Tactics Pep Guardiola's 2010/2011 Barcelona.(Updated.)

[RPA123456]

I was holding on to this tactic for a few days, not sure if I wanted to share because there are already 2 tactics that are based on tiki taka style that Guardiola used at his time in Barcelona. But I have some time to sit down and write a little, so I thought why not. 

Now before I go on, I want to say this might end up being a very long post as I intend to go through every role and every instruction one by one. 

Results:

I've been using Barcelona for about a week now as I felt playing an 'easy' career might be just the thing I needed to make this game fun again. So the results will clearly be slightly biased as I'm using a top class team from the get-go. 

But.... 

A single loss in over 180 games is nothing to scoff about. 

In fact the one game I did lose was a CL game where I already had a huge lead from the first leg and half my first team were out injured or suspended. Let me see if I can dig it up....

Here you go. Which means I went nearly 2 and a half seasons unbeaten since i started. 

(I haven't started any other career mode yet, so I have absolutely no idea how this tactic would fare in mid-low league side and I hope you guys can help me test out this tactic.) 

The tactic:

Well enough of my humble bragging

Here's what you all came for. 

Now for the nitty gritty. 

Player Roles(Reasons for Choosing Them):

(Like I said I have quite a bit of time to burn, so I'm really going go In depth and go through every aspect of this tactic.)

SK: Chosen because my defense is going to be holding a very high line which leaves a lot of space in my own third which could be exploited. it's safer having my goalkeeper guarding this space. And another reason is to stop the ball going out of touch and disrupting play. With a SK I can trust him to rush out and intercept and distribute any long balls that in most cases would have just resulted in a goal kick. IMO goalkeeper distributing the ball from open play is better then distributing from a goal kick. 

BPD: I want to retain possession, and that's it really. With CDs and NCBs you have them clearing the ball all the time and while this might help reduce the amount of overall possession in your own third, It also reduces the overall possession your team has as they're literally punting away possession. I haven't considered using Ls or SWs because I'm not insane, but if you guys are feeling adventurous do feel free to do so. 

WB(in the WBL/R position.): Now, it is extremely important that you have your WBs placed further up on the pitch in the WBL/R positions. The reason for actually has to do with you CBs. See, something I've personally noticed when I put my WBs up higher is that my CBs will drift to the wider areas and cover that spot where A R/LB would be. And this is exactly what I want! Additionally, them drifting to the sides also brings your DM into the play as he occasionally might drop deep and cover the space a CB would be at, which once again is exactly what I want! 

A: Honestly this is one of the positions I'm having trouble with. I tried the BWM at first but he just kept going all over the place. Then, I tried the DM which was just meh. Then I tried the DLP who, ironically, didn't drop as deep as I wanted him to. Then I tried the Anchorman and so far I can't see anything wrong with it. So yay? But seriously though, this role seems to cover just about everything I expected.

DLP: This guy is at the core of your team's possession, if he's playing badly your entire team's possession will suffer. Conversely, if he's playing well then your team should be able to easily get 60% possession most games. Usually is the guy with the most passes each game and belts out an absolute banger every now and then. I like this guy. 

AP: Having a midfield that doesn't have any attacking edge is very bad and could lead to your team just playing sideway passes the whole game. And that's where this guy comes in. Leaving the bulk of the midfield's defensive duties to the DLP and the Anchorman, the AP will be free to make runs up to the final third and link up the T and the IFs to the rest of the midfield. He won't get to make too many passes but most of them will be important attack oriented passes that have the potential to turn into goals. Also he occasionally runs into the box and scores a goal, which is nice. 

IF: With WBs pushing so high, Ws wouldn't have worked. And APs simply didn't have that cutting edge in front of goal. Which naturally leaves us with the IFs. Really don't have much to say here. 

T: Now here's something I do have a lot to say about. When I first went about creating this tactic most of the roles and instructions I managed to settle sooner or later, but here's one that still has me stumped even now. I tried playing a T in the AMC position but it didn't feel right as I wanted the player start high up in the field and then drop deep to receive passes. Then I tried the SS and while the build up play was promising, he simply lacked the offensive edge I was expecting. Then I tried the DF, AF, CF, DLF, but all of them just felt a little off. Eventually I settled on the T in the ST position. I didn't want to really use it because I thought it would be the same as the T in the AMC position, but I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't too bad. He dropped deep every now and then to receive the ball and still maintained a strong attacking presence. But I don't feel it's quite perfect yet. There are games where he barely gets any shots off and he barely plays more then 10 passes, but there are also games where he is undoubtedly the MVP. Which is what I want to see. 

