Advice on very low League job

[Bobby1990 (Inactive)]

After many years of always managing in the premiership or la liga, I am interested in starting a save right at the very bottom of the English divisions 

Any advice on how to:

manage game time for players

Preferred tactics for these type of teams 

player recruitment 

Training

Would all be a massive help

 

cheers guys 

[Johnny Ace (Inactive)]

10 minutes ago, Bobby1990 said:

manage game time for players

In which way? There's plenty of games in the lower leagues and you'll face fixture congestion a lot (endless weeks of Wed/Sat games). Play your important players and rotate as much as possible

10 minutes ago, Bobby1990 said:

Preferred tactics for these type of teams 

Base it off the team you join. 4-4-2's always a good one, if they have a strong DM 4-3-3 DM if they have a great AMC 4-2-3-1

10 minutes ago, Bobby1990 said:

player recruitment 

As with any club but depending on low down you go, you'll be able to sign players on Non-Contracts. Trial the free agents, get some young players from the leagues above on loan. You're probably see high squad turnovers each season but it's part of the fun 

 

10 minutes ago, Bobby1990 said:

Training

Leave to the ass man . It'll most likely be part time training so don't worry about developing wonderkids or anything like that 

[Bobby1990 (Inactive)]

2 hours ago, Johnny Ace said:

In which way? There's plenty of games in the lower leagues and you'll face fixture congestion a lot (endless weeks of Wed/Sat games). Play your important players and rotate as much as possible

Base it off the team you join. 4-4-2's always a good one, if they have a strong DM 4-3-3 DM if they have a great AMC 4-2-3-1

As with any club but depending on low down you go, you'll be able to sign players on Non-Contracts. Trial the free agents, get some young players from the leagues above on loan. You're probably see high squad turnovers each season but it's part of the fun 

 

Leave to the ass man . It'll most likely be part time training so don't worry about developing wonderkids or anything like that 

What a reply mate, thank you!!!

Looking forward to a new challenge now after getting to 2031 with West Ham

[glengarry224 (Inactive)]

 

[glengarry224 (Inactive)]

If your team is semi-pro, you'll have very few training sessions.  This means skipping most technical, set piece and match preparation sessions and mostly sticking to 'General' training.  But it also means that your players will face much less injury risk and training fatigue.  I set training to double intensity.  Also, sometimes you can schedule friendlies for off days, which also are necessary for match fitness and income.

Because of limited training and abilities, less complex tactics tend to work better.

If your team is professional, loans are great.  Look one or two divisions higher and scout their youth players.  Teams will be more reluctant to loan to semi-pro teams because you don't train enough, or to teams with crappy training facilities.

Lower leagues usually stress physical attributes, and certain mentals, more.  Expect lower technical abilities.  Depending upon positions, all physicals but especially these physical/mental:  Acc/Jump/NF/Pace/Str/Ant/OTB/Pos/Det/WR.  For example, for CBs, all physical matter but especially:  Jump/Str/Ant/Pos/WR

If you have players who excel in 1 or 2 attributes, play towards those.  For example, if you have a wingback who is super-speedy for your division, attack with him down the wing.

In match, watch fitness levels.  LL players tend to have lower fitness.  If you can conserve energy, you can often beat teams in the last 15-20 minutes.

Get a GK with good Aerial and Reflexes; and at least one CB who is strong and good in the air.  It's very hard for LL teams to break down a solid D.

[LazerGlove (Inactive)]

It depends what the Tactical Knowledge of the other managers in your league is.

I prefer playing a Tiki-Taka kind of style in those kind of leagues. It works brilliantly.

I'll give you a screenshot of my shape. So you can see what I mean.

[Johnny Ace (Inactive)]

Solid advice from @glengarry224there 

 

One thing that's like gold dust down in the lower leagues is a good free kick or corner taker. If you can grab one of those, its another 5-10 goals a season

[anagain (Inactive)]

On 06/04/2022 at 10:29, Bobby1990 said:

After many years of always managing in the premiership or la liga, I am interested in starting a save right at the very bottom of the English divisions 

Any advice on how to:

Welcome to the world of the LLaMa.

On 06/04/2022 at 10:29, Bobby1990 said:

manage game time for players

Much the same as for the top leagues I suspect. You'll likely play more often though so resting ageing players will be key.

On 06/04/2022 at 10:29, Bobby1990 said:

Preferred tactics for these type of teams

Simpler the better.

No-nonsense or generic CDs

BWM, B2B

DLF, AF, P and they king of LLM, the TM

Don't ask players to do too much. Direct football to a TM can win games but it's not always the case. You're going to want to play aggressive and less technical football though.

Saying that, if you're lucky enough to get a wondefully creative player then a PM could be decisive.

