The best way to play any manager game is to play in lower leagues. It will provide a more rewarding game, more challenges and in the end make you a better manager. So, for anyone who fancies a go with LLM, I've created a survival guide. Enjoy!
Check the squad out
If that sounds too obvious to mention, you'd be right. The amount of people who don't check a squad properly is staggering. Have a look at each player individually, and decide what formation you want to use (I'll go over formations in a bit). The most important part of the team is the spine (DC's, MC's and ST's). Don't worry too much about technical attributes, look at the physical attributes and work your team out from there.
Lets talk tactics, baby
Tactics are VERY important at LLM level. The biggest tip I can offer is don't overcomplicate things. Don't bother too much with AMR/L's and WB's because things will go pear shaped. The positioning attributes are never good enough to keep a formation and everything ends up in tears.
I'm always a bit wary of people telling you the best formation to win in a league. A formation should fit the players, not the other way round. Personally, I'd say Keep it at a 4-4-2. It depends on the team. Have a striker on the bench, as well as a DMC and a DC. If you go a goal or 2 up, change formation to something more defensive (i.e a 5-4-1) and just shut up shop.
I would only ever give running arrows to the ML and MR. Don't get your centre mids running about because they won't be fit enough stamina wise. Keep it simple!
Play with a target man. Get someone up front with attributes for strength, finishing and heading. Don't worry about pace. Just whip crosses in all day long.
Transfer time
Buy a striker. Even if you don't think you need one, spend as much as you can on the best you can get. If you only have 100k and you buy a left back, you are an idiot. Yes he may have good stats or whatever, but left backs don't get promotion. I reccomend you buyMoises, you can get him for 50k, maybe even a bit less.
Completely ignore whatever your assistant manager says about weakest players. He is a pleb and his opinion is not valid about anything. He is only there to send to press conferences after the novelty has worn off.
If you have anything left, get a centre mid. Preferably one with good influence and good mental attributes.
Now for the loans. Loan another striker from the reserves of a big club. Sturridge is always a good one if you can get him. Next loan a centre back with good marking and tackling attributes. I'll explain why in a second. You may also want to loan a pacy ML or MR with decent crossing attributes.
How do I know what "decent" is for this league?
That's the issue most people have. So I've made a little rule. For every division you are lower than the premiership, add 1.5 to each technical stat to give you their premiership equivalent. This is not set in stone, it's just to help you recognise good players in their respective division.
So for example, you are in Blue Square Prem and you buy a striker with heading stats of 11, finishing of 10 and off the ball of 13. Thats 4 divisions lower than the Prem, so add 6 to each stat. It's like buying a premiershp player with 17 heading, 16 finishing and 17 off the ball, who would be pretty lethal.
Against the opposition
Remember that centreback with good marking and tackling? Use him to mark the oppositions key striker. Give him orders for closing down and to show onto weaker foot. This is effective in terms of stopping the other team playing.
Right, those are the 5 main poins of LLM. Let me know what you think!
Check the squad out
If that sounds too obvious to mention, you'd be right. The amount of people who don't check a squad properly is staggering. Have a look at each player individually, and decide what formation you want to use (I'll go over formations in a bit). The most important part of the team is the spine (DC's, MC's and ST's). Don't worry too much about technical attributes, look at the physical attributes and work your team out from there.
Lets talk tactics, baby
Tactics are VERY important at LLM level. The biggest tip I can offer is don't overcomplicate things. Don't bother too much with AMR/L's and WB's because things will go pear shaped. The positioning attributes are never good enough to keep a formation and everything ends up in tears.
I'm always a bit wary of people telling you the best formation to win in a league. A formation should fit the players, not the other way round. Personally, I'd say Keep it at a 4-4-2. It depends on the team. Have a striker on the bench, as well as a DMC and a DC. If you go a goal or 2 up, change formation to something more defensive (i.e a 5-4-1) and just shut up shop.
I would only ever give running arrows to the ML and MR. Don't get your centre mids running about because they won't be fit enough stamina wise. Keep it simple!
Play with a target man. Get someone up front with attributes for strength, finishing and heading. Don't worry about pace. Just whip crosses in all day long.
Transfer time
Buy a striker. Even if you don't think you need one, spend as much as you can on the best you can get. If you only have 100k and you buy a left back, you are an idiot. Yes he may have good stats or whatever, but left backs don't get promotion. I reccomend you buyMoises, you can get him for 50k, maybe even a bit less.
Completely ignore whatever your assistant manager says about weakest players. He is a pleb and his opinion is not valid about anything. He is only there to send to press conferences after the novelty has worn off.
If you have anything left, get a centre mid. Preferably one with good influence and good mental attributes.
Now for the loans. Loan another striker from the reserves of a big club. Sturridge is always a good one if you can get him. Next loan a centre back with good marking and tackling attributes. I'll explain why in a second. You may also want to loan a pacy ML or MR with decent crossing attributes.
How do I know what "decent" is for this league?
That's the issue most people have. So I've made a little rule. For every division you are lower than the premiership, add 1.5 to each technical stat to give you their premiership equivalent. This is not set in stone, it's just to help you recognise good players in their respective division.
So for example, you are in Blue Square Prem and you buy a striker with heading stats of 11, finishing of 10 and off the ball of 13. Thats 4 divisions lower than the Prem, so add 6 to each stat. It's like buying a premiershp player with 17 heading, 16 finishing and 17 off the ball, who would be pretty lethal.
Against the opposition
Remember that centreback with good marking and tackling? Use him to mark the oppositions key striker. Give him orders for closing down and to show onto weaker foot. This is effective in terms of stopping the other team playing.
Right, those are the 5 main poins of LLM. Let me know what you think!