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

[guymol]

What is more important, making sure I have good coaches in every category or making sure the coach workload isn't heavy?

 

[herne79]

4 hours ago, zlatanera said:

Been having a discussion about this over in the Bilbao thread. What exactly affects the quality of your regens? Obviously we're talking Spain so being from an inferior nation isn't having an effect here. From what I can tell its the following:

 

Youth Recruitment

Youth Facilities

Junior Coaching

Head of Youth Development (I assume? As long as he's assigned the responsibility for bringing in the youth players? I don't actually understand how he affects it to be honest).

 

Can someone please state if I've missed any other factors or am wrong about anything?

Youth Recruitment, Youth Facilities and Junior Coaching all impact the quality (CA and PA) of Newgens.  Club and country rep also play a part.

The HoYD affects Newgen personality, position and technical ability: he can pass on some or all of his personality traits; his favoured formation can influence positional familiarity of Newgens; and his technical coaching style can affect the technical ability of Newgens.  Technical ability can also be influenced by the country you are in, so you may find more technically gifted Newgens in Brazil compared to England for example.

The HoYD can also influence the creation of those rare exceptional Newgens that crop up occasionally.

Bear in mind that nothing is guaranteed.  Even with the best facilities, coaches et al you can still get a naff intake - you just improve your chances of better quality Newgens.

4 hours ago, guymol said:

What is more important, making sure I have good coaches in every category or making sure the coach workload isn't heavy?

I wouldn't really say one is more important than the other.  Having naff coaches can hinder player development, just as unhappy players who feel they don't get enough attention during training won't develop as well as happy players who do get sufficient attention.

Perhaps the easiest workaround is to have a quality coach in every category and then employ one really rubbish and cheap coach that you assign across all categories to manage the workload.  (The poor quality of the rubbish coach won't impact the quality of training if you have other decent coaches).

[Pretended]

On 2/26/2018 at 14:22, kingjericho said:

With those roles and duties there's no way to make this a defensively solid tactic.

You have nobody in the midfield worried about the defensive process. On top of that, you have an attacking mentality + very fluid, which means that even a player with a defensive duty is looking to attack.

I'd say 8-6 should be your common scoreline  

Well, the thing is, with Very Fluid, I get what I see in real life matches - A winger chasing a man in our first third with players making better backups in case the defender in front fails to deliver the tackle.

I have switched the Duties of Wingers with Full Backs now which gets me more men in the midfield defensively as well as offering a second route of attack other than overlapping flankers. They watch out for chances of through balls now too.

[Mactier]

RE- INDIVIDUAL TRAINING FOCUS - There are times when the coach objects to my instruction with words like "I don't think the player capable of learning that skill.  Perhaps we can teach him something else."

I have the option of overriding the coach and ordering the training anyway.  Will my plan benefit the player or is it better to follow the coach's advice? 

Edited March 1, 2018 by Mactier
typo

[Dr. Hook]

3 hours ago, Mactier said:

RE- INDIVIDUAL TRAINING FOCUS - There are times when the coach objects to my instruction with words like "I don't think the player capable of learning that skill.  Perhaps we can teach him something else."

I have the option of overriding the coach and ordering the training anyway.  Will my plan benefit the player or is it better to follow the coach's advice? 

It is a guideline for you. I don't know the exact percentages here, but if I get that message, the odds of successfully getting the player to learn the new trait are lower, and in my experience quite a bit lower. That doesn't stop me from trying though, because sometimes it is a trait you absolutely want the player to have. The only downside to it being unsuccessful is the time wasted, it won't hurt the player any.

[Jessan]

When playing a winger on the right, he needs to be rightfooted to get decent crosses in. When playing an inside forward on the right and he needs to score, he needs to be leftfooted.  But what of the advanced playmaker, when playing an advanced playmaker on support in the AMR spot and as someone who needs to create chances would it be better if he was left- or rightfooted?  I want him to mostly play throughballs to the poacher or combine with the rest of my midfield.  Also does it change if he becomes an advanced playmaker on attack, since then he'll be dribbling more and taking on opposing players 1v1?

