In Football it is often managerial rivalry that gets focused upon. We like to see fights, controversial comments and psychological warfare that happens during the press conferences to unnerve the opposition managers into a response. Sir Alex Ferguson has already shown us how this has benefited him against the Keegan and Benitiez. But what we don’t know is what happens behind the scenes, we don’t get to see the friendships that blossom amongst the top managers in the Premiership and we are quick to forget those that have worked closely together. Football Manager allows you to create friendships within the game, but how does this benefit your Football Manager performance?

Good transfer policy

Making friends in Football manager is all about trying to create relationships with other managers in the game and hopefully become a favoured personnel of theirs. Making friends with managers can be an excellent strategy for smaller clubs as it can give you the advantage in the transfer market.

If you see that Wenger is producing a lot wonnderkids.Flatting him will make him more willing to do business with you. Being able to gain access to these younger players now will help your bank balance as well as your squad as you will be more likely to get the players you want on loan without having the pay any fees or wages.

But this is not restricted to loans alone. Those managers that you have become friends with will also be more willing to accept your bids, helping you snap up players at bargain prices. You will also have the advantage on other clubs if a bidding war may ensues. You will be the best positioned to have your bids accepted first, even if bids at other clubs are being rejected at the same price.

How to make friends

Making friends with managers is much harder then it is with other players in the game, these can obviously be your rivals in the game when it comes to match day. So it comes to reason why many maybe reluctant to become your friend.

Building friendships is a long term game. You should target your manager of choice straight away, making comments in the media to flatter him. Connecting with them on a regular basis will allow you to get the best result, but be careful not to praise too much and lose value in what you are saying. But you will get the best results from meeting up with the manager on match day. Use friendlies to connect bases with those managers you wouln’t get to see on a regular basis elsewhere such as foreign or higher tier managers.

Managing for years on end in the game, you will come into contact with many players, coaches and other managers. If you use the media well and earn respect by winning games, you will naturally become a favoured personnel of players and coaches who could be the managers of the future. Don’t shy away from interacting with those at the club already, you maybe fostering a network of managers that could give you an advantage further down the line. How many times have you seen your players go on to manage top clubs?

What managers have you become friends with?

Deflecting the pressure

Making comments about other managers will have an affect on your own squad, watch how your side reacts to each of your comments. Some may not take to kindly to your comments, don’t pay too much attention to those reacting badly but keep an eye on their morale and if it affects their performances. Comments on other managers though can really help deflect the pressure of title chance or big games onto somebody else, helping bring out the best in your players during big games, helping prevent players getting too nervous on the pitch.

An often overlooked, simple but potentially fruitful strategy as you pursue a ingame career. How have you developed your own friendship networks in the game and how do you think they have helped you?

We talk even more about these concepts in our latest eBook:

COMMUNICATION & PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE ‘10
The Ultimate Squad Management, Team Talk & Media Guide

Motivate your team to play their very best every game in Football Manager 2010! We will lead you through managing your squad – match by match, player by player – and show you how important psychology is in any football team’s performance on the pitch.

This will help you impose mental toughness alongside your already solid tactics as a one-two punch that will send any opposing manager shaking in fear!

Get more information and download this eBook from FM-Britain on March 16th!

Related posts:

1. Friendlies, The Tactical Playground
2. Tactical Theorems ‘10: The most downloaded Football Manager tactics guide is back!
3. Fundamental Football Manager – Part 1

Morale in Football Manager has a serious effect on the way your team sets out to play. Confident happy players will be more lethal in front of goal and less prone to make silly mistakes. At the start of the game or even at half time team talks can not only have a massive boost when your side isn’t playing too well but if you get it wrong, heads may drop and a game could be over before you get the team back together.

How to spot poor morale

Watching your players on pitch is the best place to start. Obviously when you are at home or playing a much weaker side away you will want to be the dominating side. Assuming your tactics are sound. The inability to control the game, losing the ball too easily and missing easy chances maybe a clue that players morale is low. If you look at the match statistics, what is your pass completion rate and possession? Having low results here may mean that your team really isn’t able to keep the ball because of making silly mistakes. But remember these statistics aren’t everything, use your own judgement as you watch the match.

