What's a poacher?

EarlyPrototype wrote:

babun1024 wrote:

EarlyPrototype wrote:useless on the ball is a bit harsh no?

Chica on the ball? He is useless

Godzalo says hi.

Gonzalo isn't just poacher

EarlyPrototype wrote:

babun1024 wrote:

EarlyPrototype wrote:useless on the ball is a bit harsh no?

Chica on the ball? He is useless

Godzalo says hi.

He's pretty limited too EP. You'll never consider Higuain as a player that is good on the ball. But he can be good on the wings. That's his alternate style.

sportsczy wrote:

EarlyPrototype wrote:

babun1024 wrote:

EarlyPrototype wrote:useless on the ball is a bit harsh no?

Chica on the ball? He is useless

Godzalo says hi.

He's pretty limited too EP. You'll never consider Higuain as a player that is good on the ball. But he can be good on the wings. That's his alternate style.

Limited, but not useless.

A poacher is a box-to-box striker.

A poacher is a central forward who ultimately relies on team mate to feed him with goalscoring chances so he can finish them off.

Poachers are mostly known for their clinical finishing, ability to make intelligent runs and ability to drift behind defenders, Poachers are also known for their lack of skills or unwillingness to display their skills with the ball.

A typical poacher although may have good football skills will rather finish off chances in a more direct and cultural way, rather than amply skills to it.

A poacher must have the ability of good finishing, composure in front of goal, ability to make intelligent run, ability to lost their makers and lastly ability to drift behind defenders to finish off chances and rebounds.

Poachers are also associated with preferring to stay inside 18 box and rarely ever contribute to build up or team play.

However modern day poachers such as Mario Gomez have evolve to add other attribute to their style of play, such as contributing to team play, build ups to attacks and taking outside shots once in a while.

But a poachers main strength still lies on depending on team mates to feed them with clear goal scoring chances so they can finish them off, making intelligent runs, drifting behind defenders and staying mostly inside the 18 box to finish off chances and rebounds

Poaching is the act of lunging at loose balls and scoring from them, either from defending or GK errors.

A poacher's goal is one that capitalizes on the mistakes of the defense, either mistakes in intercepting a ball, or plain losing it.

Classical poachers use to "hug the line" to be in optimal position to collect passes and punish mistakes. They have excellent positional sense, lethal striking instinct, ice-cool nerves, and an amazing finishing ability. Classical poachers greatest asset to team play is their ability to keep defenders busy, and still escape from them when the time comes.

The only classical-like poacher I see today is Chica. Other people who are labeled as "poachers" do not use poaching as their predominant style. The modern poacher relies on very different attributes, but still has a good-great poaching ability when he needs to do it.

Players like Marco Pantelic and Darco Kovacevic

sportsczy wrote:Yeah... it has nothing to do with being efficient at goalscoring in the box, although most poachers are very efficient just because they receive the ball in the final position. They're not subject to all the things that could go wrong prior to the ball getting there. Poaching is more about how you get your goalscoring chances.

Unfortunately still a lot of things can go wrong even at the final position. Just look at the several posts about legendary misses here at GL XD

Lord Spencer wrote:Poaching is the act of lunging at loose balls and scoring from them, either from defending or GK errors.

A poacher's goal is one that capitalizes on the mistakes of the defense, either mistakes in intercepting a ball, or plain losing it.

Classical poachers use to "hug the line" to be in optimal position to collect passes and punish mistakes. They have excellent positional sense, lethal striking instinct, ice-cool nerves, and an amazing finishing ability. Classical poachers greatest asset to team play is their ability to keep defenders busy, and still escape from them when the time comes.

The only classical-like poacher I see today is Chica. Other people who are labeled as "poachers" do not use poaching as their predominant style. The modern poacher relies on very different attributes, but still has a good-great poaching ability when he needs to do it.

You haven't watched enough of Falcoa, Gomez and Higuain then.

Mario Gomez is a poacher deal with it.






blasphemy. oh no he didn't!

To me Mario Gomez, Klose, Higuain, Cavanni, are poacher, but they also have other skills.

