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Have you ever wanted to use a sweeper in your formation but never found the right stats, if that sounds familiar to you then this might be very helpful for you.
The sweeper system or the libero (which is Italian for free) as it is also known as is not a common defensive system that many teams use, in fact most people regard the sweeper with the Italian game. This is because the catenaccio system of play used in Italian football in the 1960s, popularised use of the sweeper. The sweeper normally plays behind the other defenders in a less advanced position. It is your last line of defence and often the starting point of most of your attacks, the sweepers are there to break up play and then get the ball forward early.
There have been quite a few players who have become rather famous playing in this role, Franco Baresi, Lothar Matthäus and Matthias Sammer all of whom spring to mind. But it was another German player who excelled in this role and adapted it to make it his own style, that player was Franz Beckenbauer, nicknamed der Kaiser ("the emperor") because of his elegant style, his leadership qualities and his domination on the soccer pitch. He began experimenting with the sweeper role around the 1969 season, refining the role into a new form and becoming one of the greatest exponents of the attacking sweeper game.
The sweeper is a lot more versatile than a centre back and the main job is for the sweeper to "sweep up" any through balls and balls played over the top of your defence, or any balls that your defence fail to deal with. He is there to stop your defensive line being breached and to provide the extra cover. You can play a sweeper with three of four defenders in front of him it doesn't really matter which. The sweeper needs to have the ability to read the game very well, as he is also expected to build important attacking moves from the back He also needs a good passing attribute and have good ball control.
The Sweeper and Stopper systems are very similar and positional look the exact same, but it's what they do that makes them different. You have the sweeper set up where the sweeper will push up and mop up any balls that the defenders in front of him cannot deal with and does what the name "sweeper" suggest and sweeps up any trouble your front defenders might make. Were as the stopper system uses man marking to either mark a striker or a central midfielder of the opposing team. Plus he is expected to play quick and early balls to your midfield to start early counter attacks.
Sweeper System: The sweeper should have a good understanding of the game and be a leader on the field. He controls the defence, always staying behind the fullbacks. For this to work you need a sweeper who as high concentration, decisions, influence, positioning, team work, tackling and a little bit of pace wouldn't go a miss too. If you can't find a player with the right stats then I suggest you don't play the sweeper system as put the wrong player as the sweeper and you may get crucified, but get the right player here and you can have a very solid back line
Stopper System: The stopper is responsible for marking the centre forward or centre midfielder of the other team. He also has an important offensive part of distributing the ball to the midfielders so you need a player who is good at passing, decisions, anticipation, decisions, tackling, concentration, work rate, positioning and a good first touch can help too.
I'm too scared to use one realy, have been thinking about in for some time though..
I have used the sweeper with some succes in FM2006, where I played like this:
This actually worked very well in defense. I had set the defensive line very low, and both DC's on high closing down. I had a very good Dutch regen sweeper, who eventually became world class! I tried a lot of things with him; make him playmaker, high creative freedom etc. It all worked very good, probably because he was just a great player
Since I was defending very close to goal anyway, and I didn't want him to be bothering my DC's, I gave him closing down. He was so close to the goal, the attackers had to go trough him anyway, and this way he didn't get caught out of position..
I LOVE sweepers. Easily one of the best features in a game, most people don't use them cos I think a lot of people don't know how to make them work.
A sweeper system of play means in 07 means the backline never moves up. Leadership is vital for a sweeper. If he has high influence then he will be suitable for the job. In 03/04..it was difficult to get sweepers, it became easier and now its at its easiest its been.
The best way to use it is a sweeper/stopper system. Your stoppers need to be on at least 13 for closing down, sometimes even 15. They will need to have good jumping, tackling and anticipation. The sweeper needs this and Cleon is right on the pace thing, stoppers need more pace than sweepers.
When using a sweeper system it helps a great deal if the possess good passing as well.
A sweeper-based back line/midfield can be very efficient at getting the ball forward and distributing it. If you think of closing down as the radius within which a player will attempt a tackle, it seems pretty clear that a great way to employ a sweeper is by having their closing down on always, and your dcs with closing down on often. This way, your centre-backs will be more likely to attempt intercepts than dive into the tackle, whereas your sweeper will be on the lookout for through balls and angled runs. A missed ball will get picked up by your sweeper, who has crossing on often and from deep, through balls on often and run with ball on, encouraging the sweeper to start an attacking move right then and there, or punt a long ball up/crossfield if he spots an unmarked player.
Giving your centre-backs side arrows and putting your sweeper's width on narrow will keep the back line shape from falling apart, and if possible, your sweeper will have high influence, workrate, teamwork, composure, decisions, and you can make him your captain - the role I have my sweepers playing makes them an ideal candidate to organise the defense. Alternatively, if your captain plays in midfield and has sufficient defensive characteristics, give him a back arrow to dmc to link up with your sweeper's offensive play on the counter and get the ball forward. Using this sort of setup, I've gone entire seasons with lower-tier teams conceding less than 20 goals in top leagues - for instance, at the moment, managing Nice and with no changes to lineup, my team has conceded 17 goals in 28 games and is sitting pretty at 3rd on the ladder.
I've found this sort of backline tends to work best with passing down both flanks and a lot of width in play, such as with attacking wingers who can run up and down the touch line and get loose, providing a target for the speculative crossfield balls on the counter.
Admittedly, this all sounds like it would require you to have a heroicly talented individual at sweeper, but in actual practice, I've found that this is not the case. My usual candidate for retraining to sweeper position, if the team doesn't have one to start with, is a wingback because they'll generally have the pace & passing to be quite incisive. Tackling is the defensive characteristic of most value - your sweeper isn't going to be marking anyone particularly unless you're playing a 4-3-3, in which case set him to mark the opposition's centre striker.
A sweeper anchored defense gives you a lot of flexibility to play around with different setups in midfield and to tailor your play in the opposition half to the players available. It also tends to make sure all 10 outfield players get involved in the game, spreading the load and helping to prevent certain players from becoming disproportionately exhausted because they're working twice as hard as the players around them.
The only real weakness is that a 1-2-1 (sweeper/centre-backs/defensive midfielder) defense can be exposed by an opposition attack that is heavy on pace and technique...but an attack that has great technique and speed is going to expose any defense, at the end of the day, so I'll stick with my sweeper
INteresting. I've started to develop my own sweeper formations a couple of times now, but always abandon the idea halfway through, usually because I'm afraid of implementing a system I know very little about. I find it hard to find a player whose stats I think are perfectly suited to the job too.
Can anyone give me an example of a sweeper or two within the game world who is rock solid and efficient from an atacking point of view for this position, and how you base your tactic around the sweeper system of play in order to maximize the sweeper's talent? I'm very curious and it would make the game fresher than ever if I could start implementing a sweper formation of my own.
How about Patricio Araujo?
I got him in my Derby game but have been using him as a DC. Could I play him in the sweeper role? With a DC infront of him and 2 full backs? Or would 3 DC infront of him be better? With the DC at the sides running to the fullbacks positions..
Originally posted by lyw_85:
How about Patricio Araujo?
I got him in my Derby game but have been using him as a DC. Could I play him in the sweeper role? With a DC infront of him and 2 full backs? Or would 3 DC infront of him be better? With the DC at the sides running to the fullbacks positions..
Is that the young Mexican lad? he becomes decent on some games, so if hes got the stats then sure id give it a bash.
As for what type you wanna play, all can work equally as good. However my own personal preference is the ones with the DC's going to the fullback positions.
The main reason i don't use sweepers is because if i do, then i have to use no full backs or 1 striker (unless if i use 1 central defender). I don't like this so i don't play like that. Any solutions though?
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