From great to second-rate, and I don't understand why...

[...Jak...]

I posted this on the 'Show off your regen' thread, but nobody appears to be responding atm.

I uncovered what I consider to be a very promising regen striker on my valencia save, possibly the best I have found for his age, so snapped him up straight away and decided to give him games from time to time at the age of 16. Anyhow, turns out he scored 20 goals, mostly from the bench, and was my top scorer.
I then made him first choice for the next season, selling my usual first choice (Finances are stretched atm). However, despite being so impressive last season, and despite considerable stat increases, he has been average at best.

Here is a screen-shot of him so far this season:

View attachment 358406

Admittedly, 5 in 10 starts and 3 subs doesn't sound horrific, but 2 were against sub-standard opponents in the cup and champions league respectively, and two in the league were against newly promoted Huesca, who are without a win in 15.

In terms of how I am playing him, I play him as a complete forward with a poacher alongside. Wing-backs and inside forwards on the flanks and two playmakers in midfield, so he shouldn't be short of opportunities. I just can't figure out why he's not performing.

Any advice is much appreciated (And sorry for the length!)

 

[Zidave]

Great regen. I would be happy with that return. Average rating over 7, attributes improving and only 17!! Not sure what you expect??? Look at his International stats maybe you need to play him in a different way to get more goals but he is hardly 2nd rate!

 

[marksandygill]

First off how good is the rest of your team and how ell are you doing? Have you used the same tactics for years without changing or have you changed them recently?

Also he is pretty young, and going from an off the bench first season to regular first choice striker would be hard for a real life 'kid', so there is no reason he shouldn't be any different! I probably wouldn't have made him first choice at the age of 17...

Also you mentioned he was your top scorer the previous season on 20, which isn't 'hugely' high in the world of FM, so it could maybe be your tactics?

 

[...Jak...]

Great regen. I would be happy with that return. Average rating over 7, attributes improving and only 17!! Not sure what you expect??? Look at his International stats maybe you need to play him in a different way to get more goals but he is hardly 2nd rate!

Thanks for your response

I see what you mean, and in most cases I'd be over the moon, but when you consider his form last season, and that I played him in the same role, I don't understand how his form can have dropped by so much (See below screen-shot).

View attachment 358435

Over half of those starts (1st season) were off the bench in the second half.

In terms of international stats, I forgot to say, I am also spain manager, and play him in exactly the same role/ tactic. Yet he seems to play much better at international level.

How would you suggest playing him to improve the goal rate? I am tempted to try him as a poacher, but don't want to waste his good (in my opinion) all round stats :S

 

[marksandygill]

Remember in real life some players do play better Internationally than domestically (i.e every English player...

He is a good player but still very young to be up front on his own, I'd just carry on, as long as he isn't playing badly and he will start banging them in soon!

Also even the best players have barren spells, on my game Lewandowski went like 15 hours without scoring but still has 20 goals in 33 games!

 

[HMB2000]

If you'd been bringing him in toward the ends of games last season, he might have been more effective against tired opponents. Does FM take that into account? Part of it could be his jadedness too, as starting regularly takes more of a toll.

 

[...Jak...]

First off how good is the rest of your team and how ell are you doing? Have you used the same tactics for years without changing or have you changed them recently?

Also he is pretty young, and going from an off the bench first season to regular first choice striker would be hard for a real life 'kid', so there is no reason he shouldn't be any different! I probably wouldn't have made him first choice at the age of 17...

Also you mentioned he was your top scorer the previous season on 20, which isn't 'hugely' high in the world of FM, so it could maybe be your tactics?

Cheers for replying so quickly

Hard to say how good the rest of my team are, I have twice been runner-up in La Liga, but both times been around 10 points behind Barcelona iirc. Currently unbeaten this season in 15 games, but drawn 6 of them so in 3rd place (Mostly due to lack of goals). I'd say the strikers are the main weakness, which is linked in a way to Rivera (He plays well, we win, he plays badly, we draw type thing).

I have been at Valencia for 3 years and always used the same tactics (One for games I expect to win, one for games I expect to be close). Is this bad? Should I be changing my tactics yearly or something?

I do see what you mean about real life parallels, maybe it's just the pressure or something.
If it is my tactics, how would you suggest I change them? This is my most common formation below:

View attachment 358440

 

[...Jak...]

Remember in real life some players do play better Internationally than domestically (i.e every English player...

He is a good player but still very young to be up front on his own, I'd just carry on, as long as he isn't playing badly and he will start banging them in soon!

Also even the best players have barren spells, on my game Lewandowski went like 15 hours without scoring but still has 20 goals in 33 games!

Funny, just played him against Levante and he goes and scores twice! Maybe I am reading too much into it and it's just a bad run...
Thanks

 

[...Jak...]

If you'd been bringing him in toward the ends of games last season, he might have been more effective against tired opponents. Does FM take that into account? Part of it could be his jadedness too, as starting regularly takes more of a toll.

That's actually a really good point, I hadn't thought about it that way. I suppose the younger a player the faster they will tire too...
Thanks

 

[marksandygill]

First of that's a really attacking formation, I remember someone saying you shouldn't have more attacking players than defensive/supporting, maybe try dropping a striker back to DM and having your full backs defend (they still get forward a lot, oddly)

I'm at Barca so it's difficult to suggest tactics as its more the players are so good, but I play the following...

View attachment 358441

 

[HMB2000]

If it is my tactics, how would you suggest I change them? This is my most common formation below:

View attachment 358440

The best tactic I used in FM 2012 was just like yours, but I dropped one of the CM into the DM position (DLP/D or Anchorman role) and set the CM as a DLP/S. It gave me a better defensive structure as well as linking the defense and midfield, and then the distribution was quick to the strikers (one of which was a CF/Support or DLF) or wide to the attacking midfielders. Scored a lot of goals in that formation!

 

[Yoblackcat]

First of that's a really attacking formation, I remember someone saying you shouldn't have more attacking players than defensive/supporting, maybe try dropping a striker back to DM and having your full backs defend (they still get forward a lot, oddly)

I'm at Barca so it's difficult to suggest tactics as its more the players are so good, but I play the following...

View attachment 358441

What a odd formation that is haha

 

[...Jak...]

First of that's a really attacking formation, I remember someone saying you shouldn't have more attacking players than defensive/supporting, maybe try dropping a striker back to DM and having your full backs defend (they still get forward a lot, oddly)

I'm at Barca so it's difficult to suggest tactics as its more the players are so good, but I play the following...

View attachment 358441

As much as I'm sure that formation works for you, I don't think I have the players to make it work
I might try to change things up though, maybe dropping back a striker to central midfield. My problem with changing the formation up to much is that I have no defensive midfielders (excluding a promising regen in my U-19s), so I may need to do some work in the january window. Thanks for the advice though

 

[marksandygill]

What a odd formation that is haha

Yeah I know, I was trying to create a tactic with a Libero and ended up with this!

Still I was really trying to get at the fact that I only have 2 attacking players, everyone else is either in support or defensive!