USM
Online
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USM Online
HELP GUIDE
GAME DESCRIPTION
Overview
Quick Start Guide
USM Credits System
League Structure
Cup Competitions
Prize Money
Manager Awards
Friendlies
Clubs
Players
Squads
Skills
Staff
Cheating
ORDERS
Finances
Match Reports
Training
Team Selection
Pep Talks
Substitutes
Scouting
Deploy Scout
Transfers
Player Contracts
Player Transfer Status
GAME DESCRIPTION
Overview
Ultimate Soccer Manager Online is an online football (soccer) simulation where you take the role of the manager of one of Europe's top League Clubs. You'll be responsible for the overall management of the Club - their training, the Club's finances, team selection and transfer activities. Along with other Managers in the game, you'll be contesting the League Title and Cup Competitions. With the correct team selection, careful training and successful play of the Transfer Market, you aim is to get to the Top - and stay there.
What makes USM Online different from other online football manager games? The two major aspects are control of youth development from scouting young talent to bringing through the youth team to first team action. Secondly, each players and staff member in the game has a personality and it affects how they react to team talks and fellow staff members. When negotiating with agents its important to consider what type of personality you are dealing with to determine how hard you should bargain.
Quick Start Guide
A good starting place is to check out your squad listings. Each player has a specific personality that determines how he responds to tactical instructions. Age is another important factor. Youth players (under 22 years old) generally learn quicker than the seniors but you can uncover senior who continue to improve well by scouting players over time and seeing how they improve. Younger players typically have more energy than older ones, depending on their fitness, but younger players tend to be more inconsistent than older ones. Consider a player's personality and experience when choosing a captain. When choosing training, remember that you need to balance fitness training and skill training. Player fitness will drop after each season, more for older players, and so you need to keep training their fitness otherwise with low energy they will not play to their full potential. You will naturally want to improve your squad. You can buy players from the transfer market or you can make bids on players from other clubs in your league. If you employ a scout you will be able to go to the Scout page, click on the icon next to the name of the scout and a page will open up where you can scout various clubs throughout Europe and make bids on players. It is a good idea to sell players you are not using to get their wages off your wage bill. If no human manager bids, a computer bid will be generated when the game processes. This bid is lower than the value of the player but at least allows you to get rid of unwanted players that none of your fellow human managers wants either.
USM Credits System
For every competitve game you play you will receive manager of the month points which also get added to your balance of USM Credits. These credits can be spent in the USM Store to unlock more features and staff options in the game or even provide a cash boost to your club! The available USM Credits equals your points earned through playing matches plus any additional credit you may purchase. The additional credit is available across all games, but credits earned from matches played are only available to the specific club. If you resign from a club or are sacked then those points are lost. When spending USM Credits the credits earned from playing matched will first be spent, and if this reaches zero then the additional purchased USM Credits will be used.
League Structure
The Euro League format consists of four Divisions for both Senior and Youth teams. Each team plays the other teams in its Division twice in a Season (once at home, once away). At the end of the League schedule the top three clubs are promoted and bottom three clubs are relegated. Lower divisions have Play-Offs for the final promotion spot which involve the sides from position 3 to 6. The Standard Format consist of Eight European Leagues - England, Scotland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Holland, Germany and Portugal. The Standard format includes European and Domestic Cup competitions.
Cup Competitions
At the beginning of the season, all of the top division teams from the 8 leagues are entered in to the first qualifying round of the Champions League. Those knocked out in the first round enter the Europa League qualifiers. Third-placed teams at the end of the Champions League group stages enter the knock-out stages of the Europa League. Each league has its own Domenstic Cup competition, which has a straight knock-out format. Youth Teams battle it out for the European Youth Cup.
Prize Money
At the end of the season Prize Money is awarded to the clubs finishing in positions 1 to 12 in the league. The winning clubs in each of the top divisions receive £10 Million, winners of second divisions receive £7,5 Million and winners of lower divisions receive £5 Million. Then teams from position 2 to position 12 get £250,000 less than the team that finished directly above them. Prize money is also paid out to Cup winners and Finalists. Domestic Cup Winner: £4,500,000. Domestic Cup Finalist: £3,000,000. Euro Youth Cup Winner: £1,000,000. Euro Youth Cup Finalist: £500,000. Europa League Winner: £6,750,000. Europa League Finalist: £6,000,000. Champions League Winner: £9,000,000. Champions League Finalist: £8,000,000. The big European Competitions also pay out prize money for reaching the group and later stages. Europa League Group Stage: £2,250,000. An additional £750,000 for each round after the group stages up till the Semi-Final. Champions League Group Stage: £3,000,000, Round 5: £5,000,000, Quarter Final: £5,000,000, Semi-Final: £6,000,000. The prize money is paid out in the last turn of the season.
