Creating training schedules for youth players?

[gooseta]

I'm currently managing a team with a really good youth setup, and I want to get the best out of my young players' development, but I'm not sure what's different about what goes into youth training schedules as opposed to regular ones. They seem to have slightly lower amount of sessions to normal ones, is that the only difference? Are there some sessions that work better for youth development than for older players? Any help is appreciated, I also would appreciate if anyone has any youth training schedules available to download or just screenshot and share with me, that would be great. 

 

Thanks!

[ozilthegunner]

There are some youth team training schedules floating about, although I can't speak to quality.

I, too, am very interested in this and the related question of what sort of training setups are preferable for encouraging player development (including in the 1st team, so for young 20s players playing competitive games, which may be different from younger and reserve players)

[gooseta]

15 hours ago, ozilthegunner said:

There are some youth team training schedules floating about, although I can't speak to quality.

I, too, am very interested in this and the related question of what sort of training setups are preferable for encouraging player development (including in the 1st team, so for young 20s players playing competitive games, which may be different from younger and reserve players)

yeah, right now i'm just using my custom training schedules for the first team, and i have a few youth players in the first team squad too and they seem to be doing alright, so i may start using these schedules in the under 20s and see if there's any negative effects on development or training happiness.

[gooseta]

17 hours ago, ozilthegunner said:

There are some youth team training schedules floating about, although I can't speak to quality.

I, too, am very interested in this and the related question of what sort of training setups are preferable for encouraging player development (including in the 1st team, so for young 20s players playing competitive games, which may be different from younger and reserve players)

I've sent you a pm about this 

[ozilthegunner]

I thought I'd share something I am trying right now to see what others think, etc.

So, I'm managing Arsenal and in my 4th season. At the beginning of the season I went through both my U-18s and my U-23s to identify high potential players who needed personality improvements. Basically, anyone lacking a (fairly) professional/determined personality or better. This mostly meant balanced personalities, but it included a 'temperamental' and a 'low determination'... and these were on 4.5 star potential players (so I really want to get them in the right mindset to develop).

I took all these players and moved them to my first team, while making them permanently available to their respective squads. I then created 3 mentoring groups and placed these players in them alongside first teamers who could improve their personalities.

I am now half-way through the season and have seen pretty significant gains for some of these players, in terms of personality (and determination as a visible attribute). No one has really shifted their 'personality' as it is displayed (i.e., still says 'balanced') but I do get the monthly reports indicating they are more professional, ambitious, determined, etc. so it seems to be improving. So, to some degree, this is doing what I want.

However, I am a bit concerned more broadly about this approach:

• All the players are, obviously, on my first team training schedules, but play games on their respective team's schedules. So, I am concerned both that they may have sub-par schedules (particularly for the 17-year-olds) and that the disconnect between training schedules and game schedule may be causing issues in the long run
• For the slightly older players (20, 21) I had previously been loaning them out when it became appropriate (basically when they should be playing in a better league than League 2, as reputation-wise, the competition my U-23s play in is equivalent to League 2). Now, I am not loaning them out so long as they don't have a preferred personality. They are playing with the U-23s, but I wonder if they would develop better from the game time, despite the 'balanced' personality or whatever, than they would from this alternative approach
• I also wonder, although don't care as much perhaps, what this means for the dynamic within my U-18 and U-23 squads. With a bunch of the better players not in the training sessions and all that, does it perhaps negatively effect those that remain? These are typically players I don't think will make it to my first team, although I would like to be able to sell them on, so care a bit about their development (but not that much)

We have this general advice that "training is most important" for players up to age 18, while "game time is most important" for players over 18. While that may be 'true', it is much too broad and clearly it matters what sort of training they are doing, what their personality is, etc. and so I am interested in how to balance these different types of considerations (training, game time, personality)

[aritra14]

I use the training planner to create schedules for my youth team (been doing this for the past 2 editions of the game), focusing on the attributes they need to develop in order to be successful in the main team. If you can tell me what style of football you want your team to play, I am sure we can cook up a custom schedule for you. 

[Rashidi]

On 31/01/2021 at 02:40, gooseta said:

I'm currently managing a team with a really good youth setup, and I want to get the best out of my young players' development, but I'm not sure what's different about what goes into youth training schedules as opposed to regular ones. They seem to have slightly lower amount of sessions to normal ones, is that the only difference? Are there some sessions that work better for youth development than for older players? Any help is appreciated, I also would appreciate if anyone has any youth training schedules available to download or just screenshot and share with me, that would be great. 

