Ask uncle MAD (Uncle MAD's box of choccys)

[MANUMAD]

Following a tradition I started back in my LMA Manager days on PS2 (and continued up to FM13) and by popular demand this thread is back!

Here we can discuss all things FM14 related (and maybe some non FM14 related!), you can ask me stuff (not that I profess to know that much but together we ll get to the bottom of stuff!), Ill be mentioning players I recommend etc.

Two things (well, ok its three!) to start off with:

1. Do you have a save in a country outside the UK (whatever the level - tho I suspect he wont go too low)?

- then it would be criminal not to buy GUIDO DAL CASON on the first day of your save! Considering his age (19), stats, current ability and especially future ability (4*) and his ridiculous price (yours for less than 200k!) he's THE best player in FM 14. Give him games from the start and he ll bang them in for you (yes he's a cf).


2. Dunno how many of you know about this but there's a nice free FM (14) magazine out there called CLEAR CUT CHANCE with contributors who KNOW a LOT about FM. You can find it here (two issues out to date -its quarterly):

Clear Cut Chance Magazine


3. I think the following site containing Staff Filters, player and tactic downloads and a number of interesting guides/articles deserves a huge shout also:

http://www.mypassion4footballmanager.com/

 

[MANUMAD]

BASIC ADVICE ON TACTICS

1. Do not leave your defense without a defensive screen in midfield.

The most defensive way to do that is to have an anchorman sat in front of your cb(s).Other more complex permutations including eg a dlp defend (or enganche/regista) are not as defensive but offer smoother transitions from defence to attack. Incidentally imho adlp (defend) is a crucial component to have at the heart of almost ANY formation.

2. Always make sure your system has a logical balance. Do not have too many people defending/supporting/attacking/doing the same thing.

3. Have a 'staggered' midfield, use the roles in the TC to set it up. If you have two players there, they should support one another. Its ok having two/more players with same roles (eg dlp) but dont give them the same duties.

4. Think where your threat will emanate from. eg: a formation/tactic with only one player on support from mf upwards can easily be negated. So try to offer as many avenues for threats.

For example in a 442 system you could move the rw further up and make him an IF with attack duties, have the lw as a winger support and the two cms a BWM support and a BWM defend (or CM defend) and the two attackers a P attack and DLF support. That offers "playmaking" variety as well as threat potential variety.

5. Learn to use team instructions to achieve different aims - go here (its on FM13 but still very helpful) :Football Manager Touchline Instructions - Adapt Tactics | Passion forFootball Manager

Use the preset team instructions facility to make quick changes in matches. For example have a "contain" preset to use with contain philosophy near the end of matches when you want to shut up shop.

6. Try to have a solid spine - ie your best players should be gk-rcb or lcb-mf (defend) ot mf (support) -cf.

7. Dont be lazy. Or if you choose to be then dont complain. Do proper work meticulous work from day one.

8. Watch the highlights at least on extensive. Understand what they are showing you. eg:

-look whether your players are making space for each other.

-if your players are always going offside reduce their forward runs or press less or drop deeper.

-If your defenders are not intercepting through balls then look for whether your midfield is getting bypassed too early. If yes, make sure you have a staggered midfield and reduce their closing down either from player instructions or/and team instructions.

-If keep being on the back foot you ll soon be breached. Be proactive.

-Identify weak links in opposition eg injured players/not brave players and tackle hard etc

9. Do not listen to your assman all the time . Even if 5 star, he's still AI.

10. Always set GK's instructions to distribute to defenders (dont put particular defender cos if you do GK may try to give him the ball when he's in no position to receive it etc).

11. Keep things as simple as possible with player instructions (too many instructions confuse the players/ME).

12.The ME is fine, the matches are NOT fixed - its all YOU!

 

[MANUMAD]

HOW TO ENSURE YOU DONT CONCEDE IN THE LAST MINUTES OF MATCHES - PART 1

The most popular approach to wind down the clock and hang on to a result is to adopt a Contain strategy together with a combination of team instructions, such as Drop Deeper, Stay On Feet, play narrower and Stand Off Opposition (also waste time - retain possession). Many apply this as a universal rule in their matches. The problem with this approach is that such changes may actually be counter-productive. Also you sometimes dont necessarily need to be so defensive. It may even be making it more likely that the opposition will score (dont forget that "retain possession" in combination to those other shouts equates to dithering on the ball, so if your team is not technically up to it or can be out muscled by the other side, therefore it may be a recipe for disaster - better employ the clear ball to flanks instruction instead provided you have wingers/ifs).

Before I move on to discuss the matter further I want to share what I found with the FM14 tactics system with you in this respect: On top of the above team instructions Going very rigid and the additional instructions: stick to positions and be more disciplined are extremely effective.

