Last updated : 7 April 2001 (Australian Time) --------------------------------------------------------------------- DC's Championship Manager 00/01 Guide v0.61 --------------------------------------------------------------------- ____ _ _ _ _ / ___| |__ __ _ _ __ ___ _ __ (_) ___ _ __ ___| |__ (_)_ __ | | | '_ \ / _` | '_ ` _ \| '_ \| |/ _ \| '_ \/ __| '_ \| | '_ \ | |___| | | | (_| | | | | | | |_) | | (_) | | | \__ \ | | | | |_) | \____|_| |_|\__,_|_| |_| |_| .__/|_|\___/|_| |_|___/_| |_|_| .__/ | \/ | __ _ _ |_| __ _ __ _ ___ _ __ |_| | |\/| |/ _` | '_ \ / _` |/ _` |/ _ \ '__| | | | | (_| | | | | (_| | (_| | __/ | |_| |_|\__,_|_| |_|\__,_|\__, |\___|_| ___ ___ __|___/_ / _ \ / _ \ / / _ \/ | | | | | | | |/ / | | | | | |_| | |_| / /| |_| | | \___/ \___/_/ \___/|_| --------------------------------------------------------------------- Legal Stuff This entire FAQ is copyright DC 2000-01. The only sites that can use this without asking are: http://www.gamefaqs.com http://kengc.alphalink.com.au http://vgstrategies.about.com http://jump.to/magus http://www.timsvault.com http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/memphis/1501 http://www.ludus.it http://www.gamingplanet.com http://faqdomain.cjb.net http://dlh.net http://home.planetinternet.be/~twuyts http://www.neoseeker.com If you want to use it on your site, please e-mail me at dc3131@yahoo.com.au The latest version can always be found from http://www.gamefaqs.com or http://vgstrategies.about.com Note, that if you've asked me for permission but don't see your site on the list above, don't worry about it, as it's a real pain to update each time everyone asks me to use this guide on their site. So as long as you've asked me, yes, you can put it up on your site. The sites above are the ones that don't have to ask to use them. Championship Manager 00/01 is copyright err...Eidos, I think. Please do not leech any of this to make your own FAQ out of it. Unless you have MY permission DO NOT take anything at all from this guide. Don't edit, don't do anything to it and submit it without e-mailing me with permission first. You can print it out, but only for personal use, no selling this! Summing it up, do anything for your own personal benefit (apart from reading it) without asking me, AND YOU'LL BURN IN HELL!!!!! ---====================--- To get in touch, e-mail me at dc3131@yahoo.com.au My ICQ# is 34601221 My webpage is http://www.dcmagus.com My MSN contact is dcmagus@hotmail.com, but any email sent to that address will most likely be ignored, as I don't check that account My AIM name is dcmagus Be warned that I'm only on the net twice a week, don't expect replies from me which are ten minutes after you've sent the mail. Here's some guidelines about sending me mail: 1.Make sure you put the title of the game you're asking about in the subject. I've made a fair few FAQs, and it's a bit hard to work things out sometimes. 2.If it's an FAQ, make sure that it's not already in the guide!!! If it is, I'll do my best to ignore it. If it's not in there, make sure that the details you provide are, well, DETAILED, and not sketchy. Examples are "Hi need to know how to get past this part, i'm in a room and stuck", I need to know where you are, etc. 3.Ask nicely. So far, most people have, but if your mail goes along the lines of "Hi, need code for B2, reply within the next hour otherwise I'll bomb you" will not get you anywhere. That's it. Sorry for being a pain, but it had to be said. ---====================--- Version History v0.1-First edition. v0.2-Thanks to JArtanto, I added a little notice down the bottom. Thanks again for telling me! v0.3-Fixed up some mistakes, thanks to Ruben Adi for telling me!!! v0.4-More mistakes fixed up. v0.5-Placed a "Dream Team" and Recommended Players section, disregarding good advice from RTaylor =) Only he will understand. Oh yeah, mark in March 3rd as there is an important EPL match to watch... v0.61-Name change! --------------------------------------------------------------------- Contents --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1)Introduction 2)Game Basics 3)Matchday 4)Finer Details 5)Formations 6)Dream Team? 7)Recommended Players 8)Acknowledgements --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1)Introduction --------------------------------------------------------------------- This is basically my CM99/00 guide, with all the reworkings needed to make it 00/01 compatible. The new features are: - Updated Leagues, including: · Finland · Wales · Russia · Croatia · Greece · Turkey · Republic of Ireland · Northern Ireland · Australia (YESSSSS!) - Comes with a Data Editor, so you can change whatever you want. Hell, you can put yourself in the game! - Media Interaction is improved, you can read the media's comments, and reply to them if you wish. - Improved Staff/Player profiles. Player feedback is improved. - Randomized Fictional Players. Wacky. - More Default Tactics --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2)Game Basics (or Before you hit that Continue Game button for the first time) --------------------------------------------------------------------- *Like the title implies, you'll want to do most of this before clicking "Continue" for the first time.* After you've clicked on the new game button, you'll get a screen that shows all of the leagues available to manage in. Selected is/are the leagues that you want to participate in, and background leagues are the ones that you'll get all the results for, but won't be able to particpate in. I recommend only selecting one league to participate in, and up to four background leagues, otherwise the game will run really slowly. Something new in CM00/01 is the option to have the players stats randomized. So David Beckham could end up with only a rating of 5 for shooting, this is a great way to surprise yourself. After you've chosen your leagues, CM00/01 will load up. This takes a while, don't say I didn't warn you. So go outside, mow the lawn, feed the fish, walk the dog, and when you come back, it should have loaded. Enter your name, and a password if you wish. Then pick a nationality. Then you'll be able to pick your club from the selected league. Yes, I know all of you will be rushing off and clicking on "MANCHESTER UNITED" but people, that's not much of a challenge. Try starting in the Third Division and working your way up to the Premier League in three years. That is truly satisfying. However, I'll just pick Leeds for the moment. To pick a club, click on their name, head up to the top right hand corner, and press "Take Control". You can also take control of a national team this way. Click on a player that plays for the country you want to control, and you'll get their stats. Next to their name should be their nationality, click on that, then take control of the national squad. In CM00/01, you can now manage clubs that are working in the back- ground. So if you pick England as your main league, and Italy as your background league, when you click Job Information, you'll get a list of jobs available in England. You can now also force the whole CM00/01 database to be loaded up, by picking more than or 6 leagues. However, you'll get slowdown... After you've picked your club, the "(Your Name here) News" screen pops up, and the two/three messages you'll get are that you've been appointed as manager (and subsequently, the previous manager has been sacked, sorry Davo), the board will list their expectations of your management (for Leeds, it's to qualify for Europe, for Arsenal/ Chelsea/Manchester, it's to mount a serious title challenge, and for teams like Charlton and Nottingham Forest, it's to battle bravely against relegation), and then you'll get your fixtures. Expectation Plain English --------------------------------------------------------------------- Mount a serious challenge Finish on top --------------------------------------------------------------------- European Qualification Get into European competition, they don't care how --------------------------------------------------------------------- Promotion Finish on top, or get to the playoffs and win. This is for the lower divisions --------------------------------------------------------------------- Play-offs Make the playoffs, and hopefully get promoted --------------------------------------------------------------------- Respectable position Top half of the table --------------------------------------------------------------------- Stay clear of relegation Middle of the table --------------------------------------------------------------------- Battle against relegation Bottom half of the table --------------------------------------------------------------------- Improve the club Relegation, or close to it Click on your name (in the sidebar), and then click on the squad to browse through your squad. Your whole team will come up, and you can click on each player to see their stats, age, nationality, value, etc. Don't forget to take a look at your reserves as well. The reserves are for your under-20s, but there may be a few exceptions (players just coming off injury should play in reserves for a week, and there are some excellent under-20 players in the Leeds squad, which are Kewell, Smith and Woodgate). ----------------------- Player Stats ----------------------- If you click on a player, you'll bring their stats screen up. You'll have five blue buttons, stats, injuries/bans, contract, transfer, and history. The stats screen shows the player's age, nationality, and stats. A rating of 20 is the highest, and 1 is the lowest. Here's and explanation of what all of these stats mean: --------------------------------------------------------------------- Acceleration How fast the player can accelerate, usually from a standstill --------------------------------------------------------------------- Adaptability How well the player can adapt to his new environment, especially if he's foreign --------------------------------------------------------------------- Aggression How aggressive the player is. This helps win balls, but also helps increase the chance of cards --------------------------------------------------------------------- Agility How agile the player is, which mainly helps the goalkeepers make saves --------------------------------------------------------------------- Anticipation How well the player can anticipate the direction of where the ball will travel, which is handy for strikers --------------------------------------------------------------------- Balance How well the player can balance himself --------------------------------------------------------------------- Bravery How brave the player is eg. legit last-ditch tackles, clearing off the line, goalies diving at feet, etc. