Meet the Enganche(s)

[ModernLefty]

Part 1: Preamble : The prolonged decline of the the Enganche

Note: This is by no means finished, and won't be for a while, however if I don't put something out, I will shelve it like all my other stuff, hopefully this way I'm forced to finish it.

The enganche is dead, long live the enganche!

Succession is a funny thing, trends and fashions whether in sports, music or clothes have a tendency to be cyclical, the modern reinvention of the inside forward being one such example, or the return of disco in the form of 'Get Lucky', even as a pallid pastiche, another. This cyclical nature comes about because of the constant shifting of the centre point of what is current the norm. As for that centre point to evolve, and stay 'fresh', (whether or not it truly is, is another matter,) it has to take in other ideas from the other various branches of the ideas tree to develop.

More on this later, but first a digression into why enganches or 'true number 10s' have declined prolifically.

So in tactical terms, Barcelona's tiki-taka at the height of their power as Jonathon Wilson puts it: ' has become increasingly clear ...that their style is Total Football viewed through a bielsista prism', i.e. a synthesis of the two idealogical systems of Cruyff's passing philosophy, with the hard working, high pressing style best exemplified in Bielsa's Argentinian National team, and Chilean National team.

While the recent emergence of everyone's new favourite footballing term: 'gegenpressen' , to my untrained eye seems to be the cross-pollination of the high pressing style of 'tiki-taka', bringing with it all its Bielsista baggage, and the 4-2-3-1 shape and counter-attacking directness pioneered by Benitez at Valencia, and continued at Liverpool . Yet, the result of this is a system that ironically plays with a similarly Bielsista-esque directness, just with a different shape. It seems to me that tactical similarity through the decades is just as likely as hearing a song which has a melody that distinctly reminds you of one twenty years its senior.

(The high press lineage: Bielsa's Argentina in the 2002 world cup against England; Guardiola's Barcelona's Tiki-Taka, in the 2011 Champion's League Final win against Manchester United; and Klopp's Dortmund Gegenpressen in last years Semi Final first leg 4-1 victory against Real Madrid.)

However, in sport there must always be losers, and with the development and propagation of the various strains of the Bielsista high pressing philosophy becoming the vogue over the years, along with a tendency to play a third player within the central midfield area, leading to increased congestion in the centre of the park, a certain type of player lost out in particular. The type of player I, and I'm sure many of you love, football's flawed geniuses, the 'true number tens'.

While, of course, 'number 10s' still exist, with this change in emphasis their playing style has had to adapt and has seen them become far more physical and hard working as opposed to cerebral artistry of previous generations, and just like every other player they are now expected to work and contribute to the team defensively. This then ties in with the overall footballing trend towards the generalism, as the defensive midfielders who previously left the creating to the playmaker, are now at the top level expected to contribute themselves.

This new breed of number 10 are as much winger, or striker or midfielder as they are playmaker, that is how the characteristics and attributes of the 'true number 10' have been redistributed, each role blending the playmaker attributes into its concoction. Even, Ozil arguably the current generations purest, word class, playmaking 10, has been described as an 'auxiliary winger' for his intelligent runs provide the 'width that should be missing in Thomas Schaaf's diamond formation.' (This during his time at Werder Bremen) The most obvious example of a club where the ten has been remoulded is Barcelona, who arguably play now 6 players who could be played as 'true number 10s' as anything but 'true number 10s': Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Sanchez, Fabregas and Neymar, and with all their passing ability and their solid work rates it means that only one tackler is required in midfield, Busquets, as the high pressing game turns the ball over, due to their opponents comparative lack of passing ability . So with so many creative players everywhere, why do you need a creative hub in the form of a 'true number 10'?

Before moving in to the next part I need to quantify what I consider the 'true number ten'. For me they are the classical playmaker, a player whose sole function within the team was to link the forward or forwards to the midfield, and to create chances for those forwards whether through precise passes that unlock the opposition defensive; or the dribbling ability to draw off or beat a man whether through tricks or a dribble that creates the space for others to score. All this from predominantly within the attacking pocket, the space behind the opposition midfield and in front of the defenders. These players were almost always reneged their defensive duties, whether through tactical design, or through refusing to follow instructions. A few players I consider as such, are Zidane, Ronaldinho, Valeron, Aimar, Rui Costa, and of course el mejor enganche, Riquelme.

