I remember I managed to promote the Blythe Spartans to the Championship league, all without losing financial control of everything!
Pablo Counago was a striker I managed to pick up on my first transfer session at the start of the game, and he was considered a 5-star player to my entire staff, so I was willing to shell out atleast 5-6 thousand a week on him. His first offer was for 1900 a month with no raises. I almost cried, hahah. Skip to four seasons later, he is my first team coach and still the leader of the line. He's made atleast 150 goals on his own, and set-up or caused many hundreds of others.
I love this game for stories like that, the Spartans coming from BSB to the Championship Leagues, with a chance at getting into the Premiers... Shame I screwed my save up. :| Also, I just gotta say
fuck Aldershot. They managed to ruin two tourneys for me way too early. I hate them.
But after playing this religiously I'm pretty sure I know the general formations that will always perform well, regardless of training/ability, but shining gloriously [87% win, 10% draws on record] with well chosen players.
Strategy: Counter
| S | -Set striker to either AF or CF, CF works better with technical strikers, AF for aggressive/creative players
|W W| -The most crucial players in this formation are the attacking midfielders, both must be set according to player skill
| | yet a single excellent winger can turn a mediocre team into goal-grabbers with crossing and disruptive skills.
| CM CM | -Set both midfielders to Box-To-Box, under any circumstance. These players must be able to control the midfield
| | and setup attacking movements or support counter attacks launched by the defense.
| DM | -Set to either Anchorman, or Playmaker according to skill. Crucial part of defense, holds up midfield, heads balls, etc
|D D D D| -This can be set in many different ways, according to what you wish. I find the most solid defense consists of
| | left and right defenders be as aggressive as they wish, stealing incoming balls from wingers and turning this into
| G | goals via direct passes upfield. You can do it like me and have them prepare in a 'diamond' type area defense;
where one of the center defenders is set to Ball-Playing while the other is set to Limited, with the left and right
defenders covering the wings and preventing possession from even reaching the final Limited Defender, who is
typically the best defender on the team!
There's a few more I have memorized but it takes a bit of time to type it up. Basically, you have to control the midfield and be able to link to the strikers. I made the mistake of believing more striker=more goals and went with a five-man front for my first formations, only to be annihilated due to the chaos that ensues since players get in eachother's way. You really just need a critical 4 or 5 men, and the team will be a rock. The midfielders and defenders are a majority of the priority in my teams, but I also focus on a strong outside game to be able to hold even a mediocre striker on a 1-goal-a-game average.