Everybody can build a Great team - It takes Time and Many Hours of Planning and Training over Many Seasons.

The Secret is to find the right players for the right position in your team. This can be very expensive, so the easiest way is to find the players at a young age and Train them into what you want them to be

Points to Remember:

1. Players mature and reach their peak between ages 28-34. This is between 31-38 for Goalkeepers. However players drop dramatically in Value after age 30. This presents a dilemma. Should I keep a player after age 30 and eventually get less for him or should I sell him at age 29-30 to get a Good price for him? It depends on how the players has performed for you, If they achieve High avge in games played, consider keeping them. If not Sell. Another attribute to look at is Speed. Players loose speed quickly after age 30, so if they are not high to start off with it's better to sell them before they become too slow

2. Captain - A captain influences the players around him and a good one makes the players around him play better. But a poor one makes the players around him play badly. A good Captain is age 27+ and has perception 80+. The more games a player plays Captain, the better Captain he becomes. It;s a Good idea to have a player capable of playing Captain in each position in the Field, ie Defender, Midfielder and Attacker. I dont like playing a GK as Captain

3. Quality is not Everything - You should look at the Individual Attributes of each player. The main Attributes are Goalkeeper (Gk, Passing, Speed, Perception) Defenders (Tackling, Passing, Speed, Stamina) Midfielders (Tackling, Passing, Shooting, Speed) Attackers (Shooting, Heading, Speed, Perception) However Perception is important for all players, even Defenders and Midfielders. This is especially true if you plan to change Formation/Style often. Likewise Passing is Important for all players, even Goalkeepers and Attackers, if you plan to use Continental Playstyle. Stamina is Important for all Players as High Stamina allows you to play more Games/Friendlies before Resting players in Training to allow them to return to Fitness 100 for next game.

4 Average age of First team is vital. Your team will not perform consistently untill the Average age is 26yo+ It is better to have all players age 26yo+ than having 2-3 34yo and many 20yo

5. Hidden Stats - There are 3 Hidden stats for each player. Learning- The ability of a player to improve in overall attributes. This can be determined by Scouting a player. An excellent scout will filter out ll players that dont scout excellent (High Learning Ability) Flair- The Ability of a player to play well in games. Attackers score more goals, Midfielders Score/Assist more Goals. Defenders defend better and Score/Assist more goals whilst Keepers are better Keepers - Less goals conceded. It's a difficult stat to isolate but players that consistently have higher avge/game and show up consistently in Top Goalscorer/Player/Assisters lists have higher Flair Temper- Player with high Tempers get booked/banned more often so look at cards from previous seasons before buying players

6' Tactics - You need a defender with High Passing and Perception to take Freekicks from your own Half. You need a Midfielder with High Passing and Perception to take Corners and A midfielder with High Passing, Shooting and Perception to take Freekicks in Opponents Half. You also need an Attacker age 27yo+ with High Shooting and Perception to take Penalties.

Lets's look at a what a Well Balanced Team consists of

Well Balanced Team:

1. 2x Goalkeepers - You need 2 Goalkeepers to play League/Cup games and the 6-7 friendlies/Round needed to get 250 friendlies/season. Goalkeepers mature later than outfield players and typically reaches peak at age 31yo+. One GK should be 31yo+ and his backup should be 23yo+. When buying a keeper look for high main stats  (Gk, Passing, Speed, Perception) but also look for high stamina (75+) Perception and Stamina is difficult to train so buy players with high values in these 2. However none of the stats should be below 70 in a player age 23yo. The main stat is keeping so a it should be 85+ at age 23. Goalkeepers ae relatively cheap and you should seldom pay more than vaue for them. Look for keepers that have high avge in games (50+) and no cards in history. Also note number of goals conceded in previous seasons and divison keeper played in

