SEASON 8: THE RANDOM SEASON EPISODE 9: THE ART OF SURVIAVAL: HOW TO SURVIVE RELEGATION

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I’d like to make a guess that at least 90% of our readers are Soccermanagerites who’ve never considered managing a relegation threatening side since most of us are in it for the continuous winning of trophies.Therefore, I would like to introduce to you a very interesting approach towards your managerial career.

Now, it’s very easy to locate a team within any gameworld that has a lot of quality and turn into title contenders, however it’s EXTREMELEY challenging to locate an average team and aid thier pursuit of getting out of relegation. The main reason for this is because SM is not so nice with relegated teams as you will be in constant battle of trying to regain form, dealing with all of the stress and frustration that comes with winning one match, losing two, drawing the fourth, then winning the fifth, only to then go the next three without a victory…. This lack of consistency tends to drive the impatient out and result in them going back to seeking a title contending club.

At The SMB, we are aiming to create a tribe of resilient and tactically exceptional Soccermanagerites who laugh in the face of adversity. That is exactly why we will learn the fundamental steps on escaping relegation and potentially sky rocketing up the league after a few seasons. Now, there are some rules that we MUST adhere to in order for this survival triumph to be appreciated:

#1: NO SIGNINGS IN YOUR FIRST SEASON

The beauty about SMW is that no matter how many managers are in your gameworld, you’ll always be able to find payers who’ll make your relegation battle a bit easier to navigate. And if you truly want to become an expert at this game, you must fight the temptation to improve the quality of your club. You can brag all you want to your friends about how you’ve taken a team from 20th to 7th place after 25 matches in charge, but deep down you’d know that you’ve performed an entire squad renovation and it won’t seem that much of an accomplishment…

#2 DEFENSIVE TACTICS ARE YOUR BEST FRIEND

Not really a rule, but more like the best strategy to get out of that relegation scrap. Put simply, a relegation battle is all about who has the best defensive set up since no matter how many goals you score, if you always concede a bucket load of goals you will struggle to get points, period. Therefore, Here are some of the best defenisve approaches to consider in order to give yourself a fighting chance with the current crop of players at your disposal:

This should ideally be the custom mentality that you should consider starting with because when you’re at the bottom of the table you’re attacking players tend to struggle with form which means that your number one priority should be to have the meanest defence that you possibly can, and it starts with this Mentality
What incorporates a Defensive mentality is having some steel within your entire team, so you should basically ensure that you have at least 3 players in your starting X1 that has high ‘Strength’ and ‘Aggression’ attributes. What this does is to ensure that you can make the opposition have to work extremely hard to deal with the physical elements of the game. And since most top teams tend to build thier entire team up with a lot of flair type players, your physicality will be more beneficial. I would suggest against using an ‘Aggressive style of tackling because it is better equipped with playing a high pressing game.

Here are the most ideal formations to use for your pursuit:


The 4-5-1 will always remain one, if not the best, formation to use when playing in a relegation scrap or playing with a lesser rated team. The key for this is due to the fact that it beefs up the midfield to ensure that your opposition has a hard time breaking through, and with that much legs within the middle of the park, it ensures that your main F(C) has runners heading into the box so that he does not get isolated, as well as a lot of service being provided via the ‘Wingers’ and ‘Wingbacks’ (NEVER play a ‘Fullback’ within this formation!)
If your squad is like mines (#Sevilla) and has a decent amount of technical players, then you can consider using the 3-4-2-1 formation to get some creative prowess happening. The same principle applies: A defensive minded approach with some bite within the middle of the park, and with 3 D(C)’s, it makes your team even more difficult to break down
If you’re simply all about being a pragmatic style of manager who absolutely detests conceding goals and wants to be the toughest team to break down, then the 5-4-1 formation will be best formation for you to use as it ensures that you’ll always have a high level of defensiveness taking place within each of your matches. Now, bare in mind that it will be a bit tricky to score goals or even play an attacking game with this formation, but it is the pinnacle for the ultimate defensive masterclass. So, choose wisely soccermanagerite.

#3: NO MATTER WHAT, STAY THE COURSE!

This should’ve probably been the first rule since without this one the rest simply won’t matter. You’ll have to deal with the prospect of seeing yourself lower down the league and facing all of the mental backlash that will occur from seeing it week after week. The thing is, this is one of the best methods to truly see what you’re capable of as a manager. And as I’ve already mentioned, there will be a dip in form throughout the course of the season (especially if you stick to rule #1). But, if you stay the course, implement your defensively bias tactical approach and take things one game at a time, after the end of the campaign, seeing that 17th, 15th, or even 11th would bring about a true sense of accomplishment.

Until the next Soccermanagerites! ✌️🚶‍♂️

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