User-created Roles and Ideas for New Roles

As someone who has gone from micromanaging tactics to trying to keep things simple with the TC, there are still a few custom roles that I use at times to represent roles that I feel aren't really offered by the TC. These are a few that I've designed and used successfully. I've adapted these to try to adhere closely to the logic of TT&F and the Tactics Creator.

Halfback

Position: DM

Duty: Defend

Description: The halfback looks to serve a role somewhere between that of an aggressive sweeper and a defensive midfielder. With a halfback, the centrebacks themselves will push higher up the pitch while the halfback drops deeper than a standard defensive midfielder and, in addition to his defensive duties, looks to offer an outlet for quickly recycling possession when the team's attacking play breaks down.

Changes from Basic Defensive Midfielder: -2 Mentality, -2 Closing Down, Hold Up Ball (No), +2 Team Defensive Line If Only DM

Inside Winger

Position: CM

Duty: Support and Attack

Description: Useful for narrow formations, the inside winger looks to fulfill the defensive function of a narrow formation while offering more width in attack. In possession, the inside winger will either look to provide a quick through ball to the forwards or bring the ball wide for an early cross. Out of possession, the inside winger will move back into a central position to help clog the midfield.

Changes from Basic Central Midfielder: Cross Ball (Often), Run with Ball (Often for Attack Duty)

Regista

Position: DM

Duty: Support

Description: The regista is a more aggressive version of the deep-lying playmaker suitable for possession-oriented systems that press high up the pitch. Given complete freedom to dictate play from deep positions, the regista offers a dynamic and unpredictable creative outlet from behind the attack who seeks to maintain intense pressure by constantly looking for new chances as his more advanced teammates get into goalscoring positions.

Changes from Basic Defensive Midfielder: Through Balls (often), Playmaker (Yes), Roam (Yes), Creative Freedom (Maximum)

Shadow Striker

Position: ACM

Duty: Attack Only

Description: A true "false ten," the shadow striker operates as the team's main goalscoring threat. Usually coupled with a deep-lying forward, the shadow striker aggressively pushes forward into goalscoring positions as the ball moves into the final third and looks to close down opposing defenders when out of possession.

Changes from Basic Attacking Midfielder: +2 Mentality, +2 Closing Down, Target Man (Yes)

Anyone else have custom roles that they've successfully combined with TC tactics?

I'd really like for custom roles to be implemented in the game.

Could you give an example of a real life Regista so I have a better idea of what sort of player you are talking about here?

I really hope custom roles makes it into the game sometime soon. Would be great.

I'd really like for custom roles to be implemented in the game.

Could you give an example of a real life Regista so I have a better idea of what sort of player you are talking about here?

Well, the term is really just the Italian term for "deep playmaker," but I used it for this role as I was specifically looking for a deep version of the trequartista (which, despite being a more specific role in Football Manager, is basically just the Italian term for an advanced playmaker). I wanted a playmaker with almost absolute freedom to control the flow of the match but who wouldn't get marked out of relevance when the team is pressing high up the pitch (which is what generally happens when you use an advanced playmaker in possession systems). More generally, what I wanted was a true, heart-of-the-squad deep playmaker who would be a bit more mobile and also offer a goalscoring threat if needed. While naming any specific player is just inviting controversy and debate, I would use a role like this to reflect players like Modric, Pirlo or Schweinsteiger.

A few I mentioned in another thread...

Central Winger

Position: AMC

Duty: Support/Attack

Description: Playing from "the hole" this role doesn't so much work between the lines as across them, moving laterally to either flank as required to create overloads, space or simply as the team's attacking play requires. For examples see Iker Munian, Mesut Ozil when played wide.

Changes from Basic Attacking Midfielder: Free roam, Creative Freedom, Runs With Ball, specific wing play behaviour required

Shuttle or Carilleros

Position: WB/MC/ML/MR

Duty: Support only

Description: Similar to the wingbacks of Bielsa's Chile team who would drive diagonally forward to tuck into the central midfield, this role could also be inversed to allow players to drive out from central positions from midfield.

Changes: specific wing play behaviour, low Creative Freedom, Short Passing, Run With Ball

Flank Target Man

Position: FWL/FWR

Duty: Support/Attack

Description: Like Egil Olsen's Norway, this role is best used for relocating a tall and powerful target man to bully a smaller, weaker full-back, offering knock downs and opportunities to on rushing central players.

Central defender/limited defender/covering defender

Position: CB

Duty: Step Out

Description: A new duty that encourages defenders to step up out of defense with the ball to start off moves or drive up field as a priority.

Rush keeper

Position: GK

Duty: Support/Attack

Description: A more extreme version of the Sweeper Keeper, and a one-role FM tribute to Rene Higuita and his adventurous up-field expeditions with the ball at his feet.

