Youth intakes - How to get better regens

Football Manager Guide to Youth Intakes - what are they?

It's everybodys dream to get a 5 star regen in the yearly youth intake, a promising talent who can develop into the new Lionel Messi, next Cristiano Ronaldo or even have the current ability to feature in the first team from time to time as a sub.

Youth intakes, are quite simply acquiring new players in Football Manager – so called regens – through your youth system. This happens once a season, on a different date depending on the country. It is easy to spot in game as a message in your inbox will appear – for example: "Real Madrid announce intake of new youth players". You can see the full list of all the youth intake days for Football Manager and FMC in this list to regen dates.

What are regens?

The Regens in Football Manager are game-generated players that after a while replace real-life players as they advance in years and retire. They are usually easy to spot as they have a computer generated face.

Their starting age usually goes from 14 to 16 years on the day of intake. They will develop according to their potential and your guidance, just as "regular" players. Eventually, as you advance through the years to let's say – 2030/2031 season – the game will be filled with only regen players.

How do I get a good youth intake?

The players you take in to your club will differ in potential, but there are ways of ensuring that you will get more quality players than not. This will depend on your clubs reputation and facilities.

Important facilities, when developing your own players are as follows in descending order of importance;

1) Junior coaching
2) Youth recruitment
3) What staff you choose to handle intakes
4) Scouting network/knowledge
5) Youth facilities

I will now cover each of them explaining the different mechanisms that influence youth intakes. Most of your current level of facilities can be found in your club overview screen menu – facilities sub-menu.

Junior coaching - Increase Current Ability of Regens produced

Junior Coaching, is in my opinion, one of the most important facilities when it comes to developing better youth talents, and is an important facility to upgrade in the Talent Factory Challenge.

Junior Coaching is a term for how good all the regens in your youth recruitment program have been trained and developed before they enter your club through youth intake. Having a better coaching team of junior coaches will affect the regens average level in regard to current ability. By spending more money in this area it will make the regens to a closer level to the reserve team, or even a potential option for the first team bench. This will give you to introduce them faster to higher levels of football, enchancing their development.

As seen in the screen above my current level of junior coaching with AFC Wimbledon is excellent.
All available levels of junior coaching are as follows, in order from worst to best:

- Minimal
- Basic
- Adequate
- Average
- Good
- Excellent
- Exceptional

Upgrading your junior coaching facilities comes down to talking to your board and your state of finances. Maintaining higher levels of junior coaching is more demanding from your finances, and your board will usually consider that. In addition, some boards may be more reluctant to invest in youth, and would rather bring in established players.

Youth recruitment - Increase Potential Ability of Regens produced

The youth recruitment can be explained as the scouting range of the regens that are coming into your youth academies. In other words, it determines how broad the area you secure youngsters from is, depending on your level of youth recruitment facilities. It can vary from recruiting from your local area to the entire world!

While junior coaching influences the levels of current ability of your regens, the youth recruitment increases the chances of getting players with more potential. The different levels of youth recruitment are as follows, from worst to best:

- Limited
- Basic
- Fairly Basic
- Average
- Above Average
- Established
- Well Established
- Extensive

As mentioned in the beginning of the article, your club reputation will be of importance if you want to upgrade your current youth recruitment levels, as well as stable finances to cover the expenses. Clubs like Hayes & Yeading will never be able to have high levels for youth recruitment, compared to a club like Juventus. There is a huge difference in reputation between a non-league club and a Serie A champion. It is fairly logical as well – you don't need extensive recruitment at H&Y, as you will never be able to attract and recruit youngsters from other countries or continents. If you are Juventus on the other hand, you will. In other words – who would you rather play for, Juventus or Hayes & Yeading? (Unless you're a local who supports H&Y, of course...)

Again, have a look at my facilities at AFC Wimbledon. It says fairly basic youth recruitment, and it rightly reflects it, as I get players from a broader area than just Wimbledon, with youngster coming from other cities and even nearby countries like Wales or Ireland.

The Importance of Backroom Staff - Who can handle youth intakes?

With the release of Football Manager 2013 a new backroom staff role was introduced: The Head of Youth Development will supervise the youngsters in training and give you feedback on their training progress. The Head of Youth Development will act as a coach for your youth players, but is also able to handle youth intakes.

A successful youth intake will simply come down to his judging ability by deciding which player who will make the youth squad from the intake and who he recommends you to sign. I primarily look at his judging player potential attribute, so that he can pick the youngsters with highest potential from the intake. Secondarily I look at his coaching attributes with working with youngsters being the most important, so that he may be a good addition on the training ground as well. Tactical knowledge attribute is a nice bonus, so that he may pick youngsters who would fit my tactical system in the future. You can read more about what this staff role requires in regard to the most important staff attributes and who can be described as good personnel for this staff role.

