I’ve decided to make a central area for some hints and tips we’ve picked up on our journey through CM9798. On this page you’ll find top players, the best formations and some other tips.

Tactics

We trialled some formations in the summer of 2017, my absolute favourite was the 2-3-1-2-2 which I use in the Aberdeen save. You’ll notice the constant in a lot of these formations is playing with a direct style, which is also the case in the 4-2-3-1 which was also very good.

We had unprecedented success using a narrow 4-4-2 diamond with Aston Villa but to date that seems like a fluke. If you want to keep it simple, my go to formation is always 5-3-2, it’s probably the most balanced formation and was in style at the time the game was released. Your midfielder in the centre of the three will have a small forward run, if you’re using the formations as listed on the tactics screen, and my advice for that player is that you have somebody with good heading. I have no idea why but it works.

Players

The mistake I made in the Community XI was including the top players like Ronaldo and Zidane. We all know they are good. Here’s my selection of must have bargains

John Curtis (CB, £2m) – Starts in Man Utd’s youth team but can never get a game. You’ll possibly be able to loan him in season one and buy him shortly thereafter. Depending on his contract he may be much cheaper than £2m but he will go on to captain England.

Bjorn Heidenstrom (CB/CM, £50k) – Friend of the blog Bjorn Heidenstrom starts at Leyton Orient and his value will fluctuate depending on his contract situation, but you can usually pick him cheaply in the first season. He’s a must have if you’re in the lower leagues but will also do a job at a higher level. Takes a mean penalty.

Erik Nevland (CF, £1m) – Goal machine! Basically any of Man Utd’s youth players are worth snapping up. Nevland will be available after season one.

Andrew Duncan (CB, Free) – Discarded by Man Utd in the off season, Duncan is a promising centre half who can be picked up for free. Definitely one for the lower leagues but can certainly improve.

Anthony Betterton (GK, Free) – A freebie keeper who will do a good job for you, again in the lower leagues though.

Andrew Mainwaring (CF, £5k) – Plays for ‘Non-League’ and can be signed for £5k. Will improve with game time and did a decent job for me at Barnsley in the Premier League once, so provided you aren’t a European giant you don’t need to panic (sorry).

Graeme Tomlinson (CF, Free) – Another discarded by Man Utd and available for free. Sign him, play him, enjoy him. Similar to Mainwaring, certainly one for the lower leagues and will do a job in the higher tiers.

Tommy Svindal Larsen (CM, £500k) – I think he was dumbed down a bit in the patch but this has been unproven. Cult hero, icon. Can also play out on the left, if you are Souness.

See Also: Dida (GK), Evar Moas (CB), Kieron Dyer (D/M RL), Marcus Purk (CF), Phil Mulryne (AM LC), Martin Lauchlan (DM LC), Alex Martin (CF), Billy MacDonald (DMC), John Ritchie (CF), Robert Dunn (M/FC), Neil Alexander (GK), everybody’s favourite Icelandic re-gen (DM/FC – wait one season, let the real one retire then pounce).

General Tips

Data Editor – A lot of fun can be had with the data editor, not in a cheating sense but in terms of looking at potential abilities and re-adding old players (Cantona, Lineker). I wrote a guide to the data editor here

Manage a National Team – It’s actually possible to manage any national team and not just those represented by the leagues you can play as. I wrote a comprehensive guide for that here

Big Club Release – We’ve all fallen victim to the big club release clause, but you can get past it by listing your players with the clause for loan. You’ll have to do this straight away or the board will veto it once they become important. Might not work forever but you’ll end up with well over the asking price rather than the tribunal fee.

Re-gens – Find an old player and bid for them on July 15th before the game updates. If the player retires, your bid will carry over to the re-gen. Some re-gens are easier to find than others, best way to do that is to look at young players in a certain position of a certain nationality. For example, the likes of Chilavert’s re-gen will be easy to find as there aren’t loads of young Paraguayan goalkeepers, or Luis Enrique’s because there won’t be many outfield players who can play every outfield position. Players on your shortlist never retire.

Greatest Team

The Community XI (below) was looking a little bit dated, so in October 2018 we ran a series of polls to find the Greatest CM9798 Team. Here it is or you can follow the link to see all of the nominees:

Community XI

Back when the blog first started in 2015, I asked you all to nominate your ultimate players and then we had a vote on it. After 2 months of voting and nominating, here is the team you’ve selected. The nominations and results are below:

[15/6/2015] Click here for the striking options – You voted Ronaldo (25%) and Ibrahima Bakayoko (22%) as your front two.

[1/6/2015] Click here to have a look at the central midfielders – You picked Zinedine Zidane (24%) and Bjorn Heidenstrom (15%) as your midfield pairing.

[25/5/2015] Click here to check out the left sided midfielders – 47% of you went for Rivaldo

[18/5/2015] Click here for right sided midfielder options – 38% of you chose Luis Figo.

[11/5/2015] Click here to see the centre back category – you voted Mark Iuliano (38%) and Martin Djetou (15%) as your centre half pairing

[4/5/2015] Click here to review the left back vote – 43% of you picked Paolo Maldini

[27/4/2015] Click here for the right back nominees – Javier Zanetti was your choice with 41% of the votes

[20/4/2015] Click here to see the best goalkeepers CM97/98 has to offer – Mickael Landreau won the spot with 42% of the votes