As someone who is a prestigious Manchester City fan, it brings me an abundance of joy to know that SM has finally decided to give the treble winners their flowers by giving an upgrade in rating to some of the more important players within our 22/23 season. To start things off, we’re taking a look at the man who was granted the opportunity to lift the 3 trophies that placed Manchester City into legendary folklore, and is also considered a very underrated player throughout his entire career, the German baller and now former Manchester City cult hero, Ilkay Gundogan.
Ever since Ilkay was a young’n, he was blessed with the technical ability which allowed him to stand out like a sore thumb, so much so that he was signed by Borussia Dortmund back in May 2011 as an all action Midfielder who possessed the ability to dribble past players for fun. If you ever saw him under Klopp you’d know that he used to be compared to the likes of Moussa Dembele (former Totenham and Belguim Midfielder) for his ability to simply ghost past players like they were not there, as well as being very press resistant. He improved his reputation at Dortmund so highly that he eventually became Pep Guardiola’s first ever signing as Manchester City’s boss and it was under Pep’s tutelage that we got to see the phenomenon that Ilkay has become in terms of his tactical versatility. I’m sooo pumped to get into his profile as a midfielder!!!
PLAYER BIO
Standing at only 5’10”, Ilkay is someone who literally packs a punch despite his physical appearance since he is really strong and sturdy and has good aerial abilities despite his height. He is also one of those players who actually has the ability on both feet to the point where it may seem that he is ambidextrous
BEST ATTRIBUTES WITHIN SM23
Ilkay’s attributes are a true representation of what you can expect from him while he is playing within your X1. He is a true tactically, versatile midfield player who is very good at a lot of things. Despite all of this praise, there is still some attributes that are incorrect (in my opinion), and these are his ‘Movement’ and ‘Penalty’ (No need for me to say anything else about these 2 if you’ve been watching him play for the last 2 or 3 seasons) .
BEST ROLES
Here is where we get into the fun stuff as Ilkay is one of the rare players whom I like to call a ‘Tactical Unicorn’ in that he has the intelligence to play in multiple different roles with his playing style completely changing based on where you decide to play him. This is one of the reasons why I believe that he actually does not have a preffered role and simply adapts to wherever you decide to play him and who you choose to play besides himIlkay started his career as a ‘Box to Box’ Midfielder, operating up and down the pitch similar to a Fede Valverde and has never lost his ability of playing in this manner; He’s also developed his creative game so much so that that he’s now capable of playing as a lone ‘D.L.P’, but with some disadvantages seeing that this is probably his least effective roleIlkay is more than capable of operating as one of your double pivot, and his tactical versatility makes it easier for you to identify who the best teammates should be next to him and how you will choose to play him The following role is a throwback from a few years ago when managers would play their most attack minded M(C) as a No.10 in order to free him up to get into goal scoring opportunities ( Think Lampard, Gerrard, Modric, Kroos etc). Gundo fits this mole quite well and will be all about making those late runs into the box if given this role. We’ve also seen Gundo’s ability to operate as a ‘Floating Advanced Playmaker’ who roams around to make himself a nuisance (especially in between the lines). But ofcourse, it all depends on how you choose to play him In a formation like the following one, Ilkay gets to display his movement and attacking instincts to at a very high level
HOW TO BEST USE HIM
Ilkay just might be the first and only player within the entirety of SMW who doesn’t actually have one specific role that he thrives off (which is why he was such a key player for Pep Guardiola, and also why I consider him a ‘Tactical Unicorn’). So, as long as you have the right players beside him, you will get some good stuff whether he’s your ‘D.L.P’, ‘P.M’, ‘F.A.P’, or ‘B.2.B’
WHO ARE THE BEST TEAMATES?
Now then, let’s get into how and why Ilkay is such a Tactical Unicorn:
If you want Ilkay as the man within your midfield to get up and down, making late runs into the box, while impacting your box while defending, all you’ll have to do is play him with some creative players who will do most of the ball progressing, and play a ‘Target Man’ like F(C) upfront who will be a very important player for Ilkay, who absolutely loves making runs off a player who occupies multiple Defenders (which is why I proclaimed that his ‘Movement’ should’ve been at least 90) In a double pivot, Ilkay’s partner will determine how you actually want him to play. If you pair him with a more defensive minded ‘BW.M’ then it means you want him to operate as your ‘Playmaker’, while if you choose to pair him with a creative and orchestrative ‘D.L.P’, then he will take up the role as your ‘Box to Box’ Midifielder making those decisive off the ball runs and impacting both boxes I don’t advise playing Ilkay as your ‘D.L.P’, but I know some of yous are going to want to test your tactical capabilities, so you’ll need a lot of legs and reinforcement around him in order to ensure that Gundo does not get caught out defensively since he’s not the best defender out there. Therefore, you’ll have to ensure that he has a lof of energetic and defensively astute players around him both infront and at the back of his deeper position If you want to keep Ilkay playing in his “best” role, then the following will be ideal since Ilkay is all about being a creative spark wether on or off the ball… This is the one position that you’ll rarely see managers use within SMW since they don’t like the sight of a M(C) Operating where more attack minded players tend to play. But, like with every other world class player within season 7, if you get the right players around Gundo, he WILL absolutely thrive within this advanced role in a similar way to how Lampard used to be one of the best goal scoring midfielders whilst he was still playing
Lastly, if you choose to play Ilkay even further up the pitch and within a back 3 formation then it is advised that you link him up with another ‘F.A.P’ whose on the same wave length tactically while playing with a creative player in the centere of the park who will take up majority of the responsibility when it comes to chance creation, and, most importantly, play a ‘Target Man’ up front whom Ilaky and his ‘F.A.P’ in crime will be able to make intelligent runs off of.
I make no apologies for the following set of episodes having a lot my interest since I’ll be talking about my team. So, get ready for another treble winer to enter into the stratosphere of a proper SMW world class break down! 😉 ✌️
The Soccermanager Experience 