Even though it is advantageous to sign a head of youth development staff member, you can also choose other staff members to handle the youth intake such as the assistant manager, under-18 Manager or Director of Football. You can decide who shall handle the youth intake at the staff responsibilities and section Youth Development. Personally I choose the Head of Youth Development staff member for this task, as it's what the staff role is intended for. An example of, and my favorite Head of Youth Development staff member is Phil Cannon from Blackburn.

Youth Facilities - Better Youth Training Facilities

This factor is not a main issue in regard to this topic but is an important part of youth development and our Football Manager Challenge Talent Factory.

Youth facilities can be described as the training facilities used by the players currently in your youth team. Good youth facilities will help your youth players improve more and influences their current ability and make them able to increase the probability to reach their potential ability in additional to other factors in youth development. Youth facilities are a described rating for how good the club is to improve their youths and regens current ability.

For a manager who favours youth development this factor will be "more important" than training facilities, as it is here the talented youngsters will spend one of the most important time in their player development progress. It's in the youth training facilities that they will train on a daily basis, so top facilities will boost their training performance and growth in attributes. In addition better youth facilities will boost your reputation (this also applies to training facilities), which will give you a higher possibility of acquiring good players and boosting your youth recruitment level. They are, however, quite expensive to develop if you're managing a lower club, and it is therefore better to focus on junior coaching if you're short on funds.

Scouting Network and Scouting Knowledge

Want to know some secrets you might not be aware of in regard to this issue? Read on!

There are two terms in this section. When we talk about scouting network we refer to the squad of scouts and chief scout who travel the world in search for new talent and perhaps some exciting targets.
The scouting knowledge is a clubs knowledge level for a specific nation or a specific region.

In the matter of youth intakes and increasing the probability of getting better regens, your scouting knowledge is of great importance. It is a deciding factor in finding suitable talents, combined with having a good youth recruitment program.

As you can see from the screenshot of the scouting knowledge of Wimbledon in 2018, my board is yet to allow me scouting of the entire world, but I am able to scout Europe, and I'm doing just that. I have maxed out my knowledge of several countries in Europe, some through scouting and some through the knowledge of my backroom staff, such as Ruud van Nistelrooy who has given me full knowledge of Spain and Holland.

Q: So what does this have to do with recruitment?
A: A lot! Since the possibility of acquiring youngsters from abroad is higher once you max out your knowledge of a country.
Here is a great example:

A Spanish regen in Wimbledon?! That's right. Combined with my youth recruitment, junior coaching and knowledge of Spain, this player arrived in my intake. His potential is rather high as well – 5 stars.

We will look closer into this matter in a future article about scouting, so remember to bookmark our Football Manager blog!

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The Yearly Youth Intake day has arrived!

Finally the most anticipated day of the year has come, the youth intake!
We'll leave our basic guide to youth intakes in Football Manager and let FootyManagerTv have his say about how he handles youth intakes with this great video. In this Youtube video you will get more tips and hints about squad management and how to spot the best players in the yearly youth intake! So a big thanks to FootyManagerTv!

This covers our tips on how to handle youth intakes. Remember that youth players with high potential will not succeed without guidance. The same applies to youngsters with lower potential, eventually becoming much better than predicted. It all comes down to training, loans and you introducing your players to first team football. Here is a good example. This English regen started with 2 star potential, and look at how he progressed!

You can find all the new youth players coming through the yearly youth intake in their own sub-section of the Under-18/19 team. Just locate the tab Youth Candidates and see the assistant manager's recommendation and reports of all the players current and potential ability.

How to develop youth players in the correct manner will be covered in a future article.

We hope you enjoy our tips on Youth intakes and how to increase the probability of getting better regens. You can share your own tips in the comment field below! Have a fantastic Football Manager weekend!

Thanks to Daniel Hübner and FootyManagerTv for sharing their Football Manager experience.

All you need to know about the Football Manager 2013 Staff Role Director of Football

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Talent Factory La Masia 2.0 | Football Manager Challenge

A Football Manager Challenge which focuses on Youth Development

There is nothing more satisfying than developing your own youth talents and wonderkids and see them progress to become world class players. In this Football Manager Challenge we ask; Who is the best in the Football Manager Community to develop new talents? This challenge will turn the regen dates and the yearly youth intake to the most anticipated day of the year!

The Football Manager Challenge Talent Factory will be a great scenario for all who favour scouting and youth development. This FM Challenge will certainly test your Football Manager skills, but the final aim is to compete with the famous La Masia Talent academy of Barcelona and Ajax Academy by producing a team consisting of only homegrown players of the highest quality!

Lead your squad of homegrown talents and regens to new glories in the The Talent Factory Football Manager Challenge!

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Talent Factory - Rules and Limitations

Your mission in this Football Manager Challenge is to pick any team from all eligible nations and leagues in FM13, preferably a minor club where the facilities need to be upgraded through the first seasons, and turn the club into a world leading talent factory.

