Barcelona Tiki Taka Tactics _ Football Manager 2015 Possession Tactic _ Passion for Football Manager

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Tiki Taka Tactics | Football Manager 2015 Possession Tactic

25/06/2015 | Passion4FM | Football Manager , Football Manager

2013, Football Manager 2015, Football Manager Downloads, Football

Manager Tactics | 66 Comments

When I should create another Football Manager tiki taka possession tactic I

felt it was necessary to give you an insight to what I emphasize the most

when trying to emulate a tiki taka tactic in Football Manager – actually giving

you the foundation to re-create the tiki taka possession tactic in Football

Manager 2015.

I felt I could not only publish a tactic without trying to explain the playing style

more in-depth by handing you a tactical analysis of the tiki taka playing style.

There I showed you the main principles and characteristics of Pep Guardiolas

football philosophy and how he looked at possession as a tool to dominate

opposition.

elona Tiki Taka Tactics | Football Manager 2015 Possession Tactic |... http://passion4fm.com/football-manager-2015-possession-tactic-b

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FM15 Tiki Taka Tactic

2-3-2-3 Overload

FM15 Tiki Taka Tactic

2-3-5 Formation

Tiki Taka Player Roles

& Key Attributes

After reading my tactical analysis of Barcelona

tiki taka playing style you should have

understood the importance of the positional

system in order to overload the opposition in

all phases of play; creating numerical

superiority, which makes you able to dominate

and control the opposition style of play, in a bid

to make their play more predictable to counter,

understand the importance of shapes to aid

ball circulation and chance creation in

additional to the benefits of a high-pressing

game in order to record extreme possession.

For now, I will leave the real life analysis as an valuable appendix to create

the base of the tactic, and focus more on creating a possession tactic in

Football Manager 2015; the Barcelona tiki taka tactics by Passion4FM.

Note! There will be published more appendixes and analyses about the many

aspects of tiki taka style of play and how to successfully implement such a

football philosophy in Football Manager later on.

“Estamos tocando tiki-taka tiki-taka”, was the phrase Andres Montes used in

the World Cup 2006 to describe the playing style of Spain. Tiki-Taka or

Tiqui-Taca has its origin from the Total football developed by Rinus Michel in

the 1970’s and is a refinement of the attacking fluid football.


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Since 2006 the Tiki-Taka playing style has become world famous, partially

because of the success of Spain and FC Barcelona. The Tiki Taka can be

described as the Spanish way of keeping possession by working the ball

through various channels and play fluid football by taking advantage of

brilliant short sharp passes (often in one or two touches), with the help of high

degree of movement into open spaces.

The playing style of Tiki-Taka is equally loved as its hated by football fans

throughout the world.What caught my attention and heart, was the accuracy in passing and

movement both with and without the ball which overrun its opponents, no

matter their playing style or formation. I loved how Spain and Barcelona

passed the ball so quickly between each other that it wore out the opponents,

both to do more mistakes and to weaken their attacking system.

German Miroslav Klose spoke openly about the tiki-taka style of play and

dominance when encountering Spain in the World Cup semi-final of 2010;


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“When we eventually did get it, we were so exhausted from chasing that we

couldn’t do anything with it.”

One important part of the tiki-taka, is the collaboration of the defense and

attacking, as the team is always in possession – in balance – as players will

take up the roles of the other, provide cover and support in the ball circulation

and the process of regaining possession as fast as possible. Here the

transition phase is minimized as much as possible as it is seen as lost time by

the help of utilizing an extremely high defensive line which gives you the

assumption that the team plays the majority of the match in the opposite half.

Former successful FC Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola, who re-invented

the false nine, once said;

“We want to emulate the amount of running players must do. When you win

back the ball, there are 30 metres to goal rather than 80. I want Messi as far

forward as possible.”

The Passion4FM 2015 Barcelona Tiki Taka tactics is created for everyone

who likes to record high amount of possession (above 60%), who feels more

comfortable when the ball is in the opposite half rather than counter from

deep, who sees pressing as a tool to control the opposition and hereby force

mistakes, who sees the benefits of utilizing a balanced system which is as

defensive solid as attacking fluid in order to concede less goals, create more

chances and simply experience lots of beautiful passes, goals and

movements which breaks down ‘any’ opponents. The beauty of Passion4FMs

FM15 Barcelona Tiki Taka tactic is that gives you total control, literallydominating any opposition with key passes that unlocks ‘any’ tight defenses,

overloading key areas and giving the opposite team no rest.

With an enormous amount of requests to publish another tiki taka tactic for

Football Manager , I did not want to let you down again, despite there were

some improvements and new features I had hoped to see in Football

Manager 2015 before I would try to emulate the tiki taka playing style again.

Hopefully they will be implemented in Football Manager 2016.

This time I will publish at least three different versions of my Barcelona tikitaka tactics giving you both a closer look at the main system of play used by

Josep Guardiola under his managerial tenure at FC Barcelona and how I

have used his positional system as a foundation to create a good FC

Barcelona tiki taka tactic in Football Manager 2015 according to my

preferences and the limits of the current match engine.

When publishing my Football Manager 2015 Barcelona tiki taka possession

tactic I hope we can use this thread to bring up new ideas and have a


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valuable discussion on how to emulate the tiki taka playing style in Football

Manager rather than me providing my subjective view only.

