FM23: What Makes a Good Shadow Striker?
In many ways, the modern game of football has become a complex game of deception and tactical feints.
A shadow striker is an attacking player who occupies the central attacking midfielder’s position (AMC) in Football manager, but rather than primarily acting as the playmaker for the team, mainly focuses on scoring goals.
Out of possession, the Shadow Striker presses the opposition defenders in an effort to win the ball back as quickly as possible while limiting their ability to play off from the back.
When used properly, the Shadow Striker can easily become the main source of goals for your team while still racking up a respectable number of assists.
Dennis Bergkamp famously labelled himself as a shadow striker in his autobiography “Stillness and Speed: My Story”. Bergkamp was not the first or even the greatest shadow striker to grace the beautiful game. That title should probably go to the one and only, the late great, Pele.
Football Manager Description – Shadow Striker
According to the in-game description, “shadow striker operates as one of the team’s main goalscoring threats. Coupled with supporting forward, he aggressively pushes up into goalscoring positions as the ball moves into the final third.”
Recommended Attributes
The Shadow Striker role is a very demanding role both physically and in the technicals since he is expected to be one of the main goal threats, and also act as a playmaker while still also performing defensive activities.
The Shadow Striker should first have good finishing, off-the-ball movement, passing, vision and excellent work rate.
Player Preferred Moves
The Shadow Striker role comes with the following player instructions;
The above Player instructions can be combined with the following Player Traits to make the shadow striker more effective in his role
- Likes to try to beat the offside trap
This trait will make the shadow striker more likely to make runs in behind the defence as they are put through on goal by his teammates. The likelihood that the runs made are successful will depend on his top speed, anticipation and off-the-ball movement.
- Plays one-twos
Consistently playing one-twos with the striker ahead of him will make the shadow striker difficult to be picked up by the defenders while also progressing the ball towards the goal. For this to work effectively, the shadow striker should have good passing and off-the-ball movement.
- Tries killer balls often
As expected of any no.10, the role of creating chances is part and parcel of what they bring to the team and the shadow striker is no different, they will need to supplement the goal-scoring exploits, and the “tries killer balls often” trait will go a long way in ensuring this. Their passing, technique and vision will need to be at around 15 for this to work effectively if you are playing in one of the top five leagues.
Recommended Shadow Strikers
| Name | Age | Position | Current Club | Nationality |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kevin De Bruyne | 30 | M (RLC), AM (C) | Man City | BEL |
| Bernardo Silva | 27 | M/AM (RC) | Man City | POR |
| Phil Foden | 22 | AM (RLC) | Man City | ENG |
| Dejan Kulusevski | 22 | M (R), AM (RC) | Tottenham | SWE |
| Pablo Sarabia | 30 | M (RL), AM (RLC) | PSG | ESP |
| Rodrigo De Paul | 28 | M (C), AM (RLC) | Atlético | ARG |
| Sergio Canales | 31 | M/AM (C) | Betis | ESP |
| Christopher Nkunku | 24 | M/AM (RLC) | RB Leipzig | FRA |
| Marek Hamšík | 34 | M/AM (C) | Trabzonspor | SVK |
| Erik Lamela | 30 | AM (RLC) | Sevilla | ARG |
| Roberto Soriano | 31 | M/AM (C) | Bologna | ITA |
