My Big Fat GK can score more than your Big Fat GK (Blast from the past challenge).

I have just done the calculations and Canini is hitting the net every 4.6 games at international level but at club level it stretches to every 6.4 matches.

At this rate, if he plays 60 games a year in both club and international he could average around 11 goals a season.

I am going to have to start playing him in every match as he has recently been hitting around 6-8.

Canini has just struck his 50th league goal, to put him on a total of 77 at both club and international level.

I see you are throwing your FM16 into the fray

1 in 36 - I assume he only recently became an option for the penalties / freekicks?

I see you are throwing your FM16 into the fray

1 in 36 - I assume he only recently became an option for the penalties / freekicks?

I haven't yet trusted him with free-kicks, (but as nobody else has scored one anyway, I might just throw caution to the wind).

Believe it or not we only had 1 pen awarded all season.

It's better this season though as he has scored 2 in 13. (It's still a long way away from 20 goals a season).

Wow, only 1 in an entire season? Must be an anomaly or your team never got into the box

I am away for the weekend, so may not get the chance to do my World Cup until next week, but I am hoping for Canini to pick up a few penalty chances. I always seem to get a few in major competitions I have noticed.

A better return from Season 2 despite a slightly poorer team showing. We still haven't scored a direct free-kick in 3 seasons so towards the end of the season I alos gave him permission to take them. He is still going up for corners and we have still only conceded 1 goal in 3 seasons as a result of this, but srt-piece routines are being reviewed in the close-season.

still working through the kinks though, so i's imagine, once you sort it out, you will get decent returns.

3 is not too shabby and I have had similar results with Canini before he started firing.

I have just conceded 2 goals in the same game as a result of my GK going up for corners.

I think we can safely say that the trial is over, it wasn't a success and draw a line under it.

I gave it a damn good go though.

It is only three times in 3 seasons?

It may be worth only attempting if you have taken a lead in the game already

It is only three times in 3 seasons?

It may be worth only attempting if you have taken a lead in the game already

3 times in almost 4 seasons now.

I can#t keep doing it though. The reason they scored these 2 goals was because of the marker of my player who offered a short option. If I removed the short option I could do it, but I don't want to dispense with that for the time being.

If I decide to get rid of the short option then the GK may make a reappearance.

Fair enough. Have you had any better results from set pieces with the short option though?

I know you have said previously you haven't had as much luck thus far with corners and free kicks.

Fair enough. Have you had any better results from set pieces with the short option though?

I know you have said previously you haven't had as much luck thus far with corners and free kicks.

It's still a work in process.

I will probably give it a full season and see how we get on. Promising start though.

Rogerio Ceni has retired on 131 goals, (24 goals behind Lucio).

He had a great career.

I don't foresee any keeper getting near that total for a long time, if ever.

In the virtual world though, Canini has 83 and is 27 years of age.

I accepted long ago that the only things capable of stopping Canini overtaking Lucio were a corrupt save-game and your early death. If the former doesn't happen, then the latter can of course be arranged.

I must admit that the only reason that I haven't deleted FM14 is the continued progress of Canini. If he looks like outstripping Lucio, then I might just have to crank up FM14 and Lucio again.

Haha, I have a few backups of the save file, as I have had the corruption issue in the past.

You must remember that Lucio has done all his at Club level, which Canini won't beat or even come close to I feel. In that regard, Lucio is the master class.

I am lucky that I got a decent SM keeper who I could take advantage of as I wish

I will definitely join this challenge at some point (probably after final patch), I think my Red Bull Brasil save will be perfect long term, as Brazilian leagues are famous for eccentric goalkeepers and for having one million games each season! Seems like a perfect combination, though it will be very hard to come close to some results I've seen here.

Maybe if I could make my keeper do this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhmLE5bejKk

That was a fun goal. They were down 2-1 I assume as the final score was 3-1, and they pressed everyone up in search for an equalizer.... could happen

I will definitely join this challenge at some point (probably after final patch), I think my Red Bull Brasil save will be perfect long term, as Brazilian leagues are famous for eccentric goalkeepers and for having one million games each season! Seems like a perfect combination, though it will be very hard to come close to some results I've seen here.

Maybe if I could make my keeper do this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhmLE5bejKk

I love stuff like this.

Thanks.

I'm in 2022 now with my FM16 San Marino save and as usual I have been trying to get my GK to score. He has been doing... well ok is probably the best that I can describe. We are struggling so not winning many pens, and he has only scored 8 goals in 225 appearances, (a goal every 28 games).

