On the road to the first UEFA European Championship since 1996, Julian Nagelsmann’s Germany has stood out in the group phase of the UEFA Euro 2024 in such a manner we felt the need to recreate their tactics on Football Manager 2024. As one of three favorites to win the 17th edition of the UEFA European Championship, Julian Nagelsmann’s Germany tactics has combined possession and domination in the opposing half with wonderful movements and an attacking aggressiveness that makes them highly entertaining to watch.
36 -year-old Julian Nagelsmann, who entered the job as Germany National Team Manager in September 2023 to replace Hansi Flick, has been touted as one of the best young coaches erupting in the footballing world. After his success at both RB Leipzig, where he guided the team to a Champions League semi-finals in 2019/20, and winning the Bundesliga with Bayern Münich, Nagelsmann could become the youngest ever manager to win the UEFA Euro Championship. At the moment, he’s the youngest ever coach to participate in the tournament.
Influenced by Pep Guardiola, and the godfather of gegenpressing, Ralf Ragnick, Julian Nagelsmann has managed to install his footballing principles within the German National team which has resulted in a 50% win ratio. With only two losses that dates back to November 2023 and 23 goals scored over 12 matches, Germany are the ones to watch for the latter stages of the Euro 2024 tournament.
On their way to the Euro 2024 they have already beaten France 2-0 and Netherlands 2-1 and their tendency to score goals has continued in the group stage by beating Scotland 5-1, and Denmark 2-0 in the round of 16. So far, Germany has scored the most goals (10)* in the UEFA Euro 2024 and having the second most shots (54), compared to Spains 61, as well as being one of two teams to achieve a possession ratio of above 60%! FYI! The other team is not Spain, if you would think that, but Spain’s neighbour on the Iberian peninsula, Portugal who have recorded 68% possession, 9% more than Spain, so far!
But what makes Julian Nagelsmann’s Germany 4-2-3-1 tactics so brilliant? How does the team line up and behave in possession of the ball? What makes the possession-hungry Germany into a title candidate?
Let us take a closer look at Julian Nagelsmann’s outstanding Germany tactics and how we set out to recreate his 4-2-3-1 tactics from the UEFA Euro 2024 tournament on Football Manager 2024. Over the next chapters we will provide our tactical analysis of Julian Nagelsmann’s Germany 4-2-3-1 tactics before giving you the chance to download the Football Manager 2024 Nagelsmann’s Germany 4-2-3-1 tactics.
* as of July 2nd, 2024
Table of Contents
Tactical Analysis of Nagelsmann’s Germany 4-2-3-1 Tactics at Euro 2024
Germany’s 4-2-3-1 Formation
Under Julian Nagelmann’s leadership, Germany sets up in a 4-2-3-1 formation with a double pivot in front of a back four. Using a mix of highly tactical experienced players and technical gifted wonderkids in Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz, the team is build up with a squad featuring great qualities both in and out of possession. Overall, making Germany into one of the favourites to win the UEFA Euro 2024!
So far in this tournament, Germany’s 4-2-3-1 tactics has looked like this:
In goal, we have the ‘ever-young’ sweeper keeper Manuel Neuer. At the age of 38, the Bayern Münich legend has provided the security between the stick – helping the team to only concede 2 goals over the last four matches, at the time of writing.
In defence, Jonathan Tah and Antonio Rüdiger are key to their remarkable defensive solidity. Both fullfilling eachothers duties perfectly, where one is quick and strong and the other has great positioning, awareness and on-the-ball skills. Both of the defenders are frankly quite similar in their abilities but I would say that the aggressivess, bravery and physical powers of Rüdiger has been key to how Germany aims to dominate possession and recovering possession in the manner we would expect of the best German gegenpressing sides.
At right back, you find probably one of the greatest complete wingbacks in the world probably for the last four seasons; Joshua Kimmich. On the other side, Nagelsmann has preferred to use either RB Leipzig’s attacking wingback David Raum or Maximilian Mittelstädt, who plays as a left-back for Stuttgart. These three players has made a total of 21 assists in the Bundesliga 2023-24 combined – partly describing their importance to the German national team.
