Treble winning 235 No Wingbacks No DMs

Demolishing everything on my way to two consecutive UCL wins with Partizan Belgrade, this tactic is the craziest thing I ever made. Inspired by Guardiola's no wing/full backs adventure this season I reckoned if the GOAT (I don't care what you think) thinks it's the best way, than it must be. Boy was I not wrong. Not only does it work but it kills. It looks like this:



It focuses on having a gazillion short and quick passes between the CBs and MCs and waiting patiently for the opening in the final third of the pitch. Results in an insanely high possession numbers and quality chances. I was always reluctant to play formations lacking natural width. Regardless of the shape, I would never have inverted backs and wingers on the same side or if the formation has only two wide players I would always keep them as class wingbacks/wingers. Solution to that is in a simple instruction "stay wider" for both wingers. They hold the width and spread the pitch but also they keep the fullbacks stuck all the way back. The idea behind two strikers came to me because in a 3241 shape I was struggling to utilize attacking mids as both goal threats and build-up tools, so the CF support position came into rescue. Of course you have to have a solid player in there that can come deep, resolve situations with technique and vision but it works wonders. It also frees up the attacking mid to roam in behind. When it comes to MCs I would say that first touch is likely the most important attribute here. They will be in so many "pocket" situations they need to be able to resolve them quickly and accurately. The whole game flow depends on it.




You can see the results, they are just beyond anything expected. Of course my Partizan teams developed over the years with scouting and training but they are nowhere near the quality of teams I was beating. Also the rule in domestic league of max 4 foreign players in the first 11 limited me a lot. Still it didn't matter, system was just too good. The important thing is to stick with the shape and principles. You can experiment with player roles, you can sometimes even adjust some of the player instructions with the ball, but pressing and tackling instructions should be pretty much always the same. I would recommend get a deeper squad, it's better to have 22 players that can all play at any time than super solid 11 and a low quality bench. No players should play 4 games in two weeks with this tactic. It's way too demanding physically.




You can see what I did to PSG in the UCL final in my 5th season. Also my players are usually sweeping awards with stats that are just not normal. Three times my team broke the UCL most goals scored in a season. From 44 to 47 and the last season my team scored 53. What I can give as an advice is to buy speed at AF position, technique and finesse at CF and you should be good to go with any team in any league. This tactic doesn't miss.