Promotion, and my strategy

I promoted this season. My league was quite weak and I managed to win all my matches without a problem. So now im moving up and will face better teams, better players, and more importantly more active managers. I will continue to play 3-5-2. So what is my strategy?

Initial thoughts

I know that to have a fair chance of a good table position I need to do three things:

1. Reach a new playmaking level
2. Be more efficient, and score as often as I can in the chances I produce
3. Be able to stop as many opponent chances as possible

A new playmaking level

This point is fairly easy. I need better players, with higher playmaking skills. So I have to replace most of my midfield. With my 3-5-2 formation strategy I will need 1 extremely good midfielder. Probably an older chap (25+). I will preferably get one with high experience (solid or better). I will try to keep 2 “semi trainees” which will improve fairly quick over the course of the season, 19-23 year olds. I will also try to get a winger with fairly high winger skill and semi high playmaking skill aged 19-22, and play him towards middle to help win the midfield. He will also improve during the course of the season, however not as rapidly. One winger will however be a very good wing skill to support the attack with high experience.

This would give me a fair chance of having a good central midfield, and with it be forced to play “Attack in the Middle” if I succeed.

Becomming more efficient

Last season I had a 71% efficiency on my attacks, and now I will face even better defenders. I also had 12 set pieces chances last season, with an efficiency of 75%. The set pieces chances are very important I think so one of my players must be extremely good. My attackers also needs to be replaces as most chances end up at their feet.

However, in order to make it easier to score for any player in front of goal, I need the level of passing improved drastically. This is why I need good passing skills for most of the midfielders I bring in. Maximum one or two levels lower than the main skill. I will therefore not choose midfielders with high defending skills, in order to appont more force into my attacking game.

Stopping chances

I will need 2 new defenders as well. I have only 3 (in a 3-5-2 formation), and these must be able to play both as central defenders or wingbacks each match, depending on the strengths of my opponents attackers. They have to be even better now that I focus less on the defence skill of my midfielders. To even this up I will get a great goalkeeper. This way I keep some defensive balance, but hope to be more efficient than most of my opponents, and thus win some matches.

Captain

I need a new captain with high experience. I will combine this role with the set pieces taker and the last missing winger. He will be fairly old, a fallen star with high wingerskills only.

Lets see how it all works out.

Long term strategies, your best friend and worst enemy

Before you go on a shopping spree, you will need to have a long term strategy to guide you. Your money at hand will be limited, which will make your decitions extremely important i order to succeed. At any point in the game actually, you should ask youself; what is my long term strategy and how am I following that strategy now.

There is no need to beat around the bush, your nr. 1 primary goal should be: $$$$$$$$. There is nothing else actually. Money makes the world go round, as it also is in hattrick. The goal of your strategy should be, how can I earn the most money. I play games to win. Those who play for fun, can certainly join and be left behind in their glory. Forget how can I win matches, focus on how can I earn money.

You are ready to promote when promotion does not affect your trainees

Trainees is the most common term for players you buy and expect to sell to raise more money. Talenting if you like. And the type and number of your talents / trainees, depend on your strategy.

So how do I choose strategy

I cannot dictate how you like to play football. You might have a preffered tactic; you might have a background from a specific position; you might even have a preffered style of play. I will say this though, when you start up your team, you will need to win some matches, and you need to sell your promising youngsters to strengthen your team. To win matches you need strong midfielders in lower divisions. This is why I suggest to start building around that.

Does age matter?

Yes! Age does matter. In the grand scale of things a 19 year old and a 27 year old with the same skillset will perform exatcly the same. So in performance, age doesnt matter. Is the price for a player aged 19 and 27 with the same skillset the same? Hell no! A 19 year old will be much more expensive. Why? Because a 19 year old will train much faster than a 27 year old. And you need your players to train fast, in order to sell them for a nice profit, and improve your team. This is the name of the game. The younger the player, the faster he trains, and the more profit you will get from him.

Trainees

In many strategies you are offered advice to buy 17 year olds, train them in the same thing until he reaches 21 and sell him. The reason behind this advice is that at the age of 21 is training speed will drop significantly. Although this can be considered a good advice, its not the best way to go about it. These are some reasons why this is not the best idea:

1. It takes a loooong time
2. Its quite boring, you want to have action, not wait for 4 seasons before getting anywhere
3. 17 year olds are quite expensive. You need to go down significantly in primary skill, before you can actually buy a player you can afford.
4. You are adviced to get a passable 17 year old, but you are not experienced enough to know the difference between a good passable player, and a bad one. I will explain how TSI can help you with that later, but for now, thats not the way to go
5. You are looking for fast money, not ALOT of money in 4 seasons.
6. The best profit is players that are 19 – 20 year old, and go from solid to excellent within a couple of trainings, AND have a decent passing skill (passable or better). You can make 3 000 000 in two weeks off these players. But note also that you wont get there now. I will create an entire post about beginning strategies and transfers (and yes it does involve young players with passable playmaking skills because thats where you need to start).
7. Even though you need a long term strategy, you also need room to manouvre

Formation

In order to get the most out of your players (first team and trainees both), you need them all to play every week. you can arrange friendlies once every week. Do so. Every week. From now until eternity. It doesnt take long. Choose a formation, and stick to it. I reccomend 3-5-2, as it will give room for 5 midfielders, and you can more easily win the posession and create the most chances, and you can have 3 inner midfielders in your first team and reserve team (a total of 6) players with maximum training each week, and 2 wingers in both teams (a total of 4), to get 50% training effect, each week. That is 10 players total. Potentially 10 players with the ability to generate 3 000 000 each week. you wont be so lucky, but that is the goal anyway. 10 players to help you generate money in the beginning. Thats a good start.

Training

I will keep the training post short for now, but select playmaking with 14% stamina training. That will raise the stamina of all the players that matter over time, and those you train quite fast (since they are young). You need to keep this type of training for a while.

Now you are set for a strategy that will bring income, its time to look at some other aspects of the game you need to look into.