There are some limitations and guidelines though;

You cannot do any transfers, loans included. You have to rely on your own youth products in order to compete.
So buying some of the Promising Talents in Football Manager is a big NO-NO!

You can be assisted by your parent club, who might give you players on loan on their own initiative, you cannot ask for the loan yourself.

You can however improve the clubs backroom staff by signing better coaches, scouts etc.

The last one is not a general rule as you might be forced to do this in the future anyway, but you should try to let your Youth Talent get first team experience as often as possible, to aid their development.

The Aim of this Challenge

The main goal of the Football Manager Talent Factory Challenge is to achieve the best possible results with the players you've developed yourself. Personally, there is nothing more satisfying than to see your developed players be called up for the national team. So in this Football Manager Challenge the mission is to produce new talents and nurture them into players who can compete at national level for the years to come.
How you succeed (or fail) with youth development and player development comes both down to the youth intake and the potential of the regens coming through the youth intakes.

As mentioned earlier, you can use any starting league and club, but obviously the lower league and club you start with, the harder it will be. Being Barcelona won't be as big a challenge as for example Portsmouth or Rostock.

Examples of other future goals to aim for and reach after;

Get as many of your players to be called up and feature in the national team of the nation you're playing in

Have one of your players trusted with the captaincy of his national team

Earn promotion to the top division with a team with an average age of below 20 years old

Get your team to win as many trophies as possible, even the Champions League

Have one of your youth products win the Player of the Year award(continental and domestic), or even the World player of the Year

Get 3 or more players selected in the Team of the Year(continental or domestic)

Finally it would be a great achievement to see one of your players win the Golden Boot as the top scorer at World Cup or/and World Cup Best Player

FM Challenge - Talent Factory Achievements and Results

When I started this Talent Factory challenge I chose AFC Wimbledon in League 2.
I wish to point out that all results in this save, and every promotion, is achieved with the FM13 attacking tactic Earn it 3-6-1. You can download and read more about this exceptional teamwork tactic here.

To show you a little bit about my talent factory and how important scouting is, I will display screenshot of some of the regens acquired through the different youth intakes. When I became able to scout Europe, after upgrading the scouting range, I got a Greek and a Spanish regen in the next youth intake, due to maxed out scouting knowledge of those countries. I've also got players from Burundi, Swaziland(!) and Sierra Leone, among others

What do you think about these regens?

And also, the recent addition to the Talent factory of AFC Wimbledon, meet Stephen Devine - age 16:

Here is a screenshot of how an ideal Transfer history will turn out:
Just keep in mind, if you purchase or buy a player, you have failed in this Football Manager Challenge

AFC Wimbledon Facilities Development 2012-2018:

Here is a screenshot of my scouting knowledge in 2018:

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Additional resources and Tips to Succeed

To succeed with this challenge you need to know;

How to setup your scouting network to increase scouting knowledge
The importance of upgrading youth facilities and increasing levels of junior coaching
Basic knowledge of youth development and individual training
How you can get the best regens at youth intake
The important knowledge of finding excellent coaches and Backroom staff Why signing a good Head of Youth Development can become vital for getting better regens

You can see a full list of our backroom staff recommendations and download our staff search filter here

I have to say it's been the most fun I have had with Football Manager in years! So hope you enjoy it!

Feel free to share your progress, results and achievements and post your own results in the comment field below.
Don't be afraid to ask for advice and check back for more Football Manager Challenges and related guides and articles about team management youth development, scouting and youth intake!

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Wish to have a successful time on the pitch as well? Download and try FM13 Attacking Tactic; Earn It 3-6-1

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Football Manager 2014 Wishlist New Features

FM14: Wishlist for new features or game changes

Note! We have a list of many feature request, some are already written below, some will be added in the future. So watch out in this post to see some great unseen feature requests, as this list will be updated until the release of Football Manager 2014!

There might not be any doubt that the Football Manager series is THE best soccer manager game out there. Despite touted as the most realistic soccer game on the market, there is still parts of the game that can be improved further, to make it even more realistic.

I must admit I had huge expectations to Football Manager 2013, as FM12 was one of the best games ever! For those of you who have followed our passion for FM since day one, you might remember our FM13 Wishlist post. Some of these suggestions is as relevant to mention for Football Manager 2014 as they where for FM13.

Since the release of Football Manager 2013 (and all it's updates and bug-fixing...) the game have become better and better, maybe even better than FM12 as well. The main difference between FM12 and FM13 might be the increased importance of tactical and team management knowledge, which we believe will be even more important in Football Manager 2014!

Even though FM13 have been out for nearly a half a year, we feels it is time to discuss which new features should be added to Football Manager 2014, and what needs to be improved to make FM14 even better, hence more realistic!

Please leave your suggestions for new FM2014 features or game improvements in the discussion field below.

