smith02

hey guys, about a month ago i started a thread wondering why my striker with nearly 14+ in every stat was having a hard time winning headers. someone mentioned his aggression of 3 (!) was holding him back from winning balls. so, i am looking for some help to understand which stats will win headers. i think i will post what i think, and why, and maybe some of you guys can contribute your thoughts?
technical:
heading (obviously)
passing (to nod their headers down to the right man?)
technical (really not sure of this one but maybe it helps with knowing how to head properly?? dunno)

mental:
aggression (going after the ball)
anticipation (timing the jump correctly)
bravery (going up for a ball when its dangerous)
concentration (being able to concentrate when in the air)
determination (getting to the ball or in the right spot)
off the ball & positioning (finding the right spot to be for the header)
team work (being able to supply for a teammate)
work rate (to play hard?)

physical:
jumping (to get in the air)
strength (to ward off other players)

now this would be it for me for the player im looking for, just someone to supply my godly wonderkid. ideally i would look for stats 15+ but i think in the SPL 13+ would cut it as long as there were some that were near 18-20. what do you guys think?

retired_provrb7

Well for Target Men you should be looking for someone with Jumping and strength at least at 15+. This is so he has presence on the pitch. After that you need Heading for accuracy, Anticipation so he knows where the ball is going to land, Bravery so he is a little pussy cat in arial duals. Pluses would be Off the Ball for positionning in attack and pace to get away from his marker and obviously finishing in case the ball lands at his feet like from rebounds from keepers.

smith02

yeah, i think i will have to cut down the number of attributes required to something near yours, i couldn't find nearly anyone who had any interest in joining my team (6500 rep) with 12+ for each attribute

smith02

okay... so i actually found a few players (all uninterested though) with these stats, but they all had poor percentage when it came to winning headers! I would imagine a good targetman could win 40%+ of his headers? well this guy, who i would have thought with his stats would have been good at winning headers, has won only 26 of 124 headers.
targetman

so if he cant win headers, what stat am i missing? it looks like he has nearly everything there required to do it (anticipation is low i guess but its still decent). so what could be missing?

retired_provrb7

I'm guessing ipswich is in the EPL? I think his physical stats are just on the verge of being a good targetman. For the EPL you have to look for taller (better heading) because if you imagine the central defenders in the league you need someone who mirrors them but better if you understand what I mean?

smith02

to the best of my understanding though, height and weight are purely superficial numbers, they don't affect anything

firefighterhilf

Personally I'd look for a higher jumping stat, 18+. Heading and strength need to be as high as possible as well but jumping is the most important imo. A players hight has no effect on his heading abilities, only his jumping attribute decides how 'tall' he'll be when it comes to winning headers.

Take Salvatore Foti for example. His heading and strength are decent (15-16) but his jumping is 20 and in my team that makes him an excellent target man.

retired_roshawnda82

First of all, it depends which type of target man you are referring to, but as it seems like you're referring to the archetypal big tall win it in the air type target man then that's what I'll stick to.

To make things easier to understand, it's possible to divide Targetman requirements/attributes into two separate categories which together combine to form a good target man.

Firstly,'Winning the aerial challenge' in the first place:

1) Jumping
2) Strength
3) Bravery
4) Balance
5) Aggression
6) Anticipation
7) Heading (in my opinion)

And then secondly, once the header has been won:

1) Finishing
2) Creativity

will allow the targetman to do something useful with the ball, e.g. score a header, or produce a flick on/pass with his head.

The conclusions to be drawn from all of the above is that first and foremost, the physical attributes which allow the TM to win the aerial challenge in the first place are the most important. Secondly, once you have found some potential targetmen with the required physical attributes, then the ones with better finishing etc are a bonus.