Total Football

[SperoM]

Total Football

(I apologize if I missed a topic on this already)

So this is something I’ve always wanted to implement, but haven’t really understood how to implement it properly, or work with it properly in the past. I feel like I’ve developed a lot as a manager for various reasons (this forum, blogs, videos, and being involved with organizing tactics IRL), so this is a project I really want to take on. I know I started an ‘attacking football’ topic before, but then Cleon and co. came out with their own so I kind of abandoned it (I did end up creating a successful attacking tactic from some of my own discoveries and using info from those guys, but anyway).

I’m of Dutch heritage, my parents were born in the Netherlands and I’ve always really admired the Dutch philosophy of football. I still watch old footage here and there and love the technical, flowing, beautiful displays that they had (before the van Gaal/de Boer school of thought crept in). So in order to emulate that style what is it that I’m going to be looking for? The things I need to address when building this team are, in order for me anyway, the Mentality/Structure, the team instructions and style, and finally the roles and shape for the team on how I can get it to best emulate how I envision the flowing style of ‘total football’ to work.

Mentality and Shape

For me the two that immediately stick out as being the most suitable are ‘Control’ and ‘Very Fluid’ – I want my team to be vertically compact, fast paced, creative and attack minded, but also intelligent and economical will the ball. These two seem to fit the bill perfectly so they will be where I start as a base and ‘tweak’ from (it may be better to go with ‘fluid’ than ‘very fluid’ because of the engine, but anyway).

Instructions and Style

So what makes ‘Total Football’ well, exactly that? It’s more than the creativity and fluidity. It’s attacking football that gets the whole team involved and moving. It’s football that aims to create bad decisions and hectic time on the ball when the opponent is in possession. It’s also football that is nice to watch. I’m not going to touch the tempo or width for now, as in the ‘Control’ setting they’re already sufficient for what I’m looking to accomplish – I think. Because of the way certain settings are influenced by team instructions I may opt to widen the pitch and potentially slow down the play (as well as any in game changes I need to make for specific opponents).

A very important principle of this style of play is that you want to give your opponent as little time on the ball as possible, and to close them down in an intelligent manner. For that reason, even though Control comes with a higher line anyway, I’m setting the height of the defensive line, as well as the closing down, to be as high as possible. I don’t set to ‘prevent short GK distribution’ because if possible I prefer it – try and let them have a build-up the most dangerous attacks against this team are going to be long balls over the top anyway. Tighter marking I chose to avoid, simply because I’m not sure as to how it’s going to affect the team shape as well as the propensity to be in open space when I win the ball back. ‘Stay on Feet’ seems to be intuitive as well – tackling has never been a hallmark of the Oranje or Cryuff led teams, instead they are masters of space and cutting out space and to do that I don’t want my players frequently going to ground or jumping in on the opponent.

The build-up, as you would expect, will have to start from the back and make its way forward, but I also don’t want possession for the sake of possession – I want my team to move the ball around with purpose so I’ll be going with ‘shorter passing’ because the quick pass and move style is best emulated that way, but not ‘retain possession’ because of what’s mentioned above (and by selecting shorter passing the width of the team is automatically affected, and may cause me to opt to manually change the width to be wider, but the build up a bit slower in that case so the passes are not cut out so easily or forced).

Finally, in the attacking third I’ll have ‘look for Overlap’ which will be useful due to the wingbacks (as you’ll see). The only other setting from this side that fits in, for me, is Work Ball Into Box – it just makes sense that you don’t want to just throw the ball away…keep in mind this doesn’t mean you can’t take long shots at all, but it will limit the amount to only the fairly good opportunities from range which good shooters can still take advantage of, and it also means less speculative crossing, etc. I’m tempted to tick run at the defence, as the attackers tend to have a high element of creativity and flair, but for now I’ve just left it as is – I want a lot of passing still, and a nice passing play in the final third is just as good as creating space with dribbling, due to the fluidity setting I trust my players to make their own decisions on that front for now.

Formation and Roles

This is, for me, the hardest part. Once you have a philosophy implemented, and a style you want to play, you have to figure out a formation and roles that apply to those, which involves knowing a lot about the roles, how they interact with eachother, the space on the pitch, their tendencies, etc. I decided to build from the back forward.