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Creativity How creative the player is, setting up balls for attackers, and the like --------------------------------------------------------------------- Crossing How well the player can cross the ball --------------------------------------------------------------------- Determination How determined the player is to win not only the ball, but matches (doesn't give up when he's 1-0 down on the 87 minute mark) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Decisions How well the player can make decisions (e.g pass or shoot?) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Dribbling How good the player is at dribbling the ball --------------------------------------------------------------------- Finishing How good the player is at slotting the ball into the back of the net --------------------------------------------------------------------- Flair How likely the player is to show off or try wacky things (back heels, bicycle kicks, shots from half way =) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Handling How well a player can hold the ball with his hands, this is of course a goalie stat --------------------------------------------------------------------- Heading How well a player can head the ball (direction and power) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Influence How well a player can lead your teammates, your team captain should have a high influence rating as you want him to motivate your players --------------------------------------------------------------------- Jumping How well the player can jump to win balls in the air, this compliments the heading stat --------------------------------------------------------------------- Long Shots How well the player can keep his shots from distance on target --------------------------------------------------------------------- Marking How well the player can mark opponents --------------------------------------------------------------------- Off the Ball How well the player can move into attacking positions --------------------------------------------------------------------- Pace How fast the player can run (top speed) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Passing How accurate the player's passes are --------------------------------------------------------------------- Positioning How well the player can move into defensive positions --------------------------------------------------------------------- Reflexes How well the goalie can react to shots and make quick saves --------------------------------------------------------------------- Set Pieces How well the player is at set pieces, moving into positions, marking players, etc. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Stamina How long the player can last on the field without his condition deterorating too much --------------------------------------------------------------------- Strength How strong the player is, physically --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tackling How well the player can tackle --------------------------------------------------------------------- Teamwork How well the player uses his teammates --------------------------------------------------------------------- Technique How well the player can control the ball, and the overall level of his technique --------------------------------------------------------------------- Work Rate How hard the player will work in a match When looking at the player stats, you'll see a button in the top right hand corner. Click on it, and you'll have four options: Relegate to Reserves/Promote to Seniors Set Transfer Status Discpline Player Offer New Contract Release on Free Set Nickname --------------------------------------- Request Physio Report Request Coach Report The first option is pretty self-explanitory. The second option sets the players' value, how important they are to the club, and whether they're for sale or for loan. Offer new contract is used when their contract is about to expire, and release on free is setting them free from the club, but you have to pay their transfer fee. Good to get rid of crappy 37 year old defenders that will only fetch $30K. You'll want to place most of the under 20s in the reserve squads, as they aren't as hungry for first-team football than the older squad members. However, if they have exceptional talent (Alan Smith, Michael Owen, Rio Ferdinand), leave them in the senior squad. For the Discpline Player section, look somewhere below. Set Nickname means you can give 'em a nick. Requesting a Physio means that you can get one of your physios and have them tell you what their opinion on the player's condition is. Requesting a Coach means that they will tell you what they think of the player. Or a player that's on another team: Add To Shortlist Approach to Buy Approach to Loan Approach to Sign (only if their contract is due to expire) Scout Player Set Nickname Add to Shortlist means to put him on a list of players you are interested in. Approach to Buy/Loan is pretty explanitory. Scout Player means you can have your scouts get an opinion on the player, after the next match he plays. Set Nickname, if you wanted to call a player Big Bird, here's your chance. Approach to Sign, if their contract is set to expire, then use this to nab them for free - but you'll only get them once they are free of their contract. A fee will also be due to the team you are signing them from. ----------------------- Tactics ----------------------- Clicking on Tactics will bring up the formation for your team (more on formations later), and the team instructions menu. That menu will look like: --------------------------------------------------------------------- Mentality Normal Defensive Attacking Passing Style Mixed Short Direct Long Tackling Style Normal Easy Hard Pressing No Yes Offside Trap No Yes Counter Attack No Yes Men Behind Ball No Yes Free Kicks (L) < < Free Kicks (R) < < Corners (L) < < Corners (R) < < Playmaker < < --------------------------------------------------------------------- Here, you pick a formation, and you can drag players around. Quite fun. I've detailed the formations in the section below. When you're dragging players around, you can use the right mouse button and drag them to a certain position, and that's how you get the lines showing where they'll run to. For example, load the 4-4-2 Attacking formation. See the lines that the wingers have? To get them on any other player, get the right mouse button, click on the player with it, and then drag him to wherever you want him to go. This means that he'll play in the position he's normally in, but will make runs to the spot you've told him to. In the team instructions menu, you can set how the team will play. Long passes not getting you anywhere? Make 'em shorter. Tackling too easy? Set it on Hard. That striker keeps missing his free kicks? Change him. When picking the Free Kick takers, for the first choice, you'll want to have the guy with the best shooting rating, and make sure he's left footed/right footed, depending on which side you're doing. Same with corners, but you'll want to have the guy with the best crossing. Here's a description of what all the funny things in the menu mean: --------- Mentality --------- ------ Normal ------ This indicates that the team will play "normally". --------- Defensive --------- This indicates that the team will switch to a more cautious style of play. --------- Attacking --------- This indicates that everyone will push forward to attack. Well, not everyone, but it may leave you weak in defence. ------------- Passing Style ------------- Note that not all of the passes that your team make will be of the type that you specified, but most of the passes that the team make will be of that type. ----- Mixed ----- This means that the players choose the type of pass which they think is best for the situation, so you'll get a mix of short and long passes. ----- Short ----- Duh. This means that your players will be inclined to use short passes. Your team can't be static, you have to keep moving when using Short passing. If everyone has a decent Off the Ball and Passing rating, you'll succeed with this passing style. ------ Direct ------ The point of Direct passing is to surprise the enemy and attack as soon as possible. Players will need to have high Passing ratings, and need to be fast (Pace, Acceleration). ---- Long ---- You should use long passing when they opposition's got a chunky midfield, or when you need to get balls up to your attack very quickly. It's a very "hopeful" passing tactic, if you know what I mean, as you just have to hope that your strikers can anticipate the ball well. It helps if they have good Anticipation, and Heading and Strength ratings, as this will help them score in the air (I've done it before, pretty cool stuff). -------------- Tackling Style -------------- ---- Soft ---- Soft tackling means that players won't try as hard as they would normally when they want to win the ball. They won't make slide tackles, and they won't go for balls if they don't have a 50% chance or higher of winning the ball. You'll really only want to use this if you're playing a friendly, don't want any injured players, or you don't want any bookings. ------ Normal ------ Players will now play at their normal level (check out Aggression and Tackling). ---- Hard ---- Watch the cards fly! Players will now go for the ball at all times, no matter what the situation. Of course, this helps if you're playing a team that's much stronger than you. ------------ Offside Trap ------------ The offside trap is something that the defense does, to try and trap the opposition into runnign offside. Be careful, if the trap fails, the offense will have a clean shot on goal. So make sure that your players have good Anticipation, Positioning, and speed (Accleration, Pace). -------- Pressing -------- For pressing, your team (defenders) will need to have good Stamina as they will relentlessly annoy the person with the ball. -------------- Counter Attack -------------- The defence will try to lure the opposition in, and then pounce quickly and zip it up to the attack. You'll need a good defence and a good offense for this style to suceed. If the counter attack fails, you'll need a strong defence to make sure that they don't end up scoring. --------------- Men Behind Ball --------------- This is something you'll want to use if you want to go on the defensive as it makes your team put as many people as they can behind the ball, to stop the opposition from scoring. --------- Playmaker --------- The