 

Thanks!

Frankly speaking, we actually went through the effort of creating a standalone application for training, then I ran a lot of benchmark and soak tests. Finding out that...at the end of the day, the best combination in the world is entirely subjective and ultimately depends on how you want your players to develop. 

This covers every attribute bar 7. stuff like corner taking, free kick etc. It hits all the other attributes + there are 4 sessions that focus on roles, two are exclusive (match practice).  Attacking Movement and Defensive Shape work on individual role attributes as well.  The two match practice sessions  work on covering all tactical familiarity and individual role development too. The only session i might drop from there is quickness.

I find that this is the most effective training schedule for youth players. Why? Its balanced. I think people are overcomplicating the game too much. If you keep training balanced and then focus their individual training to specific roles you get better player development. You also need to play them of course, and they need appropriate game time.

I use this every week. With another club I also have a playmaking fullback schedule that I use that specifically targets my defenders and improves their footballing intelligence attributes and helps with developing my fullbacks to become aggressive creators from deeper areas. Just use this with the youth team for every single week if you feel like being lazy which is what i do for some saves. For saves where i want my playmaking fullbacks I have another schedule specifically for them that I covered on my youtube channel. You may want to check my profile to find links to that. I am not permitted to share links to my youtube channel on the forums.

 

[gooseta]

14 hours ago, aritra14 said:

I use the training planner to create schedules for my youth team (been doing this for the past 2 editions of the game), focusing on the attributes they need to develop in order to be successful in the main team. If you can tell me what style of football you want your team to play, I am sure we can cook up a custom schedule for you. 

Thank you, I hadn't come across this tool in my research and it seems like something I'll definitely try out. Currently I mainly play direct, attacking football with gegenpressing, so my team fluidity is flexible/fluid, slightly more direct passing, higher tempo, run at defence, pass into space, etc, with a high line of engagement and a high defensive line and extremely urgent pressing. I would also like my youth players to be able to develop to be good on the ball too, as I also sometimes like to switch to a slightly slower, more considered possession based style with shorter passing and varied tempo depending on the tactic, so in short, gegenpress, direct attacking, and tiki-taka are the main styles i'd like my players to be competent at, I will definitely take a look at the tool later and see what I can come up with, if you can spare the time to create a couple of schedules for me that would be great too, although not necessary if you are busy

thank you  

[gooseta]

12 hours ago, Rashidi said:

Frankly speaking, we actually went through the effort of creating a standalone application for training, then I ran a lot of benchmark and soak tests. Finding out that...at the end of the day, the best combination in the world is entirely subjective and ultimately depends on how you want your players to develop. 

This covers every attribute bar 7. stuff like corner taking, free kick etc. It hits all the other attributes + there are 4 sessions that focus on roles, two are exclusive (match practice).  Attacking Movement and Defensive Shape work on individual role attributes as well.  The two match practice sessions  work on covering all tactical familiarity and individual role development too. The only session i might drop from there is quickness.

I find that this is the most effective training schedule for youth players. Why? Its balanced. I think people are overcomplicating the game too much. If you keep training balanced and then focus their individual training to specific roles you get better player development. You also need to play them of course, and they need appropriate game time.

I use this every week. With another club I also have a playmaking fullback schedule that I use that specifically targets my defenders and improves their footballing intelligence attributes and helps with developing my fullbacks to become aggressive creators from deeper areas. Just use this with the youth team for every single week if you feel like being lazy which is what i do for some saves. For saves where i want my playmaking fullbacks I have another schedule specifically for them that I covered on my youtube channel. You may want to check my profile to find links to that. I am not permitted to share links to my youtube channel on the forums.

 

Thanks, I will definitely try out this schedule along with more focused ones. Is there a reason for the match practice early on in the week? Thanks for your help!  

[aritra14]

9 hours ago, gooseta said:

if you can spare the time to create a couple of schedules for me that would be great too

Based on your requirements, I came up with these 2 schedules - the first one is for the offensive players, and the second one is for defensive players. When you create the schedule in game, make sure to balance the workloads per day (heavier early week, to gradually lower mid-week and then match preparation training right before the match). If the players moan about high volume of physical training, replace them with practice match sessions. Let me know if you have any questions. 

[Jervaj]

23 hours ago, Rashidi said:

Frankly speaking, we actually went through the effort of creating a standalone application for training, then I ran a lot of benchmark and soak tests. Finding out that...at the end of the day, the best combination in the world is entirely subjective and ultimately depends on how you want your players to develop. 

