Set Your Formations To Be The Best

Setting formations can be tricky. Using the traditional 4-4-2, 3-5-1 or others? Will it impact how your team plays?

Well, I'm sure more or less it will have some impact, but to me, there's not much difference. I've tested lots of different formations, from the normal ones like using wingers, attackers (which I kept losing) to ridiculous ones by placing my players all around (I can overturn the top teams).

I've not stick to one formation throughout my game play. Normally I'll play my favorite 4-4-2 formation. Unless my players are injured, I do not change much. Until recently, I've made a discovery. It's not about a winning formation, but rather an effective one.

An Effective Formation

So what do I mean by an effective formation? Well, since we've concluded that formation doesn't really affect the game, then what's the use of formation? Yes there is, and after so many months of playing, I finally realized "this secret".

Let me ask you a question:

If you are playing a traditional 4-4-2 formation, how many positions are there? There are:

• GK
• DL
• 2 x DC
• DR
• ML
• 2 x MC
• MR
• 2 x ST

A total of 8 different positions, from 11 players!

Let's see a 4-3-3 formation. There are:

• GK
• DL
• 2 x DC
• DR
• 3 x MC
• 3 x ST

So how many different positions are there? 6 only! Get it? No?

 Well, let me explain. The fewer positions you have, the lesser reserves you need. For example, in 4-3-3 formation, you can concentrate bidding on good Midfield Center as you can use them all the way.

If any of your MC is injured, just substitute with another MC. All you need is 1-2 reserve MC.

Similar to your Strikers. You are playing 3 strikers and all you need is just 1 reserve. You can save a lot of tokens in this way.

A Failed Formation

Let us see the below example.

No doubt it looks nice, but you are wasting a lot of tokens bidding players from different positions.

This 4-5-1 formation requires:

• GK
• DL
• 2 x DC
• DR
• 3 x MC
• AML
• AMR
• ST 

You are taking up 8 positions. You need to bid for more reserves in this way, which is totally wasting your tokens. You need to bid players to play positions like AML, AMR, ST, GK, DL, DR.

Summary

This game is not just about winning. Unless you are rich, it's always better to save tokens for better players. Try to change and test your formation to lesser positions and concentrate buying good players. This will enable you to bid and play further.

So over to you. What formations are you playing? Is it effective? I'll like to hear from you in the comments below. See ya!

U21 Youth Squad - Signing Youth Players

In my previous post about upgrading your stadium, one of the key things to upgrade is your Youth squad.

Upgrading Your U21 Youth Scout

Besides upgrading your stadium, you can consider improve your U21 Youth playing field. This step will allow your scout to find young, prospective players for you to sign.

The first upgrade will upgrade - Children's football goals with target practice, cones and nets. Ideal for any eager football player. After upgrading, your field will be L2.

This step will not change anything. You can continue to upgrade your field to L3 - A small field for youngsters to start playing football. This is crucial. After your field has became L3, you'll be able to get 2 new youngsters every season! Attractive? Read below.

My U21 Youth Players

When I received my first 2 U21 Youth Players, I was so excited. These players will not be listed at the Transfers. They will be found right inside your Squad. However, you have to sign them in order for them to play for you.

 

You can see from the above picture, I've been given 2 U21 Youth players. One of them is a 2 star player, while the other is a 4 star player!

Initially I thought these players come free, since I've built a field for them to play. I was wrong. When I clicked Jeffrey Ghazali, the 4 star player, I realized I have to sign them.

Although the player's very attractive, I've to pay 24 Tokens to sign him! It's way too much to sign a player for 24 Tokens! If you follow my steps on bidding players, you can sign the same quality with 1-2 tokens only. That's what I pay usually.

So what about you? Are you going to sign these U21 players? Do you think it's worth? Let me know in the comments below.

How To Change A Player's Particular In Top Eleven

Changing A Player's Particular

Recently with the new updates, Top Eleven allows you to edit player's particular such as

• First Name
• Last Name
• Nationality
• Squad Number

First of all, you go to Squad.

At the top right name corner, you'll be able to see a small triangular box. After you've clicked it, you'll see

 

In this screen, you'll be able to do all the editing. However do remember, it'll cost you 1 Token. I find it quite meaningless, unless you want to have your name inside the game.

So will you spend 1 Token to edit your player's particular? Let me know in the comments below.

Top Eleven Game Tips

Top Eleven Game

Top Eleven is the latest iPhone/iPad soccer management game by Nordeus, which you can create your own soccer team and lead them to championship. You will be playing against real players around the world for 1 motive - to win the Cups!

Top Eleven has colourful graphics which are attractive, and game play is simple. Any football fans who who's interested in the PC game Championship Manager will definitely like this game. So far I've been playing for 3 months and it still attract me to log in daily to check the status on my team.

Top Eleven Registration

This iphone soccer management game requires you to register with your Facebook account. It's convenient, and once you've sync with your Facebook, you can use any smartphone and play, which it's a common registration method for iphone games nowadays.

After registration, you'll have to name your soccer team. This name will follow you throughout the career, so choose your name wisely. You'll have to choose the type of soccer jersey thereafter. Although you can purchase more attractive jerseys with Tokens (which you can earn 1/day, or buy with real money), I strongly suggest you don't waste your tokens here. There are many more things you can do with your precious tokens.

Once you've registered your team, you are ready to start!

Top Eleven Tip 1: Select Your Players

The first thing you should do is to set up your team. At the main screen, go to the Squad Tab as follow:

From Squad, you can see the players you have. If you just start, your players will of course be the lousiest. You have to form your squad of 11 players to start playing. I usually look at the "stars" or quality of the players. The more stars the better.

Just click on a player and drag him up/down to replace another player. Remember to click save at bottom right hand corner. I tend to forget and have to redo everything again.

Top Eleven Tip 2: Choose Your Formations

After selecting your players, just swipe left to the next screen - formation. This is where you can place your players. Take note, if there's an exclamation mark, it means that the player is position wrongly. You can reposition the player by holding on to the player and drag him to the position he's trained to play.

I try to play a 4-4-2 formation. But if my players are tired or injured, I'll find the next best player and position him in the area he's trained to optimize his skill. Remember to check the health of your players regularly. If they fall below 50%, you better rest him to prevent injury. This is my current formation.

Top Eleven Tip 3: Choose Your Orders

I used to neglect this part as I did not know what to do, until I found that there were many commands available. This screen is where you can select your Penalty Kick Takers, Free Kick Takers, Corner Kick Takers, Captain and Auto Sub.

If your players have special skills such as free kick specialist, you can choose him as the number 1 option. I will choose my LM (left midfield) to take left corner kick, and RM (right midfield) for right corner kick. I'll assign my strikers for my first 2 penalty kick takers and the highest stars for my captain. As for auto subs, I do not assign anything to it as I do not know who's injured, or tired. I'll rather do it manually while watching the match.

Once all these are done, your team is ready. You are placed in the lowest league with another 13 players. This game will last 1 month and if you are Top 7 in your league, you'll be promoted as level 2 manager. I find this game simple and fast. It just required me around 10 mins of my time daily to manage my team and the game can go on itself.

So how do you feel about the game? Drop me in the comments below, or you can follow me at twitter.com/IAmVanson.