The game does not allow you to do much, as you explain, but the point of it is not managing much yet. It's just getting your friends to play it. In order to win the different leagues, get coins and XP and be able to improve your team you just need to log in everyday and the more friends playing it you have, the more matches you'll play. Playing them does not give you much money or XP but beating them occasionally gives you more match credits, which is why you will want to have a good enough team and more and more friends playing the game.

I guess that's what they call "social gaming" which is not very similar to gaming as we knew it, but attracts many people. I have to say I'm still playing it and for some reason want to get some gold players. Maybe after that it will bore me.

The World Cup addition is somewhat a good idea though. The WC credits will grant you coins and players (click on its icon to see the rewards), and I'm curious how well I can guess the results (compared to my friends) and what else they implement to get those coins.

Additionally, Playfish-addicted colleagues have told me that the games are in constant evolution and are totally different a month after launch so stuff like trading and many other additions might make it more enjoyable in the end. I'm giving it a shot, maybe it will disencourage me for good for future games of this type, but I will be able to say I tried!

Oh, and spending money I think is not the point of it. It's the point of it for Playfish, of course, that some players spend money, but not if you just want to try and get to know if social gaming's for  you. Just play it a bit everyday, try to get 10-15 friends do the same and the 5-10 mins you dedicate to it each day should suffice.