Anyone Play A Sweeper?

[Colonel Getafe]

Back in the old days (CM/early FM?) I used to always have a sweeper in my team because there were lots of great Italian defenders who were considered sweepers but I was just wondering if anyone still uses a sweeper tactic or has a sweeper player in their team? Sure the game has moved on since the Italian old days but for all the various formations and tactics on the forums you don't see many people talking about playing a sweeper any more. Wondered if anyone does? (I might try bringing it back, might help me stop conceding goals every game).

[herne79]

Yup, wrote about it too .

 

[FrazT]

This is my 21st ( I think) year of CM/FM and I can safely say that I have never once used a sweeper

[WorcesterLegend]

I never used a sweeper, while starting to play from the back the DM actually gets back go play as a defender, but i kind of feel that i have to either don't use a DM or play a defensive tactic, and since i don't like to play defensive unless the other team is way better than me i don't use sweeper

[DP]

Outdated position and something FM needs to fix. There isn’t any side in world football that plays a sweeper yet FM still uses it. Weird. 

[zlatanera]

I had a run of about 2/3 of a season using a Libero on Attack duty with Fiorentina on this FM. Wasn't getting anything spectacular out of the player himself but the system worked (that may have been more due to the Treq-CF-Poacher combo up front though). 

@DP The law commonly attributed to some bloke called sod means that if they ever removed it, everyone of us would complain, then get over it by the time the game came out, then Pep would have brought it back by January and we'd all be complaining again.

[santy001]

I've been using a Sweeper for the majority of the last 8 or 9 seasons in my game. The premier league in one of the saves became a little unusual, blistering pace and acceleration for front and wide-men has become the norm, not just "good" but most clubs have 1 player who is 17+ for acceleration in the mix in their attack.

A sweeper came to be extremely handy for countering how football has gone. I had tried many things, a deeper defensive line just ultimately meant conceding too much space on the edge of the box, and even the average bloke in the street has the odd wondergoal from long-range in him. It also necessitated bringing others deep to then negate this space, and all of a sudden every counter attack is being built from deep and you're not really able to counter in the most effective way. 

It had a few very tight at the back 20ish goals conceded seasons, but the sweeper has begun to fail as the 4-2-3-1 is coming back in as the favoured formation and this tends to expose the sweeper system more.

[ZoDiAC_]

11 hours ago, DP said:

Outdated position and something FM needs to fix. There isn’t any side in world football that plays a sweeper yet FM still uses it. Weird. 

I don't see why it should be removed as an option just because it's not in use. You're playing a new manager - if you want to use it, you can. If you don't want to use it... don't.

[WorcesterLegend]

hace 37 minutos, santy001 dijo:

A sweeper came to be extremely handy for countering how football has gone.

Central defender do the same if you tick the roam position option, not always but if they know there are quick enough and see 1 or no players in the back he goes to the attack, i was shocked to see my 1.98 defender getting a goal just the same as my striker would do

[DP]

22 hours ago, ZoDiAC_ said:

I don't see why it should be removed as an option just because it's not in use. You're playing a new manager - if you want to use it, you can. If you don't want to use it... don't.

I disagree. What about the now defunct positions from the 1960s? Shall we just keep adding new positions and roles without refreshing those that are no longer in the game? Football and tactics change and FM needs streamlining and more simplicity - not over complication. Especially for new/young players who may be put off completely by the term ‘sweeper’.

[zlatanera]

@DP Football in the 1960s and earlier was different, hence the difficulties anyone who attempts to emulate Hector Herrera's catenaccio system or the Mighty Magyars. But the Sweeper position has been in use far more recently (I'd say 1990s still saw quite a few?) in a style of football that still resembles modern football, so there's no reason it couldn't come back. 

As for new players - you think the terms Mezzala or Raumdeuter are any less off-putting? Or Segundo Volante? 

[DP]

5 minutes ago, zlatanera said:

@DP Football in the 1960s and earlier was different, hence the difficulties anyone who attempts to emulate Hector Herrera's catenaccio system or the Mighty Magyars. But the Sweeper position has been in use far more recently (I'd say 1990s still saw quite a few?) in a style of football that still resembles modern football, so there's no reason it couldn't come back. 

As for new players - you think the terms Mezzala or Raumdeuter are any less off-putting? Or Segundo Volante? 

These are modern concepts but can still be confusing. The whole thing needs a refresh, in my opinion, as positions and roles are confused. You could argue ‘sweeper’ is more of a role than a position. The lines are a bit blurred between the two right now. 

PS - football now compared to the 90s is vastly different too in terms of tactics and strategy. Certainly at the higher levels anyway. 

[zlatanera]

2 hours ago, DP said:

These are modern concepts but can still be confusing. The whole thing needs a refresh, in my opinion, as positions and roles are confused. You could argue ‘sweeper’ is more of a role than a position. The lines are a bit blurred between the two right now. 

PS - football now compared to the 90s is vastly different too in terms of tactics and strategy. Certainly at the higher levels anyway. 

Yeah I agree its a significantly different game to the '90s, especially in terms of the physicality of the game as you see much more intense pressing systems now, which is one of the reasons we don't have that many great #10s any more. But I think a lot of the basic roles and formations can be compared quite easily with modern teams. For example, Sacchi played a version of a 442 with Milan and we still see 442 now. Whereas we don't really see any modern versions of the W-M.