There are various different ways in which you can neutralise the opposition in order to clinch that vital result.

The main issue to consider when adopting an extremely defensive mentality is that it invites pressure. The opposition is allowed to advance at will quite deep in your half until they are met with any resistance (drop deep/ stand off / stay on feet exacerbate this). So, this approach should be farf rom your mind if you have had the upper-hand for the vast majority of the match, or if the opposition happens to be a significantly weaker team that have been defending up until this point. If you have been able to control the match and peg the other team back, why would you drop back and finally giving them enough space to create chances?! In this situation, a slightly reduced mentality (ie from attacking to standard / from standard to control) and a modified approach geared towards keeping the ball can more than suffice. Not only is this likely to be a more practical way of thwarting the opposition under the circumstances, but it's also likely to represent less of a change compared with your starting tactic. Also, sudden changes in mentality are innately problematic. So, if you started the matchwith a positive approach involving an Attacking or Control strategy, your team may struggle more when suddenly switching to a Contain strategy, much more so than if you were going from Standardt o Contain, for example.

Not only is the team being asked to do something drastically different, but it's also inviting unnecessary pressure on top of that. This logic strongly advocates only slight modification when you're defending against a weaker team. So, possibly a Standard mentality, alongside instruction such as Get Stuck In or Retain Possession. This would more than likely ensure that your team eases off slightly and comfortably holds onto the ball, allowing you to still control the game and at the same time be more than stable enough defensively, even if its at the expense of attacking intent. The logic in not dropping back more than that is that if the smaller opposition haven't been able to be particularly threatening throughout the game, then they're going to struggle just as much to do so now, even when getting more players forward. No need to back off and gift them the space on a plate that they've not been able to find otherwise.

Naturally, it's different if you are the smaller team attempting to maintain a flattering scoreline against better opposition, or if you have been outplayed and outfought (in which case as early as possible in the match look to substitute in stronger/more aggressive players and have the team tackle and press more and harder and close space -esp midfield space- better and in this respect tweaking your formation may also help). If you still have struggled to contain a team over the course of a match, it's inevitable that when they turn up the pressure you'll be even more overrun than you were before the final minutes. THIS is when you should drop back and shut-up-shop (but do it carefully gradually and only for the last 5-10minutes). There is little to no chance of suddenly pressuring the opposition in ways that you've been unable to previously, so better to get men behind the ball, maintain the team's shape and try to weather the storm by being as difficult as possible to break down. So, a Contain or Defensive strategy, supplemented by instructions such as Drop Deeper, Stand OffOpponents, Stay On Feet, and Play Narrower is advisable.

An alternative way of approaching this stage of a match is to be counter-attacking. Generally speaking, this method will only be as effective as your team is at counter-attacking in general. So, if you haven't built a tactic around counter-attacking and been successful with it, this approach is most likely not your best option now, of all times, when such an approach would need to be at its most effective. In general I dont like counter tactics and cant seem to make them work in FM14. Anyway, a Standard, Counter or Defensive (depending on how far you're deviating from your starting tactic, as well as your team's performance on the day) mentality, in addition to the team instructions of Drop Deeper, and Clear Ball To Flanks and Pass Into Space in order to encourage longer balls that play your wingers into space, which can be especially effective if the other team has adopted a desperate 4-2-4 shape. Stay On Feet and StandOff Opponents is optional here.

Another thing to do is to be reactive to what the opposition does in another way: you must in any case always have the opposition formation on screen during matches. Usually when the opposition is chasing matches it changes formation to extremely attacking such as 424. This presents a golden opportunity for you to take control of the most crucial area: the mf. So change your own formation to pack the mid field so that the opposition two players there will be inundated. When opposition teams try to break you down they do so trying to exploit width and space on the shoulder of your defenders. So look at your left defender and right defender (turn both of them into full backs and have them on defend with instructions to hold position).

 

[MANUMAD]

HOW TO ENSURE YOU DONT CONCEDE IN THE LAST MINUTES OF MATCHES - PART 2

If a Standard strategy is used, it makes more sense for your team to not be backing off so much.

In contrast, if you choose a Counter strategy, lower closing down becomes more important, so Stand Off Opponents should definitely be considered, as this mentality requires more emphasis on team shape than Standard. With Defensive though, you may as well use both Stand Off Opponents and Stay On Feet. After all, your players are sitting so deep that they may as well be looking to force the other team to break them. Otherwise, if midfielders in particular are too readily leaving their defensive positions, opposition midfielders and forwards alike may find enough space to go unchallenged and have enough time to produce dangerous shots just outside the penalty area. Allowing such attacks defeats the purpose and compromises the strength of sitting so deep within your own half. With the right balance,you'll defend opposition attacks and give them something to struggle with on the other end. If you don't have a direct threat that's causing problems to the opposition then you're simply allowing the opposition to swiftly get the ball back,allowing them to attack you again. Its not only a question of altering team/player mentality and instructions however. Only doing that is dangerous and may well result in you conceding. Equally if not more important are formational tweaks. You should be watching matches at least on extensive and have the formation of the opposing team on screen at all times. This is to know immediately about formational changes they may employ so that you can negate or even exploitthem.

