In football, it's about being at the right place at the right time - and few players are better at that than a Segundo Volante.
One of several roles to be impacted by Football Manager 2024’s new positional play changes, the Segundo Volante can perform a range of duties, from long-range passes to darting runs and shots from distance.
In this guide, we’ll be taking an in-depth look into the role, what makes it so good, and how you can make the most of it in your latest FM24 career.
A DYNAMIC ROLE STEEPED IN HISTORY
Originating from the 4-2-4s that revolutionised football in the 1950s and 60s, the Segundo Volante was a player typically deployed as the more creative outlet in a midfield two alongside a defensive pivot.
In modern times, the Segundo Volante is still used as part of a double pivot, often in a 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2 or 3-5-2. Often paired with a pure ball-winner, the Segundo Volante will play a similar game to other defensive midfielders, focusing on recovery, holding their position and seeking to intercept misplaced passes or beat their man on individual duels.
However, the Segundo Volante has a more influential role in their team’s offence. Unlike a Regista or a Deep-Lying Playmaker, they don’t just influence games through passing. They also offer dynamic forward runs, attacking the box and offering passing options to their teammates with runs into space.
THE SEGUNDO VOLANTE ON THE TACTICS BOARD
The Segundo Volante is a role that can complement your attacking approach without leaving gaps behind. However, that also means that you need a very complete player for the role to be effective in your tactic.
It’s not a specialist role per se but a good Segundo Volante is someone who can recover the ball, pass over a variety of distances, move well with the ball at their feet, and also offer a goal threat. That means you’re looking for a good combination of the following Attributes: Marking, Tackling, Positioning, Teamwork, First Touch, Dribbling, Agility, Passing, Vision, Decisions, Anticipation, Off the Ball, and Stamina. Not every player will excel in all of those but if their strengths lie in a few of them, they’ll be able to influence matches across the whole pitch.
To illustrate what a great Segundo Volante looks like in FM24 and how to use one, I’ve started a save with Yokohama F. Marinos. Why them? Well, their defensive midfielder Takuya Kida meets many of the requirements I laid out above.
As you can see from his profile screenshot above, Kida is a well-rounded midfielder. However, as with all roles in a tactic, it will only be as effective as it’s allowed to be by the supporting roles you’ve chosen in the rest of the team.
Given that movement is such a big part of the Segundo Volante’s game, they need to understand how their teammates shuttle around the pitch. For example, with Kida starting his runs from deep and arriving late in the opposition penalty area, you’ll need players on their side of the pitch like Wingers and Wing-Backs that will stretch the game and give them the space to arrive into.
With that movement, that also means that you also need to think about the risk of turnovers and opposition counter-attacks. As such, you need Kida’s defensive midfield partner to be someone who will cover the gaps left by him pushing forward and serve as the team’s primary ball-winner – think about using an Anchorman or a Defensive Midfielder on a Defend duty.
Further forward, you’ll need an aggressive striker that will keep the defence on their toes. Having a player that stays high up the pitch will occupy the opposition's central defenders, meaning that Kida will have space in behind. To achieve this effect, your best options are to use a Poacher, Advanced Forward, or Complete Forward on an Attack duty.
Taking all of those considerations into account, let’s head to the Tactics board to see how we’ve got the Yokohama F. Marinos lining up.
Using a slightly modified version of the Fluid Counter-Attack tactical preset, I’ve got Kida as a Segundo Volante alongside Eduardo as a Defensive Midfielder.
On the left, we’re taking advantage of the coverage provided by Kota Watanabe by deploying Katsuya Nagato as an overlapping Full-Back with Yan Matheus as a Winger on a Support duty.
However, on the right we’ll use Football Manager 2024’s new positional play features to maximise Kida’s impact as a Segundo Volante. Here, we’ve got Ryuta Koike as an Inverted Wing-Back on Support and Elber as a more attacking Winger. When our team is in possession, Koike will move into defensive midfield alongside Eduardo, meaning that Kida can push up freely without worrying about us losing a player through the middle.
Up front, Anderson Lopes will keep the opposition defence on edge as an Advanced Forward, while Kota Mizunuma as an Attacking Midfielder on Support will provide a passing outlet for all our runners.
THE SEGUNDO VOLANTE ON THE PITCH
Everything that we’ve discussed so far is the theory. Now it’s time to see how it all works in practice on a Matchday.
Looking at the screenshot below, it’s clear that the tactical shape and role combinations we’re using are working out perfectly.
Elber is staying wide on the right, keeping his opposition full-back occupied, while Anderson Lopes’ holding of a central position means that the centre-backs are keeping tight to him instead of spreading out more evenly across the pitch. This means that Kida can burst forward into the space created, ready to receive a pass from Mizunuma. Kida’s movement is also, as you can see, being covered by Koike drifting in centrally.
In each match, this space allowed Kida to push forward and arrive late at the edge of the box as we were attacking. This puts him in good position to finish off any cutbacks or, as in the screenshot below, take long-range shots with a clear sight of goal.
The Pass Map included below from one of our league games shows that the Kida covers a lot of ground in the Segundo Volante role. He consistently keeps the ball moving, using the space around him to open up the play and demonstrate his great range of passing.
The below image, meanwhile, is the converse – it’s a demonstration of Kida’s received passes during a match. Here, you can again see his movement across the pitch and the fact that he’s consistently making himself available as a relief option when his teammates come under pressure in the midfield.
The Segundo Volante is a special role and one of my favourites in FM24. Starting from deep positions, Segundo Volantes offer a unique blend of defensive coverage, ball-carrying, long passes and a scoring threat. While not all teams will have someone suitably versatile, this example with Takuya Kida and Yokohama F. Marinos shows how they can influence matches. Give it a try in your latest career.
Happy managing,
Rock’s End FM
YFM Squad