Murderball pressing, wide overloads, and a 3-3-1-3 built for chaos — the complete FM26 breakdown of Marcelo Bielsa's legendary Leeds United system
When Marcelo Bielsa took over at Leeds United in the Summer of 2018, the club were off the back of a disappointing 13th place finish in the Championship the season before, and most observers expected the club to go through another disappointing season in the slumps of mid-table in the 18/19 season. However, the appointment of Marcelo Bielsa was a revolutionary move as the Argentinian quickly implemented a training philosophy that would quickly gain traction and be famed as 'Murderball'.
In El Loco's first season at Leeds United, the club skyrocketed into a 3rd place finish and narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premier League following a famous defeat against Derby County over two legs in the Play-Off Semi-Finals — a tie that was overshadowed by the controversial 'spygate' incident. The season after, however, Leeds United climbed to new heights as they won the Championship by a significant 10-point margin. But how did he do this...?! If you're looking for a save with real historical weight, Leeds United also feature in our FM26 Fallen Giants to Rebuild guide — well worth a read before you start.
'Murderball'
'Murderball' was a training session Marcelo Bielsa implemented at Leeds United where the players would divide into two teams and would play a match without ANY stoppages. Additionally, if the ball were to go out of play, the Leeds players would have to sprint back towards a cone each of them were assigned. The incessant nature of the training match would create a hyperintense game environment that the Leeds players would have to adapt to, making it easier for the players to rise through intensity levels during competitive fixtures.
Unrelenting High-Press
'Murderball' was also crucial for the Leeds players to adapt to Bielsa's strict pressing philosophy, wherefrom the players are asked to constantly press the opposition. This is to force the opposition backwards to eventually attempt to regain possession closer to goal, meaning Leeds could create very dangerous counter-attacking scenarios once possession turned over. Lastly, by pressing high, Leeds United would always have the initiative in games and were always the primary aggressors, even against superior sides!
El Loco's Wonderful 3-3-1-3
When Leeds United had possession under Bielsa, they would form a very wide and fluid 3-3-1-3 shape, effectively forming triangles in wide areas and diamonds in central areas to allow for quick, short interchanges of possession. This shape could be formed in a variety of ways; however, the aim was to always maintain a 3-3-1-3 shape, with a priority on getting the ball wide and having players link-up in those wide regions.
Let's Break Down the Tactic
In Possession
In build-up, the 'keeper was instructed to initiate Leeds' possession game from deep, distributing shorter and, predominantly, to the side's centre-backs. However, if the opposition were pressing particularly high, Leeds weren't against going direct to bypass said press.
Upon progressing from build-up, Leeds would carry the ball forward — a large part of Bielsa's Leeds and their system was built around forward momentum, and these forward carries would add this sort of thrust to their game. Additionally, Leeds would constantly pass the ball into space for their players to run onto, allowing them to take the ball with momentum going forward. In the final third, Leeds would cross the ball into the box with quite some regularity.
In general, Leeds would utilise short passes to retain and recycle possession, whilst doing this with high intensity and speed to keep the opposition moving. Within Leeds' 3-3-3-1 in-possession set-up, they would have numbers out wide and would try and exploit this by playing into wide areas often, with players stretching wider to accommodate this — from here, almost all of Leeds' outfielders were given licence to roam and rotate, creating situational overloads. Finally, upon regaining possession, Leeds would immediately look to punish the opposition by launching rapid, devastating counter-attacks.
Out of Possession
When Leeds didn't have the ball, they were incessant aggressors and would relentlessly close down the opposition no matter where the ball was — typically, Leeds would do this in a man-to-man fashion. To supplement this high-press, the defence was instructed to hold a higher line to compact the space in midfield. Largely, Leeds would try and force teams out wide if they were forced into dropping deeper. Finally, upon losing possession of the ball, Leeds would immediately counter-press to try and regain possession as soon as possible.
Player Roles
Goalkeeper | Sweeper Keeper
When Leeds had the ball, the 'keeper wouldn't advance too high in his positioning, rather staying deeper as a secondary passing option. However, when Leeds didn't have the ball, the 'keeper was instrumental in positioning himself optimally to cut out loose through balls and claim crosses into the penalty area.
Advanced Wing-Back | Full-Back
Both full-backs, in this system, would advance quite high when Leeds had the ball — and this started from build-up, as they would move into the midfield line leaving just the 'keeper, two centre-backs, and Kalvin Phillips to navigate build-up. On the right side, however, Luke Ayling's movements in-possession were slightly different to that of the left-back: Ayling would tend to invert into midfield at times to supplement the Leeds centre, allowing the right winger to hold the width momentarily. Additionally, Ayling would push higher more regularly than the left-back and possessed a good passing range that he could showcase at times. Both full-backs, however, were consistent ball-carriers and both would try and reach the byline regularly.
