Football Manager 2011 general questions

[Mist]

Heh, I read the great posts by Mist in the first SG thread, about how you can shape the players according to your needs via training, so I thought training is very important. Definitely didn't think its influence is only 10%

It's only small fraction of what's required to bring a young player up to his full potential, so in this sense it's influence is low. But if you want to reshape grown up players it's very important, because it's the only tool at hand.

Either way, you won't have much successes with either at low leagues. You can go after player shaping, but with poor facilities and low skill coaches the sensitivity to slider tweaks will be very low and results much more unpredictable. I'd aim for binary sliders ( as in full slider, half slider and one tick slider ) and hope for the best.

Anyway, if I'm hiring coaches, best not to pick them at random

Good sentiment.

I tend to pick my coaches as follows -

Assistant Manager - should have Tactical Knowledge ( for in-match feedback ), JPA and JPP ( for accurate star ratings ), Personality matching prevailing squad and Motivation ( for teamtalk suggestions ) and Nationality bringing scouting knowledge the team doesn't have yet. If I can't have it all I prioritize in order listed. He's assigned to all scheudles

Coaches - at least one each for Attacking, General, Defensive, Fitness and Goalkeeping coaching style. Attacking to train Attacking and Shooting, General to train Ball Control and Tactics, Defending to train Defense. I also want to have high Man Management ( shows hidden attributes like consistency ), Motivation ( improves training effects ) and Discipline ( improves training effects ) on the coaching team, with people having these assigned to all schedules.

Scout should have JPA or JPP, Determination ( for more results ) and Discipline ( for more accurate and consistent result ).

I don't play with attribute masking, because it's my first game, I'm still finding my feet, and am not treating it too seriously (I even allow myself to reload in case of an unfavourable result from time to time). But I think scouts are valuable in any case, because they can see hidden attributes like adaptability.

They also make you aware of more players on the market. Players you're not aware of ( low reputations especially ) don't show on Player Search.

[Mist]

As a complete aside - FM 2012 is due for release on 21st of October. Anyone up for a community save?

[Twinkletoes89]

As a complete aside - FM 2012 is due for release on 21st of October. Anyone up for a community save?

I've still got a couple of FM11 saves i'm enjoying atm so I'll probably wait a while before getting it.

Would be interested in lurking it just to see if its much of an improvement though

[Dantski]

Same as TT only I'm not currently playing FM. I'm not really into buying a game which is probably just a fancy patch or the old one.

[yuris125]

Thanks for the advice! Can we talk some specific examples?



This is my ass man. I kept him from the previous team. Probably should've sacked, his stats don't look good, I suspect I can find much better. He achieved reasonable success with my reserve team (3rd in the competition, behind a Championship and a League 2 team, and we have a chance to overtake the latter, being just 1 point behind), but I think this is more thanks to the players I signed than to his abilities

The coaches however look decent





Hancox is in charge of attacking, shooting and ball control; Lloyd works with goalkeepers and U18s; Bird does the rest. Would you recommend keeping Hancox and Lloyd, or looking for better?

Both my scouts have decent JPA/JPP (around 11) and discipline (15), but very low determination (3 and 4), so I guess I should look for better too. The problem is, there aren't many scouts willing to join the club on the salary allowed by the board. Maybe I'll get a lucky takeover and a better budget next season

By the way, are there any money in the reserves competition?

[Mist]

This is my ass man. I kept him from the previous team. Probably should've sacked, his stats don't look good, I suspect I can find much better.

Yup, fire him, you can find better, though you should not necessarily look for an assistant.

The coaches however look decent

Make Lloyd your assistant. Find yourself a Fitness Coach, lower leagues can and are won by physical attributes, fitness and morale most of the time.

Both my scouts have decent JPA/JPP (around 11) and discipline (15), but very low determination (3 and 4), so I guess I should look for better too. The problem is, there aren't many scouts willing to join the club on the salary allowed by the board. Maybe I'll get a lucky takeover and a better budget next season

Keep them, they are good enough for the level you're playing on and there's no reason to spend money on better. Try to get someone with c.a. 15 in one of the JPx once you get to League 2.

By the way, are there any money in the reserves competition?

Nope, they are useful only for keeping backup members of first team squad match fit and giving your u18 players some better quality match time. You can earn some money by arranging away friendlies for your reserve team though, but the amounts are hardly worth it below Championship level reputations.

[yuris125]

Is Lloyd good enough to be an ass man? 4 JPP concerns me, and his training stats are unimpressive, although if I keep him working with goalkeepers and put in charge of reserves and U18s, it should be ok

Do I need to put together a decent U18 team? My youngsters are all bad, current ability of 0.5 or 1 star, just 2 or 3 select ones have potential of 2-2.5 stars. So if I want to win anything at U18 level, I need to search for decent young players in addition to strengthening my main team. I'm not in a U18 competition this season, and I wonder if there's a reason to bother at this level

Oh, and the board agreed to let me hire 2 more coaches a fitness coach and a defensive coach signed, hope improvement will be noticeable

[Twinkletoes89]

Leave the U18 team alone totally. You won't win anything of note nor will it make you any money.

All your money needs to focus on the first team at the level you are at. Experienced players are a god-send for a climb up the leagues and youth players will be hugely hit and miss. Also, you won't attract any decent U19s right now that would justify the expense and time spent finding them.

[Mist]

Is Lloyd good enough to be an ass man? 4 JPP concerns me, and his training stats are unimpressive, although if I keep him working with goalkeepers and put in charge of reserves and U18s, it should be ok

JPP on assistant is only important if you are planning to take care of youth players and can't be bothered to look for second opinion from your other coaches. I always pick two best for each JP and tend to average out on what they say in reports.

Do I need to put together a decent U18 team? My youngsters are all bad, current ability of 0.5 or 1 star, just 2 or 3 select ones have potential of 2-2.5 stars.

Don't bother, your own youth set up has ultra low odds on producing someone worthwhile and attracting them from other team is a waste of money.

Oh, and the board agreed to let me hire 2 more coaches a fitness coach and a defensive coach signed, hope improvement will be noticeable

Coaching improvements show up long term. Any week on week changes are season fitness fluctuations and should be discarded for training purposes. The shortest period you should consider for comparison is a season.

[yuris125]

Ok! I will wait until it's closer to the end of the season though, otherwise his pay rise won't go well with the board

One more question, one of my players is regularly getting called for Wales U19 games. Should I be proud of him, glad that it's a morale boost for him, or annoyed that he becomes tired during non-club games? In general, do I want to have international players on the team?