Tactics The Holding Midfielder Don't Move

[unitedlad]

INTRO

"We've tried to help him
understand the game,
especially what the holding
midfielder has to do. Last
season he moved too much.
The holding midfielder has
to be there, DON'T move.

Pep Guardiola on Rodri

These words inspired my current tactic and also looking at how man city play on 2018/19 season with two iwb and two 8s.

TEAM

Manchester united 

 Team stats

Player stats

Tactic

I tweak the player roles depending on the formation of my opponent, into the second season I've only lost 2 games 1-0 against Liverpool and 4-1 against man city, the squad morale dipped because of the sale of Bruno. Man city came with 116 million i couldn't reject the offer by the way Bruno wage was too big I wouldn't have given him a new contract either lol.

The idea behind this tactic is the. Holding midfielder don't move, my previous work i used a DLP on the right side of the midfielder pivot as good as it was, the middle of the both defenders was always open when defending. While looking for a solution I came across pep's interview and I tried to replicate Barcelona fluid counter attack under flick and also peps iwb and two 8s.

While experimenting i observed the iwb role was affect by the width, narrow or balanced width. With narrow width the iwb focused solely on trying to cut inside the midfield. But with the balanced width the iwb drift inside and sometimes also perform the wb role and it was more fluid to freeing up space in the midfield and also creating triangles.

As you can see my CD drive into the midfield with the ball and the Left iwb comes out wide to give him 2/3 passing options. 1 to number50, 2 to number 80, 3 to number 3. 

Look at how both number 10 and number 77 stretches the defensive line and creates space in the middle for 80 and 50 even 60.

In this match against Barcelona i played Hannibal/number 80 as an Attacking midfielder. Look how he drops deep to create a triangle with number 50 and number 2. With a lot of space behind him too.

in all of these situations you can see how the holding midfielder is always free and to receive pass and also protects the defensive line. What surprises me the most is how compatible the Winger and the B2b midfielder are. When the winger/ number 10 drops deep to receive the pass the b2b midfielder/ number 60 drifts into space left behind by the wb.

the same scenario here again the b2b/number 60 moving into space.

You can also see how the iwbs holds the width in midfield making it easy to switch passes and also beat the press.

You can see the difference between number 8 who i played as an AP and number 80 who i played as an AM both behaves. The AP doesn't drop deep to receive but instead wait in the final 3rd.

Again you can see how much width the Iwbs gives and how the DM makes the 2 defenders safe.

Again the width from the Iwbs and how the DM is always ready to receive passes. See how the winger have a lot of space playing against a 3 atb and 2 wbs.

I'll definitely appreciate some feedback from you all and any insights. Thank YOU.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 24 by unitedlad
I made a mistake

[theLantern]

How's the DM performs? I never get them to have 8-9 score. I'll get lucky to have them 7. Mostly it's just 6 or even 5

[unitedlad]

6 hours ago, theLantern said:

How's the DM performs? I never get them to have 8-9 score. I'll get lucky to have them 7. Mostly it's just 6 or even 5

Alway 7 sometimes 8

[unitedlad]

@DanEnglish I would love your thoughts on this 

[DanEnglish]

2 hours ago, unitedlad said:

@DanEnglish I would love your thoughts on this 

Seems you’ve made a good tactic. What would you like my thoughts on specifically? 🙂