 

Player Roles(Key Attributes):

(You thought it was over didn't you?) 

SK:

Pace. (Needs it to rush out to make interceptions.)

Passing. (Needs it because anytime he makes interceptions outside of the box or receives a back pass he is left with no choice but to pass the ball.)

Aerials, Agility, Handling, Reflexes. (I've grouped these attributes together as I tend to see these as the key attributes for shot-stopping. Which is crucial for all goalkeepers.)

Positioning. (Honestly I'm not 100% sure if this really is that important but it's hard to say.)

BPD:

Pace, Stamina, Strength. (Ideally I'd like an absolute beast of a defender, but who doesn't?) 

Aerials, Tackling, Positioning, Decisions, Strength. (AKA 'the' key attributes for central defenders. And yes I do know I've repeated Strength.)

Passing, Teamwork. (Passing is kinda the main point of the role and Teamwork just helps to accentuate that. Personally I would never sign a player with under 10 teamwork for these kinda playmaking roles.)

Dribbling. (Surprisingly, all these years I've played the game I've never considered it but this year I've thought about it and it actually makes sense. What's the point of winning the ball back if you can't hold on to it? And holding on to it=more possession. Of course that doesn't mean you have to have 20 dribbling on a CB. But at least 10 is ideal.) 

WB:

Pace, Stamina. (Your WBs are going to be bombing up and down the flanks non-stop for the entire game. It's crucial these stats are green or close even at a lower league team.)

Crossing, Dribbling, Passing, Movement. (These are pretty much the only players who are going to regularly attempt crosses so it's important for that to be good. Passing is important too as they actually play quite a few passes every game. Dribbling is important for beating the opposition defenders. Movement is the most important attribute out of the lot as like I mentioned, your WBs are going to keep moving up and down the flanks.) 

Tackling, Positioning. (Between the two of them, Positioning is much more important as like I said your WBs are going to move up and down the flanks very often.) 

Anchorman:

Tackling, Positioning, Decisions. (Defensively solid. Nothing else to it.)

Technique, Teamwork, Passing. (Technique doesn't have to to be too high, At least 10 is okay. Passing and Teamwork I would prefer to be high, Green would be great.) 

Dribbling. (Same reason as for BPDs. Once again it doesn't have to be super high, but at least 10 is good.)

DLP:

(Honestly I'm not 100% sure on all the key attributes, but I have noticed a few that fit the bill.)

Technique, Teamwork, Passing. (These three attributes are key for my midfield trio and even more key for the two in the middle. Ideally I'd like them to have greens in these three attributes. With Passing being the most important as the DLP will play a lot of passes.) 

Creativity. (Important so your midfield actually tries something instead of just passing it around.)

Positioning, Strength. (Like I said I haven't quite figured out what's the best attributes for this role but here's what I got for now. Positioning is definitely important, and I like my DLP to have high Strength so that he would be able to retain the ball better.)

AP:

Technique, Passing, Teamwork. (Once again, these three attributes are key for the midfielders. All greens.)

Creativity. (This is a very important attribute for the AP. He is going to get a somewhat limited amount of passes to play due to how fast he'll be closed down, so you'll want him to do the best he can with each and every pass. And for that you'll need creativity.)

Dribbling, Pace. (As your AP moves up the pitch with the ball he will have to beat the players in his way, and for that you need these two attributes. Pace doesn't have to be super high but it has to be decent enough. After all he isn't going to get past anyone with just 5 pace.)

IF:

(This one's simple because it's basically the same attributes as the in game one, but with the addition of technique and creativity.) 

Passing, Shooting, Technique, Creativity. (Shooting and technique are the most important attributes out of these bunch, Creativity a close second and Passing the least important.)

Dribbling, Movement, Pace (Do you want hundreds of videos of you dribbling circles around defenders? Because this is how you do it.)

T:

(Oof, now here's a tough one.)

Aerials, Pace, Stamina, Strength.

Dribbling, Passing, Shooting, Technique. 

Creativity, Decisions, Movement. 

So basically every single physical and attacking attribute... 

Honestly this is a role I'm stumped on and would appreciate any input on. 

 

Team Shape:

Personally I would prefer a balanced mentality, but I had way too much trouble scoring. I occasionally bump it up to overload when I'm in dire need of a goal 70+ mins into a game. 

