FM 23 Fenerbahçe Jorge Jesus Tactic Guide

FM 23 Fenerbahçe Jorge Jesus Tactic

Fenerbahçe started the season with plenty of question marks, and İsmail Kartal finishing the league better than expected, with the team's form on the rise, raised the question of whether to continue with İsmail Kartal. Looking back now, most people would say it's a good thing they didn't continue with him, but things were a bit messy at the time. Ali Koç showed he was determined to finally deliver on the promises and vision he made when he first became president by not continuing with Emre Belözoğlu. Ali Koç, who promised that his presidency would be different from the Aziz Yıldırım era, that he wouldn't interfere in the team's internal affairs, and that things would be run in a more corporate manner, couldn't quite pull that off in his early years, but he's now started putting his ideas into practice, bringing in one of the best coaches he could to carry them out: Jorge Jesus. With a manager whose mind is on nothing but football, both on and off the pitch, and who embodies professionalism, the club has handed everything football-related over to Jorge Jesus and is enjoying the comfort of carrying out this reform with him. Because Jorge Jesus only has a one-year contract, questions arise about how this setup will continue next season. Could Jorge Jesus's possible departure send Fenerbahçe back into the chaos of recent years? We'll get the answers to all these questions once the season ends. Whatever happens with Jorge Jesus, in either scenario, Ali Koç needs to build the right structure!

Coming back to the present, the team is doing very well and every player's form has improved a lot compared to previous seasons. The main reasons for this can be shown as the players' trust in Jorge Jesus and how much thought Jorge Jesus puts into tactics and organization.

What Tactical Ideas Does Jorge Jesus Actually Use in Real Life?

Jorge Jesus is a very flexible manager when it comes to personnel and tactical setups. He can send his team out with a different lineup and a different tactical approach for practically every match, and we can safely say he gets good results from it. The two systems he uses most often are 4-1-3-2 and 3-4-3. He tends to use the 4-1-3-2 setup against teams he's stronger than or teams that don't try to build up from the back, while he plays 3-4-3 against teams closer to his own level or teams that try to build play from the back. The main reason for this can be attributed to his expectation that playing with three centre-backs against teams that sit back will leave his side short in attack.

Against teams that build from the back and want to create attacking actions, he tries to press the opposition's defensive line with his three forwards up front, while wanting to keep three defenders at the back. This is actually a positive footballing approach not often seen in the Turkish league — a manager who, despite setting up more defensively, tries to attack more. First of all, I want to thank him for showing that this kind of football can exist in Türkiye too. Perhaps not since the squad that won Galatasaray's UEFA Cup have we seen such sudden pressing and positive football.

The offside trap Jorge Jesus employs and keeping the team's defensive line at a maximum of around 30 metres are among the qualities that set him apart the most.

How Do You Build Jorge Jesus's Fenerbahçe Tactic in FM 23?

Before setting up Fenerbahçe's tactic in FM 23, you first need to decide which of Jorge Jesus's systems you want to use. The 3-4-3 and 4-1-3-2 tactics each have different internal setups of their own. Let's start by taking a look at the 3-4-3.

FM23 Fenerbahçe 3-4-3 Jorge Jesus Tactic

We used different instructions for all three of the team's centre-backs; you can also set this up as two ball-playing centre-backs and one stopper. In that case, you could place Gustavo as the stopper in the middle, Szalai as a ball-playing centre-back on the left, and Luan Peres as a ball-playing centre-back on the right.

The wing-backs are naturally attacking, of course, and of the two midfielders you can set one as a ball-winning midfielder or box-to-box, and the other as a deep-lying playmaker. Among the three strikers up front, I'd especially recommend making Batshuayi and Joa Pedro two of them, because in FM 23 this duo scores a lot of goals in scenarios where one is a hardworking forward and the other a creative forward. You can use Enner Valencia or Serdar Dursun as the other forward, it's completely up to you. Swapping Joshua King in for Joa Pedro will generally help you find more goals.

We play with a direct, long-passing setup, not spending too much time at the back and focusing on finding the goal directly. You can set the tempo to high or very high depending on the match.

When we lose the ball, we of course try to win it back with a counter-press. The "counter" option is also very important for quick breaks. We didn't set a distribution style for when the ball is with the goalkeeper, choosing to leave it as "distribute quickly." You can either leave that part blank or use "play out of defence" with the feet. Since Altay is comfortable on the ball, it's better not to choose to distribute by hand. We push the team's defensive line very high and position the back three very close to midfield. We apply intense pressing when the opponent, including their goalkeeper, is trying to play the ball out.

