In the previous post I described my new rather fluent tactical approach that helps to gain success in Premier League if you manage weak club (like Southampton, Wigan, Derby, etc.). The main part of this approach is usage of defensive 4-1-4-1 tactics. You can download it from here: Download tactics   And now some description of this tactics. Its formation looks in the following way: Team instructions Individual instructions They are the same as in 4-3-3 tactics. Actually this 4-1-4-1 tactics is created from this attacking 4-3-3. I just moved MLC and MRC from 4-3-3 tactics into positions of clear attacking wingers: ML and MR. And my 2 forwards (FLC, FRC) were moved  into MLC and MRC positions.   Some tips and hints during match - if your opponent plays more aggressive, has more possession of the ball, set Closing Down to maximal value; - if your opponent is very strong and you play away, turn on Counter Attack - For away game Mentality can be set more Defensive. - For home match you can increase Tempo and  Mentality. It often gives good result. - If you need more possession, set the slowest Tempo and Passing Style maximally Short. The True Football Manager Click here to play

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Today I have some good news about my Southampton. As it was decided in previous story message - my team should operate more defensively if we want to avoid relegation from Premier League. And, of course, I had real motivation for creation of defensive tactics because my team was on the last position when 24 matches had already been played. Actually, I hadn't created new tactics from the very beginning. I just changed formation of my current attacking one. You can compare both formations: 4-3-3 Attacking                             4-1-4-1 Defensive       So I just moved MLC and MRC from 4-3-3 tactics into positions of clear attacking wingers: ML and MR. And my 2 forwards (FLC, FRC) were moved  into MLC and MRC positions.  For 4-1-4-1 tactics I have been using Normal mentality without Counter Attacks. Though sometimes playing against strong football clubs like Manchester United I was turning on counter attacks and setting more defensive mentality. As a result I've got the following row of successful games: By the way, not all matches were played with new 4-1-4-1 tactics. I decided to setup tactics for every match more fluently. The main rule of my new fluent tactical approach is: If Southampton plays at home with opponent which power is less or equal to power of my team, then 4-3-3 formation is preferred. Otherwise, 4-1-4-1 formation is chosen. And, for sure, other settings like Tempo, Mentality, Counter Attacks, etc. can be changed depending on separate match and style of opponent team (this is a common thing, I suppose). So using the aforementioned rule I played home matches with Birmingham, Fulham, Portsmouth, Derby with 4-3-3 formation. Other matches in the screen shot were played using 4-1-4-1 formation. Consequently you can see very marked improvement of Southampton's position in the league standing: We are 17th! And having 7 points away from relegation zone. Seems like some kind of great disaster should happen if Southampton doesn't stay in the Premier League! By now I'm starting to think over the prospects of the next season... Waiting it with impatience! And the last but not least... I want to praise again great striker - Marius Niculae. Most likely you had read about him in the previous posts of my Southampton story. This time I will only give you screen with his current form during the last matches: What I can say, he scores very often!!! And he does this in Premier League playing against very tough teams. And the most important: Niculae scores many goals playing for my Southampton that is one of the weakest PL teams currently! Imagine how he would perform if he is Chelsea or Liverpool player when world class midfielders would give him a lot of dangerous passes. The True Football Manager Click here to play

