Player Criteria - The Stats

[Cleon]

Were Xavi and Inesta attacking or defensive for Spain? Imo, both. And that's exactly what made difference - they completely dominated the midfield both in semi and in the final. Russia played similar style (though quality of players much lower) and actually so did Holland and Croatia. Whilst FM08 may not have entirely caught this new tendency, it's clear that universal MC are very valuable even there. After all, none of big teams have clear separation between attacking and defensive midfielders.

He was asking about FM and not RL, if he was asking for RL id agree with you. However a neutral MC on FM is a waste of a player as the game doesnt allow common sense and player expressions. You only have to watch fullbacks who go up for corners on the game to see what I mean, they will let players run past them without tracking as there too busy trying to get back to their natural position. Were as in RL they'd track them until enough players got back.

The same applies to neutral MC's imo they get caught and not sure which to do.

[kolobok]

Cleon,

I respect your opinion, and pretty sure that attacking - defensive separtion works better than something in between. There is a big "if" though. IF you set up all your players right. As you know, most of us don't have such deep knowledge of the game engine, so there is no guarantee that attacking - defensive MCs would work for me, simply because I may miss something else.

Right now I play with 3 MCs, one of them just slightly more defensive than the other two, but none of them really attacking. It works just fine for me with the stats I mentioned. Would I do better with attacking - defensive set up? You - certanly, me - not sure.

I have recently started to enjoy the fact that my players do (almost) exactly what I want them to do much more than just winning matches. I don't care if I win as much as if I am able to translate my ideas into FM08 tactic. And of course my ideas (or vision of football) might be wrong or have nothing to do with FM.

[phnompenhandy]

I'm interested to note guru Cleon's view here. For years I always flogged off any MCs I inherited and only bought/used AMCs and DMCs. Recently however, I've been using a formation with 2 MCs - the modest Gerrard and Fabregas my first pick, no less (I had Kuzmanovic as my back-up until the chairman sold him). Okay, Gerrard is on slightly below average mentality and Fabby slightly above, but I tweak the default MC settings, so they aren't set up as DMC/AMC at all. I have an AMC in front of them and 3 DCs behind (5-3-2 wing-back formation). I have to say, it works a treat and I haven't noticed any flaws in the system. to be fair, maybe the quality of the players disguises any problems, but I'm inclined to say that if you have the right players and settings, using MCs is fine and dandy.

[Cleon]

I think your missing my point about defensive and attacking, I think your just thinking about mentality (if thats not the case then I apologise before hand).

When I say you have them either attacking or defensive it relies on what settings you've gave him. If you give him run with ball often etc that makes him attacking. I use MC's a lot myself but its the individual instructions what you set him to do what makes him offensive or defensive. If you leave everything set to mixed its a waste of a player as you can get so much more out of him by changing his settings to suit your style and game play. Which is what I think phnompenhandy as done.

[Lisandro Lopez]

Excellent post Cleon and its nice to see this sort of thing being posted to give others insight into what to look for in each position. What you look for in each positions is quite similar to mine aswell (as would be expected of course) he's what I look for in each position.

Goalkeeper:

Reflexes, Decisions, Command of Area, Handling, Bravery, Agility, Positioning, Concentration, Aerial Ability, Composure, Anticipation, Jumping.

Centre Backs:

Jumping, Heading, Positioning, Marking, Tackling, Bravery, Pace, Concentration, Strength, Anticipation, Stamina, Anticipation, Determination, Pace, Acceleration.

Full Backs:

Stamina, Teamwork, Crossing, Strength, Work Rate, Positioning, Tackling, Pace, Passing, Anticipation, Decisions.

Wing Backs:

Same as above for Full backs, except add Pace and Acceleration.

Defensive Midfielder:

Tackling, Marking, Stamina, Strength, Teamwork, Work Rate, Concentration, Decisions, Creativity, Positioning, Passing, Bravery, Pace, Acceleration, Determination, Creativity.

Wingers:

Crossing, Dribbling, Pace, Passing, Creativity, Long Shots, Off the Ball, Acceleration, Balance, Technique.

Attacking Mids:

Passing, Creativity, Dribbling, Long Shots, Finishing, Composure, Technique, Off the ball, Team, Decisions.

Forwards:

Creativity, Finishing, Off the Ball, Passing, Dribbling, Technique, Pace, Acceleration, Flair, First touch, Team work, balance, anticipation, Crossing.

Strikers:

Finishing, Heading, Anticipation, Jumping, Off the Ball, Strength, Long Shots, Acceleration, Technique, First touch, Composure, Flair.

Also for each position team work is an important stat too

Anyhow, nice work/post Cleon.

[The Chosen One]

Decision making is the most important stat for every player in the team I believe.

Taking a decision can be the difference between making a chance or wasting a chance.

FC

ST

W

AMC

MC

DM

DC

FB

GK

Tell me which player you wouldn;t want to have a good Decision making stat?