(This image is taken from this article: "]Exploiting the Pocket from Shrewnaldo's fantastic FM veteran blog. It perfectly demonstrates a player in the 'pocket', and the achres of space present for 'true number 10s' in the 1990s/early 2000s against 4-4-2s. )

This then is the home of FM14's enganches, who are the truest of 'true number tens', they barely wander beyond these boundaries, but that is for next time.

[ModernLefty]

Part 2: Real Life vs. FM Role

Real

Now I tend to view and play FM through the prism of real life, I find that despite its flaws, you reap the rewards, and accept the frustrations of FM, if you observe the inherent difficulties and stupidity in the decision making of the current footballing climate. For instance, no Conference North/South side, or should I say Skrill N/S, team is likely to make it to League 1, let alone the Champion's League, without serious investment; and Football Manager would just be you playing out an entire manager's life in the basement of English Football. So when you are doing very well, but not hugely overachieving keep this in mind, I know it helps me. Yet, now it's time to move beyond this digression brought on by the frustration of another tumultuous week in the footballing world, real and virtual and return to the scheduled broadcast.

The 'enganche' is the term in Argentinian Spanish for a playmaker, and unlike within FM is not a particular form. The word 'enganche' is derived from enganchar, which means in South American Spanish: 'to hook'. Interestingly, (to me anyway) 'enganchadores' was the name given to people who acted as middle men to recruit Mexicans to do menial migrant labour in America during the 1910-20s. However, in this case an 'enganche' has simply, in reality, maybe not so simply, got to 'hook', the strikers into the supporting cast of players who are there to support them in their efforts. This through any method, and from any of your 'modern' or 'true' 10s.

However, in this years iteration of Football Manager, or should it be Hipster, as I've heard it lovingly mocked, the role of the 'enganche' is (I imagine, I'm not in the head of Miles Jacobsen et al.) envisioned upon the playing style one man, with it being an Argentinian term and all, (there are others who also fit the bill, but that's for later) this being Juan Roman Riquelme. Moreover, it's not really the entirety of one man, it's a particular vintage. Riquelme's later playing style, in all of its laconic and by then/now iconic stature. By his later years, Riquelme an already fairly slow player by modern standards became even slower, and despite his superb technique and dribbling ability you are never (almost never) going to dribble past someone if their pace, acceleration, agility, is far greater than yours, irrelevant of your stunning footballing brain and technique.

The 'Mejor Enganche' Riquelme, befitting of not only a nations love, but also great influence on an FM role

So what do you do? You do the, to my mind, obvious, you don't force them to do things they will struggle at doing and play to their strengths.

Sir Alex Ferguson, built a domestic dynasty from his ability to do this, and while of course he had some true greats, he also utilised effectively the strengths of some pretty average players: Wes Brown, John O'Shea spring to mind. These players who combined with the great mental drive he imbued them with, kept focussed and driven as a unit until the bitter end; Fergy-time being testament to this. Writing these phrases has immediately drawn a link in my mind to the Roman Legions, and maybe there is something to be said of Ferguson's ability to put out, 95% of the time, even the Roman's didn't win all the time, a uniformly battling side. A side that that won comfortably on an average day with their effective composition combined with ability, or even on an off day, could grind out wins, or draws, as the whole Manchester machine adapted to hide its vulnerable spots, whether on the flanks, or at its centre. This being achieved through intelligent combinations of players, and either by attacking you relentlessly, (taking the pressure off defensive solidity) or by sitting back and snatching goals when required, (taking pressure off attacking creativity.)

The strengths then of an 'enganche', is in their ability to play smart, and use their brain and all their years of spatial processing and reacting. In this sense, 'enganche' is used to describe an imagined 'suitable player' who fits into the FM role of 'enganche', be very clear on this, players are not roles, they interpret them, pet hate! An area where people struggle is that they create logical tactical frameworks, only to put people who are unsuitable into into it, or as S Fraser put it:

'While it will obvious to some people … the crux of the game is that when you sign Sergio Aguero (for example) and you give him his first start he doesn't just take his strengths onto the pitch, he takes his weaknesses and his averageness onto the pitch as well. Lionel Messi and Nemanja Vidic have the exact same types of attributes, everything involved in an action for one player is involved in the action for another player. Messi can tackle, jump, header, mark, tackle but just not very well.'