This list of Football Manager new feature requests will be continuously updated until the release of Football Manager 2014. If you wish to recommend these request on other threads, for example on the official Sports Interactive forum, please do not copy from this list without asking for permission or referring to this list, as the opinions in this list is personal (my own views).

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3 Different Attacking Set-piece strategies: Corners and Set-pieces

From real-life soccer there are many teams (f.ex national teams, but also some clubs) who put much of their main focus on the next opponent by training on different attacking set-piece strategies to both surprise them and try to score goals from the few chances they might get. In Football Manager 2013 its much focus on tactics and match analysis. With the release of FM14, I hope it will also be more importance to set-piece setup and make it easier to change this kind of tactical instructions in-match.

As you might remember, by taking advantage of touchline instructions you can change your playing style and tactical instructions completely according to how the match evolves. Similar I wish there was an easy way to change attacking set-piece strategies, for example if you're struggling with the main set-piece strategy.

My idea is to have the ability to change between 3 different set-pieces setups similar to the ability to have 3 different tactics.

As you might have experienced, attacking set-pieces can both create goals and more chances and is one of the attacking threats. A good set-piece setup can quickly become the difference between winning, loosing or drawing a narrow match. In Football Manager 2013 there are few options to change set-piece strategies when in-game. As I see it, once you've made the set-piece tactics your stuck with it, no matter how good or bad the set-piece instructions is. Of course you can tweak it in-game, but this must obviously contradict to the boost from match preparations and shouldn't work as good as a set-piece setup you've practiced, right? To make my idea of having 3 different set-piece setups work, it is important that it exists similar familiarity levels for set-pieces as for the tactical familiarity levels. With this option you need to put even more focus on match preparation set-pieces to become a set-piece specialist.

To make this work it is important that there are more player roles to choose from in the set-piece creator screen, in additional to making you able to place the player almost 'where-ever' you want on the new set-piece creator screen. On corners you could have one or two more options to let your players attack from deep, which makes you able to have almost all your players to start from outside the penalty area and run into 6 yard box to disturb the oppositions man-marking. On free-kicks you could have one more player role, such as making you able to have one player who sits in off side and make a opposite run than all the others.

Short summary:
By making you able to choose between three different corner strategies in attacking set-pieces you can both upset the opposition team, change to a new setup if the original strategy ain't paying off, or use different set-piece strategies for two following matches. The attacking set-piece strategies must be practiced on to work. No matter how many different player roles for attacking set-pieces there is on FM14 I just want you to be able to have different set-piece instructions to choose from; with different player positioning which can be assigned quickly.

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Save Touchline instructions and import them into a new save

The tactic creator makes you able to create a tactic without having to adjust any of the player instructions. By using the correct shouts during matches you can adopt your basic tactic into a certain playing style. By using touchline instructions you can change your tactical setup completely in just a click of a button; from long balls to short, from much closing in to little. As the situation is on Football Manager 2013, the touchline instructions is as important as your tactical preferences and formation.

I miss the opportunity to save my main preferred touchline instructions, and import them into the new save, similar to the ability to save and import tactics, shortlists and player search filters. Hopefully FM14 will add this to the new features.

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Revive Agents and Agencies

For many Football Manager fans agents can be a pain in the ass. For the real-life manager, agents are a natural part of transfer negotiations. In Football Manager agents are only seen when negotiating contracts or when offering a player to another club.

In Football Manager 2014 I wish they would add real-life agents and agencies such as Mino Raiola, the agent of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Mario Balotelli and Paul Pogba. The agents would have the same personalities as in real life with all its pros and cons.

In the further extend of agents is to add professional agencies; corporations who tries to find new clubs for their players and who partially works with the young players to develop them to withstand pressure from the media. By reviving the agents and adding agencies in Football Manager 2014 I hope it would be an increase of promoting their players to your club by sending in a picture of the player, brief introduction to the player and strength of the player. Some agencies will be professional both when promoting the player to you and in contract negotiations, others will just try to earn as much money they can. For minor clubs who can't afford to send a scout watching the player they will need to trust the report card from the agents. The different agencies will be located in their nation with players and coaches from it, as in real life.

You can find all the different agents and agencies at Fifa.com under the officials screen for the specific country.

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Manager Contracts negotiations and managerial career progress

Able to choose your own agents
When starting your new save as a new manager of a specific club there are certain occurrences you have to take part in, such as meeting the staff, talking with the your chairman and getting the squad report by your assistant manager. Before meeting the board and finding the team to manage I would really love to have the ability to choose your agent from a list of real and generated agents (or at least that it will be assigned automatically if agents are not revived - see section above).

Revive Manager Contract negotiations
Manager contract is very basic in Football Manager 2013. Apart from being able to request your own Football Manager football philosophy, I would love if you could set some minimum request or demands for accepting a new contract, just like in real life with reference to the Jose Mourinho saga, which is going on these days.