For example:

a. If you play with wingbacks / fullbacks with attacking /automatic duty it would be good between the 80th​ and 85th​ minute to pull them back to be in line with your cbs and have them DEFEND.

b. If the opposition possesses good wingers/employs wing tactics such as442/you see a wing thread identify it and maybe have your own wingers man marktheir wingers (or if their wingbacks are the threat point have them man markthem instead). Of course if you employ Ifs, in order to do that you need tochange them to wide players instead so that they occupy the same areas as theirtarget players.

c. If the opposition changes formation to one using an am then pull one cmback, make him dm or anchorman and have him man mark their am.

d. The most common AI tactic to seek goals is to employ a 424. This is very easy to tackle. All you have to do is a. Above plus pack the midfield by eitheremploying a 4141 or a 451 (but not with a flat 5 cos that is not conducive todefending better nor to having an outlet for your own attacks). Also remember that a mf which has a dlp (even on defend) as well as an AP will hold the ball better.

e. Make sure whatever you do to leave attacking outlets of your own as if you dont have any whenever your players have the ball they wont have players in mf/attack seeking openings resulting instead in loss of possession. Generally speaking the one time when you unavoidably MUST be REACTIVE to what the opposition does is when you are trying to hold on to a slender lead.

If when watching matches you see the other team attacking in waves and yoursdefending/being unable to keep possession you are deffo not playing well defensively. This means that you are employing the wrong approach combination towards safety (the wrong tactics for the match and its an indication that alternative tweaks are necessary.

Shutting up shop in a few clear steps:

1. There is no substitute for watching matches on extensive at least. If there is a time to be reactive to what you have seen its in the last 10 minutes of matches.

2. Bear in mind what all instructions actually do. Stand off opponents for example can be a dangerous counter productive instruction to suddenly introduce. If you have quick defenders to the other teams not so quick attacking players or if you are the much more reputable team DO NOT employ this shout.

3. Following on from 2. above, do not blindly introduce stuff that make your team more defensive/less ambitious. Always do it in relation to what you have seen in the match as well as your players vs opposition players.

4. On the 80th minute pause the match and make your formation more defensive: eg pull back wbs to fb position giving them defend instructions/pull back a cm sit him in front of your cbs make him an anchor man etc.

5. On 84/5th minute pause match again and give defensive instructions:- contain mentality drop deep (much deeper if you are the weaker team)/narrower/retain possession/stay on feet/stand off/waste time/play even safer/be more disciplined/stay in position/clear ball to flanks and exploit flanks. If you dont have wide players in the tactic you are using then pull one player on the wing so that you can have an avenue to release pressure cos otherwise you will be hemmed in as your players wont have anyone to pass the ball from deep/defence and clearing ball to flanks has more chance of releasing players for counter attacks.

6. Dont use counter unless you re sure you know what you re doing as its very difficult to make it work in FM14

I employ the above and I very rarely concede in the last 5/10 minutes as aresult - not only that but mostly I score! (mishaps do happen but then THATS FOOTIE!).

 

[MANUMAD]

AVOIDING 2ND SEASON SYNDROME

Chances are that in the second season your reputation will have risen, so now your team is much more of a threat in the eyes of your opponents.

This may have the following results:

o Teams will often be happier to take a draw against you.
o Deeper defensive lines: the space behind the lines that you were exploiting will get smaller.
o Man-marking of your star players will be much more common - so tweak your tactics to have more varied danger sources (see comments in other posts in this thread).

One cannot be too specific about any recommended tactical changes because you must consider what will work best for the players at your disposal, but I would advise doing the following:

1. Only recruit players you are sure you need.

2. Look for players with good Creativity, Determination, Off The Ball and Anticipation,as these are the types of player who will help you to stay in games, break down narrow defences and retain possession.

3. Look for pace as well - even where you wouldnt think that its that important(eg starting xi/back up cbs with less than 11/12 pace should be avoided. The ideal is at least 14).

4. If you got promoted in the previous season, you have turned from one of the top teams in the previous division to one of the lesser ones in the division you now find yourself in so your tactics should be tweaked to reflect this.