We already have the mediano, i liked seeing the regista and the shuttlers, both of which i've had to modify ingame.

There is one that i reckon you can have is the centre half..which essentially is the dc that plays in a midfielder role when you are playing a 3 man defense. Its commonly seen in europe and rare in england. He would have a higher mentality but his job is to push out to the DMC position when you hold the ball and drop back and form a three when you dont have the ball. This is largely a support/defend role, since it plays a support in attack and defend in defend situations.

Its similar to your halfback but I would really like to see the centre-half as an option for the 3 man defenses.

Double Pivot DMs is another position that I reckon should also be included:

In such a role the 2 DMs take turns moving forward to launch attacks, they both share the same duties, but when one has the ball the other either drops deep or moves forward acting like a pivot on the pitch.

Flank Target Man

Position: FWL/FWR

Duty: Support/Attack

Description: Like Egil Olsen's Norway, this role is best used for relocating a tall and powerful target man to bully a smaller, weaker full-back, offering knock downs and opportunities to on rushing central players.

I really like this one, would be good to clear to a TM's head with diagonals, instead of straight down the middle, and I fully agree it is a false imposition by SI that people out wide can only have wide 'roles'

We already have the mediano, i liked seeing the regista and the shuttlers, both of which i've had to modify ingame.

There is one that i reckon you can have is the centre half..which essentially is the dc that plays in a midfielder role when you are playing a 3 man defense. Its commonly seen in europe and rare in england. He would have a higher mentality but his job is to push out to the DMC position when you hold the ball and drop back and form a three when you dont have the ball. This is largely a support/defend role, since it plays a support in attack and defend in defend situations.

Its similar to your halfback but I would really like to see the centre-half as an option for the 3 man defenses.

Double Pivot DMs is another position that I reckon should also be included:

In such a role the 2 DMs take turns moving forward to launch attacks, they both share the same duties, but when one has the ball the other either drops deep or moves forward acting like a pivot on the pitch.

That's what I was thinking with my suggestion for a new CB duty "Step out" in a addition to stopper, cover, defend.

Perhaps we need a tick box similar to counterattack to set a "pivot" for when we have two midfield players with the same role to create a pivot behaviour rather than specific roles or duties?

Maybe, instead of adding a new role or duty to CB's in order to create that "step out/step up" behavior, SI could just allow us to use the Libero for both SW and CB positions?

Might be a bit too attacking/creative mind...

Even the ability to modify a role would be great.

Simple - improve the sliders so their gamebreaking potential is limited, and integrate them fully into the dynamic tactics system.

Right now they can have two states - "default" (or "changed by a shout") and "changed & overriding everything". Simply introduce a third slider position, "custom" or whatever - the game will use this as a base and work from there, not being overriden by their position, and instead changing the slider accordingly to instructions and shouts in proportion and using the same underlying ratios and values it does for current slider settings.

That way not only you provide a more advanced but still coherent tactical options, but also facilitate custom roles (since you could save the individual "custom" player settings) as well as custom tactics (such as a variant of the current Attacking tactic, but with... I don't know, something changed - but still subject to shouts).

Some sort of very basic template would dictate the general direction of changes applied by tactics - so that the game "knew" you are making a central defensively minded role rather than a wide midfield attacking one, and a wide play shout would affect it as such.

Well maybe the 'simple' part is a bit off but I still think it would improve the game greatly. Keeping the tight, integrated, streamlined system, but allowing for a far greater and not game breaking customization and tactical input.

Simple - improve the sliders so their gamebreaking potential is limited, and integrate them fully into the dynamic tactics system.

Right now they can have two states - "default" (or "changed by a shout") and "changed & overriding everything". Simply introduce a third slider position, "custom" or whatever - the game will use this as a base and work from there, not being overriden by their position, and instead changing the slider accordingly to instructions and shouts in proportion and using the same underlying ratios and values it does for current slider settings.

That way not only you provide a more advanced but still coherent tactical options, but also facilitate custom roles (since you could save the individual "custom" player settings) as well as custom tactics (such as a variant of the current Attacking tactic, but with... I don't know, something changed - but still subject to shouts).

Some sort of very basic template would dictate the general direction of changes applied by tactics - so that the game "knew" you are making a central defensively minded role rather than a wide midfield attacking one, and a wide play shout would affect it as such.

Well maybe the 'simple' part is a bit off but I still think it would improve the game greatly. Keeping the tight, integrated, streamlined system, but allowing for a far greater and not game breaking customization and tactical input.

To be honest, I don't think the game breaking potential of the sliders can be mitigated unless control is taken away from the users or diluted to the point where users might feel trapped within a small range of customisation, which would defeat the object of it.

