I'll be looking back at this anyway, so might aswell do it for everybody: GK: 2:14 FB: 5:16 CB: 7:09 DM: 9:53 CM: 12:04 W: 15:15 AM: 18:30 S: 21:34

Goalkeeper: 1. Reflexes 2. One on Ones 3. Jumping/Aerial Reach 4. Positioning 5. Decisions Fullback: 1. Work Rate 2. Stamina 3. Positioning 4. Crossing Attack - Technique Defend - Marking Support - Determination Center Back: 1. Jumping Reach 2. Tackling 3. Composure 4. Concentration 5. Strength Defensive Midfielder: 1. First Touch 2. Teamwork 3. Composure 4. Positioning 5. Passing/Tackling Central Midfielder: 1. Work Rate 2. Stamina 3. Passing 4. Decisions 5. Traits - Gets Forward Whenever Possible - Tries Killer Balls Often - Plays One-Twos - Likes To Switch Ball To Wide Areas - Arrives in Opponent's Box Late Winger: 1. Agility 2. Dribbling 3. Balance 4. Flair 5. Technique Attacking Midfielder: 1. Vision 2. Flair 3. First Touch 4. Off The Ball 5. Technique Striker: 1. Off The Ball 2. Composure 3. Determination 4. First Touch 5. Finishing Extras according to the comments: - Agility for Goalkeepers - Anticipation for Defensive Midfielders and Strikers

I would suggest Agility has to rank among the most important attributes for Goalkeepers, or old goalkeepers wouldn't start performing noticeably worse (which they do in-game). It is the only relevant GK attribute that goes down with age significantly.

It was in 1995/6 that I first discovered and got hooked on football manager. CM2, with the voice commentary. I have bought and played most of the CM/FM titles since then. I am a journeyman player. And in all these years, I am not ashamed to admit that I have never won the Champions League. I have got to the final on many occasions but always seems to fail. I have got angry, depressed, quit teams, quit the game for a while believing it must be fixed. But today ... after 28 years of playing this game, I finally did it. I took Portsmouth to the final and beat Real Madrid 2-1. I am posting it here for two reasons, firstly I have watched many of your videos, (you actually made me start again as I came across one of your video's a while back and thought I would get into it again). Your videos taught me lots, despite my thinking I knew a lot about the game, Also, all my friends are not into football manager and don't understand what a big deal this is. Even the wife looked at me with a 'who cares' attitude. I need to tell someone! - So Thankyou Zealand :D

After finishing the whole video, I noticed an attribute that is criminally underrated and missed: Anticipation. Key for DM's ST's, eve GK's and CB's

I've been saying to my friends off the ball is key stat for offensive players. Low OTB and they won't be in position to score or will be caught offside all the time.

Me, a bitter FM player, knowing that none of these attributes matter as the AI has decided that your players will act like they have 1 in every attribute whilst giving their own players 20 in everything but ONLY when they play you

Congrats on your new residence! I hope you're settling in comfortably. I enjoyed the video, and I appreciate you and your team.

I asked a question about this on stream yesterday. Bro knew. Zealand is omniscient, omnipresent.

on FM23 I sold a weird player where he can play all across the pitch, from DM, Midfield, Wings, and Striker, I just don't know where to put him. I check on him and Strasbourg who bought him play him at striker despite having 5 Finishing, he ended up winning golden boot in France with 20 something goals.

I try to limit my gametime on FM but Zealand provokes me load up save again by putting videos like this.

I'd argue that Acceleration is very important attribute for offensive FB. Roberto Carlos is probably the best real life example of that. One of my tactics focuses heavily on the center and asymmetrical wings with one going deep and other staying back, acceleration is quite useful for counter-attacking cause the guy just breaks through defence like it's nothing.

I’m glad you’re making the tips videos again

I think physicality especially balance in a striker is one of the most important stat for me, there are countless of times that my striker just gets shoved and lost his opportunity for a tap in because he has bad balance.

My brother taught me back in 2000 that determination is the most important stat. Especially for wonderkids

Personally I never take a DM with a low Workrate, even more than Teamwork.

The fact that his GK top 5 doesn't have Agility and(or) Handling is a travesty

Very good vid🔥 I know understand what I’m supposed to do when coming to find players for specific positions even more than what I knew before

Love that you recognize the mental game with a lot of these picks, particularly the striker. Off The Ball deserves the love.

Tremendous and useful video. More of this, please!

