A Hundred Little Things

This is something I saw on a forum for a different game, which proved really helpful -- esentially a thread where people post brief tips and tricks, or 'little things', which might help other people out.

There are a few of these tips that appear in the game, but they tend to be of the 'a player with good penalty taking skills will be a good candidate for taking penalties' variety!

The rules:

1. Post your "little thing" as one brief bold sentence at the beginning of your post, like this. If you need to elaborate on it, do so in normal text, like this. That way, anyone looking for quick tips can skip all the explanation stuff.

2. This thread isn't the place to discuss these tips and tricks. If you disagree with something posted, or want clarification, hit the quote button, copy the quote, and paste it into a new thread.

3. It would be great if you'd use one of the headers below, in capitals, at the beginning of your "little thing". Having the headers will make it easier to bring all the stuff together, if it turns out useful.

* TACTICS

* TRAINING/PLAYER DEVELOPMENT

* SQUAD MANAGEMENT

* TRANSFERS/CONTRACTS

* INJURY MANAGEMENT

* MEDIA/TEAM-TALKS

* GENERAL/MISC

4. Your "little thing" can range anywhere from 'newbie pointers' to 'a subtle thing that even the best players might not know'. Don't be shy.

I'd better start

SQUAD MANAGEMENT: Don't be afraid to hang on to veteran players with strong personalities - they make great tutors

Even if they're no longer getting in to the first team, older players with good personalities such as 'mode professional' or 'driven' are well worth hanging on to, to act as mentors for promising youth players. Youngsters can make big improvements in hidden attributes such as their professionalism with a good tutor, which will give them a much better chance of reaching their potential, and make them easier to motivate and manage.

Don’t let your AssMan take games you expect to win, even when up 4-0. ‘Nuff said really.

BE THOROUGH: Don't forget to look at ALL the attributes before you sign someone.

Forgetting to look at attributes like Determination can mean you've just signed someone that will do very little for your team.

TRIAL PLAYERS - They often demand lower wages whilst on trial than they do when you offer in an out of contract approach

Trialing players is a great way of finding talent that you can't scout, you can trial out of contract players from anywhere in the world. Plus, even if you have scouted, very often they will expect a lower wage than just approaching them out of contract.

TRANSFERS/CONTRACTS: You can get players to sign for less than they 'demand'

When an agent is representing a player he will try to bump up the amount that his client can receive through wages. In almost all cases the amount a player asks for and what he accepts are two different things. A decent scout report will tell you how much you can expect to pay the player in wages. Remember that his agent will always try to get the most for his client so will start with a higher figure than what the player will accept.