More Than A Club: Emulating Barca's Philosophy

seanhrfc

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Hi all,

I've recently been struggling to get into a save but I've finally found something I can put my passion into. Barcelona have a development model and playing style that any football fan, player or manager admires. As I'm sure you know, Barca have a terrific record of developing players through their youth system known as 'La Masia' and they a tiki-taka style that is breathtaking at times. I've decided that I want to emulate this in every way possible and I have chosen to do so with Genk of Belgium. This thread will focus predominantly on the tactical elements but I will also have snippets on player development.

Tiki-Taka Tactic - Working Progress

First off I would like to state that this tactic is not one created for instant success. It's a philosophy and may take years to dominate the world, unless of course you have world class players to begin with. If you are looking for a solid, effective tactic my Sacchi Tactic very rarely disappoints, so the link to that:

http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/football-manager-2013-tactics-training/116467-arrigo-sacchis-4-4-2-high-pressure-attacking-tactic-top-teams-underdogs.html


I've gone for an approach that isn't quite as attacking as Barca's style, mainly because a weaker team playing as gung ho is obviously a lot more likely to give the ball away and even more susceptible to deadly counter attacks against. Therefore I have only gone with one really attacking wing back, on the left, with the DR playing a more traditional supporting full back role. To cover for when the DL bombs forward, I have a Deep lying play maker in the MCL position, meaning that if the ball is lost, we already have 3 players back in the DCs and Anchor man and also the deep lying playmaker and right back that can get back into place quickly to help break it up. The rest of the tactic is set up very much like Barca's tiki-taka approach and this screenshot gives a good overview:



One problem you will come up against whilst using the 4-3-3 is that teams will camp their defence, blocking off any chances you may have. This can result in a lot of 0-0s or even 0-1s if the other team get lucky on the counter. To overcome this I have a created a more attacking 4-2-3-1 version. If I am dominating a game (65%+ possession) but failing to create any real chances, after 20 mins in I will switch to this. Once I go 1 up (or 2-0 against weak sides) I switch back to the 4-3-3.




Player Roles

GK - Sweeper Keeper (Defend) Valdes. Is your pretty standard sweeper keeper, will not do anything too outrageous but will be required to be able to rush out to meet long balls when the defence has pressed up.

DR - Full Back (Support) Quite Dani Alves. This is the only player role in my tactic that really differs from Barcelona's. Alves is a very gung ho full back, whereas in this tactic you'll require a more balanced one that is defensively solid but still contribute to the attack.

DL - Wing Back (Attack) Jordi Alba. Will bomb forward and act like a winger in attack, and will even score a few.

DCs - Defender (Defend) Puyol and Pique. I've not gone for anything too fancy here, though with a very fluid/attacking philosophy they still have reasonable creative freedom to spray passes where required.

DM - Anchor Man (Defend) Sergio Busquets. The man who sits and provides support for backwards passes and ready to beak up attacks. You'll want someone who's top class defensively, but also good enough technically to not give the ball away.

MCR - Advanced Playmaker (Support) Andres Iniesta. The most attacking central midfielder, will need great vision, passing and technical ability.

MCL - Deep Lying Playmaker (Support) Xavi. The heartbeat of the team. You'll want someone who can really control the game here, anyone with poor technical and mental ability is a big no go. Ideally sound defensively so they can cover for the left wing back when the opposition counter attack.

AMR - Winger (Attack) Pedro. Normally the winger will hug the touchline and put in crosses. However this winger moves into channels and has crosses on mixed, so it will be up to them how they support the attack. Ideally you'll have a two-footed player who can go to the byline, cut inside and become a second striker.

AML - Inside Forward (Attack) Neymar. This player loves a dribble and a goal. Will cut inside causing all sorts of problems, whilst also creating space for the left wing back to drive into.

FC - Trequartista (Attack) Messi. Now this was the hardest position to get right. Of course Barca have Messi and there's no stopping him. I wanted to emulate his role. The FC is assigned as playmaker and also target man that runs onto the ball. The idea behind this is that in the build up play he will drop in deep (Trequartista has forward runs as rarely) to receive the ball as much as possible. He will then either a) pass back to keep possession b) look for a through ball for AMR/L to latch onto c) drive at the defence. However as a target man run onto ball, in the penetration stage he will often find himself in a more natural striker position. Therefore the players around him will look to play him through balls to finish. Of course you'll need a trequartista with pace for this, if you're using a Totti type I'd advice changing the TM supply to feet. Also, you need to be thinking Messi. A Carlton Cole / Andy Carroll type player will not work in this role!

Supporting Elements (Training Etc.)

The only thing in particular I have done is ensure that Attacking Movement is the focus in training. Also high intensity in training and rest only after match, so that they are training as much as possible. I have not tampered with shouts, opposition instructions, though it would be interesting to look into it.