[juusal]

20 minutes ago, Jessan said:

When playing a winger on the right, he needs to be rightfooted to get decent crosses in. When playing an inside forward on the right and he needs to score, he needs to be leftfooted.  But what of the advanced playmaker, when playing an advanced playmaker on support in the AMR spot and as someone who needs to create chances would it be better if he was left- or rightfooted?  I want him to mostly play throughballs to the poacher or combine with the rest of my midfield.  Also does it change if he becomes an advanced playmaker on attack, since then he'll be dribbling more and taking on opposing players 1v1?

Well first of all, wingers don't need to be right footed on the right and vice versa, and inside forwards don't need to be left footed on the right. Especially with inside forwards, I often play a left footed player (who's favoured role is a winger but in my system I want an inside forward on one side) on the left and he has been excellent. The thing is, he likes to dribble with his better foot, so sometimes he goes outside, sometimes inside when he has the ball. Also, as he plays narrower, he often gets into crossing positions inside the box, near the byline where he often squares balls into the middle, whereas a winger would often cross from much nearer to the sideline. I had a similar situation in my previous club as well, and both players were assisting the most and scoring the most or second most in my team, so definitely worth the consideration.

But t the actual question, I prefer to have a left footed player on the right and vice versa when playing an advanced (or wide) playmaker on the wing. That is because they are also told to cut inside, and they like to pick up positions in the half spaces and also behind the striker(s) both on and off the ball, and when they cut inside with the ball it is better to have the stronger foot on the inside as it makes through passes easier. Again, this is not a must, but probably encourages them to do what you want from a playmaker coming in from the wide areas. Think of examples from real life. Messi often picks up the ball from a right-of-center position and cuts inside, looking for shots and through balls with his left. Same goes for Bernardo Silva, especially last year at Monaco. Or David Silva when he played as a wide playmaker when they won the league with Mancini. Or Özil when he is played out wide on the right hand side. All of them, when played out wide, are usually played on the right hand side and they are all left footed.

[Keyzer Soze]

Hi, 

Quick question.

I have my team with the TI to work ball into box (that will reduce the amount of shots and crosses). If i set a player with the PI to shoot less, will that make any difference to the player behaviour? will the PI make the player even lesser?

[guymol]

On 3/1/2018 at 01:26, herne79 said:

Perhaps the easiest workaround is to have a quality coach in every category and then employ one really rubbish and cheap coach that you assign across all categories to manage the workload.  (The poor quality of the rubbish coach won't impact the quality of training if you have other decent coaches).

 

That's what I thought I could do, but does it really not affect the quality of training? on the star ratings in the bottom, it just says best coach rating and I don't want to do something that will damage my training quality.

[herne79]

1 minute ago, guymol said:

but does it really not affect the quality of training?

It doesn't affect the quality of training.

[Luizinho]

How do people use the 'More Risky Passes' and 'More Direct Passing' PIs?

 

Should I use this sparingly? I noticed that my AP-S doesn't have direct passing on as default. Surely I should be giving him this PI?

[Mactier]

TWO STUPID QUESTIONS BELOW NEEDING HELP -

 

1) FM17 - The lads are lacking match fitness but when the u23s & u/18s upcoming matches are mentioned there is no button to click to "make available' for the reserve games.  How do I fix this?

2) Where in FM17 do I find in my squad tab "Best XI" and "Players rated for each position" etc ?

Edited March 3, 2018 by Mactier

[zlatanera]

 

11 hours ago, Mactier said:

TWO STUPID QUESTIONS BELOW NEEDING HELP -

 

1) FM17 - The lads are lacking match fitness but when the u23s & u/18s upcoming matches are mentioned there is no button to click to "make available' for the reserve games.  How do I fix this?

2) Where in FM17 do I find in my squad tab "Best XI" and "Players rated for each position" etc ?

1) What league are you playing in? Some have stricter restrictions on youth games i.e. in Italy you can't play anyone over 20 in the u20s games versus England where you can play anyone in your reserve games.

2) Do you mean "Best Eleven" as in the best players over time? Club -> History drop-down -> Best Eleven. For the second part, if I understand you correctly its Team Report -> Squad Depth.

[Mactier]

Thanks for reply.  Here is an in-game problem I'm having right now.  New save FC Utd of Man. in the midst of first season pre-season.  Board has allocated 4 coaching staff positions inc. me.  We have three coaches with one slot empty.  Everytime I hire a coach the board rejects him saying I have four.  (not so as far as i can see)

 

There is no access to Board via extra staff requests.  What needs doing?

