Is anyone else having severe injury woes?

As it says...am I the only one suffering major problems with injuries...and if so, what am I doing wrong?

Playing as Wrexham in the National League (England), I only have a small squad, I reckon only 19/20 players good enough for the first team. I normally set Training to High Tactics...should I be using Fitness? I thought that plus games would be too much, but could very easily be wrong. However, I've had these issues with both focuses, so is it the intensity? Is it something I'm missing....or, as I suspected with FM15, is there an inherent issue with the injury system?

The team is set up to be very attacking (by my predecessor) and I can't effectively play a 4-4-2...I have no flat wingers, and I don't have the personnel to employ a five man back, my single DM is not that good..and very slow. But I do have a wealth of players along the AM line, so I end up playing a 4-2-3-1, or a 4-2-2-2 with wide AML/R. I usually employ a high line, high closing down, short passing, switching between Low and High Tempo, and Attack or Control, looking to press and harrass the opposition. However, my tactics don't seem to have a bearing on the problem, as I've had saves where I've tried to stick with one tactic and others where I've tinkered constantly.

In my very first save, of the team I put out in the first friendly, SEVEN of the starting eleven were out injured before the fourth friendly, plus two of the subs, and four U21's. In the second, I lost another seven players in my first team squad after 3 friendlies...they get injured in the games and also in training. I then booted up another save, spent a bit of time picking a new captain....lost him for three months to a torn groin muscle in the first match. I realised we needed a target man, brought one in...after three days he got a hamstring, out for 4-7 weeks. I decided who was going to replace my first choice for captain...he broke his foot in the next match, out for six months. I now have 1 decent centre mid, one average youngster and my grizzled, old, DM....who damages his heel in training and is out for 2-3 weeks. And my best striker (on paper) and captaincy candidate won't kick a ball before 2017. So I've lost 2 of four centre mids and 2 of 5 strikers in the space of a month, all to long term injuries.

I remember clearly having exactly the same issues last year..in fact it ended up finishing me entirely with FM15. I just couldn't get a game going without most of my team ending up on the treatment table. It seems worse than it is, because I only have that very small squad and therefore any injury impacts the team hard, and 2 or more injuries, especially in the same area of the team, absolutely finishes my team as a viable force, unless I play youngsters with stats around 3-4, which would inevitably end my tenure and probably get the team relegated. A bigger team could probably absorb most of the impact..though any team would struggle if they lost 7 of their starting 11, I think.

I really didn't want to get into FM16, tried the demo, did ok but messed up and had to restart (I didn't prepare my players properly). In that save, everything clicked, goals were banged in, the defence was tight, but the players ran out of steam in 9 matches....we were top of the League after 8 wins but I over trained the team and played them to hard too long in games. Then had one of these disasters, another one where I did ok for a few matches but then realised I'd got the tactics wrong, tore it up and restarted (I did have 4 injuries in that save but they weren't to vital players or new signings). Against my better judgement, remembering the really good save, and having worked out where I went wrong I bought the game, just because I enjoy it (or did until recent years) and this one felt a bit more 'user friendly' than last year...plus I hate being beaten by a database...and haven't strung five matches together since, and not ONE competitively. So I'm really hoping that someone can point out what I'm doing wrong, because I really don't want to have wasted more money! Any and all help gratefully received...please feel free to tell me I'm useless...I already know it.

I had a really terrible run of injuries in my first season. In the 8 seasons since injuries have been rare, really.

My guess is you have been unlucky and are suffering a spell that will eventually end. The injury spells seem to have a bit of a snowball-effect as well, as with a limited amount of fit players they will be worked harder making them more likely to pick up knocks, while players returning from injury are very vulnerable to further knocks if you bring them back in the side too soon.

My only advice is be very careful with players who are lacking match sharpness. Don't start them and let them play out games until they are at least 80% sharpness. Give them appearances of the bench, and limited minutes in the reserves. I guess also avoiding the instruction to 'get stuck in' and 'close down more' will help.

I think there is also a problem with the game in regards to the assistant manger. He frequently will make very late and too few substitutions in friendlies, when he should substitute most of the team early on in the 2nd half, and with match sharpness being very low in early pre-season, letting most of the players play for 90 min is a big risk.