player that you want to start off most runs and moves should be here, and have a good Decisions and Teamwork rating. In the other dropdown menu, you'll get a plethora of options to choose from, which are mainly changing individual's behavior. You may want to have your centre backs run forward instead of your left/right backs. You may want your striker to take long shots. You might want your midfielder to mark a man, and so on. ------- Passing ------- Here you choose what passing style you want a certain player to use. Say you want your strikers to pass short, and wingers to pass long, this is where you change it. -------- Tackling -------- Same with passing, you can ask your midfielders to tackle lightly, and defenders to go in hard, etc. -------- Pressing -------- More of the same, pick who will press and who won't. ------- Pass To ------- Here, you can choose where you want specific players to pass to. It's a choice out of passing to the left, right or centre. ---------------------- Set Pieces (Attacking) ---------------------- In this menu, you choose which players will stay forward for attacking set pieces, and which players will stay back. Useful for making those defenders which are good at heading to run forward when in a corner situation. ---------------------- Set Pieces (Defensive) ---------------------- In this menu, you choose which players will stay forward for defensive set pieces, and which players will stay back. Good to keep a striker back for a quick counter-attack. --------- Free Role --------- This determines whether a certain player will have a free role or not. Free role basically means that they get to run about a lot, go wherever they want, but for this to work, he'll need a high stamina rating. ------------ Forward Runs ------------ This is basically the instruction that you'd give to wingers and wing backs so that they run forward. ------------- Run With Ball ------------- Players that are asked to do this will run straight at the opponent whenever they have possession of the ball, in hope that they can sidestep the opponent's challenge. Players that should be given this instruction should have good Acceleration, Pace, and of course, the ball skills (Dribbling, Technique, etc.) ------------ Hold Up Ball ------------ Players that are given this instruction will hold up the ball and take their time, whenever they have possession. The players that you choose for this should have good Strength as they'll need to be able to shrug off challenges from the opposing team. ---------- Long Shots ---------- This will tell players to take shots from long range, if they think they have a chance. Only players with good Shooting should be asked to do this. ------- Marking ------- This will tell players to either not mark anyone, to mark an area (zonal), or to mark another player. ----------------- Try Through Balls ----------------- Players that are given this instruction will try and play through balls. Only good Passers need apply. ---------- Cross Ball ---------- Players can also be instructed to cross the ball in a lot more. Only good Passers/Crossers need apply. -------------- Penalty Takers -------------- This is a separate menu. Once clicked, your squad will appear. Number them from 1-50, 1 being the player who you would like to take the penalty first. ----------------------- Training ----------------------- When you click here, you'll be given an overview of the training that each player is going under. Apart from the Overview, there's a couple other preset training routines: General, Goalkeeping, Fitness, Skill, Tactics, Shooting, and there's two spaces left for you to create some training programs of your own. To change a player's training, drag and drop him onto the box of the training program you wish him to undertake. When you select the Attributes from the view menu, you'll be able to see what areas the players have improved in and which areas they have gotten worse in. The Red indicates a drop in that skill, a Yellow indicates improvement, and Blue means there's no change. If you click on Coaches, you'll see which coaches are set to coach certain skills. If you click on their name, you'll bring up a menu not unlike the players, showing all their coaching stats. Here is a table of important stats: Type of Program Ability Needed --------------------------------------------------------------------- General Coaching Outfield Players, Adaptability --------------------------------------------------------------------- Fitness Coaching Outfield Players, Discipline --------------------------------------------------------------------- Shooting Coaching Outfield Players --------------------------------------------------------------------- Skills Coaching Outfield Players, Working with Youngsters --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tactics Coaching Outfield Players, Tactical Knowledge --------------------------------------------------------------------- Gk Coaching Goalkeepers To create a custom training program, click on one of the empty boxes, and click on edit. Make a name, and choose the intensity of training in each of the five areas. You can also choose to train players to play in a new position or side, but for the improvement to show, it takes time. Say you've got a really speedy right back, maybe you want to make him a winger. If you've got a winger who can use both feet, but can only play on the left, you might want him to play on the right as well, and so on. Goalkeepers of course, go under GK training, but for others you may want to change their style of training. Leave defenders under General, put strikers in a Shooting/Skill program, and midfielders in a Fitness/Skill program. If you really want to get the most of out training, I suggest devising two custom Training Programs. Name them whatever you want. ShotSkill Fitness - Medium Skill - Intensive Shooting - Intensive Tactics - Medium This is where your strikers should belong. FitSkill Fitness - Intensive Skill - Intensive Shooting - Medium Tactics - Medium This is for midfielders. Just don't put everyone in a Full On training schedule (everything is Intensive), as their condition won't recover as quick, their condition will stay low, and they'll be more injury prone. ----------------------- Fixtures ----------------------- This shows what games you're going to play, and the games/scores of games you've already played. You can also arrange games, which is great for testing out your squad in the off-season. You can choose to arrange Home Friendlies, Away Friendlies, a Tour of a country, or a Tournament. In whatever case, you'll get a screen asking you to pick a date, then select a team. If they're available on that day, you'll invite them to a match. Just be warned, if you're a lowly team like Dag and Red, you'll have no chance of playing a friendly with Chelsea. Even though you'd get kicked 25-0, there's still no chance they'd accept. That's basics. Now click on your name again, and hit the Player Search button. ----------------------- Search/Transfers ----------------------- Here, you search for players and staff. If you want to buy them, you'll really only have a chance of buying the ones that are transfer listed (they'll have a grey box next to them with the letters LST there). Most players will have a box next to them, here are all the abbreviations: LST - Transfer Listed WNT - Wanted by a club UNH - Unhappy INJ - Injured FGN - Foreign BOS - Leaving the club RET - Retiring BID - About to be bought CTR - On a dodgy monthly contract That's about all. If you can't be bothered searching for the players yourself, you can assign your scouts to it. Click on a scout, click the menu, and assign them to a certain region. When looking for players yourself, you'll most likely want to open up the filter window and see what filters you can make. Choose age, nationality, position, etc. The one that you'll use most of the time is position. After you select the position that you want to search through, hit View, and Attributes, and in the Atrributes menu that pops up, pick the category which you want to search through. This brings up all the stats that a goalie/defender/attacker will have to be good in. There are four position filters: --------------------------------------------------------------------- Goalkeepers --------------------------------------------------------------------- After selecting the Goalkeeping attribute from the attribute menu, you'll get a report of these stats: Acceleration Agility Handling Jumping Pace Passing Positioning Reflexes Strength However, there are two other stats that you might want to check if you're looking for a goalkeeper: Balance, which is self-explanitory, and Bravery, which determines whether they'll dive in low to pluck the ball from their feet, or if they'll run out and punch the ball at corner kicks. Usually, you'll want to make sure that all of the goalie stats will be above 10, and if it's a good goalie, above 15. However, finding the perfect goalkeeper is like finding an striker who doesn't like scoring goals - and you'll have to make a compromise. Unless the old goalkeeper at your club is really dodgy, you'll really only want to buy another new goalkeeper to back him up. I had this bizarre case of goalkeeper buying, once in the middle of a season. Manchester bought out all the keepers from Chelsea, and Arsenal, and so forth, and ended up with 10 goalkeepers. Then Chelsea went searching for goalies, then Arsenal, and they all ended up with 6 goalies each. Strange. The four most important stats that you'll want to look out for are Agility, Handling, Positioning and Reflexes. The goalies that you are looking for should be decent in those stats. Age may play a part too, goalies seem to have a "longer life" than other players. So just because the goalies are 30+ in age, doesn't mean that they're crap. However, you'll want to buy a couple of youngsters, and groom them into stars of the future. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Defenders --------------------------------------------------------------------- The defenders menu will bring up these stats: Acceleration Heading Jumping Marking Pace Positioning Stamina Strength Tackling Another stat that you'll want to search for is Heading. When you're in those pesky corner situations, you'll need people to head clear. The stat that'll be most important to defenders is Tackling. You'll want to make sure that the defender that you buy is reasonable in that area. Fast players are extremely useful as wing-backs, so look for Acceleration and Pace. Especially if you're playing Offside Trap. Other stats that are important are Strength, as you'll need to clear the ball, Jumping and Heading, for corners, Marking is needed for sticking to attackers, and that's about all. One more thing you'll need to look out for is sides. Buying another right defender in a squad full of right defenders isn't going to do you much good. You'll want to have a mix of right/central/left defenders. If you see any defenders that can play in both right/left positions, SNAP THEM UP STRAIGHT AWAY! Especially if they're young, you can train them to be the next Beckenbauer. Oh! Which brings me to one more point. Sweepers. These guys will need to be fast, and maybe have good anticipation. However, you'll really only need one of these, as you shouldn't be playing the sweeper formation all the time. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Midfielders --------------------------------------------------------------------- There isn't any attribute filter for midfielders. Why? They'll need both good defensive stats and attacking stats. Apart from sides, midfielders can also be split up into two groups; attacking and defensive. When you search for a new player, remember if you need another attacking player or a defensive player. Usually you'll place the attacking players as wingers and the defensive players as central midfielders. This creates a strong defence in the centre, which in turn allows the attackers on the sides to run forward and attack more often. The stats that you want to look out for for midfielders in general are Teamwork, Work Rate, Stamina, Heading, and Passing. Defensive midfielders need good positioning, attackers need good Dribbling and Off the Ball skills. However, there are those midfielders which are just midfielders, not attacking or defensive. This means that they're versatile, and should be able to play an attacking or defensive role. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Attackers --------------------------------------------------------------------- The attacking menu will bring up these stats: Creativity Crossing Dribbling Finishing Flair Long Shots Off The Ball Passing Set Pieces Teamwork Gee, I wonder what stat attackers need to score goals? Well, the *ultimate* striker will have a Finishing/Long Shots stats of 20, and all of the other stats listed above will need to be higher than 15 too. However, Finishing and Long Shots are not the only stats that you'll want to look out for. Crossing is invaluable as you'll need to get some good set-ups for your other striker/s. You might even want to get a player who's got really dodgy Finishing, but instead has great stats of the things that the other striker doesn't. Example, Mark Viduka is lacking in speed, crossing and heading, but his strength and shot are quite good. Harry Kewell on the other hand, isn't too strong and his shooting can be improved, however, he's fast, can cross and head well. Try pick players that compliment each other. Anticipation is another stat that'll be helpful to your goal tally. Strikers need to be ready to pounce on the through balls that the midfielders love to play. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Apart from these filters, there's two more; Physical and Mental. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Physical --------------------------------------------------------------------- Accleration Agility Balance Heading Jumping Pace Stamina Strength Technique Really only use this filter if you want to find players with speed. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Mental --------------------------------------------------------------------- Adaptability Aggression Anticipation Bravery Determination Influence Teamwork Versatility Work Rate This filter should really only be used if you're trying to look for a foreign player that will adapt well to a new lifestyle. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Bidding for a player --------------------------------------------------------------------- If you really like a player, and wish to add him to your squad, click on his name, then Action, and Approach to Buy. You'll get a screen where you can post your bid for him. At first, offer the club the price that's there by default. If they reject it, push it up half a million. Keep doing that until you get out of your price range, after a while, they might give in and say that "We want $4 million". On the transfer negotiation screen, you'll have these options: ------------ Transfer Fee ------------ This is the amount of money you play the club you're buying the player from. -------------------- Monthly Installments -------------------- If you can't afford it all in one shot, why not pay by monthly installments? You may have to offer a little more overall, but it helps if you don't have any money to spare at the moment. ----------------------- Percentage Of Next Sale ----------------------- This means if that you sell this player to another club, the club which you bought him from will get a certain percentage of the sale. ------------------------------- Fee After 10 League Appearances ------------------------------- This is the fee that you will pay the club after he makes a certain amount of League Appearances. -------------------------------------- Fee After 10 International Appearances -------------------------------------- This is the fee that you will pay the club after he makes a certain amount of International Appearances. -------- Exchange -------- Here, you can pick a player from your squad to do a swap deal for the player that you want. This will only list the players that the club is interested in, if they're not interested, they won't accept an exchange deal. Then you'll have to offer a contract to the player. This can not only happen in transfer situations, it also happens if you want/if a player already at your club wants a new contract. First, the Squad Status screen will appear, with: This player is indispensable to the club This player is an important first team player This player is used in a squad rotation system This player is a backup for the first team This player is a hot prospect for the future This player is a decent young player You can fiddle around with whichever squad status you want to give them, usually the for the lower status, you don't have to pay them as much. However, if you think you can get away with paying Michael Owen as a decent young player, think again, as he'll soon ask for a new contract. Unless you leave him in the reserves. If the player isn't interested as joining the club as a "squad rotation member" or a first team player or whatever, it's because a) they think they are valued more highly, or b) they don't want too much pressure, and they don't want to play at first team level yet. After this screen, You will get these options to play around with: ------------ Weekly Wages ------------ This option shows how much you'll be paying the player each week. The higher you put this, the more enticed they will be to join your club, but be warned, the more you spend on one players' wages, the less you have left to spend on other players. So if you've got half your club earning $35 million a week, your future contract funds will be significantly reduced. -------------- Signing On Fee -------------- When you're signing a player from another club, this is the fee that you will pay the player when he joins. The more you offer, the more likely they'll join, but if you're looking to sign a player on a Free Transfer, you can drop this to zero, and they'll still join (mainly because they really want to play some football). ----------------- Contract End Date ----------------- This is the date that the current contract will last until. It's good to sign young players for yonks, but for older players, you might not want to keep them on such long contracts. -------- Position -------- Some older players in CM00/01 have the ability to both be a player and be on the club staff list as well. It's here that you choose whether or not you want them as just a player or if you want them to coach too. There's two more blue boxes. ------------ Bonus Screen ------------ ---------------------------- Assist/Goal/Clean Sheet Fees ---------------------------- This gives the player extra incentive to perform better as now they'll be getting paid extra to perform well. ------- Clauses ------- -------------------------- Minimum Fee Release Clause -------------------------- I think what this means is that a club offers a certain amount to sign this player, you can't reject the offer. ------------------------- Relegation Release Clause ------------------------- If the club heads for relegation, this means that the player will be able to leave the club for free, if the club that wants to buy the player offers more than stated in this clause. ---------------------------- Non-Promotion Release Clause ---------------------------- Same as above, but if you don't get promoted, he can move for free. Then comes the wait. If they agree, you'll sign them. If not, you can offer them another contract. If the player isn't with a club though, and is listed as a Free transfer, that means that you don't have to pay a fee to the club, all you have to do is offer the player a contract. Simple, eh? There's also the case of a Bosman Ruling. What's that? It's where the player's contract will expire very soon, and instead of buying him off the club, you can just sign him. But if you just sign him, you'll only get him to join your squad when his contract expires. You'll get the hang of the game quite quickly. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 3)Matchday --------------------------------------------------------------------- Just before you start a match, you'll be give the chance to pick your squad. Usually you'll only want to use players whose condition is higher than 90%, and relegate others to the bench. Some people say you should pick a team according to formation, and some people say that you should pick a formation according to team. Up to you. Usually you'll want to keep 2 defenders, 2 attackers, one midfielder and one goalie on the bench, or 2 defenders, 1 attacker, 2 midfielders and one goalie. Why another goalie? Just in case he gets injured or gets sent off. That led me to a 7-0 defeat, by bloody Wimbledon!!! Never put Lee Bowyer in the goals... If you want to subsitute someone, click on your tactics button, drag the subsitute on top of the person you want to replace, and he'll be put on straight away, or at the next timeout (free kick, corner, throw-in, etc.) When picking a squad, drag the position from the position bar (the green bar with all the abbreviations on it), and place it over the blue box next to that player. Make sure everything's done, and hit Continue! --------------------------------------------------------------------- Match Time --------------------------------------------------------------------- Before clicking on Continue, you may want to check out the other team's tactics. If they're playing a more defensive style, you could make your tactics more effective by switching to a attacking style, and stuff like that. The screen that you are shown is the main screen. Commentary appears in the middle, and the other things shown are goals, red cards, and injuries. Other buttons lead you to other screens, and they will have more information, but the commentary will be smaller, and down the bottom. ---------------- Match Statistics ---------------- This screen shows all of the Goals, Shots on Goal (On and Off Target), Freekicks, Cards, etc. for both teams. ---------- Club Stats ---------- Clicking on either Club's Stats button will bring up the stats for all the players that are playing for that club. The meanings for the abbreviations at the top of the screen are: Abbreviation Meaning --------------------------------------------------------------------- Pas Number of passes attempted Tck Number of tackles attempted Hea Number of headers attempted Ast Number of assists that the player has had (ie moves the player has made that have resulted in goals) Sho Number of shots attempted On Number of shots on target Con Player's condition Int Number of interceptions made Run Number of successful runs made Off Number of times a player has been offside Fou Number of fouls given against Fld Number of fouls given for Cmp Number of passes, tackles and headers completed Key Number of key passes, tackles and headers completed Won Number of tackles/headers won ------------ Action Zones ------------ Shows the amount of possession in different areas of the pitch, you can select which time period you want a report on (whole match, past 5 mins, etc.) ------------ Match Report ------------ This screen shows all of the commentary, so if you want to review what happened, you can read through this. -------------- Player Ratings -------------- Shows all of the player ratings for both teams. ------------- Latest Scores ------------- If other matches are being played at the same time, click here to see the results. Watch the commentary closely to tell if your defence/midfield/offense is working hard enough. Messages like "the defence closed him down" or "he had little space" means that the defence (of either team) is good. Messages like "that's a great pass to the attack" mean that your midfield is great. Messages like "goalie's off his line" mean that your strikers can anticipate well. Use the commentary to your advantage. One last thing, if a player falls below 70% condition, sub him. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 4)Finer Details --------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ Morale ------ Morale is very important as the higher the players' morale, the better he will perform on the pitch. How do you keep Morale so high? -Losing games is bad for morale. -Make sure the player is being used as per his contract. If he's a first team member but always plays in the reserves, he'll be unhappy. -But don't keep changing his status, as the player will feel confused as to what his status really is. -If you're paying a first team member $450 a week, he'll want more pay. -Ignoring players' requests is a no-no. -If you get a foreign player, make sure someone in the club can speak the same language as him. -Sometimes, you'll get a message about players disliking other players. Try not to keep them close. -Important team members who are unhappy, will shake off some of their unhappiness onto the rest of the squad. ---------------- Keeping your Job ---------------- Then, there's making sure your position as manager is safe. You know you're hanging by a thread when your name appears on the Job Information list, when the board starts losing confidence in you, and the supporters throw bricks at you. How do you keep your job? If you can't hold the position that the board expects (or higher), they'll start questioning your ablility. Don't give free transfers to everyone. Players worth more than a million shouldn't be free transferred, in my opinion. It also depends on where abouts your club is at. If you're a third division team, a player worth half a million wouldn't be allowed to be free transferred, however, a player the same price at a club like Chelsea would be asked to go quickly. If you free transfer a good player, the board will get upset. If you're in a bad league position, or did something that the supporters didn't like, be careful, supporters have power to make the board sack you. It's called protesting. If you can't keep the club's finances secure, well, they'll sack you, so that they can get that little bit more of money. ------- Finance ------- The amount of money you will have to spend on transfers is limited by a reputation, yours, and the club itself. If you're one of the best managers (check the manager stats screen), then you'll be allowed to spend more than what a newbie manager would be allowed to spend. Also, if your club is in the higher divisions, the competition is tougher, and therefore you might need new, better players. ----------- Player Ages ----------- Each player has a Peak Age, where they'll have reached their physical limit, and their physical stats will drop a little, however, their mental stats will still be improving. Playing Position Peak Age --------------------------------------------------------------------- Goalkeeper 33 Defender 31 Midfielder 29 Striker 28 Then, you've got ages which players will retire at. Players with really bad injuries may also be forced to retire. Playing Position Earliest Retirement Age --------------------------------------------------------------------- Goalkeeper 35 Defender 32 Midfielder 31 Striker 30 -------- Reserves -------- You have an option to control the reserves team or not, if you don't want to, the Assistant manager will. This is the place where your back-from-injury players should be placed, along with the younger players of your squad. Even though you aren't controlling the reserves, you can still pick the players to include in the line-up. ----------------- Non-Playing Staff ----------------- ------ Physio ------ Treats injured players. The better he is, the faster the injured players will recover. The most important attribute is of course, Physiotherapy, but Discipline, Man Management, and Motivation are attributes you should also look out for. --------------------------- Coach and Assistant Manager --------------------------- Coaches are assistant assistant managers, if you know what I mean. Coaches train players, assistant managers control the reserves, but if the assistant can't manage the reserve team (or if you don't have an assistant manager), the coach will take over. They will need to have good ratings in: Working With Youngsters, Judging Player Ability, Judging Player Potential, Coaching Goalkeepers, Coaching Outfield Players, Man Management, Motivation, and Tactical Knowledge. ------ Scouts ------ Scouts look for players that have potential, and tell you about them so that you can make smart transfer decisions. They'll need high ratings of Judging Player Ability and Judging Player Potential. ------------- Did you know? ------------- When CM00/01 is processing stuff down the bottom, you can click on something to get back into the game, however, once you click Continue again, CM00/01 will go back into processing. ------- Weather ------- Yes, weather effects are in CM00/01. They effect the players in a match. Weather Condition Match Effect --------------------------------------------------------------------- Breezy Long passes and shots are more difficult to execute, but so are saves from long shots Cold Temperature Players with a low work-rate won't give 100% Drizzle Ball control is more difficult Dry Nothing Hot Temperature Players' condition will drop quicker Wet Ball control is very hard Pitch will turn into a mini-swamp, players' condition will drop faster ------------- Cheats? What? ------------- Not really cheats, but "sneaky stuff". ---------------------------- Manage an International Team ---------------------------- When picking a club to manage for the first time, click on a player's nationality and you can manage his country's squad. ----------- Quick Sells ----------- If you want to quickly sell a player, transfer list him, then delist him, put down his value a little, and list him again. You should get a few offers, if the player is decent. --------- 21-0 Wins --------- Two days before your next league match, see who you're playing. Add a manager and control that team. In the match, put the goalie up in offence, and spread the other guys out to the sides. Here comes a 21-0 win! ------------------------- Get Players that you want ------------------------- If you can't seem to buy a certain player from a club, just take control of that club, transfer list the player, and you should be able to buy him for cheap. --------------- Players on AWOL --------------- If players are unhappy, they'll go AWOL. SO in CM00/01, just make sure that the players are happy, okay? ----- Fines ----- New to CM00/01 is the fining system. If you feel like fining someone, maybe for cracking the referee's head, fly-kicking a spectator, or listening to Michael Jackson music, click on the player, head to action, and then hit Fine Player. You can also just warn the player. Pick a fine, and a reason: --------- No Reason --------- This is like kicking someone for no reason. The player is more likely to get mad at you. ------------------------ Unprofessional Behaviour ------------------------ If a player goes AWOL, or doesn't turn up to training, this is a good reason to fine him. ------------------------ Dismissal in prior match ------------------------ If a player was shown the red, you can do this to calm his aggression. ----------------- Violent Behaviour ----------------- Pushing referees, melees, headbutting goalposts - it all goes here. ---------------- Poor Performance ---------------- If your goalie has let in 57 goals in 2 games, I think it's about time you give him a fine. Don't fine players every week, they (and the board) will get mad at you. But when you do fine someone, they'll be less likely to repeat their actions again. ------------- Referee Stats ------------- New to CM00/01 is the referee stats. Just click on "Squad" and then go to "x in division". Click Referee stats to see how the referees perform...so if they're harsh, make sure you've got tackling set to Light. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 5)Formations --------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- 4-4-2 ----- FC FC ML MC MC MR DL DC DC DR GK Give it up for the most widely used formation on the planet. Here, you've got four defenders, four midfielders, and two attackers. So everybody's got a role to fill, everyone's got a thing to do. 4-4-2 is basically centered on the centre players, especially the central defenders and midfielders. Their job is to deny the opposition a clear path to goal. The centre backs are set to make forward runs, but don't worry, they'll return for things like set pieces. However, most of the time, all they're doing is waiting for the other team to run through, and the central players will pressure them a little, hoping they'll make a mistake, and then BAM! they'll steal the ball and set up a kind of counterattacking thing. Really, this is the formation that you'll want to be using most of the time, as it is the most balanced and effective. Just make sure that in your midfield, your centres have decent defensive stats, and that the wide players are speedy and have good Crossing skills, as they'll be the ones making the forward runs. --------------- 4-4-2 Attacking --------------- ^ FC FC ^ ¦ ¦ ML MC MC MR DL DC DC DR GK This is a favourite formation among many managers. Okay, fine, it's one of my favourites, and good reason too. It adds a certain attacking element to the normal 4-4-2 that was missing before, but to take full advantage of this formation, you'll need two wingers who are exceptionally fast, have a good stamina rating, have good crossing, and have great ball skills. The two wingers will be relied on to do most of the work here, as they'll be set to run back and forward. They'll go forward to help out the attack, but then they'll need to sprint back into defence and try and gain possession. Once they get possession, their job is to run up into attack and keep running until they can set up a goal- scoring opportunity. Just be careful that when the wingers are in the attacking half, they're going to leave a whole big area for the opposition to waltz through. To prevent the other side from running straight through the midfield, you're going to have to make sure that the two central midfielders have good defensive stats. --------------- 4-4-2 Defensive --------------- FC FC ML MR DMC DMC DL DC DC DR GK What the defensive 4-4-2 does is pushes the two central midfielders back into defence. You'll really only want to use this formation when defending a lead, or when you're in the second leg of a tournament or something. This formation basically gives you six defenders to muck around with, but be careful, the opposition will be having more of the ball, as most of your players as pushed into defence. If your defenders are good though, you shouldn't have a problem with defending that lead. ------------- 4-4-2 Diamond ------------- FC FC AMC ML MR DMC DL DC DC DR GK The 4-4-2 Diamond pushes both of the centre players out wide, puts the previous left winger forward, and the right winger in defence. This is great when you've got an attacking and defensive midfielder stuck in the centre, as now you can put them in a position that would suit them well. This looks like one of the best formations, but the midfield is slightly weakened in the centre, so make sure that the AMC gets back quickly. These are all of the default formations. However, I've developed some more 4-4-2 formations you can play around with. --------------------- 4-4-2 Compact Diamond --------------------- FC FC AMC MC MC DMC DL DC DC DR GK This is like the 4-1-2-1-2 formation, but the MCs don't run out to the side. This formation is exactly like the diamond except that it strengthens the centre, but leaves the wings open to attack. --------- 4-4-2 Box --------- FC FC AMC AMC DMC DMC DL DC DC DR GK OR FC FC MC MC DMC DMC DL DC DC DR GK OR FC FC AMC AMC MC MC DL DC DC DR GK This is useful when you've got an even number of attacking and defensive midfielders, as it places them in their proper spots. Just be careful of the wing, as the box formation leaves the wing very vulnerable, but gives tons of power up the middle. ------------- 4-4-2 Sweeper ------------- FC FC ML MC MC MR DC DC DC SW GK This formation just adds a sweeper, but leaves a back row of three. This is dangerous against attacking formations, but at least you've got somebody left to clear the ball now. --------------------- 4-4-2 Err...Aeroplane --------------------- FC AMC ML MC MC MR DL DC DC DR GK Placing your two strikers like above can sometimes have a positive effect. It's more likely to cause more offside calls though. This also strengthens the midfield, but weakens the offense. --------- 4-1-2-1-2 --------- FC FC AMC <------MC MC-------> DMC DL DC DC DR GK Just like the 4-4-2 Diamond, but the MCs run out and cover the wings too. By default, the AMC and DMC are set to make forward runs, you may want to change this, depending on your taste. ----- 3-4-3 ----- FC FC FC ML MC MC MR DC DC DC GK One of the most offensive formation available by default. Now you've got a three man offense, and a three man defence. The advantage of this formation is yes, you've got another striker up there to wreak havoc, but now you've only got three defenders to stop the other team from scoring. The left and right defenders will mark men by default, but the centre defender will only defend zonally, and he will be the only defender to run forward every now and then. A lot more of the field is covered with this formation, and you'll want to keep it that way. Make sure your players run in to open spaces all the time - a high Positioning and Versatility rate should help - and the forwards should do a great job of slotting the ball into the back of the net. Most of the pressure is placed on the midfield here, especially the centre midfielders, as they are the ones who are trying to stop the other team from attacking, trying to regain the ball, and trying to feed it to the attack. The two central defenders have to be good in their defensive stats for this formation to work well. Be careful of wingers, and if the opposition plays a direct passing style, as that's 3-4-3's vulnerability. Custom 3-4-3 settings: --------------- 3-4-3 Defensive --------------- FC FC AMC ML MR DMC DMC DC DC DC GK This almost verges on a 3-5-2. If you don't like the vulnerability of the normal 3-4-3, this may satisfy you. ----- 3-5-2 ----- FC FC ML MC MC MC MR DC DC DC GK This is the ultimate formation for those teams who are great at passing and have a very strong midfield. If your previous formation was 4-4-2, what happens here is that your DL and DR have now become the ML and MR, and one of the MCs has been pushed back into the DC position. As with 3-4-3, this leaves your defence pretty vulnerable. However, you now have a strong midfield, and you should be able to keep the ball, and win it back quickly. The central MC should be one of your best players, as he will be playing the most important role on the field. The ML and MR will be running about a lot, just like the ML and MR in the 4-4-2 attacking. Make sure that they have a high stamina rating, so that they don't pass out in the middle of a match. The central striker will need to be the striker that has the better shooting skill out of the forward line, as he's the one who'll be seeing most of the ball. If you can, make sure that the other two strikers have a good crossing rating. Passing plays the biggest role in 3-5-2 formations, and if your team can't pass very well, I suggest staying away from using this formation. --------------- 3-5-2 Attacking --------------- ^ FC FC ^ ¦ AMC ¦ ML MC MC MR DC DC DC GK What this does is pushes the most important player on the field up into attack, and encourages the wingers to come forward more. This is great against teams that are weak in midfield, because now you've got some attackers that can take the heat off the defence. It's quite risky though, as if they somehow break through your midfield, your defence will have to be at their best to stop the attack. This really only works well if your central midfielder is an attacking player. --------------- 3-5-2 Defensive --------------- FC FC ML MC MR ¦ DMC DMC ¦ v DC DC DC v GK In the 3-5-2 Defensive, two of your midfielders have been pushed back into defence, and the wingers are now instructed to stick around in defence. They'll still make forward attacking runs, just not as often as they would have used to. This helps conserve stamina, so if you're nearing the 75 minute mark of a match with a two goal lead, this formation is ideal to switch to. The reason the MCs have been pushed back are to combat long lobs, over the top of the midfield, and straight to their attackers. If they start using long lobs on you, the defense is going to be caught completely unaware. So the DMCs are there for a backup, just in case they start using long passes. It also helps to move the MCs to DMCs if you can't seem to get much possession in midfield; the opposition will now deal with the MC first, and if they get past, you've got two DMCs ready to pounce. Custom 3-5-2 formations: ----------------------- 3-5-2 Defensive Stage 2 ----------------------- FC FC MC MC DML DMC DMR DC DC DC GK Here, push your wingers back down one step, and push the central midfielder down one step two. This makes for an extremely defensive 3-5-2, you've basically got 5 defenders. Set your DML and DMR to make forward runs and run with the ball, so that you've still got that attacking element. If they somehow get caught in the attacking half, there'll be the DMC to back up the defense. Best used if you want to go defensive, or if the central midfielder is a good defender. ------------- 3-5-2 Diamond ------------- FC FC AMC MC MC MC DMC DC DC DC GK Don't laugh. This is kinda effective. It's the 4-4-2 Diamond, just that you've only got three defenders, and you've got an extra man in the middle of the diamond. The weakness? Wing attacks, you've got to be careful for pesky wingers. They'll rush down, and before your defence can act, they'll lob a sneaky ball to their striker and score a goal. So what do you do? Don't set the MCs for forward runs, and you should be fine. ----- 4-2-4 ----- FC FC AML AMR MC MC DL DC DC DR GK This is the most offensive formation available by default. Four attackers is always good. Two midfielders isn't. From a 4-4-2, the wingers are pushed up into offense, leaving only two midfielders to compete against 4, maybe even 5 of the other team's midfielders. Along with the two centre backs, these players need to be ones who can quickly gain possession, and feed a good