How to Win at Football Manager 2012 & Other Soccer Tactics / Analytics

1. Don't pick Man U or Real Madrid. Sure, you'll have the best team and loads of money, but the expectations will be sky high. Finish 3rd and you'll be fired. And even if you do win, how will you really feel about your 'success'.

2. Take a month off work. You won't succeed by playing 10 minutes here and there. You need to dedicate yourself to it full time. 24 hours a day. That's what a football manager does (or so we are told).

3. Eat and drink. Don't forget to eat and drink. Collapsing from dehydration in front of the screen is not winning in anyone's book.

4. Ignore the 'just one more game' syndrome. All of us, if we are honest, will admit to this. We have to go to bed/work/out but want to do one more thing, or buy one more player, so we don't do our usual research/tactics, etc. and just press 'GO', leaving our fate to the vagaries of the game engine. Then there it is, your 100% record is gone, a late deflection off an out of position player. So what do you do, press it again and the descent to crazy all-nighter has begun.

5. Don't co-manage. This doesn't work in real life, it doesn't work in Football Manager.

6. Don't pay over the odds. Chairmen these days are so fickle. They'll get their chequebook out and expect instant success. If you really think your team needs Totti, you may be right, but throwing 40 million at Roma and offering him 400,000 a week, just so you can brag to your friends is not going to get you the winners medal.

7. Don't listen to your friends. There are tales of unbelievable Argentinian 17 year olds who'll bang in 60 goals a season and will be happy to move from Boca Juniors to help you push Notts County up a division. These are lies at worst, or delusions at best. You won't find the magic bullet anymore than they do in the real world.

8. Don't rush. Give yourself a decent timeframe for staying in the job. After all, you've moved your family down to the new place and need to settle in. Don't be so keen to jump ship to the next big club before it is your time.

9. Invest in youth. Blood your youngsters gently. Don't throw them in for a full season or they'll be injured, or will get too big of a head. Instead, let them warm the bench and absorb your tactics while they are in their big coats.

10. Sensible formations. So you've always believed Carlton Palmer should have played centre forward. Great. But if you want to win, just stick to the basics. Real managers and winning managers don't go against the grain. Now if you need a goal to avoid relegation, a conservative 5-4-1 isn't going to do the trick, but don't go opening the season with a 2-3-1-1-1-3 it isn't going to work.

11. Meet the press. Always talk to the press, they'll keep you in a job if no-one else will.

12. Fines. While it may be amusing to fine your players for a poor performance, it probably hurts morale. We've all fined our number 9 for missing 3 chances, admit it, but we all know that didn't help us in the long run.

13. Beware stadium expansions. If your chairman suggests expanding the stadium, polish your resume. Where will you get the fund's for your next big signing?

I think there has never been more interest in tactics and it is interesting to read everyone's views on this team's plan and that team's plan. Sometimes you wonder if people are reading too much into the 'false nines', etc. and in fact Sir Alex just says "go out, score more goals than you let in and don't be silly".

How do you find Football Manager - does it give you the tactical flexibility you would like, or is it too rigid? Also, do you think your tactics make a difference, or is there always some random results through the season which remind you its only a game?

There has recently been an upsurge in the interest in soccer statistics, partly driven by the Moneyball movie. People are desperate to do a similar thing for football and find the killer stats which will show how the game can be won. Interestingly enough on Twitter you will find professional players brush off such 'facts' as being a preserve of crazy statisticians. However, with most big clubs having a staff of analysts tracking performance there must be some benefit to the practice. Ultimately, there is an element of luck and other extraneous factors which would seem to make soccer analytics less predictive than baseball or basketball.

However, some stats may be more telling than others, e.g. shot efficiency - how many goals from shot on target a striker gets is useful to know if he is putting the chances away on a regular basis or fluffing some.

I think the field will continue to develop and I wonder if in later versions of Football Manager, some of these more advanced stats will work there way in.