[Another?] Injury Thread :

Ok. So all in all, I'm really, REALLY enjoying 10.3. However, I can't get over the fact I get an injury or two, every game. I'm Croydon Municipal, so my team is small, and my depth in quality even smaller. So when My RM, my back up RM and my only other guy who can play there all get injured in the same game, you can imagine my frustrations.

This is the only thing on the patch that's bothering me. I currently have 8 Players from my squad of 22, that are injured. It's not too bad, as half are only 7-10 days, but some of them are 5-6 Months (Broken Leg), 3-4 Months (Torn Hamstring), 2-3 Months (Pulled Hamstring).

It's very annoying.

I can't say as i have noticed it in my game (think the most i have had out was 5 at one time but all only 3-4 days bar 1) but plenty of others seem to have a problem with it.

I imagine your training facilities, or lack of, would contribute to you getting more injuries. As i play as Glasgow rangers i have excellent training facilities whereas your team probably trains on a bog or some such. I am not sure if this is in anyway correct just my theory.

no matter how u look at this injury rate has increased since 10.2, its no fun having the same player getting injured twice in training by 2 different players in the space of 2 weeks, its not fun having to sub a player that gets a knock in every game only to ruin all chance of the continuity you had going in the match, also every time i go a team in 10.3 i always have to cancel like 3 friendlies they have arranged because i know for a fact players are going to get injured and ill be sitting with 5 players out and the season hasnt even started yet.

SI have said they have actually increased the amount of injuries in 10.3 compared to other versions to reflect RL more. Like i said i have no problem with it as i find most of my injuries tend to be knocks/strains and the like, which happens quite a lot to players IRL i believe.

As you can see, this is becoming quite an issue for me. Another game, 2 more injuries. That's my tactics screen. My right back, left back, right mid and left mid are all out of position. 7 of the injured player belong in my first team. I'm left with just about a squad for the match day. Ugh.

Instead of blaming the patch, think about what you can do. First, you have to examine WHY you are getting injuries.

1. Are they in-match?

a) are the players closing down or hard tackling or otherwise putting themselves in situations that increase the risk of injuries?

b) are you playing at too-high a tempo or otherwise causing their condition to fall to a level where they are more vulnerable to injury - especially important for a lower league part-time team where stamina will be low.

c) are they picking up hamstring tweaks and other injuries that are a result of over-training? See below.

2. Do they happen in training?

Again, part-timers are especially vulnerable here - check their natural fitness and stamina attributes.

Check in particular your fitness schedules. Forget the overall training bar - they don't get injured training in tactics and set pieces, but they will if the Strength and Aerobic levels are too high.

This is what you CAN do if you pay attention. Don't waste your time whinging about the patch, the ME, the AI. Take control.

Instead of blaming the patch, think about what you can do. First, you have to examine WHY you are getting injuries.

1. Are they in-match?

a) are the players closing down or hard tackling or otherwise putting themselves in situations that increase the risk of injuries?

b) are you playing at too-high a tempo or otherwise causing their condition to fall to a level where they are more vulnerable to injury - especially important for a lower league part-time team where stamina will be low.

c) are they picking up hamstring tweaks and other injuries that are a result of over-training? See below.

2. Do they happen in training?

Again, part-timers are especially vulnerable here - check their natural fitness and stamina attributes.

Check in particular your fitness schedules. Forget the overall training bar - they don't get injured training in tactics and set pieces, but they will if the Strength and Aerobic levels are too high.

This is what you CAN do if you pay attention. Don't waste your time whinging about the patch, the ME, the AI. Take control.

Almost all injuries are in-game. They don't have excessive closing down, and NEVER have Hard tackling.

I'll have a look at the high tempo thing, could be an issue. I'm not so much "complaining" - either. More just... an observation. You know... I've got a lot of injuries. I guess I wanted to share

Sorry mate, my comment wasn't intended to be personal. As you recognise in your thread title, this topic comes up very often, so I was just 'using' your example as a forum for giving some general tips.

