Avoid These Five Common Newbie Mistakes

written by the Freekick community

1. Buying the wrong type of Midfielder

Don't make the mistake of buying a midfielder with awesome BC and not looking at his PA, which is only good, so his BC is then adjusted (MF Skills capped, read about adjusting skills to midfield in the FK Manual) to superb or so. Midfielders need to have OP, PA, BC, TA, DP and CO. Find a midfielder with high PA and work from there on finding decent for everything else, and higher if you can afford it. Remember when shopping for players that in the midfield zone, BC and TA contribute more than OP and DP.

2. Playing a "defender" at LB or RB

It seems like the right thing to do. After all, they are two of the four defenders. But in Freekick, the LB and RB MUST have PA. The players that are listed under the "Defender" tab are CBs. Some of them have good PA, but you'll usually find the best LB and RB players under the "Midfielder/Defensive Midfielder" tab. They sometimes are listed as DM or RWB/LWB as their preferred position. Look at the matches where the LB and RB have TA and DP both excellent or better, but their PA was poor, so they didn't get to use almost any of those great skills. Their defensive assistance was lousy because of this. CB (centre) defenders are easy to find: DP, TA and maybe some AE and just ignore their offensive skills. Do not forget CO is more important for these players than if they were a CB.

3. Buying the wrong type of old players

A big mistake in the beginning is buying some old players because of their experience. "Hey, yes, he may be 36 years old, but he has good SC and excellent experience - great player!" Wrong. Newbie managers also buy good players, but with low CO, meaning they can barely play 45 minutes before tiring.

4. Buying the wrong type of Forward

A big mistake is to buy a FW with only good OP and dec BC, because they have sup SC.

It is hard for that type of forward to score using any of his SC when he is losing the positioning (OP vs DP) and tackling (BC vs TA) duels. Remember in FK that forwards need to receive the ball or break free before they use their scoring skill.

5. Buying a youth player who will never reach his potential

A player with great potential skills but low current skills should be avoided. So remember this: Try to look for weak in the skills you need when investing and buying youth transfers. Otherwise, an unskilled (but potentially good) 15 year old would never contribute to your youth team and would require years of training before he "possibly" would be ready for the senior team. He would not have gained any experience either. Players start to deteriorate in skill at 27 so make sure he can reach or be near his potential skills by then.