All 8 goals have either been penalties, and I think there was 1 freak goal from a direct free kick from miles out that was just missed by everyone. He hasn't scored a proper direct free-kick in all that time, (he wasn't always selected as the taker), and surprisingly nether have the opposition, (in 7 years).

My 1st choice GK MMG (SMR/ARG) has just got injured so I have just stuck a 16yo (SMR) GK in for his debut. I obviously set him for pens and also added him as free-kick taker too.

12 minutes into his debut, the 16yo did this, (with a free-kick attribute of...... 5), did this.

[video=youtube;7lCJdQfCMBA]

very nice. Will you be putting more faith in him now that he has scored so young?

It would seem rude not to.

[video=youtube;UbOSwAmZxVc]

This is a pretty poor goal for the GK to concede and it got me wondering as to why GK's seem more able to score than outfield players when you look at their abilities at actually taking the free-kicks. My first impression, (and long-held view), is that opposition GK's are caught off guard by an opposition GK taking the free-kicks and this affects their ability to save them. This doesn't explain though why a GK can dispatch one with pin-point accuracy into the top corner, where as an outfield player with better attributes can't.

Something that this particular goal reminded me of however is that it creates an extra man and forces the AI to defend differently than would usually be the case. What I mean is that we are set up in the following way.

We have 2 players back, (marking 1 opposition attacker).

We have 1 man lurking, (marked by 1 opposition player).

We have 1 player who should be standing with taker, (I think), but is a little deeper, (and he has attracted the attention of a 2nd attacker who might otherwise be up against one of my 2 defenders).

We have 6 player in the box, (marked by 5 players).

Then we have the GK himself taking the free-kick.

Because we have 6 attackers in the box, the GK has opted to have only a 2-man wall. He would probably had 3 here with another taker, and possibly even 4, but by committing so many players forward, (and by the GK creating an extra man), it means that he can't really have more than 2 without causing the team problems in other areas. That allows the GK to get the ball past the wall with power, when it might not have been possible with a 3rd or even 4th man in the wall.

From the defending GK's point of view, the wall is covering the left hand side of the goal as we look, (except it isn't because there are only 2 men in the wall), and the GK himself is covering the right hand side of the goal as we look. Although the shot goes in centrally and of course the GK should save it, I wonder if this is having an impact on AI GK decision making.

Thoughts from anyone else who has scored GK free-kicks in FM16?

very nice. Will you be putting more faith in him now that he has scored so young?

Yes. I have stuck with him and although the senior GK is fit again now, he's not an awful lot better in terms of CA and Giovagnoli, (about to be re-nick-named Gio), has MUCH more PA so it seems that it would be silly not to stick with him just so long as he doesn't cause us to be relegated.

That is an interesting observation and one that I have also noted even back on FM14.

Here is the last Free Kick Canini scored.

Note I have an extra man in the box, as well as there only being one man in the wall. I beat him on the inside but was close enough to get the ball on the near post, so the keeper wasn't able to cover it and get across in time.

As a result, Canini has almost as many goals from free kicks as he does penalties.

It would seem rude not to.

[video=youtube;UbOSwAmZxVc]

This is a pretty poor goal for the GK to concede and it got me wondering as to why GK's seem more able to score than outfield players when you look at their abilities at actually taking the free-kicks. My first impression, (and long-held view), is that opposition GK's are caught off guard by an opposition GK taking the free-kicks and this affects their ability to save them. This doesn't explain though why a GK can dispatch one with pin-point accuracy into the top corner, where as an outfield player with better attributes can't.

Something that this particular goal reminded me of however is that it creates an extra man and forces the AI to defend differently than would usually be the case. What I mean is that we are set up in the following way.

We have 2 players back, (marking 1 opposition attacker).

We have 1 man lurking, (marked by 1 opposition player).

We have 1 player who should be standing with taker, (I think), but is a little deeper, (and he has attracted the attention of a 2nd attacker who might otherwise be up against one of my 2 defenders).

We have 6 player in the box, (marked by 5 players).

Then we have the GK himself taking the free-kick.

Because we have 6 attackers in the box, the GK has opted to have only a 2-man wall. He would probably had 3 here with another taker, and possibly even 4, but by committing so many players forward, (and by the GK creating an extra man), it means that he can't really have more than 2 without causing the team problems in other areas. That allows the GK to get the ball past the wall with power, when it might not have been possible with a 3rd or even 4th man in the wall.