ball to the offense. The offense in turn needs to have good control skills, and of course, a good shooting stat to finish it all off. Long passing seems to be the way to go here, as most of the time the defenders will be running around, trying to avoid attackers. Direct passing won't work, as they'll simply overwhelm you in the midfield, and same goes for short. The only bad thing about long passing is that your strikers will need to have exceptional ball retrieval skills, which include off the ball, heading, tackling, and so forth. You may want to set your centre backs to run forward instead of the DL and DR, but it's really up to what type of players you've got. All you need are two great defenders, two exceptional midfielders, and some strikers that can slot the ball into the back of the net. Custom 4-2-4 formations: --------------- 4-2-4 Attacking --------------- FL FR AMC AMC MC MC DL DC DC DR GK OR FL FC FC FR MC MC DL DC DC DR GK These two custom formations will give you much more attack power, but it really leaves all the hard work up to the midfield. So, unless you've got two extremely good midfielders, you're screwed. ----- 4-3-3 ----- FC FC FC <-----MC MC MC-----> DL DC DC DR GK My personal favourite formation. This is for the manager who's got three really good strikers, but doesn't want to shape the squad into a 3-4-3. Just remember that now, you're missing some wingers, who you might need. Set the DL and DR to run forward and they should do fine. The central MC should be the guy who's fast and has a great stamina rating. You know why? You're going to give him a Free Role. What's that? He'll be the guy running around everywhere. He doesn't have a position. What this will do will enable the rest of your team to find a person to pass to, and in turn, he'll set somebody up. He will be the main man, a nice Influence rating will help a little. Just be careful that when you set your DL and DRs to run forward, the defence will be left a little vulnerable. However, the man in the free role should be able to help out, and this formation will be the key to many of your victories. And just because I feel like it, here's what I think is the perfect squad for the 4-3-3 (Guess which team it is?): GK Nigel Martyn SB1 Michael Bridges DL Ian Harte SB2 Mads Jorgensen DC Dominic Matteo SB3 Lucas Radebe DC Rio Ferdinand SB4 Jonathan Woodgate DR Danny Mills SB5 Jacob Burns MC Jason Wilcox SB6 Paul Robinson MC Olivier Dacourt SB7 Elrik Bakke MC Lee Bowyer FC Alan Smith FC Harry Kewell FC Mark Viduka Second season as manager of Leeds, I've sold 244 million worth of players, and bought 100 million of players over the two seasons. This is the best team yet, I've had W19 D3 L1. Pretty good. Custom 4-3-3 formations: --------------- 4-3-3 Attacking --------------- FC FC FC AMC <-----MC MC-----> DL DC DC DR GK Here, release your AMC of the Free Role, and set the MCs to make forward runs. Maximum power, just make sure that the defense can handle the heat. ----- 4-5-1 ----- FC ML MC MC MC MR DL DC DC DR GK On first glance, this looks like one of the best formations out there. Then you'll soon realise, hey, how come I've only got one striker? If you're going to play this formation, make sure that your lone striker is one of the best players in your squad. He'll be placed under lots of pressure, and if he doesn't play well, your team will lose. You'll want to make sure he's rounded out in all his stats, so sometimes you can even put a defender up in the forward role, but only if that defender is the most balanced member of your squad. Most of the time, he won't be the one scoring the goals. Instead, he'll be setting the ball up for the wingers and the other midfielders to charge through and score. So you also want to make sure that the striker has a good passing and teamwork rating. The central midfielder should be set on a free role, and the wide players should be set to make forward runs. This gives the striker more options to pass to, and more options means more chances at goal. Custom 4-5-1 formations: --------------- 4-5-1 Defensive --------------- FC ML MC MC MR DMC DL DC DC DR GK OR FC ML MC MR DMC DMC DL DC DC DR GK This is the defensive version of the 4-5-1. Yes, the 4-5-1 is already quite defensive, but if you're being scored on too much for your liking, switching one or two midfielders back into defense will help a little. ----- 5-3-2 ----- FC FC ^ ^ ¦ MC MC MC ¦ DML DMR DC DC DC GK The 5-3-2 is basically the 3-5-2 but with the wingers pushed back into defense a little. This formation is quite useful, but as with any defensive formation, or any formation that leaves you short in the midfield, you'll need two very capable strikers. The strikers need to make everything - every pass, dribble and shot - count. The midfielders will need to have good passing, heading and ball skills, so that they can successfully challenge the other team and win the ball. You're selecting one more defensive player now, you can really pick anyone you want, but if you pick someone who likes to go forward and attack, you'll be seeing more of the ball. Set the central defender for forward runs and you should be doing well. This is also the ideal formation to set up a sweeper. Drag the central defender back a step, and move the other defenders closer together. In my opinion, this works better than the default Sweeper formation as the wide players run forward more. If you've got more than five great defenders in your squad, this is the formation to use. --------------- 3-5-2 Attacking --------------- ^ FC ¦ FC ^ AMC ^ ¦ MC MC ¦ DML DMR DC DC DC GK After the 4-4-2 Attacking and the 4-3-3, this would have to be my favourite formation. Just that now, you've got a gaping hole in the midfield. To combat this, set the central defender to run forward, and make sure he (and the rest of the midfield/defence) have good heading skills, because what you'll most likely see happening is the other team lobbing balls high into the air. Make sure that the midfielder that's just been pushed up is fast, as you will need him to get back into the midfield at times. Use this if you've got five great defenders and three great attackers. --------------- 3-5-2 Defensive --------------- FC FC MC MC DML DMC DMR DC DC DC GK This turns your defense into an impenetrable fortress. However, you won't see much of the ball up front, and your defenders will need to cope with seeing lots of the ball in this half. But if you can gain possession of the ball quickly, and feed it to your wingers, they just might be able to break away and set up the strikers. Leave this one for defending leads. ------- Sweeper ------- FC FC MC MC MC DML DMR DC DC SW GK Yay...a sweeper. All the attention will be turned to him. He will need to be the best player on your team, as he's going to cover the others' mistakes, and not make them. Basically, he's working in sync with the goalie, so you might like them to compliment each other, stat-wise. The sweeper will need to have excellent Positioning, Anticipation, everything... Beckenbauer, where are you? Other formations that you might and might not want to try: ----- 5-4-1 ----- FC ML MC MC MR DL DC DC DC DR GK Probably the most defensive formation around. It's closely related to the 4-5-1, but with this formation, you've now got a flat back line of 5 players. Which is great, defensively, but you won't have much of a chance of getting the ball into the back of the net. Setting the wide players (ML and MR) to make forward runs is advised, and maybe setting the central defender to run forward will help the attacker out a bit. ----- 2-4-4 ----- FL FC FC FR ML MC MC MR DC DC GK When our school soccer coach was asking what formation we'd like to play, someone suggested 4-4-2. THAT'S 4 DEFENDERS, NOT FOUR STRIKERS, YOU IDIOT!!!! As you can see here, you really don't have much of a chance at all (neither did we. We lost all 4 matches). Unless your midfield is like the Great Wall of China, and can keep possession, your opponents are going to absolutely overrun you. ----- 3-3-4 ----- FL FR AMC AMC MC MC DMC DC DC DC GK Surprisingly, this is the formation that led me to the 3-1 victory over Inter Milan in the Champions League final. Playing more than three strikers is always going to leave your midfield depleted, but if you play it smart, it will work out. Here, from a 4-4-2, you've pushed the two strikers out waaaay wide, pushed up the two central midfielders into attack, and pushed one of the centre backs up into defensive midfield. Of course, you'll definetly be relying on the skills of your midfield and defence to salvage the ball, and feed it up to your strikers. You'll want to make sure that the wide strikers are excellent at their crossing, other wise you won't get anywhere. Play this only if you're confident that your defenders and midfielders can handle a big task. ------- 4-3-2-1 ------- FC AMC AMC <----MC MC MC----> DL DC DC DR GK Sure, it looks funny, but it works wonders. You have to make sure that as usual, the lone striker is very capable of slotting the ball into the back of the net, except this time, he's being backed up by two very ball-hungry AMCs. You should make the MCs run out wide, so that the wings are covered, and this formation will bring you lots of wins. And so will it's cousin, the... ------- 4-3-1-2 ------- ^ FC | FC AMC <----MC MC MC----> DL DC DC DR GK OR \ FC FC / \ AMC / MC MC MC DL DC DC DR GK Two ways to play this : the first is to have your midfield cover the wings while the AMC makes forward runs. The second is to have the midfield cut across diagonally, whilst running into attack. I prefer the second option. Here, your central MC has to have a very high Stamina and Work Rate rating, as you're going to give him a free role to run around and help the rest of the guys. This formation is quite good. ---- 4132 ---- FC FC | | | MC MC MC DMC DL DC DC DR New to CM00/01 is the 4132 formation. Quite useful, just make sure the DMC is extremely capable (may I recommend Rio Ferdinand, Oliver Dacourt, Roy Keane or Dieter Hamann). Any formations that you like using? Send 'em in! dc3131@yahoo.com.au --------------------------------------------------------------------- 6)Dream Team --------------------------------------------------------------------- Got a dream team? A team that's gone on a 25 game unbeaten run? Or maybe you've got a good suggestion for a team that you like using (by that I mean the best formation/players you can use without adding to your squad). Send 'em in to dc3131@yahoo.com.au! First, here's my suggestions for a dream Leeds United squad : 4-3-1-2 GK Nigel Martyn SB1 Rhys Evans (GK) DL Ian Harte SB2 Alan Cawley (AMFRC) DC Jon Woodgate SB3 Robbie Keane (AMFC) DC Rio Ferdinand SB4 Jason Wilcox (AML) DR Danny Mills SB5 Michael Bridges (SC) MC Tomas Rosicky SB6 Frode Kippe (DC) MC Olivier Dacourt SB7 Lucas Radebe (DC) MC Lee Bowyer AMC Harry Kewell FC Alan Smith FC Mads Jorgensen This team is currently 22-5-0 in the premiership, on 71 points. I've also scored a flukey 1-4 away win against Inter Milan, drew Lazio 2-2 away, and thumped Deportivo La Coruna at home, 6-2. Lovely. The players that I have "imported" are : Rosicky, Jorgensen, Evans and Kippe. Without importing : 4-3-1-2 GK Nigel Martyn SB1 Paul Robinson (GK) DL Ian Harte SB2 Alan Cawley (AMFRC) DC Jon Woodgate SB3 Mark Viduka (SC) DC Rio Ferdinand SB4 David Batty (DMC) DR Danny Mills SB5 Michael Bridges (SC) MC Jason Wlicox SB6 Gary Kelly (DDMR) MC Olivier Dacourt SB7 Lucas Radebe (DC) MC Lee Bowyer AMC Harry Kewell (Free Role) FC Alan Smith FC Robbie Keane A good West Ham squad : 5-3-2 GK Shaka Hislop SB1 Craig Forrest DML Scott Minto SB2 Trevor Sinclair DC Stuart Pearce SB3 Paul Kitson DC Igor Stimac SB4 Nigel Winterburn DC Izzy Iriekpen SB5 Davor Suker DMR Ian Pearce MC Joe Cole MC Frank Lampard AMC Michael Carrick FC Paolo Di Canio FC Frederick Kanoute --- From RTaylor: -Hey man, as a way to christen your new section I thought I'd send you my Man Utd dream team. I won the league and Europen cup 3 seasons running with this team, I only bought younsters which I started using in the 4th season. 