Manager Ratings
Managers earn points for each competitive Senior fixture played. These points are calculated according to Win, Draw, Loss and then the difference in league positions between the two sides is also taken in to account. This way a win against a team in a much higher position counts more points than a win against a team in a lower league position. Each Month a Manager of the Month is awarded, with a Manager of the Year award given to the Manager with the most points over a season.
Friendlies
With all this match action the odds are you'll have at least one cometitive game per turn. You'll be able to arrange a Friendly in turns where the Senior Squad has no games.
Clubs
The Clubs have the same names as the real European League Clubs, however, the names (and personalities) of the Chairman, Manager, and Players of the Clubs are invented randomly at the start of the first Season. Each Club has three squads: the Senior Squad, which is the most important as the bulk of the game revolves around them. The Youth Squad which consists of players aged 21 and under, and the Reserve Squad. You only choose teams for and see match results of the Senior and Youth Squads. You are only able to select the Youth Team in the Standard League - In the Euro League the Youth Coach chooses the Youth Team but you are able to buy and sell Youth Team Players. The Reserve Squad exists solely to rest tired members of your Squads, whilst enabling you to train them. To rest a player completely you would have to remove him all three Squads, and this would mean he cant be trained at all. The Chairman is the representative of the Board, who finance the Club. As the Club's manager you're responsible for the Club's performance and are accountable to the Board. If your teams produce the goods the Chairman will reward you. If a team's recent record isn't so good, the Chairman will want to have words.
Players
At the start of a game each Club has enough Players for the Senior and Youth Squads. The state of a Club's Squads thereafter will be dependent on what the Manager has done with the Club. There are a number of Players who dont belong to a League Club that you can buy in addition to those you purchase through the Transfer Market. You can either get your scout to discover new players or scout players from Clubs outside of your League. Each player has an age, height and weight and has a skill rating in a number of areas. Players arent restricted to playing in a certain position: part of your job as Manager is to play them in the position best suited to their skills. Each player has his own personality and this can be important: it's often a good idea to have a few players who are steady and reliable, especially in defence, as the core of the team. Players who are more adventurous or like to show off are a bit of a gamble: sometimes they'll shine, while other times they'll do more damage than good. Each Player is also rated for fitness and energy. Fitness needs regular training if its to improve, but Energy is different. A Player's Energy rating is equal to his Fitness level when the Player is fully rested, but after training or a match will be lower. If a Player rests for a day or two his Energy will begin to return to normal. If you allow a Player's Energy to get too low then he can pick up fatigue injuries, and wont be able to play or train until he has regained his energy. A tired player is best added to the Reserve Squad for a rest, or removed from all Squads if he's completely spent. A player's age will remain the same throughout the season and will increase by one year only at the start of each new Season. The Player's age will determine which Squad he may play in. All those players aged 21 and under are eligible to be selected for both Senior and Youth teams. Those aged 22 and over arent allowed to play for the Youth Team. It's advisable to buy Youth team players throughout the Season to replace those you may lose at the end of the Season. Players will begin thinking about retiring once they reach a certain age. They'll only retire at the end of a Season, and you have no control over their decision. The fittest players will play for longer, the unfit ones making an earlier decision. An average player, with average fitness, will play on until the age of about 35, some may even play on to the age of 40, whilst the really unfit ones may quit soon after the age of 28.
Squads
At the start of a game each Club has enough Players for the Senior and Youth Squads. These squads can have a minimum of 17 players and a maximum of 25 each. Only those players aged 21 and under are eligible for the Youth Squad. When making a team selection for a Senior or Youth match only players from the relevant squad will be listed. Players can be in more than one squad and will train with each squad they are in. This may result in players tiring out but also increases their chances of improvement. To give a player a complete rest, move him to the Rest squad. The total number of players at the club is limited to 68.
