This football management lark is easy...

As a follow-up to my Football Manager 2010 review, here's my 2 cents on my FM210 demo experience regarding team selection/management for fellow Spurs fans.

In my most successful demo save-game I had Keane playing up front with Defoe. Keane as the deep lying midfielder and Defoe as an advanced forward (giving him a bit more work to do than the more obvious 'poacher' role). Keane was set to 'support' the midfield and Defoe to simply concentrate on attacking. Just behind them, Modric. Sat in the hole as an advanced playmaker looking to craft chances for others and himself. Niko on the left hand side (Bale very useful there too) as a wide midfielder cutting in. On the other side. Lennon. Simply as a winger although I can't work out his best instruction. Cut in or hug the touchline? Both prove to be successful thanks to his devastating pace.

Build your team around him.

Bang in the middle of the park, who else? General Wilson Palacios. The ball winning defender, but rather than all out defensive I have him in a support role which means instead of looking for the quick pass to a creative player, he drives forward himself. Not always with great success, but he scores the odd goal because of it.

Back four? BAE Bassong King Corluka. Woodgate and Bassong share their centre back position and Naughton is also very decent in the game (not that he hasn't got potential in real life). Bale is also good, especially in a left-midfield position.

Gomes in goal.

So it's a 4-3-1-2 tactic in essence.

Players to get rid of? Spurs get a fairly useless £8M transfer budget, which is only slightly improved if you tell the board you will win the title (crazy talk). So the following are players you can sell for plenty of sterling:

Pav. Bentley. Hutton.

You could (at a push) get £12.5M a piece for Pav and Bentley and I've managed to sell Hutton for £5M to Sunderland (who else?). So that's a potential £38M + any additional reserves you want rid of. Which is far more healthy war chest.

Football Manager 2010. Realistic.

You might even look at Jenas as another potential sale. But he does well covering either Palacios or Modric. No seriously, he does. Gio is worth keeping as he appears to be far more rated than the previous version (and there are no night-clubs in FM). The U18 squad does look quite poor so money needs to be spent there. This is a slight gripe for me. We have a very decent academy so I expected better. Means you will need to invest in the U18 set-up.

Not sure about scrapping the reserves though (which is always an option) as it would mean making sure there are plenty of friendly games and tours set up for the players outside of the first team. If you did want to follow what Spurs have done for real, then you'll be more than busy making sure everyone remains fit and sharp.

Tim Sherwood's stats are crap (true to life innit) so terminate his contract and look to bring in some decent backroom staff. You might prefer to promote one or two from youth coaches to senior coaches or just draft in some new blood altogether. It's a necessity to get the training wise and aim for a decent set of 'stars' in the coaching aspect of the game.

In fact - spend time on this. The perfect scenario would be to have youth coaches who are assigned for youth only and a first team set-up that look after the oldies. That and a decent training strategy will work wonders.

King played fairly successfully for me (although initially injured). I guess the trick here is to keep your fingers crossed. Again, very dependent on training. It’s the one area I don't actually care for too much and tend to base it around other peoples suggestions. Get the wrong balance and you'll be more likely to be susceptible to injuries. You could give King his own schedule though, to protect that knee.

As for signings? Well, van der Vaart is someone you can sign for around £7.5M but make sure the contract is a good one other wise he will reject you and go to somewhere like Lazio on loan. Riquelme is also available if you bid but will have to bid a few times to find the right amount of cash you want to part with. Depends on what formation you're planning to go with really. And back to Ream Madrid, RvN is also a cheap option and one that could be superb as cover. I signed him once in the demo, second time round, he laughed at my contract offer. So could be hit and miss.

Getting rid of Bentley means I need cover for the right side. Beckham is available for just over 600K and worth it for those magical moments off the bench and for resting Lennon.

The young lad at Naopli Marek Hamšík looks great. But may cost you a cool £14M.

The Dream Team.

I'll say this: Don't go too nutty with the transfers out. Just sell the deadwood. I performed admirably in the demo with hardly any major changes to the side. My tactic, although not quite perfect, worked a treat.

Also - make sure you offer your star players new contracts. Moddle is easily distracted by transfer speculation and you might find him wanting to do a Berba very early on.

