Ajax - When Real Life Meets Football Manager - FM14

[goblinshark]

How to your set your staff screen with it showing their preferred formation?

[Cleon]

How to your set your staff screen with it showing their preferred formation?

It's default for me so is either the skin I'm using or because I play at a very high resolution.

[Rickooko]

The AI still does tutor players, so not sure why you think it doesn't.

Oh Cleon, are you sure about that? I have searched for youngster age 15-19 and none of them have the tag "Lrn" , or any major mature players with tag "Tut" except from my team.

I clearly remember in older FMs they does. (I often saw Bayern using Lahm and Klose to tutor their youngsters for great effect, but didnt see any for FM2014, so did in FM2013)

[Cleon]

Oh Cleon, are you sure about that? I have searched for youngster age 15-19 and none of them have the tag "Lrn" , or any major mature players with tag "Tut" except from my team.

I clearly remember in older FMs they does. (I often saw Bayern using Lahm and Klose to tutor their youngsters for great effect, but didnt see any for FM2014, so did in FM2013)

Yups I'm 100000000% sure they still do. You only have to look through some of the top clubs and look at their youth teams to be able to see that a lot of the promising youths determination have rose significantly.

[Rickooko]

How to your set your staff screen with it showing their preferred formation?

You can easily customize it by insert columns into the, lets say the default staff searching pages. It is very useful for finding B team / reserve team managers with this.

[Rickooko]

Yups I'm 100000000% sure they still do. You only have to look through some of the top clubs and look at their youth teams to be able to see that a lot of the promising youths determination have rose significantly.

Oh thats really assuring then !

Perhaps they just no longer showing the Lrn or Tut Tag or the who is under whos tutoring in the player information panels anymore... :-\

[Kapciebabci]

Hi Cleon,

One thing, I cant find the answer to is, what intensity od the general/match training to choose.

If I understand this correctly, if I set the general/match training to minimum, the most stat increase will be due to individual role or attribute training and not the general training. This would help me shape my players more to my likings eg. minimum tackling training for my offensive players. I know, that the overall CA gain will be lower that when I put the general training to average or higher but the CA will be put into stats I care about.

Does it work this way or am I totaly wrong here?

Cheers.

[tomtuck01]

Followig on from this post about a yougster of mine, Joao Pedro, I have moved a further into the save, (at the end of the season that the image came from in the linked post), and he really has done well for me.

He hasn't made dramatic improvements over the course of the season, the odd point here and there mostly in the metal area, but a marvellous season. Not bad for a player I have apparently not developed well.

[bdixon]

I have a quick question regarding training, would it not be more productive having the intensity level set to low on general training so more specific training is spent on individual?

[Cleon]

I have a quick question regarding training, would it not be more productive having the intensity level set to low on general training so more specific training is spent on individual?

I take it you've not read any of this thread at all then....as I state this about a thousand times

[bdixon]

Um, I thought I had.. My apologies I'm assuming I've totally missed something.

[bdixon]

Thanks very much for that..

[bdixon]

Last game of season I change training to how I would at start. 50/50 Scheduling, Fitness - High and matching training tactics. Remove all individual training.

[bdixon]

yes, as most the time last game of season for me is Champions league final. After that game I don't have the option to change training.

[bdixon]

The reason I do it is because when players come back from holidays for some reason you cant set training straight away. It's a personal preference of mine which I have done for ages.

[JonasMorais]

@ Cleon was looking for some more stuff about youth development ,that as you know I like as much as you do and found this,dont know if you read it before or not but you were the first person I thought as soon as I began reading it.

http://www.ecaeurope.com/Research/ECA%20Report%20on%20Youth%20Academies/ECA%20Report%20on%20Youth%20Academies.pdf

[Cleon]

Thanks but its already linked in the very first post of this thread and was in last years one too

[tom4s]

Curious to know whether you allow rest before or after games or not at all? Or do you rely on your big squad instead?

[Cleon]

Curious to know whether you allow rest before or after games or not at all? Or do you rely on your big squad instead?