Skills
Each Player has a set of skills with a rating out of 100 for each skill.
fit = Fitness,
irst = Injury Resistance,
stm = Stamina,
agl = Agility,
spd = Speed,
lft = Left Foot,
rft = Right Foot,
ift = Inside Foot,
oft = Outside Foot,
jug = Juggling,
spc = Awareness & Finding Space,
tak = Tackling
cpt = Intercepting passes,
tdr = Tight dribbling,
spr = Fast dribbling,
hed = Headers,
sps = Short passes,
lps = Long passes and crosses,
psh = Power of shots,
ash = Accuracy of shots,
vol = Volleys,
cat = Catching a ball,
pun = General goalkeeping,
psv = Penalty Saves.
Staff
Each Club starts with an Assistant Manager, a Youth Coach and a Scout. If your club doesn't have one of these staff members you can hire one. Click on your Club Name in the top Menu to get to your Club Profile. Then Click on the Staff link to show your list of Staff as well as the Staff Market.
Assistant Manager: You assistant will select a team on your behalf if, for whatever reason, you are unable to make a valid team selection. You can also ask your Assistant to do a team selection by clicking the 'Assistant Selection' button on the Team Selection page. Bear in mind that your assistant will have his own preferred formation and his selection is not necessarily the best selection for your squad of players. After all, if the Assistant was THAT good he'd be Manager.
Youth Coach: Your Youth Coach is responsible for Team Selection of the Youth Squad. If you don't like the style of play you're seeing from the Youth side you are able to replace the Youth Coach with someone more suitable from the Staff Market.
Scout: Your Scouts are very important if you want to uncover new talent, understand what players are available or understand the strengths and weaknesses of your next opponents a bit better. In the Euro League you are limited to one Scout. In the Standard League you can employ up to four Scouts at a time.
Cheating
Should a manager be found to have cheated by managing more than one team in a single game, or undertaken collusion with another manager in a game to either buy/sell players or rig results, Games By Mail Limited reserves the right to cancel your membership in that specific game without compensation or impose a transfer ban.
ORDERS
Finances
The game has a Finance section over which you can exercise some control. The most dramatic way that you can affect the Club's bank balance is through the buying and selling of players. Successful teams will attract higher attendances, which in turn will result in larger income from gate receipts, the sale of match programmes, catering and the club shop, and will attract larger Sponsor rewards. You'll also have to pay your Squad and Management's wages, the Police, ground maintenance fees, and so on down the line. A team is allowed to go in to the red during the course of the Season, but those with a negative bank balance wont be able to purchase new players until the overdraft has been cleared. The easiest way to clear the overdraft would be to sell one or more of your players, or to win a few matches, or to reduce your wage bill by sacking a few of your worst players.
Match Reports
Every match generates a unique Match Report for both teams. This report gives a blow-by-blow account of the flow of the game, the breaks from midfield, the near misses, the goals, and so on. The Match Report gives an indication of the strengths and weaknesses of the teams that played, and of the relative performances of the players.
Training
There are thirteen different areas in which you can train your Squads, ranging from 5-A-Sides to Speed Work. Careful training of your Squads is essential to increasing their skill levels and improving their fitness. You have control over how hard you work the Squad, and on which area you wish to train them in, but the results may not be noticed straight away. Over the course of a season the players should gain in levels, but it takes time and some patience is required. A player whose in more than one Squad will train with each Squad. This may result in over-exhaustion especially if he's also playing matches for one or both Squads. As in real-life, some players respond better to training that others. Youngsters generally pick up skills quicker than older players.
The types of training are:
ONE-ON-ONE. The group splits into pairs with one dribbling and one tackling. The Coach will swap pairs around, and vary the exercise to keep it interesting. Develops tight/fast dribbling, tackling and agility.
5-A-SIDES. The size of the group may mean the sides are not exactly five. Lots of short games are played with the Coach giving advice and criticism between each. Develops short passing, intercepting passes, agility and awareness and finding space.
ATTACK vs DEFENCE. The group is split in to two. Players you usually play in midfield will switch sides during the session, so they get to practise both. In this type of training the Coach can go through different attack formations and show how to defend against them. Develops intercepting passes, heading, shooting power and accuracy.
MIDFIELD SITUATIONS. The complement to ATTACK vs DEFENCE. The group is split into two teams who then play a game. The object is to keep possession of the ball rather than to score goals.The Coach will occasionally stop play to give advice and criticism. Develops short passing, intercepting passes, tackling and awareness and finding space.
CORNERS. The group is split in to two groups, attackers and defenders. The Coach will then get the groups to go over and over different types of corners. Develops long passes and crossing, heading, catching and general goalkeeping.
