Facebook Top Eleven Frequently Asked Questions by the zed 1. I played Champions league, but I didn’t receive my prize money
You were receiving the money after every game you played in Champions
League. The amount of 2.8M (depends on the level) for winning the
Champions league is Total amount including Champions league Finals. 2. I couldn’t join the game. After “Less then a minute” message, the game was already finished. The result was 3-0
This game was finished with official result 3-0, because the opponent didn’t have enough players for the match. 3. When i open Transfer list all the players just disappear
If your Transfer list is empty you need to check your System clock. Check everything: Time, day, month, year and Timezone. 4. Can I use Facebook Credits to buy Tokens?
No. Simple as that. 5. I am Level 1 and I am playing in League level 2
System is generating leagues automatically trying to group friends and
considering their levels. If a higher league can not be formed due to
lack of teams of appropriate level, a lower level teams will be used to
fill up the missing spots. 6. I don’t have any friends in my league
The system tries to group as many FB friends of same level into same
league but due to too many links between friends (your friend is playing
but he has few more friends who play as well who are not your friends
etc.), some managers might end up not grouped with their mates. However,
new leagues are created each season so just because you ended up in a
league without friends does not mean that it will be same next season. 7. My players lost one star
You made progress and you are now playing in a better league. The
quality of your players remained the same. They just lost one star
because the competition in this league is tougher (better)! 8. How do I invite friends to play with me?
Click on the “Invite Friends tab” on the top of the game, or click empty
slot (Invite friends) in the list of your friends at the bottom of the
game. EDIT:
Important note:
there are a number of servers on which the game is running. Each server
has 100 000 spaces capacity. This means that if you were the last team
(or among some of the last teams) to fill the server, all of your
friends who you invite next will end up on a different server (as yours
is obviously full) and therefore will not be visible to you. Every now
and then, a reshuffle is done so that as many friends possible get
grouped on the same server. This means that some of your friends who are
not visible to you this season, might become visible in a season or
few. Side effect is that you also may end up “loosing” some of your
friends who are now visible to you. This is all still a work in
progress. 9. TOKENS————I paid but i didn’t receive my tokens
Best way to sort this out is to write to support@nordeus.eu They will fix the problem for you OR will tell you what to do next.
When you e-mail support@nordeus.eu, make sure you include your your Facebook ID 10. What happens to inactive teams?
If a manager does not log in into the game for 70 days, the team he owned gets deleted. 11. Injured players?
As in real life, injuries are something that happens without warning.
You might get unlucky and hit a streak of injuries or your team might go
foe few weeks without anyone getting injured. You never know. Through
infrastructure, you can somewhat reduce the chance for your players to
get injured and reduce the length of those injuries but do not expect
that your players will become immune to injuries once your
infrastructure reaches maximum level. A bad tackle is a bad tackle. You
can brake your leg at Old Trafford just the same as you can brake it in
your back yard. Ambulance will help you heal your players by providing
you with healing boosters (red suitcases). Note:
Maximum number of injuries a team can have at one time is 7. If you end
up having more then 7 injured players at one point (more then 7 are
unable to play due to injury) do report this to: support@nordeus.eu 12. I followed the match LIVE and saw the score. However, later on the result changed?
This is a serious and a very unpleasant problem. This happens when
servers fail for some reason and backup has to be applied. As backup is
usually from a day before, all matches that are played after last backup
have to be simulated again. This is what causes results to change.
Developers are working on resolving this issue. 13. Can I play players in other then allocated positions?
Yes you can. However, the further you place a player from his natural
position, the more penalties he will suffer. Basically, DMC will play
rather well as a MC or DC as it is not far from his natural position.
However, he might have a tough time playing as ST.
Note that any player CAN indeed do well in any position. Your GK might
get a 9 and score 3 goals if you place him in the attack. However, if
you leave him there for a couple of games, his form is sure to slump. 14. Player morale is always low?
Some players are harder to motivate then others so you will have to use more morale boosters on them. 15. My account is in the minus. What now?
Each user can have minus on his/her account. This can be understood like
a credit. After getting into minus, you have 7 days to make your
account balance positive. If you don’t, system will sell your players
starting from the best one. The sell-off will start after seven (7)
continuous days your account has been in minus. One player per day will
be sold until you get out of “red”. 16. Youth recruits through infrastructure?
Your youth academy will offer 2 new players every now and then. One
player you can sign “for free” (using only money) while another one will
cost you 13 – 28 tokens depending on his quality. Usually, a player you
get for free will be of 2 star quality while the one you would need to
spend tokens on would be of 4 star quality. These players will always be
18 year old.
By improving your youth academy, you will be reducing the time in which
these 2 players are ready. At highest level, you will be getting 2
players every 12 days.
In case that your player rooster is full one day before your youths
should arrive, you will get a message that you should make space for
them. Rooster has 22 slots by the way. So, in case that you do not make
space for new young players, they will just not arrive at all and you
will have to wait next X days (depending on your youth academy level) to
get 2 new ones. 17. Unrealistic match results !!!
Balancing match engine is a constant process. Each season, the algorithm gets tweaked a bit. 18. Contract extensions !!!
You are going to be reminded to extend your contracts with your players
few times during the season. When your players are showing “1 year
remaining” of their contract, that means they are already in the last
year of the contract. In case you do not extend it, they will leave your
club as free agents in the end of the season.
It does not mean that there is 1 (one) more year after the current one until their contract expires. 19. My matches are scheduled 15-30 minutes apart! My players will not be able to recover in time!
Don’t worry. Players only really rest once a day and that is during
server maintenance (from 3 till 5 in the morning). This means that it
does not matter if you play 2 matches in 15 minutes space or one match
in the morning and 1 in the evening. 20. Treatments, rests and morale boosters
You will need to pay 5 treatments or 5 Tokens in order to reduce the
injury period for 1 day. Healing 2 days will cost you 9 treatments or
Tokens, 3 days will cost 12, 4 days will cost 14, 5 will cost 15 and any
injury greater then 5 days will still only cost you 15 treatments or 15
Tokens.
Rest work simpler: 1 rest will get your selected players condition
improved by 30% while 2 rests spent will get him up to full condition.
Winning a match will give you +1 morale boost while losing will take 1
away (-1) though you can never go in minus (0 is as low as you can get). 21. Training
Players aged 18 – 21 train the fastest. Higher level youth academy also benefits their progress.
Players aged 22 – 26 train well but slower then players above. Training ground level benefits their progress.
Players aged 27 – 28 train very slowly but still train. Training ground benefits their progression as well.
Players aged 29 – 31 are no longer able to improve. They remain as they are no matter what.
Players aged 32 – 24 tend to lose their skills. It is in this period
that all players retire as well. You will never see a player who is 35
years old in Top Eleven.
Note that players who take part in matches train faster then those who do not.
NOTE : at this stage of research and mapping I can not say that it is 100% true.
Black entries in the table are What we start the game with (already built).
Blue entries are my made structures on this day (01.11.2010.)
Buildings in categories: Scoreboard and Lights do not exist over level 8
and 9 (at least for now and at least that’s the way I see it) so I put a
vertical line (they don’t affect further building). Stadium :
The most basic thing to have as a football team. As you progress in
building, your stadium gets a larger capacity. With a larger number of
seats, revenue from ticket sales are higher. With the progression of
your club, the number of your fans eager to come to matches rises.
It is necessary to find the optimal relationship between the number of
fans, ticket prices and stadium capacity to get you the most revenue.
Unconfirmed is whether the number of fans affects the performance of
your players (eg if stadium is full, your players perform better). Seats :
Allow you expand the capacity of the stadium. Also reduces the time
needed to build the next level of the stadium and cuts the cost of
construction. Pitch :
The pitch is also one of the most important components. The greater
level of your pitch will make your players less likely to get injured –
in my experience I would say that it is indeed the case. Especially on
low-level, the impact of good / bad pitch is significant. Lights :
Lighting, in my opinion, has only cosmetic role.
Does it create a handicap (if not built) in the case of evening games? I
would say not. If that IS the case then it is the same for both teams
as they both play on the same field with no lights – right?
It could, perhaps, have an impact on weather or not the Champions League
final may be hosted by you (since the game is on neutral ground, on
some of the existing clubs stadium. I happened to have one final played
at the stadium of the team which I have visited in the group stage. Very
nice and big stadium).
This should mean that those who host the finals should get some money
for it but this I have not seen. The idea for the developers … Medical :
Along with the ground, this is yet another important building when it
comes to injuries. If the injury occurs because of poor field (in
training) or during the match, the higher the level of your First Aid
is, the lower the recovery period will be. Lower levels of the building
have an impact on light injuries. More developed buildings in this
category are able to deal with more severe injuries. Utilities :
In this category there are various buildings that can increase your match revenue, which was introduced from season 7. Parking :
Increasing number of fans who desire to come to your home games and, therefore, increase the revenue from ticket sales. Training :
The collection of buildings which should accelerate the progress of your players.
The real impact has never been confirmed (at least I did not find any
valid statement, so it remains to believe the developers that this
really has a function). Youth Training :
From season 7 teams will be able to get a young player every now and
then depending on the level of this building. Given how difficult it was
to get to young players before, this is a significant improvement.
We’ll see how good this will be in practice.
It was said that a new young player will appear every x days where x depends on the level structure.
mladend wrote:Facility level Frequency of player generation
L1 24 days
L2 20 days
L3 16 days
L4 12 days
Quality will vary.
