Training and player fitness

Hi guys, this has been a huge frustration with FM15 and I am not sure what to do.

I am playing a team in level 9 of the football pyramid with the general low standard of coaching and training. I have my team doing low level skill training and my squad is across the board at 96-99% Condition and 99% fit. We are part time so are training only twice a week.

I have all of my backup players in my under 21's and have scheduled a friendly every sunday for the under 21's. I have set my players to play between 45 and 60 mins if they did not take the field on the Saturday with the objective of keeping the players fitness up. I am 19 games into the season, and yet I can not get my reserves match fitness to more than 80% by doing this.

If I make them available for the full 90 minutes I lose at least one player a week to injury. Add to this I am losing 2 players a game injured or with knocks, of which 1 in four results in being out injured for between 2 and 8 weeks at a time. As a case in point I got one of my key players back from injury and he was at 85% Con/ 65% match fitness. I made mim available for 20 mins to the reserves and he was out with a broken arm for 3 months.

My tactic is using Counter mentality and has work ball into box, play wider and stay on feet for TI's and only move into channels on my strikers as the only PI's set.

Any help on how to reduce the injuries and also how to get the backups back to fitness would be appreciated.

Ok - digging a little deeper, it looks like my U21 manager is chosing to play generic greyed out filler players over the players I want to get game time - how do I stop this from happening besides from running both teams which I don't want to have to do

EDIT: This is not the case - I was looking in the wrong place.

None match fit players have increased risk of picking up injuries. So what you need to do is ensure everyone is always fit regardless of what squad they are in. During preseason its important everyone is match fit before the season starts as once the season starts it is trickier to achieve if you are already on the back foot. So planning should be done then to ensure that once the first competitive game happens everyone at your club is match fit. It doesn't matter what level you play it its the same for all.

One friendly a week is not enough to keep everyone fit, it requires several because you have a lot of players presumably when including the first team players who didn't play. Everyone needs lots of game time to stay match fit. You will still pick up injuries you can't stop this but once everyone is match fit then it should be reduced and once players are match fit its so easy to keep them fit by giving them game time in either first team or the reserve squads.

case in point I got one of my key players back from injury and he was at 85% Con/ 65% match fitness. I made mim available for 20 mins to the reserves and he was out with a broken arm for 3 months.

That's just bad management really. His match fitness is extremely low and his condition is way below the average. Add to this he had just come back from injury you should have waited until his condition was in the 90's again before attempting to get him match fit due to him just coming back from injury. If you rush players who have just been injured back far too soon you again increase the risk of them picking up another injury.

If you really want to reduce injuries though then take more control over the reserves and make sure players playing don't start with low condition and more importantly, the tired players during a game are getting subbed correctly.

Ok - digging a little deeper, it looks like my U21 manager is chosing to play generic greyed out filler players over the players I want to get game time - how do I stop this from happening besides from running both teams which I don't want to have to do

Depending what day the reserves play the players from your main squad who don't play might not be eligible for the fixture even though manually you have selected them to be available for x number of minutes. Also if the reserve games have any kind of restrictions this could stop certain players playing. Are the reserve results important to you? If not why not take control your self and just watch games on fastest speed and commentary only? That way you still have full control over who plays etc and keep a close eye on the condition of players.

One friendly a week is not enough to keep everyone fit, it requires several because you have a lot of players presumably when including the first team players who didn't play. Everyone needs lots of game time to stay match fit. You will still pick up injuries you can't stop this but once everyone is match fit then it should be reduced and once players are match fit its so easy to keep them fit by giving them game time in either first team or the reserve squads.

I have 24 players at my club across all three teams so I would have thought that one friendly should be enough - and I have just checked and all of my players have been playing the exact time I have asked for.

If not why not take control your self and just watch games on fastest speed and commentary only? That way you still have full control over who plays etc and keep a close eye on the condition of players.

Ok, so assuming my player is at 95% Con, 87% Mft at the start of a match, at what stage should I look at swapping him out?

Ok, so assuming my player is at 95% Con, 87% Mft at the start of a match, at what stage should I look at swapping him out?

You sub tired players, so when condition goes into 69 or lower then you are risking them picking up knocks and so on.

and I have just checked and all of my players have been playing the exact time I have asked for.

How strange, you seem to contradict yourself as you posted this in your second reply;

it looks like my U21 manager is chosing to play generic greyed out filler players over the players I want to get game time

So which is it? But none the less, that's all good and well but tells you nothing. He can still be tired, picked up a knock and not subbed etc. Just because he's playing the amount of time you specified doesn't mean it's too much or not enough still. It's what is happening during the time they play that is the most important and vital aspect.

I have 24 players at my club across all three teams so I would have thought that one friendly should be enough

Match fitness drops though. But if its not high to begin with then players need more game time not less. The whole point of getting players match fit is they play and get a lot of game time to stay in peak condition and this benefits you during the season and reduces risk of injury. This is why a proper good preseason (ignore the results they're pointless) is the most important thing for me.