If you read the thread you'd know the answer

Rest after games only during the season and neither in preseason.

[tom4s]

If you read the thread you'd know the answer

Rest after games only during the season and neither in preseason.

Thanks for the reply! I thought i had read your great and inspiring thread/article (i have even printed it out ) close enough.

Tbf, i think your thread is well written, but sometimes i feel it could do with a few bullet point summarys here and there (for example, after describing your preseason in text, you sum up how you set it up. Same goes for the regular training.) Would probably stop you from having to answer the same questions over and over again.

[Bgj101]

Hello Cleon,

I've taken a job with Anderlect. They have their U21's and U19's in the same facility and the Senior team separate. Knowing that you usually have all your team on the Senior team and assign them to B-team/U19 squads, how would you arrange this squad. I currently have all my U21 and below eligible assigned to the U21 and assign the players to the U19's. All the U21 and U19 coaches are available for both squads.

John

[Kick Wilstra]

The Ajax academy has always been an inspiration for me in how I set up my youth development. It's reassuring your interpretation isn't that much different. Personally I do rotate team training between Ball Control, Attack and Tactics though, mostly for Flair, Creativity and Team respectively. The attributes trained with the Fitness and Defending schedule are all easily covered with individual training.

[Cleon]

The Ajax academy has always been an inspiration for me in how I set up my youth development. It's reassuring your interpretation isn't that much different. Personally I do rotate team training between Ball Control, Attack and Tactics though, mostly for Flair, Creativity and Team respectively. The attributes trained with the Fitness and Defending schedule are all easily covered with individual training.

It's pointless rotating between those though as it takes a few months for them to have any kind of effect (you're looking at around 3 months a time for a noticeable difference and even then its minimal as general training is long term not short term), so if you plan on rotating many categories like you are then balance is the best as you are currently wasting training

[Kick Wilstra]

Am I really wasting it? I can accept it has not much of an effect over just keeping it at Balanced, but the lads still get training don't they?

I wish I could set up a training schedule that would focus on First Touch, Passing, Technique, Creativity, Flair and Teamwork. No, I don't want the slider-based training module back, that felt totally unrealistic. I loved the training module from Football World Manager back in the days, where you could select training routines to create your own schedules.

[Cleon]

There actually only getting part of training because you are changing it a lot to rotate with the others. So the changes you see are minimal because its not having enough time to actually alter attributes of the players. Remember its long term so you should be treating it that way, if you rotate it all the time then there isn't time to make a real impact on the attributes you want to alter.

[Kick Wilstra]

Okay, so better to just choose one and go for it. Thanks, didn't know that. If I dropped Tactics, as that's my standard senior schedule anyway, and rotate Ball Control and Attacking every 6 months, then that might still work to develop the technical side a bit better than with Balanced, right?

I do also sometimes switch training in first team sometimes. For example, in 3 match week I remove the days off but go for very low intensity Fitness training, or I switch my training to Attacking as I thought it would give me synergy with Attacking Movement in that Europe match where I do need to win with a sizeable goal difference to proceed to the next round. Am I right to conclude that this isn't just not actually useful, but even counter productive?

[Cleon]

Okay, so better to just choose one and go for it. Thanks, didn't know that. If I dropped Tactics, as that's my standard senior schedule anyway, and rotate Ball Control and Attacking every 6 months, then that might still work to develop the technical side a bit better than with Balanced, right?

I do also sometimes switch training in first team sometimes. For example, in 3 match week I remove the days off but go for very low intensity Fitness training, or I switch my training to Attacking as I thought it would give me synergy with Attacking Movement in that Europe match where I do need to win with a sizeable goal difference to proceed to the next round. Am I right to conclude that this isn't just not actually useful, but even counter productive?

General training has no bearings on the match. Match training focus gives you a slight boost for the next game though.

[Los_Culés]

General training has no bearings on the match. Match training focus gives you a slight boost for the next game though.

