Liverpool FC: Ultimate Guide to The Reds

Aannddyy

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I’ve been meaning to make this guide since the game’s release however I’ve never got round to playing as my beloved Liverpool. A few weeks ago I decided to bite the bullet and make headway with the guide. My first impression of the Liverpool team was nothing short of amazement, you inherit a very strong squad of players and a reserve team full of future Premier League superstars. But enough of Liverpool awesomeness and let’s get down to business.

Key players
There are four players in the Liverpool squad who should be the core of any team indefinitely, not only are they top quality players who will win you trophies but they are also Anfield legends, who should never be sold, under any circumstances. They provide the backbone to the squad and should always fit into your plans no matter your formation. I do not really need to give an individual analysis on each player as I’m sure they are familiar with 99% of you however I have noted what I feel to be their best role and position in the side along with a brief description on how they will affect your team.

Steven Gerrard – MC R/L – Advanced Playmaker –Attack
Gerrard is obviously the most important player in the squad, he will be the man who will link your midfield to your attack as well as scoring many vital goals. I find Gerrard plays best as an Advanced Playmaker alongside a ball winning midfielder such as Lucas. Gerrard’s effectiveness is usually down to the tactics you play due to his low work rate attribute.

Fernando Torres – ST R/L – Advanced Forward - Attack
Fingers crossed he will not be injury plagued for you, however if you are as unlucky as me and he is injured on and off throughout the season all is not lost. Fernando Torres has the highly useful knack of scoring when he needs too, with Torres on the pitch you know that 70% of the time he will score. The best thing about Torres besides his goals/game ratio is his ability to play several roles. I find the most effective is Advanved forward alongside a poacher such as N’Gog or Jovanovic. However Torres can also play Poacher, Complete Forward or even Trequartista competently.

Jose Reina – GK
Very little to say on Jose Reina, one of the best goalkeepers in the game, very resilient and will be your first team goalkeeper for some time. Make sure you bring in a young goalkeeper such as Jason Steele at some point to learn off of Reina which will help them considerably. I’m sure you know which role he should play.

Daniel Agger – DC L – Cental Defender – Defend
I rate Daniel Agger very highly on this game as I do in real life, I feel if he was a little stronger and less injury prone he would be one of the best left footed defenders on FM. I play him in the boring role of central defender, he has the ability to play ball playing defender very well however I try not to over complicate my defence as it could end up disastrous. Play Daniel Agger alongside a good stopper such as Carragher to maximise the partnership.

First Team Squad

Goalkeepers:
Brad Jones
Dean Bouzanis
Peter Gulacsi

What can I say about these three, other than they suck? Stick with Brad Jones as back-up for the first season they try to offload him in 2011. The other two are pretty much useless and only hog a moderate but still unnecessary wage, try to sell them if you can however loaning may be a more interesting option for clubs. I recommend brining in a young goalkeeper to learn from Reina, my choice would be Jason Steele.

Full Backs:
Paul Konchesky
Fabio Aurelio
Emiliano Insua (away on loan)
Stephen Darby
Philip Degen (away on loan)
Glen Johnson

Your full-backs will serve you well in the first season as long as Aurelio and Johnson can stay fit and you utilise their roles fully, remember Johnson and Aurelio are very attacking full-backs and are equally adept at the Wing Back role. Stephen Darby is not rated very highly on this game, however I find he is more than enough cover for when Glen Johnson is unfit, which is very rarely, I will leave it up to you whether or not to replace him. Sell Degen whel he returns from his loan, he is a massive wage sponge and is totally useless. When Insua returns from his loan spell do all you can to sell Konchesky, you may have to loan him but he is not Liverpool quality and is a waste of wages, Insua can turn in a very good left back if you have confidence in his ability. I recommend bringing in a young left back for when Aurelio’s attributes decline, my choice would be Dodo.

Centre Backs:
Jamie Carragher
Sotiris Kyrgiakos
Martin Skrtel
Danny Wilson
Martin Kelly
Daniel Ayala (away on loan)
Chris Mavinga

Jamie Carragher should be your first choice DCR for the first two seasons at least, his ability doesn’t decline too much over the first season which means he can put in some good performances, however you have Martin Skrtl just incase. Danny Wilson should be promoted to the first team, get him to learn from Daniel Agger and play him occasionally and you will have a top centre back in your squad. Kelly, Ayala and Mavinga are not good enough for Liverpool, sell or loan them it is upto you but they do not have the ability to turn into anything great.

