Facebook Top Eleven Frequently Asked Questions

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.

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Facebook Top Eleven Construction Guide

THE CONSTRUCTION SITE I made looks like this:

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?

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Facebook Top Eleven Tips

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.

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Top Eleven How To Win Against Any Formation Guide

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.

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Top Eleven Tips and Tricks

FORMATION

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.

END

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Top Eleven Being A Successful Manager Guide

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.

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