Ibrahimovic, Pato, Benzema, Rooney, Aguero, Rossi etc are definitely not poachers.

sportsczy wrote:

Lord Spencer wrote:Poaching is the act of lunging at loose balls and scoring from them, either from defending or GK errors.

A poacher's goal is one that capitalizes on the mistakes of the defense, either mistakes in intercepting a ball, or plain losing it.

Classical poachers use to "hug the line" to be in optimal position to collect passes and punish mistakes. They have excellent positional sense, lethal striking instinct, ice-cool nerves, and an amazing finishing ability. Classical poachers greatest asset to team play is their ability to keep defenders busy, and still escape from them when the time comes.

The only classical-like poacher I see today is Chica. Other people who are labeled as "poachers" do not use poaching as their predominant style. The modern poacher relies on very different attributes, but still has a good-great poaching ability when he needs to do it.

You haven't watched enough of Falcoa, Gomez and Higuain then.

I have not watched enough of Falcao, but to me Gomez and Higuain are not poachers in the classical sense. Espicially Gomez. Gomez has too high a work rate, and plays with his back to the goal far more often than classical poachers ala Inzaghi, Treazegol, Crespo.

Higuain in the other hand fills two different roles on Madrid and Argentina, with his Madrid role understandably more poacher-like but it is till not so. The fact that he played in the wings in the past, and that he still uses the skill of a winger is evident in his play.

Idrisozet wrote:To me Mario Gomez, Klose, Higuain, Cavanni, are poacher, but they also have other skills.

Ibrahimovic, Pato, Benzema, Rooney, Aguero, Rossi etc are definitely not poachers.

Then by your interpretation even Villa is a poacher then ?I'm mainly talking about his Valencia days.

Poacher is not the precise way to describe Klose and Cavani.Even Gomez and Higuain as well but only to a certain extent imo.

As Sportzczy said poaching is a certain playing style and for me Klose and Cavani are far from it.

Surag.Blueguy wrote:

Idrisozet wrote:To me Mario Gomez, Klose, Higuain, Cavanni, are poacher, but they also have other skills.

Ibrahimovic, Pato, Benzema, Rooney, Aguero, Rossi etc are definitely not poachers.

Then by your interpretation even Villa is a poacher then ?I'm mainly talking about his Valencia days.

Poacher is not the precise way to describe Klose and Cavani.Even Gomez and Higuain as well but only to a certain extent imo.

As Sportzczy said poaching is a certain playing style and for me Klose and Cavani are far from it.

Villa was a skilful Poacher in his Valencia days

Gomez is mixture of Targetman + Poacher + Fast Striker. Gomez is highBreed..

Poacher. ^^

In association football, a goal poacher is a type of forward primarily known for scoring ability and movement inside the penalty box.


Most of these players rarely score from outside the penalty area, and are more well known for their close range finishes. They are generally good at poaching goals due to their excellent off the ball movement; this allows them to lose defenders and gain space to shoot. Many goal poachers have powerful and accurate shots and usually able to score with both their left foot, right foot and their head.
A lot of goal poachers claim that their off the ball movement comes naturally to them, and are simply born to score goals.


Well known goal poachers

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer formerly of Manchester United
Raúl of Schalke 04 and formerly of Real Madrid[1]
Ruud van Nistelrooy of Hamburg SV[2]
David Trézéguet of Hercules Alicante[3]
Javier Hernandez of Manchester United[4]
Gabriel Batistuta of Fiorentina[5]
Jermain Defoe of Tottenham Hotspur
Darren Bent of Aston Villa
Radamel Falcao of Atletico Madrid
Andy Cole formerly of Manchester United[6]
Hernán Crespo of Genoa C.F.C.[7]
Robbie Fowler formerly of Liverpool F.C.[8]
Alberto Gilardino of Fiorentina[9]
Filippo Inzaghi of Milan[10]
Gary Lineker formerly of Tottenham Hotspur[11]
Roy Makaay of Feyenoord[12]
Gerd Müller formerly of FC Bayern Munich[13]
Michael Owen of Manchester United[14]
Alan Shearer formerly of Newcastle United[15]
Eduardo Da Silva formerly of Arsenal FC
Luca Toni of Bayern Munich[16]
Christian Vieri of Atalanta[17]
Ian Wright formerly of Arsenal[18]
Henrik Larsson formerly of Celtic F.C.
Paul Wotton of Brazil

Cavani isn't a poacher, he's just so complete he can play that role. But he can also play on the wing, as he does regularly with Uruguay.

