Football manager 2012 -IPad

[leicester4life]

play attacking 4231, most other tactics are a nightmare to get right.

[shen]

I find this the most frustrating game ever.i have assembled quite a good Leicester side but yet I've only managed to win one game out of my 1st 8 I don't get it what am I doing wrong.someone please help if they have any tips for me cheers all matt

There could be a million things you're doing wrong. First of all, how good is 'quite good'? I've seen umpteen people post their squads claiming they're 'good' when in fact they're pretty rubbish. Next would be, as leicester4life points out, your tactics. If you have no clue what you're doing or don't know how to set up a decent formation with appropriate tactics, then it could also partly explain your troubles. If you want to learn more about such aspects, I suggest you go here: http://www.guidetofootballmanager.com/. You can find almost everything regarding the in-game aspects and they're explained in high enough detail without being too math nerdy. Lastly, it is pretty hard getting out of a serious slump as every successive poor result makes your squad morale plummet. So if you don't have high bonuses and don't motivate your players well, you'll effectively start games with a subsequent penalty.

play attacking 4231, most other tactics are a nightmare to get right.

A 4-4-2 will almost always yield average results. If all else fails, and you have the personnel for it, a 4-4-2 is pretty safe.

[lcfc matt]

Thank you for you advice shen I'm not to great at this version to be fair I mastered manager games on the ps and stuff so I will try to master this thank u again much appreciated

[Raw Dykes]

Thank you for you advice shen I'm not to great at this version to be fair I mastered manager games on the ps and stuff so I will try to master this thank u again much appreciated

If you really have got good players, then it could be a problem to do with one of, or a combination of any of, the following:

• Morale - can be fixed with sorting out contracts, wages, team talks, interacting with players, winning matches(!) or as a last resort, selling players, among other things.
  
• Training - are you getting the best out of your players? I'd advise designing position specific schedules. Ask as much of your players as possible, i.e. just below the point where any players complain you're working them too hard. Organise your coaches. Ask them only to do what they're best at, while still covering every base. Could you get better coaches? You should usually be able to find an unattached coach who has a very good stat for at least one aspect.
  
• Tactics - I don't know how much you know, or how much you want to learn. I don't think you need to be an expert. You can just use trial and error if you don't fancy reading up about it. Ideally, try to find a formation that suits the players you've got. If you can't, you might have to try finding players for a certain formation. When you have something good, save it and tinker with it slightly to get more out of it. Make a more defensive version of it and save that separately, and do the same with a more attacking version. Now, you'll be able to switch between them during the match, depending on how it's going.
  

When things weren't going well for me, during matches, I'd turn the speed right down, and watch the whole match, rather than just highlights. I'd try to work out where it was going wrong and keep checking to see what the assistant manager would advise.

I don't play it anymore, but I could write about it all day. Feel free to ask any questions you might have.

[lcfc matt]

Raw dykes thank you I realy enjoy playing these games just need to learn more. Ive been stuck in hospital for 8 weeks and I'm going to be off work many months so I have all the time in the world to learn but don't know where to begin

[leicester4life]

There could be a million things you're doing wrong. First of all, how good is 'quite good'? I've seen umpteen people post their squads claiming they're 'good' when in fact they're pretty rubbish. Next would be, as leicester4life points out, your tactics. If you have no clue what you're doing or don't know how to set up a decent formation with appropriate tactics, then it could also partly explain your troubles. If you want to learn more about such aspects, I suggest you go here: http://www.guidetofootballmanager.com/. You can find almost everything regarding the in-game aspects and they're explained in high enough detail without being too math nerdy. Lastly, it is pretty hard getting out of a serious slump as every successive poor result makes your squad morale plummet. So if you don't have high bonuses and don't motivate your players well, you'll effectively start games with a subsequent penalty.

A 4-4-2 will almost always yield average results. If all else fails, and you have the personnel for it, a 4-4-2 is pretty safe.

this, a good side irl isn't always a good side on fm, try team meetings or playing friendlies against poor sides to up morale, there's never a reason to use any less than normal league and cup bonus' cause that seriously screws up morale.

and its easier to set up an attacking tactic than a defensive one i find.

[Raw Dykes]

Raw dykes thank you I realy enjoy playing these games just need to learn more. Ive been stuck in hospital for 8 weeks and I'm going to be off work many months so I have all the time in the world to learn but don't know where to begin

That's alright, mate. I'd recommend Shen's link, and I'd guess the FM forums might be useful. http://community.sigames.com/forumdisplay.php/4-Football-Manager-Forums I'm sure there's been a massive amount written about these games already, so it's a case of trying to find out which is the best advice.

Focus on your weaknesses. I mastered using the transfer market to make a stronger squad while also making a profit, but I didn't know much about tactics, so I focused on reading about formations, passing styles, pressing, etc. Some people might be the other way around.

