Ajax - When Real Life Meets Football Manager - FM14

[thethe]

I have a couple of questions about a youngster I have. He's got 5 star potential (which would indicate a PA of 190, if I had to estimate), but he has consistency listed as one of his weaknesses. He looks ridiculously good otherwise.

Consistency is a hidden skill on a scale, from 0 to X, similar to 0-20 on the visible skills. This is correct? If so, is consistency as a weakness relative to his overall skill set? If a world class player has 10/20 on consistency, will it be listed as a weakness because it's low compared to his skills overall, whereas it would be considered normal for an average League 2 player, thus not listed as a weakness?

Is it actually possible to improve a player's consistency through tutoring?

Sorry if these questions have been answered in the thread already. The search engine and I aren't on good terms.

[Cleon]

Consistency can rise with age and playing well but you can't alter it via tutoring.

5 star potential doesn't mean he's PA of 190 either, far from it

[thethe]

No, I know; I once sold one of my best players to make room for a five-star rated player who eventually turned out to be a 2/5, so I'm aware. But this one was a key player at 16 and still visibly improves every month at 19, so he feels like a pretty safe bet. His potential might still be overrated by my staff, though.

How likely would you say it is that his consistency will increase? Would it be considered a rarity? What comes into play here? Does personality have anything to do with it, or is it mostly random?

[Stonebiter]

Cleon does a player develop faster if he will get game time in the Champions league or Euro league ?

[Cleon]

Cleon does a player develop faster if he will get game time in the Champions league or Euro league ?

It's the same. It's playing regular at a high level that will make the difference if he has the correct personality type.

[ashlfcowen]

Cleon,

Personally, other than ensuring you have the very best facilities available to you via the boardroom, what else do you do to ensure that you're the team that spawns all the best, top class regens. Do you set up your scouts in a particular way, or do you just simply ensure you have a mixed set of nationalities as coaches etc? Do these two directly affect the quality of regens you bring in to the club?

[Cleon]

Cleon,

Personally, other than ensuring you have the very best facilities available to you via the boardroom, what else do you do to ensure that you're the team that spawns all the best, top class regens. Do you set up your scouts in a particular way, or do you just simply ensure you have a mixed set of nationalities as coaches etc? Do these two directly affect the quality of regens you bring in to the club?

What influences the quality of newgens is all explained in post 9.

Staff just influence the personality types, nationality and the kind of positions the newgens play in and not the quality of them.

[ashlfcowen]

What influences the quality of newgens is all explained in post 9.

Staff just influence the personality types, nationality and the kind of positions the newgens play in and not the quality of them.

I thought there would be more aspects to it than what you explained in post 9 mainly because the quality of my regens coming through compared to the likes of PSG, Barca et al are not great at all. Maybe one 4 1/2 star every 3 years...

[Cleon]

Remember the stars are based on your current squad so if you have lots of world class players the ratings will naturally be lower,

[ashlfcowen]

Remember the stars are based on your current squad so if you have lots of world class players the ratings will naturally be lower,

Now then....

[tomtuck01]

Now then....

You didn't know that? I've had two and a half star players at Bayern Munich described as "Having the potential to be a leading Bundesliga player".

[Cleon]

All my current regens are 2 stars due to the quality of my side yet you should see them when they get a bit older like 18-20. I'll post some screenshots when I get around to it.

[ashlfcowen]

You didn't know that? I've had two and a half star players at Bayern Munich described as "Having the potential to be a leading Bundesliga player".

Nope. I'm fuming.

[Stonebiter]

I think this whole starrating just irritates. There should be an option if you want to play with it or not. I pay way to much attention to it and i know it, but i always look more on the stars as on the scout description or the attributes...

[Cleon]

I think this whole starrating just irritates. There should be an option if you want to play with it or not. I pay way to much attention to it and i know it, but i always look more on the stars as on the scout description or the attributes...

Why can't you just ignore it?

[Guest]

Damn it! This has left me perplexed how my Dir of Youth recruitment was not producing the goods anymore.So stupid.

