NOT UNSPORTSMANLIKE: effective team strategy

I’ll take exception to one of the points you raise re: changing team composition (regularly). I do it all the time.

Why? Simple: each day I face two matches against different opponents. The particular group of players I believe would be best to field across those two different matches is NOT always my top eleven rated. Sometimes I want to try different formations. Sometimes the opponents I face are of widely different strengths and sometimes not (in which case I may want a more balanced line up). And I need to think about these questions both in terms of the fixtures I’m facing today, as well as those upcoming over the next several days.

In short, it’s quite naive to claim that it’s unsportsmanlike for a manager to not ALWAYS field the TOP RATED PLAYERS EVERY SINGLE MATCH. Having more than one lineup of players who the manager can swap out depending on circumstance is EXACTLY what team strategy is all about (maybe you should look into it 😉).

As for using team ratings alone as your guide to your opponent, again quite naive. Your opponent is free to field whichever players he (or she 😊) feels would be best to use against you. If you want to know which options are available to them, open their team window (click their team icon in the fixture) and take a look at the SQUAD page. That lists out all players they’ve currently got available (though not any they might purchase or trade for before the match - also a valid team strategy option).

And btw, this is a NEWBIE telling you all this, but I’ve at least got that much of the game figured out. So may I suggest you quit whining like a three year old and learn how to manage your lineup (and aim to anticipate how your ops may manage theirs)?