Open up one of the motivation widget in the TV View. This will give you feedback about how the players are playing, live. When your players are dejected and feeling down after a bad team talk, your players will begin playing nervously and looking complacent, signs that they have not had the right talking to in their ear in order to jeer them up for the game in hand.

Although bad team talks can have these affects on your team, it has to be remembered that other factors can affect the morale of your side in the game. Morale before the game, the ability of the opposition, performance and personality can all have affects. Teams talk though will be one of the few ways that you are able to manipulate morale before and during a game.

How to deal with the side before you meet them again

The trick is now to make sure that your team is able to hold on to the game until you next meet up with them. Nervous and complacent players may ship enough goals in the first half time make it a mountain to climb in the second half. If you play cautiously you will be less likely to ship goals, it might not be worth the risk to go looking for an early lead when your players aren’t looking too bright. Consider three changes:

• Counter or Defend - Moving your philosophy to a more cautious outlook telling your players to keep it tight at the back and to defend. Making less forward runs and taking less risks to go forward will mean that you will have extra players behind the ball. Taking less risks your players will make less mistakes, having more men at the back and your side will be able to cover for mistakes much easier.
• Make a substitute – it is never too early to make a substitute if it is going to save the game, players in key positions such as central defence may not have the time to make mistakes, changing them as soon as possible may be the best tactical change.
• Reduce creative freedom – Creative freedom will make your players decision making skills more emphasis in play, high creative freedom is the equivalent of telling your players to just go out in play. But players with low morale, will increasingly make the wrong decisions, pick the poor pass. Shoot when their really isn’t a clear cut chance or lunge for a tackle he is never going to get. Reducing the creative freedom may see your team stick more to getting the basics right.

Have any more tips? Please share

What should I say at half time

With team talks and other player interactions, trial and error is needed, don’t be afraid to make these mistakes as you will learn from them and the different personalities of your team, their ambition and professionalism will have alot to do with how they react to what you say. But for a general rule to start, players playing nervously or without confidence will need more support, worrying that the occasion maybe too big for them.Encourage these players and reassure them that they are the right men to do the job.

Complacent players could be over confident, you have told them that you expect a win and they think that playing these minnows may not need as much effort. You therefore want to show this player that you expect more from him, complacency can cost games and if you are looking for consistent results and trophies you need to drive this out of your players.

Have you ever had any disastrous team talks at the start of the game or even at half time that have cost you the game? How did you deal with them? Have you been able to utilise team talks  to ignite a massive fightback in important games? Please don’t hesitate to visit the forums and comment.

We talk even more about these concepts in our latest eBook:

COMMUNICATION & PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE ‘10
The Ultimate Squad Management, Team Talk & Media Guide

Motivate your team to play their very best every game in Football Manager 2010! We will lead you through managing your squad – match by match, player by player – and show you how important psychology is in any football team’s performance on the pitch.

This will help you impose mental toughness alongside your already solid tactics as a one-two punch that will send any opposing manager shaking in fear!

Get more information and download this eBook from FM-Britain on March 16th!

Related posts:

1. Tactical Bible 08: Squad Management IV: Team Talks and Individual Talks
2. Tactical Bible 08: Asmodeus’ Clinic – Symptoms & Diagnosis of FM Ailments
3. Friendlies, The Tactical Playground

First up, this may be the last “Lessons from Hinckley” update. Following a PC crash, I lost my saved game and have had to start from scratch. Always back up your stuff, that’s the lesson to be learned from Hinckley…

The current position of the community

Back to the training. Hinckley United were a little different to most of the topics of discussion in that they are a part-time club. Semi-professional footballers spend far less time on the training pitch than their full-time counterparts. With that in mind, the amount they can train is limited. While it may be possible, according to Kittipol, to train an extra 3 attributes onto a player with the correct intensity and the best coaches, a semi-pro chump in the lower leagues is going to be lucky just to keep the red arrows to a minimum.

Given that the lack of available time in the schedule meant that I had very little chance to add variety to my schedules, I went with Fantastic’s idea of only using the 8, 14 and 20 points on the sliders to create my training schedules. For those unaware of this theory, I will loosely sketch out the details.