Feel free to experiment on the team width as I haven't really changed it at all since starting. 

Although I've currently set my tempo to fast, I have a hunch that setting it to slow might work better, but I've yet to test that out. 

I've set my team's Creative Freedom to Disciplined as I'm afraid if I set it to Expressive the overall team shape will get start to get weird. 

 

Defensive instructions: 

For this one I'm going to borrow a quote from Pep Guardiola himself;

"I want the ball for 90 minutes. When I don't I have the ball, I go high pressing because I want the ball." 

And that about sums up my first three instructions. 

As for the offside trap I feel it's best not to play it as, even if it is safer due to my defensive line being so high, It stops play. And when play gets stopped, it gives the opposition a chance to regroup and become more solid defensively. So best case scenario is to win the ball back as high as possible and then initiate a fast counter attack. 

Time wasting goes against what I'm trying to do so it's definitely going off. 

 

Attacking Instructions:

With my IFs cutting in and my WBs pushing up it's only natural they will overlap, so switching on overlap just accentuates that. 

Honestly switching on Shoot on sight/Work into box is more of a matter of preference so choose what you think is best. Although I personally chose work into box because my ST just stopped scoring for some reason. 

I switched through balls on so I could exploit the pace of my front three, and if you have a fast front three it's best you do too. 

Short passing is best for possession, nothing else to it really. 

You have a large variety of areas to pass to so limiting your passing focus is, well just limiting your team as a whole. 

You definitely want your GK to play short passes that help retain possession rather than long hoof balls that needlessly give away possession. 

Well looks like that about covers everything. Finally. 

And if you have been reading through this whole mess, Thank you. 

Alright since I've got just a bit more time, I'll post pictures of my last five games so you guys can have a rough idea of what to expect. (Once again since I am Barcelona these stats are going to appear good, but until someone tests this out with a lower league team it's hard to say if this tactic is actually good.)

Had relatively poor possession this game. 

Here's a good example of what I mean when I say the DLP(Alaba) is crucial to possession. 64% possession with the DLP completing 91 out of 102 passes. 

Nothing to add on to this game... 

Once again high amount of possession with my DLP(Alaba) playing well. Or maybe it's just something to do with Real Sociedad? 

Oh no, we dominated Sevilla too. Too bad we only got one goal. 

Whelp that took a looooong time to write, hope this doesn't get buried. 

And thank you all for reading. 

 

Edited February 4, 2019 by RPA123456

[Yung.Gabe]

Looks like a really good tactic. Ill have a go at it eventually but was worth the time reading.

[RPA123456]

1 hour ago, Yung.Gabe said:

Looks like a really good tactic. Ill have a go at it eventually but was worth the time reading.

Thank you for taking the time to read through it, hope it works well for you. 

[HotspurAl]

Like the look and sound of your tactic RPA123456. Will give it a go with a mid table side. 

[RPA123456]

1 hour ago, HotspurAl said:

Like the look and sound of your tactic RPA123456. Will give it a go with a mid table side. 

Didn't know Tottenham were a mid table side now! 

I'm just joking  Anyway, good luck with your game and I hope the tactic works for you. 

Edited December 24, 2018 by RPA123456

[bb]

4 hours ago, HotspurAl said:

Like the look and sound of your tactic RPA123456. Will give it a go with a mid table side. 

Could you post your results

[HotspurAl]

Will do. 

[HotspurAl]

Results so far, games that are lost and drawn I didn’t have my strongest 11 playing due to injuries. Will post more after this season is finished. 

[RPA123456]

4 hours ago, HotspurAl said:

Results so far, games that are lost and drawn I didn’t have my strongest 11 playing due to injuries. Will post more after this season is finished. 

Alright! Looking good so far, but I want to ask you one thing. How is your team playing? I mean the main point I made this tactic was so I could play like the Barcelona of 2010/2011. In my game I play just like that, beautiful football. How about yours? Is your team playing like Guardiola's Barcelona? 

[HotspurAl]

Everton are having a lot of possession for long periods, I think with a really good striker next Season, we will be scoring more. Very potent going forward with no signings made. Style is very fluid and great to watch. 

[HotspurAl]

With the right players in Everton would be smashing teams, lots of chances created 

[RPA123456]

Good to see that the tactic works at teams other than Barcelona and great to hear that Everton are now playing Tiki Taka style. 

Honestly I think the tactic isn't the best in terms of goals or results. But it is very consistent and lets your team play in what I would consider a beautiful and fun style. 

