SUrviving the Premiership.

Hi

I have just been promoted through the playoffs with birmingham in my first season.

Just wondered if people have any tips on survivng the 1st season in the top flight?

Should i start with creating an epic defense? Or in the centre of midfield? Also tactics, is it best to be a direct team?

Any advice would be great. Cheers.

Cadbury

Defense and counter attack are your best friends!

5-4-1 or a 5-3-2 formation should help

loans and free transfers,watch your wage budget aswell incase you go back down.

Counter and many players on loan. Don't be afraid to send in a B-squad against Manchester UTD, because even with your A-Squad you will probably lose. Keep your players for the important matches: against other teams who are likely to end low. Winning these matches can give you the edge on the end of the season

With the first season in the permiership your looking at about 20 million spending money, get some nice players, i recommend aquino as a striker, cheap (1 mill maybe) and bags of goals.

Counter and many players on loan. Don't be afraid to send in a B-squad against Manchester UTD, because even with your A-Squad you will probably lose. Keep your players for the important matches: against other teams who are likely to end low. Winning these matches can give you the edge on the end of the season

LOL @ this logic.

Good advice, all.

Free transfers are your best bet for improving the club considering your (likely) weak transfer funds.

Remember to bring in your full-season loans; they can make a tremendous difference.

If you have transfer funds, focus them on your goalkeeper, central defenders, and central midfield; solid up the centre is a good watchword.

I tend to defend with a 4-1-4-1, but however you do it, limiting the number of players who go forward in attack will help. Paying close attention to your "Forward Runs" settings and who goes forward on corner kicks will make a big difference for you this season.

Tactically, Counter-attack, Direct, Quick football is probably best. I'd also recommend a pacey striker set as your Target Man, to "Run Onto Ball" .. with an alternate pacey striker to bring on around the 65th to 70th minute (fresh legs vs tired defense).

Also, spend plenty of time on your set piece instructions each game; making sure you have the right set-up of players in the right positions will help a lot. You're not going to score many goals, so you want to get the most out of set pieces that you can.

Veteran "Professional" players handle defeat better than promising but temperamental youth.

It is worth scrapping some games - especially away - by sending out a "B" side and accepting zero points. Don't start any regulars for those games, as you don't want morale to get hammered. Its probably also worth losing your way out of the Cups as quickly as you can (or at least, once you meet the board's expectations), just to get them off your fixture list.

Finally, be thoughtful with your Team Talks. "Pressure is off / Enjoy the rest of the game" will be valuable tools in your arsenal, but you do want to make sure to "Wish Luck" for games that you think might be close, and "You can win this" when you really are hoping to take three points. At halftime, don't routinely trot out "Encourage". "Pleased" becomes a valuable thing to say, especially if, for example, you've held Man U. scoreless through halftime. Don't worry about it causing your players to get complacent; it is more likely to fire them up. Also, remember that "I expect more from you" = "I'm disappointed so far", so don't knee-jerk to it when you're a goal down. A goal down away against Chelsea? A different team-talk may be your better choice. Its very important to keep a close eye on Morale when you're in a relegation-battling season.

Good advice, all.

Free transfers are your best bet for improving the club considering your (likely) weak transfer funds.

Remember to bring in your full-season loans; they can make a tremendous difference.

If you have transfer funds, focus them on your goalkeeper, central defenders, and central midfield; solid up the centre is a good watchword.

I tend to defend with a 4-1-4-1, but however you do it, limiting the number of players who go forward in attack will help. Paying close attention to your "Forward Runs" settings and who goes forward on corner kicks will make a big difference for you this season.

Tactically, Counter-attack, Direct, Quick football is probably best. I'd also recommend a pacey striker set as your Target Man, to "Run Onto Ball" .. with an alternate pacey striker to bring on around the 65th to 70th minute (fresh legs vs tired defense).

Also, spend plenty of time on your set piece instructions each game; making sure you have the right set-up of players in the right positions will help a lot. You're not going to score many goals, so you want to get the most out of set pieces that you can.

Veteran "Professional" players handle defeat better than promising but temperamental youth.

It is worth scrapping some games - especially away - by sending out a "B" side and accepting zero points. Don't start any regulars for those games, as you don't want morale to get hammered. Its probably also worth losing your way out of the Cups as quickly as you can (or at least, once you meet the board's expectations), just to get them off your fixture list.

Finally, be thoughtful with your Team Talks. "Pressure is off / Enjoy the rest of the game" will be valuable tools in your arsenal, but you do want to make sure to "Wish Luck" for games that you think might be close, and "You can win this" when you really are hoping to take three points. At halftime, don't routinely trot out "Encourage". "Pleased" becomes a valuable thing to say, especially if, for example, you've held Man U. scoreless through halftime. Don't worry about it causing your players to get complacent; it is more likely to fire them up. Also, remember that "I expect more from you" = "I'm disappointed so far", so don't knee-jerk to it when you're a goal down. A goal down away against Chelsea? A different team-talk may be your better choice. Its very important to keep a close eye on Morale when you're in a relegation-battling season.

One of the best posts I've seen here for years. Just wanted to point that out!

The words of the great Sir Steve Coppell: "We're not in this division to beat the Manchester Uniteds and the Liverpools, those are free games where we can do what we want. A bonus, simply".

Thanks, Nicolai. :o

4-4-2 attacking A good keeper and pace generally in most departments helps too

palermo keeper alagardi or however it's spelt didn't sign a new contract with them on my game, keep an eye on him, he's a good keeper, i snapped up at end of his contract.

I wonder if Phil Brown would agree with these posts about sending out a B team against the 'big 4'. Hull have collected 4 points at the Emirates, OT and Anfield scoring 7 goals in the process. Very few teams will manage that this season.

