Football Manager 2010 Guide: Playing a Match

One of the first things you should do at any new club is to select one of your scouts to spy on your opposition. You’ll probably want your best scouts to search for new talent and scout players you are thinking about signing. Choose one of your normal scouts and click Add New Assignment and Next Opposition (see screenshot).

He will now go and watch every opposition team you are about to play and provide you with a pre-match report which will give you an idea what tactics and formation your opponent generally adopts. His report will also highlight any specific danger men in the opposition team and offer you some advice on how best to approach the match.

For each match you’ll also want to check out your Backroom Advice before setting up your tactics. In here you’ll find an analysis of your team’s strengths and weaknesses when compared to your opposition. You may want to change your line up in reaction to this advice. At the very least you will want to tweak your tactical approach. For more on that check out the Football Manager 2010 Guide: Setting Tactics and Formation.

Once you have your team selected and you have tweaked your starting tactics you are ready to progress to the match. Remember you can always change your tactics in reaction to the on field action so if you are unsure start with fairly neutral tactics and tweak them during the game.

This is an absolutely vital element to every game you play. On this screen you can determine how your players will deal with each member of the opposing team. The danger men should be singled out here for special attention and it is a good idea to ensure that attacking players on the opposition side are always shown onto their weaker foot and closed down or marked.

If you are uncertain about what to do then click the Ask Assistant tab at the top right and he will pick for you. However, be warned, the assistant manager will often tell your players to go in hard on the tackle on certain opposition players and in my experience this leads to red cards so you might want to tweak his suggestions. Remember, like the rest of your tactics, these settings can be altered later so you can always try an approach and if it isn’t working change it.