5. Understand your reputation has changed and play according to it.

6.It is reasonable to want to build on your squad after the first season in a better divison (or after a season of success) but being too busy in the transfer market will damage your team more than improve it. Do NOT go on spending sprees. Rather decide what you need and buy the best players you can for it. Buy quality not quantity. Not more than 3/4players per summer (up to two in January). Even if you do buy with restraint you still have to introduce your new players gradually (one per starting lineup for a couple of months plus one more as a sub).

7. Conversely dont offload too many players at once. Remember TEAM COHESION is very important. Aim for a gradual shift towards a more balanced team. A team which stays together for long will play better than a team which keeps changing even by the introduction of better players. Language is also very important. It takes players about 6 months to learn the language and this will affect their performances.

8. Look at the candidates you want to buy and esp their character. Dont bring in disruptive players.

9. If players who previously played tremendously now look lazy or demotivated (watch the games closely: who is misplacing passes they shouldnt, who is getting caught on the ball, who is skying shots from 6 yards?). Remember that motivation issues emanate from the way you approach press conferences, team talks, private chats and media comments as well.

10. Match train (and general train) to combat specific issues. Or try attacking training as Ive found this works quite well.

11. Pray(6)

 

[MANUMAD]

Check out Yacine Brahimi - M (LC) / AM L - 4 stars potential 3 current 23yo and on loan list at the start. Looks like a must have!

 

[MANUMAD]

Older unfancied players who would grace any team (albeit one unburdened by work permit issues):

Walter Montillo - amc mainly. Awesome stats brill playmaker.
Dario Conca - second best paid player in the world in real life apparently (Guanxhu China) before Eto'o left ANZHI. If you wait one FM season his value drops dramatically (around 350k) and his wage demands are very reasonable. Will make a real difference to any squad.
Thiago Neves - Not as old as the other two but not young either. Can be brill on wings also
Ignacio Scocco - A god.

 

[MANUMAD]

AVOID EMOTIONAL BREAKDOWNS FROM CRUSH DUMPS, FREEZES, PARSING ERRORS ETC

Time and again I see people doing stories, long saves etc and then GET heart broken cos their save is corrupted etc. Truth is that unless you ve got loads of RAM (and god knows maybe even if you do) you WILL suffer from many of these. So here is some advice on how to avoid it:

1. Parsing errors - these are curable. Google it and you ll find the solution. It involves deleting the contents of a file once in a while. Easy peasy.

2. Game freezes, crashes:

a) If game refuses to move past a date try holidaying. Usually does the trick.

b) Generally do the following:

i. Dont load up useless leagues (eg no China if you dont intend to managethere). Also note that you still get the main players if you load a league but"view only".
ii. From preferences choose a weekly 3 file rolling save. This way if one ofthe files corrupt you have another one starting from a few days before.
iii. This wont be popular but it helps A LOT: from preferences - match untick show stadium and show scenery.
iv. DO NOT under any circumstances use the PC to do other stuff such as browse the internet while waiting for game holidays to pass.
v. If you play and then leave the game for longer than about half an hour dont pick up where you started from when you return. Rather quit game(not to start screen but fully) and reload.

These will all save you a lot of tears. I know it cos they saved me the same!!!!

 

[MANUMAD]

FINANCIAL STABILITY

1. Play at as high a level of football as is possible. Its all good "developing" teams etc but, the truth is, financially, if playing in the lower leagues, you need to get promoted sharpish. The money you make in doing so is worth it even if you drop back down the next season.Though I find that in FM14 its well neigh impossible to actually drop back down once promoted (game is too forgiving in this respect).

2.The higher up your respective country's league system you go, the more money you will make as: prize money, gate receipts, higher valued players etc.

3. DO NOT buy what you cannot afford. Look at your balance sheets and esp whether your club has (large) debts to repay. Resist the temptation to go on a spending frenzy UNLESS you are sure in your ability to win at least one of the cups (even with a low team). You CAN develop a club, build a squad slowly and prudently AND win things from the get go all at the same time. You "just" need to get everything else right: tactics, training, man management etc. Instalments are helpful but dont overdo it. Use them only sparingly and to bring in players who will help accelerate your growth (who will not necessarily be young). One way to decrease the initial transfer fee of a player is to use the Favoured Personnel mechanism.

Do not fall in the usual trap of thinking that the only way to go forward is to buy only young players. The best way to go forward esp with low league/rep teams is actually to win stuff and you win stuff by having mainly developed older players.

4. If in lower leagues buy more older players than you otherwise would. Players such as Pinga would be far more helpful to Spanish Segunda teams than, say CARLOS FIERRO, in that they cost less and deliver stuff quicker.

5. To get players cheaper try to make friends. Praise other managers as often as you can as, this way they may well accept a lower transfer fee for one oftheir players.

