Fun/Games Striker Trials

[Kun Aguero]

23 minutes ago, BatiGoal said:

Playing a weaker Europa league is another beneficial factor, if it all adds up we might get 10 pts 😀

Only league goals and assists count though

32 minutes ago, DanEnglish said:

PS. @AtleticoWolves - Inter?! I wonder if they’ll even finish top 4 that first season! While I love Lukaku, that feels like a brave choice compared with the alternatives …

Tbh I'm surprised only one picked Lukaku as Jeremy Doku is the only one guaranteed to start, with Inter playing a 2 strikers formation and Doku being good enough for Serie A.

Btw there's one duo which no one picked doing better than expected 🧐

[DanEnglish]

9 minutes ago, Kun Aguero said:

Btw there's one duo which no one picked doing better than expected 🧐

Salah’s Liverpool? They would have been my 3rd choice. Mainly because Salah just keeps scoring so many goals on his own.

10 minutes ago, Kun Aguero said:

Only league goals and assists count though

Yes I noticed that also. Otherwise may have gone for Mbappe if international goals would have been counted 🙂 

[BatiGoal]

4 minutes ago, DanEnglish said:

Yes I noticed that also. Otherwise may have gone for Mbappe if international goals would have been counted 🙂

I wonder how many players come back injured from the World Cup...maybe Lewandowski.. 😆 honestly tho, hope nobody does otherwise it screws up the results entirely and we're none the wiser.

[Kun Aguero]

8 minutes ago, BatiGoal said:

I wonder how many players come back injured from the World Cup...maybe Lewandowski.. 😆 honestly tho, hope nobody does otherwise it screws up the results entirely and we're none the wiser.

None of them, but Neymar missed the entire second half of the season, advantage Mbappe+Ekitike?

[BatiGoal]

1 minute ago, Kun Aguero said:

None of them, but Neymar missed the entire second half of the season, advantage Mbappe+Ekitike?

It's much more enjoyable to be the host. I don't need this stress. Can we swap places? 😂

[DanEnglish]

27 minutes ago, Kun Aguero said:

None of them, but Neymar missed the entire second half of the season, advantage Mbappe+Ekitike?

Neymar was THAT lazy. Wow. Couldn’t even be bothered to turn up for the 2nd half of the season. Part timer. He’ll never make it 🤪

[Meow]

4 hours ago, Kun Aguero said:

Neymar missed the entire second half of the season

Painfully accurate to real life

[Kun Aguero]

Striker Trials: Round 2

The Apprentice

Without further ado, let's just jump into the results starting from the last placed who will be eliminated.

#9 - Cristiano Ronaldo + Fabio Silva - Average 8 G+A

Fabio Silva turns out to be the only apprentice who outscored his teacher, by providing 7 goals and 3 assists, while Ronaldo only get a pity 4 goals and 2 assists, probably due to THAT Piers Morgan interview.

Spoiler

#8 - Erling Haaland + Elias Hoff Melkersen - Average 8.5 G+A

This is probably the biggest disappointment this round, as a few short-term injuries had affected Haaland's season, in which he only managed to play 19 times in the league and produce 16 goals and 1 assists, far from his tally IRL. Even with Haaland's absence, Pep still didn't use Melkersen much, instead he's been playing Bernardo Silva/Foden as the striker.

#7 Romelu Lukaku + Jeremy Doku - Average 11 G+A

"Lakaka" never failed to disappoint, but this time it's more of Doku's fault, as even though he's one of the apprentice with most games, he only provided 1 goal and 1 assist in Serie A, resulting in a bottom three finish for the Belgian duo. He's so bad that in the end, the manager chose to play an even younger Valentin Carboni as Lukaku's partner instead.

Spoiler

#6  - Harry Kane + Dane Scarlett - Average 12.5 G+A

Probably cause he's the youngest apprentice, Dane Scarlett didn't play a single game, and Harry Kane had to carry their duo by his own, providing 25 G+A.

#5 - Heung-Min Son + Oh Hyeun-Gyu - Average 14.5 G+A

Predicted by @BatiGoal to be the one eliminated this round, Son put in another incredible performance, with 29 G+A while his apprentice didn't get a single G+A despite playing 10 times in the league. Maybe it's time we stop underrate Son?

#4 - Mohamed Salah + Omar Marmoush - Average 17 G+A

Salah's incredible yet again, providing 34 G+A while his apprentice Marmoush didn't provide a single league G+A, despite getting quite some game time.