[tedthelabrador]

does work ball into the box actually work on FM18? Or is there a bug?

[herne79]

3 hours ago, tedthelabrador said:

does work ball into the box actually work on FM18? Or is there a bug?

It's always worked, there's no bug.

What isn't so clear is that the game would have you believe it is some sort of magic instruction that will suddenly stop your players shooting from distance.  It does that to an extent, but your players still need options if they're not going to shoot and that comes from your other tactical settings and players.

[zlatanera]

I've seen people talk of how you can't retrain a player in a different position once their CA (or perhaps PA, I get confused) is maxed out, or that if you do they'll decline in attributes. Can someone clear up if this is the case? For example:

Aymeric Laporte has played primarily as a CB for the past two years and is excellent. His report card doesn't mention the ability to improve, but nor does it say he's unlikely to improve in the future. This suggests to me that he's not yet maxed out. He's accomplished at LB and has the attributes to play WB-S which is the role I primarily use. As my left-back option is declining I'm considering it. However, I also play two formations using the wing-back position, the LWB will be alternately WB-S or IWB-S. I alternate all three formations. So I'm wondering, am I able to train Laporte to also be a LWB? WIll this eventually lead, as it sometimes does with players, to him forgetting another position? WIll it cause his stats to decline? Or will he simply be unable to learn this position?

[kingjericho]

3 hours ago, zlatanera said:

Aymeric Laporte has played primarily as a CB for the past two years and is excellent. His report card doesn't mention the ability to improve, but nor does it say he's unlikely to improve in the future. This suggests to me that he's not yet maxed out. He's accomplished at LB and has the attributes to play WB-S which is the role I primarily use. As my left-back option is declining I'm considering it. However, I also play two formations using the wing-back position, the LWB will be alternately WB-S or IWB-S. I alternate all three formations. So I'm wondering, am I able to train Laporte to also be a LWB? WIll this eventually lead, as it sometimes does with players, to him forgetting another position? WIll it cause his stats to decline? Or will he simply be unable to learn this position?

Retraining a players in a new position causes a drop in CA in order to allocate some of those points to the new position. This means that you can always train a player to a new position. This can also mean, as you ask, that his ability in another (not natural) position can decrease.

[Luizinho]

7 hours ago, kingjericho said:

Retraining a players in a new position causes a drop in CA in order to allocate some of those points to the new position. This means that you can always train a player to a new position. This can also mean, as you ask, that his ability in another (not natural) position can decrease.

Can he also lose attributes/potential attributes, or is it just his ability to play a position?

Edited March 5, 2018 by Luizinho

[herne79]

1 hour ago, Luizinho said:

Can he also lose attributes/potential attributes, or is it just his ability to play a position?

This is only part of the story.  Retraining a player to a different positon can indeed form part of the CA calculation.  But the player concerned may or may not lose attributes to compensate.  For a start, the player may not readily be able to improve positional familiarity due to his Versatility (may have the wrong hidden attribute there) in which case not much will change.  Then again, if he is able to improve positional familiarity perhaps he still has "spare" CA before he reaches his PA cap.  If that's the case you may not see anything else change as he improves familiarity with his new position.

Further, moving a player from Accomplished to Natural can be incredibly difficult and take a very long time so it's likely there will only ever be small changes.

If he is able to learn a new position / move to "Natural" and he is at his CA cap then yes his actual attributes can indeed decrease to compensate.

However, unless you are using an in game editor we have no idea how much CA has been used, so if you're not then forget everything about CA & PA and just manage your club and players as you want to.

One other thought - Laporte is one of the best central defenders in the game so are you really that short of options at left back where you feel the need to use him there regularly?

[zlatanera]

59 minutes ago, herne79 said:

This is only part of the story.  Retraining a player to a different positon can indeed form part of the CA calculation.  But the player concerned may or may not lose attributes to compensate.  For a start, the player may not readily be able to improve positional familiarity due to his Versatility (may have the wrong hidden attribute there) in which case not much will change.  Then again, if he is able to improve positional familiarity perhaps he still has "spare" CA before he reaches his PA cap.  If that's the case you may not see anything else change as he improves familiarity with his new position.

