Ajax - When Real Life Meets Football Manager - FM14

[Cleon]

Cleon you say you dont use match training, wouldnt you lose tactic familiarity?

Not when its all fluid no.

[craigd84]

ah really?? i thought it still went down!! awesome.

[Cleon]

Only if you add/remove shouts outside of games or bring new players in.

[micklfc87]

Great Read, Although when would the best time to try out my youngsters I mean If I have a player who's currently ability is 1 or even 2 star rating, when should I play him as I have players with more ability that him in my first team?

[llama3]

You cannot play everyone in your team. But things like lower level cup games, end of season with nothing to play for, substitutes in games when you can afford to bring them on - all helps.

[Cleon]

Great Read, Although when would the best time to try out my youngsters I mean If I have a player who's currently ability is 1 or even 2 star rating, when should I play him as I have players with more ability that him in my first team?

I ignore star ratings, they don't really tell how good the player really is. But regardless its down to you really. Myself I keep a small squad of around 14 players then the rest are all youth players, that way I can give everyone game time as that's the most important factor. Results for me are secondary to the development of the player. Not everyone is brave enough to play this way though

[micklfc87]

I ignore star ratings, they don't really tell how good the player really is. But regardless its down to you really. Myself I keep a small squad of around 14 players then the rest are all youth players, that way I can give everyone game time as that's the most important factor. Results for me are secondary to the development of the player. Not everyone is brave enough to play this way though

Yes I pretty much done the same thing on my last save, Im Middlesbrough by the way as they have a excellent YF & TF, but I pretty much sold most of my squad and started with the youngsters which got me the sack come November, All a learning curve I suppose.

[mcrimmins]

Should I bother upgrading youth facilities if I put all of my players, including youth players, in the senior squad and U21s?

When playing smaller clubs, it would be nice to save money by not upgrading YF, and possibly investing that money into TF (since both senior team and U21s use them), Junior Coaching and YR. Also, could focus on bringing in better senior coaches, instead of looking for coaches with high Working with Youngsters.

Is there any downside to that logic?

Also, has anything major been changed for FM15 when it comes to training and youth development? I suppose not, but it's better to check anyway.

[Cleon]

If you have everyone in the first team by promoting them to it (not just filtered) then no you can get away without them. If you use U21 squad though then you still need them unless they share the first teams facilities which it would state on the training page.

[Abaddon879]

Would you not still require Working with Youngsters for the coaches, as i understood that to mean how well they can relate their training methods to U18s? The best coach in the world could be hopeless at relating his methods to youngsters.

I've always seen that as an important stat regardless of senior or youth coach, as I often have U18s playing in my senior team

[Cleon]

Yes for any player under 24 they are classed as young players if I remember right.

[mcrimmins]

So, I would still need to have senior coaches with high Working with Youngsters attribute to be most effective at developing young players promoted to the first team?

What exactly is the benefit of having better coaches anyway? Between game time and player personality, I don't really see where they fit in terms of player development.

[Cleon]

So, I would still need to have senior coaches with high Working with Youngsters attribute to be most effective at developing young players promoted to the first team?

What exactly is the benefit of having better coaches anyway? Between game time and player personality, I don't really see where they fit in terms of player development.

Well they work with the players, so the better the coach the better training they are getting. Which long term should equal better development on the attributes the coaches teach in their category.

[mcrimmins]

But it affects CA distribution, rather than CA improvement, right?

For example, if I would have four star fitness coaches and two star coaches in other categories, redistribution would favor physical attributes.

[Cleon]

But it affects CA distribution, rather than CA improvement, right?

For example, if I would have four star fitness coaches and two star coaches in other categories, redistribution would favor physical attributes.

The star ratings and workload determine the quality of training so the better it is the more chance of seeing those attributes the category trains increase. Your training schedule determines CA distribution.

Plus better the coach, better the player reports etc

[phnompenhandy]

The star ratings and workload determine the quality of training so the better it is the more chance of seeing those attributes the category trains increase. Your training schedule determines CA distribution.

