Training The Furious Way

[Agi_]

That would be a very nice solution, I will give it a try for a couple weeks

That would have been a very nice solution, but it doesnt work.

I have put my best four youngsters in reserve team but they have not played in the under 20 team for two games, so i think the ass man wont make them play unless they are listed in the under 20 squad.

It makes sense because reserve team are reserves for first team, and having them play in under 20 the day before a first team game will make them unavailable for first team game.

A simple option to make them available for under 20, like the one for reserves team, that if i remember well was available in some past version of FM, would solve everythink but i dont think SI will be so kind in a future patch.

What i really dont get is why force a 19 years old, that has finished his growth and just needs to put on some muscles, to use trining routines for young guys.

[Cleon]

That would have been a very nice solution, but it doesnt work.

I have put my best four youngsters in reserve team but they have not played in the under 20 team for two games, so i think the ass man wont make them play unless they are listed in the under 20 squad.

It makes sense because reserve team are reserves for first team, and having them play in under 20 the day before a first team game will make them unavailable for first team game.

A simple option to make them available for under 20, like the one for reserves team, that if i remember well was available in some past version of FM, would solve everythink but i dont think SI will be so kind in a future patch.

What i really dont get is why force a 19 years old, that has finished his growth and just needs to put on some muscles, to use trining routines for young guys.

The idea is they train with the players they are playing with, which is kind of how it works IRL. I wouldn't hold your breathe for a fix though from SI

[Agi_]

The idea is they train with the players they are playing with, which is kind of how it works IRL. I wouldn't hold your breathe for a fix though from SI

I agree for what concerns team gelling and maybe tactics, but why the same exact routine for the same exact player, all bars zeroed and strenght to max to make an example, is a light routine for someone training in first team, you need six or seven more ticks to have it medium, and becomes a medium one, three ticks over light, if you train with the youngster team? It has no logic at all; running half an hour around youngsters field isnt more tiring or dangerous that doing that around the seniors one.

[Nightwalker]

Should I put kevin pannewitz age 19 on DM veteran Schedule?

On genie scout fully developed he horrible physical stats.

[furiousuk]

Should I put kevin pannewitz age 19 on DM veteran Schedule?

On genie scout fully developed he horrible physical stats.

Post up a screenie of the player and I'll give you my opinion,

There's nothing wrong with putting a youngster on the vet schedule but youngsters normally require boosting to their mental stats as well as their physical (even if they start mentally strong) to get them ready for 1st team football. It'd give him a slight boost to physicals but I'd worry that his mentals would stall, or worse, possibly even fall. If my players haven't physically matured by 19 I'd keep them on the young schedules (rather than developing) or, better still, get him out on loan. Physicals seem to flourish on loan, far more so than other stats, so I'd recommend trying that if you've got a good feeder or can find a good club to develop him for you.

[Nightwalker]

ok, thank you for det input furiosuk.

If only I could figure out how to post a screenie..grrr!

[furiousuk]

Ha, yeah, it's a little difficult at first. You need to host it somewhere first, try imageshack. Once you've uploaded to imageshack (or somewhere else) there will be forum code for displaying it and you just copy and paste into your post and it should be fine. Or get the URL of your image after uploading it and click 'go advanced' and there's an image button, put the URL in the dialog and you should get your screenie!

[Nightwalker]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[Nightwalker]

This is him fully developed on genie scout.

[Nightwalker]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[Nightwalker]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Shot at 2012-03-24

I would also need some pointers on this guy aswell....

[Nightwalker]

Shot at 2012-03-24

[furiousuk]

I'm not an expert on Genie Scout but I wouldn't pay any attention to the potential attributes, I don't know what algorithm Eugene uses to extrapolate the potential attributes but I would guess it would be based on near optimal development with a neutral schedule. Things won't happen like this is FM. The player will develop to hit his PA given appropriate game time (barring injury or disproportionately high PA) but will develop very differently on different schedules.

I haven't used Genie Scout at all since FM09 and I didn't use it much then so I don't know if these guys can even hit their PA, my guess would be the 19 year old could, not sure about the 23 year old. Bostwick will still see good improvements at 23 years old but I can't tell you how many ability points he'll likely gain.

