Comments on: How Do You Solve a Problem Like Agbonlahor?

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:37:06 +0000

Yeah, I think I’m gonna stick with the 4-2-3-1 for now Colin, but thanks for the suggestion!

Here’s how well suited my four English attackers are to the attacking midfield roles:

Gabby – AMR, Accomplished. AML, Competent.
Young – AMR, Accomplished. AML, Natural. AMC, Accomplished.
Walcott – AMR, Natural. AML, Accomplished.
Wilshere – AMR, Competent. AML, Accomplished. AMC, Natural.

As you can see, there’s scope for rotating players around a bit. As far as Gabby goes, I think I’ll retrain him so that he’s a more use on the left, then I have more options.

By: t'OM

t'OM — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 09:41:02 +0000

The advanced 4-2-2-2 sounds like an OK idea, but the idea of a 5 man midfield is to dominate possession through the middle of the park, and I’m not sure Gabby or Adebayor would be able to contribute so much to this in a FC position. Now retraining Gabby to an AMC making surging forward runs would be quite a frightening sight.

By: Colin

Colin — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 23:48:37 +0000

Personally I’ve never seen Agbonlahor play well in any incarnation of FM but in 09, he seems to have the best chance of doing so. Here is what I would do:

Out of all your front 4, the weakest player seems to be the AM (Bullard/Wilshere). Wilshere can play pretty well on the right, so why not move that AM up to CF, while leaving everything as is. The result is a formation that is slightly unbalanced but if your wingers can hold possession (generally do this through making them cut in instead of crossing), then this should not be an issue.

Don’t worry, I have used this formation before and if you get your tactics right, all of the front 4 will start banging goals in. Don’t try tweaking them in any game where you’re not 100% confident though (maybe a home CL game against the dud team or League Cup or FA Cup game).

By: James

James — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 20:00:08 +0000

If you retrain Gabby to play attacking right and Walcott to play attacking left, when you do eventually sell Adebayor Young, Walcott and Gabby will all be able to rotate and be very difficult to mark. 3 very young very fast english attacking players rotating positions should cause defences all sorts of problems.

By: Daryl

Daryl — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:48:22 +0000

This doesn’t solve your problem, but if Gabby isn’t already “accomplished” as an attacking mid right, then I’d recommend some position training.

Like you said, he probably won’t dislodge Walcott as your first choice. But will at least give you extra opportunities to play Gabby (eg when Walcott’s injured/tired) and keep him from getting grumpy.