The tempo thing is important though. Shout 'take it easy' 2 or 3 times during a game, and up the time wasting when you're comfortably ahead.

I know that training levels etc contribute to injuries. However, given that players have a 1-20 range for injury proneness, it seems that the change SI have done to make injury occurrence reflect real-life more, might be overly punishing those who happen to have a team with a high injury proneness average.

Assistants/physios (reports) might not even comment that a player is prone to injuries as long as the relevant rating is under say 16 or whatever. If you have many players on 13's and 14's, that is still pretty high. At the moment, all the feedback we get on that is that a player is injury prone (17 or above?) or he isn't. There are no other stages/levels at the moment. Such as "is sometimes prone to injuries", "is rarely prone to injuries".

That would help a manager to know which players to get rid of and to bring in some players who typically get injured less often. Balance things out a bit.

For example, Robin van Persie's injury proneness is

. Yet the Assistant Manager reports "Pat Rice believes van Persie doesn't have any real weaknesses".

Perhaps it wasn't tested that well at lower levels but certainly at the top level there are still too few injuries. on season 5 the most injuries I've had in the last couple of seasons at one time is 3. Generally the most any team in the premier league has is 5.

For example, Robin van Persie's injury proneness is

16

. Yet the Assistant Manager reports "Pat Rice believes van Persie doesn't have any real weaknesses".

To be fair, you might have chosen a different example. If FM is realistic here, that probably reflects Pat Rice's weakness; after all, surely the rate of injuries Arsenal has suffered over the years has something to do with the management/physio regime?

Just chucking that out - hopefully I'm not derailing the thread ....

One thing which I believe should definitely be looked at is the number of injuries in pre-seasons. I have found that it seems to average at about 2 fairly long term (say 3/4 weeks or more) injuries every 3 matches during this period. Given that tackling in friendly matches tends to be less intense than in competitive ones it doesn't seem particularly realistic that you should get this number. These are not training injuries, let it be noted. If a team is doing intensive pre-season fitness training then it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect more minor strains, etc, but I really don't see why you should have the number of injuries in matches which seems to be the case currently.

I don't know what the statistics are, but, anecdotally, I can't remember more than one or two injuries which were more serious than minor knocks suffered in pre-season by my local team (Rushden and Diamonds) over 4 or 5 years. That's very different from 2 every 3 games.....

To be fair, you might have chosen a different example. If FM is realistic here, that probably reflects Pat Rice's weakness; after all, surely the rate of injuries Arsenal has suffered over the years has something to do with the management/physio regime?

Just chucking that out - hopefully I'm not derailing the thread ....

LOL. Maybe so, maybe so.

One thing which I believe should definitely be looked at is the number of injuries in pre-seasons. I have found that it seems to average at about 2 fairly long term (say 3/4 weeks or more) injuries every 3 matches during this period. Given that tackling in friendly matches tends to be less intense than in competitive ones it doesn't seem particularly realistic that you should get this number. These are not training injuries, let it be noted. If a team is doing intensive pre-season fitness training then it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect more minor strains, etc, but I really don't see why you should have the number of injuries in matches which seems to be the case currently.

I don't know what the statistics are, but, anecdotally, I can't remember more than one or two injuries which were more serious than minor knocks suffered in pre-season by my local team (Rushden and Diamonds) over 4 or 5 years. That's very different from 2 every 3 games.....

I don't get anything like that rate of injuries pre-season, but I do agree with your point about pre-season friendlies. I very carefully set up my tactics AND OIs to easy tackling cross the board, BUT the AI doesn't. The day 2 friendly between my first team and reserves is a hoot. My comedy assman is simultaneously telling me our tackling is a disappointment whilst instructing our reserves to break our legs!