Pannewitz is a good all-rounder, his physicals aren't too bad at that age. If you're not going to play him consistently (by that I mean almost all the time) get him on loan, he'll probably gain a point in each physical attribute during the year (possibly 2 in some) so he'll come back not looking too shabby physically and by the time he hits 22 he might have 13-14 across the board (with higher for strength and stamina) which isn't too bad at all, particularly as he's fairly well rounded. His lack of tackling might hamper him but he has high technique, decent passing, decent creativity and decent anticipation so might well make an impressive deep-lying playmaker. However, and this is very big, his personality stinks. Get him tutored and quick, he isn't at all professional (this is key for development), he's not particularly ambitious, nor is he particularly determined or hard-working. Tutoring will be key to getting this guy to progress and he'll find it very hard without it. Personality counts when it comes to development. I'd probably stick him in DM or MC, but AMC might suit him if you want to target playmaking and I'd keep him in the youth (or maybe developing depending on how many games you plan on giving him).

As for Bostwick, for me he looks a fairly solid defender with nice playmaking ability. Unfortunately he lacks creativity so can't really be creative back there and I like my CB's to be good decision-makers, which this guy isn't. His lack of speed would bother me too and, at 23, he isn't likely to improve much so you're going to have to target on really rising his mentals to compensate but I'm not sure his decisions would ever get high enough to compensate for a lack of pace. CB 1st should suit him well as it focusses on tactical but CB Dev would work if he isn't playing most weeks for you.

[tinkerer]

great schedules , currently keep an eye on Rafael Toloi progress , btw , i should give him CB-Dev or CB-Yng , i use CB-Dev , but training workload is heavy , i'm afraid he got injury

[furiousuk]

great schedules , currently keep an eye on Rafael Toloi progress , btw , i should give him CB-Dev or CB-Yng , i use CB-Dev , but training workload is heavy , i'm afraid he got injury

The workload is heavy (1 or 2 clicks either side of the 'heavy' marker) for all schedules, as long as your coaches and facilities are ok and your player is reasonably professional he should be fine for injuries, unless, of course, he's particularly prone to injuries. There is a screen that will show you this - I think it's the player training tab (the one with all the blue training bars) - over on the left is a physio report which gives you an idea how injury-prone the player is, otherwise just ask for a physio report.

I use CB-Yng for my young CB's who won't see any 1st team game time (or very very rarely) but will be playing extensively in the U18's and Reserves. They will then progress to the Developing schedules when their physicals are starting to pick up and they'll start seeing semi-regular 1st team game time. The Developing schedules are very high in an effort to compensate for a lack of game time which logically makes sense but probably doesn't in FM terms.

For me, the key to an injury free season is a good pre-season (note that you can't stop in-game impact injuries or the odd training niggle but when players start to get repeated little injuries you've done something wrong and it's a good indicator the player has either lost peak fitness or is jaded). Make sure players get right up to peak fitness, I use my pre-season routines for this, and carefully manage their game time. I'd rather they are slightly off match practise (although they should have match fitness) when the season starts and start slowly rather than go too strong on game time in pre season and risk burning a player out. Players who have played in international tournaments need to be carefully managed here - they'll need a rest more than they'll need game time in my experience.

Try it out with the heavy schedule and see how it goes. If he starts to get lots of niggling little injuries (especially training ones) then create an individual schedule for him that is identical to the CB-Dev schedule you're using and lower the overall intensity a few notches (or manually lower a couple until the overall comes down). I wouldn't go any lower than a few clicks lower, just below medium is fine for all but the laziest of players.

[123hello]

What do I do if I have a player that plays occaisonlly; but largely a back-up; however he is over 25...???

What stage do I use...

Because he isn't a 1st Teamer and he is not developing!??!

[MSCCG]

On what basis do you believe that the staff are doing what you say they do i.e. the Motivators, Psychologists

[lam]

I am curious, Furious, in how you get your 'attribute changes' to show 2 years worth????

Can you please advise.

Regards

LAM

[furiousuk]

Whatdo I do if I have a player that plays occaisonlly; but largely aback-up; however he is over 25...???

Whatstage do I use...

Becausehe isn't a 1st Teamer and he is not developing!??!

Without game time he won't develop at that age so it wouldn't really matter what schedule. My older backups are generally older than that and fall into the Vet category when they stop playing regularly but I'd probably stick your guy just on the 1st schedules as they are pretty well balanced and will hopefully just maintain his attributes without trying to attempt any redistribution - without playing much players will sometimes lose attributes but don't get the playing time to put them back on elsewhere, best to not attempt to change them at all and just maintain if you can.

