Most underused features in Football Manager
Average Rating: 7/10 Hits: 2609 Submitted: Jun 5, 2008
Here you can find a very interesting article looking at some of the most underused features in Football Manager.
Training
A lot of FM users just take the Training feature for granted and just leave them as default, Training is vital for Youth Player development as well as your First Team players staying on form and improving as well. As well as Training Regimes you need to pay close attention to your Coaches Training Workload and Rating for their Categories, try to keep their Workloads at Light, too many players within a Coaches Category will lead to the desired effects being considerably less than a Coach on a Light Workload as his talents will be stretched. As for Ratings aim for Coaches with a Stat of 18 and decent Mental ability if possible to get 6/7 stars in their Training categories.
In the Pre-Season make sure that your Training Regime is based around Strength and Aerobics to help rebuild player fitness heading into the new season, try and keep the Workload to Medium and each positions needed regimes is pretty obvious, like Central Defenders will have to be more based around Strength and Defending, its all pretty simple.
Reserve Teams
Used as a retirement home, a nursery, a place to put your less favoured players into exile and generally mistreated by loads of us. Whenever you join a new game make sure you head straight into the reserves, see if any of the players there will be of use for First Team Duties or just playing Backup. Its worth hanging onto a few players from the reserves instead of loaning them all out at the first opportunity. Also make sure to arrange some games for your reserves and put some of your lesser played First Teamers in there just to keep them Match Sharp and on their toes. When selling a player avoid chucking them straight into the Reserves as clubs will be less likely to bid for a player rotting away and seeing no First Team action at all.
World Transfers Menu
In game when you hit World and go down to Transfers you値l see all of the in games latest Transfers, this is well worth checking every few days for a few reasons.
1. You値l see who other clubs are buying and you may learn a new player or two
2. You値l see who the latest players to be released from their clubs and you値l regret missing out on the likes of Edu and Kuszczack when their released
So keep a constant eye on the Worlds goings ons as your gonna pick up some real bargains if not in your current game then in future FM games.
Create Filter From Player
Go to any player and Right Click On Their Name then press Misc. and finally Create Player Search Filter From Player. This is a great feature when you are losing a player to another club and you dont want to change your tactics and its also a great feature when you want to find a Natural Goal Scorer like Torres or a Rock at the Back like Vidic. This feature should be used at all times when looking for quality players as the Filters will through up some great cheap players, this especially happens when you have a Staff Member or a Feeder Club in different parts of the world as this enhances the amount of players that appear on your Filters.
Comparison Feature
Again another great feature when in the Transfer Market, go to any player and hit Comparison, from this you can compare one player to another player these include a Overall Comparison, a Attributes Comparison and a Stats Comparison. When your looking to replace one of your Players with another its well worth checking all three Comparison methods as at times you can miss certain things when just looking over a Players Profile. Its also a good feature when your looking to sell a Player in a certain position when your a bit stuck, the Attributes Comparison and Overall Comparison will highlight each Players Strengths and Weaknesses.
Tours/Friendlies
Tours and Friendlies should also be used when joining a new club, if your a big club then make a three/four game tour of a country like Japan and the USA, not only will this bring more money into the club but the clubs reputation will also be raised meaning more players will want to join the club, however player will suffer from a lot of fatigue due to the distance between countries. If your a smaller club then maybe a tour isnt in order but a host of Home Friendlies, try getting games with League teams if your non-league, and also try not to only give the Opponents one or two days between their own Pre-Season friendlies as they値l be less likely to accept, so try to make sure you make friendlies 5 days or more apart from the opponents current friendlies.
Retrain Players Positions
Definitely the most underused feature in FM, you should always retrain players. If your short of an AML but have 2 AMR痴 then train one or both of those wingers to AML, within a few month they will be able to play there no problem, in between the training make sure you play the players in their new positions be it a two minutes sub role or a twentyfour game run. This retraining can save you buying new players and it can keep players happy as they will be playing more games due to their new positions, during injury plagued periods you wont be so bad off due to your current squad being versataille enough to cover.
