Whenever I make a tactic one thing always jumps out at me, make the tactic to fit the players. Why you ask, creating a tactic in this way allows for you to not bankrupt your club. Instead of buying 11 new players to fit a tactic, you could buy just 2 or 3 players to improve what you already have in place. This also provides the added bonus of your team being more gelled come the start of the season. So first things first, take a look at your squad and assess both ­strong and weaker points of the players at your disposal. Any tactic created should aim for a sense of balance, usually a 5/5 split, five going forwad to create and score and five sitting back to defend goal. With this in mind you can now start to shape your formation around the players in your squad.

Now you should have your shape set out, this is where it gets tricky. The next thing you should aim to do is assign everyone a role. Players attributes seem to be overlooked when assigning roles to players, however they are there to assist you, simply left clicking on each player brings up a list of his attibutes, you can also assign him a role, the best part is each different role highlights the key attributes, meaning finding the perfect role should be easy. Whilst doing this you need to keep a balanced point of view, remember we are aiming for a 5/5 split, five forward and 5 back. Not all players will fit into this sort of occasion, in which case you should look to use the support role, this allows for somewhat of a inbetween attack and defense, having the player fill both roles in equal measures.

We are now half way to creating your tactic, a team and shape has been dedicated, all that’s left to do is sift through the Team instruction page ironing out any minor details you are not happy with. When clicking the team instructions button you are faced with a daunting list of choice, fear not because I hope to explain all to you. So let’s run through each of the team instructions:

Philosophy – Here your choices are; contain, defensive, counter, balanced, control, attack and overload. This setting affects how your team approach the game, do you want focus on stopping the opposition scoring, or would you prefer your team to go all out attack and ty to outscore your opponent. Starting with contain, ultra-defensive going all the way through to Overload which is ultra attacking. Each have their good and bad points, the more attacking you go the more players commit themselves to attacking phases of play. Choosing a philosophy all depends on the standard of your players, should they be strong defensively it makes no sense playing an attacking formation. Like wise if they are not the fastest around playing a counter attack is not recommended.

Starting Strategy – Your choices here are; very rigid, rigid, standard, fluid and very fluid. This setting will affect just how many phases of play each player within your starting line-up will participate in. For example on a very rigid mentality your players will generally only get actively involved in a single phase of play, alternatively on a very fluid mentality each player will look to assist in both attacking and defensive phases of play as much as possible.

Passing Style – One of the more simple choices; short, default and direct. This is pretty self explanatory, here is your setting to choose the style of play you wish your team to promote. Short being excactly that, however in FM a short passing game is translated into the match engine as a pass to the player in most space closest to the player on the ball. Direct is not as you would think either, instead the player on the ball will look to pass the ball to the player in the most space furthest up the field. Default appears to equate to a mixture of each. Your choice here should be influenced by the “starting strategy” you choose. Playing a direct game on possession based tactic may not be the best idea.

Creative Freedom – Your choices are; more expressive, default and more disciplined. This setting alters how adventurous your team will pass the ball. More expressive translates to taking more chances and looking for a pass that has a lower percentage chance of being successful. Again default will allow for the team to possess a bit of both, with the more disciplined option safegaurding the ball and opting for a more secured pass.

Closing Down – Your choices here are; press more, default, stand off more. Pretty self explanatory, this is where you can edit how the team defends as a unit. Using the press more option will mean your players try to win the ball higher up the field. This can be risky unless your side holds a lot of pace in key areas, such as the wings. Default means your players will hold there position or line, effectively trying to become a brick wall to the oppositions attacks. Standing off more is typically used when playing on the counter attack, playing this style of closing down will allow your opposition to come at the defense, with your defenders making a tackle as late as possible.

Tackling – Your choices here are; more aggressive, default and more cautious. This setting determines how hard your players will go in on tackling. There will be times in any career you will need to use all of the said options. What they do is pretty self explanatory, if you are struggling then simply replace aggressive for hard, default for normal and cautious for soft.

Marking – Your choices are; man marking, defualt and zonal marking. Again this is pretty self explanatory, however just in case there is any doubt, I shall try my best to explain it for you. These options instruct your players on how you want them to defend. When you select man marking your players will take on the opposition man for man in defensive phases. Default is once again a little of both and finally zonal marking equates to your players holding a set “zone”, or boxed area, of the field.

Crossing – Your options are; drilled, default and floated. This setting usually only applies to the wide men of your side, either the full back/wing back or winger. Drilled, defualt and floated can easily be replaced by the following three words, low, mixed and high. Ofcourse the type you select depends on the attributes your striker/s have. Playing a drilled cross, or low in simpler terms, to a striker/s with high jumping, heading and arieal ability attributes means the said striker/s talents are wasted. Before you choose any of the given options check out the strikers you have available and work out which is best for your side.

Roaming – Your options are; more roaming, default and stick to position. This setting will go hand in hand with your creative freedom setting. It instructs your players as to how much they are allowed to wander from their set place on the field to contribute to attacking phases. In simpler terms more roaming may see your full back end up at the oppositions byline in order to deliver a cross. Alternatively stick to position would see your full back look for a pass to a team mate in a more advanced area of the field, thus enabling the full back to stick in his set position better.

So there we have your basic team instructions. Hopefully using the information I have provided you will now have the skills required to create a solid base tactic for your team. There is very little chance of you making the perfect tactic first time, therefore you will need to tweak areas that you are not happy with after watching a game or two. Tactic making is not easy, far from it. It takes patience and a lot of trial and error. One tip I will provide for you is not to change too much, if you do then you could find it hard undoing all the changes should it not work out. Flexability is key and your tactics will have to adapt many a time over the season, against many different teams, both shape and quality wise. Keeping things simple and playing players in the right positions is a great start though.

All that’s left for me to say is thank you for reading. As always I am open to any constructive criticism or feedback. I hope you enjoyed reading this guide, more importantly I hope it has helped. Enjoy.

Deano.

Probably the most common of the defensive setups around, generally speaking its the one everyoe seems confortable with. In a 4 man defense you will, more often then not, find the full backs to be set to a zonal making game and the center backs a man marking system. So why do this? What does it offer? Let us start with the full backs, having a zonal system of marking allows for a greater freedom in finding space when your team go into an attacking phase. Also when required in a defensive phase of play the full backs are limited to one area of the field, meaning the likelihood of being caught out of position is reduced. In a 3 man defense everything becomes even easier to sort. Generally speaking it is favoured 2 of the center backs play a man marking system with the third, in a slightly deeper role, playing zonally. This should allow for the two man marking to keep tabs on the opposition attackers, leaving you with a ‘free’ defender to clean up should an opposition attacker get free of his marker. With a mixed setup in defense the biggest problem is knowing how far to either push or drop the defense. This will vary depending on the defenders ability and pace. I however believe this sort of set up is perfect for a normal line, not too far out, allowing for pressure to be applied higher up the pitch. Crucially a normal line is not too deep either, meaning your team will not have too much pressure applied to them.

Man Marking:

Man marking effectively means your team will take the opposition on in a series of one on one tussles. Each of your players will mark a single opposition player throughout the game. I feel that to have a successful all man marking system your defenders need to have better attribute levels then your opponents striker in key areas: Pace, strength, stamina, accleration and heading. This should allow for the opposition attacker to be dominated so much so that they become near enough useless. It’s very unlikely you will find three/four players equiped with said attributes, therefore I feel it is important to get a good blend. The full backs are probably the simpliest to get right, pace is essential, especially chasing after them wingers for 90 minutes. To cover at center back I usually go with one strong, one speedy. Thus allowing me to gain the upper hand in most matches. Ofcourse you will not out-attribute the opponent every game. It’s almost certain your defenders will be caught lacking either strength or pace at some point. I would therefore suggest this style of marking be deployed in games where you plan to sit deep and counter.

Zonal:

My personal favourite, zonal marking. Put simply in this setup each member of your team will be assigned a designated ‘square’ on the field, a square they are responible for guarding. Even though this set up restricts covering movements of defenders going back, it allows for the forward movements to be more free. This covers the whole pitch, with players not having to stick to a man, rather an area, they can roam a little more finding space. Therefore I feel this could make good for a possession based tactic, already you have little roaming in place. Another quality this form of defending holds over others is it allows your back line to hold the line better, making this tactic seemingly perfect for the offside trap. It is for that reason I would play a zonal marking system with a high line, it would allow for less distance between defense and midfield and also allow the tackles to go in earlier up the field.