2. 8x Defenders - There are 2 types of defenders; CB - Centrebacks amd WB - Wingbacks. CB should have High tackling and Stamina attributes. WB should have high Passing and Speed attributes. CB are generally older - 29yo+ whilst WB are younger 25yo+ It's good to change WB to CB as they get older and lose speed. The main stats for Defenders are (Tackling, Passing, Speed, Stamina) Perception is also important for all defenders, especially if you play Offside tactic or plan to change Formation/Style often. Perception and Stamina is difficult to train so buy players with high (75+) values in these 2.At age 23 the main stats should be Tackling 85+, Passing 70+ Speed 80+ Stamina 80+ Perception 75+ Buy players that have high avge (Flair) in games and few cards (Temper)

3. 8x Midfielders - There are 2 types of midfielders - CM - Centre Midfielders and Wingers. CM need High Tackling and High Shooting whilst Wingers need High Passing and Speed. CM are generally older - 29yo+ whilst wingers are generally younger at 25yo+ Once again Wingers should be moved to CM as they get older and Slower. The Main stats for Midfielders are (Tackling, Passing, Shooting, Speed) but Stamina and Perception is also important for these players. Perception and Stamina is difficult to train so buy players with high values(70+) in these 2. At age 23 the Main stats should be Passing 85+ Tackling 80+ Shooting 80+ Speed 80+ Stamina 75+ Perception 70+ Buy players that have high avge and Goals/Assists (Flair) in games and few cards (Temper)

4 5x Attackers - Attackers start reaching their peak at age 26yo+ and reach Maturity at age 29-34. Their main attributes are (Shooting, Heading, Speed, Perception) However Passing and Stamina are also important for these players If you plan playing Continental Style and play many Games/Friendlies. At Age 25 the Main stats should be Shooting 85+ Heading 85+ Speed 85+ Perception 80+ Passing 70+ Stamina 70+ Buy players that have high avge and Goals/Assists (Flair) in games and few cards (Temper). It's a Good idea to look at the Top Lists for Goals scored for each Country when buying Attackers. This will give you proven Goalscorers but these players are expensive

5. Some Low Quality Players - To keep the Avge Quality of your team down to Allow you to buy Youths of lower Quality (Example if your Avge team Quality is 80 you cant buy a player of Quality lower than -9 of your avge Quality ie 71 is lowest) Try to always keep your avge around 81-82 allowing you to buy Q72-73 players. It's a good idea to buy 1-2 low quality Goalkeepers early on to keep avge quality down. GK retire around age 43-45 so you can keep them for many seasons (Dont train these keepers as you want them to go down in Quality as the rest of team improves)

6. Players to Sell to Make Money - Buying Players Cheap and training them and then selling them at a profit once they've improved is the Best source of Income in Manager League. Midfielders and attackers are the best for this as they are the most expensive in the market. However only the very best will get the Highest prices so be careful not to price yourself out of the Market. If you can buy a Q70 17yo at 20 million and sell him on at q75 18-19yo for 40 million you are doing well. Once a player reaches 20yo, his value in the market will drop sharply. To do this you need to scout these youths. Only excellent scouted players will increase quickly in attributes so scout youths before buying them. Dont trust sellers who claim the players scout excellent, Scout them yourself first.

I Hope this clears up some of the confusion regarding building a team. It's not difficult to buy a Succesful team, but the Real thrill in Manager League is building your Youth Team through many seasons, Seeing your players reach Q90+ and eventually winning the Division 1 Title or League Cup

 

Team training stats is a very Important part of the game - You will not do well if your Team Training stats are not high

Keep your team Training stats secret. It will allow you to surprise other teams in League/Cup games

Team training stats are trained by selecting a particular stat in the Team training section of ML. They are trained during every training session twice a day

Team Training stats are also trained during the Training Camps five times a season. In my opinion this is the most important reason for a Camp

Although the Four main Stats are Attacking, Defending, Understanding and Teamplay, The rest are all important and should not be neglected

The Training Facility Upgrade allows you to get higher values for all Team Training stats so Upgrade it to excellent as soon as you can (See Upgrades Blog Entry)

Purchasing players will drop each team stat over 70 by 1 for each player bought - so purchase players wisely once you have bought your initial squad