6. Sell players at the right time. Look at your squad and divide it into: players you will never sell cos they are young, players you dont mind not making any money out of (ie oldies who are there to help you win stuff -eg Cristian Danalache at Blackburn first season- tutor your players, have much better stats than your youths), and players who have good value but who you are willing to make some money from cos their value will soon start to drop/keep getting injured/dont fit in your formation etc). Also, remember that older players with the right stats (eg high determination) can be used to develop youngsters by tutoring.

7. If a player isn't playing first team football, he's likely to depreciate in value, so you should be looking to offload him.

8. Dont get emotionally attached to players. If you receive big offers then sell. But ONLY if you have first identified a BETTER player who would cost LESS than what you will receive by selling. Once you accept a bid make a bid of your own for the said player and, only when you are sure you will pay less for him than the money you receive allow the sale of your player to proceed.

9. Negotiate to your advantage. Try to offer lower wages with higher appearance fees, esp for the more injury-prone players in the squad, as well as the backup and rotation players. Before you start negotiating for new contracts for your own players/new players, have a look at the agent's stats to see how patient he is and use it to your advantage. DO NOT FORGET IF YOU VE ALLOWED STUFF SUCH AS MIN RELEASE CLAUSES IN CONTRACTS AS YOU MAY FIND YOURSELF DEVELOPING A PLAYER ONLY TO LOSE HIM EASILY

10. When buying a player refer to the scout report and particularly at the wage range suggestion. Keep to it. Do NOT EVER offer match highest earner clauses and try to avoid percentage increases (of more than 15%). Offer useless bonuses such as score at least 25 goals to a cb. You know he ll never do that but apparently he doesnt and gets swayed by such things.

11. Use the principles in 9 and 10 above to construct incentive-based contracts. The easiest way to get a player to accept lower wages especially one you dont plan to sell (any time soon) is to offer him a high sell on (profit) percentage plus perhaps a high loyalty fee.

12.If at a low league team, organise home friendlies against the big teams. Whilst these are often expensive to organise, the revenue generated will more than make up for it, provided you have a big enough stadium. Also/alternatively organise away friendlies to bigger teams (choose which by the fee offered). This is a handy way to increase revenue whatever level your team is at. Do it IN season as well and either use youth/reserve teams if you must or blood in players.

13. Remember you re the boss! Be strict. Dont sell a player UNLESS YOU WANT TO. Even if a player is unhappy/wants to leave/makes a transfer request dont budge if he s somebody you dont want to lose. Keep playing him as you d normally do and sooner rather than later he ll come round. Dont worry about performances - ive routinely had unhappy players score goals get 7.00+ ratings etc.

 

[MANUMAD]

FINANCIAL STABILITY PT 2

1. If you are a lower league club or a club that is poor and/or who is in one of the 2/3*** leagues, try to find parent clubs. Choose wisely (look at the reserve/youth teams to see if there are nice players to loan) AND remember the parent club will also pay you an annual fee.

2. With lower league teams there's no need to go overboard with the number of scouts. Have 3/4 only and utilise wisely. Use the search engine extensively to find players.

3. Forget about youth coaches. Your coaching allocation will be low with lower league teams so bring in vanilla coaches only. Also, no need to make people head scouts and head physios as they command bigger salaries. Dont skim on fitness/physiotherapy though especially if you have a small squad cos you dont need to be having too many injuries. No need to have more than one coach fo reach area and sometimes even one for two at first.

4. Get players in on frees with the intention to sell them asap.

5. From the staff responsibilities page go to personal assistant and have the offer player for 200% of his value chosen. On the first day of each transfer window offer the players you want to sell with this in use and you willsurprise how many players you will sell for double/near it of their value.Search this forum for RAIKAN's guide of how to sell players - it really DOES help in FM14 also.

6. Win stuff. Especially cup matches or even cups. ASAP. This will mean you will be participating in Europe which means more money.

7. Dont feel you need to spend all the transfer budget. Remember that in FM14 team cohesion is paramount and that bringing in more than 3/4 players at a time will mean team will take much longer to gel and the results will suffer. Also,small squads perform better in FM14. Balance is the key based on how many trophies you ll be competing for.

8. If you have transfer budget left then put it all on wages as you seem to get interest this way.

 

[MANUMAD]

A WORD ON TACTICS

The simplest way to tactics (either downloaded ones and tweaked to suit your squad etc / ones you make yourself) is:

1. Have a basic idea of how you want to play (be realistic - no tiki taka with Crew Alexandra in the first season for example). We all love footy and have watched it all our lives. Think about what you like to see and what works in real life and try to implement it - eg having a slow cb like J Terry man mark C Ronaldo in real life is a recepe for disaster. Same in FM - so dont have slow defenders on man mark - or if you re Chelski on FM and your other 3 defs are ok pace wise and you want to use man mark you could try giving only terry zonal (but then dont play with off side trap as he'll always play people on, etc).