I don't get anything like that rate of injuries pre-season, but I do agree with your point about pre-season friendlies. I very carefully set up my tactics AND OIs to easy tackling cross the board, BUT the AI doesn't. The day 2 friendly between my first team and reserves is a hoot. My comedy assman is simultaneously telling me our tackling is a disappointment whilst instructing our reserves to break our legs!

Maybe because my players are only part time (cos, masochistically I tend to try managing dreadful teams like Elgin City or Thurrock) and so not so fit, the AI reckons that they are more likely to get injured? I dunno.....

It's a pain when the new signing you've just sweated blood to get always seems to get injured in a pre-season friendly after about 20 minutes and you lose him for 4 or 5 weeks though. Seems to happen too much to be realistic to me but maybe that's just paranoia .

I can honestly say that I don't have anywhere near the kind of injuries that people are talking about with the latest patch, if anything I have noticed a decline in injuries. I don't work my players too hard in training or use overly aggressive tactics so I guess that could be the reason.

I did though have lots of injuries when I started on FM10 and I think that was because I was using my old traing schedules from FM09 and trying to get the maximum return in terms of attribute increase. As soon as I sat down and re-evaluated my schedules and created some new, not as harsh schedules I noticed that my injuries plumeted both in match and in training. Now I tend to onl;y get injuries during busy periods and big games, where rotation is not a viable option, or because of training ground accidents.

Another plus that has come out of this is that my players attributes seem to rise at the same rate they did using the heavy schedules of old as the players aren't spending as much time injured.

I have to say the best and most realistic thing about it i found was when a player gets a damaged cruciate ligament, Alberto Paloschi for my Arsenal team was injured for 9 months with this, before injury he had pace of 18, when he returns he is now only 16 but was only 24 yrs old.

He is now 28 and still the pace has never changed. quite realistic i think

Well, I just started a little experiment. Guess what? The new signing I just made lasted 7 minutes before getting injured in a pre-season. This has happened 3 times in 4 saves, which suggests to me that there's something more going on here than mere coincidence. It's not my training regime because players are not on especially intensive fitness training and, in any case, the guy had only been at the club for a day or two. No indication that this player is injury prone.

As I said in my earlier post, I just don't think the pre-season injury frequency is realistic.

I should have said that I have made several new signings but this particular player was something of a coup for the club. Make of that what you will......

Edit - cruciate after a 'robust challenge'. Not really all that realistic pre-season imo....

Since I haven't been using a 'custom' training schedule, my players haven't been getting injured as much.. I love it

What I really don't like is the frequency of very severe injuries in this version and the heavy damage player attributes suffer as a consequence to these. I've had three young players break their foot over three seasons (two while on loan to another clubs so it's nothing to do with my training or tactic). Since it irreversibly ruins the players in question and their careers it's not that fun having this happen that often, even if one could quote real life examples of similar severity.

As for the frequency of 'regular' injuries, I only had an excessive amount once - right after patching to 10.3. Since then I don't think I've ever had more than 5 out at once. No idea what influences this though since I still use fairly heavy training schedules and I haven't done anything specific to counter the injury 'problem'.

Well, I just started a little experiment.

So what was the experiment?

So what was the experiment?

Just trying some early pre-seasons and saves to see what the likelihood of a player getting a long(ish) term injury was.

Its fairly random. In one save i have very few injuries, but then a few long term ones happen at once. In another save Ive seen many (as in 10+ in 2 weeks or so) small injuries in games (strains), yet another save Ive had no injuries to first team players in just under 6 months. (all 10.3)

Well, I just started a little experiment. Guess what? The new signing I just made lasted 7 minutes before getting injured in a pre-season. This has happened 3 times in 4 saves, which suggests to me that there's something more going on here than mere coincidence. It's not my training regime because players are not on especially intensive fitness training and, in any case, the guy had only been at the club for a day or two. No indication that this player is injury prone.

As I said in my earlier post, I just don't think the pre-season injury frequency is realistic.

