#WeGoAgain.
In Part 1 we brought you 5 specialist roles in Football Manager 2022 (Libero, Carrilero, Raumdeuter, Trequartista, and Wide Centre Back), advising on how best to deploy each role, the key attributes / traits needed to successfully use each one and finally some examples / recommendations of players whom are the perfect fit for these roles based on the fact that they are relatively natural in these positions and possess some or all of the key attributes and playing style to fulfil each of these specialised roles.
Of course we aren’t done. There are 44 individual player roles in Football Manager 2022, and today we bring you 5 more specialist individual player roles to further guide and assist you when making key decisions as you tailor and tweak your First XI to execute the perfect formation and tactic in FM22.
1. Sweeper Keeper
🗣️ “The Sweeper Keeper aims to perform two roles, those of the standard Goalkeeper and the outfield Sweeper. Alongside standard goalkeeping duties, he will sweep up balls in front of and wide of the penalty area and initiative counter-attacking moves with direct through balls to breaking players”.
Imagine it. An extra-man. In your First XI. For free. Traditional goalkeepers have always been, well, traditional - a man between the sticks, there to stop shots and command the area when it comes to crosses and set-pieces however the evolution of football in recent years has meant the demand for far more intelligence, technique and overall footballing ability from goalkeepers has dramatically increased with the likes of Ederson, Manuel Neuer and most recently Islan Meslier all standing out and raising the bar in terms of how goalkeepers can contribute more towards outfield and attacking play in addition to defensive contribution and goal-prevention. In FM terms - the introduction of the Sweeper Keeper a few versions back and it’s subsequent evolution means that if you find the right player to successfully operate in this role, you are basically adding an additional outfield / attacking element when in possession - more aggressively advancing from the goal-line and sweeping up loose balls as well as getting more involved in initiating counter-attacks and distributing long or through balls to players further up the field.
Key Attributes: Command of Area, Kicking, One On Ones, Reflexes, Passing, Rushing Out, Throwing, Anticipation, Composure, Concentration, Positioning, Agility.
Player Traits: Uses Long Throw to Start Counter Attacks, Tries to Play Way Out of Trouble.
Elite Tier: Ederson (Man City) £196m-£216m
More Affordable: André Onana (Ajax) £17m -£26m
Cut Price Alternative: Kiko Casilla (Leeds) £850k-£1.9m
2. Inverted Wing-Back
🗣️ “The Inverted Wing-Back will function defensively much like a standard Full-back or Wing-Back. However, while a normal Wing-Back will offer width to an attack, the Inverted Wing-Back (when he has a player ahead of him and where there are fewer than two defensive midfielders) will attempt to drift inside and create space for players around him. If there is no team-mate ahead of him on his side of the pitch then the Inverted Wing-Back will look to support attacks in a more traditional manner; when there is, he will look at affect play in the middle of the pitch as much as possible.”
Trent-Alexander Arnold. Reece James. Joao Cancelo. Prime examples of players who arguably are too talented to operate in a traditional full-back or wing-back role and as such make for the ideal Inverted Wing-Back - a player that offers defensive and attacking width and energy who is equally adept at cutting inside, offering an additional man in midfield on the ball as well as helping to overload central areas on the attack, even providing a goal threat as we have frequently seen lately which was perfectly represented by Reece James’ double for Chelsea in the weekend just gone. Joshua Kimmich was so effective in this role they even made him a midfielder. In FM terms - you will need a talented, intelligent, hard-working and technical player to deploy this role successfully but if you find the right click in terms of attributes and positional play, again you will see increased success when it comes to dominating possession and aggressively attacking midfield areas by overloading the opposition in terms of space, passing options and creativity moving forward through the middle.
Key Attributes: Dribbling, Marking, Passing, Tackling, Technique, Decision, Off the Ball, Teamwork, Work Rate, Acceleration, Stamina.
Player Traits: Wants Ball to Feet More Often, Gets Forward Whenever Possible, Cuts Inside from Wings.
Elite Tier: Joao Cancelo (Man City) £68m-£86m
More Affordable: Benjamin Henrichs (Dortmund) £16.5m-£25m
Cut Price Alternative: Matteo De Sciglio (Juventus) £4m-£6.2m
3. Mezzala
🗣️ “A central player that likes to drift wide and operate in the half-spaces. The Mezzala is essentially a central/half-winger, who likes to do his defending slightly further up the field, although he does generally have less defensive responsibility. With an Attack duty, the Mezzala will often leave his midfield responsibilities to his team-mates whilst mainly looking to make attacking contributions in the final third.”
Attacking. Contributions. In FM this means clear-cut chances, shots on goal, creating assists and of course, goals. None have epitomised this role better than Kevin De Bruyne, although it’s fair to say he has evolved it into his own “Free 8” role such is the uniqueness of his positional awareness and style of play in the Man City midfield. In Football Manager, it’s all about space - a player with outstanding vision and movement in addition to being technically skilled and gifted on the ball. Usually deployed as part of a 3 man midfield, if you find the right player and the right balance (remember the Mezzala does very little defending or hard graft centrally) then you have a powerful creative weapon around which Strikers and Inside Forwards usually thrive.
