Are my youth players just screwed in MLS?

[thetonyage]

I just started a career as the Philadelphia Union in Major League Soccer and have a couple questions regarding my B team and Youth Academy. 

Firstly, for my youth academy (Under 18's) I can't seem to alter the training or tactics/formation for them...is it possible to?

And for my B team, no matter who has control of training, I can only alter tactical instructions, not the formation or mentality....I can move players around between positions, but not alter the positions. Is this normal?

Also regarding the B team...since their actual league isn't in the game, am I stuck with them only playing in friendlies? 

Just wondering about these things because I'd like to train players up from the youth academy over the years, but it seems like I can't have much, if any control over their training or playing positions until they make it to the first team?

 

[Gross_Ballon]

How it works is you have to sign those youth players and bring them to your team to work with them. sadly. and loan them out to a club that does play in a league. sadly mls my local team is TFC used to work in media there and be a season seat holder. FM is lacking in any depth and immersion for MLS. just like international scene sadly. Just sign them up to the First team and have them train with you. 

 

Fun side note I met Bedoya and have his shirt from the game. great guy. 

Edited December 5, 2019 by Gross_Ballon

[Longhorn]

If Uncle Sam converts his pyramid to work with FM 20 then many of the problems with MLS and their academies and B teams are resolved, although the game still places some restrictions on what his download is able to do.

[drhockey14]

On 04/12/2019 at 20:42, Longhorn said:

If Uncle Sam converts his pyramid to work with FM 20 then many of the problems with MLS and their academies and B teams are resolved, although the game still places some restrictions on what his download is able to do.

do you know if he's working on it for this year?  His twitter account seems to be inactive.

[Longhorn]

1 hour ago, drhockey14 said:

do you know if he's working on it for this year?  His twitter account seems to be inactive.

I don't know if Uncle Sam is working on it or not, but I see another person active in the FM 20 downloads forum who indicates he is working on a similar pyramid.  

[looknohands]

Doesn't appear as though the B squads serve much of a purpose.  In my second season with Vancouver and the board decided to create a B team that supposedly plays in the PDL but, like others have pointed out, they don't seem to play actual games.

I created my own little pyramid for both the US (untouched MLS+ 3 twenty-team USL divisions) and Canada (3 leagues) and have used the in-game editor to set up affiliate teams in both the US (higher competition) and Canada (to allow foreign players to gain Canadian citizenship.)  I typically sign 3-4 players from the youth team each year and, if they aren't quite MLS-ready, I use the in-game editor to move them on loan to one of the affiliate clubs to hopefully get some playing time.

[Mars_Blackmon]

On 15/12/2019 at 02:03, looknohands said:

Doesn't appear as though the B squads serve much of a purpose.  In my second season with Vancouver and the board decided to create a B team that supposedly plays in the PDL but, like others have pointed out, they don't seem to play actual games.

I created my own little pyramid for both the US (untouched MLS+ 3 twenty-team USL divisions) and Canada (3 leagues) and have used the in-game editor to set up affiliate teams in both the US (higher competition) and Canada (to allow foreign players to gain Canadian citizenship.)  I typically sign 3-4 players from the youth team each year and, if they aren't quite MLS-ready, I use the in-game editor to move them on loan to one of the affiliate clubs to hopefully get some playing time.

How do you move them on loan in the in game editor?

[ChitownCch]

On 15/12/2019 at 01:03, looknohands said:

Doesn't appear as though the B squads serve much of a purpose.  In my second season with Vancouver and the board decided to create a B team that supposedly plays in the PDL but, like others have pointed out, they don't seem to play actual games.

I created my own little pyramid for both the US (untouched MLS+ 3 twenty-team USL divisions) and Canada (3 leagues) and have used the in-game editor to set up affiliate teams in both the US (higher competition) and Canada (to allow foreign players to gain Canadian citizenship.)  I typically sign 3-4 players from the youth team each year and, if they aren't quite MLS-ready, I use the in-game editor to move them on loan to one of the affiliate clubs to hopefully get some playing time.

I basically use the B-team as an extension of the main squad for reserve and minimum salary players to navigate the first-team roster limit. Since only those with your main squad will count towards the 6 maximum reserves and 10 maximum off-salary players, you can stash the rest of your reserve players in the B-team. I usually sign 2-3 of the youths from Academy every season, so I end up with around 8-10 reserve players (plus whatever the draft gives you) by year 2-3. Having a place to stash them now while they develop is great. 

