Opinion

Is Football Manager Too Complicated? 5 Tips To Make It Less So

Football Manager can feel overwhelming and complicated at first to new players, especially if you are used to playing career mode in either FIFA or PES. You are provided with a trove of data including player training reports, player morale, opposition reports, scouting reports etc. which can all feel confusing. However, FM22 (older editions as well from FM18 onwards) makes it intuitive in guiding a new player through most of the important aspects of the game, including creating tactics and negotiating player and staff contracts.

To further make the game more accessible and easier to pick for new players, you can delegate most of these tasks to members of your staff as you chug through the season familiarizing yourself with the game. If you are uncomfortable creating training routines for your club, handling press conferences or negotiating the renewal of youth player contracts, all this can be delegated so that you are left to carry out activities that you are most comfortable with.

Back five tactic with a shadow striker

One of the most significant changes you will have to get used to if you are transitioning from FIFA is that playing matches roughly makes up 5% of the game. The other 95% is spent doing management between games. Depending on the activities you have delegated, this might include sifting through scouting reports of potential player targets, setting up your scouting assignments, creating new tactics or new set piece routines or even watching opposition matches if you are interested.

Winning Every Game Is Not Possible

Unlike FIFA, where you can win most games as long as you are competent with a game pad, this is simply not possible in football manager. This might be where the sentiment of football manager being too hard comes from. The game aims for realism, therefore unless you have come across a broken tactic, dominating the Champions League with Burnley will need quite a few ingame seasons before you reach that level through signing the right players while also having the best staff in the club.

At the start of every season, the game takes into consideration the strength of your team, your finances and the board’s expectation before setting your goals for the season. There are some instances where you can even get relegated without getting sacked. Therefore, do not feel pressured to win every game, as it is just not possible.

5 Ways to Make football manager feel less hard and complicated

  1. Start with a big club that you are familiar with. Leading an underdog to their first Premier League title in 30 years sounds exciting, but it is not a recommended challenge for new players. Small clubs have less resources to work with including lower quality of staff, amount of transfer budget you are provided with and players who are willing to join your club. Trying to overcome these challenges as a new player will only frustrate you, not to mention the occasional 5-0 hammering that you receive from the big boys. Therefore, when starting your first save, pick a big club that you are familiar with, bonus points if it is in a league that is normally a one-horse race. The likes of Celtic, PSG, Ajax and Manchester City are good candidates for this. You will win most games purely by having better players, while also having a considerable amount of transfer budget to play with. Once you are comfortable with the game, you can then take up more challenging clubs.
  2. Have realistic expectations. You will not win the league just because you are managing PSG. A few injury problems in the middle of the season and the likes of Lyon and Monaco will be breathing down your neck. A top four finish will still be a good result and will not lead you to getting fired. This is particularly true in the English Premier League, where there are 5 clubs that are almost equal in quality.
  3. Choose a good starting reputation. When creating your manager, selecting a Continental Pro License as well as a good reputation are crucial. Failure to have these when managing a big club, then players with big reputations who are likely to be the majority in your club will not take you seriously. Having no respect from players will make things like team talks and motivating players unsuccessful most of the time, which in turn lowers their morale and translates to poor performance on the pitch and probably a dressing room revolt down the line.
  4. Keep your tactics simple. We all have our ideal way of how a football match should be played, but this is better reserved for when you are comfortable navigating the doldrums of the football manager game. Whipping out a 3-3-3-1 formation with two trequartistas and a Segundo Volante on your first save will probably not end up well. Instead, first choose a preconfigured style from the tactics screen, then slightly tweak it during the preseason to properly suit the players you have. Refrain from ticking every possible box in the tactics screen just because the option is available.
  5. Search for tips online. If you are stuck with no idea of how to get yourself out of a situation, maybe due to an injury crisis, poor run of fixtures or a star player declining contract talks, there are a lot of football manager forums where ideas are shared including downloadable tactics, wonderkids lists amongst other useful information. We also have a bunch of useful content on this site to give you insight on the game spanning various topics including tactics, player roles, transfers and scouting assignments amongst other related football manager content.

Following the pointers above will put you in the right direction and make FM22 feel less difficult. Should you not have the time or patience to experience the full game, you can always try the FM Touch version, which offers a more streamlined experience. The touch version is more stripped down and easier to get into. As a result, you can also play through the seasons much quicker compared to the full PC version.