Silly Question: What the hell is a difference between a Centre Forward and a Stiker

I been plsying FM for ages, what I can never work out is:

What is the difference between FC and ST?

Does a ST score more goals?

Confused.

i would say its in their style of play tbh.. a cf is more likely to come and drop a bit deeper, and try and link up the play with his strike partner, whereas the sc is always ina nd around the oppositions box... for fc think Sheringham, Robbie Keane... for SC - Robbie Fowler, Torres...

This comes up quite a lot from time to time. The difference is in terms of the kind of players they are. Strikers are out and out goalscorers. Think Alan Shearer or Ruud van Nistelrooy. Forwards are more all-round footballers. They tend to link the play between the midfield and the attack and are more creative. Think Dennis Bergkamp or Wayne Rooney. Some forwards will still score plenty of goals, but many will be less prolific than a striker, for example.

Does a ST score more goals?

Confused.

The easiest way to sum it all up is, Alan Shearer was an old fashined centre forward, whereas Michael Owen is a striker and Thierry Henry is a forward. Which type scores more all depends on your style of play.

While Shearer and Owen are different in their play, I don't think it does any harm to lump them both in as strikers under the game's definition. They are more similar to each other than either of them are to Henry or Bergkamp or Rooney or Sheringham, for example, who would all qualify as forwards under the game's definition.

Mike7077, I agree, but I think the game should recognise someone like Shearer with a more all round game who will provide assists etc as a centre forward, goal poachers like Owen should be strikers and skillful players like Henry as forwards.

Does being a ST or a FC have a impact on the game though?

Tbh they should all just be classed as FC on the game and their attributes should determine whether they play as an out and out striker, a goal poacher or a forward.

I can't actually think of any difference between a FC and ST in the game. I mean, I know a FC would possibly have slightly different attributes to a ST in the game but does having the title FC make any difference to having the title ST? Or is it simply descriptive?

Does being a ST or a FC have a impact on the game though?

That's an odd question. I mean, they play in different ways. So the simple answer is yes.

I can't actually think of any difference between a FC and ST in the game. I mean, I know a FC would possibly have slightly different attributes to a ST in the game but does having the title FC make any difference to having the title ST? Or is it simply descriptive?

I'm not sure about strikers, but i'm pretty sure that if you took 2 players with nearly identical attributes and one was a DM and the other was an MC, they wouldn't play to their full potential in each others position. I find that DM's only play at their best when playing between defence and midfield, and MC's have to play in the middle of the park to get the best results.

I'm not sure about strikers, but i'm pretty sure that if you took 2 players with nearly identical attributes and one was a DM and the other was an MC, they wouldn't play to their full potential in each others position. I find that DM's only play at their best when playing between defence and midfield, and MC's have to play in the middle of the park to get the best results.

This is true but there is no diiferent position where you can play a striker compared to a FC, they both must play in the striker position to play to their full potential. So for that reason, bar different attributes, is there any difference between a ST and a FC in the game, or would it make any difference if all players were just called FC and only their attributes (as well as personality and all that) determined how they played?

FC in game can often be used as AM in a 2 man or 3 man attack, they generally have better creativity and passing, Strikers are there to well strike the ball, that being said how you use the stats is pretty much up to the user

IIRC in the game FC is just a striker with a high free role attribute.

^WHS. Free Role > = 15 => Striker becomes Forward

So if you have a forward give him a free role and he'll probably move into space more freely.

Cheers for that, makes sense now.

I always thought it was creativity, high creativity forwards are F, low creativity ones are ST.

Rooney who can create something out of nothing is am F while a poacher like Owen is a ST.

Nope. In the FM world it's solely the free-role rating.

I was thinking about this and I realised that there should actually be no debate. There is a definite answer to the question. All we need is for some nice person from SI to come along and tell us. After all, they make the game. They could tell us exactly why they label some players as forwards and others as strikers. Then we would know the answer for sure. We could disagree with their reasoning, but we'd still have our answer as to what the difference is.

We do know for sure. Absolutely definite. It's free-role. No SI intervention needed.

We do know for sure. Absolutely definite. It's free-role. No SI intervention needed.

And that's the only thing it comes down to?

And that's the only thing it comes down to?

I'm quite certain SI have confirmed this in the past anyway. And I would assume it's quite simple to check with the scout programs if anyone wants the definite proof.

Just use FM Modifier. The second you increase a player's free role to 15 or more a Striker then becomes a Forward.

That's news to me. I might want to give it a try to see what happens. I'm on a losing spree now anyway, so it can't hurt more than it does now :-D