Input wanted on best position for young talent

[zindrinho]

So I bought this 17yr old for my norwegian 2nd tier team (about to be promoted, halfway through first season) and I can't figure out how to best utilize him and his skills.
He seems to be a natural at the DM position as a regista, but his tackling and marking are way too poor to play him there. But he does have some PPMs that suggest he should be played as a DM, brings ball out of defence and plays way out of trouble.

He also has some PPMs that suggests he's an attacking midfielder or maybe even deep lying striker, as in Comes deep to get ball.
To top it of he has great crossing, and is also able to play on the right handside. He clearly lacks in physicality, but has great agility unfortunately combined with poor dribling skills.

Attributes around 13-14 is what my best players have, top players in the top division where we will be playing next year is around 14-15, some 16, so he looks ready for first team action already this year, and since he's still very young I can mould him into pretty much any position. Here are the screenshots of important details, last ones added to show his rule suitabilities as winger and AM.

I do have some initial thoughts but wanna hear from you guys which position and what role you think he'd be best at, my team already have too many MCs suited for DLP and AP, but "only" 2 good MRs and AMCs which are the positions I'm leaning towards, but very unsure what role(s) would be best.

 

[Fflow]

I would have said DLP/S but it seems a shame to waste his crossing ability so maybe wide playmaker ?

[zindrinho]

2 minutes ago, Fflow said:

I would have said DLP/S but it seems a shame to waste his crossing ability so maybe wide playmaker ?

DLP even with his terrible tackling and marking skills? With him being only 171cm (5ft8" if I'm not mistaken) seems like a weak spot to have in defence.

I considered a form of playmaker myself, but the tactics screen says he's very poorly suited for WPM on MR position.

[Fflow]

32 minutes ago, zindrinho said:

DLP even with his terrible tackling and marking skills? With him being only 171cm (5ft8" if I'm not mistaken) seems like a weak spot to have in defence.

That's why it needs to be with a support duty

32 minutes ago, zindrinho said:

the tactics screen says he's very poorly suited for WPM on MR position.

That's what your assistant is saying, but you don't want to give too much importance to what they say. The tactical familiarity screen (you  can see ot on the right of your second screenshot) will give you a better idea of his ability to play with a particular role (select the position, role and duty you want and look at the last blue bar) but it's only his current ability so even if it's low you can still train him in this role and position. It will quickly improve

Edited April 2, 2020 by Fflow

[maxchaplin55]

It seems as though this player would be over-powered in the hustle and bustle of central midfield, with low aggression, bravery, composure, strength and balance. Therefore playing him deeper in the DM strata makes more sense, hopefully allowing him more time on the ball. 

You say his tackling and marking are too poor to play him in DM, but just because you play him there does not mean he'll be expected to mark or tackle. His anticipation is good, and his positioning isn't bad, so he'll be capable of interceptions. 

You mention you would like him to be an AM, but I really cannot see him performing well there, I don't know, you'll have to try and see. As I mentioned above, his physicals and mentals could see him easily bullied off the ball. His off the ball rating isn't great, meaning he'll have lots of trouble evading markers. 

To me, it seems this player is purely a DLP, with a preference in the DM strata. I think the players capable positions has given you false hope of where he'd perform well at. 

It'd be interesting to hear how he performs for you though, and which role you try him in!

[zindrinho]

26 minutes ago, Fflow said:

Quote: "the tactics screen says he's very poorly suited for WPM on MR position."

That's what your assistant is saying, but you don't want to give too much importance to what they say.

Is that my AssMans judgment?? I never knew that, I've never seen those role suitability circles change even if I change AssMan, I thought that was the game's feedback?

25 minutes ago, maxchaplin55 said:

It seems as though this player would be over-powered in the hustle and bustle of central midfield, with low aggression, bravery, composure, strength and balance. Therefore playing him deeper in the DM strata makes more sense, hopefully allowing him more time on the ball. 

You say his tackling and marking are too poor to play him in DM, but just because you play him there does not mean he'll be expected to mark or tackle. His anticipation is good, and his positioning isn't bad, so he'll be capable of interceptions. 