Note that L1, L2, L3 … is not the same as that L # that is written on
the main screen next to build in this category. This is something that
admins / developers need to clarify. Based on what was so far explained
by Mladen (mod) I would say that the first level does not count. First
building (Target Shot) does not count because it is a regular L0. I’d
like to formulate what was written by Mladen as follows:
Code:
Level Building: Building Name: L: Time to get players: Level0
Target shot L0 does not provide players Level1 Junior Pitch L3 24 days
Label2 Mini Camp L5 20 days Level3 School Football L7 16 days Level4
Youth Academy L10 12 days
This may not be 100% accurate. Score board :
Scoreboard can be evolved up to a video wall. What is the purpose of
these building except the cosmetics is not known for even in the the
game there isn’t anything listed as a purpose. Perhaps something similar
to lights?
Facebook Top Eleven Tips by Rider Here is the tip how you can check the form of your players in last 5 games.
1. Go to Sqaud screen
2. In upper right corner, from drop down menu select: Selection View
3.
Now check the column named Form, that is what you need. Each number
represents the form of selected player, for each of last five games. Here is the tip how to set individual trainings for your players
1. Go to Training Screen
2. Click on the player you want to set training for
3. On the right side of the screen choose the type of the training (Defensive, Attacking, Physical&Mental; or General)
4. When you chose type of the training, don’t forget to press SAVE.
5. You can also choose Auto-assign option, which will automatically set trainings for all your players.
Train your players good, and they will perform better on your matches Here is a little tip how to set auto substitutions, and some other
settings if your are not present during the game. This setting can help
your team to react in case somebody is injured or gets red card.
1. Go to Squad Screen
2. On the right side of the screen you will see 6 tabs (Tactsics,
Auto-subs, Penalty taker’s order, Free-kick taker’s order, Corner-kick
taker’s order and Captains order)
3. Click on one of them
4. Now drag one of your players from left side of the screen to the right side on desired position
5. SAVE your settings
We hope this can help you to win more games when you are absent. Here is the tip how to join the match which is currently played and
react if it is necessary by changing tactics, replacing players…
1. If the match already started on the top of your screen, between logos of both teams you can see ling “Join Match”.
2. Click on it and VOILA. You are there. You can see what is going on. LIVE.
3. To change tactics, in down-right corner of your screen you can see blue button “GIVE ORDERS”.
4. Click there and set everything you need.
5. Don’t forget to SAVE. One of the ways to make cash in Top Eleven is to sign sponsorship
deals for the boards arround your stadium. Here is how you can do it.
1. Go to Finances Screen
2. Click on Boards tab
3. On the left you can see what boards are empty, and on the right
offers (amount, how many boards it takes, and how long it lasts). Click
left on board with empty space, then click right on one offer, click
SIGN.
4. Repeat this until you fill all the boards.
5. Come back every day and check if some of your boards are empty In Top Eleven, you can bid on players in live auctions. Here it is how you can do it.
1. Go to Transfers Screen
2. Search for a player you want to buy (age, position, nationality, value, …)
3. Click on it
4. See remaining time, and place your bid on the right. (Each bid will
cost you 1 token, so try to bid couple minutes before auction ends)
5. Player will be added to your shortlist. If your bid is currently
the highest, little clock on the right will be green, and you will see
yourself as last bidder. If you place your bid in last 30 seconds,
another 30 seconds will be added, so other people will have chance
place bids. If nobody offers more in this 30 seconds, you will get the
message that you won, and player will be added to your squad. Sometimes it is better to keep your players in the team, than to buy somebody from transfer list.
Here it is how you can do it:
1. Go to Squad Screen
2. From the drop down list select “Contract details”
3. From the list see what contracts are expiring
4. Click on the desired player
5. Click Renew button on the right
There you can also find “Sack” and “Sell” buttons if you decide that you don’t need that player anymore. Here is the little tip how to arrange friendly game with your
friends in a free time and show them who is the best Football Manager.
1. Go to Fixtures Screen
2. See your Schedule for today, or any other day, and click “Arrange friendly”
3. From dropdown list select desired time for the game
4. Select one of your friends from the list
If some of you already has 3 games scheduled in last 24 hours you
will not be able to schedule another one and you will get the message,
if not your game will be saved.
You can also cancel the game by clicking red X on the right. Here is the little setting for your team mentality and way of playing.
1. Go to Squad Screen
2. On the right side of the screen, click on Orders Tab
3. Here you can set couple options (Team mentality, Focus passing,
Pressing style, Tackling style, Passing style, Marking style, Force
counterattacks and Play offside traps)
4. Don’t forget to SAVE Here is the tip how you can save or use predefined tactics in Top Eleven Football manager.
1. Go to Squad Screen
2. On the right side click Formations tab
3. In there use some of the tactics, change their name
4. Save it, for later Little advice how to set ticket price
1. Go to Finanaces Screen
2. Click on Tickets&Bonuses; tab
3. Set the price for desired group of tickets (Champions league, Cup, League, Friendly)
4. SAVE
Ticket price has influence on number of visitors on your matches, and your income too. Using this little tip you can motivate your team to play better on certain matches.
1. Go to Finances Screen
2. Click on Tickets&Bonuses; tab
3. Click on Win Bonus sub tab
4. Set the win bonus for desired type of game Upgrading stadium and surrounding facilities
1. Go to Stadium Screen
2. On the left side of the screen you can see how your stadium looks
3. On the right side you can see levels of upgrade certain facilities
4. Click on UPGRADES button in down-right corner of the screen
5. In the new screen you can choose what you want to upgrade, how much
time it will take, how much it cost, and what it will improve (you have
different levels of Stadium, Seats, Grass, Lights, Medical, …)
6. To start building you need to click BUY button under the picture of that object
7. Each construction can be speed up
It’s up to you what you will build first. Here is the little tip how to change your players names.
1. Go to Squad Screen
2. Click on the player whose name you want to change
3. On the top-right side of new window, click on the little pen
4. Write in the name and last name
5. SAVE
You can make very interesting teams like this Here is the tip how you can save or use predefined tactics in Top Eleven Football manager.
1. Go to Squad Screen
2. On the right side click Formations tab
3. In there use some of the tactics, change their name
4. Save it, for later
Hope this will help.
This a very important topic and
always all managers in top eleven used to discus in; so because most of
managers here didn’t add any topics related to this topic idea, I wanted
to add an old topic as in the old forum of top eleven and try to discus
here in expansion and details.
Also trying to find different formations and their strengths and weaknesses so let’s begin 4-4-2
4-4-2 is not a very strong formation on the game; it rules the midfield and defense but offers very little going forward.
To win against this classic formation and beat it you need to keep
the midfield whilst being strong in attack, what I’d recommend is a
4-5-1 V formation with attacking arrows on the DMC to effectively turn
him to a MC when you are attacking.
————-ST—————
AML———————AMR
———MC——-MC———
————-DMC (UP)———
DL—- —-DC–DC———DR
If you are losing add arrows to both sets of wingers to give you an extra edge.
Orders:
Mentality: Depends how many you want to win by, go for an attacking against weaker teams and vice verse for stronger.
Passing: Mixed
Pressing: Own half without offside trap, full pitch with fast defenders and offside trap.
The others do not really matter, just make sure your opponent has no AM when you do the offside or counter attack.
————— 4-3-3
This formation has a fatal flaw in the form of not having any
wingers. To beat it, exploit this major weakness by focusing your attack
on the flanks while defending your middle. Here’s a few examples of
formations that do exactly that:
3-1-3-2-1
———-ST———-
AML————–AMR
—-MC–MC–MC—-
———DMC———
—-DC–DC–DC—–
4-1-4-1
—————-ST————–
———————————
ML (UP)–MC—-MC—-MR (UP)
————–DMC (UP)——-
DL (UP)–DC–DC——DR (UP)
3-3-2-2
——–ST—-ST—–
AML————–AMR
—-MC–MC–MC—-
———————–
—-DC–DC–DC—-
The exact formation is up to you, but keep this in mind:
a) Always attack the flanks with either ML/MR with red arrows or AML/AMR
b)Use at least 2 DC’s
c)Use at least 2 MC’s
d)The combined number of your Defenders+DMC’s+MC’s must be 6 or higher.
e) MC’s+ML/MR must be 4 or higher.
Tactics against 4-3-3.
4-3-3 is an attacking formation, so you can either play offside trap
with very fast defenders while pressing the whole pitch, or a more
defensive counter-attacking way while pressing your own half.
Most formations able to easily beat 4-3-3 will be heavy in the
midfield, as such, use short passing if playing offensively and mixed
passing when trying to counter attack.
—————– 3-4-3
This midfield based attacking formation can prove devastating if left
unchecked. Luckily you can use the formation’s momentum against it with
counter attacks down the flanks or exploit the lack of DMC’s or
DML/DMR’s to counter any AMC’s or AML/AMR’s of your own.
At any rate, when playing against 3-4-3 you should have more
midfielders than the opponent, this can be achieved in many ways, some
of which are explained below.
Defending and counter-attacking examples:
This work well with defensive or normal mentality, pressing your own half with mixed passing and force counter.