Gomez, Falcao, Chicharito and Higuain sure are. Yeah, they might not fit the usual stereotype, but in modern football you just cannot be that static. Which is why all of those players have great workrate and are either very physical or have great speed and decent technique. Nevermind the excelent positional sence, this is what makes a poacher, IMO. With 1 movement they leave the whole defensive line off position.

So IMO, the definition of a modern poacher: A player playing in a lone striker system, most of the time playing in the 18 yard box not just to score, but to also open up space and press in order to cause errors. World class finishing abilities and will score a lot of seemingly easy goals, which trully are not easy at all. Can definitely decide the game for themselves, especially if it's a grind match.

Note they they're not always in the 18 yard box, because I know plenty of players who stay there yet are definitely not poachers, more target men. Some poachers can also double as targetmen, but I know most targetmen can't double as poachers. There has to be a distinction.

I was a poacher in a 4-4-1-1, and I would say that:

A poacher is a central forward who ultimately relies on team mate to feed him with goalscoring chances so he can finish them off.

Poachers are mostly known for their clinical finishing, ability to make intelligent runs and ability to drift behind defenders, Poachers are also known for their lack of skills or unwillingness to display their skills with the ball.

But a poachers main strength still lies on depending on team mates to feed them with clear goal scoring chances so they can finish them off, making intelligent runs, drifting behind defenders and staying mostly inside the 18 box to finish off chances and rebounds

Poaching is the act of lunging at loose balls and scoring from them, either from defending or GK errors.

A poacher's goal is one that capitalizes on the mistakes of the defense, either mistakes in intercepting a ball, or plain losing it.

Classical poachers use to "hug the line" to be in optimal position to collect passes and punish mistakes. They have excellent positional sense, lethal striking instinct, ice-cool nerves, and an amazing finishing ability. Classical poachers greatest asset to team play is their ability to keep defenders busy, and still escape from them when the time comes.

Describe what I do best. (as a side note) 90% of our goals came from: Long FK/GK where I capitalise on defenders mistakes, Me drawing the CB with the hard on for me as wide as possible to create a lot of space in the centre for our SS and CM to dribble and finally throughballs to my runs on counters. (Most of them)

I rarely ever participated in the build-up since our coach wanted me to create space for others á la Klose and get into goalscoring positions.

Take this with a pinch of salt since this was a high-school league in the Phiippines

Idrisozet wrote:In association football, a goal poacher is a type of forward primarily known for scoring ability and movement inside the penalty box.


Most of these players rarely score from outside the penalty area, and are more well known for their close range finishes. They are generally good at poaching goals due to their excellent off the ball movement; this allows them to lose defenders and gain space to shoot. Many goal poachers have powerful and accurate shots and usually able to score with both their left foot, right foot and their head.
A lot of goal poachers claim that their off the ball movement comes naturally to them, and are simply born to score goals.


Well known goal poachers

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer formerly of Manchester United
Raúl of Schalke 04 and formerly of Real Madrid[1]
Ruud van Nistelrooy of Hamburg SV[2]
David Trézéguet of Hercules Alicante[3]
Javier Hernandez of Manchester United[4]
Gabriel Batistuta of Fiorentina[5]
Jermain Defoe of Tottenham Hotspur
Darren Bent of Aston Villa
Radamel Falcao of Atletico Madrid
Andy Cole formerly of Manchester United[6]
Hernán Crespo of Genoa C.F.C.[7]
Robbie Fowler formerly of Liverpool F.C.[8]
Alberto Gilardino of Fiorentina[9]
Filippo Inzaghi of Milan[10]
Gary Lineker formerly of Tottenham Hotspur[11]
Roy Makaay of Feyenoord[12]
Gerd Müller formerly of FC Bayern Munich[13]
Michael Owen of Manchester United[14]
Alan Shearer formerly of Newcastle United[15]
Eduardo Da Silva formerly of Arsenal FC
Luca Toni of Bayern Munich[16]
Christian Vieri of Atalanta[17]
Ian Wright formerly of Arsenal[18]
Henrik Larsson formerly of Celtic F.C.
Paul Wotton of Brazil

I think Raul only became a poacher late in his career, he was not exclusively so earlier.