The theory goes that at point 8 on the slider (7 clicks from the lowest position), a player will train enough to “maintain” their current attributes. That is, at that level a player should get no worse other than through natural decline. At point 14, they will begin to increase their attributes. And point 20 is the highest you can train a player – he will get no better through more intensive training, but he will get up to that maximum point quicker.

Therefore, claims Fantastic (and, less emphatically, Kittipol), there should be no reason to use any other slider settings than 1 (the lowest), 8, 14 or 20. For attributes that are essential, use 20; ones that are useful, 14; ones that you would not like to see get any worse, 8; and ones that you don’t need, 1.

The problems with this view

The best critique of this received wisdom that I’ve seen anywhere comes from SFraser, who has really taken the discussion of training to the next level. Since training has remained unchanged for so many years, discussions have been pretty static for a long time. The system is outdated, without question, and I for one hope it gets a complete overhaul in Football Manager 2011. But while we wait, we should definitely take what SFraser has said on board.

As SFraser quite rightly points out, 20 is only the “best” level for improving players if your facilities and coaches are top-notch. With lower quality coaching, you won’t see the maximum improvement. Similarly, while 8 may be the “natural maintain” point, older players will naturally fall into physical decline. Therefore, 8 is not the “absolute maintain” point for every player at every club. Those that need physical strength to keep playing at your level will require extra training in these areas, and perhaps less intensive work on their fully developed attributes such as tactics (mental characteristics that, broadly, come with experience).

So, we cannot make these broad strokes of “1, 8, 14 and 20″ because:

• Every player is at a different development point in their career
• All training facilities are of different qualities
• All coaches are of different qualities
• All players require different skills to be emphasised or maintained depending on their “natural” strengths and weaknesses

In effect, then, should we just create schedules for every individual player, regardless of how time consuming this may be whenever we take over a club?

The Lesson

The truth, my friends, is often somewhere in between. While the Fantastic approach is less time consuming, easy to monitor and manage, and built mainly around positions and roles already outlined in the game, the SFraser approach will far more effectively mould a player’s attributes to the task at hand. Fantastic’s approach is vulnerable to the changes in a player’s life cycle, as well as that individual’s own natural strengths and weaknesses (i.e., their attributes before any training commences). SFraser’s, on the other hand, can be difficult and fiddly to create and will require a lot more micro management. Not that that should ever be a reason to dismiss anything.

For me, I found the solution was somewhere in between. I didn’t want to create loads of schedules for what I saw as little gain. Sure, at Premier League level with youth academies, top coaches and top players, I could see a great deal of benefit to tailoring my schedules to my squads. But in the Conference Regional and National?

That being said, I had players who were coming through in their early 20s and players who were getting close to drawing their pension. So, I liked the simplicity of the Fantastic solution, but realised the need to cater for certain individuals.

So, for a player like Legwinski, I would work him harder physically, while down-playing his mental attributes. Whereas for any other DMC, I would be working him harder on the attributes highlighted by the tactics creator for his position (similar to moj’s approach on the FM-B forums).

Being aware of such issues is vital to getting the best from your training. But in the end, it’s a time/reward equation. Is the amount of time spent tailoring such schedules “worth it” in the long run? For bigger clubs, I would whole-heartedly recommend you at least read SFraser’s discussions on training. But, for those who like a more simple approach, but one that can, for the majority of players, gain good results, then certainly it is worth reading up on Fantastic’s work at Los Wonderkids.

Recommended reading

I’m not sure how much original insight I can provide on a subject on which I have spent little time in my Football Manager career. However, I would highly recommend the following.

SFraser’s approach to training: (with downloads) – @ FM-Britain | @ SI Games
Fantastic’s approach to training: – @ LosWonderkids | More in-depth training guide
moj’s role-based approach: – @ FM-Britain
Tug’s Training – the classic download: – @ FM-Britain

Related posts:

1. Lessons from Hinckley: Experienced Players Win Promotions
2. Lessons from Hinckley – How to Improve Morale
3. Tactical Bible 08: Tackling the Injury Problem

• Figuring out the best players for each tactical role
• Organising your defence
• Understanding what the touchline shouts actually do under the hood
• Creating effective set piece roles
• Tactical consistency from match to match

So we thought…

What is the best way to answer these questions directly to our readers?

