From time to time my readers will ask me one particular question. Or a variation of it. Basically it goes like this. What is the absolute essence of Total Football? If I want my team to play Total Football, where do I start? How do I build it into a Total Football powerhouse? What foundation stones, in tactics, training and personnel, do I implement? The following article will hopefully answer some of these questions. To do so we might as well go to the very beginning of Total Football. And no that does not mean the work of Rinus Michels. Not to speak ill of the man, but Rinus was not the firs ..read more

The following tactical experiment drew inspiration from many sources. It would not be Total Football without its tactical holy grail of course. Ajax’ original 4-3-3 with Johan Cruyff centering the attack and controlling the whole formation from his iconic False 9 position. Then came the next natural evolution of this formula with Pep Guardiola’s Barca and the talismanic rise of its young Argentinian star. Finally, recently we witnessed an emergence of a renewed Total Football system at Ajax under it’s current manager, Erik Ten Hag. This piece is not meant to be an exact recreation of Ten Hag’s ..read more

A lot of teams go through dry spells during a season, some teams never get scoring at all to start a campaign. I’ve found a few ways to help this situation during my current journeyman save in Singapore. (Follow me on Twitter for updates These are scoring tips for struggling teams in Football Manager. Tactics Starting off we’re going to take a look at your tactics. Many managers play in many different ways, and there is always a way that a team can score no matter the formation. For me, I was playing a 4-2-3-1, and looking at that you must be thinking, surely they can get a goal. Trust me, it ..read more

I became intrigued with the 5-3-2 after watching the Prime documentary, Six Dreams, which led me to research more about the then-Girona Manager, Pablo Machin. He guided Girona to La Liga and narrowly missed out on the European places, using a 5-3-2 and 5-2-3. He then moved onto Sevilla and implemented a 5-3-2 which beat Real Madrid 3-0. Upon expanding my research I looked at Inzaghi’s 5-3-2 at Lazio, when he took to Inter. After reading numerous articles about both managers I was able to pick out elements from each manager which appealed to me. Soon, I realised the 5-3-2 is a formation which s ..read more

That is right. This article won’t be about my usual subject, Total Football. Instead I will be joining the Dark Side and discussing Pragmatic Football. And at the same time offering praise to Pragmatic Football’s grandmaster and high priest, Jose Mourinho. In that light another possible title for this article could have been “Understanding The Misunderstood Genius of Jose Mourinho”. My long-delayed tribute to the Special One. Maybe getting safer and “more boring” are normal things that accompany aging. I don’t know that. But what I do know is that our tastes evolve over time. And sometimes tha ..read more

Football Manager comes with a set of pre-set tactical styles. These styles were first introduced in FM19 and they support both the tactical novice as well as the tactical veterans out there. In this article, we’ll go through the creation of Gegenpress tactical style, its roots and its use in the modern game. How does Football Manager define Gegenpress? “Gegenpressing relies on every player in the team working hard and, above all else, being fit and mobile enough to press the opposition immediately after losing the ball” Gegenpressing is, at its core, a very simple and understandable concept ..read more

Football Manager comes with a set of pre-set tactical styles. These styles were first introduced in FM19 and they support both the tactical novice as well as the tactical veterans out there. In this article, we’ll go through the creation of Gegenpress tactical style, its roots and its use in the modern game. How does Football Manager define Gegenpress? “Gegenpressing relies on every player in the team working hard and, above all else, being fit and mobile enough to press the opposition immediately after losing the ball” Gegenpressing is, at its core, a very simple and understandable concept ..read more