1 The way to go if your using the auction for example is, look for the hot prospect players preferably youth, he will always be a better trainer thus perform better than the other with the same skill set, 2 Santansboss is right, the formation you choose is up to you providing you dont go stupid, I played a team a couple a days ago that played 8 players in the attacking half, I had a player sent off and won 12-1, try standard tactics to start with like 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 3-4-3, 3-5-2, 4-5-1, if you find its not working tinker slightly, I have played the same formation in the league every season, I have tried different ones in the cup to see how they do, I change my formation slightly if I am losing games like take off a midfielder for another striker or a defender for a midfielder/striker and this sometimes works and sometimes makes things worse, the way I look at it is if your losing say 2-0 with 25 mins to go what the heck!, ive picked up a few wins and draws this way.