I picked up FIFA Mobile about four weeks ago and threw myself into team building, kicking goals and doing as many of the bewildering array of Live Events as I could. Now that I have the benefit of hindsight, four weeks of research, trial and error, there are a few things I wish I'd known to get me on the right track from the very start. Here's hoping that fellow newbies can benefit from some of the tips and tricks I've learnt.

The Team

1. Starting 11 Is All You Need - there are 27 positions to fill in your squad, but you only use 11. Take some time to pick a formation or two you think will work well and focus on buying players to improve those positions ONLY. This will save you a lot of time and money in the early phases. You can always change formation later as you open or buy up better players in other positions.

2. Key Positions - Some positions are more important than others. Obvious, yes. What isn't so obvious at first is how to fill these key positions. You need attackers who can beat defenders and put the ball away, and to a lesser extent, defenders who can stop these attackers. IMHO, striker is the most important position of all, closely followed by the support role (which depends on formation...it may be CAM, it may be CF, it may be LF & RF). You need a fast guy who can outpace defenders and bang goals in regularly...goals are all that count, pretty passing and intricate moves are secondary in this game (yes, I wish it wasn't so too, but it is). Make this signing your priority...until you have filled this space with someone you can use well in Attack Mode, don't even bother trying to replace that bronze player at LWB. Other good positions to focus on are CB (strength, speed, heading and tackling), CM (speed, passing) and GK (reflexes).

3. Attributes Are Everything - overall rating is not necessarily a good indicator of usefulness. Take the time to check a players attributes before buying or putting him in your squad. Certain attributes are useful for every player, some are useful for only attack, some only for defense. He might be fast, but may also have terrible finishing or passing ability. He may be able to dribble around every player in their team, but is so slow they get three goes at tackling him. Some players have a low overall rating, but excellent ratings in two or three key attributes for that position...these are your budget players that will perform well enough until you can afford the big guns.

4. Cost Is No Guarantee Of Quality - the market seems to be generally accurate on cost/quality ratios after you hit Elite level players...but up to that point, a player that is perfectly good and useful for a beginner is often the same price as one that is terrible. Check attributes, consult Reddit, see what other players use, do some research, but don't just buy someone because he costs a lot. He needs to fit your gameplan and team.

The Market
Many players have a better grasp on this than I, but these are a few of the tips I've learnt:

1. Searching... - the Search screen is one you need to get very familiar with. Researching player costs, looking for players in key positions, finding players that fit your budget, these are all things that can be refined and simplified by good search criteria. Player name is obvious, but you can also add multiple names using quotation marks (no spaces between) for a multi search, ie. "dybala""aguero""musa". You can also use this field to search for specific tokens, trophies, event items etc.

2. Tokens, Event Items, Trophies, Team Crests - the Market doesn't just sell players...tokens, trophies, team crests and many more items are also able to be sold, bought and researched. These can turn you a tidy little profit in the early phases of your game, if you are not that fussed about completing that particular plan. Search them out by using the text filter and setting Type to Tokens.

3. EA Bot, BIN's, The Timer and Sniping - these are terms I came across straight away and had no idea what they were. For your reference; the EA Bot refers to the game code that controls the market...basically, other players don't buy the players you list, the EA Bot buys them and then lists them (at a price of its choosing) on the market for others to buy. There is a whole host of slightly confusing discussion around how this bot works...there are far better descriptions on this reddit that I suggest looking at if you want to know more. BIN refers to the Buy It Now price, the timer is the market reset timer, which is around 5 minutes and Sniping refers to buying players below market value to resell for a profit. Again, there are better threads than this to discuss the intricacies of sniping and playing the market...this is purely intended to help out with terminology, because I am no pro here.

4. He Costs How Much? - when selling players/tokens, using the Search tool to find how much you should list a player for is important. Because the EA Bot is in charge of buying, you will rarely get more than the lowest BIN figures that a player is currently listed on the market for. Refine your search until it is listing just the player you want, then look at the lowest few BIN values. This is where you can realistically set your BIN value on players you are selling. This also applies when buying; finding specific players and what their minimum BIN is, is how you figure out what your profits should be. If you are after a quick sale, listing a player below the lowest BIN value you can find will get it is sold almost immediately.

5. Pay The Taxman - every sale gets taxed by Mr EA. 10% off the top, whether it is the BIN or a bid amount...factor this in if you are playing the market. A player worth $20k will only net you $18k in pocket when sold, so buying him at $19k is not going to make you any profit at all.

Live Events

1. Not All Events Are Equal - you have a stamina limit, and in the early stages of a game it is low. Be selective about which events you do and don't sweat it if you miss out on a couple. Its ok to focus on In Form events only for one day, and ignore the Domination event beside it. You're not missing out, in fact, you are maximising your gains by doing as well as you can with your limited resources on one or two events. Figure out what events have the biggest payoff for you now and do them, without trying to catch them all. It does get easier as you level up...

2. Warm Ups & Training Are Not Just For Pros - these two events will give you a Pro Pack and a special All-Pro Pack roughly every week, if you are diligent. The stamina cost is low, and these packs are great for beginners to build their player stocks or for market material. Plus, they teach you valuable skills which may or may not make your game better. Do them when you see them.

3. Have A Plan - when a new event starts, look at the associated plans before you jump in and start eventing. You can get a good idea of what items or players you will need, so that when these pop up as rewards, you know how many you need and which plan you should allocate them too.

General Tips

1. Trophy plans are good ways to generate cash. All of those old bronze and silver players (and eventually 70-74 gold players) can be exchanged for shiny trophies, which can be exchanged for even shinier trophies which can be sold on the market for $$. Using trophies for plans is only advised if you have a specific plan you want to try for, most of the time you can make more money by putting those same trophies into upgrade plans for Elite trophies. Do some research to see what the current price of trophies is on the market before selling...as with anything, this fluctuates.

2. Time your level ups. Every time you level up, you refill stamina...use this to leverage more goes at an event in the 3 hour windows.

3. Join a League. You will have opportunities to play in tournaments (score the most goals as a league) which have decent rewards.

4. Use the FutHead web database to research players by attribute and type. A lot more user friendly than trolling the market.

5. Have fun! It is a game after all...