Top Eleven has just been updated for the 2016-17 season, and you may be wondering about this game if you haven’t played it yet. In case you haven’t, this game comes to us from Nordeus, and it’s available for both Android and iOS devices, just like previous iterations. This is the mobile version of a game that had first made its mark among Facebook gamers, and considering its beginnings, this is one of those football/soccer games that involve “real players” (note the quotation marks), and not real-life players. Create your own team, compete with managers and teams from all around the world, choose your own jerseys based on those from real-life leagues, and rise up the rankings while taking good care of your team, placing them in the right positions and playing the transfer wire for potential additions, among other things.
Although this game doesn’t include any players or teams from the real world of association football, it does offer quite a realistic experience of how it’s like to run a club. It’s not just roster decisions you need to take into account here; you will be handling all the relevant aspects of managership. And that’s why we’ve put together a detailed Top Eleven 2017 strategy guide, where we talk about the different things you need to do in order to achieve success in the game.
1. Getting Started
When getting started in the game, the first thing you need to do is to choose the name of your club. You’ll get the default team, which is essentially a lineup full of scrubs with seemingly little promise, though if you played Top Eleven 2016, you can import a team from a previous game so you don’t have to start out at the bottom. You also have the option to change the name of your club’s stadium once you’re at the Ground section.
As a bonus tip, don’t use any name that may sound too offensive – it’s just better form that way.
2. Take Note Of Your Players’ Preferred Positions
The next thing you have to do is to set up your formations. And when doing this, you should always make sure that everyone is playing in their desired positions and sides. This is a classic football management mechanic that definitely applies in this game; an attacking midfielder who could play the right or left side won’t do well if he’s up front in the middle as a striker, or even as a center midfielder. But there are several players who have multiple preferred positions, so that should give you a lot of wiggle room to shuffle players around. Just watch out for that yellow exclamation mark, as that means a player isn’t playing at their preferred position, and may not play as well as he normally would.
When it comes to the best formations in the game, there really is no right or wrong answer here. It would all depend on your own personal preferences, as well as the makeup of your team. Generally, you should be working around your team’s strengths, but it doesn’t really matter whether you prefer an attacking, defensive, or balanced formation.
3. Who Should You Choose As Your Captain And Set Piece Takers?
Go to the Squad section in the game, and tap the green arrow found at the bottom right corner. This will allow you to choose your set piece takers (free kicks, penalties, etc.), as well as your team captain. For the former, it goes without saying that you should match roles with set pieces; for example, go with attacking midfielders for the free kicks, and go with a striker to shoot your penalties. Left set pieces should be taken by someone who favors the left side, with the opposite applying to the right side.
When choosing a team captain, look at the player’s overall star rating; that’s usually a sign that they have more experience, and would have the best effect on your squad due to their experience and leadership. Make sure that you’ve got your share of backups for set pieces and team captain, in case someone gets injured, sent off, or substituted.
4. Always Scout Your Opponents Beforehand
Before heading into a match with an opponent, you should be scouting them to check for their strong points and weak points as a team, best players, weak links on the starting lineup, etc. Go to the home menu, tap on Match Preview, then tap on your opponent’s badge, and you’ll get all the information you need to do some scouting on the other team. And if you need to check for the players’ individual star ratings, tap on the Squad panel to get a list of individual player ratings, and their usual formation/desired position as well.
5. Tweak Your Strategy Depending On The Opponent
Having a general strategy is one thing, but you also should be thinking of fine-tuning your strategy and changing it up depending on what you see when scouting the opponent. Focus your attacks on a given flank if the left defense of the opponent is weak, or vice versa. Use a defensive strategy to counter an aggressive offense, particularly those that allow you to counter-attack. And change things up likewise depending on the strengths of your opponent.
If you’ve got a cupcake opponent, or a particularly weak team in other words, try to score some early goals on them by playing offensively. That should help you put the game out of reach as early as the first half. Use Man to Man Marking or High Pressing Style when facing a tougher opponent, and change your offensive strategy as needed. Also, have enough substitutes on hand, and maintain a deep bench if you’re using a strategy that eats into a player’s energy.
You can also change strategies in the middle of a match, such as switching to an attacking strategy if you’re tied with the match at the risk of ending up as a draw. Going offensive also helps if you’re behind, though the pitfall here is that you may be fair game for the opponent’s counter-attacking strategies, if applicable. Get more defensive if you’re in the lead, focusing on possession and less on goal-scoring.
6. Replace Players Who Are In Bad Form
You can monitor your players’ ratings in real-time during a match, and that should allow you to make the necessary adjustments during the game. That means substituting anyone who’s got a match rating of six or lower; they may be able to recover and end up with a strong game, but it’s better safe than sorry – oftentimes, you’ll have to yank them if they’re playing poorly.
7. Sub Players Who Are In Poor Condition
The next tip is to closely monitor the condition of your squad and its members. Try not to start anyone whose condition is at 90 percent or less, and if you do, expect them to get tired faster than the rest of your team. Be careful that their condition bar never turns orange, as leaving them in despite fatigue could easily lead to injury.
8. Check The Preparation Level Before Matches
Aside from scouting, you should also be making sure that your team is prepared for a match. Check the Preparation Level on the home menu; you would normally want this to be showing as Superb. If it isn’t, then tap on the “I” icon so the game can tell you what you need to do to be even more prepared. This may, for instance, mean that your squad needs to rest and recharge. That’s where your Rests come in – as experienced Top Eleven players know, this allows players to instantly recover from their fatigue and return to 100 percent condition. If you don’t have Rests, you can send in some substitutes and promote them to the starting lineup for the meantime.