2. Time and again I see people coming on this site frustrated with FM14 / asking for tactical help/ wondering what they do wrong and when they post their tactics they are allover the place. There are loads of good blogs etc on tactics so read around at least for the basics - high defence line goes with offside trap and sweeper keeper etc. But I said the "simplest" way so here goes: Balance. You should have people doing different stuff per "line" ie: dont have all defenders defend (eg have at least one fb/wb on automatic or even attack), in a 4 man mf you should have at least one player attacking one defending one supporting (plus the other on defending/attacking/supporting/auto). Also try to have your forwards doing different things. Its ok having both on attack (as long as the def and esp mf set up has enuf support potential to them) but dont give them the same roles! In a 3 man attack with a Treq/Target man up top and two IFs, having all three on attack is not balanced. A nice idea is the TM on attack the left IF on attack with a fb on auto behind him and the right IF on support with a wb on attack behind him.

3. FM Blogs I say above. There's loads - google Shrewnaldo/The FM Veteran which is an awesome blog that can start you off and on it there's links to about 10 more which also have links to others ...... Passion4fm is also a great blog as is True Football Manager. Even blogs on past versions of the game are a treasure trove.

4. The ME is not broken. The game is not fixed against you or predetermined. If stuff is not working then its surely something you are (not) doing. With this in mind and with patience you will deffo have a better time with FM14

 

[minergy]

Awesome that you made this thread again. It's really helpful. What does Guido Dal Cason play for and what leagues do you need loaded?
Thanks.


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

 

[MANUMAD]

Awesome that you made this thread again. It's really helpful. What does Guido Dal Cason play for and what leagues do you need loaded?
Thanks.


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

Racing De Montevideo (Uruguay). But I never have the Uruguayan leagues loaded (just Brazil playable /Argentina playable /Chile view only - but large database).

 

[minergy]

Racing De Montevideo (Uruguay). But I never have the Uruguayan leagues loaded (just Brazil/Argentina/Chile view only - but large database).

Thanks


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

 

[MANUMAD]

PRE SEASON - A GUIDE (PART 1)

Introduction

The first day at your new club is perhaps the most important day of your career (and every first day of a new pre-season is the most important day of that season).

There are a number of things that you absolutely MUST do if you don't want to have various problems later on. Most people find them boring as it delays the "real" action (buying and selling players and playing matches) for quite some time (takes me between half an hour and 1.5 hours).

But if you dont do them or if you dont do them properly you will suffer the consequences (delayed learning of tactics/no cohesion etc). But dont worry, if you do them once they become second nature and, I dare say it, enjoyable.

It would be helpful if you arm yourself with a couple of A4 size pieces of paper and a pen at the start of every pre-season ...

​

---

​

Game start Date

Aim to have as long a pre- season as possible. When choosing leagues bear in mind their start dates. To show you what I mean by an example say I start a save with GENK and Belgium game start date is July; I would then choose game to start in a different country with an earlier season start (eg Germany) so as to have it start in June and have an extra month of preparation.

Before the start of every new season you will get a message asking when you want pre-season to start. Choose early but also look for balance (give your players a reasonable holiday!).

 

[MANUMAD]

PRE SEASON - A GUIDE (PT 2)

Note for new managers - get to know your club

1. Look at your squads: decide who are your best players for every position, who are the up and coming youngsters and the players you dont need. Look in your reserve and other squads carefully as there usually are good players hidden there who for whatever reason are (wrongly) transfer listed by the previous regime. A good tip to make your life easier in a club you know little about is to categorise players by value (press the relevant button in the squad screen) as value is agood starting indicator as to ability.

Take one of the A4 papers and carefully space out every position of your tactic (using dots on it for every position). Then put the players you will be keeping in the position you will be playing them hierarchically - eg in a club where Strandberg/Andia/Milosevic/Okore are your cbs decide the two pairs (Strandberg/Milosevic and Okore/Andia) and put them there. Thats your rotated cb pairs there for you and thats your cbs there for you. This should also tell you that you need another one cb (maybe promote one from youth ranks/loan one in) for when matches will be coming thick and fast.

2. Look to have two players per position plus an extra player apart from GKs where two are enough. This is especially true if you are a top team in a major league as you should be going after all possible trophies so you ll have to play more matches.

3. If you list the players you will be using from the existing squad on the A4 paper as above you will have a very concrete indication of what you need to buy- this will avoid mindless adrenaline rushes of buying for the sake of buying which will ultimately hurt your team cohesion and team spirit (cos people will start complaining about game time).

