Building up your team

[ChemEng]

Could anyone give me some advice on building up my team?

I am in my 2nd season of a 5 star ML currently. Still in Div 2. I feel I have improved the team significantly over the starter lot. However, on the (rare) occasion that I get a win I perhaps only benefit a few hundred points, due to salaries coming off etc.

I hear of everyone buying really well known players like Henry, whereas I am stuck looking for free transfers or Koreans etc.

Does it just take a few seasons of dross results before you get enough points to start buying big or does winning a cup give you a healthy points boost? I see cups as useful for getting points coz you dont need to pay salaries on cup weekends.

Have I perhaps been too generous with my salaries? - what rules do you guys follow when pursuing players?

Thanks for reading.

 

[yr970255]

I usually go for the big names when i get to div1 coz u get extra money for winning cup matches, also try going for top goal scorer and assist coz you bonus points for them.

 

[asher b]

good advice

you also get the obvious added bonus of taking the teams star player who is obviously perfroming well.

 

[Hunter]

you get more points to go towards buying a new player when you win a cup or the league or depending on the position you finish in the league.

 

[ChemEng]

Thanks for the tips guys.
Cheers.

 

[gollan]

I know this might sound like cheating to you but I really think starting at 5* is a bit difficult (it was for me). When in Div 2, maybe you should play 4* or even 3*, and then after a season or 2 move it up to 5*.

 

[Zizou_Zizi]

Right now at my 4th season I'm still on 4*, can't get to move up.

At Div 2 I played 3*, so I might rise soon.

 

[Cellini]

Could anyone give me some advice on building up my team?

Work on the spine first. If you're not scoring enough, start with buying good value CF's then an OMF, then the CBT's and GK.

If your scoring but conceding too many, go the other way.

Look for players that can fit into a few positions so that over a season, they're able to fill in for others in poor form, suspended or injured.

Try looking for good all rounders with basic generic skills across the range - I mean things that should be there in decent forwards or defenders - Response, Condition, Mentality, Teamwork.

That can narrow down the targets to buy, and mean you get good value when you do bring someone in.

Look out for free agent transfers towards the end of a season, when a star player in another team is due to end his contract at the end of the season - shows up as '1 season remaining'.

Transfer list some of the unused players in your squad to bring in funds, consider one or two trade-transfer deals to offset the immediate cost of a transfer of a player who's under a long contract - but not too many, you'll still be paying the outgoing player's wages at his new club, until his existing contract expires.

Don't worry about anyone else's team, or what level they're playing at. Worry more about the opponents your actually playing against.

If your losing too many games at 5*, just switch it down one or two so you can get more control over the game.

Then, once have more of the ball, you can start to work on improving your game play, and trying to add new moves to your repetoire.

 

[Nifty1Pound50]

In terms of keeping wages reasonable, stick to a 600 point limit per player. You'll be surprised at the quality you can get for this price.

I often go for trade deals between the default players and new players, but the trick to getting successful deals is to go for players also playing in Division 2. There's some quality about:

Boumsong
Mexès
D. Cissé
Kalou
Jugovic
...and plenty more!

Use the conditional search to find players meeting your requirements, it's often a good idea to use a "fuzzy search" as this will mean a player lacking in one stat will still come up.

Due to the ML default team being quite poor, formation is also quite crucial. If you can get them into space, you'll find yourself scoring more goals. The players you have at your disposal normally have one or two key skills in the 80's - Ximelez, for example. Ostwaut is also a king.

Personally, I play a 4-3-3, Castolo and Ostwaut on either side of Barota, with Minanda running the midfield.

The more fun way to play the game would be to get your strike-force sorted first, bring in some decent strikers who will score you goals, then improve the defensive side of things. Also, goals scored = points.

It sounds like your playing experience might benefit from dropping down a level. I, myself, started my first ML on 3*, and found myself dropping it to 2* as I was struggling.

Now, I can score 3-4 goals against the COM with the default team on 5*. It really does make it more fun, and allows you to master the basics.

 

[Cellini]

Doni or Cocu are good value.

"Does it just take a few seasons of dross results before you get enough points to start buying big or does winning a cup give you a healthy points boost?"

Winning games, certainly not losing. A long cup run helps a lot because you pay wages per week rather than per game...so as they say, it's all a bonus.

Getting a high placing and promotion though the play-offs will bring in thousands, enough to boost your team with a few new stars.

 

[ChemEng]

Thanks for all your help guys.

One Q - how do you transfer list players?

Previously I had just been releasing players (at a penalty cost) to save on their wages. It'd be much better if I could sell them.

So far the players I have brought in are:

CF: Ann Jung-Hwan (or however you spell it!)

OMF: Lee Chun-Soo
OMF: Berkovic

GK: Lee Woon-Jae

I play a 5-3-2 (2 OMFs) and have the facility to switch to a 4-4-2 with 2 DMFs.

I like buying Koreans as you can get some good players for much less money than a european for example.

Thanks again.

 

[Nifty1Pound50]

To transfer list players, you must add them to your "Release List."

Unfortunately, I can't remember how to do that right now. Look around all the options in the Negotiations screen and you'll find it.

 

[ChemEng]

Oh I see. So by having players on the release list its then obvious to other clubs that they are available for transfer.

I thought the release list was only to terminate contracts and pay players off.

This will help me a lot - much appreciated!

 

[Cellini]

Yes, you can only add players during a negotiation round, but it will encourage other teams to make you an offer.

Depending on how you play (3 CBT's or a back four; Side MF's or wingers?), there are probably a couple of default players you can get rid of in the first negotiation rounds.