OP, what have you done to try and stop the injuries? It doesn't sound like you done anything?

Firstly, whether Tactical or Fitness, it just trains attributes so there wouldn't be much of a difference to what you should do. That's up to you.

Secondly, you're giving them a High intensity in training. Have you tried Medium/Average/Whatever-it-is-called?

On top of the intensity of team training, are you giving them additional work like Individual training? Training for new positions? PPMs may count too but I can't check now. These all add to the overall workload and you may be overloading them.

Do you have any rest days before or after matches? How often do you have a match? Once a week? Twice?

I'm getting a lot of injuries and my set up is similar to yours. However, far from complaining, I find it quite realistic. I'm trying to impose a Gegenpressing tactic on a non-league team. My squad is young and low on strength and stamina. As well as training ground injuries, I'm picking up loads of yellow cards - basically whilst I'm nurturing the squad into my philosophy over the long-term, in the short term it is too difficult and unsuited to them.

As suggested above, if you want a short-term fix you need to reduce training intensity and make the match tactics less intense physically. Another factor is your pre-season training regime - if that's too intense it can leave players tired and jaded by the time Christmas comes along and into the second half of the season.

in fact it ended up finishing me entirely with FM15..

I didnt notice any issues last time, but if there were (and its entirely possible there were), they would have been fixed in the first patch ,so I'd expect the same in FM16.

Easy to say, but where possible dont play a player unless they are over 90% fit and sub anyone that drops to 60%

What I have noticed since FM15 & more so in FM16 is that if a player picks up a knock in a game and is able to continue, unless there fitness stats begin to rise back up high again (say 10% within 5mins) then sub them quick.

HUNT3R, I've not specifically done anything....because I didn't know what to do! That was the reason for my confusion, was it me (likely) or a game issue (possible but unlikely).

I seem to recall in older versions you had to train Fitness to get players up to scratch in preseason because just playing friendlies simply wouldn't do it, and that you needed to employ Tactical training if you were training players to a new system. That's why I was wondering. I guess it's more organic these days with the match sharpness rating and the ratings for different areas of the tactics.

I've tried every level of intensity, yes. And had mixed results....Average Tactical training saw me lose 7 first teamers in one save, none in another. High intensity Tactical saw me win 8 out of the first 9 in one save, and put 13 players in the treatment room after 3-4 friendlies in another. Similar story with fitness, average putting 5 first teamers out, High putting three out. What bothers me most is I've yet to see a minor injury. I've had hernia's, broken feet, broken legs, dislocated shoulders, torn groins, torn hamstrings. Minimum injury time has been 3 weeks, maximum has been the season. Most are are around 2-5 months. And it always seems to be my important players, though that's probably because I only HAVE three or four. And as eple said, there does appear to be a snowball effect, again likely because I have a smaller squad...if I lose 1 player from, say, midfield, I'm likely to lose at least 2-3.

No PPMs yet (was planning to work those out during the season, I'm crap enough at tactics without further muddying the waters LOL). A few players on individual training, but the injuries are hitting those with, and without that. This might be the wrong attitude, but as we've only a small squad, I never retrain for position...at least initially. If I have a CM good enough for the first team, I need him training as a CM, not worrying about becoming a DM. I'm almost 4 grand under my wage budget and have what I think is an ok transfer budget for the level...50 grand. So if I decide I need a new DM, I buy in.

I always have a rest day after matches in pre-season and before and after in the season....I don't want to give them TOO much time off pre-season or they might not be ready. I did give both before and after in one preseason, in response to a load of injuries...but I still lost a further 3 players in 2 weeks, so that might point to an intensity issue. Matches are usually twice a week, and with my small squad a number of players will play most of that, for example I start with only 3 first team CBs, 4 MC's, and 4 strikers. So you can guarantee one CB starting at least 2 matches in a row, and if I only give players 1 half, even then, playing 2 up front and 2 MC's, my entire squad will be playing 1 match per week, other than my AMR, where I actually have 5 (although 2 of those are also 2 of the 4 strikers, so technically probably 4 of the 5 will play 1 match per week).