4. Team cohesion is important and very difficult to establish. If you bring in more than 3/4 players every summer and 1/2 in January then prepare for performances not to reflect squad strength for a pretty long time.


As a new manager you need to use preseason to get acquainted withyour new club, in addition to building up your players fitness levels.

When managing a new club you need to analyse the squads strengths and weaknesses (as above), set up your three formations, and schedule training to aid player development.


Arrange Friendlies

Dont let the assistant do it! Do it yourself. If you are a poor team try to arrange friendlies away against better opponents but don't overdo it as another target during pre season is to build up morale and you cant really do that if you get your *** whupped repeatedly. Start with "easy" teams to build up morale and have the better teams in the middle of your schedule. Always arrange the last friendly against a team you know you ll whup the *** off again for morale. Arrange as many friendlies aspossible (max 4/5 days between each).

By playing matches the players will both improve their knowledge of your tactics and their individual match fitness. The individual players match fitness will also be improved by assigning players to heavy physical training.

By arranging multiple friendly matches, you increase your players"comfort" with your tactics quicker AND give them match fitness which affects their performances. Rotate your players. But rotate cleverly - dont rotate both first choice cbs at the same time rotate only one, dont put a newbie gk behind two cbs that are new to club/young/not first choice etc ... (this is also my advice about rotating in season btw and remember its better to give a youngster a league time with a risk of a draw/loss than put loads of youngsters not heeding my above advice in your starting lineup in Cup matches with the almost certainty of failing to progress).

Look at finances

Look at your team's balance and sources of income. If the income sources are limited but you have a "big" transfer kitty (eg for Argentinian teams something in the region of 3m) but your income can barely sustain that this means that if you spend it all you will be given (next to) nothing the next season. Spend wisely and what is left put in wages for two reasons: board will be happy with your control over wages and apparently you will be getting interest on the (bigger) difference.

 

[MANUMAD]

PRE SEASON - A GUIDE (PT 3)

General Training and Match Training

Dont forget to schedule training on the first day on a new save and if its an ongoing one do so right after your last match!

My advice of what to schedule is:

a. General training: Fitness. Very Heavy. Two weeks AND Match training: tactics.
b. GT: Tactics. Very heavy (till about 2 weeks before 1st league match OR tactical familiarity bars 80% whichever comes first) AND MT: Team Cohesion (alternate between the two ie one week gt tactics mt cohesion then gt cohesion and mt tactics etc)
c. GT: Team Cohesion (till first season match at least - if many playersbrought in two extra weeks) MT: Tactics (to top up familiarity bars).

Then look at the staff - do it from the training page and see who is below par.Give them mutual termination (doing it first day means they' ll leave for less). Then go to staff screen and clear the deadwood looking at that. Make a note on your other piece of A4 paper what training categories you need staff for and how many coaches (theres a number of posts on COACHING STAFF later on in this thread). Go to transfer centre and start looking. Make note of who you offer jobs to in order to avoid getting more experts for a category than you need. Aim to have coaches with as many stars as you can and the indication of light workload. Look also at their personalities as this will be a factor influencing your regens. Once I get the best I can, if have a free coaching position I search for somebody with 20 or near it for motivating, I bring him in and have him train EVERY category. Dunno if it works but it seems reasonable (nb: passion4fm blog has helpful downloadable filters to find the best staff).

Once you complete your squad you then assign individual training. Have all players individually training their position for the season (unless somebody has a very low attribute for his position which sticks out where you will assign particular attribute). Following seasons you can look at individual attributes. Look also at what PPMs you want to teach/unteach and schedule them as well.

Once season starts you should aim to gradually set the intensity to average/low and once you are done with tactics/cohesion you should assign something else as GT. Most people have it on Balanced. I disagree. I usually do ball control and attacking interchangeably (cos I like the attributes they deal with eg possession) but I also look at opponents and how Im doing (I will occasionally train balanced or defence for example). MT should be opponent - orientated. An example that brings the two together: Im Bologna and scheduled to play Bayern in the second round (knock out) CL who are much stronger. If I have first match away Ill train GT Defence and MT Attacking set pieces cos I want to grab an away goal. If I then win or get a score draw for the return leg I train Defence and Defend Set pieces.

The slider should be less match training - 1 day match training. With rest after match only.


Set the Tactics

The orthodox way to do it is to look at yourplayers and use a tactic to suit them (eg no wingers in the team? dont set a 442). Thats all fine and dandy but thats not what I do. I have a couple of tactics that I know work peachily and always set them and have a third to experiment with/play reactively with which).