Conclusion:

So there you have my take on the three types of marking. Each possess strengths and weakness’, some of which I have pointed out. To get the best out of any of them requires you having the players with the correct attributes to fill the role. Simply taking a look at what you have within your side should lead you to the answer of what marking system should I employ?

I hope what I have written both, makes sense and helps you to understand a little better. I would appreciate any comments or criticisms you may have.

Thanks for reading.

So what should you look for in a advanced playmaker? Well the first and most obvious stat that is important is creativity. This one player will be the main route your other players take in getting the ball forward. It’s also very useful if your selected player has higher numbered stats for each of: Passing, Flair, Shooting, Balance, Strength, Pace, Stamina, Decisions and Acceleration. I think that in order to get the best from your playmaker a free role is needed. To accomplish this on FM simply allow for the player to roam and give him plenty of creative freedom.

As with any formation, you will need a sense of balance throughout the team. Obviously the advanced playmaker is going to want to get forward. I therefore recommend you only use this role should you have a very good defensive midfielder or even ball winning midfielder. More then one is a bonus.

So what do you do if you come up against an advanced playmaker? I think the only logical answer to that is to play a holding midfielder to man mark the threat out of the game. Ideally you would need a Makalele type player, with pace to stick with the attacking player, good tackling, stamina and a lot of determination, after all he is going to cover a lot of ground. It’s also useful to position players with a high “Off the Ball” stat around him, thus giving you team options in covering the playmakers movement.

I hope this has cleared up one of the problem positions in Football Manager a little more for you. Any constructive criticism is welcomed. Thanks for reading, all the best. Hammy

As with any tactical decision there is an upside and downside. I hope to run through both the strengths and weakness’ in the following article.

To start with I shall outline the main reason why a Nike defense can be of good use to your team. Some wing backs are better on the offense then the defense, a key part to creating successful tactics is making the most of the talent at your disposal. Should you find you have a full back that is rather good going forward, it is not the time to sell up, rather the time to adapt your formation to suit him. One of the main advantages of this style of defense is of course winning the wing battle, by pushing your full back on you are effectively cutting one of your opponents wingers out of the game. Your wing back will of course want to get forward and support and attacks, thus meaning the opposition winger either follows him in order to mark or allows him to run leaving him unmarked and possibly bearing down on goal. Usually the winger will mark your wing back and follow him, this meaning should a counter attack be used, the opposition should only have their strikers and one winger in your half, that is manageable by any teams standard.

A second advantage of playing this specific type of defense is of course the freedom to change. With a full back being so advanced, you could decide that one player on the wing is enough, leaving you with a spare player to position how you like. For example should you be winning a game come the 70th minute, your opponent starts to get the upper hand, with a wing back, you could effectively take the winger on the same side off and replace with a defensive minded player whilst still posing a threat down the wing. Alternatively, should you be losing a game your winger could just as easily be replaced by either a striker or a more central attacking midfielder. This in essence is providing you a big advantage, flexability is the key to winning, your team can easily adapt to any given situation.

Now to the disadvantages. The first and most important one is the threat of being caught out of position. Of course your player getting forward is good, but fatigue will quickly set in meaning getting back could be a problem. Another worry is pacey strikers with the command to run the channels, one of your center backs would have to go wide to cover either the winger or the striker, meaning you are left a man short in the middle. To counter act this I would suggest using a good defensive midfield anchor man. The natural movement and behaviour of an anchor means when in a defensive phase he will drop back and almost become a center back himself, this would allow for your wing back to own the wing with less importance of him getting back as quickly, knowing your anchor man would be in position to cover.

Another possible problem, especially if using the tip above about free to make change, is your wing back being out numbered. When I play a nike defense, I rarely place a winger in front of the wing back, instead opting to control the middle of the field. I have noticed time and again when playing a team with a full back and winger, the wing back is often left 2 v 1 on his wing. Again I have found an anchor man in front of the defence goes a long way to controlling this issue. As said above the ancho would drop into your defense, therefore allowing a center back to go across in support of your wing back. This could potentially be enough to stop the attack and allow you to launch a counter whilst the opposition flank is exposed.

So now you know some of the pros and cons, how do we set up a well balanced nike defense. In my opinion your goalkeeper needs to sweep behind the defensive lines, on a support duty allowing him to come out to the edge of his area and clear any imposing attacks. I would most definately play the full back in a support role, this is so he can offer something going forward but also has defensive qualities in his play, perfect for stopping the tactic getting too lopsided. The center backs are pretty easy too, I would have the wing back sided center back on a defender cover role and the full back sided player on a defender stopper role, this would probably be the safest option due to the cover defender acting almost like a sweeper and the stopper breaking down the attacks before your cover needs to step in. The wing back should have an attack role, simply for you to make the most of his ability to get forward. It would also make sense to push the defense up in a semi high line and try to utilise the offside trap, after all you are only going to have 3 men to keep in a line rather then 4. To ensure your defense is as safe as it can be I would also play a defensive midfielder in an anchor man role with a defensive setting, having followed that you should see something like this:

All in all it is a risk playing this way, but used right you could produce some formidable attacking movements. I wouldn’t trust using a nike defense on a team outside the top 6 or 7 in any country, that’s not to say it wouldn’t work though. I am pretty much done on this article, so wish you the best of luck should you go off to try this out now. I hope what I have said helps in some way or another. Thanks for reading.

For the past 5 versions of Football Manager I have been developing the same tactic along the same line. It started with a 442 and has gone through quite a few variations but the only things that have changed in 5 years is the midfield. It’s ever evolving and the positions in midfield tend to switch through a cycle. This is the story of the evolution of my ‘Switch’ tactic:

FM2005 – How it all started
When this game came out I was a little surprised but happy to see the changes from the last version of Championship Manager I had played (CM03/04), the name may have changed but the core game was the same – however a few things had changed. For the first time I saw that I needed to rethink my tactical and training ideals and could no longer count on the ones provided for me. I had started up a game as Swansea (my favourite team) and asked for advice on a forum about the best formation for this type of team. I was told to try a 4132 as wingers were not dependable enough in lower leagues and without true quality in the middle, you needed to put men in that area to close down space.

Looking at my squad there was not enough to even play this formation in my opinion so I went and signed a bunch of free transfers to try this new formation out. Within a few months I saw that it was stopping me losing games but we couldn’t score goals for love nor money – and so the first evolution came about. The four midfielders consisted of a DM/MC; AMLC; AMRC; and an AMC. During games I switched their positions about to suit the in-game situations. If I needed a goal or two then I switched them about again pushing up the DM to replace the middle of my midfield three, who in turn went up to AM and supported the strikers – who could now seek the space in the channels and leave the AMC to occupy the central defenders. If there was just a few minutes left and we still needed to score then it became a 4114 with a DM and an AM, also the AMLC and AMRC pushed up front and out wide leaving the strikers to only try and score. This was the only time our tactics changed from defensive to attacking. We struggled at times and a good winger was all it took to destroy us even though we dominated possession and chances, so I decided to look into it but with FM2006 around the corner I would try it again there.

FM2006 – Locking the defence
One of the main weaknesses of the tactic on FM2005 was the defensive mindset of the outfield which led to us struggling to win these games we were controlling – and that resulted from the fact that the defence was a shambles in terms of both player quality and instructions as I had focused too much on the midfield. I remembered Houllier’s Liverpool team and the fact that the back four all played like centre-backs and their style of defending was simplicity itself. From this I devised my three rules of defending: 1) ‘Get in the way’ – block the shot or pass with anything you can. Toe, knee, face. 2) ‘Get it rid’ – Don’t bother to run it up field or try a killer 40-yard ball down the wing. Just get it and then get rid. (If unsure then aim for row Z), and finally 3) ‘Never leave it’ – If you can get it then go do so, NEVER leave it for a teammate, all this causes is confusion.

Using these simple ideals I set the back four to the most defensive settings I could – with the keeper the same. This was also the first time I decided to retain our shape even with corners and free-kicks (ie keeper in the net, back four in defence, midfield taking set pieces and supporting, and the strikers trying to score). This defensive base then allowed me to switch from a defensive team mindset to a more attacking one. The team did seem stretched at times but we were scoring more goals without conceding many. I was very happy with the result of this tweak and I found that rotating the positions of the midfielders during matches was still working well – in fact with the stability at the back I could now even switch a few individual instructions about to better accommodate them in their new roles. Again our weakness was a good winger or striker attacking from the flanks.