I hope you will find your favorite system of the emulated Barcelona Tiki Taka

tactics below and that you will publish any tweaks made to it – if you decide to

alter the system to your team – in the comments field in bottom of the thread.

By downloading Passion4FM’s Football Manager 2015 Tiki Taka tactic you

will record lots of passes and key passes, a couple of clear cut chances per

game as you like your team to create more distinct goalscoring opportunities

than the opponents, with shots coming from around the 18 yard box after

intelligent killer passes, fluid movements in the attacking phase to create

space while being defensive solid – hopefully conceding the least amount of

goals within your league while scoring the most – replicating the feats of

Josep Guardiola and FC Barcelonas goal scoring ratio.

I can’t promise you titles or high scores, as I haven’t concerned myself with

results when creating my possession tactic, but I can promise you the feel of

playing as FC Barcelona from their incredible Guardiola era as I’ve tried to

make it as close to reality as possible, within the frameworks (read limits) of

Football Manager 2015, of course. For me the objective is not to record match

results where I win 8-0 or something like that. Instead the main objective is to

implement the characteristics of the tiki taka playing style with its movements

and positional play as close to reality as possible.

While it is ‘custom-made’ for Barcelona it will be well-suited for any team who

favors a continental playing style similar to FC Barcelona. Of course, the teamwill need the required types of players and skills to make it successful. I will

come back to the key elements and basic attributes required for this playing

style later on.

One of the major concerns (headaches) trying to replicate the tiki taka playing

style for Football Manager 2015 and the different positional systems have

been the choice of team shape or structure. While I felt I found a great shape

and system for FM 2014 – a tactic which recorded over 700 passes per match

with a passing accuracy of around 90% and possession between 65% and

70% (which I did not released), I had hoped to simply re-create the FM14 tiki

taka system and publish it for FM15. But this should not be as easy as I had

imagined due to the many patches and bug fixes of FM 2015 forcing me to

wait until the 15.3 update to publish the final product.

From what you have discovered or noticed from the tactical analysis I like to

use a 2-3-2-3 formation as a foundation for the tactic. The system makes it


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rather simple to record a 4-3-3 in the defensive phase, a 2-1-4-3 or a 2-3-2-3

in the attacking transition phase and a 2-3-5 / 3-3-4 in the attacking third. It’s

a rather flexible system which gives a good foundation for ball circulation and

high pressing play.

As you know, the team shape influences on the players (teams) level of

creative freedom, their positioning within the system and level of mentality

(according to duty selected – defend, support, attack). Here we can also take

into account player preferred moves, specific player instructions and choice of

team instructions which impacts defensive block, aggressiveness, positioning

and movements of the players. According to my knowledge you should be

able to benefit of for example creative freedom from fluid when building a

tactic under a flexible shape by for example using use Be More Expressive

and Roam From Positions or the total opposite by choosing Be More

disciplined at a fluid shape, taking benefits of specific features from a team

shape. The higher mentality of the players in the more advanced areas of the

pitch will make the team press automatically higher.

The team shape will influence on how compact the diamond will be, how

closely connected the players are and who, first and foremost, will be

responsible to take part in the defensive phase, transition phase and

attacking phase – a more fluid approach lets you experience more players

involved in all phases of play compared to a highly structured approach.

When it comes to Barcelona under Josep Guardiola one of their strengths

was their compact shape and unison. As I see it, creative freedom was given

to some specific key players, who had the license to find pocket of space,

make killer passes more often and use their flair and agility to get by their

markers. If we should relate to the fluid team shape, the team were not split

up in one attacking and one defensive unit, but rather found a balance

between movements and keeping shape for the different phases of play

similar to the flexible team shape.

By using a flexible shape I expect that the players with an attacking duty will

automatically be given an higher mentality level and creative freedom

compared to a support duty player or a defend duty – giving me the ability topredict by choice of player roles who will be the main creators, who will be the

destroyers and who will retain possession more often and build others in.

This means that selecting wingbacks with an attacking duty expects me to

see them moving higher up the pitch than within a fluid / structured system

where the 5 back players have approximately the same mentality level, while

the midfielders and forwards are higher – something that could create a gap

between the two units which is more preferable for more counter attacking


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systems (Borussia Dortmunds 4-2-3-1).

On the other hand, using a false nine (support) within a flexible system should

let me see him dropping deeper, staying closer to the advanced playmaker

(attack) in the center, who will take up an higher position than the deep lying

playmaker (support) – creating a rhombus in the middle of the pitch.

By selecting attacking wingbacks and inside forwards at support duty I would

easily create a 2-3-5 formation in the attacking phase as they will overlap on

the flanks simply because of the duty selection – taking up positioning in the

midfield-strata – rather than selecting another team instructions (look for

overlap, which makes the playmakers hold up the ball even more than they

do – increasing the risk of loosing the ball in the center of the pitch).

This year, like last, I started out with the flexible shape which expects me to

see central defenders with lower mentality level which provides depth in ball

circulation and low level of creative freedom compared to the advanced

playmaker attack or the false nine – making them more disciplined and playless risky. It would give me the chance to make a system which I can alter

quickly by the choice of player roles and duties to create numerical

superiority. The tactic worked as good as it could get according to the

overpowered wing play of 15.0, until the 15.3 update release which caused

some headaches, as I like to use the average positioning (heat maps) to spot

gaps the opponents can exploit.