[Stonebiter]

It's like an automatism. But some other question. Do you try to develop all your youth players or just the most promising ones ?

[Cleon]

It's like an automatism. But some other question. Do you try to develop all your youth players or just the most promising ones ?

I like to play as real as possible so I put effort into all the players even if I know they won't make it. I try to develop everyone the best I can

[ashlfcowen]

Why can't you just ignore it?

Do you completely, 100% ignore them? I.e. if a player is 21, but has reached his potential, according to your assistant, is that job done? Or do you continue to develop him through individual training?

[Cleon]

Do you completely, 100% ignore them? I.e. if a player is 21, but has reached his potential, according to your assistant, is that job done? Or do you continue to develop him through individual training?

I ignore all staff advice, I'm the manager.

[ashlfcowen]

I ignore all staff advice, I'm the manager.

Haha you go Boss.

[delra]

Here's an interesting observation: You can just go to the loan listed players and grab a good dozen of 15+ Determination 23+ years old Spirited/Resolute/Professional players that'd tutor your youth before going back to their clubs. If you're lucky, you can "do" your whole generation in one season this way. In Djurgarden I got up to 16 loans this way, which is admittedly pretty silly, but the end result is quite stunning, as those more professional kids just outshine everyone else in the league, even of higher potential.

[eadadi]

putting general training on low or v.low and individual on high doesnt mean individual will have more focus at all?!

There must be an advantage to low general to focus individual,?y es?

[delra]

How do you deal with player's physical weaknesses? I have one guy on Quickness for three seasons now, he's gotten Acceleration to 14, but his Pace stays at 8 throughout that time. Seems like the player should just get scrapped despite being great at everything else, as he'll always be too slow for major leagues.

[Cleon]

How do you deal with player's physical weaknesses? I have one guy on Quickness for three seasons now, he's gotten Acceleration to 14, but his Pace stays at 8 throughout that time. Seems like the player should just get scrapped despite being great at everything else, as he'll always be too slow for major leagues.

Wow what such a wrong perception you have. If the rest of his attributes are great like you say then it doesn't really make much difference is he is 20 or 5 for pace/acceleration. They were toned down for FM14 and don't have anywhere near the impact they used too on older versions of the game. Before pace/acceleration ruled above all else, not so much now and you can actually have and use to great effect players who are slow but got at the other things.

Not sure why you think he should be scrapped at all though, that's such a moronic (sorry but it is) thing to think. It's perfectly fine for any league including the bigger ones.

I've never known someone focus on 1 attribute for such a long time either, 3 years is way too long. I've also not seen only acceleration rise before and pace stay the same, as the individual focus actually trains both at the same time and they normally rise in tandem with each other.

[delra]

What would you do with a player that has 1 point of Bravery?

Also, when/how do you train people designated to take Free Kicks and Corners? Do you raise that attribute early in their careers, or rather wait till they reach their PA and then "suck" ability a little from everything else to raise that one attrbiute?

[Cleon]

A player who has 1 in bravery? I'd still train them the same way I would someone else, I'd not treat it any differently as that number is way too low to begin with so its highly likely it'll raise to something high anyway.

I don't train set piece people different either. Again I just train players like I've highlighted throughout the thread. I don't see the point of focusing on corners/free kicks when its hard to make them rise that fast anyway.

[delra]

How do you intercept former players to be coaches? Even assuming there are any with at least half-decent stats that'll actually want to be coaches, they always want obscene amounts of money when I try to hire them, amounts comparable with their earnings as top footballers and way outside of my coaching budgets.

[Cleon]

I normally approach then after they retire and it doesn't cost me more than normal on most occassions. The only time it seems more is if its someone who actually plays for me and I try to offer them a new contract as a member of staff while still having time on their old deal.

[eadadi]

General training on very low means more time spended on individual training?

[Cleon]

General training on very low means more time spended on individual training?

Yeah.