FM2007 – Protecting the flanks
I needed to minimise the threat of the opposition down the flanks as this had become a real problem once I reached the Premiership with Swansea and especially started challenging for European places. The wingers I was beginning to face were of too high a quality to ignore and without protection from the midfield my fullbacks started getting overrun and the goals started flowing in against us. I spent a while studying the match engine in a bit of detail and saw that we had been poor at picking up AML’s and AMR’s once the opposition full/wing-back had pushed upfield. whilst this left space for us to exploit we tended to see either the winger or fullback occupying my defenders whilst the other was free to enjoy the space and time he’d been afforded. The midfield dominated the middle of the park but once it reached the touchline – they were letting the opposition play – that had to change.

I set up the team instructions to play wider and pegged back the outside midfielders creativity and mentality. This meant that they would try to stay in position a bit more and just recycle possession rather than trying to get forward themselves. Once we lost the balls these players would move to mark the opposition full-backs as they bombed forward which meant that my own full-backs could just concentrate on the wingers. This had the desired defensive effect but now the strikers got isolated and the AMC was swamped by the opposition midfield whenever he got on the ball. More changes needed but I could see that we’d nearly gotten the balance right and it would not be long before I was happy.

FM2008 – Self destruction
Before now I could only score or keep clean sheets in most games, and that was decided over the quality of the opposition’s midfield more than my own team. This was the game where everything went wrong and I seemed to start to unpick the good work that I’d done so far. The main problem was that I changed to one up front, and turned the other striker and the AMC into wingers. This, I thought, would provide extra width and shorten the gap between midfield and attack, meaning we’d be able to keep our defensive shape but also create better chances to score. Variations of this theme led me to adapt to a 451 for many months but we’d just play boring football and either win or lose 1-0. This was not acceptable after years of free-flowing football and in direct counter-point to the style that had led Swansea to clinch the League One title in real life.

So I again adapted from 451 to a 433 which led us to goals galore – at both ends. I had moved completely away from my ideals that I has spent three years on in a reckless attempt for a quick-fix. Sadly it was not until later that I realised this and before I knew it the new version of Football Managers had hit the shelves. This came at a good point as I could roll-back to my end-of-FM2007 tactic and start afresh without the complications I had added to things in 2008.

FM2009 – Learning patience
As quick as I had been to drastically change things in the previous version, I had to learn to make small changes again and wait to see how they affected things. The 2007 tactic was working well for me and with a small bit of tweaking I was happy with both our general defending and attacking but the same problems that had bugged us for the past few years were still evident – generating width in attack and protecting our flanks. I took a look around in real life football and noticed the trend for English League teams to adopt a 451 formation where the fullbacks moved into midfield, the wingers pushed forward, and the DM sat to help defend. The level of positional changing during games struck me as similar to my own, but whilst my changes occurred due to changing our shape for periods of play, the real life changes resulted from a the wide-reaching roles that each player had been given. This was not easy to replicate in FM2009 so I felt the need to try and replicate the movement between attack and defence but once again concentrated on the midfield to provide this change.

My dilemma was that I was stuck between a 4132 and a 4312 formation. One had proven great for defending and the other was great for attacking, but the weakness was my own recognition of when to switch from one to the other during matches – any mistakes and we’d invariably concede. During one of these changes I manually moved my DM to MC and the central MC to AM – or so I thought – but only the second change occurred. This new 41212 was very narrow but provided a great pivot system for changing between attack and defence. When we attacked the DM seemed to move between our MC’s and aided in the re-cycling of possession. In defence the AMC dropped back and allowed the MC’s to move into wider positions to pick up the opposition fullbacks. Still the attacking width needed increasing and now moving the strikers out wide just meant that their markers could go with them and there was nobody to occupy the space. A quick change to the fullbacks saw them playing like the central midfielders and getting forward to keep possession and stretch the opposition defence. Only against a quick counter-attack were we vulnerable but the solution to that was about to arrive!

FM2010 – The tactical revolution

With the new tactical system and introduction of roles I finally had the tool-set to build the tactic that I had longed for back with FM2005. The 2009 tactic had come close but still suffered from the bane of my life – the quick striker or winger. With this new system however I could minimise that threat by assigning team tactics to aid our attack, individual tactics to keep our shape and minimise the opposition threats, and now player roles which allowed me to revert to the stability of the 4132 whilst still enjoying the players movement between attack and defence. The sideline features and in-game shouts also helped me to make the changes needed without actually changing tactics. I could now switch our style, shape and mentality without loading a different tactic.

The Tactic
The basis of the ’4132-Switch’ tactic is quite simple – the defenders defend, the midfield is the engine, and the attackers score the goals. Width is provided by the fullbacks and attackers, whilst the centre of the field is protected by the midfielders. The one weakness of this system is that it only works with certain player-types but seeing as the type of player needed is available at all levels of the game (at least I have never struggled to find players that fit the requirements – usually on free transfers), this is not really a problem to fufil. The toughest roles to fill are usually goalkeeper and strikers. I tend to use counter-intuitive strategies for each opponent – ie for teams I expect to dominate I use Contain and not Control, whilst for those I expect to dominate me I use Control and not Contain. I find that this works better with this tactic that the ‘correct’ strategies, and that one of these two are all I need at the beginning of each match.

The Player Requirements
ALL – For this tactic to work all players need decent anticipation, work-rate, determination, and physicals. This is the core of this system as they will be (hopefully) running the game for the whole 90 minutes (or beyond).
GK – 6′ plus, needs good handling, and reflexes. Needs decent rushing out.
DR/DL – 6′ plus, needs decent concentration, and marking. Crossing is useful but not essential.
DC – 6’4 plus, needs decent concentration, heading, and positioning.
DM – Needs decent passing, tackling, team work, and positioning.
MLC/MRC – Needs decent passing, team work, and positioning.
Central MC – Needs decent dribbling, passing, creativity, and off the ball.
SCs – Needs good anticipation, and off the ball. Needs decent finishing, composure and dribbling.

The In-Match Shouts
For full effectiveness of this tactic you need to play certain shouts together. When you need to defend – ‘Play to feet’ and ‘Get ball forward’; and in attack – ‘Pass into space’ and ‘Retain possession’ both work well. Usually I leave the rest alone unless I am having problems with certain players and then I use the ‘Drop deeper’, ‘Push up’, ‘Play wider’, and/or ‘Play narrower’ shouts to combat that player. It’s normal for me to change the shouts every 15-20 minutes during a match and those times could be even shorter if the opposition is making changes.

The Download

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This is just an abridged version of the Huge guide composed by Wonderkid from Los Wonderkids and SI Games. The full guide (in four parts) can be found over at Los Wonderkids

The official Football Manager 2010 guide composed by Wonderkid and SI Games.

Contents

Introduction
Media and Mind-Games
Players and Staff
The Team Menu
Players
Formations
Team Instructions
Player Instructions
Team Settings
Backroom Staff
Non Player Attributes
Coach Reports
Backroom Advice
Assistant Manager
Assistant Manager Feedback
Training
The Training Screen
Links

Introduction

Football Manager™ 2010 is the latest installment of Sports Interactive’s football management series. We’ve once again strived to continue making the ultimate football simulation and we’re glad you’re a part of that.

If you’ve played any of our previous titles, then you may already class yourself as something of an expert – but there’s information in this manual for all levels of user. If you’re new to the series, this manual, in addition to the in-game tutorial and advisor systems, aims to fully acquaint you with every aspect of Football Manager™ 2010.

The guide is founded on readily available information from Sports Interactive and all data is 100% accurate. Should you have a question which isn’t covered somehow by these methods, or indeed if you have something you wish to share with the team, you can find us over at www.sigames.com or at Los Wonderkids.

Media and Mind-Games

Being in your envious position as manager of a football club, the media will want their say. Managing the biggest clubs will see your actions come under constant scrutiny as the pressure on you builds from day one. Even managing smaller clubs is only just a little less forgiving – in short, you’re going to face the good and the bad sides of the media.