Plus better the coach, better the player reports etc

I wonder if there's any correlation here - as my coaches pass their badges and thus get 'better', they also seem to be giving more and more frequent reports of players complaining about their training schedules being too heavy. Nb. I follow your advice and have General Training on Balanced Low, and individual training on heavy.

That's my observation Cleon - now here's a quick question. Is there EVER a scenario where you should listen to the complaints and reduce training load?

[Cleon]

I wonder if there's any correlation here - as my coaches pass their badges and thus get 'better', they also seem to be giving more and more frequent reports of players complaining about their training schedules being too heavy. Nb. I follow your advice and have General Training on Balanced Low, and individual training on heavy.

That's my observation Cleon - now here's a quick question. Is there EVER a scenario where you should listen to the complaints and reduce training load?

No never. As often complaints (on my own save) are because the players are too professional and want to do more more but then that would slow their development down. I don't think I've had someone complain about training related stuff other than wanting a higher workload for about 7 seasons.

[phnompenhandy]

No never. As often complaints (on my own save) are because the players are too professional and want to do more more but then that would slow their development down. I don't think I've had someone complain about training related stuff other than wanting a higher workload for about 7 seasons.

Ah now that's very interesting; I never thought about it that way. My squad is indeed highly professional.

[Fritz13]

Hi Cleon

Re-read this over Christmas and as always picked up another tip that I'd missed - don't involve PPMs until the season starts

I have a question - if I set the training for a player to that specific for a role - "wingback all duties" for example

.... then also retrain the player in a new position which takes priority?

I've seen some players after a few months are "accomplished" in the new position but I'm wondering are they also learning the overall role I allocated them as well?

Cheers

[Cleon]

Learning new positions takes time away from his training so his development should be at a lower rate while learning new positions. It tells you the % on the screen of how much it takes away.

[Fritz13]

Learning new positions takes time away from his training so his development should be at a lower rate while learning new positions. It tells you the % on the screen of how much it takes away.

as always thanks for this - will take a closer look tonight.

[mcrimmins]

The star ratings and workload determine the quality of training so the better it is the more chance of seeing those attributes the category trains increase. Your training schedule determines CA distribution.

Yes, but what I meant to say is that coaches influence the rate of attribute (re)distribution, rather than the rate of CA growth. Late SFraser said it better:

Coaches by the way increase the speed at which CA is shifted between categories. The better your coaches at particular categories the faster you can shift CA between categories and get quicker results from Training.

I know that he was wrong on many training related things, but I think he was right about this one. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Cleon]

Yes, but what I meant to say is that coaches influence the rate of attribute (re)distribution, rather than the rate of CA growth. Late SFraser said it better:

I know that he was wrong on many training related things, but I think he was right about this one. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

It's not that simple, you get like a training score from coaches, workload, facilities etc and the growth rate is take from all of that. So technically for coaches its both.

Plus you have to remember the attributes themselves, its harder to develop higher attributes than it is lower ones so again this would impact growth rate.

[mcrimmins]

That makes sense. Thank you.

[Rock787]

No never. As often complaints (on my own save) are because the players are too professional and want to do more more but then that would slow their development down. I don't think I've had someone complain about training related stuff other than wanting a higher workload for about 7 seasons.

I don't often have players moan about workload, although I do seem to have a few who moan about the attribute I'm having them train and how it's not beneficial. Make's me wish there was a "Shut up son, I know what's best for you" button

[mcrimmins]

Yup. Could also be called "A Parent Button".

[Kamakazeee]

Sorry if this already covered in the thread as I must have missed it. But say you've figured out what attributes you want your player to train on, for example finishing composure and off the ball. Is it better train each stat for say 2 month each or rotate each one during a two month period?

[Cleon]

Either works really

[LEEMOD]

God this thread is so amazing, I keep coming back to it and checking a few things and making notes!

