Philipp Lahm
Face: Skin colour 1
Head height -2
Head width -2
Type 60
Colour 1 - 2
Colour 2 - Black 2
Hairstyle: Type - Special 94
Colour - 12
Facial hair: Type - 35
Colour - 12
Boots: Adidias Predator absolute TRX - Gold/Black
Physique: Height 170cm
Weight 62kg
Neck length -1
Neck width 0
Shoulder height -2
Shoulder width -2
Chest measurement -1
Waist circumference -1
Arm circumference -3
Leg circumference -1
Calf circumference -1
Leg length -1
Accesories: Always long sleeves
Tucked in shirt
Probably one of the players who has shone most at the World Cup, and by his performances you can see how he has improved over his last season or two.
Full back style - One of the most attacking inclined full backs there is at the moment. He simply loves to get forward, and either carry it towards the byline or cut inside and cross or shoot. So his attack defence ratio is balanced more towards attack. 75 for attack and 66 for defence mean that he is going to push up his position and give that position we see him adopt in real life. To achieve that attacking presence he has, his aggression had to be spot on, and with the value of 84 thats exactly as it is. He is always looking to push up and help out the attack. This also leads to him being caught cold sometimes on a fast break, something which happens quite often in real life. You can see how we have achieved these features by adjusting these three values. Another important lesson regarding stat BALANCE.
Quick and nippy - Something which often goes hand in hand with attacking full backs is an abundance of pace, and this is certainly true of Philipp Lahm. Both 88 for top speed and acceleration are values which greatly portrays his pace, and in game you will see him flying down the wing. This pace also aids him to get back from attacking positions quickly, but the problem is sometimes he gets himself into such high positions he cant get back quick enough!
Another blessing is that he is a slippy player and can twist and turn all over the place and really wrong foot players. So a value of 89 for his agility is going to mean he is devilishly nippy and can give players the run around. Has got some spring in his legs as well, and a jump value of 75 is just right. All these values make him a very unpredictable character, and when you see him come across bigger full backs, they will have their work cut out!:laugh:
Delivery - We often see full backs required to make crosses in to the box now, allowing wingers more freedom. So what about Philipp Lahm? He does have good crossing, and he can whip some nice balls into the box (76 and 77 for the two long pass stats show this), but there are several issues regarding his crossing and how he implements it. Being a right footed player often deployed on the left side of the pitch, we often see the tendancy to cut inside on to his favoured foot. What is unusual about Philipp Lahm, and something we have discussed recently on Evo-Web, is that he has a good weak foot, and is more than capable of delivering good crosses with it. What is unusual though, is that he doesnt use it that often. This may be down to simply not being confident, but we can see from his stats that ingame he is going to look to get on to his right foot most of the time.
But like I said, he isnt always looking to get the cross in, and I think that is something I think he can definitely improve on. He needs to develop his decision making so he knows WHEN to dribble at players and WHEN to deliver a no nonsense cross. We are going to notice these factors ingame now, as he has the dribbling star, so he always inclined to run at players instead of whipping that ball in.
Good feet - Philipp has a great touch and a few tricks in his bag aswell, and so he has that high rating of 80 for technique. Again, he IS competent with both of his feet, but for some reason he doesnt really use it that often. Finally a high dribble accuracy of 81 demonstrates how he keeps the ball nice and under control He is a great technical player, and this coupled with his dribbling and agility mean he is mighty hard to defend against.
So in conclusion, a great future prospect, and a lovely little full back, but my final point to you is what position should he be played in. Personally I think he would be better utilised as a side midfielder, as his physical build isnt quite good enough to be entirely comfortable in a full back position. We would also see his pace and agility even more, and it would certainly out defenders on the back foot. So I have finished this post now, but people feel free to discuss what his best position is.