However, I will holistically look at players who fit the role and tackle the 'strengths', 'weaknesses', and 'averageness' of the enganche's makeup in the next part.

Role

(I'm not keen on this section, but I want to say the obvious stuff before I focus on more specifically on attributes and the 'enganche' in the match engine, I know I'm not really adding much here, but I felt like making it perfectly clear was a good first step.)

So for the enganche role you concentrate all that playmaking essence down to the juicy, pulpy, minimum that is required to create chances within a game, which means, just in case you didn't already know that an enganche is a 'specialist' role. As it focuses on a particular aspect of the entire game of football, i.e. playmaking instead of doing a bit of everything expected from a player in that position, tackling, closing down, defending from the front etc. (For those who are unfamiliar with the 'specialist' vs 'generalist' divide here is a link.)

This means that in its remit, the 'enganche' role , is instructed to attempt to limit a players role within the team to merely play making, without many other responsiblity, and this means he undertakes to being like a passing turret, an (almost) stationary point within the overall structure of a team that that sits firmly in the centre of the park, and looks to create opportunities for the team and as such can provide a centre point that provide the attacking play with direction. Though, due to the attack duty the enganche role is blessed with they will ghost into the box.

This almost static nature, can and may seem old fashioned. However, somebody remaining reasonably static in attacking units can work, while the example I use isn't an enganche the tactical principal is similar. The player being Fred, who was a pivotal (sadly the pun's intended) part in Brazil's run to the Confederations Cup. He stayed reasonably central playing as an 'Old Fashioned Centre Forward' and in the one sided final tied up both of Spain's central defenders with his sheer physical frame and he created pockets of space for the use of Oscar, and Neymar behind him. Though Fred did occasionally drift out to the left channel to allow Neymar to cut inside (I re-watched the game to be as accurate as possible). Hulk on the other hand if your wondering stayed wide and stretched the width of the pitch.

(If you want to recreate Fred's role I would best describe as a complete forward-attack, with the player instructions of 'dribble less', and maybe 'hold position' depending on whether how much a player with those settings drifted to the channels on FM.)

So what of the 'enganche', well I find it best to talk about what it doesn't do.

First off if we look at the tendency to 'run with the ball' , of the FM roles, (another disclaimer, players are not roles, they interpret them, a very good dribbler with high decisions could make a role with low dribbling play like a role with more tendency to dribble, because the see that option is the best, or the opposite with low creativity and decisions, and high dribbling, they could think that dribbling is a better option (think Ashley Young played centrally.)

However:

Shadow Striker > Attacking Midfielder (Attack) > Advanced Playmaker (Attack) > Attacking Midfielder (Support) > Advanced Playmaker (Support) > Trequartista > Enganche

Now I believe that the instructed 'runs from deep' aspect of the roles are pretty similar. Though it may be that the 'Trequartista' has a tendency to make less 'runs from deep' than the 'Enganche', but there's little in it.

In the instructed closing down front, the 'enganche' has the option to close down more or less meaning that it is reasonable to assume that there is some closing down expected within the role. I personally believe the role should be one of very little closing down. However you have the option to flavour the closing down to your personal taste, obviously SI did not see this as a particularly distinctive part of the South American playmaking style and if you take the entire continent I'm sure you'll find plenty of South American 10s willing to work hard for their team, Oscar is (Brazilian not Argentinian I accept) an obvious example.

And they can be instructed to shoot more or less, so there 'longshots' tendency seems to be considered neutral, with the option to flavour more or less, again obviously not considered an essential part of the role's makeup.

Hence, the role instructions all add together to cajole the player inserted into those instructions to primarily focus on staying central, offering a passing outlet between midfield and attack. That can close down very little or a lot and shoot from deep less or more, while he occasionally drives from deep and 'ghosts' into the box, this provides the players with the occasional great goalscoring opportunities so it is likely they will be in the goals.