| Giovani Lo Celso | 26 | DM, M (LC), AM (C) | Villarreal | ARG |
| Charles De Ketelaere | 21 | M/AM (C), ST (C) | Milan | BEL |
| Florian Wirtz | 19 | M/AM (C) | Bayer Leverkusen | GER |
| Emile Smith Rowe | 21 | AM (RLC) | Arsenal | ENG |
| Carlos Soler | 25 | WB (R), DM, M/AM (RC) | PSG | ESP |
| Otávio | 27 | M (RC), AM (RLC) | FC Porto | POR |
| Pedro Gonçalves | 23 | M (C), AM (RLC) | Sporting CP | POR |
| Rafinha | 29 | M/AM (RC) | Al-Arabi | BRA |
| Maximiliano Meza | 30 | M (C), AM (RC) | Monterrey | ARG |
| Dominik Szoboszlai | 21 | M/AM (LC) | RB Leipzig | HUN |
| Denis Suárez | 28 | M (C), AM (LC) | Celta | ESP |
| Bryan Gil | 21 | M (L), AM (LC) | Tottenham | ESP |
| Ryan Christie | 27 | M (C), AM (RLC) | Bournemouth | SCO |
| Manolo Gabbiadini | 30 | AM (RC), ST (C) | Sampdoria | ITA |
| Ricardo Horta | 27 | AM (RLC) | Sp. Braga | POR |
| Tjaronn Chery | 34 | M (R), AM (RC) | Maccabi Haifa | SUR |
| Takefusa Kubo | 21 | M (R), AM (C) | Real Sociedad | JPN |
| Yacine Brahimi | 32 | M (L), AM (RLC) | Al-Gharafa | ALG |
| Halil Dervişoğlu | 22 | AM (C), ST (C) | Burnley | TUR |
| Amine Harit | 25 | AM (LC) | Marseille | MAR |
| Nikola Vlašić | 24 | M (C), AM (RC) | Torino | CRO |
| Ayoze Pérez | 28 | AM (RC), ST (C) | Leicester | ESP |
| Cole Palmer | 20 | AM (RLC) | Man City | ENG |
| Gonçalo Guedes | 25 | M (RL), AM (RLC), ST (C) | Wolves | POR |
| Giovanni Reyna | 19 | M/AM (LC) | Borussia Dortmund | USA |
| Giorgian De Arrascaeta | 28 | M (L), AM (LC) | FLA | URU |
| Alireza Jahanbakhsh | 28 | M (RL), AM (RLC) | Feyenoord | IRN |
| Jacob Ramsey | 21 | M/AM (C) | Aston Villa | ENG |
| Philip Billing | 26 | DM, M/AM (C) | Bournemouth | DEN |
| Fábio Vieira | 22 | M (C), AM (RC) | Arsenal | POR |
| Manuel Lanzini | 29 | M/AM (C) | West Ham | ARG |
| Saïd Benrahma | 26 | AM (RLC) | West Ham | ALG |
| Alexey Miranchuk | 26 | M (R), AM (RC) | Torino | RUS |
| Ebere Eze | 23 | M (C), AM (LC) | Crystal Palace | ENG |
| David Brooks | 24 | M (R), AM (RC) | Bournemouth | WAL |
| Antonín Barák | 27 | M/AM (C) | Fiorentina | CZE |
| Hervin Ongenda | 27 | AM (C) | Apol. Limassol | FRA |
| Vincenzo Grifo | 29 | M (L), AM (LC) | Freiburg | ITA |
| Eduardo Vargas | 32 | AM (C), ST (C) | ATM | CHI |
| Martin Baturina | 19 | M/AM (C) | Dinamo | CRO |
| Juanpi | 28 | AM (RC) | Caracas | VEN |
| Gianluca Caprari | 28 | AM (LC), ST (C) | Monza | ITA |
| Nicolae Stanciu | 29 | AM (RC) | WH Three Towns | ROU |
| Faruku Miya | 24 | M (C), AM (RC) | Rizespor | UGA |
| Orkun Kökçü | 21 | M/AM (C) | Feyenoord | TUR |
| Lovro Majer | 24 | M/AM (C) | Rennes | CRO |
| Yacine Adli | 21 | M/AM (C) | Milan | FRA |
| Rochinha | 27 | AM (RLC) | Sporting CP | POR |
| Claudinho | 25 | M (C), AM (RLC) | Zenit | BRA |
| Enis Bardhi | 26 | M/AM (LC) | Trabzonspor | MKD |
| André Franco | 24 | M (C), AM (RLC) | FC Porto | POR |
| Magnus Wolff Eikrem | 31 | M/AM (C) | Molde | NOR |
| Ronaldo Deaconu | 25 | M/AM (C) | Korona | ROU |
| Carles Gil | 29 | AM (RLC) | New England | ESP |
| Anders Christiansen | 32 | M/AM (C) | Malmö FF | DEN |
| Ederson | 22 | M/AM (C) | Atalanta | BRA |
| Hayao Kawabe | 26 | M/AM (C) | Grasshoppers | JPN |
| Aleksandar Katai | 31 | AM (RLC) | Crvena zvezda | SRB |
| Tasos Bakasetas | 28 | AM (RC) | Trabzonspor | GRE |
| Dylan Flores | 29 | M/AM (C) | Cartaginés | CRC |
| Unai López | 26 | M/AM (C) | Rayo Vallecano | ESP |
| Jimmy Durmaz | 33 | M/AM (C) | SWE | |
| João Pedro | 20 | AM (RLC), ST (C) | Watford | BRA |
| Óscar | 23 | M (C), AM (LC) | Celta | ESP |
| Guus Til | 24 | M/AM (C) | PSV | NED |
| Saman Ghoddos | 28 | AM (RLC) | Brentford | IRN |
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