[RPA123456]

Alright, so I've got an update for you guys! 

Strikers playing as Ts are out. CAMs playing as AMs are in. 

Ever since I first started using this tactic I've felt that the forward role was the hardest to pin down. In my Barcelona save my Treq(Munir) was smashing in the goals and averaging slightly over 1 goals a game, so I didn't feel as If I needed to change anything. 

However I recently started a Portsmouth save(for a little bit of challenge), and noticed the Treq was really struggling to make a impact. One thing I've noticed in my main Barcelona save was the Treq didn't contribute much in terms of passes/key passes/assists per game but always managed to get me goals. This was not the case in my Portsmouth save, so I had to do something.

My solution was to move my striker down to an attacking mid and see if any of the roles there fit better. Tried AP but he almost never dropped deep enough or got any goals, tried SS but he was pretty average, tried T but it was basically the same as the striker role at least as far as I could see, which left me with the AM role. What the AM did better was dropping deep and general build up play, but it does have a downside. Once he drops deep, he seems to just stay there. And this has really negatively affected the amount of goals he scores. For a test, I used the new tactic for five games in my Barcelona save. The results were great and I felt they were better then if I had used the old tactic. But now Munir, who had been averaging about 1.5 goals a game so far, only netted 2 goals in these five games and one of it was from a penalty. But on the other hand he has managed 7 assists and my inside forwards are getting a lot more chances. 

Despite the downside of my centre forward losing nearly all potency in front of goal, I do feel this change is for the better and will net better results while still keep the core philosophy of Pep Guardiola's Barcelona. However, I believe you can use both the Treq or the AM as they both offer their own unique strengths. With the Treq netting more goals and the AM getting more assists/key passes/passes. 

Also expect updates on the Portsmouth career as I started it just so I could see first hand how this tactic works on lower league teams. 

[bb]

2 hours ago, RPA123456 said:

Alright, so I've got an update for you guys! 

Strikers playing as Ts are out. CAMs playing as AMs are in. 

Ever since I first started using this tactic I've felt that the forward role was the hardest to pin down. In my Barcelona save my Treq(Munir) was smashing in the goals and averaging slightly over 1 goals a game, so I didn't feel as If I needed to change anything. 

However I recently started a Portsmouth save(for a little bit of challenge), and noticed the Treq was really struggling to make a impact. One thing I've noticed in my main Barcelona save was the Treq didn't contribute much in terms of passes/key passes/assists per game but always managed to get me goals. This was not the case in my Portsmouth save, so I had to do something.

My solution was to move my striker down to an attacking mid and see if any of the roles there fit better. Tried AP but he almost never dropped deep enough or got any goals, tried SS but he was pretty average, tried T but it was basically the same as the striker role at least as far as I could see, which left me with the AM role. What the AM did better was dropping deep and general build up play, but it does have a downside. Once he drops deep, he seems to just stay there. And this has really negatively affected the amount of goals he scores. For a test, I used the new tactic for five games in my Barcelona save. The results were great and I felt they were better then if I had used the old tactic. But now Munir, who had been averaging about 1.5 goals a game so far, only netted 2 goals in these five games and one of it was from a penalty. But on the other hand he has managed 7 assists and my inside forwards are getting a lot more chances. 

Despite the downside of my centre forward losing nearly all potency in front of goal, I do feel this change is for the better and will net better results while still keep the core philosophy of Pep Guardiola's Barcelona. However, I believe you can use both the Treq or the AM as they both offer their own unique strengths. With the Treq netting more goals and the AM getting more assists/key passes/passes. 

Also expect updates on the Portsmouth career as I started it just so I could see first hand how this tactic works on lower league teams. 

Good improvement did u also change any instruction 

[RPA123456]

Nope. Instructions are the same for now, but if I do make any more improvements it'll definitely be updated here. 

[MH17N110]

Using your tactic I finished 3rd in the premier league on 76 pts so I tweaked it a bit by pushing up the anchorman to Cm and making him a ball winning midfielder and i was winning every game in the league and ucl

[Mouss]

Question 

How did you get real competitions names pls ?

[MH17N110]

You need to use a computer and have iTunes if you are on iOS

[Fumaca]

On 24/12/2018 at 10:51, RPA123456 said:

I was holding on to this tactic for a few days, not sure if I wanted to share because there are already 2 tactics that are based on tiki taka style that Guardiola used at his time in Barcelona. But I have some time to sit down and write a little, so I thought why not. 

