It goes without saying that Football Manager 2021 is a challenging game that requires players to devote a lot of their time and attention to understand many of its intricacies and unleash the full potential of the teams they manage. Those that don't give up in the initial stages of getting familiar with the game will soon find themselves addicted to micromanaging every tiny aspect of running a football club. Before long, they will spend many sleepless nights in front of their monitors.
Comprehending the game's complex systems and mechanics is no easy feat, though. A lot of football fans who are new to Football Manager 2021 are prone to making some common mistakes that may ruin their enjoyment of the game early on. Avoiding them is key to be able to uncover all that FM2021 has to offer.
10 Making It Too Difficult At The Start
While choosing a small football club from one of the lower divisions is the best and most rewarding way to play the game, those without much experience playing the Football Manager games may give up early on due to the many obstacles that stand in the way of small team managers.
The lower down the pecking order a team is, the more difficult it will be to lead it to glory. Picking Port Vale or Sunderland FC for the first playthrough is akin to an FPS rookie playing Doom Eternal on Nightmare mode.
It is advisable for new players to start their Football Manager 2021 adventure with a rich club playing in one of the game's top leagues. That way, they'll have the chance to familiarize themselves with all of the mechanics without being punished for their mistakes too much.
9 Playing Football Manager Like It's FIFA's Career Mode
FIFA is a great football simulator. In fact, it is one of the best-selling sports games in the world as of 2021. Its managerial career mode is a highly entertaining way of experiencing all it has to offer. Much like Football Manager, this mode presents players with the opportunity to realize their footballing dreams by leading their favorite club to national and continental glory.
That's where the similarities between these games end, though. While FIFA lets players get away with disregarding the managerial aspects of football, Football Manager is all about taking care of the tiny details, from hiring the right coaching staff to making sure that the footballers' morale is in order. As opposed to FIFA, FM players aren't able to rely on their skills during matches – they can only watch the simulation and hope that their tactics and roster choices are enough to get a win.
8 Gegenpressing With Subpar Players
Geigenpressing is a tactic popularized by Jurgen Klopp, who relied on it to lead Liverpool FC to their first Premier League title in 30 years. It is characterized by an extremely high pressing line and players aggressively rushing to retrieve the ball and transit to counterattack as soon as they lose it.
It turns out that just like in real life, gegenpressing is highly effective in Football Manager 2021. Not every team in the game has the fitness levels and defensive coaches that Liverpool has, though. This is why it backfires on many players who try out that tactic with their low division teams. Utilizing the gegenpress is worth it in teams who can afford the top quality players and have the squad depth to frequently rotate their starting elevens. It should not be used in a weak club that is struggling to stay up in one of the lower divisions.
7 Spending All The Club's Money In The First Transfer Window
Tactical acumen and good man-management are both incredibly important in Football Manager, but these skills can be quickly rendered useless if players do not take good care of their teams' budgets. Just because a certain amount of funds is available during a transfer window doesn't mean that one can spend it all on incoming players or improved contracts.
Budgets in Football Manager 2021 depend on the clubs' successes (and failures) throughout the season, sponsorship deals, and ticket sales, alongside many other factors. This is why it's crucial for players to save up some of their initial budgets, just in case their first season does not pan out the way they intended it to. Otherwise, they may find themselves facing the sack for running the club's finances down to the ground.
6 Looking Up Tactics Online Instead Of Forming Their Own
It may be tempting for new Football Manager players to turn to the internet and prominent FM2021 streamers for tactics tips and pointers. Some may even outright copy the most successful tactics they find online. This is not the right way to play Football Manager. Copying the winning tactics of other players is not a guarantee of success in any way, shape, or form.
Aside from the tactical setup, other factors play into each team's performance on the pitch. Things such as the fitness levels, coaching staff, and overall quality of each individual player are all equally important. This is why players need to be able to cater their tactics to the specificities of their teams, as well as adjust them to the predicted setup of their opponents ahead of each match.
5 Letting Players Bully Them At The Negotiation Table
Whether it's signing new players or extending the contracts of footballers who are already part of their clubs, there is a tendency among new Football Manager players to crack under pressure when it comes to negotiating the terms of employment of their squad members.
Yielding to some demands, such as letting players set sell-on clauses in their contracts may lead managers to miss out on many financial benefits that come with big-money sales of young talents that were bound to leave anyway. The same goes for assist and goal bonuses – a reckless approach toward these clauses can drain budgets incredibly fast.
4 Going For The Big Money Signings Without Researching Alternatives
After a few successful seasons spent on putting a small club through a couple of divisions and achieving considerable success in a top league, it may be tempting for players to splash their hard-earned cash on some big names and wonderkids that would never have made their way to these teams in real life.
While these impulses are understandable, it isn't the right approach. Doing the research and buying footballers that provide the best value-for-money is more reasonable. If the club goes through a run of bad form or has a poor season, the expensive star player may end up leaving the team much sooner (and far cheaper) than expected.
3 Getting Attached To Certain Players
Many football fans have their favorite players and would love nothing more than to be able to manage them as part of their trophy-winning squad. Football Manager is not a game that leaves much room for sentimentality and favoritism.
Sure, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer may get away with playing Bruno Fernandes in nearly every game of the season in real life, but in most cases, football players go through dips in form, as well as need some time off to recuperate. This applies to Football Manager, too.
2 Ignoring The Youth Academies
The Youth Academies, especially those at large, successful clubs, are true gold mines when it comes to finding young talents. Many new managers, however, are fast to ignore them in favor of scouting players from other teams.
It is a major mistake, because a lot of the time, footballers with the same quality and potential can be found in their academies, no transfer fee required!
1 Forgetting About Squad Depth
Depth struggles are not exclusive to Football Manager. Even in real life, managers struggle to put together a competitive starting eleven due to injury crises or club boards being stingy with transfer funds.
FM2021 players may find it tempting to sell off half of their squad because they're not as good as their main team members. However, they may soon regret this decision once the injuries start piling up, or they end the seasons with a mid-table finish and dire financial prospects.