3-2-2-2-1 ( 5-2-2-1)
———ST———
AML————AMR
—–MC—–MC—-
DML————DMR
—-DC–DC–DC—-
Motivated 4-4-2 (or 4-4-1-1)
———ST—-ST———
—————————–
ML(UP)–MC–MC–MR(UP)
—————————-
DL(UP)–DC–DC–DR(UP)
3-5-1-1
———–ST———–
———-AMC———-
ML–MC–MC–MC–MR
————————-
—–DC—DC—DC—–
Attacking formation examples:
This work well with attacking mentality, pressing the whole pitch and short passing.
4-3-2-1 Christamas tree
———-ST———
—–AMC—AMC—-
ML——MC——-MR
———————
DL—-DC–DC—-DR
4-3-2-1
———ST———-
AML————AMR
—-MC–MC–MC—
———————-
DL—-DC–DC—-DR
———– 3-5-2
3-5-2 has a few weaknesses, mainly; it’s lack of punch and weak wing
defence. 5 midfielders mean a solid ball control, don’t expect to
dominate the match, but since there aren’t any attacking midfielders,
you can just as easily block their advance.
While there are many ways to defeat 3-5-2, I’ll explain 2 formations
that will allow you to better understand the mechanics of how this can
be done.
4-5-1 V-style (motivated)
An awesomely versatile formation that combined with a few arrows can be
either attacking or defensive. In this case, you want to force an attack
through the wings, so…
————-ST—————
AML———————AMR
———MC——-MC———
————-DMC (UP)———
DL (UP)—-DC–DC—-DR (UP
Motivated DL and DR’s block movement from the opponents ML and MR’s
while also feeding passes to your AML and AMR. The 2 MC and motivated
DMC block any centre movement.
On the attack your formation will effectively be:
———–ST————
AML—————–AMR
——MC–MC–MC—–
DML—————-DMR
———-DC–DC——–
That gives you 5 midfielders to block the opponent’s 5, and you have 2
attacking midfielders which have open access since he doesn’t have wing
backs or fullbacks. On the defense, your formation will return to the
basic 4-5-1 and still give you a solid coverage.
Mentality: Usually normal, but I recommend going defensive with hard
tackling if the opponent’s team is better, and attacking if the
opposite.
Force counter: Yes
Passing: mixed, through both flanks
Pressing: own half
Zonal marking
3-1-4-1-1
The main strong point of 3-5-2 is, obviously, a very hard to beat
midfield. Fight fire with fire and use 6 midfielders against it. All
while exploiting the lack of a DMC to counter an AMC.
——–ST——–
——-AMC——-
ML–MC–MC–MR
——-DMC——-
—DC–DC–DC—
This midfield heavy weight needs short passing in order to work so
force counter doesn’t work very well with it. Instead, with fast DC’s,
it can be used playing offside trap if you press the whole pitch. With
normal or slow defenders, it’s better to neither play offside trap or
force counter and just press your own half.
Mentality: Normal
Passing: Mixed short passes
Pressing: Either whole half with offside trap or own half without it.
Marking: Zonal
————- 4-5-1
I haven’t faced 4-5-1 flat often, but when I did I used the formation 3-5-2.
3-5-2 against the 4-5-1 flat would be best used with long passing
with zonal marking. Attacking tactics should be focused on long balls.
This requires a forward with good pace and speed.
4-5-1 is similar to the 4-5-1 V Style… 3-5-2 is also effective against the V style.
———— 5-3-2
How To Beat 5-3-2…
Hi, i wanted to help my friend ,Sam with this special thread…..Here we
go…When you play against 5-3-2 you should use the a very attacking
system like 3-1-3-1-2 (wide) and put red arrows on you dmc and red
arrows on your 2 strikers ,on the one atm and red arrows on your two
winger(left and right)…also good idea will be to switch you team
mentality to hard attacking(well..based on you opponent’s players level)
also id wan to beat 5-3-1 you should switch your pressing style to
”whole pitch”as you opponent with 5-3-2…will play defensive game
football…also you should you switch you passing style to ” mixed passes”
because the opponent will have a lot of DC/…so you should try to play
with long balls and short passes…oh…and something final..try to hit him
from the flanks.
——–ST——ST———
————AMC————-
ML———MC————MR
————DMC—————
——-DC–DC–DC————-
———–
4-5-1 V Style
4-5-1 V-style is one of the most versatile formations. It can easily
become defensive or offensive with the change of a few arrows. A great
jack of all trades, but it’s lack of defensive wingers can be exploited.
When playing against 4-5-1 V, you need to protect your flanks and
attack the opponent’s. Forget about attacking the middle, it’s that
simple. Keep in mind that 4-5-1 V-style is most often played with
counter-attacking orders, so you don’t want to overdo your attacks. Use
normal or defensive mentality and press your own half.
As always, when playing against a midfield formation, you need to have at least as many midfielders as the opponent.
Here’s a few examples:
4-3-2-1
This is 4-5-1 V-style’s brother. It takes advantage of not using a
DMC who won’t be blocking an nonexistent AMC and vice verse. This
translates into a more powerful midfield to feed passes to the forward
players.
————–ST————-
AML——————-AMR
——MC—-MC—-MC—-
——————————
DL(UP)–DC–DC—DR(UP)
Motivated 4-5-1 flat.
While an unmotivated 4-5-1 flat would probably succumb to a 4-5-1
V-style, you can take advantage of that and make the opponent
underestimate you. He’ll probably realize that his flanks are under
constant attack after a few goals.
—————-ST——————
————————————-
ML(UP)–MC–MC–MC–MR(UP)
————————————-
DL(UP)—–DC—DC—–DR(UP)
3-2-2-2-1
While you don’t need more than 1 or 2 DC’s against 4-5-1 V, you don’t
want to use an illegal formation. The extra DC acts as a sweeper,
DML/DMR block the attacks from the flanks, and AML/AMR attack the soft
flanks.
—————-ST—————
AML————————AMR
———–MC—–MC———–
DML————————DMR
—-DC(UP)DC(DOWN)DC(UP)-
3-2-3-2
DC-DC-DC
DML-DMR
MC-MC-MC
ST-ST
The 3-2-3-2 can be beaten by the 4-4-2 Classic. The 4-4-2 is not
thought to be an ideal formation to use, however it is one of the most
balanced formations in football.
Best used with normal mentality, down both flanks, short passing, zonal
marking with normal tackling. No counterattack and no offside trap.
———– 4-1-3-2 Wide 4-1-3-2 Wide 3
DL-DC-DC-DR
DMC
ML-MC-MR
ST-ST
Countered by 3-2-2-2-1
DC-DC-DC
DML(UP)-DMR(UP) (If using DL/DR as DML/DMR, remove the red arrows)
MC-MC
AML-AMR (Red arrows if AML/AMR also play as strikers and you want some extra punch)
ST
Short passing, through the flanks, attacking mentality, zonal marking,
pressing whole pitch with offside trap.
OR
Own Half, counter attack, defensive, mixed passing
Other formations known to beat 4-1-3-2 Wide 3:
3-1-4-2 and 3-1-4-1-1 using normal mentality, zonal marking, own
half, short passing, normal tackling, no counterattack and no offside
trap.
———— 4-2-2-2
DL–DC-DC–DR
—-MC-MC—-
AML——–AMR
——ST–ST—-
Some people however may change the MC-MC to a DMC-DMC, don’t worry too
much about this as it will not effect the formations provided and would
enhance your ball possession.
The 3-2-2-2-1 Butterfly is no longer effective vs the 4-2-2-2 Hexagon
4-5-1V Motivated
————-ST———–
AML—————-AMR
—–MC——–MC——-
——–DMC(UP)——–
DL(UP)—DC—DC—–DR(UP)
The 4-5-1V Style Motivated is also another option to use against the 4-2-2-2 formation.
———– 3-1-4-1-1
DC-DC-DC
DMC
ML-MC-MC-MR
AMC
ST
Countered by:
4-5-1V Style
Orders: defensive mentality, long passing, through the flanks, pressing own half,
force counterattack, zonal marking.
4-5-1 V Style Motivated
DL(Up)-DC-DC-DR(Up)
DMC
MC-MC
AML(Up)-AMR(Up)
ST
Orders: normal mentality, mixed passing, through the flanks, rest remains same.
——————- 4-1-2-1-2 Narrow Diamond
—-ST—-ST–
——AMC—-
—-MC–MC—
——DMC—–
DL-DC-DC-DR
The Narrow Diamond is a very effective attacking formation, however
the vulnerability of this formation is the lack anything to protect the
flanks.
A 4-5-1 V Style formation can take advantage of the flanks of the
diamond with an AML and AMR as well as defend against the AMC by using a
DMC.
4-5-1 V Style:
———ST——–
AML———AMR
—–MC–MC—
——DMC—–
DL-DC-DC-DR
Another variation on countering the narrow diamond would be by using the 4-3-2-1:
4-3-2-1
———ST——-
AML———AMR
—MC-MC-MC—
–DL-DC-DC-DR–
Although there is no DMC with the 4-3-2-1 it is still a very
effective attacking formation to counter the Diamond with, mainly
because of the strong middle as well as having attacking flanks.
If during the match you feel the AMC is taking advantage, then a simple
(DOWN) arrow would be placed on the middle MC which in turn effectively
would be turning this formation into a 4-5-1 V Style.
—————— 4-3-2-1
——–ST———
AML———AMR
—MC-MC-MC—-
–DL-DC-DC-DR–
An excellent attacking formation and strong in wing attack..
