For visual representation of the tips below I suggest you read the article HERE[alexonfm.wordpress.com]

1. Too many is just as bad as too little
Look for a sufficient quantity of players in your squad. Not too big, not too small. This will mostly depend on the amount of matches you’ll play within a season.

Having only a small squad (<22) at your disposal in a season where you’ll regularly play a couple of games a week will surely have a negative effect on the condition levels. Even if you would give your players a rest period for a good few days between matches you’ll probably find yourself with a fair amount of unavailable players, albeit injured, suspended or on international duty. You’ll be forced to play tired players, risking more injuries and more unavailable players. It’s a vicious circle you just don’t want to get into.

On the other hand this does not mean you should sign fifty players for your team to make sure you’ll have an abundance of rested players at your disposal. The condition levels might be at 99% but the match fitness of a large squad will probably be lower than you’ll want it to be. Keep in mind that low match fitness will have an effect on player performance and condition. A player with no match fitness will be exhausted around halftime, forcing you to make tactical substitutions in a situation that could have been prevented if the player was match fit to begin with. Moreover the chance of morale problems in an oversized squad is incredibly high. Everyone wants a chance of first team football, but you just can’t play them all.

2. Know what formation you’ll frequently play with and stick to it as often as possible.
Having a decent quantity of players is important, but having sufficient players with the right qualities is essential. Constantly playing your central defender out of position just because you have no left back available is a pain you just want to avoid at all costs. To make sure you’ll rarely face this issue it is important to know what formations you will be playing with often. Having 4 wing backs in your team when you probably will play with a three man defense four out of five times is just a waste of money for you and almost guarantees at least four players to be unhappy at the club. On the other hand, having six central defenders when you only have room for two in the team is not a great idea either. An abundance of players for one position will cost you money you could have spent on other positions on the pitch.


3. Give every team member minutes to play.
The most important thing in trying to have a match fit squad (first team players, bench and reserve players) is to make sure all your players will play enough football over the course of the season to ensure they’ll be able to make a difference for you on the pitch. Sub them on whenever you can, make sure they’ll play in reserve matches or rotate your squad every two games or so, just to make sure no one gets left behind. It will give you a bit of an edge when playing AI teams later in the season and therefore could be the difference between three points or none at all.

Sidenote: An alternative to looking at fitness levels is to check the amount of minutes a player has played in the current season.

4. Contract status is a thing
If you’re trying to charm a potential star striker to join your club with a key player contract than please do not be surprised if he will be unhappy when you play your current star strikers instead of him. He’s not a diva, he just wants you to honor his contract status. The same goes for first team players status, rotation etc. It’s really that simple.


5. Consider training players on new positions
Another option for balancing both the quantity and qualities of your squad without spending another dime on new players is to simply retrain your current players to play at another position. It will give you additional options to play players who otherwise would complain about the lack of football, allow you to switch formations more often if you want and it could potentially attract more clubs if you were to sell such a diverse player.


Bonus tip: Do not haphazardly buy players because ‘they look good’.
A player should be bought to fit into your tactic, not the other way around.

Those were my five plus one tips for team management in Football Manager. Feel free to respond on my findings, criticize them even. See you in another post!