Formation: First and foremost, I needed a formation. The two main ones that seem to apply are the 4-3-3 and the 3-4-3. They don’t need to be viewed as different, either, there’s a lot of versatility to the actual formation that you put down on the tactic board, and the one that develops on the field of play with and without the ball. I ended up going with the 4-3-3 (or as they have it, the 4-1(DM)-2-3, but I think there are a lot of elements to the instructions and player roles that will have it acting like a 3-4-3 at times. Then, after that is established, I decided to go with the roles from back to front.

SK (S) – With such a high line I’m going to want a keeper that isn’t afraid to step out of his box a little when called upon, and I also want a keeper that can contribute a bit to the passing game when necessary. I have given him individual instructions to distribute to the centrebacks and roll it out because I’m not a big fan of my keeper tossing or kick it long.

WB (A), both sides – I thought about this for a while, and to me this seems like the most natural role to choose for the ‘fullbacks’ in a back 4 for this particular system. They’re going to run up the sides and cause havoc as well as overlap as much as possible giving options for my more advanced players. They won’t contribute as much in defence, but hopefully they will make up for it in winning possession when possible and because of the rest of my set-up.

BPD (X), both cbs – I want my defenders to all be comfortable on the ball, and all be able to contribute to the fluid, creative attack as well. They aren’t just there to cut out danger, but to also step up and get involved in the play. The ‘stopper’ choice I think will be necessary because of how much the WBs are going to be getting forward, and because of…

HB (D) - …this guy! Because of the way he influences the shape around him and drops back into the defensive line, it kind of perfectly emulates the formation that Cruyff has talked about before with the wingbacks going forward and the middle guy stepping back while the two other defenders push out and close down (especially defending against only one striker, which is very common). Because of him, I think, I will effectively have a 3-4-3 with the wingbacks providing width to the midfield, and all of this in a very compact (from front to back) shape so there are not huge gaps between the lines for our build-up.

CM (S), both – Here I like to have two midfielders that can contribute to both attack and defence, and will contribute to possession quite well. They need to be tireless, but not opposed to making runs forward as well. This role doesn’t need a whole lot of explaining – they do a lot, and I’m trying to avoid specialized roles in keeping with the fluid theme, for now.

IF (S), both sides – Again keeping with what I said above, I want my AMR and AML to be more like forwards, but also contribute to every part of the play from defence, to build-up and finally the ‘finishing’ of chances that should be created from just about everywhere.

DLF (A) – Now this is the role I probably struggled the most with. I just can’t think of what fits perfectly here. I want someone that is going to be a direct threat which screams an attacking option, but I also want him involved in the build-up to create chances for others, but then I also don’t want too many players shooting ‘risky passes’ all over the place without anyone necessarily getting on the other end of them. I thought about using a defensive forward, but I also want my striker to be a creative threat in terms of the way he approaches the opposition defence, not just playing it simple and getting into space. So this role could still see change (my initial thought was F9, and then possibly DF (S)), but for now I think this exemplifies what I am looking for nicely.

When it’s all said and done we end up with this:

Mentality – Control

Shape – Very Fluid

Team Instructions – Much Higher Defensive Line, Close Down Much More, Stay on Feet, Play out of Defence, Shorter Passing, Look for Overlap and Work Ball Into Box.

DLF (A)

IF (S) --------------------------- IF (S)

CM (S) --- CM (S)

HB (D)

WB (A) --- BPD (X) --- BPD (X) --- WB (A)

SK (S)

Up next? Picking a team to test out this system and then building it into club DNA and a sustainable philosophy.

[Fosse]

I might gave a go at this as well, I'm bored with how my side play and I want a clear identity to hone in on

[wwxxyyzz]

Looks interesting, initially I'd have thought that two centre backs as stoppers might cause problems with through balls?

For me, this is basically my ideal type of football and something I have strived for in all generations of FM

Finally, surely you should be choosing Ajax as the club to manage!

[HaroldHammond]

I like the look of this mate, good luck with it, I'll be keeping an eye on it!

