112 goals, 23 conceded and an invincible Eredivisie title — the complete FM26 recreation of Peter Bosz' PSV 3-2-5, built on continual positional rotations, Saibari's free role and relentless high-pressing.
Good teams can win one individual league title. Great teams can win two league titles back-to-back. Very few teams, however, can win three league titles in a row — a team to achieve this is a team to rival few as one of the great domestic sides ever seen. That's PSV. That's Peter Bosz' PSV. Since his arrival as the club's Manager in June 2023, the talented Dutch tactician has guided his PSV team to three consecutive Eredivisie titles, cementing them as one of the greatest, most dynastic league sides in European history. But how has Peter Bosz achieved such relentless triumphs, and how has he recently claimed Boeren their stunning success thrice?
Continual Rotations within Structure
Peter Bosz' PSV are a possession-dominant side who look to control the game using short passes and dictate the tempo. To help establish their possession game, Peter Bosz has successfully coached a consistent 3-2-5 in-possession structure that his players can seamlessly move into. However, unlike other top, possession-based sides across Europe, PSV's players are encouraged to rotate with one another and constantly alter their shape throughout the match — this leads to multiple other shapes situationally forming, such as a 3-1-6, 3-3-4, and 2-3-5. For a deeper look at how the role combinations that underpin these rotational structures work in FM26, our FM26 role synergy guide covers the exact pairings in detail. Examples of these shapes can be seen below.
Platforming a Maverick
Ismael Saibari is one of PSV's best, and most intriguing, players, who consistently comes up with big goals for his side. Saibari is also one of the most positionally fluid players in Europe, as he'll consistently drift from his original '10' or left-winger position to pick up dangerous pockets on the pitch, always being an ominous, yet potent threat to the opposition. At times, you'll see him high and alongside Til and Pepi on the last line, whilst, at other times, you'll see him drop as deep as the side's defensive midfielders to pick up the ball.
This incredible positional freedom always asks the question to the opposition: mark him, risking him drawing your midfield out of position, or leave him and relinquish possession of the ball to one of the most technically gifted players in Europe?
[Ismael Saibari's Seasonal Heatmap — Credit: SofaScore]
As you can observe in Saibari's seasonal heatmap, the Moroccan maverick will roam from his position a lot. However, keen-eyed readers might spot his slight tendency to position himself within the left half-space — this tendency is duly reflected in the main version of my Football Manager 26 tactical recreation.
Aggressive High-Pressing Principles
A staple of Peter Bosz' PSV side is their unwavering commitment to pressing high and aiming to regain possession as high up the pitch as possible — this commitment has certainly paid dividends at times, such as during the side's 5-2 demolition of Napoli, however, it has also been their downfall at times, such as the side's 1-7 thrashing at the hands of Arsenal in 2025. When the opposition are building up, particularly from goal-kicks, PSV will tend to go man-to-man across the pitch, all with the aim of forcing the opposition's 'keeper into going long or going wide.
PSV are not scared to completely break their own, initial structure in achieving this, however, with players showing total commitment to this idea. For a detailed breakdown of how high-press systems and defensive line settings combine in FM26, our FM26 pressing principles guide is an excellent companion read.
Let's Break Down the Tactic
In Possession
From build-up, PSV are patient in circulating possession between their goalkeeper, defenders, and deepest midfielders — largely, they will try to draw the opposition high, before, ultimately, trying to play through the pressure. The 'keeper is crucial in this regard, as he'll take his time before distributing the ball, of which he tends to distribute shorter.
Once they've progressed beyond the build-up phase, a large part of PSV's game revolves around finding underlapping runners penetrating the half-spaces, allowing PSV to quickly gain territory in the opposition's half. Upon reaching the final third, PSV tend to be quite patient in their attacking exploits, often working the ball into the box and/or manufacturing cut-back situations. In general, PSV utilise a lot of short passes to try and dictate the tempo of the game. Finally, upon regaining possession of the ball, Peter Bosz encourages his side to demolish opponents during rapid, ruthless counter-attacks.
Out of Possession
When PSV don't have the ball for prolonged periods, they will close down the opposition often, mainly looking to force the opposition backwards or, secondarily, sideways. If the former occurs, PSV's players will lock into an aggressive, man-to-man pressing scheme, whilst, if the latter occurs, the players will ruthlessly challenge the opposition to try and quickly regain possession.
To supplement their high-press, the defensive unit is instructed to hold an exceptionally high line to substantially close the space in midfield, whilst simultaneously reducing the space each PSV player is required to cover. Finally, upon losing the ball, Peter Bosz instructs his side to rigorously counter-press the opposition in an attempt to immediately regain possession of the ball.