[Taipan]

Holy Necro Batman!!...., but yeah got to agree that this is one of the classics and doesn't deserve to be off the front page. Lucky I have a printout

[Cleon]

I think I'll be redoing this for FM16 but not the Ajax stuff. It'll also be a lot more in-depth

[Taipan]

My printer will be awaiting

It's interesting how you and rashidi have different approaches to the training schedule through I'm sure the end results are pretty similar. I chucked the below question to rashidi. I'm not trying to double pump the question, but as you and him approach training from different angles, I'd love your thoughts on it as well:

Are the PPM's that you initially teach your youngsters influenced by their current stats or do you have a "must" have list of PPM's that these youngsters must learn per position, regardless of their stats, based on the DNA/style of your club? For example a fresh faced 15y DC with a marking stat of 2. Would you still immediately start training him in the PPM "marks opponents tightly" or initially concentrate 100% on getting that marking stat up before commencing the PPM? Sadly yes I do have a young 15y DC with a two in marking.

[Cleon]

My printer will be awaiting

It's interesting how you and rashidi have different approaches to the training schedule through I'm sure the end results are pretty similar. I chucked the below question to rashidi. I'm not trying to double pump the question, but as you and him approach training from different angles, I'd love your thoughts on it as well:

Are the PPM's that you initially teach your youngsters influenced by their current stats or do you have a "must" have list of PPM's that these youngsters must learn per position, regardless of their stats, based on the DNA/style of your club? For example a fresh faced 15y DC with a marking stat of 2. Would you still immediately start training him in the PPM "marks opponents tightly" or initially concentrate 100% on getting that marking stat up before commencing the PPM? Sadly yes I do have a young 15y DC with a two in marking.

I'd just teach him the PPM's that are suitable for the DNA I'm creating at the club. I never teach anyone a PPM to try and mask bad attributes, I only ever teach them to enhance the style. You can train them for that though if you really wanted I guess.

[Cleon]

I wrote this in another thread;

I get a lot of people ask me about players preferred moves and if I have a list of the best one for each position and I always reply with the same answer – There is no best and it totally depends on what you want from the tactic you’ve created and what style you are aiming to achieve. Any PPM training should be based on this because it will impact your tactic in some way so you need to factor this into any decision making when creating tactics. Hopefully this post will explain a little bit about how I utilise PPM’s and decide what I need and more importantly is the player capable of doing what I’ve learnt him. This is just about what I look for and others might do it differently, so I’m not saying this way is a must or better, its simply just explaining how I approach them

Even after setting your tactic up with the team and player instructions you’ve chosen it still might not mean the players are doing those things because they might have a players preferred move that doesn’t allow or impacts in someway the settings you’ve selected. For this you need to be aware of any PPM’s the player has when tactic building.

These add a different dimension to the player and depending on what PPM’s he has will instruct him to do certain traits like dictate tempo, curl ball, shoots with power and so on. So when creating a tactic and choosing a role for a player you really should take these into consideration because they may affect how he plays the role you’ve give him. For example – you wouldn’t want an anchor man with the PPM gets forward when possible, as his job is to stay deep and protect the back four. Having that kind of PPM for that kind of role can stop him doing it effectively and efficiently and could make him get caught out of position. So you need to be aware of the PPM’s a player has before deciding what you want him to do in the system you are creating.

PPM’s do not cost CA they are free with the exception of one, develops weaker foot. They should also be thought of as tendencies and an extension of a players profile. If someone has a PPM then they will attempt to use this move as often as they see fit. The frequency at which it will be used comes down to decision making and how successful it is comes down to the required attributes.

So below I’ll list them all and talk about what attributes I think a player needs to be able to use them. Remember this is just my opinion based on what I’ve used for quite a few years so if you don’t agree that is fine as these are just opinions.

There is a total of 47 PPM’s that are available by either tutoring or learning a player the move. Of these 47 different kinds of PPM’s 7 of them are available by tutoring only. The full list of PPM’s can be seen in the screenshots below. I used the player search screen as it was easier to show you them all without missing any out.

Below are a list of PPM’s that can only be obtained via tutoring (although on FM15 I believe all can now be trained);

• Curls ball
  
• Stays back at all times
  
• Dwells on ball
  
• Tries to play way out of trouble
  
• Gets into oppositions area
  
• Arrives late in oppositions area
  
• Argues with officials
  

If you’d like your players to learn any of those then you’ll have to find a player with them already in the game and try and buy the player. Then you can try and get it transferred to one of your players by having him tutor someone. These will always be in the game but they’ll be hard to find like they are currently. So if you want to use these then you really need to find someone with them early on and try and get them transferred to one of your players.