[Oppiiz]

Will be looking forward to read about this! Giiiveee me more to read Always did fancy TF. But never got the hang of it

[SperoM]

Looks interesting, initially I'd have thought that two centre backs as stoppers might cause problems with through balls?

For me, this is basically my ideal type of football and something I have strived for in all generations of FM

Aha, well I think that's what the half back is supposed to be for. At least in the description it says it acts as more of an aggressive sweeper and I was under the impression that he would drop deep while the centrebacks pushed up on the line. In practice it hasn't exactly worked like that so we'll see if that needs some tweaking.

Also I'm the same as you. I really admire this style of football and at the end of the day it's what I'd like to create -- and not only for this FM, but as a blueprint so that I can adapt and apply it in the future as well.

Finally, surely you should be choosing Ajax as the club to manage!

Haha, I don't think so. Don't get me wrong I love them, and obviously they are one of the progenitors, but I'm a Heerenveen boy and I also wanted to start with a team that has some big talents, but low expectations so that I could take my time to really tweak and have some trial and error without worrying about getting sacked or not being given the time to implement my vision.

I will say this though. So far, the results are pretty positive.

[wwxxyyzz]

I'd definitely be interested in reading more about how your tactic has developed and the problems you've encountered

[SperoM]

Well, I'll have a big update tonight complete with screenshots, but before then I'll just delve into the team that I decided to go with. But, first let me clarify that I am doing this on FMT (I've never used it before, but I have two full FM careers going that are quite time consuming and I wanted to do this with fairly quick, regular updates.

Die Adler

So, as you can see I've decided that I will go with Eintracht Frankfurt. Why? Well, I wanted a team that didn't have the burden of overly high expectations for my first season. I had a feeling there'd be a bunch of tweaking and it also meant that I could take my time to find and develop some players that really fit into my philosophy. On top of this they are my favourite German team and the one I follow and cheer for in the BuLi, they have a wealth of young talent and are generally producing young talent, and I really like a few of their more experienced players as well.

Pillars of the team will be guys like Oczipka, Stendera and Waldschmidt, all of whom I really like IRL and in the game (and you'll see they all play big roles in the team even in the first season). If not for his injury issues Kittel would also be a leading talent, and though he is still a good young player I doubt he'll ever be a leading player for my team despite his versatility. Reinartz, Chandler, Meier and Aigner all provide good experienced options that I'd also like to keep for a while. I don't start off with a huge budget in the first window, so I believe my only buys end up being Oscar Lewicki, Jonathan Bamba and Bryan Heynen for some added youth and depth.

Anyway, I won't give away too much (but I'll post tonight). There was indeed some tweaking and some of my initial beliefs about my set-up were right, and some were wrong. I'm just over half way through the first season I think.

[wwxxyyzz]

Well, I'll have a big update tonight complete with screenshots, but before then I'll just delve into the team that I decided to go with. But, first let me clarify that I am doing this on FMT (I've never used it before, but I have two full FM careers going that are quite time consuming and I wanted to do this with fairly quick, regular updates.

Die Adler

So, as you can see I've decided that I will go with Eintracht Frankfurt. Why? Well, I wanted a team that didn't have the burden of overly high expectations for my first season. I had a feeling there'd be a bunch of tweaking and it also meant that I could take my time to find and develop some players that really fit into my philosophy. On top of this they are my favourite German team and the one I follow and cheer for in the BuLi, they have a wealth of young talent and are generally producing young talent, and I really like a few of their more experienced players as well.

Pillars of the team will be guys like Oczipka, Stendera and Waldschmidt, all of whom I really like IRL and in the game (and you'll see they all play big roles in the team even in the first season). If not for his injury issues Kittel would also be a leading talent, and though he is still a good young player I doubt he'll ever be a leading player for my team despite his versatility. Reinartz, Chandler, Meier and Aigner all provide good experienced options that I'd also like to keep for a while. I don't start off with a huge budget in the first window, so I believe my only buys end up being Oscar Lewicki, Jonathan Bamba and Bryan Heynen for some added youth and depth.