The offside trap is essential to this shape — if you don't like the offside trap, don't try to play like Jorge Jesus!

FM 23 Fenerbahçe Jorge Jesus 4-1-3-2 Tactic

Even though the tactic is called 4-1-3-2, it's actually essentially a 3-5-2. Jesus, who likes to drop the defensive midfielder in between the two centre-backs, is very fond of using his full-backs as wing-backs. Of the three midfielders, he uses one centrally and pushes the other two forward, closer to attack, to try to support the two strikers.

Before we go any further, please don't get hung up on shirt numbers or the exact roles! What I want to show here is something else entirely. Dropping Arao or Crespo between the centre-backs while pushing the wing-backs forward is the truest Jorge Jesus style. For Zajc's role, you should pick the ball-winning midfielder or box-to-box instruction. Zajc can also comfortably play İrfan's position, and even Mert Hakan can be tried there in some matches. İrfan is in very good shape in FM 23, and you should definitely use him in setups close to attack where he can shoot from distance. İrfan can also be your first choice for Arda's position up top. Up front, set Pedro as the creative forward and Batshuayi as the hardworking forward.

FM 23 Fenerbahçe 5-3-2 Alternative Tactic

In this tactic we tried some things that are a bit different from Jorge Jesus's approach. Even though it's a similar setup, we made the centre a bit more solid to play it safer. This is still a team with a very high expected goal output, since most of the players we're using are balanced and positioned as attacking.

We shored up the defensive line by putting a no-nonsense centre-back between two ball-playing centre-backs. The wing-backs stay the same, just in a more balanced role. Playing Willian Arao and Crespo together massively increases the midfield's dynamism. By playing Willian Arao as a ball-winning midfielder and Crespo as box-to-box, we handle most of the defensive resistance and pressing through those two, which frees İrfan up to do a bit more creative work. It's best to use İrfan as an attacking playmaker and again pick Batshuayi and Joa Pedro as your forwards.

We keep our attacking width fairly narrow, because apart from our full-backs, we have very few players who can create width out wide. For that reason, we build play mostly through the centre, keeping our passes short but our tempo high. We're an approach that keeps the team compact and looks to reach the opponent's goal with quick, accurate passing.

We don't cross the ball and instead work the opponent's penalty area through passing!

We have counter-press and counter marked, and since Altay is better with his feet than his hands, we use "play out of defence, short" for our build-up when the goalkeeper has the ball. Since we play short passes, we get the ball straight to the centre-backs to start building play quickly.

What Do FM 23's New Features Step Up More, Pressing Trap, and Cross Engagement Actually Do?

Our pressing intensity stays the same even when the ball is with the opponent, and we keep up an intense press throughout. To briefly cover the new features: in the defensive line section, turning on "step up more" makes the team's defence, especially the centre-backs, get more involved in play. Since we've set our two centre-backs other than Serdar Aziz as ball-playing centre-backs, this means Szalai and Luan Peres will get more involved in play, which is exactly the scenario we want. With "Pressing Trap," you decide where you want your defence to set a trap for the opponent when out of possession. Since our Fenerbahçe setup is much stronger through the centre, we set traps for the opponent out wide to funnel them into the middle, which is why we tick the "Trap Outside" option. If you want the opposite — funnelling the opponent out wide — you need to tick "Trap Inside" instead. I didn't feel the need to use the "Cross Engagement" option, but the logic behind it is this: if you don't want to cut out the crosses the opposing player will send in, use "Stop Crosses"; if you want your defender to close them down in a controlled way instead, use "Invite Cross." Take a good look at your defence's situation before using these options. If you're strong and crowded in the box when it comes to heading duels, letting crosses in won't hurt you and can even lead to good counter-attacks. If your players are shorter or you don't trust your defensive line's aerial ability, blocking crosses might be a good idea. Of course, fouls committed while trying to block crosses can also put you in a tougher spot, so keep that in the back of your mind too!

We've looked at Jorge Jesus's Fenerbahçe tactic in FM 23 as well as an alternative tactic we put together ourselves. The common thread across all of them is, of course, intense pressing on the opponent and positive football. Since Fenerbahçe look like the best team in the Turkish Süper Lig from the start of the season, your chances of becoming champion with these kinds of attacking tactics are quite high.

Good luck in advance ;)