The third evolution of the Spalletti project produced the biggest result of the save so far.

The Premier League season itself was not as dominant as the previous one. We dropped from champions to 3rd place.

But in Europe, this team went all the way.

🏆 Season Results

🏆 Champions League Winners🥉 3rd in the Premier League📈 82 points⚽ 83 league goals scored🧱 45 league goals conceded💥 +38 goal difference

🏆 Community Shield Winners🥈 Carabao Cup Runners-Up⭐ FA Cup Semi Final, eliminated by Tottenham🏆 Champions League Winners, beating Porto 2-1 in the Final

This is an important season because it shows both sides of the project.

We didn't improve everywhere.

The domestic league result was worse than last season.

But the same tactical concept proved capable of surviving an entire Champions League run and eventually winning the competition.

🏆 Champions League Winners

This was not a soft route to the trophy.

League Phase

Swansea finished 3rd.

📊 18 points from 8 matches✅ 6 wins❌ 2 defeats⚽ 20 goals scored🧱 9 conceded

That gave us direct qualification into the knockout phase.

Then the serious part started.

Quarter Final vs Liverpool

✅ Swansea 3-2 Liverpool✅ Liverpool 2-3 Swansea

6-4 aggregate.

We didn't try to survive the second leg. We went to Liverpool and won again.

Semi Final vs Barcelona

✅ Swansea 4-2 Barcelona🤝 Barcelona 0-0 Swansea

This might actually be one of my favourite parts of the run.

The first leg gave us the advantage.

The second leg showed the other part of Recreation Control: protecting that advantage without needing another shootout.

Final vs Porto

🏆 Porto 1-2 Swansea

The final itself was very balanced.

📊 Possession: 51% Swansea🎯 Shots: Porto 15, Swansea 13🥅 Shots on target: Porto 8, Swansea 6📈 xG: Porto 1.01, Swansea 1.13

This wasn't a final where the tactic generated 30 shots and destroyed the opposition.

It was a tight Champions League final.

And we won it.

That matters because a recreation/control system also has to work when you don't completely dominate the match.

📊 Premier League Analysis

The league tells a slightly different story.

Swansea finished:

🥉 3rd📈 82 points✅ 25 wins🤝 7 draws❌ 6 defeats⚽ 83 goals🧱 45 conceded

Liverpool won the league with 84 points, Spurs finished second with 83, and we finished on 82.

So despite finishing third, we were only two points from the title.

That's important context.

This wasn't a season where the tactic suddenly stopped performing domestically. It was a very tight title race where three teams finished within two points.

📈 What the Data Says

The Data Hub continues to show a team that is strong on both sides of the ball.

Attacking

⚽ 2.2 goals per game🎯 16.6 shots per game📈 1.9 non-penalty xG per 90🎯 51.1% shot accuracy📊 89.3% pass completion🪽 26.7% crosses completed🏃 11.4 dribbles per game

The shot volume is slightly lower than the previous Recreation Control season, but the attacking process remains very strong.

We aren't depending on one mechanism.

Goals are coming from the striker, the attacking midfielders, central midfielders and, again, from the wing-backs.

Defending

🧱 1.2 xGA per game⚽ 1.2 goals conceded per game🧼 12 clean sheets🛡️ 75.4% tackles won📉 19.7 OppPDA

That last number is interesting.

This isn't an attempt to build the most extreme pressing tactic possible.

The structure is doing more work.

Compared with the previous version, the team is allowing slightly more opposition circulation before engaging, while the underlying defensive output remains strong.

That is very much in line with what I want from Recreation Control.

👥 Player Output

The player development side of this save is now becoming just as interesting as the tactical side.

And one player has gone to another level.

Ilyas Ansah

⚽ 46 goals🎯 9 assists📊 7.18 average rating

55 direct goal contributions.

At this point, Ansah isn't simply developing into a useful player.

He has become the main goalscorer of a Champions League-winning team.

Zachary Athekame

⚽ 13 goals🎯 22 assists📊 7.18

35 goal contributions from wing-back.

The attacking wing-backs remain fundamental to the structure.

Max Finkgräfe

⚽ 12 goals🎯 19 assists📊 7.11

Another 31 contributions from the opposite side.

Between Athekame and Finkgräfe:

⚽ 25 goals🎯 41 assists

That's 66 direct goal contributions from the two wing-back positions.

That tells you a lot about where this tactic creates its width and attacking overloads.

Cole Campbell

⚽ 12 goals🎯 18 assists

Another 30 contributions.

Campbell continues to be one of the most reliable players of the entire project.

Kacper Urbański

⚽ 17 goals🎯 12 assists

29 contributions.

Mohamed Ali Zoma

⚽ 16 goals🎯 12 assists📊 7.15

28 contributions.

Tommaso Berti

⚽ 10 goals🎯 11 assists📊 7.12

Warren Bondo

⚽ 9 goals🎯 10 assists📊 7.14

Again, the central midfield isn't simply there to circulate possession.

There is real output coming from deeper positions.

🧠 Meta III: What Changed in the Project?

This is still called Meta III - Recreation Control for a reason.

I'm not presenting it as a perfect one-to-one Spalletti recreation.

The project is still trying to find the balance between two objectives:

Real-life tactical ideasandwhat actually functions inside the FM26 match engine.

The structure remains extremely narrow centrally.

The two attacking wing-backs provide the width.

The double pivot gives us the base.

Ahead of them, the two Shadow Strikers and central attacking midfielder occupy the spaces around the Complete Forward.

The result is a system capable of creating numbers centrally without completely losing width.

And this season showed another important development.

We don't necessarily need to produce the maximum possible shot volume to win.

The team can now win through control, structure and different game states.

The Barcelona second leg and the Porto final are probably better examples of what I want this project to become than another 6-0 league result.

📊 Four-Year Swansea Progress

The progression of the save is becoming interesting on its own.

2025/26

🥇 Championship Champions

2026/27

🥉 3rd in the Premier League

2027/28

🥇 Premier League Champions

2028/29

🥉 3rd in the Premier League🏆 Champions League Winners🏆 Community Shield Winners🥈 Carabao Cup Runners-Up⭐ FA Cup Semi Final

And after 218 matches:

🎮 218 played✅ 151 wins🤝 27 draws❌ 40 defeats⚽ 550 goals scored🧱 269 conceded💥 +281 goal difference📈 69% win rate

Final Thoughts

This season is more useful to me than simply winning the Premier League again.

We finished third domestically, so there is no reason to pretend everything improved.

But we were only two points away from Liverpool, reached another Carabao Cup final, made the FA Cup semi-final and then won the Champions League.

Most importantly, the European run showed different sides of the tactic.

We beat Liverpool twice.

We scored four against Barcelona and then controlled the return leg.

Then we won a very balanced final against Porto.

That is exactly where I want the Spalletti project to go.

Not simply more aggressive.

Not simply more meta.

More complete.

📦 Included

📁 FM26 tactic file💾 Swansea game save🖼️ Season screenshots and results🎮 Team Instructions / Player Instructions video included for console players