Anyway, I won't give away too much (but I'll post tonight). There was indeed some tweaking and some of my initial beliefs about my set-up were right, and some were wrong. I'm just over half way through the first season I think.

Watching with keen interest mate

[tmpnd]

Though i'm not an AFC Ajax's total football fanatic, i did see it on TV sometimes and later i went to know it better while playing FM because well... it's very similar to my playstyle!

And when i say similar i do mean it. I'm a huge fan of a half back acting as a false-5 (Just some random, jokeful term i invented for a false CB) and i'm also a huge fan of inside forwards. I've had a lot of success with it playing as Everton the past few seasons (Curiously they had a number of former Ajax players), but i haven't tried this one just yet.

I remember though that it was something like this:

Lukaku / CF(S)

Deulofeu / IF(S) ----------------------- Mirallas /IF(A)

------------ Barkley / CM(A) --- Gibson / CM(S) ------------

---------------------- McCarthy / HB(D) ---------------------

Baines / WB(A) ------------------------------------- Coleman / WB S)

------------ Jagielka / BPD(D) --- Stones / BPD(D) ------------

Howard / SK(D)

Mentality: Control

Fludity: Fluid

Instructions: Much higher def line, close down more, shorter passing, work ball, roam from positions, distribute to CBs, higher tempo.

As in every Everton save i've played in this game, i taught McCarthy to stay back all times, Barkley to arrive late (It's kinda hard to describe his role in this team really, it should be a much more vertical interpretation of a BBM) and Lukaku to come deep to get ball.

It was pretty fun and worked wonders. It was also very entertaining to watch. The higher tempo made up for the not very-fluid shape in terms of total footballness. The main reason to not use very fluid is because i see it much more as a in-match option (Like Contain and Overload, stuff you never go out with). Plus Gibson was played as DLP at times to put some long balls in.

To my disappointment, RM decided to get (insert fetid bad word here) players like Lennon and Niassé who are mainly wingers. There's also RFM, who's much more of a limited defender. Not to mention Gibson became one of these useless players due to high injury proneness, his long shots were the real deal. I miss fm14.

[Oppiiz]

Nothing new? Was waiting that night

[CybrSlydr]

I just did a plug/play one game in my AS St Etienne save vs Ajaccio (or something like that) with this as I already use a Control mentality but Flexible formation as well as the same 4-1-2-3 you use.

Got me a 2-0 win.

So... Take that for the minimal statistical value it's worth. lol

[SperoM]

Nothing new? Was waiting that night

Sorry, just life stuff. Will have something up tonight. Trying to be detailed and thorough, heh.

[SperoM]

The Early Times

So I'm going to show you this image first:

Unfortunately the very first game we played was a bit skewed. I got a red card pretty early on, but there was still some useful information before that happened. Still, I'll show the lead-up to the red card:

So you can see that, as I kind of figured, quick breaks the other way are going to be a thorn in my side. The defenders are going to be integral to this system because not only will they have to make smart decisions (like taking out this last guy) they need to be capable on the ball. Anyway, my defender makes a stupid decision and smashes the guy who gets the ball down. Still, if we rewind a bit...

Here you can see the system we're trying to implement at work. In the first image you see the team defending in the 4-3-3 with the narrow midfield and supporting wingers coming back to help out. It's a good defensive system, and the DLF is making his way back as well.

In the second image you see what we're looking at in attack, and it happens really quickly. As soon as we receive the ball the formation shifts to the 3-4-3 with the wingbacks pushing up on the midfield, the three forwards playing a bit narrower while the halfback drops back and the CBs come forward to provide a fairly flat back 3. So in theory the actual tactic itself it working as intended in terms of the shapes it's creating. Now we have to look at what the football looks like that we've created with these shapes, mentality, roles and instructions.

I didn't want to tweak too much too early, so what I ended up doing was letting the matches run through (with some subbing and whatnot) and then I decided I would go back and watch them afterwards to see what was going on, what was going right and what wasn't working. As you can see despite the results I wasn't exactly dominating or getting a lot of "chances" (though they are not always a perfect measure of the actual chances in the game). Unfortunately, my initial suspicions about the tactic were right -- the tempo and the width seemed to need to change because even though stylistically a lot of things were being done right (shape, length of passing, movement, etc.) the ball was getting intercepted wayyyy too much and causing my team to be very out of shape and easy to hit on the counter (and with that high line it was hurting).

