It’s that time of year for some people; you’re either 5 years deep in a save on vanilla databases, building your squad season upon season. You’re pushing for a title and with one more regen (sorry newgen, force of habit) striker and a good injury free run you’re in with a shout as champion. You’ve won a cup or two but don’t really matter, it’s all about that elusive league trophy. In an alternative universe you are at a crossroads:…
In this series, I highlight a much-loved and talented footballer from the past. I’ll tell you a little bit about what I think their key qualities were that made them so special. We’ll go on to look at how best to re-live that legend in Football Manager, by naming a few current players who may be able to ‘mirror the magic’ of the superstar and potentially become your new FM20 hero. So far, we’ve had Juan Román Riquelme, Ronald Koeman…
To play or not to play, that is the question for many FM20 managers. Especially when it comes to developing young players. U18 players highly value training, while older players need playing time to keep developing. Playing time alone isn’t enough though, as a manager you need to provide your player with games at the right level. The level needs to be challenging, but not too difficult. The optimal level will vary based on age, current ability and potential ability….
Introduction I wrote this article last year on something at the time I called The Football Philosophy Index, while playing FM19. It was originally on my site FMStag.com and was picked up by a couple of community sites. Ridiculous title aside, I thought I’d bring it back with some updated advice. I know we all have our different ways of doing this, but this is how I export FM attribute data to Excel in order to drive immersion in my…
In this series, I highlight a much-loved and talented footballer from the past. I’ll tell you a little bit about what I think their key qualities were that made them so special. We’ll go on to look at how best to re-live that legend in Football Manager, by naming a few current players who may be able to ‘mirror the magic’ of the superstar and potentially become your new FM20 hero. Post one was Juan Román Riquelme, two was Ronald…
There’s a new country in Europe, and it’s called Aswijan. Created by @chilled_moose, it provides 64 teams in three leagues, three cup competitions, and about 6000 created players. The teams vary widely, from fallen giants Hesef to world-class titans like Aswijan Mailkiy. This will be a guide to playing in Aswijan, in six parts. Each part will examine half of one of the three leagues, starting today with the lowest league, Liga Dukh. This league is comparable in quality to…
I’ve recently made the move to playing FMM20. That’s not to say I’m not still loving the full PC version of FM20 but a recent change in circumstance has meant playing Football Manager on the fly. The mobile version of the game is something that I’ve tended to stay away from so using FMM20 this year has been a new experience for me, and I’m going to share how I’ve found it and whether I think it’s worth taking a…
In this series, I highlight a much-loved and talented footballer from the past. I’ll tell you a little bit about what I think their key qualities were that made them so special. We’ll go on to look at how best to re-live that legend in Football Manager, by naming a few current players who may be able to ‘mirror the magic’ of the superstar and potentially become your new FM20 hero. Episode one focused on Juan Román Riquelme, and is…
Show of hands. Who hires scouts based on purely the judging current and potential ability attributes? Until last week, my hand would have been raised. I’m not ashamed to admit it. They are the attributes that define a scout. No one wants scouts that think a 37 year old striker with 6 finishing would be a perfect fit for your Champions League semi final squad (specific, but it happened to me). There is more to scouts and scouting networks in…
How would a team with players of below-the-league average quickness perform in the Premier League? Would they cope against the likes of Adama Traore and Raheem Sterling? Or manage to penetrate through defensive monsters like Virgil van Dijk and Aymeric Laporte? In this Football Manager 2020 Experiment, let’s see if I can surpass expectations using players with limited pace and acceleration within a league known for its end-to-end action.