Player Roles
Goalkeeper | Sweeper Keeper
The 'keeper, in this system, is a crucial part of the side's build-up play as, from a deeper position, he provides a secondary passing option for the centre-backs. Upon receiving the ball, he's more than happy to bring the ball forward before distributing short; additionally, he can often look to break the lines with a riskier, progressive pass into the midfield line. Finally, when PSV don't have the ball, the 'keeper is very active in sweeping any loose balls in behind the defence, whilst also being adept at cross-claiming.
Playmaking Wing-Back | Full-Back — Sergiño Dest
In this particular system, Sergiño Dest will move higher and invert, allowing the right-winger to hold the width — from here, Dest will occupy the right half-space. From this position, Dest will constantly threaten the opposition by making penetrative runs in the half-space, whilst, upon receiving the ball, he can run at the opposition and essentially force the issue.
Ball-Playing Centre-Back | Centre-Back — Flamingo
Whilst Dest will vacate his deeper positioning on the right in favour of advancing into the right half-space, this leaves space available for Flamingo to move into. Like Dest, Flamingo will look to drive the ball forward often using bursting carries and, at times, he can look to progress play further using line-breaking passes.
Centre-Back | Centre-Back — Yarek
On the other side of the defence, Yarek will largely keep things simple, circulating possession reliably and primarily focusing on his defensive responsibilities.
Wing-Back | Full-Back (Left)
The left-back, in this particular system, like Dest, will advance high up the pitch — however, unlike his full-back partner, the left-back will tend to move high and wide, looking to hug the touchline. From here, he can burst into space ahead of him at will.
Half-Back | Defensive Midfielder
From this position, the deepest defensive midfielder will usually drop into the backline to help form a back-three for PSV in possession. From here, he'll too look to simply recycle possession.
Midfield Playmaker | Defensive Midfielder — Johan Veerman
In this system, Veerman is the side's primary 'playmaker', someone who will frequently come towards the ball and constantly make himself available for a pass. As such, within this particular tactical framework, he is given licence to roam from his position to create situational overloads in key zones of the pitch.
Shadow Striker | Tracking Centre Forward — Guus Til
Guus Til epitomises the 'Shadow Striker' role in FM26, as he'll constantly position himself alongside Pepi on the last line of the opposition's defence, before ruthlessly galloping into space in behind — said runs are usually into the half-spaces, wherefrom PSV look to regularly penetrate. Finally, when PSV don't have the ball, Til will move higher alongside Pepi to form the side's two-man first line of defence — however, as the opposition progresses up the pitch, Til will tend to drop off back into midfield.
Free Role | Wide Midfielder — Ismael Saibari
As aforementioned, Saibari can only really be described as a maverick, of whom will always roam from his position and break the flow of the game by producing moments out of this world, such as dazzling dribbles or perfect passes to find team-mates. However, he isn't averse to making runs in behind the opposition's defence akin to that of Guus Til.
Winger | Wide Midfielder (Right)
On the opposite side, the right-winger will almost always hug the touchline within this particular tactical framework.
Poacher | Centre Forward — Ricardo Pepi
Ricardo Pepi's role within this system is that of a quintessential 'poacher'. He'll largely stay on the shoulder of the last defender, ready to peel away into space to try and create the most ideal conditions for himself to score from. As such, Pepi has a great tendency to score tap-ins as a result of cut-backs.
Results
Eredivisie
In testing with PSV on Football Manager 26, we completely obliterated the Dutch top-flight, winning 30 of our 34 league games and going the entire league campaign invincible! Across our 34 league games, we scored 112 goals (3.29 goals per game) and conceded just 23 goals (0.67 goals per game) — the league's best for each statistic.
Domestic Cups
We began our season as we meant to go on, smashing Go Ahead Eagles 5-0 in the season's curtain-opener, the Johan Cruijff Schaal. We would go on to make it a superb, domestic treble, however, as we defeated NEC Nijmegen 3-4 (aet) in the KNVB Beker Final! On our way to the Final, we beat the likes of Ajax (3-1) and Willem (1-2).
UEFA Champions League
Our dreams of an historic quadruple were heartbreakingly brought to an end in the Final of the UEFA Champions League, as Arsenal beat us 0-1 to win their first-ever European cup. On our way to the Final, we overcame Liverpool (2-4 AGG), Inter Milan (2-5 AGG), and Borussia Dortmund (3-0 AGG), after initially finishing 6th in the League Phase.
Conclusion
When Peter Bosz arrived at PSV in June 2023, few could've predicted the dynastic effect his appointment would have on the club. Across his three years at the club to date, Peter Bosz has won the Eredivisie every single year, enacting almost unprecedented levels of dominance in the country. He's an ambitious manager, so it shouldn't surprise anyone if PSV finally stamp down their authority in European competition from next season onwards, and who knows what further success is around the corner?
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. For more FM26 tactical recreations from the world's most exciting clubs, browse the full FM Blog tactics library. I hope you have enjoyed this article, and I wish you much success with this tactic on your saves! Thanks for reading!