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It's very important to have dangerous forwards in your team. And it's always cool when your dangerous forwards are young and talented. Due to youngness and prospect they can progress much and be developed during trainings into real world stars. These guys are called wonderkid forwards. I decided to make deep search of them in FM 2008.   Wonderkids  Sergio Aguero The greatest Argentinian wonderkid from Atletico Madrid for this position! But he costs very much ($26.5M) and can be bought only by grand clubs. Brilliant technique, dribbling, speed, stamina and mental abilities. Very well-known attacker among football manager gamers. There are also some other very high priced wonderkids: Pato from Milan, Wayne Rooney from Manchester United, Ryan Babel from Liverpool. I will not say about them much because the guys are worldwide known (actually as Aguerro :) ) and cost a lot of money.  Karim Benzema New young star striker of Lyon. Technical gifted, cool finisher and has very high potential. Will score many goals for you. But only big clubs are able to buy this flamboyant forward.  Guilherme 18 years old striker of Cruzeiro. His price ($7.5M) is not high for any English or Spanish club that is in the first half of its league. Guilerhme is very balanced and enthusiastic attacker. His best attributes (having value of 17) are First Touch, Flair, Teamwork and Work Rate. The last one is very important for progress during trainings. So Guilerhme can be considered wonderkid, I suppose. Carlos Vela One of the young Arsenal stars. Price is $6.75M. Just 18 years old but already possesses very good speed, level of technique and high mental abilities. Should become great forward! Giuseppe Rossi Italian striker - wonderkid. Though he plays in Spain for Villareal. Rossi likes to dribble the ball on speed. His great levels of Composure and Finishing tell us that he can score goals very effectively. Looking at values of attributes he already seems to be better than Alberto Gillardino! Bojan Krkic Bojan deserves the following adjectives:  Superb. Incredibly talented. Very young (16 years). Fantastically technical. Clever and smart. Barcelona forward.   Young prospective strikers Name Club Age Price Strengths Weaknesses Oscar Trejo Mallorca (SPA) 19 $8.75M High technique and speed Low Anticipation, Creativity, Composure Theo Walcott Arsenal 18 $8.75M Wonderful speed Average Work Rate and Finishing Nicklas Bendtner Arsenal 19 $12.75M Fine finishing using legs as well as head Poor Teamwork. High price. Felipe Caicedo Manchester City 18 $8.75M Good levels of Flair, Teamwork, Work Rate and Long Shots Average Finishing Mario Balotelli Inter (ITA) 16 $6.5M Very young! Good speed, technique and height. Low Creativity, Teamwork (but they can be trained) Freddy Adu Benfica (POR) 18 $5.75M Famous wonderkid from previous CM/FM versions :) High technical skills and speed. Low Teamwork. Genero Zeefuik PSV (HOL) 17 $1.7M Low price. High technique, work rate. Low Bravery. Average Composure. Victor Moses Crystal Palace 16 Free! Good Teamwork, Jumping, Strength. Very young. Low values of Composure, Off The Ball, First Touch. Totally poor Anticipation (5). Rhys Murphy Arsenal 16 $2.6M Brilliant finisher for his very young age. Balanced forward. Passing=10 and many important attributes are of 11. But they all will be developed to good level if good training is applied. Henry Saivet Bordeaux 16 Free Very prospective one! Already possesses high acceleration and flair. Poor Teamwork, Stamina, Passing. But they all be trained :) The True Football Manager Click here to play

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The last two parts of my Position Guide is about different types of forwards in a team. The first type is so called "quick forwards". It demands the following attributes to have high values: Most important attributes Pace & Acceleration – very important attributes if you need a quick striker. With high values of them he will be able to move faster than opponent’s defenders getting often into the box and having one-on-ones. Finishing – vital for every striker. If your forward can’t shoot the ball and score, he is bad one. First Touch – passing and shooting making just one touch is very good and leads to quick and one-touch goals. Dribbling – ability to get the ball past the opponent using technical tricks on speed. Off The Ball – making good runs into space, taking the best attacking position. Technique – high technique of forward is important for better control of the ball. Less important attributes Agility – How agile the player is. Most likely accompanied with high acceleration and pace. Composure – important when forward is in front of goal. Decisions – taking correct and creative decisions will lead to dangerous attacks. Passing & Creativity – good passing and creativity allows to make effective combinations in attack. Flair – ability to perform unexpected flamboyant attacking actions. This gives some diversity during attacks and simply beautiful football moments J Examples of perfect quick forwards David Villa, Fernando Torres, Thierry Henry, Robinho, Samuel Eto’o The True Football Manager Click here to play

