mr..Flair

Hi im just curious... I am sorry if i mention this again(maybe someone have already posted this) but can u use an attacking midfielder as a targetman. I'm using man utd and playing 4-4-2 diamond. I have recently bought van der vaart and david villa. My question is can u use van der vaart as targetman because my strikers are rooney and villa.

Also, while you are playing van der vaart as targetman can we also put him as playmaker?

gunnerfan

I won't say you can't do it, but I'd question the effectiveness. Generally, the target man is the furthest advanced upfield, and he usually draws defenders to him (when I was coaching, I used to use my son - who was painfully slow - as a target man because he could hold the ball under pressure and then make nice flick passes into space) and then plays the ball to others. A midfielder by definition would not normally be the furthest upfield player, which would require him to turn with the ball under pressure. My guess is you'd lose the ball far more often than make a successful attacking play.

But if you try it, let us know how it works.

Hello From Hell

Rooney can make a good target man if you need to. ^^

Fredric Drum

Yes, you can have an AMC with high jumping as target man (aim for head), and he can then flick the ball further up to the strikers who may (not always obviously) beat the offside and catch the ball between the defence and the goalkeeper.

Danny091283

I think it will work when you play with an Bergkamp role.

352_wingback

what's this about first & second playmakers? surely there is only one designated playmaker on the field at one time?

I don't see why you couldn't use a Target Man who comes deep. Thinking of the streotypical TM, Tall, Heavy, Good with Head, it seems that someone like this could be effective in midfield as he'd be odd's on to win the ball when played to him, from here he could hold up play til people get forward giving him alot of options or he could simply just head the ball into the striker.

Seems like the confusion is coming from the term Target Man when trying to apply it to Raf Van Der Vaart.....you want him to be the target because you want everything to go through him, for everyone to find him when they're looking to attack? Isn't that the same role as a playmaker? now i'm confused which would be better to use!

For instance, what if i took a small, skillful, creative AM (Juninho-esque) and selected him as my target man? You can change the Target Man supplies to "into feet" so this should cut down on high balls played to him. Wouldn't this effectively make him the playmaker?

any theories on this?

van_zanten

I've deployed this strategy several times as part of a diamond 4-4-2 and it has proved to be reasonably effective. If my AMC has good jumping and decent heading then he can be an excellent foil for two rapid strikers looking to feed off his flicks.

The key is high tempo direct passing, of course.

evoh_1

on 06 had a 4-2-3-1 with baptista in amc as TM with mixed supply and he wins most headers as they will have to employ a dmc or one of the cbs will have to come and get him. hugely affective had 7.86 average and 26 goals a season and 16 assists.

hippo-neg

for a good target man, check out for his off the ball, heading, strength and jumping. cheers!