On what basis do you believe that the staff are doing what you say they do i.e. the Motivators, Psychologists

Good point, all I can say is that I've seen sparkling improvements since being able to round out my staff. When I joined Southampton were languishing in mid-table in League 1, although their facilities were excellent and they had some youngsters with potential to fill the players didn't see massive improvements. This could be due to playing League 1 (and then Championship) standard rather than Premiership and Europe but I'd say the biggest change between then and now is my staff (my facilities are basically the same). My youngsters are of a higher quality now of course but my staff are wildly improved.

I can add that I didn't follow this method in my long save in FM09. In 09 I had excellent category coaches and that was it. I think I used positional schedules (but not with age/status consideration). I saw very good improvements but far less consistently than now. That could be a difference in FM of course but it's more (slight) evidence that rounding out your staff makes a massive difference.

Other things that I've noticed that are also indicative of better staff making a difference:

* Better morale - less dips in morale as well.

* Better conditioning - a large squad, well rotated, helps here as well obviously.

* Less injuries - I attribute much of this to a pre-season schedule but staff/facilities would logically be very important.

* Better relationships - Players often have staff members as favoured personnel, I think this has a knock-on effect on morale/harmony.

I am curious, Furious, in how you get your 'attribute changes' to show 2 years worth????

Can you please advise.

Regards

LAM

I've been fiddling around with XML files and researching how to do this legit in the game but I don't think it's possible as a mod. You'd need to be able to insert 'save-points' that save a collection of attributes and a screen that can recover that save-point and display it next to the current attributes (or another save-point). Modding the screen is possible but not the save-point, although I can't believe it would be in any way difficult for an SI programmer to do but it hasn't arrived yet. I think someone told me that Genie Scout does this??? But not in FM.

It is, unfortunately, the wonders of screenshots and photoshop.

[jimbobBRFC]

A question on coaches furious, or anyone for that matter. I cant seem to get my shooting training category on high stars. I have a 17 attacking coach but still only 3 stars on shooting. What else is important to get the coveted five star training ;P

[Cleon]

Determination, Discipline and Motivation.

[jimbobBRFC]

Determination, Discipline and Motivation.

Cheers Cleon

[Wes_Coulam]

Just a quick thank you to Furiousuk i've been using your schedules since FM11 now & never looked back don't really post in here about schedules (im clueless; hence why i downloaded yours) but there really good so, thank you

​KUTGW

[furiousuk]

Just a quick thank you to Furiousuk i've been using your schedules since FM11 now & never looked back don't really post in here about schedules (im clueless; hence why i downloaded yours) but there really good so, thank you

​KUTGW

Cheers Wes, thanks for posting, glad they work well for you!!

[Katarian]

I was developing my own schedules but the amount of time needed to set them all up is a pain. I downloaded these with the intention of tweaking them for the new categories in FM12 but they work very well without any changes, and the time needed to tweak and rename them is frankly stupid for such minor changes. So I really appreciate the time you took to make and test these schedules so I don't have to bother again .

[furiousuk]

I was developing my own schedules but the amount of time needed to set them all up is a pain. I downloaded these with the intention of tweaking them for the new categories in FM12 but they work very well without any changes, and the time needed to tweak and rename them is frankly stupid for such minor changes. So I really appreciate the time you took to make and test these schedules so I don't have to bother again .

Pleasure! And you're very welcome!

Long may they continue to work for you!! I'll be making some more for FM13 but that's aways off yet!

[Stretcheddie]

Does anybody notice that when you use these schedules, the amount of players that need an extended period of leave goes through the roof? I was using another set I downloaded on here for the first, very succesfull 10 seasons of my Reading Game, wasn't noticing great shakes in the way that my players developed, although it wasn't unreasonable, So I've switched to these ones, think I'm going to see more fantastic improvements, but my physio is reccomending loads of players take a week off, is this something I can ignore until the player starts to flag up as needing a rest or do I listen to my physios?

[Gazza56]

Does anybody notice that when you use these schedules, the amount of players that need an extended period of leave goes through the roof? I was using another set I downloaded on here for the first, very succesfull 10 seasons of my Reading Game, wasn't noticing great shakes in the way that my players developed, although it wasn't unreasonable, So I've switched to these ones, think I'm going to see more fantastic improvements, but my physio is reccomending loads of players take a week off, is this something I can ignore until the player starts to flag up as needing a rest or do I listen to my physios?

