Hello. Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together?

Previously on Goal scoring Superstar Keeper https://mikaelinhofm.com/2021/11/09/fm22-goal-scoring-superstar-keeper-ep1-intro/

The series aim is to get a goalkeeper to become the highest scoring scoring goalkeeper off all time in football history on Football Manager.

I have no doubt this will be very difficult but I was born difficult. I’ll need to get someone to average 10+ goals a season.

The approach

I’ll aim to achieve it by having a goalkeeper who is a Free kick taker, or a penalty taker and/or an attacking corner adventurer i.e. Alisson Becker or Jimmy Glass.

If I’m lucky I’ll find someone that can do 2 of the 3 approaches above or if really luck then a person that can do all 3!

I’ll need suitable tactics that entice corners, free kicks and penalties. I’ll need players that invite these opportunities with dribbling, bending the rules and crossing to force clearances. I will also require a Goalkeeper with the right attributes and possibly traits. Training might offer a little bit of help too.

I’ll need a club where there is less pressure to succeed and win a title as we are not focused on that and will not be looking to hold on to leads in games. Also attributes will be relevant to the quality of the league for example the attribute level of a skill in the Scottish Premiership will be 13/14 out of 20, in Scottish League 2 it would be 9/10 out of 20

Goal keeper requirements

My freekick taker will need good numbers in Free kick taking and Technique attributes. If I want them to hit the free kick with power they may need strength also. Anticipation and flair will be required for the trait of curling the ball which would improve the chances of scoring.

My penalty taker will need relevantly good Penalty taking, Technique and Composure attributes. The finishing attribute is helpful but is a hidden technique that needs a custom view set up to see on a goalkeeper.

A suitable keeper for scoring from an attacking corner will need the suggested attributes as shown in the set piece creator for the lurk near post. These are Jumping Reach, Strength, Bravery, Decisions, Off The Ball, *Heading and *Finishing. I believe aggression will be important too. *Heading is the same as Finishing for a goalkeeper, rare but desirable and will require a custom view to see.

Future prospects

As I play the game I’ll set up scouting to look for newgens and I’ll look at bring ex goalkeepers in as staff members and ideally have a skilful keeper as a Head of Youth development.

My pick

I decided the quickest way for me to identify candidates was to set up a world draft on maximum time limits so I could have a good browse. I spotted a 17 year old Argentine Tigre but he had 2 technique. I noticed there was a few decent older keepers in South America and one in South Africa. These could be potential back ups/mentors/future coaches. Vanja Milinković-Savić was a decent shout at Torino but I decided I’ll go back to him if my 1st choice fails. My eye was drawn to a Norwegian in the 2nd tier at a part time club. Up steps Stefan Hagerup.

He is playing at Ull/ Kisa, a Norwegian part time club not expected to do well in the league, so a mid table finish would be a success. He is already wanted by a bigger club though, which means that he could be up for a transfer. If he shows enough promise as a goals scoring keeper, then I’ll add managers to follow him wherever he ends up.

I also brought in a back up who was quite interesting when you look closer at his attributes. Step forward Marcio.

He looks a decent all rounder and I’d like him to fill in and be a future U19’s manager if possible. Outfield rating of 6! He can also finish and head a little bit which is rare.

Pre-season and 1st League game

We had an interesting start to the save! I was hoping to see some Keeper action.

Marcio banged in a corner in one of the friendlies! The remaining fixtures were quite tough with two games against top flight teams and there was little else to see.

The first league game scheduled was at home against HamKam. They were listed 4th in the preseason odds for the league and were the bookies’ favourites to win the game.

We saw three free kicks for us in the highlights, none of them really good. Two of them bounced off the wall, but luckily on one of them Stefan Hagerup was able to pick up the ball again and dink it in for one of the strikers to score!

Next episode will look at how the first season has gone as a whole with the players and tactics.

Thanks for Reading.

Ciao for now