Further, moving a player from Accomplished to Natural can be incredibly difficult and take a very long time so it's likely there will only ever be small changes.

If he is able to learn a new position / move to "Natural" and he is at his CA cap then yes his actual attributes can indeed decrease to compensate.

However, unless you are using an in game editor we have no idea how much CA has been used, so if you're not then forget everything about CA & PA and just manage your club and players as you want to.

One other thought - Laporte is one of the best central defenders in the game so are you really that short of options at left back where you feel the need to use him there regularly?

Ok, yeah I don't have the editor. As I said in my original post his report doesn't say he's got room to improve but also doesn't say that he won't improve, but the coach report overall summary is "Important player and could still improve" so I'm assuming he hasn't reached his CA cap but I have no way of knowing.

I know he's outstanding, whenever I'm a rich club I sign him first thing, but basically I had the option to sign Yuri Bercheche, ignored it, then my only natural left-back declined rapidly at the start of pre-season so I cut him loose. I have an abundance of central defenders (Etxeita, Gil, Iturraspe, Laporte, Unai Nunez, San Jose, Yeray) and in the youth ranks I have potential in every position except LB, with particularly good looking CB and RB (I got the "Golden Generation" youth intake in my first season). Also Laporte is my 3rd fastest defender behind by two right-backs (De Marcos and Lekue). I've had them fill in at LWB when I use it and Laporte at LB when I use it and its working ok so maybe less of a pressing issue than when I posted, particularly as I've ended up using 3313 and 4123 WB far more than 4231 so far this season but its still good to get more understanding of the game, right?

[zlatanera]

So in my Athletic Bilbao save I have an amazing potential goalkeeper, currently in my reserve squad. His contract expires in two years time and his release clause (£7.75m) is slowly becoming less of a deterrent for Atletico and Barcelona. Obviously I want to offer him a new contract, however:

He's not unhappy, I'm one of his favoured personnel, morale really high, agent likes me, he's getting playing time in the reserves, but I can't offer him a contract. Any suggestions how to get it that I can? Or why I can't offer a new contract? I don't want to let me DoF negotiate as he'll only end up with a lower release clause and then I've lost him, and threatening to transfer list a guy who has interest from bigger clubs unless he signs a new contract clearly won't get me anywhere. 

[kingjericho]

8 hours ago, zlatanera said:

So in my Athletic Bilbao save I have an amazing potential goalkeeper, currently in my reserve squad. His contract expires in two years time and his release clause (£7.75m) is slowly becoming less of a deterrent for Atletico and Barcelona. Obviously I want to offer him a new contract, however:

He's not unhappy, I'm one of his favoured personnel, morale really high, agent likes me, he's getting playing time in the reserves, but I can't offer him a contract. Any suggestions how to get it that I can? Or why I can't offer a new contract? I don't want to let me DoF negotiate as he'll only end up with a lower release clause and then I've lost him, and threatening to transfer list a guy who has interest from bigger clubs unless he signs a new contract clearly won't get me anywhere. 

How old is he?

Check the 'happiness' tab to see whether he's holding off a new contract due to interest from other teams. It's a difficult situation but you can try promoting him to the first team and give him some games. If he's happier then, maybe he'll talk about a new contract.

Another thing than can happen but it's a risky move, is that you receive an offer for him and reject, and after that if the player comes complaining you offer him a new contract to keep him happy.

[zlatanera]

3 hours ago, kingjericho said:

How old is he?

Check the 'happiness' tab to see whether he's holding off a new contract due to interest from other teams. It's a difficult situation but you can try promoting him to the first team and give him some games. If he's happier then, maybe he'll talk about a new contract.

Another thing than can happen but it's a risky move, is that you receive an offer for him and reject, and after that if the player comes complaining you offer him a new contract to keep him happy.

It says on his profile "flattered by the interest shown in him" but I didn't think that was it. Can't seem to find an equivalent of the dynamics section for my B team sadly. Its irritating because Kepa is so far ahead of him and so is my EL goalkeeper, I don't want to risk him costing us a potential first trophy. He's at his level in the B team and has v. good morale because he's in good form, presumably because he's at his level. 

Yeah I thought that would happen which is why I turned off rejected all offers so I could do it manually - he just asked to leave outright so I had my captains have a word. Still doesn't want to sign on though.