In front of the back four, you’ll have the incredible playmaking abilities of Toni Kroos coupled with a more traditional ball-winning midfielder, the hard-working defensive midfielder Robert Andrich, who helped Bayer 04 Leverkusen to achieve going through the entire Bundesliga season 23/24 unbeaten.
Up front, Nagelsmann has coupled the intelligence in movements and passing technique of Ilkay Gündogan with two of the best young players in the world, Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz. Two players who stands out for their attacking qualities in regard to quickness, progressive runs, passing technique and abilities in one-on-one situations – making them able to pull the opposing defensive block apart with agility, flair and smartness on the ball.
For the UEFA Euro 2024, Nagelsmann has trusted the abilities of Kai Havertz as the link-up player for his tactical plan A, while Florian Füllkrüg has entered the pitch if they are in need of goals to use his aerial abilities and strength as a target forward to score goals from crosses, if they are forced to switch to a plan B.
Even though Kai Havertz hardly fits the bill as a traditional and clinical goalscorer Germany has had in previous Euro’s, the Arsenal forward leads the line by providing depth and work tirelessly to create space for the others around him as well as initiating the high press and use work rate to come into goalscoring opportunities.
Let’s delve deeper into Germany’s tactics and look closer at how they position themselves in the different phases of play and what they are trying to achieve with their game plan and use of shapes.
1. Playing Out from the Back
When playing out from the back, Germany is fortunate to have the goalkeeping distribution skills of Manuel Neuer. Capable of both passing the ball with great accuracy or kick the ball long, the sweeper keeper’s vision aids the team when playing out from the back. This means that Germany can play on multiple strings when playing out from the back depending on the pressing intensity of the opposition team and how the goalkeeper anticipate the situation.
When Goalkeeper is in Possession
When the goalkeeper was in possession of the ball, the two centre backs would often split extremely wide and mean while one kept his position on the side of the penalty box, the other would either move wide outside the penalty box or move towards the other side of the penalty box.
Even though this illustration is not a perfect example of how Germany happened to play out from the back on every occassion the goalkeeper had the ball (as it depending on the urgency of the goalkeeper to continue the play), it helps to get a brief overview of the positioning of the players.
What you shall pay attention to is how one of the defensive midfielders moves into the middle of the pitch and holds position in the penalty arch (zone 5) whilst the wingbacks holds position in zone 4 and 6. Their positioning gives more passing options for the goalkeeper and can provide better circumstances to use the flanks to build out of defence and interchange passes which aims to move the opposition so they can eventually move the ball into the middle third.
But quick short passes and moving the ball in zig-zag patterns wasn’t the only solution Germany could use.
Against the High Press
In the match against Denmark, we could experience the varity in passing directness when restarting the game. At least on one occassion, Denmark held a very high line of engagement and used three players up front to prevent short distribution and passes into the middle towards the double pivot.
When Germany would come up against the high press like this, they were not afraid to go more direct.
With a 2-2-2-1-3 structure featuring multiple players between the lines, Tah would often play the ball short to the goalkeeper, which could either play it towards Rüdiger to force the opposing player to come at him, or launch a long ball over the opposition’s teams midfield line against either Wirtz/Sané on the right side or Musiala on the left. In this situation, he aimed long as the below illustration reveals.
If the opposition’s defensive block was disorganized, the goalkeeper could distribute the ball by throwing it qickly to an open player.
in fact, Germany had several of different escape routes and alternatives when playing out from the back.
Ultimately, it forced the opposition to guess as there weren’t clear patterns in what the goalkeeper would do at goal kicks and when he received the ball – often resulting the press to become something in between high press and low press.
2. Germany’s Build-up Play
In the build-up, Germany tends to use either a 2-4-1-3 or a 3-3-3-1 shape in possession of the ball – all depending on the positioning of Toni Kroos and the two outer attacking midfielders.
The Extreme High Defensive Line
When in possession, Germany favours to push their defensive line very high up the pitch – and congest the pitch into the opposing team’s own half.
By squeezing the play, it reduces the distance between the lines but also helps to recover the possession higher up the pitch if the ball is lost. What’s insane is how far up the defenders set the defensive line against Scotland – pushing up nearly 75 metres up the pitch and hold the line ahead of the half way circle in opposition’s half.