I should have said that I have made several new signings but this particular player was something of a coup for the club. Make of that what you will......

Edit - cruciate after a 'robust challenge'. Not really all that realistic pre-season imo....

since fm05 I have had my key summer signing injured in their first friendly match, ready to come back for the last friendly match or first league game. Make of that what you will.

(granted this hasnt happened every time, but a hell of a lot)

I too have noticed that since the patch I am getting a) A LOT more injuries and b) I keep getting a warning coming up saying "array acces out of bounds"

Just started another save for fun - trying out various tactics and so on. 3 pre-season injuries in 2 games, out for 8 weeks, 6 weeks and 3 weeks.....

Hmmmm.

Update: Now 4 pre-season injuries in 3 matches - another 3 week layoff, almost inevitably for my star signing.

Quite frankly I'm becoming more and more convinced that something needs looking at with this problem. It's typical of what seems to happen in pre-season campaigns on a pretty regular basis and is excessive in my opinion. I do not believe that such a level of pre-season injuries is at all realistic.

Further update: Now 5 injuries in 4 matches - another new signing - broken collarbone - 8 weeks!

Basically this is becoming utterly farcical. I've watched football since I was quite little and I have NEVER seen anything remotely to compare with this injury frequency pre-season. It just doesn't happen.

The fanboys will no doubt talk about it being somehow a result of my training (though how training would make a player break a collarbone in a match is beyond me!), or say that it's my tactics (though I don't have anyone on hard tackling). Someone will no doubt say that SI always get their injuries to fit in realistically with the real-life stats. Well, they can say what they like. This is a particularly glaring example, of course, but the fact is that there are far too many pre-season injuries and it needs sorting badly - very badly.

Just started another save for fun - trying out various tactics and so on. 3 pre-season injuries in 2 games, out for 8 weeks, 6 weeks and 3 weeks.....

Hmmmm.

Update: Now 4 pre-season injuries in 3 matches - another 3 week layoff, almost inevitably for my star signing.

Quite frankly I'm becoming more and more convinced that something needs looking at with this problem. It's typical of what seems to happen in pre-season campaigns on a pretty regular basis and is excessive in my opinion. I do not believe that such a level of pre-season injuries is at all realistic.

Further update: Now 5 injuries in 4 matches - another new signing - broken collarbone - 8 weeks!

Basically this is becoming utterly farcical. I've watched football since I was quite little and I have NEVER seen anything remotely to compare with this injury frequency pre-season. It just doesn't happen.

The fanboys will no doubt talk about it being somehow a result of my training (though how training would make a player break a collarbone in a match is beyond me!), or say that it's my tactics (though I don't have anyone on hard tackling). Someone will no doubt say that SI always get their injuries to fit in realistically with the real-life stats. Well, they can say what they like. This is a particularly glaring example, of course, but the fact is that there are far too many pre-season injuries and it needs sorting badly - very badly.

Why doesn't it happen to everyone then?

Out of interest are you expecting no pre-season injuries? What are your injury expectations? Are they realistic?

I've just started my 2017 season, going into the first league match I had one injury - Twisted knee (3 weeks).

The game should really start distinguishing between different injury types. Fair enough, high playing tempo in high temperatures can cause injuries (just as an example) but there's almost no way it would increase the risk of players breaking their feet or collarbones. Wrong training regimes can increase the risk of strains or pulled muscles but it won't make players more likely to have their jaw punched in during a match. The same goes for players returning from an injury (something that has bothered me for ages). If you have someone returning from a pulled hamstring then sure enough, playing them can cause them to aggravate their condition. it shouldn't, however, make them more likely to get a fractured arm or a concussion.

Why doesn't it happen to everyone then?

Out of interest are you expecting no pre-season injuries? What are your injury expectations? Are they realistic?

I've just started my 2017 season, going into the first league match I had one injury - Twisted knee (3 weeks).