As ever, patience is a virtue. Takes time for people to find their feet and bed into your way of thinking. Defoe initially was rubbish in front of goal (all his shots seemed to be aimed at the keeper) and although we the best of the chances in games, my forwards would be wasteful more often than not. When he found his form he was constantly on fire.

I'll leave you with some stats, so you can compare with your game. Feel free to share your experience(s).

League:

1st in Prem

Played 21
Won 14
Drn 4
Lst 3

For 47
Ag 20

+27

46 points

(Chelsea and Arsenal are on 45 pts)

Unbeaten at the Lane.

Best average:

Keane 7.66

Top scorers:

Defoe 16, Keane 15, Modric 9, Palacios 5, Bassong 4

Historically, I always guide Spurs to around 5^th or 6^th in my first full season then gain CL qualification in season two. Top In Jan in the demo. I’m hoping the game isn’t that easy and this is nothing more than beginners luck. FM has always been a tough nut to crack.

Football Manager 2010 - It's electronic crack

This is my favourite time of the year. It easily bests Christmas, which for me passed away quietly many years ago when we were last blessed with the December heavens opening up on the 25th of each year and gently weeping white fluffy tears, covering the land knee-deep in crunchy snow. Sorry Santa, but the only bearer of gifts I'm interested in is the Sports Interactive crew over at Sega and a certain snazzy looking database with an in-built glossy spreadsheet that makes me go all weak at the knees.

I'm quite obviously a Football Manager fanboy and on the 30th of this month I will be sacrificing what you minions to the rat race call 'life outside' by plugging myself into the next instalment of the greatest computer game of all time: Football Manager 2010.

Now, if you happen to frequent the official SI forums you'll know that this time of year is a rather busy one for the SI lads as they traditionally do battle with knee-jerking of epic proportions, relating to bugs and issues that have managed to creep into the release of the demo (which comes out a couple of weeks before the full release). Complaints usually range from too many in-game injuries to unnatural 3D action and various other mishaps, some quite obviously serious others not so and the rest subjective and ambiguous. FM'ers go into complete melt-down, almost like a bug in the game is a spit in their face. It can get messy. We are dealing with people’s religion here so a game that isn't completley sublime is like a Bible missing important pages. It still works but you don't quite get the full picture.

Keano from the spot. Easy peasy.

By the time the full game is released there's already a first-day patch available to fix all the major quirks and by Xmas/Jan/Feb a second patch to further tidy up anything else (basically anything that is not a show-stopper). Patches also include data updates with the latest transfers and fixes to any mishaps with spelling. The patches always fix the problems (almost always) and in addition we get the added bonus of other improvements. Most pc software needs patching. It's a recognised necessity. Its just the way it is. Personally the way SI work, many of them frequent the official forums, with regards to the online community that feedback on the game, is second to none.

But this time, things haven't gone down the same road as last year (when FM2009 got slated).

What FM2010 has appeared to do this time round is rock the 'complaints' boat without making anyone sick. Mainly because there is hardly anyone on said boat to throw-up over the side. No show-stopping bugs. Perhaps one annoying glitch relating to substituting players (it appears their condition - subbing a player early means they get a bit of an extra rest - remains low and players who complete a full game end up in better shape). And another minor one concerning stats reports on the amount of tackles made by players in matches. Other than that, nothing in 3 demo games I've played (the season only lasts till Jan) has caused me to scream out in furious anger and pray that the Eidos management rival sim destroys them in the best-seller charts.

There you go Hammers. You're just an 'other' to us...

Even the SI community forum melters have appeared to remain silent, failing to find anything to post about (so we've been spared the usual dozen and a half threads all with the same subject being posted every 5 minutes by people demanding an explanation and how they do not intend to buy the game). Instead they are probably sat in the corner of their bedroom, shaking uncontrollable as they struggle to come to terms with a game that is fairly near perfection. Nearly. Not quite (nothing ever is).

Questions are still asked about why the training element hasn't evolved and whether re-generated players (for those who enjoy a long-serving game) are to be more refined than previous years. There are other bits and pieces that have all been highlighted and those deemed to require further investigation will be looked at. How can you not love those SI boys and girls?