Batigol was never a poacher, as he was the fulcrum of Fiorentina and has more goals outside the box than regular poachers do.

Owen of Liverpool was certainly no poacher, and the Owen of Manchester is half a player anyway so he doesn't count.

Vieri is arguable, but I always counted him as a strongman, and he is more like a modern poacher than a classical one.

I thought Babun died... Wtf

As a big fan of Batistuta, I would definitely classify him as a poacher. He hardly ever participated in team play, was always lurking in the box and the only reason he has so many goals outside the box is that he was a prolific power shooter which is from my point of view a skill not inconsistent with the title poacher.

RobbyV wrote:I thought Babun died... Wtf

He has now reincarnated in a Cybetronian form. He will be alright.

Anyways, today will be a great game to watch Gomez for all you people that underrate him. Or just to bask in his class .

Nirgall wrote:As a big fan of Batistuta, I would definitely classify him as a poacher. He hardly ever participated in team play, was always lurking in the box and the only reason he has so many goals outside the box is that he was a prolific power shooter which is from my point of view a skill not inconsistent with the title poacher.

Did you follow him at both Roma and Fiorentina?

I always felt his Fiorentina days were about more than poaching, especially since he was expected to be the main creative force up front.

Lord Spencer wrote:

Nirgall wrote:As a big fan of Batistuta, I would definitely classify him as a poacher. He hardly ever participated in team play, was always lurking in the box and the only reason he has so many goals outside the box is that he was a prolific power shooter which is from my point of view a skill not inconsistent with the title poacher.

Did you follow him at both Roma and Fiorentina?

I always felt his Fiorentina days were about more than poaching, especially since he was expected to be the main creative force up front.

Followed him during his whole career. He was the best Argentine player for a long time. But I wouldn't consider him creative. He was positionally amazing, had a never give up mentality, was quite athletic, fast and his shot was brutal. But he didn't move deep to create.

Nirgall wrote:

Lord Spencer wrote:

Nirgall wrote:As a big fan of Batistuta, I would definitely classify him as a poacher. He hardly ever participated in team play, was always lurking in the box and the only reason he has so many goals outside the box is that he was a prolific power shooter which is from my point of view a skill not inconsistent with the title poacher.

Did you follow him at both Roma and Fiorentina?

I always felt his Fiorentina days were about more than poaching, especially since he was expected to be the main creative force up front.

Followed him during his whole career. He was the best Argentine player for a long time. But I wouldn't consider him creative. He was positionally amazing, had a never give up mentality, was quite athletic, fast and his shot was brutal. But he didn't move deep to create.

I would guess not, but didn
t he play a lot with his back to the goal instead of facing the goal, which would make him similar to Ibra in that he held the ball up for his mates. That would make him like a target man-poacher hybrid.

Regardless, welcome to the forums mate.

Lord Spencer wrote:

Nirgall wrote:

Lord Spencer wrote:

Nirgall wrote:As a big fan of Batistuta, I would definitely classify him as a poacher. He hardly ever participated in team play, was always lurking in the box and the only reason he has so many goals outside the box is that he was a prolific power shooter which is from my point of view a skill not inconsistent with the title poacher.

Did you follow him at both Roma and Fiorentina?

I always felt his Fiorentina days were about more than poaching, especially since he was expected to be the main creative force up front.

Followed him during his whole career. He was the best Argentine player for a long time. But I wouldn't consider him creative. He was positionally amazing, had a never give up mentality, was quite athletic, fast and his shot was brutal. But he didn't move deep to create.

I would guess not, but didn
t he play a lot with his back to the goal instead of facing the goal, which would make him similar to Ibra in that he held the ball up for his mates. That would make him like a target man-poacher hybrid.

Regardless, welcome to the forums mate.

My view is that he was more similar to a traditional poacher than to an hybrid.

And Thanks for the welcome