Players want unrealistic squad depth

[Ron Wandle]

Most of my squad are unhappy at the lack of depth at centre-back.

I have five senior centre-backs, all of 3-star rating or above. Sometimes I play with a back four (2 CD), sometimes I play with a back three (3 CD). 

I'm having enough trouble keeping five centre-backs happy and am going to have to loan or sell one or two. Six centre-backs would be excessive. I don't know whether I have to go and find an Breakthrough Prospect or an Emergency Back-Up centre-back who never plays, just to fill this unrealistic quota.

[zindrinho]

7 minutes ago, Ron Wandle said:

Most of my squad are unhappy at the lack of depth at centre-back.

I have five senior centre-backs, all of 3-star rating or above. Sometimes I play with a back four (2 CD), sometimes I play with a back three (3 CD). 

I'm having enough trouble keeping five centre-backs happy and am going to have to loan or sell one or two. Six centre-backs would be excessive. I don't know whether I have to go and find an Breakthrough Prospect or an Emergency Back-Up centre-back who never plays, just to fill this unrealistic quota.

watch their concern change immediately as you change your tactic from the one with 2 CBs to the one with 3! 

[Ron Wandle]

7 hours ago, zindrinho said:

watch their concern change immediately as you change your tactic from the one with 2 CBs to the one with 3! 

Yeah, I've changed my main tactic to the back three version as I got promoted.

It's a bit silly, as it effectively means one can't use a back three as a primary tactic. It would be better if the maximum number of required players for squad depth to satisfy squad happiness was five players. If one was playing a 3-5-2, one would probably only need five central midfielders.

I'm fighting relegation, and would prefer to use the back three as my primary tactic, but doing so reduces morale across my entire squad.

[zindrinho]

8 hours ago, Ron Wandle said:

Yeah, I've changed my main tactic to the back three version as I got promoted.

It's a bit silly, as it effectively means one can't use a back three as a primary tactic. It would be better if the maximum number of required players for squad depth to satisfy squad happiness was five players. If one was playing a 3-5-2, one would probably only need five central midfielders.

I'm fighting relegation, and would prefer to use the back three as my primary tactic, but doing so reduces morale across my entire squad.

You can promote reserve players to the senior squad, or if nothing else works just leave the tactic screen being your 2CB tactic through the week and change it to the prefered 3 CB one on match day.

[Ron Wandle]

3 hours ago, zindrinho said:

You can promote reserve players to the senior squad, or if nothing else works just leave the tactic screen being your 2CB tactic through the week and change it to the prefered 3 CB one on match day.

I don't have any reserve players and my youth players are all on loan. I'm not sure how much a 16 year-old youth prospect will add to squad depth, anyway.

The problem is that the primary tactic gets trained on more than other tactics.

For a top club using a back three and playing in continental competition, six centre-backs might be more realistic, but I don't think it is for a lower-league club.

[zindrinho]

7 minutes ago, Ron Wandle said:

The problem is that the primary tactic gets trained on more than other tactics.

you can choose that under training unrelated to which of the 3 tactics you use.

[Ron Wandle]

I changed back to a back four as my primary tactic in training a few weeks ago, but the players are still unhappy about CD squad depth. I've played with a back three once or twice during that time.

So either the players' unhappiness about squad depth is based on what tactics are played, or it takes players a while to notice that they are playing a different formation in training.

[zindrinho]

1 hour ago, Ron Wandle said:

So either the players' unhappiness about squad depth is based on what tactics are played, 

this, yes, its what I've been trying to say.

You can have your tactic set as the one with 2 CBs for 6 days and 22hrs every week, and then use the 3 CB formation 2 hrs every week only during the match.

Primary trained tactic under Training tab can be set to anyone you want despite what tactic is being shown under the tactic screen.

BTW, when I set a 3CB tactic my team wants 5 CBs, not 6 like yours. So its not set in stone.