Continuing with my series highlighting specialist roles in FM19, I now turn to a deep Raumdeuter Role. It is a misunderstood role which fm players often misuse. As enigmatic as the man who inspired it, Raumdeuter will always be linked with the name of Thomas Muller. Every position has its ideal player, whether it is Pirlo the Regista, Roberto Baggio the Trequartista, or Beckenbauer the Libero. But can any modern player truly call any role his own? None except Thomas Muller. Raumdeuter in FM19.

Definition

Word “Raumdeuter” translates from German as “space investigator”. Muller called himself this when asked to describe his idiosyncratic style of play.  Just as left foot is key to Messi’s game, Muller thrives on the half space. I will be analysing what makes this role unique and how it can break down even the greatest defences. Also I will show how you can mould your player into a Raumdeuter to rival even Muller. I will tie this into a tactic for FM19 that takes advantage of my variation of Raumdeuter role – Deep Raumdeuter.

Space Oddity

As the video above mentions, successful use of half spaces and channels is central to Muller’s game. When talking about the Raumdeuter, as well as the Mezzala and Shadow Striker, one must understand half-spaces and channels. They are rather enigmatic concepts which the game does not explain properly. This leads to some assumptions that do not reflect the reality of how they work in the game.

Defining Half-Spaces and Channels

A half-space is any vertical space between the opposing players like between two central defenders or between two defensive midfielders. The channel, on the other hand, is a specific type of half-space between the fullback and the closest centre-back. When you tell your strikers to move into channels, you are actually telling them to run sideways into this area. So if the player starts centrally then he must angle to the side in order to get into the channel. This can aid Raumdeuter in scoring, especially if the opponent is diverted by another attacker like an inside forward. On the other hand, Raumdeuter could be turned into a an assist machine. When he floods the channel along with another player, they could create an overload on that side of the field. This could allow the inside forward from the opposite flank to become your main scoring threat.

Like no other wing player, Raumdeuter is hard coded to move into channels. Meaning that he will try hard to get into this half-space between fullback and centre-back. From his traditional advanced winger position he will drift without the ball inward into the half-space. He will not cut inside and dribble diagonally with the ball like an inside forward. This is an important distinction. But first lets look at what makes a good Raumdeuter.

Shopping List:

The game states that Raumdeuter’s role is “to find pockets of space in which to operate”, similarly to a poacher. He “takes up seemingly harmless positions out wide, waiting for the opportune moment to burst through the defensive line”. Similarly to a fox in the box, raumdeuter is difficult for defenders to mark. He will often drift from his assigned position looking for any opportunities to exploit. Furthermore according to the game, “this can result in quiet periods during which the Raumdeuter may neglect his defensive duties. Therefore adequate cover and a strong team shape are key in order to fully utilise his attacking prowess in the.”

The three key things that any tactic focused on Raumdeuter needs are:

1.  Very strong and physically imposing central forward. He drops deep and is able to take on defenders, allowing our Raumdeuter to exploit the space in front.
2. Solid defensive player in the midfield and at least one on the wings to compensate for the more adventurous Raumdeuter.
3. A tactical shape that inherently allows for a lot of space in the final third. To do what he does best, Raumdeuter needs acres of space. For this reason. Tactics that use two forwards, or any combination of a forward and one or two advanced midfielders, might not work. For this reason I believe that the best formation for Raumdeuter is a 4-5-1 or 4-1-4-1 (or wingback variations). I actually used an asymmetric 4-4-2 with two forwards shifted right (added instruction of staying wider on the advanced forward)

You might ask, don’t you need 4-1-2-3 or even 4-1-3-1-1 to fit in an advanced attacking role like Raumdeuter? Does he not need to operate from an advance wing position? Well actually that is where my variation of Deep Raumdeuter comes in. Lets call him Mitte-Raumdeuter (mitte=middle in German) for consistency sake. The name fit because my Raumdeuter starts his runs from midfield and from the central position (in left central midfield).

The theme that I started in my last article (on winning as an underdog) continues here. Sometimes to be successful, a manager must think outside the box and approach tactics from a different perspective. Placing a striker in an unusual area like midfield can have the vital surprise factor. It allowing your attackers to approach from a direction that the opponent is not used to dealing with; a shadow area so to speak. As you see with Wide Targetman, how often does a fullback come against burly defender versus a diminutive pacey winger?

Two roads to victory

I tested two variations of Mitte-Raumdeuter, one based on Wide Midfielder role and another on the Mezzala.  Using a Mezzala was originally a temporary measure, as I used it for a player without “Move into channels” PPM and I needed him to use the role with that instruction while he was learning the PPM. Surprisingly my Mezzala performed very well. It just showed that they both were attacking the same area, albeit by moving into it from two different locations on the field.

You see the Raumdeuter role is probably one of the most unique roles in how it is hard-coded. We can recreate almost any other speciality role by taking a generic role such as wide midfielder or central midfielder and adding custom player instructions. For this reason I never see no real reason for why a roles such as box-to-box midfielder or inverted winger were included in the game. To me they are redundant since they can be recreated by customising a central or wide midfielder with specific player instructions. Same with the shadow striker (just an attacking midfielder with a whole lot of added-on player instructions).

Whereas the Raumdeuter was always unique. The main reason it fascinates me, is that it is the only wide role to have a hard-coded move into channels instruction. In fact, you cannot add that instruction to another wide player (except for Wide Targetman incidentally). The option is simply not there.

