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5 Tips to master Football Manager 2020, straight from the devs
The team at Sports Interactive offer their top tips for Football Manager success in this year's release.
Football Manager 2020 is the latest update from the team at Sports Interactive, offering your best chance at taking your team to glory from the hotseat.
Success on the field can be hard, but thankfully the developers themselves are here to give you a hand. Read up, and then take your team to lift whichever trophy you've got your eyes on. What's not to love?
1. Picking the right club is more important than ever
With the introduction of Club Vision, you’ll need to find a club that match your philosophy as a football manager as you can no longer manage the same way at each club. So, if you’re someone who wants to play attacking, aesthetically pleasing football then it’s probably best that you don’t jump straight in at a club whose idea of ‘the beautiful game’ is to lump the ball up to their 6’7” target man.
Similarly, if you’re the sort of manager that likes to splash the cash you’re going to want to find a club with a generous transfer budget or an ambitious chairman who is happy for you to spend big in order to progress up the leagues.
The good news is that you can get a feel for each club’s culture and the objectives you’ll be expected to meet on the team selection screen.
2. Plan for the long-term
It's time to take Blackburn back to the big leagues
© Sega
The board will set a five year plan of objectives for you to hit once you take charge at your chosen club in FM20 but to achieve real success on the game you’ll want to be thinking long-term about every aspect of the club.
Let’s take player development, for example. Everyone loves developing wonderkids into world beaters and it’s easier to keep track of their progress in FM20 thanks to the Development Centre but, used properly, it can also help you plan your youth setup for seasons to come. Make sure to check in regularly to see which players might be ready to make the step up to first-team football and also to see a preview of your future youth intake.
Another area where you can get the most out thinking long-term is with your squad management. Keep an eye on your squad’s playing time statuses – another new addition this year – and make sure you’ve got a good balance of established and young talents who can become important first teamers in seasons to come. This will help to save you from panic buying on Deadline Day when you realise you’re short of cover at the back.
3. Find a tactic that suits your squad and will please the board
The days of ‘plug and play’ tactics are over after the introduction of a revamp to the tactics module in FM19. It’s now up to you to find a tactical style that fits the players you have at your disposal. For FM20, you’ll have to take into account the style of play that the board might want you to play as laid out in your Club Vision.
It’s often tempting to go straight in and select a high intensity, attacking tactic such as gegenpress but if your squad isn’t prepared for it then it can cause them to pick up injuries or lack fitness as the season progresses. Imagine you’ve taken charge of a lower league side with an ageing squad and are asking them to cover the sort of ground that you’d see from an elite player at a top-flight club – a recipe for disaster. Another tip is to settle on your tactic on your first day in the job so that you can spend pre-season getting the lads trained up on your chosen tactical style.
To help you settle on a style there’s a new thumbs up symbol next to the styles that are most suited to your squad. It’s worth creating two or three tactics with your chosen style with varied formations that you can use to suit different conditions, such as a crucial away game against one of the better teams in the league.
4. Use your club’s transfer policy to your advantage
Ajax, always a good choice for Football Manager 2020
© Sega
Most clubs in the game will have a set objective from the board for you to stick to when it comes to signing players. This could be signing players from a specific country, signing young players only or even something as extreme as offering contracts no longer than two years long to players.
That doesn’t mean you have to be restricted by it though. If you’ve been tasked with bringing in young players, then it gives you free rein to concentrate on building a team of wonderkids. Similarly, contract length restrictions can give you the opportunity to regularly freshen up the squad as you progress through the leagues. The board will be more likely to treat you more favourably if you stick closely to their transfer policy, which can be particularly useful if results on the pitch aren’t going your way.
If you’re lucky enough to find yourself at a club with plenty of riches and the objective to sign high profile players, then you’re pretty much set for life but you won’t get as much leeway from the board so you’re going to need to make sure that the players you bring in can hit the ground running and help you dominate on your way to the top. No pressure…
5. Use your backroom team
FM20 not only features two new staff roles – the Loan Manager and the Technical Director – but also allows you to delegate more responsibility to them than ever before.
This allows you to customise the game to a level that suits you meaning that if you don’t want to take charge of training, your youth setup or contract renewals but you want to take full responsibility for everything on matchdays then you can do just that and everything in between. There’s a wealth of options available to you so spend some time deciding what you do and don’t want to delegate and, of course, you can always change these as you get deeper into the game. Get all your responsibilities set up early doors so you make the most of your time on the game and focus on the stuff that really matters to you, whatever that may be.
There’s more relevant advice in FM20 as well, particularly around team selection. It’s worth taking in a range of opinions from your best and most trusted backroom staff ahead of matchday to make sure that you’re picking the starting eleven that will give you the best chance of victory.