Speaking of managing your lineup, another reason for lack of preparation may be subpar morale. Players with poor morale will underperform for you, and you don’t want that to happen when you know they can be doing so much better. Set aside your players with poor morale and see if offering them a bonus could improve their mood. This is a good option if you have cash to burn, as it could instantly motivate your players to forget their issues for the sake of the team.
9. Train Your Squad Ahead Of A Match
There’s also the issue of training that you have to consider before heading into a match. In fact, you should make sure your players are trained well before the match kicks off, as that would allow your players to gain more condition points, thus making them more ready for a game. Tap on the Physio Center within the Training section to see how long you’ll be waiting before your players are game-ready. Also be sure you have your players run three full training sessions prior to each match for best results. That should allow them to improve their focus, though you should also be choosing the right type of activity, and not just the first three activities you see. And that’s something we shall be tackling in our very next tip.
10. How To Choose Training Activities
When it comes to choosing training activities, it isn’t just the kinds of activities, but also the order; if you want to maximize training benefits, both are equally important. Now this may be something you’ll have to pick up through experience, through trial and error and seeing which training regimen in which order works for you the best. Still, the game will tell you how good your regimen was, after the end of each training session.
Your mileage may vary, but we’ve heard reports that Warm-Up/Counter-Attack/Passing is a good combo, and one that works quite well for any kind of team.
11. Be Sure You’re Running Training Activities Smartly
There’s even more to learn about training than the stuff we told you about above. There are some training activities that would work well with one position, but be absolutely useless for another. To cite a couple obvious examples, you don’t want ticking your strikers in sessions designed to improve goalkeeping skills, and you don’t want keepers trying to improve their goal scoring.
Keep on training your players, as the more you train, the more activities can be unlocked as your training level increases. Gaining training levels also allows you to spot some of your squad’s primary weaknesses or areas for improvement. Have a keeper who’s allowing too much goals, or strikers who can’t provide you much offense? Those things can eventually be spotted, and likewise be remedied through smart and regular training.
12. Ask Your Coach For Advice
We wouldn’t really call it a cheat per se, as it’s right out there in the open. But it’s an option that could make all the difference in the world, and decide whether you win or lose the match in certain situations. Top Eleven 2017 allows you to consult your coach for advice, simply by tapping the rotating icons found on top of your screen. That will allow your coach to “whisper” the right thing to do, and while that won’t guarantee you the win, at least you can be assured that you’re employing the right strategy.
13. How To Play The Transfer Market Properly
When working the transfer scene, you will have to bid on players in an auction-style system. Given that fact, you won’t know how many rounds there will be in an auction; it could last only a few rounds if the player you’re bidding on doesn’t have too many suitors among other teams, or it could last a good many if he’s one of the more desired free agents on the market. The trick here, as usual, is to buy low and sell high in as much as possible.
Speaking of selling, you can earn more money by selling players whom you no longer need. It is also possible to sell your players to football agents; as this is a quick-fix solution that results in an instant sale, you won’t get much money, but at least you’re guaranteed of earning money through the sale.
14. Should You Hire A Scout?
Now you may also want to add a good scout to your team, and having good scouting does help improve your chances of snaring talented players at given positions. This could work out fantastic if your acquisition turns out to be a top goal scorer, defender, goalie, or whatnot. If you can afford it, then hire a scout by all means.
15. Managing Your Facilities
Running a football team isn’t all about managing your lineup before and during games, or buying and selling players to make your team better. It also means running the buildings and facilities around you, including, and starting with your stadium. Since you can only build one structure at a time, where should you start when it comes to buying new facilities?
We would suggest starting with a training facility, then moving on to build a medical facility to assist in the recovery of injured players. Next, move on to parking, which would allow more fans to attend your games, and more revenue to trickle into your coffers. You should also consider opening a Youth Academy at the soonest possible time, as it would help you groom young players who could eventually replace the older ones. Those youngsters can also be sold in the transfer market for lofty prices, should you be in need of some quick cash.
16. Add Extra Seats And Upgrade Your Pitch
Aside from opening new facilities, you will, of course, have to upgrade them accordingly. Once you reach capacity and draw tons of fans, you should add extra seats, and if you notice those injuries piling up, you may also want to upgrade your pitch to reduce the chance of players getting hurt. The Stadium tool, on the other hand, allows you to upgrade your stadium altogether, allowing your team to move to a larger stadium that can hold more fans and comes with better facilities.
17. How To Earn More Money Through Sponsorships And Ticket Sales
Top Eleven 2017 also allows you a few more ways to earn money for your squad. For TV Rights, you can start out with the stock Nordeus deal, which will reward you with one token per day. The OH2 deal, on the other hand, earns you even more per day, and that could be worth looking into if you’re planning to play this game a lot. For Sponsorships, you will again start with the Nordeus deal, which is worth 600k, and worth a lot of cash that you can use in the transfer market; there are also other, better deals that you may also want to look into. Lastly, choosing the right balance when pricing your tickets is important; you may be tempted to raise prices if you’re in dire financial straits, but that may lead to less fan support. Usually the best time to raise prices would be when your stadium reaches capacity.
And this ends our detailed guide for Top Eleven 2017. Do you know more tips and tricks for the game? Drop us a line in the comment section below!
AHMED
Monday 5th of December 2016
what ticket prizes should i choose ?