Mysteries of the universe, a player that defies logic.

[AurioDK]

I have a French player, according to "world´s best" he is ranked 2nd and only has one problem, he is slightly injury prone. Lots of small injuries throughout the last 7 seasons, bought him when he was 17 and mentored him well I think, not sure about that. He is driven and there are no negative remarks about him in the coach report.

Last season I had an injury crisis and poor Claude was given a lot of responsibility as a sole striker, playing far more than he really should accumulating an XG of 38 in the PL and scoring 20 goals, did draw a lot because the ball simply wouldn´t go in and my wingers can´t score when Claude is on the pitch, it sounds weird but that´s the case, that has been his trademark throughout the time I have had him, lots of chances but extremely poor efficiency, he also hardly ever assists.

I have tried him over the course of the last 4 seasons where he has been a regular to use him as an advanced forward, complete forward, target man and trequartista ... he has failed miserably in all my attempts and I have given him time, it´s not like one or two games in a new role, usually 10-15. The picture is always the same, lots of chances ... few goals.

He is aggressive when he starts and always immediately starts plummeting in ratings, 6.7 -6.6 - 6.5  and only if he scores does he get a happy face.

This year I have another injury crisis, it´s short but my midfielders are out for 2-4 weeks, so I had to go through the players to see who best could fill a defensive position in the midfield, Claude seemed  the best suited ... lo and behold ... he scores 5 goals from a DM position in 2 matches, that´s what I call defying logic.

He is not the fastest on Earth but had similar less rated forwards who kept their scoring rate in the PL at a normal level.

 

Maybe I should retrain him as a midfielder .... running out of ideas as the problem seems to affect my other offensive players, they too miss a lot when Claude is on the pitch as a forward. Any clues?

 

 

Edit: I got the latest picture of the last match where Claude returned up front .....

 

 

 

Edited December 21, 2023 by AurioDK

[Ein]

You have 2 IFs, a SS and an AF essentially doing the same thing/attacking the same space.

If you want the AF as the focal point, the roles behind him should probably be more conservative e.g. IF-S AM-S W/IW-S.

His attributes seem to be ideal for DLF-A.

[XaW]

8 hours ago, AurioDK said:

From this screenshot he has scored 6 goals from 7.87 xG, so slightly underperforming, but that's mostly from the CL, in the PL he has 5 goals from 3.85, so it seems he scores against lower rated teams? But if this is to be your main goalscorer, you don't give him that much xG to work with. As @Ein writes above me, using an AF, two IFs and an a SS will really limit how much space this guy has to work with. Although if your tactic works, there might not be a reason to change. Perhaps the AF just pulls players out of position for the rest of them to attack into, and that causes them to score rather than the AF?

Now, his attributes are excellent, but his speed is slightly low compared to to the rest of his stats. And playing as an AF, I've found speed is really important. Also, another possible issue could be his PPM "Tries killer balls often" which will make him look for passes more than trying to finish shots off at times. So when you have loads of players around him in the box and his vision is almost perfect, but his passing is only good, he will most likely see the pass, but not always get it right. I can't see the rest of his PPMs, but if he has "looks for pass rather than score" or what it's called, that will make it even less likely he will shoot.

Don't get me wrong, 14 is a high attribute, but since you are playing in the PL and CL, I'm comparing it to world class players.

In general though, this is me guessing since there is limited info to work on. Do you have another player who plays much better in that role? What is his attributes?

[lied90]

10 hours ago, AurioDK said:

I have a French player, according to "world´s best" he is ranked 2nd and only has one problem, he is slightly injury prone. Lots of small injuries throughout the last 7 seasons, bought him when he was 17 and mentored him well I think, not sure about that. He is driven and there are no negative remarks about him in the coach report.

Last season I had an injury crisis and poor Claude was given a lot of responsibility as a sole striker, playing far more than he really should accumulating an XG of 38 in the PL and scoring 20 goals, did draw a lot because the ball simply wouldn´t go in and my wingers can´t score when Claude is on the pitch, it sounds weird but that´s the case, that has been his trademark throughout the time I have had him, lots of chances but extremely poor efficiency, he also hardly ever assists.