[kingjericho]

1 hour ago, zlatanera said:

It says on his profile "flattered by the interest shown in him" but I didn't think that was it. Can't seem to find an equivalent of the dynamics section for my B team sadly. Its irritating because Kepa is so far ahead of him and so is my EL goalkeeper, I don't want to risk him costing us a potential first trophy. He's at his level in the B team and has v. good morale because he's in good form, presumably because he's at his level. 

Yeah I thought that would happen which is why I turned off rejected all offers so I could do it manually - he just asked to leave outright so I had my captains have a word. Still doesn't want to sign on though.

If he's so far behind Kepa and your second choice GK, why not sell him for the clause? It's still a decent amount for a young GK, plus if you can add in a buy back clause, or a percentage of future transfer, it can turn out to be a good deal.

If all else fails, try to have the DoF to get him a new contract. Even if still keeps a low release clause, maybe he's open to renegotiate that new contract after a while...

[zlatanera]

44 minutes ago, kingjericho said:

If he's so far behind Kepa and your second choice GK, why not sell him for the clause? It's still a decent amount for a young GK, plus if you can add in a buy back clause, or a percentage of future transfer, it can turn out to be a good deal.

If all else fails, try to have the DoF to get him a new contract. Even if still keeps a low release clause, maybe he's open to renegotiate that new contract after a while...

Because I'm obsessed with getting my "golden generation" all into the first team squad by 2022. Plus vultures are circling for Kepa - the only reason none of my players are unhappy is Ander Herrera is great at talking them down, none of my other squad members are willing to do it, but he's got interest so if he wants to leave I'm f***** and need to have a lot in my reserves. 

I saved then tried the DoF negotiation - would put in a £3million release clause, Atletico's last bid for him had over £3million initial payment so I'd definitely lose him - but went back to the save point.

[Deserter28]

How does the affiliate thing work with a senior club? I'm AFC Wimbledon and we've just signed a deal with Liverpool. It's mid-season so I don't think I'll get any players until the start of next season. Do they send me a few to pick from, or should I try and loan any of their U-23s / U-18s that might work? Do I get a choice on who they send?

[Sharkn20]

5 minutes ago, Deserter28 said:

How does the affiliate thing work with a senior club? I'm AFC Wimbledon and we've just signed a deal with Liverpool. It's mid-season so I don't think I'll get any players until the start of next season. Do they send me a few to pick from, or should I try and loan any of their U-23s / U-18s that might work? Do I get a choice on who they send?

You have to request a loan and it will be easier for them to accept.

[wkdsoul]

Do this data analysts and sports scientist do anything this year, the were a bit duff last FM. 

[Hovis Dexter]

2 hours ago, Deserter28 said:

How does the affiliate thing work with a senior club? I'm AFC Wimbledon and we've just signed a deal with Liverpool. It's mid-season so I don't think I'll get any players until the start of next season. Do they send me a few to pick from, or should I try and loan any of their U-23s / U-18s that might work? Do I get a choice on who they send?

Arrange for one of your scouts to prepare a team report on Liverpool. The report will include details of those players who are willing to be loaned to you. As Liverpool are the senior affiliate the players should be loaned to you at no cost to you. You should also automatically  receive a report during each transfer window of those players that Liverpool are willing to loan to you.

[zlatanera]

I have a question about conflicting PIs.

I'm playing a Segundo Volante (Attack) who has the "shoot more often" PI selected as default. However, I also have the option to select "shoot less often" so they'll both be ticked, and as my choices of SV are not particularly outstanding finishers I have done. My question then, is what happens? Do the two instructions cancel eachother out? Does "shoot more often" win out because its a default? Or does shoot less often win out because it was selected last?

[alanschu14]

5 hours ago, zlatanera said:

I have a question about conflicting PIs.

I'm playing a Segundo Volante (Attack) who has the "shoot more often" PI selected as default. However, I also have the option to select "shoot less often" so they'll both be ticked, and as my choices of SV are not particularly outstanding finishers I have done. My question then, is what happens? Do the two instructions cancel eachother out? Does "shoot more often" win out because its a default? Or does shoot less often win out because it was selected last?

In my experience usually you can't have both selected and if one is selected by default I can't pick a conflicting one. It may be a bug (unless I'm mistaken)

Do you have a screenshot?

