Replicate Cesc Fabregas' FM24 tactics with Como 1907! De Zerbi-inspired build-up, relational play & a Serie A-winning system. Download & dominate!
De Zerbi-Inspired Tactics, Relational Play, and a League-Winning FM24
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In the 23/24 season, Como 1907 were promoted to the Serie A for the first time in 21 years under the guidance of Welsh coach Osian Roberts and former Barcelona, Arsenal and Chelsea player Cesc Fabregas. In the Serie B last season, Como gained popularity due to the team’s style of play under the pair, as fans, neutrals and pundits alike drew striking comparisons of their style of play to Unai Emery’s Aston Villa and Roberto De Zerbi’s Brighton. Following promotion, Como 1907 drew even more eyes as they secured the ambitious signings of four-time Champions League winner Raphaël Varane, who would later go on to retire due to injury, and highly rated youngster Nico Paz from Varane’s former club, Real Madrid. These signings, along with a few key tactical tweaks, have seen Como defy expectations as they currently sit 13th in the Serie A, albeit with a gap of only two points between themselves and the relegation zone. In this article, I’ll be providing my brief analysis of Como’s tactics under Cesc Fabregas this season, before showcasing my recreation of their tactics on Football Manager 2024 and demonstrating the impeccable results said tactic achieved in testing. Firstly, let’s have a look at Como’s tactics!
De Zerbi-inspired Build-up
As aforementioned, Como’s style of play has drawn comparisons with Roberto De Zerbi’s Brighton team, and this is mainly due to what Como do (more in Serie B) in the build-up phase. When Como have goal-kicks, their centre-backs drop to the sides of the ‘keeper. From here, the ‘keeper will remain patient with the ball and won’t look to initiate the build-up phase until he is pressed. In the Serie B, this press would be the trigger for the ‘keeper to play a short pass into a midfielder who could then play a bounce-pass into the centre-back on their side to re-direct the opposition’s press. Whilst this can be seen in the Serie A from Como, you will now see Como’s ‘keeper looking to go long towards the striker, at times, to avert risk from the build-up phase.
Short, Quick Interchanges
A massive factor in Como’s style of play is their players’ relationships with one another, and how they can use these relationships to combine and interchange play using quick, short passes. To achieve this, unlike other relational systems, Como form a positional structure that can either be a 3-2-5 or a lop-sided 2-3-5. What makes Como’s positional structure so intriguing and different from the rest, however, is that Cesc Fabregas actively encourages one-twos and link-up play within this positional structure which adds another layer to Como’s attacking threat.
Let’s Break Down the Tactic
In Possession
When Como have the ball, they will look to dominate possession using a range of short and medium passes. Within this possession, Como are encouraged to play at a slightly higher tempo in order to move the opposition around and this allows them to initiate their relational patterns. Cesc Fabregas’ prioritizes central play and central overloads, and this will see his team collapse into narrow and central areas. At the time of writing, Como rank 3rd in the Serie A for take-ons and 5th in the Serie A for through balls, showing that they aren’t afraid to be more direct in possession. Finally, Como will regularly look to work the ball into the box and forge cut-back situations, as seen in Nico Paz’ goal vs Atalanta in their recent fixture.
In Transition
When Como lose the ball, they will immediately commit 3-4 players to an intense counter-press as they look to instantly regain possession. If they are successful in their counter-press, Como will look to hit their opponents on the counter-attack; If unsuccessful, Como will drop back into a compact mid-block structure. As previously mentioned, from goal-kicks, Como’s keeper will usually be patient in-possession and will wait with the ball and draw the press – from here, he’ll prioritise a short pass into a centre-back beside him. If he’s being closed down too quickly, he’ll go long towards the striker.
Out of Possession
When Como don’t have the ball, they will sit off teams in a compact mid-block where their defensive line will hold a higher line to condense the midfield space. From this mid-block, Como will pick and choose when to press the opponent on the ball, with the sole aim of forcing play into wide areas. Finally, when the opposition have goal-kicks, Como will hold a higher position to try and prevent the opposition from building up easily.
Player Roles
Sweeper-Keeper – Support
The ‘keeper in this system has a lot of responsibility, especially in-possession, as he will have to offer himself as a passing option at times and will have to be comfortable with the ball at his feet. When Como don’t have possession, the ‘keeper is relatively stationary in his positioning, however, he can come off his line to sweep up loose balls at times. Therefore, I felt this role was perfect. No additional instructions.