This had its benefits in terms of defending against the counter-attacks and initiate the press to regain possession high up the pitch.
Defending Against Counter-Attacking Situations
To protect from counter-attacks as they recycle possession and try to work the ball into the final third, Toni Kroos tends to drop deep to collect the ball and become a third centre-back, much like what we would imagine of the half-back role in Football Manager.
When Kroos drops on the left side of the centre backs to form a back three structure, it provides the wingbacks the ability to move higher up the pitch and offer passing options further forward towards the flanks.
The positioning of Kroos in the back three of the build-up structure doesn’t only aim to provide the necessary passing angles and positioning to progress play. As mentioned briefly above, it also ensures you have three players protecting against the counter-attacks with the two outer centre-backs holding position in each of the half space channels.
It’s basically the same intention as using an inverted fullback, like Man City and a bunch of teams has used for their positional play tactics, or back three formations intends to defend, to free up the defensive responsibilities of either the central midfielders or the wingbacks – who can then move higher up the pitch.
Kroos’s Midfield Mastery
As this illustration from the 17th minute within the Denmark match shows, we can see how well the German side creates passing triangles and diamonds. When Kroos is on the ball, he got the option to play the ball towards the closest centre back, Jonathan Tah, move the ball towards the wing (Raum or Mittelstädt) or aim towards Andrich or Gündogan who position themselves in pocket of spaces between the lines. The attacking passing options is also there with Kroos able to make progressive passes directly towards Musiala who have moved between the lines of the opposing team’s defensive and midfield line.
It’s in situation like this Kroos excels with his magnificent passing technique, vision and composure – being able to pick out the right pass at the right time and use his decision-making to either progress play, retain possession or exchange a quick pass with his centre back partners or closest wingback.
In the situations where the ball should eventually arrive to Rüdiger, Germany is no stranger to vary their passing intentions and directness. Eventhough they have recorded 612 short passes per game so far, they make around 36 more direct long balls per game, according to Whoscored.
In fact, Germany is very adept at varying between playing through the channels, play short combination passes that takes advantages of bounce passes to free up the third man or play more direct balls beyond the opposition’s back line.
While the role of Kroos aims to attract the opposition onto himself and create space for the attacking midfielders up front, Rüdiger has a tendency to play more direct balls towards the opposing half space channel – towards Musiala who enjoys attacking the space either behind the opposing defensive line, or in between the channels of the centre back and outer fullback, or towards Havertz who attacks the penalty box.
In fact, the link between Rüdiger and Havertz has enabled the team to enter the final third in a quick and swiftly manner.
In fact, so far in this tournament both Kroos, Rüdiger and Kimmich has made two through balls each.
The intention to varying the passing directness is a clever plan for two reasons:
- avoid becoming too predictable by suprising the opposition. It can be a great plan if they stay high or leaves space behind the opposing line – for instance if they try to cut off passes in the middle once Rüdiger is on the ball but doesn’t really manage to set up a pressing trap, or
- force the opposition team to take into account that direct balls may come when he receives the ball – meaning they might drop deeper which leaves more space for the attacking midfielders to receive the ball between the lines
Kroos’s magnificent passing stats!
Coming out of international retirement just the lead his home nation for the final time on the road to the UEFA Euro 2024 final, Toni Kroos has used the first four matches to showcase why he should be labelled amongst the best playmakers the world has ever seen.
As always, Toni Kroos has been pulling the strings and showcased his brilliancy at dictating the tempo and connecting the dots. So far in this tournament no other player has made as many open play passes (411 passes at a 95.36% success rate) than Kroos. At the same time, he has made 312 passes in the opposition half at a success ratio of 88.8%, as well as being amongst the top players for numbers of chances created (ranked 2 with 13 key passes) and possession won (ranked fourth by winning possession 28 times).
Against Hungary, Toni Kroos completed 124 passes with 95.2% accuracy, which is the second most passes in any Euro matches ever – only three passes less than Xavi records against Ireland at Euro 2012.
However, against -Scotland, Toni Kroos was given the licence to roam and dictate play in such a brilliant matter that he ended up with 107 touches, 4 key passes and 102 completed passes at a success rate of outstanding 99%!
