What Makes You Good at FM?

Mind the unimaginative title of the thread, but driven by many a discussion across the forums, I'm beginning to wonder what are the reasons so many people find FM11 that easy. Let's leave long term games aside for a minute and focus on, let's say first 5 seasons.

Some people have said the main reason they dominate the game from day one are tactics, some have said players morale/motivation etc.

What do you think what makes you a successful player?

Do you...

...create tactics in classic mode, stick to it/them no matter what?

...use TC to make tactics and tweak them to adapt to weather conditions, pitch size, opposition etc.?

...think you know exactly what are 4-5 most crucial attributes you need in a player regardless of his position?

...know how to keep your players morale up via press conferences, chats, and team talks? ...or you leave everything to the ass man and don't give to sh*ts about it?

...or is there something else...maybe a bit of everything?

I create a tactic using the TC, then make strategy adjustments before the match depending on the opponent, and then watching the game I will change strategy or use shouts when things aren't going to plan.

I also get a good assistant who I can trust with team talks and press conferences, and trust my scouts to find the best young talent around so I can build a squad for the future, whilst hiring good coaches to train them.

I guess the main reason I am successful is that I keep it simple, especially with regards to tactics. The TC does all the work for you, as long as you have a reasonable knowledge of real world tactics then it's all quite logical.

Also, I am awesome.

Use the tactics creator to set up a formation I want to play. Buy players to fit it. Set the assistant to handle everything I don't want to go near. Hammer the space bar until I win things.

I suck at FM so I'd be curious to know how some people are so good lol.

Personally speaking staying in a job for the 1st 5 seasons is my goal, i rarely start with big clubs and im not really a journey man kinda player, i choose a club and stick with it until i get bored. I use simple tactics which expand as my team gets better and i keep ontop of moral and confidence.

I use the TC and touchline shouts, never really touch the sliders, leave training as standard.

Basically like others have said, keep it simple, dont chop and change constantly.

Use the tactics creator to set up a formation I want to play. Buy players to fit it. Set the assistant to handle everything I don't want to go near. Hammer the space bar until I win things.

And that's what great managers are made of :-)

(I do practically the same)

A bit of everything for me.

But, the most important, imo, its the tactic.

In fact, i usually spend 3 or 4 saves untill i create a good tactic. And a good tactic for me, is one that, without tweaks, allow me to win most of the games.

I dont like to tweak a tactic during games.

After the tactic problem is solved, for me it's all about findind the right players for the tactic.

The morale/motivation issue it's not really a problem. If you win, your players will always be happy.

now, i play like this, because i always play with the same team: Benfica. It's not a top team, but its a team that with a good tactic can dominate the Portuguese league and challenge for the champions league.

I believe that the way people play, it's also affect by the kind of team they choose! If you are managing Man United you can play one way... if you are managing a really small team just a good tactic wont solve your problems.

I think man management, motivating and tactical knowledge are the main things that make me good at FM plus in everything else I find myself to be at least competent. I'm also micro-management type, so I guess that helps too.

FM scout ha ha....just kidding.

I'm pretty average in the short term, my success usually comes from finding good players to fit my chosen system.

At the start:

I spend an inordinate amount of time setting up tactics, roles, hiring staff from coaches to physios.

I spend a lot of time - perhaps days even, searching and scouring the databases for players.

I buy any young player that shows a hint of potential but doesn't cost that much.

If I can't buy them I try to loan them.

I try my very best to have two players of equal standard for every position, with at least 2 players in reserve for cover and 2 players in the U18 team as backup to the backup - for every position.

I literally spend days getting the team right and finding my ideal transfer target before even 1 day passes in football manager! I do not press continue until I've found everyone I want in my team.

Next step:

Scout targets

I setup friendlies, against the best teams I can. And I test my tactics, tweak them. Give young and reserve players a run etc.

Next step:

Sign as many targets as I can

Then I'm ready to start the league after about 5 real days of prepping.

Overall I'm crap but with good staff and decent tactics I can achieve moderate success.

