Position Spotlight: The Winger

The winger is probably my favorite position on the field. A speedy or technical winger can wreak absolute havoc on lower level opponents. Many teams in lower divisions stack the middle of the field, leaving the wings to be exploited if you have a decent winger or two.

So what's a good winger? Many people focus on pace in their wings, and that can be appropriate. The first winger I had a lot of success with in C and B leagues was a 32 year old formidable pace, excellent playmaker, weak passing. If your opponent doesn't defend the wings, or has wing defenders that are slow, a fast winger will get lots of opportunities. Even at fairly low passing levels, you'll see some decent passes into the box just because of the sheer number of chances your wing is getting to create scoring opportunities. However, a technical wing can also create havoc because he will usually be challenged most often by the opposing winger, and wings don't usually have much defense. When attacking from behind, a defender needs at least 3 levels more defense than the offensive player has technique to successfully strip the ball.

A manager should strive to have an appropriate level of speed in his wings. If your wingers are much, much faster than your strikers, your strikers will not be in position to take advantage when your winger is ready to cross into the box. If your there is a large difference between the pace of your strikers and wingers, you may need to adjust your tactic accordingly. For instance, if your wingers are faster, maybe you can try leaving the strikers as far forward in the attacking zone as possible, so they don't have as much ground to cover.

Using Wingers in Your Tactic

Facing off against a stronger team that will likely dominate the center of the field, and but don't want to stack the middle and have no wing attack? Try playing an assymetrical formation with one wing.

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-----A------A------
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----IM------IM----
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----D--D--D--D----
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----------K---------

Have a winger with no technique, and playing an opponent that defends the wings? Use your wingback to support him. A wingback with defense and passing can turn a frustrating change of possession into a new opportunity.

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-----A------A------
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W-----------------W
----IM------IM----
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-WB----------------
------D--D--D-----
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----------K---------

Getting Carried Away When Bidding on Players

If you don't have Plus, you might want to place an early bid on a player so that you can come back to him near his deadline to make the purchase. If you have Plus, I generally think it's a waste of time to place early bids (that is, bids 12 hours or more before bidding ends).

When buying players, bookmark 5 - 10 players that are similar to the player you want to buy, noting in your private notes for the player his skills. Come back and check the transfer history on these players once the bidding ends. This will give you a general idea of the market price of the type of player you want to buy. Before using the transfer list to target the player you are going to purchase, use the range of prices to establish a maximum price you are willing to pay, and then don't go over that price. It's easy to get caught up in the heat of the moment of a bidding war and pay more than a player is worth. You're startup cash is small enough without blowing it all because some Polish guy kept bidding against you for the defender you wanted. There are lots of players on the transfer list.

All things being equal, prices are much higher at the start of the season, particularly for players that lower level teams are likely to be able to afford. This is because end of season bonuses have most managers flush with cash, and the players are the youngest they'll be all season. If you can put off your purchase until the market calms down some, do so.

Don't buy a player just because he has a divine skill and looks like a great bargain. Do you really need a divine pace, solid playmaking, unsatisfactory passing winger? Probably not, unless he's trainable age and you're training playmaking and passing. Most of the time, you're better off with the well-rounded player than the single skilled monster.

Older players can be a great bargain to stick in your non-training positions. However, keep in mind that older players depreciate in value rather rapidly. A 30 year old player that you pay $30,000.00 for today will probably be worth less than $10,000.00 in a season or two. They aren't trainable and their skills can actually decline. However, you can pick up some great bargains this way.

Tactics

The tactics editor is one of the best things about Sokker. It can also be somewhat tricky for a new manager to get a handle on.

Here is a youtube video of someone setting up a tactic. There is a lot of versatility. Basically, you need to move the ball on the tactic editor to each square, and set up where you want your players to be when the ball is in that portion of the field.

If you are coming to Sokker from another manager sim, like, I dunno, Hattrick (which sucks), you may think that if you're training midfield the only formation available to you is 3-5-2. Not so, in Sokker! A player can be a defender in your tactic, but have a MID order for training purposes. Thus, your training program does not restrict you to only one or two formations.

