Stumped for a new idea for your next FM save? Continue reading to find out some of the inspirations you could use next time you log on.
Football Manager is a fantastic game and starting a new save can always be a great endeavour. However, when doing so, you could consider approaching things in a slightly different way. There are so many different styles of play that you can find, and you never know which one could generate a lot of success for you. Here are some of the ways you can take inspiration from the real world to make your next Football Manager save that little bit more interesting.
Know the Game
Why are you trying to play Football Manager if you don’t know the beautiful game at the heart of it? You need to make sure that you have studied how the game works if you are to have any success in the world of FM.
This goes much further than just knowing your favourites. It can be worth it to do a little research into your favourite leagues and the teams that you intend to manage. After all, the inspiration for the game and some of the patterns that emerge from it are taken from the real world. If you are thinking about trying out a particular team, you should take a look at how they perform in the real world. Everything from the odds that they receive prior to the match from top betting sites to their season statistics like accuracy and shots on target can give you key insight into how they might perform.
Take a look at any team in your preferred league their odds in the betting shows whether they can be considered to be underdogs or the favourites. Insights like this often provide that spark of inspiration that you might need to come up with a creative and interesting save game.
(Image Source: Pixabay)
Dethrone Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich has established themselves as one of the best teams not just in Germany but in European football in the past few years. They have some stellar players on their team, including several national captains, and they are backed by an excellent staff and a great roster of youth players waiting for the chance to make their debut with the senior team.
As a result, there are many eyes watching them whenever they take to the pitch. Borussia Dortmund is one of the best challengers that they have, along with the likes of Wolfsburg and Stuttgart. It is likely to be some time before we see a German team that is able to firmly knock them down from their place at the top of the Bundesliga.
However, things can be a little different in the virtual world of football manager. Why not take inspiration from the long reign of Bayern Munich and start a save with the goal of dethroning them? Knocking them off the top spot isn’t enough here – you should also make your team rise so that they are able to dominate the leagues in the same way that Bayern has.
This is not going to be a goal that you can quickly fulfil, but something that you need to plan out and work for over several seasons. Long-term projects like this can be great for an FM save, and can offer a little more variety to the game beyond “win a league”. We just used Bayern Munich as an example here, but you could pick a dominating team from any league around the world!
From the Bottom to the Top
There are so many stories in the world of football of a team, once on top, fallen to the bottom, and trying to rise once more. True underdog stories are rare, but they are always celebrated when they do occur. They also offer some brilliant inspiration that could offer the ultimate challenge to the right FM player.
Choosing a team in a lower league means that you are not going to have all the resources that you might do if you were playing at the top. You are not going to have access to the best players and staff, and so you need to think smartly about your plays. From holding friendlies to ensuring that you watch transfers like a hawk to find those golden opportunities, there are so many different ways to think when you play a lower-ranked team.
It can put you in a completely different mindset compared to if you were at the top. If you are growing tired of the best of the best (as strange a concept as that might be), you should take a look at what the lower ranks can offer you.
Can you take a team that is ranked in maybe the third league or lower and take them to the very top? Don’t just think in terms of national leagues, could you also manage to install them as winners of the Champions League? Once they are at the top, will you be able to keep them there? Being able to make decisions like this can lead to some fantastic results for you plus the chance to learn more about the game. If you want to sharpen your managerial skills, this is going to be the way to do it.
Try Something New in FM Today!
FM is what you make of it. You can decide to play a very average save with one of the top teams around, or you could really push yourself creatively and try something new. Think a little bit outside the box with your next save and look to the real world to find inspiration. Plunge a team at the top to the very bottom, raise an underdog to sit on the very top, or come up with some new and interesting goal to work towards. FM is so flexible and it means that you can really do anything that you might fancy. Take a look at what is happening in the real world of football at the moment, and try to think how you could upset things in Football Manager!