(UPDATE: SUMMER 2025) Welcome back to yet another episode of your favorite Soccermanager content, lads! Over the weekend, we’ve seen Napoli extend their lead at the top of Serie A, Arsenal and Man City keeping the pressure on each other , a young starlet being born in the Madrid derby, and Chelsea and Liverpool sh*tting their beds as usual this season…. (UPDATE: We’ve seen Liverpool continually displaying their resilience through scoring winning goals late on, the return of the Champions League, José Mourinho returning to manage in Portugal for the first time in 2 decades, and Man United being absolute shyte!)
Now then, back in the world of Soccermanager, we take a look at one of the very important striker roles within football. Actually, before we do that, I have a BIG announcement to make. The creator of these blogs has decided to build a community on Facebook where like-minded managers can join in to have long discussions about everything soccermanager tactics. The name of this group is called ‘Soccermanager Tacticians’ and you can locate it by simply searching for it within the groups category on Facebook. It’s still in its infancy, but with your help we can become the best Soccermanager group on social media which will also ensure that our tactical knowledge of this game lasts for an eternity! (Unfortunately, the group has been scrapped… 😕)
Alright, cool, lets get into today’s blog as we take a look at the ‘Target Man’ role.
So, you’ve seen me explain the 2 different types of ‘Advanced Playmakers’ and ‘Wingers’. Now, I’m about to bamboozle you with yet another interesting discovery: There are THREE different types of ‘Target Men’!
That’s right, Soccermanagerite (woah, that rhymes, lol). When it comes to your main man up front, he can be categorized as either a ‘Robust Target Man’, ‘Technical Target Man’, or ‘Explosive Target Man’. Today, we’ll be going over the ‘Robust Target Man’, but let me make one thing VERY clear: No matter the type, EVERY ‘Target Man’ has the innate ability to play with their back to goal and bring other teammates into the match.
A ‘Robust Target Man’ is a very physically gifted player who a lot of D(C)’s don’t like playing against. They are tall, strong, brilliant in the air, aggressive, and like to play very physical football. They aren’t the greatest when it comes to having the ball at their feet, but their presence alone makes them difficult to play against; and lets not forget that these players are indeed strikers, so they most definitely know where the back of the net is!
ATTACKING PHASE
A ‘Robust Target Man’s’ main objective while on the attack is to “pin” the defenders around him in order to gain space for his teammates, win aerial dues, and be a nuisance within the box. They often lack mobility which means they never operate outside the width of the 18 yard box , but are brilliant at making D(C)’s feel uncomfortable due to their physical prowess. They also have a knack of placing themselves on D(R)’s and D(L)’s when they are in the box, and although every style of ‘Target Man’ likes to do this, ‘Robust Target Men’ are the best at this particular trait.
DEFENSIVE PHASE
Due to their lack of mobility, ‘Robust Target Men’ are terrible when it comes to pressing and normally don’t have the highest levels of Stamina and Workrate, but where they thrive is in defensive set piece situations. They are usually the best headers of a ball on the pitch when it comes to defending corners and freekicks along with their centre back teammates. With that being said, If you were to ever play with a ‘Robust T.M’, I highly suggest that you never press all over…
POSITIONAL TRAITS
The Target Man role is a specialist role so they can only play as a F(C). I also highly advise that if you ever intend to use a ‘Robust Target Man’ within your team you should play either a direct or long ball passing style, you play them only in formations with a 1 Striker set up (4-2-3-1B, 4-5-1A, for example), and you surround them with players who are good movers off the ball and very good crossers (Iliman Ndiaye, Weston Mckennie, Kingsley Coman are just some good examples of players who work well with ‘Robust Target Men’).
One final thing to mention is, no matter the type of ‘Target Man’ within your team you must ALWAYS tick the ‘Use Target Man’ box. I mean, the box is named after the role so why on earth would someone not tick it??? (UPDATE: In modern day SMW, this is the equivalent to choosing ‘Yes’ under the ‘Use Target Man’ option…)
KEY ATTRIBUTES ( From SM26 and beyond)
Now, if you haven’t been paying attention to the key attributes up to this point, it is very crucial that you do so now since we have 3 different types of the same role to go over. Remember that each role has its own unique attributes that make it easier for you and I to visualize how this player will perform on the pitch (As well as being able to differentiate between the three).
Here are the key attributes of the ‘Robust T.M’:
Positioning
Finishing
Aerial Ability
Strength
Aggression
Leadership
BEST PLAYERS OF ROLE IN SOCCERMANAGER WORLDS
UPDATE: This is where we separate the men from the boys, Soccermanagerites (well, in terms of SMW content)… One of the main reasons behind the creation of this 3 prong ‘Target Man’ series is to end the fuckery of believing that a Robert Lewandowski is the same type of ‘Target Man’ like a Victor Boniface or a Moise Kean… Oh, I’ve also created the following list as a way of looking at the best 15 ‘Robust Target Men’ who are still currently playing, not the best ‘Robust Target Men’ based on current real life form. Lastly, some ‘T.M’s’ are wizards and can play in multiple ‘Target Man’ roles, so don’t be surprised if you see the same player popping up on more than one occasion during this 3 part series
Any who, unto the top 15!
Erling Haaland 🇳🇴
Victor Osimhen 🇳🇬
Edin Džeko 🇧🇦
Olivier Giroud 🇫🇷
Aleksandar Mitrović 🇷🇸
Dušan Vlahović 🇷🇸
Serhou Guirassy 🇬🇳
Chris Wood 🇭🇲
Victor Boniface 🇳🇬
Ivan Toney 🏴
Romelu Lukaku 🇧🇪
Alexander Sorloth 🇳🇴
Viktor Gyökeres 🇸🇪
Artem Dovbyk 🇺🇦
Mateo Retegui 🇮🇹
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Jean-Philippe Mateta 🇫🇷
Sardat Azmoun 🇮🇷
Mehdi Taremi 🇮🇷
Niclas Füllkrug 🇩🇪
Dominic Solanke 🏴
That’s the end of today’s episode. I know for a fact that you’re never going to find this kind of breakdown of the ‘Target Man’ role within Soccermanager nowhere else but here. So, why not show your appreciation by following our Facebook page if you haven’t already. Oh, don’t forget to join the new Facebook group too. I will leave a link at the end of the blog. Speak to you in the next one!
Soccermanger Tacticians awaits you (It doesn’t…): https://www.facebook.com/groups/556742639723147/?ref=share
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