crusadertsar Posted June 21, 2019 Share Posted June 21, 2019 This first appeared on Dictatethegame.com. If you wish to see it in its original format and with higher quality pictures then you can always check out the link. But I'm reposting my article here to hopefully generate some discussion about a one of my favourite roles since Football Manager 2014, shadow striker. Are they as effective in FM19 as they were in previous versions and what are some tips that can lead them to become top goalscorers. Please drop your thoughts and comments below on Dictatethegame twitter page. Last year I started to cover the more exotic player roles that have been added to Football Manager series over the years. Some of the roles I highlighted, like Raumdeuter, Regista and Trequartista, have been the staples of the game for years. While Pressing Forward and Wide Targetman have only been added in the recent entries. In that respect the Shadow Striker role is not new. It was one of the original roles from 2013 when Football Manager did its biggest tactical revamp by getting rid of the old slider system and introducing the ubiquitous player roles and duties. So while it is a role that has been around for a while, I think it deserves to be celebrated for its shear usefulness. Unlike some of the other exotic roles, a Shadow Striker can be utilized in any tactical system and competition level in FM19. So what makes it such a universal attacking role? Arsenal’s Dennis Bergkamp (right), jumps to control the ball in midair as Newcastle United’s Andy O’Brien (right) looks on dumbfounded. Dennis Bergkamp famously labeled himself as a shadow striker in his autobiography “Stillness and Speed: My Story”. Incidentally although stillness and speed are both excellent words to describe the hunter’s instincts required for this enigmatic role, Bergkamp was not the first or even the greatest shadow striker to grace the beautiful game. That title should probably go to the one and only, Pele. Bend it like Pele For any football fan, no explanation is needed for Pele or what made him into a world phenomenon. Today, his name alone has come to symbolize greatness, unrivaled athleticism, grace and flair. Pele is footballing as an art-form. Likewise Pele has come to embody the whole of Brazilian ginga football style. But before he became the Brazilian ginga master of the unexpected, Pele mastered the shadow arts. The Brazilian managed to score 1281 goals, more than any striker in history, while operating mostly from the attacking midfield position and not the traditional striker role. How? Ponta de Lança: Legacy of The Great One Artist’s representation of Santo’s formation during 1960s, courtesy of the excellent Imortais do futebol(unfortunately only in Portuguese). Note Pele’s withdrawn position on the field. The origins of Pele’s unique attacking style was as much a product of the contemporary Brazilian footballing culture as well as his own personal touch. All through Pele’s reign, from his Santos debut in 1956 until his move to New York in 1975, Brazilian football has been influenced by one formation. In Brazil, for over four decades almost every team played some form of 4-2-4 both domestically and internationally. At least on paper it was 4-2-4 but in reality Brazilians ran this formation as a very modern 4-2-3-1. A formation that has become very popular in Europe in the recent decades and revolutionized English football in the early 2000s, was widely used in Brazil some seventy years ago. And Pele was its king. To understand how Pele’s Santos played its 4-2-4 (aka 4-2-3-1), one needs a quick crash course in Brazilian footballing terms so please bear with me. It should only take as long Pele scoring a goal. Pele’s position, called the ponta de lança (translating from Portuguese as “spearhead”), was essential because players who played there were usually the team’s primary goalscorers. As the team’s “spearhead”, Pele not only had the important job of going forward to play off of the centre forward and score goals but also to drop back to help the midfield duo of médio-volante (defensive midfielder) and meia-armador (midfield playmaker). In Santos’ formation, the team’s main playmaker and the player mainly responsible for playmaking was the meia-armador. Despite being designated as the team’s primary goalscorer, the spearhead was actually positioned on the field well behind the three other forwards: primarily left winger (ponta-esquerda), centroavante (centre forward) and the ponta-direita (right winger). Although Pele occupied the position of an attacking midfielder, he was very aggressive in attack, moving forward to play beside and sometimes beyond the striker. He did not act like a typical supporting Number 10 but rather was what Football Manager describes as a Shadow Striker. According to the in-game description, “shadow striker operates as one of the team’s main goalscoring threats. Usually coupled with another forward in support, the shadow striker aggressively pushes up into goalscoring positions as the ball moves into the final third.” How to use Shadow Striker Effectively: FM Example Modern football matches are starting to look more like chess matches, as managers try to outdo each other with tactical ruse and gambit. In many ways the modern game of football has become a complex game of deception and tactical feints. When an effective low defensive block is used, a stronger side will need to work hard to gain open space or any kind of numerical advantage on the field that is already compressed by the opposition. Increasingly, winning matches has become more challenging for the favourite than for the underdog. It is no different in FM virtual environment. When trying to trick the opponent, top managers such as Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp have thrived on the use of intentional overloads and highly specialized roles such as the inverted wingbacks and central wingers. So it is not surprising that the use of a false nine and false ten combination is as relevant today as it was seventy years ago. Even before you set up any of the other roles or team instructions, the