Been waiting for this for ever thank you so much legendary Zealand

Great video! One attribute I find important for Full Backs is jumping reach/heading. Playing with short Full Backs or Full Backs who are not good in the air is a recipe for disaster, especially for smaller clubs that tend to be under pressure a lot.

For Goalkeepers, Rushing out/Command of area are both must-haves Strikers need to have anticipation as well. It's necessary for other positions too, but any kind of striker needs it too. On a more subjective note: three attributes that I always look for, regardless of the position are Determination, Work Rate and Flair. Then, on specific positions I look for some more (e.g. Leadership in Center backs, Anticipation on Strikers, Crossing on Wingers/Finishing on Inside Forwards, etc.)

I feel like for a keeper especially, Concentration is huge as well, you don't want your keeper just switching off and letting in a goal.

Cannot express how long we've needed this video for cheers Zealand

Great video Zealand! Very helpful

Well done sir. Watching your vids helped convince me to try the game barely knowing what a soccer ball was, but I do love it! This video is exactly what I've been looking for too. Keep up the great work and thanks!

Anticipation is officially underrated

The fact that crossing wasn't on either Winger nor Attacking Mid makes me question my own play style.

Got back into FM 5 days ago, after almost a decade long hiatus... so this video is a nice random one to show up. Especially as I am making my own note/document that I can reference later.

A fantastic and helpful video. Very good work.

Great video. It also depends on the role you gonna use. For example, stamina for a fullback that will play as a IFB wont matter that much.

Good video as always 🔥🔥

Thank you very much! You do really helpful content!

Crossing is one of those technical attributes which does absolutely NOTHING. I have a wingback who just hit 21 assists in the Bundesliga, pretty much all from crosses, with 10 in that attribute.

I think I'll use this to modify my transfer filters and see how it compares. Thanks!

Excellent video - thanks.

Also a tip for anyone if you want you can actually save all these so when searching for players when scouting you can save the filter and then just import it for any new save you do.

strong Partridge vibes at the start of the vid

Great content! In addition. As I experienced GKs with low "eccentricity" can deliver a more balanced performance (eg :Ter Stegen) but with "eccentricity" even great GKs can make silly mistakes (eg: Emiliano Martinez).

You could take this video into account or just go for physical attributes and dribbling, since that has been proven to work the best

Also, not sure if you have such video already but - how about conducting a test showing, which attributes are easiest & hardest to develop? (so which of them are not as crucial in early years, as you can expect them to grow significantly - you mentioned Tackling, which isn't easy to develop)

congrats on the move!

It should be noted that even GK attributes depend on your playing style -for GK: you may need a good passing guy if you play Pep's tikitaka, but you may need a good handling GK and not care about 1v1 if you play defensively (if he receives 10 shots per match, you want him to catch the ball and not give away 2nd chances)

love the videos !!!

i love these types of videos

Thank you for this! 😎

Zealand would like your thoughts on punching tendency & handling for the GKs. I prefer my keeper to catch the ball from crosses so less tendency to punch, therefore handling should impact this

It's interesting because I've seen low-Finishing attribute strikers actually perform better than high-Finishing strikers in FM24. If they have the ability to put themselves into the right position and you can train them technically/mentally then they're better than other strikers with a higher attribute. For example, I got a regen forward - his finishing is like 12, but his agility, dribbling, touch and technique are all over 16. He bangs goals in for fun from the IF position because he can constantly get away from his man and give himself a 'cleaner' opportunity to hit the ball.

Yeah i Agree with you on the striker finishing attribute. It shouldn't be in the top 5 but it does impact the game when we start counting the goals.

The way I use my FBs, they're typically box to box but in the wide areas so I basically need a little bit of everything. lol

You shouldn't have done this by positions but by roles it would be far more of a sufficient explanation. Also has anyone used the facepack on the workshop and if so is it legit? Cheers

All your videos are good. But this is one of the good good ones

These videos are really helpful, thanks Zealand. I just started playing FM this season and after doing well figuring out how everything worked myself, these have taken me up a level. I do have one question though. I’ve recently started a save where I’ve taken over a top 6 prem team. We’re rolling over every team we should be beating 3/4-1 (we never seem to keep a clean sheet), but whenever we play another top 6 team, we lose 3-0. I’ve tried keeping the tactic the same, and also using the more defensive version of the tactic we use, but we still get pretty comprehensively outplayed. Any ideas how to beat other top clubs?

Great video. Another one I'd suggest making is squad size and playing time commitments. Suggestions on how to balance the squad. I always get into trouble and have like 5 star and 8 important players, because I have mediocre players I REALLY want. Then half of them are pissed cause they don't get their playing time.

