INCREDBILE Jose Mourinho Fenerbahce Tactic

Jose Mourinho was sent off in one of the first games in charge of Fenerbahce. Talk about making an entrance.

As we know, Jose Mourinho is a football manager that you either like or not. There is no in between with him.

He introduced himself as a talented manager back when he won the UEFA Champions league with FC Porto.

Chelesa came knocking and his answer was iconic.

And special he was – 3 Premier League titles with Chelsea – out of which 2 in a row. 2 UEFA Champions League trophies. One UEFA Europa League title. And one UEFA Europa Conference League title – which helped Jose Mourinho become the first manager to win every European continental competition.

Of course, many other distinctions have been won by the Portuguese manager.

And he did all this by sticking to a few key tactical principles. A compact defensive shape, ruthless counterattacking football and clinical finishing.

The formations he used changed according to each team he managed. From a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-5-1 to a 4-3-3. Of course, other variations were used.

We will be focusing on the 4-2-3-1 formation. But there are at least other 2 videos covering Jose Mourinho’s tactic on my channel and my website. So, make sure to check them out as well.

Good. We start with a sweeper keeper in goal. The sweeper keeper is a modern, more advanced role for the goalkeeper, helping the possession game and sweeping up the loose balls.

The back four is made of one full back on support duty, a central defender and a ball playing defender on defend duty and a wing back on attack.

With the right player for the role, the left back can also be a complete wing back on attack in this setup. Fenerbahce having Ferdi Kadioglu, he fits the bill for both roles.

The full back is asked to cross less often and stay wider.

The wing back is asked to take more risks and dribble more.

The two defensive midfielders are a defensive midfielder on support and a deep lying playmaker on support.

The roles are different, as the defensive midfielder must be the screen in front of the defence. While he is expected to recycle the possession of the ball, his primary task is to defend.

While the playmaker is the engine of the tactic. Each attack should start or go through him.

Dribble less for both.

The wingers are a winger on support and an inside forward on attack. The setup is like this to shake up the opposition’s defence structure and to force the defenders to focus on different role interpretations.

The winger can also be asked to cut inside, or he can do it naturally if the player has this trait. However, I would limit this, as the full back is not proactively venturing in the attack and the winger cutting inside often may leave the flank vulnerable to counterattacks.

The inside forward is asked to sit narrower though. He must cut inside and become a second striker, making room for the wing back to go up and exploit. And with Allan Saint Maximin, you can be sure that the inside forward role can be interpret perfectly.

The formation is completed by an advanced playmaker on support and a deep lying forward on attack duty.

Of course, instead of the deep lying forward, an advanced forward or a target forward could be used, for Edin Dzeko.

However, I found that the match engine interpreted the tactic better when a deep lying forward was used.

The four attacking players are asked to mark tighter. This is in a bid to stick close to their opponents, forcing their mistake when they are on the ball.

As mentality, I used attacking. It seemed to work better with this setup, making the players be more aggressive in possession. But, if it is too much for your team, change it to positive.

In possession, fairly wide attacking width and focus play down both flanks. This will make the players stretch the pitch, forcing the opposition to go wide as well and leaving open spaces to be attacked into.

Standard passing directness and a higher tempo. Jose Mourinho seems to be asking his team to attack the opposition’s goal as fast as possible. And with the players at his disposal, this can be done quite efficiently.

Play for set pieces and run at defence.

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

There is no counter-press ticked off, but the players will still apply it if the game moment allows it.

And out of possession, a high press and a standard defensive line. Trigger press slightly more often and get stuck in.

Using this tactic, we finished 3rd in Bundesliga, in my save, as Bayer Leverkusen. But only one point behind RB Leipzig. We scored 71 goals and conceded 31.

As you can see, the tactic is aggressive in possession. Which means that if used with a mid-table to relegation battle team, you may struggle. Now, it is not a given.

What this setup gives, though, is balance. You can tweak it however you see fit and keep it close to Jose Mourinho’s style.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, I am fan of Jose Mourinho’s style of play. He is approaching the end of his career, but I think that he can still bring success to any team he manages.