false ten, aka the shadow striker, will always need a false nine partner to operate effectively (I use the false nine moniker here in a general sense and not as the specific role in the game). Meaning you will need to partner your shadow striker with a player (not necessarily a striker, will explain this later) playing in the forward position in front him. Any strong (physically and mentally), relatively creative player will do. It is recommended that he be somewhat tall, with good jumping reach in order to receive passes and hold up the ball effectively. Yet, you do not want to use a Targetman role. To get the most out of a shadow striker I am looking to play a patient calculated game of feint and riposte and not direct counter-attacks. I will want to draw the opponent into the trap with my central forward in order for my ponta de lança to strike when the gap in their defensive line opens up. To use a military analogy; using a False10/False9 combo is akin to doing a feint and riposte in fencing. You want to draw your opponent in with an opening feint (False9) to your exposed side and then while they overextended themselves, strike their exposed side with a riposte (Flase10). Thus the centre forward’s role will vary depending on the attributes. If you have a very creative, highly technical player than an actual False Nine role will be ideal but for most teams a deep-lying forward will work wonders. Unsurprisingly, having a great pairing of a Shadow Striker and Deeplying-Forward (DLF) will make or break any tactic that relies on a shadow forward for goals. The two need to absolutely have good chemistry together by having attributes that complement their separate tasks well. Continuing with the Fiorentina example from my last Overloads article, I will use Giovanni Simeone as the DLF and Federico Chiesa as his Shadow Striker partner. The fact that I can use Chiesa to demonstrate two different roles like this not only shows the amazing versatility of the Viola wonderkid but also shows how similar raumdeuter and shadow striker are in their attribute requirements as well as in how they operate on the field. Where Simeone is a great example of a supporting DLF due to his strong mental and physical attributes, Chiesa is known for being technical, hardworking player with an uncanny knack for finding open space (great off the ball). He is most comfortable with the ball at his feet as he is a pacey dribbler with good technique, despite his slender build and a low centre of gravity. They complement each other in how Simeone draws defenders with the perceived threat of his aggressive physicality, holds up the ball and then, while the defenders are out of position, passes it to one of the other two inside forwards or to Chiesa. In this situation, high Off the Ball and Anticipation are key for him as they will help to get into a scoring position behind the opponent defence line that was disrupted by his DLF partner. Once you have your DLF/Shadow Striker pair sorted out, the rest of the roles should fall easily into place since they are all chosen with the goal of complementing the striker pair. They are there to create space and movement around your False10 and False9. For example, in my 4-2-3-1 system, the fullbacks play a key role in stretching the opponent horizontally, drawing the defenders and opposing fullbacks to the flanks while leaving open half-spaces for the shadow striker to exploit in the middle of the field. As my DLF compresses their defensive line vertically, even more space should be liberated between the opposing defenders and fullbacks. With at least two wingbacks (one fullback making a late run into final third) and the central striker all occupying 3-4 opposing players, my shadow striker will be left relatively unmarked. From there he will either shoot on goal or try to bring the two inside forwards into play with a pass. I like to give him playmaker instructions to take more risks and pass directly. The “Play one-twos” trait can also come in handy here, especially if it is also present in the other three attackers. Above is what my Brazilian-style 4-2-3-1 will look like in its defensive positioning. In attack it will essentially act like a 4-2-4 with Pele role, the shadow striker, pushing ahead of the DLF to act as the secondary striker. I think that starting with this shape is ideally suited for my needs as it allows for a lot of dynamic movement from the four attackers and the two wingbacks. The movement comes from the combinations of the two inside forwards tucking inside, centre forward dropping back, attacking midfielder running the half-spaces and the wingbacks bombing forward. In contrast, I want my central midfielders and the two defender to act as a solid defensive block in front of our goal, supporting the front four with passes while mostly keeping to their defensive shape. The only other individual instruction I use is “stay narrower” on the left inside forward. I am not a fan of using a lot of Team Instructions but the ones I do include are all there to create a more possession-heavy, patient build up approach. Postscript: Looking for Mr.Right On a closing note, I would like to stress the importance of looking at the player’s attributes when choosing the candidates for the deeplying forward and shadow striker roles rather than his natural position. The following two players are far from natural in either role (one is even a defensive midfielder) but nevertheless should perform very well in my tactic. Marin Pongracic is a rare beast in that his attributes suggest that he could play as a strong supporting striker. His exceptional passing range combined with physical attributes make him into a sort of poor man’s Edin Dzeko. On the other hand while Gonzalo Higuain’s poacher’s eye for goal is well known, few will realize that playing him in an attacking midfield position with the supporting striker in front of him, will make him even more dangerous. Few players at the start of the game possess as many high values in the key shadow striker attributes as Gonzalo does. They are only two recommendation out hundreds that you can probably find on