I can see where Phnom is coming from, I'm aiming for the same style. It is more realistic to get injuries with a smaller squad, and especially if you consider the snowball effect....however my squad is neither particularly young, nor severely lacking in strength or stamina....regular first teamers will have at least 8-10 in both, which in previous years hasn't been horrific for this level, most of the players being between 10-15. I'm not picking up many yellows at all....in my last save, in 4 games I had 1. The reason I mucked up my 9 match game was exactly as Phnom said....players worn out by Christmas (well before in my case). As I said previously, what annoys me is they aren't minor injuries, they're serious, long term, squad and tactic breaking injuries, which I admit to not finding at all realistic. If I've got 1 player with a torn groin out for 3 months, 1 with a dead leg out for 2 weeks, 1 with a twisted ankle out for 2-3 weeks, and one with something that puts them out for 10 days, ok. Having one out for 3 months with a torn groin, another out for the season with a broken leg, another out for 2 months with a hernia, another out for 5-8 weeks with a damaged ankle and yet another on the shelf for six months with ligament damage seems a bit OTT. And that was one of my BETTER bad saves!

I seem to recall in older versions you had to train Fitness to get players up to scratch in preseason because just playing friendlies simply wouldn't do it, and that you needed to employ Tactical training if you were training players to a new system. That's why I was wondering. I guess it's more organic these days with the match sharpness rating and the ratings for different areas of the tactics.

Thats just not true at all I'm afraid and it sounds like you've got yourself confused somewhere along the line.

I haven't played too much with FM16 yet and given it has a new injury system I don't want to comment too much but on previous versions the biggest causes of injury issues for users was:

A) Tactics

B) Training

Training wise I would recommend aiming for a medium level. On FM15 I give players a rest after matches with most having a medium workload, over time some creep into heavy but its nothing major.

Tactics are the single biggest killer for some users as they ask players to do too much on the pitch and basically run them into the ground.

Finally its important to have realistic expectations, on average at any given time you should expect to have up to one in every five players injured. In a 25 man squad its not strange to have 5 out injured. If you regularly & consistently over a few seasons have more than that then you need to look at what is causing it.

You also tend to find in FM that the first few months of a save tend to produce odd injury situations as FM seems to try to balance the level of injuries which is very low in the starting database. This tends to settle down after the first season.

I'm pretty sure you're bang on the money with the tactics thing, Cougar. I don't like blaming the game, because I know I'm rubbish.....but equally with computer games glitches are always possible so I thought it best to check. I get what you're saying about 'one in five', and it makes sense...what didn't make sense to me is the severity of the injuries, though possibly it could be a case of the more work I get the players doing, the worse the injuries. Annoyingly, I noticed a few players in the last save complaining about the high workload....players who weren't training PPMs, new positions, had no individual training, and with team training on Average. I couldn't find a single way of reducing their workload, but either they're lazy or I'll figure it out.

Basically I'll now fire up a new game, set team training to Average and give the players a rest day before and after matches until the entire team, or at least the first team, is at no less than 80% sharpness, keep tempo low, cut out closing down and stop players getting stuck in. Also I think where I normally like a 'flexible' strategy, I'll keep it Structured or even Rigid to start, to cut down on the amount of work. I'll slowly start introducing those and other instructions as I see players hitting that 80% level. Won't be for a few days I think, but will report back. Thanks for all the feedback.

Some players are simply lazy and don't even like medium workload, thankfully they seem fairly rare and when I do get one they don't last long in my team.

Too much rest is as bad as too much training though I would lose the rest before matches and just give them a rest after. If you have two matches a week thats two match days, four rest days and just the one training day out of seven.

Sharpness is only gained by playing matches, nothing to do with training.

Heavy closing down is one of the main culprits of injury problems but "Get Stuck in" I believe just sets tackling to hard which has the potential to increase injuries but in my experience isn't a major factor in injury issues.

Again, thanks cougar! OK, I'll drop the before match rest day...and I know what you mean about lazy players, plus I've got 2 with Natural Fitness of FIVE, which isn't good! Whilst I'll be introducing the heavy closing down and getting stuck in eventually, and they're both integral to my thought process for the team, I'll completely abandon them until I hit that 'magic' 80%.

