General tips for managing low level championship sides

[namlas]

Recently started a save with Birmingham and I'm really struggling. I usually disable the first transfer window however this time I didn't so I'm not used to spending my first season scouting players, as I usually have entire season to build shortlists. I didn't struggle nearly as much in my Hamburg save I finished a few days ago, most likely because that Hamburg team had Bundesliga level players from day one. 

I was given 1 million at the start and by trimming the squad I've somehow got 8 million. I'm about 2 weeks (game time) into my save however I cant seem to find players that are cheap or good enough. Every relevant player is either to expensive or by the time my scouts have scouted them, are already signed up. A lot of the free agent signings that are often recommended have bids on them on the very first day of the save so there is simply not enough time to scout them( have 4 scouts btw). 

squad 

Tactics : Big fan of Zealand's (Youtuber/Streamer) asymmetrical formation, I also  love to play gengenpress. 

                                                                   SW

                                              WB       BPD        CD      WB

                                                                   BWS

                                                          BBM           MEZ

                                              IW 

                                                                   AF          CF

Goalkeeper:  have a decent goalkeeper but he's on pretty high wages , replacing him is not high on my agenda

Defence: have got 1or 2 defenders with 13 pace need two defenders like them if I want to play a high line

Wingbacks: Decent players their, just looking for backups or young players i can slowly develop

Midfielders: my midfielders are very technical  but literally cannot press. Very low stats for (6-9): work rate, teamwork, aggression, bravery, pace and stamina. some of the lowest in the league. Surprisingly as a collective they have good dribbling(14) however they don have to pace(11-12) or stamina (

Wingers: i usually never buy wingers early on in saves usually loan them in however, I have a very good right winger who has a lot of stats in the 16's in key areas. I only plan on using 1 winger in my tactic.

Strikers: this is the biggest problem sold all the old guys so I have no one left. I plan on using 2 strikers hopefully both playing as advanced forwards. Looking for pace dribbling and finishing  

 

My first thought before starting this save was not to rely too much on loan signings however I can barely even find any decent loan signings to begin with. My aim is to get promoted in my first season, any suggestion are more than welcome.

[glengarry224]

4 hours ago, namlas said:

Recently started a save with Birmingham and I'm really struggling. I usually disable the first transfer window however this time I didn't so I'm not used to spending my first season scouting players, as I usually have entire season to build shortlists. I didn't struggle nearly as much in my Hamburg save I finished a few days ago, most likely because that Hamburg team had Bundesliga level players from day one. 

I was given 1 million at the start and by trimming the squad I've somehow got 8 million. I'm about 2 weeks (game time) into my save however I cant seem to find players that are cheap or good enough. Every relevant player is either to expensive or by the time my scouts have scouted them, are already signed up. A lot of the free agent signings that are often recommended have bids on them on the very first day of the save so there is simply not enough time to scout them( have 4 scouts btw). 

squad 

Tactics : Big fan of Zealand's (Youtuber/Streamer) asymmetrical formation, I also  love to play gengenpress. 

                                                                   SW

                                              WB       BPD        CD      WB

                                                                   BWS

                                                          BBM           MEZ

                                              IW 

                                                                   AF          CF

Goalkeeper:  have a decent goalkeeper but he's on pretty high wages , replacing him is not high on my agenda

Defence: have got 1or 2 defenders with 13 pace need two defenders like them if I want to play a high line

Wingbacks: Decent players their, just looking for backups or young players i can slowly develop

Midfielders: my midfielders are very technical  but literally cannot press. Very low stats for (6-9): work rate, teamwork, aggression, bravery, pace and stamina. some of the lowest in the league. Surprisingly as a collective they have good dribbling(14) however they don have to pace(11-12) or stamina (

Wingers: i usually never buy wingers early on in saves usually loan them in however, I have a very good right winger who has a lot of stats in the 16's in key areas. I only plan on using 1 winger in my tactic.

Strikers: this is the biggest problem sold all the old guys so I have no one left. I plan on using 2 strikers hopefully both playing as advanced forwards. Looking for pace dribbling and finishing  

 

Well, you write that you lack strikers but you have a 2-striker system.  You might need to reconsider that until you can sign or develop better strikers.  I can see a potential problem defending your flanks because you have:  2 WBs charging forwards, 2 CMs who roam or charge forwards, and midfielders with bad attributes to cover and defend, especially over the course of a match.  Is BWS a  BWM(s).  With your weak midfielders, I think that you'll need a midfielder on 'defend' and another who at least stays put more.  Could you drop your RW into the midfield?  That would make it a lot safer to bomb the wingback forwards on that flank.