One of the problems where the change of mentality(?) in regard to the false

nine, who took up a higher positioning than the inside forward attack rather

than staying in line or slightly behind him – increasing the lateral space

between him and the central midfielders within the diamond. According to the

team shape of FM14 it seemed like he had the mentality of the deep lying

forward, rather than dropping deep into midfield playing with the mentality of

an advanced playmaker (attack), which I had expected he would have. This is

something you will see experience by selecting fluid as the false nine will drop

deeper.

The lower mentality of the central midfielders or the higher mentality of the

false nine decreases the possibility to regain possession effectively whenopponents are building out from the back as it creates a bigger gap between

the forward strata and the midfield strata. Some space between them are

preferable as the false nine shall drop into that space, but I felt it was too

much space.

It seemed that after the ME changes of 15.3 the fluid shape was more similar

to what I had found desirable for flexible at FM 2014 (14.2) in terms of

positioning, which is absolutely vital in order to regain possession quickly and


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circulate the ball with accuracy and fluid ball movement.

The other minor issue is the willingness to take risks in passing at flexible,

often experiencing a lower passing accuracy for the central defenders despite

having lower creative freedom. The result is that the team waste possession

more often in flexible shape, and is not regaining possession as quick as

intended – reducing the possession percentage to below 65% rather than

plus 65%, which you will record more easily with fluid.

To illustrate this minor issue I will show you the screenshots of average

positions. Here is flexible at the left and fluid at the right.

Football Manager 2015 Shape:

Football Manager 2014 Team Structure


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If we should look beyond the problem of the false nine which does not seem

to drop as deep as I’d like within the flexible system of 15.3 and the minor

issue with lower passing accuracy especially for the central defenders it

perfectly demonstrates how the formation transit within the flexible system.

Many of the screenshots provided below from match scenarios have beentaken within the last months by using flexible. It was only in the final stage of

testing I decided to rather recommend fluid above flexible due to the better

quick short passing and movements – recording an higher passing accuracy,

increased amount of passes and key passes plus more clear cut chances.

The conclusion I have come to is that while the description of team shapes

are more plastic than they may seem at first, I rather prefer the fluid team

shapes for the 2-1-4-3 system, while the flexible shape better replicates the

2-3-5 system used against minor teams who defends deep.

I have therefore decided to make all tactics available both for flexible and fluid

team shape despite the minor issue with false nine, the advanced playmaker

(attack) who stays deep at goalkeeper distribution (fluid) or the deep lying

playmaker (support) who stays deep at goalkeeper distribution (flexible), but

this may be fixed by change of role and duty (roaming playmaker support)

giving you the choice of what you feel works the best.

What team shape would you prefer for a possession

tactic?

After working with a more standard (traditional) 4-3-3 formation for FM13, I

decided for FM14 to use a 2-3-2-3 formation instead. You can call the 2-3-2-3

formation my positional template.

As you know, the set formation dictates how the players will position


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themselves in the defensive phase of play meaning that the choice of

formation will determine how you will defend (with the help of player duties of

course). I chose the 2-3-2-3 formation to combat the 4-2-3-1 or any variations

using wide players in AM-strata. As the wing-backs will drop into the

defensive line in the defensive third, you will defend as a 4-3-3 (4-1-4-1)

depending on duties of inside forwards and choice of team shape. The many

lines of play makes it harder for the opposing team to play their way throughthe center of the pitch forcing them to play more direct and on the counter

which them might be uncomfortable with.

The 2-3-2-3 formation is based on the same principles as Guardiolas playing

style: a compact unit which creates lots of triangles and rhombus’ which is

favorable for ball circulation, but also for regaining possession quickly as

everyone have a player in cover and are closely connected standing only a

few metres between each other. The formation is highly balanced giving you

the best foundation for extreme possession football in my point of view.

With the help of the high defensive block where the central defenders will

take up position close to the center circle providing both depth in ball

circulation and squeezing the play into the opposite half, it gives the whole

team the ability to start the collective pressing higher up the pitch compared

to a deeper defensive line – literally minimizing the transition phase to some

seconds, which aims to reduce each players workload. Since the central

defenders stays higher up the field it leaves a lot of space behind to be

countered in, but it makes it harder for the opposition team to play their way

out of defense as the first line of defense starts with the three forwards, which

I rather prefer, as I want to regain possession as high up the pitch – as close

to the penalty box as possible.

On the other hand, the formation is rather flexible, giving me vast amount of


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opportunities to alter the match tactics according to the opposition team. I can

quickly alter it to a 3-4-3 formation, 4-1-2-2-1, 2-3-5, 5-3-2, 2-5-3, 2-1-4-3 or a

3-1-3-3 formation depending on what is needed to create numerical

superiority in the middle as well as down the flanks simply by a change of

player role and/or duty.

From the 2-3-2-3 formation I have decided to publish at least 3 great tiki taka

tactics for Football Manager 2015, which I feel work wonders, especially in

regard to the principles of tiki taka in terms of movements, positional play and

style of passing.

