Football Manager 2011

[Simmsy]

Well, it looks like the takeover is nearing and the new owners want to replace me with Owen Coyle despite my job varying between very secure and untouchable, having Leicester in the CL places constantly all season. Any advice on how to keep my job?

[Bugg]

Well, it looks like the takeover is nearing and the new owners want to replace me with Owen Coyle despite my job varying between very secure and untouchable, having Leicester in the CL places constantly all season. Any advice on how to keep my job?

Nothing you can do, one of my mates got Port Vale to the Prem in four seasons and got replaced by Gary Neville because of a board takeover

[The Doctor]

Well, it looks like the takeover is nearing and the new owners want to replace me with Owen Coyle despite my job varying between very secure and untouchable, having Leicester in the CL places constantly all season. Any advice on how to keep my job?

while the take-over is going on, make sure you're doing well results wise to get them to at least consider keeping you on. Also, through personal conversations & team-talks, try and get your players to universally like you.

Whether this actually works, I don't know, but it would make sense for that to be the case & most of my back-room staff + players had me on favoured personnel when my take-over went through.

[Finnegan]

I think it's just a generic message. Pretty sure I was top of the Prev once on a Leicester save on a previous version and it told me the new owners wanted someone ridiculous like Lawrie Sanchez to take over.

Unsurprisingly I kept my job.

[Simmsy]

The take-over collapsed, thank god. I went on to finish 3rd and have so far signed Pastore and Khediera in the summer, with plenty of money lesft to spend

[Collymore]

Is Mills a goal machine for anyone else on FM? He's scored 11 goals already and I've still got half a season to go! A corner seems to equal a goal with the guy!

[Night Air]

Is Mills a goal machine for anyone else on FM? He's scored 11 goals already and I've still got half a season to go! A corner seems to equal a goal with the guy!

I can't get anyone to score never mind defend! I've tried plenty of formations and tactics and nothing works with the new guys! Pantsil is just pants!

[Collymore]

I can't get anyone to score never mind defend! I've tried plenty of formations and tactics and nothing works with the new guys! Pantsil is just pants!

I agree Pantsil was crap! St Ledger was my RB for the season.

out of all the players we have signed, none seemed to really impress other than Mills! Johnson got injured for 18 months, Danns huffed and puffed but never really got settled, konchesky was steady to be fair and so was Schmichael.

I had to spend another 30 million to guarantee 1st place in the championship.

[Ashley]

Question on FM, can you edit the database to start in the 2011-12 season? Also can you make a pre season fixture list?

Thanks.

[Collymore]

Question on FM, can you edit the database to start in the 2011-12 season? Also can you make a pre season fixture list?

Thanks.

I think you can actually say which season you want to start in when setting up the game. Can you not just arrange the friendlies yourself?

[shen]

Question on FM, can you edit the database to start in the 2011-12 season? Also can you make a pre season fixture list?

Thanks.

Don't think you can.

[DB11]

Question on FM, can you edit the database to start in the 2011-12 season? Also can you make a pre season fixture list?

Thanks.

No, because that would encourage you to not buy FM12

[Dan LCFC]

Following my shit start after spending loads, we've backed it, with more utter shit.

I cannot understand this team one single bit. Full of absolute wonderkids, yet every single we're at least matching the opposition, and every single game not getting what we deserve.

A few things baffle me about this game now, firstly the one at Vauxhall, just HOW the fvck have you managed that? Promotion after promotion but then even succeeding in the Premier League? Seriously how the hell do you do this? I can't help feeling there's something big on the game I'm not doing properly, I've been the same ever since I've got it, just totally inconsistent.

Signings, I've landed some of these wonderkids, but the likes of Abel Hernandez etc... not interest, Lacina Traore, not interested, Phil Jones, not interested. How the fvck did any of you get them?

Player instructions, am I going wrong here? Do you use any before the game?

Training, nothing ever works.

That's my problem, I've not yet found a winning formula, I don't get how there's just nothing I can ever use that'd fire me up the way that lad has with Vauxhall. I'd love to know what he does every game.

[GLC]

Need advice, been with Leicester 14 years and won the pl and cl 10 times, been offered the barca job, don't know whether to take it or not

[Kent]

Following my shit start after spending loads, we've backed it, with more utter shit.

I cannot understand this team one single bit. Full of absolute wonderkids, yet every single we're at least matching the opposition, and every single game not getting what we deserve.

A few things baffle me about this game now, firstly the one at Vauxhall, just HOW the fvck have you managed that? Promotion after promotion but then even succeeding in the Premier League? Seriously how the hell do you do this? I can't help feeling there's something big on the game I'm not doing properly, I've been the same ever since I've got it, just totally inconsistent.

