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Xpert Eleven Basic Guide to Playing (Updated)

Prefix for Xpert Eleven Threads

StevieM

SCM's resident Beer Nazi, Wine Snob & Comic Geek
Honorary Member
Bit of advice to any newbies.
At it's basic level, the game is about getting the highest skilled players, with the best form playing strong tactics and trying to out-do opposition teams.

Training you players to make sure they are in as good a form as possible is essential. Train, if you have the money, whener a players form arrow is red or black or even green with a low form

Player Special Qualities : Important ones -
Training - makes it easier to keep form high, which means you can get good DV's 7 therefore skill increases
Leader - makes your team function more effectively
Freekick - essential to have someone with this - they get a lot of goals. Basically a free kick skill multiplys that persons skill x 2 when you get a free kick.
Heading - very important particularly in defence or up front - heading will get you a lot of goals as well.
Shooting - very important if you use certain tactics

Player Skills : Ones to avoid -
Injury Prone - can be a problem, but this quality also reduces cost, so you can gamble on a players fitness to get a bargin
Loudmouth - prone to pick up more cards - no real positive impact
Hardman - prone to picking up cards as well - but also good if you want to use bruise tactics

Player Skills : Others to watch for :-
Diva - can be a problem in the short term, but if you manage it right a Diva player can be very good
Moody - never have a moody keeper & probably avoid if a defender - for other positions a moody player can actually be a great asset. If you can keep the skill level high, which means they're happy, they can frequently over-perform by a few skill bars per game - requires careful management but you can get more bang for you buck.

Refs have 2 skill levels, H for hardness & S for Skill. Higher H means more freekicks and lower S means you can cheat. Change your playing style and tactics to compensate - never play bruise with a ref with a high H skill and never play offsides with a ref with a low S skill

Try to vary your tactics if you can or teams will prepare for you & you will find it hard. There's nothing wrong with sticking to one strategy, because you'll get good at it, & if your opponent doesn't pay attention you'll have the edge, but if you choose not to vary your tactics a good team will steam roller you. Always have a look at how your opponent has lined up in the previous 2 or 3 games

There are hints & tips all over the place about the pros & cons of each formation & the best counter-formations to play.

I think the midfield is the key to the entire game, & there are 2 basic concepts - control the midfield or bypass the midfield.

Controlling the midfield will give you more possession & therefore more chances to score. Bypassing the midfield allows to you "get at" the oppositions back line & often teams that load their midfield play with a weaker back line - so you give up possession and scoring opportunities, but increase your chances of scoring from each opportunity.

Again, form is important - even more important than skill in some cases. Form represents how well a player will use their skill - try not to play anyone unless their form is high, because if they play badly it affects their average form & therefore their DV.

When developing young players – the better the player they’ll playing alongside – the better they will develop. Classic development based teams have one very highly rated player in each position and the rest youths – so as they will develop quicker.

Average age is also important – you should aim to get your teams average age to around 26. Average age too young & they won’t have the composure our ability, and average age too old and they won’t have the desire. Best to mix it up – you can develop your young players by having them play with older veterans. You can also pick up players aged 30+ at reasonable prices. You run the risk that they’ll retire but you should get a few years out of them – which will be enough to get your first crop of youngsters through.

Ideal squad size is probably 17-18 – 2 x GK, 4-6 x Defenders, 6-7 x Midfielders & 3-4 x strikers. I wouldn’t worry about youth goalkeepers, but feel free to try to develop one. Probably best to have no more than 2 young players in each outfield position to develop. They’ll need to play between 4 & 6 games a season to reach a high development potential – so if you are trying to develop two youngsters in each position you can give them good game time without compromising the overall team.

Of course you might want to follow a more long term strategy of developing more youngsters at the expense of short term progression, but that’s each managers decision.

Good luck…
 
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