Be able to setup a shopping list of possible transfer targets which you demands that the club approaches to sign before agreeing to a new contract or signing for a new club.

Request that the board upgrades youth facilities or other important assets to the facilities for agreeing to a new contract

Request that the board makes room for a specific favorite backroom staff of yours. This backroom staff member could exceed the limit set by the board.

Managers Coaching Attributes
When starting a new save I would really wish to have backroom staff attributes for your manager profile as well. The coaching attributes and mental attributes could start off automatically on 10 as a new manager. This way, the manager profile tab will be similar to the other managers in-game and you can compare the attributes, in additional to the AI teams to discover what football style you may prefer to use. These attributes can increase or decrease as time passes by. I can see two options for them to increase or decrease:

Increase attributes: You need to attend coaching seminars just like the general coaches to improve the attributes in additional to make them increase a long with your manager style and tactical preferences. One way to do this is that you need to read an article about team talk, scouting or f.ex attacking style of play which you need to confirm to increase the stats and coaching level.

Attributes may decrease if you can't handle morale or team talk well. Or are consistently buying poor players who don't fit your tactic in regard to attributes mental, judging player ability and tactical knowledge.

These tips are written with Daniel Hubner.

Add Favorite Personnel for your Manager Profile
I would also liked the ability to create a list of one to three favorite personnel and players when start of a new game. If not the ability to develop relationships with backroom staff members, palyers and managers who can become favorite personnel, as time passes by. Perhaps you have bought 5-star chief scout Alexandre Ceolin who have been part of your squad for two or three seasons, which may qualify him to become favorite personnel of yours.

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Enhance your Football Manager experience - Download Passion4FM's created add-ons for FM13

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FM 2013 Attacking Tactic: Earn It 3-6-1

Football Manager 2013 Attacking Tactic by Daniel Hubner

In this Football Manager 2013 Tactical experiment I wanted to create the ideal teamwork tactic, a tactic that depends on much work rate and players interacting for the benefit of the team. This tactic is created for Football Manager 2013. It can be described as an attacking tactic, but is much more than that!

When creating this FM 2013 tactic I was inspired by several concepts both from tactics I have used by some great tacticians in the Football Manager Community, as well as the real life principles of Antonio Conte. If you're unfamiliar with those, it is basically an idea about movement, tracking back and pressuring relentlessly. No player is allowed to be idle and not work hard for the team.

Check out Football Manager 2013 Attacking Tactic "Earn it" 3-6-1 a great tactic which relies on teamwork and work rate!

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Earn It 3-6-1 - The Formation

The formation of my Football Manager 2013 tactic is described as 3-6-1, but it can also be described as a 3-1-4-1-1.

There are several good points about this tactical system, as it is highly flexible, going through various shapes in defence, transition and attack. It is difficult to break down, as it creates a 5 man block at the back with wingers dropping back without the ball, and the 3+3 stockade of defenders and midfielders forms an unbreakable wall of players, resulting in opponent shooting wildly or losing possession.

The only drawbacks of this FM 2013 tactic is the space given to the fullbacks or a quick counter(but what tactic isn't suspect to counter-attacks?). The fullbacks, however, tend to cross, dwell or pass inside, due to lack of other options. If they cross, the safety of 3 central defenders in addition to the goalkeeper will always clear the ball, and if they dwell or pass inside, the Box to Box Midfielder will usually pick them up or the pass.

What to do if experiencing red card?
Remove your attacking midfielder

Team Instructions

Screenshots of Attacking / defensive play (my team in white shirts):

A counter down opposition right wing, players rushing in to the box, with plenty of opportunity to finish, pounce on rebounds etc

Loads of players flooding the box, the defensive midfielders holding his position in control of the striker and the 3 center backs deep on their half

Very little space for opposition, everyone well marked, center-backs creating an effective triangle, while my keeper easily intercepts a hopeless cross

Diamond form in the middle which is difficult to break down, the defensive midfielder providing the link between defense and offense

Attacking midfielder and striker harassing opponent, while midfield and defense form two lines of defense - very difficult to break down, while my wingers track back their respective winger

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Player roles and key attributes

Important player attributes:
First of all, as mentioned briefly in the introduction to this tactic, the key attributes to this attacking tactic is players with good work rate. That player attribute will spur the players to work all over the pitch.

Next, the player attribute Teamwork is a good addition as well as other "team mental attributes" and a good amount of stamina, as the players needs to cover a lot of ground.

Player roles and required attributes for succeeding:
The sweeper keeper should have good ratings for aerial ability and command of area, for catching all those crosses coming in, while also being an intimidating presence for opposition attack.
Player type recommendations: Wojciech Szczęsny, Manuel Neuer

You can read more about the most important goalkeeper attributes and their definition in our Football Manager Guide to Goalkeeper attributes

Central Defenders
The one in the middle should be pacey, as well as having good ratings for anticipation, heading and jumping. The two on the sides will be the tall guys, winning headers and clearing the ball.
Player type recommendations: Sergio Ramos or Thiago Silva flanked by Ryan Shawcross and Alex.