I've said earlier - having watched REAL football for a reasonable amount of time, my experience has been that with a pre-season of about the same length as FMs it was unusual to have more than one longish-term injury if any at all. That is because, generally, teams hold back on tackling and physical challenges in friendly matches.

I would think that most clubs would count themselves unfortunate if they had more than (say) one longish term (three weeks plus) injury as a result of their pre-season programme, although they would naturally expect some knocks and injuries of a less serious variety.

It's interesting to note that earmack has constantly had the experience of his major signing getting injured pre-season since fm05. I've also found that this sort of thing happens pretty frequently. If it's purely a coincidence, it's an extremely odd one.

I would find one or, maybe if you were very unlucky, two three-week plus pre-season injuries reasonably believable plus a sprinkling of short term knocks, etc. Five I regard as bordering on the ridiculous, to be quite honest.

Whether the fact that I choose lower league part timers to manage explains why I find that this happens more frequently when I play I don't know. I suppose it is possible that the game somehow 'penalises' players whose fitness level is lower at the start of the pre-season because they aren't on any sort of a full time training schedule. I still don't see how logically that would explain things like broken collar bones or serious cruciate injuries from 'robust' tackles though (in a friendly?!).

If this is not happening to all users and certainly isn't happening to AI teams, it has to be a user issue. There a are a number of possible causes:

1: Tactics: Your tactical set up asks a lot of your players in terms of having to quickly cover space, leading to a lot of quick rushes and challenges that are likely to produce injuries. The OP's set up is a case in point. There is no cohesion between his strata. The top strata moves forward, the central strata stays central and the back strata sits back. Whereas this might be tactically effective, it possibly puts a lot of extra strain on the players in terms of covering space as they are playing in bands rather than as a unit. This extra strain may result in a number of extra injuries.

2: Team talks: Especially in pre-season. Are you asking players to impress you before they are ready for more than a gentle run out? This is especially important for a newly bought start player that needs to fit to the system. Take the pressure off him in pre-season, rather than telling him to show he is worth the price tag.

3: Pre-season matches: Are you slowing things down a little, especially for the early pre-season matches? Reducing tackling, dropping deeper and retaining possession can all reduce the chances of pre-season injury. If players are flagging or you think they've done enough, Take a Breather and Stand Off can do this even further.

4: Substitutions: Are you rotating heavily in pre-season? These are matches helping to get your players fit, not must win games. Give anybody who is even approaching a squad place a run out. Take a number of players off at half time.

5: Subbing injured players: A number of people take off players even when they have a green cross. This is not necessary. The player may well be out for a period of time anyway but can get through the match. However, he might be fine. Subbing him off immediately exposes more players to the chance of being injured, especially if the opposition is aggressive.

6: Conditions: Are you taking into consideration the weather and pitch conditions? Extreme conditions will inhibit certain playing styles, resulting in more injuries if a manager tries to play that way. Be prepared to slow things down in hot weather, use the flanks on a chewed up quagmire and the middle on an ice rink.

7: Training: Is your training too intense for the squad size/number of matches/general match conditions? If you are flogging a small squad in mid winter, you will get injuries.

It's impossible to avoid all injuries. I have had two periods in which my team was reasonably badly affected. For one season's run in, I had my two most creative players and my main goal threat all out, losing me the title in the process. In another season, I had my whole first choice defence out for the first leg of a CL tie and only one back for the 2nd leg. However, I managed to squeak through on this occasion. That's been pretty much it with match affecting injury rates for me though over about six seasons with 10.3.

Point 1 Tactics - I was playing a bog standard 4-4-2 set up through the tactics creator. Nothing high pressure.

Point 2 Team talks - I will admit to using 'impress me'. What I don't really see is why this should make somebody get a cruciate injury after seven minutes or break a collarbone or get concussion. However, I'll avoid it for the first 2/3 matches in future.