I have been using Furious training since FM11 and have never come across this problem mate..........ive had the odd times when in the middle of 2 or 3 games in a week where players get tired, and give them 2 days off.........but never had the physio recommend a week, so i cant help you.........i guess you could try 2 days off if you havent got a midweek game and see if that helps to start with!

[furiousuk]

Does anybody notice that when you use these schedules, the amount of players that need an extended period of leave goes through the roof? I was using another set I downloaded on here for the first, very succesfull 10 seasons of my Reading Game, wasn't noticing great shakes in the way that my players developed, although it wasn't unreasonable, So I've switched to these ones, think I'm going to see more fantastic improvements, but my physio is reccomending loads of players take a week off, is this something I can ignore until the player starts to flag up as needing a rest or do I listen to my physios?

Is it a couple of players? Or always different players? Are those players unprofessional, or not particularly hard working (work rate - pretty sure work rate has a fairly big and underestimated affect on training)? Or injury prone? Is your physio any good? Facilities good enough?

These schedules are pretty hard but I've found it really hard to stave off the effects of jadedness on a player regardless of schedule so I tend to rotate my squad around. I try to rotate in such a way that I target any weaknesses I think the opposition will have but I often just rotate round to keep the squad fresh.

If it's just the odd player or so then it's probably a player issue. There's nothing wrong with giving those players a lighter intensity, playing time is much more important than training intensity.

I can only speak for FM11 but I'm pretty sure the physios play an active role in 'preventing' injury (as well as dealing with it). This makes sense as many physios in real-life sport have a say in what goes into a players' training schedule in an effort to prevent injury. I think getting good physios is now a must in FM for this reason.

How much squad rotation do you employ? If the answer is not a lot then I wonder if the physios are recommending a rest based on jadedness rather than training intensity, I think training intensity contributes to jadedness but nowhere near as much as playing 2 games a week for months.

[underkiller]

Hello! I have got a wonderkid in my team, and i want to know what i should do? Do i have to put him into a DM dev or DM 1 team?

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/84/wonderkid.jpg/

Extra questions about age:

I dont understand what i should do with youngsters who plays in the first team squad. Is there any limit about age of players one the different schedules?

yth = 15-18 ?

dev: 18-22 ?

1st = any as long as they play in the first team ?

Vet = 32 +?

[furiousuk]

Hello! I have got a wonderkid in my team, and i want to know what i should do? Do i have to put him into a DM dev or DM 1 team?

Extra questions about age:

I dont understand what i should do with youngsters who plays in the first team squad. Is there any limit about age of players one the different schedules?

yth = 15-18 ?

dev: 18-22 ?

1st = any as long as they play in the first team ?

Vet = 32 +?

You've got the age ranges I normally adhere to about spot-on but they are only as a guideline, not a rule.

It depends on where you actually see him in his development - your judgment of where he is, based on the requirements of your squad, will dictate how much you play him and that will, in turn, dictate how he should train. He's in the same boat as my striker in the opening post - young but good enough for regular 1st team action. If you're going to play him in *most* matches then the Dev schedule will possibly be too heavy and lead to fatigue and jadedness (I'm pretty sure heavy training load increases jadedness, matches are the key factor but I think training plays a part too). If you're going to play him in plenty of games but often as a sub with a few starts too then the Dev schedule is perfect.

Sorry, that got a bit long winded, in short:

If he's playing all the time - 1st team. (i.e he'll finish the season 40+ starts and maybe 10 sub)

If he's mainly a sub but still with plenty of starts - Dev. (i.e. he'll finish the season 15/20 starts and maybe 10/20+ sub)

* Although, for me, your guy is awesome but drastically needs some mental improvement (anticipation & decisions particularly although a little extra creativity wouldn't hurt, and first touch) so I'd be very tempted to stick him on the Dev schedule for the mental boost but carefully check on his condition for games and how many minutes he plays, jadedness is hard to judge but if his condition starts to suffer and his ratings and motivation drop off a little he's probably approaching jadedness and it's best to back-off with youngsters because they can take a long time to recover from being properly jaded).

Or you could copy the Dev schedule to a custom one for him and lower the intensity a notch or 2 if he's playing all the time.

[underkiller]

Thanx man

[jimmyontour]

players like de gea what would you suggest putting them on development or 1st team as the plays every game but clearly has alot to learn

[furiousuk]

players like de gea what would you suggest putting them on development or 1st team as the plays every game but clearly has alot to learn

I'm never very good with goalies but if he's playing all the time I'd probably say 1st team, he'll still learn loads as game experience is the deciding factor in how much (and how quickly) he'll learn.

