Direct style - help!

[A Loyal Shot]

Hi guys, my assistant manager keeps telling me my striker is used to playing a more firect style than is being asked of him today. What does this mean and how can I rectify it? The striker in question is John Grant of Aldershot and he has pace of 15, finishing of 12.

[pleming]

He's used to passing more directly, just push his passing style to the right a few ticks and see if that fixes it. If it's still saying that, push it way up.

[footynut]

Or could be that he wants the service to him to be more direct perhaps using him as a target man. Is he big and strong?

I'm not sure about having strikers on direct passing as it doesn't seem to make sense to me.

[pleming]

That makes a heck of a lot more sense

[A Loyal Shot]

I'll try setting his as target man and 'run on to ball' becasue im guessing it's linked to his pace more than anything

[mudney]

Yeah I do the target man as run onto ball, especially in the lower leagues, where pace is a valuable commodity (works with a player like beckford).

[TwoShedsJackson]

I've taken it as more of an indication that the player isn't used to playing the style I've told him and so is going to need a while to get used to it, settle down, and start playing better in general.

As far as my managerial style is concerned, the player needs to adapt to what I tell him, not vice versa

[kolobok]

Or you can just ignore the comment. The fact that he "is used to" does not mean "he cannot adapt". The question is: are you ready to tweak your tactic to get more from one player now, or you rather stick with what you think is the best for the whole team. In your example it's probably reasonable to tweak a bit. But when I got a message that my winger is used to close down less than he is asked to, or my MC is used to play higher tempo game, I did not change a thing. I want my wingers press the opposition, and I don't want all my team to rush because of one player. In a few matches the comments disappeared.