Point 3 Don't see that a player is flagging or tired after seven minutes!

Point 4 Normally I get virtually every first team squad player onto the pitch in pre-seasons. They are fitness/blending exercises really, not competitive matches.

Point 5 Your point about subbing is interesting. In a pre-season I try to sub a green cross player asap. However, I must point out that the opposition being 'aggressive' is not what would normally be expected pre-season. This is one of the issues about realism which I have. It's all very well toning things down but the AI doesn't appear to and it probably should.

Point 6 - Doesn't really apply pre-season.

Point 7 - In early pre-seasons there hasn't been time for a player to get jaded through over training.

Of course there is no way to avoid injuries. But I'm not saying that that should be possible anyway. My issue is with the pre-season situation, not with the injuries sustained throughout a long competitive campaign.

A cruciate injury is just unlucky. Can happen anytime irrespective of matches. Nearly all such injuries are caused by little or no contact situations and are just the result of an over sudden kneee twist when the foot gets stuck in position.

I wasn't talking just about pre-season, but avoiding injuries in general. With regards to point 7, it might well be your training regime is not intense enough pre-season, leading to out of condition players picking up lots of knocks if they are trying to play competitive level football. Remember, they need match fitness, so are not match fit even if they are in good condition percentage wise. I certainly put my squad through the paces pre-season.

With point 6, pre-season matches are often played in hot conditions, often against much better sides if you are a lower league team. Be very careful of asking too much of the players in these situations.

Point 4: How many is every? I get a minimum of 22 players out for every pre-season match and rarely pick up any lengthy injuries. It is actually a surprise to me if I don't have a full squad available for the opening match of the season. I certainly have no more than one or two players out at most.

People need to remember that this is a game and because people are trying to code a game to resemble real life, things always tend to go wrong due to the way things are coded.

Everything is tied together by programming, be it good or bad coding.

Another analogy for the books, FM is like a bunch of strings, pull on one thing and something else is affected.

Wwfan meerly points out the things that can be affected by even the simplest of tactical change. Play with more pace and the game generates more injuries.

Quite frankly most of the points he made, does not even relate to real life (I doubt a player has ever been injured as a result of a team talk made by his own manager) but thats how FM is coded and we all have to live with it basically.

Quite frankly most of the points he made, does not even relate to real life (I doubt a player has ever been injured as a result of a team talk made by his own manager) but thats how FM is coded and we all have to live with it basically.

Players have been injured as a result of trying too hard. Paul Gascoigne, FA Cup Final, Spurs v Forest 91 as a case in point.

Why do people take things so literally. A player is not getting injured because of a team talk, but because he is trying too hard to impress. The right team talk can reduce the chances of this happening. However, they don't cause it or prevent it. A combination of the match, conditions (weather and player), player personality and manager interactions can increase or decrease the general chance of injury. This can be further increased or decreased by poor/good tactical or training design.

Why do people think there has to be a single cause and effect reason? There's a little more to FM than that.

A cruciate injury is just unlucky. Can happen anytime irrespective of matches. Nearly all such injuries are caused by little or no contact situations and are just the result of an over sudden kneee twist when the foot gets stuck in position.

I wasn't talking just about pre-season, but avoiding injuries in general. With regards to point 7, it might well be your training regime is not intense enough pre-season, leading to out of condition players picking up lots of knocks if they are trying to play competitive level football. Remember, they need match fitness, so are not match fit even if they are in good condition percentage wise. I certainly put my squad through the paces pre-season.

With point 6, pre-season matches are often played in hot conditions, often against much better sides if you are a lower league team. Be very careful of asking too much of the players in these situations.

Point 4: How many is every? I get a minimum of 22 players out for every pre-season match and rarely pick up any lengthy injuries. It is actually a surprise to me if I don't have a full squad available for the opening match of the season. I certainly have no more than one or two players out at most.