Can be countered by:
3-2-3-2:
——-ST—ST—–
—-MC-MC-MC—
DML———DMR
—-DC-DC-DC—-
A logical choice formation to use against the 4-3-2-1.. 3 DC to block
1 lone striker, a DML and DMR to block attacks from the flanks coming
from the AML and AMR, 3 midfield to keep control and 2 strikers to go
for goal.
3-2-2-2-1:
ST
AML-AMR
MC-MC
DML-DMR
DC-DC-DC
Fight fire with fire, 3 DC again to block a lone striker.. DML and
DMR to block the AML’s and AMR’s which can feed passes up your own AMLs
and AMRs to take advantage of the lack of wing defence and one lone
striker to go between the 2DC..
There is no such thing as the perfect formation, however you can look
for areas exposed in certain formations and take advantage.
Formation is first thing about which you should take care when you
are starting to play and it’s one of the most important thing in this
game. How to set formation:
Set formation by your best first 11 players, but there are some rules,
to have a normal possesion you should have at least 3 defenders, 2
midfielders (x2 MC recommended), 1 striker and 1 player one each side
(left/right).
It’s very possible like at the end your formation to look very
strange but as long you have 1 player on both side, 3 defenders and 2
midfielders (x2 MC recommended) and 1 striker, is perfect. I will post
an exemple:
(LARIAT F.C)
You can say is it don’t make sense or it won’t work but with that
tactic and normal players (no 6 stars, special abilities or I don’t know
what) at the end of season 8, team achievements was:
Why you should not change your tactic?
A lot of players are changing their tactic against other players and
they are fails, you need to know when you are changing your formation
you are losing very much and there is no formation who can beat an other
one, clear. First of all if you are this type of manager you will need
to buy more players, then changing players very often you won’t give
them opportunity to grow normal, more games on substitution bench it’s
mean less skill points so a weaker team also their moral will decrease
much faster and you will need to use more boosters from game to game and
this can be a big problem.
Keeping same formation for all season, will not guarantee that you
will win all games but you won’t need to use so many boosters, you don’t
need to many substitutions and your first 11 will become better from a
game to an other one.
TACTIC
Tactic is the second thing which you should take care after you
finished with your formation, there are a lot of types and you can
switch them easy from a game to an other one. How to set tactic:
I see a lot of players are changing their tactic from a game to an other
and I will never understand why, for me is just a lot of wasted time,
I’m using same tactic for 8 seasons and really check my trophys room is
pretty awsome. Arrows are very great tool. To activate them click on a player and you will have red and blue arrows, you can use them because it will make your players to go more in attack or in defense, simply use blue for all defenders and red
for midfielders and strikers and avoid to give red arrows to defenders,
as long you are not playing against Internationale Milano and you don’t
have Gareth Bale to run like crazy along side and score. Orders are “important” for some, but like I said I
didn’t changed them from level 1 and for me its worked very good, maybe
it won’t be same for you but in my oppinion dosen’t metter on your team
you need to play on attacking if you want to win. This are my settings,
ofcourse you don’t need to play with them.
Auto-substitutions is one of the most important tool
and you should use it for sure, is very good for players who have only 1
player on side, because in case of injured you will lose all ball
possesion, in case of red card, pray to God or Budha. Even if you don’t
have a player for that part, just put somebody still is better then
nothing. Penalty taker’s order is something what can help you
especialy if you have a player with special ability, but if you don’t
one set the player who have the most points on attack. Free-kick taker’s order is very important because you
are getting 1,2 or even more chances per game. Here is again same story
like on penalty, if you don’t have a player with special ability, set
for this the player who have the most points on attack. Corner-kick taker’s order is much easier as long is
pretty easy to find a player with this special ability but if you don’t
have it, check your midfielders and strikers to see who have the most
points on passing that one should be the best.
(or set your GK and don’t worry he don’t need to run 100+ metters back, he can teleport) Captain’s order is not giving you anything so you don’t
need to care about it, but if you really want, put the oldest player,
try to make him more happy before he retire. Others: Training is something what you should not abuse, also
don’t train your players if they are low then 75% fitness, is very
important when you start a game like your players to have a very good
procent of fitness. Don’t train main players during the season if is not
necessary, but you can train substitutions every day without problems,
ofcourse you risk to get injured players. Others: Skill Points, are rewards after a game or training so
try to use them wisely, for defenders give all points only to defense
for midfielders and strikers give all points to attack, avoid to learn
new possitions or special ability because is very hard and more then
sure you won’t be able. Others: Friendly games are very good if you attempt to collect some boosters or moneys, but like on training you risk to injure them. Others: Fitness & Moral, this two should be always or how much often on maximum if you want your team to perform very good. Others: Win bonus is very important if you want your team to
play better or this is what Nordeus told me, to set go to finances then
to tickets & bonuses and in left-down part of screen you have win
bonus. If you have moneys try to give them full. Others: Tickets price, should not be on maximum, try to find
exactly the best amount because is depend from team to team, start with a
low price around 6 and add 1 dollar if you see if you full stadium. Is
important to have full stadium because you are winning 5% ball
possesion.
[b]Others: Watch games if you can, don’t run from school, work
or let your girlfriend to wait for you outside in -20 grades because
maybe she will find somebody else to “heat”. You are taking 8% ball
possesion for that and 2% for each friend, but you can’t have more then
15%. Also you can manage better your team.
FINANCES
Here enter, moneys and tokens, the bad/good part is you can’t cheat
or use game in your advantage, there is some way to cheat moneys and is
working but is only temporary and if you will use that moneys, after you
reload application you risk to be on minus with moneys. TOKENS
Is not so easy to collect them and you can lose then very easy so you
always need to be careful what are you doing with them. If you want to
buy some emblem or jerseys, don’t do that from your main account, you
can create 1 or 100 accounts and send to you how many emblems and
jerseys you want but don’t do it from your account, this way is not
against the rule so is 100% legit and 1% fair play but why we should
care about that. How to get tokens:
I will explain you more ways to get tokens, how you spend them is your
job and if you are on same server with me, I hope you will lose them
fast and you won’t get anything for them. TV Rights are the first who bring to you tokens for free, at
the start of the game you need to sign some contract, here depend on you
which one is more flexible for you, I’m using second one. There are 4
types of contract NORDEUS, SPEED, TOPKERS(aka Snickers) or TOPOFONE (aka
Vodafone). Only first 2 deserve so you need to think which one is
better for you. NORDEUS is very good if you can’t come daily, duration
is 10 days and you can get 28 tokens in one season, next one is SPEED
and the best if you can log everyday, same like on SPEED duration is 10
days but you can get up to 35. Win Tokens. You can win some tokens for free by completing
free offers, watch videos, download games/programms or other tasks. If
you want check click on BUY TOKENS and then you should have more offers
and there you can find more providers from where you can get tokens for
free or contra-cost. Refferal. This is new to game so if you are bored and you want
more tokens you can invite your friends, just ask them to click on
invitation if they don’t like it they don’t need to pay but maybe some
of them will love this game. And if you are very bored and you have time
you can create more account and invite yourself, is legit (I think) is
working from same IP (for the moment yes) but is not “FAIR PLAY”. PS:
You don’t need to care about that. Donating is the best way to get tokens, ofcourse if you want
to spend moneys for this game, you are not forced so you are free to
choose. If you buy from your mother or father card, better take a big
amount of tokens, anyway you will have problems after that and at least
you will have more tokens. MONEYS
Moneys have the same importance as tokens, maybe at the start you won’t
need to many, especialy after level 1 when you will be in cup versus
teams who are level 20 and you will get few milions per game and for a
player you several hundred K, but when you will go more far in level,
moneys from Competition won’t help you to much so you need to know how
to sell your players. How to get moneys:
There are more ways here to get moneys, first you are taking from
sponsorship contracts. The best contract is NORDEUS but you need to log
daily so here is same, you know how often you can log so depend on you,
but if you can log daily choose NORDEUS or try Env (aka Envato). Ticket sales. You can set prices for 3 competitions, don’t set
for all same. At friendly games you won’t have so many so try to set
some small price, in league should be somewhere at middle and in CL it
can be a bit more expensive, but here you need to check which is the
best for each one, select a price and if you see your stadium is full,
add 1 more dollar to see if it will be again full and try to find the
best price but at the same time to have full stadium to don’t lose ball
possesion. Selling players. This is the most important part for moneys
and from where you should get the most. The best moment to sell players
is after 6,7 PM when the most are online and at the end of the season,
don’t wait till season is end and then to sell them at the start,
because their price will go low very much because they are 1 year older. Free contract players. You can also search on transfers market
players who have an (F) where is price, they are free so all what you
need to pay is their contract, you don’t need to pay other moneys but
yes you will need to pay tokens to so be careful don’t give on them more
then 1 token. Buy moneys. If you have to much tokens and you don’t know what
to do with them you can buy moneys but is not such a good idea for
exemple at my level 8 with 45 I can buy 40 millions but with 45 tokens I
can buy as well easy 30 players out of contract and I can sell them
with 4,5 millions, this is more then 120M so it’s more then 3 times.
TRANSFERS
Maybe the best part of this game are transfers, I will show you some
tricks about how you should bid and when, maybe in time I will make some
video of buying players. Date: The wrost and the best is at the start of the season
when everybody is looking for players, but is important from you to buy
good players for the new season as soon as you can. Time: This is very important and you should know when is good
to bid and when is good to avoid. The best time is in the morning when
there are not so many players online, around 6-8 is the best but even
like that you can find somebody who have a lot of tokens, things like
this can happen all the time. Connection: If you have a bad or not such a good internet
connection avoid to bid in last second a small delay can make you to
lose a player very easy. Others: Less tokens: A lot of players are bidding with 1,2
tokens and then they are crying because they don’t have any chance so
avoid to bid if you don’t have at least 5 or more tokens. What you need – you need to avoid!
