George LGeorge >> Παρασκευή Νοέμβριος 4 - 16:43

I put most of their development into Dueling and Tactics.  however, does Blocking help a Defensive Midfielder?  

Numpty >> Παρασκευή Νοέμβριος 4 - 17:18

I would say, yes. They do intercept a few passes and shots, so some Blocking would be useful. How much though is uncertain as their main job is tackling.  

George LGeorge >> Παρασκευή Νοέμβριος 4 - 21:28

Would you put more points into blocking or passing for a DM?

Numpty >> Σάββατο Νοέμβριος 5 - 08:43, Τροποποιήθηκε Σάββατο Νοέμβριος 5 - 08:44

There seem to be lots of different views on how to train a DM, but my view is not to bother giving them any Passing at all. This is why.

Unlike Blocking a little bit of Passing is of almost no value as it's always the higher Passing of the 2 players involved which count, so any players with low Passing have little influence in a pass.

A moderate amount of Passing has some value as it will be enough to help retain possession as fewer passes will go astray, but not enough to get any or many assists against stronger opponents.  But that means you have less to spend on Duelling, so he's now not so good at tackling, which is his main priority.

If you spend a lot on Passing so he can get some assists then he's no longer a DM. 

The downside of a DM with little or no Passing is the game sees them as a defender and not a midfielder and they are a so-called weak player in every match. Training them with both Passing and Duelling does get around this problem, but they are no longer a specialist DM and not terribly good at either job. 

George LGeorge >> Κυριακή Νοέμβριος 6 - 09:07

Thanks Numpty, great points!  Yes I build my DMs as mostly defensive but they get penalized as a low value midfielder.

Numpty >> Κυριακή Νοέμβριος 6 - 10:34

I've just looked at your DM. He's fairly similar to mine, except I haven't had mine long enough to finish shaping him. 

tAmi!_an >> Σάββατο Νοέμβριος 19 - 16:24

does DM needs versatile skill cause he can use his blocking as passing right will it be useful in DM??

Numpty >> Σάββατο Νοέμβριος 19 - 16:45

Versatile - "midfielders can use passing as scoring"

So Versatile is not much use to a DM if he has very little passing. 

Monk >> Σάββατο Νοέμβριος 26 - 05:52

I often train a defender versatile, loads of duelling and some blocking and tactics. The versatile means that the defender uses his duelling as passing. Playmaker on top and you have a defensive midfielder. In reality though I tend more towards making the most of an ageing midfielder by increasing his duelling and blocking up to 3. I hope that helps.

humpty >> Σάββατο Νοέμβριος 26 - 06:49

I struggle to find examples of DM's that actually have a lot of 'tackles won' in the statistics after a game. Mostly 0 to 3. Hardly ever more than that. 

I find a lot DM's with high duelling, but when I watch a couple of their played games, they don't seem to tackle a lot. 

Can someone give some examples of games in which it shows that high duelling actually helps a DM. 

Numpty >> Σάββατο Νοέμβριος 26 - 08:34, Τροποποιήθηκε Σάββατο Νοέμβριος 26 - 10:42

I just checked one of mine for the last few matches. He had recorded tackles of 3 5 0 6 5 12 and also had an 8 within the last 10 games. He's had an average of about 5 tackles per full game over the last 10 matches. I'll post the match link for the 12 later if you want to watch it.

Here:

https://rockingsoccer.com/en/soccer/info/match-22990496

Besides which DMs with low duelling are more likely to give away free kicks in dangerous areas - and defenders often record low numbers of tackles too. For comparison in the same matches the defenders got an average of around 2 tackles each.

@Monk - a defender is treated by the match engine as a midfielder when playing as a DM, so Versatile works differently and he doesn't get the extra passing. It says that in the Help.

Lee >> Σάββατο Νοέμβριος 26 - 12:20

One reason for DM tackles being low is because a lot of teams attack on the wings, so in areas that the DM doesn't play.

Numpty >> Σάββατο Νοέμβριος 26 - 12:51

Excellent point @Lee. I'm thinking of experimenting with a defensive winger for that very reason. You could play a DM out wide for the occasional match, but I think they would be best trained with Winger.

One problem is that you can't easily buy ready trained players for those positions so you either have to train them yourself or do a certain amount of retraining. 

Monk >> Κυριακή Νοέμβριος 27 - 06:26

@Numpty

Thanks. I'd missed that. Still learning after all this time!