Football Manager 2016: Mourinho’s Manchester United Tactics

Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United team already looks far more capable of challenging for titles than Moyes and Van Gaal’s teams did. For all the Football Manager players out there, let’s convert his methods into the terms of the most popular football management simulation.

(Warning: This article is full of tactical/positional terms and references from the Football Manager 2016 game.)

It appears that the most suitable formation for this is the 4-4-1-1, not only because the players appear to suit their roles best in this formation but also because it’s compact when defending and changes into a more attacking formation when the team has the ball; it becomes more of a 4-2-3-1.

The advantage of a 4-4-1-1 formation is that unlike the 4-2-3-1 formation it doesn’t get exposed as frequently and isn’t so easily counter-attacked against. Another reason for the formation is the actual player roles involved. For example, Mourinho has asked Mata to be a playmaker on the right wing yet to also defend when the team hasn’t got the ball. Typically you’d play Mata as an Advanced Playmaker but due to Mourinho’s tactics and formation it makes more sense for his role to be as a Wide Playmaker in Football Manager terms, simply because the Wide Playmaker defends more than the Advanced Playmaker does.

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Another example is the other flank. On the left wing we’ve seen Martial also play deeper and defend more than he was last season; it’s only when the team has the ball that he is allowed to push on. However, it appears this season that Mourinho’s asked Martial not to cut in as often as he did last season and to instead stay a little wider, take his man on to get to the byline and cross. This suites the formation perfectly as there’s no Inside Forward position on the LM.

However, to play more like Mourinho’s Manchester United, it’s important to make sure you’re LM is a right footed winger as, just like Martial, he will be expected to be capable of finishing more often than a left footed LM would be. It’s for this reason that the LM position will be as a ‘Winger- Attack’ as you can always teach the player a ‘preferred move’ of cutting inside from the left wing if need be. For the sake of his movement however, he’ll remain a right footed left midfielder.

The other players are fairly simple to explain. Last season Shaw tended to bomb forward far more due to Memphis’s tendency to hold onto the ball and rely on the full back to created space for him to go into. This season however, Shaw has played more of a ‘support’ role as Martial tends to run at his man and beat him without the help of a player bombing forward. With Valencia running past Mata on the right wing, it also made more sense for Shaw to be a Full Back on Support just to remain more compact and less exposed.

Fellaini has kept it simple this season and has been tasked with winning the ball and laying it off to more creative players such as Mata and now Pogba. Pogba could be seen playing the Roaming Playmaker role. While most see him as a box to box player, he creates far more to be considered in the same category. It also appears that the Roaming Playmaker tends to drop back and defend more often when the team doesn’t have the ball which is what Pogba does too. He’s an all rounder yet creative and so Roaming Playmaker makes sense.

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Up top was an easy decision too. Ibrahimovic is easily a Complete Forward and is allowed to do as he pleases. However, due to his tendency to drop off and allow runners in from wide, and Rooney from behind to get past him, he’s been placed on Support duty. It also makes more sense due to Rooney’s Shadow Striker role that is naturally on Attack duty. Rooney isn’t a creative player in the same mold as Mata or Mkhitaryan and so the Shadow Striker role seems to make more sense due to Rooney’s tendency to surge past Ibrahimovic. During the game you could see at a number of times that he was further forward than Ibrahimovic was. This switching of positions works best with the current roles.

In terms of the team instructions, mentalities and team shape it’s all simple too. The mentalities Counter and Attacking will depend on how you wish to set up for the game. Normally Mourinho’s teams Counter but Attacking is an option too just in case you ever find yourself behind in a game and need to press on. The Standard mentality is in there only because it’s the starting mentality of each game. Much like Mourinho changes tactics during games, it made sense to start with a Standard mentality, just to see how the opponent plays and then make adjustments accordingly.

The Team Shape is Structured just so that the specialist players such as the Roaming Playmaker, Shadow Striker and Wide Playmaker are given more importance in the team. It also helps the team become more compact and concede less goals. Team Instructions such as Higher Tempo, Deeper Defensive Line and More Direct Passes can be seen with Mourinho’s Manchester United so far. Players such as Rooney and Lingard have hailed Mourinho for allowing the attackers to express themselves as well as interchange and it’s for this reason that Be More Expressive and Roam From Positions has been selected.

Width is set on Narrow so that the team remains compact and the players such as the Left Midfield Winger and the Wing Back provide the width needed to break teams down rather than spread the team shape and expose the defence more often. Closing Down is set on Much More because while Mourinho’s teams defend deep, it appears that Mourinho has asked his defenders to press once attackers are in certain areas of the field. It’s also helpful because a deeper line can be exposed by long shots or players capable of dribbling so in closing down more often it helps reduce these risks.

Conclusion on tactics:

Formation- 4-4-1-1. Mentalities- Standard, Counter, Attacking. Team Shape- Structured.

Player roles-

LB- Luke Shaw- Full Back Support.

CB- Daley Blind/Rojo- Ball Playing Defender.

CB- Smalling/Jones- Central Defender.

RB- Valencia/Darmian- Wing Back Attack.

RCM- Fellaini/Schneiderlin- Ball Winning Midfielder Defend.

LCM- Herrera/Schweinsteiger- Roaming Playmaker.

RM- Mata/Januzaj- Wide Playmaker Support.

CAM- Rooney/Lingard- Shadow Striker.

LM- Young- Winger Attack.

ST- Martial/Memphis- Complete Forward Support.

Team Instructions-

Tempo- Higher

Width- Narrow

Defensive Line- Deeper

Closing Down- Much More

Passing Directness- More Direct Passing

Creative Freedom- Be More Expressive

Freedom of Movement- Roam From Positions

(Note: The team selections are based on the current Manchester United players available on FM16 which hasn’t updated this seasons transfers. However, feel free to buy or sell players like Mourinho did such as Pogba, Ibrahimovic, Bailly and Mkhitaryan. You could also set the team up from the start and insert the players in the game using the editor tool.)