Rijkaard's Barca 2005-06 TREBLE Winning Tactics (101 Goals)

Hi guys, today I bring you a nostalgic tactic emulation, Frank Rijkaard's 4-3-3 treble winning in 2005-2006.

That Barcelona had great players such as Ronaldinho, in my opinion the 4th best players in football history after Pelè, Maradona and Messi, (but only because he did not work hard enough to become the GOAT), Eto'o, an incredible striker who was both strong and fast and as we could see later in his career, was able to play in different roles even as full back both in Rijkaard's Barcelona (see him marking Cafu against Milan in UEFA CL semi-final) and in Mourinho's Inter (Josè Mourinho asked him to do so and he did it well), Deco, one of the greatest midfielders of that period, 2 young players from the Masia, Xavi and Iniesta, 2 great defenders like Rafa Marquez and Puyol, a great winger like Ludovic Giuly, Henrik Larsson and a young Leo Messi.

Rijkaard was appointed as club manager in 2003 by Barça president Laporta who listened to Joan Crujiff's advice. He started with a 4-2-3-1 and his results were quite bad at the beginning, being 17 points behind Real Madrid who was in 1st position, but when he switched to a 4-3-3 and bought Edgar Davids in January 2004, he won 17 games out of 20 and arrived 2nd, only 5 points behind Valencia.

The 4-3-3 became the standard formation for Rijkard and he used it until the end of his career at Barça in 2008 when he got replaced by Pep Guardiola.

Let's analyze the tactic.

Rijkaard had to adapt his tactic to support Ronaldinho, because he did not help in defense, so his teammates must do his work too.

Rijkaard tried to solve this problem asking to the left central midfielder (often Deco) to stay wider and cover the gap behind Dinho and help the left full back (Van Bronkhorst). My second version of this 4-3-3 emulates this situation.

Rijkaard played a possession based style playing out of defense, but when the ball reached the final third, much was left to Ronaldinho's creativity and to the other players linking with him.

The defensive line was a 4 line with one ball playing defender, Rafa Marquez and a more defensive centre-back, the young Carles Puyol who later became captain, with two wing-backs, one more offensive, Van Bronckhorst and the one a bit less, Juliano Belletti (but he was the one who scored the 2-1 against Arsenal in Champions League final).

Right in front of the defense, Rijkaard chose Edmilson, a former centre back who immediately suited to the new position, covering all the gaps behind the central midfielders, Xavi as a deep lying playmaker on the right and Deco as an advanced playmaker on the left.

The 3 forwards were a young Messi (or Giuly) on the right, Ronaldinho on the left and Eto in the middle.

So, how does it work on Football Manager 2023?

As I said before, I created 3 tactics, the first one, a 4-3-3 which (maybe) suits more to the match engine, the second one a 4-3-3 which emulates also some instructions such as Deco must stay wider to cover gaps behind Dinho and help the left wing-back, the third one is the 4-2-3-1 used by Rijkaard at the beginning of his career.

I tested mainly the first tactic and sometimes used the second. I never used the 4-2-3-1 but I created it just to stick more to reality. I will examine the first tactic here, the second is more or less the same.

Roles:
Valdes: sweeper-keeper, attack.
Belletti: wing-back, support.
Marquez: ball playing defender, defend.
Puyol: central defender, defend
Van Bronckorst: wing back, support.
Edmilson: defensive midfielder, defend.
Xavi: deep lying playmaker, support.
Deco: advanced playmaker support.
Messi: inverted winger-support.
Dinho: trequartista-attack (I think trequartista is the role which suits better to him because he was free from defensive tasks and played as he wanted)
Eto'o: pressing forward-attack (he linked up the play and dropped down more, he can be set as a complete forward too).

Mentality: positive

Team instructions: fairly narrow width, to play more in the central area, play out of defense and focus play in the middle, shorter passing and slightly lower tempo, low crosses, work the ball in the box, run at defense (well with Dinho and Messi it's a must), be more expressive (same).

In transition. counter press, counter (Barca counter attacks with Dinho and Eto's who stayed forward were very effective), distribute to cb, take short kicks.

Out of possession: much higher defensive line and higher press (to minimize the gap between attack and defense), more often, prevent short gk distribution, step up more (for offsides), trap inside.