by MaddFM.
Let’s face it - we are all trying to break Football Manager. Not necessarily in a malicious or somewhat dishonest way (well, most of us at least), but rather that we as Football Manager fanatics are constantly on a quest to find a way to outsmart the game; to find gaps in terms of scouting, tactics, match engine and general FM gameplay as a way of proving that you are in fact the shrewdest Football Manager of them all through your ingenuity and astuteness in your handling of the game.
There is of course no simple way of doing this, and the sheer amount of code, complex algorithms and intertwined interdependencies mean there is no easy way to outsmart the game - however there are certain aspects that can help you to capitalise on how the game thinks and is designed to react when various factors are introduced and today we will be looking at how to best use Player Attributes when it comes to outsmarting the game and imposing a Meta approach when it comes to player recruitment, selection and deployment.
What is Meta?
The concept of Meta in gaming refers to the idea that there are specific ways/approaches to defeating a game or succeeding within a particular game’s circumstances - effectively a way of capitalising on a game’s design/structure by building a strategy designed to capitalise on it’s flaws or exploit it’s perceived strengths accordingly (often seen as the early stages of overpowering a game to the extent where it becomes “broken”).
In Football Manager terms - Meta would more commonly refer to the in-game architecture which allows for certain tactics, attributes, actions or strategies to thrive by identifying weaknesses or capitalising on factors that the game relies on heavily. We have seen this in the past with things like 3-Striker formations, Long-Throws, Near-Post Corners etc - all aspects that in-turn became overpowered and subsequently “nerfed” by Sports Interactive in subsequent updates. There is a fine line between Meta, Overpowering and effectively cheating in-game and often it is up to you in terms of how comfortable you are trying to overpower the match engine or digress from reality when it comes to your FM strategy.
To be clear - this piece is not about cheating or trying to completely overpower the game; rather it’s about using some of the tools available to maximise how specific features/dependencies work within the game environment as well as areas that can truly compliment your tactic/playing style as well as maximising how you deploy certain players to capitalise and therefore reap the benefits from their individual strengths and attributes.
1. The Goal-Scoring Centre-Half
To quote Gary Neville regarding Cristiano Ronaldo’s match-winning header against Tottenham recently - “He's just gone and headed it like a non-league centre-back”. While a bit extreme especially for someone with the aerial ability and athleticism of Ronaldo, you can see Gary’s point. Teams that have had the stereotypical big centre-half to offer an aerial threat from set-pieces have largely reaped the benefits for many years gone by, where the likes of Sergio Ramos, John Terry, Nemanja Vidic, Shane Duffy and Harry Maguire have all proven to be highly effective assets to their team from an offensive perspective as well as defensively.
Football Manager loves a big Centre-Half, and improvements to the Set-Piece creator mean that you cause all kinds of damage by deploying a big Centre-Half and strategically targeting them for Free-Kicks and Corners effectively (in my own save we saw 6’3” Mattie Pollock (Jumping Reach 17, Heading 16) win the Championship Player of the Year award after bagging 11 goals and 6 assists in one season). Naturally Virgil Van Dijk is the ideal big Meta Centre-Half standing at 6’4” with 17 Jumping Reach, 17 Strength and 18 Heading however if you are after a slightly more affordable option then I recommend 26-year-old Czech Defender Patrizio Stronati of Hungarian side Puskas Akademia. Standing at 6’4” (197m) with 17 Jumping Reach, 17 Heading, 18 Strength and 16 Bravery this man will never fear an aerial challenge and with a transfer value of £250k -£2.6m, he could prove to be a bargain if you can have him bag a few crucial goals as well as shoring things up at the back.