Centre Midfielders:
Raul Meireles
Jonjo Shelvey
Lucas
Jay Spearing
Alberto Aquilani (away on loan)
Christian Poulson

As long as you have your strongest midfielders fit for most of the games (Gerrard, Meireles and Lucas) You should be fine, getting Shelvey to learn from Gerrard is a great idea as he has the potential to become a big part of your first team in the not so distant future. Lucas or Meireles should partner Gerrard depending on what role you wish to play alongside him, I’d recommend Lucas as a ball winning midfielder but Meireles is a very good player and shouldn’t be confined to the bench. When Aquilani returns you may be tempted to keep him as he is a decent midfielder but no back-up midfielder should be paid £88,000 per week and that is the reason why selling him is the best option, you may get lucky and receive a bid or you may have to loan him out again, as long as his wage is gone then it’s a success. Poulson will do as cover for Lucas for the first season however selling him in the second is a must; he brings very little to the squad. Spearing isn’t Liverpool quality so feel free to sell or loan him, keeping him would just be unfair as he can do well at a lower league club. I personally would not change the centre of midfield too much however I would bring in Tom Cairney from Hull as he is definitely one for the future.

Wingers:
Ryan Babel
Maxi Rodriguez
Joe Cole
Dirk Kuyt
Nabil El Zhar (away on loan)

Despite him slightly underachieving in real life Babel is very good on FM, and despite him being a natural AMC he can adept very well to an inside forward role on the left wing, with Kuyt or Cole on the opposite wing, depending on your style of play you can have a very strong attack. El Zhar is in no way good enough for the first team as should be offloaded as soon as his loan finishes. Maxi provides good cover for the right wing; however feel free to sell him as he does not really bring much to the team other than moderately good back-up. Jovanovic who is naturally a striker will easily cover for Ryan Babel as an inside forward however he is much more useful as a striker.

Strikers:
David N’Gog
Daniel Pacheco
Milan Jovanovic
Andres Simon
Jordy Brouwer

One of N’Gog, Pacheco or Jovanovic should partner Torres, as a poacher. N’Gog and Jovanovic possess great pace and this can be lethal against opposition. Pacheco is not blessed with amazing attributes however training his “quickness” can result in a deadly poacher for the future, he can also bag a few goals along the way. Simon and Brouwer should be sold or loaned out as they do not progress much and are better of making their trade in the lower divisions. Jovanovic is not really of enough quality to hold down a place in the first team and really you should look to replace him, my choice of corse would be Dzeko but he comes at a hefty price and that may be better left buying him at the start of the 2011-2012 season, when you receive a bigger budget. N’Gog has the ability to become a good striker, selling him would be pointless as you will not find many better strikers for a small price. I also recommend bringing in Kadlec and Wickham, two great young strikers with potential but they can also provide instant cover for your first team as they have years of first team experience already, albeit at a lower level.

Tactics & Line-up
For the first half of the season I used my own formation, it is a “quarter back” formation, which heavily involves playmakers, I do not feel this tactic is ready to be released yet as I have not fully achieved what I would like it to do however I will keep you all posted. From December onwards I used JP Woody’s High Scoring tactic, for those of you who have not heard of it, it’s a “back to basics uncomplicated tactic that should score a lot of goals. It’s a 4-4-2 with the 2 wide men pushed forward to wingers. It’s almost default in its set up but still very effective...” with a tiny bit of tweaking I found this tactic very effective and despite it’s minimalistic characteristics it’s a very solid tactic that does what it says, scores goals. Below are two screenshots of my line-up at the start of the first and second season using each tactic.


Finances & Budgets
Liverpool start with a healthy bank balance however do not worry too much if you drain most of the funds from it, Liverpool are a club who make money, but only as long as you are successful. Your board will invest in the club throughout the season; I believe I received £15,000,000 in investments throughout the first season which is not bad considering you have to give nothing in return as well as massive sponsorship money which could reach £40,000,000. You may slip into the red but due to Liverpool being a global brand you do not need to worry, when you receive TV money and bonuses at the end of the season you will be back up in the black. Winning the Europa League and Premier League could see you receive a budget of around £65-70M in the second season, an amount that will definitely change the dynamics of your team.