Is good to avoid players with special ability and young players but
this is what you need more too so check to see how many players bid for
him before and wait how much you can, if is possible till less second on
initial round.
What you should buy is what you need to avoid but here depend on you, on how many tokens you have and how much you want to risk. What you need to know before!
The point is to buy young players,players with special abilities or
players who are close to become an other level (new star). But with all
this there are a lot of players much better, who maybe they look weaker
on general quality but on their post they can be equivalent of a 6,7
stars player, take a look on next pictures and you can see how a 58
quality player can be better then a 59 quality player on their
possition.
FACILITIES
It can play an important role in your career and for your team. First
try to upgrad stadium and then start with facilities but start with
what you need more and let for the end facilities like SCOREBOARD or
LIGHTS. Stadium: its very good and it help you to get faster moneys, plus is look very nice to have a big stadium. Seatings: it won’t help you to much and at the end you will
need to pay more and you will wait more time so if you want to upgrade
them don’t do it, upgrade stadium. Pitch: this is very important and it reduce the number of injured players Lights: are just visual so let them for the end, the best part is you don’t need to pay electricity for them. Medial: yes this is something proprietary, especialy when you have so many injured players. Utilities: you are not winning to much moneys with this so you can let it for end but anyway is more important then Lights or Scoreboard. Parking: is pretty important and is increasing the number of
your fans and if you have a great car like Bumblebee from Transformers
you can meet Megan Fox. Training: is important too and it’s helping you to improve your players. U-21: is good only for selling this young players who you will
get, you can make some nice moneys with them but is bad that you are
taking only few 2 or 4 during of 1 season.
Top Eleven Being A Successful Manager Guide by justdome
This will answer most of your questions if not all about improving your managerial skills.
Please also bear in mind that the game engine has been tweaked since this invaluable information was given.
This is an attempt at compiling a semi-complete guide that’ll help
new players better understand this awesomely addictive game. I hope it
answers many of the common questions about formations, tactics, players,
improvement and so forth.
Before starting I’d like to thank you all for playing, as each and
every one of you are the bricks to this game. Always remember to have
fun and that the only true way to succeed is to experiment, as no guide
can be as complete as to serve as a walkthrough to the complexity of
countless options Top Eleven offers.
As the game is constantly being updated, I’ll try to keep up with the
changes, but if you notice something wrong please let me know so I can
correct it faster.
Thank you.
Contents.
1. Teams. How to build one.
2. Players.
2.1 Age.
2.2 Special abilities.
2.3 Purchasing players.
3. Training & Improvement.
3.1 Purchasing roles & special abilities.
3.2 Skill point assigning: Defense, Attack and P&M.
3.3 Skill advancement table.
4. Tactics: How they work.
4.1 Mentality.
4.2 Pitch pressure.
4.3 Flank, mixed and central passing.
4.4 Some like it short others love them long (passes).
4.5 Tackling.
4.6 Marking style
4.7 Free kick, corner kick and penalty takers.
4.8 Force counter and offside trap.
5. Basic formations and their counters.
5.1 Choosing the right formation & advanced formations.
5.1.1 Illegal formations.
1. Team
If you plan on playing more than 1 competition, and specially if you
plan on playing all 3 competitions (League, Champions and Cup). You’ll
need a complete roster with 22 players that play as 2 separate but very
similar teams of 11. For that you’ll need:
– 5 to 6 DC’s
– 2 DMC’s
– 2DL/DML and 2DR/DMR
– 2ML/AML and 2MR/AMR
– 4 to 5 MC’s
– 2 AMC’s
– 3 to 4 ST’s
– 2 GK’s
It should look something like this:
This was my squad at the end of last season, notice that I’m an
ML/AML and an AMR short. But even with 4 injured players, I can still
field a very decent team.
Versatility is highly recommended. Players that have more than one
position come in very handy when you have injured or penalised players. I
try to always buy players that have at least 2 positions.
Using a player outside ther natural position should be avoided
whenever possible, but isn’t the end of the world as long as it’s not
too far away from that position vertically or horizontally (but not in
diagonal, except for strikers).
So a DMC will make a decent DC, DML, DMR and MC and a ST will make a
decent AMC, AML and AMR. Just don’t do this too often or the player’s
form will drop (Yes, in some instances your goalkeeper can have better
finishing skill than your main striker, but if you use him as a striker
he won’t perform according to his stats and his form will drop like a
bomb).
2. Players. 2.1 Age:
Young players develop quickly if your facilities are upgraded and you
play them every day. Careful though, a young player means that he’ll be
around the same number of stars for longer, not that he’ll become a
great player with time (Unless you fail to qualify for the next tier,
has an huge training factor or you spend a big ammount of tokens in
training). A 2 star player from your youth facilities will –at best-
remain with 2 stars for the next season.
Older players are sometimes preferable, as you’ll receive more stars
for the same amount of money. Yes, they won’t develop as quickly, but
you’ll get at least a good season from them. It comes down to the amount
of money and tokens you are planning to spend. If you have a lot of
resources, then buy 4 star young players, if you have limited resources,
it’s better to buy a 4 star 28 year old than a 3 star 22 year old.
The only difference will be how many seasons they’ll stay in your team.
I don’t recommend buying players older than 27 or 28 as they develop
around 8 times slower than young players. That means that next season
they won’t be of much use.
2.2 Special ability:
If you have to choose between a good player without a special ability
and a mediocre player with one, go for the good player. Special
abilities are only really useful on players with good quality. A 5 star
plain goalkeeper will be many times better than a 4 star One-on-one
specialist. Of course, a 5 star one-on-one specialist is amazing (but
I’d still prefer a 6 star plain goalkeeper). The above is specially true
for CS and FS specialities. A plain player with 30 crossing skill will
be much better at corner kicks than a Corner specialist with 20 crossing
skill.
SS-Shadow striker. This players have improved shots from the attacking midfield area. This is desirable for AML,AMR and AMC.
DR-Dribbling specialist. This players have an easier time avoiding
markers and getting to the attaking portion of the field to shoot or
short pass. This is desirable on ML,MR, MC, AML, AMR, AMC and ST.
PM-Playmaker. This players have improved passing skills and are useful both on midfield and attacking midfield.
OS-One-on-one scorer. This players have improved scoring chances when
facing the goalkeeper from a short distance. Highly desirable for ST
and somewhat desirable for attacking midfielders.
FS-Free kick specialist. Probably the most noticeable specilty if
used on a good player. A 5 star FS player will rarely miss a free kick.
As more and more people use hard tackling, investing on a great FS
player is a must. A good free kick taker has high shooting and high
crossing skills.
CS-Corner specialist. Another noticeable specialty if used on a player with good crossing skills.
OS-One-on-one stopper. The exact opposite of one-on-one scorer.
PS-Penalty specialist. Generally a waste. Any decent player will
score a penalty and there aren’t many penalties to be scored anyway.
PS-Penalty kick stopper. Generally a waste. It’s hard to stop
penalties, even for 5 star GK’s with this specialty. It’s only useful in
Champions and Cup matches that are defined in a penalty shoot out.
DW-Defensive wall. This players have improved chances of stopping mid range shots on goal. Highly desirable for Defenders.
AD-Aerial defender. This players have improved chances of blocking crosses. Highly desirable for Defenders.
2.3 Purchasing
Buying players requires a lot of thought, skill and luck, or a bunch
of tokens. Sometimes a combination of both. The higher your level, the
steeper the curve. The first few seasons you can buy 4 star players with
very few tokens, but as you advance, you’ll find that an 18 year old 4
star player with a specialty can easily be sold for up to 3 times it’s
value after 50+ rounds.
Luckily, the difference between players is also reduced with each
season. In season 1 the skill difference between a 2 star player (10
skill) and a 4 star player (20 skill) is 100%. By season 4 the skill
difference is only 25%. In higher seasons where it’s very hard to
purchase 4 star players, the difference is barely noticeable.
So if you are struggling to keep a good team because you can’t afford
to buy tokens, focus on advancing to the next tiers. It’ll be easier to
have a competitive team then. Of course, in those tiers most players
will have a lot of skill.
General Strategy:
Most advanced and wealthy managers will target the youngest, most
expensive best available players. If your target is a 4-5 star 18 year
old with a specialty, be ready to compete against people that not only
know what they are doing, but also have the resources for it.
That young player can easily be great for 4 seasons, good for another
2 and decent for his final 2. You can play him beyond that, but he’ll
just won’t make the difference he did when you first bought him. On the
other hand, you can purchase 2 older players of comparable skill for
less resources and hassle. The downside is that they won’t last as long.
When to buy
Plan ahead and buy at the start of a season. If you buy a 4 star
player the last day of a season, he’ll have become a 3 star player next
season with a much decreased value. This is very important for young
players you want to develop, as you want them to grow along with your
team while they are useful at the same time.
For example: If you buy an expensive 21 year old 4-star player at the
end of the season, he’ll become a 22 year old 3-star player within a
couple of days and he’ll remain with 3 stars much of the season, then
reach 4 stars by the end of the season and repeat the cycle until age
catches up with him. This player will be mediocre for as long as you
keep him. You would be much better off waiting for next season and
buying an older 4 star player.