PENALTIES and FREE KICKS. The group is split in to attackers and defenders. The Coach will go through a number of set-pieces from the dead ball, with some time spent on penalties. Develops general goalkeeping and penalty saves, power and accuracy of shooting.
GYM and CIRCUIT TRAINING. The Coach will take the group through a variety of exercises, including some weight training. This type of training is essential for boosting player fitness and injury resistance. Without training these attributes will diminish over time and make players more prone to injury and fatigue.
LONG RUN. The group will be taken on a cross-country or road run, either once or twice on that day, depending on the effort you specify. How far and the pace that is set also depends on the effort given. This type of training is essential for developing player fitness and stamina. Without training these attributes will diminish over time, leaving players with low energy and reducing their effectiveness across a full match.
SPEED WORK. This involves lots of sprints, sudden changes of pace, sudden changes of direction and so on. The exercises are done both with the ball and without. Develops speed, agility, tight and fast dribbling. Speed is an important attribute for all outfield positions and without training will decrease, making players less effective.
BALL SKILLS (STRONG/WEAK) FOOT. This involves practising dribbling, juggling the ball, volleys and so on with either the strong or weak foot. Develops player's skill on either the stong or weaker foot with the inside/outside foot, juggling and volleys. These ball control skills are important for every outfield player.
PASSING PRACTICE. The group will practice all types of passes: long passes, short passes, volley and header passes, back and side passes, and so on.
GENERAL. This involves a bit of everything. The group will practise a few corners, a few free kicks, some shots, some one-on-one, and so on. They may be sent on a long run and perhaps do some five-a-side games at the end of the day.
A number ranging between 1 and 9 allows you to choose how hard you wish them to train, where 1 is with little effort and 9 as tough as possible. Monitor player energy to see how hard you can push players in training, as its a balancing act. If they do more than 3 training sessions or matches at a higher intensity per turn they will tire out. Players that are too tired will sit-out training sessions if their energy becomes too low. Low energy also means they will be less effective in matches. Remember players that arent playing games can also be trained in the reserve squad, and players who are exhausted can be moved to the rest squad for a week to fully recover their energy.
Team Selection
You have two options available. With the drag and drop team selection you drag a player from the player list on to the pitch. Or you can drag one player name over another to swap the players. In addition you can drag one shirt onto another shirt to swap two players on the pitch. The other option allows you to pick players by changing their short number and position using drop-down lists. You will need to save the selection for the changes you make to take effect. You have 12 formations to choose from: 5-4-1, 5-3-2, 5-2-3 and 4-5-1 are defensive options which can be used to hang on for dear life against a stronger opponent or as a solid platform to launch counter-attacks. 4-3-2-1, 3-3-2-2, 4-2-2-2 are winger options which can be used if you have very strong wide players or you want to try and get around a packed 3-man central midfield. 4-3-3 and 3-5-2 pack the midfield with the aim of trying to control the momentum of the game. 4-4-2 (deal with front two and build up from the back), 3-4-3 (control central areas) and 4-2-4 (spray gun) can also be useful. Sometimes attack is the best form of defense, with and a 2-man midfield and bypassing the midfield. It naturally helps to play to your strengths. But ignore your opponent's tactics at your own risk! You could find yourself winning 4-0 one turn and losing 2-0 the next with the same team and tactics. You side may have been tired but were probably out-manouvered tactically by a manager who counter-acted your tactics.
TIPS: Your width needs to match your formation for it to make sense. Unless you're focussing on defence make sure your strikers don't get outnumbered. One central striker aganist 3 central defenders could have a tough time getting on the end of deliveries. Although you instruct your players, they still play the situation as they see it. So if you choose wingers and play wide, players will still play short balls through the middle, but there will be more chance your wingers will get the ball more often.
Pep Talks
A manager can affect the team's overall style of play and aggression level. For each match you're given the opportunity to talk to your players in the dressing room just prior to kick-off and at half-time. At half-time you're able to select a different Pap Talk to suit the situation with a choice for your team winning, losing or level. The types of Pep Talk you can choose from are listed below. It is important to consider player personalities when doing your Pep Talks. A number ranging between 1 and 9 allows you to choose how much passion you put in to the Pep Talk.
ENCOURAGEMENT. This is a low-key chat, giving a bit of gentle encouragement, with perhaps a joke. A good talk for relaxing nervous or shy players, and for calming aggressive players. Beware of over-relaxing them so that they don't try to win!
