The Hidden Messages.

First of all you, before you are even the manager of Liverpool, you should probably set your past experience to ‘International Footballer’ so the fans will be ‘Cautiously optimistic of your appointment’, and also this make sure you have you have the confidence of your own players and possible future transfers.

Now you have taking the Liverpool hot seat you are expected to take the club on to big and better things.You will also receive a message from the new chairman George Gillette; this message will be one of two possible things. The first one, and probably the better one will be telling you that the board have full confidence in you; this will most probably give you more control in terms of board requests and buying players. The other one could be telling you that he wants to see a few big name players too boost the club profile; the positive about this message is that, in the future, the chairman is more likely to pump more money into the club. If the chairman does want to see some big name players arrive then it is probably best to do it, why? Because this will keep him happy, therefore being more lenient with your results, more happy to accept board requests and will probably keep the fans happy as well.

Board Requests.

So, Mr Gillette has just told you he wants some high profile players to join, in this case you should request to improve training facilities, which is always accepted, and a feeder club. Make sure you get a Belgian feeder club to avoid work permits, however, if you are unlucky and do not get a choice of a Belgian club, reject all of them and wait until you can apply for a feeder club again.
 What if Mr Gillette decides he has full confidence in you? Then do exactly the same as above but this time apply to improve youth facilities as well, which most of time gets accepted. Restrain from persistently requesting things as this will anger the board, therefore having less patient with you.

Scouting Network.

One of the most improved aspects in football manager is scouting. A big club like Liverpool with no scouting restrictions and money to buy scouts should definitely take advantage of this.
First of all, you have four scouts and should look to sign four more. To find the best scouts use your assistant manager to filter unrealistic targets. Judging potential and ability are the most important attributes and tactical knowledge is vital if you want a scout to scout your next opposition effectively. I suggest you get a scout who knows his way around South America, as that is where a lot of the young, cheap talent can be found.
How to scout effectively; send your scouts to competitions such as under 18 and reserve leagues. Also get your scouts to look at lower divisions; you never know where the next Steven Gerrard is going to pop up. Another useful technique is to highlight the whole of an international under 21 side and get your scout to scout all of them. Remember to always get your scout to assess them twice to get a more detailed report.

Transfers Out.

If you want to, you don’t have to get rid of anyone. But if George Gillette’s 25 million isn’t enough for you then you should try and maybe offload some players.
Bolo Zenden, can’t seem him getting into midfield with the quality of Alonso, Gerrard, Sissoko and Javier. Offer him to clubs for 3.2 mil but settle for 2.8 mil.
Dudek is a good back up keeper, but if you do sell him you can recall Carson as back up. Offer to clubs for 2.0 mil and settle for 1.8 mil.
They are the obvious transfers out, and as for the rest of your team, you don’t really need to sell anyone. However, teams always come in for Riise and if you do need to sell, try and get 11 mil. Chelsea always come in for Sissoko but they never want to go over his estimated value, only should be sold to them as a last resort for extra funds. Maybe in real life Carragher would be an indispensable asset, but in Football Manager he is not even rated as one of the best in the premiership. Still a good player to keep and should not be sold unless desperate, 15 mil.

Transfers In.

Finnan, one of Liverpool’s best players. Sadly, SI does not rate him so highly and should probably end up as your second choice right back. I recommend two players, Daniel Alves or C.Zaccardo. Zaccardo is a great bargain and the most you would have to pay for him would be 4.5 mil, he is sound defensively and a good crosser. Alves, on the other hand could set you back up to 10 mil. However he is a great pacey full back who can defend and attack.
With Harry Kewell out for the majority of the season, you may need a left winger.
Downing is fantastic in FM and would cost at the most 11.5 mil. Martin Petrov, probably not as good as Downing, but can improve. Explosive winger with explosive skill and one hell of a free kick, 5.75 mil.
If you are looking for a world class striker, look no further than Luca Toni, who if you negotiate right, you can get as cheap as 13 mil.

Transfers Tips.

Do not declare you are interested in signing a player as the selling club will raise their price for him.
Be patient, always bid for a player below or his same estimated value and if rejected, raise the bid by 0.5 mil or less depending on the circumstances, if rejected again, just keep on repeating the process until they accept or until their player becomes unhappy.
Look out for clubs who have insecure finances or have just spent a lot of money on one player, often they will accept lower bids.
Remember not to sign too many players during one transfer window, and if you cant help yourself, try and space them out. Players need time to gel with a new team, especially players from abroad.
Offering players to other clubs may upset them, you may get away with it once but usually the second time they get upset.
If you do not want to risk upsetting them at all, just change you asking prices for them and hopefully clubs will bid for them.

Tactics.

Like most premiership clubs, the most obvious formation to use is a 4-4-2 system. However, with Liverpool this could be slightly altered, with one midfielder dropping to make a 4-1-3-2 formation. This defensive midfielder would preferably be Alonso, although he can sit back and dictate the tempo; he also gives freedom for Gerrard to go roaming forward. However in the absence of Alonso, Javier Mascharano is another quality defensive player maker but probably the next best thing would be a hard- working Sissoko. Although Sissoko lacks the creative spark that Javier and Xabi claim, he is one of the best defensive midfielders in the game due to his fantastic athleticism and top class defensive abilities. Resist pushing the defence up to high because Carragher and Hypia do lack pace. Although Gerrard can be effective on the right, he is best in the middle, do not give him a free role just let him be creative and attacking and he will score and assist plenty. When you play Garcia, whether it is on the left or the right or even upfront, let him have a free role and he will pop up with a lot of goals. Kuyt and Crouch are not fast strikers and if you prefer them to Bellamy then you should use Crouch as a target man and Kuyt occasionally with that role depending who he will be up against. With that strike force, you should look to play a direct style of play encouraging the team to get wide and the ball down the flank as much as possible. However if you do decide Bellamy should start, then you could still look to play the target man with Bellamy making runs off of Crouch/Kuyt.

Obviously this is just one formation and with Liverpool’s wide range of Defensive midfielders you could look to play one upfront, two wide men, Gerrard the attacking midfielder and Alonso and Sissoko/Javier in the whole. In other words, 4-2-1-2-1.
Depending on the different mentality you play this formation, it will act as a 4-5-1 or 4-3-3. There is also the classic Rafa tactic, 4-2-3-1, two defensive midfielder and three attacking midfielders. This tactic can work, but you have to be pretty clever to master it.


Make sure you let your players get use to your formation during the friendly match’s and don’t tamper with your tactics too much even if things are not exactly going to plan, often it only a small thing holding the team back.

I hope this guide helped.
Good luck with your Managerial Career at Liverpool.