Defensive Midfielder
Don't be confused by his player role, as he will be far more creative than a regular defensive midfielder. Look for a deep-lying playmaker, but with greater emphasis on defensive attributes. They will be your creative terriers in the team having good amount of aggression and work rate.
Player type recommendation: Daniele de Rossi

Box to Box Midfielder
The box to box midfielders are the heart, soul and lungs of your team. Running even up to 15(!) km per game, they will harass the opponent all over the pitch, create and score those important goals. Look for complete players with the highlighted box to box midfielder player attributes, such as Sami Khedira, Kwadwo Asamoah, Leon Osman, Jack Rodwell, James Milner - you get the drill.

Defensive Wingers
Don't be fooled by their defensive role. They will, as the central midfielders, work up and down the pitch, tracking back in defence and driving to the byline in attack. They will man-mark any opposition wingers to track back movement, and prevent the opponent from playing, as well as intercepting passes and creating goals. Look for quick players with great work rate and stamina. Crossing is also important and dribbling and tackling is a bonus.
Players like Leighton Baines, Gareth Bale, David Alaba and Dani Carvajal come to mind.

Advanced Playmaker
The attacking midfielder is the brain of your system. He will mastermind your team, creating the chances and linking the play, as well as scoring. Think a maestro in the center, a Zinedine Zidane for your team, although you want that work rate to be there for him.
Player type Recommendation: David Silva, Shinji Kagawa, Toni Kroos, Will Hughes

Poacher
The striker is the goal-getter, pacey strikers will work, as well as the tall ones. To be honest, I haven't found the ultimate striker for this tactic, although attributes like pace/acceleration, composure, passing and finishing will be beneficial. The more complete the player is, the better so think Carlos Tevez or Edison Cavani.

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General training and Individual Training

In pre-season:
General Training: Fitness - Very High
Match preparation: 50% Tactics Only

When In season:
General Training: Balance - High
Match preparation 30% Teamwork

You can read more about how to get the players ready for competitive matches in our Football Manager guide to Pre-Season.

Individual training - Individual roles:
I tend to use individual training for my players, according to the roles they're playing in my team. It seems to give me better results, and I believe that it makes the player more complete, as opposed to focusing on one attribute. Of course, there are exceptions. If your player is already an excellent footballer, but lacks that single attribute, you can focus on that. A good example is Cristiano Ronaldo - you will not manage to make his attributes any better, but you can focus on his composure which is only 10. I did so, and after a season it went up to 11.

Goalkeepers - Sweeper keeper
Central Defenders - Ball playing defender
Defensive Midfielder - Deep lying playmakers
Central Midfielder - Box to Box midfielder
Wingers - Defensive wingers
Attacking midfielder - Advanced playmaker
Striker - Complete forward

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Player Preferred Moves - Key PPM's

Defensive midfielder:
- Try killer balls often
- Come deep to get the ball
- Dictate tempo
- Shoot with power

Central midfielder:
- Try killer balls often
- Shoot with power
- Get forward whenever possible

Wingers:
- Run with ball often
- Knock ball past opponent
- Try killer balls often
- Switch ball to other flank

Attacking midfielder:
- Try killer balls often
- Run with ball through centre
- Move into channels
- Plays one-twos

Striker:
- Run with ball through centre
- Places shots
- Move into channels
- Look to break offside trap
- Play one-twos

You can see the full list of all the PPM's in our Football Manager guide to Player preferred moves.

Set up Opposition Instructions

I use the opposition instructions used by the creator of Arrigo Sacchi's 4-4-2 FM13 tactic, a brilliant FM 2013 tactic, which I recommend to everyone.

For those who have not seen the opposition instructions of this tactic, here are how I set up opposition instructions:

Show onto foot - every player with one foot reasonable or weaker
Tackling Hard - every player with bravery 11 or lower
Closing down always on defenders with composure, concentration or decision of 10 or lower
Closing down always on mids and attackers with pace and acceleration of less than 12 - although this can be flexible, and should be judged according to pace of your own players. If a player has pace 11 and acceleration 13, you might consider applying closing down
Tight mark always on midfielders and attackers with pace and acceleration of less than 12 - although this can be flexible, and should be judged according to pace of your own players. If a player has pace 11 and acceleration 13, you might consider applying tight marking
Closing down always on players with long shots of 14 or more

Apart from this, and this is very important(!), you will need to instruct your players to man mark individually according to oppositions formation:
- Whenever you play against wingers, instruct your wingers to man mark the opposition teams wingers specific. - Whenever your opponent uses an AMC you mark him specifically with your DM.

NOTE! Pay attention to formation changes. If your opponent changes formation from 4-2-3-1 to 4-4-2 you will need to put your DM back to zonal marking, or else he will mark the wrong area of the pitch and unbalance the formation!