Be careful of using Rest too often in Team stats. Although it restores your Fitness quicker, the price in drop in team stats makes this an Expensive option

Lets have a look at the Individual Stats and their Importance

Attacking: This influences the attacking ability of your team

Defending: This influences the defensive ability of your team

If you plan to use Attacking or Defending Pressure in Team stats make sure that these two stats are as high as possible

Understanding: This influences your team's ability to adapt to playing different Styles and Formations. Note that players with High perception is also needed to succesfully change tactics frequently

Teamplay: This influences your team's ability to perform as a team

Freekick: This influences the success in taking freekicks of your team. This could be an important source of goals so keep this one High. I think it also influences your team's ability to defend freekicks so a low value could cost you

Corner: Once again is vital in Taking and defending Corners. Could lead to that critical Winning/Losing Goal

Throw-in: Influences the ability of your team to use throw-ins as an attacking or defensive option

Offside: A high value is vital if you plan to use the offside trap Tactic, but a low value will result in your attackers being caught offside frequently when in goal scoring positions

Penalty Kick: Influences the abilty of your players at taking penalties. This can be vital in Penalty shoot outs during Cup games and Play offs for Promotion/Relegation

Morale: A very Important stat. Often makes the difference in the outcome of games. Winning League and Cup/Custom Cup games will improve Morale, whilst losing these games reduce Morale. The better vthe team is that you beat the better the increase in Morale and the reverse applies when Losing a game. Morale is the only stat that gets reset to 50 during season change and that makes it very Important to improve it as soon as possible at the start of a new season. The Best way to do this is by sending your team on an overseas Training Camp. This will boost the Morale by 10-15 points. Be careful of training Morale during your daily training sessions as it will quite often cause your other stats to deteriorate if you persist in doing it for too long. Use one block for Morale during first few training sessions if you cant afford a Training Camp, but I dont recommend doing it

A Frequently asked Question is how high should my team stats be?

The obvious answer is as High as possible - I suggest the 4 Main stats should be above 90 whilst the rest should be 80-90. Try to keep the difference between the Highest and Lowest stat to 10 points or Less

Increasing the stats is a slow process and will take many seasons. Buying too many players at once will driop all values and it will take a long time to build them back so buy wisely

Build your stats gradually, not neglecting any of them for a long period

As mentined before Training Camps is one of the Best opportunities to build team stats, so always select Hatd Intensity for a camp

You should use an Overseas camp for the first 3 camps in a season and even the Fourth camp if you are involved in a Cup Final or Playoff games

Name                    Type                  Cost    Creds  Time

5000                    Capacity                    0    0    0
10000                   Capacity              1500000    0   15
15000                   Capacity              3000000    1   20
20000                   Capacity              6000000    1   25   
25000                   Capacity              9000000    1   30
30000                   Capacity             12000000    1   30
35000                   Capacity             12000000    1   35
40000                   Capacity             12000000    1   35 
45000                   Capacity             12000000    1   35
50000                   Capacity             12000000    1   35
55000                   Capacity             12000000    3   35
60000                   Capacity             12000000    3   35
65000                   Capacity             12000000    5   35
70000                   Capacity             12000000   10   35

None                    Lighting                    0    0    0
Basic Lights           Lighting              1000000    0   10
Floodlights             Lighting              2000000    1   10
FIFA-MAX 2000      Lighting              4000000    2   15

None                    Score Board                      0    0    0
Manual                       Score Board            500000    0    5    
Digital                         Score Board           1000000    0   10
Video Wall                 Score Board           2000000    0   10
Plasma Screen Wall  Score Board           5000000    1   10

None                           Heating                          0    0    0
Soil Heating              Heating               2000000    0   10
Extendible roof         Heating               4000000    2   30

None                     Club Shop                   0    0    0
Small                      Club Shop              200000    0    3
Medium                  Club Shop              500000    0    6    
Large                     Club Shop             1500000    1    9  

