Force the ball to my star man

[ramie]

I have a team full of average Joe's but one real superstar. He is my Messi, his not as good but his what I'd call a league 2 copy of Messi.

He is not as effective as he could be. He doesn't see the ball as much as I'd like him to. I play him either as IF/A or Treq.

How could I get the ball to him some more?

[77caddie]

What's the formation? How is your team instructed to play? Is he not being found for a pass by the other players? What are the other duties/roles of the squad? Is it a spacing issue? What are you seeing when you watch the matches? ....etc., etc., etc.

You'll need to divulge much more information if you're seeking help or answers. Check the sticky http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/327822-Asking-For-Help-PLEASE-READ-THIS.

[furiousuk]

There's a playmaker check box somewhere, trying hitting that up and seeing if they pass the ball to him more.

Of course, if he is marked (or double marked) passing him the ball might not be the best option. Particularly if your tactics are cramping him for space.

[ramie]

I use two formations as seen below:

I like the thought of him playing wide and cutting in but I think, sort of like Messi he is wasted out on the flank. Heres a SS of him

[ramie]

There's a playmaker check box somewhere, trying hitting that up and seeing if they pass the ball to him more.

Of course, if he is marked (or double marked) passing him the ball might not be the best option. Particularly if your tactics are cramping him for space.

I did have him as my playmaker but he was often targeted and double marked at times

[furiousuk]

Apart from being one footed he's pretty darned good, despite excellent creative stats too the low teamwork probably means he's more of a goal scoring threat than a creative one but I'm sure he notches plenty of assists anyway and he works just hard enough to be a constant threat. Shame about the right only though.

Still, I'd say it's pretty hard to get the best out of this type of player in a 41221 (433) but Messi and Barcelona do it, just quite hard to replicate in FM because the player movement is not as free. So long as he doesn't get out-muscled then he should do well up top as a Treq or DLF (I don't think Treq naturally quite suits him), or probably CF, or if you manually tweak him make sure he plays deep and you'll probably also want your d-line to stay normal to deep so that the opposition are encouraged to 'chase' up the pitch after him and leave room in behind for your IF (or both).

Otherwise I'd stick him left as an IF/Att so that he can get on his right peg. He could do a job as a winger on the right but doesn't quite fit for me.

Hard to say without knowing who else you have but if you wanted to go really attacking in your top formation I'd consider swapping both roles in the AM strata to IF/Att, one from wide and this guy from more central. I'd maybe consider mirroring the formation so that this guy is your AMCR but you'd have to look at which side most of his chances are coming from and decide, noting that he'll almost certainly be shown onto his weaker side every game.

Two IF's may be too attacking and possibly one-dimensional so you'd have to play around to get the balance right.

[ramie]

Apart from being one footed he's pretty darned good, despite excellent creative stats too the low teamwork probably means he's more of a goal scoring threat than a creative one but I'm sure he notches plenty of assists anyway and he works just hard enough to be a constant threat. Shame about the right only though.

Still, I'd say it's pretty hard to get the best out of this type of player in a 41221 (433) but Messi and Barcelona do it, just quite hard to replicate in FM because the player movement is not as free. So long as he doesn't get out-muscled then he should do well up top as a Treq or DLF (I don't think Treq naturally quite suits him), or probably CF, or if you manually tweak him make sure he plays deep and you'll probably also want your d-line to stay normal to deep so that the opposition are encouraged to 'chase' up the pitch after him and leave room in behind for your IF (or both).

Otherwise I'd stick him left as an IF/Att so that he can get on his right peg. He could do a job as a winger on the right but doesn't quite fit for me.

Hard to say without knowing who else you have but if you wanted to go really attacking in your top formation I'd consider swapping both roles in the AM strata to IF/Att, one from wide and this guy from more central. I'd maybe consider mirroring the formation so that this guy is your AMCR but you'd have to look at which side most of his chances are coming from and decide, noting that he'll almost certainly be shown onto his weaker side every game.

Two IF's may be too attacking and possibly one-dimensional so you'd have to play around to get the balance right.

Thanks for the ideas, I will play about with what you said.

I have been playing with quite a high d-line, I might play a bit deeper.

He only has two PPMs and they are comes deep and RWB often, might teach him runs through center.

[eple]

I would play him as an IF-s behind the striker and make sure he gets to use that pace and his dribbling skills. Not directly behind but like the trequartista in your 1st formation. The support role will make him pick up the ball in space more often then if he was on attacking duty and if he has run with ball through center it would make him very hard to stop.

[ramie]

I would play him as an IF-s behind the striker and make sure he gets to use that pace and his dribbling skills. Not directly behind but like the trequartista in your 1st formation. The support role will make him pick up the ball in space more often then if he was on attacking duty and if he has run with ball through center it would make him very hard to stop.