Experiment with your tactics! I like an attacking style of play, so most of my formations use attacking wingbacks and aggressive player positioning. Do you have defenders that are faster than other players in your league? Maybe you can position your defenders upfield and play an offside trap. Are your midfielders pretty decent passers? Spread them wide and use the whole field. Crappy passers? Tighten up your formation and try to power the ball upfield.

Your starting personnel will dictate, to a certain extent, what kind of tactic will work best for you. Eventually, however, you will be able to afford to buy players that will give you a lot more tactical freedom. I decided early on that I wanted to use my wingbacks to support the midfield, so I buy wingbacks that have pace, PM, and passing, and design my tactics around them. I use three strikers, but my offensive midfield presence is weak... so one of my striker trainees has PM and passing and plays an offensive mid role.

It's your team, make a tactic that suits your tastes and buy players that fit your style of play. If your focus is on ball control, get guys with defense, PM and passing. If your focus is on a wide open, aggressive style of play, get fast guys with great passing. The choices, both tactical and player-wise, are vast.

Tactics can help you win a match when your opponent has better players, and it can help you lose a match when your players are superior. Just because lots of top Polish managers or older teams in your country use a particular tactic does not make it "the best." Older teams have pretty entrenched views on tactics and hardly ever experiment. Many top teams don't even scout their opponents! Use a tactic that fits your players, your style of play, and your opponent.

The Junior School

I generally advise against starting a junior school when you're just starting out. Juniors are like lottery tickets... they're expensive and they don't usually pay off. Each place in your junior school costs $1,000.00 per week, so if you have 10 junior school places and a very good junior coach, that is costing you at least $15,000.00 per week! That's a lot of money for a new club.

For established teams that have established training programs and healthy finances, a junior school can be a decent benefit because you know for sure what your juniors' talents are. You can also sometimes get lucky and hit the lotto on an extremely valuable junior to sell or train.

But for new teams: wait until you're actually making money.

Money Saving Tips

1. Buy assistant coaches that can be your head coach when you change training.

2. Buy trainees that can play in other areas of the field. One of my first trainees was a starting defender on my team for two seasons. I played him at defender in league matches, and striker in friendlies. Buy trainees that can play in non-training positions during league play! Instead of buying two players, a defender and a midfield trainee, just buy one: a defender who is also a midfield trainee. Eventually, he can move on to your starting roster at midfield, at which point you can buy a new defender / midfield trainee to replace him.

3. When looking for friendly matches, give priority to invitations that are "cup rules." Cup rule friendlies means you share the gate.

4. Have one sub for each non-training position, and fill the rest of your roster with scrubs off the transfer list for $1. Look for the lowest wage possible. You should not be paying more than $500 / week in wages for a player who is not a starter, trainee, or emergency sub.

5. When transfer listing players, you have to pay 4% of the starting price just to list the player for sale. So if you put up a player for $250,000.00, you're going to pay $10,000.00 even if the player doesn't sell. I have always, even on my finished trainees, listed the players for a starting price of $1. The only reason you should ever list higher than $1 is if someone has offered to buy a player for a specific price or if you're listing the player outside of peak times.

Buying Coaches

Your head coach needs to have "unearthly" in the skill in which you're training. His general appraisal doesn't matter that much for lower level teams. Your assistant coaches need to have as high a general appraisal as you can afford. For instance, if you can afford the wages for 3 x very good coaches, that might be a decent starting point for your team.

Startup money is tight! Want a money-saving tip? If you know that over the next two seasons, you will be training striker, technique, and pace, hire an assistant coach that has unearthly pace and an assistant that has unearthly technique. When it's time to change training, just move your assistant coach to head coach!

Your coaches' wages are going to be your biggest weekly expense. Budget for it! Plan on selling one trainee per season, and factor that money into your budget. You can go -$250,000.00 in the hole and still buy players and coaches, and you can go -$500,000.00 in the hole before you lose your team to bankruptcy. However... DON'T DO IT! Money is scarce when you first start, so only spend money on things that will make you money. If your money is running low, you can always sell a trainee to get back in the black. But you can't sell a part of your stadium, and you can't sell a brilliant head coach that's costing you $30k a week in wages (you can only fire him!). So if you want to splurge, splurge on trainees. Do not splurge on coaches or your stadium.

