Which striker role to use 4231

[Hoodmatty]

I am in the hunt for new striker and wondered what striker role is ideally suited to a 4231 I have winger on support and inside forward on attack with attacking midfielder on support. I have used a trequtista last few seasons on and off with my main striker over night going from natural as a complete forward to basically having it turn to red (very annyoying)

[phnompenhandy]

As always, it depends on the supporting cast. I'm also utilising Cleon's 4231 and have heavily tweaked it to try to get the best out of my squad, so I can only talk about my own rationale with Cleon's caveat that you can't impose my system on your squad and expect the same results.

I've started with a bunch of academy kids in the 8th tier - i.e. about as poor as squad as you can possibly have. Given that as individuals they are so weak I've opted for prioritising defending by outnumbering the opposition. To that end I have 6 players on defence duty and 4 on support.

 

Defend: Gk + 4  defenders + DM(d) or BWM(d) in the right DM position.

Support: the Segundo Volante, ML (winger), CM (s) and MR (winger) and the lone striker DLF.

You'll see I modified Cleon's 4231 to Very Deep to give as much support to my defence as possible. That leaves my lone striker somewhat exposed.

Therefore the precise role of the striker is very important; ONE of my strikers fits the role perfectly whereas my other three are hopeless.

Two are just useless full stop, but a third one is supposedly by far-and-away the best player in my squad, a targetman. Problem is he's be great if I had a bunch of Paul Scholesies behind him, but my tactic is to defend in numbers and counter-attack with long hopeful throughballs. This guy just stands there and watches the ball sail over his head. In sharp contrast is my small nippy striker who is quick and mobile - he can outsmart slow and lumbering defenders by getting to the ball first and heading for goal. His finishing is very poor compared to the targetman, but at least he gets plenty of chances whereas the targetman gets none. He's injury-prone and massively inconsistent (ratings can swing from 9.5 to 5.5 from game to game), but he's perfect when he's in the mood.

 

tl;dr - for my low-league counter-attacking very deep 4231 a mobile DLF(s) does the biz . 

 

[ajsr1982]

I agree with the above. If you're not sure, the DLF/S is a good generic starting point. Observe and tweak from there.