You also tend to find in FM that the first few months of a save tend to produce odd injury situations as FM seems to try to balance the level of injuries which is very low in the starting database. This tends to settle down after the first season.

I think this plays a part. I mind we spoke about this last year.

I rarely get injuries because i spread my workload. I never put any type of training on high. I managed to set General training to Avg and weekly training to Avg. Then I also set my individual training to avg or light depending on the reply i get from my staff. Overall I rarely got any injuries from training throughout the season. When i did have it set to high yes it affected my players. Also taking note to be careful of player fatigue during a match. When a players fitness gets below 60% i get ready to change him.

Given that a lot of goals get pumped into your net in the last 10 mins of the game, I make sure i sub 2 players to maintain fitness adv over the opponent.

Wayne Rooney on mine so far.

came back from his second injury, played last 10 minutes of my game.. then international Break, so called because it breaks all your players .

I have created a file using the editor that keeps injuries in check. On the editor there is a tab called 'injuries', going down the list of injuries I have reduced the 'Occurence Ratio' by 50% as well as a lot of the 'Minimum' days by around 25%. I feel it gives greater balance to the game.

I have created a file using the editor that keeps injuries in check. On the editor there is a tab called 'injuries', going down the list of injuries I have reduced the 'Occurence Ratio' by 50% as well as a lot of the 'Minimum' days by around 25%. I feel it gives greater balance to the game.

No it doesn't give a better balance to the game.

You just don't want to deal with a realistic level of injuries.

Not really. Player's dont miss matches because they have a cold. Players don't miss matches because they pulled a chest muscle. Drogba played in WC 2010 with a broken arm. As a game issue injuries should be more realistically represented.

Interesting. Took off 'closing down' and get stuck in, kept to a low tempo, no rest day before the match, kept it structured....and lost my best midfielder (and potential captain) in the 55th minute of the FIRST pre-season friendly....for 5 months to a damaged achilles. I did forget to put training to 'Average' instead of 'High'...but they've only been in training for 3 days so I'm not sure how much of an effect that would have...and he has no extra training other than his MC positional...no PPMs or individual work. Like most of my team, he was in the low 70's for match sharpness and fitness. His natural fitness is 12, his stamina 11 and strength 9. I always feel at this level 10-12 is a decent level for key stats, so he's not too bad in those departments. I believe in luck, but bad luck in four or five different saves is pushing it. This guy has so far had a broken leg, damaged achilles, a hernia, and ruptured knee ligaments....in different saves, using different tactics and different training! There could still be something 'wrong' with the player (Rob Evans if anyone's interested) but I'm genuinely starting to find this totally ridiculous. Or am I being too judgemental?

I have created a file using the editor that keeps injuries in check. On the editor there is a tab called 'injuries', going down the list of injuries I have reduced the 'Occurence Ratio' by 50% as well as a lot of the 'Minimum' days by around 25%. I feel it gives greater balance to the game.

Any way I can download this file? I currently have 12 injuries in my 23 man squad and I find it a joke, would love to tone down the injury occurrence which is just unrealistic on fm 16.

You could say that.

No it doesn't give a better balance to the game.

You just don't want to deal with a realistic level of injuries.

He said he feels it does. His opinion which he's entitled to...

Only the most ardent of SI stans would argue that the injuries on this game are realistic. As pointed out, players don't miss matches because they have a runny nose. Players dont miss a week of football because they have a bruise on their head.

Interesting. Took off 'closing down' and get stuck in, kept to a low tempo, no rest day before the match, kept it structured....and lost my best midfielder (and potential captain) in the 55th minute of the FIRST pre-season friendly....for 5 months to a damaged achilles. I did forget to put training to 'Average' instead of 'High'...but they've only been in training for 3 days so I'm not sure how much of an effect that would have...and he has no extra training other than his MC positional...no PPMs or individual work. Like most of my team, he was in the low 70's for match sharpness and fitness. His natural fitness is 12, his stamina 11 and strength 9. I always feel at this level 10-12 is a decent level for key stats, so he's not too bad in those departments. I believe in luck, but bad luck in four or five different saves is pushing it. This guy has so far had a broken leg, damaged achilles, a hernia, and ruptured knee ligaments....in different saves, using different tactics and different training! There could still be something 'wrong' with the player (Rob Evans if anyone's interested) but I'm genuinely starting to find this totally ridiculous. Or am I being too judgemental?

