Tips for hattrick.org managers

MixaM talking, and other members of the community

Freekick focuses on matches, tactics and transfers. I didn't like the way Hattrick (HT) had so much focus on things that had nothing to do with what happened on the field. In Freekick (FK), there is no "ideal" tactic that will work every week - you need to look at and maximize your strengths and exploit your opponent's weaknesses to win.

Transfers are a bit different - you see the average bid, not the highest bid, so I would recommend studying transfers in FK to try and determine what you should/shouldn't pay for certain players. Try bidding 1.5 the average price to start. You can search for Recently Sold players by doing a transfer search to understand values of players, and can even look at bid histories.

Perhaps the most important thing about FK is realising that players need to be strong in multiple skills to be useful, especially midfielders. For example, a striker with Scoring 90, Offensive Positioning 20 and Ball Control 20 will be almost useless in FK, because they will never be in an Offensive Position to actually shoot in comparison to the defenders Defensive Positioning. Study the FK manual and read the table for the skills needed for each position, it will be very good to know.

The way potential skills work in FK is a bit different than HT. Look for young players with high potentials in complementary skills - they could be future stars. Also, note that players can be trained above their potentials, but at a much slower rate. For starters, look for good (50-59) 15-16 year olds in the main skills.

In FK you CAN win games against better teams by choosing the right tactics. The game does not simply depend (in HT, the midfield has a much greater influence) on your midfield. You don't always win a game by just having good passers. Your midfielders need to be good at doing everything in the middle of the pitch.

Every newbie should (from the start of their career) always take the time to read the match report. Assume that information in match reports are relevant in FK instead of the opposite for HT. In FK, you always know WHY you've won or lost a match. You just have to read the match report. In HT, there is at least one game per season after which I had no idea why I won/lost from reading the match report.

Unlike in HT, spending a lot of money on youth is not a necessity. It is one way to play the game, but not the only one. You can be very successful manager by spending your money improving your team from the transfer list as well. This is a huge difference between HT and FK. If you are a new manager, you should consider waiting a while before investing big amounts of money in the Little League.

If you do choose to train youths and pour money into them, don't sell every good draft you get! It's not a good way of getting money, it probably won't cover what you put into the youth squad every week, and you are letting go of good future players. Economy is not the focus of the game, money only represents what players you could get for it.

Of course, if you have a great player that just doesn't fit in to your team, like if you only ever play passing and draft a Forward with great AE (Aerial) but can't use him, then by all means sell him. But do not make selling Little League drafts your strategy to make money. If you want money and don't need young players, just stop investing. It's far easier and far more cost-efficient.

As a former HT manager, you should remember that:

- Constitution is important for all positions. Players need about 40 to finish a match without getting tired, 31 for youth players.
- All players get trained. They do not need to play in a match that week. The position that they played does not affect training.
- You do not need to hire a Coach
- Senior players train faster then youngsters, not the other way around
- You can train two skills at a time, and not necessarily the same thing for the entire team.
- No home and away games and no home team advantage. Attendance money is split between the two clubs playing.
- No weather forecasts
- Different rating system for players
- No random goalscorers. Forwards will score frequently.
- Player aging: (1.6 yrs/season) and the fact they do not all age at the same time. Players have unique birth dates.
- Players in FK have a stamina/constitution (CO) level
- Players low in constitution should (generally) not be used
- HT tactics or strategies will not work in FK
- Substitutions and tactics are changeable whenever you want in FK
- One-skilled (or mono-skilled) players are totally useless in FK
- Understand that every (outfield) player uses every skill he has at some point
- Midfielders do some of the defending and should be your must well-rounded players
- Don't trust your Assistant Coach to set the team's tactics or select players. Learn what to do and do it yourself (even if you set it badly, you learn from it)
- Experimentation is the key to knowledge. Schedule friendlies and learn from them.
- Friendlies have no effect on your players. They start the game as if they had full stamina, and after the game they return to whatever level of stamina they had. No injuries in friendlies. Don't use friendlies thinking you will get experience or extra training for youngsters (wrong), just use them to experiment with tactics and to have some fun.

-In FK, transfers are different, you see only the average bid. Expect to pay about double, but that is a guess.
-In FK, not all of your players have the potential to become a superstar. Look at the talent and current ratings for each player.
-In FK, there is no "best" tactical scheme. In HT, most teams play a 352 formation; all other teams use different schemes because they want to "train" defense, attack...you have flexibility in FK and are not locked in because of the training.
-In FK, Little League investment depends of all other clubs in the world, which is represented by the Key Value. In HT, it is static and limited.
-In FK, every skill is important for outfielders and goalkeepers. Some more than others...

The FK interface takes awhile to come to grips with, but once you get the hang of it it is nice to use.

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Settings > Forum > Choose a forum to join:
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It is hard to get a grip on this game when you are a newbie, but please realise that it is worth it! Freekick has the superior match engine and the biggest plus: It resembles real football a lot more than Hattrick. We here at Freekick call it T.O.G. or that other game...