The Higher Tempo Press
Latest Posts
Know Your Role: How to Find the Right False-Nine
Following on from the deep dive into the Advanced Playmaker (attack) and how to spot the right player for the role, we now move on to an equally exciting role within any team, the false nine. Much has been written about the false nine and how it operates within a team, of course dropping deep […]
Digging through Data – Ep 3 Filling the Defence
Filling the defence with statistically proven full backs and centre backs to take on the Premier League
Digging Through Data – Ep 2 The Maurauding Left Back
In the previous episode, we searched for a new goalkeeper using the extensive data available in Football Manager. In this piece, we will search for a new left-back, by analysing the data of a series of defenders in the Championship. First and foremost, it needs to be clear exactly what type of full backs the […]
Digging Through Data – The Moneyball Approach
Using real-life data analytic techniques to try and sign the most effective players in Football Manager.
Know your Role: Advanced Playmaker (Attack)
Analysing the role of the Advanced Plamaker in FM20, and how you can identify the next Frank Lampard for your team.
FM2020: Winning promotion with Leeds United at the first attempt
If you’re searching for a club to give you long-lasting enjoyment on Football Manager 2020 there is no better place to achieve that than with Leeds United. Relegated out of the Premier League back in 2004, the Whites have remained out of the top flight in English football since then. However, after ruthlessly pushing Marcelo […]
A Note from the Premier League: Set Pieces Are Back
Rise of the Set-Piece Any Football Manager enthusiast is well-educated in the world of football. The football management simulation video game necessitates a fan’s passion—and having broad knowledge of the global football climate doesn’t hurt considering the game offers players 53 countries from which to pull a team. Like many football fans are apt to […]
Football Manager in Real Life: The Top Footballing Achievements That Are Like Something Out of an FM Career
Sometimes in football, there are stories of managerial success that go above and beyond, and look like something more akin to Football Manager. Yet, these managers were not afforded the luxury of a digital ‘dodgy lasagne’, a virtual magic sponge or perfect-rated facilities. Rather, they used their guile, tenacity and creativity to forge a squad […]
The One That Got Away….. Until Now?
Since the formation of the Premier League on 20th February 1992, six clubs have won the title, but there is one club that is notably missing from that list, Liverpool. A multitude of transfers in and out, many managerial changes, cups galore, but why is it that Liverpool have not managed to win the Premier League […]
Pep Guardiola Says Manchester City Have Switched Their Focus To The Champions League
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola insists his team are preparing for the Champions League, as well as next season. The Spaniard has given up on the Premier League title chase after leading the Sky Blues to two consecutive trophy captures, conceding to Jurgen Klopp’s unbeaten Liverpool side midway through this term. The Reds would have […]
Earning Our Stripes Teil 14: Und wir sind weg!
Guten tag! Welcome back to Dirk van Oortveld’s quest to survive in the Bundesliga with MSV Duisburg and get them into the upper echelons of European football teams! If you want to catch up on what’s happened previously, check out this link here. We’re back for the annual summary of the launch of the season – […]
UEFA planning euro 2020 esports tournament
The global esports industry is in for a treat. UEFA is looking to hold an esports tournament in 2020. The tournament will be held alongside their traditional football matches. With UEFA planning esports, many fans are asking what they can expect. Don’t worry – we will take a look at all that you will love […]
Beginners Guide to Football Manager
Photo by skeeze, Public Domain Football Manager is a complex and realistic game, so good techniques and patience are important to your success. With the recent release of Football Manager 2019, many veteran players will be well into their gameplay by now, using the skills they have refined over the 14 years of annual upgrades […]
Wonderkids of football: Football Manager’s predictions for the real world
Javier Saviola, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Kylian Mbappe are all household names in the world of football albeit being players of a very different make. However, one very striking similarity that the three have is that they were destined for greatness even when they were youth team players, as per the predictions of the video game […]
Old vs New. How Football Manager 2019 Compares to Previous Titles
Football fans and gamers rejoice – Football Manager 2019 will be hitting our physical and virtual shelves on the second of November. The newest title of the Football Manager Saga, a series appreciated for its realism and used as a source of scouting for fresh talents by real-life clubs, promises a lot of changes to […]
Urwin’s Unemployment Challenge | Chapter 4
Welcome back to chapter four of English manager Nichloas Urwin’s unemployment challenge. He continues his fantastic second season in Malaysia and we pick up at June 2019 in which Urwin is managing second tier side Negeri Sembilan who are currently in 1st. After a 5-2 win in his last game in charge, Urwin is looking […]
Urwin’s Unemployment Challenge | Chapter 5
Welcome back to chapter five of English manager Nicholas Urwin’s unemployment challenge. He is pursuing his third season in Malaysia and we pick up at February 2020 in which Urwin is managing newly-promoted side Negeri Sembilan in the first tier. A high intensity pre-season full of fixtures every few days saw the new members of […]
Earning Our Stripes Teil 12: Es war eine hart umkämpfte Schlacht.