One tip I don't think you can go wrong with, is try not to click proceed too often. If you go through the game too fast, you can give yourself too little time to change things, or miss opportunities. Before you rush the clock, ask yourself if there's anything you've forgotten, anything you could check or alter that would be better to do now than leave til later.

Good luck, and get well soon!

[Raw Dykes]

this, a good side irl isn't always a good side on fm, try team meetings or playing friendlies against poor sides to up morale, there's never a reason to use any less than normal league and cup bonus' cause that seriously screws up morale.

and its easier to set up an attacking tactic than a defensive one i find.

Absolutely fundamental! An easy mistake to make is using a real player's reputation to judge a player on FM. I can't stress enough how much you have to ignore player's names on FM. The programmers may have been spot on at the moment the game was released, but each player will improve or decline in ability at a different rate, and the same happens to the real life player the FM version is based on. You can be sure that the real life player and his FM stats won't match up, and the difference only increases as time goes on.

To judge how good players in FM are, you have to trust your scouts and coaches more than your own knowledge of the player in real life. Find the best scouts you can get. You should usually be able to find unattached ones with good stats for Judging Player Ability and/or Judging Player Potential, which are the only two stats that really matter for scouts. Make them work for you. Send each one to cover a different area, so you can scout as far and wide as possible, i.e. make one scout search UK & Ireland, and make sure you ask him to start again as soon as he's finished, make another do the same for Central Europe, another for Scandinavia, etc. It's a very good idea to have an assistant manager who has good stats for Judging Player Ability and Judging Player Potential, because you need to trust their ratings of your own players. If you've got an assistant who isn't good at these two things, but you don't want to replace him yet, ask whichever coach you've got with the best JPA and JPP stats instead until you can replace the assistant.

To sum up, the real life Messi might be the best in the world, but on FM, he might be average. The real life Junior Lewis might be dump, but on FM, he might be a world-beater. You have to accept that while you might be an expert on real life players, you can't use this knowledge on FM. However, your scouts and assistant will far more accurately tell you how good each player is in FM.

If you've made the mistake of using real player's reputations as an indication of how good your FM squad is, this could well be where you're going wrong. To get this out of your system, you might want to start a new game as practice, and either turn real names off, or manage a non-league side, or a foreign club in a league you know nothing about. I'd certainly recommend managing a non-league side like Hinckley for a bit. You'll learn a lot about so many different aspects of the game, and it's more satisfying when you succeed. Also, there's often less pressure on you to do well. It's crucial that you learn this to succeed, because you'll get far better results, and you need to abandon trusting real life player's reputations as the game wears on anyway. They retire, and regens replace them, who you'll have to scout, anyway.

[Brooksy]

Had a go on the demo for this. Started off great, unbeaten in my first 8 and top of the championship with city. Terminated Mills' contract and then lost my next 10

Anyone recommend a place i can buy it from?

[shen]

Raw dykes thank you I realy enjoy playing these games just need to learn more. Ive been stuck in hospital for 8 weeks and I'm going to be off work many months so I have all the time in the world to learn but don't know where to begin

Well, take it one step at a time. First, settle on one formation and tactic. Train it so it becomes familiar as quickly as possible, i.e. set workload in match preparation in the tactics screen to 'very high' until you're at least accomplished in all aspects of that tactic (click on 'familiarity' to see the progression). Turn this down to very low/low once it's reached that level. Using the tactic will also increase the familiarity. I would suggest a rigid/standard narrow 4-3-3 with direct passing. The middle midfielder has to be either an anchorman type midfielder (can be put in the DMC position) or a playmaker. In attack, the two wide strikers should be pacey poachers while the middle one can be target man/trequartista/DLF, the important part being that this striker can hold up the ball/come deep to play through balls to the other two strikers. The whole defense should just have fully defensive instructions. This WILL get you good results and will also allow you to have a very small squad seeing as you don't need wingers.

Second, is obviously your personnel. If you use the suggested formation you'll want good passers in midfield to set up counterattacks, pace in attack and defense and at least one very good set piece taker. Use the search function to filter out unsuitable transfer targets. If you need advice on who to buy, you can ask here or just look it up; there are tons of FM pages with player recommendations.

Third, learn how to motivate your players. If you don't like this aspect of the game, hire an assistant with high man management and motivation skill to take over team talks. He won't get you bonus effects often, but then again, he'll almost never have a negative effect.

Fourth, at the very least, assign your players to default training schedules that matches their position. Here are some examples, and they also show you how to import them into the game: http://www.footballmanagerstory.com/2011/11/download-the-best-training-schedules-for-football-manager-2012/ . In the long run, you'll want to find ideal coaches for every training category. In the short run, this isn't strictly necessary.

[Danny the Fox 95]

I dot a decent team in the Prem. with the likes of Greg Halford, Joe Bennett, Jack Cork, Rhys Williams, Robert Snodgrass, Nathaniel Clyne and Billy Sharp.

[kingfox]

Im currently flying with Reading top of the league but only in September.

