retired_Miss Yummy

Such an instance would be when losing at half-time, with a "highly ambitious" squad, such as Liverpool. I suspect the more ambitious the squad the more harshly they should be judged. Wolfsong's approach can be a disaster with such a squad 'cos it uses "wish luck" far too often; this leads to demotivated players.

retired_coffeescentedcoffee

Respect for all the effort and time put in.

Some very good tips there, especially for people who are finding it just a bit too tough.

Fitz

I personally use the same method for big clubs as well (my first game on FM08 was with Man Utd). I always try to keep the effects on moral of team talks to a minimum, so even when losing or drawing to smaller teams I tend to stay away from angry/disappointed as I've rarely seen it have anything other than a negative effect on morale. And once morale starts to drop performances can suffer a lot.

There may be instances where using angry is effective, by all means try it. I've just found that in the long run keeping morale steady has had a much better long term effect than playing the 'morale lottery'. </BLOCKQUOTE>

Chopper,

You have understood the context in which I used the angry response, I agree it is to be used sparingly.

My comment earlier was just one example, and probably about the only occasion where I used it as a 'team answer'. I have however used the disappointed/ angry response for individuals who have performed below their usual high standard, and use it whenever the perfrmance drops unacceptably if there reaction to it the first time or two hasn't been too negative.

This is where the assistant's comments about team talks I find useful, as it does provide you with an insight in to how certain players react to your comments. (giving an idea of their hidden attributes, which I would never learn otherwise as I won't use an in-game editor). I can then judge will players not to use a negative comment to.

I find using the 'notes' to record these reactions, although time consuming to start with helps you to know how to deal with certain players, particularly your key players.

As you have rightly pointed out the morale issue is key to success, the longer you can keep morale high the better your results tend to be, and possibly this has slightly too much of an affect.............or does it, how important is this IRL honestly?

Fitz

I should have read my post properly before posting!

Chopper,

You have understood the context in which I used the angry response, I agree it is to be used sparingly.

My comment earlier was just one example, and probably about the only occasion where I used it as a 'team answer'. I have however used the disappointed/ angry response for individuals who have performed below their usual high standard, and use it whenever the perfrmance drops unacceptably if there reaction to it the first time or two hasn't been too negative.

This is where the assistant's comments about team talks I find useful, as it does provide you with an insight in to how certain players react to your comments. (giving an idea of their hidden attributes, which I would never learn otherwise as I won't use an in-game editor). I can then judge which players not to use a negative comment to.

I find using the 'notes' to record these reactions, although time consuming to start with helps you to know how to deal with certain players, particularly your key players.

As you have rightly pointed out the morale issue is key to success, the longer you can keep morale high the better your results tend to be, and possibly this has slightly too much of an affect.............or does it, how important is this IRL honestly?[/QUOTE]

retired_katysdodd

Interesting article. I'll read it in full when I have a bit more time.

retired_Jaye

I did almost the same as you did but I played for Vauxhall, brought them up to Premiership almost all through playoffs (beat Newcastle in the Championship playoffs) before the bugs kicked in in the offseason for FM08. (scouts giving almost all players 1 star when previously they had 4-5 stars, so I signed only a handful of 3 star scouted players willing to come to the club and those became regen wonderkids) and suddenly after a few months, the scouts gave the 1 star players 5 stars again...which is mindbogglng and a turnoff. Also, the youth players bug because you can't RELEASE them as they are all signed to contracts made it harder in 08 as well. Overall though, I think it is possible to make it from BSN all the way to Championship through solid transfers...I didn't have any good feeder clubs (always said no choices and once I got to League 2 Tranmare couldn't be my feeder anymore).
One thing that irks me was the chairman interference that sold both my players that were "solid premiership potential" players although I got a relative fortune for them. Having been at the club and promoted them to League status from non-professional, I think the chairman should give me the benefit of trusting that I can get that money through selling other players than to give away my future GK (who became a staple for West Ham when I faced him in the Premiership).
Because of the bug though, (and also forgetting to enable MLS, I want to play for Toronto FC sometime in my career) I'll have to start again, maybe try Defuge's challenge this time around. I've been playing for Vauxhall ever since they had BSN and before was for the now-defunct Scarborough team. Every time, I managed to get quite a lot of income through selling/ releasing all players like you said above, and having no reserves and youth. I filtered similar as you did, although I do use my assistant to filter unrealistic targets, since it's a chore to ask players who don't want to come (I'm a Sunday League manager and Vauxhall doesn't have the best of reputations).