Then you have to consider other managers. Some will see you as a figure they can bond with and develop a good relationship, others will see you as a potential threat and take a negative attitude towards you – and you can respond to this. You can comment on a previous or upcoming opposition’s manager with contextual comments. Similarly, if a manager speaks to you via the press, you have the freedom to respond to him. Take your squad into consideration when making comments though; they may take your actions in a negative manner, although if you get it right they’re just as likely to rally behind you.

There is no ‘right’ way to deal with the media and opposition managers; it’s simply up to you to discover what works best personally and for your squad. If things go wrong, you’ll just have to learn from your mistakes.

Players and Staff

The Player (and Staff) Search screen is the most powerful tool in the game for finding the exact player you want. By default upon first visiting the Player Search screen, your Assistant Manager will have filtered out players he doesn’t believe are likely to be attainable, leaving you with a list of those considered well-known and more likely to join your club. From here, you can begin tweaking the numerous settings to display exactly what you’re looking for.

The ‘Filters’ menu allows the user to configure a filter to find a specific type of player. From the dropdown menu, select ‘Edit Filter’, and then begin to specify conditions by first adding one, and then more if necessary by use of the ‘Add’ button at the end of each table row.

These filters are so powerful because you can choose to exclude, match, or select from any of the options. For example, if you wanted to find a left-back aged between 20 and 25 of Eastern European or South American nationality with an attribute rating of at least 15 for pace but no more than 5 for long shots.

Alternatively, you can set a player filter based on another player, and try to find players based on that individual’s skill set. From the player list, select the player’s table row, and then from the ‘Filter’ menu, select ‘Create Filter from <player>’. This will return all players who match a set of criteria, which you may view and then edit accordingly from the ‘Edit option from the same menu. You may also do this from the ‘Scouting’ section of any individual’s profile at any time from their Actions. Once you get to grips with the filters you can have the Player Search find any type of player you like. Of course, there are times when your filter will find no matches, or no realistic matches, in which case some further tweaking will be necessary to find the one you’re after.

The ‘Views’ menu allows the user to view the filtered information in a number of manners, which combined present the user with everything necessary to make an informed decision about a potential signing well before they click on a player’s profile.

This information all applies to the Staff Search, which can be accessed from this screen on the tabs menu. If you are in the market to enhance your backroom staff, configure your filters according to the areas you wish to improve in and follow the guidance from this section.

The Team Menu

Let’s be honest, this is the real business. Your team. The group of players you have been charged with moulding into a successful unit.

In addition to these options, you have a number of key items found in the tabs menu. These are explained in detail in this section.

Players

Your success will live and die based on the players you employ to carry out the task at hand. Section 9.0 details players in Football Manager in more detail. However, each player may at times have an icon next to their name with a three-letter abbreviation indicating an action or event relating directly to them. The following table explains these ‘status icons’.

45 – A club manager has requested that an international manager only uses this player for 45 minutes in an upcoming friendly international.
Abs – The player has recently been absent from the club without permission.
Bid – The player is subject to a transfer bid from another club.
Ctr – The player is out of contract at his current club.
Cup – The player is cup-tied having played for another club in the same competition in a previous round.
Dev – The player is on an MLS developmental contract.
Dft – The player has been selected in the MLS Draft.
DP – The player is an MLS Designated Player.
Enq – The player is subject to a transfer enquiry from another club.
Fgn – The player counts as a foreign player in the competition.
Frt – The player has decided to leave his club on a free transfer.
Fut – The player has concerns about his future at the club.
HG – The player counts towards the Home Grown player quota necessary for a competition.
Hol – The player is currently on holiday.
IT – he player is an MLS International Slot player (non domestic).
Ine – The player is ineligible for the next match.
Inj – The player is suffering from an injury.
Int – The player is on international duty.
Lmp – The player is short on match practice and may need a reserve outing to get to full fitness.
Loa – The player has been made available for loan.
Lrn – The player is learning from a team-mate who is tutoring him.
Lst – The player has been transfer listed.
MQ – The player is a Marquee Player in the Australian league.
PR – The player has reacted to a comment you have made in the media.
Req – The player has requested to leave his current club.
Ret – The player has announced his intention to retire at the end of the current season.
Rst – The player is in need of a rest.
Sct – The player is being scouted by your scouts.
Slt – The player has some slight concerns about his role at the club.
Sus – The player is suspended for the next match.
Trn – The player has agreed a transfer with another club and will leave when the transfer window next opens.
Trv – The player is travelling to join up with his international squad, or he is travelling back from international duty.
Tut – The player is tutoring a team-mate.
Unh – The player is unhappy with his role or an event/action.
Unr – The player is not registered for the competition.
Wdn – The player has been withdrawn from international duty by his club manager.
Wnt – The player is wanted by another club.
Wp – The player has no work permit and is therefore unable to play.
Yel – The player is one yellow card away from a suspension.
Yth – The player is on a youth contract and is not yet on professional terms.

Formations

The very first thing you should take into consideration is the formation you are going to play. Or indeed, formations, because the best managers will be able to adapt their shape based on the opposition and match situation. There are two basic schools of thought on formations – pick a shape that best suits the players at your disposal, or shoe-horn your best players into an XI and then pick the formation based on your players. The former certainly allows for more balance, although perhaps at the expense of leaving out a talented player because he doesn’t ‘fit’. Naturally, if your best players fit into a formation that suits them all, then you should be looking to take advantage of this as much as you can.

When a player is assigned a position, a coloured graphical indicator alongside his shirt will show you the suitability for that position. The colours match the Position indicators so if a player is being played in a Natural role, the indicator will be bright green. If he is being played totally out of position, the indicator will be red.

From the ‘Tactics’ menu you may select one of a number of standard formations to use as either your main tactic or merely the framework for further and more detailed work. The graphical pitch display will change depending on your choice. You can also manually change the formation on this display by left-clicking and holding on a shirt and dragging it away from the position it currently resides in. Available positions to move this to will be indicated by a slightly faded position icon. Release the left mouse button to place it in a new position.

Right-clicking and holding on a position indicator allows you to ‘draw’ in either a forward or backward direction from the player. Navigate towards one of the slightly faded positions indicating where the line can finish, and then release the right mouse button to set the line.

There are two types of instructional arrows in use – forward arrows and backward arrows, which no longer set a secondary position for the player depending on which team has possession, but simply rather having an effect on the player’s Forward Runs slider. A forward arrow will set the Forward Runs instructions to ‘Often’, whilst a backwards one will set it to ‘Rarely’. No arrow will leave the slider in the middle at ‘Mixed’. These instructions also work the other way around – if you set the Forward Run instructions from the player’s Personal Instructions, the arrow will take effect on the tactics screen.

Team Instructions

The Team Instructions panel is where you set up how your team is going to play. Each tactical option is slider controlled, and further instructions are either in check box form or a dropdown list. The available options and configurations are described in this section.

Mentality
Mentality directly affects a player’s position on the field. His set position on the tactical pitch display is where he will line up as a base default, but depending on the mentality set he may be more restrained or cavalier in his approach. The slider ranges from Ultra Defensive to All Out Attacking. The further right the slider is set for the team instruction, the more aggressive your players will play positionally and more ambitious they may be when passing the ball (a more aggressive mentality will result in more forward passes).

Creative Freedom
Creative Freedom affects the tendency of your players to attempt the more difficult and ambitious. The slider ranges from Little to Much, and in short, the more creative freedom you allow your team, the more unpredictable they may be. A higher setting may see your players occasionally ignore your tactical instructions and attempt to do their own thing, but the degree of success depends on the technical prowess of your players. Given they’ll be attempting the more difficult stuff; they need to be of a sufficient caliber to make it count. Therefore, it may be advisable to limit this on a team basis and allow it for the more talented player(s) in your team.

Passing Style
Passing style is fairly simple – this dictates the range of passing your team will adopt. The slider ranges from Short to Long and the notches in between will gradually ask your team to play a more expansive passing game. When deciding upon the style of passing you want your team to use, you’ll need to consider how everything else will affect it, both in terms of tactics and personnel. Have your players got the required attributes to keep the ball comfortably over short distances? Does your passing style suit the tempo and mentality of your team? If you’re looking to play a direct game with an attacking mentality, your players may be launching longer passes from positions further up the pitch, which may prove wasteful.

Tempo
Tempo dictates the speed and urgency your team plays with. The slider ranges from Slow to Quick, and the further right you move the bar, your team will play a more up-tempo game and look to make things happen quickly and sharply. The tempo employed by your team can affect the success of your passing – it is entirely possible to play a quick, short passing game but when you increase the speed of something, mistakes can become more likely.