PPM’s

When looking at PPM’s either learning them or unlearning them, not a lot of people take into account the players attributes. Player’s attributes are a massive part of PPM’s and determine if he can actually do what you’ve instructed. All I’m doing is showing what I look for when deciding who can have what PPM’s rather than saying my way is better than anyone elses. So here is a list of attributes that I work on when teaching players PPM’s, you might think differently or look for different attributes though.

1. 1. 
      
   2. Argues with officials – I’m sure you all get what this PPM is about!
      
   3. Arrives late in opponents’ area – Off the ball, work rate, determination
      
   4. Attempts overhead kicks – Flair, balance, agility,
      
   5. Attempts to develop weaker foot – Self explanatory but costs CA if successful
      
   6. Avoids using weaker foot – Self explanatory
      
   7. Comes deep to get ball – Off the ball, technique, vision, passing
      
   8. Curls ball – Technique, anticipation, flair, finishing
      
   9. Cuts inside - finishing, dribbling, acceleration, technique
      
   10. Dictates tempo – passing, concentration, composure, first touch, teamwork
       
   11. Dives into tackles – Concentration, composure, bravery, tackling, aggression
       
   12. Does not dive into tackles – This is for players who have Low tackling, determination, Strength, Bravery, positioning. Or if you need a player to stay on his feet.
       
   13. Dwells on ball - Composure, technique, concentration, vision
       
   14. Gets forward whenever possible – Work rate, stamina, teamwork, pace/acceleration
       
   15. Gets into opposition area – Anticipation, determination, off the ball
       
   16. Hits free kicks with power - Strength, free kick taking, technique
       
   17. Hugs line – dribbling, crossing, teamwork
       
   18. Knocks ball past opponent – Pace, acceleration, balance, determination, agility
       
   19. Likes to lob keeper – Flair, vision, technique, anticipation
       
   20. Likes to round keeper – Flair, vision, technique, composure
       
   21. Likes to switch ball to other flank – technique, passing, teamwork, flair
       
   22. Likes to try to be beat offside trap – Anticipation, pace, off the ball, anticipation
       
   23. Looks for pass rather than attempting to score – passing, teamwork, flair, vision, composure
       
   24. Marks opponent tightly – Marking, concentration, positioning, stamina, work rate
       
   25. Moves into channels – Off the ball, acceleration, pace, flair, teamwork
       
   26. Penalty box player – Composure, anticipation, concentration, finishing
       
   27. Places shots – finishing, composure, anticipation, technique
       
   28. Plays no through balls - Doesn’t really need attributes for this
       
   29. Plays one-twos – Vision, teamwork, first touch, technique, passing
       
   30. Plays short simple passes – passing, technique, first touch
       
   31. Plays with back to goal – Workrate, balance, strength. first touch
       
   32. Possesses long flat throw – Strength, long throw, vision
       
   33. Refrains from taking long shots – Don’t need attributes for this really.
       
   34. Runs with ball down left – Dribbling, pace, technique, acceleration, balance, agility
       
   35. Runs with ball down right – Dribbling, pace, technique, acceleration, balance, agility
       
   36. Runs with ball often – Dribbling, pace, technique, acceleration, balance, agility
       
   37. Runs will ball rarely – Don’t need attributes for this
       
   38. Runs with ball through centre – Dribbling, pace, technique, acceleration, balance, agility
       
   39. Shoots from distance – Long shots, technique, composure, vision, flair
       
   40. Shoots with power – Long shots, technique, composure, vision, strength
       
   41. Stays back at all times – Don’t need attributes for this
       
   42. Stops play – Vision, teamwork, composure, anticipation, concentration
       
   43. Tries first time shots – Finishing, anticipation, technique
       
   44. Tries killer balls often – anticipation, technique, passing, teamwork, determination, first touch
       
   45. Tries long range free kicks – Strength, free kick taking, technique
       
   46. Tries long range passes – Flair, vision, anticipation, passing, technique, first touch
       
   47. Tries to play way out of trouble – Composure, dribbling, anticipation, balance, strength
       
   48. Uses long throw to start counter attacks – Strength, long throw
       

You’ll have noticed I left decisions off the list, that’s because decisions and teamwork are what makes the PPM’s function. A players decision making will determine if he uses it and his teamwork attribute determines how well he works with his teammates but not only that, it can impact how he uses his PPM. If it’s low then you could find he is more selfish and uses his PPM a lot more. This can be a good and bad thing. Basically teamwork is linked to how well a player follows the instructions given to him as well as how he plays and links up with his team mates.