Much like anything else, we FM faithful are passionate and systematically anal about the games details. There is almost a demand for it be perfect and that SI have a duty to obey every request and if not 'how very dare they'. It's a bit mental. Hungarian second division player has his in-game name spelt incorrectly? Oh noes! The game is therefore deemed unplayable for some. Ok, slight exaggeration, but its not far off the truth. Others pass on data errors or discussions about transfers that would never occur in real life (it’s a game – it’s a simulation so allow for the odd one or two off key transfers). But this time round there appears to be little in the way of a massive brick wall that stops you from playing it.

There is no competition for SI (sorry Eidos) but still they aim high. And we all know it's better to fail aiming high than succeed aiming low and the boys at SI have set their sights very high and they pretty much nail it every time. I guess there is always a decent balance of evolution mixed in with revolution. This game is a progression - far more of one - than say FM2008 to FM2009 was. And what's important, that with all the changes and new implementations, is it manages to retain flair and fluidity.

As per usual, its up to you how to play it. You can immerse yourself and really get into the whole scouting element of the game and building up your yoof team. There's plenty to do with the backroom staff, asking first team players to tutor a promising youngster, re-training players in new positions and asking them to try (for example) to place a shot rather than strike it with venom. Nothing new here, and as ever there are so many things to do day-to-day - but you don’t need to do half of them if you don't want to. Which is what's so great about FM. Micro-management is up to you.

Also - there are plenty of lickle gems all over the shop. Player bio's for example. That's a new addition. And other news related items which are subtle yet very much appreciated.

Palacios passing game. Hardly a foot wrong. 

3D match engine is the best it's ever been with loads of new animations including the net which ripples when your striker smacks the ball into the back of the net and there's also stadiums/crowds and new 3D views to watch the match from. You'll need a fairly decent PC and avoidance of any graphic card driver issues to make the most of it. Watching the away end erupt to a goal is a great touch. But more importantly, watching the match engines ability to play out a game of football that looks like a game of football is what makes this so great.

The new tactics creator (classic is still available if you prefer accessing the sliders) is superb and allows you to create your own footballing philosophy and assign roles and duties to players. Now you might think this is the casual way of creating a tactic, but it seems far more natural. You can still change the individual sliders for players and the team if you want but considering you input the style, match strategy and formation and then assign the players and roles for each position (including whether you wish them to defend, support or attack) and add touchline shouts (where you tell the players during the match to control the game or counter or exploit the flanks etc) then you have endless combinations and possibilities.

To me this feels right. Managers, man-manage and it's up to the players to perform. If the managers instructions are beyond the ability of his team, then it will fail.

It's now far easier to manage your team as a unit and do so with an air of realism. I know some will disagree and I also know that some people are already arguing you can't quite control the side and the movement as well as the 'classic' method allows you. Way I see it is, you have a player - you instruct him. The new way allows you to do so and the player will try to fulfil the instruction.

The old way required plenty of experimentation that sometimes felt like you were trying to 'crack' the games AI. Regardless of what side of the fence you sit - you can choose the new creator or the classic one.

Other improvements and features? Press conferences (far better than FM2009) have been given a new look and structure and you also get to unveil a new signing if you so wish. Match analysis and stats includes some nice cute surprises for all the stattos. The user interface might take a little getting use to but skins will no doubt be available for purists who hamper for something old skool. It does seem cluttered though. Also the full released version will come with an editor (as per usual) but one that now allows you to re-structure leagues and add new divisions to existing ones. Not something I will personally bother with until I've exhausted several save games. There's also customised player searches and scout reports and a general improvement of processing speed. The UI is what everyone is divided on at the moment.

So, FM2010 gets a sparkling 9.8723 out of 10. If it gets a release day patch which fixes one or two of the minor blips and tweaks the game further, then the score will get pushed up to around the 9.9889 mark.

I'm easier than Danielle Lloyd.

So it's now cold turkey until the 30th October when I pick this up at my local HMV and I'll be keeping an eye out for the latest unofficial/fan face packs, kits and logos that the FM community birth all year round (as the game doesn't include a complete range of all the club badges and players due to license regulations).

Most polished FM yet. This fanboy is positively twitching in anticipation for some Lilywhite empire building. Tottenham. Quadruple winners within 5 seasons IMO. Oh yes, hall of fame here I come.