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Championship Manager 2 is a football (known as soccer to some of you)
management simulation computer game. This game allows you to take on
the job of managing a football team and gives you all the options a
real life manager would have - such as a buying and selling players
in a world wide transfer market, choosing tactics, formations and
styles of play.
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Team Formations
An almost infinite amount of formations can be used (if you like silly
re all possible). Each player being able to be placed in five
positions across the field ( left, center left, central, center right,
,support and attack. It is even possible to place your goalkeeper up
front in one last ditched Higuita/Schmeichel style attempt for an all
attack.
There are 15 pre set team formations to choose from ranging from
Ultra Defensive to All Out Attack and you can of course customize
any of these formations.
The team formation can be changed at any point during the match (and
between matches and you will be warned if the opposition team makes
a change in tactics and you can look at their tactics screen and take
counter measures).
The placing of players in a formation is easily done by using the
mouse to drag the players name on to a representation of the football
pitch and into the position you want him to play.
Player Runs
Each player can be given instructions on the type of runs he should
be making during the match. This is done from the same screen as
the team formation by using the right mouse button to draw an arrow
from the player to where he should be running. So for example if you
want wing back type players then you can draw an arrow from the full
backs right down the length of the pitch and this will instruct that
player to make runs down the side of the field to put crosses in etc.
Some of the pre-set formations as mentioned above will also include
the type of runs the players would make in these type of formations.
Playing Styles
There are three types of playing styles you can instruct your team
to use:
(Long Ball): This is where the ball is hit long and high up front
into zones as oppose to any target man. Even if the defenders win the
ball, the advancing midfielders and strikers are quick to close down
possession and try and win back the ball. A lot of the lower division
teams would employ this style of play, sometimes known as a
'percentage game'.
(Passing): This is where the team would build up the play by short
passing movements. Examples of this style would be Liverpool,
Newcastle, and Notts Forest.
(Direct): This is where the ball is played from the back to the
forward players, without necessarily being passed through the
midfield. This differs from Long Ball, in that passes are aimed at
particular players (e.g. a target man), rather than just booted into
areas. Examples of teams playing this style are Blackburn and
Everton.
Obscure Features of CM2
This section covers those features which may not be covered by the
manual or the README.TXT file and which may have gone unnoticed by
you. So read on and you may discover some more useful features of the
game.
Right Mouse Button: Clicking on Done using the right mouse button when
in the main menu will advance the calendar on a daily basis as opposed
to using the left mouse button which will generally advance the
calendar to your next fixture. This will be helpful when you want to
avoid missing transfer deadlines or when wanting to buy new players
etc.
Space Bar: Pressing the space bar during a match sequence will speed
up the match.
Overall-Home-Away Record: On any league table by clicking on the
Overall Record at the top of the table you will be able to see the
Home Record- click again you'll see the Away Record.
Description of player match stats: In the player stats screen for any
match - by hovering the mouse over the titles for each column of stats
you will have a box appear which contains a description of what these
stats mean.
Team Progress Graph: By clicking the mouse on the position number
of any team in any league or group table you will see that teams
progress within the table in the form of a graph.
View Match Option You may view any match by clicking on the V for
versus on a fixture list. This will turn the v to view. Clicking a
second time will revert back to v again.
M and ESC keys: Pressing the m or escape key will return you to the
main menu at the next possible opportunity. Please note that to get
the computer's attention repeatedly pressing or holding down the key
may be necessary.
Match Stats of Played Games: By clicking on the score (from any type
of results screen) of any played game within one season will allow
you to see all the stats for that match.
Manager History: By clicking on the managers name in the general info
screen of the Squad screen this will enable you to see the entire
history of that manager.
Transfer Deadlines: In the player search screen, when the players
names are in grey this means the transfer deadline of the country in
which that player is playing has passed. So this means any player in
grey writing cannot be bought.
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Description of Player Ratings
This is a description of the categories used in the rating of players.
These have been divided into five sections:
Creativity: Whether he can create goalscoring chances for his
team-mates with incisive passes, headers, flick-ons etc.
Dribbling: Whether he can take on and beat defenders to create
dangerous situations from which a goalscoring chance might arise.
Flair: Whether he has the tendency to do the unexpected, for example
shoot from 30 yards, or try something brilliant.
Heading: Whether he is good in the air and wins headers either in
defense or attack
Marking: Whether he has the ability to track an opponent and mark him
out of the game.
Off the Ball: Whether he makes good runs into space which can lead to
a shot/header on goal if he is given the ball.
Passing: Whether he can pass the ball where he wants it.
Positioning: Whether he has good defensive positional sense and rarely
gets caught out of position.
Set Pieces: Whether he can make use of set piece situations(corner,
free kick)either by making a creative pass or a direct shot on goal.
