Tricky Lady;

Apologies if you wanted something more lighter :)

*deep breath*

CM has always had a problem that if you can get a side with very high physical attributes (strength, pace, stamina, etc.) you can go on to do really well. Technical attributes are also important, and then Mental, but always make sure the Physical side of the players are in the teens or more.

If you're a top flight side, look closely at the foreign market - there are often some good deals there, players valued at a couple million with some really high stats. Look especially in the "lower valued" divisions; Portugal, Luxembourg, Balkan leagues, Scandinavia...but try to make sure they can speak the same language as everyone else. If you find someone and they can't, buy a second player from their nation so they have someone to talk to (Man City did this a few years ago with Sun Jihai and another, less quality Chinese player who didn't make the grade - someone I should remember his name but can't!) Also look for teams that have just gone down, or are doing poorly in the league below. Often you can pick-up a good bargain from these clubs by offering them 3/4 of a players value.


If you're lower division, in every CM version so far there have been a number of players that are underrated by everyone, but have stats to dream of. CM4 has a player called Orri Freyr Oskarsson, about 19 in pace, acceleration, shooting, strength... just about all you need in a striker.

For tactics, make sure they aren't too extravagent. Keep to the default 4-4-2 at first. You might want to just make sure everyone is taking the right free-kicks, penalties, and most importantly, captain. He should have good Work Rate, Determination, Influence and Teamwork. Decisions can help too.

For coaching staff. Look for "Unproven" coaches. Make sure you get a good goalkeeping coach, then atleast one coach who is "fitness based". Your assistant manager should have good motivation and determination. No need to alter the default training regime, but if you notice your players losing fitness take out a few sessions of Cross Country, 5-A-Side Games and other intense sessions. Try to keep the coaches speaking the same language as everyone else too.

Well, what I do is this...
Like I said above, I take on lower league sides and go up. The first thing I do is get ride of 30+ year olds, anyway I can. Then I discard the trash players, and usually so much that I have an entirely new squad by the end of the season. Don't worry about giving players time to get used to each other, it doesn't seem to matter that much. I then swap my caoches and assistant manager. There are ALWAYS great "unproven" coaches and assistants. As each new coach signs, get rid of an old one. No need to change your physio, ever, since most are 20 in physiotherapy anyway.

Did this with Boston and carried them to 1st in Div3, 1st in Div2, 5th in Div1 (lost playoff), 1st in Div1 and then 3rd in Prem. I always have a squad of about 50-60 players, including a full 20 first team, about 10 reserves (which are just out of the youth or on the transfer market) and about 20 or so Under-19s. Wages isn't a problem because the winning of a division covers them easily for a season. The only problem with this is that I'm now topping the prem seasonly, but the board won't allow me to expand beyond a 20000 seater stadium.