Generalized scoring slump

Ok this is really weird...

I'm used to my strikers going through the mandatory dry spell, but it has always worked in an alternate pattern... so when A wasn't scoring B was and vice-versa...

Now I'm well into the new season (October) and the situation is getting worse every game...

My best striker has scored 3 in 6 league games, while all the others haven't found the net in a League game... and my Top Scorer is Schelotto (AMR) with an insane tally of 7 in 6.

It's odd, because I haven't changed the starting XI that much (Rodwell in, Essien/McCarthy out), the Match Preparation bars are almost full, the tactic is working fine in Champions League and Morale ranges from Good to Superb, no major issues...

Still it looks like the whole squad has been put together yesterday and they've never seen a football before...

Oh and the icing on the cake is this striker I just can't get to score or to play decently for us, no matter what I try.

I play is wide-direct 4-2-2-2 (with 2 MC, AMR/AMR, Poacher-TM), still this Mguni guy has been terrible as Target Man and as any other striker role... Time to sell him?

Really, there's no explaination for all my strikers to suddenly having lost their killer instinct AND for an apperently very good striker scoring as much as John Faxe Jensen?

Is it "my tactic" or another of those mysterious and unavoidable roadblocks FM puts in front of us for no apparent reason?

Id sell that guy, if you cannot get him to fit into your team it will be counter productive, especially if your struggling to score goals, you should be able to find a better striker than him, he isnt terrible obviously, but maybe he doesnt fit into your team. I would have used him as a more deep lying striker, maybe on a support job along side a striker with a killer instinct.

It's your tactics. It's very predictable and easy to get your forwards marked out of the game.

It's your tactics. It's very predictable and easy to get your forwards marked out of the game.

Oddly enough I can score 4 against AC Milan and Bayern but it's a struggle against the likes of Bolton and Stoke?

Id sell that guy, if you cannot get him to fit into your team it will be counter productive.

^^This

Have to agree with Milner, i would have sold him by now and looked for someone that will hopefully blend into the team better.

Not that i claim to know more about FM than the likes of Milner etc. I just think it's easier by far to find people that fit into the team...rather than trying to build a team around one guy as it were.

It's interesting to see that he's played & scored at international level this season.

Have you checked the set up for Zimbabwe National team, how much does their system differ from yours? It could be that your style just doesn't suit him, I don't think he's a poor player perhaps he's just not suited to the English game.

As a counterpoint to the usual "It's Yo' Tactics" chorus, it could be pressure or complacency.

Are you involved in the title picture? Your strikers may be buckling under the pressure. What are their personalities? Do they have good pressure-handling?

Are you on an extended unbeaten streak? Your strikers may simply be lacking the motivation to go for the kill. The pictured striker has a very mediocre Determination for a top flight forward, that would definitely make complacency issues more severe.

I can't believe that you're acting incredulous about players suddenly becoming inexplicably poor, and good STs not scoring when you're managing Chelsea - that's been the story of their season.

And Mguni's been at the club for two or three months, and you're deciding to sell him? Lots of players (IRL and in-game) take a whole season to settle.

As for his best use: he's very slow to be a poacher, since his off the ball is only good, and not great.

As a target man, are you playing it into his feet? He's not so great in the air that a decent CB can't shut him down- you'd want his jumping 2points higher- but he is very strong - if you give the ball into his feet, and set him to TTB often, then he can hold off challenges and put your other striker through on goal, or hit your wingers coming inside on a diagonal.

There's not really a creative Target Man option in the pre-set TC, but it's pretty much the most useful form of ST to have, at least in FM10.

He's a little slow for it, but given his agility, strength and dribbling, it might also be worth letting him also run with the ball often, perhaps in conjunction with lowering his mentality slightly- (once again, I'm basing this on FM10, but also on real life) there's nothing more lethal than a ST dropping off the CB slightly to sit deeper ("False 9" is the technical term, I believe), thus drawing the CB forward, and then successfully turning his man- he can charge into the gap the CB was meant to be shielding, or he can draw the other CB and then slip a through ball to his attacking partner.

Given that this guy has great passing, good long shots and decent finishing, he'll be ideal for running at a short-handed defence.

I have a player with similar stats doing it for me in my FM10 game- works a dream. He only reallygoes on a scoring drought, when he's being unselfish and passing in every two-on-one situation.

That said, if your two CMs sit deeper, which I assume they do, given your formation, then your ST could be competing with one or two defensive midfielders when he drops deep, as well as the CB- since you don't have an attacking central midfield presence to draw away markers.

FM doesn't put mysterious and unavoidable roadblocks in your way. If things go wrong, there's something you can do to fix it.

These changes might not be the ones that help you, but they're the kind of thing you should think about, rather than assuming that the game just feels like denying you. Watch half a match in "full match" mode, and try to see how your striker is getting shut out- is he marked out the game? Is he in space, but not getting the delivery? Is he getting the ball and doing useless stuff with it?

Of course, he could just be crap under pressure, or arrogantly complacent, or not a big-game player, and you'll have to sell- but give him a chance first.

FM doesn't put mysterious and unavoidable roadblocks in your way. If things go wrong, there's something you can do to fix it.

thats probably the best and most important thing anyone can read about this game.

To the extent that the game incorporates an element of randomness, there's no guarantee that any situation has a "fix." There are things you can do to improve your probability of success or to mitigate the impact of the (not so mysterious) hurdles that the game throws at you, but not every problem can simply be fixed.

which problem cannot be fixed?

For me, that guy is absolutely a deep lying forward and would fit beautifully into my team. In my setup, that position doesn't score many goals but does a lot of the grunt-work in terms of linking play between the midfield and my other striker & wingers.

For me, that guy is absolutely a deep lying forward and would fit beautifully into my team. In my setup, that position doesn't score many goals but does a lot of the grunt-work in terms of linking play between the midfield and my other striker & wingers.

This. My own set-up uses a deep-lying forward whose main role is to link the attack with the midfield, he has only 5 goals in 19 games but he also has 8 assists and 2 mom's (in neither of which he was a goalscorer...). The guy in the OP would fit right in, no question

Oddly enough I can score 4 against AC Milan and Bayern but it's a struggle against the likes of Bolton and Stoke?

It's harder to score against teams that play defending than teams that play attacking.