Guten tag! Welcome back to Dirk van Oortveld’s quest to survive in the Bundesliga with MSV Duisburg and get them into the upper echelons of European football teams! If you want to catch up on what’s happened previously, check out this link here. Folks, it’s been a hard fought battle to make it to the end, […]
Earning Our Stripes Teil 11: Junges Blut
Guten tag! Welcome back to Dirk van Oortveld’s quest to survive in the Bundesliga with MSV Duisburg and get them into the upper echelons of European football teams! If you want to catch up on what’s happened previously, check out this link here. Today’s date is March 6, 2019, which means it’s time for my favorite […]
Earning Our Stripes Teil 13: Vorbereitung auf die zweite Staffel
Guten tag! Welcome back to Dirk van Oortveld’s quest to survive in the Bundesliga with MSV Duisburg and get them into the upper echelons of European football teams! If you want to catch up on what’s happened previously, check out this link here. The 2019/20 preseason has been wrapped up, and we’ve got a bit of […]
Letou Decide: Swansea City vs. Chelsea Preview
Tonight Swansea City host Antonio Conte’s Chelsea and the initial signs as I look at a preview are not good. I don’t like teams that have lost their last game, unless they’re on some sort of long bad run (as Manchester City were). An emotive sort like Conte will demand a response and that’s never […]
Urwin’s Unemployment Challenge | Chapter 7
Welcome back to chapter seven of English manager Nicholas Urwin’s unemployment challenge. He is pursuing his third season in Malaysia and we pick up at February 2020 in which Urwin is managing newly-promoted side Negeri Sembilan in the first tier. A high intensity pre-season full of fixtures every few days saw the new members of […]
Letou Decide: Swansea City vs. Chelsea Match Review
Well, that didn’t quite go to plan, did it? I dismissed the Chelsea game out of hand, we’d be lucky to get a beating of less than three goals with Hazard, Morata and Fabregas on the prowl and that would at least protect our goal difference. What I didn’t expect was Chelsea to be completely […]
Letou Decide: Mlog 20th April
It’s a big one this weekend, on Saturday afternoon we travel to Wembley to face Gerardo Martino’s Everton side. I want the FA Cup. More than that, I think we’re in with a hell of a shout of winning it! The teams left in are ourselves, Everton, Stoke City and Crystal Palace. None of the […]
Rangers’ Ojaria tops the list of hot prospects to look out for in the SPL in 2018/19 according to Football Manager
Football Manager is such a phenomenon in the football industry that even current managers of professional clubs use the scouting database to hunt for talent across countries and even continents. Sam Allardyce is famous for his support of statistics and in the past has revealed he used FM’s database to build initial data on a […]
Brexit Bournemouth Part 22
There’s a few points of interest to take care of before we get down to the analysis and transfer portions of the summer of 2020. The first thing of note is that Steve Cook is the only one of my players to make it into the Premier League Team of the Year. Seems a little […]
Scouting at the World Cup
The World Cup is an incredible month for many reasons. First of all, it is four-and-a-half weeks dedicated to the beautiful game. It is the only time in your life when you will be salivating over your morning cornflakes at the prospect of Morocco taking on Iran only a few hours later. There is also […]
Letou Decide: Mlog 17th April
We take on Chelsea tomorrow night so that means that the press are back. The real story is that I’m planning to field a complete reserve side to preserve our fitness for Everton at the weekend but I’m not going to say that out loud. Before we do a grip and grin, there is news […]
Scars And Stripes Episode 28: World Cup Prep & Squad Selection
