Today’s player in question brings back some very sweet memories for me… He was once the captain of an Everton team that went from mid-table mediocrity, to Club World Champions in the space of 5 seasons. He formed a back 4 alongside Abdou Diallo (Al- Arabi), Valentino Lazaro (Torino) and Lucas Digne (once an Evertonian but now of Aston Villa), and these lot made my experience of playing extremely worthwhile! The game I am referring to was SM21, and I still believe that it is the best singular player mode game that I.S have produced, to date. But enough about me and my nostalgia, let’s get to the main reason why you’re here!
Lukas Klostermann is arguably one of the most versatile defenders playing at the highest level and has for quite a while now been a steady player who does a good job for his team no matter where he plays in the multiple roles that he is capable of filling in. He’s currently stamping his name on RB Leipzig as one of their most important players having been apart of the set up ever since he was 18 years old. While some utility players tend to lose their uniqueness having to play so many different positions, Lukas continually displays his Tactical IQ via adapting to each role like a duck easily adapting to water.
As always we seek to provide you lot with the best insight into who a player like Lukas actually is in terms of what he’ll provide to you on the pitch. Let’s see what the versatile German defender has in store for us, shall we Soccermanagerite?
SM24 ATTRIBUTES
Off the bat, we see a good representation of a player that brings some of his German technical ability, in addition to being a hard working leader who will do all he can for his team to get a proper result (according to SM24)…. I think we’ve gotta get “under the hood” and make some adjustments since we feel that there are some attributes that don’t showcase the type of player that Lukas actually is… So, let’s break this 💩 down!
TECHNICAL ATTRIBUTES
As expected, another German player who does his job well and understands what is needed from him… The technical aspects of Lukas’ game illustrates that he is a very good ‘Fullback‘ who also has a knack of getting on the ball and swinging in crosses from either deep or towards the byline if he was to be given a more advanced role (which we highly discourage, but whatever…). Errr, some of these attributes don’t really represent what Klostermann provides to a team, so we’re gonna have to spice things up a bit…
WHAT WE THINK
First off, having Klostermann as both a DR and a ‘Fullback’ is doing my former captain a huge disservice. As mentioned earlier, Lukas is one of the most versatile defensive players within the modern game who can easily play anywhere across the backline in addition to also being capable of playing as a ‘Wingback’ within a back 5 (albeit a more limited one, we should add’. So, we have chosen to change him to being a DC who is actually a ‘General Defender’ that epitomizes the role. As a matter of fact, I presume that SMW also agrees with this positional decision:
Speaking of positioning, Lukas has and will always be a proper defender with the caveat of being quite versatile, therefore the Positioning of a player of this calibre is extremely crucial due to the constant changes in the role he is being asked to play; since Lukas is actually a DC rather than being a DR, his Movement is slightly too high and needs to be decreased; as decent as Lukas is on the ball, he’s not an elite level crosser, so his Crossing is wayyy too generous; We’ve never actually seen Klostermann take a corner in our life, so a ’65’ attribute doesn’t really make that much sense…
PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES
For everything that Lukas provides in terms of being a decent defender as well as being effective with the ball at his feet, one of the aspects of his game that has effectively canceled out ever seeing him being formidable within a defensive duo is his limited physical capabilities. He’s a stonewall in a back 3, but things get tricky if you’re trynna instruct him to be defensively solid in a 2 (Well, unless you’re me, ofcourse… 😁). Nevertheless, we’ve still had to make some improvements because 🤬 me, Lukas has been done dirty!
WHAT WE THINK
MENTAL ATTRIBUTES
We end off with his mentality and so far within this season it has to be mentioned that I.S have gotten most of these mental attributes spot on. Lukas is the epitome of a good professional, so he won’t necessarily have mental attributes that stand out significantly, but at the same time won’t make him feel misplaced alongside slightly better players.
WHAT WE THINK
A player who goes under the radar and does his thing, it brings us joy to give Lukas his justice when it comes to his attributes. Personally, I haven’t managed him (on either singular player or SMW) ever since SM21, but the timing of this episode is spot on since I’ve thought up of a new system that I’ll be using for next season within SMW, and low and behold Lukas is on the top of my transfer list… 😈
The Soccermanager Experience 