Full-Back – Attack
The right-back, Van Der Brempt, in this system is the more attacking of the two full-backs and will regularly push up higher and wider to look to overlap the right-winger. When he has the ball, Van Der Brempt is extremely aggressive and will often carry the ball towards the byline, from where he can set-up cut-back situations/put it on a plate for a tap-in by himself. Both full-backs’ positioning in this system is generally conservative, despite Van Der Brempt’s directness, hence the choice of the ‘Full-Back’ role, rather than the ‘Wing-Back’ role. Therefore, I felt this role was perfect, with the added instructions:
Ball-Playing Defender – Defend
The right centre-back, in this system, is the more adventurous of the two centre-backs, especially in regard to their passing. Additionally, having watched a few games and a few extended highlights videos of Como’s games, I recognised that the right centre-back was particularly keen on taking the odd long-shot or two when given time and space by the opposition, hence the only added instruction is ‘Shoot More Often’, as demonstrated below:
Central Defender – Defend
The left centre-back, on the other hand, is the more thoughtful and conservative on the ball, and will typically opt for a simple, short pass. Despite this, the centre-back can look for a risker pass if it becomes glaringly available, like an attacker in a big pocket of space. Additionally, the left centre-back can also go more direct with his passing range and can send a long-ball towards the striker. Therefore, I felt this role was ideal, with the added instructions:
Full-Back – Support
The left-back’s role in this system is rather simple. They must provide width when necessary, and must sit deeper and narrower than his full-back partner on the other side. This deeper, narrower movement can see the left-back become a wider third centre-back at times in-possession. Therefore, I felt this role was suitable, with the added instruction:
Anchor – Defend
The right-sided holding midfielder is the more defensively minded of the double-pivot and will mainly look to hold his position and break up opposition counter-attacks. In possession, the player must simply rotate possession and be available for a short pass. Therefore, I felt this role was ideal. No added instructions.
Deep-Lying Playmaker – Support
The left-sided holding midfielder, however, is the more progressive of the double-pivot and will look to follow the ball’s movement and offer himself as a passing option regularly. When Como have the ball, the left-sided holding midfielder can move wider on the left-side to link-up with the left-winger and left-back. From here, Como can fashion some unpredictable left-sided rotations. Therefore, I felt this role was perfect, with the added instruction:
Attacking Midfielder – Support
Nico Paz has been sensational for Como since signing in the summer, and his reported €6m transfer fee is looking more and more like a bargain as the games roll on. In this system, Nico Paz is asked to position himself in the left half-space, allowing the right-winger to invert from wide into the right half-space. Despite this, Nico Paz will regularly roam from his position and can even drop slightly deeper at times to receive the ball. When Nico Paz receives the ball, he’s beautifully bewildering and has the capabilities to produce something magical from nothing – whether that’s through a mazy dribble, a sumptuous pass or a stunning strike from distance; His left-foot is a wonderful wand. Lastly, when Como have worked cut-back situations, Nico Paz will usually camp just outside of the penalty area which creates a good angle for the wide player to find him – as seen from his recent goal vs Atalanta. Therefore, I felt this role was the closest I could get to recreating his magic, with the added instructions:
Inverted Winger – Support
In this position, Strefezza is asked to invert from the wide area to occupy the right half-space. From here, he can also roam from his position to help create situational overloads and/or to link-up with his team-mates – this is key to create the relational patterns. When he receives the ball, Strefezza can choose whether to drive at his opponent, link-up with his team-mates or play a through ball into the player making a run in-behind. Therefore, I felt this role was perfect, with the added instructions:
Inverted Winger – Attack
In this position, Fadera will do a lot of similar things to Strefezza, particularly as he’ll roam from his position to create situational overloads and create relational opportunities. However, due to Strefezza and Paz occupying the half-spaces, Fadera will mainly hold the width on the left-side. Therefore, as with Strefezza’s role, I felt this role was perfect, with the additional tweaked instructions:
Complete Forward – Support
In this position, Cutrone is asked to perform a number of different jobs for his team. If the ‘keeper/centre-back goes long towards him, he will have to try to control the ball and eventually lay it off to a team-mate. Additionally, Cutrone will roam wherever to help create situational overloads and to create relational opportunities. Finally, Cutrone will also regularly make runs in-behind to find through balls from his team-mates. Therefore, I felt this role was ideal, with the following instruction:
Results
Serie A
In the Serie A, we spectacularly overperformed as we WON THE LEAGUE with a 5-point difference between ourselves and Inter Milan. It wasn’t like this was a fluke either, as the xG table suggests we deservedly won the league and could’ve had an even bigger points margin between ourselves, and 2nd place. In our 38 league games, we scored a total of 89 goals and only conceded a total of 25 goals – both metrics of which we ranked 1st in the league for! Our 29 wins in 38 games gave us a win rate of around 76% across the league season.
Domestic Cups
The only other competition we entered this season was the Coppa Italia – surely, we couldn’t?
We couldn’t. A heart-breaking defeat on penalties, following a 0-0 draw, against Napoli in the Final was the difference between us and a famous Double. On our way to the final, we beat Fiorentina, Inter Milan, Juventus, Torino and Juve Stabia 1-2, 0-2, 0-1, 1-3 and 4-0 respectively.
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Conclusion
Despite their riches, few would’ve expected Como 1907 to be performing as well as they have done thus far in the Serie A following promotion from the Serie B just 8 months ago. However, despite his right-hand man Osian Roberts stepping back and allowing Cesc Fabregas to coach the team on his own, the Spaniard, and his quirky, exciting tactics, has the club 13th in the Serie A and dreaming of back-to-back Top-Flight campaigns for the first time since 2001/02 – 2002/03. In this article, I have provided my brief analysis of Como’s tactics under Cesc Fabregas, before showcasing my recreation of said tactics on Football Manager 2024 and demonstrating the impressive results the tactic achieved in testing. If you want a taste of this beautiful tactic, make sure to download the tactic using the link attached to this article and follow FM Blog and myself on our respective socials. I hope you have enjoyed this article, and I wish you much success with this tactic on your saves! Thanks for reading!