So, to the original tactic I made three little tweaks that made a world of difference. I set the tempo to "lower", the width to "slightly narrower" and I changed the DLF to a False 9 (I felt the DLF wasn't really doing his job well enough, at least not in the way I wanted him to in regards to this tactic, I considered using a Trequartista but I want my forward to still be involved in defending as well).

That was the first game after the change. A big difference in terms of complete dominance (obviously against a very low level team, but still). It led to this being the run of results:

Not so bad! The football has mostly been nice. I think the quality of player Frankfurt have has been letting the team down at times, but the tactic at the moment is working beautifully. The next step in really developing this from a great tactic that requires very few tweaks depending on the opponent, into a team's lifeblood and DNA, is figuring out what attributes best fit the positions we have set out and not just the roles themselves, but also how those roles will fit into the team.

(I apologize that I don't have a capture card so I can't post videos. )

Will take questions though and try to dig up screenshots or other things if I can.

[wwxxyyzz]

I've had some success with a similar system on the new patch (16.3)

Currently managing Sunderland, so not a brilliant team by any means but I'm currently 3rd in the table after 16 games. Had a poor start, but as my players got used to the tactic (and some small tweaks) I've put a winning run together

At times the football is glorious, but I don't think I have the players yet to really have proper success

[wwxxyyzz]

The Early Times

So I'm going to show you this image first:

Unfortunately the very first game we played was a bit skewed. I got a red card pretty early on, but there was still some useful information before that happened. Still, I'll show the lead-up to the red card:

So you can see that, as I kind of figured, quick breaks the other way are going to be a thorn in my side. The defenders are going to be integral to this system because not only will they have to make smart decisions (like taking out this last guy) they need to be capable on the ball. Anyway, my defender makes a stupid decision and smashes the guy who gets the ball down. Still, if we rewind a bit...

Here you can see the system we're trying to implement at work. In the first image you see the team defending in the 4-3-3 with the narrow midfield and supporting wingers coming back to help out. It's a good defensive system, and the DLF is making his way back as well.

In the second image you see what we're looking at in attack, and it happens really quickly. As soon as we receive the ball the formation shifts to the 3-4-3 with the wingbacks pushing up on the midfield, the three forwards playing a bit narrower while the halfback drops back and the CBs come forward to provide a fairly flat back 3. So in theory the actual tactic itself it working as intended in terms of the shapes it's creating. Now we have to look at what the football looks like that we've created with these shapes, mentality, roles and instructions.

I didn't want to tweak too much too early, so what I ended up doing was letting the matches run through (with some subbing and whatnot) and then I decided I would go back and watch them afterwards to see what was going on, what was going right and what wasn't working. As you can see despite the results I wasn't exactly dominating or getting a lot of "chances" (though they are not always a perfect measure of the actual chances in the game). Unfortunately, my initial suspicions about the tactic were right -- the tempo and the width seemed to need to change because even though stylistically a lot of things were being done right (shape, length of passing, movement, etc.) the ball was getting intercepted wayyyy too much and causing my team to be very out of shape and easy to hit on the counter (and with that high line it was hurting).

So, to the original tactic I made three little tweaks that made a world of difference. I set the tempo to "lower", the width to "slightly narrower" and I changed the DLF to a False 9 (I felt the DLF wasn't really doing his job well enough, at least not in the way I wanted him to in regards to this tactic, I considered using a Trequartista but I want my forward to still be involved in defending as well).

That was the first game after the change. A big difference in terms of complete dominance (obviously against a very low level team, but still). It led to this being the run of results:

Not so bad! The football has mostly been nice. I think the quality of player Frankfurt have has been letting the team down at times, but the tactic at the moment is working beautifully. The next step in really developing this from a great tactic that requires very few tweaks depending on the opponent, into a team's lifeblood and DNA, is figuring out what attributes best fit the positions we have set out and not just the roles themselves, but also how those roles will fit into the team.