You've just said exactly why players are dropping like flies. He has low fitness and match sharpness, if you hover over both in-game low amount of either and/or both of those will increase the risk of injuries. I sub players out as they get into the 70's in pre-season, because you want to softly build up their fitness.

If you're doing fitness training as well, that category has the higher amount of injuries, because it involves working with weights, sprinting and jogging, all things that cause muscular and ligament injuries along with strains, sprains and whatever else. Pre-season is the ideal time for injuries anyway, as you have a melting pot of conditions that just raise the risk of injuries. On top of that, you go into friendly matches, even if you have a very casual tactic lined up to prevent injuries it isn't going to stop the opposition from flying in with two footed tackles, or elbowing your star striker in the back of the head when going for a header.

So, you still have to deal with impact injuries, or underlying injuries that trigger from general movement within a match - which could be made worse by the weather or the pitch.

As for that particular player, he could have a high injury proneness rating which makes him more susceptible to injuries. If he does get injured, and they happen, you just have to double-manage it. I don't get many injuries at all, and I have a good track record of getting players back to fitness post-injury by micro-managing their appearances in the reserves - For example, the AI Manager of your reserves will/can play him before he's back in full training if you don't explicitly make him unavailable. And you're meant to put him back on in short spurts. I let him on the pitch if he's back to 80-85% condition, but for a maximum of 45 minutes and then we see how it goes.

And finally, even if you're a considered manager - like me, you can still get rotten luck. I had Van Persie out for a season and half because he just kept getting injured every time he was back in the squad - sometimes without even getting back on to the training pitch. Look at Daniel Sturridge today, constantly injured at the moment - in those situations you just have to keep the faith or cut your losses on the older players.

aAl my cb's are out for 3weeks to 4 months in my Aston Villa save. All injuries during match.

He said he feels it does. His opinion which he's entitled to...

Only the most ardent of SI stans would argue that the injuries on this game are realistic. As pointed out, players don't miss matches because they have a runny nose. Players dont miss a week of football because they have a bruise on their head.

Thats just not true I'm afraid.

Injuries stats in game are relatively close to injury stats IRL therefore its not an opinion, its a fact that they are realistic.

I've started a career with Nottm Forest and their injury list is huge anyway (Cohen, Reid, Tesche, Fryatt, Assombalonga). Probably a couple more too! Since then, 6 more of my players have picked up an injury and I'm

Only the most ardent of SI stans would argue that the injuries on this game are realistic.

Or, you know, the people who have access to long-term wide-ranging soak tests that can say with confidence that they are realistic. I'll give you a clue, they rhyme with Jess Bye Bemelopers.

Injuries, as always, are balanced at a gameworld level. Sometimes you'll have more than others, and other times you'll have less. You know, like real life. It would be immensely tedious if you could just fire through the game without fear of players getting injured.

I dont have a ton of injuries but I do have them usually occur to players in the same position. I can guarantee one thing not helping is your training on high. I definitely have more injuries in preseason when I have tactics trained on high than when I move it down to medium. My only issue is how often goalkeepers get hurt long term because thats not really common. Yes it occasionally happens in real life, maybe one or two starting keepers in a season across an entire league while most play the whole season unscathed, but I've had my starting keeper (different one each season) hurt for three+ months in two (back-to-back) seasons and my promising seasons nosedived immediately. Other than that, injuries are fairly normal for me other than having both starting CBs go down almost simultaneously or both LB.....Typically my best players get long term injuries as well but I don't know if that's BS or because they're injury prone. It can be frustrating as hell but the only thing that would make me complain about it being unreasonable is the goalkeepers.

Injuries seem alright too me so far, I've had my fair share half a season in with Conference North team Chorley. They seem fairly realistic, most players have sub 10 natural fitness and stamina, most opposing players have sub-10 tackling, seems silly to expect little to no injuries.

