Advice about natural fitness...

Hello,

I have bought Kyriakos Papadopoulos on my game... he's awesome.

Only problem is he has a natural fitness of '7'. His stamina is 15.

I bought him in January... he played 20 games or so but couldn't play the rest of the season as I had to rest him. The games he did play before he wanted a rest - I had to sub him each time as he was knackered at the end.

So my question...will I suffer in the long term as he can't play much? I've read on here that a low natural fitness also means they lose their skills faster as they get older too..?

I'm considering cheating and using that real time editor (FMRTE) to boost his fitness up to 15 just so I don't have problems....as 7 is ridiculous as he quite clearly is a lot fitter than that!!

how much running are you expecting him to do? if he's the sort of player that just sits in front of the defense, then you may be expecting him to do too much.

If that's how fit he is in the game that's how fit he is. Any editing of such things is cheating, but hey... Its your game do as you want.

Honestly, just rotate him more than other players. Keep him fresh and he'll be fine.

how much running are you expecting him to do? if he's the sort of player that just sits in front of the defense, then you may be expecting him to do too much.

Well not too much running - but I'd hope my main centre back could play more than 20 games in a season without getting tired!

If that's how fit he is in the game that's how fit he is. Any editing of such things is cheating, but hey... Its your game do as you want.

Honestly, just rotate him more than other players. Keep him fresh and he'll be fine.

I know it's cheating - that's why I don't want to do it. I just don't want to have to keep resting my best CB. It's not realistic him having only 7 for fitness for a start - but also I don't want him losing his stats faster than the others as again it's not realistic / fair.

I've never used this editor before and it has a warning that it might crash the game... but I think I'll risk it as it's frustrated me enough to warrant it...

you can improve natural fitness through strength training I think.

Will try that as well cheers Matt - but if I don't see an improvement pronto then sadly I can see myself cheating...

Thanks

It can improve with strength training but it won't improve much.

I find it weird that he gets so tired playing as a center back though, does he go to every game at 100%? And do you generally rest your players after a match if they are too low?

It can improve with strength training but it won't improve much.

I find it weird that he gets so tired playing as a center back though, does he go to every game at 100%? And do you generally rest your players after a match if they are too low?

He doesn't go to each game at 100% no - but at least over 90% I don't play any of my players if their fitness is below 90 - but I only rest players when I get that little graphic pop up to say I need to rest them...

2 seasons into my game he has natural fitness of 14 but in the editor his natural fitness rating is

He doesn't go to each game at 100% no - but at least over 90% I don't play any of my players if their fitness is below 90 - but I only rest players when I get that little graphic pop up to say I need to rest them...

I always rest everyone for a day that finishes a match below 80%, it works for me, i won't normally start players below 95% too unless if really needed.

I always rest everyone for a day that finishes a match below 80%, it works for me, i won't normally start players below 95% too unless if really needed.

I never rest players after matches, and I never have problems with jadedness. My schedules have an overall workrate of the last notch of Medium. The issue is more likely to be him not training hard enough (thus not being fit) than his 7 in Natural Fitness. This is also an indication (in the original database) of high-ish injury proneness, so he may get knocks during the matches - that would explain your need to substitute him... something that should never be necessary with central defenders.

When all that is said, I rotate very heavily so few players play more than 35 matches a year and I maintain a 25-man squad at the minimum.

Thanks for the advice guys. I think I will try to just rest him more then - rather than cheating - as I am afraid the editor might damage the game in some way.

But I am worried about how your players lose stats quicker with a low fitness... does anyone know what age this kicks in and a player starts declining?

Thanks

I give you a tip to know how minutes can play someone depending of his natural fitness. You start that a player with a value of 20 can play 4 matches a month without trouble. So 360 minutes. So a player with 7 in Natural fitness can play -> (7*360) / 20 = 126 mns.

He can play more for sure but jadedness and injury will be critical. So you know now how many he can play. You can play him 4 matches in the month but only 30mns by game for example. Or one complete game and one half but that's it.

So a player with 7 in natural fitness, you can be sure that he can only be a substitute in your squad, he will never be a key player cause he can not play a lot of matches. Think to choose the squad status so.

Can be a good idea also, to sign at least a 13 Natural fitness player to rotate between those 2 guys.

I give you a tip to know how minutes can play someone depending of his natural fitness. You start that a player with a value of 20 can play 4 matches a month without trouble. So 360 minutes. So a player with 7 in Natural fitness can play -> (7*360) / 20 = 126 mns.

He can play more for sure but jadedness and injury will be critical. So you know now how many he can play. You can play him 4 matches in the month but only 30mns by game for example. Or one complete game and one half but that's it.

So a player with 7 in natural fitness, you can be sure that he can only be a substitute in your squad, he will never be a key player cause he can not play a lot of matches. Think to choose the squad status so.

Can be a good idea also, to sign at least a 13 Natural fitness player to rotate between those 2 guys.

Thanks for that. That's the caveat for me - he should be a key player. I'm changing my mind again - think I'm going to risk the editor

I guess it depends on your squad building philosophy. I select my team almost solely on who is closest to 100% fitness on the day, because I aim to have at least two equal standard players at each position who play one game on one game off. As such natural fitness is not a concern at all.

If you're someone who likes to play the same 11 every game then you'll need to pay a lot more attention to natural fitness when looking at transfer targets. Use the editor if you want, it's your game, but personally I'd take it as a lesson learnt, try to make a profit from on-selling him and use that money to buy someone with more suitable attributes for the style I want to play.