Here's how you can emulate the famous 4-3-3 Tiki Taka tactic by Pep Guardiola in Football Manager 2022.
Here's how you can emulate the famous 4-3-3 Tiki Taka tactic by Pep
Guardiola in Football Manager 2022. This is not a plug and play tactic so
some tinkering around to suit your team is needed.
When you play Football Manager 2022, it is always good to have more tactical
strings to your bow. In this latest set of tactical articles, we can help you
to find the right formation and style for your team. In this article, we will
cover a possession dominant team that plays in a modern 4-3-3 formation.
As one of the most dominant philosophies of the last twenty years, high possession football – dubbed ‘tiki taka’ by some – has become the stock and trade of a dominant football team. With football so broken into hierarchies these days, teams who see most of the ball in their week to week matches might choose to apply such a formation to their team.
When you have a team that can attack the opposition by wearing them down (usually potential league champions or teams with good transfer budgets relative to their league) you should build a possession-heavy team. Most of the bigger clubs find it hard to build a team that focuses mostly on the counter, as smaller clubs tend to sit in and try to stop a bigger club from finding space.
With that in mind, then, you should play a possession system when you:
There are many shapes which allow you to keep the ball and dominate the
match, that much is true. However, for most, the 4-3-3 is the perfect system
to use. The 4-3-3 works well as a ‘tiki taka’ style shape because it gives
you midfield dominance. Your ‘6’ – the holding midfielder – is your most
important player. They should be able to intercept and win possession back
in midfield, recycle the ball to the other creators in midfield, and also
help out with defending set-pieces.
At the same time, the ‘6’ has to be able to take the ball from your central defenders and then find either the full-backs or a more progressive central midfielder. Since this entire system is built around tight, close, intricate passing, you want to focus heavily on building a team that sticks close together.
4-3-3- works well for this as there is often not much space between each section of your team. Your back-line is always in a good place between keeper and midfield. Your midfield covers the holding and central areas, and your wide attackers are in a more attacking midfield position.
The end result is a team that is very tight, hard to break through, and can easily keep the ball due to not having to make ambitious passes through the line.
As you build this team and style, you want to try and focus on how your team is going to play.
The main things to focus on as you try to build a ball-dominant 4-3-3 formation is to focus heavily on implementing the following attributes:
· Forward Thinking. Make sure you set your team up in a Positive mentality. This makes your team more inclined to keep the ball, and slowly but surely create overlaps through probing gaps. It reduces the desire of your team to shell the ball forward and look for killer passes.
The main things to think about when building a team like this is how effective they can be at making the actual style work. Since all of your instructions can force your team to basically avoid through passes behind, the aim is to progress the ball with quick, short passing from side to side.
You will notice that your shot counts are smaller than with other tactics, but your xG should improve. Why? Because teams like this wear down the opposition with regular passing, and tend to be great at creating high quality chances. By forcing the play down the flanks and with short passing, you make sure your team is constantly recycling the ball and getting the roaming wide players involved.
This results in a team that can attack with precision and defend as a unit as the team shape stays very rigid. If you are having trouble with some more maverick minded players, use the Be More Disciplined team instruction to further demand players stick to your passing style.
READ MORE: Football Manager 2022 Tactics Download Area
As one of the most dominant philosophies of the last twenty years, high possession football – dubbed ‘tiki taka’ by some – has become the stock and trade of a dominant football team. With football so broken into hierarchies these days, teams who see most of the ball in their week to week matches might choose to apply such a formation to their team.
Why should I play this system?
When you have a team that can attack the opposition by wearing them down (usually potential league champions or teams with good transfer budgets relative to their league) you should build a possession-heavy team. Most of the bigger clubs find it hard to build a team that focuses mostly on the counter, as smaller clubs tend to sit in and try to stop a bigger club from finding space.
With that in mind, then, you should play a possession system when you:
- Want to use the technical superiority of your team to wear down the opposition.
- Feel like our team is more technically adept than most/all of your domestic league.
- Have the squad depth to replace technical players with a similar technical standard.
- Lack pace to break teams down in behind, and/or lack the height to compete in a 50-50 game.
- Need a system that can ensure your best players get to see the ball as much as they require.