(DCR & DCL) Ball-Playing Centre-Back | Centre-Back
Both centre-backs, in this system, performed the same role in all honesty. Both were rather progressive in their passing, and both would look to break the lines with penetrative passes into the centre and half-spaces. Additionally, in build-up, both centre-backs would split wider to allow Kalvin Phillips to drop between them and initiate the side's possession game.
Wing-Back | Full-Back
On the left side, unlike Ayling on the right, the left-back will remain wider. Every other facet of his game remains consistent with Ayling, however, barring Ayling's showcase of his strong ball-playing abilities.
Half Back | Defensive Midfielder
From this position, Kalvin Phillips would tend to drop deeper throughout Leeds' periods of possession, forming a back-three with the two centre-backs. From here, upon receiving the ball, Kalvin Phillips could also showcase his fantastic passing range as he could either break the lines or find an attacker in-behind the opposition's defence.
Central Midfielder | Central Midfielder
Both central midfielders, in this system, would chop and change their positioning: one would drop deeper, whilst the other would advance higher simultaneously. However, in 19/20 and 20/21 respectively, Klich would more likely be the deeper of the two central midfielders. The role's instructions reflect this interchangeability.
Attacking Midfielder | Central Midfielder
Upon receiving the ball, both central midfielders, in this system, would take the ball on the half-turn, carry forward, and then look for a team-mate with a riskier ball — typically, this was a ball in-behind the opposition's defence for an attacker to run onto.
(AMR) Inside Forward | Wide Midfielder
Both wingers, in this system, performed similarly: as Leeds progressed into the final third, both players would move inside into their respective half-spaces. From here, they both could make runs in-behind often. Additionally, upon receiving the ball, both wingers would look to take on their man in high volume. However, the only slight discrepancy would be that the right winger would tend to drift wider to accommodate for Ayling's aforementioned inverting. If high-press, wide overloads and half-space exploitation are what you're after in FM26, our Bodø/Glimt 4-3-3 breakdown covers similar attacking principles from a modern tactical angle.
(AML) Inside Forward | Wide Midfielder
Conversely, on the left side, the left winger would more often invert.
Channel Forward | Centre Forward
In this system, the striker's primary role was to attack the channels and drift away from the centre of the pitch, situationally creating space for a midfielder behind to penetrate from deep. Upon receiving the ball, the striker would simply release the ball short to a team-mate. For a contrasting approach to the striker role that also delivers big results, see how the Deep-Lying Forward and Centre Forward pairing works in Inzaghi's Inter 5-3-2.
Results
Premier League
We completed a fairytale story in the Premier League in testing with Leeds United, as we won the league as a newly-promoted team, amassing 85 points after winning 26 games, drawing 7 games, and losing just 5 games. Across our 38 league games, we scored 78 goals (2.05 goals per game) and conceded just 27 goals (0.71 goals per game). The xG Table suggests this success wasn't a fluke, either, and that we could've — at the very least — been more efficient in front of goal.
Domestic Cups
We weren't just a fairytale story in the Premier League, as we almost went all the way in both domestic competitions. In the Carabao Cup, we reached the Semi-Finals but were brought to a halt by eventual winners Arsenal: despite winning the first leg at Elland Road, we were defeated at the Emirates and knocked out. However, we tasted more joy in the FA Cup as we secured the trophy, beating Liverpool 1-0 at Wembley! On our way to Wembley, we beat the likes of Man Utd (5-0), Aston Villa (5-1), and West Ham (3-0).
Conclusion
When Marcelo Bielsa took over a struggling, mid-table Leeds United in the summer of 2018, few could've predicted that 'El Loco' could drag the club to the Championship Play-Offs and be within 90 minutes of the Championship Play-Off Final. Whilst the 18/19 season ended in heartbreak for the club, their impressive league performance was a sign of things to come as they would go two better and win the Championship title just a little over 12 months later.
In this article, I have provided my brief analysis of the tactics Marcelo Bielsa used to win the Championship with Leeds United in the 19/20 season, before demonstrating my recreation of said tactics in Football Manager 26 and demonstrating the staggering results the tactic achieved in testing! If you enjoyed this, you might also love our tactical recreations of Xabi Alonso's invincible Leverkusen 3-4-2-1 and Fabregas' underdog Como 4-2-3-1. If you want a taste of this beautiful tactic, make sure to download the tactic using the link attached to this article and make sure to follow FM Blog (@fmbIog) and myself (@AshtonGgmu) on our respective socials. I hope you have enjoyed this article, and I wish you much success with this tactic on your saves! Thanks for reading!
