What to do when players just WILL NOT score?

[mutonz]

Afternoon,

Sorry to barge in the tactic forums but I believe that managing players is also part of making great tactics and...well..I'm hitting my head against the wall.

I've been managing a lower league team for 5 years (Rouen, French national) and after some fighting, I've managed to up it to 6th position last season, all was going well. Since the newest season started, the team is just melting away because nobody will score...EVER.

During pre-season, two things happenned:

- My old striker was sold out by the board (impossible to pass offer) and fans started to bash me for it (which left me ****ed off!).

- The owner announced that he wanted to retire (AFTER selling my striker).

I bought an apparently quite nice striker to fill the gap, very professional, and he just will NOT score nor will anybody else!

After 15 games in the season, I'm WAY last with no win and some draws. I scored 3 times in 15 games, two from corner flukes and one penalty...and the owner is still trying to retire and 3 offers were refused.

I've had an average of 5-15 shots a game (same as previous seasons) but none will go in. They are either completely off target (I mean WAY OFF, like 90° angle while on penalty box alone, etc) and most just bounce from the posts (I had 7 posts from 5 different guys shooting in one game!) or be so weak that the goal picked them up while drinking some tea with the other hand.

After the first few games, I tried altering my tactic a bit to try and get some finishing..nada.

I tried putting my strikers on reserve to regain a bit of confidence..nada.

I tried to go back to the basics of possession playing..nada.

I tried full head on collision course long shots...nada.

Now my team morale is completely screwed up. My super goalie is down the drain and can't get it up during games..my defense is more alike ballet dancers than stoppers...

In short...the team is hurting!

I have 3 weeks without games to turn this team around (christmas break) and I'm thinking about buying tons of players (I've been quite tight so far and got a nice budget leftover) but I'm not sure that it'll change anything.

I'm open to comments and opinions regarding this situation. Have you ever faced such despair in a team and do you have any idea how to turn this around?

Cheers

[gameover]

nvm wrong topic

[j88_ftm]

This is a bit like a problem I'm having at the moment... well, kinda. I posted a thread about it on the general forum, but I'm thinking I should have put it on here. Basically my Ajax team are hopelessly wasteful in front of goal - I dominate the majority of games but can't make it count thanks to embarrassingly bad finishing, and often end up losing or drawing games I should be winning. As a result, I'm sat mid-table despite having one of the best squads in the league. I know I have good players so it's probably my tactics that are wrong. I'm afraid I don't have any answers as yet, but if I work anything out I'll post it on here. Or perhaps someone else can offer some pointers?

[lam]

If he is an okay striker, drop him to the reserves for a week or so.... ensure that there are at least three games in which he can play.

He may find his scoring boots.

This is just one soloution, the others are more based around his tactics and his skills.

LAM

[j88_ftm]

Right, I seem to have sorted out my problem with this (albeit for it to be replaced by another problem, but that's a different story). What I did was to modify my formation to a slightly more defensive one. Sounds a bit counter-intuitive, but bear with me. Before, I was playing a 4-3-1-2, with a fairly high defensive line, and tactics set to either Control or Attack. Now, I've started playing a 4-4-2 with the two central midfielders nudged back into defensive midfield positions (one set to Defensive Midfield, Support, and one set to Anchorman, Defend). The defensive line sits deeper as well, and I'm using the standard tactical approach.

The effect this has had is that I'm a lot more solid defensively, which takes the pressure off the forwards to score so many. Plus, as I'm not flooding the opposition's box, they aren't so inclined to have everyone sit back and play on the break.

As I said above, I realise my problem isn't exactly the same as yours, but give what I've said a try... you never know, it might just work.

[Paggioram]

The other option would be to play around with the strikers roles. I had a striker with really good stats for the league I was in and set him as a Poacher with attacking. He did not score but when I changed him to a deep lying forward with support he scored 21 goals in 32 games.

For me you do not need to change your formation that should really be the last thing you do in my opinion look at what the player is doing first.

I say this because I have found with FM 10 it is not bring in players to fit your formation and tactics but build your formation and tactics around your players. I know alot of people will disagree with this statement but it is the way I have found it.

[daryn]

I had a similar experience in my Luton save last night but as soon as I changed the creative freedom from "expressive" to "disciplined" it really helped and I started to manufacture quite a few good clear cut chances and take them. Perhaps you are asking you players (strikers) to play with too much freedom.......

Hope it helps

[Sleepydude]

If your whole teams morale is screwed up and you have the time you can always arrange a friendly against your reserve or U18 team, that should help.

Also don't forget to use the player interaction to criticize bad form.

Average form = around 7.0 then "form is acceptable"

form = around 6.5 then "sub-par"

form = around 6.0 then "disappointed with form" etc.

And if a player has a match rating below 5.9 or so I give him an official warning. If it's below 5.0 I might fine him too.