How important is 'gelling'?

I'm having a few issues in my Partick Thistle save with 'gelling' and I'd like to pick at the minds of the many for any tips.

Quick sum up:

1st season - promoted from Div 1 to the SPL

2ns season - finish 9th and stay up

3rd season - finish 2nd and split the Old Firm!!!

4th season - finish 4th and qualify for Europa Lge

5th season - currently playing, about 3 games in.

Thistle are still a small club. I lacked funds when I got promoted and I couldn't attract any decent freebies. The players weren't good enough but we survived.

I added as many players as possible who would improve my squad and ended up finishing 2nd.

Due to my players doing well and getting into the champions lge qualifiers (where I unfortunately met Porto and was eliminated) big clubs started sniffing about my players and as soon as any of them expressed an interest my players, rightly, wanted to move to bigger clubs. This caused a lack of harmony at the club and I ended up selling lots of them for huge profits.

I tripled my wage budget and got in some very good players, 14 in total and I've started my 5th season horribly! My assistant is telling me the 'squad is lacking understanding' and although I've had this before I can get over it eventually.

So, how much does this affect performance? It seems to be huge to me.

How many players does it take to affect the harmony of the club?

Do all the youth and reserve players also affect harmony? I constantly sign youngsters with good futures, does this affect it if I stick them in the reserves?

How many players can I sign without affecting my squad?

Or am I eternally gubbed if I stay at a small club who will inevitably have to sell their best prospects on.

Do all the youth and reserve players also affect harmony? I constantly sign youngsters with good futures, does this affect it if I stick them in the reserves?

I always assumed that the squad harmony refers to your first-team squad, i.e. the match day squad. So in that aspect I imagine signing young players won't affect gelling as much.

For me, at the start of a new game I often end up bringing in an almost entirely new starting eleven, and the players seem to gel more as they play more throughout the season and as my team selection becomes more solidified. This could be a combination of learning the local language (and therefore overcoming any language barriers which would prevent good linking up), and could also be a result of players just learning how to play off each other.

Overall I have noticed quite a strong tie between the gelling of the players and their overall performances as a team. However, I don't get through seasons anywhere near as quickly as most other people, so people who play more games can probably be a bit more authoritative than me on this.

Thanks for your input Dreaded Walrus.

How long do you find it takes for them to go from 'poor level of understanding' to a 'good level of understanding'?

I know that winning obviously helps but if this is linked to harmony then that could be tricky! A bit like the best way to get morale up is to win games!!!

It makes a BIG difference on my squad. My team has a good 'feeling of togetherness' as assessed bythe board. It took a few seasons to get it right, but that same squad plays MUCH better football. I spent 120m pounds one transfer season, the next few seasons I bought purely youth, now that first team is gelled, it plays much better.

Youngsters don't affect gel in my experience, but your reserves can also gel together, so keep that in mind

To my mind, 'squad harmony' is how they get on in the locker room, golf course, team coach etc.

Gelling/blending is how well they understand each other on the pitch.

You might have a settled First XI who've played and trained together for a year and know each other runs etc.

Then you get promoted, buy in better players but who are strangers, perhaps they can't communicate due to language barriers. Then the eleven guys on the pitch aren't going to have that same understanding. Therefore, your eleven individuals won't be so effective as a unit until they get to 'gel'.

I can't find the thread at the moment, but there is a very good explanation, with examples, somewhere. Basically, as I remember it is something like this:

(1) More players you change the more effect - ONLY those you actually play, so try and play as many who have experience for your team at a time as you can.

(2) How well they know you matters hugely as well - trust (through your rep), and what you actually do at the club, press quotes, match results, individual praise / criticism etc. can slow the gelling down or speed it up.

As for how long it takes, it does depend on each players' adaptability rating, where the come from (i.e. Sth Am footie is markedly different from Euro footie, so they take longer to adapt), as does any possible language barriers, both between you and the players, and amongst themselves. A tip I've always found handy is try and sign players that are recommended by existing players, i.e. from their Int team / former team - if they fit the bill. Signing players from the same country - if they are foreign - also helps, IIRC.