As far as finding players, you might have to be patient.  In the winter window, teams will make available, for loan or sale, players who are not getting playing time or will be out of contract soon, plus youngsters who need playing time.  Also, start scouting players who have contracts which expire at the end of the year.  Starting six months before their contracts expire, you can 'approach to sign' them without paying a transfer fee, but you will have to wait until the end of the year for them to join your team, unless you can loan them in in the meantime.

[Tsuru]

I have been playing with Wrexham for 4 seasons, we are currently in National League after being relegated from League Two. What I see from this version is: you can create something more specific - lots of instructions and a very detailed playstyle - or you can work with something more simple (Positive mentality with no instructions, for example). But with a LLM team you have to be, let´s say, very coherent on roles and duties, and if you work on a more specific playstyle you need to be very logical, because our players lack the quality to compensate any possible flaws.

If you really like Gegenpress I would start with its template, formation and suggested roles and duties, maybe adjust it someway. Although I know it is not the best one, I think it has some "clues" on how to play on this style that can be a nice starting point for you. 

I am not saying that your tactic will not work, but maybe it is a little bit harder to adjust and work. 

[michaeldawson75]

Managing a lower level Championship side is quite tough in my experience. As a fan, I always start with Sheffield Wednesday, who have financial difficulties and a points deduction to start with. I can usually keep them up, sometimes do a bit better than that, but that's about it. The game has become much more realistic over the last few years, so consider that teams like Sheffield Wednesday or Birmingham City are not expected to be promoted in the first season in real life, or indeed for quite some time (relegation is much more likely in the short term), and this is reflected in the game. Also consider that decent players are too expensive because, in reality, this is the case, and often teams have to settle for what is available.

This leads to a second consideration. Lots of Championship sides are cobbled together with whatever players are available and squads were put together over the years by different managers with different ideas. As such, they often lack coherence, which means that applying a specific style (like gengenpress) immediately is going to be difficult. Unlike Liverpool, for example, who can choose from a much wider selection of players who fit the requirements of the gengenpress style, Birmingham City are unlikely to have this luxury.

So, a few ideas about how to play at this level.

1. Accept that there is no magic tactic that will suddenly turn Birmingham into a top side.
2. Design tactics that work to the strengths of the players you have available rather than trying to impose a specific style.
3. Set realistic expectations of what you can achieve and what will constitute success - remember that success in this game largely entails exceeding the expectations set by the board or the media prediction, however modest they may be.

Edited June 29, 2021 by michaeldawson75

[Tsuru]

4 horas atrás, michaeldawson75 disse:

Design tactics that work to the strengths of the players you have available rather than trying to impose a specific style.

I like your way of thinking, michaeldawson75. But sometimes the players look too "normal" for the division (no specific strengths regarding attributes or moves), or even they are too weak to do anything well, for example in very very lower league teams (5th or 6th divisions). In these situations what exactly would you do? 

I am asking because sometimes i look at the squad, I look at the attributes and I don´t truly see a way to go, so it is nice to hear more opinions about that.

[michaeldawson75]

21 minutes ago, Tsuru said:

In these situations what exactly would you do? 

In that case I suppose I would want to look for something beyond the attributes. You could try and make sure that players with good partnerships (as shown by the lines on your formation screen) play together. You could also look for the players with the strongest personality types, or try to make sure that those who train well get in the starting 11. You could look at their past performance (if the info is available) and identify who performs consistently well, who scores the most goals, etc.

As for tactics, I would try and identify the best 11 using, at least at first, the assistant star rating. Then I would see what roles those players are most comfortable with and see if I can put them together into something coherent (you could look at using the generic roles like central midfielder, attacking midfielder, etc, so as not to lumber a player with instructions to do something they can't). Then give that a try without any extra TIs at first and tweak as I went along.

What team do you have in mind when you say there are no standout attributes?

[Tsuru]

22 horas atrás, michaeldawson75 disse:

What team do you have in mind when you say there are no standout attributes?

Thank you for your answer, it makes a lot of sense.

I am managing for example Wrexham right now and I am only hiring Welsh players. We are at National League and we now have a very "basic" team even for the division - you see, there is no outstanding player, the best ones have attributes around 9-10 but nothing too good, so there seems to be no specific point that we can explore. Use the players in their favourite roles/positions seems to be the best way then (or at least in roles they are good at).

The idea of generic roles is also good, however from my personally experience I tend to avoid it that way. When I tried it the players looked like to be completely lost trying to decide what to do and didn´t do anything. I know it can work, it is just that for me I am telling bad players to play the way they find the best - which is not always a good idea.

[jozza800]

Pace.

If you can get a fast forward it can make a huge difference at that level.

I played a deep and direct 4-4-2 with 2 very fast forwards and gained back to back promotions plus survived my first Prem season with a poor Oxford side.