Main annoyance is when you get unfortunate with your injury positions, at one point I had 4 out of 6 CM's injured and I play 3CM as standard... Wasn't a fun couple of games.

I had a lot of injuries with Wrexham in my first attempted save on FM2016. Unfortunately a lot of the players are injury prone and have low natural fitness. Since I like my assistant to run general training for me. I make sure he has a good rating in Fitness (10+) and make sure I have good Physios.

I noticed that adding Physios does help a little. In my current save my U-18 team was always getting injured. Added an U-18 Physio and number of injuries dropped.

I do notice that it seems to run in positions.......if a STC goes down you will have a rash of injuries at that position.

Or, you know, the people who have access to long-term wide-ranging soak tests that can say with confidence that they are realistic. I'll give you a clue, they rhyme with Jess Bye Bemelopers.

Injuries, as always, are balanced at a gameworld level. Sometimes you'll have more than others, and other times you'll have less. You know, like real life. It would be immensely tedious if you could just fire through the game without fear of players getting injured.

Congratulations on the most patronising and arrogant post I've ever seen on these forums (believe me, that takes some doing).

I don't care what the SI developers say. It is simply unrealistic for players to miss matches and up to a week at a time because they have a cold or they have a bruised head or any of the other silly little niggling injuries within the game. To deny that much only serves to back up my initial claim.

Would this be the same SI developers who think every conversation (no matter how friendly and good natured it may be) ends with a player insulting his manager? Or, perhaps the same SI developers who were too lazy to program a winter world cup into the game? They get it wrong from time to time.

Congratulations on the most patronising and arrogant post I've ever seen on these forums (believe me, that takes some doing).

I'm pleased for you. I'm sure with that, you'll have a well-thought-out rebuttal to my...

I don't care what the SI developers say.

Oh. Oh dear. Yeah, it's totally right to discount the opinion of the people who actually have stats to back it up, rather than just opinion.

It is simply unrealistic for players to miss matches and up to a week at a time because they have a cold or they have a bruised head or any of the other silly little niggling injuries within the game. To deny that much only serves to back up my initial claim.

Would this be the same SI developers who think every conversation (no matter how friendly and good natured it may be) ends with a player insulting his manager? Or, perhaps the same SI developers who were too lazy to program a winter world cup into the game? They get it wrong from time to time.

You forgot to add a liberal sprinkling of "in your opinion".

Looks like you're travelling down the road of claiming anyone who disagrees with you thinks SI are infallible. They're not, never have been, and never will be. Massive difference between that and "lazy" though.

Please stop the pettiness now, everyone.

It is simply unrealistic for players to miss matches and up to a week at a time because they have a cold or they have a bruised head or any of the other silly little niggling injuries within the game. To deny that much only serves to back up my initial claim.

If you come across something you believe is an issue, report it in the bugs forum please.

Thats just not true I'm afraid.

Injuries stats in game are relatively close to injury stats IRL therefore its not an opinion, its a fact that they are realistic.

The number of injurues might be close to current levels of injuries but the nature of injuries and there effect arent. And some of the injuries that are logged as reoccuring are ridiculous (unless this has been fixed for 16). Hamstring strains arent reoccuring. Almost anyone who has ever played a sport has had one.

The number of injurues might be close to current levels of injuries but the nature of injuries and there effect arent. And some of the injuries that are logged as reoccuring are ridiculous (unless this has been fixed for 16). Hamstring strains arent reoccuring. Almost anyone who has ever played a sport has had one.

The injury system was completely overhauled for FM16.

The injury system was completely overhauled for FM16.

Thank you. Good work SI.

Hamstring strains arent reoccuring. Almost anyone who has ever played a sport has had one.

Ask Aaron Ramsey about that......

And to whomever said players dont miss games for colds......Yes, players do miss games when they are sick occasionally. I remember Arsenal having to play Gabriel and Callum Chambers one week because Koscielny was hurt and Per Mertesacker was sick. I also played in real life with a cold a few weeks ago and it was not a good idea. I had a fever and my body had a very hard time cooling itself off even when dumping water on my head and neck. I had to sit out most of the 2nd half. I only returned when a downpour started.

