Ever had a Torres connendrum?

So your star striker is all out of luck in front of goal. Do you keep picking him, do you try him as an impact sub, or do you bite the bullet and get rid?

I went back to an old save this morning in which I've taken Farnborough into the Championship. I signed a young striker who was just incredible in his first year, but he can't hit a barn door in his second. I have other options, but when he's good he's one of the best players in the league. As a result, I'm trying to keep him in the side. However, I have a 16 year old who's not quite as good, but is certainly going to be his natural successor. When he plays, he invariably scores. Coupled with this, the stuttering striker has big clubs sniffing around him, which is why he started struggling in the first place.

What would you do?

(out of sorts player is the first of the images below)

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he is 19.. dont expect a 19 year old to consistently score.. give him some time and rest him a bit also (which will give the 16 year old some playing time)

I'd give him 1-2 seasons more to prove himself.. if he keeps missing the target, consider bringing in a new striker, but let the 19 year old get a match here and there..

I don't think I'll have him for another 2 seasons, fella. With all of the big 4 knocking on the door for him, I'd be stunned if he's here in May. Even so, it's a tough question for the season ahead.

Having said that, the very next game after I started this thread he scored, so who knows?

As the previous poster said, young players will be inconsistant, that's just how it is. Strikers don't really hit proper consistancy until they turn 22/23.

If I have a striker going through a bad patch I'll normally select them for 3 or 4 games to see if they improve, if not then check to see if they're getting assists. If the assists are there I'm okay with them not scoring. However, if there's no assists, no goals and poor match ratings I'll normally "have a word", or perhaps issue a 1 week fine if there is an especially poor performances (under 6.0). If the player reacts badly to the fine or private chat he'll be dropped and it'll be up to him to prove himself coming off the bench before he's selected again. That's assuming his replacement isn't doing well. I've had more than one instance where a striker has gone off the boil, the replacement has played really well and so the original misfiring striker has ended up sold.

Bought a promising Bulgarian player for my dutch first division side. He managed to score a hattrick in his first match and never again! After he was unsettled and wanted to spend a few weeks in Bulgaria I had made up my mind and he was gone at the end of the season.

Now picked up a very promising youngster (had contracts on the table from the likes of Arsenal, Benfica and Milan but he very surprisingly chose for regular football) who has yet to find the net. Will not even consider selling him for another 2 seasons though, I just need to figure out what makes him fire.

i just keep playing them despite there bad form. They dont become poor players over night.

I would use your no. 10 as a deep lying forward and your 16 year old as poacher. It seems you're only using one striker, though, but that's what I would do (I never had much success with only one striker). And then I would get a veteran striker with good personality and determination to tutor the youngest striker - he looks like he has lots of potential.

I would use your no. 10 as a deep lying forward and your 16 year old as poacher. It seems you're only using one striker, though, but that's what I would do (I never had much success with only one striker). And then I would get a veteran striker with good personality and determination to tutor the youngest striker - he looks like he has lots of potential.

No, I do play two strikers, but these two are too similar to play together in my opinion. Also, with them both being left footed there's not the right balance to play together, either. These two are fighting for the "poacher" role, whilst my other is more of a bustling target man type, which wouldn't suit either of these.

Decent advice about the deep lying striker, but it wouldn't quite suit the balance of my side as I play an attacking midfielder in a trequartista role. Having a deep lying striker as well would leave the hole a little congested.

As the previous poster said, young players will be inconsistant, that's just how it is. Strikers don't really hit proper consistancy until they turn 22/23.

If I have a striker going through a bad patch I'll normally select them for 3 or 4 games to see if they improve, if not then check to see if they're getting assists. If the assists are there I'm okay with them not scoring. However, if there's no assists, no goals and poor match ratings I'll normally "have a word", or perhaps issue a 1 week fine if there is an especially poor performances (under 6.0). If the player reacts badly to the fine or private chat he'll be dropped and it'll be up to him to prove himself coming off the bench before he's selected again. That's assuming his replacement isn't doing well. I've had more than one instance where a striker has gone off the boil, the replacement has played really well and so the original misfiring striker has ended up sold.

Yeah, you're probably right. I guess I was just lucky last season where he scored 26 goals, and his 18 year old strike partner scored 22! We did get promoted too, and the defences are much better in the Championship than they are in LG1.

