Striker and runs from deep

[Farina]

When I began playing FM (2007), the conventional wisdom was that in a 2 striker tactic the more advanced striker should have more forward runs (aka runs from deep) than his partner. Often or mixed versus mixed or rare. This wisdom still seems exists anno 2013, where the more advanced striker presets (poacher, advanced forward) have more runs from deep than the deeper lying ones (deep lying forward, targetman on support duty).

However, back in the days there were some people who counterintuitively argued that the more advanced striker should actually have less forward runs than his partner. You see, he already was the highest player on the pitch, with a higher mentality, and forward runs therefore were pointless.

I just tried a demo of football manager 2010, the first FM with preset roles and duties, and to my surprise that philosophy had made its way into the presets. Strikers on support duties had more runs from deep (renamed from forward runs) than strikers on attack duties. A poacher would have mixed or rare runs from deep and a targetman on support duty often or mixed. When I did some research I came across this thread explaining the presets and also the reason why "forwards runs" got a name change.

So now I'm wondering this: why did runs from deeper for striker on attack duties and support duties got reversed? Is conventional wisdom of back then and now correct after all and was the counterintuitive wisdom of the gurus wrong?

[Kasavan]

People wrongly thought that "Run from Deep" meant "drop deep and make runs from there". It doesn't - it just means "make forward runs"

[Farina]

I can imagine that, but what puzzles me then is that SI agreed that "forward runs" was the wrong name and that it gave strikers with attack duties less runs than support duties.

[Cleon]

I can imagine that, but what puzzles me then is that SI agreed that "forward runs" was the wrong name and that it gave strikers with attack duties less runs than support duties.

Support duties players have lower mentality too so come from slightly deeper and therefore tend to run about more than someone higher up the pitch. Hence the name support.

As long as I've been on these boards (which is now around 15 years) it always made sense that the striker who is deeper and doing more of the donkey work would run with the ball more that someone a lot higher up the pitch. This doesn't mean the attacking roles don't need it, it just means they need it mixed rather than often. It's so they can offer support to the other striker.

Which when you think about it logically, it makes perfect sense.

[Farina]

Just to be clear, I am talking about "run from deep", not "run with ball". And I'm talking about the fact that presets of strikers on support duty had more runs from deep than strikers on attack duty in FM2010, whereas it's the reverse in FM2013.

I guess that it would make more sense that the striker with lower mentality would have more runs from deep than the one with higher mentality, but that's not the case in today's presets.

[Cleon]

I honestly can't remember FM10 as I still played Classic tactics until FM12 so I was unaware that it was different on previous version for the default settings so my apologies

[Farina]

That's alright. So, do you believe that the striker who's playing deeper (lower mentality) ought to have more runs from deep than the more advanced striker, contrary to the current presets?

[Kasavan]

That's alright. So, do you believe that the striker who's playing deeper (lower mentality) ought to have more runs from deep than the more advanced striker, contrary to the current presets?

It depends how you want him to play - if you want him to stay deep as a link between midfield and attack you'd want him to make less forward runs. If you want him to start deep and make forward runs, maybe playing off your other striker ahead of him holding up the ball, you'd want him making more forward runs.