This came around very, very quickly. It seemed like only yesterday that I finished my campaign with Atlanta United, suffering heartbreak in my final match as my dominance came to a close with defeat in the MLS Cup final. Time has probably gone quickly due to the fact I took a three-month holiday in game […]
Parità dei sessi 7: Mathletes into battle
There’s a fist-sized hole in the door to the Torres dressing room. Inside, goalkeeping coach Virgilio Cottu (personality: temperamental) was fuming. Nine goals conceded in three games. Not counting that crazy 4-3 loss against Matara, that’s as much as the rest of the season combined. New to the series? Click here for the prologue and […]
Earning Our Stripes Teil 10: Die Dinge könnten besser laufen…
Guten tag! Welcome back to Dirk van Oortveld’s quest to survive in the Bundesliga with MSV Duisburg and get them into the upper echelons of European football! If you want to catch up on what’s happened previously, check out this link here. I was trying to come up with an interesting way to sum up the […]
Letou Decide: Swansea City vs. Tottenham Hotspur Match Review
Ladies, gentlemen, boys, girls, children of all ages, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Charlie Tango and I am the greatest Football Manager of all time. That might be hyperbole but the sentiment stands, having just governed a Swansea City victory over Tottenham Hotspur. After the game the press were quick to […]
Inept International Manager: Ep.13
Not talking, this matters. Wait, I can’t do that. Very quickly here’s a FIFA World Cup update. After Australia beat Italy and the last embers of my nerves were frayed, Spain drew their game with Uruguay with a Desmond. Denmark are off the mark in our group with a 1 – 0 win over Ghana […]
Urwin’s Unemployment Challenge | Chapter 3
Welcome back to chapter three of English manager Nicholas Urwin’s unemployment challenge. He continues his journey in Malaysia and we pick up at July 2018 in which Urwin is managing second-tier side Negeri Sembilan who are currently in 8th and underperforming. After a 5-2 defeat in his first game in charge, Urwin is looking to […]
Scars And Stripes Episode 29: Bumper World Cup Special & Series Finale
Here we are then, the World Cup. It’s 2022 and, like most Football Manager saves, the tournament has been moved away from Qatar. In this save, we instead head off down under to Australia. Our first group match is against Gabon, ranked 42nd in the world, before a tight clash against Serbia- ranked one place […]
Beating Nuno – Chapter Thirteen: Four Games To Go
Quite eerie this is. Chapter thirteen being released the day after Friday the 13th. Surely I couldn’t have planned it to happen like this, could I? I’ll let you be the judge of that. Jokes aside, it would’ve been written up sooner but I’ve only just about finished celebrating Neves’ goal against Derby in real […]
Chronicles of a Chancer: Part 11 A Year in Review
Bronze-Wig We Made a Mountain out of a Mole Hill: The Review So, I want to explain in a bit more depth the quality of the squad and how I’ve built a team of back-to-back title winners and how we competed with other top teams from around the world. Money: When I first joined Braunschweig […]
Letou Decide: Swansea City vs. Tottenham Hotspur Preview
Colour me shocked, last night I attended Leicester City vs. Huddersfield Town and it was a brilliant game! Leicester have not sat back on their laurels having had a bad start to their season, they’ve splashed some serious cash on Luis Alberto from Lazio, Marouane Fellaini from Manchester United, Joshua Brenet from PSV, Ricardo Esgaio […]
Earning Our Stripes Teil 9: Der Beginn der Bundesliga-Saison
Guten tag! Welcome back to Dirk van Oortveld’s quest to survive in the Bundesliga with MSV Duisburg and get them into the upper echelons of European football teams! If you want to catch up on what’s happened previously, check out this link here. In the previous update, we made it through the preseason ahead of our […]