On 06/04/2022 at 10:29, Bobby1990 said:

player recruitment

Technical ability is not the key here. Key is aggression, work rate, teamwork and physical stats. A player that can run about for 90 minutes will trump a technically gifted kid that falls on his face before half time.

Passing is nice at any level, but in the lowest levels of the game a player with 5 finishing could easily score many goals for you. Again, it comes down to can they run about.

As I said above, a TM is a huge player in LLM. Someone who can head a ball down and set up a nippy player will be key.

Don't be afraid to get in ageing pros either. Preferably ones who keep their physical stats.

Finally, money is often not available. You'll probably rely on free transfers and loans (but don't go overboard on loans - rules probably won't let you for one thing). One piece of advice I will always give here is to find players with huge adaptability. If you find a player than can player 6/7+ positions then grab him (unless he has the fitness of an asthmatic camel). Players like that will be huge if you have a small squad.

On 06/04/2022 at 10:29, Bobby1990 said:

Training

You'll probably be limited to part time training and you're not going to create the next Beckham with your training set up. I tend to stay very close to generic training though I do find that if you're not hitting the net a week of relevant training will sometimes do wonders.

 

Good luck and have fun.

[phantombandit (Inactive)]

How low? Like vanarama or are you downloading a 10 tier database to start in amateur league?

As most of the answers here seem to be based around vanarama league, ill give some insights on a literal tier 10/11 start.

If you start on tier 11 you will litterally have a $0 budget. In this case, you want to offer contracts to everyone. I am being serious. If you are not offering a hundred contracts a month, I dont even know. The players cost nothing, there is no fee to poach them, and the skill difference is massive at the lower leagues. You will have everything from legit sunday players to former vanarama players who are 40 who want to keep playing (these are the true gems, tho old they can still school any legit amateur). In my latest start I had a 4 star player in my starting roster. I signed a new 5 star player who made my 4 star player 1 star. I then signed two more 5 star players who made my new 5 star player 2 stars. The difference in 5 star players in amateur can legit be the difference between a 1 and 5 star player three times over in other leagues.

Because you have no money, you have no negotiating power over players. This makes it hard to get players. As you cant offer binding contracts it is hard to keep players. Expect to constantly be signing a better player, and expect other teams to constantly be poaching your better players. ESPECAILLY those vanarama north/south teams. Some of your best players will be potentially subs for tier 8-6 teams, who can actually offer money. Expect to lose those players in an instant. 

Playing in amateur is hilarious for a few minutes but gets old fast. Most amateur leagues have ONE SINGLE promotion slot as like 5 leagues will feed into one higher tier league. I would suggest using the editor to relegate a league 10 team to league 11 (which is the only true amateur league). This way you will actually have a budget (of 15k kekw), but this is massive. This will let you offer amateur contracts with a appearance fee. Virtually every player playing for free in amateur league will instantly accept an offer for a $5 appearance fee with no further consideration. These contracts still dont have a salary, thus you can terminate these contracts for free at any time. Thus you can still do the same as above, but you will actually be able to get the best players. HOWEVER, these prime players will be desired as cheap subs by higher tier teams. As again, there is no binding contract, still expect to lose alot of good players.

 

Game time:

As far as game time, just play your best players every match. You wont train much or play many matches so you wont need that many alternates. If players get mad about playing time, just axe them. They are non contract afterall.

 

Training:

Who cares about training, you will replace your entire squad every year up until vanarama south, fire ALL your coaches except for your assistant, unless the coach is free. Why develop a player when there is one 5x better you can sign for free.

 

Tactic:

Alot of other people have touched on this, and tactics dont really change until like premier or atleast sky league. There are tons of low league tactics you can use but if you want to write your own, here are some guidelines.

1. 4-4-2, anything else your players cant comprehend.

2. Direct.

3. Work ball into box, shoot less often (you think your players can hit the broad side of a barn from more than 4 feet away)

4. SET TACKLING TO STAY ON FEET. Your players dont now how to tackle. If you ever want to see a team average 10 yellows a match, turn on 'get stuck in'

5. Did I mention direct?

6. Turn on be more disciplined

7. USE BASIC ROLES. For strikers, targetman is key. Lower league players are just as capable of being tall and strong as premier league players. Use CM or ball winning midfield over like... mezella, use CD over like BPD etc... your players cant comprehend complicated roles.

8. Under transition for lost possession, turn on the tactic that has your players instantly try to win back possession instead of regroup. Players have no first touch so it is easy to win back balls.

Edited April 15, 2022 by phantombandit

[Bielsa1975 (Inactive)]

You will enjoy it more than top flight management cant beat taking a team from tier 10 to div 2 .