While the 2-3-2-3 or Il Pozzo’s WW formation is the template for my FM15 tiki

taka tactic we can say a specific setup of Team Instructions are the basics of

the playing style. Here I would simply go through the team instructions I prefer

to start off with for the match in order to replicate the tiki taka playing style.

In Possession

With the ball I like my players to patiently build up the play with shorter

passes at players feet working the ball around until space opens up. The

short passing play looks to retain possession not taking any necessary risk in

your own half. Here the lower tempo is necessary to ensure that the

wingbacks gets time to move higher up the pitch – trying to replicate the 15

pass rule of Josep Guardiola when building out from the back. The lower

tempo will also entice the opponents to close your players down more

frequently, which makes it more likely to move the ball into final third (behind


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With a fluid team shape you might see some

more passes and an higher passing accuracy

depending on opponent and choice of team

instructions

them with more lateral

passes).

Here the shorter

passing and tempo will

ensure that the four

playmakers (deep

lying playmaker

defend and support,

the advanced

playmaker attack and

the false nine) will be

more disciplined in

their approach to

passing – recording an

higher passing

accuracy (around 90%

or above). They will

focus on passing

between each other

until space opens up, but will be more likely to split the opposite defensive

block by being more unpredictable. Still I want them to make killer passes to

the feet of their teammates as through balls are rather risky. As I see it, an

inaccurate pass between the midfielders would be devastating as there are

only one line behind them – giving the opposition team perfect condition to

counter on you.

The foundation for the passing style starts with how the goalkeeper distributes

the ball and how the team play their way out of defence. By ticking the play

out of defense instruction it ensures that the players will pass their way out of

defensive third with short passes literally setting the passing length to

extremely short for the central defenders. While it may be dangerous against

a team who presses high I rely on the defensive players composure and

technical abilities to move the ball patiently out from the back until the

opponents defensive block is destabilized and unbalanced – forcing the

opposite team to move from side to side until the passing play are too quick

for their anticipation and mind.

In the final third I would like to see lots of through balls and vertical passes,

trying to get the ball behind the oppositions defensive line and into the penalty

box. If I could have dictated by player roles that they should make through

balls sometimes in the middle third, I would love the ability to set through balls

to often in final third. By working the ball into the box I wants my team to wait


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for an opening or work hard to create gaps which they can exploit. The only

disadvantage is that the longer the attack goes on, the easier it is for the

opposite team to defend collectively – by closing all the gaps. I recommend to

un-tick work ball into box if you are chasing for a goal against a strong

defensive opponent, as you may be able to exploit the rebounds as players

will be more likely to finish off the attack sooner rather than later. Couple that

with pass into space and you might see some beautiful football.

With the lack of height in the team I prefer to utilize low crosses which puts

emphasize on players acceleration, positioning and off the ball movement, as

the cross is played hard and accurate closer to the ground – around 15-50

centimeters above ground. A low cross like this is far more difficult to handle

for the goalkeeper and the players marking first post as the ball is played

below knee height. Their cleverness within the penalty box will be an

important factor – something Messi and Neymar should be the masters of.

Since the defensive line is most prone to ‘forget’ the far post, I like to exploit

this weakness by telling my wide players to deliver crosses to the far post for

this system.

Out of Possession

One of the ways Barcelona successfully regains possession quickly is to

stand closer to their markers, denying obvious passing options for the player

with the ball. I like to minimize the playing pitch, forcing the opposite team to

rely more on their football intelligence, technical abilities in one on one

situations when put under pressure. I like to force them to make mistakes by

exploiting their weaknesses – either its a poor left foot, poor first touch or alow vision and passing abilities.


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The result of the high-pressing is an increase of direct passes for

the opposition team which makes it more likely to intercept the

pass.

The level of the defensive line will dictate

when the pressing starts. I like to start off

by asking my players to push higher up

making sure the team press collectively

high up the pitch. By setting the defensive

line to approximately the half way line it

ensures that the central midfielders will be

positioned closer to their opposite

markers (if not I might have to change

player role (and/or duty) for example

change the deep lying playmaker support to an central midfielder or a

roaming playmaker support when facing a 4-2-3-1 DM.

Close down more coupled with specific player instructions to close down

more often and opposition instructions will ensure that the opponents will

have less time to get control of the ball. Here I prefer to use the close down

more rather than close down much more as it does not destroy the team

shape and collective pressing I here by speak of. But of course, if the

opposite team gets too much space and time, use close down much more for

shorter periods of time, or move the defensive line higher up the pitch.


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The tighter marking ensures that the players will stay in a close range of his

opposite marker, making it more likely to intercept passes. The single holding

midfielder combined with the two central defenders will record the most

interceptions as they stay deeper to cover for the advanced players full

pressing. Here you will notice the relationship between the high pressing, high

defensive line and my aim to decrease the opponents passing accuracy when

building out from the back – forcing them to utilize a longer direct passes.

Note! Get stuck in might be a solution if you struggle to win possession of the

ball as players will decrease the space to his opponents even further being

more forceful and combative.


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Utilizing the width will be one of the important aspects to succeed with a

possession tactic in Football Manager 2015. This is not only influenced by the

pitch dimension but also in regard to the formation and it’s compactness.

