability.
Do NOT expect to consistently have 65%+ possession. In some matches you will achieve 70%+. But against the stronger sides, you will probably walk away with around 55%. It is possible to achieve this with tweaks, however you would significantly sacrifice the number of clear cut chances created. The FM18 match engine is a lot more mature in comparison to previous match engines.
THE FORMATION
Just as Pep Guardiola tweaks and modifies his teams width, depending on opposition, you too will benefit from doing the same. You should also tweak the roles of your full backs to exploit opposition too. For example, up against Chelsea, feel free to use Delph as an Inverted Wingback for example to free up De Bruyne in midfield just as Guardiola instructed his side to do in real life too.
Tweaks such as increasing the Sweeper Keeper's mentality or decreasing Silva's mentality (which is part of what the away tactic does), are more than welcome and won't hinder performances.
I recommend keeping Kevin De Bruyne as a Box to Box midfielder, as this seems to get him as close to real life as possible. Ensuring he comes deep in his own half to pick up the ball and also contribute in the final third with plenty of long shot goals.
THE TRAINING REGIME
The tactic will do fine with most strong teams with the right style of players in the right positions. What you focus on in training is up to you, this year it seems to make sense that once you've achieved 90%+ tactical familiarity, switching your match preparation to whatever area you feel you are lacking makes sense. My assistant manager kept choosing Attacking Movement.
THE OPPOSITION INSTRUCTIONS
I used no Opposition Instructions, however if you think you could benefit from a higher level of closing down/pressing than what is already there, you can feel free to add that or if you are trying to exploit a specific opposition weakness, go for it.
THE TEAM RESULTS
We still had the most possession and passing completion percentage in the league, even though it isn't as dominant as City in real life. There are several reasons for this, but mainly down to the fact that I don't believe it's possible to achieve this in "plug & play" fashion. I do however think I could've achieved 5%-10% higher possession statistics on average if I had actually adapted during games where we had the lead. For example, going for a control mentality, slowing down our tempo, reducing player mentalities and so on. Instead, I just plug & played the tactic & had games on full speed. So if you take more care, there is no reason why you can't get closer to Guardiola's Manchester City in real life.
Results vs. Top 5 Teams:
2-1 W - vs. ARSENAL (AWAY)
4-1 W - vs. LIVERPOOL (AWAY)
1-0 W - vs. MAN UTD (AWAY)
1-0 W - vs. SPURS (AWAY)
1-0 W - vs. CHELSEA (HOME)
1-0 W - vs. MAN UTD (AWAY - FA Cup)
1-0 W - vs. MAN UTD (AWAY - EFL Cup)
THE PLAYER RESULTS
I'd have liked more assists from both De Bruyne & Silva as a whole, but I think De Bruyne certainly made up for it with goals. But I don't see this as a significant issue because their average ratings say it all and most of the time, it's them who finds the wide man who goes on to assist the striker.
THE CONCLUSION
Generally speaking, I'm pretty pleased with the style that has been created that provides a nice variation of different types of goals that are very similar to Guardiola's Manchester City this season. You can watch their first 30 goals of the season here:
https://www.mancity.com/citytv/features/2017/october/man city goals video highlights sergio aguero
However, please bare in mind that my results are achieved by plug & playing, as well as holidaying between matches. With a little care, you should be able to achieve better possession stats & slightly better results by keeping players happy and adapting to different opposition!
THE DOWNLOAD
MIRROR #1 (.RAR WITH BOTH TACTICS
MIRROR #2 (HOME TACTIC)
MIRROR #2 (AWAY TACTIC)
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