“The relationships and behaviors on and off the pitch between teammates have to be as good as possible“- Pep Guardiola
Welcome back, Soccermanagerites! I hope you enjoy quickies as this will be another one as we continue our mini series of looking at different styles of play while bringing them to life to feed that creative mind of yours. In today’s episode we will be looking at the MIXED and SHORT style of play. Similar to the mixed and mixed, MIXED and SHORT is focused on positional versatility and positional play but with more emphasis on short passing when in possession.
For our illustration, we’ll be looking at Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City team during their infamous 2017-2018 ‘Centurion’ season. The match is from the Manchester Derby that season at the Etihad:
City setting up in their usual 4-3-3B formation during the 17/18 season
In actuality, City were playing with Bernardo as a ‘Deep-lying Forward’, with Sterling on the right. If you were to put their set up in Soccermanager style it would look similar to something like this:
How Manchester City’s set up looks in Soccermanager. Notice the arrows… They are pointed downwards for Pogba and Eriksen, while Mount’s is pointed upwards. This is an indication that the M(C)’s are playing as ‘free 8’s’ while Mount is playing as a ‘D.L.F’. Notice that neither Full Back’s arrow has been touched as they will be playing a more supporting role due to both ‘Wingers’ staying high and wide during the build up of possessionAn image of Man City’s ‘free 8’s’ Gundogan and David Silva (green cirlces) driving up the pitch with Bernardo (yellow cirlce) operating almost in the same line indicating his role as a ‘Deep-lying Forward’… Notice Fabien Delph’s (red circle) position as he supports the man on the ball due to Leroy Sane (purple circle) staying high and wide on the Left WingIn this image, notice how the City attacking players are in close proximity with each further illustrating them playing a Short passing style. Additionally, there is no sight of either ‘Full Back’ even though City are in the opposition’s defensive third. Further evidence of both ‘Fullback’s’ supporting role for this matchCity’s Mixed and Short summed up in one image. Both fullbacks (red circles) playing a supporting role, both Free 8’s (green cirlces) giving the freedom to float and find pockets of space, the ‘Deep-lying Forward’ (yellow circle) causing a midfield overload, The ‘Winger’ (purple circle) staying high and wide to stretch the oppoisiton’s back line.
These are just some of the things to look out for whilst playing a Mixed and Short style of play, but this has only been a look at Manchester City’s method of implementing it. Yours could be completley different (and you could also use a different formation). The principle remains the same though: Positional versatility + A shorter passing style during possession + An emphasis on playing in close proximity to each other.
Up next, we take a look at Mixed and Direct as we keep the ball rolling up the pitch!
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