Pre-season friendlies needs to be looked at in greater detail

[ReggaeBwoy]

Ok, title might sound quite confusing but I find it ridiculous that you sometimes get teams like Man United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and most big teams play youngsters in friendlies whose stats are horrific. IRL when young players play in these friendlies they play on merit, not the fact that "oh it is a friendly so I can just play youngsters who are never going to make it."

For eg I went over to the AI management of Chelsea. One player in their U18 called Ismail Seremba who will get released by the AI controller at the end of his contract plays an U18 friendly game then day after plays an away game against a Korean side. Does this make sense know, he doesnt have mystical powers where he can fly over to a country far away the next day. Clubs normally announce a 25 man shortlist on who they will bring to their tour in a certain country and this how FM should reflect it because when youngsters 16/17/18 go on these tours it should feel a privilege ,not just a random game where they kick a ball. Just like you confirm your squads, FM shpuld make the game more realistic in having a shortlist of players who will play.

IRL, you don't see crap under 18 players being played in friendlies against minor teams because they havent deserved it. Look at all the squads now and if there are youngsters that are on the tours such as Sterling, Nick Powell, Lucas Piazon etc... why are they there because they have shows that despite there age they have qualities which is being recognized and therefore are part of the squad. I wish FM would make you select a shortlist of who you would like to bring with you on these tours and then you can get player reactions such as "really happy that I was able to travel with first team and hope to prove to manager I can be part of first team plans". Friendlies should have more emphasis on it, the inclusion of players from U18 who are below average is absurd.

Another thing which I am sure has been mentioned is that there needs to be a change in the cup games of how the AI manages them. It is alright to play some youngsters but playing a whole team of youngsters who have never experienced first team football before does not make sense, you see about 5 and sometimes more U18 players play a game for these big teams because they don't take the competition seriously. Come on now, even when Wenger played these "kids" were they all U18 players no, they were mainly players of reserve level who did not feature in the Premiership but having U18 players in the team is absurd as well, major fault here that I would like to see changed as even now most of these big teams play there good players in these competitions now.

[Kenco]

What's wrong with playing the under 18s? Liverpool are on tour in the US right now and have named a bunch of academy graduates in their squad. This is how managers get to see whether these youngsters have the potential to make the grade or not.

I like the idea of naming a tour squad though.

Edit: I would also point out that we have these machines called aeroplanes which can get to Korea in less than a day.

[kieronbrown73]

Fully agree with Naming Tour Squads.

Not sure how you could implement the 'geographical anomolies' I agree that it is mad that you can have a friendly in Bucharest on Friday evening with the same players being available for a noon k/o in Sydney on Sunday. As said not sure how you can factor in time zones and travel times.

Like Kenco no issues with under 18's playing, they may and sometimes do surprise you!

[ReggaeBwoy]

Not denying it but they are really talented youth players such as Suso, Sterling and Ibe. Ones who actually have been recognized as future stars but a lot of the FM selection process seems to be random

[renton1453]

Spot on! Especially the geographic issues must be considered...

[Kenco]

Not denying it but they are really talented youth players such as Suso, Sterling and Ibe. Ones who actually have been recognized as future stars but a lot of the FM selection process seems to be random

Those 3 maybe, but there are a host of others who have just come through the academy, so who knows how good they will be? Friendlies are the way to find out.

[BiggusD]

I find it more annoying that my assistant selects my youth team to play in pre-season friendlies if the opposition is weak. The whole point of these friendlies is to give the first team match fitness, nothing else matters. The reserves and youth play their own friendlies.

[Kenco]

Different managers have different views on the point of friendlies. Some like to try our different formations, some like to mix youth and experience to see if the youth fit in. How does the assistant know which you prefer?

[BiggusD]

Different managers have different views on the point of friendlies. Some like to try our different formations, some like to mix youth and experience to see if the youth fit in. How does the assistant know which you prefer?

He should know that it is not his job to give all 50 players at the club match fitness before the season starts. It is his job to make sure that the 25 men in the first team squad are ready for the new season, though, and I need to arrange 10+ friendlies to do so because he prioritizes irrelevant players.

