The false midfielder is its own position, where the player is neither classified as an attacker or midfielder
False midfielders mostly play in the front three, as a winger or “inside 10”. They don’t have the creativity and dribbling of a natural winger so rely on taking longshots and spamming low quality crosses.
It is instilled in a false midfielder to always play the safe pass, and they never attempt through balls to strikers. The only “risky” passes they attempt are crosses from outside the box on the wing.
Now why are they called a “false midfielder”? Because enthusiasts of these players run with the narrative that they are midfielders being played out of position, but actually they don’t excel when played in midfield.
The only midfield position they can play in is as an “attacking 8”. When they play in this position again they offer poor creativity and poor dribbling. They have poor positional awareness compared to natural 8s.
The only quality they may bring to the team is regaining possession, which is something that requires physicality not talent. Most of their passes are low risk and they don’t really advance the ball.