The Unsung Heroes

I've noticed a lot of unsung heroes in the game, and I'm not talking about secret wonder signings or people with a strange combination of stats that take full advantage of the match engine.

What I'm talking about, are the players who don't get many (or any) assists, goals or high match ratings but contribute so greatly to the way your team plays. This used to only apply to defensive midfielders in the past (think the Makelele role) but I've really noticed it with certain midfielders and attackers.

An example:

I have a striker who in 25 games has 3 goals and 2 assists. Now initially you would think that isn't a good return, but after watching 90 minutes of each match all season, I can tell you how integral he is to my team’s attacks. He may make a simple pass, win a header, make a run and take the defender away to open up some space or position himself so well as to take advantage of any misplaced passes or to stop the opposing team from counter-attacking so quickly if possession is lost.

Looking at his match stats at the end of the game, you can see that he's ran a good 10k, he's made a key pass, a key tackle, a key header and had a couple of shots on goal and ends up with a rating of 5.4. (I don't want to go into the low ratings for strikers, that's already been covered in other threads)

The media are on his back because he's not scoring, the fans are on his back because he's not getting very high match ratings, but any game we play without him we are considerably weaker going forward without his efforts.

I've long under-appreciated the mentality attributes, usually focusing purely on physical and technical skills for any purchases - this has really made me revamp my point of view. The "Off the ball" and "decisions" values, when high, seem to be brilliant.

Another example is I have a centre midfielder who doesn't do much other than pass the ball brilliantly, you'll rarely see his name on key highlights, or again on the assist or score sheets, but at the end of the game he's got about 100 successful passes and a few tackles. In my current tactic he sits alongside a creative charging forward midfielder, and is the perfect foil, he retains possession sensibly, forces the opposition strikers and midfielders to have to work hard to chase down the ball and starts off attacks with a simple passing game.

Again, he rarely gets a massive match rating, but he's integral to my plans again because of his mental attributes in composure, decisions and off the ball work, finding space to get the passing game going is just as important as his technical skills on the ball.

I'm not sure if these sort of roles should be recognised by the match engine or not, but there is a lot more to the game than assists and goals - and only from watching 90 minutes of matches in 3D and analysing stats have I realised this.

I'm not sure if these sort of roles should be recognised by the match engine or not, but there is a lot more to the game than assists and goals - and only from watching 90 minutes of matches in 3D and analysing stats have I realised this.

Aye aye Captain! Only after watching detailed highlights did I realise that Altintop was doing more for my team when playing in the DM role, than my captain Van Bommel (who has now been sent packing).

Totally agree, have a similar case in my team a AMRC doesn't score much or get many assists but he is the first name on when selecting a squad. although he gets a rating of 6.20 (or in that area). which is very nice.

Didn't have the press/fans moan about him.

I had a star-studded team at Derby County in FM07 which won a few league titles and competed for others, but the player who stood out for me was a centre-back whom I had signed back in The Championship, a young Finn who, when I bought him, I'd thought might turn into a decent squad player given the right encouragement. In the event I gave him his chance when we arrived in the Premiership and he took it, he took it so well that he became a stalwart in the team for the next 10 years before deciding he wanted a new challenge

We had flair players, we had goal scorers, we had players who could whip in demon crosses to pile up assists, we had a Finnish goalkeeper who had also been at the club 10 years and was legendary, but if I could have only kept one player (well, ok 2 players because Diego has a special place in my heart!) it would have been this solid centre-back who just went about his task week in week out without fuss and also slottted seemlessly into the midfield holding role when called upon.

Yeah the consistent centre back is always ag ood one, I had on in FM07, 10 years service, nothing flashy just put in a solid shift for 90 minutes, didn't make mistakes, defended well and rarely got injured. Was hard replacing someone that consistent.

My goalkeeper at Roma is an unsung hero, as far as I'm concerned. Lets in so few goals and yet he is not exactly a world-reknowned name.

Yeah the consistent centre back is always ag ood one, I had on in FM07, 10 years service, nothing flashy just put in a solid shift for 90 minutes, didn't make mistakes, defended well and rarely got injured. Was hard replacing someone that consistent.

Aye, he's still at the club, but constantly on Very Poor morale and wanting to leave for a new challenge (despite me offering a pay rise of something like 200% to make him our highest paid player) so I don't use him much.

Probably no coincidence that we look like a pub team at times in my latest season with 13 wins and 8 defeats (0 draws)...nowhere near our standards of the last 10 years

My stupid, must sell if the offer is 2.5 times value, rule has cost me my most influential player in 08 The team doesn't look half as good now.

My stupid, must sell if the offer is 2.5 times value, rule has cost me my most influential player in 08 The team doesn't look half as good now.

That's a daft self imposed rule!