As one of the stand out performers in regard to playmaking abilities, Toni Kroos’s 13 key passes and 1 big chances created could be the key to Germany winning the Euro’s for the fourth time.
Sources: *All Stats according to The Analyst and SofaScore
What About The Role of the Other Player in The Double Pivot?
In Germany’s double pivot system it was a clear difference in the roles and duties of the two defensive midfielders.
As Kroos moves deep and becomes the third centre back, Robert Andrich will have to cover a huge area in the middle of the pitch – both to free up space for his defensive midfield partner and centre backs to receive the ball, but also to link up play to the more forward-thinking attacking midfielders.
As the single holding midfielder at times, Andrich will not only cover for ball recoveries deep in the opposition’s half but also provide an important link between Kroos and Kimmich from left to right side or as a link from Kroos to Gündogan in the middle to progress play.
Eventhough he often sits in front of the defensive line, the player partnered with Kroos, whether it being Emre Can, Gross or Andrich, it was clear that he was forced to work from side to side, as the heat mape below shows. When receiving the ball, his main duty was to lay it off to a more creative player by short simple passes – much like how you will see from Sergio Busquets in his best days.
Like a roaming playmaker he would always keep up with the play and advance further forward as the ball moved higher up the pitch.
Even though Andrich wasn’t the most important player in the build-up or when Germany was in possession, he excelled if the ball was lost, something we’ll talk about a bit later on.
The Advantages of Using a Back Three System
In the case of Germany and their unordinary use of a back three system where it’s their primary playmaker who drops deep to the side of the centre backs rather in between the middle as Busquets did for Barcelona (a tactical solution entitled Salida La Volpiana), defending with a back three these days has become almost the norm. Even I have gone away from the traditional 4-3-3 system and is instead using a 3-4-2-1 system in my latest Football Manager save.
But back to the point!
The advantages of using a back three system becomes clear when facing an opponent with two strikers.
- firstly, it creates a numerical superiority – 3vs2 in the build-up phase – resulting in an advantage against typical 4-4-2, 3-5-2 or 3-4-2-1 systems . all those teams with two strikers
- secondly, it forces the opposition to either decide on forcing one of their wingers to move inside to close down the third defender, have a midfielder to step up from his line or accept the numerical disadvantage and protect the center.
- thirdly, the positioning of the outer centre-backs in the half space channels allows the team to better break the first defensive line with a progressive ball . With the help of the wingbacks who stay wider and midfielders who roam into pockets, it becomes easier to bypass the press and advance the ball into the middle of the pitch by one to three passes.
Regardless of what the opposition does, it will leave space somewhere on the pitch to try to penetrate through. If the midfielder steps out of his line, it will create a hole which one of the attacking midfielders can roam into. If the winger tucks inside, it will be space on the wing meaning the fullback has to defend that area by pushing out of the back four or back five, or if they try to protect the center, it will also be space down the wings meaning they must try to trigger press out wide and regain possession by limiting the space and time for the wingbacks who are rather alone in the wide channel.
RELATED | Why these tactics are dominating in the Euro’s [by Football Meta]
3. Entering the Final Third
In the attacking phase, Germany often varied between patiently working the ball towards the final third until a possible break through occured, or used passes into space to destabilize the oppositions blocks. For periods, they could exchange a lot of short passes which moved the ball from side to side, back and forth until there were space either in behind the back line or between the channels to penetrate with a run.
These switches of tempo and passing directness made them highly unpredictable and has resulted in them coming to great goalscoring opportunities with 18 shots per game taken.
To get into these goalscoring opportunites, Germany often used through balls between the channels and crosses into the box by taking advantage of the tencious work of the wingbacks.
The role of the Wingbacks: Stretching Play
When attacking, Germany has a number of strings to play on. With their asymmetric 3-2-5 shape their desire to push up their wingbacks in such a high position makes Kimmich and Raum/Mittelstädt provide the entire width of their attacking shape.
