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Yes, arguably the performance of the season. Muric made a new keeper role for FM I think with the positions he took up! Not sure I’ve seen a keepers average position outside the actual box. Typical 4-1-2-2-1 as FM would label it yesterday. Deep lying striker, left winger Zaroury allow to cut inside from very wide, Tella more an inside forward, Cullen deep lying playmaker and the two 8s… not sure. Both full backs can invert in the build up but play wide when we are playing in their half.

Burnley fan here. Kompany ball has been amazing to watch this season, particularly following it's progression throughout the season as the team has 'clicked' / young players have developed. I am very excited to see us improve the quality of the squad in the summer and take on the PL next season. Here is an interesting tactical write up from the opening day of the season against Huddersfield: https://olioconnell.substack.com/p/vincent-kompanys-new-look-burnley What I will highlight is that build up play shape generally changes on a match by match basis, and even within a match, depending on what the opposition are doing. The article I listed above was when Maatsen was being used as a flying left wing back, yet for most of the season this hasn't been the case as Zaroury came in as a typical Pep like touchline hugging winger - this led to Maatsen playing a more 'Kyle Walker like' reserved left back role, forming a back 3 in the build up phase. Yet on other occasions, Maatsen will play as an inverted full back in midfield, Cullen can drop into a back 3 on the right during the build up and the right back inverts, forming a 3-3-4... here is a tactical analysis from our dominant win at Norwich last weekend: https://www.pinkun.com/news/23300927.norwich-city-tactical-analysis-burnley-championship-defeat/ Then when chasing games in the second half, Kompany can often change to a 4-4-2/4-2-4 with Benson/Zaroury on the wings and generally Tella as a pressing forward (his pressing is superb), alongside a deep lying forward in Rodriguez/Barnes. It's not always when chasing games, though, for example when we went to Old Trafford in the cup in December, it was with a 4-4-2 structure but this time with Brownhill played as a pressing forward, due to his impressive pressing abilities - we had a lot of high turnovers that evening and were unfortunate not to score. The tempo is definitely slow and favours short over long, always happy to go back to the keeper Muric (who is outstanding with his feet), but also happy to go more direct on occasions with switches of play - I have attached an image which shows the speed of play compared to others in the Championship: Here is another brilliant article by the Analyst which discusses if Kompany could be Pep's future replacement, with quite a bit of tactical discussion: https://theanalyst.com/eu/2022/12/vincent-kompany-burnley-manchester-city-manager/ A video of a 27 pass goal scored earlier in the season where all 11 players touched the ball: Another useful tactical explainer done by Tifo on YouTube: I don't have this years FM but could be tempted so I can give this a go. I think the hardest part will be getting Cullen to drop into a RCB type role in the build up as I don't see how FM can do this. Also, in previous editions when I've tried to create this style of play, there has always been issues with getting the wingers to STAY WIDE - has this been resolved? It's pretty much key to this football.