This covers every attribute bar 7. stuff like corner taking, free kick etc. It hits all the other attributes + there are 4 sessions that focus on roles, two are exclusive (match practice).  Attacking Movement and Defensive Shape work on individual role attributes as well.  The two match practice sessions  work on covering all tactical familiarity and individual role development too. The only session i might drop from there is quickness.

I find that this is the most effective training schedule for youth players. Why? Its balanced. I think people are overcomplicating the game too much. If you keep training balanced and then focus their individual training to specific roles you get better player development. You also need to play them of course, and they need appropriate game time.

I use this every week. With another club I also have a playmaking fullback schedule that I use that specifically targets my defenders and improves their footballing intelligence attributes and helps with developing my fullbacks to become aggressive creators from deeper areas. Just use this with the youth team for every single week if you feel like being lazy which is what i do for some saves. For saves where i want my playmaking fullbacks I have another schedule specifically for them that I covered on my youtube channel. You may want to check my profile to find links to that. I am not permitted to share links to my youtube channel on the forums.

 

I agree. Without been an expert myself (new this year) but after reading a lot here and there I created my own custom schedules aimed to be balanced thorugh the year and cover everything, and players develop great. I do have a like for complete players though, specially in some positions/tactics.

I got to thank you, because your "Full" focus schedules have been an inspriation for me off lately. I recently started playing with a higher team which doesn't have many "free" weeks to train properly due to match congestion and that plays in a more specialzied system, so having training that maximized attributes and forgo tactical training was useful, and your base allowed me to tweak my schdules and play 3 more specialized ones compared to those I used prior. Which Im quite satisified with, specially because they tend to be somewhat lighter than my previous custom ones too, which helps in this situation where you play so many matches. 

 

Im curious about one thing though. Why do you feel like you need a specific one for "playmaking fullbacks"?

I do tend to use relativelly agressive fullbacks that have contributed very succesfully to attack in my tactics (at least looks like when watching matches), and training wise with the when I use a tactic where I expect my whole team to move up together and thus the defence to be more ball playing, balanced schdules that included crossed sessions (like play from the back, overlapping atatcks and defend from the front) together with their individual focus training seem to do the job at achieving balanced players able in attack and defence. In fact I have to be cautious for them to be not too attacked minded if they attribtues start shifter that way already. Basically the additional focus is aimed at physicals (that need to be top for this kind of player I feel) at first and then at the side they started off weaker (be it attack or defence).

In a more specialized tactic (like my current one) where I dont use those sessions, what I do is I move them to the attack unit for the "full attack" schedule weeks. Seems to work like a charm too. With this kind of tactic I also tend to move midfielders to whatever unit is the focus of the week. The difference is that the default unit for midfielders is the attacking one and the default for fullbacks is the defensive one for weeks with no specific focus.

 

 

Edited February 3, 2021 by Jervaj

[gooseta]

8 hours ago, aritra14 said:

Based on your requirements, I came up with these 2 schedules - the first one is for the offensive players, and the second one is for defensive players. When you create the schedule in game, make sure to balance the workloads per day (heavier early week, to gradually lower mid-week and then match preparation training right before the match). If the players moan about high volume of physical training, replace them with practice match sessions. Let me know if you have any questions. 

Thank you, one thing is I'm managing in Argentina and there are a lot of matches on sundays, is it best to just move everything over one day and then have match review/recovery on the following monday? I will try these out and let you know how it goes, thanks!

[aritra14]

4 hours ago, gooseta said:

Thank you, one thing is I'm managing in Argentina and there are a lot of matches on sundays

Just shift each session to the right. You could also tick the Sunday and Wednesday match button in settings - that way all your schedules will be uniform.

[Marinho]

On 03/02/2021 at 20:25, aritra14 said:

Just shift each session to the right. You could also tick the Sunday and Wednesday match button in settings - that way all your schedules will be uniform.

Can you point out, where exactly to do that ? Pretend i'm dense  (and haven't played FM for 2 years before starting a few weeks ago)

[aritra14]

2 hours ago, Marinho said:

Can you point out, where exactly to do that ?

The session shifting part? Or the Wednesday and Saturday match button? 

[Marinho]

2 hours ago, aritra14 said:

The session shifting part? Or the Wednesday and Saturday match button? 

The button

[aritra14]

12 hours ago, Marinho said:

The button

Go to Preferences - then select Match from the dropdown menu - scroll down - click on the Match scheduling option. Screenshot attached 

[Marinho]

cheers, brilliant