Shooting: Whether he scores goals.
Tackling: Whether he is good at making tackles to dispossess an
opponent.
Technique: Whether he has good control, first touch, and all round
technical ability
2.Goalkeeping skills
Shot Stopping: This is their ability to save shots.
Passing: This is their accuracy when kicking or throwing the ball
out.
Set Pieces: This is their ability to defend set pieces, line up the
wall etc.
Positioning: This is their positioning for shots, crosses etc.
Aerial Ability: This is their ability in the air, for example when
handling corners and crosses.
Rushing Out: This is whether he can rush out quickly in one-on-one
situations.
3.Physical Attributes
Aggression: Whether he goes in hard when competing for the ball,
without necessarily being dirty.
Injury Proneness: Whether he is often out of action with injuries.
The higher the rating the more likely the player is to get injured
Pace: Whether he has speed and acceleration both in and out of
possession.
Stamina: Whether he can keep going at the end of the most grueling
matches.
Strength: Whether he has strength in holding off opponents to keep
possession or in competing to win the ball.
4.Mental Attributes
Determination: Whether he keeps battling, even when the odds are
against him.
Influence: Whether he can motivate and inspire team-mates, as for
example a captain would.
Intelligence: Whether he can read the game and make good decisions
about when to sit back, push up etc.
5.Hidden Ratings
Big Occasion: Whether he rises to the occasion in big games,
play-offs, top of the table clashes, cup finals, etc.
Character: Whether the player reacts badly to on/off the field events.
On the field this could be whether he reacts to provocation, off the
field whether he reacts to being dropped, fined etc. The higher the
rating the more likely the player will react badly to on/off the field
events.
Consistency: Whether he normally performs to his ability and rarely
has an off day.
Dirtiness: The amount of bad fouls, bookings and sending off a player
is likely to commit/get. You can tell who has a high rating for this
number of disciplinary points a player has accumulated because of the
amount of fouls, yellow and red cards acquired.
Ability: This is an overall rating of how good the player is now.
Potential Ability: This is a rating of how good the player could
become. For a young player his ability will tend to rise towards
his potential ability as he gets older; for a player at his peak his
ability will tend to be equal to his potential ability; for an older
player his ability will tend to drop below his potential ability.
The ability rating is therefore a variable rating and all the other
ratings are relative to this rating and the potential ability rating.
1.Go to Squad details screen of the squad you are managing.
2.Click on Fixtures and Results icon.
3.Choose Full Season Calendar option. This will give a full calendar
of each day of the year with all the fixtures and all the dates where
no fixtures have been arranged.
4.Click on home or away icon depending if you want to play a friendly
home or away.
5.A full list of squads will appear (all the English ones and use
More Teams to display foreign teams) - click on the squad you would
like to arrange a friendly against.
6.A screen will appear showing you the dates available for a friendly
(if any) with that team and also the dates not available for a
friendly.
7.Click on which date you would like to play - i.e. click on where
it is written Free date for friendly with 'team name' - there may be
more than one date available.
8.You will be then asked to confirm the arrangement of a friendly
against the chosen team.
After confirmation has been given the friendly has been arranged.
9.You can also cancel friendlies by using the Cancel icon on the
full calendar screen - click on this so it becomes white then click
on the name of the team you want to cancel the friendly with - you
will then be asked to confirm the cancellation.
Remember you will not be able to play any team you want - because the
other team may not be available or because they are a much bigger
club than you - so don't expect to be able to play Bayern Munich if
you are manager of Rochdale !
You will get a message on screen each time a club has a vacant
manager position. If you would like to be put forward for
consideration this is how you do it:
1.Go to Manager Info in the main menu.
2.Go to Job News.
3.You will see a all the clubs which have no manager.
4.Click on the name of the club you would like to manage
5.The squad screen of this team will appear. In the top right hand
corner you will see the apply icon. Click on this to put yourself
forward for the job.
6.You will be then asked for confirmation.
7.you will only receive notification if you are offered the job or
will realize you that your application has not been successful when
you see notification of who has got the job.
Remember it will probably only be worth applying for jobs when you
have built up some sort of reputation. You will start to build up
a reputation when you have had some success with a club for at least
two seasons.
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Who should you buy?
Well that Oliver Collyer fellow does have a wicked shot! (just
kidding)
The following players are great values and perform VERY well.
(this list is subjective-so if they stink don't yell at me)
Jimmi Nielsen GK Denmark
Neil Lennon AMC Crewe
Viktor Leonenko FC Dinamo Kiev
David Bardsley DR QPR
John De Wolf SW/DC Wolves (likes to fight)
Michael Galloway AML NottsC
Richard Rufus DC Wolves (awesome defense)
Peter Beardsley (excellent value)
Mark Hughes (excellent value-but lots of cards)
