Needless to say Bielsa has inspired many with his antics, El Loco certainly lives up to his name.
I won't give you the same spiel about his methods, madness and what not - I am fully aware of the many Bielsa inspired tactics that exist, and I'm not claiming this to be the best either, it's just damn fun to watch and play.
Simply put, Bielsa believes that players shouldn't have a set position (as demonstrated countless times throughout his career), most recently playing Tyler Roberts, a striker by nature, in the CM position alongside Klich - or even Helder Costa, an attacking winger, often being deployed in the center to maximize threat going forward. His former assistant, Pep Clotet, once said “Marcelo Bielsa tended to play the attacking players in deeper positions because a player with attacking mentality gives you consistency in the attack and improves the output of the ball.”
And that's precisely what I was going for with this tactic. Absolute attacking havoc from the middle of the park, the two mezzala's on attack pushing wide and forward while the inside forwards drifted creating chaos for the poor opposition trying to defend against this madness. To make matters worse they then have rampaging wing backs to deal with, who just love a good cross, and a tricky regista pulling strings like a puppeteer in the middle of the park.
Tested first with Leeds United, of course, we achieved a respectable 7th place finish but with some insane results:
With player performances being pretty strong for a newly promoted side:
Then came a year simming this tactic with Lille, another one of Bielsa's old boys, with degrees of success - 3rd place finish, with the mezzala's grabbing 12 goals a piece. But, in true Bielsa fashion, an end of season slump slowed them down and disappointed (with rotation and squad depth I'm sure this would not happen).
I then tried it out with Sevilla for a season, re-training Oscar as a regista with outstanding results and really pushing for the title:
Rakitic simply dominated the league in the mezzala role, and both inside forwards shone throughout:
Again, in true Bielsa form, a second half slump resulted in the final 19 games ending with 11 wins and 8 defeats, thus ending our title hopes:
But boy of boy was the play scintillating!
Currently playing a season with Arsenal and so far Xhaka is storming it as a mezzala (6 goals in 5 games), AMN is keeping Partey out of the side with his insane performances and young Charlie Patino has stepped up to make the regista spot his own (averaging 7.5 each game). Saka has 5 assists in 3 games as a LB (while Tierney was injured) and the play has been joyful to watch.
Also currently simming seasons with Leyton Orient and NEC in Holland with this tactic and both are dominating their divisions so far with players of far inferior quality.
This is the first tactic I've ever created, and it was originally based off of Knapp's 'Fire and Water' before I realised the AMC was too ineffectual. I can't guarantee you will win titles, but man will you enjoy the football on show!
Discussion: Bielsa's Boys // FM20 Tactic
18 comments have been posted so far.
Anyway enough, it's a nice tactic for sure.
I agree the DLF offers more support but you are wrong about needing star players when using the AF instead. I have Mathias De Wolf and Elayis Tavsan working wonders as IF's for NEC as well as Maguire-Drew and Trae Coyle performing wonderfully at Leyton Orient (with a very average looking Lee Angol bagging 33 goals as an AF). Certainly the better players you have the more likely you are to achieve results; but I feel the AF role suits lower league teams and still keeps the essence of 'gung ho' attack that Bielsa instills in his teams.
Currently testing this out with Arsenal, NEC, Leyton Orient and Dortmund. All the former have won their leagues respectively, with just Dortmund left in 1st place close to wrapping up their title too.
@Mash This is my first ever tactic on FM, and likely my last until FM21 is released and I have some time to figure it out. But thank you for your comments!
@Si49 - You are correct, I would certainly like to do 2-3 seasons with Leeds with this tactic and may try it now before the new FM is released. The whole idea of testing with multiple teams was just to show its compatibility in other leagues.
Your corrections are certainly much more like how Leeds Utd actually set up.
Very nice tactic, very close to my personal "Bielsa inspired" tactic as well.
Just a few points:
1) Distribute to FB's is a bit risky at times. Bielsa himself uses "Distribute to CB's"
2) Bielsa uses a DLP on Defend or DM on Support (Philips) but he's definately not a Regista (contrary to what fans think of Philips because Pirlo rarely tacked).
3) Bielsa doesn't use IF's, he uses Wingers predominantly that get crosses in. IF's will cross less. Although Helder Costa is Left footed, he normally plays on the right but Harrison crosses a lot from Left. Both of them are Left footed.
4) Helder Costa is actually an Inverted Winger on the right. Read the description of Inverted Wingers.
5) Bialsa would also employ the "Roam from Position" Instruction. But in the game, this can be very risky.
6) Bielsa would also use "Stay On Feet" instruction. Some positions will override this, like BWM etc. But generally, he prefers player to "Stay On Feet" when tackling.
@12laus - on the discipline section of "Out of Possession"; you should set "Stay on Feet" to reduce Red/Yellow cards. However, this is usually bad for teams with Very High Defensive lines, so you will need very fast CD/FB players to prevent counter attacks.
Tactics ideally require testing for more than one season with the same team in the same circumstances. This isn't a criticism of you directly but more the whole idea of miracle tactics in general.