Recently I’ve wrote a lot about the 4-4-2 that I’m currently using in FM15 so now I’ll focus on the PPM’s I’ve learnt my players or will be learning them eventually and explain a little about why for that set up.

Defence

The two central defenders don’t have any as I don’t feel they need any. If I did decide to teach them any at a later date it would only be the does not dive into tackles PPM. The reason being is I need them on their feet at all times and going to ground isn’t really something I want them doing if they risk bringing the oppositions player down. I need my defenders to time their tackles and not be reckless to decrease the risk of giving away pointless fouls or mistiming challenges in dangerous areas of the pitch.

With the wingbacks I use though that’s a different story. This is the left sided one;

He already had the hits free kicks with power one but I’ve added the rest. I want him to hug the line because I want him to offer me width at all times when attacking to really stretch play and to try and limit the amount of times he cuts inside. I also want to encourage him to really drive forward with the ball if he sees fit so that’s why he has run with ball often. Runs with ball down left is self explanatory.

The right sided wing back is set up a bit differently;

In front of this player I use a wide playmaker so this has influenced the PPM’s I’ve taught him as they were done with that in mind. I want him to overlap the wide playmaker so he has the gets forward whenever possible settings and he has hugs the line for the same reasons above, to be a wide outlet. He also has runs with ball rarely due me wanting him to play through the wide playmaker rather than taking the responsibility upon himself. The reason for this is the wide playmaker drifts inwards a lot and this often drags his marker with him when this happens which means this wingback has lots of space to run into to receive the ball further up the pitch.

Midfield

These are the wide playmaker’s settings;

The idea behind these settings are I want him to pass rather than shoot or score. He still scores a few goals throughout a season but his main job is to play other people in who are in better positions or using space that is created near him, that’s why I game him the looks for pass and refrains from taking long shots PPM’s. I also want to encourage through balls as he will have a wingback going beyond him, a roaming playmaker at the side of him bombing forward, a deep lying forward who is hopefully in space and the other striker all of whom should be good viable options for through balls at times during the match. Finally I gave him the arrives late one as I still want him getting in dangerous positions but only once the other players are all in place, so I like this PPM as it makes the player hang back slightly.

Next up is the raumdeuter;

I don’t want him too wide here, ideally I want him between the fullback and centre back hence why he has moves into channels. He also plays closely to the deep lying forward so I’m trying to encourage the give and go type of passes so again that explains the plays one-twos PPM. When he can and the opportunity arises I want him to drive forward with the ball and really run at players as defenders hate players who run at them, it puts them on the back foot and can see them give away fouls if anything is mistimed. At the same time I don’t want him wasting an opportunity either by being a bit keen to take a long shot from range as that can be wasteful especially when I want him to drive into the space the DLF creates when he drops deep. Shooting from range just isn’t acceptable when I have created better opportunities in front of him to use and gave him passing options.

Roaming playmaker;

This one is fairly simple, I want him to drive forward and support attacks. The reason for short simple passes is he has lots of options along side of himself and in front of him, there is no need to make things complicated. Especially when he has the wide playmaker at the side of him who will be drifting into the space he creates when he drives forward.

Central midfielder;

Even though technically this player isn’t a playmaker I still want him to see a lot of the ball and dictate the tempo of the game seeing as he is the deepest player from the midfield. I also want him to collect the ball from the defence and link the midfield together. At the same time I don’t want him joining attacks or venturing too far forward. I need him to be positionally strict as I want him to act more like a defensive midfielder and take up similar positions so he is well placed to break up attacks.

