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Where best can one carry aging players?


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I am playing with Real Sporting in Spain 1st div. Midtable team.

Very hard to get upper echelon players at their peak. Wondering what you guys think is the best position to be able to slot in an ageing star. I define ageing as some player who's Physical stats are regressing (Can be a differeing ages but usually 30 onwards).

The example I had is getting a 31 year old Riquelme on a free. Thought it was a great pickup. Technical stats are on par with the best but physical now around 10's and 11's. I thought he's still have a massive impact with his free kick taking, long shooting, passing and creativity being 20's.

He did score and assist a few but rated 6.7 - 6.8's.

Didn't run out games either.

Was able to offload him for 8mill so all good.

But what posi can you get away with that?

I think all posi's would suffer forma a lack of pace and acceleration.

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Depends on your tactic and player roles. Technical stats of aging players are good value if they don't require physical stats too. E.g. passing and free kicks works without pace, but dribbling/technique without pace and agility is rather useless.

Lack of stamina will matter if you expect him to work hard or play as box-to-box midfielder etc.

I don't sign old players myself but many smaller AI teams do - they sign 32-33 yo guy with good technical and excellent mental abilities and I've learned that those players may turn game around, especially when they have good determination, flair, motivation etc. I play aggressive defence so I'm vulnerable to free kicks because I tend to concede too many and if opponent has such free kick taker with good technique and composure he can score few goals just in one match.

And last, but not least - such players are excellent for tutoring despite their physical stats.

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You got riquelme. You could play him in goal and he'd still wipe the floor with most players. Personally I play him (my favourite player in the world at the mo.) Just behind the two front men. Get him pinging balls around and if you've got a half decent striker, watch as the goal difference tallys up. Selling him for 8 mil is a mistake but nothing you can do now.

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You got riquelme. You could play him in goal and he'd still wipe the floor with most players. Personally I play him (my favourite player in the world at the mo.) Just behind the two front men. Get him pinging balls around and if you've got a half decent striker, watch as the goal difference tallys up. Selling him for 8 mil is a mistake but nothing you can do now.

hehe. Shall I elobarate. Alright.

I signed a lesser but young AMC. So I had two, plus my <19 year old talent. I doubted I would get more for him and I need the money. I'll track how he goes at Valencia.

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You can cope with an older player as GK, one of two DCs ( if the other one has pace ), DM, MC playmaker and maybe as a target man.

This :thup: a DM anchor man or deep-lying playmaker would be a prime candidate for an older player because they often have great mental stats. A big target man can also be old and slow and still be a great benefit to your team.

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It really depends on how you play them.

I got Riquelme to my Fenerbahce team when he was 32, signed a 3 years long contract. The first season he was ok, he played around 30 matches, scoring 6 and making 10 assists, playing as an AMC behind a loan striker. Second season he slowed down a little, so I transferred Ibrahim Afellay to take over the job. Riquelme kept playing as a backup and finished the season with 4 goals, 5 assists in about 20 games. At the start of his third season I decided to tweak my tactic, I moved the AMC's mentality 2 notches to support my lone striker better. It didn't have much of an effect on Afellay's performance, but Riquelme all of a sudden was performing like he is in his peak. At the start of the season I had no intentions to extend his contract but just before January transfer window he already had 11 goals and 5 assists in 14 games. Since he is a backup for Afellay I played him in easier mathces first, but when Afellay got injured for a few weeks, Riquelme still stepped up in some big games for me, scoring very important goals.

Somehow increasing the AMC's mentality by 2 notches had a great impact on how Riquelme plays. Now I extended his contract by 1 more year because at the age of (almost) 35 he is clearly still a very valuable backup for Afellay :)

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