A Ten Point Plan for Scouting on FM

Scouting and player recruitment are a significant part of any game. Of course, when one takes over a big club with a sizeable budget, there’s a temptation to splash out on a Higuain or a Pogba, or to send roving eyes over the carefully assembled lists of Wonderkids to grab a Malcolm or a Bazoer.

In my two last long saves, with Bristol City for The Set Pieces or with Livorno for uMAXit, I have developed a Moneyball system for managing clubs, which derives its strength from a systematic approach to player recruitment that privileges sensible scouting and financial restraint. I’m often asked how to get the best from this approach and how I unearth the bargains that took Bristol City to a Champions League win and humble Livorno to a Coppa Italia. So here is a quick, ten-point plan, to turn your team into a lean, well-assembled unit for minimal costs.

1. Get some rules

You know what mine are, and if you don’t, the above links will explain. But rules are important, whatever they are. Don’t buy for the sake of buying. Don’t buy forwards because they’re sexy and score goals if your midfield can’t get the ball to them. Lots of work and effort have shown that mine are a good place to start, and they can, of course, be adapted. Rules can also make for a fun challenge: buy only Dutch U23s, or only pick up veterans on a free. Whatever you pick, stick to it.

2. Assess your squad

Now you have a framework, it’s time to assess the squad. Here, the Team Report screen and the general assessment of your Assistant Manager can help. But you also need to work out what formation and tactics to play. This is a slightly chicken and egg scenario, of course: if you have superb DMs and WMs, you might choose a deep 3-2-3-2; if you have a good target man and wingers, a 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 with a Shadow Striker playing off the Andy Carroll figure. Or, you might have a love of WBs and decide that, while the rest of your team works with a 5-3-2, you need to recruit for those positions. Again, it’s about working out what you have and what you need, with the informing framework of your rules in mind.

3. First window self-control

Most teams will have recruited players in the summer, Hull City notwithstanding, so you need to remember in your first window that the squad already has new faces. Integrating new players can be tricky and you don’t want a team of debutants: they don’t work well together and you need to spend a lot of time training Team Cohesion when you should be working on Tactics and Fitness. I would suggest a maximum of four new players in a starting line-up, ideally only two or three. This means that, in your first window, you really only ought to buy if you have to. To me, this would indicate that your tactics should reflect your squad, rather than your tactics should inform your shopping. Remember also the following two things: you have youth prospects, some of whom might be ready for the first team in positions you were thinking of strengthening; you might inherent a team where players are in the reserves and listed, but can still do a fine job, or even a first team job. BMG have Patrick Herrmann listed; Bastian Schweinsteiger is for sale and in the reserves at Manchester United. Make sure that if your club has put someone up for bidding before you got there, you rectify that as soon as possible if they are able to play a role.

4. Recruit good scouts

This might seem like a no-brainer, but I’m sure a lot of you want to crack on with playing and the time it takes pre-season to set up your backroom staff is skimped on. When you set up the game, you have the option to choose a number of leagues and database size, and this should then inform which scouts you choose. Look for people with expert knowledge of the leagues you’ve loaded. Derek Langley is a bargain for England. If you have Scandinavian leagues loaded, poach Olsen from Ajax, or pick up Janne Wilkman from Aston Villa or Patrik Andersson on a free. Serbia and Spain call for Bojan Krkic, though he’s not cheap; Argentina, Paraguay, or Uruguay for Sebastian Pait, Germany for Michael Tarnat, or Italy for Stefano Pinelli and so on. Personally, I like younger scouts, because their stats will improve, and I think knowledge of a region is at least as important as the values for judgement. Personally, as I only tend to buy players aged 20-25, the ability to judge potential is more important than current ability.

5. Counter weaknesses rather than improve on strengths

This is basically a Moneyball rule and it has worked consistently. The Team Report and Tactics pages provide breakdowns of where your team is strong and weak, and the average ratings will also show you who isn’t working (though remember, this could be the result of a player in a position that doesn’t suit, which might require a tactical rethink, or of injury). If your left-back is rubbish, buy a left-back. That makes sense, right? But the temptation to buy a striker or an exciting attacking midfielder might be strong. If you’re just adding to squad size, especially at great expense, rather than mitigating where you’re weak, it can be a pointless exercise and you will not be building a strong team. Basically, do not be Arsene.

6. Scout based on criteria

There are several ways to do this. Firstly, I don’t specifically scout players who don’t average over 7.00 across a season. And of those who do get over 7.00, I scout all of them. Every one. This takes ages, so keep it ticking over while the game is in progress and ensure that your transfer target list, which should have no more than ten players on it, is ready well in advance of the window opening. Scout using age ranges or nationalities too: it helps to narrow the search to what you need to sit within your own rules or the rules enforced by your league or nationality requirements. FM17 has a neat, simpler way of listening to and acting on your backroom staffs’ advice on who to scout as well; always do this. It doesn’t hurt, and you might unearth a good player.

7. Scout based on positional attributes

If you have player attribute masking disabled, you can make use of this feature. For a start, especially in lower league football, it’s always good to look for players with high Work Rate and Teamwork attributes. If you want to play a high press, players with good Anticipation and Stamina are needed; disregard players without these, even if in every other respect they look good. Then decide on positional specifics. If you need a Ball Winning Midfielder, look at players skilled in Marking, Tackling, Aggression, Bravery, Determination, Positioning, Teamwork, Work Rate, Acceleration, Strength, and Stamina. If it’s a Full Back, Marking, Tackling, Anticipation, Concentration, Positioning, Teamwork, Acceleration, and Stamina. These attributes are highlighted on players’ pages who are natural at those positions and it’s likely that if you’re strengthening a squad, you’ll be looking at like for like replacements for special roles anyway.

8. Pay attention to bargains

Always keep a special eye on players whose contracts are due to expire or players who are listed, because this is where you can find bargains. Certain leagues can throw up undervalued players too: the Scandinavian, Belgian, and Dutch leagues are good for this, as are the South American leagues that are not Brazil and Argentina. Scout clubs that have money troubles. Look for players with relegation release clauses from teams who have done badly; not all their players will be rubbish, especially younger prospects.

9. Narrow your list

By the time the dog days of a season come around, you should start to have an idea of where you need to strengthen and which players you might like. Go back over them at this point, and ask your scouts to watch them for two or three games. Season average ratings are probably a better indication of quality, but your scouts will throw up issues such as injury proneness or temperamental problems; Mauro Icardi might be available for £35m at the start of 2016/17, but he’s a divisive influence, for all his ability. Anyone who is prone to injury should be discarded as a waste of money and players with low Natural Fitness are always a concern. Don’t settle on your targets until they’ve been scouted for two or three games and with a season’s worth of football behind them at least.

10. Don’t buy if you don’t need to

Lastly, remember that purchasing is not always the way to go. Get a good Head of Youth Development and work hard to sculpt a youth system that works, employing good coaches and tutoring. Retrain players who have the right attributes for a position but might not yet be naturals in it. Convert an aging striker into an attacking midfielder, or a less mobile defensive midfielder into a ball-playing centre-back. The less you need to buy to cover a gap, the more money you have for when your scouts unearth the next Sergio Aguero.

A quick note: this article uses the FM17 Beta, which is still in development and therefore not perfect yet – thanks to my friends at SI for their assistance.

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Tags: computer, FM16, FM17, games, Moneyball, scouting, sport, sports, tactics