Challenges A Diamond In The Rough

[StuartM]

Thanks @Scratch, this is a really fun challenge. After the move at the end of season one I thought of giving him a season in each of PL, Serie A and La Liga but once I secured CL football I took the easy route of staying put. I think I'll give this another go staying at Oxford at some point. Great progress by the way!

[Scratch]

3 hours ago, StuartM said:

Thanks @Scratch, this is a really fun challenge. After the move at the end of season one I thought of giving him a season in each of PL, Serie A and La Liga but once I secured CL football I took the easy route of staying put. I think I'll give this another go staying at Oxford at some point. Great progress by the way!

Thanks! I want to try La Liga now. I had in my head that Italy would be the easiest of the 3, based on a couple of careers in previous versions, but a lot of teams seem to play a formation I don't do that well against.

Also, I wanted to move to a big club but it just didn't line up. Roma and Atletico both offered me positions (without me asking) but both outside the transfer window, which would have meant 3 or 4 months before I could buy him. Then I tried Napoli in an early off season, but they weren't having it...

[Scratch]

I finished attempt 2 and I'm still too lazy to write it up, so here's how I went - 286 goals and 36 assists for a total of 322 contributions:

 

Compared to attempt 1, this version had strong Aerial and Stamina rather than strong Crossing and Dribbling. The rest of his attributes were either exactly the same or only 1 point different, which is incredible in it's own right. Basically he came out as exactly the same player, except for a couple of key attributes. Which of course made him a totally different player.

This version scored a LOT more goals, but hardly got any assists - not surprising given I played him as a TM in a tactic focused on him scoring. The previous version had a much higher focus on providing assists and it showed - he had 177 goal and 156 assists.

The end result? This version lost the battle with only 322 contributions, whereas version one had 333. 

This version struggled a lot in the beginning (19 vs 33 contributions in season 1, 36 vs 60 in season 2), but was slightly stronger near the end.

I'd guess the difference is down to the start of this one being in a harder league (Serie A vs L1), while at the end it's slightly easier (Serie A vs EPL). Maybe the best path is to stay at Oxford for the first couple of seasons and let him develop his blood lust on the unsuspecting L1 and Championship teams, then move him to Serie A (if you can) which is easier than the EPL?

Not sure if I will be back for an attempt 3 - towards the end this really started dragging for me. But you know, never say never...

 

[Superking]

Professionalism and workrate both improve... at just starting ...

[StuartM]

I'm still messing around with my Rough save... trying to get a good tactic... on about 7 seasons and had to buy him back for Crystal Palace from Real Madrid 😆

[Superking]

25 minutes ago, StuartM said:

I'm still messing around with my Rough save... trying to get a good tactic... on about 7 seasons and had to buy him back for Crystal Palace from Real Madrid 😆

I gave up on this challenge 🤣🤣.. my plan was let him train to only IF and winger and let him score from that position only and train another young striker as TF .. so he can score and assist both at one time .. but starting few games he only managed to 2 assist and 1 goal only ... 

[Dai_]

You have to give it time. Its tough in the first couple of seasons but he becomes incredible. Patience is key for this challenge. Oh, and a good tactic. 😊

[Superking]

3 minutes ago, Dai_ said:

You have to give it time. Its tough in the first couple of seasons but he becomes incredible. Patience is key for this challenge. Oh, and a good tactic. 😊

It's very tough...although I haven't tried with my tactic  4-3-3 Balanced....

I tried so many tactics for many goals  scoring challenge but no one works better than my 4-3-3 without  wingers only wing backs.. with 2 IF at Forwards position.. All the other tactics failed in 1st season....if I score 100 goals in a season with my tactics than only mange to score 70 with same team with different tactics .. 

[Dai_]

But this challenge is just about getting the play going through one player, not just scoring as many as possible. Scoring 70 goals is good for this as long as the Rough is involved in most of them. Either scoring or assisting. My 50/50 tactic is and was perfect for it but you have to give things time and make sure you have the right players. It took me a good few months to get the tactic where it needed to be.

That's why I started this challenge in the lower League's so that his opposition wasn't top class right from the off.

[Superking]

56 minutes ago, Dai_ said:

But this challenge is just about getting the play going through one player, not just scoring as many as possible. Scoring 70 goals is good for this as long as the Rough is involved in most of them. Either scoring or assisting. My 50/50 tactic is and was perfect for it but you have to give things time and make sure you have the right players. It took me a good few months to get the tactic where it needed to be.

That's why I started this challenge in the lower League's so that his opposition wasn't top class right from the off.

I started with 1 youth player at every position...even striker is younger than rough ... should have started with good striker atleast...I will start again..with a  striker who has atleast 15 Aerial...I am focusing on assist only .. goals will be bonus..