The role and instructions of the two wingbacks has caused troubles for a number of different sides throughout the tournament. Against Scotland’s low block and 5-4-1 defensive formation, the positioning of the German wingbacks made sure that if the opposition should tight mark and close them down, the fullbacks had to push out of position – which would leave space for the two outer attacking midfielders, or, force the two wide midfielders to stay wider – meaning there would be space between the channels to play progressive passes from defence to final third.
There are two main purposes of positioning the two wingbacks high and wide;
- their positioning provides a dilemma for the opposing fullbacks, much of it contributed by the positioning and use of attacking midfielders rather than wingers. If the fullbacks push wide to track the fullbacks, it will be more space in the middle for Musiala, Wirtz or Sané. On the other hand, if they defend narrow, Kimmich and Mittelstädt/Raum will have all the space and time in the world to do what they’re best at: delivering crosses from the wide channel, or combine with the attacking midfielders to progress play into dangerous positions.
- by stretching the play, they will almost look like traditional wingers in possession, hugging the touchline and try to get in crosses as soon as the opportunity arises.
So far in this tournament, Mittelstädt and Kimmich leads the chart for the most crosses made with 20 and 16 respectively. Their success rate is only at 20% and 25% but it provides another dimension to the offensive play that can not be underestimated.
Looking at the stats, only Portugal has made more crosses per game than Germany (30 vs 23 crosses per game). This shows the importance of the wingbacks attacking duties in Germany’s offensive play and tactical strategies to create chances and score goals.
Variety in Attacking Movements
Up front, Germany uses three attacking midfielders behind a modern deep-lying forward. In possession, these three players look to occupy the spaces between the lines and utilize these pocket of spaces to receive the ball and drive forward into dangerous attacking position, either by dribbling their way towards the goal, or play quick one-twos and bounce passes to free up the third man.
Aided by their smart movements and often opposite runs of eachother, Musiala, Gündogan and Wirtz (or Sané) aims to pull the opposing team’s defensive block apart by always moving and positioning themselves between the opposing team’s centre backs and the midfield line. Here we could also take into account the movements of Havertz – making it four players who are constantly moving around.
Their close proximity, often forming a diamond up top, aims to create a numerical superiority in the half space channels and overload the opposing defenders by creating 3vs1 or 4vs 2 situations.
These central overloads helps the team to attack through the middle as well as causing a number of decision-issues for the opposing defenders.
Often these magnificent technical attacking players alternates between moving between the lines and finding pocket of spaces to receive the ball in, or initiate progressive runs in between the channels, or in behind the opposition’s back line to attack the penalty area, or the final third.
Overloads in The Attacking Third
Time and time again we’ve seen Havertz and Musiala alternating between making those progressive runs whilst Gündogan and Musiala or Wirtz drops into pockets.
In fact, one thing I have discovered in my research of Germany’s Euro 2024 tactics is their likeliness to overload one of the half space channels – all depending on the location of the ball.
As the below image illustrates, Germany often uses a 3-3-3-1 shape in possession and when one of the three centre backs is in possession of the ball, Havertz tends to roam towards the left half space together with Gündogan and stay in close proximity to Sane or Wirtz in the left half space channel.
Often we could see Havertz drift wide rather than stying in front of the penalty area like Lewandowski or another traditional out and out forward would do.
When Havertz moves wide, it causes a dilemma for the opposing defenders – should the centre back follow him or leave the marking job over to the fullback who has the outer attacking midfielder next to him as well? At the same time, as he leaves the area they wish to attack in, it aims to create space for the attakcing midfielders to eventually run into.
However as the play enters the final third, the attacking line will spread across the five different channels with the wingbacks covering the wide channels and Musiala free to roam around the pitch.
When Raum or Mittelstädt becomes the fifth, or sixth attacker – acting more or less like a winger, it gives Musiala the freedom to play between the lines. Actually, throughout the matches, Musiala has tended to roam around the pitch from left to right side and back again – all depending on the location of the ball, as his heat map against Scotland reveals.
But the roaming of Musiala is not only unique to that player. Looking closer at Germany’s magnificent attacking four, we can discover that all players can rotate position depending on and according to eachothers movement. If Musiala drops deep to receive the ball, Havertz can drift wide to that side, meanwhile Gündogan takes the positioning Havertz normaly would have occupied.