I too would like to congratulate Amaroq with his post, absolutely spot on, especially with getting knocked out the cups early and resting key players against the best teams as your squad will be 100% whereas your opponents may still be tired from a game before once they have a busy schedule.

I finished 12th in my first season in the Premiership with Cardiff (2nd season on the game). I played counter attack and direct as I knew I could not match the better teams by outplaying them. I simply signed 2 strikers - Danny Haynes and Bogdan Stancu, both fast and both useful for counter attacking. Get as many good free transfers as possible and sell every player who you think is not good enough to raise money.

Do everything you can to sign Jankovic on a free. His stats rapidly shoot up and I ended up selling him for 20.5 million the next season to Man City, and that was only because Ridsdale accepted it for me, I would have turned it down! Good luck!

I'm thinking about starting a game with Cardiff aswell. I like their mix of players. A few outstanding, older, experienced players, and a few players with huge potential.

To be fair Cardiff have a good team on the game and if you play the right tactics, the current squad should be good enough to get promotion. If you do start a game let me know and I will try and help you.

One of the best posts I've seen here for years. Just wanted to point that out!

The words of the great Sir Steve Coppell: "We're not in this division to beat the Manchester Uniteds and the Liverpools, those are free games where we can do what we want. A bonus, simply".

In general keep it tight and as someone said..get those set pieces right and that could be the difference between a loss and grabbing a point or one point and taking all three.

Maybe pick up a few experianced Premiership players on frees

Pity that Hull's approach to the Premier League has thrown the whole 'B Side-Top 4' theory right out of the water, hey?

Or perhaps its because positive football gets positive results.

Yeah, going with option 2

I'd look to sign solid CB's first and a very good midfielder probably of the defensive mould so you have a spine to build on and look at maybe a keeper like tono on loan if your current keeper isnt that great.

Avoid the temptation to go ultra defensive in your formation and soak up a ton of pressure for 90 mins. That's what people are naturally inclined to do but from personal experience that never really works since you don't get nearly enough possession and eventually the number of shots on goal is going to lead to a break through. And from there on its all downhill. I've had better success against Man United, Liverpool and Chelsea by playing straight up with a 4-4-1-1 or a 4-4-2 either tying or losing by close margins (and scoring some goals) with the win every once in awhile.

In general:

1) Conservative fullbacks and wingers. Either never having forward runs or mixed. Crossing is mixed or from deep.

2) Hard tackling. Pay attention to target opposition settings, doing the little things like closing down wingers, showing onto weaker foot for strikers/wingers, tight marking on midfielders in some cases, etc. These can go a long way to making a difference. Strikers should also be working to close down, tackling etc.

3) Counterattack.

4) Avoid the long ball. You'll notice in FM that never really translates into "long" and for some reasons your players will never get it past midfield and it just is a terrible way to lose possession easily.

5) Midfield is important, they'll be the difference between if you're able to keep possession and/or make use of what possession you're able to get. A holding midfielder is probably essential, but be careful playing him right on top of the defenders else you'll find he's just sitting there doing nothing.

6) Don't be impatient with your lineup. If you have a lineup which seems decent on paper, stick with it for a few games. More so than previous years, in FM09 it pays to have consistency with a team and you'll see them play better as the season goes on.

7) Forget the cup matches. You want your 1st team playing as many of the league games as possible.

As far as personnel goes, I think what ranks as most important for surviving:

1) Goalkeeper - Often times the only thing keeping you in the game and can single handedly get points for you (loss->draw, draw->win)

2) Striker - At least 1 striker who you KNOW can score given the chance. Realistically if you're team is undertalented and on the short-end of the stick you'll be getting only a handful (at most) of good chances in the game. Nothing worse than seeing your striker shoot a mile off. At the same time avoid blowing the budget on someone who well "eh he's not exactly what I want but looks sort of good maybe he'll be ok"

3) Centre back - General rules apply (> 6 ft, good ratings in defending categories such as tackling, heading, marking, decent speed, jumping) in addition to intelligence and decision making. You don't want the game decided by the centre back making the worse choice at the worst possible time.

4) Midfielder - This guy has to be as close to the complete package as possible. He has to be able to defend, win challenges while at the same time make good decisions with the ball and one or two key passes a game. Often times you'll find the counters starting from the midfield winning the ball with a key tackle.

If necessary take veteran players you know can get it done for a single season. Avoid paying for the prospects which will be good a few yrs down the road that people so highly recommend on this forum. Example: first season I signed Bobo Balde for 30k. Gave me 32 games and a 7+ rating. Granted I had to find a new CB the next season but with more money obviously I had a lot more options.

Formations would probably be 4-4-2, 4-1-4-1, 4-4-1-1.

LOL @ this logic.

What's wrong with it? By B-squad i don't mean your reserves. I mean your substitues who play less than 50% of your games. Because even with your best players you won't get a result against the top-4. So it's better not to risk any injuries with them and give them some rest. The players who normally don't play will be happy also. It's win-win. Sure you gonna lose, but you will 99/100 with your best players too. Especially in your first year.

I find that if you do reproduce the "Phil Brown approach" on FM it can work against the big four sometimes - survival does not always have to be about ultra-defense! The problem with that approach is that if you go ultra-defensive, its really easy to lose 1-0.

Big ups to Amarok for that excellent post too by the way...fantastic.

This is all brilliant info and advice guys, well appreciate it! Cheers, especially amaroq!

p.s. Just brough Zarate back to blues for 1.5 mill, after he returned to al-sadd from lazio. and he doesnt want any wages, just 90k signing on fee! Whats that about?

I'd imagine that is a bug