Now before I go on, I want to say this might end up being a very long post as I intend to go through every role and every instruction one by one. 

Results:

I've been using Barcelona for about a week now as I felt playing an 'easy' career might be just the thing I needed to make this game fun again. So the results will clearly be slightly biased as I'm using a top class team from the get-go. 

But.... 

A single loss in over 180 games is nothing to scoff about. 

In fact the one game I did lose was a CL game where I already had a huge lead from the first leg and half my first team were out injured or suspended. Let me see if I can dig it up....

Here you go. Which means I went nearly 2 and a half seasons unbeaten since i started. 

(I haven't started any other career mode yet, so I have absolutely no idea how this tactic would fare in mid-low league side and I hope you guys can help me test out this tactic.) 

The tactic:

Well enough of my humble bragging

Here's what you all came for. 

Now for the nitty gritty. 

Player Roles(Reasons for Choosing Them):

(Like I said I have quite a bit of time to burn, so I'm really going go In depth and go through every aspect of this tactic.)

SK: Chosen because my defense is going to be holding a very high line which leaves a lot of space in my own third which could be exploited. it's safer having my goalkeeper guarding this space. And another reason is to stop the ball going out of touch and disrupting play. With a SK I can trust him to rush out and intercept and distribute any long balls that in most cases would have just resulted in a goal kick. IMO goalkeeper distributing the ball from open play is better then distributing from a goal kick. 

BPD: I want to retain possession, and that's it really. With CDs and NCBs you have them clearing the ball all the time and while this might help reduce the amount of overall possession in your own third, It also reduces the overall possession your team has as they're literally punting away possession. I haven't considered using Ls or SWs because I'm not insane, but if you guys are feeling adventurous do feel free to do so. 

WB(in the WBL/R position.): Now, it is extremely important that you have your WBs placed further up on the pitch in the WBL/R positions. The reason for actually has to do with you CBs. See, something I've personally noticed when I put my WBs up higher is that my CBs will drift to the wider areas and cover that spot where A R/LB would be. And this is exactly what I want! Additionally, them drifting to the sides also brings your DM into the play as he occasionally might drop deep and cover the space a CB would be at, which once again is exactly what I want! 

A: Honestly this is one of the positions I'm having trouble with. I tried the BWM at first but he just kept going all over the place. Then, I tried the DM which was just meh. Then I tried the DLP who, ironically, didn't drop as deep as I wanted him to. Then I tried the Anchorman and so far I can't see anything wrong with it. So yay? But seriously though, this role seems to cover just about everything I expected.

DLP: This guy is at the core of your team's possession, if he's playing badly your entire team's possession will suffer. Conversely, if he's playing well then your team should be able to easily get 60% possession most games. Usually is the guy with the most passes each game and belts out an absolute banger every now and then. I like this guy. 

AP: Having a midfield that doesn't have any attacking edge is very bad and could lead to your team just playing sideway passes the whole game. And that's where this guy comes in. Leaving the bulk of the midfield's defensive duties to the DLP and the Anchorman, the AP will be free to make runs up to the final third and link up the T and the IFs to the rest of the midfield. He won't get to make too many passes but most of them will be important attack oriented passes that have the potential to turn into goals. Also he occasionally runs into the box and scores a goal, which is nice. 

IF: With WBs pushing so high, Ws wouldn't have worked. And APs simply didn't have that cutting edge in front of goal. Which naturally leaves us with the IFs. Really don't have much to say here. 

T: Now here's something I do have a lot to say about. When I first went about creating this tactic most of the roles and instructions I managed to settle sooner or later, but here's one that still has me stumped even now. I tried playing a T in the AMC position but it didn't feel right as I wanted the player start high up in the field and then drop deep to receive passes. Then I tried the SS and while the build up play was promising, he simply lacked the offensive edge I was expecting. Then I tried the DF, AF, CF, DLF, but all of them just felt a little off. Eventually I settled on the T in the ST position. I didn't want to really use it because I thought it would be the same as the T in the AMC position, but I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't too bad. He dropped deep every now and then to receive the ball and still maintained a strong attacking presence. But I don't feel it's quite perfect yet. There are games where he barely gets any shots off and he barely plays more then 10 passes, but there are also games where he is undoubtedly the MVP. Which is what I want to see. 

 

Player Roles(Key Attributes):

(You thought it was over didn't you?) 

SK:

Pace. (Needs it to rush out to make interceptions.)