[qDizzy]

5 hours ago, zlatanera said:

I have a question about conflicting PIs.

I'm playing a Segundo Volante (Attack) who has the "shoot more often" PI selected as default. However, I also have the option to select "shoot less often" so they'll both be ticked, and as my choices of SV are not particularly outstanding finishers I have done. My question then, is what happens? Do the two instructions cancel eachother out? Does "shoot more often" win out because its a default? Or does shoot less often win out because it was selected last?

yea as mentioned above, you can't tick shoot less often and shoot more often. You may beconfusing something like "shot less often" is highlited in red. That does not mean it's ticked, what that means is you can't select "shoot less often".

go to the tactics screen, and select the player (without going into the screen that let's you edit his tactics). You will see a list of all the PI currently selected, on the riht hand side. You will be able to confirm what excatly you have selcted there. 

[Wavelberry]

They're right. You have the option to click shoot less often for an SV (Attack) while the shoot more often is locked. 

Edited March 9, 2018 by Wavelberry

[zlatanera]

1 hour ago, alanschu14 said:

In my experience usually you can't have both selected and if one is selected by default I can't pick a conflicting one. It may be a bug (unless I'm mistaken)

Do you have a screenshot?

 

1 hour ago, qDizzy said:

yea as mentioned above, you can't tick shoot less often and shoot more often. You may beconfusing something like "shot less often" is highlited in red. That does not mean it's ticked, what that means is you can't select "shoot less often".

go to the tactics screen, and select the player (without going into the screen that let's you edit his tactics). You will see a list of all the PI currently selected, on the riht hand side. You will be able to confirm what excatly you have selcted there. 

Nope, I am in no way confused. 

[alanschu14]

5 minutes ago, zlatanera said:

Nope, I am in no way confused. 

I'm not sure how things will work based on your screen cap.  My best *guess* is that they cancel each other out:

• Game engine will check for Shoot More Often, and apply integer change to some tendency to shoot in match engine
• Game engine then checks for Shoot Less Often, and applies a similar negative integer change to tendency to shoot in ME

Alternative would be that one gets ignored since according to the tactics creator, they *should* be mutually exclusive.

In all cases it's ambiguous and not clear and it looks like you've come across a bug. I'm about to load up myself and will take a peek at it just to ensure it's not something (bizarrely) unique with your machine.

[herne79]

10 minutes ago, zlatanera said:

Nope, I am in no way confused. 

It's some sort of UI glitch.  Please raise in the Bugs forum .

[MNassri]

Does the language spoken by your staff have any effect?  For example, if I bring in a new coach and don't send him on a language course, does that affect a hidden training attribute?

[Mactier]

I set FM to 'beginner mode' and it throws up lots of yellow dots to click on to get info on "what's this for? etc".    how do I tell the game i don't want training wheels anymore?

 

[wkdsoul]

Will having more than one player with "Dictates tempo" clash? 

[Hovis Dexter]

3 hours ago, Mactier said:

I set FM to 'beginner mode' and it throws up lots of yellow dots to click on to get info on "what's this for? etc".    how do I tell the game i don't want training wheels anymore?

 

Just click on the question marks

sorry I'm wrong ... Alan below is correct

Edited March 10, 2018 by Hovis Dexter
Added correction

[alanschu14]

2 hours ago, Mactier said:

I set FM to 'beginner mode' and it throws up lots of yellow dots to click on to get info on "what's this for? etc".    how do I tell the game i don't want training wheels anymore?

 

In the upper right you should have this little icon with a drop down arrow. Click on that question mark.

[wkdsoul]

Can anyone tell me why the CWB - Attack has roam from position? 

[alanschu14]

11 hours ago, wkdsoul said:

Can anyone tell me why the CWB - Attack has roam from position? 

Most of the "Complete" positions seem to have roam from position. I took it as the notion that you're trusting them to find the seams and move into appropriate space to exploit that fits within whatever role they are.

If you don't want them to roam then you can just use the basic Wingback role. That's how I see it anyway.

[zlatanera]

Does anyone know if there are specific attributes to look for in a goalkeeper in terms of penalty saving? 