How about a LIVE WEBCAST on UStream, where we will answer YOUR questions regarding tactics in Football Manager 2010.

Join us for this live video streaming broadcast on:

Thursday, February 25 at 7:30pm GMT

(click here to work out what time this is in your timezone).

What exactly is a webcast?

In essence, Gareth “Millie” Millward and Jordan Cooper will host an interactive show on a streaming channel via UStream. We will both have our webcams on and will chat with you, the viewers, and answer your tactical questions. So, we can discuss these five problems, but the conversation can be directed by you if certain points are unclear or if you have anything to add!

The Football Manager channel will show the hosts on one side of the screen and a chat window on the other. Simply ask your questions in the chat, converse with everyone else watching in real-time and we will do our utmost to answer as many as we can to improve your tactical prowess.

Be aware: You will have to register on UStream in order to participate in the chat (don’t worry, it’s really simple and totally free), but you do not need to register to watch the show.

Our suggestion is to bookmark the Football Manager channel, so you can get straight to it on Thursday, February 25 at 7:30pm GMT.

What if you aren’t available to tune in?

If we get any really juicy talking points, we’ll be sure to write them up and post them here on the website. We will also do our utmost to try to record the show and upload some highlights to YouTube for those unable to attend. Plus, if it proves successful, we will do more webcasts in future months, and look to use some of the main topics of conversation for podcasts and videos here on FM-Britain.

This is your chance to ask the tactics “experts” directly…

No question too small or too big! We look forward to seeing all of you then!

Related posts:

1. FM-Britain on the Football Manager Podcast!
2. Tactical Theorems ‘10: The most downloaded Football Manager tactics guide is back!
3. Football Manager Tactics Video – Defending in the Midfield

Did you know that you can share your FM experience also?

If you know your stuff and can help others, you can definitely build an audience who will be eager to listen to you! Sharing your knowledge with the world on the internet, you will draw other gamers who want to know what you know.

It isn’t that hard as you think. If Football Manager is your passion, then do it!

What are the benefits of starting your own blog?

You might have a “gang” in school where you share your experience on Football Manager, but what if you, instead of share it locally, you could share it globally? You could get lots of great responses from people who play Football Manager, telling you that what you provide works. They could give you modifications and create a community to discuss the game. So it will not only improve other’s games with your knowledge and experience. It will also improve yours.

Don’t you think it feels amazing when you’re sharing something with your friends and it actually works for them? You really feel like you have helped someone. It is the same thing here, you can share the exact same stuff, but more people will benefit from it. You will be categorized as an “expert” in Football Manager, with good responses in comments and forums. You would be the FM go-to guy!

Now, I play Football Manager and I just completed the first season (amazing result, tweet me for more information). I read Tactical Theorems ‘10 – without that guide, I would have struggled building tactics, I wouldn’t be able to win as many matches as I do now. Don’t you feel thankful like I did after reading Tactical Theorems ’10? They have offered so much time, just to build you this. It costs your name and your email, and that’s it. This book could easily cost money, but they were generous.

It would be awesome for people to think the same thing about you. They could get a feeling like this: “Wow, this guy really helps me out, he is so cool!” – just the thought of someone thinking that is definitely awesome.

The benefits of creating a blog about Football Manager:

• 1. To share you passion and knowledge.
• 2. To discuss the game with others.
• 3. Get known as a resource for the game.

You just need to take action. Haven’t you seen all these crappy fansites? In Denmark, they are nothing but shit, to be honest. They provide absolutely no value at all, when we’re considering the content they produce.

This would be where a blog is much more valuable than a fansite. When you have a blog, you can focus 100% on writing absolutely amazing articles for your readers to consume. You can see their responses in comments – what do they think about your post? Did your tactic work?

You actually just need to provide value. In my holy opinion, FM-Britain is one of the websites that provide the most value in the FM community of what I know. Yeah, without a doubt their content is good, but you can, if you really want to… beat their content. You really just need to take the time to write an article for your blog which gives people immense value.

