Getting an excellent dribbling technician to dribble more often

How does this skill work exactly? I got a wonderkid striker with 18 dribbling, good agility, pace and acceleration. Now he's even better and has 19 dribbling. I see him get on the ball, face a defender, do that match engine shuffle he does, and get dispossessed. I'm thinking, yeah ok, they're good defenders, 16-17 tackling and whatnot, although he should still be able to make short work of them. But then I played some lower ranked clubs, and he was still losing the ball maybe 90% of the time. I check their marking and tackling and it's horrid. Shouldn't he just be wading through these defenses? How does dribbling work in the match engine?

Description as per the online manual:

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[TD]Dribbling[/TD]

[TD]This refers to the player’s ability to run with the ball and manipulate it under close control. This is purely his proficiency with the ball at his feet – his Pace, Acceleration, Agility, and Balance will all aid his dribbling in different circumstances, and whilst a higher Dribbling attribute will also help him in different situations, Dribbling alone isn’t enough to get by.[/TD]

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http://www.footballmanager.com/manual/fm2016/players/player-attributes/technical

In addition all the natural talent in the world can be rendered useless if the player is lacking between the ears.

What are his mental attributes such as decisions & composure? What do your coaches say about his hidden mental attributes?

He's scoring goals, yes. He's performing really well. I'm not at all complaining. But I'm just wondering, since all his goals have been assisted or loose balls (which is great also) but I also often see him receive the ball just outside the opposition's box, and wonder why can't he get past one or two of these horrible defenders and smash it home. I wouldn't mind if he missed even; I just want him to do what his stats apparently say he can do.

If there is any other page in his profile you need to see, please tell me which.

As you're after help getting him to behave in a particular way this is probably best moved to the tactics section, would be a good idea to post details of your tactic & how you are using this player in that tactic as you could be limiting him through your instructions.

It could be a number of things really... his low acceleration is a problem for sure.. might also be the role you have him in?

As you're after help getting him to behave in a particular way this is probably best moved to the tactics section, would be a good idea to post details of your tactic & how you are using this player in that tactic as you could be limiting him through your instructions.

Will you be moving the topi or should I create a new one there?

Formation is 4-3-2-1 (DM). Fluid and attacking. He's playing as an advanced forward, no PI. I got "run at defence" selected.

Already moved & made a change to the thread title.

Personally I do not think an AF will have much space to use their dribbling ability unless you're playing a quick break counter system, think about where he's getting the ball & what you might need to change in his role & the team structure to see him have a greater influence on matches with his dribbling ability.

Any ppms? There are some that affect dribbling. An advanced forward will rarely have the bonus to have acceleration space for a start when he picks up the ball. He's always spearheading the lines visibly, hovering on the shoulder of the last defender. Conversely to say a false nine, who's by default encouraged to "dribble more often" too, but I found this can often lead to cul-de-sacs, where the F9 if played as a lone forward and nobody near him picks up the ball deeper, makes a dribble but is then forced to shoot from outside the area as there's no one to pass to and he comes up against a block of defenders... How does he compare in his dribblings p. game stat to other players? Don't think he will compete against somebody played on the wings there, obviously. But that's always a decent starting point. Additionally you can check in the match analysis if and where he at all dribbles, all incidents are marked as such.

Previously didn'T have any problems with wonder dribblers whatsoever, in particular against weak opponents, they'd do multiple dribblings each match even if you isolated them completely from play though as others pointed out this guy doesn't really excel in terms of pace which is part and parcel for dribblings. I think anybody can tell stories about Hazard and co. being almost invincible previously.

Just noted the guy is averaging 6 dribbles per game which is excellent.

Will you be moving the topi or should I create a new one there?

Formation is 4-3-2-1 (DM). Fluid and attacking. He's playing as an advanced forward, no PI. I got "run at defence" selected.

He has 6 dribbles already, that's an excellent return. Maybe you're being unrealistic in what you want? However to give you food for thought on improving it........

As you use an advanced forward which pushes the striker high up the pitch, add to this attacking mentality which pushes him even more further forward, then he really doesn't have much dribbling to do does he? I mean, where is he supposed to dribble when he's the most advanced person in the team and space is limited? This is why you probably see him do the shuffle he does because he has no options and can't really dribble anywhere because he's you're central striker and really advanced.

Then on top of all that, his attributes don't really allow him to excel as much as his dribbling stat suggests he can. He has low technique, low pace, low workrate, teamwork, vision, anticipation, bravery etc and these will all handicap him in certain situations when he has the opportunity to dribble.

He has the technical ability to dribble but his mentals and physicals don't really match it yet and when this happens technical ability is wasted. Mental strength allows the technical side to shine.