I have tried him over the course of the last 4 seasons where he has been a regular to use him as an advanced forward, complete forward, target man and trequartista ... he has failed miserably in all my attempts and I have given him time, it´s not like one or two games in a new role, usually 10-15. The picture is always the same, lots of chances ... few goals.

He is aggressive when he starts and always immediately starts plummeting in ratings, 6.7 -6.6 - 6.5  and only if he scores does he get a happy face.

This year I have another injury crisis, it´s short but my midfielders are out for 2-4 weeks, so I had to go through the players to see who best could fill a defensive position in the midfield, Claude seemed  the best suited ... lo and behold ... he scores 5 goals from a DM position in 2 matches, that´s what I call defying logic.

He is not the fastest on Earth but had similar less rated forwards who kept their scoring rate in the PL at a normal level.

 

Maybe I should retrain him as a midfielder .... running out of ideas as the problem seems to affect my other offensive players, they too miss a lot when Claude is on the pitch as a forward. Any clues?

 

 

Edit: I got the latest picture of the last match where Claude returned up front .....

 

 

 

It's not much of a mystery. If a world class player doesn't perform, it's your tactic.

 

Try having both IF on support, change SS to AM on attack, and both WBs on attack, with focus play on the flanks with overlaps. 

Edited December 22, 2023 by lied90

[AurioDK]

10 minutes ago, lied90 said:

It's not much of a mystery. If a world class player doesn't perform, it's your tactic.

 

Try having both IF on support, change SS to AM on attack, and both WBs on attack, with focus play on the flanks with overlaps. 

 

That´s exactly how my tactic is set up     .... except for the overlaps and AM.  Tried AM and it doesn´t work, neither support nor attack, he gets swallowed by the two IFs. Only have one guy able to pull it off in the AM position, the rest play like crap there .... SS is the only position Claude plays "decently", not amazing but he usually pulls off a 7 which is enough.

[AurioDK]

2 hours ago, XaW said:

From this screenshot he has scored 6 goals from 7.87 xG, so slightly underperforming, but that's mostly from the CL, in the PL he has 5 goals from 3.85, so it seems he scores against lower rated teams?

 

If you read my post those goals came from a DM position during an injury crisis

 

I have one strong striker who scores a goal a game, the other guys do reasonably well without excelling in the AF position except for Claude, you might be right about speed but that still begs the question about why he can´t play a deep lying forward. That was his intended role when I first got him, never played well there. 14 in passing isn´t world class but it doesn´t really explain the 6.4s he gets all the time, could be his playing traits ... need to get a look at that when I get home.

I sort of wanted him to play like Muller in Bayern .... not much luck with that. ( I am starting to suspect that angry face to be the culprit, the aggressiveness, he plays well without the angry face)

 

This is my one goal a game striker when he isn´t injured, gets kicked a lot in games  ... not injury prone.

 

Edited December 22, 2023 by AurioDK

[lied90]

38 minutes ago, AurioDK said:

 

That´s exactly how my tactic is set up     .... except for the overlaps and AM.  Tried AM and it doesn´t work, neither support nor attack, he gets swallowed by the two IFs. Only have one guy able to pull it off in the AM position, the rest play like crap there .... SS is the only position Claude plays "decently", not amazing but he usually pulls off a 7 which is enough.

Can you share save file?

[enigmatic]

Sub 6.7 ratings for strikers when they don't score or assist is completely normal and a tendency to play killer balls (I.e lose the ball more) is only going to increase that

[AurioDK]

45 minutes ago, lied90 said:

Can you share save file?

 

I could when I get home which won´t be till after Christmas sometime, taking off now to a Christmas resort. It´s a bit shameful though, I am only "complaining" about one guy .... I am winning all my matches. Only lost one game this season vs Pool at home, last season was more of a worry due to some nasty draws and my competitors keeping up, this season has been a breeze. Claude is injured though for a long time ... so not sure you will be able to experiment.

Edited December 22, 2023 by AurioDK

[AurioDK]

7 minutes ago, enigmatic said:

Sub 6.7 ratings for strikers when they don't score or assist is completely normal and a tendency to play killer balls (I.e lose the ball more) is only going to increase that

 

Not home at the moment but did call my nephew to load up the game and check, HE HAS KILLER BALLS ....... well ... know what to do when I get home.