Sending a Team XI for a Friendly - FM Suggestion

Now i'm aware that suggestions for FM 09 are too late so this is one for any future versions.

Often in pre-season bigger clubs will send a XI, ie. tommorow night a Watford XI will travel to St.Albans for a friendly, this side is usually a combination of first team players (usually fringe) and youngsters. This is alot more attractive to fans of lower league clubs than say watching Watford Under18s.

As for implementing this into the game i'd suggest that if for instance my current team Barnet asked Spurs for a friendly (being local n all) then rather than being rejected straight out Spurs could offer to send a Spurs XI and obviously you could do the same if another club offered you a friendly.

That is all.

Good idea, there is a lot of room to add things to Friendly games, like Neutral venues - something you see so often with Liverpool playing Krakow in Switzerland a while back, and Man Utd playing Portsmouth in Nigeria. Same goes for internation friendlies in terms of neutral venues.

You can create friendlies for your reserves and Under 18s

yes, a really good idea

You can create friendlies for your reserves and Under 18s

I know you can, i fail to see your point.

Good ideas there, but on the topics of friendlies i was wondering, do teams set up Friendly Competitions e.g. The Emirates Cup and the Rotterdam Cup (two recent ones on the TV). Has anyone ever seen the AI teams make friendly cups?

Don't let this ruin the topic discussion on XI teams, i was just wondering!!!

I know you can, i fail to see your point.

He saying that your '2nd 11' is more or less your reserves.

He saying that your '2nd 11' is more or less your reserves.

In the case of pre-season my reserve side is most certainly not my 2nd XI, and in terms of definations i'd say a 2nd 11 and a Watford XI are two different things.

Good ideas there, but on the topics of friendlies i was wondering, do teams set up Friendly Competitions e.g. The Emirates Cup and the Rotterdam Cup (two recent ones on the TV). Has anyone ever seen the AI teams make friendly cups?

Don't let this ruin the topic discussion on XI teams, i was just wondering!!!

Think so yes, but rarely. I am sure I have been invited into a cup featuring Real Madrid, but it got completely cancelled two days after for a silly reason. Not 100% though tbh, could have been a dream.

How necessary is this?

When I have a huge squad, I tend to set up friendlies for what I think of as my "A", "B", "C", and "D" squads, with one match per week for each:

My "A" squad I schedule as "Watford", and tend to send my first-team players to play the first half or so, with my most promising youth, etc, coming on through the second half.

My "B" squad I also schedule as "Watford", they are my second-choice at each position, so usually veterans or youth who are ready for a rotational role, plus fringe players (or shop-window offerings) for the second half.

My "C" squad I schedule as "Watford Reserves", and these are usually my third-choice at each position, promising youth, veteran back-ups, guys I want to loan out for the season, etc.

My "D" squad I schedule as "Watford U-18s", and it generally includes the youth who aren't good enough to play for one of the other three sides.

What would we gain by scheduling my "B" squad as "Watford XI"?

In the case of pre-season my reserve side is most certainly not my 2nd XI, and in terms of definations i'd say a 2nd 11 and a Watford XI are two different things.

You could always take charge of the reserves for the match, and choose who you want to play...

Good ideas there, but on the topics of friendlies i was wondering, do teams set up Friendly Competitions e.g. The Emirates Cup and the Rotterdam Cup (two recent ones on the TV). Has anyone ever seen the AI teams make friendly cups?

Don't let this ruin the topic discussion on XI teams, i was just wondering!!!

Some of them are but they don't have the official names. Ajax always organise a preseason tournament in the game, like they do in reality.

a team's XI is their reserve team

e.g. go on Chelsea's website for when they played Aldershot Town

Aldershots fixtures said Chelsea XI

Chelsea's reserve fixtures said Aldershot Town

XI just means reserve team

Just another quick idea

When selecting a team for a freindly on a date and selecting a team only to be refused because the other team are unavailable, this really bugs me as i can sometimes spend 15-20 mins trying to organise pre-season friendlys.

At the moment my assistant arrages all my friendlys but the down side to this is that they are usuall really poor teams.

My proposal

Maybe like the scouting system we could tell our assistant a date that we want our friendly on. next day assistant comes back with 4/5 teams that want a friendly. obviously quality of clubs would depand on your clubs rep or links to manager friendships

Thoughts/Comments welcome

Just another quick idea

When selecting a team for a freindly on a date and selecting a team only to be refused because the other team are unavailable, this really bugs me as i can sometimes spend 15-20 mins trying to organise pre-season friendlys.

At the moment my assistant arrages all my friendlys but the down side to this is that they are usuall really poor teams.

My proposal

Maybe like the scouting system we could tell our assistant a date that we want our friendly on. next day assistant comes back with 4/5 teams that want a friendly. obviously quality of clubs would depand on your clubs rep or links to manager friendships

Thoughts/Comments welcome

Sounds good to me and then you should be able to tell him the level of the teams. I mean things like much better than us, better than us, about as good as us, worse than us, a lot worse than us (maybe worded differently )

XI means reserves

When selecting a team for a freindly on a date and selecting a team only to be refused because the other team are unavailable, this really bugs me as i can sometimes spend 15-20 mins trying to organise pre-season friendlys... Maybe like the scouting system we could tell our assistant a date that we want our friendly on. next day assistant comes back with 4/5 teams that want a friendly. obviously quality of clubs would depand on your clubs rep or links to manager friendships...

Follow up with this thread:

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=35815

On that very topic. I enjoyed your suggestion and there are others who might like to hear more about this idea.

XI is reserves and youth and possibly fringe 1st team. XI is built up of players from all sections of a team. I went to watch AFC Bloxwich Utd v Walsall XI reserve players and youth played, iirc 1 or 2 young 1st teamers played aswell