The mystery of Giuseppe Mastria

Meet Giuseppe Mastria, a young newgen that my HoYD bought two years ago:

Giuseppe is a left back. Now, looking at his attributes, he doesn't appear to be a particularly good left back. Poor tackling and marking, very low aggression and flair, and he can't really dribble or cross the ball either. So why is he still at the club?

Well:

He's done very well away on loan. And yes, he's been played as a left back there. He's also plays well for the Italian U19's/U21's.

Which leads me to my question: Why is he doing so well?

Are his high teamwork and work rate really enough to offset his shortcomings in other areas? He doesn't have any PPM's by the way. Or is there something else I'm missing? Help me solve this mystery!

(Perhaps I should mention that this is from FM14. I'm not sure if that matters.)

Well he is playing at a lower level in Serie B & the Championship, whether he could repeat the form at a higher level is a question.

In terms of attributes his technical ones aren't great but they aren't terrible either. Other key skills for a fullback are very high - passing, positioning, team work, work rate, acceleration & stamina. He therefore works very hard, is good for the team and has the pace & strength to get around the pitch and cause problems.

He probably also has high hidden attributes, consistency for one as well as maybe big matches.

I would give him a go in the Prem and just see what happens, it could be that he plays really well or that he crashes & burns but the only way to find out is to give him a chance.

Well he is playing at a lower level in Serie B & the Championship, whether he could repeat the form at a higher level is a question.

In terms of attributes his technical ones aren't great but they aren't terrible either. Other key skills for a fullback are very high - passing, positioning, team work, work rate, acceleration & stamina. He therefore works very hard, is good for the team and has the pace & strength to get around the pitch and cause problems.

He probably also has high hidden attributes, consistency for one as well as maybe big matches.

I would give him a go in the Prem and just see what happens, it could be that he plays really well or that he crashes & burns but the only way to find out is to give him a chance.

Thanks. It makes sense that his performances are helped by those other attributes. And I hadn't even considered the hidden ones.

I'm definitely going to give him a chance in the first team - I've just been baffled by his good loan spells since at first glance he doesn't exactly seem great.

His positioning and athleticism are such that in the lower leagues he could pounce on every pass to the right wing that wasn't perfectly placed, as they often aren't at that level, and so he could win the ball back primarily through interceptions rather than tacking. I don't think he's do nearly as well in the top leagues where his weaknesses will surely be more exposed. If Spurs are still a high level club in your game world, I think you should be able to find a more well rounded fullback than this guy. Maybe keep him on board as back-up, but I wouldn't head into a season with this guy being first choice. If he does have good hidden attributes and personality, he could be the kind of guy that's happy in a back-up role and won't demand too much in terms of playing time or wages, which is always handy (granted it's not FM15 you're playing)..

He's quick, super determined, a hard worker and a great team player, with mediocre technical attributes. If you have a possession based structure that relies on winning the ball and keeping it, he's perfect.

How is he on his right foot? If it is fairly strong, that would explain some of the lower attributes.

He may not be very good in defending (15 Positioning is not bad actually, maybe he doesn't NEED to tackle?), but he will run quickly and run all day, a team player and one hell of a workhorse. Sometimes, in the lower leagues thats enough to get by

He basically defends ala Michael Carrick by using his positioning to close off the avenues of play.

If his creativity was a tad higher, I'd consider re-training him as a DM. He has all the required attributes to be a good recycler of the ball in the middle of play AND the positioning to make the DM area his own. Plus his tackling probably won't be shown up so much since he'll have two-three behind him. If anything he'll probably cover for their mistakes with his positional sense more in the DM slot than he could do in the LB slot.