A lot of FM users just take the Training feature for granted and just leave them as default, Training is vital for Youth Player development as well as your First Team players staying on form and improving as well. As well as Training Regimes you need to pay close attention to your Coaches Training Workload and Rating for their Categories, try to keep their Workloads at Light, too many players within a Coaches Category will lead to the desired effects being considerably less than a Coach on a Light Workload as his talents will be stretched. As for Ratings aim for Coaches with a Stat of 18 and decent Mental ability if possible to get 6/7 stars in their Training categories.
In the Pre-Season make sure that your Training Regime is based around Strength and Aerobics to help rebuild player fitness heading into the new season, try and keep the Workload to Medium and each positions needed regimes is pretty obvious, like Central Defenders will have to be more based around Strength and Defending, its all pretty simple.
Reserve Teams
Used as a retirement home, a nursery, a place to put your less favoured players into exile and generally mistreated by loads of us. Whenever you join a new game make sure you head straight into the reserves, see if any of the players there will be of use for First Team Duties or just playing Backup. Its worth hanging onto a few players from the reserves instead of loaning them all out at the first opportunity. Also make sure to arrange some games for your reserves and put some of your lesser played First Teamers in there just to keep them Match Sharp and on their toes. When selling a player avoid chucking them straight into the Reserves as clubs will be less likely to bid for a player rotting away and seeing no First Team action at all.
World Transfers Menu
In game when you hit World and go down to Transfers you値l see all of the in games latest Transfers, this is well worth checking every few days for a few reasons.
1. You値l see who other clubs are buying and you may learn a new player or two
2. You値l see who the latest players to be released from their clubs and you値l regret missing out on the likes of Edu and Kuszczack when their released
So keep a constant eye on the Worlds goings ons as your gonna pick up some real bargains if not in your current game then in future FM games.
Create Filter From Player
Go to any player and Right Click On Their Name then press Misc. and finally Create Player Search Filter From Player. This is a great feature when you are losing a player to another club and you dont want to change your tactics and its also a great feature when you want to find a Natural Goal Scorer like Torres or a Rock at the Back like Vidic. This feature should be used at all times when looking for quality players as the Filters will through up some great cheap players, this especially happens when you have a Staff Member or a Feeder Club in different parts of the world as this enhances the amount of players that appear on your Filters.
Comparison Feature
Again another great feature when in the Transfer Market, go to any player and hit Comparison, from this you can compare one player to another player these include a Overall Comparison, a Attributes Comparison and a Stats Comparison. When your looking to replace one of your Players with another its well worth checking all three Comparison methods as at times you can miss certain things when just looking over a Players Profile. Its also a good feature when your looking to sell a Player in a certain position when your a bit stuck, the Attributes Comparison and Overall Comparison will highlight each Players Strengths and Weaknesses.
Tours/Friendlies
Tours and Friendlies should also be used when joining a new club, if your a big club then make a three/four game tour of a country like Japan and the USA, not only will this bring more money into the club but the clubs reputation will also be raised meaning more players will want to join the club, however player will suffer from a lot of fatigue due to the distance between countries. If your a smaller club then maybe a tour isnt in order but a host of Home Friendlies, try getting games with League teams if your non-league, and also try not to only give the Opponents one or two days between their own Pre-Season friendlies as they値l be less likely to accept, so try to make sure you make friendlies 5 days or more apart from the opponents current friendlies.
Retrain Players Positions
Definitely the most underused feature in FM, you should always retrain players. If your short of an AML but have 2 AMR痴 then train one or both of those wingers to AML, within a few month they will be able to play there no problem, in between the training make sure you play the players in their new positions be it a two minutes sub role or a twentyfour game run. This retraining can save you buying new players and it can keep players happy as they will be playing more games due to their new positions, during injury plagued periods you wont be so bad off due to your current squad being versataille enough to cover.