Width
The width your team lines up with largely comes into effect when they are in possession. The slider is set from Narrow to Wide. Setting the slider further to the right will indicate that you want your players to move towards the touchlines when they have the ball and in particular, get the ball to those in wider positions in order to stretch the opposition. A more narrow setting will attempt to bring the play inside and force matters through the centre of the pitch.

Without possession, your players are less inclined to follow your width instructions, but they will try to employ them as best they can against what the opposition is doing.

Closing Down
Closing Down represents how often, or how committed your players are, to closing down the opposition when they have the ball over the entire pitch. The slider is set from Rarely to Often. Increasing how often your players close the opponent down will put them under pressure when they receive the ball, but it can leave your team exposed for position and fitness, especially if your players don’t have the necessary physical attributes to be chasing opponents around for the whole game. Closing an opponent down will increase the chances of taking the ball from them and launching a counter attack, and is probably best employed in an attacking system – if you’re operating defensively with the intention to soak up pressure, your defensive shape doesn’t need to be compromised by players chasing the ball.

Time Wasting
Employing time-wasting is a defensive tactic designed to neutralise the attacking threat and frustrate the opposition. If used throughout the game, it is safe to assume the team using it are inferior to their opponents and are doing all they can to avoid defeat. Many other teams of all strengths may use it late in the game to hold onto a slender advantage. The slider is set from Rarely to Often and unless your team is one of the aforementioned inferior ones, this may be an option you use most in the closing minutes of games, or set depending on opposition/match context.

Defensive Line
The Defensive Line slider positions your deepest line of defence on the pitch. It affects the position the players take up both with and without possession. The slider is set from Deep to Push Up, and the further right the bar is set, the closer to the halfway line the defensive unit will advance when in possession. If your team is using a defensive mentality, a defensive setting on the slider will ensure they stay deep when the rest of your team attacks. If your team uses an attacking philosophy, the effect of the slider is lessened and players will advance – although a deeper line will see them err on the side of caution a little more.

When your team is not in possession the same applies, but in terms of nullifying the opposition. As soon as your team loses the ball, the defensive line will adopt the approach you have told them to and either drop deeper or push up. You may want to take the qualities of the opposition’s attackers into consideration before each match before deciding on your defensive line approach, as quicker players can get in behind an advanced line, and deeper lines can be exposed by direct play and a big target man up front.

Tackling
The Tackling slider determines the level of commitment and aggression your players will attempt to show when tackling for the ball. The slider is different from the others as it only has three options – Easy, Normal, and Hard. Hard tackling is most likely to exert authority on the opponent but is also most likely to inflict injury and disciplinary action against your players. Easy tackling negates this risk somewhat but also gives the opposition an easier time on the ball. Normal is a balance of the settings and is the best choice by default, but you should check your opposition’s disciplinary record and their record from set piece situations ahead of each game, as well as the type of player they have, before settling on your tackling approach for the match.

Focus Passing
This option is where you can tell your players where to generally work their play from. You have the option to direct all play down both flanks, either the left or the right only, through the middle, or a mix of all of them. The best use of this is in combination with other tactical settings, the strengths of your team and the weaknesses of others. For example, setting your Width to ‘Wide’ but directing play through the middle may work through stretching the opponent but you effectively ignore your wide players all game. If you have a left or right sided player of some ability, directing all play towards them can bring them into the game often and maximize the chances of their ability being used to great effect. Similarly, if the opposition has a weak link somewhere in the team, you can tell your players to focus their efforts on making his game a torrid one and yours beneficial.

Marking
The Marking option sets your team to play either a zonal or a man marking style. Man marking is the easiest and simplest to employ, as each player on your team is responsible for an opponent at all times. Zonal marking puts players in charge of an area of the pitch which they are then responsible for addressing should an opponent make their way into that ‘zone’. It is harder to employ as your defensive players will need top ratings in Anticipation, Concentration, and Decision as well as key defensive attributes, but if you have the players to implement it, some managers believe it to be a more effective defensive tactic as players are less likely to be drawn out of position, ensuring a solid structural foundation to your team.

Target Man Supply
If you choose to employ a target man, this option tells your players how to supply the ball to him. In simple terms, you should choose the option which best suits your target man’s attributes. You can have your players feed him the ball To Head, To Feet, to Run onto the Ball, or a mixture of them all. A tall, strong target man will benefit from aerial supply, whilst a skilful, quicker target man may prefer the ball to be kept on the floor.

Options
The remainder of the options on the Team Instructions screen are a series of check boxes to enable or disable a particular option.

Tight Marking: Tell your players whether you wish for them to mark their opponents up close or to allow themselves a little ‘give’ should they be beaten to the ball.

Use Target Man: Set whether your team plays to a target man. Such a player is a focal point in the attack which the team will look to involve in all attacking plays and feed off. Typically this player is big and strong, and capable of holding off opponents, but it can work with other types of players in the right system.

Use Playmaker: The playmaker is an almost cult role in world football – a fantasista – the player wearing the number 10 shirt. Those are the most common and typical types of playmaker but in short he will be the one player in your team capable of providing the difference-making play that very few others can’t. It can be a player anywhere on the pitch that you set as a playmaker (which you can assign from the ‘Playmakers’ panel option from the ‘Instructions’ menu), but ideally the selected player will be one who can make a difference offensively.

Play Offside: Decide whether your defensive unit should play the offside trap or not. To pull it off successfully you’ll need players who are mentally capable of focusing on the plan as well as a unit who know each other very well, and a sufficient mentality so as to not conflict with the option.

Counter Attack: The counter attack option is best used by an underdog facing a superior opponent or a team with players capable of launching attacks at high speed with a directness about their play. They will tend to sit back in their own half and allow the opposition to have the ball in ‘harmless’ positions before imposing pressure, taking the ball, and countering.

Player Instructions

In addition to your overall team instructions, you can designate instructions to any individual to tailor their playing style specifically. To select a player’s instructions, click on their table row from the left panel and their instructions will appear in the right panel. Some of the options are identical to those listed in section 6.1.3 but enabling them for an individual and setting them differently to the team will override the team instruction and tell the player to play differently. Leaving the option un-checked and ‘greyed out’ will assume you wish the player to follow the team instructions.

Mentality
When set for a player, it applies in the same manner as it does for the team as detailed in section 8.1.2.

Creative Freedom
When set for a player, it applies in the same manner as it does for the team as detailed in section 8.1.2.The player will act on his own authority at times and attempt to play with flair and trickery.

Passing Style
When set for a player, it applies in the same manner as it does for the team as detailed in section 8.1.2.

Closing Down
When set for a player, it applies in the same manner as it does for the team as detailed in section 8.1.2. Instead of setting an entire team to close down often, it might be advisable to allow your fittest player(s) to do a bulk of the work.

Tackling
When set for a player, it applies in the same manner as it does for the team as detailed in section 8.1.2.

The following sliders are different to the above and a majority of the Team Instruction sliders as they only have 3 notches to them – Rarely, Mixed, and Often.

Forward Runs
This slider controls how often your players make forward runs without the ball. ‘Often’ will see the player push into attacking positions and attempt to get by their marker – for wide players and full-backs this will increase the likelihood of overlapping runs. ‘Rarely’ will order the players to stand their ground and attempt to play their way through or around an opponent rather than going past them.

This instruction also ties in heavily with player arrows, as detailed in section 8.1.1.

Run With Ball
This increases the chances of a player deciding to advance forward with the ball rather than giving it to someone else, if set to ‘Often’. ‘Rarely’ will restrict their dribbling and instead pass the ball onto a team-mate.

Long Shots
This controls the speculative shooting from distances further than 20 yards out from goal. It makes sense to limit these to players who have a high Long Shots rating else you’ll be wasting chances and turning the ball over to your opponents a lot.

Through Balls
This controls how often the player will attempt a through ball. Through balls are defined in the match engine as a pass that can ‘unleash’ a player behind an opponent, so not necessarily a pass through the last line of defence to a striker. When considering the use of through balls, take into account the passing ability of the player and the likely recipient of the pass, and what they’ll be able to do when they receive it. For example, a right-back playing a through ball to a right winger would likely do so along the touchline – will the winger then be able to make full use of the situation?

