Signing star players can take some time
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Gaming

Football Manager 2017 tips to guide you to victory

9 essential Football Manager 2017 tips from Sports Interactive's Football Analyst Tom Davidson.
Written by Tom East
7 min readPublished on
From the new social media features to improved data analysis and extra staff members, the new Football Manager game is packed with great new features that will give virtual gaffers even more things to think about.
To help you get your season off to a great start, we asked Sports Interactive's Football Analyst Tom Davidson for his top Football Manager 2017 tips. He told us how you can use social media to your advantage, when to make tactical changes, and which stats you should be paying attention to.
Football Manager 2017's new camera angle

Football Manager 2017's new camera angle

© Sports Interactive

1. Use social media to your advantage

Social media is a new addition to the series – this is  the area where the bulk of the latest news in the footballing world will break, so you’ll want to keep an eye on the Social Feed for all the manager comings and goings, transfer activity and coverage of unhappy players. The Social Feed can also be used as a scouting tool – you can watch highlights of great goals on the feed and the media will pick out potential signings that they think your team should be looking at.

2. Use different camera angles to analyse the match

There are a couple of options if you really want to assess how your team is maintaining its shape. The Data Analyst camera angle gives you an clear, elevated view of the on-pitch action, similar to what Messrs Neville and Carragher use on Monday Night Football. This view is ideal for assessing both team’s movement and structure. For example, if your deep-lying playmaker is being pushed deeper by a particularly tricky attacking midfielder it’s more obviously noticeable from this angle.
Another option is to use our new Behind Goal Low camera angle. Not only does this angle get you closer to the action, but it also offers a different perspective on the action. I’ve found this angle useful for looking at how my defence is handling the opposition’s strikers and analysing how effectively they’re defending as a unit.

3. Manage older players carefully

This is something that real managers have to deal with every season. For Football Manager 2017, we’ve changed the way that a player’s decline is calculated so that it takes into account a lot more information, such as the quality of the team’s training facilities as well as how much first-team football he is getting.
This means that if you’ve got an older player who is important to your team, or a particular favourite of yours, you’ll want to spend a bit more time looking at how you can maximise their playing time over their last few years in the game.
Analyse matches with heatmaps

Analyse matches with heatmaps

© Sports Interactive

4. Don’t make tactical changes too quickly

Game management is an important skill – think of Istanbul in 2005 or Manchester United at the Nou Camp in '99. That’s not to say you should rush into a decision; take some time to properly assess how the game is panning out instead of just switching to attacking if you haven’t scored or are behind. Give it at least 15 minutes before changing things up.

5. How to use maps and stats

The heat maps in Football Manager 2017 are the most impressive in the series’ history and can give you a really clear idea of how successful your tactics and formation are. For example, if you’re looking at a heat map that shows that the bulk of your play went down the right flank, but the touch map shows that your right winger was taking the majority of touches high up the pitch then you’ll want to ask him to press further forward for your next match.
It’s important to find the right stats to look at that are relevant to your style of play. If you’re playing a short passing game then you’ll want to look at the passing stats and, similarly, if you’re playing on the counter you might want to check the possession events to see if any of your players are regularly giving possession away when you’re on the break.

6. Delegate and listen to your staff

It’s important to delegate in the areas that are right for you. Since we introduced a greater level of staff responsibilities you have more control than ever over your staff and their day-to-day roles which gives you the freedom to concentrate on the things you want to do.
You can now set these up when you create your manager, which is well worth doing. It’s always worth listening to your staff even if you don’t act on their advice. The way that advice is delivered in Football Manager 2017 is more intuitive and your staff provide more context to their suggestions which allows you to make a more informed decision.
The new staff roles really complement your existing backroom team, too. I’m a massive fan of the Data Analyst’s reports and I use them alongside the existing opposition scout report to give myself a clear idea about how to set my team up ahead of each match.
Signing star players can take some time

Signing star players can take some time

© Sports Interactive

7. Transfer market tips

Transfer sagas really mirror the major transfer stories that we see play out in the media every year. I’ve seen clubs in my save games identify their main transfer target in March, send scouts to watch him play, talk him up to the press and then start to make their move for him in July.
Agents and players are more demanding in Football Manager 2017, and with the new pre-contract conversations, you might have to agree to certain promises before you can negotiate the player’s contract. The best way to get the deal done quickly is to agree to the player’s and the agent’s terms, but that probably won’t get you the best deal financially.
In an ideal world you’ll have all your transfer business done nice and early so that you can concentrate on getting your players working as an effective unit, but don’t be surprised if you’re sweating on a player’s work permit with 20 minutes left of the window. The key thing is to identify the right players to bring in because there’s no point getting all your signings made in the first week of the window if they’re not going to add anything to your team.
As for buying and selling players on transfer deadline day, it really depends on your club’s circumstances. Deadline Day, as we all know, is a bit of a circus but it can be a lifesaver if you’ve got a bit of an injury crisis or your players just aren’t performing well enough. There are bargains out there though, particularly when it comes to transfer listed players.

8. How to improve players

Training is the way to go. Training in Football Manager is sophisticated, allowing you to create bespoke training schedules for both your team and individual players. You can also retrain players to learn new roles and positions and, for younger players, there is the option to have senior players tutor them to improve their technical and mental attributes.

9. How to deal with the media

You’ll want to get on the right side of the journalists as they can ease some of the pressure on you when the time is tough, but they can give you a really hard time if you get on the wrong side of them. Make sure that you regularly attend press conferences and answer any inquiries that they have, but don’t just give formulaic answers – they want good copy so a controversial opinion or cleverly worded soundbite won’t go amiss either.