There is an old saying that goes "The more you put into something the more you get out of it" and this saying is echoed across all past carnations of the game.Â* On Football Manager 2007 you really do need to pay more attention to detail; the game is taking huge strides in increasing user interaction and encouraging us to get more involved in the actual man management of the game. For the majority of users the game is finally becoming realistic and for most people long gone are the days where you can make a tactic sit back and win every game 8-0 with some sort of "super tactic".
Some people might disagree and say you shouldn't need to be paying too much attention to detail, but I disagree with them. Management games are the same as strategy games, you need to study your opponents a little and think up tactics to out smart the opponent. Whether you like it or not, Football Manager is evolving at a nice steady pace and while there is a still lot of room for improvement on all things game related, the foundations for future versions of the game are there already. And with a few enhanced features and other improvements in the coming years all this can only improve the game playability level and make it even more realistic.
There are lots of things in the game that you can pay a little extra attention to and get that little bit extra out of the game. There is no right or wrong way to play the game and we all have our own styles, but we all have the same goals and dreams, to be as successful as possible. And to do this you need to do a little bit more than just play the game in my opinion; if you cannot be bothered with the details of a management simulation game then I suggest sticking to Pro Evolution or Fifa as those games you can be played with little or no thought.
Tactics
First up let’s take a look at the tactical side of the game and look at the various things you can do. Remember in CM 03/04 when all you needed to do to win a game was use a looney midfielder, because this took advantage of a flaw in the match engine, well this is a thing of the past on FM. Admittedly there still are flaws but not to the extreme of the looney midfield exploit and because of this a lot of people struggle with FM and cannot find that winning formula. You still can make a tactic and play with out changing it much if at all but some of your results might not be as good as you hoped.
I would say a big percentage of the game relies on the tactics that you and your team decide to employ. When you have choose the shape of the formation its always a good idea to look at the players you will be using in the positions and then having a look at the individual instructions and try and set them up so they actually match your players, there is no point telling a midfielder to run with the ball if he has poor stats for dribbling and the same could be said about telling a striker to do long shots often is he is no good at long shots. Just the little things like this can make all the difference to your results and can be the deciding factor in turning those dreaded draws into wins.
Once you have familiarised yourself with the players stats and instructions its then time to take a look at the opposition you are going to be playing next and alter the instructions yet again. I always look at who is likely to be in opposition’s starting line up and then have a look at my players and see who will be up against other, so I analyze player for player basically and make any changes that I see fit. A common problem I see from time to time is that I might need my fullbacks to tight mark the oppositions wingers to try and limit the time they have on the ball. I often do this especially if my fullbacks are good enough to stick with the wingers. If not then I might make them a little more defensive with hard tackling to win the ball. This is just one of the many things that I look for when studying the opposition.
It doesn't take too long to have a look at who the danger players are in the opposition’s squad and see if there is any way you can try and make them less involved in the game. Once you have done this then its onto the match itself, a lot of people I know only watch key highlights or commentary, but I always think its a good idea to watch the first 15 minutes of a game and you can normally pin point the faults of your tactic instantly and make any amendments early on. I often pause it and look at where my players are positioned and see if the opposition could exploit any gaps.
If I see something wrong I don't hesitate to change things and I do it more a less instantly. Every once in a while I will watch the full match and make a few notes of problems that I see and try and work on them. If I am happy how the tactic is playing out I will then move the match to key highlights only, but I check the player and team stats regular to see what is wrong and to see if there are any changes I can make. The first few times you do this it might take a while to look at all of this in detail, but the more you do it the easier it becomes and you begin to see things in a different light and get a better understanding of what won't work before it happens.
Training
You can download plenty of training schedules from various fan sites, but it’s worth spending 20 minutes or so to make schedules that get the most out of your players. You might find out if you downloaded one that the short effect of the training might be excellent but a bit further down the line it might be less consistent over a period of time. If you are to use a schedule that you have not created then try and choose one that as been tested over a period of time and that you know exactly what stats raise by using that schedule. Raising the player stats are easy to do, its sustaining it what is the key to a successful training schedule.
Have a look at your players and then decide what sort of training aspects they need to focus on more, you might find that a lot of time some players need extra physical training to become fitter. It’s not unusual to have six or seven different schedules for you to keep rotating your players into. Also try and keep a track of the stats that have been changing, you can keep track of this by using a programme called FM Coach, then when you want to compare a player’s progression over a period of time you can easily see the results and alter your schedules again accordingly to suit.
Remember though, you can enjoy success without paying as much detail as someone like me. However I believe if you want the most out of the game, then you need to first understand how it works.
Put more in, get more out 
I'm starting to enjoy the simple things.
Linear Mode