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The first season in the Premier League of my  Southampton story  is still very hard for me. The results are very different but mostly sad. Though we still create rather many moments in every match due to usage of 4-3-3 attacking tactics. Here I have brilliant 4:1 away victory over Derby, fantastic 5:3 with Liverpool, good 2:1 with Aston VIlla and very important, hard 2:1 win over rival Tottenham Hotspurs in FA Cup. On the other hand there were really disappointing losses like 1:6 to Chelsea and 1:4 to Newcastle. It was also very pity to loose the game with Manchester City with the hockey score 4:5 when my Southampton was leading all the match through. By the way, look at the results of December: 2:4, 5:3, 4:5, 1:6 .... Seems like I manage some kind of hockey team!!!! :))) After all the league table look in the following way: You see Southampton scores a lot goals (being on 8th place on scored goals) and misses a lot too... This is the result of aforementioned 4-3-3 tactics, I think. And, of course, some of you, my dear readers, are right giving me advices to use more defensive tactical formation in comments of this post. Therefore I'm going change the things now and make my team perform more defensively. Finally, some statistics about Southampton players: The best two footballers are my forwards: Benoit Leroy and, for sure, Marius Niculae. In the previous posts I talked much over Marius Niculae. And actually he is well-known consistent scorer in Football Manager 2008. Considering Benoit Leroy I would say that I bought him from the 2nd French League (Football Club Libourne Saint Seurin) for $1.4M. He is good usefule forward for Premier League as I see. Though he can also play well as left winger. Leroy has very fine levels of Dribbling, Technique, Composure, Pace, Acceleration, Finishing - skills important for forwards. Look at his attribute values: I would like also to singe out loaned central defender Pichu Atienza. At the current moment he is the most reliable defender in the team. And Pichu makes also many good headers from corners scoring rather often: 6 goals in 21 game!   P.S. I have took control of Senegal national team after their manager had been sacked. Again, I'm Senegal manager as in my previous Arsenal story :) The True Football Manager Click here to play

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Effective attacks with goals demand often having very good attacking midfielder in the center who can perform as playmaker. So no the next part of my Position Guide describing how to find such guy using his attribute values. Attacking Midfielders (AMC) Most important attributes Passing & Creativity – these are vital attribute for attacking midfielder. He should create chances making not trivial passes to forwards Dribbling – ability to get the ball past the opponent using technical tricks on speed. Off The Ball – making good runs into space, taking the best attacking position. Technique – high technique of AMC is important for better control of the ball. Less important attributes Pace & Acceleration – If AMC can use his technical abilities with high pace and acceleration, he will be even more difficult to stop and force the opposition to foul. Agility – How agile the player is. Most likely accompanied with high acceleration and pace. Decisions – taking correct and creative decisions will lead to dangerous attacks. Composure – important when AMC is in front of goal. Finishing – important when AMC is in front of goal. Flair – ability to perform unexpected flamboyant attacking actions. This gives some diversity during attacks and simply beautiful football moments J First Touch – passing and shooting from the first touch is very good and leads to quick attacks through the middle. Examples of perfect attacking midfielders Kaka, Deco, Ronaldinho, Steven Gerrard, Francesc Fabregas The True Football Manager Click here to play

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Hi everyone! Today I'm going to continue my Southampton story telling you about the awaited start in Premier League. After making several transfers, we played the first 12 matches plus 3 games in English League Cup. And unfortunately we cannot boast with our results. Just look at them:   The first matches were hopeful. I was thinking in that way after victories over Newcastle and Nottingham Forest (in penalty series). But then we had row of rather bright losses. The common scenario of the most of those matches was: - One of my forwards scores and we lead in a game (1:0) - Opponents scores (1:1) - Opponents scores (1:2) .... and so on... and score against us in the end. That's why many Premier League teams had strong-willed victory against my Southampton. Especially, Liverpool - they were loosing 1:4 in second half. And I was thinking that victory is in my pocket completely! But suddenly guys from Mercyside managed to score 4 times and win the game - 5:4! As a result we got out of League Cup... The resulting standing in the League looks more depressive than our participation in League Cup: The forwards score enough goals (especially Marius Niculae), but midfield and defence allow opponent teams creating many dangerous moments and making our fine goalkeeper Rune Almenning Jarstein work very hard! They say we have some kind of defence concern: And probably I would agree... We'll see.   Just for information- my current first squad and formation look in the following way: The True Football Manager Click here to play