Like I'm guessing maybe Reflexes? Perhaps mental attributes like Anticipation? Just wondering because I seem to have ended up a lot of penalty shootouts this FM and the only keeper I had who was good at saving them so far was Kepa. Marco Sportiello seems to be ok but on FM17 he was outrageous, probably gave away 10 and only conceded 1. I don't know if he's changed this one to look at the difference of anything. So yeah.

[Shi Xiansheng]

On 3/9/2018 at 05:03, Deserter28 said:

How does the affiliate thing work with a senior club? I'm AFC Wimbledon and we've just signed a deal with Liverpool. It's mid-season so I don't think I'll get any players until the start of next season. Do they send me a few to pick from, or should I try and loan any of their U-23s / U-18s that might work? Do I get a choice on who they send?

This seems to have been satisfactorily answered but I'd like to piggyback on it.  I'm playing FM 16, managing Curzon Ashton in the National League, and my senior affiliate is Luton in the Championship.  They have plenty of youngsters available for loan and they always accept offers without requesting a fee.  (Though this was NOT the case for a couple of older players who were loan listed only because they were on the fringes and unhappy.)  And yes, I get a report (I think twice a year) on these players.  The problem is that these players fall into two categories: players who are not nearly good enough and players who don't want to come.  Luton accepts offers no problem, then the players turn them down.  I understand that I'm playing at a much lower level with a low reputation, but should Luton not be leaning on these players to go on loan for the experience and to increase their chances of making the first team someday and because that's the whole point of the affiliate agreement?  Also, I know it's not really tactics or training, but the second term of the agreement is that I'll host an annual friendly and keep all gate receipts.  However, Luton never accept friendly proposals, saying they're too busy.  What's up with that?  In short, the affiliate is useless to me beyond the 9500 pounds they give me each year.  Do I just have a poor one?

[zlatanera]

1 hour ago, Shi Xiansheng said:

This seems to have been satisfactorily answered but I'd like to piggyback on it.  I'm playing FM 16, managing Curzon Ashton in the National League, and my senior affiliate is Luton in the Championship.  They have plenty of youngsters available for loan and they always accept offers without requesting a fee.  (Though this was NOT the case for a couple of older players who were loan listed only because they were on the fringes and unhappy.)  And yes, I get a report (I think twice a year) on these players.  The problem is that these players fall into two categories: players who are not nearly good enough and players who don't want to come.  Luton accepts offers no problem, then the players turn them down.  I understand that I'm playing at a much lower level with a low reputation, but should Luton not be leaning on these players to go on loan for the experience and to increase their chances of making the first team someday and because that's the whole point of the affiliate agreement?  Also, I know it's not really tactics or training, but the second term of the agreement is that I'll host an annual friendly and keep all gate receipts.  However, Luton never accept friendly proposals, saying they're too busy.  What's up with that?  In short, the affiliate is useless to me beyond the 9500 pounds they give me each year.  Do I just have a poor one?

For the first part: players who aren't good enough. That's the same for most of your youth right? You wouldn't care if say Penrith in like the 11th tier wanted to loan one of your youngesters with no ability and no potential would you?

Secondly, those who don't want to come. Yeah they do want to push them but sometimes you just can't make them go. Particularly on this FM I've had a lot of my players I've tried to loan out say "player is not interested in a loan deal until current terms have been improved", also it is your reputation as well. If you make Football League you'll have a lot easier time I imagine. I don't know if any factors like your style of play affect their willingness either, someone else might know.

Thirdly, the friendly. Try to arrange it in summer, and try to arrange it as early as possible before they've got their pre-season plans sorted. I don't know which of your leagues ends first, Championship or National League, but after the last fixture is played instantly go to friendlies and see if you can go far enough forward to book it. I would say you could also try booking it in the international break but I don't think your league does that.

Hope some of this helps

[Mactier]

When one starts a new save you open tactics and on-screen is a blank formation for the Manager to start with.

Is this formation just random or  is it offered up to best match the current team's skill-set?

[herne79]

4 hours ago, Mactier said:

When one starts a new save you open tactics and on-screen is a blank formation for the Manager to start with.

Is this formation just random or  is it offered up to best match the current team's skill-set?

If you have a preferred formation set for your Manager, it'll probably be that.  Otherwise it can default to what the game may think fits the players.

[DiStru_]

How does one use the Analysis -> Shots screen effectively? What exactly should I be looking at?