Free role and playmaker for same player?

[bongda]

Question for any of the experts out there, I'm currently playing this 4-3-3 type formation:

------S-----

-AML----AMR-

---MC--MC---

-----DM-----

-DL-DC-DC-DR-

------GK------

and trying one of the MC's as both playmaker and having a free role. He's got high creativity, flair, passing, dribbling and acceleration, and also good off the ball.

So far mixed results, though it's early days. Just wondering if the match engine takes free role+playmaker to be a good fit. Seems logical to me given the player, his free role plus good off the ball should mean he gets himself in position to take passes and start attacks. Also have him on attacking mentality and high creative freedom.

Any input welcome. BTW I'm actually playing FM Live which I think is currently using the FM08 match engine. Cheers

[SFraser]

That depends on whether his instructions and your teams tactics see him floating around close to the play and in good positions to pass the ball, or if he is high up the pitch and in space that you would like your playmaker to pass into.

I find that Free Roles on central midfield playmakers can make them pop up in positions it is difficult for your team to find with a pass, or get the best out of their passing ability, such as the wing for example. You probably want your actual playmaker somewhere around the centre of the formation at all times, whether he is your best playmaker or not.

Your formation may produce a lot of space behind the front 3 and towards the centre so it really depends on where the space is on the pitch.

[phnompenhandy]

Good advice from SF. Don't use free role. i'll add make sure your playmaker is on low closing down, since he needs to be in space to recieve and deliver his passes.

[bongda]

Interesting, thanks. Watching the matches so far I did have doubts it was working well.

Based on this, I could make my DM the playmaker, he also has good passing/creativity, though not as high as the MC. Trouble is the point about closing down; he's very strong defensively and has high stamina, so I like him on high closing down.

Maybe I'll try keeping the MC the playmaker and give the free role to the better of the two wingers. Cheers for the input

[SFraser]

Interesting, thanks. Watching the matches so far I did have doubts it was working well.

Based on this, I could make my DM the playmaker, he also has good passing/creativity, though not as high as the MC. Trouble is the point about closing down; he's very strong defensively and has high stamina, so I like him on high closing down.

Maybe I'll try keeping the MC the playmaker and give the free role to the better of the two wingers. Cheers for the input

His high closing down is not necessarilly a bad thing for a playmaker, the key is that when you have the ball your playmaker is in a good position to receive a pass and distribute it intelligently.

Being in a good position to receive the ball and pass it intelligently also depends on your teams passing ability, so your best creative playmaker high up the pitch looking for space is not a bad thing if the rest of your team can find him with passes. Generally though your defenders and wingers will have lower passing stats and struggle to find him if he is not somewhere nice and obvious.

Think of the playmaker instruction as an instruction to "look for X player" when you have the ball.

[bongda]

His high closing down is not necessarilly a bad thing for a playmaker, the key is that when you have the ball your playmaker is in a good position to receive a pass and distribute it intelligently.

Being in a good position to receive the ball and pass it intelligently also depends on your teams passing ability, so your best creative playmaker high up the pitch looking for space is not a bad thing if the rest of your team can find him with passes. Generally though your defenders and wingers will have lower passing stats and struggle to find him if he is not somewhere nice and obvious.

Think of the playmaker instruction as an instruction to "look for X player" when you have the ball.

Fair enough. What I've done for now is keep the MC the playmaker and removed the free role. Seeing as he's an MC with an attacking role, as opposed to an AMC further up the pitch, I reckon he should be in a good, central position to take passes most of the time. In any case we'll see how it goes.

What I do still wonder about is what others have found makes for the best candidate for free role, both in terms of position and attributes. At a guess I'd think AML or AMR for position, and dribbling/flair/acceleration/long shots among the best attributes.

[phnompenhandy]

A winger can be good for a free role if he's like Ronaldo, but you may want him staying on the wing. A good candidate for free role if he has the necessary mental attributes is an FCd - the one lying deeper than the front man. He can roam around either setting up the front man or popping up unmarked to finish a move.

[SFraser]

I have found that Free Role can provide some interesting behaviour all around the pitch but is obviously best used with a player with a high (hidden) free role rating. A forward, such as Rooney, is a striker with a high free role rating.

The best attributes for a Free Role are, personally, overwhelmingly mental attributes. The whole premise of the Free Role is a player that uses his own footballing intelligence to exploit weaknesses or space in the opponents defence. If you cannot tell if your player has a high free role rating then look for players with high mental attributes in the key areas of anticipation, decisions, off-the-ball, teamwork etc.