Width will not only dictate how closely connected your players are, but also

how you can exploit gaps in the opponents tactical system by setting the

correct width. Setting the width will not only be one of the most important

tactical decision from match to match according to opponent in order to

exploit weaknesses and eliminate strength, but should be carefully

considered in order to play according to your teams strength, either you mayhave better players on the flanks than in the center.

When you download and load the tiki taka tactic I have not set any team

instructions to width, but the foundation for correct width is already

implemented for you by player instructions, choice of starting mentality and

player role behavior. Apart from that the choice of width will basically depends

on your pitch dimension. A short but wide pitch is better for taking benefits of

your wing play while a long and narrow gives you a better foundation to be

superior in the center. The dimension will also depend on your players level of

stamina, how technical gifted they are and how well they utilize less space in

relationship with the teams average age.

Recommended pitch size in

my point of view for any

possession tactics are:

Short – Tick Team Instruction:

Play Wider + Exploit the


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middle

Standard – Tick Team

Instruction Play narrower

Short and Wide – Tick Team

Instruction: Play Narrower

*Note that the team instruction

according to width will depend on the opposite match tactic as well, since I

prefer to keep a narrower shape than them without sacrificing the required

width needed in the final third to create gaps.

In order to replicate Guardiolas football philosophy I want a strong presence

of technical gifted players in the center of the pitch who are capable of using

their vision and passing capability to split the defensive block apart – aka the

midfield diamond who I want to stay closer to each other – which can be

influenced by TI play narrower , work ball into box or play through the middle.

These four players plus the goalkeeper will have the best perspective of play

and can quickly change the point of attack, play lateral passes to a breaking

player or simply move the ball into final third or into the penalty box from zone

14. The MCL and MCR will be positioned on the edge of the center channel

and the halfspace both stretching play for the false nine to drop into, but also

maintain the perspective of play despite being positioned wider of the center

channel. An extremely narrow positioning here would mean that the passing

options out wide would be reduced – increasing the risk for the pass to be

intercepted as it would be easier to defend against.

In the attacking phase I want to utilize the full width – stretching the play

diagonally. Here the attacking wingbacks will provide the main width of the

formation staying wider , while the inside forwards will cut inside. Influenced by

Luis Enrique’s tactical system of 2014-2015 season I tend to ask both or one

of the inside forwards to sit narrower , but this may depend on the choice of

duty for the left wingback (support or attack) and how you want the

combination play between the false nine and the inside forwards to be. The

main purpose of instruction my inside forwards to sit narrower is to exploit the

decision-making dilemma for the opposite markers (DC, DRL) dragging themcloser to the center providing more space on the flanks for the attacking

wingbacks to manoeuvre in – providing better circumstances for overlaps to

occur – forcing the opposition team to also take into account the threats from

wide.

The angle between the central midfielders and the inside forwards ensures

not only that the opposite team have to combat the strong presence and

overload of players in the center, but also have to take into account the ideal


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angles of penetrating passes from deep. The few metres between the

inverted wingers and the advanced playmakers makes it easier to regain

possession if the ball path are intercepted. Another benefit of the attacking

wingbacks which stays wider are the tendency for the opposite team to

“forget” about them. If the play becomes too congested in the middle, the

playmakers can easily switch the ball to the other flank giving the wingbacks

the chance to move the play higher up – running towards the byline or comeclear on goal. Your team will be lethal from all areas of the pitch, something

your opponents have to take into account when defending – either instructing

their wingers to be more defensive minded or leaving space out wide and

hoping to make play so congested in the middle that your team can’t find the

ultimate opening to score goals. No matter what, you will experience to

benefit from the space your opponent is leaving – forcing them to not make

any individual errors in regard to positioning and closing down.

While I want my team to play wider than my opponent in the attacking phase I

want my team to make the pitch as small as possible when defending. As the

inside forwards are already staying narrower, it will be the main responsibility

of the wingbacks to decrease width seeming like the team is always in

possession as the positional play is maintained by simply reducing the metres


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between each position.

While diagonal width is minimized in the defensive phase it’s important for the

central defenders to push up when the team is pressing high like illustrated

above – squeezing play in order to leave less space between lines for the

opposition to exploit.

In the heat of the match it will be important to analyze the width and where

you can leave space in relationship to where you will close gaps for the

opposition team. While I like to play compact leaving ‘no obvious’ gaps I tend

to prioritize to instruct my team to play narrower than the opponent despite it

will impact the width in the attacking phase as well. As you will notice I have

not set any other instructions to width for the beginning of the match outside

player instructions in order to analyze the oppositions weaknesses and

strength for their match tactics.

The tiki taka philosophy could be entitled as an integral culture where player

development is as important as the philosophy in terms of transfers and youth

recruitment. It’s not like the sudden change of a manager entirely change the

way the team will play – or which training sessions that will be elementary for

the youths preparations to become a future first team member.

FC Barcelona and its tiki taka playing philosophy is unique in that way that

there is a central concept which flows through the club – a primarily idea

about how to control and dominate the opposition. This idea about how to

play beautiful football have stand as the founding pillar of the clubs football

philosophy and culture for at least 25 years.

