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Football Manager 2024: Best Tactics for Possession

If you ever wanted to toy with your opponent with control of the ball, then this Football Manager 2024 Possession Tactics guide has you covered. We will cover areas such as formation, tactical styles, mentality, and transition tactics to get the most technical fluidity out of your players.

Football Manager 2024: Best Tactics for Possession

Possession football is one of the most recognizable styles in the game of football. It is a playing methodology preferred by players who like visually-appealing gameplay. Such players like to control the tempo of the game as well as defend through this dominant hold of the ball. While most modern managers have their own take on their style of possession and add their little tweaks here and there, this Football Manager 2024 Possession Tactics guide should give you the general outline you should adhere to while designing your setup. Without further ado, let’s get started.

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Tactical Style

First up in this Football Manager 2024 Possession Tactics guide, let’s talk about the tactical style you should go for. While there are plenty of options available in the possession department, I recommend you go for the simple yet effective control possession style. This gives you the control of possession football without requiring elite players such as those needed by the tiki-taka style. The playstyle also does not use as much stamina as that demanded by the vertical tiki-taka system. Therefore, control possession pretty much ticks all the boxes, and once you get access to a better squad, you can experiment with the more technical playstyles.

Go for the controlled possession style.

Go for the controlled possession style.

Formation

The formation I recommend to you is the 4-3-3 DM Wide. This is one of my favourite setups as it employs players throughout the pitch, gives ample passing options for possession play, and uses structural pressing to win the ball back quickly. The sweeper keeper and ball-playing defender are comfortable at playing out from the back. The Inverted wing back will drift inside to open up space on the wings, while the deep-lying playmaker will dictate play from the middle of the park and spray passes throughout the field. All in all, a very balanced and versatile formation that opens up your game to a world of possibilities, including beautiful possession football.

The 433 Wide DM provides a very balanced setup.

The 433 Wide DM provides a very balanced setup.

In-Possession Tactics

Next up in this Football Manager 2024 Possession Tactics guide, let’s talk about the gameplan you want to adopt when you are in possession of the ball. You’ll want the attacking width to be smack in the middle at fairly wide. This will ensure that your teammates aren’t too close as to make the point of attack too congested, neither too distant to make passing slow and predictable. A balanced width allows you make attacking moves at sufficient speed without losing tempo of the play.

Next up, you should activate the pass into space option as it encourages your midfielders to pass the ball into the path of the forwards so they don’t lose that extra yard they have gained on their marker. This allows you to launch quick attacks once your players carve apart a gap in the opposition defence through their patient recycling of the football. Furthermore, encourage your keeper to play out of defence more often as this allows your team to start building tempo from the onset and draw the opposition press in from where you can launch quick counter attacks. For this, it’s important that your keeper has a wide array of passing and distribution attributes.

These instructions should boost the efficiency of your possession.

These instructions should boost the efficiency of your possession.

Keep the passing directness shorter and tempo slightly higher to ensure speed and visual satisfaction in the way your players build up plays. I recommend you keep time wasting to a minimum so your team can maintain their momentum and not lose their flow. Finally, I would suggest that you instruct your players to dribble less often and be more disciplined as it will reward teamplay rather than individual glory and really allow your team to increase their effectiveness in the final third.

In-Transition Tactics

Let’s now talk about transition tactics in this Football Manager 2024 Possession Tactics guide. Once you have lost control of the ball, you will want to win it as back as quickly as possible to continue dominating the proceedings of the game and prevent opposition attacks. Therefore, instruct your players to counter-press in transition. Expect your players to pounce on the opposition players as they look to regain possession. Furthermore, once the ball has been won, instruct your team to counter quickly as the opposition is likely to take time to recover from the press and thus can be caught unawares. Elsewhere, ask your keeper to distribute the ball quickly through short kicks to the fullbacks and centrebacks so that the impetus of the attack is not lost.

Look to initiate the counter-press as soon as you lose the ball.

Look to initiate the counter-press as soon as you lose the ball.

Out of Possession Tactics

Next up in this Football Manager 2024 Possession Tactics guide are the tactics to employ when your team is out of possession for a significant period of time. You’ll want to setup a a high line of engagement. This will cause your forwards to press higher up the pitch and cause more mistakes from the opposition defence and goalkeeper. They might try to play long balls forwards, which your tall and powerful centre-backs can then win. Similarly, setup a high defensive line to restrict the amount of space available for the opposition midfield to operate in. This will make life difficult for them and give them less time on the ball to carve out significant opportunities for their forwards.

Set a high line to keep the pressure on your opponent.

Set a high line to keep the pressure on your opponent.

Mentality

Finally in this Football Manager 2024 Possession Tactics guide, we have the mentality of the team. If you are playing a possession brand of football, chances are you expect the opposition to be reserved, defensive, and generally at a lower level than your squad. Therefore, you want your team to take control of proceedings by having an attacking mentality. This will encourage your players to stream forward up the pitch and overload the opposition defense, creating chance after chance. However, it’s not aimless attacking, if moving the ball forward would almost certainly mean losing possession, the players will instead opt to pass the ball back to retain possession or perhaps try their luck at the opposite flank.

Your players should approach the game with an attacking mindset.

Your players should approach the game with an attacking mindset.

Conclusion

That concludes this Football Manager 2024 Possession Tactics Guide. Possession is widely regarded as the purest way to play football, and it’s thus important to do it justice by employing the right tactics. Hopefully you now have a better understanding of how to set up your team to achieve possessional fluidity and can improve your win rate. Remember to experiment though, as that’s the best part about Football Manager.

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