This brilliancy to overload specific areas of the pitch at specific times has its advantages.
- For once, and the main reason for creating numerical overloads is that it aims to attract the opposition towards those player which can free up space for another player elsewhere – for instance on the opposite side of the pitch – something Pep Guardiola has favoured for ages.
- Secondly, as the defending team is focused on covering spaces and protecting that area is that it might enable third man runs or switches of play that can create goalscoring opportunities, unless you have technical gifted players (read qualitative superiority) to overcome the tighter defensive coverage.
Jamal Musiala; The Wonder Boy vs Wirtz’s role
Along with Lamine Yamal, who set the record for being the youngest ever player in the UEFA EURO finals, Jamal Musiala is one of the greatest candiates for winning the Young Player of the Tournament award after four impressive matches.
Standing at 3 goals in 303 minutes of action, Musiala has not only impressed in front of the goal but also in his attacking aggressiveness and movements with the ball.
Before the quarter finals against Spain, Musiala has completed the third most dribbles (11) – 5 behind Doku’s 16 dribbles.
That was a clear difference to the role of Wirtz who have ‘only’ made 1.5 dribbles per game – something that reveals the slight difference in role and duty. Instead, Wirtz stands out for his number of key passes. So far he has made 1.5 key passes compared to Musiala’s 1 key pass per game.
At the same time, the attacking midfielder has scored 3 goals after taking 1.0 shots on target per game.
Despite of a slight overperformance in front of the goal as he is only expected to score 0.86 goals miles behind Kai Havertz who has an xG of 3.6 goals his 42.86% goal conversion is remarkable both considering his age and playing as an attacking midfielder.
4. Germany Out of Possession
When out of possession, Germany’s defensive shape transforms into some sort of a 5-1-4 or 5-3-2 formation where it’s a clear difference in the roles and duties of Kroos, who moves closer to the back four and becomes the four and a half defender, and Andrich who holds position as if he was the single holding midfielder.
As this illustration reveals from the 20th minute against Denmark.
What’s striking is how they aim to protect the center with the two outer attacking midfielder dropping slightly deeper and in more close proximity to Andrich when defending in a mid block.
Germany’s Effective Pressing
However, if the opposition team makes back passes or towards the middle centre back, it’s a pressing trigger for the attacking midfielders to step forward and congest the space for him to pick out passes. In these circumstances, the shape will resemble the traditional 4-2-3-1 with the two defensive midfielder holding position just in front of the back four.
If the ball was played towards one of the outer centre backs in a back three, Sane / Wirtz or Musiala would immediately step up and force the opposing player to pass back towards the goalkeeper as their body positioning denied passes towards the attacking wingback – e.g Joakim Mæhle.
Against Denmark, who featured two attacking wingbacks in Mæhle and Bah, you would think Kimmich and Raum would have to stay wider and track their runs. Or, that Musiala and Sane would have to defend the wide channel but instead Germany kept protecting the center by staying slightly narrower.
Their narrow defending would in natural circumstances provide more space for the wingbacks to take advantage of. However, if the ball was played towards the flanks, the fullbacks would step forward to close down the opposing players time on the ball and initiating the press that aims to force the ball backwards or inwards.
For instance, if the ball was played down the right side towards Bah or Andersen, Raum would sprint as quickly as possible if there was a slight chance of winning possession. It could be an inaccurate pass from the midfielder to the wingback where the player has to turn and thereby not having full overview of the pitch, or if there was a bad touch and the opposing player is not fully in control of the ball.
At the back, the aggressiveness and physical powers of Schlotterbeck/Tah or Rüdiger helped the team to win possession on the edge of defensive third towards the middle third. Stepping out of the line so far forward has its risk but it was a plan throughout the match on how Germany should deal with Højlund.
From my perspective, it was a perfectly executed idea to delay the opposition’s attack by trying to outnumber the player when he receives the ball and tries to control it, and thereby limit the passing options to progress play further forward.
If the ball was played up towards a forward with his back to goal, one of the defenders would quickly step out of the defensive line to close him down and try to recover possession of the ball. This was also the case if the ball was lost higher up the pitch.