I stick to one tactic and never change my opponent should be worried about me I fear no team. Other than that I think I know when to sell and when to buy. The assman does press conferences I do team talks though and just say whatever makes sense to me at the time.

Experience life at the top and of the bottom, slowly building up my knowledge in the process.

I usually try to adapt the tactic to the players I have that way I don't have to mess with their harmony too much. As I progress and have to replace players as they are getting older I try to adjust the new players to how I would like to play. I usually don't make radical changes, instead I try to make small changes over time to get where I want to be. I try to have patience with the team as they settle into their roles and adapts to tactic, using team talks, press conferences and such to keep their morale decent even if they are off to a slow start.

Still I wouldn't say I'm particularly good at the game but I get by.

Im not good its taken me until the 2016 end season to hit the champions league.

What Makes You Good at FM?

I win games.

Im not good its taken me until the 2016 end season to hit the champions league.

I would say that depends on where you start out.

Screw complicated tactics...

Pacey and hardworking players are all you need... oh and a relatively balanced formation to suit a well-rounded squad.

Unless you go for ridiculously high odds, the AI tend to be average enough to allow even a not-so-refined manager to achieve decent success...

(that, or I'm really good and never noticed)

Personally speaking staying in a job for the 1st 5 seasons is my goal, i rarely start with big clubs and im not really a journey man kinda player, i choose a club and stick with it until i get bored. I use simple tactics which expand as my team gets better and i keep ontop of moral and confidence.

I use the TC and touchline shouts, never really touch the sliders, leave training as standard.

Basically like others have said, keep it simple, dont chop and change constantly.

I do this ^, plus luck

I would say that depends on where you start out.

Liverpool, thats why im not good.

Years of FM experience, I suppose.

I start a game, test a tactic/formation a few game months before deciding if it will be a sufficient one. If it is not, the players I have bought for it will likely not be the right ones for whatever I want to try next, so I abandon that game and start a new one.

I like picking lower-league (2nd division and below) teams from one of the three big nations, but usually choose a club that has a reasonably large stadium so that I don't hit the "glass roof" too early.

When I have a working tactic, I may either continue the game I developed it in, or start a new one.

The first thing I do when becoming the manager of a club, is to clear out the staff and hire people who know how to do their jobs. Then I set up my tactic(s) and start looking at the team, deciding which areas have too little cover or need strengthening.

Until I have reached the top (dominating the top national league) I do not bother with youth development. I prefer younger players, but the most important thing is to find bargains who strengthens the team. The most important quality I look for is their ability to handle pressure; Determination, Professionality etc - because I rarely tweak details of the tactic to suit one specific situation, instead I look for reoccuring problems. This means that I need my players to be motivated enough to perform up towards their best, since I feel that it is worthless to make permanent changes to my tactic based on poor performances caused by lack of a will to win (or fear of losing).

After this, I continue to sign better players (in terms of both suitability and skill) than the ones I have, concentrating on the weakest spots of the team one at a time. I prefer heavy squad rotation so I attempt to have at least double cover for each position, both as similar in quality and player type as possible. Since it is pointless rotating players who have no future at the club (unless necessary), the original team is gone quite quickly; normally only a few players remain after 2-3 seasons. I sell players nearing 30 years, with very few exceptions. This is mostly because their stats will drop so quickly that they will not be worth their wage bill.

National domination is inevitable when doing the above, since I have yet to see any AI team build squads anywhere near as intelligently (or realistically, really) as that. They will have good players yes, but they won't have -only- good players... and they will not have as good cover or replace players at that rate. Their wage policy will be inferior if contract negotiations are done correctly, their youth development will be random and not planned like ours, their signings will be erratic at best and their tactics are not as good.

I believe that anyone not succeeding at this game is simply not nerdy enough to deliberately and methodically learn all the little skills that it requires. It is a devotion that requires a bit of addiction and a lot of patience. If you can't be bothered with using that much energy to excel at a game which has as its main competitive strength that it can't ever be beaten , then that is probably a good thing

Edit: ... and I'm not even that good! Learning new things in here every day!

