With my team doing pretty well senior wise (spent most of the time inside the top 60 of the gameworld and leading my qualifying league) and my youth team making themselves at home inside the top 10 of the youth rankings, I thought I would speculate on some of the reasons why I have managed to find relative success on both fronts.
Tactics
Without a doubt, my tactic has contributed to my success. My narrow 4-3-3, as seen in the screenshot below, is one of those tactics considered by some people to be a 'cheat tactic'. However, it seems most of this criticism is directed by people who either can't get a tactic right for themselves, or don't know how to counter narrow formations. Since I began playing FML, I've probably been through 7 or 8 different formations before settling on a 4-3-3 towards the end of Larsson, partly because my wide players were a bit plops. When I moved into Valderrama, I purposefully focused on central players when signing my initial side. In addition to finding the right tactic, I also spent time working on a match plan that plays to my team and formations strenghts. I use this plan even when I am online playing games, it saves shouting 5 or 6 instructions every 20 minutes! I know some people haven't set up match plans, but for me they are of major importance.It also helps if you can adapt your formation depending on how the opposition sets themselves up. AI games against CPU clubs are a good way of finding out which styles, widths etc work best against different formations. It took me a while to crack the 4-1-2-1-2 formation but now I tend to win more than I lose against it, which is a major step up from where I was in Larsson.
Player selection
As I have stated in a few previous entries, I aim to head towards a youth-oriented set up fairly soon. I'm sure there are a lot of other managers who plan to head down the same route, and I can't blame them! But before I even entered Valderrama, I accepted that certain sacrifices would have to be made.
First off, a deep squad is essential. With injuries seemingly more frequent, back up players have a major part to play. Signing extra depth meant I didn't have as much to spend on new players from the off, but you get those players at base AF and base wage, so if there are handy players in the starting pool it seems the logical way to go.Secondly, versatile players are very handy. I have several players who can play in 3 or 4 different positions and that can really help out in an injury or suspension situation. It also widens the market when it comes to selling the players too.
Lastly, old players can play a part. A lot of managers steer clear or 31+ year olds because it can be difficult to sell them on. However, with the difference between last and top of the first season's qualifying league being nearly £2m, and older player who can do a job for a season before being released can play a major part. See Carlos Alfaro below, he's 36 years old and cost me £6k in wages, but has repaid my faith with big goals and assists, and has helped me get to a position where I am very likely to end up with at least £2m in prize money.
Attributes watch
The last point I want to touch upon for the time being is the importance of certain attributes. My previous post covers this in more detail, but effectively by searching for players with strong numbers in certain attributes you can improve your side without having to pay through the nose. Formation specific attributes are definitely worth looking into - for my narrow formation I tend to forego pace in my midfield and look for better passing, positioning and creativity attributes. It gets pretty congested in the middle with 3 CMs so if they are able to find space and pick a pass it helps tremendously.
So a pretty brief overview, but hopefully there are some pointers in there that could help you compete on one or both levels in FML
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