(I apologize that I don't have a capture card so I can't post videos. )

Will take questions though and try to dig up screenshots or other things if I can.

How have you got on? Any interesting things to report?

[rninejr]

no offense but if u're talking about Rinus Michels' Total Football, I believe it's still not possible to be replicated/emulated for now. The main reason is the vertical positioning switch between players can't be emulated by the current match engine. There is no way a DC can go upfront like a striker ready to break an offside trap, neither a STC can go back as deep as a DC while his team is in possession. Wide defenders-wide midfielders/wide forwards can do that to a certain degree but still not as extreme as Ajax n The Netherlands back then. Not to mention Cruyff's movement was so fluid that he appeared to play multiple positions in just a match. Left Winger, Central defender, Center Forward, Center Midfielder. U name it, he did, except the GK position. Basically, in a pure Total Football, no one except the GK has a fixed position.

A very important principle of this style of play is that you want to give your opponent as little time on the ball as possible, and to close them down in an intelligent manner. For that reason, even though Control comes with a higher line anyway, I’m setting the height of the defensive line, as well as the closing down, to be as high as possible. I don’t set to ‘prevent short GK distribution’ because if possible I prefer it – try and let them have a build-up the most dangerous attacks against this team are going to be long balls over the top anyway. Tighter marking I chose to avoid, simply because I’m not sure as to how it’s going to affect the team shape as well as the propensity to be in open space when I win the ball back. ‘Stay on Feet’ seems to be intuitive as well – tackling has never been a hallmark of the Oranje or Cryuff led teams, instead they are masters of space and cutting out space and to do that I don’t want my players frequently going to ground or jumping in on the opponent.

to avoid being booked in modern era is an acceptable decision, but since u mentioned Cruyff's name, here is, a proof of what exactly the dutch led by Cruyff did when they lost possession

[video=youtube;qj9kpoD0Wnk]

it is far from Stay on Feet. U can also see how tight they mark opposition players. I myself prefer to play abit rough too, by giving more advanced players "tackle harder" n "tight Marking" instructions, individually.

The most important principle of Total Football lies on its fluid positional switch between 10 outfield players, to confuse opposition, create space, as well to reserve stamina and maintain the team's shape. For Example, if Cruyff, the main playmaker, drop deep far behind, leaving his original STC position, someone (usually Neeskens) will move up n become a striker to fill the STC position upfront, n then someone else will fill the position left by Neeskens. The rest of the team will adjust themselves with this switching accordingly. In this case, if they lost possession immediately before doing another positional switch, Cruyff can act as a defender since he is still at the deep area. Neeskens doesnt need to come back to his original Central Midfielder position but instead, stays upfront in case an opportunity to counter attack arise. This way they can save abit of their stamina n there is no need for each player to go back to each's original position, make it easier to maintain shape and avoid wasting time.

the second principle is cohesive movement while the third is what we call "gegenpressing" nowadays, albeit more spartan n rougher

tbh, it is quite surprising for a dutch descendant like u to describe The netherlands with " tackling has never been its hallmark" especially the team in Cruyff's era which is known as one of the roughest teams ever. At modern time, u can see Edgard Davids or Nigel De Jong as examples that The netherlands is more than capable to play it rough.

Finally, in the attacking third I’ll have ‘look for Overlap’ which will be useful due to the wingbacks (as you’ll see). The only other setting from this side that fits in, for me, is Work Ball Into Box – it just makes sense that you don’t want to just throw the ball away…keep in mind this doesn’t mean you can’t take long shots at all, but it will limit the amount to only the fairly good opportunities from range which good shooters can still take advantage of, and it also means less speculative crossing, etc. I’m tempted to tick run at the defence, as the attackers tend to have a high element of creativity and flair, but for now I’ve just left it as is – I want a lot of passing still, and a nice passing play in the final third is just as good as creating space with dribbling, due to the fluidity setting I trust my players to make their own decisions on that front for now.

it is more a description of tiki-taka, or Pep Guardiola's approach rather than Total Football. In total football, They can attack in different ways, quick or slow, but not playing too safe. Long shots and Speculative Crossings were common for them, especially crossing was one of The Netherlands main routes to score since they were playing wide, using the maximum width of the pitch. Quick Counter Attack was also their strong point, as well as short pass oriented style. wether they play fast or Slow, they didnt play too safe because The Netherlands pressing was so effective back then, quickly regain the ball in seconds after they lost it. Sometimes they even looked so fierce, bombarding opposition GK with simultaneous shots from different players, even from tight angles.

a good thread u've made, but it's not total football. it is your own concept of the style u want to achieve.

