Leading the line in FM26 with lone strikers

Crafting tactics built around a single striker offers far greater flexibility, but it also requires a more considered approach. With only one player leading the line, you need to think carefully about how the surrounding roles combine to create chances. You can’t just set your striker as a Poacher and expect them to score consistently. Your striker’s Attributes and Traits work together to make a significant impact on their performance. 

In single-striker tactics, you need to decide on whether you expect the player to be a scorer or a facilitator. If they are intended to be your primary goal threat, then you should focus on playing them with the Poacher, Channel Forward, Complete Forward or Target Forward roles. 

However, if you want them to be a more well-rounded player that has the responsibility of linking the play and creatively bringing others into attacks, the Deep-Lying Forward or False Nine are the routes to go down. That’s what we’re exploring here with Brighton Women. 

The Deep-Lying Forward is the more straightforward of the two roles. Players in this role need good Composure, Passing, Strength and Balance Attributes to receive the ball in dangerous positions, shield the ball and hold it up effectively until they can release their teammates for a shooting chance. To do this, a Deep-Lying Forward often drops deep to receive the ball closer to their midfielders. 

Within the Brighton squad, Carla Camacho is a great fit for the Deep-Lying Forward role.

A flashier role is the False Nine. A more technical player, the False Nine is typically one of your most technical and intelligent players, who is capable of being a creative link between midfield and attack. During play, they drift into deeper attacking midfield positions to force the opposition defenders into a dilemma - track them and open gaps for other attackers, or hold their line and allow you to create overloads in midfield.

Either way, a False Nine can be a really tricky role to defend against. Fran Kirby possesses all the core Attributes for a perfect False Nine and she’s the player we’re building a tactic around here. 

A False Nine is perfect for those looking to use possession-based systems, whether you’re creating your own style of using the game’s Control Possession or Tiki-Taka presets. 

To best support the False Nine, you need teammates who have good Off the Ball and Acceleration Attributes that allow them to take advantage of the striker’s movement. 

In our tactic, we have Rosa Kafaji playing as an Advanced Playmaker in the No.10 position in possession with Bex Rayner and Kiko Seike taking up differing roles in the wider channels. Jelena Cankovic is serving as a hard-working runner in deeper midfield, with real creativity being provided from wing-back by Marisa Olislagers and Rachel McLauchlan. 

This combination of roles gives the team a number of attacking threats and ensures that there are multiple avenues of support for Kirby as the lone striker. This makes life a lot harder for the opposition defence. 

Should Kirby be unavailable for a game, we could adapt the tactic to use Carla Camacho as a Deep-Lying Forward or we could tweak Kafaji’s training to play her in a more advanced position In Possession. 

Out of Possession, we want our single striker to stay high and therefore employ them as a Central Outlet Centre Forward. From here, they’ll be able to receive the ball and assess their options before picking the right pass to advance the attack. 

With the right kind of player, using the False Nine or Deep-Lying Forward can be the basis for some fantastically creative tactics in FM26. They’ll require a strong teamwork focus and good technical quality but if it comes together, you’ll play beautiful football on your way to the top of the game.