Hence, to impart something beyond the merely repeating the screens above that I have so far, to me it plays like an advanced playmaker- attack, without the dribbling, and mobility, and I see it as a great way to start the careers of players who haven't fully physically developed to the required extent, and to extend the careers of players who physical attributes are all but gone, but still have footballing brains up there with the very best. It isn't necessarily what they do, it's what they manipulate from there mere presence that makes the enganche a plausible attacking threat, of correctly deployed.

This then ends the probably least exciting part of this thread, but at least now it's covered.

[ModernLefty]

Part 3: Meet the Enganche(s)

[ModernLefty]

Part 4: A Present Past

[ModernLefty]

Part 5: Another Branch from the Ideas Tree, A retro future, a reinvention of the true 10.

[ModernLefty]

Part 6:The enganche, a journey, a conlusion.

[rune_star]

Looking forward to updates on this one

"True number tens" haven't really worked in the latest couple of versions in FM, but this time round I'm finally starting to see SOME positive signs in a 'working' direction...

[Cleon]

Brilliant start to the thread can't wait for the rest. I was reading about;

While the recent emergence of everyone's new favourite footballing term: 'gegenpressen' , to my untrained eye seems to be the cross-pollination of the high pressing style of 'tiki-taka', bringing with it all its Bielsista baggage, and the 4-2-3-1 shape and counter-attacking directness pioneered by Benitez at Valencia, and continued at Liverpool .

something very similiar last week when I was researching Boca Junior's for something I was doing. I came across a foreign site that gave a great insight into how all these shapes can morph into each other or how each coach evolved his vision of tiki-taka etc. I'll try and find the link again because I think you'll enjoy it. It got me thinking an I started experimenting with something based on Brazil but from the 2002 WC because it utilises a shadow striker too which I think works excellent along side an enganche.

Can't wait to see which path you've chosen to go down and see how this thread really develops

[ModernLefty]

something very similiar last week when I was researching Boca Junior's for something I was doing. I came across a foreign site that gave a great insight into how all these shapes can morph into each other or how each coach evolved his vision of tiki-taka etc. I'll try and find the link again because I think you'll enjoy it. It got me thinking an I started experimenting with something based on Brazil but from the 2002 WC because it utilises a shadow striker too which I think works excellent along side an enganche.

Haha, funny you should mention that, and damn you're good, it's precisely the setup that part 5 is going to be about and yes I also took my inspiration from the 2002 Brazil.

[Cleon]

Haha, funny you should mention that, and damn your good, it's precisely the setup that part 5 is going to be about.

No way?

Hmm I can't wait for part 5 now, I want to see if you had the same dilemma as me with one of the roles.

I'll sticky this once the other parts are added btw

[tejas]

From ZM: Ronaldo was the spearhead, with Rivaldo remaining in close contact, and Ronaldinho dropping deepest to collect the ball.

Shadow striker and enganche role made for Rivaldo and Ronaldinho

[yonko]

Hm, I'm not sure that Brazil 2002 used an Enganche though. Both Rivaldo and Ronaldinho were very mobile behind Ronaldo.

[Seule]

Mmmmm that 3-4-3 from Argentina, had almost forgotten that existed. Looks like a lot of fun with some of the possible set ups today.

[sidemanelm]

Count me among those who are excited to see where this goes!

[JamieAdams3]

Can't wait for the updates!

Gegenpressing, by the way, is pressing in defensive transition. It is nothing new, just that it has become more noticed and has received a name.

I.e. the 6 second rule with Pep at Barca was pressing in defensive transition. They would then stay in shape and press upon triggers arising, e.g. against the sidelines, when a full back receives the ball, poor touch/pass, receiving the ball facing their own goal etc. many more!

Tiki-taka is an amazingly microscopic style of play. This book is VERY good for explaining it: http://shop.soccertutor.com/Coaching-the-Tiki-Taka-Style-of-Play-p/st-b019.htm

[Moose-Stuff-For-Money]

Looking forward to seeing how this gets on. I have tried time and again to get my Boca save going with an Enganche-centric tactic, sadly after thinking I may have been making progress it just doesn't play how I want it to play. Hopefully this will give me some fresh ideas and I can get back into it.

