retired_BrownVanilla

Thanks if anyone else has got any other tips on building this sort of formation then they are welcome

retired_e_fores

Just to note with Total Football - it is very important to have an excellent team to try and accomplish it. Don't bother trying it with Hartlepool or Accrington Stanley. It will only really work with the Barca's, Man Utd's, Real's, Bayern's etc of the world. The Dutch, Ajax, Hungarian and Real teams that essentially played total football were virtually the best in the world at the time on paper.

Also, Total Football is most famous for the flexibility in formations and the position interchanging but it's really effectiveness was through the following:
-Awareness of space
-Fast tempo and emphasis on attack (the Hungarians in the 50's essentially decided: "however many you score we'll double it")
-High closing down and heavy work rate as soon as possession is lost
-High defensive line and sweeper-keeper
-Fantastic technical ability (IMO Cruyff is the greatest footballer who ever lived)
-High levels of fitness

Teams of the time simply couldn't keep up with it all. The positional interchange took advantage of the emphasis on man marking at the time and the Dutch were considerably fitter and more active than their opponents (as were the Hungarians).

Recreating Total Voetbal (sp?) is possible in the modern game and in FM but probably without so much of the positional interchange since players are much more positionally orientated these days and zonal marking is the choice system. However a team playing with all the factors mentioned above is possible, though it must be nigh on a team of world beaters. All players must be strong in pretty much all three areas: technical, mental and physical (especially the latter 2).

retired_e_fores

^^^^^^^^^^^

Some awful grammar there....

retired_BrownVanilla

My first match using a 'catenaccio' tactic

\0/

retired_BrownVanilla

By the way I am newly promoted Halesowen against Boston - who are predicted to finish first.

retired_BrownVanilla

That experiment is now over, virtually impossible to do any good as due to the way the ME plays even if you have your players set to long passing, due to their mentality the will always pass backwards.

retired_lswearne

i think the M-W is one of the best formations ever created because its very well balanced and that the main reason why i like it. i am currentlly trying to recreate it(with the help of rashid1/cleon's ideas) with barcelona in fm08. this my first away game using the tactic; which i might post depending on how the first 10 games go.(note: i had already played 2 matches which i didnt lose before i created/tried the M-W tactic).

first match(statsplayer ratings
Team

As you can see i completely dominated the first match(dont forget that this was an away match) and the football was just amazing. i could have won the match by 5+ goals had all the players taken their oppotunities but a win is a win.

retired_lswearne

first 10 matches


i think the only reason i conceded too many goals is because puyol didn't play until the 5th match and by then i had already conceded 5 goals. then when i played the next 4 matches with him in defence i only conceded 1 goal only for him to get sent off in the 8th(?) match. i also lost marquez, puolsen(long term injury)to injuries + edmilson is still injured (in other words, my defense is very weak).

anyways i think the tactic is pretty good.(the game that i draw was because a player got sent off and it was just ' one of those games '.

retired_virginialaitano

I'm currently building a 433 that turns into a WW when i have the ball. The fullbacks get arrows to dmc spot. They form a 5 man midfield together with my dmc and 2 mc and the play is just beautifull. Depending on the opponent my striker or wingers( they play in the FL/FR position ) get back arrows to create space for running midfielders.

I've read a nice explenation of the total football system once, you basicly start with a 433 with an amc or dmc it doesnt matter. Then during the game you try to man 12 positions.

FL S FR
AMC
ML MR
DMC
DL DC DC DR
GK

Most of the time the shape will go from a 433 to a 343 with the fullbacks filling up the ML MR spot or the centrebacks taking the DMC spot. In the dutch national team during the 70s Cruijff used to drop back to the midfield alot to create space for the wingers or oncomming midfielders like van Hanegem( one of the best players ever and amazingly he only had 20% vision in his right eye and 5% in his left ). In my opinion its the best possible system and almost impossible to recreate in FM, you have to choose for either fullbacks or centrebacks to move up to the midfield, this will largely depend on the starting form of the 433, if you're playing with an AMC the centrebacks move up and if you're playing with a dmc the fullbacks go up.

The defence will be the hardest thing to recreate in FM but it will be a nice challenge I'm willing to take.

retired_kellyk

That's a challenge...recreate them all to some extent.