AMAZING Leonardo Jardim AS Monaco Tactic

This tactic has helped us be undefeated and score more than 100 goals in the league.

Back in 2017, AS Monaco fielded a line-up having Kylian Mbappe, Bernardo Silva and Radamel Falcao among others.

And the title winning team was led by none other than Leonardo Jardim.

Leonardo Jardim was born in Barcelona…Venezuela, to Portuguese parents. He returned to Portugal at a young age, relocating to the island of Madeira. 

Moving from one club to another, he arrived at Sporting Lisbon in 2013. Leading a team full of young players developed in the club's youth academy, he led the Lisbon team to second place in 2013–14, with 25 points and 18 goals more than the previous season.

This caught the attention of AS Monaco, who during the same season, finished runners-up to PSG in Ligue 1.

In June 2014, Leonardo Jardim signed for the Monaco-based club and started reshaping the team using his own principles and ideas.

Displaying attacking football, in the 2016-2017 season, Leonardo Jardim and AS Monaco won the league title after 17 years.

And this is the season we are interested in.

As mentioned, his side displayed attacking football, as the manager’s ideas revolve around resilient defending, fast recover of the ball and quick attacks, to surprise the opposition.

A 4-4-2 formation on paper, but a 2-4-4 in attack.

With a sweeper keeper on defend duty in goal. The goalkeeper is not asked to be Manuel Neuer, but he must be there when the team needs to recycle the possession of the ball.

A back four made of 2 wing backs on attack and 2 ball playing defenders on defend duty. This is an aggressive and attack minded setup, as the ball playing defenders will also look to participate in the possession game as much as possible.

The wing backs are told to cross more often and stay wider.

The midfield is made of a wide playmaker on support duty (Bernardo Silva), a ball winning midfielder on defend duty (Fabinho), a box-to-box midfielder (Tiémoué Bakayoko) and an inverted winger on attack duty (most often Thomas Lemar).

This is a dynamic midfield setup, made of diverse roles. This midfield setup coupled with the quality of Radamel Falcao helped AS Monaco dominate French football in 2016-2017.

The box-to-box midfielder is told to take more risks and mark tighter. He should be attack minded and creative in possession, but when out of possession, he should give the opposition as little time as possible on the ball.

And the strikers are an advanced forward (Radamel Falcao) and a complete forward (Kylian Mbappe).

As mentality, I chose positive. With the amount of attack duties in the formation, I would not recommend going higher than positive, as the duties dictate how the players would play.

In possession, fairly wide attacking width, overlap on both flanks and play out of defence. Shorter passing directness and a slightly higher tempo.

As mentioned, when in possession, the team would often line up in a 2-4-4 formation. With the wingers going up with the strikers and the wing backs offering the necessary width to the tactic.

This created the dynamic of the tactic, overloading the opposition and offering passing options to the players, bouncing the ball around until an opening appeared.

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

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

When out of possession, the team tried to recover the ball as fast as possible. When this became impossible, they retreated in the 4-4-2 formation, harrying their opponents off the ball and compacting the defensive shape.

In my save, we have won the Eredivisie title with Ajax, finishing the season unbeaten and with 10 points in front of Feyenoord.

Also, we scored 103 goals and conceded only 17.

As you can see, this is a very dominant tactical setup, if employed with the right players.

Leonardo Jardim may have managed a lot of clubs so far, in his career, but the tactical setup he created for that AS Monaco side will always be remembered as one of the best tactics the world of football has witnessed.