Anthony Annan this years Zuculini???

[Andyman19]

Annan is an utter beast, he's a part of my solid centre midfield setup at Newcastle with Huddlestone and De La Red, only bad point is his aggression, gets far too many yellows.

Just because people were mentioning Bruno Zuculini earlier thought I'd add this, I bought the lad 2nd season and his stats werent great, his training reports were coming in that his stats were actually decreasing so let him go on a free in the summer, not a great buy for me, maybe he's like Cristaldo was last year where he's amazing on some and shocking on others.

[Froggee920]

anybody have a picture of him after a couple of seasons?

[Meyeren]

Now, this is maybe a silly question, but I have a hard time finding out, why he doesn't need to be registered as a foreign player when you sign him in Spain? Didn't think I could sign him without offloading someone, but it seems like there's no problem. How come? Aren't the players foreign as long as they aren't from EU, and the guy's from Ghana? I'm signing him in the first season, so he still hasn't been in Norway for long enough to get a second nationality. So what's the deal? Not that I'm not happy with not having to offload another foreign player

[joe__the__man]

Most African countries as well as a few others around the world have some kind of special dispensation that means their players are not counted as foreign to the EU in some countries, Spain included.

However if he was Norwegian and no other nationality he would count as a foreign player slot, they're not EU anyway

[polskaGOLA]

^Yah, that is why so many African players go to their former Colonists homeland - France, to play, those players also get French citizenship so they can move around to other countries, which also explains why so many African players have French citizenship. (Well that, and having French citizenship if you are from Togo or something can never be a bad thing. )

[narum]

Most African countries as well as a few others around the world have some kind of special dispensation that means their players are not counted as foreign to the EU in some countries, Spain included.

However if he was Norwegian and no other nationality he would count as a foreign player slot, they're not EU anyway

This is wrong. You are right about norway not being part of the eu but we're part of the schengen agreement so we will count as eu on the game and irl.

[joe__the__man]

This is wrong. You are right about norway not being part of the eu but we're part of the schengen agreement so we will count as eu on the game and irl.

Oh fair enough. Thanks for the information, had no idea about this schengen agreement

[Liam-Shannon]

Mariga is better

[Thandui]

physically maybe, but no where as good as Annan mentally and technically, Annan is one of the best DM there are

[Liam-Shannon]

Actually where Annan would be a better defensive player the younger Mariga is better in attack physically aerially and has better creativity. Annan is faster better mentally and at defending.

[Liam-Shannon]

Sorry for the blurry pic

[JiggyDempsey]

The difference between Annan and Mariga is how you use them tbh, they arent like for like imo.

Annan should be looking to pass to more creative players everytime and Mariga isnt the best defensively.

I had Annan as a DM for me, worst discipline record you could ever think of, finished my matches with 10 men and had him suspended for many big matches.

[Liam-Shannon]

Hes better now

[joe__the__man]

Your second screenshot is not much better than the first, it doesn't really change the fact that he's a different type of player to Annan.

[Liam-Shannon]

Yes it does because now he is nearly better at everything except defense his mental stats are nearly on par and his accleration is behind one point.

[joe__the__man]

I'm not arguing that Annan is better, just different. Annan is a ball winner through-and-through, he doesn't have anything else to his game, but he does that sublimely. Meanwhile Mariga also holds technical ability and can get forward a bit better, but ultimately isn't as good a ball winning midfielder as Annan.

[Liam-Shannon]

I know they are different players but I think overall Mariga is a much better all round player Marigas strength is 20 and his tackling is 16 and his marking 13 hes still a pretty good ball winner. He is also fast great staminia good jumping and heading. He can also score with his 13 finishing and his 16 longshots. And he can also pass really well. Basically all im saying is i do not think he gets the recognition he deserves. I think he would walk into any premier league midfield probably except Chelsea.

[polskaGOLA]

Who would be better as Anchorman? Annan or Mariga?

Thinking of getting one of them. (Or any other alternatives out there worth a mention?)

I am playing as Roma.

[joe__the__man]

Who would be better as Anchorman? Annan or Mariga?

Thinking of getting one of them. (Or any other alternatives out there worth a mention?)

I am playing as Roma.

I would rather use Annan if you're purely looking for an anchor man, just someone to let the rest of the midfield get on with it. So Annan

I know they are different players but I think overall Mariga is a much better all round player Marigas strength is 20 and his tackling is 16 and his marking 13 hes still a pretty good ball winner. He is also fast great staminia good jumping and heading. He can also score with his 13 finishing and his 16 longshots. And he can also pass really well. Basically all im saying is i do not think he gets the recognition he deserves. I think he would walk into any premier league midfield probably except Chelsea.

It's all true, and I agree with the last sentence except he wouldn't 'walk in' to Man Utd's either, I think that Hargreaves, Carrick, Fletcher, Scholes and Giggs would mean he'd probably only be used in rotation.

[polskaGOLA]

I should probably mention my tactic is flowing a bit, so players will move around. Some of Mariga's stats would work well here.

