TOTAL FOOTBALL In Football Manager 2024 (Rinus Michels)

If I say total and football, what do you think about?

In my save, we struggled a bit to make this tactic work, but in the end, we succeeded. We won the domestic treble – the Bundesliga, the DFB Pokal and the German Supercup.

But…was the playing style…total?

Total football represents a tactical system in which any outfield player can take over the role of any other player on the pitch.

A player who moves out of his position is replaced by another, thus retaining the team's intended organisational structure.

In this fluid system, no outfield player is fixed in a predetermined role. The only player who must stay in a specified position is the goalkeeper.

Total football also relies on quick pressing after the ball was lost, to recover it and start another attack.

It’s a demanding system, both tactically and physically. But when is done right, it can be unstoppable.

Rinus Michels is generally credited with introducing this system during the 1970s at the Dutch club Ajax and the Netherlands national football team.

However, teams such as the Austrian Wunderteam of the 1930s or the Golden Team of Hungary of the 1950s were also credited for having played in a similar style to Total Football. Both sides were influenced by Jimmy Hogan, who was in turn influenced by the combination game.

Many teams successfully used this tactical setup, but we are here to discuss about the tactics of only one manager.

Rinus Michels played his entire career for Ajax, which he later managed, and played for and later managed the Netherlands national team for four spells.

He is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time. He won the European Cup with Ajax and the Spanish league with FC Barcelona and led the Netherlands football team to reach the final of the 1974 FIFA World Cup and to win the 1988 UEFA European Championship.

It should be noted that throughout his career at club and national level, he almost always coached Johan Cruyff. Who, of course, is one of the greatest football players of all time and can be an asset to have in your team.

Rinus Michels was named Coach of the Century by FIFA in 1999.

But what is this total football tactical setup?

Before we move further, you need to understand that this playing may or may not work in Football Manager. Indeed, Sports Interactive introduced the positional play in this year’s edition, but this doesn’t automatically mean that the players will be able to interpret the tactic.

That is why you will notice certain positions that do not seem interchangeable, but which are made so through other ways in the tactic.

The tactical formation is a 4-3-3 one. Which is suitable for both regrouping fast in defence and counterattacking as fast.

It is also a formation that caters fast progression of the ball.

Of course, around the time Rinus Michels was managing, the sweeper keeper may have been unheard of. But it is used in this tactic, as it is another role that can make the player go out of his way to keep the game fluid.

The back four is made of a wing back on support, a ball playing defender on defend, a libero on support and an inverted full back.

The wing back has no player instructions and is expected to go up the pitch gradually, as the possession of the ball is progressed. You could add cross more often and/or from deep if you want to make this role play more actively.

The ball playing defender is largely expected to defend properly, aiding the possession game only when necessary.

He is also told to stay wider, as his right-sided teammate goes up, so the defensive structure could be maintained and his flank to be somewhat covered.

The libero is one of the key ingredients of this tactic. Though not uniquely designed for the total football system, it helps a lot if the player used in this role is able to go up the field when needed and essentially become a supporting midfielder.

Think about Franz Beckenbauer or John Stones.

However, the libero role doesn’t properly work in the game without his trusted ally – the inverted full back. And this is to ensure that enough defenders are kept back for cover.

Having said this, the inverted full back’s objective is to tuck inside when his team is in possession, creating a back two or sometimes three, with the defensive midfielder, and stop potential opposition counterattacks.

To keep a more structured defensive shape, but this largely depends on the team you are managing, the league and the opposition, we have a half back as the defensive midfielder.

You may also use a defensive midfielder on defend or support duty to make this role participate more actively in the possession game, maybe even form the 2 midfielders’ setup in possession, together with the libero.

As said, this depends on your circumstances.

One central midfielder and one box-to-box midfielder on support make up the rest of the midfield setup.

Initially, I used a roaming playmaker instead of the box-to-box one. If we think about total football, this is better suited.

However, this role is strange in this Football Manager edition. At least my experience suing it. While it’s supposed to aid the possession game, be a very active role when attacking, he is going AWOL most of the times.

To my surprise, the box-to-box midfielder interpreted more the role I intended to use in this system, so I stuck with it instead.

However, you can change it as you see fit.

The role is told to mark tighter. While the central midfielder, as it comes without any specific player instructions, is told to get further forward, roam from position and mark tighter.

And the front three are an inside forward on attack on the right side, a trequartista on the left side and an advanced forward.

Here, there are other two changes I have done to adapt to my game circumstances.

Initially, I was using an inside forward on the left side as well. To disrupt the opposition by cutting inside from both flanks, while the striker was a false nine. But, for some reason, this setup was ineffective, creating very few dangerous chances.

So, I changed to this one.

However, the classic total football tactic uses a false nine and one or two wingers. The false nine is important, as this was the role Johan Cruyff played. So, feel free to adapt the tactic according to your own game conditions.

The inside forward is told to sit narrower and mark tighter. The trequartista the same. And the advanced forward to roam from position, close down more and mark tighter.

As mentality, I used attacking as it fits better with the tactic’s purpose. But if this is too high for your team, positive works as well.

In possession, fairly wide attacking width and play out of defence. Shorter passing directness and a slightly higher tempo. Higher tempo may also be used.

Other options like run at defence and/or be more expressive fit the total football idea, but I saw no improvement for my team, due to the players in my squad being quite complete and there is no need to go so in depth with the team instructions.

But if you feel like you need to use these two options, go ahead.

In transition, counter-press, counter and distribute the ball to the defence, through short kicks.

And out of possession, a high press and a higher defensive line. Trigger press more often and trap outside.

Trigger press is only more often and is not maxed out as the front players are already told to mark tighter and the counter-press is ticked off. In this way, we balance out the tactic requirements a bit.

We scored 79 goals in the Bundesliga using this tactic. But it has the potential to easily go over 100 goals scored.

It is a fun tactic to use, especially if the players are the right ones.

If you wish to check a different setup for the total football system, the Johan Cruyff one is also covered on the channel.

Rinus Michels is credited with using this tactical setup successfully. He may be its inventor; he may not be.

One thing is certain, though – one does not get elected the Coach of the Century by chance.