[underkiller]

Furiousuk look at this kid after just 3 months on your yth training program...should become a wonderkid this one:

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/44/boyip.jpg

[furiousuk]

Yeah, looking good, things in the right places!! If he's got plenty of PA to grow into (your coaches will tell you this) he'll be a good one, maybe like Xavi?

Not sure how you see him developing but he'll make a good playmaker - his decisions need to rise for this and extra off the ball & teamwork would be pretty useful too but they should come fairly naturally. He;s never going to be physically imposing but his strength will probably hit 10/11 which is probably fine, particularly as this guy will be a creative force so pair him with a beast and you're good to go as far as I'm concerned!! Hopefully his technique, creativity & passing will rise to really high levels (whilst also getting decisions up) and he'll be fantastic on the ball.

A good talent, thanks for posting him up

[underkiller]

HI again, i have been using your training program 1 season now, and i have noticed that my players only raise in stats on DEV program... a little on YNGm and loose alot on 1st program. examples:

1st program:

http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/1590/hazardc.jpg

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/190/roberthy.png/

Dev program:

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/2150/brunohq.jpg

what should i do?

[furiousuk]

Weird, they're playing really well too.

Are their stats actually decreasing? Sometimes small declines can happen before or after rises, it's a kind-of natural seesaw that can happen with players. I think the arrows in FM12 are a lot more sensitive so they'll show tiny rises and falls (less than 1 whole attribute point), it's nothing to worry about if it's very temporary, is it a regular thing?

If it's just temporary then it's probably linked to jadedness, fatigue or poor morale. It doesn't look like morale is your problem. The only time (and its very rare) I've seen a decline across the board like that is if a player has played a large number of games in a very short spell, and there's always been a rise before or after it.

Anything else changed? Maybe the frequency of games? Or a change of staff? Or change of schedule?

I don't normally see massive rises on the 1st team schedules as players I stick on it are approaching their potential, it's more of a general maintenance schedule that tries to place the last remaining bits of ability into the right places, but I certainly don't want to see drops - totally defeats the point. A thought that is connected to that - have some of the higher attributes risen? If technique has gone from 17-18 and Hazard has already reached his potential then for that rise to occur a drop needs to happen elsewhere and if it's low attributes that are dropping then a few will drop to compensate a high attribute rise.

[Cleon]

Weird, they're playing really well too.

Are their stats actually decreasing? Sometimes small declines can happen before or after rises, it's a kind-of natural seesaw that can happen with players. I think the arrows in FM12 are a lot more sensitive so they'll show tiny rises and falls (less than 1 whole attribute point), it's nothing to worry about if it's very temporary, is it a regular thing?

If it's just temporary then it's probably linked to jadedness, fatigue or poor morale. It doesn't look like morale is your problem. The only time (and its very rare) I've seen a decline across the board like that is if a player has played a large number of games in a very short spell, and there's always been a rise before or after it.

Anything else changed? Maybe the frequency of games? Or a change of staff? Or change of schedule?

I don't normally see massive rises on the 1st team schedules as players I stick on it are approaching their potential, it's more of a general maintenance schedule that tries to place the last remaining bits of ability into the right places, but I certainly don't want to see drops - totally defeats the point. A thought that is connected to that - have some of the higher attributes risen? If technique has gone from 17-18 and Hazard has already reached his potential then for that rise to occur a drop needs to happen elsewhere and if it's low attributes that are dropping then a few will drop to compensate a high attribute rise.

It could be a CA change and the attributes been readjusted to reflect this for both the players he linked as they are 26.

[rGade]

I got directed here from another thread. I'm new to Football Manager, and have yet to use Training Schedules. I've downloaded your Schedule, but I have no idea how to actually put it on when I start FM12. Can anyone help me? Also, I haven't read the whole thread as I don't have the time right now, so if I've missed out on someone explaining it, please don't get mad haha Will definitely try this out!

[furiousuk]

I got directed here from another thread. I'm new to Football Manager, and have yet to use Training Schedules. I've downloaded your Schedule, but I have no idea how to actually put it on when I start FM12. Can anyone help me? Also, I haven't read the whole thread as I don't have the time right now, so if I've missed out on someone explaining it, please don't get mad haha Will definitely try this out!

Are the schedules actually appearing in game?

I can't remember exactly (and don't have FM to hand right now) but pretty sure you have to import them, whereby they'll appear in your Training Schedules.

