Getting the most from Ronaldo

[andysharkey21]

I just wanted to know how you guys use Ronaldo? I don't usually manage Real Madrid simply because I've always preferred Barca but I want to give it a go. Sometimes in other games I've noticed he scores a ton of goals as you would expect and sometimes he scores a normal amount for a winger. Do you play him out wide or up top and what role do you play him? I'm thinking AML and as an inside forward but he's not doing much for me there. He gets through on goal and hammers it wide a lot.

[aderow]

How is the rest of your attack set up?

[Fabian Jonsson]

Personally, I'm never really satisfied with how AMR/L on IF/A works for me. I'm sure it's possible to get right, but I often give up and just do what I always do; play them as Strikers and have them specifically mark the opponent fullback. That way they fall back and defend the flank in defense, but act as a striker in offense - which is what I would want from an IF/A.

If you want him to be more of a part of the build-up (as opposed to "just a finisher"), I'd suggest IF/S + sit narrower + roam from position.

[JWVG]

I play him as CF(a), sometimes he can't hit a barn door, sometimes he scores hattricks...

[lam]

Personally, I'm never really satisfied with how AMR/L on IF/A works for me. I'm sure it's possible to get right, but I often give up and just do what I always do; play them as Strikers and have them specifically mark the opponent fullback. That way they fall back and defend the flank in defense, but act as a striker in offense - which is what I would want from an IF/A.

If you want him to be more of a part of the build-up (as opposed to "just a finisher"), I'd suggest IF/S + sit narrower + roam from position.

I tend to set my IF(A) up with a play narrower PI. Not sure if that is still available. BUt it meant that they started narrower and seemed to cause more trouble as well as providing better overlap options for an oncoming WB

[bababooey]

I think part of the reason why sometimes people struggle to get IF's to score is that they're playing too high up the pitch and have almost no space to drive into. So if you're team is playing a high line / high mentality/ etc it's likely that your AMLR's are either getting isolated, or there just isn't much space.

Part of the reason for that is because people assume that in real life "inside forwards" are best represented in FM by the actual role itself. But I tend to think a WM who cuts inside is a much better option because, in FM, the AMLR's basically act as wide strikers, rather than midfielders.

[Jyuan83]

I have been studying Ronaldo's play to achieve a similar kind of player in my FM saves and from what i gathered was that Ronaldo's bulk of goals scored were often scored from finishing off at the far post instead of the usual inside forward pattern of cutting in and blasting home a shot. He enjoys exploiting the channels between the fullback and centre-back rather than cutting in to fire a shot from distance. Just take a look at his 2011-2012 season in which he scored 60 goals in all matches.

If there is a PI for us to choose to make him move into channles, then he would be perfect in his overall movement. Unfortunately, that option is invalid at the moment with FM14. Hopefully FM15 brings us that sort of wideplay option in the next few weeks to come. Another thing about Ronaldo is that he enjoys running in from deep to score at the far post. He likes getting involved with play by starting from deep and then gradually moving up for the killer blow at the far post. By starting deep he keeps the defenders at a comfortable length away from him and even if they do come near him to mark, his speed is such that he can easily get past them to score at an unattended far post. Few teams in reality play with pure inside forwards who just stick up there and do not track back at all. As far as i can recall, i think only Pedro and Alexis Sanchez came close to being inside forwards for Barcelona as their positioning was often purely offensive in a three-pronged attack. Few teams have the luxury of having top notch central midfielders who can handle the work in midfield and defence on their own without help from their wide men. So to have them as wide strikers in an inside forward sort of role would be quite risky for them.

So if i were you, i would try Ronaldo as a WM with instructions to cut inside, roam from position, get further forward, sit narrower, cross less often and shoot more often. The cutting inside, roaming and sit narrower instructions are meant to get the sort of channel exploitation going as best as possible or at leat get him near the penalty area since the move into channels PI is unavailable to us.

[aderow]

Have anyone tried teaching him the moves into channels ppm?