Joddit >> sunday october 6 - 16:13

I would love to get some thoughts on what type of specials one would train onto strikers. Please finish your thoughts, though, and explain for what reasons (or aims) you would choose those specific ones.

Let's be honest, I need more options to score a goal.

Koen >> sunday october 6 - 18:46

Well, the default specials for strikers are pretty clear. You can check some of the better teams or NT's if you are not sure yet. No surprises there. 

If you are looking for more options to score a goal, then I suggest to look elsewhere. Train a sweeper or wingback with longshots (and dribbler), try versatile and/or longshots on your midfielders, that sort of thing. In other words, try to make sure that more players will score a goal every now and then. In the long run, they will add up.

Joddit >> sunday october 6 - 19:11, Edited sunday october 6 - 19:13

@Koen

To be honest, I've been mirroring my team to yours for the best part of 6 or 7 seasons now (and sometimes slightly modifying things to make them more realistic for my humble team). I figured I could probably learn a thing or two from someone who has been champion of the league forever and a day. It got me from rock bottom in the fourth tier to mid-table in the third, so far. 

Thanks for pitching in. Rest assured that I will be stealing your ideas for seasons to come. :) 

Joey Zyla >> sunday october 6 - 19:30

Wageningen plays with LF/RF instead of two S. That alone makes a big difference I think, I can't think of many top teams in this game that don't play with at least one wide forward (usually two).

Joddit >> monday october 7 - 15:21

I agree with your assessment. Yet, I have tried to play using LF/RF or even one in the centre and the other on the left or right, but when your two strikers are complete numpties (uncapitalised, no offence meant) and also don't have long shots, in my experience, it doesn't seem to work.

And I can't really afford to miss out on any of the 18 (count them) goals I have managed so far this season.

In the long run, however, I am working towards that option. Building a team from scratch takes at lot of time. That's why I keep asking these silly questions, to make sure I stand a decent chance of getting it right the first time of asking. 

I do appreciate all the responses, though. 

Numpty >> monday october 7 - 15:36, Edited monday october 7 - 15:53

No offence taken :)  

I think for wide forwards to work well they do need to have Longshots. That seems to be the crucial special that you're missing.  Plus you also need Playmaker on some of your mids - that's probably another reason why you're not scoring.

You can't expect to score lots of goals if you haven't got the players that are good enough for the level you are playing in. 

With your plan of developing your own team from scratch then something has to give.

Either you use up some squad space and get some Loan players who can score, or buy a couple of cheap 30-ish strikers, or train Longshots or don't worry too much about your league results. 

If it were me I would get a couple of decent loan strikers. That will fix the problem for next season.

The other thing to bear in mind is that wide forwards are mainly necessary when playing against 3 central defenders. Since you are playing in level 3 I very much doubt that all of your opponents at that level will be playing with 5 at the back. In which case be prepared to be flexible and attack according to your opponent's likely formation. 

inayima >> monday october 7 - 18:17

Since this it's here.

How it's the priority list for a striker, for what I've seen Long Shots it's a must but besides it i've seem strikers with Sharpshooter, Penalty Specialist, Poacher being a common option and Dribbler and Winger being there sometimes.

So if someone want to train only 2 or 3 specials to a FW what should be priority before Poacher being introduced it were Sharpshooter and Penalty Specialist but i wonder if Poacher replaced any of the 3 (LS included)

Stephen >> monday october 7 - 18:54, Edited monday october 7 - 18:55

The advice I would give to anyone who asked is twofold:

1. train your players for the circumstances of your club; and 
2. think about how long your player will be with your team.

What I mean by this is that training attributes is very time-consuming. So you need to be very careful in who you train and what you add. This needs to be weighed up against the opposition you will face. For example, sticking ‘sharpshooter’ on an average striker is probably not a good use of time if you are facing decent defences each match. But, if you’re a strong club in a relatively weak league, it might be helpful.

@Joddit - as I was working my way up the English leagues, I was careful to add only essential special trainings to key players. Long shots for strikers, playmaker for midfielders, and so on. Looking back, I could have been even more ruthless. I wasted some time on players who I overestimated and it cost me some time that I could have spent on others.

When you hit the big time, even then you need to be careful. Who’s the player you’re going to keep for 10 seasons? Who’s the one who’s just passing through. Be selective and be flexible too. If a great player drops in your lap whether from your YC or the transfer market sometimes plans need to be changed!

As ever @Koen offers sage advice.

Funky Grandma >> wednesday february 5 - 23:20, Edited wednesday february 5 - 23:25

@Andrei

I think LB/RB/LWB/RWB would benefit more from long-shots than a CB would. A CB doesn't normally pass the midway line, which they have to in order to score. A SW does tend to do it if he has the ball. So do LWBs and RWBs.

Also, in offensive corner situations, LB/RBs tend to be positioned for long shots, outside the box. CBs tend to wait for the ball in the box. Longshots won't help them there, but a couple of balls of scorring will (If the match engine is still what it used to be like, back in seasons 20-30 - I'm recently back into the game after a long break and my current team isn't focusing on corners).

Generally speaking, if you're looking for goals from your CBs, give them between 1 and 3 balls of scoring. But also make sure you've got a good corner-taker.