Too many matches, too little training = worse player development - what to do?

[danej]

As the headline implies: Should one in certain situations consider moving a player temporarily from one squad to another? If yes, when?

 

There is often a congested fixture list. It goes for any squad, not only the senior squad, but also the U21's and U18's. Regarding the two latter squads, there can be periods of the season where the team participates in 2-3 competitions at the same time, effectively creating many weeks with two matches.

 

My own current stand on this (am still experimenting) is that I'll mostly ignore players aged 18 and above. Just keep them in their "real" squad with very few exceptions.

 

However, I am inclined to often move squads temporarily with decent players aged 17 and younger. Due to training seeming to matter much more for this age group.

 

So, in practice I would move a lot of the U18 players temporarily to either the first team squad or the U18's for a few days where the U18's have little training due to lots of matches. In order to keep players training and not resting.

 

BustTheNet/Rashidi/Daljit is the one who inspired my to look into this. In one of his FM23 videos, about training IIRC, he discusses that he usually keeps first team players aged 17 or younger in the U18 squad when the first team have two or more matches in a week. Just pulls the player manually into the match day squad, but otherwise keeping him in the U18's. With the same goal, having the player train more and rest less. If he doesn't start the match that is.

 

What do you think? Input appreciated. In any case I am glad I have recently become more aware of this. A congested match schedule - for any squad - could have quite a negative effect on traning, resulting in very few training sessions actually being conducted.

[Rashidi]

Basically it’s best to keep it simple. If a player is good enough to play leave him in the first team squad, but if you only plan to play him occasionally, then (right click) choose the option to make him available for U18 games. 
 

I never play them in full matches unless they are 19 and older. They might play a handful of matches when they are 18 as I rotate them off/on making sure to optimise their playtime while still affording them room to train.

A player’s time is finite so I try to be very careful how I use my high value youth players.

[danej]

21 hours ago, Rashidi said:

Basically it’s best to keep it simple. If a player is good enough to play leave him in the first team squad, but if you only plan to play him occasionally, then (right click) choose the option to make him available for U18 games. 
 

I never play them in full matches unless they are 19 and older. They might play a handful of matches when they are 18 as I rotate them off/on making sure to optimise their playtime while still affording them room to train.

A player’s time is finite so I try to be very careful how I use my high value youth players.

This reminds me: I feel like my players aged 15-17 often develop rather poorly. I wonder whether part of it is because I occasionally switch them to another squad? In order for them to avoid weeks of congested fixtures with their "primary" squad.

 

In other words, I guess I wonder whether there is sort of a penalty for often swithing the squad of a certain player.

 

Prime example: 17-year old Kobe Mainoo of Man Utd. Tremendous talent, the player with the highest PA at the club. He has barely developed during the first 6-7 months. "Slightly better" mental attributes, although not a single attribute that improved by 1 or more, just some green arrows slightly upwards. No significant improvement on either the technical or physical attributes.

 

I wonder whether Mainoo's lack of development is due to me often switching him between the first team squad and the U18 squad, sometimes even briefly in the U21's, in order for him to get more training sessions.

 

Once again, I wonder if there is sort or a penalty if a player often switches squads. Otherwise I don't understand why he develops so poorly. In theory, my approach should be great - switching sqads at times so that a reasonably fit player doesn't unnecessarily lose training sessions by being stuck in a squad with congested fixtures and little training.

Edited July 31, 2023 by danej