Strikers

The deep lying forward;

The job of my deep lying forward is to create a link by dropping back into the midfield areas. This links the midfield and attack together but also creates a bit of space for the raumdeuter to use. So again if he takes long shots then its a move/opportunity wasted. I want him to come deep in search of the ball as I want him on the ball a lot, he’s a dangerous player when he has the ball at his feet. Plays with back to goal is one of my favourite PPM’s to use for creative strikers or strikers who you expect to play other players in rather than himself. That’s not to say he doesn’t score goals, in fact my DLF has been my top scorer in the past 6 seasons but he’s also got the best assist stat too.

My complete forward doesn’t use any PPM’s yet and I’m unlikely to give him any at this point in time. He already plays like I expected and I’m not sure giving him any PPM’s would really enhance his play.

Basically that’s it, that’s how I view and utilise players preferred moves, I hope I haven’t bored you to death with all of that

[Fritz13]

The more I read this the more I realise that certain aspects are simply common sense - like these PPMs for example.

Your PPMs can take a good tactic and make it great.

As far as I can see you are moulding the player to suit the tactic rather than the other way round.

Another great post

[LEEMOD]

Staff

Signing staff who have similar personality types is a very wise idea because there is a chance these will get passed on to any newgens you get at the club. So make sure you get a head of Youth Development with the kind of personality you'd like your newgen players to have because there is a chance that they spawn with the desired personality. This can save you a lot of tutoring time.

Over the last few years there has been a change at Ajax and how the club is run with regards to training players and how the teach players. They still use the T.I.P.S system but it now runs even deeper than that. To explain further how it works I direct everyone to give this article a read and see exactly what I'm talking about, its a great piece about how its changed and what Ajax's goals now are and when they are recruiting ex-players to be part of the staff;

http://whitehouseaddress.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/cruyff-ajaxs-way-forward.html

As for my staff;

Assistant

Reserves Manager

Reserves Assistant

Under 19's Manager

Under 19's Assistant

Head of Youth Development

Coaches

Fitness Coaches

Goalkeeper Coach

U19 Goalkeeper Coach

Not all of these staff are good, in fact majority are quite poor. However to keep with the Ajax traditions I will be keeping most of them and hope they improve and if I can try and strengthen the coaching side

with retired players from season 2 onwards.

Cleon

I am just making some notes based on this post to start my own game with Elgin City, I couldn't see anywhere where you had listed the top 5/6 attributes for each member of staff, I wonder if you could please elaborate on this so I can fit this into my matrix templates.

I am trying to create a DNA for my club

Thank you

[Taipan]

Thanks Cleon. That just confirms my thoughts.

I've set up a training template for each of the above PPM's within the training area of the game showing those key attributes you list above. If a player has an attribute value below my acceptable limit, I just won't train him in the PPM. In the case of my spotty faced 15y DC, he is will have to train up his marking ability quite a bit before he can learn that PPM. The templates works a treat as I already know what PPM's I want for my clubs DNA, and so it is just a matter of displaying the relevant PPM template and immediately I can see who in my squad can/can't be trained in the PPM in question.

[Cleon]

Cleon

I am just making some notes based on this post to start my own game with Elgin City, I couldn't see anywhere where you had listed the top 5/6 attributes for each member of staff, I wonder if you could please elaborate on this so I can fit this into my matrix templates.

I am trying to create a DNA for my club

Thank you

The majority of the 5 star rating is made up from determination, level of discipline and motivation. These must be high regardless of what category they are training, if these are low then the rating will struggle to be high. On top of those three attributes you then need a high rating for the category they'll be training. So the 4 attributes needed are determination, level of discipline, motivation and whatever category they'll be training.

[Cleon]

Thanks Cleon. That just confirms my thoughts.

I've set up a training template for each of the above PPM's within the training area of the game showing those key attributes you list above. If a player has an attribute value below my acceptable limit, I just won't train him in the PPM. In the case of my spotty faced 15y DC, he is will have to train up his marking ability quite a bit before he can learn that PPM. The templates works a treat as I already know what PPM's I want for my clubs DNA, and so it is just a matter of displaying the relevant PPM template and immediately I can see who in my squad can/can't be trained in the PPM in question.