This is why I consider it as the evolution of Total football, not only because of

the style, but also because of the focus on specific training routines created to

make sure all players – from the age of 7 (PreBenjami) – will fit into the

playing style perfectly when they should be ready for the first team 10-15

years ahead. Training is incorporated not only to be technical proficient to

endure the high passing tempo or tactical intelligent to fit into the positional

play but everything is about rehearsed play on improving intuition and

decision-making giving them the tools to adapt to situations with the basis of

reducing the time spend on issues like: ‘knowing where your team mates are’.

For example the rondo is one basic training session which will serve as

rehearsed play. The habitual training I’m briefly mentioning is one of the

heritages of Total Football and the revamp Johan Cruyff did to the youth

academy.

All coaches talk too much about running a lot. I say


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The training is structured around the principles of how the first team plays by

using a development program build on the concepts of the football philosophy

integrated at the club running through all the ranks of the club. The

development model is build around age relevant training providing each age

group a step by step program of the characteristics of the playing identity.

This to ease the step up from juniors to the first team or from youth ranks

(under 16) to the reserves (under 21). This ensures that the players gone

through the ranks are experts of the playing style having recorded

approximately 10,000 hours of specialized training around the concepts of ‘tiki

taka’ by the age of early twenties.

Player development at Barcelona was/is focused around; “we train as we

play, with the same intensity of a football match”. Sessions will never last

longer than 90 minutes and the training sessions themselves looks to improve

player fitness and stamina, and not by running up and down hills. So how

does this relates to the general training in Football Manager 2015.

Pre-Season [Improving Tactical Familiarity]

I won’t delve into how to improve

the tactical familiarity levels here.

That will be discussed in an own

post (previously released but not

moved to our new server) later.

But the pre-season is all about

match preparations and

improving team cohesion. Just to

summarize, the level of team

cohesion can be monitored under

the assistant managers team talk

feedback report. I prioritize to

have a good level of understanding amongst the players before the first

league match kicks off. So after some weeks (hopefully 2-4 weeks) of fitness

training I use general training team cohesion in companionship with match

tactics for match preparations. With the scheduling slider set to 50% on match

preparation Match tactics until all the tactical familiarity levels reaches

100/100 the remaining time will be spend on tactical general training from the

time team blend is good.

it’s not necessary to run so much. Soccer is a game

that’s played with the brain. You need to be in the

right place at the right time, not too early, not too late.

Johan Cruyff


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NOTE! Team cohesion is also the mandatory option when 2 or more

players have been purchased or sold.

General Training – In-Season

As detailed in the appendix about the player roles of tiki taka the key

attributes for such a playing style revolves around the ability to read the

game (anticipation) make good (correct) decisions through out the match and

be a team player who can be calm under pressure and make intelligent

decisions despite fatigue. The majority of general training is set to improve

the players tactical intelligent. I spend an high amount of team training on

Tactical at any club I’m managing. Apart from the Tactical team training,

which I consider as the basis of the clubs development plan I also tend to set

an equal focus on Ball Control, because of the importance of improving

technique and first touch, and Attacking to improve vision, off the ball and

passing. But here it may be natural to believe that passing is improvedtogether with first touch and technique as real life training drills evolving

around the ability to control the ball also has an element of passing. Since it’s

impossible to know which training drills the players do, I favour to focus 50%

on ball control and Attacking apart from Tactical.

One model to use is 2 weeks tactical, 1 week ball control and 1 week

attacking per month. But this comes down to analysis of your squad,

periodic performance analysis of areas your team might struggle with,

either its low goal scoring ratio, poor passing or lack of team movement

and tactical understanding.

Some would also claim that positioning is also an important part of the play,

especially in terms of pressing and therefor Defending should be at least be

prioritized to some degree, but I rather have my team focus 30% on Ball

Control and Attacking and then follow Josep Guardiolas philosophy to

practice defensive organization and positioning when building out from the

back prior to one game per month just to ensure the players doesn’t forget

that important element of play.


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Here is one common example of my approach to team training including

focus area and intensity level.

This level of balance between general training and match preparations and its

intensity level is primarily used in periods where the fixture list is normal (one

match per week). For English weeks (one mid-week match included) I prefer

to decrease the match preparation to 10% in order to focus on player

development when tactical familiarity and team blend is at highest.

Match Preparation looks to boost the area which I’m not currently focusing on

for general training. While Attacking Movement might be selected over 50% of

the season for match preparation in order to improve the off the ball

movements and positional play in possession defensive positioning might bea good number two if you concede goals very often. This is partly because I

prefer Tactical focus ahead of Ball Control and then Attacking for general

training.

Youth Training & Development

One of the first things I do when

taking over a new club is to

ensure that the reserves and

under 19/18 plays matches withFirst teams tactics. This can be

managed under Staff

Responsibilities. I also favour to

have total control of the reserves

and Under-19/18 training. For

youth development I prefer to set

100% focus on player


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development. This means that youth team training is set to Tactical

throughout the season at 10% match preparations just to make them familiar

with the clubs match tactics.

I won’t make this section

long, but rather hand you

the main content as

much have been

discussed further in the

article “how to win

possession“. The setupof opposition instruction

is all about limiting the

space and time for the

opposite player with the

ball.