From the defending GK's point of view, the wall is covering the left hand side of the goal as we look, (except it isn't because there are only 2 men in the wall), and the GK himself is covering the right hand side of the goal as we look. Although the shot goes in centrally and of course the GK should save it, I wonder if this is having an impact on AI GK decision making.

Thoughts from anyone else who has scored GK free-kicks in FM16?

This is very interesting and will definitely pay more attention to this once I find a decent GK/FK taker. There are a few possible transfer targets but most of them are quite old (Lucchetti, Saja and Campagnaro come to mind), I want a 16 years old regen to feel more of a connection with the player - and to have a chance to beat your record of course

One thing I noticed is the keepers shown here seem to have below averages attributes for free kicks (and even worse for PK) and yet they seem to be very prolific, so I guess my question is couldn't you find a GK with higher specific attributes and be even more successful? and now I wonder if those attributes even make that much of a difference???

I'm having a hard time scoring free kicks even with outfield players in FM16 (Giovinco of Toronto FC is the only one that showed consistency, i.e. a couple of FK goals per season) maybe the GK is the key...

This is a Playlist of all of Gio's free-kicks, (3 so far).

I'm not going to bother recording pens.

The first was a beauty! What is his total so far?

I have been working hard on my set-piece instructions over the course of this save and I think it is paying dividends.

We are the only club in the whole of Lega Pro Girone B, (that's Serie C/B to the uninformed), who have scored more than 1 direct free kick this season.

Gio scored 1, and then after the recent update, (and before I reloaded for the 1st time), we scored a direct free kick that was taken by one of our midfielders when Gio was on the pitch and should have taken in.

Taking into account that we have our GK's taking them, (and their free-kick attributes are.... 5, 5 & 4), I find this a little surprising. The midfielder that scored the goal that he shouldn't even have taken has a free kick attribute of 7. It's not the best in the team, but it is the best of those who regularly start matches. With that in mind, what is it about us that allows us to do so well, (comparatively speaking of course).

Just for the record.... nobody scored more than 1 DFK in Serie C/C, and only 1 team scored more than 1 DFK in Serie C/A, (and they scored 3). That's interesting too so I went and had a look at who they had taking them..... (As it turns out they have an AMC who has a free-kick attribute of between 13-19, Flair 16-20, Long Shots 9-13, Technique 16-20 and Composure 11-15). That's FAR too good for this level and of course he is an experienced Professional player who has played previously in Serie A.

Just for the record, Parma & Spezia have both scored 4x DFK's in Serie B and Juve smashed in a whopping 6 in Serie A, (they have a (BRA) AMC newgen who looks phenomenal and I am guessing is the reason for their DFK success.

Found about this corner kick routine via Strikerless.com (all credit to original author THEFMVETERAN) http://linkis.com/wordpress.com/1tHg8

basically it is built to provide long shots chances for a player lurking outside the area, with several other players staying back. Haven't tried this yet, but looks very interesting and maybe could be a good option for goalscoring keepers, giving them consistent shooting opportunities from corner kicks while providing decent cover at the back.

feel free to try

Has the "Free Kick Taking" attribute been removed from Goalkeepers in FM16? I can't seem to see it on any attribute pages for GKs. Is it now taken into account as part of "Kicking"?

Has the "Free Kick Taking" attribute been removed from Goalkeepers in FM16? I can't seem to see it on any attribute pages for GKs. Is it now taken into account as part of "Kicking"?

It's still there but is hidden.

Go to set-piece instructions and GK's free-kick attributes will appear.

Has the "Free Kick Taking" attribute been removed from Goalkeepers in FM16? I can't seem to see it on any attribute pages for GKs. Is it now taken into account as part of "Kicking"?

you can also find it in the 'profile' page.

btw, I can't seem to find regen keepers with decent penalties attributes, I see lots of great FK rating (around 15) no luck with the PK though. I want to join this challenge badly but waiting for the perfect candidate to pop up and dominate scoring charts for 20 years

you can also find it in the 'profile' page.

btw, I can't seem to find regen keepers with decent penalties attributes, I see lots of great FK rating (around 15) no luck with the PK though. I want to join this challenge badly but waiting for the perfect candidate to pop up and domiatae scoring charts for 20 years

Thanks, I was looking in the wrong place!

you can also find it in the 'profile' page.

btw, I can't seem to find regen keepers with decent penalties attributes, I see lots of great FK rating (around 15) no luck with the PK though. I want to join this challenge badly but waiting for the perfect candidate to pop up and domiatae scoring charts for 20 years