[Valente11]

I've been having SUCH a hard time utilizing an enganche in my game so I'm very excited for your thread. Usually mine is either completely isolated with no passing options, or he is clustered by his supporting midfielders and forwards.

[Ifail]

thing is i always find the enganche AFTER laying off or passing off to somoen e infront of him (strikers or wingers or even a running midfielder) he charges into the box and not staying even tho theres 2 -3 even 4 to 5 people in front of him due to run at deep and or wingers I jsut dont know y oh y

[ModernLefty]

Can't wait for the updates!

Gegenpressing, by the way, is pressing in defensive transition. It is nothing new, just that it has become more noticed and has received a name.

I.e. the 6 second rule with Pep at Barca was pressing in defensive transition. They would then stay in shape and press upon triggers arising, e.g. against the sidelines, when a full back receives the ball, poor touch/pass, receiving the ball facing their own goal etc. many more!

Tiki-taka is an amazingly microscopic style of play. This book is VERY good for explaining it: http://shop.soccertutor.com/Coaching-the-Tiki-Taka-Style-of-Play-p/st-b019.htm

The first bit is the point I'm making within, that 'gegenpressen' really isn't new, it's as you are kind of mentioning just 'counter-pressing', but secondly that book looks pretty amazing. I would like to at some point in the future to start coaching myself, because I honestly don't think that I can do a worse job than what is currently happening at the grass roots level in the majority of the U.K. , so I'm always looking for interesting tomes to gain ideas from, which get stored neatly in my brower's toolbar as 'football resources'.

Edit: P.S. I'm cracking on with part 2 tonight after a couple of heavy days of Christmas shopping in London, it'll be rattling along soon.

[Cleon]

The first bit is the point I'm making within, that 'gegenpressen' really isn't new, it's as you are kind of mentioning just 'counter-pressing', but secondly that book looks pretty amazing. I would like to at some point in the future to start coaching myself, because I honestly don't think that I can do a worse job than what is currently happening at the grass roots level in the majority of the U.K. , so I'm always looking for interesting tomes to gain ideas from, which get stored neatly in my brower's toolbar as 'football resources'.

Edit: P.S. I'm cracking on with part 2 tonight after a couple of heavy days of Christmas shopping in London, it'll be rattling along soon.

You should get the book and the others that Jed Davies did, he's become a really good friend of mine in the past year. He's got great insight and knowledge and views the game differently to other people. You should check out his website www.jeddavies.com

Can't wait to read part 2

[oneronaldo]

I've never actually created a tactic that has a truly static playmaker like the Enganche. The tactics I've created usually went 2 paths, the 4-2-4 that focuses on overwhelming the opponent down the flanks with endless wave of attacks, making a playmaker redundant or the 4-3-3/4-5-1 that had a AP(a) pulling the strings, but running up and down the field like a BBM(s) to help out in defence as well as score sometimes.

So I'm very interested to see how the Enganche can be utilised and his strengths harnessed to form the fulcrum of the team's attack whilst contributing absolutely nothing defensively

[DeathJester]

Really excited to read the rest. I'm a big Bielsa fan, his use of an Enganche behind a front three interests me greatly

[kandersson]

love the subject as a natural winger who spent all the 90's trying to convince himself he was a true No.10

I think the true No.10 will always exist in football even with all the tactical revolutions there have been and might be in the future. We might see true No.10's performing slightly different tasks but you know in their heart those great 10's ill always be themselves!

I agree with your definition and examples of true number ten and in my opinion none of the Barcelona players (including world best player Messi) is actually one. Ozil is probably the best No.10 in nowadays football. Other examples (not necessarily world class) might be Javier Pastore, Ganso, cult hero Jorge Valdivia (No.10 of bielsa's chile) and generally a few others in south america.

Very interested in this thread esp as I traditionally fail to implement a successful No.10 tactic in FM!

[ModernLefty]

Part 2 is up. It's a little basic, and a little dry, but as the person I am, to get to the fun stuff I felt I'd try to make sure the foundations are reasonable.

[oneronaldo]

Riquelme certainly made a decent fist of trying to dribble past people even though his pace was about naught . Probably helps that he is abit of a maverick who does the insane, or his impressive ability to keep himself balanced on his feet despite defenders hounding him from all over his back. I reckon the "Balance" attribute could be very useful to an Enganche, simply because if you're going to be a static fulcrum of the team's attack then defenders are going to be hounding out of the game and you're not going to help your team if you keep falling to the ground over every little tackle.