Anyhow, great article. I'll definitely be back when the patch comes through, and hopefully the game mechanics change. It's really annoying to see EVERY SINGLE AI to change tactics depending on outcome and having to counter it when I got to Championship in order to retain a lead. In real life, most players play to the gameplan and rarely drastically change their tactics without risking of losing more than they gain.

retired_pamjoseph

I played similar Found a good tactic and worked well until L1

---ST----ST---
------^-------
-&lt;-CM-CM-CM-&gt;-
-----DMC------
LB--CB--CB--RB

with 12 passing, tempo and 8 DL, width

But my strikers haven't been good after, so I play at home

------ST------
&lt;-AMC-AMC-AMC-&gt;
---CM----CM---
---v-----v----
LB--CB--CB--RB

with 10 in all sliders


Which players I use? I can't choose, because I'm playing only welsh players but playing in English league. I like fast defenders and strikers, mids with good decissions and strength, and like wingers with dribbling if I have a good set pieces taker.
How I take them? Looking at u19 and u21 teams, loaning when I could. And of course those players suggested by my scouts (I prefer u19 and u21 tough).

Discipline: I'm quite hard with players, but in few months they get used. 2 weeks fee for direct red card or missing training.
I critizise referees if they were against me and critizise rivals if they were harmed. When I reach 20 in club loyalty I stop doing this because I'm fined often and have lots of enemies (but it does not matter really).

Training: last medium tick in overall. Quite balanced maybe too much but 1 defence point does not worth to me more than 1 creativity, 1 decisions, 1 passing, for example. I prefer 18/9 than 20/5.

PPM's: I like to have players with lots of PPM's, and other clubs love too (you can sell players for lots more). Being in BSS and BSP I managed to sign mature crap players who could teach nice PPM's to my players. Specially "places shots" and "lob the ball" if they have poor finishinh, but also "shoots with power" or "makes one-twos with mates" for players with bad dribbling. these for strikers, and works well.

team talks and answer press: I don't master it, but never have problems. Just logical actions here, but always talk with players and nearly also with press unless I want a neutral answer.

Another clues:

-always tweak tactics before matches. It can seem boring, but it's absolutely needed if you change players often due to injuries or form. Also use rival instructions to hard tackle players with bad form and sometimes show wingers antiposition foot (right foot for LW).

-train youngers to don't have useless legs. I do it to all, but maybe it's not needed. I train STs into LW or LM if they are right footed, specially if they have crossing and dribbling. I did it to one of my st's and he has been the LM of wales since 24, and he has both legs to maximum (he's the only tough, most players only improve their bad leg 1 point every year,of a maximum of 20). But If I have a MC with no crossing I often train him as AMC or DMC. All my players are changing their position but GK's and two players I bought quite old.

-I like to play with young players. My academy has created an inusual bunch of stars, I never have seen something similar. In 15 seasons I have had 12 players from my academy who had played in welsh national team, and lots in u19 and u21. useful if you have a poor club.

-If you have good young players and expect to promote in few years, sign long contracts. Most of your players would demand better wages, but maybe you can't pay them so much in the future. Also they won't go to better teams for free. Take care to do it with good prospects, maybe you will have to pay 4 years a player not good enough for your team!

-Don't go mad if you lose lots of matches in a bad run. Try to detect problems and if you just are having bad luck, don't make many changes. I have had worst run first season, in BSS, when I was changing the tactic every week to find a good one.

-Sign free players from 1st of june if you are in england. and then also in 1st of july, because lots of players are released and it's easier then to sign them.


Sorry chopper if I'm hijacking your thread, I liked it a lot and wanted to give some of my clues :p

retired_georgeba

Hi Chopper, nice article.
Some questions about ‘refreshing’ your players when you promote to a higher level. If you look primarily look at players attributes for certain positions and you don’t put effort into training
How long do player stay with your team?
What is the average length of your players contract (short 1-2 years) or longer (3-5) years?
Do you give full-time contracts or stick to part-time?

retired_overwt

get a girlfriend mate

firefighterhilf

To start with I look to just give players 2 year contracts unless they're really good players who I know will be able to perform well if I win one or two promotions in the next few years. In that case I'll look to get them on at least 3 year contracts if they'll be willing to sign for that long.

As for how long players stay with my team. I generally just try and get better players every year, especialy if I've just got promoted. So if I can get a better player for a position I'll either look to keep the previous player who was in that position for cover unless I need the money from his wages, in which case I'll get rid of him. I did end up with 3 players who've been with me since the first or second season, and still get in the team now that I'm in the Championship, but in general my players were replaced every 2 or 3 seasons at most as I moved up the leagues and more players became interested in joining my club.

As for the contracts you'll generally only be able to get people on part time contracts while in the Blue Square North/South and the Blue Square Premier. This is fine as you need the money so having them on part time contracts is preferable because even if they were training full time the other factors mentioned earlier are going to prevent them from improving anyway.

Once you get promoted to league 2 the board will make the club full time and at that point you'll have to get all your players and staff on full time contracts and any future signings will also go on full time contracts.

The thing to keep in mind about the training is that it's generally not until you get to league 1 (in my experience anyway) that you've got any kind of facilities and staff to get any improvement in a players attributes. So until the just sign players to do the job and move them on as you get better players. Once you start moving up the leagues you can start thinking about players for the future.

Fo rme it's only now that I'm in the championship that I've had enough money to improve training facilities and the board have allowed me to appoint more than 3 coaches. So now I'll start to see some improvement in players and will look to sign players with potential if I see them.