Letou Decide: Mlog 13th April
Before we begin, there is some good news I’d like to share. Swansea’s Under 23’s played a friendly last night against MK Dons Under 23’s and while they lost (it was only a friendly), Wayne Routledge continued his encouraging return from injury by playing the first half. Meanwhile, the Under 18’s were in action away […]
Episode 131 – Pep and his half-time team talks
Chris of ronniedog.media (@tenpotatoesfm) and James Jones of footballfancast.com (@jamesjonesfm) talk about what happens at halftime on FM18. With Pep leading twice in the last week, there is no doubt that he told City “not to be complacent” rather than aggressively reminding them that “they must do better”. As ever, there are a few ‘tips’ […]
Cherry Picking – Episode Ten: the Real Madrid clash
Before kicking off our new season, I thought I would take a look at our fixture list, to see some of our upcoming contests could could decide whether any form of European challenge would be possible once again. It was extremely sobering, but in a very good way, to see fixtures against the likes of […]
Letou Decide: Mlog 12th April
For today’s Swansea City update in partnership with shirt-sponsor Letou Sports, I’ve taken a walk over to look at the Under 23’s. The manager of our development squad is Cameron Toshack and the truth is, he’s not doing a brilliant job. I know that sounds harsh coming from somebody who will probably oversee an FA […]
Farewell to Pittodrie #4 Time to go Again
With third place in the bag in a solid but unspectacular first season, could we match that feat again whilst losing the expiring loan deals of three first-team players? As always, see snippets and teasers on my Twitter account – @FM_Henke. If you want to catch up on the series then head over here! Youth […]
Wonderkids; Virtual vs Reality: Class of 2007
A New System When Football Manager 2007 was released in November of 2006, it brought with it sweeping gameplay changes. Pre-Match Team talks, no more re-gens with recycled stats from the greats, a new youth training system that would allow the development of your own wonderkids, and scouting had been completely overhauled too. Record sales […]
Canary Corner – Part 20
The middle part of any season is often the most crucial. It can really determine how a season is going to pan out and decide how likely it is there will be trophies or whatever success you crave at the end of it. In this update, I came very close to doing something I haven’t […]
Making Blackburn Great Again – Episode #7
There’s no feeling quite like that of the opening day of the Premier League. Across the nation, there be optimism and enthusiasm running rife through the streets as football fans make their way to see their beloved teams. And this remains true for the start of the 2019/20 Premier League season, where newcomers Blackburn Rovers […]
Letou Decide: Àngel Rangel
Today may be a sad day in South Wales, as I announce that at the end of the season, Àngel Rangel will move onto pastures new in the form of Major League Soccer and LA Galaxy. Rangel has been with Swansea City practically as long as I can remember, in fact, it’s eleven seasons now […]
Tempo 10: Move aside Tony Pulis
Pulis-Ball is dead. Long live Mike-Ball. Mike and Samo return this week to discuss anti-voetbal. Mike discusses his favourite footballing vintage (Stoke 2010) and how he intends on improving Dutch football with this as his base. Follow Mike (@ accordingtoFM) and Samo (@ FMSamo) on Twitter to follow their own Football Manager saves. For more […]
One Vision Part VIII: It’s the hope that kills you
The Premiership. The 90s. Real football. Class kits. Liverpool fans who can still remember when they last won the title. David Beckham only sponsored by Brylcream and yet to meet Posh Spice. Liam and Noel still talking to each other. And, of course, West Ham United at the Boleyn. Enjoy! * Wanna see the league […]