Once you've got them in the game it's a matter of navigating to either the training tab or an individual players' training tab and placing a player on to a schedule.

[rGade]

Are the schedules actually appearing in game?

I can't remember exactly (and don't have FM to hand right now) but pretty sure you have to import them, whereby they'll appear in your Training Schedules.

Once you've got them in the game it's a matter of navigating to either the training tab or an individual players' training tab and placing a player on to a schedule.

I figured it out, not too hard. Thanks for the reply though. Just had to look for a good 10-15 mins and it was sorted. Now I just have to learn what schedules I should use on the different players Hopefully I'll start noticing some development in my players stats. Haven't used a Training Schedule before, so quite excited to see if this actually works, and how fast I can notice the difference

[furiousuk]

That's the fun bit really, working out who fits where and seeing how their progression goes. Training is the long game though so any real gains take a while but it's surprising how some players can just suddenly jump in a year with 1-2 points on everything. I've had a young defender who did it year on year for about 4 years and went from a decent prospect who was 50:50 as to whether he'd make it into an absolute beast of a defender who can match it with just about anybody at the age of 21 (his loan spell at mid-table Liverpool definitely played a bit part in this).

[Soviet]

So it's not a bug that there's so few schedules for U18? E.g. I should put my FBs on CB Yth schedule?

[furiousuk]

Yeah I always do.

I always intended to add more u18 schedules but never really saw the point. All my youth players are either cut immediately or they are signed up so they are full time by 17 years old, whereby they can have a Yth schedule (I understand this might be different for fm12?). under 17 y/o players don't progress much anyway so they have a pretty standard generic schedule that is just a bit harder than the standard ones that come with the game.

You need to get them on full time schedules and playing games to get them to progress. If you don't want to sign a guy immediately because you're not sure they're going to make it then cut them, they'll just be taking playing time away from a proper prospect.

[Soviet]

Hmmm, maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I can't put players on full time Yth schedule if they're in U18 team. Only if I promote them to reserves/1st team. I'm talking about FM12.

[Cleon]

Hmmm, maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I can't put players on full time Yth schedule if they're in U18 team. Only if I promote them to reserves/1st team. I'm talking about FM12.

Furious plays FM10 or FM11 still.

[furiousuk]

Yeah I'm still on fm11.

I know this section of the game has changed now. The principles remain but the specifics change a little for youngsters. Try looking in some of Cleons posts, she goes into a lot of detail on training youngsters on fm12.

[remembertofeedthecat]

@Furious - I know this is slightly off topic but somewhat related nevertheless......... I'm curious as to how training of PPMs fits into your training philosophy/strategy. Are there some that you will generally try and teach??

[furiousuk]

I train PPM's purely based on the player and how I see them doing a job for me.  I actually end up training PPM's very rarely, preferring to train them via tutoring.  Many of the PPM's just change tactical instructions which aren't worth learning.

An example would be this chap:

My team currently plays with a high-energy covering DM but with this little prospect in my ranks maybe that will change. I've been tentatively grooming him for playmaking ability, he still has plenty of stars to fill so should end up fairly good at the job (probably not absolute world class) but, most importantly, at just 18 he has had a fantastic season of 30 games with a good AvR, starting to get assists whilst still maintaining a good pass completion rate. His sparkling end of season form is a portent of future glory hopefully (I've advanced from this shot and he is still doing very well).

In my opinion specialised positions like a deep-lying playmaker are pretty useful with a few PPM's that modify their behaviour and actually add to their main game. For more flexible players (i.e. those capable of doing a job in several positions) then it is less useful and their training time is probably best spent training.

Another area that I'll consider PPM's is up top. A couple of complementary PPM's can really work wonders. I quite like 'Places Shots' for those with high technique, composure and decisions whereas 'Shoots with Power' I've always found more useful for central strikers who play high up the pitch (i.e. don't waste their power shots on long shots too often). I quite like the 'Beats offside trap' for some players (although this might just set their forward runs to often, I'm not sure).

I'll generally let a player develop a little before making a decision on where they will play. At 18 this guy is young but he's already pretty well-rounded and looks certain to head down the deep playmaker route so I'll go ahead and train PPM's, particularly as he's going to play games. If they aren't playing many games then training PPM's and Individual Focus take away from training time and can lead to a player stalling overall but if they are playing (semi) regularly and they have plenty of stars to fill then they should be gaining plenty of ability to continue to improve even at lower training percentages.