Can a Newbie save Norwich?

[Cmdr Christoff]

Hi,

Picked this wonderful game up when the Beta came out, and have been completely overwhelmed, but in a positive way.  The last Manager game I played was CM93!

Anyway, I thought for my first save I would try and help Norwich avoid relegation.  I have been reading up all the info that I can from this site and other popular FM sites, along with YT videos, etc.

In fact, I can spend a whole evening just studying stuff, and not even get to a game.  Anyway, I have identified some Schoolboy errors in my gameplay which I'm hopefully correcting, but unfortunately I think it unlikely that I will manage to save Norwich this time around.   What I have noticed  though, is that whenever I see a screenshot of the PL in another Managers post, Norwich are generally in the bottom three.  It would be disappointing to learn that whatever I did, their fate had already been "programmed" in.  Hopefully this is not the case, and its just down to my learning and understanding of the game.

Would welcome any comments from the experienced Managers on here. 

 

Edited November 16, 2021 by Cmdr Christoff

[Zemahh]

Just avoid the trap of trying to play defensive football with lesser teams and you will be fine. 

[Cmdr Christoff]

Thanks for the reply Zemahh.  I've read alot of your excellent guides, and found them to be most helpful, so thankyou for that.

 

The funny thing is, I've just switched to a more Defensive strategy, so its back to the drawing board again.   

[grimbo88]

They were managed by the AI but stayed up in my save first season.

 

To be honest, you probably have to accept being destroyed by the top teams, any points against them are a bonus. Try and break the season down into winnable games, games you can get a point from and those likely to lose. Sounds simple but you need to aim for 4 points off each of the bottom 10. Always play the strongest team available in the winnable games, keeping players fresh for these can be worth an extra 5+ points.

 

For tactics and formations, that's up to you. I always try to play on the front foot with lots of passing. The more you change tactics, the less familiar they'll be with what you're trying to do which I feel is detrimental. You don't want to rely too much on trying to get a 1-0 though because Norwich aren't defensively the best, you're probably going to have to outscore opponents. 

 

I say this as someone who has won promotion at the first attempt with Blackpool, the media have made us 1000/1 to win the league. 19th and 18th 800/1, 17th 400/1. It's how how I'm targeting the season and have done on previous FM games.

[kevhamster]

3 hours ago, Cmdr Christoff said:

Hi,

Picked this wonderful game up when the Beta came out, and have been completely overwhelmed, but in a positive way.  The last Manager game I played was CM93!

Anyway, I thought for my first save I would try and help Norwich avoid relegation.  I have been reading up all the info that I can from this site and other popular FM sites, along with YT videos, etc.

In fact, I can spend a whole evening just studying stuff, and not even get to a game.  Anyway, I have identified some Schoolboy errors in my gameplay which I'm hopefully correcting, but unfortunately I think it unlikely that I will manage to save Norwich this time around.   What I have noticed  though, is that whenever I see a screenshot of the PL in another Managers post, Norwich are generally in the bottom three.  It would be disappointing to learn that whatever I did, their fate had already been "programmed" in.  Hopefully this is not the case, and its just down to my learning and understanding of the game.

Would welcome any comments from the experienced Managers on here. 

 

Just to clarify.... no team's fate is pre-determined.  The game simulates thousands of things, and this will be different in each save you play.

Some things will be far more likely than others, given things like squad strength, budgets and reputation and things like that.  So, for example, it is very much more likely that in any given save Norwich will end the first season in the relegation zone rather than European qualification places.  But, it doesn't mean that European qualification in the first season is impossible.

To give two very differing examples, in my two more memorable saves from FM21, Spurs had very different first seasons.  In one, they qualified for the Europa League, in the other they finished in 19th place and were relegated.  So, never think anything is pre-determined in FM, just some outcomes are far more likely than others.  Pretty much like real life in that regard!

Edited November 16, 2021 by kevhamster

[Mattias333]

Good to see someone taking on the challenge of my beloved Norwich. I am a season ticket holder for Norwich in real life (for my sins) but I generally never manage them on FM but I thought i'd give them a whirl this time because like you I wanted to know if I could save them. As a fan I would say they've really done a superb job researching norwich and making the players as accurate as possible.  I'm top half in my save in December. I spent my £10m budget on Jaime Seoane in centre mid (£2m), Luca Pelligrini at Left back (750k), Ezequiel Barco as a versatile attacking threat (£6.5m). Lastly when you start the save Mathias Normann is on loan. In real life he is our best player by a long long long way. The loan deal has a clause with a optional £10m fee...however I had an offer of £6.5m accepted. Bargain in my opinion. I sold Lukas Rupp for 4.5m as well as surplus. Tried to sell Kenny McLean and Zimmerman (6m each) but both failed to agree personal terms with the clubs who bid.

I've let so many goals in but i've just focused on trying to out score my rivals. For most part its working!