Signings, I've landed some of these wonderkids, but the likes of Abel Hernandez etc... not interest, Lacina Traore, not interested, Phil Jones, not interested. How the fvck did any of you get them?

Player instructions, am I going wrong here? Do you use any before the game?

Training, nothing ever works.

That's my problem, I've not yet found a winning formula, I don't get how there's just nothing I can ever use that'd fire me up the way that lad has with Vauxhall. I'd love to know what he does every game.

I'm no FM expert by any means and I'm sure a few of the lads on here will be able to give you a lot more sound advice than me. I don't play it all year round but I think the last couple of periods I've played it I've learnt a few things.

One thing I would definitely say is don't underestimate mental attributes which goes hand-in-hand with older and experienced players. In lower leagues 80% of the players seem to be u20 but I think it's important to have one or two older 28-32+ players in the starting XI who inevitably have good mental attributes and preferably good influence also.

Another thing is take notice of the Match Preparation screen, I usually leave it on Team Blend for the first year at least and the 'Current' tab gives you a good indication of how consistent your team should be based on formation and system (obviously doesn't take the X other number of factors into account but it's important).

These are all probably basic things that you might already do but I know I used to overlook them.

[Night Air]

Collymore what formation did you use?

[Collymore]

Collymore what formation did you use?

A straight 4-3-3 seemed to be the best - Although I did change to 4-4-2 when I sensed the game was trying to punish for me for the same formation - then reverted back after a few games

Quick question - Do I blow £15M on Phil Jones who can play RB and CB, or 15M on Hutton and Samba? Can't afford all together obviously. What should I do - how good does Jones get? I need a quick answer as I've already delayed them all one week! Cup of tea time

[Simmsy]

Hamsik for about £25m or Pastore for £37m, or any other suggestions? Would also like a pacey forward if anyone has any suggestions? (My budget is just under £70m after Arsenal paid over £10m for Wickham from me and Fenerbache bought Babel from me for £4m when I signed him for free.)

[Narborough_fox]

A straight 4-3-3 seemed to be the best - Although I did change to 4-4-2 when I sensed the game was trying to punish for me for the same formation - then reverted back after a few games

Quick question - Do I blow £15M on Phil Jones who can play RB and CB, or 15M on Hutton and Samba? Can't afford all together obviously. What should I do - how good does Jones get? I need a quick answer as I've already delayed them all one week! Cup of tea time

Jones, becomes stupidly good and is England's best Centre-back at 22 on my game.

[Collymore]

Jones, becomes stupidly good and is England's best Centre-back at 22 on my game.

Brilliant! I chose him after Hutton went to Everton. He scored on his debut too!

[ramboacdc]

won the championship for a record 8th time. back in the prem and falling off again.

lost to peterborough in the league cup! could have cried. had no drubbings just yet but im just off par yet again with them! its a joke how much of a fathom in talent and skill there is. signed santa cruz, bridge, insua etc and im still struggling.

[shen]

Following my shit start after spending loads, we've backed it, with more utter shit.

I cannot understand this team one single bit. Full of absolute wonderkids, yet every single we're at least matching the opposition, and every single game not getting what we deserve.

A few things baffle me about this game now, firstly the one at Vauxhall, just HOW the fvck have you managed that? Promotion after promotion but then even succeeding in the Premier League? Seriously how the hell do you do this? I can't help feeling there's something big on the game I'm not doing properly, I've been the same ever since I've got it, just totally inconsistent.

Signings, I've landed some of these wonderkids, but the likes of Abel Hernandez etc... not interest, Lacina Traore, not interested, Phil Jones, not interested. How the fvck did any of you get them?

Player instructions, am I going wrong here? Do you use any before the game?

Training, nothing ever works.

That's my problem, I've not yet found a winning formula, I don't get how there's just nothing I can ever use that'd fire me up the way that lad has with Vauxhall. I'd love to know what he does every game.

The reason stars are not interested (yet) is because your reputation as a manager, that of your club and/or that of the league you're in is too low/doesn't match their reputation. You cannot see your reputation other than the grading on the club info screen (local < regional < national < continental < world-wide). The club's rep is also affected by the training facilities. Obviously cup and league success increases your rep, but it does so rather slowly. Sometimes, your low rep can be used to your advantage when loaning players for example. If you're skint, your unlikely to have to pay loan fees or wages, but obviously you still have to look for a player who's good enough and wants to play for you.