Remember he's only 15 though so that low marking can still become very good. I've seen strikers with low finishing, defenders with low tackling etc (like 2-3 in the attribute) and when they hit their PA they have had 15+ for the attribute.

[Taipan]

Yeah in his case he is on a marking attribute training regime at the moment. When/if he gets to my PPM attribute benchmark for the tight marking PPM he will learn that.

My training digs are not anywhere near Hilton Hotel standard being more the room above the pub shared bathroom standard, but regardless it's very enjoyable to see my youth coming through the ranks. Your FM13 version of this thread started me looking much closer at my youth, and I must thank-you so much for that. For me especially of late, the developing youth side of the game is more enjoyable/interesting than actually playing FM out of the tin and I find myself watching the youth games for the full match, just so I can have a better understanding of each youths individual traits. Make for a pretty long season though especially with my RL commitments, which is sometimes in itself frustrating as I want to sprint to the next season to see what my new season intake looks like

[Cleon]

Yeah in his case he is on a marking attribute training regime at the moment. When/if he gets to my PPM attribute benchmark for the tight marking PPM he will learn that.

My training digs are not anywhere near Hilton Hotel standard being more the room above the pub shared bathroom standard, but regardless it's very enjoyable to see my youth coming through the ranks. Your FM13 version of this thread started me looking much closer at my youth, and I must thank-you so much for that. For me especially of late, the developing youth side of the game is more enjoyable/interesting than actually playing FM out of the tin and I find myself watching the youth games for the full match, just so I can have a better understanding of each youths individual traits. Make for a pretty long season though especially with my RL commitments, which is sometimes in itself frustrating as I want to sprint to the next season to see what my new season intake looks like

It's the only reason I still play the game in all honesty. On my long term saves I manage all three squads but spend more time watching the under 20's and under 18's more than the first team, they have almost become a secondary team . It is very time consuming but I don't mind, although I do wish it was faster at the odd time just to get to the new batch of intakes like yourself

[LEEMOD]

The majority of the 5 star rating is made up from determination, level of discipline and motivation. These must be high regardless of what category they are training, if these are low then the rating will struggle to be high. On top of those three attributes you then need a high rating for the category they'll be training. So the 4 attributes needed are determination, level of discipline, motivation and whatever category they'll be training.

Cheers mate, what would you say Assistant Manager/ Reserves Manager / U19 Manager

Would it be DDM+ Man Management / Working with youngsters/ Tactical Knowledge?

Thanks

[Cleon]

For any type of Assistant or Manager I get the one with the most high attributes across the board.

[LEEMOD]

For any type of Assistant or Manager I get the one with the most high attributes across the board.

Thanks mate, all it is though as I'm Elgin City it would be difficult to get someone decent, if you had to prioritise attributes for these three roles what would you put as your 1,2,3?

Thanks

[Cleon]

Thanks mate, all it is though as I'm Elgin City it would be difficult to get someone decent, if you had to prioritise attributes for these three roles what would you put as your 1,2,3?

Thanks

It's still the same regardless who you are, you get the best you can. I've already outlined the attributes that make up the star ratings above use that as the guide. Anything else is a bonus.

[LEEMOD]

It's still the same regardless who you are, you get the best you can. I've already outlined the attributes that make up the star ratings above use that as the guide.

Anything else is a bonus.

Thank you, I'm still on game day one in my save, I've just been making spreadsheets trying to create a DNA so I can run my club as efficient as I can.

I wonder if you'd be able to look at my thread regarding PPM's?

I'm sorry to ask on this thread but I just want to have a PPM set for each role so I can then get onto game day two and get cracking on my save

[LEEMOD]

Preseason

Pre-season is one of the most important times at the club because if you get this right you can start the season in the right frame of mind and hit the ground running. The majority of my success on FM is down to how I approach pre-season as I believe I set up the best I possibly can for me and my club and the style I play. So why is it important? Well let me show you how I approach it and then you can see why

I break preseason down to;

• Morale
  
• Fitness
  
• Tactic Familarity
  
• Team Cohesion
  

The above is what I class as really important and are all the things that will make the biggest difference over the season especially at the beginning.