Any other suggestions besides Annan and Mariga? Who is the Zuculini the title speaks of? I would rather sign a slightly worse Italian than a foriegnor.

[joe__the__man]

Franco Zuculini. He's a bit younger, and not a natural DM if I recall, not as good an option as these two.

Check out Sandro, he's just plain awesome, but using him as anchor man would be somewhat underusing his talents. Moussa Sissoko and Kwakwo Asamoah are also quality, and young. Ognjen Vukojevic, Cattermole and Rodwell also play in a similar way.

[tmason122]

Anchorman role = Annan

Any other midfield role = Mariga.

[Victor2112]

Annan is an absolute maniac. His disciplinary record is attrocious for me.

[mank!]

In a total of 48 appearances for me, he's picked up 28 yellow cards and 3 red cards. He is wonderful.

[edgar555]

Annan is an absolute maniac. His disciplinary record is attrocious for me.

This.

He also injured 3 of his own team mates in the space of 2 days training!!

Lunatic. But when he stays on the pitch, nothing gets past him.

[Dazbo101]

Managed to get Annan in first season for Bolton, playing him as anchorman. I believe he can be the next Makalele just staying back, playing simple balls and winning the ball when the other team attack. Luckily enough i am getting Makalele on a free at the end of the season to tutor him. Hopefully his bookings will go down as he matures as he got a yellow card in nearly every game he played in the first season. Anyone else had him tutored by Makalele before??

[darknight_Jack]

I like Annan more,except he get many card

[tdpatriots12]

He looks great, love his physical stats. 17 jumping for someone who's 5'7, hmmmm.

Two words:

Granted, it's basketball, but we're talking about jumping, not someone's first touch

Managed to get Annan in first season for Bolton, playing him as anchorman. I believe he can be the next Makalele just staying back, playing simple balls and winning the ball when the other team attack. Luckily enough i am getting Makalele on a free at the end of the season to tutor him. Hopefully his bookings will go down as he matures as he got a yellow card in nearly every game he played in the first season. Anyone else had him tutored by Makalele before??

I played him as a Ball-Winning Midfielder in my Fulham save across from Shunsuke Nakamura and David Beckham - two guys who aren't exactly fleet of foot - as exactly that someone who won the ball and passed it off. However despite my telling him to keep it simple and just win the ball, he actually had more than his fair share of long shot goals and clever assists (beats me how he got them, but when Liverpool bought him off me his replacement Jermaine Jones did the same thing. Probably the overall tactic).

[Chongtom]

Last night, in the germany-ghana game, a mate and me sppent the full 90 mins on 'Annan Watch'. Just watched him for the entire game. Doesn't do a lot apart from jog annd make simple passes and loves a challenge. I Love Him.

[AcidBurn]

Has anyone retrained him to play CB?

I was thinking about it as I signed him for the first time to play DMC but could do with a quick CB. Only thing putting me off is the 6 yellows and 2 reds he has had in 7 starts, he could be a liability at CB.

[Lisandro Lopez]

Has anyone retrained him to play CB?

I was thinking about it as I signed him for the first time to play DMC but could do with a quick CB. Only thing putting me off is the 6 yellows and 2 reds he has had in 7 starts, he could be a liability at CB.

That alone is the reason I wouldn't.

[AcidBurn]

I sold him, he had 17 yellows and 4 reds in 23 games, had to go.

[ArsenalFan7]

I sold him, he had 17 yellows and 4 reds in 23 games, had to go.

I also sold him for the disciplinary reasons.

I personally do not want a player averaging a yellow a game.

It's kind of ridiculous that someone with

18 dirtiness

would get so many cards...

I can't even imagine what 19 or 20 dirtiness would be like

[ArsenalFan7]

How does the AI do it?

Astonishingly Annan recieves barely any cards for the AI and in the small amount of games he played for me he recieved way more.

[AcidBurn]

I noticed that after his record for me he went to Wigan and got 4 yellows in 36 games, crazy.

[tdpatriots12]

I never had much of an issue with cards for him. He got more than his central midfield partner certainly, but not enough to earn more than one ban. I think it was something like 1 red card and 1 additional ban for yellow card accumulation (which happened in the CL, not EPL) over the course of the whole season. But I played him as a ball-winning CM as opposed to a DM, which might have had something to do with it?

Also all my tackling sliders - for every player - is set to Normal and I modify it, usually to "Stay on Feet" if the Assman feedback says to or we've got an obviously strict referee.

Annan still won the ball with ease on "Easy" tackling. I'd usually only break out "Hard" when facing extremely tough competition or losing in the second half. Often I'd combine that with strict, team-wide specific man marking and "Hassle Opponents" so the challenge would come immediately after receiving the ball as opposed to areas more dangerous for cards near the penalty area. It seemed to work well - especially against tougher opponents - but my team would be completely dead (as in tired) if I had to do it for more than an hour of game time.

[dz47]

aside from all the talk about his disciplinary record, does anyone have a pic of Annan from 3 or more seasons in? I believe that he has a fair bit of CA to gain from where he starts so it would be great to see how good he looks a bit more developed.

cheers in advance