I think I'd rather the role ideas above are evaluated by SI and implemented as options in future Tactics Creator and Match Engine versions. The option for custom role could and probably should be there just as "Classic Tactics" is now for people that want it, but again I think being able to mess around within a very opaque and complicated system can only lead to frustration and exploits for most.

That is my greatest worry as well - the sliders and whether they are salvageable I mean. But even in that case I would argue for a sort of "DIY" approach others have suggested. Instead of sliders it would use these "chunks" of individual instructions to create new roles and/or customize current ones. If the slider approach is deemed infeasible then these parts would be vetted by the developers - the player would put together TC-compatible - but still offering more freedom and customization - bits along the lines of '(deep lying playmaker) (but playing a bit higher than that) (and also more creative)'. Tl;dr - basically water down current roles to offer a greater scope of possibilities but keeping them in check without abusing the match engine.

It's not a new role as such but I would like to use underlapping wingbacks. That is the winger stays wide and the wb drives through the channel. I havebt tried it before but could never get it to work

That is my greatest worry as well - the sliders and whether they are salvageable I mean. But even in that case I would argue for a sort of "DIY" approach others have suggested. Instead of sliders it would use these "chunks" of individual instructions to create new roles and/or customize current ones. If the slider approach is deemed infeasible then these parts would be vetted by the developers - the player would put together TC-compatible - but still offering more freedom and customization - bits along the lines of '(deep lying playmaker) (but playing a bit higher than that) (and also more creative)'. Tl;dr - basically water down current roles to offer a greater scope of possibilities but keeping them in check without abusing the match engine.

I hear what you're saying and I agree to extent - not necessarily watering roles own as such, but liberating them from fixed positions so you could have players in an AMC position playing with the settings of a deep-lying playmaker etc.

Not sure on the logic or tactical ramifications in-engine from that sort of move but it's a request I've seen increasingly requested across the forum. I guess the major obstacle is whether SI deem it to be too unrealistic, exploitable or unfair if the AI can't be as creative, which it never will be.

I would mention two more roles than the ones mentioned.

Wing-Back

Position MR-ML

This is not a new role, but a new role for the position. It is meant for the wingers for a team with three defenders.

It is a more defensive version of defensive winger, but with many forward runs and high closing down.

Winger-stopper

Position DCR/DCL

Again a position for a team with three players behind. It is as the stepping out central defender but going out on the flanks to help the winger.

Take a look at Napoli for an example. Cannavaro is staying in the middle, and Campagnaro and Aronica/Gamberini is going out wide to overlap Maggio/Zuniga.

Inspired by Michu, Fellaini and Yaya Toure:

Advanced Destroyer

Position: ACM

Duty: Support and Attack

Description: The advanced destroyer is a hybrid of the midfield playmaker and a traditional target man intended to get the best out of modern tactical systems in leagues where defenders and holding midfielders tend to be more physical. Usually a powerful and aggressive midfielder, the advanced destroyer uses his strength and stature to overpower defenders and distribute the ball inside and around the box. When out of possession, the advanced destroyer will look to close down defenders while also dropping deep to defend with the rest of the midfield when his side is put under heavy pressure.

Changes from Basic Attacking Central Midfielder: Target Man (Yes), Hold Up Ball (Yes), Tackling (Hard for Attack Duty), Run with Ball (Sometimes for Attack Duty, Rarely for Support Duty), +2 Closing Down

Great to hear that FM14 will feature 10 new roles including Shadow Strikers and Registas: http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/aug/21/football-manager-craze-lionel-messi

Wonder if any of the other roles suggested above made the cut?

Another FM, another clutch of new roles.

The Inverted Wing-Back seems like the perfect solution to the Shuttle/Carillero role, which is so key to many of Bielsa's systems.

I really hope the Raumdeuter role is as authentic to Thomas Muller as the name suggests, although I can also see how people may be able to better use Ronaldo as a wide, prolific threat like in real life with a few modifications...

Nice! I tried to do something like that in FM14 using the Shadow Striker and Defensive Forward roles and a hefty load of individual instructions.

nspired by Mourinho based on role of that axe from real madrid i can't believe i don't remember his name atm

Advanced Defender, sort of mirrored anchorman used in CAM position. Mourinho used it in one game to destroy flow of the ball i guess

Position: CAM

Duty: Defend

Description: His sole role is to destroy oppositon flow of the ball high up the pitch without commiting whole attacking line to high pressing. He can be used also to mark out certain deep lying playmaker (don't mean the role in the game but position and role on the field irl, players like pirlo, busquets...)

Changes from Basic Attacking Central Midfielder: Tackling Hard , Closing Down high,

Inspired by Mourinho? pfft Park Ji Sung was doing that to Pirlo before it was cool