[ReggaeBwoy]

I find it more annoying that my assistant selects my youth team to play in pre-season friendlies if the opposition is weak. The whole point of these friendlies is to give the first team match fitness, nothing else matters. The reserves and youth play their own friendlies.

That is how I see it, I am not denying though that youth should not be given playing time but only the talented ones who have earnt it, not obvious poor players who have been included in these friendlies for unjustified reasons. Chelsea, on our USA tour starting tonight, have brought a few youngsters with them and they are obviously elated about it but are they randomly put in because "it is a friendly"? No, they have played well in youth/reserve games and therefore make the step up in playing for the first team.

Kenco btw I understand you but for eg Sterling is one of the brightest prospects, Suso is very talented, as are the rest. Chelsea had a few pre season games amd I saw two 16 year olds starting who are not by any means "wonderkid" material.That would never happen with Chelsea irl because the learning curve is much higher than this and I would like FM to reflect this.

[Krald]

Well, if you're worried about them playing crap players against crap opposition in friendlies, play against good teams? I've never really had a problem with this, generally they played players I considered useful.

[uprockindude]

i totally agree with touring squads its an amazing idea that further brings in realism another thing that I like would be something aimed more at people like me for example I can't be bothered to arrange friendlies I just want to get through as many seasons as possible so I see it as a hinderance however I would like to make friendly cups snd tours however the ass man has only made 1 tour ever and that got cancelled because of the uefa cup so I would like an option to include arrange tour/tournament friendlies.

another thing is that chairman also make friendlies for big occasions like the juventus notts county friendly the other year or bruce buck the other year when he got chelsea to play a few decent mls teams and the mls allstars.

I don't really pay attention ingame but do testimonials exist in the game?

[kieronbrown73]

Chairmen arranging tours would be a great addition if it were linked to sponsorship. For example:-

"Club A are pleased to announce a 4 year sponsorship deal with a South Asian company, as part of the agreement we are to play a two match friendly tour in years 2 & 3"

[uprockindude]

Chairmen arranging tours would be a great addition if it were linked to sponsorship. For example:-

"Club A are pleased to announce a 4 year sponsorship deal with a South Asian company, as part of the agreement we are to play a two match friendly tour in years 2 & 3"

yeah kind of like this it has been known in RL the earliest being the many friendlies Arsenal gave Nottingham Forrest as thanks for donating kits to them when they 1st were founded. Chelsea have done it a few times so I think this would be a great addition to the game as I hate arranging friendlies it is more realistic you could also get the board to set up the friendlies as Arsenal do.

Tbh any improvements to booking friendlies is needed

[markyosullivan]

I'm pretty sure they name more than 25 players for their tours

[uprockindude]

I'm pretty sure they name more than 25 players for their tours

i think it is 28 or 29

[Kenco]

Touring squads are flexible and should be in the game so you could choose to take your entire squad if wish. Then any that get left behind could lead to transfer speculation, like IRL.

[SRL88]

I like the idea of a tour squad. That sounds very good.

[uprockindude]

The whole point of these friendlies is to give the first team match fitness, nothing else matters. The reserves and youth play their own friendlies.

it kind of does matter SI always wants to make an accurate to life game which sure there are a few issues IE training developement etc however in RL friendlies mean a lot more than just fitness now as it is a source of income for small teams and even the bigger teams when they announce such tours to the far east and with that a lot of teams have announced touring squads which take important 1st team players and important talent with the 1st team players who have been left home have their transfer status thrown into the air, for example a lot of people expect not to see RVP go on tour with Arsenal because he may be leaving. Friendlies have also become a lot more popular this week there was a derby match played in scotland that sold 10k tickets which is absolutely amazing considering that "apparantly" the scottish game is dying.

As for the game it is important for finances to test out your tactics/formation scouting players fitness morale set pieces etc etc so I firmly believe that a lot has to be changed with the friendlies in game because there is not enough going on at this period in the game and can be dull so it needs to be changed

[Giggsidan]

I agree that more attention to pre-season friendlies and tours would be nice. IRL they're kinda a big deal especially for high-profile clubs, whereas in-game they tend to just fly by without much attention or impact.