I am surprised not to see positioning atleast mentioned for central defenders

Thanks so much for this

thank you mr zealand

Your videos are a breath of fresh air, always enjoy watching

In regards to Fullbacks, for crossing, do attributes like passing and vision affect their crossing?

I'd personally like my defensive players to have not only the attributes you listed, but also good passing ability as well. The reason being if we're pressed by the opposition, and all passing lanes have been cut off, my fullback/CBs can still find their teammates in between the lines.

I´m missing anticipation for the full backs in this guide. From my playing experience a fullback with very high anticipation is often better than a speed freak.

strength of their weaker foot is way more important than finishing for a striker. It just seems to affect the way they get into position for shots and you see far less wayward efforts

I remember ages ago the FM Godfather Rashidi/BustTheNet himself was saying Determination is the most important and mentals overall

Decisions is most important imo

Got be tall for my keepers too. And don’t get me started on ‘doesn’t like big matches’

I'd say anticiptaion is more important than determination and first touch in a striker, a striker with good off the ball, compsure and anticipation is deadly

Honestly in all my years of FM (going back to FM05) I had never thought about positioning = defensive, off the ball = offensive. Probably says it somewhere in the game as well, just never thought about it as simply as that.

Question for Z and anyone else that fancies answering: What are some good traits for other positions on the pitch? Recently been taking over training but I'm completely lost when it comes to traits. I get it's kinda situational based on their attributes, but if using these attribute guidelines are there any that jump out for positions other than CM?

Great video, definitely one of your best. Could you do thesame thing for player traits by position?? Pretty please.

The intro is hilarious

I think anyone that you want to be on the ball a lot needs good technique. Most of the technicals are basically rated from 40 with technique making up half of it, it's so ridiculously beneficial all around.

I think this is more about what's important in real life, but not necessarily the best bang for your buck attributes in the game.

Thoughts on the ranking system squirrel uses for attributes? I know he values Agility high for goalkeepers

great vid bro, the grinds paying off!

Great vid, would it be possible to get an up to date what traits are best for each position?

You've dropped the triple threat fur a striker! Dribbling, finishing, first touch. I always think strikers have to be bigger, faster or smarter than a CB to be effective, and CBs need to be the opposite.

Hey Zealand, I'm wondering if (A) This applies to older games as well (I currently play FM22, waiting for FM25 to be released to get it) and (B) if the new engine for FM 25 will have a big impact on how attributes will affect the game or not?

i learned the off the ball with a youth player with 18 of the ball and all the rest was kinde mid like 15 finishing and stuuf like that, the dude scored 30+ goals evry seasson

Hey @Zealand, how about a test on which column it would theoretically be better to be perfect in, while the other 2 columns are rubbish. I like to think that (as amateur footballers go) I have high stats in the middle column while the left column is low and the right column is getting lower as I age.

cm, i would argue work rate, passing, vision, team work, technique, decisions are the most important

If my GK has low Arial Reach/CoA and Communication I don't bother, the rest of the attributes can all be 1 but if those 3 are not at least 15+ then they don't get a look at

You can do like me and have a Grimaldo at every position, a player good at literally everything

As someone who has been playing FM2024 with one or even two inverted wingbacks since the release, crossing is not important if you use this role. The same goes with IFB. Basically never happens this situation and my IWB is an amazing crosser, but he is also a great passer and creator.

My recent zealand US database save has made me realize how much I over valued vision. I have a 26 yr old with 17 passing and he's always being the creative force.

Honestly just CA is more important than anything when looking at players. Any player can play any role decently well if their CA is high enough. The only thing you really notice right away is physical attributes. Very fast players are OP for offense, Jumping Reach is very important for any defensive role

Would love a video about skills numbers for different leagues. It's the thing I struggle with when doing a lower league save. I don't know what's a good level for non leagues for example.

I'm surprised you don't mention communication at the goalkeeper position. With a high value, he can stabilize the defense

It's officially confirmed, Zealand hates anticipation.

At this point you are my assistant manager

I go for champions league trophy with Slavia Prague after this video ! Thanks Zee!

thank you sir just the video i needed!!

We all know its long throws

A vid about traits pls

Great vid Z. But one suggestion if I may...agility for goalkeepers, no?

"Become a liability defending his box..." hehehe

explain the attributes needed for different 2 striker setups

shouldn't crossing be one of the attributes for wingers too?

Life update: Top cinema.

What is the best downloadable tactic to defend in away games