Making Decisions

As I iterated earlier, quality decision-making is the absolute key to succeeding at Football Manager. Management is all about making decisions. If you consistently make good decisions you will more often than not do well. If you regularly make bad ones you are likely to fail. The following section provides some guidelines.

Pre-Match Common Sense

You are playing Arsenal away. No matter how good a squad you think you have, Arsenal away is a difficult game. Don’t be over expansive and decide to attack from the off. Arsenal are likely to rip you apart if you do that. Careful and cautious wins the race. Be happy going in level at half time. Try to frustrate them and win it once they have played themselves out.

Pre-Match Odds

The pre-match odds offer you an indication of your chances to win. If they are heavily in your favour the likelihood is that the opposition will be playing defensively from the start and Control is the best option. If they are roughly equal, home and away considerations come to the fore. Attack at home, Counter away but be prepared to change tactics (often to Balanced) if things get sticky. If they are heavily against you the best chance is to soak up pressure and try to score on the Counter or Defend for your lives from the outset if you are serious underdogs.

The AI Formation

Looking at the AI formation can often help in choosing a tactic before kick off. In a 4-4-2 the AI may be playing with long, short or no forward arrows. If they have long arrows, they are playing aggressively. You can choose to Counter if you think they are stronger than you or you are playing away, or decide to impose your own game onto them if you are much stronger or at home. Short farrows means you should be a little more aggressive. No farrows means you should look to Control the game.

In non-4-4-2 formations it is much harder to read the AI from the outset. Common sense and pre-match odds will be your only guidelines in this situation. However, once you start the game the match itself can offer vital clues.

Using the Match Stats

If you have made the right tactical decision then the passing and possession percentages will be in your favour. At home the advantage should be significant; away closer but you should still have the edge. Likewise, the AI should be struggling to break through your defensive line and thus most of its shots should be long range and/or off target. Unfortunately, the statistical variations only kick in between 10-15 minutes into a game. You might already be a goal down by then, so learning to read the match by watching the 2d is also required, both for the first 15 minutes and the last third of the match, when the AI will start to change tactics.

Reading the Match

The AI changes its system all the time. Spotting what it is doing is absolutely vital for consistent in-match performance. Is the AI playing tight and quick, heavily pressing, putting your 6-yard box under constant pressure? Is the space in front of you back-line being exploited? Are AI attackers consistently breaking through your defensive line? Are you failing to create well-worked chances, snatching at shots, losing possession too quickly? Then something is wrong tactically and you need to fix it. It might be you need to switch from Attack to Control in order to construct better-worked moves. It might be you need to change Counter to Defend to kill off a game. Hoping for the best is not an option. Making quick decisions under pressure is where you earn your virtual money.

Recognising a Bad Team Talk

On occasion, your team will look like they are playing in treacle. Players will look slow and lethargic, mistakes will creep in, possession will be lost all too easily and the opposition will create more chances than you are expecting. This is either down to complacency, poor morale or a bad team talk (or a combination of the above). You will need to abandon your tactic when this happens for a more defensive one to reduce the risk of misfortune. You can then alter the perspective during the half-time team talk and resort to your preferred tactic for the second half.