The mathematical formula for getting known as an resource in the FM community:

Quality Content (both on blog and on a forum comments) = Resource.

Okay, we both know it isn’t that simple. Have you seen posts on FM-Britain which isn’t written by one of the founders? They have contributed on FM-Britain and provides value to that community, they can have their own blog.

You may think: “Why do they want to contribute on other sites when they have their own blog?” Simply put, they provide value to you through another community, but this site then sends traffic to the contributor’s blog, so you get to know them as well!

But mainly when you are building a FM blog you should focus on providing good content, which can be used by others. If you do not know what quality content is, then just look at this entire blog, take a look at mine. Just promise me that you will provide better content than all those crappy fan sites!

Related posts:

1. FM2010 Community Roundup: Football Manager Punditry
2. How To Make Friends and Influence People in Football Manager
3. FM2010 Community Roundup: A New Player Emerges

“Without the ball we are a horrible team” – Pep Guardiola

Barcelona’s style of attacking football is all determined from what they do on the ball. Creating goals by keeping hold of the ball and scaring opposition defenders. But all of this depends on having the ball, attack being the best form of defence for Barcelona. Messi, Xavi and Henry therefore need to get the ball back quickly and will equally get themselves into tackles as much as the likes of Pique and Puyol will do and which could have be seen at last seasons Champions League final. This is a vital part to their tactics and one that can be overlooked when Messi is showing his flair and jinxing past defenders.

Defensive Forwards

Defence doesn’t need to start at the back four. If your forward players are too able to get involved with defensive play it can reduce your oppositions creativity from further up the field from the likes of the defensive midfielder or ball playing defenders. Teams like Liverpool and Chelsea have in the past have proved lethal having a defensive midfielder who is able to not only win the ball but start attacks too, acting as a deep lying playmaker. Rafa Benitez has seen how much of a linchpin Xabi Alonso was to in creating creativity for Gerrard and Torres. Defensive forwards will sit even further back when he is given a supporting role adding extra pressure on to your opposition player sitting in the hole reducing the effect of players such as Alonso or Ferdinand who seek to leave the defensive line to create chances.

Defensive Wingers

The way football has developed, wing backs have become much more of a prominent attacking force, Glen Johnson, Dani Alves and Patrice Evra are just a number of players that enjoy joining up with the attack and building pressure from the back four. But having your own winger will help not only put pressure on the opposition backline, which can be exploit the opposition on the counter attack, as Aston Villa do with Young and Milner. Having a defensive forward will also look to reduce the attacking threat of the wingbacks when they have the ball. Just like Wayne Rooney and Park did much of last season against wingers Maicon and Dani Alves.

How will it help you in Football Manager 2010?

Just like the examples above, within your own tactics the defensive forward and winger will be players who work hard, strong and have a little creativity to help support your balanced formation in order to have support the main goalscorer. Your defensive forward will come back into the midfield much more often, looking for the ball and supporting the defence of the midfield, which can see the shape of a 4-4-2 into a 4-5-1. The defensive winger will keep tabs on the wingbacks and chasing the ball down more often out wide. Stamina and work rate are most important  attributes of this role, as you will be relying on these players to work hard and run around the pitch tirelessly. In any sort of defending intellengence in the role is a premium, especially for the forward who you will want to know will be in the right position when needing to defend or pounce on an attack.

For the lower leagues, tackling attributes up in the midfield isn’t as important in these positions as with the lack of technical skill, it is more about hassling and putting pressure on the side with the ball in order to get it back, giving away freekick here are less effective then near the box. But do be careful that your forward isn’t picking up too many yellow cards from rash challenges.

I have only just started using this role with my Southport team, as a result, I am keeping the ball much more and playing good possession football. But do you think you need to be saving your strikers, working them less so that they will be fresh to pounce when chances arise?

Related posts:

1. Building your defence: Centre Backs
2. The Debate Download – Is this the perfect Brazil tactic?
3. Tactical Bible 08: Defence – Key Settings

Clearly there are areas that a head coach deals with other than tactics, and these areas must be important. One such area may be motivation. The coach is there to get the team playing well as a unit, encouraging them when they are down and ensuring they don’t get complacent when winning. In Football Manager, we might call it morale.

