FIFA 20 Custom Tactics With Barcelona
Many people admire the “Tiki-taka” style of play more than any other in the world. Here is how you need to set up your custom tactics sliders if you are looking to play like this great Barcelona side you want to set your side up in the FIFA 20 4–3–3 (2) formation.
Build Up Play: Speed — 30; Passing — 30; Positioning — Free Form.
Many might say that a faster build-up play works better, however, you’ll find that when trying to play like Barcelona, it works better to pick your passes patiently and methodically. This does not stop the ping pong style of play, but rather makes your players more choosey about how and where they make their runs. As Barcelona, you want to be playing shorter passes than longer, so this reflects on the 30 in passing. We tested with a lower setting but it completely cut out longer options which Barcelona do use occasionally. Very often their full-backs made the perfect run across the pitch, but with your passing bar too low, they will simply not make that run. Freeform positioning really affects your three upfront and will allow them to interchange. The movement will confuse defenders and leave space for players to exploit, much as this great Barcelona side would do.
Chance Creation: Passing — 42; Crossing — 20; Shooting — 45; Positioning — Free form.
Passing should be set around the middle of the slider settings. This will mean that you have plenty of short options to get the sharp passing operating smoothly but also allow the movement and angles needed to play this style. The crossing should be very low, this team did cross, but VERY rarely as they looked to turn out and create a better chance that way. For shooting, we recommend that you set this at the 45 marks; this will mean they will look to create the edge of the box opportunities, however, Barcelona is known for “passing it into the net” and this slight reduction will force passing rather than shooting. Once again positioning should be set to free form.
Defending: Pressure — 83; Aggression — 78; Team width — 80; Offside Trap.
Now, this is where it gets a little worrying. To play truly like this great Barcelona side, you have to get the ball back as quickly as possible. They had a theory that if they lost the ball, they would try to win back possession within 6 seconds. This means going aggressive and pressuring the ball whilst also keeping the pitch as wide as possible to pull the opposition out of place and have options to pass to straight away when they won the ball back. Although you may be left exposed at the back if you cannot do this effectively, this is how Barcelona had their Defence, as they played a very high line to condense the pitch to make passing the ball extremely hard for their opposition. We would play offside trap rather than the cover due to the slow pace, but high intelligence of the center-backs. If you love the rest of this set-up but would prefer the cover option, then you can just change it but to truly play like this side, you need to play the offside trap and squeeze the pitch.