Counter-Pressing
One of the main tactical plans for germany out of possession was to counter-press as soon as the oportunity where there. Whilst they dropped deep if the opposition had complete control of the ball, Germany used their attacking overloads and great positioning in the attacking or middle third to try to limit the passing options of the opposing player if the ball was lost.
Here’s a great example of the importance of Andrich in Germany’s high counter-pressing. Germany has just misplaced one of the passes against Denmark and due to Andrich keeping up with the play and moving further forward he can help his team to initiate a press to try to regain possession, delay time or limit the passing options for the opposition player.
With the help of the front four, Andrich and the attacking midfielders can effectively close down the space and time for the opposing player on the ball and thereby limiting him to a back pass or a pass into a specific area which helps the team to initiate a more effective press.
Eventhough they wasn’t able to immediately regain possession in this situation, you can see how the use of a 3-2-5 structure helps to trigger press in the middle of the pitch and the final result was that Denmark has to restart their attack by playing it back to the defenders.
Time has now come to look closer at how I have emulated Germany’s 4-2-3-1 tactics on Football Manager 2024.
How to emulate Germany’s 4-2-3-1 Tactics on Football Manager 2024?
When creating the Germany Euro 2024 tactics on Football Manager 2024 I have gone by vertical Tiki-Taka tactical style where we combines a possession football style of play that revolves around short passes and attacking through the middle and lots of movements and runs in the attacking third.
Even though this tactic is designed for the players in the German Euro 2024 squad I would believe you will have great fun using this in any teams featuring technical gifted players who stands out for their vision, off the ball movement, dribbling, agility, passing, first touch and aggression.
Let’s take a quick look on our interpretation of Julian Nagelsmanns Germany 4-2-3-1 tactics for Football Manager 2024.
Match Mentality
For the ‘Match Mentality’ I have opted for a ‘Positive’ mentality to increase the width, tempo and the passing risk slightly but it’s perfectly fine to start the games off with ‘Balanced’ mentality before switching to Positive or ‘Attacking’ – if you need goals, or are facing a superior opponent.
However, we want to play a free-flowing expansive football where we aim to overload the opposition and take advantage of the attacking creativity of the front four – meaning we will have to increase the creative freedom and tempo a notch.
Nagelsmann’s Germany 4-2-3-1 Euro 2024 Tactic
Player Roles & Instructions
The Role of the Goalkeeper
To replicate Manuel Neuer’s role I have preferred the Sweeper-Keeper on support role to initiate those counter-attacking passes that Neuer is so brilliant at in the distribution of the ball at goal kicks.
GK: Sweeper Keeper – Support
Player Instructions: None
Individual Mentality: Positive (Positive) or Balanced (Balanced)
The role of the wingbacks
To replicate how the two wingbacks stay high and wide and push forward into the attacking third when the team is in possession of the ball, I could have selected two complete wingbacks. Looking at the statistics and heat maps of Mittelstädt and Kimmich against shows that these two players are making 89 and 97(!) touches each at an accuracy of 94% and 92%. This continued also in the next match something that signals to me that it would probably be best to use the CWB-role.
Instead, I have opted for different roles from the left and right side.
At right back, I have gone for an attacking complete wingback. Just like Joshua Kimmich is so brilliant at, the role will stay wider and seek to make an influence in the final third whilst also using his playmaking abilities and stamina to run up and down the entire flank and make himself available for a pass on every occasion the ball is located down the right half.
To increase the number of crosses he makes, I have asked the player to cross more often. You could however remove the instruction on where to aim the cross.
DR: Complete Wingback – Attack
Player Instructions: Dribble Less + Cross More Often – Aim at Target Forward
Individual Mentality: Attacking (Positive) or Positive (Balanced)
DL: Wingback – Attack
Player Instructions: Stay Wider + Dribble Less + Cross More Often
Individual Mentality: Attacking (Positive) or Positive (Balanced)
Tactical Solution; If you want to reduce the focus on attacking down the flanks with aggressive runs and you see your opponent’s taking advantage of the space behind your attacking wingbacks, you are perfectly fine to use the ‘Complete Wingback – Support’ role on both flanks.