The way budget is more than enough to cope with any transfers you make, however try not to be too lavish with the wages you offer, negotiation is the key, get the agents demands as low as you can, bribe them if you have too! Your transfer budget this season is decent, you cannot bring in your own squad with the £25-30M avaliable but you can bring in a few good players, concentrate on youth players, they are vital and progress rapidly. The budgets you will receive next season with make or break your future, success brings money which brings more success. So be lucky!


Transfers & Goal setting
I have recommended players further up the guide however here is a quick recap:
Dodo – DL – Corinthians -£1,300,000
Connor Wickham – ST – Ipswich - £3,000,000
Vaclav Kadlec – ST – Sparta Prague - £1,000,000
Edin Dzeko – ST – Wolfsburg - £25,000,000
Tom Cairney – MC – Hull City - £2,500,000
Jason Steele – GK – Middlesbrough - £3,000,000

Below are the screenshots of my transfers over the past two seasons, the first season I played without transfer budgets so very little action there. I highly recommend Gareth Bale, however wait until you can afford him as he isn’t cheap and you would be better of spending most of your budget on a striker.

I would recommend you decide for yourself what your goal should be, Liverpool have the ability to win the league however the aim you choose in game should be down to your own personal confidence level. Your main priority throughout the season should be the Premier League, if that means playing a weaker squad in cup matches then so be it, Europa League is not very financially rewarding however you can reach the final with very little effort, the winner receives £6,000,000 [along with the money you’ve picked up on the way] which is a tidy sum.


# # # The End # # #
Thank you for taking the team to read this guide, I know there is a lot to take in but I feel it is all necessary for success, since I began writing this I have noticed that there has already been a Liverpool guide released a while ago [woops >.<] however I hope this can still help you guys as it’s taken a lot of my time and effort producing it. Hope you can all leave me some feedback plus any suggestions to what I should add to the guide.

 
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Nice, another Liverpool guide - top work here :D
 
Good guide, if I ever play as 'Pool I will utilise it.
 
Very good guide mate!! I'm about to start a new game with Liverpool and it will be very helpful.
 
Very nice, but could do with a few pictures and some history on the club and transfer budgets etc?
 
The best guide I've read on here mate. Started a game with Liverpool there and your guide has been bery useful
 
Thanks everyone for the feedback so far, if you think my guide was good then maybe recommend another team/ league?

Very nice, but could do with a few pictures and some history on the club and transfer budgets etc?

Yeah I know other people who release guides add pictures of the logo and history etc.etc. But I don't really see the point, it looks pretty but it would just make an already large guide even bigger.. Probably should add the transfer budgets and stuff though, will do that later.
 
Nice guide mate and good transfer recommendations. I saw a few days ago that someone was looking foe a Barcelona guide. I considered doing one but I'm not so great with the tactical side and don't tend to play as the biggest teams so have gone off the idea. Perhaps you could make one?
 
Nice guide mate and good transfer recommendations. I saw a few days ago that someone was looking foe a Barcelona guide. I considered doing one but I'm not so great with the tactical side and don't tend to play as the biggest teams so have gone off the idea. Perhaps you could make one?

Good idea, never played as Barca before if I'm honest [more of a Madrid fan] but I guess I could have a go and see how I get on.
 
I recommend bringing in a young left back for when Aurelio’s attributes decline, my choice would be Dodo.

As I remember Liverpool has in U-18 team one great DL potential...Robinson is his name or something like that...I played Dodo on many games and despite his PA he didn't prove to me as great player

as ST I would recommend to any team young Franchman Sanogo or Sangogo, whatever his name is..from all youth talents his development is fast
 
As I remember Liverpool has in U-18 team one great DL potential...Robinson is his name or something like that...I played Dodo on many games and despite his PA he didn't prove to me as great player

as ST I would recommend to any team young Franchman Sanogo or Sangogo, whatever his name is..from all youth talents his development is fast

Robinson has decent potential, however not really good enough to challenge Insua for a first team place. Sorry I didn't add him into the guide, he had been signed by Newcastle early on in the game and I didn't realise.

