I feel lost and full of doubts

[EddDoloroso]

After failing to succeed with St Albans City, Merthyr FC and Salisbury, I am feeling lost and doubting what little I knew about football. I think that help would be most welcome and I will be very grateful to anyone who can help me!

In FM20, I have no additional leagues so the last playable English division is Vanarama National League South / North. In my save, Merthyr FC, Salisbury and now my current club Lowestoft Town can only be managed if they come up from the 7th English division. For me who start out unemployed, with the National License C and the experience of a Sunday League player, I thought it was quite interesting. If you are relegated, there is no way to play with that club again until it goes up again, if it goes up.

I got into the job right in the first pre-season friendly. 4 weeks to assemble the squad before the first official match. And I am facing the following questions:

• I have read a lot of posts that say that in lower league I should prioritize physical over technical. Then, I shouldn't use an AMC, right? Because it seens to me that it is only viable in higher division because technique is something that is hard to find in lower leagues.

 

• So I came to the conclusion I should use 4-4-2 because 2 strikers in the front is good for counter attack, wing play and route one, tatics that seens to prioritize physical over technical. I can't find good depth and quality in wingbacks position to try a 3-5-2, so I shouldn't try to retraing fullbacks as wingbacks in such a lower league because of my training facilities and staff quality, right?

 

• One advice that is very frequent is that I should get loans. Lowestoft Town have Norwich City as a affiliate club but they don't want to loan players for because "they would prefer their player to play with higher quality players". And when I search for loans from other clubs, there isn't much difference between the quality of free players. In some cases, free players have much more quality like Antonhy Spyrou (former Norwich City).

 

• I have a £20,475 p/m wage budget. £13,654 is already taken by 11 players at the club. Is there a real risk of being fired for using like £25,000 p/m or £30,000 p/m in wages?

 

• With St Albans City I noticed that lower league players have some difficulty at dribbling. My winger was getting a lot of corners because everytime they tried to dribble and cross, they faield but tried to cross anyway and then would win the corner. So I shouldn't encourage my players to dribble, right? Then It seens I should use wide midfielders in 4-4-2 because this role doesn't have "Dribble More" instruction. But I can't find players with role familiarity and attributes for that role. Is it a good ideia to try wingers anyway but it the team instruction "Dribble Less"?

 

I know some things I should try on my own and analyze the result but I really wanted some advice so as not to be relegated and fired again for the fourth time. Any advice will be welcome, thank you!

[Andros]

Hi, I am no tactical expert, but here are my take on things:

 

1. I have seen the same advice in regards to focusing on physical rather than technicals for lower divisions.  However, there are many types of AMC so I would not entirely rule them out (EG shadow striker).  So if you were to replace a striker with an AMC, it could still work.  Perhaps you are referring to more of a playmaker role?  If you have somebody with better playmaker skills (first touch, technique, passing and vision) that are significantly better than the other players in your team, then you would want him to get the ball and use it.  I would not be afraid of giving them a playmaker role, even if their physicals are not good, as long as those around him have the physical attributes to make up for him.  I mean Iniesta in his prime was never a physical demon, but he could do a job in Lowestoft Town!  However, if nobody is significantly better, then consider not using that kind of role.

 

2. Dont worry so much about a players role suitability (the green circles) as my understanding is playing a person out of position only gives a slight hit to decision making (please somebody correct me if I am wrong).  If you believe a player has the correct attributes for a position, then play them there.

 

3. One of the benefits of loans, is that occasionally you can get one on free (no wages) so that can be huge for a lower league team.  However, if none are available that are better than you have, then there is no point.  Given your team only has 11 players (am i reading that correctly?), then perhaps you might need a few extra players and a few free loans might be good.  In terms of the free players, see 4.

 

4.  Money is an issue in lower leagues.  Breaking even can be a challenge, so if you spend beyond your means, then in the future your wage budget will likely go down, and you will have to sell players or have a smaller team in the future.  Will you get fired? well I would imagine that you would want to be doing very well if you break the budget by that much.

 

5. This one is not easy to answer.  Firstly, most players at that level are not great, so how is your dribbling in comparison with the league average?  Also, how are your strikers at getting on the end of crosses (if they are rubbish, then dribbling and crossing is a bit of a waste of time, if they are good, then even a bad dribbler may find themselves in a good position and get in a lucky cross)?  Are your full backs good at dribbling and can overlap the wingers?  Are you playing a possession tactic or a counter tactic (possession means they may not need to dribble so much or the full backs can overlap and do the dribbling, a counter tactic may need more dribbling)?  Also, are you good at corners? Maybe this can be a viable way of getting goals, encourage the dribbles and be aggressive at corners.  But consider that if your wide midfielders are not good at dribbling, then reconsider that role, or even the 4-4-2:  what can the wide midfielders do well?  can they pass, defend, cross, score goals? Then you can see if a wide midfielder, wide defensive midfielder, Inside forward etc might be a better role.  If there is nothing there that they are good at, consider using another position, say a 4-1-3-2 narrow or whatever.

 

Anyway, other people might be able to provide more insight.  

 

 

Edited January 8, 2021 by Andros
Wrong number

[Experienced Defender]

13 hours ago, EddDoloroso said:

I think that help would be most welcome and I will be very grateful to anyone who can help me!

 

13 hours ago, EddDoloroso said:

Any advice will be welcome, thank you!

Post a screenshot of your tactic and I'll gladly offer some advice and help.