FM23 Lower League Help

[Zeonflux]

Hey all,

As the threat title suggests I’m after help when it comes to lower league management.

I’ve recently started as save trying to do the British Steel challenge and I’m starting in the Welsh 2nd division as Swansea Uni.

Now I’ve never really done lower league and it’s just ridiculous, no matter what tactic I try and use I just seem to lose and it’s starting to grate just due to how I’m losing.

I can take losing under normal circumstances but to constantly lose due to giving a way penalties almost every game (sometimes 2 or 3 a game) to losing to long balls over my defence (which I understand as the level of defending is terrible) but whenever I try that the defence is able to close down my player, who immediately shoots when the defender comes near them (usually around 25-30 yards from goal) whereas the opposing team players continue running towards my goal before shooting and inevitably scoring.

Anyways any and all help to try and get a grips on managing in the lower leagues is appreciated.

[kingjericho]

I play lower leagues every years and there are a couple of golden rules for me.

• tactics are limited because players are limited - keep it simple because players will not be able to do fancy stuff
• physical and mental attributes matter most - nobody in the lower leagues is technically gifted so it's the physical game that gives you an advantage
• use short term contracts because there are loads of free agents and you can improve your squad massively every season
• don't blow your small transfer and wage budgets on a "star" player because 6 months later you'll find a free agent just as good
• use trials, DOF suggestions, and agent offers to find good free agents
• don't try to do youth development because you won't have good enough facilities to do that - you'll have the odd good prospect but that's about it

Regarding tactics more specifically, every team is poor so don't worry too much about media predictions. Just play your game (probably you want to dominate the opponent) and with a handful of good signings quickly you'll be stronger than the so-called favourites.

[Justin Tomlinson]

On 18/01/2023 at 20:17, kingjericho said:

I play lower leagues every years and there are a couple of golden rules for me.

• tactics are limited because players are limited - keep it simple because players will not be able to do fancy stuff
• physical and mental attributes matter most - nobody in the lower leagues is technically gifted so it's the physical game that gives you an advantage
• use short term contracts because there are loads of free agents and you can improve your squad massively every season
• don't blow your small transfer and wage budgets on a "star" player because 6 months later you'll find a free agent just as good
• use trials, DOF suggestions, and agent offers to find good free agents
• don't try to do youth development because you won't have good enough facilities to do that - you'll have the odd good prospect but that's about it

Regarding tactics more specifically, every team is poor so don't worry too much about media predictions. Just play your game (probably you want to dominate the opponent) and with a handful of good signings quickly you'll be stronger than the so-called favourites.

Yes agree with all the above.

Trials, with a busy pre-season to test them out is key.

Haggle on all contracts is key as money is always tight.

Try to get a settled team (tactics and starting XI) so they gel, but use some rotation to keep players fresh as stamina etc will be poor.

[Zeonflux]

42 minutes ago, Justin Tomlinson said:

Yes agree with all the above.

Trials, with a busy pre-season to test them out is key.

Haggle on all contracts is key as money is always tight.

Try to get a settled team (tactics and starting XI) so they gel, but use some rotation to keep players fresh as stamina etc will be poor.

 

On 18/01/2023 at 20:17, kingjericho said:

I play lower leagues every years and there are a couple of golden rules for me.

• tactics are limited because players are limited - keep it simple because players will not be able to do fancy stuff
• physical and mental attributes matter most - nobody in the lower leagues is technically gifted so it's the physical game that gives you an advantage
• use short term contracts because there are loads of free agents and you can improve your squad massively every season
• don't blow your small transfer and wage budgets on a "star" player because 6 months later you'll find a free agent just as good
• use trials, DOF suggestions, and agent offers to find good free agents
• don't try to do youth development because you won't have good enough facilities to do that - you'll have the odd good prospect but that's about it

Regarding tactics more specifically, every team is poor so don't worry too much about media predictions. Just play your game (probably you want to dominate the opponent) and with a handful of good signings quickly you'll be stronger than the so-called favourites.

Thanks for the advice guys, don’t suppose you’ve got any sort of advice on what level of attributes I should be looking at per division? The only one I really I know is that for the top division you want 15+ on the attributes needed for a players position 

[Hovis Dexter]

4 minutes ago, Zeonflux said:

 

Thanks for the advice guys, don’t suppose you’ve got any sort of advice on what level of attributes I should be looking at per division? The only one I really I know is that for the top division you want 15+ on the attributes needed for a players position 

If you look in the team comparison page in the Data Hub you’ll find the minimum, maximum and average attributes of each team in the division.

[Justin Tomlinson]

I am more guided by the star rating initially, then average rating as the season progresses.

Using trials pre-season gives a good idea of how well they will improve your squad.

[dalenichol]

Pre-season trialist - bring in as many players as you can, even if it feels unrealistic. 50 trialists at the club at a time so you can find the players you want? Nothing wrong with that, 

Depending on how long you're staying at a club, take a look at the staff you have employed. In my save in Luxembourg, I was spending over double a year on staff wages than I was on player wages - I had coaches on 600 p/w when I could hire replacements for as little as 25-50p/w. 

Senior affiliate clubs can be good but not as beneficial as previous versions.

Loans, loans and more loans. 

haggle on contracts as others have mentioned.  There's a wee trick that some may frown up but: You can often get players to agree to much lower contracts if you offer them a big wage boost upon getting an international cap. Obviously if you're in the lower leagues, if you're negotiating with players who're from the bigger footballing nations, the chance of them getting a cap is almost 0, so it's something you might want to try.