You mention you would like him to be an AM, but I really cannot see him performing well there, I don't know, you'll have to try and see. As I mentioned above, his physicals and mentals could see him easily bullied off the ball. His off the ball rating isn't great, meaning he'll have lots of trouble evading markers. 

To me, it seems this player is purely a DLP, with a preference in the DM strata. I think the players capable positions has given you false hope of where he'd perform well at. 

It'd be interesting to hear how he performs for you though, and which role you try him in!

That's a whole new take on the game from how I've been seeing it, really interesting! I've always favored stronger more defense-minded players in the defensive positions, but also with importance to ball playing and passing skills as the pivot/holding midfielder needs to recycle the ball, and seen smaller more technical but weaker players as AMs.

You do make a good point on the Off the ball weakness, but still he is 2 points lower on positioning. Both being pretty low even for norwegian 2nd tier football.

And yeah both his capable positions and PPMs do confuse me a bit, leaving me almost too many options to be able to choose one, I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to FM so I'd hate having "wasted" months training him in a position or on attributes he wont have use for later

[maxchaplin55]

21 minutes ago, zindrinho said:

I've always favored stronger more defense-minded players in the defensive positions,

Yeah as have I, but if you have someone come through who you want to build the team around, needs must!! For this geeza I would have DLP in DM strata with a defensively stronger player in CM. What formation do you play and what style? If you play defensive then you don’t want this kid in DM, he won’t survive. But if you have more possession I’d defo have him DM to allow more space and time on the ball to utilise his passing whilst protecting him. 
 

25 minutes ago, zindrinho said:

You do make a good point on the Off the ball weakness, but still he is 2 points lower on positioning.

Yeah both are quite low. Maybe you could base it on what formation the opponent uses. When they have players in the DM strata you could play him deep, and when they don’t you could play him advanced as there’s no one for him to escape. May have to just have a play around with him! 

 

27 minutes ago, zindrinho said:

I'd hate having "wasted" months training him in a position

😂 I get what you mean but hey if he grows in attributes he’s growing! 

[zindrinho]

1 hour ago, maxchaplin55 said:

Yeah as have I, but if you have someone come through who you want to build the team around, needs must!! For this geeza I would have DLP in DM strata with a defensively stronger player in CM. What formation do you play and what style? If you play defensive then you don’t want this kid in DM, he won’t survive. But if you have more possession I’d defo have him DM to allow more space and time on the ball to utilise his passing whilst protecting him.

I've been fiddling around with a 4-4-1-1 or 4-2-3-1-ish formation, We are promotion favorites and pretty much strongest team in this 2nd tier (newly relegated IRL), but I've been considering changing to a bit more solid 4-3-3 or 4-1-4-1 as the game calls it for next season anyway, might as well start teaching the players a new way this season already.

My key player is already a CM, deep lying playmaker, and my captain and work horse is a CM B2B which I've been using as a BWM, now I've also bought this new guy who I've been thinking about using as a DM in my new 4-3-3 formation, getting too many CMs to play in a 2cm formation only so I need to get back to the drawing boards eventually anyway.

I have a really good AM with great vision but he's ageing, I only really have 1 great striker, I do have 2 amazing CB talents and a top division great CB, since I can't play a 5-3-3 ( :P ) I'm thinking a 4-3-3 would be best suited for utilizing my best players at once.

new guy I wanna play as DM:

 

[maxchaplin55]

6 hours ago, zindrinho said:

My key player is already a CM, deep lying playmaker, and my captain and work horse is a CM B2B which I've been using as a BWM

So how many CMs? 4? 5? Seems like the young guy you posted earlier doesn’t make the cut 😂 

The stays of the guy you just posted yes maybe lean towards a DLP role BUT he is very talented across the board with great stamina fitness work rate and teamwork which would be almost wasted in a DLP role. I’d be tempted to put him in any CM role that has a bit more of an attacking influence than DM. I quite like just standard CM role and how customisable they are.