Getting the best out of Creative Midfielders

[realzealman]

Hoping I can get some advice. Please note - player naming.

I'm playing as Sunderland, halfway through my sixth season. Things are going very well - in the last couple of seasons, I've won the FA Cup & the European Cup, and been doing better with each season in the Premier League; finished a close second last season, and now halfway through this season, comfortably leading the league, desperate to finally win the league.

I've got a very nice squad, with some quality players, both "real" & regens. Most of them perform very well. I play a very standard 4-4-2 which has been slightly tinkered with over the seasons, to provide good attacking options. Fullbacks are both "Attack" duty and have good pace and crossing etc; wingers are also very talented and are quite creative and effective (generally with Support duty). I play either a ball winning midfielder (Cattermole) or box to box (a brilliant young English regen) in the middle. Simple combination of deep lying forward and advanced forward which works nicely with them combining to setup and score goals.

But I have always had trouble getting a quality contribution from my creative central attacking midfielder(s). And it's not for a lack of talent. I managed to snap Renato Augusto (a very nice AMC from Leverkusen) up very early on, and he was solid but not spectacular in this role. I was lucky enough a couple of seasons later to get hold of Hamsik. Now, his stats are incredible, with no weaknesses. And I thought he'd fit into my team nicely. And whilst he certainly hasn't been awful, he hasn't come close to living up to his reputation. Averaging ~7.1, scoring the odd great goal, but virtually no assists (between 2 and 8 in a season, in a team which was scoring plenty of goals and with some brilliant attackers). Even more frustratingly, his overall involvement was worrying - almost never making more than 30 passes in a match, quite often only between 10-15 in a match, and almost never any key passes.

Obviously, I gave him plenty of time, thinking it could just take a while for him to adjust to the English style, but deep down I knew it wasn't just him - as Renato Augusto, along with other options like Rosicky, Jordan Henderson, Dorrans, and most blatantly Nuri Sahin all had little more success than Hamsik.

This season, my frustrations finally got the better of me, and I've just sold Hamsik, as I could replace him with one of the few players at a similar level of ability to him - Javier Pastore.

Now, to be fair to Pastore, he's still new to my team, and the league etc, but in 4 games he's faring similarly - never more than 30 passes, only 2 key passes, no goals or assists yet. Early days, but I'm really starting to pull my hair out.

I'm sure that if I can get close to getting the best out of my creative CM, my team can go to another level. And I don't really think it should need to be at the expense of any other aspect of my team.

Please note: I generally play this player in the CM (MCL) position, with Advanced Playmaker role, Attack duty. But I've seemingly tried everything, ie Playermaker yes/no, playing in AM© position, other roles, tinkering with Attacking slider, changing forward runs, etc etc.

I'm starting to wonder if it's something more problematic with my tactics globally. But this is where I need some help. Can you provide any suggestions to my problem?

Sorry for the essay, this has just been bugging me more and more, would love some constructive feedback!

[Marsupian]

From how you described your tactic it seems like most of your attacks come from the wings. Usually in a 4-4-2 you give up control of the central midfield in return for attacking potential down the wings. When I play such a 4-4-2 I usually play two more defensive MC's who stay deep and screen the defense while providing options to recycle possession and play the odd through ball from deep. Those two MC's become a "double pivot" being both responsible for the defense and the offense. In your 4-4-2 you play one defensive MC and one attacking MC which is a viable option but who is staying deep to provide all those attacking players? The only players who stay deep are the defensive MC and the two fullbacks. The attacking MC will take up an advanced position making him easily picked up by defensive midfielders and defenders and now the two FB's and MC have the duty to supply that pass that opens up the play. This will probably go to one of the wingers who has a support duty and will likely make himself available so I'd imagine most play will come from the flanks and not through the center. If teams play a 3 man midfield against you the problems only get worse in the middle of the park.

The 4-4-2 with deep lying forward can actually be looked as a 4-2-3-1. You have your back 4, two MC's, slightly more advanced wingers, a deeper forward and an advanced forward. Most people who play a 4-2-3-1 play two supporting or defensive MC's with the wingers, amc and forward being the players who make something happen up front. Now imagine one of the MC's going forward a lot. With so many players forward it is going to get crowded up front and hard for any player to see a lot of the ball unless they come deep a lot.

One thing that can help is playing the player as advanced playmaker support which will make him stay deep more and hopefully give him more time on the ball or you could play a different kind of player as MC (maybe a more well rounded deep lying playmaker). Another option is to play these players in the deep lying forward role. It's an ideal place for a playmaker as he will be able to drop deep in the hole with two MC's behind him to supply him and he will see more of the goal as well. I don't know how your wingers are set up and what their role is in your tactic but that will also influence your decision.

[Ville Valo]

First of all, you're playing a 4-4-2, and therefore, your playmaker doesn't have as large a platform to move around, as there's only 1 player left in midfield. With the aggressive nature of your wide players, the ball is likely to be moved down there, negating the opportunity for the MC to dominate the game. Your deep lying forward is also going to drop into space that your play maker is going to look to use aswell.

And, on the passes front. Your midfielder is an attacking player. Players who are closer to the defense are much more likely to be involved in the passing game, to to there being less contention there. (Chances are, Cattermole gets more of the ball, and has more passes, than Pastore.)

Perhaps You could sacrifce the DLF to play, say, a 4-4-1-1, with Pastore as the AM. That should maximise his offensive playmaking, with a 2 man anchor behind him. and have Sahin as a DLP, so you have someone to control the ball from deep.