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Today I'm sharing another part of my Position Guide that can give you some help in decision of buying and selling defensive central midfielders or halfbacks. Defensive Midfielders (DMC) Most important attributes Tackling – the most important attribute for any DMC. Positioning – taking right position is vital for ball interceptions. Stamina – high value of this attribute allows your DMC to do a lot of work destroying attacks of opponent’s team. Work Rate – DMC with low Work Rate will perform under your expectations. Less important attributes Anticipation – ability of defensive midfielder to predict where the ball will be in the next moment. Bravery – important for challenges with brave opponent’s players. Having excellent Bravery together with excellent Aggression, Determination, Work Rate makes your DMC the second Gennaro Gattuso. Concentration – important for avoiding last minute mistakes or mistakes in hard games (during big occasions). Decisions – taking wrong decisions may cause dangerous attacks. Determination – morale changes depending on this attribute. And Determination is also important to keep player determined during important matches. Jumping – the major attribute that influences much likehood of winning headers. Passing – should be rather high quality of passing because he will do passes very often. Strength – influences on likehood of won headers and other challenges. Teamwork –all defensive player should work together very well. Additional important attributes for DMC playmakers Creativity, Flair, Technique Examples of perfect central defensive midfielders Patrick Vierra, Javier Mascherano, Esteban Cambiasso, Gennaro Gattuso   Previous parts of my Position Guide - Wingers - Central Defenders - Left/Right Defenders - Goalkeepers The True Football Manager Click here to play

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Dramatic promotion of my Southampton to Premier League obliges to fight for higher achievements in the upcoming season. So I decided to choose "Avoid relegation" season expectations instead of "Attempt to avoid relegation" option. The club board gave almost 31.5 million of bucks to spend on transfers for that. And I was happy with that sum of money because my current squad had been the most weak comparing with other Premier League teams definitely. Therefore I spent much time exploring and scouting football clubs and national teams... I decided to buy very different types of players in all lines expect goalkeepers. What's interesting I bought some of the players using your advices, my dear readers, in the comments of this post and this one. Among them young Niklas Barkroth, Georginio Wijnaldum, Lauri Dalla Valle, Miralem Pjanic. All the transfers has taken almost all my transfer money: The most important purchase is Aaron Mokoena whom I set to become a new captain of Southampton. He has very high values of Influence, Teamwork, Determination, Bravery, Work Rate which are important for every captain. Another his good singularity is versatility - Aaron can play either in the center of defence or in the center of midfield.    And I would like also to single out Georginio Wijnaldum from Feyenoord. He is the most prospective player of all purchased. Only 18 years old guy having very good abilities and characteristics. Potentially he can grow in a real star - there was information about his development during trainings.   All transfers allowed me to add some squad deepness and strength. But frankly speaking my team (comparing all players together) is not stronger than any other team in Premier League. But at least it's not the most weak :) So the hard battle for avoiding relegation waits for Southampton. Go, Saints!!! ------ If you like reading story blog you can visit the new one -http://thegafferfm2008.blogspot.com/. The author manages low league team Ebbsfleet United FC trying to promote it higher. The True Football Manager Click here to play

