Take a step back - First things first...

[Scoutski]

Hi,

I'm a long time lurker, first time poster. I've played FM since 10 and am currently enjoying 11, for some reason I've only really enjoyed LLM.. don't know why, I just love the big idea that one day my team could be well above their means and it'd feel like a real achievement to help them get there rather than taking on an already impressive team. I think I never do nearly as well as I could, I see so many posts about people going up from division to division up to EPL in back-to-back seasons from LLM. A lot of people speak about what they do to get the team there, but I'm wondering can someone be a little more comprehensive or at least point me in the right direction on this.

When you start a new LLM team, what do you need to do before starting the season, how do you go about maintenance?

1. Do you schedule friendlies for money?
2. Do you release all useless players on a free and sign the best frees you can?
3. Do you completely redesign your corner/free kick tactics?
4. Do you completely design the tactic down to individual player roles and if so how do you decide?

Things like this... I know this is a huge ask, but I really feel that a lot of the tutorial posts skip this crucial setup part of a team and just say things like "I signed XX, XX and XX then set a 442 attacking and then yay premier league."

Look forward to your answers

Cheers

 

[TJD07]

I've not done much LLM but from what I've done there are a few things I try to do ASAP.
First is change all the friendly games to ones with bigger higher profile clubs like you said, but also try to keep a few games in there that you can realistically win.

Look through the south american leagues, can get a lot of good young players very cheaply over there although work permits are an issue. Free players are always worth looking at even if they're old, if they can help you get promoted without being an issue then try to bring them in.

Try and find a solid parent team if you don't already have one, loans are a massive plus in LLM. A lot of top clubs will loan out their young players even if not loan listed, may need to pay though so keep an eye out.

When getting players in don't focus too much on one player/possition it's all good having a great striker but if you're letter more goals in than he can score you're only losing out. Buy what you need not what you want.

For tactics I tend to stick to somthing simple, trying not to rely on certain players.

 

[JordanK]

1. Yes. It's a good way to get some cash. But I never scheduele more than 2 of them, as losing the games (which you probably will) lowers the players morale.

2. That's pretty much what I do, but remember that when you do this, it'll take time for the team to gel.

3. It's probably best to tweak with these to get the best results from them. Here's a good article that describes the "art" of set pieces. True FM 2011 / 2012: The Art of Set Pieces in Football Manager 2011

4. I don't go too detailed with my tactics with lower league teams, as the players are usually tactically poor and will run around like headless chickens anyway.

Here's a list of free players that helped me into League 2 with Newport County:
Izzy Iriekpen
David Cowan
Terry Dixon
Jason St.Juste-Garforth-£300 (not free, but extremely cheap)
Phil Younghusband
Gifton Noel-Williams
Oliver Nicholas
Paul Robson
Gareth Williams
Stephen Hughes
Ben Webster
Bally Smart
Nikki Ahamed

Hope that helped

 

[rulebrit]

The thread above is great help but I would just like to add a couple things. Firstly don't neglect the filter search system built into FM 2011 it's actually pretty good if you take the time to input all the stats you feel you need for a player into the search, It's also a lot quicker than posting on here about players to buy etc and you can get bargains that even your scouts miss. Secondly I too am in awe of LLM's who get rid of a whole team and bring a new one in. I find due to team blend etc that never quite works for me and personally my first season at any LL club is a bit of a write off and I just try to get the players used to tactics and training etc. The best piece of advice from TJD07 is keep it simple LLM players cant do what Hazard and Fabregas can.

 

[Scoutski]

Thanks so much to all of you, so far this has all been very helpful! I'm getting very motivated to pick a new Blue Square N/S team to tackle. I'm thinking one of my biggest weaknesses has been patience then, but I blame that on seeing some of the success stories. Background info for me, I'm not from a very football crazy country (Australia), I have a bit of interest in Premier League but it's on in the middle of the night so I don't see many games.

I'm going to keep a very detailed FM notebook so if I take big breaks I can pick up where I left off which someone just suggested to me. I do have a few more questions though:

5. What about training?
6. What about staff?
7. BIG ONE: I see people saying they go through their team and work out who is good for their plans and who isn't... I understand on a very basic level that you want defenders with good marking/tackling and strikers with good finishing and things like this, but primarily I look at the assistant rating and the recent game ratings to determine if someone is a "good" player, but clearly there's a lot more to this, any tips on how to approach it would be HUGELY appreciated! (I think this is where I fall down the most!)

I think those answers would really up my FM sooo much! Thanks again for your help!

 

[sammyt]

5. unfortunately i can't help you on that one as i don't know much about training.
6. i look at my current staff and check their stats compared to what i decide i need. e.g. if i only have 2 coaches then i make sure they are 2 general coaches and taht one fo them can coach goalkeepers to some effect. i then loook at the staff search section to see if there's any better staff that want to come to my club and replace my current members with them if there's a difference. i tend to do this slowly over the course of the season so that on average my staff have good knowledge of the club and it's players, and when i replace staff the 2 key attributes i look for are motivation and man management skills.
7. i look at the assistent reports first to and get rid of any players that are useless for my team. then i look my best players and the positions they play to come up with a formation and i go into the tactics and try to find the player's best roles, i think this is fairly important because you may have a 4* striker but if his stats suggest he should be a poacher and you're using him as a complete forward then he isn't going to do aswell. if i decide to use a holding midfielder i normally chose an anchor man and look for players that suit the stats to that role rather then just a good defensive midfielder.