Morale

Having players with high morale is always a bonus and its a really good idea to get it as high as possible straight away. To achieve this as soon as possible what I do is make sure any friendlies I play are against extremely weaker opposition. The reasons behind this is I want the team to score a lot of goals. I don’t see the point in playing hard friendlies and risking affecting a players morale. So setting up the correct friendlies is vital for me to allow me to build on morale. the more goals you score in pre-season the better imo.

Fitness

Every player at the club must be match fit before the season starts. If not then you’ll find they tire more quickly and increase the risk of picking up injuries or little niggles from games. I can do without this so I ensure everyone is fit all the time. By getting everyone match fit it means you can throw them into the first team should you suffer injuries/suspensions early on in the season and don’t have to worry that they aren’t fit. It also becomes easier to maintain throughout the season

Tactic Familiarity

Probably the most important thing to concentrate on for me. The sooner everything is fluid the better because it means your tactic will play better and the players are used to every aspect of it. You can get tactic familiarity fluid before the start of the first game of the season if you play properly. It takes around 12 friendlies to do this and while this might seem like an excessive amount of games to play, it isn’t really. Remember that I am picking very weak opponents to play so this means it doesn’t matter if I have to play my youths or not. No matter what side I put out I should win. I tie this in with getting everyone at the club match fit. So I tend to play a game every 3 days to get both fitness and tactic familiarity up.

I’ve seen people post saying they set general training focus to tactics to get familiarity levels up however that doesn’t actually work despite the misleading name. What you have to do is set the match training focus to tactics. This is what gets tactic familiarity up.

If you are one of the lucky clubs who gets to go to training camps then while these are on you gain tactic familiairty/fitness a lot quicker.

To build tactics familiarity the best you can you need to ensure you have;

• Set up around 12 friendlies.
  
• Do not allow rest before or after a game.
  
• Make sure you have someone taking control of the 'tactics' catergory in training.
  
• Signing new players will reduce tactic familiarity, so the more signings you make the longer time you need to become fluid in all areas.
  
• You must set the scheduling bar in the training section all the way to the left so its set on 50%. The end of the bar is 50% and not the middle like some assume.
  
• When you've set up the friendlies check on the training calendar to make sure you have a training day before each game. If not cancel the game because its pointless.
  
• Changing team instructions also makes familiarity go slower.
  

If all this criteria is met and you've done it correctly then you should have almost full tactical familiarity. In the first season though it can be hard to achieve in some leagues due to the dates of when the game starts. It's much easier to achieve from the 2nd season onward.Team Cohesion

If I’ve promoted players from my youth/reserves team into the first team or bought any new players then I focus on this heavily as the general focus once my players are fit. It helps them settle into the team quickly and get an understanding. This is vital because it helps with language barriers if you have foreign players who might not understand the language of the country you play in and his team mates.

Friendlies

I like to set up very easy friendlies against very weak sides. This means my team should win them easily and winning builds morale, so if I can beat a non league or amateur side 10-0 then this is what I'll do. I want to ease the players into the new season while building confidence. I don't see the point of playing against sides who I might lose against and lose morale, so rather I'd focus on building this up during preseason.

Cleon - I know you focus on match fitness by playing friendlies and as such morale too.

During pre-season period though what do you put as general training?

I know during season it's balanced low but what about pre-season?

Thanks

[Cleon]

Cleon - I know you focus on match fitness by playing friendlies and as such morale too.

During pre-season period though what do you put as general training?

I know during season it's balanced low but what about pre-season?

Thanks

Well the article is about what I use in preseason. So the general training is fitness and team cohesion...............

[LEEMOD]

I'll focus on team cohesion then seen as though match fitness will be mostly trained via a load of friendlies

Thanks

[LEEMOD]

Cleon as soon as the season starts I know you shift it to 10% with balanced low / individual focus to heavy

However, what about match prep - is it defensive positioning or do you leave on tactics?

I couldn't fit in 12 friendlies, only 11 so I wondered is it best to leave it on tactics until fully fluid?

Thanks