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Now there is another next part of my Position guide. And this time it's about right and left side midfielders or wingers.Wingers (MRL/AMRL)Most important attributesPassing & Crossing ? these are very important attributes for every creative winger.Creativity ? winger should be able to create dangerous situation passing or dribbling to the opponent?s box.Dribbling ? ability to get the ball past the opponent using technical tricks on speed.Off The Ball ? making good runs into space, taking the best attacking position.Pace & Acceleration ? I don?t believe in slow wingers!Stamina - important to keep wingers going for a whole game.Less important attributesAgility ? How agile the player is. Most likely accompanied with high acceleration and pace.Decisions ? taking correct decisions will lead to dangerous attacks.Composure ? important when winger is in front of goal.Flair ? ability to perform unexpected flamboyant attacking actions. This gives some diversity during attacks and simply beautiful football moments ?Technique ? high technique of winger will give you advantage on a flank.Additional important attributes for very attacking wingers Finishing, Long Shots, AnticipationAdditional important attributes for more defensive wingers Tackling, Work Rate, Teamwork, Strength, ConcentrationExamples of perfect wingersSilva, Frank Ribery, Cristiano Ronaldo, Matias Fernandes, Floran MaloudaPrevious parts of my Position Guide- Central Defenders- Left/Right Defenders- GoalkeepersThe True Football Manager Click here to play

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Today I'm going to share again with you the next part of my Position guide. Central Defenders (DC)  Most important attributes Tackling – the most important attribute for any defender. Low tackling – bad defender. Jumping – the major attribute that influences much likehood of winning headers. Positioning – very important attribute for central defender. Low positioning will lead to problems in the centre of your defense. Marking – low marking will result in goal situations cause by loss of opponent’s player during their attack or set piece. Strength – influences on likehood of won headers. Less important attributes Anticipation – ability of defender to predict where the ball will be in the next moment. Bravery – important for challenges with brave opponent’s players. Low braved defender can be frightened in a challenge with aggressive, brave and strong striker and make a mistake. Concentration – important for avoiding last minute mistakes or mistakes in hard games (during big occasions). Decisions – taking wrong decisions may cause dangerous situation near the box. Determination – morale changes depending on this attribute. And Determination is also important to keep player determined during important matches. Centre of your defense is a vital part of the team. Undetermined central defenders will do problems for you. Height – together with high Strength it will lead to domination in air. Teamwork – Central defenders should work as a team with other defenders and goalkeeper. Work Rate – Work Rate is more important for defense players than others. Additional important attributes for Sweepers Pace, Acceleration, Passing Examples of perfect central defenders William Gallas, John Terry, Andrea Barzagli, Walter Samuel The True Football Manager Click here to play

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Ye, my Southampton has returned to Premier League! Yahoo!!!! :) The tactics lived up my expectations and give so much awaited result! But, but, but.... Take a look at the results of the last season matches: We have lost 4 important games in Coca-Cola Championship and taken 3rd place finally. Not the second one as I expected!   And if you take a closer look at the League Table, you will see that Sheff Utd and my Southampton have equal amount of points - 86. But they have goal difference higher than ours on just 1 goal!!! And the most unbelievable thing happened during the last fixture when Sheffield United guys were loosing 1:0 and we were winning over Stoke 4:0 on the 75th minute! This means I had a chance to leave behind the team having advantage over my team before the last fixture on: 3 points and 6 goals in G.D!  But my Southampton haven't coped (though almost coped) with this task during last 20 minutes of the match with Stoke. If we score one goal more, it would real football miracle!!! But that didn't happen. That's why we got to Coca-Cola Championship Playoff. And I was afraid of it frankly speaking... But my team performed very confidently and professionally during matches with Middlesbrough and final with Wigan. All Southampton forwards scored goals in the final: By the way, another interesting fact - we played in the final against Wigan from where I was sacked before in this game! :) As a result this promotion of Southampton to Premier League was not expected by the club's board: And in the end I would like to present some statistical information with player records:  Looking through the last screen shot you probably understand that I want to praise and boast again Marius Niculae. He is very cool forward and the most important player of our team!!! I'm back in Premier League!!!!! :)The True Football Manager Click here to play

