Natural Fitness versus Age

In the pre-season of a new game (2009) (FM10.3) I have a 32-year old player that is struggling for fitness.

I have played him for about 45-60 mins in a handful of friendlies - he would have been given longer but he tires so quickly.

Now, with the season about to start in one week, he is one of a few players that are oddly lacking in match practice!

To resolve this I have arranged an extra friendly, however despite not having played for a week, on the day of this friendly his condition is only 84% and his fitness says "Tired".

You might reason that this is to be expected of a player of this age, however he has a Natural Fitness stat of 16.

There are three older players in the squad, all of whom are "match fit"/"in superb condition". One of these however does tire quickly in matches - but his Nat Fit stat is 9 and I would have thought Stamina was the appropriate stat for this (although see notes later about this).

They are all on the same training schedule - which admittedly is quite high in the fitness disciplines, but the others are coping just fine.

To investigate I have tried reloading and giving him one or two days of rest but this doesn't seem to improve his condition either.

Am I misunderstanding the Natural Fitness stat? Or is there something I'm overlooking?

From the online manual (http://www.sega.com/fm10/manual/?q=books/1111-physical):

Natural Fitness: How fit a player is as standard – his base level of fitness. It affects how many games he is likely to be able to perform to peak physical fitness in before becoming noticeably tired and susceptible to injury.

Stamina: Stamina is a player’s ability to endure high-level physical activity for a long period of time. With the demands placed on a player over a nine month season, players with high attribute ratings for Stamina will be able to perform at their top levels for longer. It ties in directly with Natural Fitness.

So it would seem that stamina doesn't indicate if a player will tire in a match but if he will tire midway through the season?

And I still don't know why my player is on his knees by August 7th - his Stamina stat is 10.

His tactical instructions might come into play here too though.

The DMC position can cover a lot of ground. If he's also closing down a lot, this can quickly sap energy. If he's performing a lot of physical challenges, this will too. If the team is playing a high-tempo game, this too can drain the condition percentage of your players during matches.

That raises an interesting point - do players with higher Work Rate stats need higher Stamina stats?

The player is a full back with automatic duties in a 4-4-2 attacking formation.

There are three other first team full backs, all playing to the same instructions and on the same training. All of whom are in good shape and ready to go.

Their stats to compare are:

FB#1 age 32, Work rate 16, Stamina 10, Natural Fitness 16, Appearances 3 (2): condition 84% Needs match fitness

FB#2 age 29, Work rate 16, Stamina 16, Natural Fitness 10, Appearances 2 (3): condition 97% Match fit

FB#3 age 28, Work rate 16, Stamina 16, Natural Fitness 15, Appearances 3 (1): condition 98% Match fit

FB#4 age 27, Work rate 15, Stamina 16, Natural Fitness 14, Appearances 4 (0): condition 98% Match fit

Unlike the other three, FB#1 can barely last half a match and can't recover afterwards.

His mediocre stamina probably explains his tiring in matches (though surely a 10 shouldn't be below 70% by half time?). However I still don't understand his inability to recover, especially before the season has even started. It seems his Natural Fitness stat doesn't count for very much at all.

That raises an interesting point - do players with higher Work Rate stats need higher Stamina stats?

The player is a full back with automatic duties in a 4-4-2 attacking formation.

There are three other first team full backs, all playing to the same instructions and on the same training. All of whom are in good shape and ready to go.

Their stats to compare are:

FB#1 age 32, Work rate 16, Stamina 10, Natural Fitness 16, Appearances 3 (2): condition 84% Needs match fitness

FB#2 age 29, Work rate 16, Stamina 16, Natural Fitness 10, Appearances 2 (3): condition 97% Match fit

FB#3 age 28, Work rate 16, Stamina 16, Natural Fitness 15, Appearances 3 (1): condition 98% Match fit

FB#4 age 27, Work rate 15, Stamina 16, Natural Fitness 14, Appearances 4 (0): condition 98% Match fit

Unlike the other three, FB#1 can barely last half a match and can't recover afterwards.

His mediocre stamina probably explains his tiring in matches (though surely a 10 shouldn't be below 70% by half time?). However I still don't understand his inability to recover, especially before the season has even started. It seems his Natural Fitness stat doesn't count for very much at all.

I suspect his recovery rate is similar to the others - however his lower stamina means he might finish a game at say 60% as opposed to 70% or something for the others, and so starts his recovery from a lower level if you see what I mean.