Success in lower leagues?

I was just wondering has anybody had any major success with teams in BNS/S or BSP? When i first got the game its habit to go the club i support (Liverpool) and within three seasons i had mopped up the title, champions league fa cup etc and had a world class team and kind of got bored, and my next aim is always to bring a team from the lower depths or try to get myself to the prem as quick as possible.

The tactics seem so much easier for bigger clubs, but when going a smaller club fighting relegation of BSN/S the morale gets that low that nothin seems to work, especially when your not favourites for any of the games, so as you do you have a deeper defensive line and are cautious in your play and have a counter attacking mentality, the opposition just start scoring from ridiculous distances and its impossible to stop, but on the other hand try to apply pressure n push the team out and a defenders long ball turns into an amazing kaka-esque through ball! Anybody had any joy with players or alternative mentalities?

The way I play with lower league teams works quite well for me. I have a deep lying sweeper in the centre, who stays back at all times, has a very defensive mentality. Then I have a back 3, 2 at the wings and 1 in the centre. The 1 in the centre goes forward for corners and hangs around on the edge of the box. Then I have a defensive midfielder in the centre, and then two wingers in their normal midfield positions, 1 attacking midfielder in the centre, and 1 striker in the centre.

Mentality is normal, creative freedom is low, passing style is short, tempo is fast (though you have to have a pacey squad), and width is normal. The goalkeeper throws short to the sweeper who works it to the defensive midfielder, who plays it to the wingers, who get the crosses in.

It works for me anyways. There's always someone back for those fast strikers who seem to run through your midfield as if it weren't there, but you can afford to leave one man up in case there's a ball over the top.

I always start unemployed and as a semi-pro, and so my first job is usually in the BSN or BSS (with 10 this means getting a job sometime in October I've noticed). So far, a fairly fluid but fairly simple approach is working for my team.

For me, success at this level is more about matching your tactics to the abilities of your players. eg my current team are a bunch of midgets (something I'll be looking to solve through transfers and loans eventually), but they do have quite good technical ability for the level. So there's not much point trying to hoof the ball up front. My players aren't the quickest either, so balls direct down the flanks aren't really an idea unless I'm trying to counter a team who are pressing high up the pitch. Of course, the pitches are often ploughed up fields at this level, so I can't play a nice tidy passing game, but something on the short side of direct works well and playing a framework which allows them a bit of freedom to find space and be creative opens up defences.

I'm quite pragmatic with my formation - 4-4-1-1 or -4-4-2 are what I use mainly but I'll occasionally put out a 3-5-2 or a 4-2-3-1 if I think that will get better results. Because of the technical abilities of my players, I'm quite happy to retain possession of the ball but I use touchline shouts for 10 - 15 minute spells to get the ball wider and drill it into the box when I want to put more pressure on to get a goal.

Think I'll get promotion this season (currently playoffs with 10 matches left to go - took over when team was in lower mid table) although it will probably mean a struggle in the BSP unless I get very lucky in the transfer market over the summer.

I'm usually Arsenal, also kind of easy with tactics. I've just started a game with Chester and I've created 5 tactics already for different situations rather than just the 1. Only played one match so far, Friendly against Airbus??? Only won 3-1.

It's harder not just because I think tactics are more important but the fact I have heard of none of the players so I really have got to use my staff, instinct and also have to really watch how the players play.

I'm hoping since Chester were relegated before I should stand a good chance of going back up since I should be one of the stronger teams, I started unemployed with auto rep so it was either Chester or Morton.

The key is to use minimal creative freedom. Your players will typically be good at one thing and one thing only. So you need to get them playing quite one-dimensional football and just playing to their strengths. I use direct passing, less creative freedom, rigid mentality, and man marking.

I would just like to laugh at my last post. Only just noticed I'm on -25points. Need 9 wins just to get started! And judging by my friendly results it's gonna be a long season at Chester!