Why do fans care when you lose a friendly?

Aren't these games only filler to get players back in shape and try out tactics? It's dumb to care about a game that doesn't matter. I'm not a football guy, I'm a baseball/american football guy, and I really can't believe soccer fans care about friendly games (since they don't count for anything). Am I wrong? If not, why is done in the game?

It annoys me too, they should remove it for friendlies

They will care if you lose by a huge amount, or if you lose to a much smaller team.

The fans do care, to a certain extent, but I think they'll forget it unless there's a sticking point (like your new winger failing to do anything correct at all).

I think that the confidence for these games, as well as things like dead rubbers, if you lose, should be along the lines of:

"The fans are disappointed at the 1-0 loss to <rubbish club>, but understand it is only a friendly/dead rubber"

Thanks for the help guys. Teams in the NFL like the Indianapolis Colts routinely go 0-4 in preseason games and no one care because they'll still win 14 out of 16 games in the regular season. I thought that was probably how it worked in soccer as well but wanted to make sure.

well i never care if my team do rubbish in their friendlies, most fans are probably the same

My teams fans have whinged about only winning 3-0, I mean come on it's a friendly, it's about fitness not goals...

Thanks for the help guys. Teams in the NFL like the Indianapolis Colts routinely go 0-4 in preseason games and no one care because they'll still win 14 out of 16 games in the regular season. I thought that was probably how it worked in soccer as well but wanted to make sure.

And teams like the Detroit Lions go 4-0 in preseason, and then go 0-16 in the regular season.

Pre-season for me is to only get everyone into game shape, and get my youths. I can care less if I win or lose...I generally ignore my fans' reaction to pre-season games. It's not like my chairman is going to sack me over a preseason game.

And teams like the Detroit Lions go 4-0 in preseason, and then go 0-16 in the regular season.

Pre-season for me is to only get everyone into game shape, and get my youths. I can care less if I win or lose...I generally ignore my fans' reaction to pre-season games. It's not like my chairman is going to sack me over a preseason game.

Yeah didn't think they would go 0-16 on the season but oh well.

Anyway I don't care on Pre season friendly results. I generally use them to check on new players and see if any of the youngsters coming into the reserves are any good.

You're likely to see more squad rotation cody8200, players on trial, youth players getting a chance, etc... just as you're likely to see with the NFL teams.

Fans placing more emphesis on friendly games is open to debate, but I would certainly say in the case of lower league fans versus a big club in pre-season, the lower league fans would certainly care. A win for someone like Northwich over Man Utd, albeit a friendly will give the fans high hopes for the season, no matter how falsely. The United fans though, probably wouldn't be bothered in the slightest, apart from getting the opportunity to see some of the younger players in action.

Perhaps some of the friendly games have too much at stake in the game though. I've played as Altrincham in pre-season against the likes of Man Utd, Liverpool, Man City and have suffered a trouncing, yet although the game is really a money spinning dud, the fans are upset. Still, they were normally happy that I suddenly had money to spend on players they "liked"

I don't think there's anything wrong with the fans' having a reaction to friendly results. Friendlies are, after all, supposed to be about preparing for the new season. However, as things stands, fans react to friendly results the same as they do to competitive results. This is what needs to change. What we need are different degrees of reaction. Fans should be more philosophical about poor friendly performances and more restrained about good performances.

I think this gets exacerbated by the way that the "strongest" and "weakest" single item are presented to us in our monthly Confidence summary - if, as Man U., I lose a pre-season friendly against, say, Paris Saint-Germain, but then go on a tear and win or draw every match through all of August and September, the fans' monthly summary indicates that they are "Still upset at the 3-2 friendly loss to PSG" .. and that's ridiculous.

I'd say that future iterations of the Confidence need to include different "weighting" for different items, and possibly even different 'decay functions'.

In this example, at the end of July, my fans might have said "Are concerned about the 3-2 friendly loss to PSG", but by the end of August the 'friendly match' decay function should have minimized any friendly result from July.

I never really care about losing a friendly, I have to admit that I am usually too lazy and let my assisntant run the friendlies. One of the annoying things about losing a friendly though, is when I get the monthly Board confidence update. I had won every game up to this point but in a friendly, I only won 1 - 0 basically because I played all my young players and such. The baord was unhappy that I had played poorly in this match and the fans had vocied their concern over this.

I was like but I won for crying out loud!!!! If it isnt the players throwing their toys out of the crib, its the fans who have to be upset about SOMETHING

LOL

Well, wouldn't you want your team to win every match if they could? I think the majority of fans aren't very discerning and simply have the win at all costs mentality.

err... because they bet on it, only to discover that you wink eyes with the bookies ?

Aren't these games only filler to get players back in shape and try out tactics? It's dumb to care about a game that doesn't matter. I'm not a football guy, I'm a baseball/american football guy, and I really can't believe soccer fans care about friendly games (since they don't count for anything). Am I wrong? If not, why is done in the game?

Because it is a bug and needs looking at!

I think I have to disagree in this point.

Friendly games in pre-season are important, because:

1) it gives manager overview about tactics (if you try something new), new players (youngster's capability) etc.

2) it gives team confidence - if you win several in the row, then players will go confidently to first league game. Strikers who have scored in friendlies are more confident and don't miss easy chances etc.

3) it gives fans confidence that team is in good shape, manager tactics are working, new signings work well on the pitch etc.

If you lose friendlies to lower rep. clubs, it's a sign for fans that things are not good inside the club and they become worried about forecoming season.

Of course, all these factors should be analyzed in the matter. When manager sends 10 youth players to pitch and they lose against lower division team, fans too won't be very disappointed. Instead they might single out couple of promising youngsters who performed well.

On the other hand, when your senior line up fails to win, it makes fans worried and with a reason.

I always thought that how well you did in your friendly matches had a slight impact on how many season tickets are sold. Also they're an easy way to get morale up.

I don't think friendlies should be counted on your managerial profile either. Where it says games won, lost and drawn should just be for league and cup imo. (Excluding internationals).