With more and more teams working to involve all 11 players on the pitch in their build-up play, the role of the Poacher has diminished somewhat in recent years.

As their Football Manager role description says, the focus of the Poacher is “on scoring goals is so extreme that they rarely offer much help in constructing moves”. They’re there to put the ball in the back of the net and not much else. 

However, being a good Poacher requires a very specific skillset and here, Ihor Crusadertsar explores several ways that you can use them to great effect in FM23.

Since its introduction to the Football Manager series in FM18, the Mezzala role has been hugely popular. Drenched in historic tradition, the role offers dynamism and creativity in the middle of the pitch and gives managers tremendous tactical flexibility. 

However, while a Mezzala can carry out several different responsibilities within a midfield, it’s not often thought of as a team’s main creative force. In this blog, Rock’s End FM uses Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne to change that perception and show how you can build your attacking threats around the Mezzala. 

This article could, in all honesty, have just consisted of an image of Lionel Messi. However, that wouldn’t be all that helpful for encouraging all of you to use one of my favourite roles in Football Manager, the False Nine, more often.

In this blog, Ihor Crusadertsar outlines the key characteristics of an ideal False Nine before highlighting some FM23 formations geared towards maximising the False Nine's unique skillset.

The changes to the match engine in Football Manager 2023 have made it more important than ever to ensure that you’ve got the right balance in your midfield. 

One key defensive midfield role that’s been getting a lot of love recently is the Half Back. We’ve built a tactic around it with EFL side West Bromwich Albion, who have two natural Half Backs in Okay Yokuslu and Jake Livermore, to show you how best to play with the role in FM23.  

The Target Forward is one of FM22’s most specific roles. Almost like no other role in the game, a player’s suitability for it is largely determined by their Physical Attributes. This can make building tactics around the role a bit hit and miss but if you find a well-suited player and a system that gets the most out of their unique skillset, playing with a good Target Forward feels almost like using a cheat code. Ihor Crusadertsar explains how you can create a tactic to maximise Target Forwards in FM22.

The Central Midfielder (Attack) has been getting a lot of love from our community this year and that’s no surprise. It’s an industrious, versatile midfield role that adds another strong goalscoring threat to your starting lineup. Here we’ll show you how to build a successful team around that specific role in FM22. 

There's arguably no position more important in football than central midfield. It's extremely tough to win matches without controlling the middle of the pitch; therefore, it's imperative that your midfielders perform the correct duties to suit your tactic and dominate the opposition. 

A common way to do that is with the 'double pivot', a term used to describe two central players who sit at the base of the midfield to offer protection for the defence. Choosing the right roles to use in your double pivot will depend on what you want them to achieve, but there are several ways to use them successfully. On The Break FM explains how to get the most from a double pivot in FM22. 

Football formations are cyclical. When one system seems to be more effective than others it’s widely adopted, before another system comes in to take its place. Sooner or later the historical systems of old return to the surface again, albeit with some modern tweaks. 

Until recently, the back four was proving dominant but now it’s three-at-the-back systems (or back-five if you count the marauding wing-backs) that are becoming increasingly prevalent. It doesn’t take a brave Byline writer to predict that this trend will continue in Football Manager 2022. After all, the addition of the Wide Centre-Back role in FM22 makes a back-three system even more enticing and FM Grasshopper explains why that’s the case. 

This week's Wednesday Wisdom is brought to you by Ihor Crusadertsar of Dictate the Game who focuses on two underrated and under-utilised roles. 

At first glance both Pressing Forwards and Defensive Wingers might appear to be roles you would make use of in the dying moments of a game. Maybe you’d use them when you’re trying to preserve a fragile lead in a tight game, or competing as the underdog in a big match? Whatever the case, it would be very unusual to consider either role as the basis of your standard tactic or formation. However, appearances can be misleading. A different sport gave me the idea of mixing things up.

Guido Merry takes on the task of analysing the newly-introduced Inverted Winger to see what separates that role from other types of wide-men in FM20. 

This week's Wednesday Wisdom comes courtesy of @FM_Grasshopper and focuses on the role of the Enganche in FM19. It's a role that can sometimes be overlooked but could help get more out of your number 10.

This week’s Wednesday Wisdom is a debut piece from @DictateTheGame with a focus on the Libero. The defensive role is one that isn’t spoken about too often in the mainstream analysis of football, but its fundamentals are very much ingrained in the modern game.