Morale boosting is an important and often underrated part of Football Manager. A team with superb morale can perform to a much higher standard than a disenchanted dressing room. A squad which, on the whole, sees you as one of their favoured personnel is not going to “struggle to motivate itself to play for you”. And crucially, happy players don’t tend to cause dressing room discontent by bitching about their team mates and destroying club harmony.

The best tool I’ve found for all of this is player interaction. Briefly, this week, I’ll take a look at how commenting on your players’ form can work wonders for maintaining team belief and keeping the side ready for battle.

Player Interaction – a system

We have five options for talking to our players. We can say whether we’re delighted or merely pleased with a player’s performance. We can say whether we think they are playing acceptably or below par. Or we can say how disappointed we are with their recent form. The trick to finding the right option is twofold:

• We need to tell the player what they need to hear.
• We need to tell the player what they want to hear.

Of course, these are not necessarily the same thing.

The Example

At Hinkley I worked on a basic premise. Since “7” is the baseline for a decent performance, I decided that any average rating above 6.50 would be acceptable. Therefore, if I had the chance to comment on a player’s form, I would work on a scale going up and down by 0.50 at a time. So, for example, an average of above 7.50 would delight me. An average of below 6.00 would make me angry.

Working on this basis, I commented on a player whenever I could. Usually this happens if the player has played at least 5 games for you and was selected in the previous match. This is not always the case, so you will need to check.

Then I used the notes system to take a look at the reaction of my players. If a player reacted badly to my praise or criticism, I wrote it down. For example, last week’s subject Sylvain Legwinski thought that I was wrong to suggest that his performance between 6.50 and 6.99 was “acceptable”. Being a more professional and experienced player, he expected a lot more from himself and expected me to demand the same. So, I had to modify the way I dealt with him.

I made a note to criticise him more often. I knew that in order to elicit a positive response from him (i.e. to get his morale boosted) I would have to shift my scale by as much a 0.50. So, performances in the range of 6.50 and 6.99 were now “below par”.

After about half a season, it became clear who fit into my initial scheme and who didn’t. I was commenting so much that I didn’t even need the notes in the end – I knew my players and who needed what sort of treatment. This, to me, is basic man management. And vital to building a good team atmosphere.

There are a few things to note:

• The best time to comment, in my experience, is when you get the mail about the match odds, about 24-48 hours before kickoff. Too much earlier, and the effect of your interaction might “wear off”. Any later, and the player won’t react to your words until after the game (which seems pointless).
• It isn’t always necessary to comment on a player who has “superb” morale, but if you do and you get it right time after time there is more chance that the player will see you as a “favoured personnel”.
• Professional players in higher divisions will need more criticism. At a semi-pro club (and a small one at that) I found the softly-softly approach worked best. At better clubs, the players will demand more from themselves – and more from you. Likewise, youth players may need more encouragement and fewer tongue lashings in order to build their confidence.
• Never, ever, ever be afraid to get it wrong. You will get it wrong, and occasionally will get it wrong with a player you’ve known for years. That isn’t a problem – the player won’t resent you for it long-term and without making mistakes you cannot learn what the correct response is.

A full guide on maintaining morale in your dressing room is being worked on by FM-Britain as we speak, so I will leave this pep talk here. But understanding the importance of morale was, in my opinion, the driving force behind Hinckley’s promotion to the Blue Square Premier in season two.

How do you go about talking to your squad? Do you favour a hands-off approach, or do you like to comment on anything and everything? Is morale a big deal for you, or do you spend more time on the training pitch, in the transfer market, or on a tactical master plan? I’d love to hear your thoughts from your own careers.

Related posts:

1. Lessons from Hinckley – Training Schedules
2. Lessons from Hinckley: Experienced Players Win Promotions
3. Communication and Psychological Warfare 2008 – Part 1

What sort of player can step in?