Cross Ball
This controls the volume of crosses put into the area by the player. Consider the player’s position before setting this – if he plays centrally but has ‘Often’ set for crosses, is he going to be crossing in at angles or moving wide and out of position to cross?

The next few options are drop-down lists from which you may select one option.

Cross From: This defines where players should be looking to cross from. They can cross from deeper positions or they can make their way to the byline then send a cross back at a different angle. Alternatively, choosing ‘Mixed’ will allow the player to make his own mind up.

Cross Aim: When crossing, you can instruct your players to attempt to put the ball into a certain part of the penalty area. The ball can be played to the Near or Far Posts or the Centre, or if you have a target man set, the ball can be directed towards him. This is only the intention; the technical ability of the player determines whether the ball will be put in the right places regularly.

Swap Position: If your team uses wingers, you can use this function to tell one winger to swap positions with the other (and vice-versa) during a match, to freshen things up on that side of the pitch, keep defenders on their toes, and bring a different attacking approach if something isn’t working. Any player can be swapped with any other if your plans are ambitious and your players are versatile but take caution when doing it and consider how it may disrupt your formation if swapping a centre-back with a midfielder.

The remaining options deal with check boxes and dropdowns.

Options
The remaining personal instructions allow you to set individual marking plans for players which may differ from the team. For example, for each upcoming match you can specify an opponent to be man-marked by a player from the ‘Marking’ option – select Man, then when the opposition line-up is available, wait for it to pop out and select the player.

‘Free Role’ allows the player almost complete freedom to move around the pitch and attempt to pull all of the strings to get the team working. Essentially this is a role that should only be given to a player of high caliber with the creative expression and attributes to make a difference.

‘Hold Up Ball’ is an option which will tell the player to put his foot on the ball and take a look around to see what’s on before moving it on and making the appropriate decision. It works best in a slower tempo game as the player will have more time on the ball to find his team-mates, who should be in closer proximity. A high tempo closing-down game from the opposition can force a player holding the ball up to make a quicker decision and not necessarily always choose the right one. It can also be used in tandem with a target man, who will physically hold the ball up and try and bring others into the game from his position.

Set Pieces: Each player can be employed in a different situation for set pieces, both attacking and defensive. Take some time to plan out how you want your set pieces to go, position your players, and then set them accordingly from the dropdown menus on the player instructions panel.

Team Settings

Team Settings refers to items such as your Captain and your Set-Piece takers.

Captaincy
At the start of every season you will receive an item to your Inbox asking you to confirm a captain and a vice-captain for the coming season. Once selected, they will appear at the top of the ‘Captains’ panel in different colours to the rest of your squad. Note that should you change your captain during the season, the previously deposed captain, his friends and the media will want to know why, so make sure you’ve got a good reason for doing so. If you do wish to change your captain, select the newly desired player from the drop-down list. If you wish to add players in a hierarchical order of which they should take the captain’s armband, left-click and hold on their actions button to the left of their name, and drag and drop them into the list. The same method applies for re-ranking them, but you can do this from within the right hand side panel.

When considering your captain, one of the primary things to look for is a high Influence attribute. Anyone with 17 or above here should immediately be considered as a candidate, but there’s more to look at than just that. Your captain should be mentally strong enough to be a capable leader of his team-mates. On a player’s ‘Personal’ screen each player has a Personality trait. A ‘Born Leader’ is an ideal candidate for the captaincy. ‘Determined’ and ‘Model Professional’ are also desirable. Also consider the player’s age and experience – ideally he’ll have been at the team for a few years and been in football long enough to understand what it is to captain a team.

These criteria can change depending on the composition of your squad – a young team needs a capable captain perhaps more than a team of veterans who’ve been there and done it – but largely following this advice should put you in good stead when handing out the armband.

Set-Piece Takers
Good set-pieces can be the difference between no points and one, or one point and three. Taking advantage of the numerous dead-ball situations which occur in matches can work massively to your benefit.

Primarily you need to identify your best corner, throw-in, and free kick takers. Each of these have their own attributes, so initially look for 15 and above in these areas. If your squad isn’t blessed with anyone particularly capable, consider bringing one in. Once you’ve identified potential takers, you can start narrowing the selections down.

A good corner taker will also have good Crossing, naturally because they’ll be using these crossing skills to put the ball into dangerous areas. Also consider the footedness of a player – do you want your corners to be in-swinging or out-swinging?

A good free-kick taker will also have good Crossing if the attempts are not direct at goal, since the free-kick will likely be put into a dangerous offensive area. If the shot is direct on goal, Long Shots may come into consideration depending on the distance, and a good Technique may be required. High Composure and Concentration are often seen in the best dead-ball specialists, so try and piece these attributes together as best you can to find the ideal free-kick takers.

Throw-in takers should have a good Long Throws rating to make full use of the situation, but to pull it off well they’ll need to have good ratings in Strength and Balance, to get a really good throw away. Ideally a long throw will be towards a target in the penalty area, but this is discussed more in sections 8.1.2. and 8.1.3.

When selecting Penalty takers, much of the above applies. Your regular penalty taker should have a high Penalty Taking attribute, may have good Finishing, and above most other attributes, needs high Composure, Concentration, and Decisions. Consider these attributes in greater scope when selecting takers for a penalty shootout. It may be that you’re forced to use players who aren’t natural penalty takers, so look at the next most important attributes – mentally strong, capable players who strike a ball well and make a good decision.

Multiple players may be selected for set-piece duties in the same way as described in the Captaincy section. Left-click on the desired player’s Actions button to the left of his name; then drag and drop and release into the appropriate set-piece menu. The ranking is hierarchical and will follow in order should the top player not be on the pitch at the time.

Backroom Staff

Your backroom staff will be vitally important to your success. The manager and players will get the adulation but the people working with the players day in and out play just as big a role. Surrounding yourself with competent Assistants, Coaches, Physiotherapists, and Scouts will make your job considerably easier in the long run.

All attributes work on the 1-20 scale where 20 is the very best whilst 1 is the lowest and poorest possible.

Non Player Attributes

Coaching

Attacking – Their competency at coaching attacking football. A higher attribute doesn’t necessarily indicate a preference for attacking football, merely that they’re quite good at it.
Coaching Goalkeepers – Their ability to coach goalkeeping fundamentals and beyond. A higher attribute means the coach is better at coaching goalkeepers to the higher levels.
Defending – The ability of the staff to coach a defensive game. Higher ratings indicate a proficiency in working well on the defensive side of the game.
Fitness – This reflects a coach’s ability to work on the fitness side of the game, and as such should be one of the key attributes to look at when hiring a Fitness Coach, and less importantly, a Physio.
Man Management – How well the member of staff is able to deal with those around him and particularly below him. This is a mental approach; a high attribute indicates a coach who is capable of organizing and keeping people happy.
Mental – Their mental approach to players. A good mental coach will be able to observe and act upon each individual’s state of mind and react accordingly.
Tactical – How tactically astute he is. More tactically astute coaches will not only be able to coach the tactical side of the game more effectively but any advice they may offer is likely to be more accurate and informative.
Technical – The ability of the coach to teach the technical side of the game – work with the ball. This can be one of the hardest areas to coach and it may be that a former player is particularly useful here.
Working with Youngsters – How successful a coach is at working with younger players – those aged 18 and under in particular. Having a coach who is very good at nurturing young talent can be priceless, even if just one or two of them develop into useful players.

Mental

Adaptability – A high Adaptability attribute will enable the staff member to settle quickly predominantly in a new country but also will help a little in settling in at new clubs and new roles. The faster (i.e. higher rating) a member of staff can adapt to their new working environment, the quicker and better they can do their job.
Determination – The mental desire of the coach to succeed. This isn’t a coaching attribute in terms of coaching a player’s mental approach – this is the coach himself and their own innate drive to better himself.
Judging Player Ability – When employing a scout, these two attributes are the first things you should look at. High attribute ratings in these two areas will most likely result in more accurate scouting reports. Judging Ability is important if you have assigned a scout to watch players you intend to bring in or are scouting upcoming opponents.
Judging Player Potential – Judging Potential is more important for the scouts you intend to assign to identifying the next generation of footballing talent. At the very top levels, a rating of 15 in these attributes would be considered the minimum requirement, but as you go down the ladder, a good scout can be a highly valuable commodity.
Level of Discipline – This reflects the level of discipline the coach is likely to take in his approach. A higher attribute means that the coach will take up a harder line in his approach and keep things strict. A lower one means the coach is a little more relaxed.
Motivating – The mental ability of a coach to motivate his players. High motivation will allow the coach to suitably pump his players up not only for a big match, but also in an every day sense – keeping a squad motivated towards their goals is imperative.
Physiotherapy – This attribute is exclusively for use with Physiotherapists. Having a Physio with a high rating in this attribute is something you should always look to have. If possible, have at least three Physios with high ratings for this attribute to ensure your players receive high-quality treatment to both prevent and rehabilitate injuries.
Tactical Knowledge – The tactical knowledge possessed by a coach. Their experiences in the game, where they’ve been and who they’ve worked with will affect the level of knowledge they have, and when using this knowledge they may have ideas lesser coaches haven’t become familiar with, which is an advantage.

