Id also like to add the importance of team talks, moral and team cohesion. My first 2 seasons were awful... Id started with automatic experience and it really screwed me over. Hamsik was a nightmare to manage, the big players constantly reacted badly to my team talks etc. I'd bought cavani and hamsik the first season for 52m between them and they were honestly massive flops. everyone in my team loved cavani but he really struggled to settle and learn english. Hamsik just didnt care. I nearlly sold them.
Its taken me 3 more seasons of not buying to get my team to gel and play well. I'm finally on a few of my players favoured people. If I do buy a new player now, its either kids - or like Olssen - an established PL player who can speak english. Its not all about star ratings, hence why huddlestone, livermore, walker, naughton, adam smith, dawson are all still massive parts of my team. theyre all mates and play well together.
Livermore will never be a world beater but he's now worth 14m for a 2 1/2 star player.
Im sure TBH has said all of this in his thread but heres a few tips ive found to really kick *** with this tactic.
Pre season train tactics high, get it fluid asap. my 2 losses last season were within the first 5 games where i hadnt done this. once it was fluid i went on my 47 league games unbeaten
Once your tactics are fluid, divide match prep and normal training evenly, set match prep to defensive positioning and leave it there!
Set your normal training to team cohesion and leave it there! this is especially important if you have bought in some big egos, or reshaped your team top to bottom.
Rotate. I pretty much play two different teams, helping gain experience for youth and keeping rotation/backup players happy. one for league, one for cups and CL group stages. if your star player is on 90% and you have a fully fit backup or youngster dont be afraid to rest him, it will be alot worse when he's injured.
Dont be afraid to be angry in team talks, within reason. You should know your team and how they react in different scenarios. Also, I dont know what it is but occasionally in team talks a little green dot appears next to a players name... if you wiggle it, it makes a positive reaction with 4-5 more players
Determination, work rate, team work are my favourite attributes. TBH has said in this thread before, if you have a team with high numbers in those stats, you can dominate europe with a technically sub par team.
Listen to TBH when s/he talks about PPM's!
Enjoy people!
Napoli have such a sick team, was one of my favourite saves in fm12. Cavani + Lavezzi in this tactic will get you 100+ goals I reckon!
He's finally coming around haha