[ModernLefty]

In my opinion none of the Barcelona players (including world best player Messi) is actually one

That's my point, but they all could be. They all have the appropriate attributes. Iniesta is just about the most natural number 10 style of player, to have never really played as a number 10.

[kieranmort]

I know Berbatov is a classy player, but in my first season with Fulham I am struggling to get much out of him, I am thinkin the Enganche role could be perfect for him, providing goals from deep and creating goals.

Great post by the way, love the part about Fred I was constantly telling people around me that Fred was absolutelty vital to Brazil's Confed Cup performance, they all thought he was useless just because he isnt mobile - fools.

I think having a player who occupies a space on the pitch can have great beneifits in the modern game, especially with it being so fast paced and interchanging, it can really open things up to have someone standing still as the space creates itself.

[ModernLefty]

I've posted this else where, but it was my analysis of the issues with the original Fulham squad this time round.

I think like Fulham this season in real life, FM Fulham are a tricky proposition to manage, because their squad is quite behind the times in it's composition, as it features almost completely specialists. Taraabt, Ruiz, and Berbatov, all brilliant creatively, but ask them to defend, no chance. Bent, classic number 9, no real want to defend or create, Parker, decent anchor man/ BWM, but ask him to pick a pass and he's stumped, Boateng pretty similar and all the centrebacks are tall, lumpy and slow and are poor with the ball at their feet, (okay in FM terms they are probably rigid philosophy centrebacks rather than limited defenders, however in comparison to fluid philosophy centrebacks or Ball Playing defenders) they are pretty dedicated defensive players. T

This means that Fulham have a significant issue to overcome on FM, because as pressing high is pretty much out of the question, as their attacking players just wouldn't do it and their defence is too slow, so they have to sit deep. This has its own problems though, coming back to the prior paragraph, as teams who press high against them successfully can keep them hemmed pretty successfully as they cannot pass their way out, due to the defensive side of the team as I mentioned lacking in that area. This means you have to pretty direct football which Fulham don't really do well because all their AMs are delicate little technical types who aren't particularly great in the air.

Now before I moved on from them, having decided finally to see whether I can manage to pull off the dafuge challenge, I thought of the best way to set the up against a high press would be a very rigid, narrow and deep 4-2-3-1 which sits deep and tries to counter attack by playing direct to Berbatov as a Treq in the AM position, with the attacking trio set to pass shorter so that he can who can lay it off to either Taarabt or Ruiz, or can play a through ball to Bent, and try to generate some attacking momentum that way.

Whereas if your opponent also is sitting deep and there's no space in behind for Bent to use his pace, I was thinking playing Berbatov up front in a 4-1-2-2-1 with him pulling deep to allow Taarabt and Ruiz the space to operate in the channels from wide, and playing slightly more aggressively probably 'standard' instead of counter.

I think that an Enganche with Berbatov is a very plausible option.

[Jambo98]

An excellent article so far, im sure many of us who grew up with 1990's football love the "Enganche" - Rui Costa at his best, the much discussed Riquelme, Pablo Aimar (although i recall Aimar as being someone who dribbled a lot), perhaps throw in Deco.

I am currently trying to create a goalscoring approach using the "Enganche" roll. The man i think is perfect for it, is Coutinho. He has a bit more mobility about him than some historical number 10s, and he surely can dribble, but you dont tend to see him go on a mazy run - More he does what Riquelme did - uses quickness of feet and slight of movement to throw off one challenge, beat one man, then use the space that gives him to pick a pass. Coutinho's vision and range of passing are brilliant to watch on his day (When he isnt stuck out on the wing.......hint hint Mr Rodgers!)

