Does Fitness Matter?

I'm managing in the Championship. Doing well with Darlington who I've brought up from non-league. One thing I've noticed is that when I get a run of games close together (Sat, Tues, Sat, Tues) and I rotate my squad so that the starting team would be at least have 95% fitness level the opposition doesn't seem to bother. Twice in the past fortnight I've come up against teams with starting players of approx 82% that by the second half plummet to 55%-65%. I substitute my players who are tiring but the opposition doesn't.

What annoys me is that the opposition's standard of play doesn't drop. My players who are, in some cases, operating at 25% better fitness levels don't seem to do any better than the opposition. Surely as the game progresses and fatigue sets in the fitter team should do better? I'd like to point out that the teams I'm playing are below me in the league and do not seem to have any significantly better players. I could understand Man Utd at 80% beating a lower team at 100% but this isn't the case.

So my question is ... does fitness matter?

To the AI teams? Apparently not. Motivation and morale is far more important to a player than condition. I have seen fired up players dominate the match completely even though they were at 80% capacity when the game started, and ending in the low 50s.

To us? Absolutely.

yes!

It does for my League One Hereford team for sure. I watch the full 90 and I can actually see when a player makes a tired pass, challenge or just runs out of puff... some players will actually cope much better than others, you can have a player on 58% who is doing brilliantly and another on 72% who couldn't pass water... I don't care what the AI does, I care what my players do and if I see that they need subbing, I sub them...

It's hard to quantify but it seems like it does. When I rest players before tough games against the AI I feel like I win more often :S

Fitness doesn't seem to matter for the AI, I've seen a 68% C.Ronaldo tear me apart. I do rest my players before big games though, I'm not sure how much it matters, I never take the risk to find out.

It does matter.

The best example that i can think of it's the Italian Serie B Promotion Play-offs where the first leg is normally like 3 days after the last game of the championship and the AI doesn't really make any rotation considering those games ahead specially since there isn't much rest between all the play-off games, i get promoted everytime just from a better management of fitness.

Another point to consider is that low fitness seems to result in higher incidents of injury. Which is probably why so many AI teams are decimated with injuries toward the end of the season. But performance wise it doesnt seem to affect the AI much during a match it must be said.

(Also playing exhausted players all the time eventually kills their morale and they become jaded - which is bad, like crossing the streams!)

Another point to consider is that low fitness seems to result in higher incidents of injury. Which is probably why so many AI teams are decimated with injuries toward the end of the season. But performance wise it doesnt seem to affect the AI much during a match it must be said.

(Also playing exhausted players all the time eventually kills their morale and they become jaded - which is bad, like crossing the streams!)

Ahhh no! Don't cross the streams!

Do you not take notice of your ass-man and your players? Do you not see that some players can play significantly better than others with an apparently lower level of fitness? I don't know for sure what the criteria are for playing well despite being "apparently" knackered but I guess confidence plays a big factor - if you're playing well, you don't feel tired type of thing? It's not only the AI that can play players who have a low condition rating, human managers can too... I regularly play players into the 50% ranges with no real ill effects...

Another point to consider is that low fitness seems to result in higher incidents of injury. Which is probably why so many AI teams are decimated with injuries toward the end of the season. But performance wise it doesnt seem to affect the AI much during a match it must be said.

You can take control of that situation. When I see oppo players starting with low condition I have the OI on hard tackle and maybe also close down. They will easily get injured and make mistakes due to tiredness. IT DOES affect their performance IF YOU MAKE IT SO.

Well, try it if you want. Your players will not play quite as well and more importantly they will injure themselves far more often.

it all depends on the player and the game, before my captain retired i knew i could play him at any condition and get a solid performance out of him and more importantly out of my team, but there are others i would not risk at anything below 85%.

If fitness didn't matter..

..this wouldn't be happening