Woody42

How doo?

My striker recieves the ball bout 30yards out with a defender marking him closly. The striker then turns the defender (with ease) and then moves towards the edge of the box.

Now here is the problem instead of continuing into the box to go 1-on-1 with the keeper, he just smashes it into the crowd!
Not just once, but three times or more a game.

The long shots are set to rarely, but he still insists on spanking it into row z!
Iv tried settin run with the ball, but again he just spanks it into the crowd.

The problem mite be that im playin as Crewe, but thats another matter.

While im at it postin this, iv had to sell most of my squad aswell coz iv bin making a MASSIVE loss every month.
Lost nearly 1.5m in 1 year. I was 10K under my wage budget and only bought 2 players for 300K total.

Soz if this is in the wrong place but its my first time posting. Just its really startin to annoy me and there is the risk that the people of crewe will soon see a PC and a FM2008 box flying overhead!

NickFrier

firstly 'txt' speak annoys people or just me

To answer you question, try playing as Lewes, the rare moments wher my striker turns a player are often either followed up by said thrash into row ZZ. or as he runs onto the ball he then seems to like the idea of cutting back inside and turning the man, or, the next man across again. I actually mitigated this by asking him to shoot from distance , while stifiling his creative freedom, and playing a lone frontman so he at least got a shot on target, when playing with two front men i tend to play them both with through balls set to often so the have a chance to 'snap' a shot off from inside the area.

I have not played as a 'top' club with 'top' strikers so im unable to ansewer if this is a quality issue. but for the lower leagues my theroy at least helps me score a few.

iv also hear the arguement that making them 'to attacking' means they rush to get a shot off, but iv lost the thread to link that theroy to.

Woody42

Sorry about txt speak.
I will use the queens english in future

I might try the through balls often malarkey see if that has any effect. Doubt it will seeing as how USELESS my strikers are.

Just wondering though, how much effect does "decisions" have?

Because if a striker has rubbish shooting, but always makes the right decision, surely he would stand a better chance of scoring, than some1 with amazing shooting but who always makes the wrong decison, such as to try and kick it at the burger van outside the ground rather than tap it into the open goal?

Im just wondering this because it really is starting to frustrate me how i can have a decent striker who WONT run into the box and couldnt score even if it was only him on an empty pitch. FM07 broke my table and i fear that 08 may break something else!

MrPompey

You could laso have the player set to take long shots?

NickFrier

What formation do you play?

Like i hinted at earlier i smetimes find that forcing a striker to play the ball inside the box can help. One of my favorite strategie if everyting is going wrong is to just move a creative player into the attacking midfielder role, with instructions to hold up play, and look for a killer through ball, thus forcing the player into the box.

but that doesnt answer you query i guess. the idea that decision making could play that cruical a role in strikers is something i must admit i over looked, iv always thought of it as a defensive attribute or a creative attribute for some reason. I guess it would make sense that a striker with good decision making would take the 'sensible' option and calmly slide the ball into the bottom corner.

But then a striker with to much flare combined with a bit of creativity may decide to go for the spectaculor and hammer one into the top corner from 30 yards where as a simple dribble may be better. Frankly it needs experimenting with to find an answer, it would be very usefull to know if you do ever find a soloution.

Also, does anybody playing in a 'top' club have this issue from a top striker? because theres a possibility its akin to the closing down issue, but i must say i doubt it.

spankie

With your player I suspect that he's got a relatively low Composure and possibly Decisions. With low Composure he'll lose his nerve and end up taking a shot when he's not really set properly for it.
He might also have a low Teamwork attribute, that will make him selfish and reluctant in passing to a team mate in a better position.

Then again your tactics could also be a factor, with high tempo then you'll get a lto of chances at goal, but most will be half chances like you've described. If you lower the tempo you might find that you'll have fewer shots, but those you do have might trouble the keeper more.

For strikers as well as Finishing (and/or Heading/Jumping for target men) I look for Composure and Off The Ball. With those attributes a player has a decent chance of having some proper chances at goal.

Canabary

I've heard theres some kind of bug called the "long shot bug" which makes the players shoot from long no matter what. Not sure though. I just ensure that I have a longshotter of 15 or above on top (for championship) and 10 or above for conference.

Woody42

How doo?

Cheers for the suggestions.

I play a 4-4-2, defensive mentality, short passing, low creative freedom (it is crewe! ) and narrow and counter attacking. long furrows on the wingers. What use they are aswell!
First season both my wingers got 10+ assists each. Suddenly dried up after that.

The tactie seemed to work for the first couple of seasons then my third season it all fell apart and now that iv had to sell most of my squad its got even worse.

Its Super Nicky Maynard i have the most problems with, but my other strikers, Creswell, Easter and Lee barnard all decide to spank it from 25-30 yards even when theres a clear run in on goal.

I will experiment with the decisions and see what happens, If i find that a rubbish striker with good decision making is brilliant i will let everyone know. Wouldnt get my hopes up though knowing footy manager

MrPompey

Player defensively then you dont want your players set to closing down else they'll get pulled out of position and you'll lose your defensive shape

I'm playing 4-3-2-1 varying attacking and defensive stances when at home or away. I'll also vary slightly per the opposition, their formation and current form. I'll also look for any weak spots in the team e.g. a reserve full back who I can target attacks against

Anyway playing this formation as Pompey using Benjani as my lone forward, who has finishing of 10, I currently sit in 6th place March 2008 with Benjani as the premierships leading scorer 1 goal ahead of Rooney

As I mentioned before be careful what players you have set to take long shots.

FuSS

This is atleast the 3rd thread I've seen where people are complaining about strikers set to 'rarely' on long shots take alot of long shots.

And everytime after they post their player instructions the problem is bloody obvious.

If you want your player to do only what you tell him then TURN DOWN creative freedom....otherwise he has hmm creative freedom to do what he wants!