Box to Box vs. Roaming Playmaker (and midfielders in general)

[bjkat81]

These two positions seem very similar. Based on their descriptions and their "important attributes", it seems like Box to Box has a slightly higher defensive focus and Roaming Playmaker has (surprise) more of a creative focus. I've not had a lot of success with B2B midfielders in previous versions. I also like that the Roamer can be in the DM position.

When I look into the player instructions, however, both have the option of making more "risky and direct" passes. This makes me think that both tend to prefer shorter, safer passes without a great amount of through balls.
1) Has anyone noticed an actual difference in the gameplay between these two positions, and how they affect your tactic?
2) regarding midfielders in general, should I avoid having three midfielders all being labeled as "playmaker" of some sort? I have Gerrad as DLP, Henderson as Roaming, and Coutinho as AP. I remember the days where you actually selected a "playmaker", and with this setup I have no idea who would actually be the focal point of my tactic.

 

[GodCubed]

Alright, so:

Box to box is Arturo Vidal. Non-stop motion, contributing in defence and attack, getting in tackles, blocks and interceptions and charging upfield to take shots and provide assists.

Roaming playmaker is Yaya Toure. The player moves less than the box to box midfielder, loping around the field and preferring to find pockets of space and focus on interceptions in defence. His primary focus is obtaining the ball when out of possession. When attacking, he surges forward from deep whilst on the ball, attempting to take on the opposition with dribbling in order to open up space for others.

 

[germainelol]

Alright, so:

Box to box is Arturo Vidal. Non-stop motion, contributing in defence and attack, getting in tackles, blocks and interceptions and charging upfield to take shots and provide assists.

Roaming playmaker is Yaya Toure. The player moves less than the box to box midfielder, loping around the field and preferring to find pockets of space and focus on interceptions in defence. His primary focus is obtaining the ball when out of possession. When attacking, he surges forward from deep whilst on the ball, attempting to take on the opposition with dribbling in order to open up space for others.

Couldn't have put it any better.

I initially thought a RPM would be perfect in the DM slot because in FM14 I struggled to find a way to get my DM playing like Pirlo, Busquets or Alonso (at Bayern). If you look at a heat map for these players then they are all over the pitch in possession and build up play, but in defence they are still quite disciplined and positionally very, very good. I noticed the RPM makes way too many surging runs forward for my liking, even in the DM position, which leaves my team with a huge gap and vulnerable to counter attacks.

Instead I've stuck to keeping my RPM in the CM slot. I also experimented with 3 DMs, with the two outside DMs being RPMs....but then they didn't surge forward enough. So I'm yet to find a good way to deploy an RPM in the DM position.

 

[Conn]

Alright, so:

Box to box is Arturo Vidal. Non-stop motion, contributing in defence and attack, getting in tackles, blocks and interceptions and charging upfield to take shots and provide assists.

Roaming playmaker is Yaya Toure. The player moves less than the box to box midfielder, loping around the field and preferring to find pockets of space and focus on interceptions in defence. His primary focus is obtaining the ball when out of possession. When attacking, he surges forward from deep whilst on the ball, attempting to take on the opposition with dribbling in order to open up space for others.

Deep Lying Playmaker would be someone like Pirlo, just sitting deep in pockets of space to be avaible for getting the ball and distributing it efficiently while AP would be someone like Zidane who has a full creative outlet focused forward?

I kinda feel the Creative slots have been drawn to similare, and it realy makes it hard to choose the correct midtfielder setup :/

 

[alex319]

Hi there,

I play a wide 4-3-3 or 4-1-2-2-1 however you want to call it whith Roma. I play my DM as a HB so he sits deep to compensate the Fbs going up and acts as a 3rd CB in effect. I then have my LCM as a CM set to support, he sprays the ball around and generally makes my game a lot more fluid and will take the odd long shot. My RCM is my RPM and he exploits the space left by the absence of a true Nr 10. My wingers are set to be Inside forwards so he's great at linking up with them and they're the heartbeat of my attacking movement.
Defensively he presses the opponent down a lot and gets the ball back to initiate a lot of my attacking moves.

Btw if you've got a bit of cash I highly recommend investing in Florenzi, perfect RPM averaging a 7.6 for me right now. Non-stop pressing and very incisive going forward.

 

[Jimboola]

I have thought the RPM was perfect for Cesc Fabregas in the Chelsea set up (as a 4-2-3-1). Sat alongside Matic as an Anchor. That is how I have used it and it seems to work just fine. He does turn up when I have defending to do but gets forward more setting up and scoring, and is always involved in our best attacks. I had hoped he would be starting our attacks from deep more...but no.

 

[Igneos79]

I think rpm is essentially the same as dlp, only you should use rpm in case you are up against a team that presses high up the pitch, and closes down your playmaker on a narrow width. If that is the case, roaming would help him find space. I would consider using him if I were to play with a more agressive mentality, and in DM position if one of my cds is a ballplaying one...