[delra]

Another weak link of "being Ajax" is the part where you sell players once they've been shaped and moulded. AI will never pay more than a couple million for someone below PA 140, however great he's built. I just got an offer of 500k for a Limited Defender who's just perfectly tailored for that rule with all the key attributes very high and even his personality just right. I negotiated to 750k, and they withdrew. No other offers although he could play centre defence in any club in the world even tomorrow despite his low starting potential. Meanwhile a 180 PA kid with no skill and idiotic personality, with no work put to developing him at all, gets offers in tens millions. So I decided to keep the kid on the team, he doesn't ask for much money and he gets his 7+ averages every season as he's tall and smart even if he can't be three other things at the same time.

How do you ever get to sell low and medium PA players for reasonable money? Isn't this really a game of random die rolls every time newgens are created? Because all the work you put on them matters so much less than their PA in the transfer market?

[delra]

I think I can contribute one useful tip to the guide. Using the "Job Centre" and posting an advert there that you're looking to fill a specific coaching position will result in quite a lot of former/retiring players to apply, and then actually accept a contract offer from your club for some lower position and reasonable wage. I think you could gain services of a lot of Ajax former players this way. For example, you go there, and post an ad that you're looking for an U19 assistant manager, and then wait a couple months, see whom you can "fish" from the larger pool of players this way.

Ibrahimovic is an U19 coach in my team now, for example (god have mercy over us when this generation of players grows up and takes over).

[mattcanary]

With creativitiy crossing and dribbling that high, I would play him as a winger. His tackling isn't that brilliant (although his positioning skills are decent).

(Sorry - a belated reply to post 455).

Can you sell him to me? I'd love a player with those skills!

[ashlfcowen]

With creativitiy crossing and dribbling that high, I would play him as a winger. His tackling isn't that brilliant (although his positioning skills are decent).

(Sorry - a belated reply to post 455).

Can you sell him to me? I'd love a player with those skills!

I become obsessed with youth development in that career. To the point where I'd only ever sign players between 15-18 and then mature exactly how I wanted them to fit in my tactic. I did initially go with everyone's advice here and started using him as a WB(A), he was brilliant there, but I had an uprising star in Rodolfo Silva who was literally breaking my office door down begging to be included, so I moved David Crowe to DLP(S) and partnered him Ismail Erol, who played as an AP(A). Unfortunately other than Crowes before screenshot, I don't have one of Silva & Erol, but trust me when I say their development has been a huge influence in my new Anderlecht career.

[Stonebiter]

Is it possible, that "Jumping Reach" is the most difficult attribute to improve and "balanced" the most difficult Personality to change ?

[Cleon]

Is it possible, that "Jumping Reach" is the most difficult attribute to improve and "balanced" the most difficult Personality to change ?

Balanced personality is no harder to change than any of the other personality types, they are all the same in terms of chance of changing. What matters is the starting point the player being tutored starts at.

And jumping reach can't exceed someones height. So someone 181cm tall will be able to raise his jumping reach higher than someone who is 161cm tall. It's all linked to the players height.

[delra]

Do you have a table of height => max jumping reach?

[Stonebiter]

Balanced personality is no harder to change than any of the other personality types, they are all the same in terms of chance of changing. What matters is the starting point the player being tutored starts at.

And jumping reach can't exceed someones height. So someone 181cm tall will be able to raise his jumping reach higher than someone who is 161cm tall. It's all linked to the players height.

Just 1 example, i have 2 Players both 177cm tall, one has JR 6, the other has 8. Now the player with 6 was per mistake trained individual focus on heavy 1 year JR, and didn't improve even 1 point. I have even a player with 174cm and a JR of 8. So it seems it is a maximum range not an absolute maximum. But you really have to know that height and JR are linked. Of course it is logical but i think that isn't explained anywhere.

.

[delra]

Unless you can fly:

[delra]

Is there a certain age after which developing the weaker foot is no longer viable?

[Cleon]

Is there a certain age after which developing the weaker foot is no longer viable?

Not really no. It's more about how much PA he has left so he can spend CA.