And there's also the small fact that even though someone "played through a cold" at their local park, I imagine it's a little harder for an athlete to perform against other athletes in the same situation.

I like the current injury rate, makes my squad rotation easier and keeps players happy, my best winger was out for 33% of the season and still won the league.

Ask Aaron Ramsey about that......

And to whomever said players dont miss games for colds......Yes, players do miss games when they are sick occasionally. I remember Arsenal having to play Gabriel and Callum Chambers one week because Koscielny was hurt and Per Mertesacker was sick. I also played in real life with a cold a few weeks ago and it was not a good idea. I had a fever and my body had a very hard time cooling itself off even when dumping water on my head and neck. I had to sit out most of the 2nd half. I only returned when a downpour started.

And there's also the small fact that even though someone "played through a cold" at their local park, I imagine it's a little harder for an athlete to perform against other athletes in the same situation.

You understand that being 'sick' usually doesnt mean having a cold, right?? And if you have ever tried excercising with a cold the congestion seems to stop when engaged in physical activity.

There is also the small fact that most athletes have one knock or another yet manage to perform against other athletes. As I mentioned earlier, Drogba played in a WC with a broken arm. Players in the NFL play with broken hands even though hands are more important in the NFL. Context is important. No player would be allowed to miss a vital match because they had a cold or any other injury that didnt directly affect performance or their longterm health. So bruised jaws/cut arms/stubbed toes would get wrapped up and medded and they would either play or be benched for being weak.

You understand that being 'sick' usually doesnt mean having a cold, right?? And if you have ever tried excercising with a cold the congestion seems to stop when engaged in physical activity.

And you do understand that "a cold" might not always be the same thing to every person?

There is also the small fact that most athletes have one knock or another yet manage to perform against other athletes. As I mentioned earlier, Drogba played in a WC with a broken arm. Players in the NFL play with broken hands even though hands are more important in the NFL. Context is important. No player would be allowed to miss a vital match because they had a cold or any other injury that didnt directly affect performance or their longterm health. So bruised jaws/cut arms/stubbed toes would get wrapped up and medded and they would either play or be benched for being weak.

Drogba played in the World Cup with a broken arm. What a man. But then I doubt he would've been just as keen to do so had it not been a World Cup on his home continent. A wet, windy night in Stoke may not have held the same "I must play" attitude. The bolded part is questionable too. Given that painkilling injections and the like can have long-term issues, not sure that any club would force any player into anything like that. Whether it's "weak" or not, they're usually not in the habit of possibly making an injury to a potential commodity. get worse.

And you do understand that "a cold" might not always be the same thing to every person?

Drogba played in the World Cup with a broken arm. What a man. But then I doubt he would've been just as keen to do so had it not been a World Cup on his home continent. A wet, windy night in Stoke may not have held the same "I must play" attitude. The bolded part is questionable too. Given that painkilling injections and the like can have long-term issues, not sure that any club would force any player into anything like that. Whether it's "weak" or not, they're usually not in the habit of possibly making an injury to a potential commodity. get worse.

A cold has a specific definition..unlike a more vague term like the flu.

Athletes play all the time with serious injuries. In the NBA guys don the plastic mask so they can play with orbital bone issues etc. Professional athletes, especially vital ones, have to suck it up. If Chelsea was in a title race then yes Drogba would be out there playing on a cold Stoke night.

If you want to call yourself a simulation then reality has to trump gaming issues. I understand injuries have to be represented in a way that cant always be realistic. But lets remove the most blatant of the offenders.

The bolded part is questionable too. Given that painkilling injections and the like can have long-term issues, not sure that any club would force any player into anything like that. Whether it's "weak" or not, they're usually not in the habit of possibly making an injury to a potential commodity. get worse.

This is just silly for anything not involving legs/knees/hips. Giving a painkilling injection so the softie MF can play through his pulled pec has zero chance of causing a long term injury. Sport is a business and a single match can mean the difference between say Champions League money or promotion/relegation. The pressure to play is enormous and players dont want a soft reputation.

I'd expect the softy to refuse the injection, just ask Sturridge about playing with a boo-boo.

Also giving a player an injection would likely see an insurer refusing to cover wages or other expenses/losses should the minor injury become a significant one, I know I would.

