Skills and positions

In this article we will indicate the requirements for each position. We’ll distinguish between two types: the basic ones, which are absolutely necessary; and advanced, for expert managers who want to improve their ratings with complete players.

Keeper

Basic: he must be a good keeper. Don’t worry if he’s disastrous at everything else; he only needs to be a good goalie. Don’t sweat it! Your “Iker Casillas” doesn’t really need to score goals or create occasions for his teams, only to stop the rivals from scoring.

Advanced: besides from keeper, which is the most important thing, he might also have good defending skills. A goalkeeper’s defending skill helps to improve your team’s defensive rating, albeit not as strongly as goalkeeping. For the time being, few people use this.

Central defender

Basic: defending, obviously. The more defending you have, the higher your central defence will be (and it also increases a bit your side defences). Everything else doesn’t matter much.

Advanced: besides from defending, playmaking can also be useful as it improves your midfield. It’s a bit like Gerard Piqué, who knows how to defend and can also create occasions for his team. These are usually very expensive, but if you want to improve your midfield without spending more money on midfielder salaries, these are a great option.
Ocerin remark: if you will be choosing counterattacks as a tactic, it’s paramount that your defenders have a good passing skills. More information in the article on Tactics.

Wing back

Basic: defending. The more defending you have, the higher your side defence will be (and it also increases a bit your central defence). It’s like having a “Carles Puyol” here; he’ll shut down any rival attempts to score on this side.

Advanced: winger. If you have a “Dani Alves” rather than a “Carles Puyol”, your side attack will improve. However, having a player with only winger but no defending is like setting “Cristiano Ronaldo” or “Messi”: you’ll get a fine attack, but no defense whatsoever.

Midfielder

Basic: playmaking, no doubt. We want a “Xavi” here, who will give us the most ball possession.

Advanced: we need to decide what’s the most important thing for us. Do we want a “Cesc Fàbregas” who will improve our attack or a “Xabi Alonso” who improves our defense? In the first case we’ll need passing; otherwise, defending would be nice.

Winger

Basic: this is not as obvious as it seems! We have two options here: we might want someone like “Xavi”, who gives more possession with his playmaking skill; or a “Cristiano Ronaldo” who boosts our attack with his winger skill.

Advanced: we might want to have a player with both playmaking and winger skills, who will boost both our midfield and attack. This is a very sought-after kind of player, as winger is usually a key position in teams. This would be someone like “Iniesta”, who gives possession but also attacks on the sides.

Forward

Basic: scoring. Scoring boosts your attack and therefore gives you goals.

Advanced: passing. Mind you, this doesn’t give you more occasions, but forwards’ passing skills increase your attack, just as if they had extra scoring. They can also have winger skills, mainly in case you want to set them towards wing.

Advanced (2): playmaking if, and only if, you’ll have a defensive midfielder. Despite the name, a defensive forward doesn’t improve your defence, but your midfield; he’ll need playmaking skills for that.