I tend to not worry to much about GK attributes for pens and free-kicks. The system is pretty flawed anyway.but my teenage GK has scored more free-kicks than outfield players with FAR better attributes. No idea why,

I tend to not worry to much about GK attributes for pens and free-kicks. The system is pretty flawed anyway.but my teenage GK has scored more free-kicks than outfield players with FAR better attributes. No idea why,

yeah reading about your past experiences I figured this was the case. Have you found other attributes to be more decisive for PK or FK? Maybe composure or decisions or flair? For some reason I'd still be a bit uncomfortable having a keeper taking penalties with a attribute of 1 hahaha

yeah reading about your past experiences I figured this was the case. Have you found other attributes to be more decisive for PK or FK? Maybe composure or decisions or flair? For some reason I'd still be a bit uncomfortable having a keeper taking penalties with a attribute of 1 hahaha

In 8 seasons I have scored from 1 DFK on FM16 so Im not sure it matters at all. I feel far more uncomfortable with my GK 70 yards away from where he should be

In 8 seasons I have scored from 1 DFK on FM16 so Im not sure it matters at all. I feel far more uncomfortable with my GK 70 yards away from where he should be

Seems to me there are players who can score from DFK and others who just cannot, and it's not necessarily related to the specific attribute. In FM16 only Giovinco has been prolific from DFK for me, he does have a 16 for free kicks I think, though I've used many players with higher FK attributes who could spend years without scoring a single goal.

The 'shoots free kicks with power' PPM seems to help a bit, unfortunately GK's can't be trained to learn that (they can learn to attempt long range free kicks though). Right now my regular penalty kick takers are also missing lots of penalties (like four in a row), might as well have my GK missing them...

EDIT: keepers can actually learn the 'shoots free kicks with power' PPM, and my regular outfield penalty takers with 15+ attribute have missed 6 of last 7 penalties...

Is this something worth noting in the bugs forum?

I know that scoring from free kicks is not all that high, but only 1 in 8 years is a bit of an extreme, no? I would think there would be an average of a couple a season at a minimum, or am I being unreasonable?

Here are some interesting reads too

http://www.pinnaclesports.com/en/betting-articles/soccer/how-valuable-are-direct-free-kicks

This one in particular states the average in the EPL over 5 seasons: "There are also 2,300 Direct Free Kicks (DFK) converted at an average of 1 in 15 (6.6%). Conversion rate varies from a high of 8.5% in 2009/10 to a low of 5.2% in 2011/12"

http://statsbomb.com/2013/10/premier-league-shot-benchmarks/

Something wrong with DFK definitely, though I'm sure there are players who can consistently score from DFK in FM. The most frustrating thing is that we don't have the tools to identify bona fide free kicks specialists, as clearly the 'free kicks' attributes alone doesn't make much difference. Maybe we could identify a few effective FK takers in the game and check them in the editor to see if there's a pattern (might be hidden attributes I don't know).

I'm not making videos of penalties, but my GK now has a few free kicks.

[video=youtube;7lCJdQfCMBA]

[video=youtube;UbOSwAmZxVc]

[video=youtube;8s9h_Q6jFFA]

[video=youtube;edJhwnZQveM]

4 free-kicks and 11 career goals in total.

If we weren't so rubbish, he might have a chance to score many more.

A 5th free-kick and a 9th penalty, (in the same game), brings teenager Gio to 14 career goals with the 1st brace of goals of his professional career.

[video=youtube;IpGGwzUtaYM]

Amazing Jimbo!

Unfortunately my own teenage GK has missed three penalties in three attempts between official matches and friendlies

But he can now do this http://imgur.com/rmdhup0 and has scored two DFK in 5 games in the U20 league since then... I think that PPM could really make some difference, though I think it can be taught to a GK only if he has an attribute of 15 or higher for FK - like Silvio!

Gio scores his 15th career goal with his 6th goal of the season, (a penalty), and also hits the post with a free-kick in the same game.

Gio makes it 7 for the season, (he's our joint top scorer), with the 6th free-kick of his career and his 16th goal in total. (He's still only 19).

[video=youtube;n701uBjQUqs]

2 assists from indirect free-kicks in the last game of the season, (assists #3 & #4 for the season for Gio), secure us the title.

[video=youtube;dUj0GwxvwGU]

[video=youtube;4p8AR0Grld0]

He looks to be hitting his stride, maybe it just takes time for players to settle into their ability.

Goal-scoring GK (22c) Gio (SMR) (F.Det) is picked in the Serie C/B Tea, of the Year.