There is no doubt Pep Guardiola changed the way we look at football. Being able to play football in a such stylish way and win trophies. 4-3-3 was famously used by Pep that changes to 3-4-3 during transitions.
Today I'm sharing my Football Manager 2020 interpretation of Barca's tiki-taka under Guardiola.
I've included 4 variations of the tactic in the pack;
- More realistic
- More effective for the ME
- A tweak tested with Braga
- A tweak for big away matches (again with Braga)
Here is how I lined up my 2019/20 Barcelona squad to try and replicate the Pep Guardiola success.
The Tiki-Taka Tactic Build Up
Playing out from the back is a must. This starts with the GK. he will be instructed to distribute to CBs. The aim is here that the two CBs split wide and all the midfielders drop deep to be an option to receive the ball. Your GK must be confident in possession.Defenders must have the ability to play out of the defence. The mental skills will also need to be high. Concentration, Composure, Decisions, Off The Ball and Positioning i’d say will be key. Also the technical skills to control the ball and passing ability along with vision, to find connect with good passes.
Overlapping, this allows my Wing Backs to get even further up the pitch to the byline, to be able to pull back those low crosses and create scoring chances.
Shorter passing with a Standard tempo (tempo linked with Positive mentality). The aim here is to keep the ball whilst in possession, but not too move the ball too slow or approach the game too fast causing unlike Tiki Taka behaviour.
The final third. These forward players have the in attacking play. The aim is to exploit everyone's quality. Typically i would prefer to use Dembele as the Winger over Griezmann. Everything that happens in build/midfield play allows these players to find space/pockets and have a chance on goal.
Most possession based tactics would require you to have the ball and that’s EXACTLY how Pep did it. Without the ball the team must press, smartly, to close space and shut down passing angles. To achieve this, you must counter press. Whilst also having a high line maintaining the pressure not allowing you opponents to breath on the ball.
Relevant forum thread with more details:
The famous Barca Tiki-Taka under Pep 2008-2012
Tiki-Taka Tactic Results
![FM24 Data Tweaks [v5.2 | v8.2] (17th January 2025 Release)](assets/downloads/fm24/fm24-data-tweaks-by-sirtavares.th.png)
Discussion: Guardiola's Barca Tiki-Taka Tactic for FM20 by RDF
26 comments have been posted so far.
Ben Yedder(AS Monaco), Stevan Jovetic(AS Monaco), Thiago Almada(Velez),Iago Aspas(Celta Vigo), Lorenzo Insigne(Napoli), Demir Yusuf(Rapid Viena), Ünüvar Naci(Ajax), Mario Götze(Dortmund), Silva Fabio(Oporto)
Hope this helps.
the original one has set piece routine where you will score a few goals and some different instructions that suit FM20 better
link the the forum is in the description above. The more realistic version comes with a couple changes to instructions to have better possession, but less "effective" with the ME. Also comes with no Set Piece routine set, it's left on default.
i used the Gegenpress preset to get the off the ball closing instructions. things are then tweaked to created the possession (tiki taka). Just like Pep, aim is to have the ball to be in possession, so i used that as my starting point
As I remembered, Barça left back was Abidal. And only Alves was overlapping. The Frenchman was less attacking than Alves.
So why did you put the left back as an attacking wing back?