These attributes are displayed on every non-player’s profile page. In addition to this, the staff member will also have a biography panel and his tactical preferences and contractual information displayed to you.

The ‘Personal’ screen displays similar biographical and personality-based information as found on the same screen for playing staff. A non-player’s tabs menu may also contain links to Scouting Assignments, Coach and Scout Reports, Team Reports and Feedback, and their Playing (if applicable) and Non-Playing career Histories.

Coach Reports

You are able to get a report on any one of your own players from any coach employed on your staff at any time. From their Profile screen, select the ‘Reports’ option from their tabs menu. By default, you will be presented with a report compiled by your Assistant Manager on that player, from the dropdown to the top right of the main screen area (which holds the current staff member’s name) you can select any member of your backroom staff to make this report.

Directly next to the option to choose which member of staff provides the report is an option to change the position of which the coach is analyzing the player. Some players are capable of playing in a number of positions, and so it can be worth getting a number of opinions on a player in each role to determine where he’ll truly be at his best.

The report is in a similar style to scouting reports, which are detailed in section 10.0. Players are rated in a number of areas – their ability, strengths, and weaknesses – and will receive a star rating from the coach submitting the report. A player can receive up to five stars depending on the standard expected of their team. A player who meets this standard will receive three to three and a half stars – from there it can increase to five or fall as far as one if the player exceeds standards or fails to meet them.

Some younger players may receive a silver star rating on the same scale. This will be the case where the player is not deemed comparable to more senior players and instead more fairly compares them to similarly aged players amongst a youth standard.

You can get information on these star ratings by holding the mouse pointer over a star wherever it appears in coaching or scouting reports.

Backroom Advice

The staff you surround yourself with are amongst the most vital people at the club. They are, to an extent, your eyes and ears on an everyday basis. Whilst you might not be privy to everything going on, they’ll be able to fill in the gaps. On the Backroom Advice screen, they share this information with you, allowing you to action it accordingly.

The screen is laid out in an Inbox fashion. The type of advice and the member of staff offering it are followed by a subject and whom, or what, it concerns. For example, your assistant manager might be advising you about a potential player tutoring opportunity. Similarly, you may find a scout keen to inform you of a recent find he wants you to action.

By clicking on a piece of advice (using the black icon to the left of the row), more detail will appear in the panel at the bottom, allowing you to either Action or Dismiss the offering.

By listening to what your staff have to say, you’ll have a more comprehensive view of what’s going on at your club. What you decide to do with the advice is very much up to you – but this way, you’re very much in the loop.

Assistant Manager

Your Assistant Manager has a vitally important role to play in your managerial career. Essentially he is your link to your squad at all times, and is a source of vital information throughout your career. A good Assistant Manager is a valuable asset and a number of managers will endeavour to work alongside the same Assistant wherever they go in their career.

Amongst the tasks your Assistant carries out are the Team Report and Team-Talk Feedback sections available from the ‘Assistant Advice’ option, found in the Actions on your squad screen. Your Assistant Manager will offer his insight into your squad from the Team Report screen, informing you of who he believes are the strongest and weakest players, and those with the greatest potential, as well as the best players for your current formation.

He will also keep track of how your players react to your team talks – pre-match, half time, and full time (all viewable from the ‘View Team Talk’ menu). The information is held from the most recent match played, as your assistant logs what you said to your players and how they reacted. This can be a useful tool for you to gauge how your player react to what you say and perhaps why their performance dropped off so much after half time. Your Assistant also reports on morale and level of understanding amongst the squad – when this is high your team will perform far better than when it is at a lower level, but at the same time they lend themselves to each other – good form will result in a higher level of morale.

Should you wish to, you can ask your Assistant to compile a list of players who may be available for loan for a particular position in your team. Select the option from the ‘Assistant Advice’ section of the action menu, and a report will be compiled in two to three days, presenting you with potential short-term options.

Your Assistant Manager is also left in charge if you wish to take a leave of absence. Throughout Football Manager™ 2010, your Assistant will be available to you in a number of ways other than those detailed here, offering advice and help on your daily management of the club.

Assistant Manager Feedback

On a match day, your Assistant can be more vital than ever. You have so much to deal with that at times you may not notice things, but your Assistant, with fewer responsibilities, may be more aware of these things. Your Assistant Manager will offer you detailed feedback on how the match is going at 15 minute intervals, and advise on how to remedy any problems he or she has noticed. The feedback appears on the Match Screen, and can be found in more detail in section 14.3.

Training

Your players will train every day, with the occasional day off. This is, of course, absolutely necessary for them to attain match fitness and be absolutely prepared ahead of each game. By default it is assumed that your Assistant Manager is in charge of your Training – if you’ve made no changes or simply tweak the default settings, this is the case, but should you wish to become more hands-on in your approach, then it’s fully down to you to keep track of and control.

The Training Screen

The main Training screen is split into three panels.

The top left panel lists all schedules currently available for use and the number of players currently training under that plan. The top right panel is the workload panel – this is where you will be able to set the intensity of each area of training. More on that in a bit. The bottom panel lists all of your players, their current training schedule, and any attribute changes they’ve undergone since beginning their training schedule.

There are nine areas of training which affect the overall workload, all of which are slider-controlled.

The screenshot displays the varying levels of intensity you can apply to each area of training. As you increase the slider on these options, the overall workload becomes heavier and your players must train harder but also become more susceptible to injury. Finding a good balance is key.

Therefore, it may be useful to create schedules either for each individual player (if you’re ambitious and pay a close attention to detail) or position, in order to focus intently on the areas important to those players, whilst leaving the less important ones alone, thus balancing their overall workload. To create a new schedule, select the ‘Schedules’ dropdown, then ‘New’ -> ‘Full Time Schedule’.

You may manage these schedules from the ‘Manage Schedules’ menu. In here, all existing training schedules are held, and by clicking on one you enable the options found at the bottom of the screen. You can Import/Export training schedules, delete them, or rename them. When Importing/Exporting, you will need to give the schedules an overall name, and then select the individual schedules to load/export.

Coaches
The ‘Coaches’ screen, available from the tabs menu when on the Training screen, controls how your coaching staff handles training. Each coach is, by default, assigned to work in every aspect of training, unless they are of a specific type (i.e. goalkeeping or fitness), in which case they are restricted to that area only.

Each member of your backroom staff is likely to be particularly proficient in a particular aspect of training. If this is the case, it is worthwhile to assign them to this/these area(s) only. Proficiency in an aspect of training is graded on a star rating, one star being poor whilst five stars is excellent. A higher number of stars will increase the effectiveness of the training schedules on your players. A coach with high attributes in key areas who is only assigned to coach categories he is strong in will result in a much better training schedule.

In order for your coaches to be as useful as possible to you in your training schedules, you should endeavour to find the correct attributes required for more stars in their area of training.

Strength: Coaches should have a high Fitness rating.
Aerobic: Coaches should have a high Fitness rating.
Goalkeeping: Coaches should have a high Coaching Goalkeepers rating.
Tactics: Coaches should have a high Tactical rating.
Defending: Coaches should have high ratings in Coaching Defending and Tactical.
Ball Control: Coaches should have high ratings in coaching Technical and Mental.
Attacking: Coaches should have high ratings in coaching Attacking and Tactical.
Shooting: Coaches should have high ratings in coaching Attacking and Technical.
Set Pieces: Coaches should have high ratings in coaching Technical, Mental, and Attacking.

This is a minute proportion of the guide. Due to size reasons, the number of images involved, media reasons and formatting issues it’s not possible to post the piece in it’s entirety.

