retired_sbrao00

For much of my season I was putting up a solid back four, but I had problems scoring and was drawing many games. All that despite playing two very good strikers.

Half-way through the season I bought a striker on the cheap with very high pace and acceleration, because I'd seen how my left midfielder had often gotten himself great chances with his pace despite his terrible finishing.
The scouts tell me the striker's well below my two others, and my assistant manager never picks him.

Despite their scorn, he scored a goal his first game, two in his third and a hattrick in his fourth. That compared to my other strikers who between them are happy with a goal a game.

In the higher leagues you get players that are close to max on their attributes and hence it's far harder to exploit a particular strength, but it seems to me that in the lower leagues pace and acceleration trump all when you can find 18-20 pace/acceleration strikers. They might not have great finishing, but with the chances they create they don't need it since it usually comes down to one-on-ones.

retired_bpilla

Definitely agree. I believe it mentions something like this in the manual how physical attributes and strength/aerobic training are much more important when playing with lower league players.

Unless something is completely out of whack technically, I look almost solely at physical attributes in the lower leagues. If the player is under 20, I'll typically train them to play a certain position that fits him best.

retired_autumn

This also holds true for jumping, as a striker with 18+ jumping and some physical strength can score loads of goals off headers even if he's crap in most other respects.