Newbie Guide to Manager Mode

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FIFA 2008
Playstation 2
Newbie Guide to Manager Mode
By Lewis Butterfield

Contents

Basic

0.1- Overview
0.2- Configuration
0.3- Leagues
0.4- Stadiums
0.5- Third Kit Unlockables

Manager Mode

0.1- Starting Up & Choosing Your Team
0.2- Transfers
0.3- Young Players
0.4- Scouting
0.5- Other Information

I will say now, this is not the most advanced guide you will ever see. You�re not
going to be looking at 15 pages of players, what accessories you should buy for
your PS2, or a huge list of skills. This walkthrough isn�t aimed at game play, or
how you should play the game; that�s up to you. How you pass, shoot, take
players on; it�s all up to you. Everyone has their own unique way of playing
FIFA, and that�s what makes it so great. I will however give some information
about the game, including the leagues, stadiums and balls, just so you know what
you�re buying.

0.1- Overview

The following is taken from the official FIFA 2008 website. I didn�t see the point
of posting an overview, when I could just use the guys that made it � after all,
their overview will be better than anyone�s. To avoid any form of plagiarism, here
is a direct link to the overview.
(http://www.fifa08.ea.com/uk/DynPage.aspx?id=6212&mn1=4007)

0.2- Configuration

Default Configuration

Attacking
X � Pass
Circle � Shoot
Square - Cross
Triangle � Through Ball
R1 � Sprint
L1 � Make a run

Defensive
Circle � Soft tackle
Square � Slide/Aggressive tackle
Triangle � Bring out the goalkeeper (Hold)
R1 � Sprint
L1 � Change Player

The D-Pad can be used for tactics, e.g. Wing Play, Offside Trap, Counter Attack.

Of course you can change the button config, but unless you�re a Pro Evo Player
(Loooooseerrr), you shouldn�t really need to.

0.3- Leagues

FIFA 08 has all the biggest leagues in the world, 30 to be exact. This means you
can plays as pretty much any team from any major division in the world. Of
course it doesn�t have the Division 3 League from Zimbabwe, but on a realistic
note, every league that you want to play � will be in this game. If the league isn�t
on the game, you will most likely find your desired team in the �Rest Of World�
category. Below is a list of them all.
Australian A-League
Austrian Bundesliga
Belgian Jupiler League
Brazilian Campeonato Brasileiro
Czech Gambrinus Liga
Danish Superligaen
Dutch Eredivisie
English Premier League
English Championship
English League One
English League Two
French Ligue 1
French Ligue 2
German Bundesliga 1
German Bundesliga 2
Irish Premier Division
Italian Serie A
Italian Serie B
Korean K-League
Mexican Primera Divisi�n
North American MLS
Norwegian Tippeligaen
Polish Ekstraklasa
Portuguese Liga
Scottish Premier League
Spanish Primera Divisi�n
Spanish Segunda Divisi�n
Swedish Allsvenskan
Swiss Super League
Turkish Super League

Rest of World Teams

AC Lugano
AEK Athens
Arka Gdynia
Boca Juniors
Chaux-De-Fonds
FC Lausanne
Fortaleza
G�rnik ??czna
Kaizer Chiefs
Mamelodi FC
Olympiacos CFP
Orlando Pirates
PAOK
Pogo? Szczecin
Polonia Warszawa
Ponte Preta
River Plate
Santa Cruz
Sao Caetano
Wis?a P?ock
Classic XI
World XI

Of course you can create your own team, and if you choose to do so, that team
will go in the �Rest of World� category.

0.4- Stadiums

Allianz Arena
Anfield
BayArena
Camp Nou
Delle Alpe
Emirates
Stadio Azteca
Stadio De Las Artes
Mestalla
Vicente Calder�n
HSH Nordbank Arena
Millennium Stadium
Old Trafford
Olympiastadion
Parc des Princes
San Siro
Signal Iduna Park
St James' Park
Stade de Gerland
Stade Velodrome
Stadio Olimpico
Stamford Bridge
Veltins-Arena
Wembley Stadium

There are also 4 other stadiums, used for lower league games.

0.5- Third Kit Unlockables

Bayern Munich
Chelsea
Galatasaray
Hamburger SV
Liverpool
Marseille
Milan
Newcastle
Real Madrid
River Plate
Schalke
America
Arsenal
Barcelona
Borussia Dortmund
Bordeaux
Celtic
Charlton
Corinthians
Everton
Porto
Juventus
Lyon
Manchester City
Manchester United
Olympiakos
Palermo
PSG
Deportivo
Real Betis
Sevilla
SK Brann
Sochaux
Tottenham
Toulouse
Udinese
Werder Bremen

You can also unlock Balls from the Shop.