#3 - Kylian Mbappe + Hugo Ekitike - Average 18 G+A

Hugo Ekitike's been quite a disappointment as he only played once for PSG even with Neymar's out for the entire second half of the season? Why? For some reason, the manager choose to play another 17 years old as the second striker instead of Ekitike. Tough luck for Mbappe's supporters as he only managed to earn you 8 points this round.

Spoiler

 #2 - Lionel Messi + Julian Alvarez - Average 19 G+A

The fan favorite this round Messi+Alvarez put in some quality performance, with Messi providing 27 G+A while Alvarez provided 11 G+A, that's one of the best performance from an apprentice this round, but unfortunately wasn't enough to beat the eventual winner.

#1 - Robert Lewandowski + Bartosz Bialek - Average 26.5 G+A

The Polish duo was way ahead of the rest with an average of 26.5 G+A. Robert Lewandowski was incredible, providing 50 G+A all on his own, while Bialek provided 3 goals (That 3 goals was before he was sent out on loan, and I forget to check whether that's from league or cup, so I'll add them as league goals, not that it matters though, even after removing this 3 goals, they're still way ahead of the others).

 

League

 

The Rankings

@DanEnglish moved to top spot thanks to Lewandowski while Haaland failed @broodje kip big time as he's dropped down to 7th place.

1. @DanEnglish - 18 pts
2. @Indian - 17 pts
3. @BatiGoal - 16 pts
4. @Kanegan - 16 pts
5. @StuartM - 16 pts
6. @TheShane - 15 pts
7. @broodje kip - 13 pts
8. @Meow - 13 pts
9. @P.Rahul - 13 pts
10. @Titjes - 12 pts
11. @AtleticoWolves - 10 pts

 

Thanks for reading, and here's what's coming next...

[broodje kip]

Haaland 🤬

[BatiGoal]

1 hour ago, Kun Aguero said:

Predicted by @BatiGoal to be the one eliminated this round, Son put in another incredible performance

I'm not going to bother reading next round's challenge, just put me down for Son straight away 😂

1 hour ago, Kun Aguero said:

The Polish duo was way ahead of the rest with an average of 26.5 G+A. Robert Lewandowski was incredible, providing 50 G+A all on his own

While I expected Lewandowski to do really well and his apprentice the opposite, I didn't want to take the risk. I know that if I'd picked him he'd gotten injured 😆 so congrats to @DanEnglish for believing in Robert.

[DanEnglish]

26 minutes ago, broodje kip said:

Haaland 🤬

That’s genuinely unlucky. If Haaland kept contributing at that rate across all 38 games, Haaland would have finished the round joint 4th - which meant @broodje kip would now be … joint 2nd 🙂 

4 minutes ago, BatiGoal said:

While I expected Lewandowski to do really well and his apprentice the opposite, I didn't want to take the risk. I know that if I'd picked him he'd gotten injured 😆 so congrats to @DanEnglish for believing in Robert.

This is a great experiment of “always picking option D” in a multiple choice exam - just here it’s lewan-D-owski ! 😂 

[Meow]

29 minutes ago, broodje kip said:

Haaland 🤬

Ayyy welcome this part of the table.

 

6 minutes ago, BatiGoal said:

Lewandowski to do really well and his apprentice the opposite

Same, I was weighing the apprentice rather heavily. Didn't expect Lewandowski to break the odds by scoring everything by himself. 

[P.Rahul]

1 minute ago, Meow said:

Ayyy welcome this part of the table.

That was just round 1 😂😂... 

[TheShane]

Julian is pretty good player by himself so he can get starts more easily I think as Lewy is at Bayern. Messi had good assisting capability so I went for him. Both players don't need to be same position either. While messi is in decline, Alvarez is on the rise and is a strong player himself. Also low-key expecting haaland to carry once again.

[StuartM]

I thought Ekitike was a bit of a gamble but I did expect him to play!

[Kanegan]

2 hours ago, StuartM said:

I thought Ekitike was a bit of a gamble but I did expect him to play!

Me too, that was utterly disappointing.

[AtleticoWolves]

18 hours ago, DanEnglish said:

PS. @AtleticoWolves - Inter?! I wonder if they’ll even finish top 4 that first season! While I love Lukaku, that feels like a brave choice compared with the alternatives …

Like @Kun Aguero said, I saw that only Doku was guaranteed a spot on the first XI, but sadly, he didn't live up to my expectations

[Kun Aguero]

Striker Trials: Round 3

The Swap

When their strongest became their weakest, who will thrive and who will struggle? 

In the 3rd round, the strikers will face a very different challenge, their strongest attribute will "swap" with their weakest attributes, and they will try to keep their goalscoring boots on.

