Top Eleven Manager - Special abilities & what you need to know about them!

A lot of speculation has been going on about special abilities lately. Do they worth it this much? Bidding on players with special abilities can be catastrophic for your pool of tokens, considering you are a manager player like myself, without a fat wallet.

Lets take it step by step. Between a striker at 4 stars with "one on one" special ability and a striker at 5 stars without any, it is considered wiser to start bidding negotiations for the 5 stars player. Quality is valued over special abilities.

After this small prologue, time has come to analyze them, see what they are useful for and if they worth anything after all.
0 rating is bad, while 5 rating is perfect.



Penalty Stopper : 1 star rating
Saving the penalty does make the goalie man of the hour for sure, but is this a valuable ability ? Even if you got your eyes set on tournaments with extra time and penalty shootouts, I am afraid it is not. Any decent goalkeeper can save a penalty shot and any striker can miss target at penalty shootout.

Penalty Stopper counters Penalty Specialist


One on One Stopper : 2 stars rating
Not bad as an ability but same rule as above. Any decent goalie can humiliate a striker, even the ones with "one on one scorer" special ability. Spend your tokens and grab one if you want to, but it is considered an extravagant roster addition.

One on One Stopper counters One on One Scorer


Aerial Defender : 5 stars rating
Finally a special ability that is worth talking about. Such a defender  is able to control all aerial scenarios like indirect free kicks, corners and long passes. He may even score a few headers. A great ability for every manager that wants to create a solid defence. Stop reading this, take my advice and go grab one or more aerial defenders like right now.

Aerial Defender counters Corner specialist


Defensive Wall : 4 stars rating
This is an okay ability and comes quite handy if you have decided to go with hard tackling against your opponents. It is used to block long shots or direct free kicks.

Defensive Wall counters Free Kick Specialist and is also considered useful against Shadow Striker


Dribbler : 0 stars rating
This is probably the worst of all abilities to get. A dribbler is a midfielder or winger that dribbles. This is all and this is why he is  so undesirable by every logic manager there is out there.  Any player can pierce through enemy lines, dribbling so no thank you Nordeus, I am afraid we will have to pass on this.


Playmaker : 1 star rating
Again dont bother with it. His assists are insignificant and like dribbler, what a playmaker is credited for, is the same every common player does in game. He just passes the ball around.


Shadow Striker : 3 stars rating 
Good against any heavy fortified defense, these guys can shoot over long distance and score. Which ofcourse all your midfielders without a special ability are able to do. You get the irony, dont you?


Corner Specialist : 5 stars rating
Crossing is the spice of the game and spice must flow! These crossing specialists can deliver great corner assists for headers and in need can be assigned also as free kick takers, since they also excel at indirect free kicks. Best special attacking ability there is.


Free Kick Specialist: 4,5 stars rating
Second best special attacking ability. If you manage to buy a striker scout with it, it will better than taking penalty kicks. Why is it not at no.1 ??? because if you have another player with better crossing/shooting stats, he can be assigned to free kicks and you can save your precious tokens for another special ability.


Penalty Kick Specialist : 0 stars rating
Supposedly better accuracy for penalty kicks, that any player may score if he is lucky. Enough said, do not bother with it.


One on One Scorer : 4 stars rating
These specialists deliver, unless they do not deliver. In other words they dont always take the final shot. Instead they choose to overdo with teamplay and give a pass for another player to score. I know life gets so unfair sometimes and there is nothing you can do to make your ace striker not to pass the ball around. Despite this unpleasant fact, he is still a nice addition for every roster.




Epilogue - What to get ?
You may take nothing and still dominate every game you play, if you got a team with great quality backbone and your players have forgotten how to underperform. Thats right lads, these are just eye candies the game company threw on the table with a smart catch. You may buy scouts with 39-69 tokens, may get tokenless into bidding wars, or you may train these special abilities on your current players at the cost of lost quality, none of which worth the trouble.
You see everything comes at a price, so think twice before you go after such expensive toys. A good manager takes good care of his budget every day.

Now that everything has been explained fair and square, a few suggestions for the perfectionists.
When in the mood, get following abilities if possible: one or two aerial defenders, one defensive wall, one corner specialist, one free kick specialist and maybe a one on one scorer.

After you manage to get these specialists there will be fun times, but never forget to respect every opponent you play against and keep in your mind that managing brings success - not players and certainly not their special abilities.