You just have to move the players around the day before match, so you can advance the game and register them to the main squad. Also be careful, as the roster lock near the end of the season will prevent you from doing this, so at some point, you do have to choose who to keep in the main roster and who stays with the B-team for the remainder of the season. Also make sure to register them so they don't fall into waivers...

Since they don't play any league games, you do have to schedule weekly friendlies for them however, and last I checked hiring staff for the B-team is still non-functional, so you have to micromanage everything to make sure they develop at all. I'm glad we have the B-team again, but there's definitely some work to be done before it becomes the resource it was intended to be.

[looknohands]

On the player screen, look for the pencil icon next to their name and you should see a drop-down list of options.  One of the options should be "move to other club on loan." Type in the name of the club and select it. Be sure to set the date to the desired time (I usually set it for December 1st of that year) and check any boxes you want, such as "Can play in cup matches."

[looknohands]

21 hours ago, ChitownCch said:

Since they don't play any league games, you do have to schedule weekly friendlies for them however, and last I checked hiring staff for the B-team is still non-functional, so you have to micromanage everything to make sure they develop at all. I'm glad we have the B-team again, but there's definitely some work to be done before it becomes the resource it was intended to be.

I was able to post job adverts for the B team, but the game wouldn't hire a head coach (the advert option was greyed out) so I edited a former player that I had released after the first season (he was unattached and already had decent staff attributes) and made him the head coach.

I agree that the idea of a B team is good, but SI really needs to make sure that the feature is actually functional before throwing it in!

[ChitownCch]

2 hours ago, looknohands said:

I was able to post job adverts for the B team, but the game wouldn't hire a head coach (the advert option was greyed out) so I edited a former player that I had released after the first season (he was unattached and already had decent staff attributes) and made him the head coach.

I agree that the idea of a B team is good, but SI really needs to make sure that the feature is actually functional before throwing it in!

I submitted the B team coaching issue a while back and SI has confirmed that it's something they're aware of and looking to resolve at the moment.

Clever on the editing bit though. At least the in-game editor can provide a workaround to some of these issues. Really hate having to rely on it though...that said, I might have to do that too so I can offload the friendlies arranging duties to him xD

[jcp1417]

Managing MLS is simply not fun in FM. To be fair, the actual MLS isn’t a lot of fun either

[ChitownCch]

2 hours ago, jcp1417 said:

Managing MLS is simply not fun in FM. To be fair, the actual MLS isn’t a lot of fun either

I find it refreshing in its own way. Unlike mega-money leagues like the EPL where the big teams consistently get the best players, you at least get a sense of parity in MLS (if not in practice, then at least in theory). It's designed to have churn at the top, with the worst-performing teams are best set up for future success (via drafts positions, bonus allocation money if they don't have enough DP-contract players, etc.). The best players on the best teams tend to be poached by bigger leagues, so they can't just coast at the top forever. A salary cap means judicious management is required for prolonged success (though you can certainly go 'all in' and form super-teams for 1-2 seasons). It's different than most of the leagues world-wide, which contributes to its perceived strangeness, but I think it's a good thing. The top 4-8 teams should not be a foregone conclusion year-to-year, barring major disruptions. 

That said, the whole allocation fund/target allocation fund/actual club transfer budgets seem to break behind-the-scenes fairly often. I respect that they're trying to mirror the real league complications, but sometimes I'm willing to take a hit on realism just so the game mechanics will execute as intended. Then there's the mess with the roster too, with what counts towards the cap and what doesn't (and the various ways you can 'cheat' that). 

[looknohands]

On 17/12/2019 at 11:15, ChitownCch said:

I submitted the B team coaching issue a while back and SI has confirmed that it's something they're aware of and looking to resolve at the moment.

Clever on the editing bit though. At least the in-game editor can provide a workaround to some of these issues. Really hate having to rely on it though...that said, I might have to do that too so I can offload the friendlies arranging duties to him xD

Unfortunately, the head coach doesn't seem to be scheduling friendlies, either.

[thetonyage]

Managing Philadelphia Union my B-Team (Bethlehem Steel) don't show up as affiliates in the in-game editor for me. Anyone else have this issue too?

[looknohands]

I'm using a custom game with playable USL leagues, but Bethlehem Steel is showing up on the Union club affiliate screen.

[EnigMattic1]

Inter Miami is a funny one. The Academy isn't listed as an affiliate, despite being listed as one in the editor. They don't use the same colours or logo either. Maybe it's because Miami ain't actually in the MLS at the start, I don't know. But it is frustrating.

I haven't come across any problems with the II(B) team yet, but I am still trying to juggle players around to be able to register my first team.