No player is ever 100% fit in real life.

It was a sin in previous Football Manager's if you played a player with an orange injury status flag however with 2016's injury revamp, this is now encouraged.

You also receive updates now from your AM regarding fitness tests and a recommendation on the game time. Also too much training as in individual training on top of team training may affect players. You should be receiving news items from your assistant manager if Player A, is unhappy about your training workload.

Players who don't make your current starting XI, week in, week out. They should be getting match sharpness in your reserve teams. Many users have large squads and cannot give players the game time in the first team which they desperately crave which also contributes to a lot of players moaning about game time which is another issue always debated among these forums.

Just to clarify, does this mean we should be (depending on the severity) playing players on the orange injury icon now?

Like, if they have a sprained finger and he's a striker, that's justifiable grounds to keep them on yeah?

A cold has a specific definition..unlike a more vague term like the flu.

Athletes play all the time with serious injuries. In the NBA guys don the plastic mask so they can play with orbital bone issues etc. Professional athletes, especially vital ones, have to suck it up. If Chelsea was in a title race then yes Drogba would be out there playing on a cold Stoke night.

If you want to call yourself a simulation then reality has to trump gaming issues. I understand injuries have to be represented in a way that cant always be realistic. But lets remove the most blatant of the offenders.

Athletes can play with injuries and as Tom said, you can play a player with an "orange" injury, which I'm sure is what a cold (and others) will be. Your assistant in-game will say the same, but warn you that he quite possibly won't last the whole match.

Been fine with injuries overall in my first 3 seasons but been hit hard in my 4th. I've 4 good strikers and they are all out along with an average back up, not ideal!

My main left back is also out for 8 months with a serious virus!

On the whole I feel injuries are fine, I go through spells of having lots injured then very few injured just like real life. Seem to be a little unlucky right now though in my save, as I have 2 out of 3 strikers injured and all 3 of my right wingers out! One of my RB's is doing a decent job as 4th choice right winger though so no complaints.

The long term injuries are more frequent than in previous FM's. In season and a half I've had Jagielka out for 5 months, Chambers out for 5 months and Geromel out for 4 months. Plus a few 2 months injuries too. So, definitely quite a lot of injury woes.

You understand that being 'sick' usually doesnt mean having a cold, right?? And if you have ever tried excercising with a cold the congestion seems to stop when engaged in physical activity.

There is also the small fact that most athletes have one knock or another yet manage to perform against other athletes. As I mentioned earlier, Drogba played in a WC with a broken arm. Players in the NFL play with broken hands even though hands are more important in the NFL. Context is important. No player would be allowed to miss a vital match because they had a cold or any other injury that didnt directly affect performance or their longterm health. So bruised jaws/cut arms/stubbed toes would get wrapped up and medded and they would either play or be benched for being weak.

Perhaps you misread what I said or didn't read it at all......I said I played with a cold recently. I mentioned nothing about congestion. Congestion is fine, you can blow snot rockets all day. The issue was I was still in the fever stage of the cold and my body couldn't cool itself properly and I felt like my health was at a very dangerous level and chose to sat myself after about 35 min (because I felt very very bad) until it started pouring rain to help cool me off midway through the 2nd half.

Yeah, Drogba played with a broken arm. You can put casts on broken arms that are like a rock and protect it. Also, you can't use your arm in football. Yes you might jostle with it but its not necessarily needed. If Drogba was a keeper, I'm doubtful he would have played. I agree, injuries to body parts that are not that necessary (like facial bones in basketball) should be allowed to play through. But most injuries to the legs are not good to play through. Yes in the NFL, they play through lots of injuries. I saw one guy tear his ACL in the 1st quarter and he finished the game as a running back. It pretty much ended his career though.

(...) Yes in the NFL, they play through lots of injuries. I saw one guy tear his ACL in the 1st quarter and he finished the game as a running back. It pretty much ended his career though.

And on a side note, the NFL have had a reputation for using "medication" or "pain killing injections" that are not, how should I phrase this, ..., not exactly encouraged by all European medics, to be used "in action" by athletes.. So injured players still playing in the NFL isn't quite the perfect comparison..