Basics of a 1 striker formation

[Nolan92]

I always thought of the lone striker as a complete forward, But I want to try it out with my chelthenham side, Got a couple of quality midfielders and want to try a 4-1-4-1.

The simple question is how do do I get the 1 person uprfont thing to work I've always tried and have so far failed.

 

[jsmworld]

You need a player upfront that has very good physical stats (i.e. pace, strength) and good mental stats (i.e. work rate, composure). Its best if you play him as a complete forward - because he will do more work and be more involved in play.

Also, try counter attacking. It works well from corners. The opposition normally keep 2 defenders back, so a pacey striker will get past them and shoot or more likely, take it into the wing to cross it in for someone in the box.

I hope this helps.

 

[GodCubed]

Usually when I play a 4-2-3-1, I play a Target Man or Poacher upfront. When I'm playing a Target Man, the idea is for a knockdown to the AM/AP, who advances play from there. With a poacher, I'm looking for the ball to be played to an AP, who through-balls it for him. When I play a 4-3-3, the striker is usually a Complete Forward, to take on much of the attacking workload so the wingers and play around him.

 

[iNickStuff]

A one-striker formation, the lone forward in a 4-4-1-1, 4-1-4-1, 4-2-3-1, 4-5-1 and so on requires a number of things.

First and foremost, your lone striker needs to have these things:

• Strength
• Pace
• Aerial ability
• Good decision making
• Good off the ball movement
• Ability to create space for himself
• And, obviously, be able to score goals.

When having that lone striker, you cannot have, say, Javier Hernandez up by himself and expect him to muscle his way through two, supposedly braun defenders and score 3-4 goals. It just won't happen. Sure he has pace and skills but how many times will he be able to pull them off? Very few.

You need either a complete forward (so, the likes of Fernando Torres, Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney) or you need a strong, aerially-adept forward. With that in mind, they can then hold the ball up, get into space, challenge aerially and muscle his way past opposing central defenders.

With the striker aside, you'll need him to have some back-up. So the following would be recommended:

• For wingers, you need for them to be pacey and skilful. They can then get the ball, dart down their flank, get the byline and provide a cross to the striker. He then gets aerial service and is more likely to score. Fast, inside-cutting forwards are recommended but, if you can find a creative, but fast winger, he should be your player to provide down the flank.
• In terms of your midfield you'll need combinations. Here's one; two central midfielders requires a playmaker and a ball-winning midfielder. A combination of the two then allows the playmaker to look for passes, most likely to the wingers or even the striker, and get attacking moves on. The ball-winning midfielder then covers for the playmaker and acts like a shield for when the opposition come charging for the ball.
• A three-man midfield often carries a bigger combination. A playmaker, a ball-winning midfielder and either a box-to-box or attacking midfielder. The playmaker can either be a central or deep-lying playmaker, one that can play as a defensive midfielder and can operate from just ahead of the defence. Then there is the chance for the ball-winning midfielder to partner the playmaker in the midfield while he looks for passes and the attacking midfielder, or box-to-box player, joins the attack with the wingers and the striker. Switching it around, you'd have a playmaker, an anchored defensive midfielder that shields the defence and then an attacking midfielder. In that three-man central midfield, although the playmaker doesn't have much cover, the attacking midfielder will often provide an easier option and continue the move. He will, more often than not, be a creative player to, and become the second playmaker.

With that information, you should be able to pile all of that up and decide whether a lone-striker formation is beneficial or not and, if it is, whether you need to improve on your current squad or just go with the formation anyway.

Hope that helped.

 

[^Jack^]

i'm playing a 4-5-1 formatoin with an anchorman (annan), 2 central mfs, 2 wingers (pisculichi and blanco) who play as inside forwards and a lone striker, sebastian fernandez who is around 5'5, but has good pace, acceleration, dribbling, finishing and off the ball ability. i play him as a fast striker, he rarely scores headers , but still gets around 30 goals and assists per season. he's also the reason why the wingers score around 30 goals as well.

on another save i play the same formation with jonathan cristaldo up front, he's more of a target man and scores over 50 each season, but gets much less assists than fernandez, thus his teammates score less. i prefer having a forward who can distribute the ball around, makes the whole team look better

 

[Nolan92]

Thank you so much

 

[StuW]

I sometimes use Djalo, or another quick forward as a lone striker. Train the player to try and beat offside trap, and set as an advanced forward. Set team instructions to - 'TARGET MAN - RUN ONTO BALL'.

 

[winfield]

With a one striker formation, I believethere's a couple of things you have to bear in mind
1. you have to be able to get supplementary attackers to get into the box. You can't expect goals to just come from your lone striker. You need to find goals from either your wingers or midfielders
2. I prefer an advanced forward or complete forward in the lone striker role. They need to be able to create ie play in wingers or attacking mids and go long distance. And asking them not to hold the ball up is a massive help. (holding the ball up usually gets him swamped by the centre backs). Needs to be strong enough to ride challenges (12+ strength is my minimum) but fast enough to go solo. Movement based PPM's are really helpful here (move into channels, beat offside trap)


How I set up my 451 is here
http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/f72/disavantage-of-tactics-formation-t40948/post721987.html

I like 4-5-1, 4-2-3-1 as it enables you to get attackers into position from different angles, You can get attackers in from the wide areas, you can get midfield attack.

 

[Tharros]

Interesting. In a 4-5-1 I do the opposite of what most of you are doing. I set the lone striker to deep-lying forward support so he comes deep to get the ball and passes off the the other attacking players. It also means he is not so easily picked up by defenders as he is not waiting on the shoulder of the last man. Works well enough for me.

 

[NunoPeixinho]

when I set a 4-5-1 formation, the lone striker is usually use a Trequartista, so he can come deep to get the ball, and open spaces for the others . i also tend to use an Advanced Foward !

 

[*Jones*]

Interesting. In a 4-5-1 I do the opposite of what most of you are doing. I set the lone striker to deep-lying forward support so he comes deep to get the ball and passes off the the other attacking players. It also means he is not so easily picked up by defenders as he is not waiting on the shoulder of the last man. Works well enough for me.

I do this, depending on the player; though the majority of times it's a poacher or a deep lying forward: support.

 

[philly]

In my Arsenal 4-5-1 formation, I tend to use Van Persie (Complete Forward) or Chamakh (Target Man) as the lone striker, but I always have Nasri or Arshavin playing at Left Attacking Mid as a Inside Forward, I find they take quite a lot of the load of the main striker.