No other like it

This veritable half-space channel merchant, requires a player with a special combination of attributes. Think your ideal fox in the box, Inzaghi-type combined with the cerebral genius of Pirlo. Above all, he needs to be highly intelligent player in order to be able to anticipate exactly where the ball will go and predict how the play will develop. Thus the mental attributes need to be near world class, almost all in 15+ range. He will need excellent Off the Ball, Anticipation, Decisions, Vision, Composure, Determination and Work-rate. With the exception of Flair and Teamwork, the more mentals you can get in the 15-20 range the better. Off the Ball is absolutely vital. I will not even consider a player with this value below 15 or 16 unless he is young and has potential to improve it.

Secondary, but still very important to the overall quality of your Raumdeuter are some key technical and physical attributes such as his Finishing, First Touch, Acceleration, Balance and Agility. These can be in the 13-15 range, although higher is always a bonus.

The Manchester Experiment

Initially, I really tried to make the above into reality but unfortunately, the original Raumdeuter just did not want follow in the steps of his friend Bastian Schweinsteiger to leave his boyhood club for Old Trafford. So then I had to turn to the two players already present at United and who I believe can fit this demanding role; Sanchez and Lingaard.

Surprisingly, ageing Alexis Sanchez turned out into my ideal Raumdeuter. You can see that his attributes hit 15+ values in all the right places. While Lingaard is a great younger backup, as he is one of the few attacking players in the game with Off the ball of 18.

Ideal Poor-Man’s Raumdeuter

On a little side-note, before I get into the details of my tactical setup, I just wanted to show that you can totally have a Raumdeuter on a budget. As you are looking for players with high mental attributes and only decent technical and physical attributes, basically a classic poacher, it is easier to find such players in mid-tier or even 2nd division clubs. For example my scouts were able to unearth this gem in Spain. Seeing him actually kind of made me wishful to manage Espanyol. So maybe will keep that idea for a future save.

Pablo is not only younger than Sanchez, but is also available for a quarter of Sanchez’ salary. He is my perfect deep Raumdeuter candidate! Had I not already possessed Sanchez and Lingaard I would have snapped him up without a thought. He could make an excellent tutor for young players as well.

Recipe for success

Having seen my vision of an ideal MitteRaumdeuter, I will now explain how to craft this role for yourself in and how to build the tactic around him in FM19. Firstly, forget about filling the green circles on your tactics screen. Look for the player with the right attributes first and do not worry if they can play in the midfield position. You can even stick a natural striker in there. The only thing that it might result in is a slight penalty on his decision making but he should still perform, provided he has the right attributes. Once you found your player then you need to tell him exactly how you want him to behave on the field. This is the player instructions that I use. Note how it mirrors the generic Raumdeuter role.

In fact the deep-lying version is a little more offensively aggressive role than the original Raumdeuter, but you definitely need that seeing how he starts from deeper. Also it has the added benefit of being able to arrive late into the penalty area to finish team moves.

Importance of Player Traits

Another very important consideration is Player Traits. Make sure that they reflect as closely as possible how Raumdeuter needs to operate. Thus traits like “comes deep to get the ball” or “hugs the line” are naturally to be avoided while something like “dwells on ball” or “runs with the ball often” could be counter-productive in some situations. Yet, for a MitteRaumdeuter, one trait is essential. The “move into channels” trait is the only way to tell your player to behave this way since it is not possible to add it as a role instruction.

So make sure to start training it (either by asking a coach to train it in development screen or tutoring him with the older players possessing the trait) as soon as you can.

At the start of the season, Sanchez already possess “move into channels” trait while Lingaard does not. Whenever I use Lingaard as my MitteRaumdeuter I actually played him in a Mezzala (Attack) role on the left side.

After much testing, this was the final formation I settled on. It looks like a rather unusual shape but that is because it is totally geared towards unleashing my Deep Raumdeuter.

In terms of custom player instructions, there are a few important ones on our other midfiled players. The left wingback, roaming playmaker, carrilero and inverted wingback are all told to mark opponents tighter. The two wingback roles are the ones with most instructions, as I wanted to vary their movement and crossing direction. Above how I set up my left wingback (the more defensive one)

And the offensive right wingback (was lucky to prise the Federico Chiesa from Fiorentina at the start of January window):

The carrilero, wingback, advanced forward (told to stay wider) and the inverterd wingback create an overload on the right. By attracting the opponents to that side, they are leaving acres of space for Sanchez to move into. Watch this move play out and note how we are forcing the opponent towards the right side. Simultaneously, Sanchez is moving ever closer to goal, until finally completing this beautiful team play with a tap in goal.

In the following sequence, we draw out Burnley defense out of position to allow the rapid-fire goal from our MitteRaumdeuter. At least five of our players are charging into the half-spaces on the right side of the field. As a result they completely overwhelm Burnley’s defence. While they are scrambling to deal with this immediate threat, the deep Raumdeuter calmly stays near the penalty area, very much unmarked. This is what happens next.

It is amazing to see that in the beginning, it is Sanchez who starts this move with that cross and then finishes it with a goal in less than 10 seconds. Just shows what kind of player a Raumdeuter can be, drifting about looking for gaps in defense and an opportunity to exploit them in the most dangerous way.

Hopefully, I dropped enough hints so you could be able to custom fit your own player into the deep-lying MitteRaumdeuter role and be able to get a drop on your opponents. And let me know what unique roles you have created in this iteration of football manager.

Thanks for reading.

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