4-3-1-2 GK. Barthez DL. Phil Neville DC. Jaap Stam DC. Wes Brown DR. Gary Neville MC. Ryan Giggs MC. Roy Keane MC. David Beckham AMC. Paul Scholes FC. Andy Cole FC. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Sub 1. Raimond Van Der Gouw (GK) Sub 2. Denis Irwin (DRL) Sub 3. Nicky Butt (DMC) Sub 4. Teddy Sheringham (FC) Sub 5. Dwight Yorke (SC) --- Looks very good indeed. Maybe it's just me but for Man Utd, I prefer Silvestre and Yorke (and sometimes Wilson) on in place of G.Neville, Cole (and Keane). And Bosnich, but he's now at Chelsea =P. Each to his own. Here's another Man Utd suggestion from Sportz: Here is my team that I have made up in 3 years on the newest Championship Manager. It's with Manchester Utd and I have won the Premiership in every year and have won the Champions League twice and virtually everything else as well. I use a 3-5-2 formation. Gk- Bosnich DCL- Stam DC- Cesar DCR- Thuram ML- Giggs MLC- Emerson (From Roma) MC- Jose Mari MR- Gallardo AMC- Gustavo Lopez FCL- Salas FCR- Raul Unfortunately I have let a few goals in but have scored more goals especially from Lopez (43 goals from 50 games last season). But I did beat Inter in the Champions League final 3-0! --------------------------------------------------------------------- 7)Recommended Players --------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule No.1 : Just because your favourite player isn't in here, don't complain to me! Like I care! I won't list all the no-brainers like David Beckham, Thierry Henry, Harry Kewell, Christian Vieri, etc. I'll list the ones that aren't that famous but can match them in ability. Rule No.2 : Sometimes the stats are randomized each time you start the game, so if the stats on your game don't turn out to be the same on mine or vice versa, once again, don't complain, blame SI for making the stats randomized. Rule No.3 : Leave RTaylor alone as well! Just because he works his arse off and then you scream your heads off at him just because he didn't include Ronaldo in the list doesn't warrant you sending hate mails to him! Rule No.4 : If you think a player should be up here, send a fact file to me, with : Player's Name Age Club/Country Value (Please state value in pounds, for effiency's sake. I'd do them in Aussie dollars but pounds is the default) Position to dc3131@yahoo.com.au Rule No.5 : No more rules! Let's get rollin-rollin-rollin-rollin! --------------------------------------------------------------------- Goalkeepers --------------------------------------------------------------------- Rhys Evans Rhys is an extremely talented goalkeeper for his 18 age, and you should snap him up right away. Chelsea/Welsh £Random GK Neil Alexander 20 Livingston/Scottish £750K GK Sean Allaway If you can prise him away from Leeds' grip, he 17 won't let you down. £700K Leeds United/English GK Ian Loveless 21 £Random Cardiff/Welsh GK Morgan De Sanctis 23 £Random Udinese/Italian GK Dionissis Chiotis 23 £Random AEK/Greek GK Dejan Bogunovic 19 £Random Vojvodina/Yugoslav GK Matthew Ghent 20 £Random Aston Villa/English GK Jean Francois Gillet He won't get much of a chance at Bari, so 22 snap him up right away! £500K Bari/Belgian GK Cristiano Lupatelli Ditto. Write that cheque. 22 £Random Roma/Italian GK Espen Johnson 21 £Random Start/Norweigan GK Carlo Nash Is happy to play as a backup, but will soon get 27 unhappy as Stockport usually use another goalie, £1m that's where you get him for a bargain price. Stockport/England GK Markus Proll Probably the most promising young goalie around. 21 While it will take some negoiating to move him £Random from Koln, it's worth it. 1.FC Koln/German GK Jindrich Skacel 21 £Random Slavia Prague/Czech GK Jimmy Walker While he doesn't have much potential, he's a good 27 backup. £500K Walsall/English GK Stuart Taylor Like Rhys Evans, a young superstar. 20 £350K Arsenal/English GK Johan Oberg 16 £Random Storfors/Swedish GK From Bart Packo : Jorge Campos, 400k, Mexican, GK --------------------------------------------------------------------- Defenders --------------------------------------------------------------------- Samuel Okikiolu 20 £Random Wimbeldon/English DC Frode Kippe 22 £1m Liverpool/Norweigan DC Stephen Wright 21 £1m Liverpool/English D RC Paul Okon 28 £3m Middlesbrough/Australian SW/D/DM C Simon Colosimo Note : Now plays for South Melbourne. 22 £300K Carlton/Australian SW/D/DM C Ian Harte 24 £17.5m Leeds United/Irish D L John Jensen 24 £Random AGF/Danish D RLC Morten Karlsen 22 £Random B 93/Danish D/DM (Random Side) Martin Knudsen 22 £Random Brann SK/Norweigan D/M RLC Danny Mills 24 £3m Leeds United/English D RC Soren Pallesen 24 £Random Esbjerg fB/Danish D/DM RLC Vasco Faisca 19 £Random Vicenza/Portuguese D RLC Pascal Bosschart 20 £160K Utrecht/Dutch D L Tieme Klompe 22 £Random Heereenven/Dutch D LC Ashley Cole 20 £Random Arsenal/English D L Ricardo Costa 20 £170K Porto B/Portuguese D L John Arne Riise 21 £5.3m Monaco/Norweigan D/M LC Matthew Upson 22 £3.5m Arsenal/English D LC Frank Arne Hauge 21 £Random Liilestrom/Norweigan D C Azar Karadas 20 £Random Brann SK/Norweigan D/S C Miika Koppinen 25 £Random Tromso/Finnish D/DM C Regiilio Vrede 27 £1.5m Roda/Holland D C From Bart Packo : Duilio Davino, £1m, Mexican, D C (gets a workpermit in UK) Ivan Hurtado, 300k, Peruvian, D C Salvador Carmone, 300k, Mexican, D L --------------------------------------------------------------------- Defensive Midfielders/Midfielders --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tomas Rosicky 19 £2.9m Slavia Prague/Czech M RLC Alex Tapp 19 £Random Wimbeldon/English DM LC Jason Culina 20 £Random Ajax/Australian D/DM LC Guy Demel 20 £Random Arsenal/French DM C Thomas Holm 20 £Random Heerenveen/Norweigan D/DM C Gary Mason 22 £Random Manchester City/Scottish DM C Andreas Voss 21 £Random Leverkusen A/German DM C Jonathan Bachini 25 £6m Juventus/Italian M RL Michael Standing 20 £Random Aston Villa/English M C Paolo Vernazza 21 £1m Arsenal (now plays for Watford)/English M C Mark Wilson 21 £200K Manchester United/English M C From Bart Packo : Kaluzny, 750k, Polish, DM C Ola Andersson, 50k, Swedish, DM C (old, but still good for 1-2 years) Runar Berg, 500k, Norwegian, M C (after a while in the game) Beto, £2m, Brazilian, M C (already has 11 caps for Brazil) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Attacking Midfielders/Forwards --------------------------------------------------------------------- Mads Jorgensen 21 £Random AGF/Danish AM/F RLC Victor Renner 21 £Random (Some Conference Club)/English AM/F RLC Chris Llewellyn 21 £1m Norwich/Welsh AM/F LC Alan Cawley 18 £1m Leeds United/Irish AM/F RC Alex Notman 20 £5m Manchester United (now plays for Norwich)/Scottish AM/F C Martin Andresen 22 £1.5m Wimbeldon/Norweigan AM R Carl Addison 18 £Random Wigan/English S C Alan Quinn 21 £3m Sheffield Wednesday/Irish AM/F LC Stefan Giglio 21 £Random Valleta/Maltese AM RC Matthew Hamshaw 18 £500K Sheffield Wednesday/English AM R Stefan Ishizaki 18 £600K AIK/Swedish AM RL Jamie McMaster 16 £300K Leeds United/English AM/F RLC Martin Rowlands 21 £2m Brentford/Irish AM RC Ben Thornley 25 £1.5m Huddersfield/English AM RL Sandor van der Heide 22 £Random Cambur/Dutch AM R Newroz Dogan 21 £Random B 93/Danish AM/F RLC Santi Kolk 19 £Random Heerenveen/Dutch AM/F LC Anthony Lurling 24 £Random Heerenveen/Dutch AM/F L Kim Kallstrom 18 £Random Hacken/Swedish AM L Tonton Zola Mokouko 17 £Random Derby County/Swedish AM/F C Emanuele Berrettoni 19 £Random Lazio/Italian AM/F RLC Richard Logan 18 £Random Ipswich Town/English AM/F C Yuning Zhang 23 £440K Liaoning/Chinese M/S C From Bart Packo : Paco, 350k, Mexican, F RC Adomaitis, 200k, Argentinian, AM RC (very good!!!) Florentin Petre, 850 k, Rumanian, AM R (even better!) Carlos Jacques, AM/F RL, Uruguay Juninho, £1.5m, Brazilian, AM C (gets workpermit in UK) Ivo Ulich, 750k, Czech, AM RC Cesareo Victorino, £2.5m, Mexican, AM RLC (also gets workpermit) Fabian Estay, 900k, Chilean, AM RLC --------------------------------------------------------------------- 8)Acknowledgements --------------------------------------------------------------------- To the creators of caffeine, to all the great Aussie athletes, to everyone on the GameFAQs Message Board, to CJayC and Al Amaloo, to my family, to the creators of CM00/01, to the Leeds United club, and to you who are reading, THANK YOU FOR INSPIRING ME!!! Also to: JArtanto - Thanks for telling me about the guide below. If you see JA's guide, he's not ripping stuff off me, read the section below to work out what's going on. Marc Vaughan - This guy's guide! I just found out that this guide is quite identical to mine, but his was released much earlier. So I'm just gonna say that I used his guide as a reference. It's a damn good guide as well, much more neater than mine...check it out at www1.sigames.com/eng/ Ruben Adi - For telling me about the mistakes in my guide (there's no more Shooting and Verstality, the latter being a hidden stat). I need more people like Ruben! Thanks again!!! Red Phoenix - For telling me about the stuffed URL. Rich Taylor - For a great FAQ and advice that I might regret not taking. Heh heh heh =) Bart Packo - For the being the first person to send in their recommended player list. Also for spotting a mistake.