Just noted the guy is averaging 6 dribbles per game which is excellent.

Edit: Should also add that from a data point of view a dribble in FM & irl is only recorded when the player in possession beats a defender attempting to dispossess them, a player could take the ball 60 yards up field & although playground rules will call that dribbling as far as the statistics are concerned it isn't so I would also suggest that the OP watches a couple of full matches to see what the player is actually doing when they have the ball at their feet.

Definition taken from OPTA, FM will use similar or identical guidelines

Dribbles/Take-ons

This is an attempt by a player to beat an opponent in possession of the ball. A successful dribble means the player beats the defender while retaining possession, unsuccessful ones are where the dribbler is tackled, Opta also log attempted dribbles where the player overruns the ball.

http://optasports.com/news-area/blog-optas-event-definitions.aspx

Remember though that FM doesn't always follow what OPTA says or their definitions so be wary when applying what Barside says above to anything else other than dribbles.

Fair point & one I should have made, they should provide a reasonable approximation until SI publish their own list of definitions.

Perhaps you misunderstood me. I want him to dribble in certain situations. Below is a screenshot of a game with a different striker since the one in question is injured, but he too does the same thing. His pace and acceleration are off the charts, head and shoulders above Kjaer's. In this situation he simply took a shot, of course hitting a defender for one zillionth time and putting me at risk of a counter. Why didn't he dribble to the left into that empty space. Kjaer can't catch him. Or maybe it would even be better if he went right. I have had a lot of different strikers throughout this save, and they simply shoot at the defender.

How do I instruct a player to push through the defence and into the penalty box? What role and mentality do I set? Do I train some moves? Tactically I've tried many things: PI on shoot less often, work ball into the box, dribble more and it results in the striker passing it back or holding up play in which case a defender gets to him and dispossesses him.

As mentioned before, I very much feel his acceleration lets him down in regards taking on players.

However, I feel a great role for him if you train his quickness is the F9. I've set up a similar role for my Striker where he picks it up from deep and starts running at the center backs. I use a 4-1-2-2-1 (DM, 2Cms, AMR, AML, ST). Both my CMs are on support, which allows my striker more space to pick the ball up in central positions and encourages him to run due to lack of other options (I have an inside forward for some sort of option, just in case).

He does take the odd wasteful shot now and again, but I'm happy with the results. Sometimes even a simple thing such as a poor "Decisions" attribute can end up in your striker taking wasteful shots or running into poor areas.

Of course, PPMs would help too. "Run with the ball through the middle" and "Knocks ball past opponent" come to mind.

Perhaps you misunderstood me. I want him to dribble in certain situations. Below is a screenshot of a game with a different striker since the one in question is injured, but he too does the same thing. His pace and acceleration are off the charts, head and shoulders above Kjaer's. In this situation he simply took a shot, of course hitting a defender for one zillionth time and putting me at risk of a counter. Why didn't he dribble to the left into that empty space. Kjaer can't catch him. Or maybe it would even be better if he went right. I have had a lot of different strikers throughout this save, and they simply shoot at the defender.

How do I instruct a player to push through the defence and into the penalty box? What role and mentality do I set? Do I train some moves? Tactically I've tried many things: PI on shoot less often, work ball into the box, dribble more and it results in the striker passing it back or holding up play in which case a defender gets to him and dispossesses him.

If you want to encourage more creativity on the ball, use Very Fluid + Be More Expressive.

In any case, keep in mind that the ME doesn't do a full representation of players being put under pressure, so while the visual representation may look like a player could easily cut through a trio of passive defenders, his composure, aggression, balance, etc. are still likely being tested in a 1v3 which will, in turn, affect his already mediocre Decisions, Vision and Technique.

Here's another situation. Brandt is passing to Roberts. Just look at how beautifully it is all set up.

Roberts is on the ball. Mehmet's heart is jumping to his throat.

Roberts shoots and misses. His left foot is weak since he can only use his right.

If you look at the second screenshot, Roberts could've cut a bit to the left, tricked Mehmet and sharply switched direction to the right and shoot at the far post with his favoured foot all the while the keeper is marking the opposite post resulting in a very high scoring chance.

Video highlight>Pictures, can be difficult to visualise what has & is about to happen from a still image.

Also what about the times he does take a player on or create space for a better shooting angle, is there a risk that you're focusing on the times he makes what hindsight shows was the wrong decision? Remember that when watching a real game it is all too common to see a player make the wrong decision. Late on in Leicester's match against Southampton Vardy had an obvious pass to his outside that would have created a clear cut chance & he should have seen it but he moved laterally inside with the ball & straight into a cul-de-sac, basically players often make the wrong decision because they only have a fraction of a second to make that decision.