More Shots For Strikers

So, dominating the game for posession and getting plenty of chances, but none of them are for my striker, he gets maybe 1 or 2 a game which effects his match rating. He's just not getting the ball enough in goalscoring opportunities. He's a lone striker, the target man of the tactics and i'm playing through the middle. anything im missing?

What's he set as? How's your team setup?

Could be loads of reasons why he's not seeing much of the ball and/or not playing too well

I've alternated between poacher and complete forward. it's 4-5-1 controlling possession football. 2 wingers, playmakers in the middle with everyone set to no long shots and short passing.

As for the team, nothing is wrong, everyone is doing their jobs, its just that the striker isnt seeing enough of the ball in goal scoring opportunities.

the 4-5-1 is with a defensive midfielder.

Are the wingers in MR/ML or AMR/AML?

You've set your striker up high (poacher) but with short passing so it may be difficult to get him. Whats your mentality? How about depth?

Is your striker set to roaming? If he's up top alone then, in my view, he needs to move around and work hard to find space.

AMR/AML mentality is control 80% of time. pushed up as high up the pitch as physically possible and he's roaming.

When using a poacher in your team instructions set him as your target man with the "runs onto ball" instruction...then you should start seeing more through balls for him even if you're a dominant team...you can give the poacher default instructions which should work fine

you can also try picking one or two creative midfielders and give them more creative freedom

any experiment like this needs to be given a run of at least a dozen games or so in my opinion and you need to watch carefully to see how things change

With 1 up front against two CBs he need to have a role that allows him to drop deep occasionally to disturb the defence. I hate the poacher role with a passion. It's greedy, it roams out wide too much, it's basically not a poacher.

I agree with trying Target Man, but if he's being marked out of the game, you'll probably find you'll just lose the ball more.

Personally I'd go with a Support role for your forward, but make sure Run From Deep is on Often so that he still disturbs the back-line and gets in goal-scoring positions. If he's crap at through balls you might want to reduce his through balls to Mixed.

lower long shots for all players except striker

and maybe give roam to the players behind him or just to the striker

does ur striker have low work rate? he might be lazy then

With 1 up front against two CBs he need to have a role that allows him to drop deep occasionally to disturb the defence. I hate the poacher role with a passion. It's greedy, it roams out wide too much, it's basically not a poacher.

I agree with trying Target Man, but if he's being marked out of the game, you'll probably find you'll just lose the ball more.

Personally I'd go with a Support role for your forward, but make sure Run From Deep is on Often so that he still disturbs the back-line and gets in goal-scoring positions. If he's crap at through balls you might want to reduce his through balls to Mixed.

I like the DLF support role especially if the midfield is set up properly and you have a wide inside forward. As the DLF drops deep to come looking for the ball the defenders step up and follow him which leave a huge gap between fullback and DC for the inside forward to exploit.

The key to everything tactic related though is space and support. Some how you have to get your striker to either lose his marker or drag them wide/deep for the support to run onto. If you don't do either of these then the striker can't do much at all especially if he's a lone striker.

Still seriously struggling. Have set all my attacking midfielders to only support rather than go for goalscoring opportunities themselves, as I found that my wingers were getting more shots. Yet still my striker is getting 1 maybe 2 shots per game. In pre-season before I compete in premier league so I really wanna sort it before the season starts. Put an AMC in hoping he could create more chances but it's not working.

Is the rest of the tactic working well? i.e. even though the striker isn't getting many shots are your other players making up for it?

Does your striker suit the role that you are asking him to play?

The tactic is working well. Winning games and the goals are always coming from other players. My main striker is fast, strong and works hard to I alternate between poacher, targetman and complete forward depending on the opposition. In saying that, he scored a hat-trick against Chelsea in the first game of the season... so... I don't understand now, then scored 1 against Arsenal in the next game. Very confused. Only scores against the big teams!

Are the big teams defending against you with a higher line? It may be that your style of play is looking for the striker to get in behind and when you're playing the smaller teams they are happy to sit in deep and defend in numbers, thereby limiting your striker's space. Whereas the big teams will generally press more and hold a higher line in the belief that they are good enough to win the ball back. This leaves more space in their defensive zones for your striker to exploit.

Were there any trends in his goals against Chelsea and Arsenal?

Have you had a look on the analysis tab and see what the supply is like for the striker?

If he's only scoring against the big sides this tends to be an issue with breaking teams down and the supply to the striker. Against the big teams they'll attack you and be agressive in their own play so this leaves space and gaps for you to exploit and the striker will be given more time. Againts the lesser sides this becomes an issue as they don't attack you in the same ways. Plus if a team uses a DMC and cuts off the majority of the supply to the striker then he will struggle.

Pretty sure you just said what I did in a different way, Cleon

Pretty sure you just said what I did in a different way, Cleon

Analysis tab >>> all

Yeah I love the analysis tab, just hoping that there'll be additional items in FM13. If you haven't read it, Pompey_Dan's article on it should just be used as the blueprint for the next game http://theboydonegood.net/2012/04/23/fm12-improved-match-analysis-passes-received-passing-relationships/

Yeah I love the analysis tab, just hoping that there'll be additional items in FM13. If you haven't read it, Pompey_Dan's article on it should just be used as the blueprint for the next game http://theboydonegood.net/2012/04/23/fm12-improved-match-analysis-passes-received-passing-relationships/

Aye read it before. I know a few people who have pushed for further additions for past 2 years but don't know how successful that'll be. Fingers crossed eh?!!

I like the DLF support role especially if the midfield is set up properly and you have a wide inside forward. As the DLF drops deep to come looking for the ball the defenders step up and follow him which leave a huge gap between fullback and DC for the inside forward to exploit.

The key to everything tactic related though is space and support. Some how you have to get your striker to either lose his marker or drag them wide/deep for the support to run onto. If you don't do either of these then the striker can't do much at all especially if he's a lone striker.

I agree. It all depends on a) your system and b) your players.

It's great when you're having problems breaking a team down with a spearhead shaped attack to reverse it and punch holes in both sides of the defence

The tactic is working well. Winning games and the goals are always coming from other players. My main striker is fast, strong and works hard to I alternate between poacher, targetman and complete forward depending on the opposition. In saying that, he scored a hat-trick against Chelsea in the first game of the season... so... I don't understand now, then scored 1 against Arsenal in the next game. Very confused. Only scores against the big teams!

Sounds like you have him set up to play off the shoulder of the defence. This will always work better against the big teams as they'll defend higher and attack against you, giving him space behind to run into, control the pass, and work a shooting opportunity.

In fact, this thread is very similar to yours here http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/313737-Defensive-4-5-1-should-the-striker-be-target-man-or-poacher