I'm a nitty gritty FM player. I go into a lot of detail and spend A LOT of time scouring the market looking for specific types of players. I use Dunc's training schedules as a base and adjust them according to my personnel. In order to get the maximum effect out of training schedules, you need to adjust the overall workload to the personality of your players. Now, you can't see more about his personality than what is written on the player's info screen. If he's professional or even determined and has a high work rate, you can set his training to heavy. In fact, I'd advise you to do that to every player that has a high workrate and/or has a professional personality, then regularly check their training tab. If they're "unhappy with the high workload" tone it down a bit and check again. Your backroom staff will usually tell you in the advice screen if some players are unhappy with the workload.

If you have young players with low work rate or aren't professional, try to tutor them with an appropriate mentor (needs to be over 24, have a higher squad status than the tutee, has to have the same natural position as the tutee and obviously should be professional and have high work rate).

I always use player instructions, for every player. I use the same 4-3-3 base tactic, but it becomes very flexible with PI's, e.g. my team plays different if I play with a deep/adv central playmaker or a striker trequartista/DLF (sup). I change my fullbacks to sup/attack when up against equal/easier opposition, and to def when I'm up against stronger oppo. But in general I give PIs according to the personnel.

When giving team talks prior to matches, avoid saying the same thing twice in a row. Make a mental note (or an in-game one) on how players react to your different TTs. Rule of thumb is that when you're a favourite, you should say Expect a win. When you're a big underdog tell them the pressure's off. When you're a slight underdog but have high morale across the board, use You can win this. Individual TTs depend entirely on the personality of the player.

And lastly, you need some luck and patience to get the run I had. I should never have been able to get out of the Champo at the first attempt, but I managed to get a couple of vital loans in, which made all the difference.

As another one said, look out for your match preparation screen. During off-/pre-season your accustomization levels for your tactics usually drop. Set the Team Training bar to high/very high to learn it back as quickly as possible. Also set your special focus to Team Blend, especially in pre-seasons where you're selling/buying many players. Once the season starts, I usually just stick it to Attacking Movement.

[Dan LCFC]

The reason stars are not interested (yet) is because your reputation as a manager, that of your club and/or that of the league you're in is too low/doesn't match their reputation. You cannot see your reputation other than the grading on the club info screen (local < regional < national < continental < world-wide). The club's rep is also affected by the training facilities. Obviously cup and league success increases your rep, but it does so rather slowly. Sometimes, your low rep can be used to your advantage when loaning players for example. If you're skint, your unlikely to have to pay loan fees or wages, but obviously you still have to look for a player who's good enough and wants to play for you.

I'm a nitty gritty FM player. I go into a lot of detail and spend A LOT of time scouring the market looking for specific types of players. I use Dunc's training schedules as a base and adjust them according to my personnel. In order to get the maximum effect out of training schedules, you need to adjust the overall workload to the personality of your players. Now, you can't see more about his personality than what is written on the player's info screen. If he's professional or even determined and has a high work rate, you can set his training to heavy. In fact, I'd advise you to do that to every player that has a high workrate and/or has a professional personality, then regularly check their training tab. If they're "unhappy with the high workload" tone it down a bit and check again. Your backroom staff will usually tell you in the advice screen if some players are unhappy with the workload.

If you have young players with low work rate or aren't professional, try to tutor them with an appropriate mentor (needs to be over 24, have a higher squad status than the tutee, has to have the same natural position as the tutee and obviously should be professional and have high work rate).

I always use player instructions, for every player. I use the same 4-3-3 base tactic, but it becomes very flexible with PI's, e.g. my team plays different if I play with a deep/adv central playmaker or a striker trequartista/DLF (sup). I change my fullbacks to sup/attack when up against equal/easier opposition, and to def when I'm up against stronger oppo. But in general I give PIs according to the personnel.

When giving team talks prior to matches, avoid saying the same thing twice in a row. Make a mental note (or an in-game one) on how players react to your different TTs. Rule of thumb is that when you're a favourite, you should say Expect a win. When you're a big underdog tell them the pressure's off. When you're a slight underdog but have high morale across the board, use You can win this. Individual TTs depend entirely on the personality of the player.

And lastly, you need some luck and patience to get the run I had. I should never have been able to get out of the Champo at the first attempt, but I managed to get a couple of vital loans in, which made all the difference.

As another one said, look out for your match preparation screen. During off-/pre-season your accustomization levels for your tactics usually drop. Set the Team Training bar to high/very high to learn it back as quickly as possible. Also set your special focus to Team Blend, especially in pre-seasons where you're selling/buying many players. Once the season starts, I usually just stick it to Attacking Movement.