The exception to this is to look for bargains at the end of the
season. As the season end draws near, I “unload” the players that I feel
won’t be able to keep up with the rest of the squad. This commonly
means 4 star players, sometimes with a specialty, that I sell for their
lowest sale value just to make room for players next season. Die-hard
fanatics (like me) do this every season. If your team is below par, many
of this players will be above average even after the new season starts.
Comparative value between players.
You’ll often see 2 players with the same age and number of stars with different value.
This is because of a combination of 2 reasons:
-Training speed and specialty
A player with a specialty will be worth somewhat more than a plain
player, but the main difference comes from training speed. To spot this
difference is vital if you wish to buy a young player.
A young player with slow training speed won’t develop fast enough to
make a difference or keep up with the team. In time he’ll age without
ever having grown to fulfill your expectations. On the other hand, a
young player with fast training speed will probably outgrow your older
players and be with the team a long time. The difference can be huge,
with some players gaining skills 2-3 times faster than others of the
same age.
Notice the hefty difference in improvement between this players after a normal stretching session.
So how can I spot the comparative value? Simple. Just look for 2
players with the same age & skill level. The most expensive one will
train faster. (The difference can be up to 3 times the value between
each player).
For older players this isn’t nearly as important, and if anything,
it’s important in the opposite way. You don’t want to overpay for a 28
year old with a high training factor since he won’t develop much anyway.
You’d be better off with a cheaper player with more stars.
Edit: To clear some confusion. The value of a player depends on his skill, age and training speed, not the other way around.
3 Training & Improvement.
Training your players is one of the key factors to this game. How fast a player improves depends on 6 factors:
– Average skill
Undeveloped players will gain skill points faster than players that
are already very good. For instance, a 2 star player will train roughly
twice as fast as one with 4 stars (Considering the remaining 5 factor
are the same for both).
– Intensity & Type of training
There really isn’t a reason apart from time to use anything but
normal intensity. Hard intensity increases your gains by the same
ammount it increases the condition loss but with a higher chance of
injury.
Remember, always train after you played all your matches for the day.
First add how much condition you’ll recover until your next match the
next day and train accordingly. Players recover 5% every 3 hours, so if
it’s 10:00AM and my next match is at 9:00AM the next morning I’ll
recover 35% condition. That means I should train until my players are
around 64% condition, that way they’ll be back to 99% condition by the
time I need them to play.
Note: Be careful not to overtrain your players as this will lead to
poor performance in your games if they start out already tired.
– Age.
I’ve already covered much of this above. Players from 18 to 21 train
very fast. 22 to 25 train fast. 26 to 29 still improve (although slowly)
and players older than that improve only a small portion of what a
young player does.
To exemplify, this is the result after 1 normal stretching session (which should yield 10% increase):
As you can see, the age multiplier is around x8, x4, x2 and x1 for
the youngest bracket to the oldest. This means that under equal
circumstances, the youngest players will gain 8 times as many points as
the oldest.
Note: Please consider that all the other factors affect the result so
it’s possible for an old player with a high training factor that played
a match to actually train faster than a young player with a low
training factor that didn’t get any time on the pitch.
– Level of your training facilities.
It’s imperative that your training facilities are improved to the
maximum available level. Not only will you get green medkits more often
(to restore player’s condition) but your player’s improvement is
enhanced by them.
– Training factor.
Also discussed above in the players & purchasing post (comparative value).
– Playing regularly.
In order to improve at it’s fullest, a player must play every day.
Not only do you get valuable skill point after the match, but those who
played will get extra benefit from their training that day. Players in
the bench also gain some improvement, but much less than those on the
starting 11. Lastly, players that don’t play will gain very little
improvement. Be warned however, players also need rest from time to
time. If you always use the same players their form will drop (this is
discussed below).
This is where having 2 complete teams of 11 players becomes
important. It gives you the opportunity to improve everyone without
over-exerting your key players. Successful and lucky managers, will be
playing 2 games per day (League and CL or Cup). In case you only have 1
game, play a friendly match so everyone gets some pitch action.
3.1 Purchasing roles & special abilities.
As I mentioned before, in earlier levels, better quality players are
more desirable than players with a specialty. But there’s no reason you
can’t have both if your player has a high training factor and he’s young
and undeveloped enough to make it worth it. I don’t recommend buying
specilties for older players for the reasons I described in 2.2, mainly
that most specialties requiere that your player is very good to make any
difference and that it’s very hard to earn skill points with those
developed players.
If your player already has 3-4 stars and is 18 or 19 years old (maybe
even 20) and you plan to keep him for a long time, then go ahead and
purchase a specialty or a new role. Just keep in mind that it takes
40-50 training points to do so, enough to earn 3 skill levels. So the
choice between a normal striker with 40 skill or a one-on-one striker
with 37 skill is yours.
On the other hand, older players will probably take over a season to
gain 50 skill points, and by the time your 4 star 26 year old striker
manages to become a one-on-one striker he won’t be very good anymore.
Even if you use tokens, they are better spent in younger players, as you
get a much better return in training/tokens used.
As you level up, this changes a little every season. Since the
difference between skill levels becomes less dramatic (as described in
point 2.3), the cost of opportunity to gain a specialty becomes less
steep. For instance, a plain DC with 90 skill VS an aerial defender DC
with 87 skill.
3.2 Skill point assigning: Defense, Attack and P&M.
A common question is whether to spend any skill points in defense in a
striker, or attack in a defender, and there is no undeniably right
answer to that. It’s a matter of personal choice.
All skills are of some value to each kind of player. For instance, a
striker that you never spend skill points in defense will have very low
heading skill, receive a lot of crosses and miss them. He’ll score most
of his goals through his shooting and finishing skills. A defender that
you never spend any attack skill points will have a very low passing
score, so even after a successful tackle, he’ll send a pass that’ll get
intercepted.
For the above reason, I try to keep my players somewhat balanced. My
defenders have no more than 6 points in their primary skills (defensive)
than in attack, and my strikers have no more than 6 points in their
primary skills (attack) than in defensive. My midfielders are perfectly
balanced while defensive midfielders are a little tilted towards
defensive and attacking midfielders towards attack.
Physical & mental skills are valuable to everyone so I keep this
skills at the same level as the primary skills for a player. If you
spend all your striker’s skill points in attack, he’ll not only miss all
his headers, but will also be very slow, will lack stamina and will
lose the ball frequently when contested.
A matter of great controversy are the skills needed by a Goalkeeper.
Sadly, I don’t have an answer. I like to think that instead of needing
the actual skills, a goalkeeper’s success is measured in raw level,
something like a 40 skill level GK is better than a 39 skill level GK no
matter where the points are spent. Of course, at the moment, I’m just
guessing like everybody else.
3.3 Skill to advancement table.
1 star = 5 skill levels.
1 skill level = 3 skill grades.
1 skill grade = 5 skill points.
So it’s 75 skill points to earn a star.
4 Tactics: How they work.
To understand the tactical choices in Top Eleven, you must see them
as tiny parts of a machine, formations included. They can’t be taken
apart as they are part of a whole. You must understand what you are
doing like if it were real players in a real match. After all, you don’t
see Pep Guardiola managing Barcelona using 3 strikers and 3 attacking
midfielders and ordering them to play defensively while chasing the ball
all over the pitch trying man-on-man marking, do you?.
4.1 Mentality.
This is the measurement of how much your players will attempt to go
forward and attack. Defensive mentality means they’ll play cautiously,
and attacking mentality means that even your defenders will move forward
to support your attacks. It also affects how much your players will
shoot, cross and pass, which could lead to goals (good), losing
possession (bad) and even counter-attacks (awful).
4.2 Pitch pressure.
This is the measurement of how far into the pitch your players will “chase” the ball.
Own half means that once the ball is in your opponent’s possesion and
within your half of the field, available players within their marking
reach will attempt to take the ball away from the attacking player.
Whole pitch means that all your players will attempt to take away the
ball from all opponents within their marking reach no matter where they
are. This tires the players more, but as you gain control of the ball
further into the opposing side of the pitch, it also improves your
chances at goal. Of course, it also means that all your players will be
further up the pitch, leaving you vulnerable to counter-attacks.
4.3 Flank, mixed and central passing.
This is where you choose where most of your passes will be, or where
your players will try to move the ball from and to. Among the most
important tactics, as this is the “steering wheel” of your formation.
This can make or break a formation if chosen right or wrong.
Obviously, in order to use flank passing, you need a formation with
wingers and in order to use center passing effectively, you need players
in the middle.
4.4 Some like it short others love them long (passes).
Short passing: High ball possesion, a lot of time between plays. Needs a solid midfield that can feed passes to the forwards.
Long passing: Low ball possesion, little time between plays. This
passes may fly past opposing midfielders and land succesfully near a
striker. Ideal for counter-attacking football.
4.5 Tackling.
This is the intensity with which your players will try to disposses the opponent.
-Easy tackling. Use this if your opponent has a high skill free kick
specialist or if you don’t want to risk getting penalised, specially if
your players have low form.
-Normal tackling. This is what you’ll use most of the time, a decent
tackling rate without having to deal with too many free kicks and cards.
-Hard tackling. Use this when playing against better teams, specially
those without Free kick specialists. Using hard tackling and having
defensive wall defenders and a good goalkeeper is a good strategy. Be
aware that players with low form will get penalised very often with this
kind of tackling.