[delra]

One funny thing about player jumping and height. Got this kid regen at 14 years old, he was like 156cm tall with 6 jumping. He was central defender and refused to ever learn another position (tried him for DMC obviously but mostly played into BPD). I lost all the hope my defence will even be competitive in the air, evne started pushing forward. Now the kid is 19, he's 190cm tall and has jumping reach nearing 18. He just grew that rapidly in his teens.

Soooo.... don't lose hope. :-)

[Jimbokav1971]

One funny thing about player jumping and height. Got this kid regen at 14 years old, he was like 156cm tall with 6 jumping. He was central defender and refused to ever learn another position (tried him for DMC obviously but mostly played into BPD). I lost all the hope my defence will even be competitive in the air, evne started pushing forward. Now the kid is 19, he's 190cm tall and has jumping reach nearing 18. He just grew that rapidly in his teens.

Soooo.... don't lose hope. :-)

Small youngsters grow more than big youngsters. It's not an even growth. I tracked my youth products for a period of 7 years and anyone generated at 6'2" or bigger, (It might have been 6'3" but I think it was 6'2"), never grew a single inch ever.

[delra]

Does Ajax use foreign feeder clubs to supply talented youngsters?

In my Auxerre game I had a feeder in Nigeria, and they brought me 3 world-class players over the last 5 years. And I wonder how this works exactly. Do they use their own country's regen potentian, but my youth training and recruitment to create those guys?

[delra]

Here's another thing. I always preferred domestic mid-table clubs as destinations for the players I've raised and was selling off. Even if the bid was much lower than what Barca or Real wanted to smash. So I'd sell to LOSC or OM or similar clubs each time, even if their bid was $15 mil rather than $25 mil.

Now it's 2023 and Ligue 1 is top #1 ranked league in the world. :-)

[johnstonpickle]

Gotta say i gave this a go and have been totally hooked, despite beforehand knowing nothing about Dutch football i've gotten really into it now!

Really tried to stick to Cleon's principles about buying players for 2.5m or less but got tempted when I could purchase Gabigol for 4.5m and Rodrigo Gomez for the same price .

First season I won the Eredivisie at a canter, qualified for the Champs League knockout stages (destroyed Man City 3-0 in the group stages with probably my greatest team performance ever on FM14!) but lost in the 2nd round 7-4 on agg to Chelsea.

Finding second season tough though, after 25 games only 2 points in front of Feyenoord at the top conceding a lot of late goals probably due to the vast amount of inexperience in the team - brought through a lot of players and they are still pretty raw but contributing nicely (Karlsson, Bay, Riedewald, Kishna, Bazoer, Van de Beek, van den Boomen, Nouri and Dekker have all played 15+ games out of 25.)

Most enjoyable game ever .

[Sleepydude]

Does Ajax use foreign feeder clubs to supply talented youngsters?

In my Auxerre game I had a feeder in Nigeria, and they brought me 3 world-class players over the last 5 years. And I wonder how this works exactly. Do they use their own country's regen potentian, but my youth training and recruitment to create those guys?

Ajax does have feeder clubs, one of their current players (Thulani Serero) came over from Ajax Cape Town a few years ago. Not that many make it to the first team though.

[afailed10]

I have a slight problem. Training facilities maxed out and 4\5 star coaches in but no matter what i try, the individual training workload remains heavy with Light focus intensity and VERY HEAVY on medium and high. No ppm training nor tutoring. I'm doing exacly like in the OP and also tried very light general training with all sorts of match prep training. FFS

[Cleon]

I have a slight problem. Training facilities maxed out and 4\5 star coaches in but no matter what i try, the individual training workload remains heavy with Light focus intensity and VERY HEAVY on medium and high. No ppm training nor tutoring. I'm doing exacly like in the OP and also tried very light general training with all sorts of match prep training. FFS

Facilities/coaches don't really have nothing to do with it. It's an issue with the match prep training you have selected then if you followed like set out in the OP, you've overlooked that imo. You've need to alter the ratio of time between general/match training on the slider bar.