retired_lydia shalaby

Hey all,

Am new to this game and new to game overall. I played football (am american but will use the international term for the game) when I was a kid, so i know the basics of the game. Some of the more complex items, i had to search for and get use to the terms (either via this site for specific game terms or the web overall for other terms). Just so you know I had no clue what a transfer window was, no clue what "through ball was", just so you see where my lvl of knowledge is. Just wanted to post that prior to kind of going into my situation and try to get your advice.

Ok I am playing West Albion, its my first year, and we seem to be doing ok. I have managed to get them hovering in 4-5 place in the league. It is now the end of october. I also suffered a rash of injuries earlier in the season (most were training related, so i toned the training down, and I think it might have helped). However, my main striker is still out for another 3-4 weeks. I didn't realize how much i would miss him till he was gone. This is John Harston fyi. I usually play a 4-4-2, with a slow tempo, and also short passes. However, i usually only score one goal, if i am lucky maybe 2. In the preseason in the friendlies, I was on fire and scoring multiple goals. i know that scoring 3 goals in a game is great to achieve, and low scoring is the relative norm in football. But i kind of feel as if my guys are underperforming. Now I have watched almost all of the matches, and I think i have narrowed the problem down. When my strikers get in range, or close to the ball, almost without fail, they get teh ball taken away from em. My current batch of strikers also suck at heading the ball and always, always lose (which i think is part of the problem). I am using the following strikers (Nathan Ellington, Kevin Phillips, and also Freddy eastwood - i picked him up via transfers in the first window hoping to help my offense). Games that I think i should win, i usually draw.

I have tried a lot of variations, playing wide, playing quick tempo, playing long. But i cant seem to jump start my scoring. My defense is spectacular, I have no complaints about them. They do great. It's just my offense seems to get bogged down. What can I do to fix this? Do i need to be patient to get my main striker back? Do I need to revamp my lineup? I just want to get a better feel for this. Should I try a different formation? Another thing also, i think it would help if i created space for my strikers to run, to avoid the Defense, since usually they have great speed, but once a defender comes to em, they usually cant get around em (most of the time. How would i create this spacing?

Thanks again for all of your help. And great game, very fascinating to watch and extremely addictive.

retired_hope

Hi newcastles,

It sounds like you just need to up the creative freedom of your strikers. This should give them license to crate space for themselves, also set their RTB to Mixed if they have a dribbling attribute > 10 and they also have decent pace.

Hope this helps

retired_lydia shalaby

thank you very much on that, their dribbling is decent actually, so i might try that right now. Am in the middle of a game, with about 20 min left with the second place team, tie score 1-1, am using the counter attack, since i am playing at their home. I think will up the strikers creating freedomg. Thanks again.

Anyone else able to pipe in

just looking to get as much knowledge as possible.

retired_lydia shalaby

also my team is West Bromwhich, sorry bout not being clear earlier.

barefootboo

If your strikers have great speed and decent strenght, i would suggest run on to ball target man on one of them, if it works, it works

upping creative freedom on strikers imo is not the first option, a player needs to have creativity and good decision making to be good in a semi-free role that high cf gives.

What's your setting on long shots? if you have them on rarely and up it to mixed your strikers might fire a shot instead of getting robbed

How are the strikers first touch? bad first touches means they have to make another touch to get the ball right, which in turn means the defenders will have more time to go in and grab the ball.

How are your supporting players playing? crossing from byline on your wingers might be the only option if your strikers can't jump as a deep cross is often a jumping duel.

Are your midfielders creative enough to play the through ball at the right time? decision making also affects this.

IMO you should really get a big strong geezer to at least have on the bench for those situations where the opposing team just seems to kill your fast attacks, in particular against weak teams who park the bus your fast strikers will be kinda isolated and a strong big one will atleast net you som aerial power should any crosses come in.

hmm, just a thought, playing slow and short might not be the smartest thing with fast strikers, seeing as their chance of scoring usually lies with outpacing the defence, a slow short passing build up might see them getting caught by the defence...

Try watching a few games on full detail and think about where the offence breaks down, usually (for me) it's not the strikers but rather the support crew that's not doing their job.

retired_lydia shalaby

thank you for the very informative post. Actually i have watched almost all of my games on full detail to try to figure out where things break down.

And the breakdown happens when the pass comes from the back players/support ie the midfielders primarily, rarely the defenders since they dont kick up too often). But the breakdown is when the strikers chase the ball, they usually cant get it right or rather the opposing defense catches up to it, and steals the ball away from the striker. I have overall pretty weask strikers (physical str, aggression and bravery - which i think controls retaining ball possession) well by weak they are around 10 attribute wise.

I will try to up the tempo some actually, and maybe put it on wide, but main reason i have not done that is that the D usually gets there before my striker or catch up or intercept, and then they get the ball back.

And yes their jumping skill is very lackluster as well.

First touch is 10 on two of em, and 15 on the other.

i will basically try to vary the game, passing style, creative freedom, and such.

Right now and looking for a free agent to fill this role, its mid october, so there is still time till teh next transfer window, but also am hoping when my #1 striker comes back it will help alleviate the problems, however having a suitable backup would be groovy.

thanks again, will toy with the ideas you have given me

also, i think my midfielders are solid, its just the striker i think are weak overall and need time to grow (2 of em are under 25, and one to retire).

Anyway, thanks again. Your post is quite instructive.

barefootboo

If they get beaten to the ball but are still quick, have a look at their anticipation and off the ball atributes, if they are low they will always be a step after the defenders.

Bravery and aggression are as you say vital for getting in at 50-50 situations.

I thing I usually do is stick my strikers at 20 closing down and easy tackling, this makes them chase the defenders and tackle if given a ball they are clear to win, I've gotten off a few one on ones using this and with pacey strikers (they should also have decent stamina and work rate) this could be a money maker

best of luck!

retired_prashantsoni

sometimes it helps getting one pacy striker and one striker who is good at passing the ball, or try getting one pacy striker and one tall striker who is good in the air and try a more 'direct' style, and one more thing, put arrows on your strikers point outwards and go down both flanks. I also find this one effective with the big man up front

retired_lydia shalaby

thanks guys for your advice...one thing which I think is helping,. through my watching of a couple of games last night, was using the target man, but making sure the passes were targeted to their feet. that seems to have helped some.also upping the creative freedom did help as well, for this one striker.

I am seeing them a bit more active around the ball, so am pleased with that. am still scoring low. To be honest i just want to see myself get to 2 goals per game and see possibly 3 every now and then. Am not looking for blowouts. Though the bottom line is i would like to see more production from then.

thankfully my team overall is doing alright....am now in 1st place, 18 (might be 20) games played, i think 10 wins, 8 draws and 2 losses...something to that effect. My goal differential is 2nd highest in the league. But i attribute that more to my 1-0 wins than anything else.

Also, am i correct in assuming that the bottom bar on the match screen is momentum? Sorry i know dumb question, i downloaded the game, and i didnt get a manual with it (or rather have been too dense to figure out where it is), hence my questions.

Again thanks again guys, i am pretty sure the long term fix will be to find a solid striker.

Hypo

I played a game with West Brom there a while ago and I know how important of a player Hartson is to the team. Luckily he didnt get injured for me all season and in all competions he scored around 50 goals. What I did was only played one up front (Hartson) and set him as my target man playing balls in to his head. I hag Greening on the left wing and I loaned in Paul Anderson from Liverpool for the right wing. I got the ball to them as much as possible and they were gettinh in the crosses. Hartson just couldnt stop scoring. Paul Anderson had the highest average rating in my team at the end of the season so I would deffinately reccomend getting him on loan if you can