Title Winning Tactic - Blackburn 1995
Can scoring goals from crosses win you the UEFA Champions League in Football Manager?
Well…yes.
Ok, let me clarify.
Back in the 1994 – 1995 Premier League season, a team called Blackburn Rovers managed to win the league using a simple, but efficient tactical system.
To understand how, we need to turn to the manager.
Sir Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish MBE is a Scottish former football player and manager.
During his career, he made over 800 senior appearances at club level, playing as a forward, and earned a record 102 caps for the Scotland national team, scoring 30 goals, also a joint record.
Kenny Dalglish also won the Ballon d'Or Silver Award in 1983.
He became player-manager of Liverpool in 1985 after the resignation of Joe Fagan, winning three First Divisions, two FA Cups and four FA Charity Shields, before resigning in 1991.
Eight months later, he made a return to football management with Blackburn Rovers, whom he led from the Second Division to winning the Premier League in 1995.
Now, I must admit that I did not know Kenny Dalglish led Blackburn Rovers to winning the league title. So, there was a bonus for me researching this video.
I cannot speak for Kenny Dalglish’s tactic used when managing Liverpool, but while managing Blackburn, especially in the 1994-1995 season, he seemed to have used a 4-4-2 system. Relying on direct progression of the ball, pinpoint crosses and strong strikers.
Before we go deeper into the tactical setup, we must talk a bit about Alan Shearer.
Of course, all players involved in that season matter and must be discussed about, but understanding Alan Shearer’s involvement in Kenny Dalglish’s tactic is key to understanding why the tactic worked.
Alan Shearer is an English football pundit and former professional player who played as a striker. He is widely regarded as one of the best strikers of all time and one of the greatest players in Premier League history.
He started his career at Southampton in 1988, before moving to Blackburn Rovers in 1992, where he established himself as among the most prolific goalscorers in Europe and won the 1994–95 Premier League.
For the England national team, Shearer appeared 63 times and scored 30 goals.
While the UEFA Euro 1996 was his biggest success at international football for him; England reached the semi-finals and he was awarded the UEFA Euro Golden Boot and was named in the UEFA Euro Team of the Tournament.
His involvement was important in the 1995 Blackburn Rovers tactical setup as he was the aim of most of the crosses or long balls the team played.
So, if you have a tall and strong striker in your team, do not hesitate to use this tactic.
The sweeper keeper was not used back when Blackburn won the league title, but it is an important role in Football Manager 2024, as it helps the team’s possession game.
Of course, a normal goalkeeper role would work as well.
The back four is made of two wing backs on support and two ball playing defenders on defend.
The right sided wing back is told to cross more often, while the left sided one is told to cross more often and cut inside with the ball.
This is because Graeme Le Saux seemed to cut inside often, when the chance presented itself, before sending a through ball, a long one or just combining with the forward players to create an attack.
The right sided ball playing defender is told to stay wider. This is to make sure the defensive line covers the width of the pitch when faced with counterattacks.
In front of them, we have a box-to-box midfielder and a central midfielder on support duty.
The box-to-box role was chosen as we need a player that would cover defensively when needed but would also go up in the attack when the opportunity presents itself.
He is told to mark tighter.
The central midfielder is told to get further forward and mark tighter.
The wingers are an important part of the tactical setup. As they need to provide the width of the tactic in attack and they need to be able to win their 1v1s, to cross the ball in the box.
As player instructions, they are told to cross from deep and mark tighter.
And as strikers we have a deep lying forward on support and an advanced forward.
They are both told to mark tighter.
As you can see, besides the defensive line, all the other players are told to mark tighter.
Blackburn seem to have applied pressure on the opposition, but on the individual level. That is why, the players are told to mark the opponent in front of them, not giving time on the ball and making it hard for the opposition to progress the ball.
As mentality, I chose positive.
In possession, fairly wide attacking width, focus play down both flanks, slightly more direct passing directness and a slightly higher tempo.
As mentioned, Blackburn used a direct style of play, thus the passing directness used.
Hit early crosses is ticked on, to encourage the wing backs to cross early if they have the opportunity.
And be more disciplined was used, to make sure the team interprets the tactic as a group and the shape is maintained.
In transition, counter-press, counter and distribute the ball to the defence through short kicks.
And out of possession, a high press and a standard defensive line. And trigger press is more often.
As allured to at the beginning, this tactic helped my team – Bayer Leverkusen – to win the UEFA Champions League. By beating Arsenal 6-0.
There is no other way to describe how the game went, other than amazing. And it was a fitting end to our season, as this game represents the tactic through out the season, in my save.
Alongside the UEFA Champions League, we have also won the Bundesliga, scored 115 goals and conceded 41.
And we won the DFL Supercup as well, 5-1 against Wolfsburg.
This tactic surprised me in a positive way, and I cannot wait to use it in future saves.
While researching this video, I read multiple articles stating that the Blackburn team of the 1994-1995 season and their feat are under appreciated.
To be honest, I agree with this statement. The playing style seemed so simple, but it was so effective. Extraordinary.
