Young Striker: What Should I Do With This Guy?

[SuperBiggles]

So, I'm currently doing a Journeymen save, and I've been at Inter for the past two seasons, winning the league both times, plus a few other things. Not that this is super relevant, but just a bit of backstory for later on...

Start of my third season I bought a new striker, who I felt I got for an absolute bargain considering his stats and stuff. Bought him from Boca for £7.75m. This is him;

 

Now, my question is... what should I do with him? His stats look brilliant across the board apart from some slightly average passing and work rate, sadly. And that jumping reach looks terrible, too... I can see this guy easily being my first choice striker, cos the only other main one I have is a 19 y.o wonderkid, who's good going on brilliant one day, but I'm trying not to lean too much on him at such a young age. Laudato was a surprise addition, but good for replacing the 32  y.o Lukaku who I was wanting to phase out this season.

The only role I can see my new guy Laudato properly fulfilling is that of a Poacher. He looks to lend himself to just being more goalscoring, kind of like a newer version of Icardi. The only problem with that is the tactic I tend to run has never really seemed to lend itself to getting the most out of a Poacher. I don't know whether that's been the strikers I've had before, but they've tended to misfire if I've tried to ask them to play that way. 

For context, this is the main tactic I tend to run;

 

This is one variation of it. I've been fiddling the midfield roles a bit to try and get a bit more out of some of the players, but it tends to work very well. When I'm considered the favourite, this is the way I tend to play; a more possession based style, slow build and stuff. The striker role was previously a Complete Forward on Attack when I had an ageing Lukaku, but half the time I ended up turning him into a PF on Attack, as he often seemed to barely be involved as a CF, but changing his role midway through a game would often get a goal out of him. 

The other type of tactic is switching the DM to a Half Back, changing the midfield roles a bit more, and playing more direct and on the counter. Usually do this in Champions League games, or against tougher opposition were they get forward more and leave in space behind for players to run on it. 

So, with all that being said.. I've tended to find playing my main striker as a Trequartista, and he tends to work great. Gets a good amount of goals and assists, and regularly helps the team in a big way. The way he drifts all around the attacking third tends to work great for either creating opportunities for himself, or my other players. My problem is that my new striker, Laudato, doesn't seem to possess the passing ability to pull this off (my other striker has 15's in all passing relevant stats). Should I try and do extra training on him to get the passing better? Is his Technique good enough to overcome his mediocre passing? If I give him a player trait to do more simple passing, could he still work as a Trequartista? Or should I try and play him in a different role, using different player traits that I can train him to do. 

Final bit of context... I bought this guy just before the season was about to start, final bit of transfer budget went on him. He was a surprise addition, because he literally turned up in a scout report, and he was too good to not get. For that reason, most of my budget is gone, and the rest of my team is fairly established as what it is. I like to basically keep two starting elevens, so my squad is more or less built around the tactic shown above. So, I'm not too sure if I can afford to change my entire tactic to fit around this guys strengths.

TL;DR... bought a new striker, doesn't 100% fit my tactic, what's the best thing to do?

 

 

 

 

Edited March 3, 2020 by SuperBiggles

[Ether_mR]

Just remarking on the striker because you seem to be having solid tactical results. I personally love to turn strikers into inside forwards or mezzala/b2b midfielders. I noticed he prefers his right foot and you use an inside forward on your left flank.. just saying. Personally he wouldn’t have the pace to play for me as a striker because I prefer to run pressing/defensive tactics but my inside forward has the least defensive responsibility in my setup and your player would flourish there.

 

edit - to clarify, your tactic seems to be working and your tactic requires a striker who is more of a playmaker.. thus I recommend moving him to inside forward where you can utilize his strength as a pure scorer. Or even the mezzala role.

Edited March 3, 2020 by Ether_mR

[SuperBiggles]

On 03/03/2020 at 22:29, Ether_mR said:

Just remarking on the striker because you seem to be having solid tactical results. I personally love to turn strikers into inside forwards or mezzala/b2b midfielders. I noticed he prefers his right foot and you use an inside forward on your left flank.. just saying. Personally he wouldn’t have the pace to play for me as a striker because I prefer to run pressing/defensive tactics but my inside forward has the least defensive responsibility in my setup and your player would flourish there.

 

edit - to clarify, your tactic seems to be working and your tactic requires a striker who is more of a playmaker.. thus I recommend moving him to inside forward where you can utilize his strength as a pure scorer. Or even the mezzala role.

 Good shout, to be fair. Never really considered trying to play him on the wing as an IF. Makes sense, cos my two main men who currently play there are strikers converted into the role anyway, and overall their passing stats and stuff are generally better than my new guys. Think I might try swapping them around a bit.

 

Cheers for the suggestion!

[XuluBak]

Sell fodder. His work rate and personality look problematic, especially in a top side.

[SuperBiggles]

7 minutes ago, XuluBak said:

Sell fodder. His work rate and personality look problematic, especially in a top side.

Did consider that as well, considering the bargain I seemed to get him for...

Would mentoring and stuff not help change his personality in any way? I'm not to clued up when it generally comes to the personalities in the game, barring a level of common sense in understanding which personalities are obviously better than others. From what someone else told me, Fickle just means he's more likely to ignore the things I ask/tell him to do, doesn't it?

And the work rate... Currently I've turned Inter into the best team in Italy, so the guy can kinda afford to not work too hard if we have to play the bulk of the league teams. That was the kind of role I was thinking he might have to play for us, at least unless he somehow drastically improves. 

[XuluBak]

41 minutes ago, SuperBiggles said:

Did consider that as well, considering the bargain I seemed to get him for...

Would mentoring and stuff not help change his personality in any way? I'm not to clued up when it generally comes to the personalities in the game, barring a level of common sense in understanding which personalities are obviously better than others. From what someone else told me, Fickle just means he's more likely to ignore the things I ask/tell him to do, doesn't it?

And the work rate... Currently I've turned Inter into the best team in Italy, so the guy can kinda afford to not work too hard if we have to play the bulk of the league teams. That was the kind of role I was thinking he might have to play for us, at least unless he somehow drastically improves. 

Might be worth a try. Some players seem highly receptive, others not so much. I'm admittedly far from an expert on that element of the game. It's hard for me to see him as anything other than a poacher though. He has some nice attributes for a goal scorer, but he's also got quite a few weaknesses limiting his utility and versatility. 

Edited March 5, 2020 by XuluBak