Play Maker NO NO's

Hi All!

I have amassed a cracking team full of cracking players, thats because I am that good at this game! (OK I jus started the game and took over Man Utd)

As I see it all the players at Man Utd a great, and a good 80% of them are what I would call PLAYMAKERS. Carrick, Anderson, Scholes, Rooney, Ferdinand, Evra even bloody Van Der Sar!!

Obviously my idea of a playmaker is distorted. What key qualities or positions do playmakers take up?

Thanks Guyzzzzz! :-)

Creativity, Passing. Some others aswell.

VDS as a playmaker! You what?!

Thanks for your replies.

So your saying its mainly wide players?

How many players should you assign as playmakers as a maximum?

CAM's with a free role are the best playmakers with good passing, creativity, decisions and his technical stats should be good too. Riquelme is a good example

CAM's with a free role are the best playmakers with good passing, creativity, decisions and his technical stats should be good too. Riquelme is a good example

And relatively cheap too

Should have good off the ball to find space to receive and distribute the ball.

Pirlo is a playmaker, Scholes also. I would suggest players like these are deep lying play makers where as a Rooney or Kaka are more ''in the whole'' play makers.

There are 2 types of playmakers, a deep-lying one who is usually a defensive mid or MC playing defensively, or a advanced playmaker who is an AMC or a forward that holds up the ball and distributes it.

Each of them require different stats.

From the TT&F thread:

Deep-Lying Playmaker

Key Attributes: Marking, Tackling, Positioning, Strength, Stamina, Passing, Technique, Creativity, First Touch, Decisions

Advanced Playmaker

Key Attributes: Passing, Technique, Creativity, Flair, Long Shots, Strength, First Touch, Anticipation, Off the Ball, Decisions, Dribbling, Teamwork

Playmakers in the game are someone who your whole team will look to pass the ball to, and as a result someone who is more involved than usual with the process of creating for your team. I personally don't like to put wide players as playmakers because that draws play away from the other wing which basically leaves you short a player.

An example: my FM08 save in 2012 with Boro, I play three at the back, two DMs, a MC then two wingers and two strikers. My playmaker is the MC (Owain Tudur Jones) because everything has to go through him anyway. He has high passing and high decisions, that's what I'd be looking for. As a playmaker, the ball gets passed to him a lot so he needs to pass accurately and make good decisions, otherwise he will waste the ball when he gets it - which will be a lot more than usual, thanks to him being a playmaker.

i have always noticed that my central midfielders dont play well as playmaker,riquelme being a good example whereas if i gave it to my best wingers they seemed to score more

I have Gerrard with a free role and he rarely scores under 7.3.

Pity he's gonna retire soon!

i have always noticed that my central midfielders dont play well as playmaker,riquelme being a good example whereas if i gave it to my best wingers they seemed to score more

This is exactly the case in real life. The reason Riquelme excels in S. America is that he's given time and space to pick out his passes. In Europe he was closed down quickly and couldn't perform.

Therein are FM clues - as well as having the right attributes (mainly mental but also passing) as outlined above, he needs low closing down so he's in space to receive the ball. During the match, if he's getting low ratings and you see he's being man-marked, switch playmaker or untick the box.

Wingers like Ronaldo can be effective playmakers, but they can be more easily neutralised and have fewer options; I'd say that in general an MCa or AMC such as Fabregas or Gerrard is better.