There are a few key elements to the Enganche in my eyes, above and beyond the player and how he plays, and more about who plays around him:

The forwards - I think that for an Enganche to be truley effective, he needs multiple passing options ahead of him, either immediately on receiving the ball, or very soon after. For this reason, i dont see that an Enganche is suited to playing in behind a "lone striker". You might argue that the argentina side of Bielsa only had one striker (Batistuta), but Ortega and Gonzalez played very high up the pitch, and often starting wide and coming inside to pick up a pass (disclaimer - i havent rewatched or researched), but my memory is that Orgeta in particular would drift inside a lot. So to me, to play an Enganche in a modern 4-2-3-1 would be tricky. Your wide men would need to get forward very quickly, or start very high. It may work better in a narrow 4-2-3-1 where the outer 2 AMC are attacking and give options?

For me though, the thoroughbred Enganche should play in behind a front 2. Always giving him 2 options, perhaps one drops off, one goes in behind, perhaps one splits wide one stays central, lots more options with that approach. The downside, of course, is you are really committing 3 players to all out attack roles. Best hope you have something clever in behind to deal with the defensive side of the game!

In FM terms, i chose to translate this into a 4-3-1-2 shape, with Suarez and Sturridge ahead of Coutinho, meaning he always has great options. Sturridge playing an advanced forward, always looking to break the last line and get onto a through ball from "Enganche", Suarez at the moment as a COmplete Forward (support) - a maverick who can pop up anywhere, come short and exchange passes (Coutinho has "places one-twos" as PPM) or pop up wide for a longer pass.

The supply - This is an interesting one. If you have a true "Enganche", you want him to be the focal point of your team. The vast majority of your attacking moves will go through him, the other players need to look to get him on the ball whenever possible. I think this is where the modern came makes it more difficult. If i look again at that Argentina team (NB - I think you have a typo in it - Placente was good, but not quite good enough to play 2 positions......I think Sorin is missing), then i see players who would be happy to let Veron/Aimar play. The wide players like to run and to score and to create, but they knew they were wide men (although Ortega seemed to occasionally fancy being a number 10!). Batistuta was all about the 18yr box. The other midfielder tended to be a destroyer (Simeone/Almeyda) so was happy to give the ball to the Enganche.

In modern teams, more players tend to have the technical ability and desire to "play". If we take Arsenal, who could have Ozil as an Enganche (although appreciating he isnt in the traditional sense), then you also have to of someone like Cazola off to the left - he wants to be on the ball, he wants to demand it. Then think of Wilshire/Arteta/Ramsey who might well be playing just deeper - again those players wont want to just pick the ball up, give it to an Enganche and let him take the glory.

It is also the part i am struggling the most with in FM. I watch games and i see Coutinho sitting beautifully in the pocket, nice bit of space for him. But he isnt getting the ball. I havent quite got it right yet. I have "exploit the middle" and higher tempo/shorter passing to try and get the ball forward, but not via long balls. I also dont have "pass into space" as i dont want this from anyone other than Coutinho. I have 2 x DLP further back, doing very different things, but because they are "play makers", i suspect they have too much creative freedom.

Interested to hear how others make a success of "Enganche"

[SnUrF]

I have 2 x DLP further back, doing very different things, but because they are "play makers", i suspect they have too much creative freedom.

Interested to hear how others make a success of "Enganche"

The more PMs you've got the more it 'dilutes' the effect of a player being set as a PM. If you've got 3 instead of just 1 (the enganche) the focus is divided between the PMs. If that makes sense.

Also the DLPs will be trying throug balls, and as the enganche isn't moving that much he most likely wouldn't be in the receiving end.

-SnUrF

[Jambo98]

The more PMs you've got the more it 'dilutes' the effect of a player being set as a PM. If you've got 3 instead of just 1 (the enganche) the focus is divided between the PMs. If that makes sense.

Also the DLPs will be trying throug balls, and as the enganche isn't moving that much he most likely wouldn't be in the receiving end.

-SnUrF

Yeah although the second DLP, i essentially had to put in because no other role/duty would get the player to move into the same positions. I tried to change his player instructions to make him less of a play maker, but its a bit limited in the 2014 tactics model (thanks SI...).

Have now tried it with no other PM, and its not much better. Not sure whether its my individuals i have tried there, but the behavior on the ball isnt right. He is in a lot of space, but when he gets the ball he plays a lot of one touch passes backwards rather than try and turn and pick out a player ahead.

Will keep tweaking and plugging away to see if i can really make an Enganche work, but so far its very poor results wise in that role.