Passing. (Needs it because anytime he makes interceptions outside of the box or receives a back pass he is left with no choice but to pass the ball.)

Aerials, Agility, Handling, Reflexes. (I've grouped these attributes together as I tend to see these as the key attributes for shot-stopping. Which is crucial for all goalkeepers.)

Positioning. (Honestly I'm not 100% sure if this really is that important but it's hard to say.)

BPD:

Pace, Stamina, Strength. (Ideally I'd like an absolute beast of a defender, but who doesn't?) 

Aerials, Tackling, Positioning, Decisions, Strength. (AKA 'the' key attributes for central defenders. And yes I do know I've repeated Strength.)

Passing, Teamwork. (Passing is kinda the main point of the role and Teamwork just helps to accentuate that. Personally I would never sign a player with under 10 teamwork for these kinda playmaking roles.)

Dribbling. (Surprisingly, all these years I've played the game I've never considered it but this year I've thought about it and it actually makes sense. What's the point of winning the ball back if you can't hold on to it? And holding on to it=more possession. Of course that doesn't mean you have to have 20 dribbling on a CB. But at least 10 is ideal.) 

WB:

Pace, Stamina. (Your WBs are going to be bombing up and down the flanks non-stop for the entire game. It's crucial these stats are green or close even at a lower league team.)

Crossing, Dribbling, Passing, Movement. (These are pretty much the only players who are going to regularly attempt crosses so it's important for that to be good. Passing is important too as they actually play quite a few passes every game. Dribbling is important for beating the opposition defenders. Movement is the most important attribute out of the lot as like I mentioned, your WBs are going to keep moving up and down the flanks.) 

Tackling, Positioning. (Between the two of them, Positioning is much more important as like I said your WBs are going to move up and down the flanks very often.) 

Anchorman:

Tackling, Positioning, Decisions. (Defensively solid. Nothing else to it.)

Technique, Teamwork, Passing. (Technique doesn't have to to be too high, At least 10 is okay. Passing and Teamwork I would prefer to be high, Green would be great.) 

Dribbling. (Same reason as for BPDs. Once again it doesn't have to be super high, but at least 10 is good.)

DLP:

(Honestly I'm not 100% sure on all the key attributes, but I have noticed a few that fit the bill.)

Technique, Teamwork, Passing. (These three attributes are key for my midfield trio and even more key for the two in the middle. Ideally I'd like them to have greens in these three attributes. With Passing being the most important as the DLP will play a lot of passes.) 

Creativity. (Important so your midfield actually tries something instead of just passing it around.)

Positioning, Strength. (Like I said I haven't quite figured out what's the best attributes for this role but here's what I got for now. Positioning is definitely important, and I like my DLP to have high Strength so that he would be able to retain the ball better.)

AP:

Technique, Passing, Teamwork. (Once again, these three attributes are key for the midfielders. All greens.)

Creativity. (This is a very important attribute for the AP. He is going to get a somewhat limited amount of passes to play due to how fast he'll be closed down, so you'll want him to do the best he can with each and every pass. And for that you'll need creativity.)

Dribbling, Pace. (As your AP moves up the pitch with the ball he will have to beat the players in his way, and for that you need these two attributes. Pace doesn't have to be super high but it has to be decent enough. After all he isn't going to get past anyone with just 5 pace.)

IF:

(This one's simple because it's basically the same attributes as the in game one, but with the addition of technique and creativity.) 

Passing, Shooting, Technique, Creativity. (Shooting and technique are the most important attributes out of these bunch, Creativity a close second and Passing the least important.)

Dribbling, Movement, Pace (Do you want hundreds of videos of you dribbling circles around defenders? Because this is how you do it.)

T:

(Oof, now here's a tough one.)

Aerials, Pace, Stamina, Strength.

Dribbling, Passing, Shooting, Technique. 

Creativity, Decisions, Movement. 

So basically every single physical and attacking attribute... 

Honestly this is a role I'm stumped on and would appreciate any input on. 

 

Team Shape:

Personally I would prefer a balanced mentality, but I had way too much trouble scoring. I occasionally bump it up to overload when I'm in dire need of a goal 70+ mins into a game. 

Feel free to experiment on the team width as I haven't really changed it at all since starting. 

Although I've currently set my tempo to fast, I have a hunch that setting it to slow might work better, but I've yet to test that out. 

I've set my team's Creative Freedom to Disciplined as I'm afraid if I set it to Expressive the overall team shape will get start to get weird. 