I want players to be

pushed inside into my pressing trap by showing players on to the opposite

foot of their playing area (for example onto left foot for the right winger. You

will notice that I have not set up anything for the AMR / AML position. Here I

use specific instructions for the player depending on if he is likely to cut inside

or cross from byline. It partly depends on the inside forwards dribbling abilities

in relationship to acceleration and balance. Poor balance makes me favour

hard tackling but closing down will depend on his dribbling capabilities. High

dribbling and acceleration might force you to set closing down to never.

Note that I put as much pressure on the second and third line of defence and

as much pressure on isolated player positions such as GK, sweeper, single

holding midfielder and central defenders / midfielders.

Before I give you the chance to take a closer look on the different tactical

systems available for download it’s worthy for me to mention that the tactical

systems and tactics provided below must be seen in relationship to each

other as I might change between the systems within a match or between

matches according to what I like to achieve. All of them will record +60%


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possession, around 600+ passes, over 20 shots per match and at least 2

clear cut chances per match depending on whom you are up against. Here

I will take into account that you have players with the ability of playing

extreme possession football despite I have recorded some nice results with a

young Red Star team.

I look at the systems provided as one tactic with different possibilities and

strengths. The records provided will just give you an illustration of what you

can expect once managed to incorporate a possession football philosophy at

your managing club in regard to goal types, assists types, where most of the

goals comes from and the ratio of conceded goals versus goals scored.


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When I started to create


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another tiki taka tactic for

Football Manager 2015 in

December I decided to

morph the asymmetric

4-3-3 / 3-4-3 formation

which Barcelona used

primarily in the2010-2011 season and

the 4-3-3 formation with

attacking wing backs

used 2011-2012. While I

only published one

tactical system build around the 2010-2011 season for Football Manager

2013 I decided to make a tactical template which lets you easily change your

(attacking) formation with a subtle change of player duties. The basic 2-3-2-3

formation you can download below has become one of my favorite systemsas the movements from the players (with correct player preferred moves)

exploits spaces in a way that you can easily get into the final third by neatly

thread passes which looks to split the lines open.

While this tactic might seem more complex, it is based on providing a better

balance between the players responsibility and movements within the

framework of 2-3-2-3. It aims to overload a typical 4-4-2 formation or any

systems using a maximum of 4 midfielders as the formation transits from a

4-4-2 in the defensive phase to a 2-1-4-3 or a 2-5-3 in transition, while it

resembles more an asymmetric 3-3-4 formation in the attacking phase. Some

would also say it looks like a 2-3-5 when the opposition team is pinned back

into their own penalty box. But when the false nine drops deep to get the ball

in the attacking transition phase the formation can resemble a 2-4-4 formation

forcing the defensive line to stay deep rather than closing down the

movement of the false nine which gives him time to turn, get an overview of

the passing alternatives and importantly makes him able to dribble with the

ball at full speed against a retreating opposite block.


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False Nine dropping deep to create space to roam into for the inside

forwards and complete wingback attack.

The 2-3-2-3 system I hereby speak of aims to replicate how Guardiola wants

to overload on one side in order to open up space on the other to create

goalscoring opportunities from. As you will notie the triangles and rhombus’

shapes are more narrow which aids to create numerical superiority and better

opportunities to circulate the ball; both quicker and with an intention – to

penetrate from deep – getting the complete wingback free of marking on the

right while the inside forward left will stretch play giving the team the chance

to switch the ball over to the opposite flank.

[…] “You have to pass the ball with a clear

intention, with the aim of making it into the

opposition’s goal. It’s not about passing for the sake of

it” […]

[…] “The secret is to overload one side of the pitch

so that the opponent must tilt its own defence to cope

… so that they leave the other side weak. […] Then we

attack and score from the other side.” […]


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Here are two examples of the overload – the domination of possession, and

the intricate passing I want in order to successfully emulate the tiki taka:

While these screenshots where taken in the pre-season of my new Red Star

save, where tactical familiarity where around 60/100 for the majority of its

categories, which I will come back to in a later post, it shows my intention

when building this tactic. Despite the team had not the recommended player

preferred moves yet, or the abilities to play a possession tactic according to

my preferences you can clearly see some of its abilities. In order to give you a

better insight I will il lustrate this tactic on my tactics board.

Pep Confidential; The Inside Story of Pep

Guardiola’s First Season at Bayern Munich, Martí

Perarnau, 2014


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As you see, the system is build around more movements on the right side

compared to left. Most notably is the forward runs from the attacking complete

wingback into the space providing passing alternatives for Xavi, Messi andIniesta to switch the ball to. This is allowed as the right inside forward will sit

narrower running diagonally into the center as the false nine drops deep. The

deep lying playmaker (MCR) will provide cover for the CWB forward runs and

look to make play unpredictable by swapping between retaining possession

and play through balls from zone 14 – normally to the false nine or in to space

for the inside forward support to run onto.

While play is concentrated on the right will the advanced playmaker attack

look to get into the box by deep runs. He will provide a second option of

penetration as his dribbling and forward runs will look to destabilize the

opposite defensive block. I consider the left inside forward as the ‘main’

goalscorer as the false nine will prioritize to play killer passes into the penalty

box towards the left IF, who will exploit any spaces or gaps. But the deep

positoning of the inside forward right who will stay closer to the false nine will

be an ideal opportunity by them to play one twos with each other.