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Preferred Touchline Instructions - Shouts

Work ball into box
Play through defense
Retain possession
Exploit the flanks
Pass into space

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Records and Achievements

Result from Europa Leauge

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Download FM13 Tactic; Earn it 3-6-1

FM13 Tactic Earn it 3-6-1
Created and works for the latest match engine; 13.3.3

How to import the tactic to Football Manager 2013?

1) Import the tactic to the specific folder: "Your Documents" > Sports Interactive > Football Manager 2013 > Tactics

2) Go to the Overview Panel of Team Tactics - choose Add Tactic - Options - Manage Tactics - Choose to open Archive Tactics and add Earn it 3-6-1

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Hope you enjoy my Tactical experiment and I'm looking forward to hearing from you, feel free to ask any questions and please post your results, as well as giving me feedback through the comment field below!

This Football Manager 2013 Tactic is created by Daniel Hübner

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Check out more Football Manager 2013 Tactical guides and tips

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Arsenal FC - New players inbound! FM13 Video Story

Football Manager 2013 Story: Arsenal FC - Season 2013/14, Episode 1 w/ Commentary

We are proud to entertain you with FootballManagerTube's amazing high-quality Football Manager 2013 video Story! The Football Manager Story about Arsenal FC comes with commentaries and shows you FMTube's career progress!
Sit back, relax, listen and enjoy the world of Shaun Skeen on Football Manager 2013!

Here is episode one in season 2013-14! Arsenal FC is on road for new trophies and victories!

After the events of last season which saw Arsenal beat the new Champions in their own backyard to secure UEFA Champions League football Shaun Skeens Arsenal side must now improve on their fourth place finish and try and challenge the other three teams ahead of him to the title.

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Football Manager 2013 - Arsenal Story (S02E01) - All or nothing! - FM Story

A new season but the same situations. As the new season arrives and the transfer window has opened, it is time for the Arsenal board and staff to clear out the deadwood and bring in some new faces, however how will Arsenal cope when a European giant comes calling for my captain? Pre-season starting and all the frustration that goes with it, how will my side deal with the pressure of the boards expectations for the new season?

Football Manager 2013 Video Stories made by FootballManagerTube

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Arsenal FC: Signed for the future! FM Story Episode 1

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Top 5 Best English Talents of nPower Championship

Top 5 Hottest Youngsters of English nPower Championship

As part of our Talent spotter we will today introduce you to the best English Talents in the first division of England.

The NPower Championship has proven to be a great market for hand-picking young talents with potential to star on the big stage. You only need to look at the likes of; Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott, Victor Moses, Kyle Naughton, Joleon Lescott, Phil Jagielka and Kyle Walker, who all have either international caps or played in European competitions this season. It is evident that the Championship is a league where young players can nurture their talents and define ability. Nathaniel Clyne, Steven Fletcher, Robert Snodgrass, and Jonny Howson are also former N-Power Championship players now playing in the Barclays Premier League. England capped goalkeeper Jack Butland and fellow countryman Wilfred Zaha are the latest to make the step up to Premier League level having already agreed deals to sign in the summer to Stoke City (£3.5m) and Manchester United (£15m) respectively.

In this article we will introduce you to the best English Talents of nPower Championship, who can become future superstars.

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Will Hughes, Derby County, (07/04/95), CM

Will Hughes is a remarkable young English talent. The newly capped England Under-21 midfielder has the potential to go the furthest, as he became the 2nd youngest ever to appear at that level, just behind a certain Theo Walcott! Known for his flair and dribbling ability, Will Hughes has already made his mark on the County first team having made 38 appearances and scoring twice within his first 2 years as a professional footballer.

In January 2013, it was reported that the 18 year old had almost half of the Premier League clubs keeping a watchful eye over his form and future potential. Despite the fact none were willing to take the risk in the most recent transfer window, it won't be long before this young man is plying his trade at the likes of Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge and The Emirates.

Although he is currently being comparing to the likes of Xavi and Iniesta, his play style is more of a Box-to-Box midfielder with plenty of versatility and a game changing moment in his locker. So, keep an eye out for this young man, as I would wager my house and car that he outgrows the English youth team before the age of 21 and will likely be partnering Jack Wilshire as replacements for long-standing midfielders Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard.

You can read more about Will Hughes in our list of Top 10 Young Football Talents of 2013.

Matej Vydra, Watford, (01/05/92), ST

The Czech striker Matej Vydra was awarded the 2012/13 nPower Championship Player of the Year. Having notched 20 goals at a rate of a goal every second game, the Udinese loanee has been on terrific form for Watford in his first season in the English game. His manager, former Chelsea great, Gianfranco Zola has publicly stated that he wants to sign the Czech Republic international on a permanent basis, a deal which could be helped by the fact that Watford and parent club Italians Udinese share the same owners.