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This is the second part of my Position Guide. And this time I will tell you how to choose left and right backs for your team analysing player attributes.   Full Backs (DRL \ WRL) Most important attributes Tackling – the most important attribute for any defender. Low tackling – bad defender. Positioning – the second most important attribute for any defender. Low positioning will lead to problems coming from the flanks. Anticipation – ability of defender to predict where the ball will be in the next moment. Less important attributes Concentration – important for avoiding last minute mistakes or mistakes in hard games (during big occasions). Decisions – taking wrong decisions may cause dangerous situation near the box. Pace & Acceleration– Competing fast opponent’s wingers demands to be fast. Passing – Low passing of fullback may cause dangerous interceptions. Teamwork – Both full backs should work as a team with central defenders and goalkeeper. Work Rate – Work Rate is more important for defense players than others. Additional important attributes for attacking fullbacks Creativity, Crossing, Dribbling Examples of perfect fullbacks Ashley Cole, Daniel Alves, Emmanuel Eboue The True Football Manager Click here to play

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I'm starting new guide that presents you my vision of choosing players on concrete positions. Hope it will give some help for you, my dear readers!Goalkeepers (GK) Most important attributesHandling ? The most important attribute for keeper, I believe. Low handling means that goalkeeper can miss or loose the ball flying near his hands. Reflexes ? The second important attribute showing how GK can react to make a save. Keeper with Reflexes= 20 is be able to do fantastic saves.Jumping ? Guy with low Jumping will be not so good in coping with long shots or crosses from flanks.Less important attributesAgility ? It?s always better to have more agile goalkeeper.Aerial Ability ? How easily your GK can do his job when he is in the air, for instance, claiming crosses in the box.Communication & Command of Area ? I do not see big diversity between these two. But both attributes are important and about communication with defenders. The second one is more used during set pieces.Concentration ? important during last minutes of the game, extra time. Low concentrated goalkeepers are vulnerable to last minute goals.Decisions - low Decisions may lead to wrong actions like coming out of the box trying to get the ball when opponent?s striker is a bit closer to it.Height ? Low heighted keeper can have problems with such giant strikers as Jan Koller or Nicola Zigic.One on Ones ? defines how much goalkeeper is confident and agile during one on one situation with opponent?s player.Positioning ? low positioning of GK will lead to goals when opponent players shoot the target.Rushing Out ? how must keeper is able to rush off his line trying to intercept the ball passed from one opponent?s player to another or grab the ball from the feet of opponent player.Examples of perfect goalkeepersIker Casillas, Gianluigi Buffon, Petr CechPS The comments are welcomed! :-)The True Football Manager Click here to play

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Starting the second half of the season I decided to make few actions on the transfer market and get some useful player for the club:   Martin Jakubko is towering striker from Slovakia. Bought him just for winning headers in the centre of attack and scoring goals. Douglas Rinaldi. MC. Italian/Brazilian of rather old 30 years age. He has all attribute values of decent level and high Passing and Creativity - 17. Yazid Mansouri. MRC. Rather versatile player from Algeria. He is 30 years old too. His high mental abilities, good physics and Passing with Tackling can be seen on the picture below: So all these signings were targeted at not only strengthening the team but also giving some flexibility in tactical variants of the first squad. That's, for instance, when you can set as MC more defensive footballer with high tackling and stamina or more attacking one with creative passing (like I described in the previous post about Individual Instructions). The resulting row of January and February matches looks in the following way: Here in the results above I have strange period in January when Southampton was not able to gain a victory in 4 matches in row. But after that we had wonderful series of 8 wins! It was really marvelous and  got us to the 2nd place in Coca-Cola Championship standing. I would single out FA Cup matches. We were lucky with the Draw - it's really blind :) Therefore my Southampton haven't played with teams from Premier League and got to the quaterfinal, where Nottingham Forest will be the opponent. So we have a really-really nice chance of promotion to semi-finals, and then... who knows... may be we will be lucky to get to the UEFA Cup ;) And again the most useful player of the team was Marius Niculae. He was awarded as the best player of February: Look at his brilliant form below! Marius Niculae had been scoring in all 7 matches of February! And I was named the Manager of the Month for 5 straight wins in the League. If you are interested in reading of Southampton story from the very beginning, click here The True Football Manager Click here to play

