Lionel Messi?

Why is he a natural CAM, and not RW? Doesn't make any sense at all.

*-- Yes, I know I can use the editor to fix that, but still.

Because that is said to be his natural position. In Argentinian terms he is the enganche, playing at AMC. Think about where he played for Argentina in the World Cup last summer. Just because he features in a certain position at club level, doesn't necessarily mean that is his natural position.

You don't have to edit his position anyway. Just retrain him to play where you want him to feature in your side.

The whole positions thing on FM annoys me. I believe when you play a player out of their natural position, all their attributes (bar physical) are reduced by a factor. I know in reality players have certain positions they flourish in and others they're not so comfortable in. But it's just frustrating that things are so inflexible on FM. If your out all your right fullbacks are out on FM, you'd be better off getting an someone from the youth team to fill the void if you don't have anyone in the first team squad with at least a competent level at RB (or maybe unconvincing if they're monstrous physically). Another thing you'll regularly see in reality is for teams to throw their tallest players up from when desperately seeking a last minute goal (even Barca do this with Pique), however if you try this on FM, it'll be a disaster as if your tall player doesn't have any level of ability at FC, their heading ability will half and while they can win the aerial battles, all of a sudden their heading ability will be dire given that they supposedly shouldnt be used upfront. Not to mention they won't have the off the ball ability to find scoring chances, nor will they have the creativity or decisions to make good passing headers as they've all been halved too. It's stupid.

Then there's also the fact that over many editions of FM, player's positions completely change from year to year, at a rate sometimes you could never achieve by retraining. Once Pirlo was a forward, now he's a DM. Once Toure was a winger, now a CB. Ridgewell being only a centre back, but now he's a left back with centre back only accomplished. Another one (and Messi falls in here) is versatile attacks having the positions they play weak in weak out as only accomplished, but AM as natural. Most attackers say that they like playing behind the striker best as that means they get more of the ball, however that doesn't mean that's where they'll play best.

I personally think FM should drop the whole positions thing altogether, and it's up to the player to decide where to play their players judged on attributes alone. It would also stop the free attributes bug where if you develop a forward to be a great tackler and marker, then that won't take up any CA.

Ibrahimagic: it have been said that only decisions attribute is affected by playing a player out of position

Ibrahimagic: it have been said that only decisions attribute is affected by playing a player out of position

I think that's a myth.

Remember when someone came on here claiming to have a 'super' player. His shot was so powerful you could barely see it and he scored tons of goals. It was later confirmed by PaulC that this player had been tampered with via an editor and that his positional rating had somehow been increased beyond 20. This, therefore, suggests that more than just decisions are impacted upon by the positional competency rating.

Ive regularly had to play a CB at right back during my injury ravaged 4th season, he was one of the better performers, i also occasionally play forwards in the winger spots when they are ST only, and they do the job.

I've no qualms with Messi being a natural CAM but he should be natural at RW as well.

I did wonder why messi had lost his AMR natural rating in this game when he's had that the past few games and somehow gained a AMC natural. is it a bad representation of barca's false #9?

i played a goalkeeper up front and he got a goal and an assist in 1 game

i played a goalkeeper up front and he got a goal and an assist in 1 game

lol same here, but only one goal.

Why is he a natural CAM, and not RW? Doesn't make any sense at all.

*-- Yes, I know I can use the editor to fix that, but still.

well, to be honest, his natural position is an AMC. Barca play him out wide 'on paper' but you see him sitting behind the striker quite often (probably easier to tell for me as I am at thier games cause I can watch him all night instead of just what the TV shows). Yes plays AMR more often then not but that doesnt mean its his natural position.

his position is not the only deciding factor. if you look at his PPM's they include cutting inside and gets into opposition area amongst others that to me resemble a player more suited to a central role than a wide one.

play him as an AMR and he will drift inside, with or wiothout the ball very much like he does in real life so i would say that he should be better as a central player than a wide man

Have you people watched Messi at all in the past year? He doesn't play on the right. He plays a role which would be between the AMC and FC in FM terms.