Players who have good attributes for different position, such as a midfielder with good tackling, marking and intelligence, which would make them suited for a central defender’s role, could be a saviour when you need backup. Attributes are much more important to the match engine when considering how a player will perform. Although the further away a player is from a natural position, the less efficient his attributes will; especially in the mental attributes such as position, off the ball and anticipation, which can really suffer when a player unfamiliar with his surroundings.

Identifying the players that can play different roles and re-training each one into new positions can give a huge advantage to a small squad when you are seeking depth in different positions across the field. Re-training a player will give them an opportunity to develop and become more effective in the position that you need covered.  Training a fringe player (for example a striker who has the ability of a full back), can give you several advantages. It can:

• Find a use for your fringe players.
• Ensure effective cover for each area of your positions
• Give more opportunities for players to get into the first team, and therefore keep squad harmony much higher

Just look at Dion Dublin. A prolific striker, but when he became older and less sharp he was able to change positions and extend his first team playing career by a season or two.

Playing a player out of position can affect him. He will need to have the intelligence to be able to adapt to different parts of the field. Positioning, off the ball and decisions all give the player the intelligence to cope in a different environment. This is because it is these attributes that are going to be key to his success in your tactics, but they also the first attributes to suffer.

Think about your tactics

Playing a player out of position is certainly going to effect your tactics. Be aware that relying on these men to play key roles in your side can be risky. For example, defensive midfielders need to be positioned well, tackle well, distribute the ball in front of the midfield and hold on to it if there isn’t a good enough pass available. A player who hasn’t got the intelligence for the position could fail to be the linchpin you need them to be.

On the other hand, if you just wanted a player to play as a limited defender, poacher or winger they will be better suited if they have the relevant attributes to play those roles; but their positioning and decision making are not as vital to the overall tactical master plan.

Much of football, though, is about being able to balance your squad in such a way that it exploits the strengths of your squad, without making you vulnerable to the opposition. Having a “plan B” and different formations that your squad can play with the players that are available can therefore exploit your strengths and leave your side less exposed. Trying to suit availability of your players therefore could give you much more steel than using players out of position. But what do you think can be more effective: changing the formation or changing the players?

Over to you.

I’d be interested to know if you think the same thing. Have you had success having players covering your key roles, when they have been out of position? Do you think players out of position are suited more to rigid football where each player has a specific role to play in the side, and so needs to play that role well. Or are they more suited to fluid football, where decision making skills are needed to prevent big holes being created from players drifting out of position?

Listen to Jordan and Millie discuss this subject on the FM-Britian podcast.

Related posts:

1. Building your defence: From the forwards
2. Tactical Theorems & Frameworks ‘09: Specialist Position Theories
3. The Debate Download – Is this the perfect Brazil tactic?

At the lower levels, technical and mental skills can be at a premium. In fact, all skills are at a premium. You can often find a striker with nothing more than 16 for acceleration can grab 20 goals a season simply by virtue of creating a hat full of chances by out-sprinting the opposition centre backs. Or a 6′ 4″ centre back with 18 for jumping can be a beast at set pieces, defensively and offensively.

An older player who has been at a higher level, however, will have a lot more technical and mental skills than other players in your league – even if physically they may not be in the best shape.

Older players have “experience”

Many commentators in football talk about “experience”. In Football Manager, this is best expressed through the mental stats in the player’s profile. Mental stats continue to improve long after physical and technical attributes reach their peaks. Never underestimate the power of things like positioning, composure, concentration and decision making. These sorts of traits continue to develop well into a player’s 20s, and can make up for a lack of technical or physical skill.

If a player is more likely to make the right passing decision, he doesn’t need great passing to pull off an audacious pass – he’ll just look for the simpler one.

If a player has great positioning, he doesn’t need great pace to cover an opposition forward – he can just walk into the right place to give himself maximum defensive efficiency.

So, experience in this sense is very useful, especially at the lower leagues where small changes in skill levels can make a big difference. Your scouts, given enough time, may be able to give you more information about hidden attributes which can also affect the way the player behaves. “Professionalism” for example is something that players at the higher levels are much more likely to have than those who have spent most of their lives in the lower leagues.