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My Southampton story looks successful having the club on the way to Premier League. And actually I am very happy with the tactics I created for my team. I think it is the most good of all I created before in FM 2008. So it would be harsh if I didn't share it with you, my dear readers: Download Tactics  And now, for sure, I'm going to describe it and maybe give some instructions how it should be used. Positionally the tactics is classic 4-3-3 scheme with forward and side arrows for left and right halfbacks: Team instructions are: You see that it's of attacking mentality with full closing down and rather quick style of playing. There is also Tight Marking set up just because of need to make close pressing and leave space of opponent's attacking players. Individual instructions Left/Right and Central Defenders have very common individual instructions which are almost the same as standard presets in Football Manager 2008. MLC and MRC players have some Creative Freedom - 15 (consider that 10 is average or normal value of a slider), Hard Tackling, full Forward Runs, Run With Ball and Cross Ball settings. So footballers playing on these positions must be creative central midfielders with good speed and technics who can shift on a flank, dribble opponents and make a fine cross to Penalty Area. Of course, such halfbacks should be able to play either in the center or on the flank. MC has more defensive role. His individual distinctive instructions are: Forward Runs - Rarely, Hard Tackling, Through Balls - Often and Mentality=10. For this position the ideal variant is tough fighter who can tackle the ball and give good pass, someone of Steven Gerrard type :) I prefer to have pair of different players playing MC: creative midfielder who can perform smart passes - for home games; defensive midfielder whose struggling, tackling abilities higher than passing - for away games. Left and Right Forwards must be quick and technical because of often Forward Runs and Runs With Ball. What's interesting these guys are also participate in full closing down having Hard Tackling turned on. Such closing down allowed my team to score several goals when forward made pressing of opponent's defender, tackled ball and created goal moment. Central Striker has Hold The Ball turned on and rare Run With Balls. This allows him making smart and dangerous passes to other forwards. Very important: use player with good technics and very good abilities to win headers (so it's should be high values of Height, Jumping and Strength). Other important thing that central striker is the main finisher who should score a lot of goals. For that high values of Finishing and Concentration are needed. And Goalkeeper has the standard preset of individual instructions mostly. Some differences only in long kick distribution of balls (so GK should have good kicking) to central striker. Some tunings during match There is not miracle tactics in FM 2008 that will work in any cases and bring victories every time. For gaining victories FM gamer has to follow match events and react correspondingly. Therefore I want to share some tunings to my Southampton tactics. Home matches. It ideally fits when you play at home. Before a home match I don't change anything in the tactics. But later during the match there can be some changes, of course: if team has too low rate of accurate passing, then Short Passing is set (usually I set Passing Style=4). if team looses ball to often and do not perform enough attacks the I set Tempo=5. Slow tempo allows to hold the ball and be more accurate in actions on the pitch. if team is not winning in the end of match the Mentality can be set more attacking. And may be Tempo can be set quicker if team do not loose the ball often. Away matches. Playing away is more tricky because it's hard to gain victory there. before away match I always set up Defensive Line to the lowest value. if opponent is strong one then Counter Attacks are to be turned on. when opponent's central backs are weak in air, then it's good to set central striker as Target Man and make other players giving high passes to his head. plus two first rules for Home matches The True Football Manager Click here to play

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Hopefully, in half of year we all will see and play the new version of FM series - FM 2009. May be it is to early to talk about expected new features but I would like to :) So, the list of features I would recommend Sports Interactive to produce is:? Add some new interesting team and player instructions that will add more tactical diversity.? Get license for national team of Germany :)? Getting wider player statistics after match.? More possibilities to spend the club money (training camps, club facilities...)? Possibilities to do anything with money your earn as manager. For now salary gives nothing to a FM player.? More options in player interaction and media talks.The True Football Manager Click here to play