[Jean0987654321]

I think OP had the idea like me with this thread but I've been told too many times already that Total Football is impossible to emulate in this game. Juego De Posecion too. The ME has come a long way with tactics as well but it's gonna take years until we can allow for interchanging with multiple players...

[ajsr1982]

There's a huge issue with trying to replicate any tactic that came before 1990, and that is the introduction of the backpass rule, which fundamentally changed the tempo of football matches and the way in which it was possible to play. I don't think you have enough roles with 'Roam From Position' built into them to call this total football, or some modern variant of it.

The closest thing we have to total football these days is the natural evolution of it - Barcelona/Spain's tiki-taka.

The other thing with total football is that it was achieved by the Dutch/Ajax team working much harder than their opponents, which involves being substantially fitter (whether achieved by fair means or foul - Jonathan Wilson's Inverting The Pyramid provides some interesting insights over the (alleged) legitimacy of this), something which you simply can't implement in FM.

I tried to have a go at this in FM15, and ended up with the following system.

GK/D

Lib/S

CWB/A

BPD/D

CWB/A

BBM/S

CM/D

BBM/S

IF/A

F9/S

IF/A

It worked okay. Lots of high scoring games, though!

[Kick Wilstra]

I'm a fan of the total football philosophy. I think rninejr makes some fair point, although actually I think total football and tikki takka are very closely related. They're based on the same philosophy, that is the desire to completely dominate the game by playing a possession oriented and tacking style of football. Tikki-takka is sort of a modern interpretation of the total football principles. In fm I usely also trying to apply those principles. One thing to remember though is that it's virtually impossible to play such a style in your first season. It's not just about tactics, it's also about execution, you need the right kind of players, with the right kind of ppm's.

On the tactic front, a 3-4-3, with a diamond midfield, 4-1-2-3 and 4-2-3-1 can all work as a shape. Personally I think the control mentality works best, other must have instructions are use offside trap, be more creative and roam from position. More pressing, shorter passing and a higher line makes sense as well, although I think it's mostly personal preference whether you set those on are two ticks in that direction. For tempo I think normal works best, as it's up to the players to decide which tempo the match requires.

Very important is the so called number 4 position, this could be central defender, defensive midfielder of even libero, what is important is that you want at least one central defensive player to function as a pivot from for building from the back, and also can make himself available in the central midfield. Frank Rijkaard filled this role in 1995, but Frank de Boer and Ruud Krol and Ronald Koeman in Cruyff's Barcelona were also renowned for their passing skills. In FM this means a central defensive player with high creativity and good technical passing skills, with at least the PPM's trier long ranges passes and dribble through centre.

About the tackling skills, Holland 1974 had Van Hanegem and Neeskes in central midfield, Ajax 1995 Davids and Seedorf, both combinations of hard working BWM who also has the technical skill to support attacks and deep lying playmaker who also knows how to defend. Especially Van Hanegem is known as much for his hard tackles as he is for his fluent passing skills.

At front you want a CF(s) or an F9 as you attacking pivot. This style of football isn't one that expects the striker to lead the goal scoring charts, of course you'll expect a certain amount of goals, but many goals should also come from your midfielders and wingers moving into the box. A forward should hold up the ball and create space for them.

For the wide players, I exact roles aren't fixed. In the the age of total football inside forward weren't really a thing yet, but I don't why you would not use them. Personally I like to set up my flanks with at one a bombarding full back and an inside forward, and on the other a supporting fullback and winger on attack duty. This a-synchrone movement on the flanks seems to work well to create a bit more fluent movement in the centre of the pitch as well.

Well, that's just my take on it. Hopefully it helps you to create your interpretation of total football.