4.6 Marking style
By far, the most difficult tactical aspect to understand, adapt and
use. There are too many factors that affect and are affected by marking
type to write a simple walkthrough: Lenght of passes, crosses and shots,
difference in defender VS striker quality, formations, condition… The
best I can do is point the guidelines to help understand when to use
each kind of marking.
-Man-on-man marking:
This kind of marking means that every player is assigned an opposing
player. They’ll chase that player wherever he goes when defending and
only leave his side when attacking. Defenders are assigned to block
strikers, defensive midfielders and wingbacks are assigned to block
attacking midfielders, midfielders are assigned to block the opponent’s
and lastly, strikers are assigned to mark the ocasional attacking
defenders.
For the above reasons, man-on-man marking is only useful if your
formation has enough defenders to stop the strikers, enough defensive
midfielders to stop the attacking midfielders and so on.
There is a definite advantage of man-on-man marking over zonal when
it comes to intercepting long passes, through balls and specially
blocking long shot attempts. The downside is that since only one player
is marking, if the opponent manages to dribble or nutmeg past his
marker, he’ll be in the clear unless the defender is much faster and
catches up.
Notes: If the opposing strikers are better than your defenders, don’t
ever use man-on-man marking. it also works the other way around, if
your defenders are better you should probably use it.
One of the best ways to lower your opponent’s possesion is to use
man-on-man marking, as his players will be forced to try to dribble,
nutmeg, shoot, cross or pass earlier instead of holding the ball around
the zone.
-Zonal marking
A much more modern approach to marking. Players are entrusted with an
specific part of the field (zone) and then marks any attacker that
enters his zone. This also means than more than 1 player will mark an
attacker that enter their zone. In Top Eleven, this zone is defined as 1
“square” away from the player in every direction.
Zonal marking is like “minesweeper”, in the picture below you can see
a 4-4-2 formation (left) and how many players are guarding a square
zone (right).
Zonal marking allows a greater number of formations; not having to
limit your defense to fit your opponent’s exact attack. The downside of
zonal marking is that it leaves open spaces that can be exploited by
long shots and that it allows your opponent to take his time when in
possession of the ball, which isn’t a good idea if you are behind in the
score.
4.7 Free kick, corner kick and penalty takers.
Free kicks come in 2 kinds: Shots on goal and crosses. For those
reasons, your free kick takers should have high shooting and crossing
skills.
Corner kicks: They are crosses from either side of the opponent’s
goal. Your corner kick takers should be right footed for right corner
kicks and left footed for left corner kicks and in both cases have high
crossing skill. Using the correct footed player is very important, as a
plain right footed player will be better crossing a right corner kick
than a left footed corner specialist (unless he also has a much higher
crossing skill).
Penalties: Hard to stop even for the best goalkeepers. Your designated penalty kick taker should have high shooting skill.
4.8 Force counter and offside trap.
-Force counter: With this tactic you allow the opposing players to
come forth into your half of the pitch before you attempt to deposes
them and send a long pass or through ball in a fast counter-attack that
catches the defenders off-guard. If successful, the defenders will be
too far up to catch the counter attacker, if unsuccessful, you let the
opponent run uncontested into your half.
Since you are letting the opponent run free until they are in an
attacking position, using force counter leads to an obvious and
voluntary loss of possession.
Force counter can only work while pressing your own half. Defensive
mentality is highly recommended as you don’t want to let the opponent
into your half and have all your players on his own at the same time.
-Offside trap: This style of play means that your defenders will try
to stay ahead of the opponent’s attackers so they can’t receive passes
of any kind. If successful, the opponent won’t be able to get close
enough to the goal, if unsuccessful, the attacker will be able to
out-run the defender. For that reason, offside trap requires very fast
defenders.
Offside trap can only work while pressing the whole pitch, as you
need your defenders to try and stay as far up as they can. This also
means that offside trap is much better suited for attacking mentality.
5. Formations. 5.1 Choosing the right formation & advanced formations.
Undoubtedly the most important part of winning a match, a carefully
chosen and deployed formation is what separates the wheat from the
chaff. While people spending tokens will have a much easier time
winning, people who understand how formations work have a very good
chance of competing.
Recently I was asked if I had (bought or found) a guide with all the
formations and tactics. The answer was a categorical NO. As some
experienced managers (myself included) have pointed out, there aren’t
magical formations that allow you to win every time. In fact, it’s
actually the opposite, the most important skill in Top 11 is the ability
to adapt to different situations. Relying on ANY given formation only
leads to disaster. So instead of trying to post a guide saying what
formation to use VS another, I’ll post tips that aim to teach how to
choose your formation for each game. As the saying goes, “Give a man a
fish and you’ll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you’ll feed
him for a lifetime”.
While much better than the average player, I’m far from unbeatable,
and with a little practice anyone can become better than me. It’s all a
matter of learning to use what I call “Counter and deploy”. This
concept, in it’s purest form, means that you counter the opponent’s
attack and then deploy an attack that exploits his weak spots.
To understand what counter & deploy means, first we need to divide formations into 2 categories:
– Generalistic
– Specific attack
Generalistic formations: The Jacks of all trades but masters of none.
They allow you to use them more often against a varied number of
formations. The downside is that while they don’t have major weaknesses,
they don’t target specific parts of the opponent’s defense. When used
in conjunction with zonal marking they become auto-pilot formations,
ideal for those times when you won’t be able to play for a few days or
when you sincerely don’t have the slightest idea how to beat an
opponent.
4-4-2 , 4-4-1-1, 4-1-4-1, 4-1-3-2 wide, 4-1-3-2 narrow, 4-2-3-1,
5-3-2 motivated flat, 5-4-1 flat and 3-2-3-2 are some examples (but
there are plenty more, specially if using total football philosophy).
……….4-4-2……………………………. 4-4-1-1………………………… 4-1-4-1………………………..4-1-3-2 wide………..
………… 4-2-3-1………………………. 5-3-2…………………………..5-4-1 flat…………………………3-2-3-2…………..
As you may notice, they are somewhat tilted towards defense, they are
solid both in their flanks and in the middle, and any combination of
attackers will have a relatively hard time scoring unless your opponent
focuses on an all-attack formation, in which case he’ll leave his
formation open to a small but somewhat effective attack from your team.
On the other hand, you won’t target an specific weakness and this
kind of formation’s attack is sub-par. You are also a little exposed to
specific attacks. It’s important to mention that in the long run, a
well-managed team with specific attack formations will beat generalistic
formations most of the time.
So, how do I set a Generalistic formation?
While it’s possible to use man-on-man marking with Generalistic
formations (GF), most of the time you’ll be using zonal marking. The
reason is simple: in order for a GF to work, your players need to be
deployed in such a way that there are the least ammount of “uncovered”
squares in your half of the pitch. Zonal marking allows your players to
move 1 space around them to block an opposing player (A more detailed
explanation about marking is explained in above in 4.6).
Use no less than 7 players between midfield and your half. Your
midfield should be strong, (with and a special emphasis on flank
defense) as you want to have as much possesion as possible . Most of the
time this means deploying a ML and MR, but an exception can be made if
you are using DML/DMR such as in 3-2-3-2. Short passing is highly
recommended, also to increase possesion.
Your passing focus will generally be mixed, so attacking winger (AML/AMR) use is discouraged.
Pressing the whole pitch is the antithesis of general formations, as I
said previously, this are cautious formations that grind and wear out
your opponent and shouldn’t be used for offensive tactics or mentality. I
don’t recommend using force counter, as this will lead to a loss of
ball possesion, which I can’t strain to say how vital this is for a GF
to work.
Specific attack formations.
Somewhat easier to understand than General attack formations, this
kind thrives in a focused defense and attack. Instead of using 7-9
players to fend-off any posible attack, it uses the least ammount of
defenders and marked midfielders and uses the remaining players in the
attack.
This is where “counter & deploy” comes into play.
Let’s start off by saying that in order to consider an opposing
player “covered” he needs to be marked by at least 2 players. Sometimes
this isn’t possible, but your goal is to have the number opposing
players that aren’t double+ marked to a minimum.
Here’s an example using zonal marking.
-Let’s say you want to counter 4-5-1 V (Left image). The first thing
to consider is the number of strikers (RED). Since he’s only using 1,
you can use the minimum of 3 defenders (RED on the right image).
-Next come attack midfielders. He’s using AML and AMR (ORANGE) so you
know his attack will come from the flanks so you need to place a DL and
DR to block them. The DL and DR will also provide coverage to the lone
ST if needed.
– So far you’ve double marked the ST and single marked the AML/AMR,
you need to double mark them. Since you are using zonal marking, you can
place 2 DMC’s (ORANGE on the right image) that will move left or right
if needed.
– The MC’s follow (Yellow). You already have 2 DMC’s providing single
cover, so you need to use 2 MC’s of your own to double mark. And you
are done! all the attackers and midfielders are double marked.
– Now comes the fun part, deploy your own attack: You only have 3
players left for attack and since 4-5-1 V doesn’t have wing blockers or
mid wingers the best thing to do is deploying attacking wingers (CYAN on
the right image). This also means that you should use flank passing.
– Last, deploy your lone ST. If you notice, he’s only marked by 2 of
the 4 defenders, because your opponent’s defense will split by double
marking your AML/AMR -or- your ST, but not both.
Now an example using man-to-man marking.