U should pay attention to each player's natural fitness attribute. It determines how quick they can be fit. By listing your squad based on their natural fitness (aside of their abilities) u can guessing n planning which players to be deployed agaisnt tomorrow match, which ones for the match 3 days later, etc

Also take a measure about your squad physical capability (stamina, natural fitness) n their work rate+aggression. It can help u decide how to play n still maintain good fitness. U mighr try not to use a fast paced n aggresive football if overall fitness of your team isn't really good, for example

How strange, you seem to contradict yourself as you posted this in your second reply;

I realised I was in error and was editing that comment and managed to delete it and my edits. I was looking in the wrong place on the players form chart.

Match fitness drops though. But if its not high to begin with then players need more game time not less.

I real life, players returning from injury build up in the reserve teams. they start out at 20min, then 45 then 60. I was trying to do that here, and 20 mins made no difference, so i went to 45 which made a slight jump, but when I went higher they picked up knocks/injuries that set them back to the start again.

Is this a factor that I have only my self as a 1.5 star fitness coach? I have only myself, the ass man and one other coach allowed.

Also take a measure about your squad physical capability (stamina, natural fitness) n their work rate+aggression. It can help u decide how to play n still maintain good fitness. U mighr try not to use a fast paced n aggresive football if overall fitness of your team isn't really good, for example

I have toned down the pace and aggression of my play because my players were getting knackerd after about 60 mins. Now they seem to last the match at about 70% at the end. The midfield players tend to tire faster, but that us to be expected, and I have a solid rotation going on there . Its really just getting a handle on how I can rehab those players who have been out injured expeditiously.

I have toned down the pace and aggression of my play because my players were getting knackerd after about 60 mins. Now they seem to last the match at about 70% at the end. The midfield players tend to tire faster, but that us to be expected, and I have a solid rotation going on there . Its really just getting a handle on how I can rehab those players who have been out injured expeditiously.

u should receive a report about the chance of a player to get injury from your coach. so for players who are more easily to get injured, try to gradually increase their playing time slower than those who are not easy to get injured. let's say 20 mins for 2 matches, 45 mins for 3 matches, then 60 mins for 2-4 matches

while a player with high natural fitness and low injury proneness might only need 45 mins for a match, 60 mins for a match, and 90 mins for a match to get match fitness back to be fit. in my opinion the duration of their injury (also how bad the injury was) is also a factor to determine how much minutes they need to be fit for first team match.

I'd like to say, It is more about knowing your players thoroughly. when u get it right after spent some seasons with the same players u should be able to tell what treatment is the best for a player. I also tried to play with lower league few times, n it is better if u trust your own judgement since u wont get a good fitness coach/ass man in the near future.

I'd like to say, It is more about knowing your players thoroughly. when u get it right after spent some seasons with the same players u should be able to tell what treatment is the best for a player. I also tried to play with lower league few times, n it is better if u trust your own judgement since u wont get a good fitness coach/ass man in the near future.

Have to agree on that statement :-)

Now one other training related question. My team is part-time so it trains on a Tuesday, and has match preparation on Friday for a Saturday game - If I set General training to Defending, the Tuesday training slot changes to the colour of Defending - However If I Make the Weekly focus Ball control, the colour changes to the ball control colour. My question is what training is actually taking place on the Tuesday? Is it Ball Control or a mix of both?

I real life, players returning from injury build up in the reserve teams. they start out at 20min, then 45 then 60. I was trying to do that here, and 20 mins made no difference, so i went to 45 which made a slight jump, but when I went higher they picked up knocks/injuries that set them back to the start again.

Again, the actual time means nothing. It's what the player is actually doing during that time that will determine is the time was enough or not or if he will pick up injuries. In a high pressing system that requires lots of movement up and down the pitch then even 20 minutes can be too much. Yet if he's a defender and the game is going easy then chances are he's had little to do. So you need to treat everyone different and remember the context of what is involved in the role they play in the tactics used.

Is this a factor that I have only my self as a 1.5 star fitness coach? I have only myself, the ass man and one other coach allowed.

It plays a part yes. However playing at level 9 myself with Sheffield FC I still managed to keep everyone match fit and had just the 'normal' amount of injuries that you'd expect.

Its really just getting a handle on how I can rehab those players who have been out injured expeditiously.

Take the start of this post into consideration and you'll get a handle on it. Just remember to factor in what the player is doing. So like you touched upon your midfield getting tired quicker than the rest, if its a midfielder you are nurturing back to fitness then you need to be extra careful because this seems to be an area of your tactic that is demanding and so on. But another position in your set up might be a lot less demanding

Take the start of this post into consideration and you'll get a handle on it. Just remember to factor in what the player is doing. So like you touched upon your midfield getting tired quicker than the rest, if its a midfielder you are nurturing back to fitness then you need to be extra careful because this seems to be an area of your tactic that is demanding and so on. But another position in your set up might be a lot less demanding

Thanks for the insights - they are all points I had not considered.