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The Inside forward support cuts inside to the edge of zone 14 and will play

through balls. Acting like a fake attacking midfielder he will look to

overload the half space coming / staying deep to get the ball while the

complete wingback stretches play down the right flank providing adilemma for the DC and DR.


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The positional system and players roaming into space creates an overload

against the defensive block. Here the false nine destabilize the defensive

block by dribbling creating space for the deep lying playmaker to exploit as

the center channel is left open.Note! The tactical system aims to leave the center (the penalty box) open

in order for the players to run into creating trouble since as many as 5-6

players are rushing at the opposite defensive line depending on the duty of

the left wingback.

You might notice a slight difference between the tactical system I here by

speak of in regard to the 2-3-5 which you can download below and the duty of

the left wingback provided in the download link. with the wingback given an

attacking duty in the flexible system the formation will resemble a 2-1-4-3

formation giving you more width and more overlaps occurring.

Some would argue that the wingback in support duty will give the deep lying

playmaker and the defenders an additional passing option when building out

from the back, I have simply wanted a lower mentality to provide cover for the

attacking runs of IF-A left and advanced playmaker attack (left). The

wingback support will not only look to counter the advanced position of the


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opposite winger (in attack duty) but it will stretch play vertically providing

space.

Published: 24.04.2015

Updated: N/A

File Size: 40Kb


Updated: N/A

File Size: 40Kb


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The Barcelona Tiki Taka

2-3-5 formation is

recommended to apply

against teams who play

with a lone forward;

4-2-3-1, 4-1-4-1 or any

variations where you

have one attacking

midfielder and one

forward, as it looks to

create numerical

superiority within the

defensive line as well as

quality superiority in the

DM-strata by moving the wing backs from the traditional fullback strata. This

is done to decrease the opposite wingers space providing more balance to

the team and create numerical superiority down the flanks as well in the

midfield line, especially when facing a 4-2-3-1 or 4-1-2-2-1 formation, as you

will be literally playing a 2-1-4-3 formation with wingbacks at attacking duty

when in possession. The 2-3-2-3 have then transformed from a 4-3-3 in the

defensive phase to a 2-1-4-3 when building out from the back (middle third) to

a 2-3-5 formation in the attacking third overloading the opposite team around

the penalty box.

The 2-3-2-3 -> 2-3-5 variant will be better against teams who utilize a deep

defensive block congesting play to the middle as you look to exploit the wide

areas of the pitch by overloading the flanks. Here the holding playmaker will

step up into the center midfield when needed creating a strong triangle in the

center while covering the center channel with the help of central defenders

who stay closer to each other compared to using the half back role. While I

prefer to use it against weaker opponents, the advanced wingbacks can

reduce the attacking abilities of the opposite inside forwards as they needs tospend more energy tracking back rather than utilizing their creativity in the

attacking third, which they are more comfortable doing.


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When the attacking wingbacks gets forward whenever possible, the inside

forwards (support duty) will cut diagonally into the middle, exploiting the half

space between the opposing fullbacks and central defenders. The movement

attracts the opposing markers attention which creates even more space down

the flanks the wingbacks can exploit from. Since the complete wingback

attack (right) will look to make an impact in the opposing half the deep lying

playmaker support will have an important job to cover for his runs. The main

ob of the deep lying playmaker support will be to retain possession, break the

lines with intelligent passes and provide some key passes from deeper

position.


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In regard to the single holding playmaker who will have a pivotal role, he will

look to intercept passes, win back the ball by stepping up in the midfield line

or drop back to increase the amount of passing options for the central

defenders when building out from the back. Here some would automatically

choose a regista or a defensive midfielder, but I have opted for the DLP

(defend) for this system as I need him to hold position in front of the central

defenders, both to provide depth in ball circulation but also to have an higher

creative freedom and level of mentality compared to the DM(d). Of course,

the choice of role for the single holding midfielder will be dependent of theuses of an AM or not or the role of the AM as it may be favorable to use a

player who close down more horizontal when facing a trequartista. From the

description of the defensive midfielder role, it states that the DM will also look

to hold up the ball while the team is reorganizing themselves which might

make him vulnerable to be pressured, reducing the passing tempo too much,

instead of recording an higher amount of passes (key passes and killer

passes when the opportunity is there) for the defensive midfielder.


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1 2 Next

Tags: Download Tactics, Downloads, FC Barcelona, FM13, FM15, Josep

Guardiola, Possession Tactics, Pressing, Tiki Taka

Espen manages Passion for Football Manager with

his unique vision providing the Football Manager

community with excellent tips & tricks since 2012.

The admin of Passion4FM is a real sports junkie

who follows all kinds of sport, particularly football

and cycling. The Football Manager veteran's main

interests are football tactics, spotting new emerging


Updated: N/A

File Size: 40Kb


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talents and youth development.

Website: http://www.passion4fm.com/

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66 Comments 1

• •

Tm Việt •

This is the demo video Tiki-Taka:

• •

TjP •

I don't know if I can wait any longer!!! :'(

• •

Passion for Football Manager •

Mod

Really sorry, I will provide people with the main contentinstead of publishing all the appendixes as I wanted

because of illness. So much valuable time have been

lost for me.

Stephen Murray•

Hi mate I downloaded your Tiki Taka 2-3-5

(Great Work) and made some adjustments. Ive


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