your own in the game’s extensive player database. But they will hopefully inspire you in your own experimentation and in finding that next top goalscorer of the season. In the end, this article turned out more theoretical than analytical due to time constraints. I do hope to revisit the 4-2-3-1 tactic I showcased here in the near future either with Fiorentina or perhaps another Premier League team. Has this shape worked for you and how do you use it? Thanks for reading and let us know your thoughts @ Dictate The Game’s Facebook and Dictate The Game’s Twitter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikelfc8 Posted June 22, 2019 Share Posted June 22, 2019 Great stuff. Really well thought out and articulated. Very similar to the journey I am currently on with Mane (ss) and Firmino (f9). The really interesting part is identifying a couple of hot prospects and moulding them into a similar pair to be backups, then rotations and ultimately, replacements. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusadertsar Posted June 22, 2019 Author Share Posted June 22, 2019 1 hour ago, mikelfc8 said: Great stuff. Really well thought out and articulated. Very similar to the journey I am currently on with Mane (ss) and Firmino (f9). The really interesting part is identifying a couple of hot prospects and moulding them into a similar pair to be backups, then rotations and ultimately, replacements. Thank you mate. I appreciate the feedback. I'm just curious why you are not using Mo Salah? Mane is a great choice for Shadow Striker but in my opinion Mo is even better one. When I filtered the best attributes for the role in my experiment save looking for candidates Salah was one of the first to come up. Is he still in your squad? I assumed you are playing with Liverpool. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikelfc8 Posted June 22, 2019 Share Posted June 22, 2019 You're spot on, Salah is even better. At the moment I have a good young prospect who can cover Mane's IF role on the left and Salah is really dangerous in his IF role on the right with attack duty. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CARRERA Posted June 22, 2019 Share Posted June 22, 2019 would be interested if you had a try with a SS and CF(s) and how it worked out. And how does an AM(a) vary from SS as he also tries to get into scoring positions. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusadertsar Posted June 23, 2019 Author Share Posted June 23, 2019 3 hours ago, CARRERA said: would be interested if you had a try with a SS and CF(s) and how it worked out. And how does an AM(a) vary from SS as he also tries to get into scoring positions. SS and CF(s) could work very well especially if CF has "comes deep to get ball" trait. I'm thinking Kane and Dele Alli partnership would work well with those roles. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlatanera Posted June 23, 2019 Share Posted June 23, 2019 I had fun with SS and DLF-Su with all the CF PIs except "dribble more", (Reus as SS, Götze who has no pace so didn't want to dribble as DLF), and this was back when the movement was still terrible, so I'd imagine SS-CF could work quite well. I trained Götze with "Comes Deep To Get Ball" too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Experienced Defender Posted June 23, 2019 Share Posted June 23, 2019 10 hours ago, crusadertsar said: SS and CF(s) could work very well especially if CF has "comes deep to get ball" trait. I'm thinking Kane and Dele Alli partnership would work well with those roles In FM18, my favorite partnership for Kane and Alli in the 4231 I used in my Spurs save was - Kane DLFsu / Alli SS. Another partnership that I occasionally used was - Kane CFsu / Alli AMat. 13 hours ago, CARRERA said: how does an AM(a) vary from SS as he also tries to get into scoring positions SS has slightly higher initial positioning than AMat. Plus - unlike SS - AMat is not hard-coded to move into channels, play risky passes and dribble more. You can make an AMat behave a bit more like SS by manually adding these PIs, but there are hard-coded behaviors under the hood that define each role, so there still will be a difference. A similar case is with a mezzala and standard CM customized to resemble a mezzala. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omnissiah Posted June 24, 2019 Share Posted June 24, 2019 Ah yes, the DLF-SS combo, also known as "Harry Kane and Dele Alli break the game" . I'm currently a few years into an AC Milan save, and Lucas Paqueta and Patrick Cutrone are running this to perfection. Lucas isn't quite in the same class as Pelé and Kaká, but but he's doing a credible job of inheriting their legacy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusadertsar Posted June 25, 2019 Author Share Posted June 25, 2019 Was just wondering what were people's thoughts on the best PPMs for shadow striker to have? I know that plays one twos and gets forward are good. But what are some others? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlatanera Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 38 minutes ago, crusadertsar said: Was just wondering what were people's thoughts on the best PPMs for shadow striker to have? I know that plays one twos and gets forward are good. But what are some others? Rounds Keeper? Given you’ll generally end up with a guy with good dribbling, and hopefully the interplay with the support striker will get you a few one-on-ones. Gets Into Opposition Area is another one - redundant if you have Gets Forward though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusadertsar Posted June 25, 2019 Author Share Posted June 25, 2019 30 minutes ago, zlatanera said: Rounds Keeper? Given you’ll generally end up with a guy with good dribbling, and hopefully the interplay with the support striker will get you a few one-on-ones. Gets Into Opposition Area is another one - redundant if you have Gets Forward though. Good suggestion about Rounds Keeper. I figure that could work well especially if the shadow is fast Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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