Pep Guardiola 4-1-4-1 Asymmetric Tactic with Manchester City in FM24

This post is about the Pep Guardiola 4-1-4-1 Asymmetric Tactic with Manchester City this season. Since the return of the great playmaker, Kevin De Bruyne from injury, Guardiola adjusted his tactic, to save a spot for him in the Cityzens’s starting eleven. Manchester City has been unbeaten in all competitions since De Bruyne’s return from injury, plus they are a point behind the league leaders, Liverpool.

The tactic Manchester City uses is a 4-1-4-1 Asymmetric tactic, which is often represented as a 3-2-4-1 on paper due to the movements of John Stones/Akanji to the midfield during attacks. So let’s get into the details of the tactic, to understand the tactic better.

Pep Guardiola 4-1-4-1 Asymmetric Tactic | Tactical Details

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In Possession

They start up plays from behind, and so far their playing out of defence has been successful. During the build-up, Gvardiol, Dias and Walker will form a back-3 across the 18-yard box. Stones and Rodri will produce double pivots just outside the box, while Foden and Silva will sit narrower at the flanks, and then De Bruyne will join Alvarez’s upper head. In some cases, John Stones and Dias will drop inside, and then Gvardiol and Walker will hug the flanks. Rodri will form a single pivot outside the box.

After a successful playing out of defence, Man City can use either the flanks or the middle to focus their plays. Guardiola still wants his men to take over the possession of the game, to the disadvantage of the opponents. This time, they use shorter passing directness and a standard tempo in FM24, to dominate possession. As the Cityzens come close to the box, they equally look for underlaps on both sides of the field.

In Transition

The attacking width during attacks is fairly wide. The way Man City attacks this time is more complicated than before. John Stones will join Rodri in the midfield and get further towards the opposition box – in the absence of Stones, Akanji will join the midfield but will hold his position there. Walker will form a back-3 with Dias and Gvardiol/Ake, he and Gvardiol will push forward in wide areas. Foden as the left winger will move to the attacking midfield position, while Silva as the right winger will stay wide. Doku/Grealish as the left winger will hug the flank. De Bruyne and Alvarez will be behind Haaland, but De Bruyne sometimes acts as a partial winger, while Alvarez drops short from the AM position. Haaland is the furthest player during attacks.

When the Cityzens win the ball on the break, they can either choose to go for counterattacks or hold shape to patiently attack. In the final third, they will mainly work their way into the opponent’s box. Lastly, they counter-press to win back possession when they lose it.

Out of Possession

In defensive situations, Guardiola’s men defend in a 4-4-2 and sometimes 3-5-2 shape. In the 4-4-2 shape, Stones/Akanji will drop to form a back-four with the other centre-halves, the wingers and Alvarez will join Rodri to form a four-man midfield, then De Bruyne and Haaland lead the pressing lines. In the 3-5-2 shape, the wingers would dropped as wingbacks, while Gvardiol, Dias and Walker would form a back-3, with De Bruyne and Haaland still leading the pressing line.

Their line of engagement is higher while the defensive line is much higher. The pressing intensity is much more often, plus they press to close down the goalkeeper’s distributions. The defensive players step up the defensive line to help trap the opposition in offside positions. Lastly, the City defend compactly, to trap opposition forwards outside rather than inside.

Pep Guardiola 4-1-4-1 Asymmetric Tactic | Formation Lineup

Pep Guardiola 4-1-4-1 Asymmetric Tactic | Role Selections

GK

Ederson is a sweeper keeper on attack duty.

CDs

Ruben Dias as the deepest defender is a ball-playing defender on cover duty. He will stay behind the defensive line to mark attackers, clearing out through balls and crosses from the box. Dias will also support the attacking teammates with diagonal passes.

John Stones is a libero on support duty. He will get forward to the defensive midfield position, to close down opponents and win the ball. During attacks, Stones will get further close to the opponent’s box, supporting the attackers with passes. In the defensive situation, he will return to the central defence position. When Akanji replaces him, he will be a libero on defence duty, as he will hold his position at the midfield.

Kyle Walker is a wide centre-back on attack duty. Walker will always attack from the right flank, crossing the ball often and taking risky passes.

Ake and Akanji are wide centre-backs when they are the side central defenders. As wide centre-backs, they would spread wide to protect the flanks, when their team has the ball. They will become defensive fullbacks while in defensive situations.

FBs

Gvardiol is a traditional fullback on support duty. He is defensive and cautious and will break up attacks at the left flank. During attacks, he will spread wide, to support the team with extra width at the left flanks. Gvardiol will get forward at the flank looking to cross the ball from there. Ake on the left fullback, is an inverted fullback on defence duty.

DM

Rodri on the other hand is a deep-lying playmaker on support duty. He will dictate tempo, switch the ball side to side, set up attacks from deeper positions and then get forward to support the team’s attacks.

Wingers

Doku on the left flank, is an inverted winger on support duty. He will hug the touchline, looking to beat his markers and cut towards the opposition box, to create chances for teammates inside the box. Grealish is also an inverted winger on support duty.

Foden in the attacking midfield and flanks, is a trequartista. With the ball, he runs wide or cuts inside beating his marker and then crosses the ball like a winger. Without the ball, Foden moves to the attacking midfield position or even to the striker position.

On the right flank, Silva is an inverted winger on support duty, while Doku is a winger on support duty.

AMs

Julian Alvarez is an attacking midfielder on support duty. He operates in half-spaces during attacks, and sometimes as partial wingers. He prefers to sit outside the box and sometimes surge into the box to supplement the attack. Due to Alvarez’s support duty, he will drop deep to receive the ball. Nunes is also an attacking midfielder on support duty.

De Bruyne is an advanced playmaker on attacking duty. He rarely drops to the midfield during attacking build-up, he mostly focuses on advanced positions, be it the attacking midfield, wide or striker position. He will be spraying dangerous passes to create chances into the box and crosses the ball often. Kovacic is also an advanced playmaker but on support duty.

CF

Haaland is a poacher, which is surprising for a striker at his age. Guardiola wants him to just stay higher up on the shoulder of the last defender, to find goalscoring opportunities often inside the box. Alvarez is an advanced forward.

Team Mentality

I use a positive mentality at Home against all teams, except against the community shield. Then on Away matches, I always switch to a balanced mentality.

Pep Guardiola 4-1-4-1 Asymmetric Tactic | Result and Stats

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