laffles

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In this 10 part series I'm going to try and recreate roles used by some Classic Players and a few Modern day greats. I'll be showing you How to create these roles in the TC and how effective they are in the ME.

Heres's the proposed article list..

-Lionel Messi
-Zinedine Zidane
-Zico
-Lothar Matthaus
-Fernando Hierro
-Cristiano Ronaldo
-Pele
-Franz Beckenbauer
-Michel Platini
-Johan Cruyff

I chose these players because I feel that there roles are more unique than many players, and I feel that they will be a challenge to re-create but could be truly exciting (Especially Cruyff) in the 11.3 Match Engine. If I have time I'd like to create a Legends Tactic Including the Majority of the above roles, I reckon it would be evil.

I'm open to suggestions about other players, and I'm not going to be doing the above in any particular order. Though Messi will be first as I've already done his role :)

Ill be posting the Articles in future posts so watch this space ;)


The List So Far

Lothar Emmerich

Lionel Messi

Pele

Man Utd 2011/12
 
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Role Number 1 - Lionel 'Leo' Messi

For 3 or so years now the majority of Barcelona's success has been based around a nucleus of key players: Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, Pique and ofcourse Messi.

Known for his phenominal dribbling skills and vision, Leo Messi is arguably the best contempory footballer the world has seen since the likes of Maradona, Cruyff and the great Pele himself.

In real life Guardiola has found that Messi plays best when not restricted to a single area on the pitch, allowed to roam Messi has become the single most feared weapon in Barcelona's numerous arsenal. He pops up wherever he can cause the most damage to the opposition.

In Football Manager it's ridiculously difficult to get the little genius to do what he does IRL, but I actually think I've managed it.


For the Following Example's Leo is playing as The AM in a 4-6-0, every player around him has been given their respective role but with no tweaks (Xavi-DLP, Alves-Wingback Attack for example) so this is no Barca tactic and no great amount of possession/passes was expected, this was purely to show off my 'Messi Role'.

This is taken from my Barcelona v Espanyol game at the Nou Camp.


So here we have my team in Possession (Abidal to be precise). Messi is highlighted and as you can see has a massive amount of space to move in, with a choice of 3 channels to move into toward goal.

View attachment 173748


The ball inevitably gets to Messi after a pass from Andres Iniesta, and now Leo can do what he does best, run with it. He has a CB coming in to close him down but he has alot of time and space to choose what to do next, he can choose to run inside or outside of the oncoming CB, play it to The Left Winger David Villa or play a through ball to Pedro.

View attachment 173747


Messi Easily beats his man and has a clean run on goal, unfortunately Kameni makes a stunning save to deny him.
View attachment 173749


This is Messi's pass chart post game, as you can see, he was everywhere. I know he only made 24 successful passes but this will increase if put into a 'Barca Style Tactic' where the rest of the team make more passes.

View attachment 173746


Now to the Role.

This role has taken me about a month to get right, thats right. One role, One Month. You should feel priveledged I gave so much time for you ;)

View attachment 173750

I know, looks weird right? Probably the Best Attacker on the Game with a defensive mentality? Blasphemy!

Nah, it's not Actually. It just helps him link with the midfield rather than get isolated up top. It also see's him sit perfectly in the hole and therefore gets the massive space shown above. He's very creative so A high freedom was necessary. Having him close the whole pitch increases general work rate. The rest is pretty self explanatory :)


Oh and for anyone who's interested, I've attached a tactic I modified. Its Retsinabb69's Xavi Passing Tactic, with a few alterations Including my Messi Role at AM ;)
 
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Being a Newcastle fan I got 1 word
Shearer
 
Being a Newcastle fan I got 1 word
Shearer

Being an FM fan Ive got 3 words.
Far To Easy.

---------- Post added at 09:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:03 PM ----------

I mean, Shearer is the best English striker ever, hands down. But He was played in a simple fashion that played to his strengths. He would be an Advanced Forward in terms of FM. Possibly as Target Man to head...
 
May being a bit biased here, but: Kenny Dalglish?
 
Makalele he is a legend, as they have named a position after him the Makalele role e.g anchor man!
 
May being a bit biased here, but: Kenny Dalglish?



If you can tell me something about his role that was groundbreaking then I will.

He may have been a great player but my list is a group of players who had unique roles.

Cruyff was everywhere, Messi is the perfect midfield-attack link, Pele was the perfect forward :)

All groundbreaking roles in there respective tactics...

---------- Post added at 10:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:00 PM ----------

Makalele he is a legend, as they have named a position after him the Makalele role e.g anchor man!

Makelele shall be done :)
 
Also Ronaldinho was an amazing player, lazy but great at what he did.
 
Also Ronaldinho was an amazing player, lazy but great at what he did.

Ronaldinho was a great player, but his role at Barcelona was nothing special. He cut inside from the left. Pretty standard.

This isn't entirely about the player. It's about the role they have in the tactic.

Maradona was phenominal, but he was an inside forward. There are lots of inside forwards...

---------- Post added at 10:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:14 PM ----------

Oh and I'm doing Pele next ;)
 
Charlton, Puskas, Matthias Sammer

---------- Post added at 10:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:56 PM ----------

Klinsmann

---------- Post added at 11:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:59 PM ----------

Stoichkov, Romario, Koeman, Ronaldo
 
Kevin Keegan....

Fantastic work though, really well done with Messi, such a hard player to utilise in his real-life style
 
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