Matej Vydra has already been capped 7 times for the Czech national team, scoring twice in their recent 3-0 win over Armenia, the recently turned 21 year old looks set to have a bright future in the English game if he decides to remain at Watford permanently. Matej Vydra and his strike partner Troy Deeney have been instrumental in Watford’s push for promotion to the top tier of the English game, even though they were only outsiders for promotion and are now in a 4-way shootout with Crystal Palace, Brighton and Leicester for the last remain spot via the play-offs.

Watford’s current top goal scorer has shown his devastating mixture of pace and composure, scoring two goals in as many minutes against Brighton & Hove Albion is one of his seasonal highlights. His breed of a quick, composed goal scorer (similar to a younger Michael Owen) which is rarely found around the leagues at the moment and has proven to be a contributing factor in Watford’s successful season.

There is much speculation about the young Czech Republican’s future, with some even touting him to replace Borussia’s Robert Lewandowski should he leave Dortmund this summer.

Tom Ince, Blackpool, (30/01/92), AMR/L

Probably the most familiar player on this list is England under 21 international, Tom Ince. Not only is his cousin in girl band The Saturdays, but his father (and current club manager), is former England and Manchester Untied favorite Paul Ince. Tom Ince has risen through the ranks at Liverpool but when the Anfield club deemed him not worthy of a new contract in 2011, Championship side Blackpool snapped him up. The ironic January transfer bid, believed to be around £6m, from Liverpool to bring him back to the club was rejected as Blackpool value him at a higher price.

The 21 year old winger, who has played for England in every level apart from the senior team, has been quoted to saying that he is only willing to leave Blackpool for a different club should he be guaranteed first team football. Finishing third behind Matej Vydra and Crystal Palace’s 30-goal Glenn Murray in the N-power Championship’s Player of the Year is a great achievement for this youngster, who happened to win the league’s Young player of the year this season.

Although bias, his father/manager has stated that if the recent Manchester United signing of similar player Wilfried Zaha is anything to go by, then his son is valued somewhere around £25m, on comparison Tom Ince has notched 12 more goals than Zaha this season in an inferior Blackpool side.

Tom Ince is a quick, tricky winger with the ability to change any game; he is a similar player to the likes of Aaron Lennon and Alex Oxlaide-Chamberlain.

Sam Byram, Leeds United, (16/09/93), RB

Sam Byram is one of a unique kind, having signed his first senior contract last summer and going on to play 44 games in his first season. The majority of players are slowly worked into a team, with some often sent out on loan for a few years to gather first team experience. The 19 year old right sided defender, whom also scored 3 goals this year, has made the position at his club his own and is one of the first names on the former UEFA Champions league regulars Leeds United team sheet and although the fallen giants are much changed this year, the ever-present has been Sam Byram.

Sam Byram is a solid full back with plenty of pace and ability to overlap the player in front, let him to attract attention from many Premier League sides, with Manchester City reported to be tabling a £10m bid for him in the next transfer window. Despite the fact that Byram hasn’t yet appeared in the international set-up yet, it is only a matter of time before he follows the likes of Harry Kewell, Alan Smith, Paul Robinson, James Milner and Jonathan Woodgate from the Leeds Academy into their respective International sides.

If you want to see this boy’s ability, you show look up his goal against Oxford United in the Capital One Cup to witness something you would only expect from the likes of Gareth Bale (whom Byram also managed to keep at bay this season) and a young man by the name of Lionel Messi.

Nathan Redmond, Birmingham City, (06/04/94), Wide Midfielder

Finally, rounding off this list of Top 5 Championship starlets, we have Birmingham City winger, Nathan Redmond. The England under 19 international has yet to make an appearance in the top tier of English football, but does however, have 5 appearances and 1 goal (against Portuguese side Nacional) in the Europa League.

The 19 year old wide midfielder has been at Birmingham since he was just 8 years old and made his debut at 16 in the Capital One Cup against Rochdale. Nathan Redmond is more of a wide midfielder than winger, can play on either side of the midfield and has been one of the stars of the N-power Championship in recent times.

Interest in Nathan Redmond is high, with Barclays Premier League sides West Bromwich Albion and Newcastle United have him near the top of their summer wish lists for a price of around £6m.

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This completes my list of Top 5 Best English Talents of nPower Championship. I would also like to include a mention to Wilfried Zaha and Jack Butland whom I wish the best of luck to next year as they begin their Premier League careers.

Hope you like this article written by Daniel Norman. Suggest your own English talents of nPower Championship below!

Attribution:
Image of Falmer Stadium is provided by James Boyes via Creative Commons 2.0
Image of Will Hughes and Tom Ince is provided by Matlock-Photo via Creative Commons 2.0
Image of Nathan Redmond is provided by Will bcfc via Creative Commons 3.0
Image of Sam Byram is provided by Jon Candy via Creative Commons 2.0

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