You can see the whole guide at Los Wonderkids, if you want to read everything online. It features tips from scouting and players, to tactics and touchline shouts. It covers every aspect of the game and is the only official FM2010 guide available.

The Official Football Manager 2010 Guide [P1]
The Official Football Manager 2010 Guide [P2]
The Official Football Manager 2010 Guide [P3]
The Official Football Manager 2010 Guide [P4]
The official Football Manager 2010 Guide [PDF download]

This guide is exclusive to Los Wonderkids and is the intellectual property of Sports Interactive and SEGA. Please respect the work and do not clone or dissect without permission.

tactics...oh dear

It’s day two of my blog, I’m sat at home in quarantine drinking Covonia by the gallon, the perfect day to write about my latest Football Manager exploits. Just like yesterday, I will be spending your time talking to you about another new feature in the game. I told you all yesterday how I had managed to use the Meet The Staff feature in a way which gave me a big advantage over certain opposition, unfortunately, due to my lack of tactical nouse and general idiocy when it comes selecting the right players to play in the right formation, I can’t promise the same success today.

Player Definitions

I was of course talking about the new Player Definitions, the thing we have all been crying out for since the stone age. I’ve constantly moaned on about how mechanical the game comes across, not only in the Transfer Filter but in the Tactics system of previous years. For once we can make use of our box-to-box midfielder and our poaching center forwards without them god damn sliders. I was surprised at the amount of options I had to choose from, I even had the option to transform the goalkeeper into a sweeper, although I’m not sure Brad Jones and his stupid uncoordinated size 12 feet are quite right for that role…

I was determined to make use of this new addition and create a killer tactic out of it, after all I had cried out for it for so long. In past games I’ve never got the ‘Big man – Little man’ partnership to work, maybe the new Player definitions would solve that. I had the midget poacher, Leroy Lita, a proven championship goal scorer. Next on the list was a target man who would win the ball in the air and put the ball on a plate for Leroy to hit home! I didn’t have much to spend and Middlesbrough weren’t the most attractive prospect at this moment in time so I had to look through the transfer and loan list and eventually found the right man for the job. I’d managed to nab Joe Garner on loan and I was hoping he would turn out to be a successful acquisition.

Instead of going through my entire team and listing the instructions to my new tactics, I think it’d be better to explain the player definitions in a few positions and what I have went for. Not everything is as clear as it first looks, I mean what the hell is a Traquartrista? Moving on to the winger positions I noticed that you had the option to choose the ‘Defensive Winger’ option which I think is great, a lot of wingers today earn their brownee points by working hard in their own half of their pitch as well as well the other teams, James Milner for example. However, I had my wingers placed in between my midfielders and strikers, as attacking wingers, yet I till got the defensive winger option. Would playing just behind the striker nullify the defensive winger or would it just mean that they push extra hard to get back and work extra hard going forward? Interesting. Not that any of that interests me as I just wanted a standard winger who would run down the line and cross the ball!

What I wanted from my midfield pairing was pretty simple, someone to win the ball and create possession for the team and someone to do something with that possession. These options were clear conveyed with the Ball-Winning midfielder option and the Advanced Playmaker option, although I had to choose whether they would ‘attack’ or ‘support’, not fully understanding what it meant by ‘support’ I went for the safe option and chose attack. Now I felt I had achieved that balance in midfield, I had the tackler and the passer combination I wanted. It was going to be interesting see how they stick to their position and seeing how they take to their new role.

I really do like the way it has all been incorporated and the vast amount of definitions you get to choose from makes sure that you get your player to play the exact way you want and the exact way he does in real life. I haven’t had enough time to see if the tactic I have created is actually any good, that will take time, but one thing for sure is that the individuals in my team are excelling in there exclusive roles.

Following on from the other day where I updated you on the latest preview blogs that Sports Interactive are doing at Mirror football, here’s the latest round-up.

Blog #5 was a round up on how crowds, weather and pitch degradation in general will not only be noticeable but also pointing out how it will affect your tactics. Read it here

Also posted was the following video of the match engine as it looks at the moment

For those wanting to know about the match engine and what effort goes into it’s evolution, make sure you read blog #6 as it involves a Q&A session between Miles Jacobson and Paul Collyer (Co-Creator of the game and the man behind the match engine. Read it here

Day 7′s blog covers one of the biggest announced new features for Football Manager 2010 – The Tactics creator. The one feature which seems to be exciting as many people as it seems to be making people wary. Click here to read the blog.

The following video previewing the tactics creator was also posted

Hopefully you’re all enjoying the preview blogs as much as I am and I’ll update you all in the next few days of the latest blog postings

Last season alone I had numerous high scoring games; 7-1, 5-0, 5-1, 5-0, 4-3, 7-5, 5-3, 4-3, 5-2, 4-0… The list goes on.

The Formation
Onto the formation now, and as you can see it’s a pretty attack minded 4-4-2 with 2 out and out wingers. When you have the ball it turns into a 2-4-4 formation with the (very) attacking full backs doubling up as wingers, and the wingers becoming wide forwards.

Team Instructions
My attacking mentality is clear for everyone to see in the team instructions; short, quick passing utilising the width of the pitch was pretty much the idea from the off and it was quite easy to accomplish. Sitting deep and setting target man “run onto ball” is another key combination which allows you to utilise the fast attackers and get in behind the defence. Passing through the middle with maximum width sounds pretty stupid, but I like to keep the wide players hugging the touch line which allows the central midfielders and strikers more space to strut their stuff. Obviously the full backs and wingers play a huge part in this tactic as well, in fact the wingers are the key players in this tactic.

Player Instructions
As this is an all out attack tactic I won’t bother analysing the goalkeeper and center backs. They are pretty much using the default player instructions and just sit back, obviously. An attacking tactic doesn’t mean all 11 players have to attack, that simply wouldn’t work. You may score 4 a game but would concede 9.

The full backs are pretty important in this tactic; they do have to be able to defend, although this isn’t their primary concern. From the screenshot below you can see they are expected to get forward at every opportunity and get the ball into the box. Linking up with, and overlapping the wingers is absolutely vital to the success of the team.

In center midfield you need to be quite cautious in your approach, you cannot afford to have both bombing on at every opportunity, in fact I have pretty much gone the opposite route with one defensive play maker (rcm), and one box to box midfielder (lcm).

The defensive play maker is in the mould of a Xabi Alonso or Andrea Pirlo; quite defensive but has a lot of creative freedom and likes to pick the passes. He should be capable of putting his foot in and hassling the oppositions’ attacking midfielders to limit the long shots. I’ll put money on this player averaging between 7.2 and 7.3 over a full season, Mr Consistent.

Next up is the box to box midfielder, he’s more attacking but I limit his freedom. Getting forward, driving the team on and playing short simples passes, mixed with the odd killer ball, is what he does best. When making comparisons to a real life player I’d get him to play like a more disciplined Steven Gerrard.

Now onto the main men of this tactic; the wingers. I have had great success with them in this tactic as they are pretty much second strikers. They tend to come in off the flanks and have tonnes of space to use. The fullbacks will overlap and take the opposing wingers and/or fullbacks with them, so the wingers end up being the free men.

Their player instructions are pretty simple, get forward, get the ball into the box and, if they’re strong in these fields, fire off as many long shots and through balls as possible. They are assist machines basically, but will also get 15-20 goals a season. The players who I have found to excel here aren’t out and out wingers, but more AMLC/FC type players such as John Fleck, Mario Balotelli and Alexis Sanchez.

Lastly we have the strikers. I always have at least one speed merchant to utilise the target man run onto ball setting, but I find you’re best off with 2 similar type strikers. Again this isn’t something many people do, a big man/little man combination playing off each other is usually recommended, but this is no normal tactic! My current first team has only one “big man” in the midfield/attack, and he’s on the right wing. Physique should not really come into it because, as I referred to early, the aim of the game is short quick passing, you don’t need to be a 6’6 machine to achieve this. The strikers aren’t expected to cross the ball at all, and only make the occasional through ball or long shot.

When to use it?
I wouldn’t suggest using this tactic week in, week out. I would only use it if you have an embarresment of riches and pretty much all of the best players in the world, or when you’re behind in a game and need a quick goal or 3. I have been shocking in Europe using this tactic, losing in consecutive Champions League Finals so this is definately not a European tactic.

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All Out Attack (770)