Quote:
Originally Posted by CraigSca
Been following along with this dynasty and enjoy reading it very much. As I am just learning the game, like you, I have to ask - how often do you use players at some of the odd positions? Meaning - positions like conquistador (I know that's not the name, but I don't have the game open right now) or false-9 or whatever? I just learned after reading your dynasty the reason for having an AMC vs. a DMC. Having the choice for many others positions just seems daunting for me (now would I know what to look for on the player side for positions like that).
Thanks, and good luck this year!
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I'm amazed at how much I feel like I'm learning about the actual sport from playing Football Manager.
At first, I really only distinguished between very basic
positions: strikers, midfielders (right/left/central) and defenders (right/left/central). Those are the spots that are occupied in a 4-4-2 formation.
Then, I realized that, depending on the formation, other position options become available. I noticed that some of these these positions filled in the spaces between the "lines" of the 4-4-2: wing backs and defensive midfielders in the gap between midfield and defense; wings and attacking midfielders in the gap between midfield and striker.
I felt a lot smarter when I started figuring out that a player at each position could play several
roles. A striker can be a trequartista, a target man, a deep-lying forward, etc. I spent some time looking at the coaches' reports for each of my players, because the coaches suggest the best possible role for each position the player knows. (As I'm finding out, if your coaches are pretty good, their advice about roles is pretty good, too; if they're lousy, well, they give lousy advice, too.)
Then, it's possible for a player filling a particular role to have different
duties. A central midfielder who is best as a ball-winning midfielder can have a "defend "or a "support" duty. A striker filling the role of poacher can only have an "attack" duty.
When I first discovered the coaches' advice, I simply assigned each player to play the role and carry out the duty that the coaches said he was best at. I had no idea how the different roles and duties fit together. The result was ugly beyond belief.
Now I'm starting to get a clue about how the tactics work, and I think I'm getting better at choosing roles and duties for my players that make sense. For example, I'll use a striker who is a Target Man with one who is a Poacher. Or, if I have a full back who has an Attack duty, I'll have the wide midfielder in front of him use a Support duty. And, as a result, the game is a lot more fun; it seems much less "random" and much more engaging now.
At the risk of offending people who know a LOT more about soccer than I do, I'm beginning to see some parallels with other sports.
A basketball team might have two guards on the floor: a point guard and a shooting guard. The point guard might be a pure playmaker who distributes the ball and doesn't shoot much, or he could be a lead guard who both runs the offense and scores a lot. The shooting guard could be a slasher who takes the ball to the rim, or a pure jump shooter who roams outside the arc and fires threes. If you're coaching basketball, you wouldn't want both your guards to be pure shooters; you'd need someone to handle the ball.
Or, a hockey coach might team a slick passing center with a sharpshooting right wing and a tough "power forward" type at left wing. One of the centers might take faceoffs in the defensive zone more than the others.
I hope that makes sense. It seemed to help me understand what I'm doing a little better.
Thanks for the comment, and I hope you enjoy following The Alfredians.