Thanks mate I will give that a go now. He doesnt have run with ball through center yet but his learning it, I have never had a player with that ppm before so not sure if its any good lol

Would having his closing down to 0 clicks be useful?

[soccer.joel]

Make sure you give him highest possible creative freedom

[ramie]

I have given him max CF and zero closing down, seeing how that plays out

[ModernLefty]

Apart from being one footed

Never stopped Maradona, he was pretty good.

Link:

Ball doesn't touch his right foot once. Amazing.

[ModernLefty]

Also Ramie how can you call him a league 2 Messi, he's the kind of player you dream of managing, as England manager in my save, he'd be so handy.

The SFraser style of playing neutral instructions for excellent players, seems appropriate for a player of Waistle's caliber (damn I thought he was called Whistle first, Chris Whistle would have been a great name) and decisions attribute, shame about the limited teamwork, though in reflection to Maradona he never was big on teamwork.

It's partially his limited influence that is a problem, I have a Xavi like DLP I'm developing and he only has 2 influence, scary stats, he's been okay so far though.

[Cleon]

Also Ramie how can you call him a league 2 Messi, he's the kind of player you dream of managing, as England manager in my save, he'd be so handy.

The SFraser style of playing neutral instructions for excellent players, seems appropriate for a player of Waistle's caliber (damn I thought he was called Whistle first, Chris Whistle would have been a great name) and decisions attribute, shame about the limited teamwork, though in reflection to Maradona he never was big on teamwork.

It's partially his limited influence that is a problem, I have a Xavi like DLP I'm developing and he only has 2 influence, scary stats, he's been okay so far though.

Influence only matters for the captain.

[ModernLefty]

Oh okay, that's good, SFraser in his posts harked on about the ball being not played to wingers as they had low influence, ah well that's a relief. Not so worried about the DLP's potential now, cheers Cleon.

[kertiek]

i would play with two strikers with move to channels and the 'messi' like as attacking midfieler or inside forward behind them, the strikers open the defense and every time ur star gets the ball will be certain ocasion of goal.<br><br><br>

what PPM he has?

[furiousuk]

Oh okay, that's good, SFraser in his posts harked on about the ball being not played to wingers as they had low influence, ah well that's a relief. Not so worried about the DLP's potential now, cheers Cleon.

I'm not sure which quote exactly but maybe SFraser was talking about busy players being influential, rather than the attribute.

I agree he'll be just fine with low influence.

[ModernLefty]

I was furiously searching threads for some tiny scrap of info, and missing the Elephant in the room, the thread's entitled: 'The influence of influence', facepalm!

Link:http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/129173-The-Influence-of-Influence.

[ModernLefty]

Just realised, 'Furiously', No pun intended, just the subconscious.

[max787]

I was furiously searching threads for some tiny scrap of info, and missing the Elephant in the room, the thread's entitled: 'The influence of influence', facepalm!

Link:http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/129173-The-Influence-of-Influence.

Thanks for posting that, I hadn't seen it

So is influence actually useful or not? the thread wasn't conclusive.

I've always believed it to be a useless stat, except for captains.

[Cleon]

Thanks for posting that, I hadn't seen it

So is influence actually useful or not? the thread wasn't conclusive.

I've always believed it to be a useless stat, except for captains.

You don't need it unless its for your captain.

[ModernLefty]

You don't need it unless its for your captain.

Cleon where did you read that?

It's just there is so much conflicting information and I really want to get to the bottom of it. I trust your judgement, I just hate being spoon-fed stuff without knowing: 'why?' or 'how?'

For instance:

Influence is the player's ability to affect events or other players without any intentional effort. Players with high influence will be leaders on the pitch and team-mates will tend to rally around these players.

Is taken directly from the Sports Interactive's internet guide to FM13, and that makes no mention of being solely for the selection of captains.

[Cleon]

Cleon where did you read that?

It's just there is so much conflicting information and I really want to get to the bottom of it. I trust your judgement, I just hate being spoon-fed stuff without knowing: 'why?' or 'how?'

For instance:

Is taken directly from the Sports Interactive's internet guide to FM13, and that makes no mention of being solely for the selection of captains.

It was posted in the GQ last year I think it was by either Riz or Brocky.

[SnUrF]

Back on topic after the intriguing discussion about influence.

If you want your star man to see the ball more then making him the primary playmaker is the way to go (that is if he's really up to the job). Just make sure he's got enough space to receive the ball and then options to pass it on.

-SnUrF

[ModernLefty]

Just scrolling through Jonathan Wilson's Guardian article back catalog when I came across this article: http:// www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/jun/19/euro-2012-freedom-star-player

I haven't read it yet, but it it reminded of this thread.