I think it's time, in an effort to guide potential new players to the game, to share my insight and experience in team building. If you are new to the game, or are confused by all these different player stats, not knowing what is best at each position, this guide can help you. This model of team has allowed me to win the Beta tournament last summer and more recently, to finish 2nd in the Kickstart tournament. Now it can help you get started in GLG! We will go through each position, from forward to goalie, and finish with a word about coaches.
So let's get started.
Forwards: I always go with three strong two-way forwards on my team. Forwards use a lot of stamina trying to score goals, so you need one sub to keep going. I prefer to have one striker next to one dribbler, but you can use a mix of any strong forwards. The following are all good examples of strong 2-way forwards.
Midfielders: I want midfielders that are strong defensively but who can also pass the ball. Shooting and dribbling are less important, and you might want to keep them low to save rp. It is useful though to have at least one of your midfielders be competent at dribbling, in case you have trouble passing in some games. Since you are mostly passing the ball, midfielders don't use that much stamina, so you only need two starters, no subs. The following are good examples of midfielders of that are strong at defense and passing.
Defensemen: Once again, two defensemen with high defense and good passing, although a case can be made that dribbling is important as well in order to move the ball up easily. Since you will be facing the toughest attackers on the opposing team, you don't want to skimp on defense for offensive stats, so choices are rather limited. Here are some good examples of defensemen to use.
Goalie: Since goalies have only two stats, they are easy to rank. Blocking is the most important stat, with passing being left to the player's discretion. Since goaltenders are pricey on the market, it is up to you to decide how much you want to spend on a goalie. Here are the top goalies currently in the game.
Coaches: Since these teams rely heavily on passing the ball, having a passing coach such as Georgina Talewind or Jeff Sprightly is good, but you can also use defensive coaches such as Millwall, or generalist coaches such as Tim Thomas and Gabby Hart. It is up to you since a coach adds a personal touch to the team.
Final comments: I have not talked about synergy in this guide. If you want your team to reach maximum synergy, you will need to fill your bench with subs while remaining under 360 rp, which affects what starters you can use. Bad goalies are good for filling up the bench at a low rp cost. Then you will need to fill up your reserves and allow synergy to reach 100%. This should be fixed soon as I have been told reserves will no longer be part of the game in V2, but nothing official as of yet.
Thank you for reading this guide, I hope it will be useful for new players.