The Example

In this series of articles, I will use examples from my current career save. In this instance, I will show the example of Sylvain Legwinski, ex-Fulham and France midfielder with a wealth of experience. I signed him for Hinckley early in my first season.

This screenshot comes from the fourth season of the career – so, obviously, with an acceleration of 1 Sylvain is no spring chicken. But even when I signed him, his acceleration was around 5. So, why pick a player who has such poor physical stats?

When I signed him, he was plying his trade in at St. Neots, a team not even in the playable leagues (unless you’ve been fiddling with the editor). But he had stats of 13 and above in a number of areas. Unlike most of my squad (who may just about reach 10 for some of the key attributes for their position), Legwinski was, technically and mentally, good enough to play in the Football League. Indeed, by the end of the second season I was fending off enquiries from Hereford United in League Two.

This gave him the ability to pick a pass and hit a long shot unlike anyone else in my squad – maybe anyone else in the league.

On the down side, Legwinski was incredibly injury prone. And unfit. Despite only playing him one game a week when he first arrived, it didn’t take long for him to need an extended rest. By the second season, I was only able to play him for 60-70 minutes a week.

That meant I had to make the choice of whether to play him in the Wednesday night fixture against a promotion rival, or in the FA Cup game at the weekend!

Despite this, Legwinski managed around 30 league games a season, averaging over 7.00 a game. But why?

When a player can pas the ball well and make the right decisions, it is of less concern whether he is quick over 10 yards or not. Especially when he plays in a position like centre midfield where pace is not a key attribute. Besides – he has a partner in the midfield who can cover for him in the event that he does get caught out of position.

Not that this is likely to happen too often, since his experience gives him such good positioning skills that he can read the game so well. The following highlights from one of his games in season two show that age is no barrier to creating problems in the lower divisions.

Download Hinckley United v Worcester.pkm (right click and “Save target as”)

Obviously, a player with such low fitness and speed is never going to be a great winger. Nor is he going to be a prolific striker. But the creativity that he can provide in midfield is something you will not get from players who don’t have experience of a higher level.

I used Sylvain as a ball-winning midfielder in my tactics, with a more energetic box-to-box midfielder alongside him in a simple 4-4-2. That gave the tactic balance, but also added energy and drive to the midfield. It gives the side a choice, as well – power through with a more pacey central midfielder, or use the skill and touch of Legwinski to find good through balls.

As you will see in the analysis screens in this pkm, Gooding’s passes, tackles and interceptions show far more movement than Legwinski’s.

So – this is what I’ve learned at Hinckley. In future weeks, I will talk more about various tactical elements that have been highlighted by my career save, including more examples and discussions.

Related posts:

1. Lessons from Hinckley – Training Schedules
2. Building your defence: From the forwards
3. Lessons from Hinckley – How to Improve Morale

Danish – Thanks to the good folks at fmfreaks.dk, Danish Football Manager fans can get their hands on TT10 in their mother tongue. Head along to their site and download the Danish version here.

French – FM Manifest have uploaded their translation of TT10 to Mega Upload.com. Thier site is currently down, but despite this their version has been downloaded over 1,000 times already. You can download the French version here.

Greek – The lads at fmgreece.gr have long had an association with translating Football Manager guides into Greek. Known to Football Manager Live fans as the home of the “Greek Gang”, their translation of TT10 is available to download through their site.

Italian – FMIta have had their translation out a while, and it certainly will help Italian users. Their guide has been uploaded to file front, and can be downloaded through this link.

Poland – Premier Polish website cmrev.com have put the finishing touches to their translation. Their site has many of FM-Britain’s articles translated into Polish, and even has an English language section for those who are interested! You can download the guide directly from their website.

Thank you very much to all our translators

There are still many translations in progress. As these are completed, we will let you know. If any foreign visitors would like to translate our guides, or if you have already translated them and haven’t told us, then drop us an e-mail on thinktank@fm-britain.co.uk.

Related posts:

1. Tactical Theorems ‘10 Appendix Update – 19 Tactics from the Community
2. Tactical Theorems Podcast – Learn about the tactics creator and ask us questions!
3. Tactical Theorems ‘10: The most downloaded Football Manager tactics guide is back!