Bordalás' Chaotic Anti-Football

THE HEADLINE NUMBERS
13 games into the 2024/25 season, this graph was making the rounds. José Bordalás' Getafe were the most direct, high tempo team in all of Europe's top 5 leagues. But what exactly did it mean?

Getafe are a fighting side. They get the ball forward quickly, then fight for the second ball. It's not pretty. It's not necessarily effective (they only finished 13th after all). But it is FUN!




IN POSSESSION
The offensive gameplan is as simple as that. Once they win the second ball they get it out wide, where their wide men fulfil pretty traditional duties. They're encouraged to take on their man, even if it means losing the ball - after all, that just means another loose ball to fight for. Somewhere in the chaos, a chance will present itself.



OUT OF POSSESSION
Out of possession is more nuanced. Getafe counter-press, but should it fail, they drop into a compact mid-block. During opposition goal-kicks, they often deploy a man-to-man press, but occasionally switch to a hybrid system. The tactic download contains three variants, named for the formations they should be used against. This employs a man-to-man press against 4-2-4, 4-2-3-1, 3-4-1-2 and 4-4-2-diamond, and a hybrid press against 4-3-3 and 3-4-3.



RESULTS
For any faithful recreation, league performance should be secondary. This is all about replicating the style of José Bordalás. The statistics show we've done a pretty good job: this is defensive, dirty and direct - just like we wanted. Don't worry, though, the league performance was good, too! Beating our media prediction on all 3 occasions - but you'll have to watch the video for the finer details.

METHODOLOGY
Tests were conducted primarily using Instant Result. I holiday between games, pick the lineup and formation (as explained above). During the early stages of each test, games would be played (often in full match) both to adjust the tactic into the final form you see here, and to get an understanding of which players were best suited to it. No editor (or other mods) used.