Cleon, is it possible to somehow quantify the boost?

[THFC1981]

This has helped me so much, your knowledge of training is amazing. Thank you so much for taking your time to do this

Also...one quick question,

Now in during Pre-Season I know you like to favour 50%/50% for Match Preperation and General Training, but once you get into the season what's your approach towards the General Training and Match Preperation, do you still keep it 50/50? and also what with the Individual training, do tend to train them ''Heavy'' or ''Average'' for example? Same with the General Training, what kind of intensity level? and what about the rest before and after matches, do you do both? or just say ''rest after match''? I'm guessing you may change that depending on how busy your schedule is...

I know many people would do this differently, but I was wondering what your general approach to this is, thanks.

[Cleon]

Cleon, is it possible to somehow quantify the boost?

In what sense? It just gives a very slight boost.

[Cleon]

This has helped me so much, your knowledge of training is amazing. Thank you so much for taking your time to do this

Also...one quick question,

Now in during Pre-Season I know you like to favour 50%/50% for Match Preperation and General Training, but once you get into the season what's your approach towards the General Training and Match Preperation, do you still keep it 50/50? and also what with the Individual training, do tend to train them ''Heavy'' or ''Average'' for example? Same with the General Training, what kind of intensity level? and what about the rest before and after matches, do you do both? or just say ''rest after match''? I'm guessing you may change that depending on how busy your schedule is...

I know many people would do this differently, but I was wondering what your general approach to this is, thanks.

This is already explained under the training section of the thread;

Remember that because I am focusing on individual attributes or roles that I set general training slider to match training 20% or less and give the players heavy focus for their role. It's also important I leave it on balanced due to the reasons explained in the training section of this thread.

And the general focus is set to low. And I only ever rest after a match even when I'm playing in Brazil and have 83 matches a season.

[Los_Culés]

In what sense? It just gives a very slight boost.

I mean, if eg. I have a focus on attacking, my players will have their attacking attributes boosted by 1 in the next match?

[Cleon]

I mean, if eg. I have a focus on attacking, my players will have their attacking attributes boosted by 1 in the next match?

No-one knows the exact values hence why we say it gives a little boost. The boost isn't that great though

[januszpa]

The attributes trained with the Fitness and Defending schedule are all easily covered with individual training.

Fitness training has one big advantage, though - it keeps Match Fitness at 90% or higher, even for players who are returning from injury. So, for example, if you have 4-5 senior players who are injured and who will be returning to the squad in the next few weeks, switch general training to Fitness-Low. These players will now return from injury at 90% Match Fitness, meaning a single game in the reserves has them back on track. This can be very useful, as otherwise players returning from long-term injuries may have Match Fitness at 60-70%, and require several weeks of re-integration into the team.

[karax268]

I have a talented defender. Most of his attributes are good enough to play for me in la liga (i'm Barca) except his bravery is at only 9. I feel he makes some wrong decisions because of this and it keeps him out of the squad more I would like. Is there some way to raise The bravey attribute? Or does it come with age?

[llama3]

I have a talented defender. Most of his attributes are good enough to play for me in la liga (i'm Barca) except his bravery is at only 9. I feel he makes some wrong decisions because of this and it keeps him out of the squad more I would like. Is there some way to raise The bravey attribute? Or does it come with age?

With age.

Just for tutoring,and for the personality effects,can you start straight from the big inning of the game during preseason or we must wait and do this while starting the individual training?

You can start tutoring from day 1.

[karax268]

With age.

Thanks. I'll bring him a bit more slowly in that case

[Chef Raekwon]

For those interested in reading more about youth development, the Ajax Academy or how players are rated, grab the latest copy of Clear Cut Chance via http://clearcutchance.com/!

[tomtuck01]

In this post there is a player who I have developed for the whole of his career. He started with me at Benfica, (he had just come through the ranks when I joined them), followed me to Tottenham when I joined them, and then came with me to Bayern Munich. I was slaughtered by a certain user in this thread for developing him very poorly and was told I should have done a much better job.