2. Catch Me If You Can
For a long-time, Player Speed i.e. Pace/Acceleration was one of the most overpowered attributes in Football Manager, wherein the fastest players simply couldn’t be caught and became almost unplayable at times. Nowadays there is less overemphasis on player speed with more importance put on the combination of Physical, Mental and Technical attributes, however having a player that is lightning quick who can make those rapid bursts of pace going forward or on the counter can be hugely beneficial especially if they are competent with the ball and can pass and finish. Kylian Mbappe epitomises this role and is the ultimate Meta speedster in-game - however you shouldn’t have to spend £300m for such a player, and a much more affordable option is Porto’s Brazilian Winger Galeno, who at 23 already has 18 Pace, 17 Acceleration, 16 Flair, 16 Dribbling and 16 Agility with plenty of room for development across his other attributes. Valued at £9.2m -£14m at the start of FM22, Galeno is far more affordable and could prove to be equally as effective going forward.
3. Architecture 101
Older versions of CM/FM included “Creativity” as a Player Attribute in the past, however as football has evolved and modernised so too has Football Manager when it comes to the more creative attributes in-game. Vision, Flair, Technique, First Touch, Passing, Decisions and Anticipation now form the main creative elements for an individual player and while an unlimited budget might allow you to target the likes of Kevin De Bruyne or Luis Alberto, a more affordable alternative comes in the form of Carles Aleñá, a former La Macia graduate who never quite broke into the first team at Barcelona and now plies his trade at Getafe in La Liga. 18 Flair, 16 Vision, 17 Passing, 17 Technique, 17 First Touch - signing Aleñá for a mid-sized club is a mouthwatering prospect for what he can bring to the team in terms of creativity and goal contributions.
4. Keeper or Giver?
If the last few seasons have taught us anything, it’s that Goalkeepers no longer just stop shots going in. The likes of Ederson, Neuer, Ter Stegen and Alisson have become essential components in build-up play and initiating offensive movements & counter-attacks for their respective clubs in recent seasons, and Football Manager is reflective of this not only with the introduction of the Sweeper Keeper role a few years back but also an increased emphasis on Distribution within the Goalkeeper attributes section. Kicking, Passing, First Touch and Throwing are now essential attributes for the modern goalkeeper and in the absence of whatever cash would be needed to sign one of the aforementioned elite keepers above, Argentinian stopper Lucas Chaves (Argentinos Juniors) is a very affordable option who fits the mould of an excellent distributor as well as shot-stopper. Passing (15), Throwing (15), Kicking (14) not to mention decent First Touch, Technique, Vision and Decisions - at 25 he is still young in Goalkeeping terms and could definitely be developed further to rival some of the more well known experts in this area at a much lower price.
5. A good kicker of the football
Never, ever, underestimate the value of a player who can strike a football. Whether it be Free-Kicks, Corners, Long-Shots, Penalties or a good old fashioned cross-field pass (Jonjo Shelvey likes this) - Football Manager respects if not relishes the influence and impact of a specialist with strong attributes in these areas not to mention what we have seen in real-life (think Koeman at Barcelona, Juninho at Lyon, Beckham at United, Ward-Prowse at Southampton, Ronaldo when he is in the mood). In FM the dream player for all-round ball-striking ability is Bruno Fernandes boasting 17 Free-Kick Taking, 16 Corners, 17 Long Shots, 17 Passing and 17 Technique, however at £88m-£111m he is beyond the reach of almost every club. Drop down to the £22m-£33m range and it’s Ruslan Malinovskyi who is the absolute Meta when it comes to ball-striking ability with 19 Long Shots, 17 Free Kicks, 17 Corners and 16 Technique. If the FM Streamer Showdown taught us anything - stick this guy on Set Pieces and Long-Shots and he won’t let you down (shout out to @RanksFC for the “good kicker of the football” inspiration).
There you have it - 5 “Meta” players who spike in certain attributes that can often be very favourable in-game and in the Football Manager match engine, who might just be the key catalyst in reigniting your save or turning 1 point into 3 at a crucial point in your season. There are plenty of other alternatives in-game should you know what you are looking for, and having this meta mindset might just give you the edge when it comes to leading your club to glory.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or @5StarPod on Twitter.