Key Attributes: Dribbling, Passing, Technique, Decisions, Off the Ball, Vision, Work Rate, Acceleration.
Player Traits: Runs with Ball Through Centre, Tries Killer Balls Often, Arrives Late in Opponent’s Area, Moves Into Channels.
Elite Tier: Kevin De Bruyne (Man City) £215m-£234m
More Affordable: Gaetano Castrovilli (Fiorentina) £8.4m-£13m
Cut Price Alternative: Dani Ceballos (Real Madrid) £6.4m
4. Enganche
🗣️ “The side’s prime creator, a hook that joins midfield and attack and operates behind the strikers and is a playmaker who sticks to his position and becomes a pivot to his team as they move around him. Unlike the Trequartista, it is a more stationary role as the Enganche acts as the focal point instead of moving around into larger areas of space.”
While the aforementioned Carrilero, Trequartista and Mezzala roles are all about movement and energy, the Enganche is somewhat at the opposite spectrum in terms of liveliness and vibrancy but can be equally impactful in terms of their influence on a game and their creative output as the focal point through which most of a their team’s attacking play pivots. The Enganche role was best illustrated through the likes of Argentinians Juan Roman Riquelme, Ariel Ortega and Pablo Aimar however more recently the role was very much that of an in-form Mezut Ozil who was never the most mobile or energetic but had the ability to completely dictate the tempo and creative output of Real Madrid and Arsenal in his peak. In FM it is arguably one of the more difficult roles to deploy in a match-engine that often favours speed and off-the-ball movement, however if you are lacking creativity in midfield but have bundles of energy and stamina in other positions to support it (think Carrileros or Box-to-Box midfielders) - an Enganche can be a highly effective focal point on which to base your attacking and creative play. Who needs physicals right?
Key Attributes: First Touch, Passing, Technique, Composure, Decisions, Vision.
Player Traits: Likes Ball Played Into Feet, Tries Killer Balls Often, Dictates Tempo, Plays One-Twos.
Elite Tier: Riqui Puig (Barcelona) £16.5m-£21m
More Affordable: Isco (Real Madrid) £10m
Cut Price Option: James Rodriguez (Al-Rayyan) £6m-£8.8m
5. False Nine
🗣️ “The False Nine, in some ways, similar to a more advanced attacking midfielder/playmaker role, is an unconventional lone striker or centre-forward who drops deep into midfield. The purpose of this is that it creates a problem for opposing central defenders who can either follow him - leaving space behind them for onrushing midfielders, forwards or wingers to exploit - or leave him to have time and space to dribble or pick out a pass.
Bit of a gamble, right? Get it right and of course, you have a player and role that will cause absolute havoc for any defence due to their movement and intentional deviation from the standard striker role. However get it wrong (as this writer often has) and you risk making the role and the player null and void whereby they can become a ghost and have little or no impact on the game. While it’s essential to have the right player in the role who is technical, athletic, relentless and equally unselfish at times (we are talking the likes of Leo Messi, Roberto Firmino and more recently Harry Kane as his role evolves for Tottenham and England) - it is equally essential that you have the quality to make up for what a False Nine sacrifices in terms of being a goal threat or presence in the final third. Prime Messi had the likes of Ronaldinho, David Villa, Samuel Eto’o and Luis Suarez to thrive on his role as the ever-moving False Nine for Barcelona; Firmino’s selfless sacrifices in front of goal have paved the way for Salah and Mané to become Liverpool’s main goal-scoring threats over the past few season, while Harry Kane’s tendency to drop deeper into midfield to either get on the ball or draw out defenders has clearly (though not yet consistently) allowed the likes of Son Heung-Min and Raheem Sterling take advantage of the space created by Kane’s movement for both club and country. Can this be replicated in FM? Again, it’s risky when most of us are used to playing with out-and-out strikers or advanced forwards however as is the case with all of these specialist positions - fortune favours the bold.
Key Attributes: Dribbling, First Touch, Passing, Technique, Composure, Decisions, Off the Ball, Vision, Acceleration, Agility.
Player Traits: Comes Deep to Get Ball, Looks for Pass Rather Than Attempting to Score, Likes Ball to Feet.
Elite Tier: Roberto Firmino (Liverpool) £93m-£110m
More Affordable: Wissam Ben Yedder (Monaco) £45m-£56m
Cut Price Alternative: Gabriel Barbosa £9m-£13m
There you go - five more specialist roles that can be highly effective when deployed correctly in Football Manager, but equally require detailed knowledge and research rather than simply throwing any player into the role randomly without considering the tactical implications and pros/cons etc. Hopefully you are finding this somewhat useful as we gear up for the full version of FM22 to be released - as the game evolves, so too must we as Managers..right?
Best of luck - be sure to let us know how you get on either on Twitter or in the comments below as well as any other player roles you might like covered in future here on 5 Star Potential.
