Raikan007's New Possession tactic: Barca style

Hi There,

The wingers... do they need to be, for example - Right Footer for the AML and vice versa?

it does not really matter, but right on right and left on left is a tad better :)
 
Just tried it out with Wales for a game and hammered Denmark 5-3. It could have been 5-0 but Henessey seemed to be in a mood to let any long range shots into the net. :p Superb tactic.
 
I always like to try your tactics, but I was about to start a Chelsea game... I guess I could shape Chelsea into this formation. I think Mata would florish as the AML playmaker.

yeah Chelsea have a good team for this :) Bosingwa at Rb would be the best bet for him! Torres upfront! Lampard as central Cm :)
 
A good tactic, an exceptional when played against teams which don't have the tools to beat it.

My team, for the record is very strong for the Bundesliga, my usual starting eleven is: Neuer; Lahm, Muniesa, Boateng, Vrsjalko; Kroos, Ramsey, Schweinsteiger; Hazard, Mueller; Torres (the one who isn't a 50 million pound failure!).

The main success of the formation is the ability to rack up wins against all comers at home and weak teams away from home while maintaining some truly breathtaking play, very impressed with how players make intelligent choices and play in teams (only weakness which I may attempt to rectify giving the front three a bit more aggressive instructions is sometimes stupid backpasses when a through ball might put a guy clean through or something).

Wins almost every domestic game, though away from home the shine is a little less pronounced (1-2 CCCs per game), though it can achieve very high possession away (right now sitting at 75% away to Mainz).

As far as weaknesses are concerned, the style of play is from the off vulnerable to opponents who pack the central midfielder areas in defence. In practice, this means formations using 2 DMs (my only loss thusfar was 1-0 to Leverkusen who played a 4-2-3-1 Deep) or at least four central midfield players (4-3-1-2, 4-3-2-1; both thankfully rare in the Bundesliga, the total users amounting to just Kaiserslautern, who play the latter). Thus far the only team to force me into clearances consistently from the back instead of calm passing was Fiorentina in a 4-3-1-2. The other main thing the opposition can exploit is the position of the midfielders. The CM doesn't track back too effectively and is usually a lightweight, meaning teams with a AMC can cause problems (opponents who play well against me usually have their AMC get the highest ratings). Going back to the 1-0 at Leverkusen, Candreva received the ball behind Ramsey to slip Kiessling through.

In terms of inadequacies in the tactic itself, rather than weakness the opposition can exploit, the AML role doesn't work well. Doesn't contribute much other than dallying on the ball when he should be crossing to an open striker. I'm not sure if the wide playmaker role played by individuals like Danny or Silva can work well on FM, but were it to I would assume they would need to cut inside, get the ball lots (like "focus passing down left flank," playmaker ticked, no run from deep, comes deep to get ball PPM maybe), focus on T-balls (often, with crossing and stuff rarely), and you would have to be throwing lots of runners forward to pick out so they actually have someone to pick out (considering that otherwise they end up just retaining possession, which might be good in many situations, but doesn't provide immediate attacking thrust, and the longer the move takes, the less like the wide playmaker would be to pick up the ball in a position to make a through ball over anyone else). This tactic doesn't really do that, it just serves to limit penetration (which is actually a good thing when winning, which I do like). Also, the CM seems to get the lion's share of good chances, more of a Fabregas than Iniesta, which means someone with high off ball, composure, finishing, and technique ought to be playing there - I have Aaron Ramsey, a fine player who has scored 9 goals this year, but in equal measure squanders chances a more direct midfielder would score. I might try and sign Hamsik in the summer if I persist with the tactic.

I like the devastating and consistent play against weak sides. However, a few things, in summary need improving, which I'm working on:

-AML is fairly useless, or at the very least the weakest player of the tactic (even though I have my best talent playing the role).
-Midfield shape when defending should probably be a bit more conservative, with one player an anchorman, this would also help the CBs ping a quick pass to escape the press from two striker systems (something I'm running into as we speak in the second leg against Fiorentina) - basically, Busquets needs to be worked in here as something more than a generic ball-winner. Ideally this won't compromise the pressing and runs from midfield of "Fabregas," though I think it is likely, will be trying to work this into a modification.

Will keep working!

Edit: It seems changing the shape of midfield (i.e. shunting the ap wider, moving the ball-winnger back) make the tactic impotent, even while trying to balance it by moving the striker offset-right, or into attacking midfield (or both).

Also, pesky Leverkusen, playing a 4-2-3-1 deep managed to knock me out of the CL, 2-1 at Bayarena, tied 0-0 at Allianz (60% of the ball in both games, only five shots in each game). So my record with this tactic against Leverkusen is 0-1-2 :( Still need to find a way to cut out the playmaker, might try more aggressive centerbacks.

thanks for the great feedback mate :) I will look into those suggestions and make an improved version :) have a great day pal
 
I'll be giving this a go with Kenco's World League. I'll try it with Arsenal and see if it works. Should be a tough test for the tactic given that I'll be playing the best 7 teams in the PL, then the best 15 teams from the world and then finally the UEFA CL and World Trophy (FA Cup-like thing) over a full season. Thats like 55-60 games a season.

