Strike Partnership problem

**markelodeon** · 06-08-09 06:41 PM

Hey guys,

my last thread about my 4-1-2-2-1 didnt go very well, so im switching back to good ol 4-4-2

however, results arent good as well.. tho i've been winning matches, it's mainly through set pieces.

my strikers are always the lowest rated averaging 5s and 6s.

here's a screenshot of my striker settings

as you can see, i don't have a targetman, these strikers are all bad in the air but very skillful on the ball.
they are
1)saviola
2) keirrison
3) robin van persie
4) marquinhos

so pls give your professional and wise imputs. appreciate loads

btw, pls help with my other thread as well -click here-

**Melmoth** · 06-08-09 11:46 PM

With quick and determined strikers with reasonable composure which you probably have in 2011 (I only know Saviola and Keirrison really well), you might want to try a quick, counter attacking system. I have had good success against equally strong or lower sides with a standard 442 doing this. 442 also is great for me in bad weather where counter attacking really shines as well. A standard 442 was always the key for me to win the games you "have to" win, a kind of a mop up system.

Also, you may want to place your left foots on the right side and vice versa, if playing two strikers. If you do not have left footed ones, look in the position window of the striker and decide on foot strengths which one to place where.

You can as well try to place the striker with better pace / acceleration and lower finishing / higher long shots deeper than the other forward via the mentality slider.

Finally, if you have two similar strikers and your squad has gelled well, you can use "swap position" with the other striker which may mess up the opponent's marking system. I can only recommend this if the two players in question already played for you for at least one season or so, though.

For really tough opponents, I have mostly used a 4141, also counter attacking (I really like it, because I also have mainly fast strikers normally). Of course, you should use your toughest striker as the lone striker then, just because he will have a hard time against the opponent's players tackling him. If he is reasonably quick, like in your case, you can make him lie really deep so he can be supported by the MCs as well.

___x___
x_____x
_x__x__
__x___
x_x_x_x

I have mostly played Bundesliga and Serie A/B clubs, as well as English Lower Leagues with these systems, so it may not be fully true for the English Premier League.

P.S.: And I in general have had very bad experiences with strikers in a free role. I guess you can do it for players which have good creativity, decisions, and loads of positions, like van Persie. For me, a free role for strikers has never really worked. For wingers though, it worked reasonably well, especially the Winger+FC/ST guys.

**markelodeon** · 07-08-09 01:53 AM

thx melmoth.. do u think counter attack can work with attacking mentality?

**Melmoth** · 07-08-09 09:24 AM

Hard to tell. I normally use defensive mentality systems which really fit with counter attacking (the further defensive the position is, the more direct their passing).
Against weaker teams I really want to beat I also lower the defensive line to very deep to lure them out of their normally defensive system. With offensive mentality systems I have often had a very hard time to beat teams which only defend and time waste like there's no tomorrow.

So I cannot really tell because I rarely used an offensive mentality system. The only time I used this, I played Zaragoza in Spain. There, I used short passing offensive systems which are about possession. But the northern european weather rarely allows these and I normally play northern european teams.
I think that an offensive mentality system which often uses direct passing may be working ok with counter-attacks.

Speaking of this, you might want to read the article about the Interlink system or TT&F (just google it or do a forum search, Interlink is also here on the forums). Just do not copycat the philosophies in these texts like I did at first because that really didn't work out for me. Think for yourself and integrate it for your personal squad.

As the name Interlink though says, these philosophies are all to guarantee that everybody can get the ball theoretically, and that noone is left apart. So an additional problem of your 5-6 rated strikers may be that they do not get the ball very often. You can help to fix this if you put the individual (attacking) mentalities closer together and see what happens. It can help to "squeeze" the mentality system of the whole squad.

I saw in your other thread that you have a really nice tactic generating many shots. Do not despair, it looks really good. You may just have to wait for your squad to get used to the tactic and it may work out then.

Though if you are against teams which defend only, an offensive tactic may be frustrating - counter-attacking can then help to surprise their defense, especially with your small & quick strikers. Although with counter-attacking systems, winning often feels like pure luck

But it helped me much in seasons later in the game, like 2012 or so, where I was often favourited in the odds and everybody seemed to be happy to get a 0-0 from me.

I hope this helped, and have fun with your strikers

**paine** · 07-08-09 04:40 PM

Try this settings for Saviola, let's say he's your main finisher:

No forward runs
No ttb
Run with the ball often
Long shots rare
No cross

Set the other with a lower mentality (2-3) and everything se on mixed

Of course these settings should be linked with your others players/team settings, but you could try if they work.

**markelodeon** · 08-08-09 06:40 AM

thx fellas...

melmoth, i've tweaked my 4-5-1 tactic..
it's the mentality thing tht's causing the problem. set it to a more global n universal one..
i'm not really a firm believer of tt&f, their rule of one thingy just messes things even more..

just not getting the right fix for my lone striker... urghh, another pain in the butt!
cos my strikers are small, max height is 180cm..

paine, it'll try ur settings with my lone striker..

**Melmoth** · 08-08-09 07:41 AM

@markelodeon

You're right about TT&F. Some things in there are just very special and only seem to work under certain conditions. If they over-generalized things or if I am just too blind to see the prerequisites for some of their tips, I don't know. So I only use the "general philosophy".

@ paine

I have similar (not the same) settings for my 2-striker tactics and it works well. It really seems to be the main thing to open up holes in the opponents defence if he tries to man-mark your striker(s). This you do by using two different striker instructions. Did it also work for you to make them swap positions if the strikers are kind of similar? My strikers then seemed to score way more (though they need to be in the squad for 1 year together to make this work.).

**paine** · 08-08-09 09:38 AM

Setting your 2 strikers to swap could be useful, cause they will be forced to make more movement on the pitch, creating issues for their markers and opening gaps in your opponent defence.

What I noticed is that good mental skills are required to to swap in an effective way (decision, anticipation, off the ball).

**Melmoth** · 08-08-09 10:06 AM

The hint about the mental skills in swapping strikers is really good. I'll definitely remember that! :) Thanks.

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