Results
At the moment it is very much a working progress. I have only tested it with Genk and I have done a lot of tweaking throughout and I'm finally happy with what I've got. I'd love feedback to be able to develop it further. But I did win the league in the first season very comfortably, going on a 30 game unbeaten run on the way. Here's a couple of screen shots:


I hope you have found this helpful and good luck with the tactic. Feel free to make tweaks and feedback as I'm sure there could be further developments. As tactics are only a small part of the Barca ethos, I am also interested in going into further discussion on player development and philosophy, should people be interested in that.

Cheers!
 
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Looking forward to testing, tested ur 442 originally with Wigan. Had brilliant results, looking forward to this.
 
Question for you mate.

Do you think Liverpool has a good team to try this out? Suarez, in the recent update, wants to leave right from the beginning. I was thinking if Coutinho could play the Trequartista role or Luis Alberto. Sturridge on the left ofc. And ofc the midfield and perhaps the defence needs to be strenghten up. Which are your thinkings on this?

Btw, I'm with you. It's been so difficult to get into a good save. I've tried the challenge as I've already said in the other thread but suffered one of my biggest defeats ever on FM. Haha. So maybe I'll restart and try this :)
 

I haven't used OI's, up to you if you want to test them out.

Question for you mate.

Do you think Liverpool has a good team to try this out? Suarez, in the recent update, wants to leave right from the beginning. I was thinking if Coutinho could play the Trequartista role or Luis Alberto. Sturridge on the left ofc. And ofc the midfield and perhaps the defence needs to be strenghten up. Which are your thinkings on this?

Btw, I'm with you. It's been so difficult to get into a good save. I've tried the challenge as I've already said in the other thread but suffered one of my biggest defeats ever on FM. Haha. So maybe I'll restart and try this :)

Are you using LFCMarshall Update? That's what I'm using at the moment. Suarez would be quality as trequartista but you would have to deal with him being banned and potentially wanting to leave. Aspas would be very good in the TQ role, as would Coutinho who would also be a classy IF (naturally AML). Sturridge could potentially play AMR? The midfield trio of Lucas (DM) Allen (DLP) Gerrard (AP) is good, but lacking depth. Could do with a top class MC who can dictate the tempo, Xavi like player. Liverpool would be a very good team to test this in my opinion. Best of luck :)
 
Yeah I'm using that update. Suarez wants to leave immediately. The good point is you can make very good money with is leaving and strenghten other parts of the team.

Tomorrow I'll concentrate 100% on this and ofc report to you. 2 last questions:
1- general training perhaps ball control? or teamwork? Guess that will depend on the team and what areas need to get better;
2- how do you setup the individual training? focus on the roles or areas that need to get better to play in this approach?

Cheers
 
Yeah I'm using that update. Suarez wants to leave immediately. The good point is you can make very good money with is leaving and strenghten other parts of the team.

Tomorrow I'll concentrate 100% on this and ofc report to you. 2 last questions:
1- general training perhaps ball control? or teamwork? Guess that will depend on the team and what areas need to get better;
2- how do you setup the individual training? focus on the roles or areas that need to get better to play in this approach?

Cheers

Yeah if you can get 40-50mil for him then you can get a classy replacement + a few others. For general training I've got it on Teamwork pre-season, then balanced after that. Individuals I've decided to only develop players within their specific roles from 20+, before then I want to develop the whole player.

You should check out some of the youngsters at Genk, very impressive some of them!
 
Potentially managed to get in a world class signing. Or rather re-signing, Thibaut Courtois. Was transfer listed at Chelski had no first team football at all, but still surprised he was interested. 3.5m + 12.5m over 48 months.
 
can u recommend some players for the front 3 roles specifically the treq?
 
I'm going to test it with my Antwerp save. They have no budgets whatsoever so it's very much surviving, which is why I've started developing the youth and such. Love the barca philosophy.

I'm in november of season 3 and we have the right kind of players to actually pull this off and they're getting better and better.
 

Ok, depending on your transfer budget these players should be pretty good here:

Stevan Jovetic, Giuseppe Rossi, Vagner Love, Bernard, Aspas, Osvaldo (Sao Paulo), Lewandowski, Vikton Fischer,
 
Anderson for treq!!!

Quality stuff.
I'll give it a go after I thoroughly hammer genk ;)
 
Very intresting thread here sean, should definitely try this one out! Have some questions though!

Would it, or could i implement this tactical philosophy even with a lower ranked team in the country i want to start in?

Having some teams a deadly wanna try this one with; Leeds, Southampton, Newcastle, Norwich, Fulham etc. (open for other temas that this would fit in to) maybe you could give me some suggestions?!

Anyway, thanks in advance!


Ohh btw, do you use the same approach (attacking) booth home and away?

cheers:wub:
 
Hi again,

Could you post a SS of your training during and pre-season?!

Thanks
 
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