Scottish Email Soccer League

This web page is to help give some general tactical advice to managers playing the free Play By Email soccer simulator SESL.

For more details, Email :  the Commissioner

There is no right or wrong tactic as such - indeed there are no magic formula's or formations to win you matches in SESL.   However, picking the correct team tactic for your particular squad of players can reap benefits.  For example, if you have a weak midfield then maybe try Long Ball and 4-2-4 formation.   
The best advice for any newbie manager joining SESL is not to experiment wildly with tactic (like I so often see) but just perhaps play 4-4-2 Normal team tactic for first week or two until you are familiar with how the game seems to play.
Finally - don't ignore the ref stats!   See end of this page for referee hints.

* Hamilton boss Vince offers some advice *

Vincent Chan is manager of Division 1 team HAMILTON.  Year 2002 saw Vince continue a strategy of building a young SESL team that he hopes in season 8 will challenge for honours.

Vince says: "The best teams in SESL often play a 4-2-2-2 formation - that is 4 defenders, 2 midfields, 2 wingers and 2 forwards. The only real question is whether to play a SW as one of your 4 defenders. Having 2 good wingers (WG) definately helps and as OFF is better than DEF (but OFF is equal to GP), so the MF's converted DEF to make a high Skill Level WG very useful."

HELP!  My team is a mess - what do I do!??

In simple terms - as outlined by Vince above, a couple of strong MF's, couple of strong WG's and a couple of strong FW's and your team is gonna do OK!    But assume the team a manager has inherited is a mess - full of low skill level players?

A SESL manager must assess his roster squad and quickly identify who the key players are.   Perhaps pick out the top 5 players and try and build a team tactic around these 5 key players.   If 3 of the 5 are MF then maybe play a Ball Control team tactic to create scoring chances from the middle of the pitch forwards.   

If your team is weak - then minimise your losses by playing Stall team tactic.   OK, so its a little boring, but you may sneak a draw from some matches while giving a manager a few games to use some coaching or training to improve the squad. 

Don't be afraid to play defensive and play 5-4-1 team formation until you find your feet.   A cavalier 3-3-4 formation may give you chances to score, but you could end up losing twice as many goals with that weak defence!

Improve your squad - quickly!  TRADE!

The easiest way to improve the players you have is to trade with another team to bring in new players.   You may need to spend a chunk of your teams hard earned cash, but if you need to plug a hole in your squad then a quick fix may help you.

New managers need be very careful not to pay over the odds for a player.  

Always check the valuations and assess what you can afford.   If in doubt - ask the Commish for advice as he is impartial and may even block trades that are too one sided.

      
Referee's now play a significant part in SESL.  Preparing your team to deal with a certain referee is a team tactic in itself.   In general terms, a ref is hard to predict, but a savvy SESL manager will take heed of who will referee their game and plan accordingly.  
For example, should the weekly report schedule show you that ref William Wallace be in charge then you know the visiting team are gonna get cards - in season 7 William Wallace handed out 74 yellow cards and 6 red cards to the away team, while just 14 yellows and no reds to the home team!   If you are the visiting team then don't play any players on 'a' aggressive rating as you are going to get them booked or worse still red carded!
However, should Robert Burns be your ref, then in the entire season 7 league campaign he never showed any yellow or red cards!   So a clever manager may risk a few players on aggressive play to increase your effective Skill Level safe in the knowledge bookings are unlikely, and your only risk is perhaps conceding a penalty with aggressive players going in rough, but even a penalty is rare with Robert Burns in charge!