Cheers a bunch mate and I've saved that into my notepad on this.

Just a couple of things though, where would you say I'm going wrong with player instructions?

This is my routine;

GK & All defenders; No instruction.

CDM; 95% of the time no instruction, only close down if they have a killer long shot.

CM; Used to always close them down, but it never seemed to pay off, it sure stopped them scoring but forwards bagged more. Now I'll only close them down if their long shooting is of a high standard.

CAM; Often close down, show onto weaker foot and mark them tightly.

RM/LM; Show onto weaker foot, every game.

RAM/LAM; Show onto weaker foot and occasionally mark tightly, I'm clueless as to if this will help.

ST; Used to close down but don't anymore as I feel I conceded more goals, I may be wrong. Always mark tightly, always show onto weaker foot.

I feel I'm going wrong somewhere because I'm still defensively inept, then again my footballing brain is attacking and I'm generally fvcking clueless when it comes to any sort of defending, I can normally always make my sides lethal but when I do focus on defence, we just don't pull it off, any more help? Hero if you do, would be much appreciated.

[shen]

Cheers a bunch mate and I've saved that into my notepad on this.

Just a couple of things though, where would you say I'm going wrong with player instructions?

This is my routine;

GK & All defenders; No instruction.

CDM; 95% of the time no instruction, only close down if they have a killer long shot.

CM; Used to always close them down, but it never seemed to pay off, it sure stopped them scoring but forwards bagged more. Now I'll only close them down if their long shooting is of a high standard.

CAM; Often close down, show onto weaker foot and mark them tightly.

RM/LM; Show onto weaker foot, every game.

RAM/LAM; Show onto weaker foot and occasionally mark tightly, I'm clueless as to if this will help.

ST; Used to close down but don't anymore as I feel I conceded more goals, I may be wrong. Always mark tightly, always show onto weaker foot.

I feel I'm going wrong somewhere because I'm still defensively inept, then again my footballing brain is attacking and I'm generally fvcking clueless when it comes to any sort of defending, I can normally always make my sides lethal but when I do focus on defence, we just don't pull it off, any more help? Hero if you do, would be much appreciated.

Ah, you're on about opposition instructions. Player instructions are the individual tactics for your players, or at least that's how I understand it. When it comes to opposition instructions, I've not had consistent results. I usually go with my assistant's suggestions (provided he has good tactical knowledge) and tweak.

For defenders I leave them be (along with the GK. In previous versions I put close down on their GK as strikers would sometimes get cheap goals that way. Haven't tried it in this version.). Unless their fullbacks are bombing forward and have good crossing, at which point I will instruct weaker foot (maybe even directly left/right) and maybe close down.

For central midfielders I always show onto weaker foot. If they're entirely one-footed, I tell my players to show onto specific weak foot.

With wingers I set to weaker foot and if they're not too pacy/strong dribblers compared to my fullbacks defensive stats, I close them down too. Inside forwards should not be closed down. Rather show onto weaker foot, maybe hard tackle and just let them run into cul-de-sacs. This obviously becomes tricky when the AI plays with swapping wingers/IFs. Never mark tightly though!!

CAMs rarely give me problems. Close down, show onto weaker foot and most of the time they should be hard tackled.

Strikers always on weaker foot, but I rarely mark tightly. My assistant seems to think this should only be done if their strikers are much better than my defenders. You need the right personnel to do this too (i.e. marking, concentration, team work, work rate, anticipation etc. and physical stats to match the oppo striker). If the striker is on his own I usually tight mark and close down.

I use hard tackling a lot too. Rule of thumb for wide players and strikers is to tackle good dribblers hard and poor dribblers easy. I look at their bravery, aggression and natural fitness stats. If the former and latter are low, go for it. You can injure them (mwahaha) or intimidate them that way, i.e. they will not attempt dribbles as much. If aggression is high, you can sometimes rile them up which provokes them into taking cards.

Lastly, I should point out that the oppo instructions and team instructions (player instructions partly too) obviously work together. Because I play attacking football, my team pushes up quite high and closes down a lot (even when I tell the single player not to or say don't close this oppo player down) by default, so changing these things have marginal effects. Instead if you player around with sideline instructions or 'shouts' as I believe they're called, you may get more noticeable results. I.e. dropping deeper, playing narrower, stand off will give a much more marked change in your performance.

[Simmsy]

Arsenal want to be Leicester on my game now. They've signed one of my players for a much overpriced amount, bid for 2 others and have now approached me with a contract to manage them.