LTFC .... I did exactly what you are trying to do, started with my own made up ML team, with the default players, a measly bank balance, low gate receipts and everything else.
I am now 13 seasons in and reguarly in the champions league, with a bank balance over £100 million.
I can only give a few pointers as to what has worked for me along the way so here goes:
- The early stages are hard, the defaults are shit, and as blunt as it sounds the first and foremost key to building your club is success on the pitch, you need to get results.
- With Transfers, i sold a few defaulters, Shimizu, Ettori et al, and in the early stages either signed loan players, or promoted from within the youths
- After promoting youths, some of them develop very quickly and will easily be better than the defaults and give that little extra oomph you need in key positions (depending on training schedule)
- get your training schedule sorted, this is KEY to developing players.
focus on speed, technique, strategy, and always condition a day or 2 before a game.
- Sign a decent Striker, whether he is opromoted and developed from the youths, a loan or a cash signing, you need a player who has a good shot on him.
- Check the transfer list reguarly, on the 1st Jan look for all 15-19yr olds out of contract, and on the 1st Feb, search through all the free agents as players would have left clubs after the Jan window.
You can pick up some bargains here.
- Check the list of targets as this is a list of players that are likely to agree a move to your club, so a higher chance of signing them.
Dont be afraid to sign some veterans, they will improve your squad and can often be sold on at a decent price
- Dont play too direct, work the space, create openings, pull the CPU team around, just like real life. taking route 1 to goal often leaves you frustrated.
- Track CPU runners, its not always the ball carrier that can do the damage. Use secondary press here to jockey the ball carrier and track the forward runs.
Try and maintain a regular first 11 - rotating players often or piling in lots of new signings will just impact on your teamwork,and equilibrum as a unit.
- Map alternate formations/strategies to the other buttons so you can quickly swap to a 5-4-1 defensive line up if you need to protect a lead, or switch to a 3-4-3 if you need a goal back.
- Use the R3 off the ball runs - Great for corners and sending forwards running through.
Once you start to pick up results it gets so much easier, get promoted to the prem and you'll be pulling in around £1 million per home game, Europa league matches around £2.3 million per home game and Champions League over £3 million per game.
If need be play on regular until you get promoted then step it up.
and of course, when money allows, investing in better coaches, scouts etc will only improve things.
As will increasing your marketing budget (higher merchandise, better sponsors etc) andinvesting in youth team will see much higher caliber players come through the ranks.
Have a few tips and tricks articles up on my site here:
PESUltra
Hope that helps a bit and keep us posted on how you do.
His team lost the grand final here recently.
