Getting the most out of Advanced Playmaker (Coutinho)

[Ragnar The Red]

I'm having some difficulty getting the most out of my CM playmaker, Coutinho. Hoping someone may be able to help!

I had some initial success with him as a CM-A as that role gets him into the box frequently but his best attributes (dribbling & vision) are almost completely wasted in that role as after watching back some games in full I saw he really only plays simple forward lay-offs when he receives the ball (even with the "dribble more" instruction).

Next I tried AP-A in the CM position & it got him on the ball much more but the expense of spending any time in the box. He now frustratingly lingers on the edge of the box when we push forward. This is a big issue in my tactic as most of my goals are scored from having multiple CMs/IFs making runs into the box at the same time making it virtually impossible for the defence to pick up all of them.

Here is my tactic currently:

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Here are two good examples of what is going wrong with the AP-A role (from the same game):

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Just off-screen, Clyne has beaten his man & plays a beautiful ball forward. Keita in the CM-A role has charged forward and picks it up. Look where Coutinho is in this shot.

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As he has the "shoot less" instruction and runners to his left, Keita choses not to shoot under pressure but takes the ball to the byline & fires it across the 6-yard line for an easy, tap-in. Coutinho should be either at the back post or around the penalty spot but is still 10 ft away from the box. That's where Keita would be if this ball was coming in from the left.

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Look how deep Coutinho is there compared to the CM-A Keita. He offers an easy passing option but my players seldom take that, instead always looking to move forward as fast as possible.

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The FB Hernandez makes a neat cross over to Keita who has found space in an aggressive position.

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Keita lays the ball off onto Berardi's stronger shooting foot, boom. Goal.

Coutinho offered nothing there in two of my 3 goals scored because his positioning was all wrong. Bizarrely he did manage to get POM but I think this was because his passing accuracy was very high & he scored a good long-shot but for large portions of my counter attacking play he wasn't relevant.

Any ideas about how I can get him to utilise his dribbling/vision more when he is in possession but still instruct him to charge into the box as Keita does when off the ball?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Ragnar The Red]

To satisfy my curiosity, I decided to replay the exact same game a few times with the same team talk etc. and the only change being with Coutinho in different roles. In my first test of that game with Coutinho playing CM-A, look what happens:

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Almost the exact same situation as the first goal in OP but this time Coutinho has made a run into the box.

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The ball is cut back to him & he scores a nice goal.

 

[WJ]

Coutinho is doing what you asked him to do - be a playmaker, who (according to the role description) will run at the defence from DEEPER positions. He (being a playmaker) will also still drift around into spaces, just less so if he's not Roaming.

If you want him to be a goalscorer or both, don't let him be a playmaker.

 

[Ragnar The Red]

Coutinho is doing what you asked him to do - be a playmaker, who (according to the role description) will run at the defence from DEEPER positions. He (being a playmaker) will also still drift around into spaces, just less so if he's not Roaming.

If you want him to be a goalscorer or both, don't let him be a playmaker.

Thanks for the quick response!

I realise that, I'm quite sure playmaker is not the role I really need from him but it's the only CM role I can find where he will dribble at defenders rather than just playing simple passes.

Ideally I'd like a compromise where he runs into offensive goalscoring positions when his team mates have the ball but if he picks the ball outside the box, utilises his considerable ability to dribble past a player & take them out of the game before looking for the pass/shot.

 

[WJ]

CM role I can find where he will dribble at defenders

So any CM role with either Dribble More active or where you're able to instruct it.

Look at the role descriptions and then also the player instructions hard-coded and those you're able to add, to fill in the rest of what you want.