Yeah Sanogo is a very good player but he is injured for the first 6 months so really he's out of the question.
 
Robinson need few years to become good player but with Aurelio and Insua my opinion is that DL position in Liverpool is well covered....even with Insua on loan there is young Wilson (my favorite young DC in game) who can be cover DL...

and it is not only Robinson, in fact Liverpool has the brighest young talents in U-18 team from all Premiership clubs

N'Gog is decent striker and good for backup...problem with Torres is injury prones......but don't forget that you have Kyit and Babel to play as ST....Jovanovic is useless and he is 1st chice for transfer list or loan .....but again I would take Sanogo no matter he is injured....this lad is natural in scoring from all young ST's in game

I played Liverpool once and my bigest concern was who will replace The King in middfield so I brought De Rossi from Roma after 1st season

Liverpool has great team and with good tactic and some luck can go for Premiership title
 
Robinson need few years to become good player but with Aurelio and Insua my opinion is that DL position in Liverpool is well covered....even with Insua on loan there is young Wilson (my favorite young DC in game) who can be cover DL...

and it is not only Robinson, in fact Liverpool has the brighest young talents in U-18 team from all Premiership clubs

N'Gog is decent striker and good for backup...problem with Torres is injury prones......but don't forget that you have Kyit and Babel to play as ST....Jovanovic is useless and he is 1st chice for transfer list or loan .....but again I would take Sanogo no matter he is injured....this lad is natural in scoring from all young ST's in game

I played Liverpool once and my bigest concern was who will replace The King in middfield so I brought De Rossi from Roma after 1st season

Liverpool has great team and with good tactic and some luck can go for Premiership title

Wilson for me is one of the best if not the best young DC in the game and he always performs even at 19.

I did mention at the start of my guide that Liverpool have one of the best youth set-ups, one of very few Premier League teams in the game who can bring youth into the first team squad easily.

Jovanovic isn't that bad, he is a very good poacher and decent cover for AML. Also I'm pretty sure you cannot buy Sanogo until January because his long term injury means he will fail his medical, however I feel Wickham is probably a better prospect than Sanogo.

I did win the league with Liverpool first season, it's really not that hard, as long as you know the players and how they play you can get them playing very, very well.

Thanks for the feedback.
 
Good Guide, if u can, do recommend some staff signings too :)
 
started my liverpool game with the latest update and i was wondeing if kadlec would do good being tutored by torres ?

got agger tutoring wilson
and gerrard tutoring shevley, so i would a striker to tutor ?
 
seriously liverpool get 70mil when they win the Premier league title....im currently 1st....
 
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Good Guide, if u can, do recommend some staff signings too :)
Marco Rota, Valter Di Salvio, Julio Tous, Rodolfo Borrell, Paul Winsper. The Fitness guys you start off with don't seem to be that good, but I think you can switch one of them to be a GK coach, so try and do that. Some of them you need to ask to be coaches instead of other roles as they fit your teams needs there better. The training schedules you need to tinker with once quite a bit, but it helps in the long run and short run. You can have at least 4 on most training criteria, some 4 and a halfs and a couple 5s.
 
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wait.... I'm playing liverpool and all i get for transfer is a miserable 3m... what's wrong?
 
Good Guide, if u can, do recommend some staff signings too :)

The Liverpool staff is great on FM, I don't usually divulge too much into the staff setup when I'm a high profile club, but I will look into area's that could be improved coaching-wise.

started my liverpool game with the latest update and i was wondeing if kadlec would do good being tutored by torres ?

got agger tutoring wilson
and gerrard tutoring shevley, so i would a striker to tutor ?

Torres would be the best player to get to tutor Kadlec, they are very similar.

seriously liverpool get 70mil when they win the Premier league title....im currently 1st....

I got a budget of £78M in my second season after winning the league and Europa league so yeah expect a budget of £60M+

wait.... I'm playing liverpool and all i get for transfer is a miserable 3m... what's wrong?

Are you playing on 11.2.1? You may still have the patch where NESV aren't in control of the club which may result in lower transfer budgets.
 
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