None                      Restaurant                  0    0    0
Fast Food                  Restaurant             400000    0    4
Pub                            Restaurant             400000    0    5
Restaurant                Restaurant            1000000    1    6       
Luxury Restaurant    Restaurant            3000000    2   10 

Basic Grounds         Youth Academy               0    0    0
Normal Grounds        Youth Academy         2000000    0   15     
Improved Grounds    Youth Academy         3000000    1   20 
Fully Equipped           Youth Academy         4000000    1   25
Top Notch                 Youth Academy         5000000    1   30

Simple grounds    Training Facilities         0    0    0
Normal facilities        Training Facilities   1500000    0   15 
Improved facilities     Training Facilities   3000000    1   15
Excellent facilities     Training Facilities   6000000    2   20

Small Car Park         Parking                     0    0    0
Medium Car Park         Parking               3000000    0   15
Multi-storey car park   Parking               5000000    2   15
 
0 VIP Boxes              VIP Boxes                   0    0    0
500 VIP Boxes           VIP Boxes             2500000    1   10
1000 VIP Boxes          VIP Boxes             3000000    3   15
1500 VIP Boxes          VIP Boxes             4000000    5   15
2000 VIP Boxes          VIP Boxes             5000000    7   20
2500 VIP Boxes          VIP Boxes            10000000   10   20

No Advertising space                                           0    0    0 ads                    
Simple ad boards      Advertising space     1500000    0   10
Metal boards            Advertising space     3000000    1   15
Rotating signs          Advertising space     6000000    3   15
LCD boards              Advertising space     9000000    7   15

The Most important upgrade initially is capacity - Upgrade stadium to 20000 before upgrading the rest

This will take 60 weeks (almost 2 seasons) This sounds like a long time, but it is Vital so persevere

Once you have a 20000 stadium your next upgrade is the Club Shop - Upgrade to Level 1

Next upgrade Restaurant to Fast Food

Now Upgrade Advertising Space to Simple ad boards - This will start your advertising income which is a Good source of Income for League Games

Then upgrade your Club Shop to Medium and then Large

Now upgrade your Restaurant to Pub and then Restaurant

Now upgrade your Score board from Manual all the way to Plasma Screen Wall. Each upgrade allows you to charge Higher ticket prices whilst still getting the same crowd

You can now upgrade your stadium capacity to 35000

This will ensure a Good Income and you can now start improving your team

There are two upgrades that help with your team's performance on the Field

They are Heating and Training Facilities

You can now upgrade your stadium's heating to Soil Heating. This will give you an advantage for Home League Games

Now upgrade your Training Facilities from Normal all the way to Excellent. This will help you get better team training stats which will help your team's performance

Now upgrade the remaining Advertising space from Simple ad boards all the way to LCD Boards

You can now upgrade Soil Heating to Extendible roof to give your team added Home ground advantage

Lighting allows for TV Broadcasting of League Games. This is a very good source of Income, but only happens in Divison 3 and above. If you are in Divison 3 and above Upgrade Lighting to all levels untill you reach FIFA Max

Now upgrade your stadium capacity to 45000. Note you will not get crowds larger than 45000 unless you are in Div 3 or above

VIP boxes generate income for teams in Div 3 and Above. If you are in Div 3 or above start upgrading the VIP Boxes to 1000. If you are in Div 2 upgrade to 1500

Income for VIP BOxes

1. div: $200 per seat
2. div: $150 per seat
3. div: $100 per seat

If you are in Divison 3 and above you can now upgrade capacity to higher than 45000, but remember that you will need to upgrade your Car Park if you plan to fill a stadium bigger than 45000

Upgrading Youth Academy is a tough choice. It will help you to get better youths, but in Lower divisions it is not much use. The Youth's quality is largely based on Luck and improving the academy gives low value for money and time in my Opinion

Minimum Quality for Youth by Division

Division 1:

Basic grounds: Q68 ->

Normal grounds: Q69 ->

Improved grounds: Q70 ->

Fully equipped: Q71 ->

Top notch: Q72 ->

Division 2:

Basic grounds: Q67 ->

Normal grounds: Q68 ->

Improved grounds: Q69 ->

Fully equipped: Q70 ->

Top notch: Q71 ->

Division 3:

Basic grounds: Q66 ->

Normal grounds: Q67 ->

Improved grounds: Q68 ->

Fully equipped: Q69 ->

Top notch: Q70 ->

Division 4:

Basic grounds: Q65 ->

Normal grounds: Q66 ->

Improved grounds: Q67 ->

Fully equipped: Q68 ->

Top notch: Q69 ->

Division 5:

Basic grounds: Q64 ->

Normal grounds: Q65 ->

Improved grounds: Q66 ->

Fully equipped: Q67 ->

Top notch: Q68 ->

Division 6:

Basic grounds: Q63 ->

Normal grounds: Q64 ->

Improved grounds: Q65 ->

Fully equipped: Q66 ->

Top notch: Q67 ->

There are many new managers and I'm sure most of you are wondering how some teams have so much money and so many Great players

When you start out, you will have a Bad team and very little money. Your first action should be to limt your expences and start building a steady income

1. The minimum amount of players allowed in a team is 18 players You should cut your wage bill and the best way to do this is by sacking useless players

You will need 2 Goalkeepers, 6 Defenders, 6 Midfielders and 4 Attackers in your team. Sack any players that you have in your team that are in excess of previous numbers. Nobody will buy players that are below Q68 so dont bother advertising them, just sack them and get them off your wage bill

2. Dont worry about buying new players for the first few seasons. It's better to use your money to upgrade your stadium

The most important ingredient for a succesful team is a steady income. This is achieved by upgrading your stadium to generate that income.

See the Upgrade section for more info about Upgrades

3. Selecting the Right Sponsor

Before selecting a Sponsor you should have a good idea how your team will finish in the Current Divison you are in.

This might not be easy in your First season or for your first season in a new division

You should decide if you will win the Division (Winner Bonus), finish 2nd or 3rd (Playoff Bonus), finish 4th to 10th (Avoid Low Bonus) or if you will get relegated

If you are sure of Winning - Select Puma

If you are sure of finishing in Top 3 - Select Nettavision Fotbal

If you are sure of finishing 4th-10th - Select Coca Cola or Telenor

If you are sure of relegation - Select Nettavision Fotbal

If you are not sure Select Nettavision Fotbal

Sponsors change regularly from season to season so the above might not apply for future seasons

4. Hiring Staff

Hiring excellent staff is expensive, but worth it in the long run.

Excellent coaches will help your players improve attributes and eventually Quality. Wait before hiring Coaches

An Excellent Physio is vital to avoid injuries. Hire one right now

An Excellent Caretaker limits decay of yoiur stadium. Hire one right now

An Excellent scout is only needed when you want to buy players. They will help you decide which players will gain the best. Wait before hiring a Scout

5. Participate on ML Chat

Dont be afraid to join the Chat. There are many managers that will answer questions you have about the game

 You can also find other managers to play friendlies with. Some will offer Freebies (Invite your team for a friendly and pay the credit), whilst others will look to play sets (Challenge your team for a friendly, but expect a challenge back in return) Dont agree to sets if you dont have credits

You can also use the Chat to buy or sell players

Become an active manager - Join the Chat

6. Read the Forums

The Forums are the ultimate source of information about the Game,

The FAQ section contains all the Questions and Answers for New and Experience managers

The Suggestions forums contain Suggestions by managers to help improve the game. Comment on current suggestions if you like it. If enough people agree the suggestion might become part of the game in Future

The Bugs Forum contain possible problems experienced by other managers. Read it if you have a problem. You are likely to find the answer you need

Ther Transfer forum allows you to advertise your players that you want to sell. Be specific when advertising players. You are more likely to sell a player if you specify the price you require to accept a bid. Dont bother trying to sell players of Quality below 70. Nobody needs them - Sack such players if you want to get rid of them

There are also Forums for different Languages. You should only use English in the Common Forums