I've been a Travian player for a while now, strategy is what I really look for in a game. Using resources to produce results. A very good friend told me about an interesting game, it looks alot like Football Manager, but you actually play against other on-line players. It's called Managerzone and you have two sports to choose from, Football (Soccer) or Hockey.

If you ever played Football Manager, part of this game is similar, just take away the famous well known players. It's free to play, however as in many on-line games they have a power token policy that improves the game options. Although the free part can actually satisfy your needs while learning how to play, to become a pro, some of the tools and options they have on a paid version may come in handy.

If you understand how football leagues work, you'll surely easily understand this game. So when you sign up, they'll ask you for a postal code, which will put you in a league playing against people who more or less live close to you. Like every league you play once at home and once away against every team, at the end of the season, if you are in the top spots ... you'll be promoted to the next division, if you end up at the other end of the standings, well you'll just have to drop to a lower division.

You can also play for Championship Trophies, Friendlys, etc... Almost like real life... however you can set up games for every day of the week, which is a lot different than real life.

In the first 3 weeks you'll be unable to buy or sell players,they say it's to protect inexperienced players from making initial mistakes, as you have a budget to protect ... your team can go bankrupt, so it depends on of your management decisions to avoid that mishap.

A whole season lasts around 3 months, so everything goes with a little speed, official games are on Wednesdays and Sundays, and you choose the tactics and players for every game.

Regarding players, well as in every team requires alot of work, you can hire team coaches to help you, it'll speed up training, however the coach should have more than 2 balls to actually be an improvement in daily training, so when signing a new coach make sure he has quality in areas you need help with, or it'll just be a waste of cash.

Young players, twice a season you'll be able to hire young players ... they are not too expensive and some may evolve in training faster than older players, and you never know, the next Cristiano Ronaldo might just be on your payroll.

Tactics is one of the most important parts of the game, to simplify your strategies, try to use the player numbering to your advantage ... main team players 1 to 11 .... young players 90-99 ... Strickers 80-89 ... midfielders 70-79 ... defense 60 -69 ... This will help you recognize player specialities just by the numbers ... helps you manage players more efficiently.

Also, check frequently, best after each game for injuries and red cards, and do the necessary changes for the next match ... or your team may not perform accordingly.

Not much more I can say about the game, it's free to try and not as stressful as other on-line games, I've been playing for a short time, but I enjoy it, and it doesn't take too much time ... I actually look forward to my daily visit.

Good luck.