[Funny Screenshots Thread]

Seriously. Is there any point to this sort of tactic?

Ian Emery completed nearly the same number of passes as the entire opposition combined (177 passes).

And remarkably Sampdoria actually had the lions share of possession

Those two players with those high passing stats just have traded about 50 odd passes in the space of a couple of minutes.

[SFraser's Training Schedules for FM10]

I really like the idea behind this, being that Attack training needn't be as high as Ball Control, as the later trains 4 attributes as opposed to the two that Attacking improves.

That said, this whole 'baseline x focus' thing is completely unnecessary. Yes it's true that training Ball Control at notch 12, and Attacking at notch 6 (a focus of 3 for both) should result in in dribbling, first touch, technique, heading, passing, and creativity improving with relative concordance. However the 'focus' is largely irrelevant as having ball control at notch 15 (giving it a focus of 3.75) is fine, as it will still increase the training level of those in the schedule, even if 15 isn't a multiple of 4, and at the end of the day, a player's attributes don't increase due to their being a notch giving for each attribute within a training category, they increase with respect to the training levels they achieve.

So to get a player's Attacking attributes (passing & creativity) to increase with concordance with the Ball Control attributes (heading, first touch, technique and dribbling), he only needs to attain half the training level for Attacking as he does Ball control. These training levels are effected by the coaching staff's abilities for what their assigned too. So at a team who has a very good coach doing Ball Control, but a rubbish one doing attacking, it may be that to achieve that ratio of 2:1 for BC and attacking training levels, it may require 14 notches of BC and 10 on attacking. So this business of 'baseline x focus' goes out the window.

Adhering to the 'baseline x focus' makes creating schedules very difficult as it allows little flexibility in terms of creating a balance of training among different categories while fitting it into a reasonable workload.

It can be used as a good framework to a schedule, as it can great a base which can then be slightly tweaked, by a notch or two, to ensure an ideal overall workload. I suggesting keeping in mind the ratings that coaching staff have for each category too, as generally good fitness coaches are more easily available than a good set-piece or defence coach, so Defence may need more intensity given to it to achieve a high training level than Strength.

I must say though the idea behind your schedules are very well thought, such as they high training of Aerobics in younger players, and high training of Strength and Tactics for older players. My personal way of creating schedules is very similar to yours, taking the 'baseline' into consideration, but not using it as a factor to which each category must by divisible by, and I like to make individual schedules for first teamers and promising youngsters to maximise the capacity for improvements at certain stages of their careers.

[Quickfire Questions and Answers Thread (Tactic and Training Questions Only)]

^ That formation looks good up against Roma's. It doesn't look like they'll play with much width, so you've done the right thing in adding a DM, and playing with three at the back, one which can mark Vucinic and the others to close down the AMCs. Attacking down the flanks would also be recommended, as would playing with a high tempo as to avoid the midfield battle that Roma will easily come out on top of.

As for my stupid question. I'm playing on FM 2007 (It's the latest version my computer will take) and I was wondering how to play a player who has only AML, AMR, and AMC, as natural positions, and nothing for any other positions (not even ML or MR). Would I be able to play him in ML with farrows to AML? Keep in mind this is FM07 and farrows are completely independent of FRs. Or would I just be better off putting him as an outright AML and perhaps lower his mentality?