Good luck mate, I hope it works out :)
 
yeah Chelsea have a good team for this :) Bosingwa at Rb would be the best bet for him! Torres upfront! Lampard as central Cm :)

That's what I'm gonna go for. Brought in Hamsik as the advanced playmaker too. Gonna play Sturridge on the right wing. About to start the season, so will let you know how it goes. :)
 
Indifferent results so far...

First 5 results

chelsea1n.jpg


Best result

chelsea2e.jpg


Worst result

chelsea3u.jpg



As you can see... I started off well, and played brilliant against QPR. Fell away a bit after the result against United - which was pretty unfortunate, I was up 1-0 and all over them when Terry was sent off in the 13th minute. I would say the only match I performed poorly in was the Trabzonspor match. Spurs and Utd I deserved the win. This will come with more fluidity and I also had a few injuries.

Hamsik is excelling in this tactic though. I'll update after the next 10 matches. :)
 
hey Raikan im really enjoying this tactic

i love possession tactics and this ones as close to perfection as ive seen so far

ive made a few of my own and they struggle to get goals, usually resulting in mostly 0-0 or 1-0s, but this tactic was great for me

in my first season while using it with Arsenal i won the Prem and the League cup with it, and got to the final of both the fa cup and the champions league

and the majority of matches id have 70-80% possession

the only position that i think needs a little bit of work would be the aml, he doesnt seem to get involved in the play that much and very often goes backwards instead of hitting the byline or playing through balls

but otherwise this is the best tactic ive used this season :)

thanks!
 
End of first season in the Bundesliga managed 79 points, which is 2.3 a game and would tie the all time record, which was also 79 points. Unfortunately, this season coincided with Dortmund breaking that record, earning a whopping 80 points, making my Bayern side the side with the most points without winning (previous record was 76, I think).

Not a fun record to have, but good performances. Since I last posted I dropped points in two other games, away to Kaiserslautern and their pesky 4-3-2-1 (0-0) and away to Sinsa Mihalovic coached Dortmund (2-0), although both were very even matches.

Training Ramsey's finishing in hopes of more goalscoring, might also try training my striker to shoot with power, since a lot of the CCCs are from the edge of the box and stuff and not true tap-ins like you get with a tactic that drills crosses on the counter or something.

So far so good, will give it another go next year.
 
I will try this tactic in my new Roma save. I think they have the right players to be successful
 
I will try this tactic in my new Roma save. I think they have the right players to be successful

Roma IRL are consciously modelling themselves after Barca. You may find your players don't have a lot of quality though, since the best players from last season kind of jumped shipped in large numbers, meaning the spending in the summer was basically a net-gain of 0.

Edit:

Consider this an endorsement. Just beat some awful team from the third division 4-0 in the German cup (2 CCCs, 22 shots, 4 from range). Nothing special you say?

625 passes completed of 659 attempted (94.8%).
88% of possession.

They also played a 5-4-1 diamond formation, so they used 7 players to try to defend the middle, and they still couldn't stop us (also used "exploit flank" shout so a lot of the passes were outwide). Against extreme bus parkers I also recommend upping the "run with ball" of wingers to try and pull them out of shape occasionally, as well as allowing the "Xavi" player at LCM to pass a little longer in order to switch play.
 
Last edited:
all good stuff guys, sim, good feedback!

having wingers run with ball adds a better attacking dimension to all possession tactics, it decreases the passing aspect however but still retains "possession"

look forward to the SS etc :)
 
I think I will use De Rossi, Pjanic and Gago as midfielders. Osvaldo as aml and bojan as amr and Totti or borini up front. I think that should work well. perhaps I need a better passer for the xavi role
 
I think I will use De Rossi, Pjanic and Gago as midfielders. Osvaldo as aml and bojan as amr and Totti or borini up front. I think that should work well. perhaps I need a better passer for the xavi role

Loan Thiago or buy Milan Badelj :)
 
The advanced playmaker seems to be the key to this formation. Hamsik is raking in goals and assists for me so far.

7 games, 7 goals, 5 assists. Not too shabby for a CM.
 
Who would you recommend as a DLF for Chelsea? Torres is decent but is only scoring on average 1 in 2. Been trying Tevez but City aren't lowering their asking price.

Currently sitting 3rd, 3 points behind top spot. Playing well, but I'm not scoring enough. Played a match against Swansea that seen me have 88%! possession and about 17 attempts but I could only score 2 goals.
 
Top