The makers of Football Manager 2024 are constantly watching Pep Guardiola and trying to copy his work.
That's according to studio director Miles Jacobson, who says that the Manchester City boss used to be a source of frustration for him – but has now become an inspiration, as the team behind FM look to recreate some of Guardiola's more intricate tactics.
On the new iteration of the game – out on November 6 – inverted full-backs can be set to a defensive role, meaning that roaming Libero centre-backs can be employed, similar to that of John Stones in the current City side. It's one such tactical tweak that Jacobson has had to note down and reflect in Football Manager from the real world.
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When you head to the checkout, make sure to use the additional discount code 442FM24 to get the extra 5% off Football Manager 2024.
"Yes, [we play catchup]," Jacobson says. "I’m resigned to it now: I wasn’t comfortable with it, for a while. Pep is both annoying and a genius at the same time. He is the only person in football that I’m going to say, ‘Yes, we play catchup to him’.
"You sit there and think, ‘That’s genius, why didn’t we think of this?’ And the answer has to be, ‘We’re not geniuses when it comes to tactics!’ We don’t have the talent that he does. Pep does something: we try and replicate it in-game.
"I think we’ve been really clear with that in our match engine blog this year. We’ve spoken about Pep, we’ve spoken about the John Stones role. Because he does just do things that are unique: he’s so clever and so special that everyone takes his ideas pretty damn quickly at other clubs. I’m sure that Watford had an inverted full-back the other day?
"He also isn’t scared to explain what he’s doing and give detailed answers in press conferences to help people understand it. And that’s great for us!"
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