The opponent is using “floating pyramid” formation and your defenders
are fast and good markers so you decide to use man-on-man marking.
The process is very similar to that of zonal marking, but actually
easier to deploy. All you have to do is “mirror” your opponent’s
attackers and midfielders and then deploy your opwn attackers in a way
they are the least covered possible.
– So you are against a ST (RED), use 3 defenders (RED). 2
AMC’s(ORANGE), use 2 DMC’s (ORANGE), 2 wingers and a MC (YELLOW) use 2
wingers and a MC (YELLOW). Spread your defenders into DL,DC,DR so they
can provide extra coverage against the opposing wingers.
– You only have 2 players left so let’s exploit the fact that the
opponent isn’t using a DMC (CYAN) and use an AMC (CYAN). This means that
your attack should come from the middle, or possibly mixed if you
motivate your wingers.
– Lastly, deploy your ST, which will only be marked by 2 of the 4 defenders.
5.1.1 Illegal formations.
While there are many possible formations in Top 11, not all of them
are valid. This is what it’s commonly refered as “illegal formations”.
The exact rules and consequences aren’t publicly known, but it’s
generally accepted that if your formation is illegal, you’ll be
penalised with a heavy loss of ball possession. And while it’s possible
to win with one of said formations, it’s not a common occurance.
In order for a formation to be legal it must have:
-At least 3 defenders.
-At least 1 striker.
-At least a player in each flank.
-A goalkeeper.
Here’s 3 examples of common illegal formations:
No strikers……………………..No wingers…………………Only 2 defenders.
Never get lost again. In this tutorial I’ll show you how to get the
most from Apple Maps to virtually tour a new city, send directions to
your contacts, or research long travel routes.
Screencast
Few things generate fear quicker than being lost. Thankfully getting
lost happens less and less these days thanks to the prevalence of
portable GPS devices. They are almost everywhere. They’re in our cars,
in our smartphones, and soon they will be in our wrist watches.
Apple
has also been quietly sneaking a powerful navigation system into their
line of Mac computers, as well. Sure, this functionality was briefly
mentioned during some previous keynotes, but few ever take the time to
really learn the power of Apple Maps.
In this tutorial I will show you how to:
Use three-dimensional satellite views to virtually tour a major city
Access turn-by-turn directions from one place to another
Send those directions from a Mac to an iPhone
Or include the directions in an email
Using Satellite Views for Virtual Touring
Imagine,
for example sake, that you are about to take a vacation to Paris,
France. You aren't sure if you want to pay for data roaming on your
mobile phone, and you don't want to stand out as an obvious tourist. You
would prefer to familiarize yourself with the areas you plan on
visiting, so you don't have to rely on your mobile device as much when
you get there.
Launch Maps. In the search box at the top, type in Eiffel Tower Paris France. Click Satellite on the switch on the top right corner. Now click on the 3D button on the lower right.
Use the + and - buttons to zoom in and zoom out. Then use the mouse to click and drag around the area. You may also grab and drag on the compass that surrounds the 3Dbutton to change your view orientation. Using 3D Maps to tour Paris FranceNavigate around the screen while zooming in and out to familiarize yourself with the area.
In a previous tutorial, I showed you how to take some screenshots. Print a few of those out and bring them with you in case you end up lost without access to GPS or data on your phone.
Also note that while exploring, you can click on any of the icons
for more information about the place they point to. Purple bed icons
are hotels, green trees are parks, and brown fork/spoon icons are
restaurants. Clicking on most restaurant icons will instantly show you the Yelp star rating. Clicking on the info icon will load the exact address, phone number, and pictures other people have uploaded while there.
Getting Turn-by-Turn Directions
Now imagine that you are staying in a nearby hotel and would like turn-by-turn directions from there to the Eiffel Tower.
Click the Directions
button on the top left of the screen. Enter your starting address in
the top field and your destination in the bottom one. If you are
currently at your starting address, click the arrow key to have the starting point filled in with your current location. Turn by turn directions using Apple MapsNote that you may use the walk/drive toggle switch
to determine the best route based on whether you are walking or
driving. In this case walking would allow you to travel a shorter
distance and arrive sooner. Plus you won't have to worry about parking.
If you don't have access to portable GPS or data, you can get a beautiful PDF of these directions to print out by clicking on File, then Export to PDF.
Sending Directions to an iPhone
As
an alternative to printing out a hardcopy of the directions (circa
MapQuest 1992), you can also send the digital map to your iPhone.
Click on the share button
just to the right of the main search box. If your iPhone is on the same
network as you Mac, you will see it appear as an option to send the map
to. Click on it. A new notification will appear on your iPhone. Click
on the notification to be taken to the exact same map on your iPhone. Receiving maps from the Mac on the iPhoneNOTE:
The lookup and transfer of directions from your Mac to the iPhone does
require a data connection. But once the map has fully launched on the
iPhone, you do not require any additional data to load the map. You
could pull up the map on your hotel's wifi, load it on your iPhone, then
go into Airplane Mode and still be okay. Without your
GPS on, you won't get turn-by-turn directions, but you will at least
have a digital copy of all the steps needed to get from one place to the
other. Using Maps on the iPhone in Airplane Mode
Including Directions in an Email
Now
suppose you want to set a meeting at the Eiffel Tower, but you know
everyone that is staying with you is on different schedules and not
familiar with the area. You can send them all an email that includes the
directions as an attachment. Sending Directions Using Apple Maps via EmailFrom the directions screen, click the share button. Now choose Mail. The Mail application will launch with a pre-formatted email that includes a link. When the recipients click on the link, the Maps
Application will launch on their Macs and show them the exact
directions. Once loaded, they can transfer the map to their iPhone,
export it PDF, or perform any of the other tasks I have demonstrated in
this tutorial.
Conclusion
Apple Maps is an
underused, but powerful, tool that is baked right into the Mac
operating system. Next time you need directions, want a virtual tour, or
want to make sure everyone gets to the offsite meeting on time, give Apple Maps a shot. You’ll be glad you did.
If for some odd reason you were wondering if your iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus
is snow proof, that question seems to be have been answered in what can
be best described as another crazy experiment posted on YouTube. More
on that, right after the jump! TechRax is at it again with his iPhone 6 Plus as he tries to
literally gives his phone a severely cold treatment. What did he do? He
simply buried the phone with the network enabled and the battery at 68%
under a pile of snow in the ground somewhere in what could be his
backyard for all we know, but the point is that there’s an iPhone 6 Plus
buried in the snow!
For a moment I thought TechRax might be experimenting with a
time frame of a few hours or so, but nope, the guy left the phone out
there over night for well over 18 hours, starting Christmas Eve. The
morning of Christmas when the phone was dug up the ice was literally
glued to the device, but the amazing bit was the functioning device
itself and the display.
TechRax says that he tried looking for signs of life from
his iPhone 6 Plus at night using Find My iPhone and the device was
responding as it normally would. Apple has never rated the iPhone 6 / 6
Plus as devices that are water resistant or waterproof, and sure if you
want to argue that the ice is a solid hence no issue was encountered,
you can afford to not give this device some much deserved credit. Just
keep in mind it survived in sub-zero conditions with chunks of snow
glued to it over 18 hours later, and is something that can actually
happen if you lose your phone, with data enabled.
This however does not mean it has any upper hand or is by any means
better at water or extreme temperature resistance, it just means Apple
made a product that is just a tad bit more than meets the eye. There
have been instances where quite a few users have claimed that the iPhone
6 / 6 Plus perform very well when it comes to keeping the moisture out
as well.
The glorious thing about the stuff we post online is that invariably,
once it’s there, it’s there for good. Even after we remove content from
cloud storage services or social media, it’s likely to fester away in
the growing basement of forgotten files. Facebook sort of lets
you hide photos from viewing with the hide from timeline feature, but
there are ways around this, and one third-party app takes advantage of
the loophole and shows these “hidden” snaps in all of their glory.
Sure, this isn’t a bug on Facebook’s part. After all, when you hide a
photo from your timeline, you are met with a reminder / warning that
snaps can still be viewed in Timelines of your friends if the photo is
public, and if you remain tagged in said photo, then a little Chrome
extension called Picturebook lets you, and, more importantly, others, find them.
It’s by no means a hack – the “hide from my Timeline”
feature does exactly that and nothing more – but if you’re uncomfortable
with the idea of somebody using Picturebook to check out all of the
photos you’ve been tagged in, then there is a way around it.
We’ve all been tagged in those unflattering photos that we’d probably
rather nobody saw, and so to ensure that snoopers cannot source them,
you’ll have to embark upon a good old-fashioned de-tag. It’s the next
best thing to having the photo completely deleted, and will ensure that
even if somebody has the Picturebook or a similar hacky extension, they
won’t be able to find those dreaded snaps that you’d prefer never to see
again.
To de-tag, first select “hidden from Timeline” from the drop-down located beneath a photo’s date. Then, hit the “Report/Remove tag” option from the pop-up, and then select “I want to untag myself“.
So, there you have it. As ever, always keep tabs on your privacy
settings to ensure that you’re not giving away more information to the
world than you’d like, and hey, if you want to get your stalk on — and provided you’ve Google’s Chrome Browser installed – then simply go to this link.
But remember, if you take pride in privacy then be sure to follow the steps which we have mentioned above.
NOTE : at this stage of research and mapping I can not say that it is 100% true.
But remember, if you take pride in privacy then be sure to follow the steps which we have mentioned above.
