Tester Team ME Win % PPG AGF AGA GD PL W D L
Tikitakamaster Juventus 24.3 79% 2.4 2.2 0.6 64 38 30 3 5
Tikitakamaster Crystal Palace 24.3 63% 2.1 2.0 0.7 48 38 24 9 5

OLIVER GLASNER'S CRYSTAL PALACE 3-4-2-1 SEASON 2023-2024

Hi guys, today I emulated Oliver Glasner's Crystal Palace 3-4-2-1, tested it with Crystal Palace and finished 2nd in Premier League and also in FA Cup, scored a lot and conceeded not much despite Crystal Palace is considered a underdog team.
Then I tested the tactic with Juventus and won both Serie A and Italian Cup, with best attack (85 goals) and defense (21 goals allowed), but the most important thing is that in both tests our players play a pro-active football, aggressive, high pressing and winning the ball back and starting counter-attacks, exploiting spaces between the lines exactly as Crystal Palace did against Manchester United winning 4-0.
I started with a positive mentality but against stronger teams I switched to a balanced mentality, while I may switch to an attacking mentality when I am desperate to score (example: when I am losing 1-0 and I want to score a goal in the last minutes), and when I do so, I also change my pressing line from a mid-block to an higher pressing line. My defensive line is also higher to reduce the space between the lines as much as possible. It's my team that has to exploit spaces between the lines, as Crystal Palace did (especially with Olise and Eze) against Manchester United exploiting the big spaces left uncovered between the defensive line and the midfield by the Red Devils. I asked the central defender Andersen who helps in build up playing also more direct passes and long balls for the striker to have a more defensive approach compared to the other two defenders by instructing him to close down less (to avoid he gets lured away by the forward and leaves open spaces behind hm)i and take fewer risks. The other two defenders are Richards and Guehi (or Clyne) and they are two ball playing defender in defend instructed to be more aggressive,. Why BPD and not wide center backs? Because, instead of having two wider center-backs (like for example Kossonou in Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen), Glasner wants his three defenders to keep narrow while to provide width is the two wing-backs's tasks (Munoz and Mitchell) That's why in possession the player positioning will create a 3 (the 3 defenders) - 2 ( Hughes and Wharton, the Dm-support and the bwm-defend)-5 (the two wing-backs in attack, the two attacking midfielders Olise (support) and Eze (attack) and the only striker Edouard (or Mateta, a pressng forward in attack). Oliise, Eze and Mateta are instructed to roam from position so you will see them moving all around the pitch sometimes also dropping down to link the play and create spaces that can be exploited by other players running forward. What we want to see is a "play forward, move the ball forward, run forward" approach that is exactly what Glasner wants. That's why I did not use the play out of defense and work ball into the box instructions because these instructions are fundamental for a possession based play (Guardiola's tikitaka) but if I select these instructions, I will see a lot of back passes that is not what Glasner wants. With this tactic you will see your team playing very nicely and creating a lot of scoring chances with a great amount of XG and dominating the opponent. Obviously, this tactic will not guarantee you will win everything with an underdog team but as you can see from my results with Crystal Palace, the tactic worked really well.
I hope it works for you too.



Test Results


Crystal Palace

Tikitakamaster
1 year ago
5 days ago
94
ME Win % PPG AGF AGA GD PL W D L
24.3 63% 2.1 2.0 0.7 48 38 24 9 5

Juventus

Tikitakamaster
1 year ago
5 days ago
94
ME Win % PPG AGF AGA GD PL W D L
24.3 79% 2.4 2.2 0.6 64 38 30 3 5


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