 

Defensive instructions: 

For this one I'm going to borrow a quote from Pep Guardiola himself;

"I want the ball for 90 minutes. When I don't I have the ball, I go high pressing because I want the ball." 

And that about sums up my first three instructions. 

As for the offside trap I feel it's best not to play it as, even if it is safer due to my defensive line being so high, It stops play. And when play gets stopped, it gives the opposition a chance to regroup and become more solid defensively. So best case scenario is to win the ball back as high as possible and then initiate a fast counter attack. 

Time wasting goes against what I'm trying to do so it's definitely going off. 

 

Attacking Instructions:

With my IFs cutting in and my WBs pushing up it's only natural they will overlap, so switching on overlap just accentuates that. 

Honestly switching on Shoot on sight/Work into box is more of a matter of preference so choose what you think is best. Although I personally chose work into box because my ST just stopped scoring for some reason. 

I switched through balls on so I could exploit the pace of my front three, and if you have a fast front three it's best you do too. 

Short passing is best for possession, nothing else to it really. 

You have a large variety of areas to pass to so limiting your passing focus is, well just limiting your team as a whole. 

You definitely want your GK to play short passes that help retain possession rather than long hoof balls that needlessly give away possession. 

Well looks like that about covers everything. Finally. 

And if you have been reading through this whole mess, Thank you. 

Alright since I've got just a bit more time, I'll post pictures of my last five games so you guys can have a rough idea of what to expect. (Once again since I am Barcelona these stats are going to appear good, but until someone tests this out with a lower league team it's hard to say if this tactic is actually good.)

Had relatively poor possession this game. 

Here's a good example of what I mean when I say the DLP(Alaba) is crucial to possession. 64% possession with the DLP completing 91 out of 102 passes. 

Nothing to add on to this game... 

Once again high amount of possession with my DLP(Alaba) playing well. Or maybe it's just something to do with Real Sociedad? 

Oh no, we dominated Sevilla too. Too bad we only got one goal. 

Whelp that took a looooong time to write, hope this doesn't get buried. 

And thank you all for reading. 

 

What do you think are the differences between this tactical set up and the way he now has Man City playing ?

[RPA123456]

4 hours ago, Fumaca said:

What do you think are the differences between this tactical set up and the way he now has Man City playing ?

Hmm that's a tough one. I would say the main difference is that current Man City are a lot more fluid and play ever so slightly different every game. This has to do with Guardiola improving as a coach I believe. 

For example, sometimes the wing backs drift in centrally(infamously known as inverted fullback) and sometimes they push up and hug the touchline like wingers. Then you have wingers who do the same thing, sometimes cutting in, sometimes staying wide. The midfield duo is similar but are far more attack oriented(IMO). The back three I feel are the most similar parts between the two tactics.

In terms of playstyle I feel Pep's Man City play a lot more passes than my tactic and are a lot more fluid in movement. Also the way that Man City puts pressure on the ball to win it back is different because I feel its impossible to accurately recreate the way they do it, which is by blocking out passing options for the opposing team before rushing in to win the ball back. 

[Fumaca]

1 hour ago, RPA123456 said:

Hmm that's a tough one. I would say the main difference is that current Man City are a lot more fluid and play ever so slightly different every game. This has to do with Guardiola improving as a coach I believe. 

For example, sometimes the wing backs drift in centrally(infamously known as inverted fullback) and sometimes they push up and hug the touchline like wingers. Then you have wingers who do the same thing, sometimes cutting in, sometimes staying wide. The midfield duo is similar but are far more attack oriented(IMO). The back three I feel are the most similar parts between the two tactics.

In terms of playstyle I feel Pep's Man City play a lot more passes than my tactic and are a lot more fluid in movement. Also the way that Man City puts pressure on the ball to win it back is different because I feel its impossible to accurately recreate the way they do it, which is by blocking out passing options for the opposing team before rushing in to win the ball back. 

Thanks for your answer.

The striker position is the the difficult one for me.

I don’t think Aguero is a false nine like Messi.

I was going to try DLF or complete forward.

[Philipizmo]

I think, that there should be at least one Libero here in this tactic. The most obvious pick for me to play Libero would be Gerrard Pique. I just love how even the centre backs are joining the attack whilst I was watching Barcelona play. Might be wrong but oh well, trying to use different roles as I am using it Libero with Brighton.

[RPA123456]

1 hour ago, Fumaca said:

Thanks for your answer.

The striker position is the the difficult one for me.

I don’t think Aguero is a false nine like Messi.