Well....................

Just imagine if I was actually any good at developing players.

[Al Bundy]

Sorry I made a mistake above I thought you said Model Citizen. Model professional isn't a good personality type to have due to the reason you mentioned, it could be low on the ambition side.

As I understand from 1st page...model citizen > resolute > perfectionist > spirited > model prof. and other professional personalities. Should I tutor model professional with resolute tutor? Did I get that right? thanks.

[Davey Boy]

Cleon, an outstanding thread.

[ronaldo1026]

Really have enjoyed this thread and have found it very helpful as I've taken Ajax to the Champions League final! I overturned a 4-2 loss at Bayern in the first leg with a commanding 3-0 win at home, probably my most satisfying victory in my 3-year FM career.

Problem is, and I was wondering if I could get some input, I have one remaining (meaningless) league match this weekend vs PSV, and then three weeks before the Champions League final vs Barça. I'm unable to add any friendlies in between this time and I've been a strong believer of Cleon's preseason training thread - how should I go about my team training in these couple weeks?

My initial plan is to go Team Cohesion - Average in the first week; Fitness - Average in the next (if fitness levels have dropped); then back to Team Cohesion for the week of the final. I'd appreciate any suggestions.

[Cleon]

Why team cohesion? Unless you've brought new players in in the last week then its pointless, the same for fitness. Just use it like you normally would and it will be fine. You have a 3 week rest which isn't a bad thing at the end of the season as it gives players time to regain fitness, recover from injuries etc.

And you can schedule friendlies, you can play the youth team

[Bigpapa42]

Love this thread. Was recently playing with Ajax as well but am likely giong to try another game with Lokomotiv Moscow. They have some decent prospects, at least by Russian standards. Their attributes are random and they typically end up with brutal physical attributes in most games. The comparative screencaps of individual players particularly interest me. You've had a number of players get a decent jump in Stamina, Strength, and even Quickness. Even for players who you didn't directly target those, at least not noted in the explanation. Given that these are young players getting match-time, is that increase simple natural?

[ronaldo1026]

Why team cohesion? Unless you've brought new players in in the last week then its pointless, the same for fitness. Just use it like you normally would and it will be fine. You have a 3 week rest which isn't a bad thing at the end of the season as it gives players time to regain fitness, recover from injuries etc.

And you can schedule friendlies, you can play the youth team

Ah, okay. I'll do that. As for the friendlies, I can't arrange any - looks like the club is already in offseason mode.

EDIT: Once I played my final match of the season, I can arrange friendlies now after all. Thanks!

[Animosama]

When selecting staff do you use the same personalities you had for when building a squad with players ?

Or do you looking for a particular personality for backroom staff ?

[Cleon]

When selecting staff do you use the same personalities you had for when building a squad with players ?

Or do you looking for a particular personality for backroom staff ?

The same one that I want when squad building as it will save a lot of time if the players have a greater chance of being generated with this personality to begin with.

[kandersson]

It's always a pleasure to see this thread. Top quality stuff!

I find it very inspiring as I'm a huge fan of the Ajax model IRL, and in FM as well as they're the example I always try to follow with my San Marino challenge. Thoroughly enjoyed reading this piece, especially the attention to apparently minor things like coaches personality and youth coaches tendencies.

One thing I'd like to see improved in FM is a stronger emphasis on youth development, and in particular a bigger control on what happens 'behind' the youth setup - e.g. type of players recruited/produced by the youth academy, with positions, attributes and PPM's directly linked to type of youth coaches and to club philosophy.

[Animosama]

The same one that I want when squad building as it will save a lot of time if the players have a greater chance of being generated with this personality to begin with.

In the case of the HOYD would he good through the same regular personality selection as the coaches ?

or would you a particular personality take preference for this individual due to his important role ?

[Cleon]

In the case of the HOYD would he good through the same regular personality selection as the coaches ?

or would you a particular personality take preference for this individual due to his important role ?

I answered this already in the quote you used