That�s it for the basic stuff, now onto the Manager Mode�

Manager Mode

0.1- Starting Up

First thing�s first, create your manager. You don�t need guiding through this, just
chose what he looks like and his name. You can then pick a team from any
country. You are limited to a 4 star team to begin with, so it�s up to you � either
chose a 4 star team, which is easily capable of winning the league on Professional.
Alternatively, you can start small and work your way up through the leagues. So
here�s a few teams I would recommend, which should be good for whatever you
want to do.

Recommended four star teams

Tottenham Hotspur � Good bank balance, excellent youngsters. (See 0.4 for a list
of good youngsters). Within a season, you could be a four and a half star team.
Very good team for staying with for a long period of time.
Atletico Madrid � The Spanish version of Spurs. Some brilliant players with a
good foundation. A few good youngsters, and a decent bank balance.

Celtic � If you want to win trophies straight away, it should be easy to dominate
the Scottish League and Cups. Just like in real life, they�re streets ahead of
everyone else, with a small threat from Rangers. It�s the equivalent to having a 5
star team in the Premier League

Bordeaux � Some good plays like Micoud and Chamack, and a good bank
balance in order to bring others in. You should be aiming for the top two in your
first season, as Lyon are very strong.

Recommended small teams

It doesn�t matter to be honest. I�d recommend picking a league 2 favourite, such
as MK Dons or Grimsby. Alternatively, pick a league one favourite like Leeds or
Swansea.

Sponsors

If you chose a big club, make sure you pick a sponsor with big bonuses. Big clubs
don�t need funding per game; it�s the tournaments that matter. This works vice-
versa. If you�re a small club, make sure you chose a sponsor with a high funding
per game. Its unlikely you�re going to win the FC Cup if you�re a league 2 team,
so don�t bother with the bonuses.

Pre-Season Friendlies

Pick strong teams and test your abilities. There�s no point picking a rubbish team
that you�re going to destroy, they don�t get to keep their goals or anything, so its
worthless. Rotate your squad, try and use all your players and give them a good
workout. This way you�ll be able to see which players perform against strong
opposition, and also what you should be expecting when you play big teams.

Office
(Taken from the official FIFA site)
Here�s a list of everything in the Office and what it means:
Calendar � main source about all matches dates. Also, it�s training programmer
base.
Scouting � you can send your club scout to watch for young players.
Youth Academy � If one of youngsters shows a great deal of potential, the coach
will inform you as quick as possible. Contracting is completely free, just offer him
a nice contract.
Staff Upgrades � increasing club quality.
Sponsor Details � sponsorship contract insight.
Manager History � your activity archive.
Financial Prediction � Thanks to the prediction, you can change tickets price.
Fans will pay more if team force meets expectations.
Board Expectations � Your season targets.
0.2- Transfers

When making transfers, don�t just look at the overall skill. Of course, the higher it
is the better, but it doesn�t tell the full story. Make sure you look at Age and Price.
There�s no point signing someone fairly old (In footballing terms) for a high price.
If you see a 19 year old that�s 75-80 skill, you automatically think �WOW�. But if
he�s priced fairly low (2-5 million), it�s likely that he will have a poor growth rate.
This means he won�t improve much over the years, which is the whole reason
you buy youngsters in the first place. The best thing to do regarding transfers is
look for a young player who has quite a high value, as he will have a good growth
rate. Another thing � Play skill is sometimes inaccurate. For example, it will say a
play is 85 overall, but when you sign him; he�ll rocket up to 95 or something.
Giovanni dos Santos was 87 when I bought him, and he shot up to 97. This is
where scouting comes in, see 0.5 of this guide.

Alternatively, of course, look at the Free Agents list. I�d try to avoid the transfer
list as much as possible. Those plays are on that list because they�re not
performing, and because they�re decreasing in skill/value. The free agents is a
great place to get brilliant players for free.

0.3- Young Players

I�ll avoid giving a big explanation, because this ties in with scouting, so for a
more advanced explanation, see 0.5.

Below is a list of players you should be looking to sign, depending on your budget
obviously.

Bojan Krkic
Lulinha
Giovani dos Santos
Alexandre Pato
Aaron Lennon
Adel Taaraabt
Micah Richards
Gareth Bale
Scott Carson
Sergio Ramos
Samir Nasri
Diego
Joao Moutinho
Anderson
Pallardo
Aguero
Jesus Navas
Marcelo Moreno
Theo Walcott
Karim Benzema
Ben Arfa
Higuain
Scouting

Scouting is the best feature on FIFA 2008. You can find some unbelievable
talents on here, which you wouldn�t be able to find on the transfer pages. First
thing to do, don�t blow your budget on players, increase your scout to level
10.This way he will spot talent better, faster. Some players that I�ve found by
using scouts have peaked at 99. Have a look at their growth rate to decide
whether they�re a keeper. Only take the player, if they are under 20, unless they
already have brilliant stats. Make sure you use scouts properly, as you will have a
big advantage.

And that�s it I think� enjoy Manager Mode!

Created by Lewis Butterfield (Viva La Vida � SuperCheats.com)