The role of the centre-backs
DCR: Ball Playing Defender – Defend
Player Instructions: None
Required Traits: Tries Long Range Passes
Individual Mentality: Cautious (Positive) or Defensive (Balanced)
DCL: Ball Playing Defender – Defend
Player Instructions: Pass Shorter
Individual Mentality: Cautious (Positive) or Defensive (Balanced)
The role of the defensive midfielders
Perhaps no surprises here. I have simply gone for the half back role to imitate how Kroos moved deep into the back three as mentioned in the tactical analysis above. In this case, I’ve asked the half back to stay wider in order for letting Kroos work his magic in the left half space and get more space to pick out those clever progressive passes.
Next to him, we have the perfect role for Andrich – a ball winning midfielder which will suit our philosophy at winning possession high up the pitch. Just like Andrich in the Euro’s 2024, the BWM will take advantage of his aggression, work rate and bravery to make tackles and try to regain possession before it enters a dangerous zone.
DMRC: Ball Winning Midfielder – Defend
Player Instructions: Pass it shorter
Individual Mentality: Cautious (Positive) or Defensive (Balanced)
DMLC: Half Back – Defend
Player Instructions: Shoot Less Often + Stay Wider
Required Traits: Dictate Tempo + Comes Deep to Get Ball
Individual Mentality: Cautious (Positive) or Defensive (Balanced)
The role of the attacking midfielders & forward
Here I’ve opted for as many players who can move between the lines and drop into pocket of spaces to receive the ball and cause chaos with their constant movements according to eachother. Whilst the deep-lying forward can drop deep to receive the ball, you have players in behind who can threat the space he leaves. Rather than using inverted wingers, I feel the best interpreation of the movements and positioning of Wirtz/Sané or Musiala is attacking midfielders where one is tasked to be a little bit more attacking than the other – trying to get into goalscoring areas by making progressive carries and progressive runs by dribbling and running with the ball more frequently than the others.
AMRC: Attacking Midfielder – Support
Player Instructions: Get Further Forward + Roam from Position + Stay Wider + (Take More Risks)
Required Traits: Tries Killer Passes
Individual Mentality: Very Attacking (Positive) or Attacking (Balanced)
AMC: Advanced Playmaker – Support
Player Instructions: Moves Into Channels
Required Traits: Plays One-Twos, Moves Into Channels, Tries Killer Passes
Individual Mentality: Very Attacking (Positive) or Attacking (Balanced)
AMLC: Attacking Midfielder – Attack
Player Instructions: Roam From Position + Dribble More
Required Traits: Runs with ball often + Plays One-Twos
Individual Mentality: Very Attacking (Positive) or Attacking (Balanced)
ST: Deep-Lying Forward – Attack
Player Instructions: None
Individual Mentality: Very Attacking (Positive) or Attacking (Balanced)
Team Instructions
In Possession
When attacking the opposition, the plan is to use a mix of quick short passes and more direct passes into space to increase the number of runs in behind the back line and through balls delivered to on rushing attacking midfielders or the forward. By instructing players to underlap, the mentality of the wingbacks will increase one notch something that makes them move higher up the pitch.
Other than that, the players are fairly free to stamp their mark on the game by using their creativity and unpredictability in movements and on the ball action to create chances.
In Transition
In transition, Germany often tended to switch between being patient in their build-up and looking for counter-attacking moves. You are free to tick Counter on to make play a little bit more direct.
Out of Possession
Like Germany, we wish to win possession as high up the pitch as possible by using an extremely high defensive line and line of engagement. We want to squeeze play into the opposition half and therefore it would be advantage to not only triggering press high but ask the defenders to step up more and try to catch the opposition offside.
You can remove the instruction to ‘Step up more’ instructions if you’re facing a better opponent than you, and feel the need to counter the opponent’s quick forwards with more defensive solidity where players track back if loosing possession and protect the goal by reorginizing the defense further down the field.
Download Passion4FM’s FM24 Nagelsmann’s Germany 4-2-3-1 Tactics
Experience the fluidity in movements and attacking expansive football of Nagelsmann’s Germany tactics. Get Passion4FM’s Football Manager 2024 Germany 4-2-3-1 tactics and emulate the wonderful Kroos role in your next save!