The Scenario

• Each of the 8 remaining strikers will be playing in 8 different clubs across the top 5 leagues.
• They will have their strongest attribute swapped with their lowest attribute. (i.e one of Mbappe's best attribute is Pace(20) while his lowest is Aggression(6), after the swap his Pace will become 6 while Aggression become 20)
• Their score this round will be league goals scored.

The Strikers

#1 Robert Lewandowski - Barcelona - Shooting ↔️ Tackling

#2 Lionel Messi - PSG - Technique ↔️ Tackling

#3 Kylian Mbappe - Real Madrid - Pace ↔️ Aggression

#4 Mohamed Salah - Liverpool - Movement ↔️ Tackling

#5 Heung-Min Son - Juventus - Movement ↔️ Aggression

#6 Harry Kane - Tottenham - Shooting ↔️ Tackling

#7 Romelu Lukaku - Inter - Shooting ↔️ Tackling

#8 Erling Haaland - Man City - Movement ↔️ Tackling

 

What do you need to do?

• Pick 1 striker you think will win this round.
• Send your selection to me thru PM.
• You may discuss in this thread, but is advised to not reveal your selection.
• If your striker placed #1, you will be awarded 10 points; 9 points if your striker placed at #2, and vice versa.
• You have around 48 hours to make your choice.

Feel free to ask any questions, and have fun! 😁

[BatiGoal]

Hehehe I like it.. I'll do my analysis tonight, but I'm probably going with Son as promised . . .

[DanEnglish]

Wow this is a good one. I think it should be fairly obvious which one / two are best …

… should I keep going with option ‘D’ … 

Spoiler

lewan ‘D’ owski !!!

#mindgames!

Edited March 21, 2023 by DanEnglish

[broodje kip]

Wanted to go for Son but that 6 movement though 😧

[BatiGoal]

Lewandowski, Kane, Lukaku low shooting - from experience I know they'll need 7-8 chances to score a goal.. on a good day.

Messi low technique - can hardly create decent chances for himself now, which means even fewer goals.

Mbappe low pace - he literally becomes the slowest man on the grass. Very easy to defend against v ALL defenders.

Son, Salah, Haaland low movement - can't move or shake off defenders quick enough, which means 0 shots fired. Zero.

I pick no one!

[DanEnglish]

@BatiGoal - reminds me of the film ‘Brewsters Millions’ where he ran an election campaign to vote ‘none of the above’ !

I disagree with part of your logic though. I think there’s TWO clear leaders here who should do ok … everyone else though 🤕 

[Meow]

Shooting is an overrated stat anyway

[DanEnglish]

I’m keen to find out how important aerial + strength will be for these strikers to score 🤔 

• Both Lewondowski + Lukaku now can’t shoot - but both still has high aerial, decisions, movement + strength.
• Haaland now can’t move - but still has beastly aerial, decisions, pace + strength - if he doesn’t get injured again.

For at least two of these strikers, I wonder how / if the Ai manager will change their roles to a TM more often … and then how / if their team will adapt + give them more crosses to take advantage of their (now relatively higher) aerial / TM role … ? 🤔 

Its going to be an interesting experiment

[P.Rahul]

This round is very interesting .i am waiting for results of this round .want to see how my picked Striker performs.

[BatiGoal]

13 hours ago, DanEnglish said:

I disagree with part of your logic though. I think there’s TWO clear leaders here who should do ok … everyone else though 🤕 

Stop playing mind games with us, please. Bad shooting equals off target or easy shots -> no goals. Bad movement means never in the position to even attempt shots on goal. No pace = no shaking off defenders = no goals = no points. No technique means ? not sure tbh, maybe a wildcard.. that's the entire truth. 

Believe BatiGoal - don't believe @DanEnglish

🥸

[P.Rahul]

32 minutes ago, BatiGoal said:

Stop playing mind games with us, please. Bad shooting equals off target or easy shots -> no goals. Bad movement means never in the position to even attempt shots on goal. No pace = no shaking off defenders = no goals = no points. No technique means ? not sure tbh, maybe a wildcard.. that's the entire truth. 

Believe BatiGoal - don't believe @DanEnglish

🥸

Only just 1 player's stats has been swapped not all the team players .. not too worry about  they all r going to have score goals and assist.

[DanEnglish]

36 minutes ago, BatiGoal said:

Believe BatiGoal - don't believe @DanEnglish

😂 

[broodje kip]

Shooting is actually surprisingly important. Most would overlook it but anyone who has attempted augusta challenge will know that it’s actually important. Movement is another one that is pretty important too.