The shape of your team
At the same time, the ‘6’ has to be able to take the ball from your central defenders and then find either the full-backs or a more progressive central midfielder. Since this entire system is built around tight, close, intricate passing, you want to focus heavily on building a team that sticks close together.
4-3-3- works well for this as there is often not much space between each section of your team. Your back-line is always in a good place between keeper and midfield. Your midfield covers the holding and central areas, and your wide attackers are in a more attacking midfield position.
The end result is a team that is very tight, hard to break through, and can easily keep the ball due to not having to make ambitious passes through the line.
The instructions for your team
As you build this team and style, you want to try and focus on how your team is going to play.
When your team has possession
The main things to focus on as you try to build a ball-dominant 4-3-3 formation is to focus heavily on implementing the following attributes:
· Forward Thinking. Make sure you set your team up in a Positive mentality. This makes your team more inclined to keep the ball, and slowly but surely create overlaps through probing gaps. It reduces the desire of your team to shell the ball forward and look for killer passes.
· Ball Control. Next, you need to focus on using the Much Shorter
Passing and Play Out of Defence team instructions. Along with Slightly
Higher Tempo, this means that your team will look to play fast, one-two
touch passing without looking for killer balls in behind.
· Spread The Pitch. Focus, too, on attacking down the wings. You should be looking to use features like Whipped Crosses and Work Ball Into Box. Whipped crosses suit the need to find an attacker in space in the box with pace; Work Ball Into Box again reduces kill balls and long shots.
· Aggressive Defending. Tiki Taka teams use aggressive defensive pressing. Use the Counter-Press team instruction, and pair that up with Much Higher Defensive Line and Much Higher Line of Engagement. Get Stuck In, Prevent GK Short Distribution and Offside Trap are a must as well.
The above facets of your game are going to play a major role in making sure your team attacks and defends as it is supposed to; a solid, joined-up unit.
· You make sure that your team does not break shape and try to run in behind, which is not always possible in a team built for this style.
· You reduce the gaps in the team, as your teams' players tend to be more focused on playing short passes as opposed to breaking shape to run in behind.
· Your team can use its ball-dominant features with players roaming around and moving inside. the use of Inverted Wingers and (at least one) Advanced Playmaker in central midfield adds roaming.
· The team is less likely to break the plans of the system by keeping the ball where it should be. This stops ambitious passing, instead forcing your team to be very smart with its ball playing.
· Spread The Pitch. Focus, too, on attacking down the wings. You should be looking to use features like Whipped Crosses and Work Ball Into Box. Whipped crosses suit the need to find an attacker in space in the box with pace; Work Ball Into Box again reduces kill balls and long shots.
· Aggressive Defending. Tiki Taka teams use aggressive defensive pressing. Use the Counter-Press team instruction, and pair that up with Much Higher Defensive Line and Much Higher Line of Engagement. Get Stuck In, Prevent GK Short Distribution and Offside Trap are a must as well.
The above facets of your game are going to play a major role in making sure your team attacks and defends as it is supposed to; a solid, joined-up unit.
The main reason for these settings are quite simple:
· You make sure that your team does not break shape and try to run in behind, which is not always possible in a team built for this style.
· You reduce the gaps in the team, as your teams' players tend to be more focused on playing short passes as opposed to breaking shape to run in behind.
· Your team can use its ball-dominant features with players roaming around and moving inside. the use of Inverted Wingers and (at least one) Advanced Playmaker in central midfield adds roaming.
· The team is less likely to break the plans of the system by keeping the ball where it should be. This stops ambitious passing, instead forcing your team to be very smart with its ball playing.
Closing thoughts
The main things to think about when building a team like this is how effective they can be at making the actual style work. Since all of your instructions can force your team to basically avoid through passes behind, the aim is to progress the ball with quick, short passing from side to side.
You will notice that your shot counts are smaller than with other tactics, but your xG should improve. Why? Because teams like this wear down the opposition with regular passing, and tend to be great at creating high quality chances. By forcing the play down the flanks and with short passing, you make sure your team is constantly recycling the ball and getting the roaming wide players involved.
This results in a team that can attack with precision and defend as a unit as the team shape stays very rigid. If you are having trouble with some more maverick minded players, use the Be More Disciplined team instruction to further demand players stick to your passing style.