Federici

Hateley, Pearce, Gorkss, Harte

Kebe, Karacan, Leigertwood, McAnuff

Beciraj, Le Fondre

Beciraj always scores goals if you sign him, Le Fondre has been on fire 5 in 5.

Also signed Leijer, N.Powell, Gudmundsson, S.Davies and Cook from Sunderland on loan.

[shen]

I dot a decent team in the Prem. with the likes of Greg Halford, Joe Bennett, Jack Cork, Rhys Williams, Robert Snodgrass, Nathaniel Clyne and Billy Sharp.

This is a perfect example of what I alluded to on the previous page. 'Decent' is stretching really it. The only one of those I'd call decent is Cork, who can be a useful even for top half Prem teams. The rest are lower half/relegation material to be honest

[Heart-Shaped Fox]

Currently 7th in my second season as Wolves. There is a 12point gap from 9th to 10th i think it is, because the top eight teams are so equal and better than the rest. I finished eighth in my first season have surpassed my points tally will probably gain near to sevenTy points yet finish outside of Europe again.

My team now includes Branescu, A.Matthews, Hanley, G.Dos Santos, Adam Johnson, Steven Fletcher, the ArsenalKorean Park, Drenthe and Tom Cairney.

Hoping to finish in Europe but doubt it will happen.

[shen]

Currently 7th in my second season as Wolves. There is a 12point gap from 9th to 10th i think it is, because the top eight teams are so equal and better than the rest. I finished eighth in my first season have surpassed my points tally will probably gain near to sevenTy points yet finish outside of Europe again.

My team now includes Branescu, A.Matthews, Hanley, G.Dos Santos, Adam Johnson, Steven Fletcher, the ArsenalKorean Park, Drenthe and Tom Cairney.

Hoping to finish in Europe but doubt it will happen.

Is this bloke a newgen?

[Heart-Shaped Fox]

Is this bloke a newgen?

Adam Matthews from Celtic, wrote it like that as i was on my phone so just did it quickly.

In the current season, Colchester are in the FA cup final despite being in League 2!

[Richard]

just beat Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea 1-0 in 3 games in my first premiership season. Played defensive as f*** football, relying on set pieces and the counter attack

Schmeical

Matthews (Celtic) Gaman (Celtic) Pearce (reading) Konchesky

Bamba

Davies (Bolton) Bouba Diop (West Ham)

Marshall Robson-Kanu (Reading)

Fletcher (Wolves)

subs: Bialkowski, Mills, Van Aanholt, King, Drinkwater, Laudrup (some norwegian team), Beckford

[Simmo86]

Started a save as Spurs.

Signings:

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Got Diego Polenta, Mateo Kovacic, Coutinho, Andrea Bertolacci, Muhammed Demirci and Thiago Alves already signed up for the summer.

Need to add a new keeper aswell, straight choice between RRZ and ter Stegen. Probs plump for RRZ due to homegrown status. Also need a DM to replace Parker, between M'Vila and Javi Martinez as Kwadwo Asamoah signed for Utd.

Top of the Prem at the mo, 7 points clear of City after 24 games. League Cup final against Newcastle coming up and a 5th round FA Cup tie away at Brizzle City with Utd, City, Chelsea and Liverpool already knocked out should win this

[Tom17LCFC]

When you're favourite for a vacant job on FM, what are the chances that when you apply you'll get it?

[Narborough_fox]

Anyone know a good training method which I can download, I seem to remember downloading one along the name of "Mack's training". Does anyone know if this is one? Cheers!

[Libertine Dream]

When you're favourite for a vacant job on FM, what are the chances that when you apply you'll get it?

If you apply and are a favourite youll 8 times out of 10 get offered it.

[Simmo86]

Just got beat by bottom of the Championship Bristol City in the FA Cup! Not impressed!

[Tom17LCFC]

If you apply and are a favourite youll 8 times out of 10 get offered it.

Cheers, just my luck though. Quit Fleetwood after 2 successive promotions and narrowly missing out on L1 play-offs in the 3rd season becuase I was favourite for the Tottenham job, who had just won the prem. Applied for it but they didn't hire me.

Had to wait until December to get myself a job at an underperfoming Huddersfield back in League 1 so I'm aiming to take these to prem then move on from there.

[munf1987]

Was just offered the Barcalona job at the end of 2015/2016 season, currently at spurs and didnt apply for it either, was offered 240m transfer budget (which was tempting)

Turned it down as i wanted to see what i can do with Spurs in my career with them. Got 60m to spend with them, made the mistake of not spending this in the previous season. Also got Moussa Sissoko coming who was set to sign for city for 20m but getting him on a free

[Danny the Fox 95]

This is a perfect example of what I alluded to on the previous page. 'Decent' is stretching really it. The only one of those I'd call decent is Cork, who can be a useful even for top half Prem teams. The rest are lower half/relegation material to be honest

Just signed Kyle Walker, Kyle Naughton, and James Tomkins which always helps!