Well, I am now confused as to whether I should be doing more intensive training (to avoid pre-season injuries because my players are underworked) or less intensive training (because my players are overworked)!! You have suggested both. This is exactly the sort of thing which makes people throw up their hands in despair. Also can injuries against one's reserve team REALLY be put down to the training regime wwfan? For goodness' sake they take place the day after you've arrived at the club......

If you have the luxury of a large squad then it doesn't take a genius to work out that you can put more players out than if you have a smaller one. In fact, I have managed to put 22 out in pre-season, which is virtually everybody on the books in a small club.

If I have a pre-season against a much better club I keep the pressure off as far as possible by pointing out that the result isn't important in team talks.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the game works on an average of somewhere between 2 and 4 players injured per club over a season (don't know the precise figure) and 'sees' the pre-season situation (where with many clubs there are no injuries) as being atypical. The 'balance' is therefore restored by causing pre-season injuries to happen fairly quickly, thus leading to an unrealistic number occurring compared with what actually happens in the real world.

The frequency with which one's good (or in my case 'not quite so bad') signings and existing players tend to get injured pre-season suggests to me that it might actually be more effective just to play them very briefly as subs during this pre-season period so that the 'injury quota' gets used up by the no hopers! 'Game playing' I know, but, there again, the pre-season as it stands just ain't realistic simulation anyway in my book!

Well, I am now confused as to whether I should be doing more intensive training (to avoid pre-season injuries because my players are underworked) or less intensive training (because my players are overworked)!! You have suggested both. This is exactly the sort of thing which makes people throw up their hands in despair. Also can injuries against one's reserve team REALLY be put down to the training regime wwfan? For goodness' sake they take place the day after you've arrived at the club......

That's what management is all about. If you arrive at the club and don't think the players are ready for a training match, don't play one. If you are getting a lot of injuries pre-season, could it be because you are under working your players at that time of year, leading to them playing matches without being fit enough. In contrast, are you getting injuries mid-season because you are training too hard, thus increasing jadedness throughout the squad? Both could be reasons. It is up to you, as the manager and the person playing the game, to discover what might be wrong.

If you have the luxury of a large squad then it doesn't take a genius to work out that you can put more players out than if you have a smaller one. In fact, I have managed to put 22 out in pre-season, which is virtually everybody on the books in a small club.

You can pick greyed out players to make up the numbers can you not? I'd hope that even smaller squads can get 22 players out. If you let the dead wood go to save money on wages, then it is your fault you don't have the playing resources to cope with an injury crisis. You are also increasing the chance of getting one by not being able to rotate enough.

If I have a pre-season against a much better club I keep the pressure off as far as possible by pointing out that the result isn't important in team talks.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the game works on an average of somewhere between 2 and 4 players injured per club over a season (don't know the precise figure) and 'sees' the pre-season situation (where with many clubs there are no injuries) as being atypical. The 'balance' is therefore restored by causing pre-season injuries to happen fairly quickly, thus leading to an unrealistic number occurring compared with what actually happens in the real world.

The frequency with which one's good (or in my case 'not quite so bad') signings and existing players tend to get injured pre-season suggests to me that it might actually be more effective just to play them very briefly as subs during this pre-season period so that the 'injury quota' gets used up by the no hopers! 'Game playing' I know, but, there again, the pre-season as it stands just ain't realistic simulation anyway in my book!

It really doesn't work like this. You cannot avoid a certain number of players getting injured, but you can manage the extent of which by looking closely at all the points I outline above. It is not difficult to stay below the divisional average.

I have to say the best and most realistic thing about it i found was when a player gets a damaged cruciate ligament, Alberto Paloschi for my Arsenal team was injured for 9 months with this, before injury he had pace of 18, when he returns he is now only 16 but was only 24 yrs old.

He is now 28 and still the pace has never changed. quite realistic i think

It's not so fun when you have a player with pace 14 that goes down to 12 that makes him basically unusable.