PSYCHING UP. This Pep Talk has you shouting encouragement at the players, psyching them up and making sure they're keen to get out there and win. Beware of getting players over-excited, which can make them too violent.
EXCITING FOOTBALL. With this Pep Talk you tell the players that you want them to play good, fast, exciting football. You want them to entertain the crowd, go for goals and so on. Players who like to show off, or play their own style of football respond well to this kind of talk.
KEEP POSSESSION. You tell the players to keep possession, pass the ball around, slow the game down and concentrate on stopping the opposition scoring rather than on scoring goals yourself. With this kind of talk you're looking for a draw.
UNDERDOGS. With this Pep Talk you tell the players that even though they're the underdogs they can still win. If you use it when the opposition aren't obvious favourites the players may be a little confused or think that you have little faith in them. This kind of Pep Talk can change the game around.
EASY WIN. With this Pep Talk you tell the team how good they are, that they're far better than the opposition, and that you expect nothing less than a win.
PLEASED. This Pep Talk is only suitable when used at half time, and when your team isn't losing. You tell the players you were pleased with the way they played in the first half, and to keep up the good work.
NOT PLEASED. This Pep Talk is only suitable when used at half time. You give the players the 'Hair Dryer' treatment. You tell the players that their performance was terrible, and that if they don't start playing properly their place in the team may be in doubt. This is usually only suitable if the side is losing or level.
The team's aggressiveness is related to the effort you put in to the Pep Talk, however, except in very important matches, try not to let your two Pep Talks (pre-match and half-time) total over ten as this will cause the players to tire quickly.
Substitutes
You're able to make some fairly complex substitute decisions for each match, whereby you can simply swap one player for another when one becomes injured, or have a key player come on the pitch at a pre-determined time. You're allowed to nominate three players as substitutes for each match, S1, S2 and S3. You can determine at which point in the match you want a substitute to come on. There are thirteen different instructions, which relate to different times during the match.
E1: Early in the 1st Half.
M1: Middle of the 1st Half.
L1: Late in the 1st Half.
HT: At Half Time.
E2: Early in the 2nd Half.
M2: Middle of the 2nd Half.
L2: Late in the 2nd Half.
2B: If 2 or more goals behind.
1B: If 1 goal behind.
1A: If 1 goal ahead.
2A: If 2 or more goals ahead.
S1, S2, S3: Substitute 1, 2, 3.
Scouting
You are able to assign Scout Orders to each of your Scouts or Deploy your Scout/s to watch a specific player or team.
You can instruct your scout to search for new talent in a specific position or any position from the options in the drop down list. You will need to be patient as Super Stars aren't discovered every day. You can also scout specific players or clubs by selection the icon next to their name and Deploying the Scout....
Deploy Scout
You are able to deploy your scout to watch a specific player or team. Either select a flag on the map to see clubs available in that country...or select a club from the drop down list...or you are able to deploy your scout to watch a player you have partially scouted in the past. You need to scout players to reveal their attributes - the more you scout a player the less x's there are blocking out his attributes. Depending on the skill of your scout it could take several turns before all a player's skills are revealed.
Transfers
You are able to list any one of your players for loan or for transfer. Players who have recently moved clubs cant immediately be sold off again, and have a settling in period before they's be interested in listening to offers. You are also able to make part-exchange offers to players whose club is managed by a human manager. If you transfer list a player a non-league side will make an offer after the next processing date. It wont be a great offer but will allow you to move on players that no-one else wants. Once an offer is accepted by a managed club the bidding club will need to negotiate a contract with the player's agent before the transfer will go through. If you have accepted an offer from a human managed side its a good idea to remove that player from any teams selections. Once the deal goes through the team selection may become invalid and the assistant manager will have to step in and choose the team for the next match if you don't log in and replace the sold player in the team selection.
Player Contracts
Player contracts are negotiated with the Player's Agent. Depending on the personality of the Agent you may be able to negotiate a lower wage. This may not seem important at the time, but over time the wage bill can eat away at your bank balance if you dont keep it in check. If you let your players contract run out the chairman will step in and bring in a replacement of slightly lesser quality. This is to keep the balance of the game for unmanaged clubs, so if you dont want a player after their contract expires its best to sell them before the end of the season.
Player Transfer Status
You are able to set you Players as 'Not Listed'. Other managers will not be able to make offers on these players.