In my experience you can basically change the whole team and have them "fully gelled" by Christmas - IF you have some good results, which obviously is hard, but it makes the process easier. I always play lots of friendlies when I change multiple personnel - I'm not sure if it is actually taken into account by the game, or if it's only competitive matches, but it can't hurt!

Due to lazy researching, none of the squad I've taken over have any history, so they're all assumed to be new signings. There's no language barrier as they're all either Peruvian or Colombian, but there is a noticeable lack of gelling. When they do gel, I thkin we'll storm the league.

Having players on each other's favoured personnel list helps massively. The quickest way to get there is through performances. If you notice that your left striker gets more goals and is already on the favoured personnel list of most of your players, try switching him with the right striker.

Team gelling is hugely important. Your squad will not play to their full potential until you have some level of gelling.

You need to try to get to 'good' team gelling as soon as possible so try to keep the first team as consistent as you can, as I believe this speeds up the process. You will notice a big improvement on 'good' gelling and an even better one on 'strong'. Check assistant manager feedback.

The difference can be illustrated by one of my St. Albans City games on FM09. I started off with very poor team gelling and was struggling in the lower half for the first few months. However, by Christmas the gelling had improved and I was on a great run of form and up to second. Tactics and starting eleven hadn't changed but the gelling was up to 'good'. The players clicked on the pitch and the performances were far more consistent.

Of course, the difference is not so great when you have top quality players and who are of excellent quality for your division. However, if your squad is pretty even in terms of quality with the rest of the division, you may struggle while on poor gelling. While your team is at a very low team gelling level, you are at quite a disadvantage because the team will not be playing to its full ability.

This is why it will not always have such a great effect. A BSS side with BSP quality players will probably still win plenty of games despite low gelling due to superior quality. However, a BSS side with decent and good level players for that division might struggle with low gelling.

During the difficult gelling process, try to keep things consistent and have confidence in your tactics unless you can clearly see something wrong. Support your players and try to get the maximum out of them in terms of motivation and whatnot. Once you hit 'good' you will be able to see where you really are in terms of progression.

Best of luck.

C.

I was just going to ask the same question about gelling.

I have started a new game with Man city and I have brought in 14 players and sold 10. I now have a great team on paper. I have played 13 games in the league and I am 2nd.

I checked my assistants opinion after one game and he said "the players do not yet have a good level of understanding". The next game I left the same squad and he said "the players are blending well together". I left the squad the same for a third game and he went back to saying that they had not yet reached a good level of understanding.

How has it changed 3 times when the squad was the same for each match?

Good comments above, and I'll add my observations.

It seems to take at least half a season for new recruits to gel, sometimes a whole season. I've had a couple players join in the past who were awful the first season before doing a 180 the next and playing fabulously.

Over the past two seasons, I've many only minor alterations to the first team, i.e. at most one new first team player per transfer window. This is a huge reason, I feel, for our 38 game unbeaten streak in the Premier League and our recently ended 29 match scoring run. According to the board, there is always a "pleasant atmosphere emanating from the locker room" or a good "amount of togetherness".

Gelling is vital , Or morale as its called on FM

Morale is very different to gelling.

If you start a new game with say, Everton. They have been together for a while and have no new faces. Should they gel straight away?

From what people have said then yes as long as the group have been together for a while. There may still be some new faces depending on which database you start with.

Due to lazy researching, none of the squad I've taken over have any history, so they're all assumed to be new signings. There's no language barrier as they're all either Peruvian or Colombian, but there is a noticeable lack of gelling. When they do gel, I thkin we'll storm the league.

Having players on each other's favoured personnel list helps massively. The quickest way to get there is through performances. If you notice that your left striker gets more goals and is already on the favoured personnel list of most of your players, try switching him with the right striker.

Not sure if it is lazy researching. It may be, but a modified DTT file may help as well.

I find that gelling is essential. In previous saves with chelsea I have overhauled the whole squad only to finish 3rd/4th. However in my recent one i made 4 in/6 out and we were top going into the last day, only screwed up the league on game 38. So its crucial...

Gelling IS essential. I always struggle in the first season, but after that titles come much easier. I'm not signing anybody, just bringing in my own youth (who are already used to formation and tactics as I use same tactics to my U19 and reserve team), so they blend in quickly.

Even if your team is not so strong attribute-wise having a well-blended squad is a very strong benefit.