Figuring Out Your Training Program

Picking the Position (Striker, Midfielder, etc.) You Wish to Train

There are several things which might dictate what sort of training program you put together. Maybe your favorite real-life soccer or football player is an attacking midfielder, and you would like to train a player like that. Maybe on your local rec team, you're a wingback, and you'd like to train players like that. Maybe you prefer an attacking style of play.

I chose striking to train because I happened to have 5 trainable strikers on my beginning roster. One of those players, Kurt Leffew (1295330), is still playing. Because you only start out with $300,000.00, using whatever players are on your beginning roster as your first trainees can really save you a lot of money.

Do you have any trainable players on your roster? A trainable player is under 20 years old, and has a desirable skill distribution for the position you're training. Note: this does not mean that the player has to have good/solid or better in the skill you're going to be training first! Some of my best trainees have had poor or unsatisfactory in striking, which is the primary skill I train.

What Skills Do the Different Positions Need?

Strikers: strikers need striking, pace, and technique as their primary skills. How much of each depends on your league, your opponents, and how long you've been playing. Other skills can come into play in the match... a fast striker with defending can strip the ball from opposing defenders and make a breakaway attempt. A striker that plays closer to the midfield may need playmaking and passing to help distribute the ball.

Midfielders: they need everything. That's not entirely practical, however, particularly at lower levels of play. Generally, midfielders who play the center of the field need more defending. A more attack-oriented midfielder, like wingers or a pure offensive center mid, can get away with low defending. Midfielders need playmaking and passing to setup the offense. The lower the playmaking, the longer it will take your midfielder to make decisions, and the more frequently the decisions he makes will be poor ones.

Defenders: Defense is their primary attribute, with other skills depending on how they will play in your tactic. A sweeper or stopper playing behind your defensive line may need only pace and defense, but a wingback who supports the midfield would need defense, passing, and playmaking. In general, the closer the defender plays to the midfield, the more "midfield" skills he will need (i.e., passing and playmaking).

Keeper: Keeper, pace and passing. The higher a keeper's keeper skill, the more chance he will have to make a play on a shot on goal, or stop a striker in a one-on-one opportunity. A keeper needs pace to close the distance between goal and striker in a one-on-one. And a keeper needs passing to play the ball upfield after controlling the ball or during a goal kick. In my opinion, passing is the least important skill... you can set up your tactic such that one of your defenders with passing will take your goal kicks if necessary.

Buying Trainees

Any training program is eventually going to mix in other skills (tech and pace for strikers, for example). However, when buying (or picking from your initial players) your first trainees, look for players that will be saleable after a season or so of training in the first skill you wish to train.

Examples:

1) You are training strikers, and will be training striking for the first season. You would probably look for trainees that have a nice combination of tech and pace. Here are some examples:

Moe Smith, age: 19

value: 61 000 $, wage: 900 $
excellent form, average tactical discipline

NTDB:

weak stamina	tragic keeper
solid pace	poor defender
good technique	poor playmaker
poor passing	hopeless striker

Moe will likely sell for the $1 he is listed for, if he sells at all. He is trainable in pace in tech. After one season of training, he will likely be average - adequate in striker. This is an attractive trainee for a new team. Skills train faster at lower levels, so a trainee will go from hopeless --> adequate more quickly than from adequate --> very good. At the end of your first season, you can either sell Moe to someone else to continue training, or you can use him in the next stage of your training program, eventually training him in technique and pace in addition to striking.

2) You are training midfielders, and will be training playmaking for your first season.

Marnix Schoofs, age: 20

value: 79 750 $, wage: 1 075 $
excellent form, unsatisfactory tactical discipline

NTDB:

average stamina	tragic keeper
solid pace	good defender
poor technique	weak playmaker
solid passing	unsatisfactory striker

At the end of a season, Marnix could be an attractive midfielder for lower level teams, and is trainable in other midfield skills. He would likely be a good or solid playmaker at the end of the season, and could either be used in the next stage of your training program or sold on to someone else, and could be purchased now for less than $10,000.00.

In this way, you are maxmizing your startup money. Do you have players that look like this? Maybe you're thinking that you have a really shitty starting roster. These players can be good!