Football Manager vs FIFA – discover why FM is the best football sim, with top tips, tactics, and wonderkids for new players.
Discover how Football Manager compares to FIFA and casino games, and learn
key FM tips, tactics, and wonderkids for beginners.
There’s no other game quite like Football Manager (FM) – its legacy is secured in the gaming industry. Its main selling point is that it provides a real alternative to more hands-on games such as FIFA, now known as FC, and Pro Evolution Soccer.
These games have more prominence because they involve a vast online community and have a hugely successful level of investment and visibility into the broader gaming world. FM does the same thing, but the online competition isn’t as fierce – it hasn’t captured that aspect of the gaming world in the way that FIFA or other sectors like the casino gaming industry has managed to do.
While there are comparisons between the long-term strategy of games such as FM and casino games like poker, the best online casinos for UK players rely more on the quality of their mobile apps and incentivise promotions that focus on different characteristics of their mobile offering. Obviously, FM has a different market but still manages to find a huge audience within the football community.
Football Manager vs other games
It involves countless strategies and mutual chemistry between players, substitutes and managers, and it can be dizzying to know where to begin. Professional manager Will Still has spent countless hours chiselling away at FM to expand his knowledge of tactics and the more obscure professional players.
The entire game occurs before the match, and you win and improve by developing the best strategies. However, if you are a newbie, the game can be daunting. But don’t worry – today, we will explore some of the more basic strategies for newbies and how to get the most out of your starting 11.
Personal tips
As a fairly regular Football Manager player myself, here are some tactics I always use in order to maximize my chances of winning:
● Use “tackle harder” and combine it with “get stuck in”. Players will pick up cards anyway, and from my experience, this can increase the chance of getting the ball – and the occasional caution.
● Play attacking wingbacks and give them specific instructions. I was inspired by top FM players and how players like Trent Alexander-Arnold play in real life. Trent might be considered more of a ball-playing, set-piece specialist than a right-back, especially from a defensive perspective. However, instructing a player to take more risks and cut inside with the ball on both wings can create more chances.
● Add “cross from the byline” as an instruction for wider players, and combine it with an advanced forward. Advanced forwards are notorious for being offside, but if the creative player is ahead of the last defender, you’ll see this less often. The right combination of wide creativity and a deadly striker will yield more goals.
● If your team is behind, activate “roam from position” or switch from an advanced forward. However, switching from a double striker and transitioning your formation into a 4-2-4 has paid dividends for me. Obviously, you’re throwing caution to the wind here, but if you are behind with 10 minutes left, you may as well throw the kitchen sink at it to try and get a point!
Focus on key transfers
Even if you don’t play FM, we’re sure you’ll have heard of the fabled wonderkids that have been on games in years gone by. Freddie Adu, Cherno Samba and Bojan – we salute you. However, there is a whole host of wonderkids for this generation's FM, and while we do not know how their careers will pan out, I’d recommend at least one big money signing, funds permitting.
Of the top 10 wonderkids picked by fellow FM enthusiasts, Endrick is the one I would recommend buying for your team. He’s a goal machine, and if you negotiate his terms well enough, you can get him for a bargain price.
Which formation works?
On the contrary, if you shut up shop with a 5-4-1 formation, and add a load of counterattacking instructions fused with defensive wing-backs with good acceleration, you can look to snatch a result in a tight game. The good old 4-3-3 usually doesn’t go wrong if your team is well balanced, but it depends on the team you are working with. You’ll find your feet with experience and end up putting together a team that works.
Summary
Starting with a strong team is a good idea if you are learning the ropes and haven’t played FM before. That way, you can mess around with the tactics and their instructions, and the players are good enough to showcase how impactful they can be when it goes right. Ultimately, it’s all about enjoying the tactical side of the game, and if you prefer to watch the tactical, strategy-driven elements of football, then FM will be the game for you.
One of the greatest things about the game is that there is no guaranteed method to win every time – it’s all about adapting to any given situation, discovering different players’ chemistry and finding what works best.
If you want to take Dundee United to the Champions League final, it’s possible, but it’ll take a tremendous amount of work, many transfers and some strategic changes. However, in my personal experience, the game gives you great insight into the side of the game that can often get overlooked in a world where clips on social media dominate the advertising and televised side of the sport.
Sure, it’s exciting and makes for great content, but it’s what is going on from a tactical perspective that determines where the game is truly won, and the great managers genuinely shine. Football Manager is the best game that focuses on this element of the game, and has been for the best part of two decades, so if you’ve never played it before, we can’t recommend it enough.