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This post is written by Vincent Van Hak. He asked me to share his investigation about development of young talents and wonderkids with all of you, my dear readers.Next up: MidfieldersGonzalo HiguainNot likely to move from R. Madrid to any other club, if you do want to get him you will have to get with an offer noone can decline!Jeremy MenezVery good youngster, if you want to get him get him in the first season, after that he gets a lot of other offers from other clubs that want to sign him.SunnyProbably one of the better youngstars in the midfield zone! If your playing with an somewhat more defensive midfield Sunny is a musthave, be ready to pay a lot of money from him though!Giovanie Dos SantosAnother well known youngstar, Barcelona owns him and he is not willing to move at any price or does not get the approval to move, atleast in my safegame, if you can, get him.Georgino WijnaldumTakes a few seasons for him to get to an stage where you can actually use him, so if your not planning on playing more then 3 or 4 season every safe game, it has no use getting him, after, he just rocks!GakpéAnother Monace star, in my opinion, not as good as Menez, but very worthwhile signing!Aaron LennonYoung midfielder who will be one of the better wing players, a must have, if you ask me.HazardNot very well known player, but a very good talent and not too hard to sign. Will be good for any subclub!Micheal JohnsonOne of the most talented midfielders in the list if you ask me, very good player who can act as playmaker at 20 already, in my team he even is captain!The True Football Manager Click here to play

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Here the results of the first half of the season I'm playing now:   Plus match with Ipswich: - it didn't fit to the previous screen shot :) You see that October results were very poor for football club intending to promote to Premier League. Those results were caused by poor teamwork (common known problem of the totally renewed first squad) and the injuries of key players. But in November and December my Southampton got to the lossless row of matches! During these matches I felt that my current tactics is the most competitive of all I created in Football Manager 2008. And at last all new players of the team began to play and coordinate as Team almost perfectly! I think my new 4-3-3 tactical scheme is ready to be presented to all of you, my dear readers, because it looks and feels very effective in my current Coca-Cola Championship experience. I will do this in one of the following blog posts. What was really cool is the victory over Wolves with the score 6:0. They are one of the closest Premier League promotion competitors - take a look at the League standing: There are no obvious leaders in this season. Over 10 teams can promote to Premier League and the fight will be tight in the end! So it will be breathtaking ending of the season! Some player statistics here: The best is again Marius Niculae having 17 goals, 12 assists and 8 man-of-the-match awards. I would like also to single out another forward - young Czech Martin Fenin. He has started scoring often in the last row of games. He has good speed and technical attributes, performs power strikes, likes to play short simple passes (that ideally fits to my 4-3-3 tactical team and player instructions). Manager of Czech national team has started to call this 21-years old forward to the first squad already. Proving his usefulness I would add that Martin Fenin became the best young player of the month twice in row: So check him out, maybe you will like him :) I bought Martin just for $700K! Starting matches of this season can be viewed in the previous post. The True Football Manager Click here to play

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I would not dream about better start because of usage of new tactics and the almost full change of the first squad comparing with the previous season. Among all these matches I would single out the one with Ipswich where my guys scored 6 goals, and no one player of the opponent team was sent off. The one with Watford finished as away victory 2:1. We were lucky about that because Watford consists of highly professional footballers who will definitely fight for promotion to the Barclays Premier League. It's a pity but there were some matches in which my team suddenly lost concentration missing goals and loosing victory or even draw. I discarded these results on poor teamwork because all players of our first squad are new each to other. Currently my Southampton is taking the 6th position after 12 fixtures in the Championship:   There are some player stats after all those matches: You see who is the best player in this list? Marius Niculae! He is very consistent and determined team-player with powerful shot, good technics, creativity and good abilities to win headers. I recommend him to any club. Even to grand clubs like Real Madrid or Milan where he can play like from a substitution bench. His price has grown from $700K to $2.5M and I'm sure will grow more and more. Buy that guy and you will not regret!The True Football Manager Click here to play

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