[HappyStreet]

So i am playing Arsenal and my goal is to play a short passning game with high pressing. Essentially a possession heavy play. Currently wilshere is my main AMC. Do you think that enganche could be a good choice? Currently using AP(A) and it is working ok but not great.

[ModernLefty]

So i am playing Arsenal and my goal is to play a short passning game with high pressing. Essentially a possession heavy play. Currently wilshere is my main AMC. Do you think that enganche could be a good choice? Currently using AP(A) and it is working ok but not great.

I want to help, but giving an opinion without knowing a fair bit more than that is like trying to cure a patient who tells you they are ill, but forces you to use only a knife and you're blindfolded. Hope you understand where I'm coming from.

[Moose-Stuff-For-Money]

I still find that the Enganche hasn't fully been realised in FM14. I still struggle to get a the other 9 outfield players to play in a way that brings out the best in him, and I have been to the drawing board many times. I don't know whats better to have a very mobile side constantly moving to create the space and passing options, or to restrict them a little so I don't get caught out when possession turns over. I also agree he would probably work best behind two or more strikers.

IRL terms, Riquelme was my first real experience of a total technical player. In his pomp, he was a joy to watch and although he never hit the hights his talent warrented in Europe perhaps, in the first Bianchi era he was amazing, I recall him tearing Real apart in teh CWC final many moons ago.

I'll go back to the drawing board again and try to get something working, its good food for thought this thread.

[Moose-Stuff-For-Money]

Is Part 3 still coming along okay? I have managed to finally utilise a Enganche effectivley after months of tinkering. Looking forward to the update.

[Kick Wilstra]

For me the first player that springs to mind as a true number 10 is Jari Litmanen during his first spell at Ajax. In CM99 I actually bought Riquelme to replace Litmanen. Ah, the good old days.

Although I've a strong affection for the classical true nr10 role, and most of my FM tactics feature an AMC because of that, I haven't utilised the Enganche rol yet. I've tried, and Trequartista role as well, but an Advanced Playmaker on attack duty seems to give me the best results.

I have a lovely regen that's a natural Enganche, spawned with 18's in passing, technique, first touch, dribbling, and finishing, very slow, decent agility and strength, very good balance. Creativity started quite low at 11, but increased to 19 very quickly. Became a regular starter last season at age 17, scored 22 goals, created 10, averaged a 8.07 in 23 games. In the AP(A) role. Tried him a few games in an Enganche role, not bad, but averaging 7's. Main difference seems to be that as advanced playmaker he's getting himself more involved, making slightly more passes, and making much more runs into the penalty area, thus scoring more goals. The FM Enganche role seems to be a bit too static, making him easy to mark by the oppositions DM.

That DM might actually be the issue now I think about it. Most tactics I encounter have at least one player in a central defensive midfield position. The traditional pocket of space between defence and midfield isn't just waiting there to be exploited any more. So an AMC must drift a bit sometimes to create some space for himself. The Advanced Playmaker and Trequartista roles allow this, but unfortunately the Enganche role does not.

[Kick Wilstra]

Is Part 3 still coming along okay? I have managed to finally utilise a Enganche effectivley after months of tinkering. Looking forward to the update.

I'm looking forward to the updates as well.

[ModernLefty]

Well, I've fell out of love with the game for a bit, but I'm going to try to get part 3 off the ground, I'll see what I can do.

[chocolatecoatedballs]

Brilliant start to the thread can't wait for the rest. I was reading about;

something very similiar last week when I was researching Boca Junior's for something I was doing. I came across a foreign site that gave a great insight into how all these shapes can morph into each other or how each coach evolved his vision of tiki-taka etc. I'll try and find the link again because I think you'll enjoy it. It got me thinking an I started experimenting with something based on Brazil but from the 2002 WC because it utilises a shadow striker too which I think works excellent along side an enganche.

Can't wait to see which path you've chosen to go down and see how this thread really develops

Could you possibly post the link for others to enjoy, I know I would appreciate it.

[chocolatecoatedballs]

Well, I've fell out of love with the game for a bit, but I'm going to try to get part 3 off the ground, I'll see what I can do.

I hope you do, it has been enjoyable so far.