I think youngsters thrive on confidence, and when their morale drops it has a bigger impact on their ability to score than it would have on an older, more experienced player. I reckon you should persevere, if he's got the potential to be a good player he's worth keeping around and should find the odd goal, even if he isn't as prolific as the previous season.

I think youngsters thrive on confidence, and when their morale drops it has a bigger impact on their ability to score than it would have on an older, more experienced player. I reckon you should persevere, if he's got the potential to be a good player he's worth keeping around and should find the odd goal, even if he isn't as prolific as the previous season.

Well, all my coaches think he'll become a "good Premier League striker", which is good news at a club like Farnborough. The youngster though is predicted to be even better, hence why it will cost me £500,000 to sign him after add ons...

And yes, confidence is massive for any player, but perhaps it is more important for youngsters. I'm in the bottom half this season in the Championship, and not flying at the top of League One, so straight away over all squad morale is lower.

Had a problem with my regen striker recently dropping in form. I just dropped him to my subs and gave my backup striker a chance. Actually worked out well, the backup went on to score 12 goals and when his form dropped and brought back the regen who came back into form... well at least for a few weeks.

Personally, I would play the 16 year old for a few games. He is in form, and I actually think stats-wise he is very nearly as good as your 19 year old - physically he is stronger (which seems to account for a lot with the current match engine). Key stats like finishing, anticipation and composure are all there or there abouts, and its clear from his stat increases and coach reports that he has bags of potential - so with a bit of first team experience his mental stats will shoot up as well.

As long as you aren't in risk of relegation, and you are aiming for mid table obscurity for this season, it would be an ideal time to develop him as there is not much riding on where you finish - and maybe by next season he will already become your first choice striker. He will turn 17 in a month too (based on your screenshots) so get him on a proper training schedule and he will be flying. Thats just me though, I like to give youngsters a chance as soon as possible.

I would look at your contract situation. A player who scored 26 goals one season but doesn't get an improved contract and is not one of your better paid players will revolt, especially if you have signed new young players in same position. Think about it. I had a similar situation with a first team guy who scored heavily one year. The next season a promising guy got too old for the youths and so occupied the bench. My 1st team guy wouldn't score, wouldn't even move well, checked the contracts and he was on $100 less than the bench guy. I sold the bench guy cause he wasn't going to crack the team and don't like having young bench players and bought another ready made striker (who I had sold previously when he couldn't crack the 1st team as 20yo). The original 1st team striker became bench striker and third best paid (but still good). Now playing as thrid choice striker and he has currently scored 5gls in 4 continental games (starts them all) and 3gls in 8 substutute appearances in the league - so back in good form in my book!

Danroy - when comparing the younger to the established... Balance is way better = + but off the ball is worse = - and can't see technique or to a lesser extent workrate and teamwork. Acceleration is way better = + especially on short grounds. Heading appears to be worse but with good balance the youngster will probably score from all free headers, just not win many contests. I am perplexed as to why both strikers are such good crossers and corner takers seems like they are almost better wingers.

True their stats do lend themselves to wide play, and in all fairness they are slightly different types of striker really - Hutchinson is bigger and less mobile, but better in the air and with his passing / creativity he can hold the ball up and bring others into play. McDonald is a smaller, more nimble player with higher balance, agility, strength and flair - so he could maybe get the ball down and run with it more. He does have more goals and less assists compared to Hutchinson, which suggests that is the case.

To be honest I just see McDonald being better than Hutchinson by the time he is 19, and since he seems to be the player on form anyway I would use the opportunity to develop him early on.

Cheers for the advice, lads.

I've now offered him a new contract, making him the joint top earner at the club. Hopefully that'll have some boost to his current mental state and he'll go on a scoring run. I'm conscious I can't pick McDonald every week at the moment, both because of his age, and because there's another £150,000 due to Hibernian when he plays another 12 games, which I can't quite afford yet.

As for the comparison, the figures you can't see all go Hutchinson's way, although both are steadily improving. And I find the crossing ability is a bonus in the roles they play, as both of them regularly get down the line and put a cross in for my target man. Considering I don't play wingers, it's quite useful!

Being a fan of Countdown I can assure you the connendrum consists of 9 letters, and most words describing Torres only have 4...

Although if you want a 9 - Overactor.