I said that I was able to put out 22 players for pre-seasons, wwfan, so I really don't understand what the point you are making about greyed out players amounts to.

As far as training is concerned, I repeat - it's not possible for those picked up in a match against one's reserves to be down to a training regime. That's nothing to do with managerial efficiency or inefficiency but to the time factor. You have been at the club for ONE DAY! Are you REALLY suggesting that ONE DAY's intensive training or lack of intensive training is going to significantly affect the incidence of injuries? Seriously?

It is also absolutely no good just making the bald statement that 'it really doesn't work like this' about the point which I made. You start off with an uninjured squad. There must be an average number of injuries per club per season (basic mathematics) and I am sure that SI (which has an obsession with accurate data/statistics) makes pretty damn sure that clubs have numbers of injuries which correlate with the real life situation pretty closely. Obviously there must be some latitude (so that what the human manager does has some effect) but this doesn't in the least detract from the thing which I am suggesting, which is that an injury number of zero (which applies at the start of the season) is below that average and that the game will tend to correct this imbalance sooner rather than later.

I'm sorry but my opinion remains unaltered. There are too many pre-season injuries of a relatively long-term nature to be realistic. I stand by what I've said.

Well, I rarely get any long term injuries in pre-season. I think your cruciate ligament example is simply down to bad luck.

Im just trying to help by giving hints as to what you could look out for. However, if you think it is mainly game mechanics and very little to do with you, then there's very little I can do. I am not playing your game and thus cannot give anything other than generalised advice.

Well, I rarely get any long term injuries in pre-season. I think your cruciate ligament example is simply down to bad luck.

Im just trying to help by giving hints as to what you could look out for. However, if you think it is mainly game mechanics and very little to do with you, then there's very little I can do. I am not playing your game and thus cannot give anything other than generalised advice.

Your help is always very much appreciated and you are generous to a fault with it to all and sundry.

Love you really, in spite of our occasional clashes!

I still think that this still high for injuries.

The thing is the club I regularly witch is Benfica and it has been since December or November that they had two or three games of player being sub due to injury, until then it rarely happen. Most injuries they get is during training.

To be honest the one that was balance in this was FM07. Don't know really why they change it. Sure to show more realism, but still in FM07 you have periods that I have plenty of injuries, but others that things are calm down. Depends on the periods of the season or luck. I have been eliminated in Champions league, or cup or lost match, due to heavy injuries. This things happens for sure, but still one thing is trying to simulate reality, another is pure exaggeration just because in reality is in period where many clubs have many injuries to happen all the time.

Sorry mate, my comment wasn't intended to be personal. As you recognise in your thread title, this topic comes up very often, so I was just 'using' your example as a forum for giving some general tips.

The tempo thing is important though. Shout 'take it easy' 2 or 3 times during a game, and up the time wasting when you're comfortably ahead.

It's ok man. I know you're not the type to go on personal attack rampages, and thus, had a feeling it was to the general, and not directly towards me. As you can imagine, my frustration in this period got the better of me, and caused me to assume it was the game that was at fault, and not myself. I really should have known better. After reading yours, and wwfans absolutely fantastic suggestions, I've not only managed to put a halt to the infinite injury list, but also noted a few tactical indifference's I had in my squad, that after rectifying, went on a 8 game winning streak, conceding no goals.

Thanks for all the input in the thread guys.

After reading yours, and wwfans absolutely fantastic suggestions, I've not only managed to put a halt to the infinite injury list, but also noted a few tactical indifference's I had in my squad, that after rectifying, went on a 8 game winning streak, conceding no goals.

Thanks for all the input in the thread guys.

Result! So let's now use your example to point the likes of Rupal in the right direction; whilst luck will always be a factor, by paying appropriate attention to tactics & training, you can reduce your injuries, which is precisely as it should be.

Ironically, the game after that post, I got 3 injuries in 1 game

God damn it