FM20 Tactic: The Old Lady // Pirlo's 3-4-1-2

Pirlo's principles - Introduction

In order to recreate the philosophy and style of play Pirlo wants his Juventus to implement I have used the thesis, he wrote for his pro license as well as the shape from the opening game of Seria A against Sampdoria.

The core of Pirlo's ideas of football are based on playing an attacking, purposeful possession style. He wants to play a brand of total football with all 11 players being active in both the attacking and defensive phase. His team aim to take command of games by manipulating the spaces and time on the ball.

The most important principles of Pirlo refer to the ball, firstly his teams must want the ball and keep it for as long as possible to build their attacks. His teams then most have a strong will to then recover the ball as quickly as possible.

Pirlo states his ideas on how to play the game have been shaped by five teams he either played in or against. The Barcelona teams of both Cruyff and Guardiola. Van Gaal's Ajax, Ancelotti's Milan and Conte's Juventus.

Pirlo Attacking

Pirlo wants his teams to build out from the back, this starts from the keeper who is tasked in distributing the ball, where he sends the ball depends on how the opposition presses. Ideally, he will play short to a centre back, he can be more direct playing into a central midfielder to break the lines or if there's a lot of space in the opponents half he can play it long.

Pirlo views his centrebacks as the first directors, he wants them to be comfortable on the ball with the ability to play key passes through the lines. His teams operate with the plus one principle meaning they have one more player than opposition presses with 3 against 2 etc. Pirlo wants as many players as possible ahead of the ball to enable his teams to advance up the pitch zone by zone.

Pirlo uses the rhombus method, meaning when building an attack the man on the ball has players supporting, giving three passing options, one either side and one in an advanced position between the lines. These line-breaking passes cause danger for the opposition, however, if the pass is not available the players will continually rotate and switch positions to cause confusion and space.

Pirlo's three attacking principles are width, depth and finishing and believes these boxes need to be ticked at all times. He believes one player should provide the width on either side, so if a fullback is wide then the winger needs to cut inside and vice versa. This allows his teams to overload one side of the pitch before playing quick switches of play. The half-spaces are key to any Pirlo system as he wants his teams to attack using either a 3-2-5 or 2-3-5 shape. In terms of finishing, he wants to flood the box with at least 4 attackers ready for any cutback. To create more space for his teams he wants at least one striker to make line breaking runs whilst the other drops deeper creating the space.

Pirlo Defending

Pirlo has two objectives in the defensive phase these are to not concede goals and to win the ball back quickly and as high up the pitch possible. These objectives form a simple concept of protecting his teams own goal whilst recovering the ball in the most dangerous positions for the opposition. Pirlo firmly believes that winning the ball in the opponents half has both mental and emotional value, as this limits the courage and belief of the opposition whilst increasing his own teams.

Immediately after losing the ball Pirlo wants the player closest to the ball to press the ball intensely, whilst other players cover the passing options to force quick turnovers. Pirlo wants his team to defend differently depending on the specific situation, if the ball is in the opponents half his teams will apply high pressure. If the ball is in his teams own half they will retreat and play a waiting game covering and limiting the space. Therefore his teams will play a high line to limit the opponents options.

The FM20 Tactic

Video Analysis by RDF

The Results