Be varied - I often see people who have eg 442 defend 442 attack and 442 counter to use depending on opponent. That to my mind is wrong. You should have a similar tactical/team instruction basis running through all three tactics as much as possible but the formations should be different. For example a wider one (eg a 451), a narrower one (eg a 41212) and eg one with 3 cbs. You could achieve this by having wingbacks instead of fbs in the first two. This will come in handy when you read the scout reports of opponents and particularly the tactics faced part and you notice that a particular opponent doesnt like a narrow formation. It may be a different narrow formation from the one your players know but believe me your narrow formation will usually work almost equally well.

Note: have the board set expectations of attacking /possession football? Use at least one tactic aimed at that.


Setting up scouting network/looking for Transfer targets

1. Import any shortlists into the game.
2. Have a look at the transfer/loan market.
3. If you are in an alien league to you eg Uruguay look at each team of similar/lowerlevel from the league table page. Press the value tab as its a good startingindicator and if you like what you see scout player and take it from there. Do the same with analogous reputation leagues (eg Chile).
4. Assign scouts to find transfer targets - but always relative to where you are and what you need. Eg it would be pointless at Penarol to scout European leagues as nobody of note would deign to join you.
5. Dont suffer from the obsession that all FMers apparently suffer from! ie dont always look only for youth! Look for players who will win you money/trophies/reputation asap (and these are not necessarily youngsters). As always balance is the name of the game.

 

[MANUMAD]

A FULLY DEVELOPED wonderkid that nobody seems to buy:

SADIO MANE - Plays for RB Salzburg is 21 and has the stats of a great 25 yo. Plays awesomely at am/if/on wings or even cf.

 

[MANUMAD]

Ideas for saves for people who are bored of doing the same stuff again and again

AJAX

Use the top youth facilities and set up to implement their TIPS System (for an awesome explanation go here Ajax - When Real Life Meets Football Manager - FM14) and put some restrictions on what you can do eg:

Only buy players below 18 (such as GUIDO VADALA) and oldies such as Litmanen/Rivaldo to tutor your young players and aim to ultimately make Ajax great by using your academy system.

Long term save.


ANDERLECHT

Try to implement the TIPS Ajax system on them.



THE BRAZILIAN LEAGUES

A favourite of mine


PALMEIRAS

Fallen giant (relegated last season to 2nd div) but retaining a pretty good squad. Good finances (for Brazil).

The Regional Championships - can be viewed as glorified friendlies to finetune your squad for the main champo and/or as a chance to win silverware (only Corinthians and a couple other teams are better than them to start with.

Aim to ultimately win the Club World Championship.


VITORIA

Huge squad with youth in abundance, nice backroom staff


PARANAENSE

Low expectations good squad - make them financially stable and increase their stature.

ARGENTINA

Teams are borderline unplayable due to no money, low crowds, low prize money. You may win everything first season but still you will get no transfer budget for the second so you will even struggle to reniew contracts of enough players to have a decent sized squad. Wheeling and dealing finds new meaning. Major challenge.

But each team has a number of great youngsters and some decent old heads and there is a wealth of cheapo players hanging around (eg Dal Cason for 20k! which is what he cost me for Estudiantes) - can be really compulsive.

ESTUDIANTES LP

At least 4 wonderkids already there. 3m transfer budget (I think) to start with. Buy Vietto/Vadala and Zuculini on a free and you re off (thats what I did - now in my fourth season having won countless trophies incl the CLUB WORLD CHAMPO 3 times! and 2nd in World Rankings to Barcelona who I beat 2-1 in my second of those!)


NEWELL'S/SAN LORENZO/TIGRE

Nice squads but small so huge challenge

ARSENAL DE SARANDI

A bit more money than the three above.


GRANADA/UDINEZE

Owned by the same company - huge squads (esp UDINE) which can be moulded into greatness quite quickly.


PALERMO

A fallen little giant - some awesome players: DYBALA/HERNANDEZ/ZEQUI MUNOZ. Too good for the Serie B and with a bit of luck you can win the Cup first season.


WIN THE ASIAN CL WITH A TEAM FROM

S KOREA/CHINA


START WITH WORSE TEAM IN S AFRICAN 2ND LEAGUE AND WIN AFRICAN CL


DOWNLOAD NEW LEAGUES YOU DONT KNOW MUCH ABOUT AND PICK TEAMS FROM THERE

Suggestions: QATAR/CYPRUS/UAE/EGYPT/TUNISIA/SAUDI ARABIA

 

[minergy]

A FULLY DEVELOPED wonderkid that nobody seems to buy:

SADIO MANE - Plays for RB Salzburg is 21 and has the stats of a great 25 yo. Plays awesomely at am/if or even cf.

Exactly!
On FM 13 he was awesome and I guess I'll have to get him on this years game if he's good.