I was going to try DLF or complete forward.

Oh yeah I totally forgot about Aguero, haha.  Hmm for him a CF/DLF/T seems about right but I'm leaning more towards the Trequartista. 

36 minutes ago, Philipizmo said:

I think, that there should be at least one Libero here in this tactic. The most obvious pick for me to play Libero would be Gerrard Pique. I just love how even the centre backs are joining the attack whilst I was watching Barcelona play. Might be wrong but oh well, trying to use different roles as I am using it Libero with Brighton.

Yeah, currently the BPD play a decent amount of passes and drift high and wide. But they almost never go past the half way line. Honestly I've not experimented much with the two CD positions so feel free to try it out. I think the only roles suitable are S/L/BPD though. 

[IBKmaster]

This is absolutely fantastic, credit for you having the time and bother to actually do this. I will almost ceirtainly try this tactic because I'm deep into a Barcelona career. Once again, amazing work!

[RPA123456]

 

It's no bother at all, even though I'm not really as active as before I feel like when someone has spent time and effort to reply to my post I have to reply in kind as well. And good luck with your Barcelona career, hopefully you're able to cement them as the best team in the world. And remember to enjoy the moment. 

Edited January 15, 2019 by RPA123456

[Gicoco]

Good tactics mate but i tried cf in place of target man and Bwm in place of Anchor and am winning every game with 55% possesion every match if not more

[RPA123456]

Okay, so I was having some problems with teams counter-attacking and claiming easy goals against me (even went on a terrible 5 game losing streak). So I decided to make a few changes to see if I can fix this problem. 

And here's what I came up with:

 

 

So I made 3 changes here, which are:

1. I brought my team mentality down to control from attacking. The reason for this is that I feel that when playing attacking I'm too prone to counter-attacks from my BPDs being too high up and my WBs being too far up the wings to offer any defensive help. 

2. I slowed down the tempo as I realised that making more passes only leads to making more mistakes. And when playing in a league like the EPL every mistake could cost a goal. Also, this led to me getting more possession per game so win-win. 

3. I changed the A to a DM. Honestly I don't know how much of a change this makes but my DM has been playing better this season compared to the last few seasons. 

 

Also, I know I'm in 2024 now but my team isn't world class yet. So this tactic should still be solid for mid/low table sides. 

Also I want to show off my only world class player. 

My own Messi!(Actually a Rooney regen):

A player that came through my youth academy and a loyal player who has not shown any interest to leave despite being bombarded by transfer offers every other day. Hopefully that stays true for the next 15 seasons. 

[IBKmaster]

Amazing regen you have there, is the tactic doing better for you or is there still problems because I'm trying to make my own tactic but it is proving difficult. Good luck mate!

[Ruvio4]

I deffintley agree slow tempo, have you tried switching the two wide men to AP? Guardiola doesn't like them to always cut inside especially Sterling and Sane, he likes them to drift into the open space and drive to the by line sometimes, might be worth a try? I would also maybe consider switching the DLP to a CM to try and dominate the centre of the park abit more! Another massive thing I would say is switch the width to wide as Guardiola has stated many times he wants his players to hug the touchline and spread the pitch as much as possible to give more passing options and make it harder for the defending team!

Edited February 4, 2019 by Ruvio4

[RPA123456]

9 hours ago, IBKmaster said:

Amazing regen you have there, is the tactic doing better for you or is there still problems because I'm trying to make my own tactic but it is proving difficult. Good luck mate!

The tactic is pretty solid and has led me to 2 back to back EPL titles, but that's mostly due to how much time I've put into making this tactic. 

It's always important to keep a close eye on how your team performs when making changes and to also separate what may be bad luck and negative change. 

6 hours ago, Ruvio4 said:

I deffintley agree slow tempo, have you tried switching the two wide men to AP? Guardiola doesn't like them to always cut inside especially Sterling and Sane, he likes them to drift into the open space and drive to the by line sometimes, might be worth a try? I would also maybe consider switching the DLP to a CM to try and dominate the centre of the park abit more! Another massive thing I would say is switch the width to wide as Guardiola has stated many times he wants his players to hug the touchline and spread the pitch as much as possible to give more passing options and make it harder for the defending team!

Great observations and tactical nuance, but I won't be making all those changes as that will change the tactic too much from what I originally started with. (The Barcelona Pep Guardiola tactic) 

I might try and make a City Guardiola tactic, but I feel that there's already too many tactics that are based on that already...