Struggling to get goals out of my striker - 4141

[borobadger]

This is a more or less the tactic that has got my AFC Telford side to the Championship. For years I went with two Mezzalas but I've decided to go for a change recently as since the update we just aren't playing as well. I've had tons of different kinds of strikers over the years but I rarely have a prolific one, and recently they just don't score goals at all, more often that not ending up with a 6.3 rating or so. After 22 games one of my strikers has 2 in 10, another 0 in 11 and the other 2 in 9. We score goals but it's generally the inside forwards that get them or the midfield. I played with a Pressing Forward for years but I've been experimenting for a Complete Forward or a Poacher recently but nothing seems to get them firing. Mentality wise I alternate between Attacking , Positive and Cautious. Anything that stands out as holding my strikers back in the tactic, or any general observations that could help?

Thanks

 

 

[Rikulec]

Before even looking at the tactic I'd ask one question: when you play the games, do you notice your striker getting many chances and missing them or is it rather the case of other players not creating opportunities for him?

[borobadger]

Just now, Rikulec said:

Before even looking at the tactic I'd ask one question: when you play the games, do you notice your striker getting many chances and missing them or is it rather the case of other players not creating opportunities for him?

They generally miss an almost painful amount of chances

[Rikulec]

2 minutes ago, borobadger said:

They generally miss an almost painful amount of chances

In that case I'd take a closer look and try to make out any recurring patterns - what kind of chances you create most often and how exactly they are wasted.

Looking at the tactic now, one thing that immediately stands out is that you have all your front three players and your playmaker on the attack duty, which pushes them high up the pitch. Combine that with the attacking mentality and you'll have at least four players (five if you include the occasional runs your mezzala will make) all the way up inside the opposition's penalty box. This encourages their defence to drop deeper and put more men behind the ball in order to create a numerical advantage in their defending third. All of the above means that the area in front of your opposition's goal will pretty much always be densely crowded and your players will struggle to find any space there. You also have work ball into box ticked, so even after hopefully getting the ball to your wing backs in the less populated wide areas they will still try to pass it back into the centre rather than cross.

Obviously I haven't seen your team play, but I'm going to guess that you see a lot of blocked shots in your games as a result of what I've just described. If I were you, I'd try to think about a way to draw your opponents out of their defending third and create space for your attacking players to exploit.

[borobadger]

Thanks for the response - The idea for the tactic initially was to have the 3 up front all on attack so that they were regularly in the box together, rather than isolating the man up front. Then the mezzalas would push wide a bit and offer the support to the wing backs as they came forward. It generally works ok and we do score a lot of goals, but the striker just doesn't seem to get any of them. I think you could be right in that he gets crowded out in the box, which is probably what opens up the space for the others to score so many.

 

[Experienced Defender]

Your attacking IFs and the striker are basically "fighting" for the same area of space. That's the first problem I've noticed in your tactic. So what would I do? Change the striker's duty to support (maybe even change his role, but not necessarily), and change one of your IFs to a winger on support (while the other would remain IF on attack). Or if you want the lone striker on attack, I'd use him either as PFatt or DLFatt or perhaps even trequartista (provided he has the right attributes). One wide forward would then become a winger on attack, and the other would be IF on support. There is also a third option that should work IMO, and it would look like this:

DLF/PF/TQatt

APMsu                                                 Wsu

       BtBM/CMsu         MEZatt

ACM/HB

  Fbatt          CD         CD          FBsu/IWBde

[Robson 07]

9 minutes ago, Experienced Defender said:

DLF/PF/TQatt

APMsu                                                 Wsu

       BtBM/CMsu         MEZatt

ACM/HB

  Fbatt          CD         CD          FBsu/IWBde

That's barely the same tactic.  You have only left the keeper and two central defenders alone.  At every other position you've changed role, duty or both.  I don't think it is particularly clear why you've done that.  Due apologies as it isn't for me to speak on behalf of the opening post but I don't feel as though he was asking for a rewrite.

[borobadger]

I do appreciate the reply but yeah I was more looking for a couple of tweaks rather than wholesale changes. I really like the idea of inside forwards so they are kind of integral to the tactic. Changing the striker to maybe a pressing forward or a target man on support duty might be worth a try though 

[pikeal]

Have you tried lowering your tempo? It could be that they are snatching at their chances rather than remaining composed when shooting. 

[Experienced Defender]

1 hour ago, Robson 07 said:

That's barely the same tactic.  You have only left the keeper and two central defenders alone.  At every other position you've changed role, duty or both.  I don't think it is particularly clear why you've done that.  Due apologies as it isn't for me to speak on behalf of the opening post but I don't feel as though he was asking for a rewrite.

 

1 hour ago, borobadger said:

I do appreciate the reply but yeah I was more looking for a couple of tweaks rather than wholesale changes

Well, the first two suggestions in my post were actually just a couple of tweaks. Only the last one included more. The problem is that sometimes a poor performance of one player is not caused (just) by his role/duty but a number of elements in the tactic (if not the tactic as a whole).

[summatsupeer]

1 hour ago, borobadger said:

I do appreciate the reply but yeah I was more looking for a couple of tweaks rather than wholesale changes. I really like the idea of inside forwards so they are kind of integral to the tactic. Changing the striker to maybe a pressing forward or a target man on support duty might be worth a try though 

Its hard to make just one change to do what you want.  If the IFs are integral then you'll have to adjust what you expect from your ST, having all three on attack duty makes you very one dimensional trying to run in behind opponents.  If they start being defensive against you, your going to be relying on set pieces or individual skill.  A forward on support can still score goals, its just he won't be so focused on running in behind and instead will arrive a bit later into the box so can get onto crosses / pullbacks etc.

[VinceLombardi]

One thing I have had success with is using support duty players with gets further forward and roaming PIs. They work almost as good as attacking players at getting forward, but typically only if there is space there for them. Else they drop back in support. It makes for changing movement patterns too, should you keep recycling possession.

I might even go so far as to switch all the attacking roles to that -- just to see how they work out the space themselves over a couple games. And then ticking 1 or 2 back up to attacking who aren't quite playing as aggressive as you like in the box.