Use the tactics creator to set up a formation I want to play. Buy players to fit it. Set the assistant to handle everything I don't want to go near. Hammer the space bar until I win things.

Funny, I've tried that and it didn't go well. My team was far too inconsistent, regardless of players. Not until I started to pay more attention to details did I become more successful.

Not sure I count as being "good" at FM, but since CM I've stuck to a couple of simple principles.

Start off with a tactic to fit the players at your disposal. Buy the players to fit the tactic you want to play.

I'm fairly predictable, I like any tactic where I can play small, nippy skilful strikers and as an added bonus my team now comes with Suarez and a big lump of striker in carrol that I try to offload as soon as possible. Much as I love him, I'm not Kenny and I don't have room in my long term plan for a big striker, little forward, setup in my tactic. Season one though I need to a) not get sacked, b) get the board to give me as much money as possible to build the team that I actually want. So do I shoe horn carol into a tactic that will get me sacked, or design a tactic to fit that my two main strikers are a poacher ('kin animal) and a big lump you can fire balls at and maybe one of them will rebound off his pint glass and into the back of the net?

the CM match engine != "real" football. I think it was CM99 where a narrow 4-1-2-1-2 was king and your attacking MC would get 50-60 goals a season. In fact any tactic that used at least one AMC with half decent stats would stomp all over the AI. What works in the real world doesn't necessarily work (as well) in FM. I'm sure there are exceptions to the rule but I've read more threads than I care to recall along the lines of "Why doesn't a 4-2-3-1 work" or "How do I get my FM team to play like RL Barca, dominating possession etc etc". I'm sure that there are exceptions and I know a few die hard cheerleaders for the good old 4-4-2 in FM but my aim is not to emulate a tactic or style of play in the real world it's to knock Manchester United off their fscking perch and then stomp them into the ground whilst simultaneously poking chelsea in the eyes and getting the "special one" the sack by thrashing his bunch of diving ninnies in the CL final as many times as possible.

Read and learn. Much as I like the game and enjoy tinkering here and there I'm actually fairly casual a player. the idea of tinkering with training routines and all that cack isn't really for me but you'd better believe that I read an awful lot of threads from the guys who do enjoy doing that kind of thing to see what they're doing and I'll replicate it if it looks like it's working. why is that any different to how the real world works?

<insert favourite player> isn't the same in game and/or just doesn't fit how you want your team to play. Robbie Fowler works for me as a scout so there is some room for sentimentality but in the game, at some point, player X who you love will turn out to be pony [in your tactic]. Sell him, move on. I did have to sell Phil Jones though, awesome defender, but he now plays for the mancs and I can't have that in my team. Sometimes common sense has to take a back seat over what's important. Suarez is an exception, if you sell him, you're mental.

[edit] If it's not working right now, start again. I regularly have 2-3 practice runs up until january to scout players and try out tactics before I start my career game.

That's my tuppence.

What made me good at FM? The tactics forum on here.

Hammer the space bar until I win things.

I tried that, you owe me a new keyboard!

I keep it simple

It's just about signing the right players and fitting them onto the pitch, for me: tactics have never been my strong point!

I love building great youth setups, and I let my team dictate my tactics not the other way around.

However that said I have saves where I'm brilliant and others where I get up close and personal to the relegation zones...

Patience. Inch by motherf*cking inch. I set realistic expectations and I achieve things incrementally. Each season is a little better than the last. Each seasons squad is a little better than the last. Soon enough I've affected real, lasting change to my club. I'm also a master of rejuvinating the discarded and the unloved via the free transfer.

Actually I am extremely average at FM. But the foums helped make me better than I was.

Funny, I've tried that and it didn't go well. My team was far too inconsistent, regardless of players. Not until I started to pay more attention to details did I become more successful.

You obviously didn't hammer the keyboard hard enough.

Lots of scouting helps and getting that nucleus of the squad down helps.

being able to sign amazing players obvs !

Stop the sniping now.

Even after a warning you couldn't shut up- will leave this to the GD Mods to decide on further action. Thread closed