Pre-season questions

[Amunt]

Hello.

I am playing with Valencia CF in Spain and I chose a long pre-season starting at 10/7/2015 and I will have my first competitive match at 19/8/2015, first leg for the Champions League qualification. I have scheduled 13 friendly matches(2 matches per week) from 13/7/2015 - 15/8/2015. I have some questions about how I should set up my team training. I have the best coaching team in the Liga BBVA and I am looking to play a high intensive football for the 2015/16 season. I would think that this will require a lot of condition build up in General Training focusing on Fitness with a Very High intensity level. I will start of with a 4-4-2 with a Standard mentality and Flexible team shape and will watch full matches and try different alterations during the friendly matches as changes during matches, as far as I understand, does not affect the tactic familiarity. So I am thinking, could I set the Scheduling to 0% Match Training to focus 100% on General Training(Fitness), the players will get Match Sharpness anyway right? Then I was thinking when I find the right team- and player settings I could set the Match Preparation to 50% and maybe focus on Team Cohesion in General Training.

My question is how do I know when it's enough with the 100% Fitness Training? Is this a good idea? I would rather have a bad start to the season because of low tactic familiarity than have tired players, injuries etc. I also wonder what you think about fitness training in the middle of the season, I know some teams like Atletico Madrid that build up their fitness during the spring when the condition usually lowers.

During the pre-season I rotate much and take out players when their condition is in the lower 70s. I do not make 11 changes during half-time.

[yonko]

Nope. IMO don't need to waste time with Fitness training. Just set General Training to Team Cohesion (High Intensity, not Very High) to get your team to full 100% Team Chemistry as quickly as possible. Also make sure your training is split 50%-50% between General and Match Prep. And set Match Prep to Tactics Only, having only one tactic to learn! Do not change anything until fully Fluid.

Hopefully you set your friendlies every 3 days......12-13 friendlies should be enough. I usually play against very easy opponents to take pressure off and to boost player's moral. Rotate your players evenly and make sure all of them get to highest match sharpness.

Also, forgot to mention....no rest days before or after matches until the process is complete - players have their sharpness, team chemistry is high (around 90% or more) and your tactic is Fluid. This is regardless of what tactic, formation, style, system you use with your team.

Btw, I learned this from Cleon a few years/FM editions ago....;)

[Domac]

Btw, I learned this from Cleon a few years/FM editions ago....;)

What a legend! I used the exact same approach, because of his old Ajax articles.

[yonko]

Not only that but he also did a separate thread on how to approach the pre-season before his Ajax thread.

[Cleon]

The posters above know the score

[Amunt]

Nope. IMO don't need to waste time with Fitness training. Just set General Training to Team Cohesion (High Intensity, not Very High) to get your team to full 100% Team Chemistry as quickly as possible. Also make sure your training is split 50%-50% between General and Match Prep. And set Match Prep to Tactics Only, having only one tactic to learn! Do not change anything until fully Fluid.

Hopefully you set your friendlies every 3 days......12-13 friendlies should be enough. I usually play against very easy opponents to take pressure off and to boost player's moral. Rotate your players evenly and make sure all of them get to highest match sharpness.

Also, forgot to mention....no rest days before or after matches until the process is complete - players have their sharpness, team chemistry is high (around 90% or more) and your tactic is Fluid. This is regardless of what tactic, formation, style, system you use with your team.

Btw, I learned this from Cleon a few years/FM editions ago....;)

Then what about Condition? Not everything is about Team Cohesion and Tactic Familiarity. Team Cohesion are most important if you sign new players isn't it? Are you saying I should not focus on Fitness at all during pre-season? I sence that the condition will drop like hell in the middle of the season. Yeah other than that I use the same template. 2 days between every game and no rest days, 50/50 Scheduling between Fitness and Tactics Only and about a week before my first game I change it to Team Cohesion... I use guidetofootballmanager.com mostly but I read some guide a couple of years ago that used this pre-season Schedule. Guidetofootballmanager says you should focus Very High on Fitness, but yeah I dont know.

[HUNT3R]

Fitness training will train attributes only and doesn't have anything to do with Condition. Condition will build up naturally as they start training on return from holiday.

[Amunt]

Fitness training will train attributes only and doesn't have anything to do with Condition. Condition will build up naturally as they start training on return from holiday.

Which attributes?

[Jean-Luc]

Which attributes?

The physical attributes like agility, strengh, pace, etc.

Team training in general only helps developing all those technical/physical/mental attributes, with the exception of Tactics training (helps to train formation) and Team Cohesion (helps team spirit). It's completely different from other football manager games, where you have to train condition over the summer to make your players "fit" for the season.

Condition will be regenerated by simply resting the players.

[Cleon]

Which attributes?

All of the above focus on sets of attributes so lets break them down and take a look;

• Fitness : Acceleration, Agility,Balance, Jumping, Natural Fitness, Pace, Stamina, Strength, Workrate
  
• Tactics: Anticipation, Composure, Concentration, Decisions, Teamwork
  
• Ball Control: Dribbling, First Touch, Heading, Technique, Flair
  
• Defending: Marking, Tackling, Positioning
  
• Attacking: Crossing, Finishing, Long Shots, Passing, Creativity, Off the ball
  
• 
  

So if you choose a focus this means the emphasis on the attributes listed above will be much greater than normal. You'll notice I left off balanced from the list, the reason for this is because it's like a default setting and make sure all attributes have the same focus on all attributes with no preference.

[OlivierL]

i'm always doing very high fitness , no rest before or after match, +- 75% match prep and tactics and a lot of friendlies.

Never had many injuries and had everyone match fit.

So it is better to focus on team cohesion(high) and not on fitness ?

[Cleon]

i'm always doing very high fitness , no rest before or after match, +- 75% match prep and tactics and a lot of friendlies.

Never had many injuries and had everyone match fit.

So it is better to focus on team cohesion(high) and not on fitness ?

Team cohesion if you have brought new players in, if not then there's no real benefit from staying on fitness. Unless you want to focus on those particular attributes, but for it to have any difference it needs to be used for 3 months at the very minumum. So you may aswell just leave on balance if you aren't focusing a particular set of attributes for all your players via general training.

[Amunt]

Team cohesion if you have brought new players in, if not then there's no real benefit from staying on fitness. Unless you want to focus on those particular attributes, but for it to have any difference it needs to be used for 3 months at the very minumum. So you may aswell just leave on balance if you aren't focusing a particular set of attributes for all your players via general training.

Why are this guide saying that you should focus on Fitness then http://www.guidetofootballmanager.com/squad/pre-season-preparation`

That site is included in the SI Affiliates...

[Cleon]

Why are this guide saying that you should focus on Fitness then http://www.guidetofootballmanager.com/squad/pre-season-preparation`

That site is included in the SI Affiliates...

Just because it's an affiliate site doesn't mean they are 100% accurate with what they say. It's not an official site, it's just a recognised fansite that's all, so it still has fan written content not official content. It's clear who wrote their article on the matter doesn't have the best understanding of how it works. That's always a downside of using fansites, they're not always accurate with what they state.

[OlivierL]

Team cohesion if you have brought new players in, if not then there's no real benefit from staying on fitness. Unless you want to focus on those particular attributes, but for it to have any difference it needs to be used for 3 months at the very minumum. So you may aswell just leave on balance if you aren't focusing a particular set of attributes for all your players via general training.

Thanks, but i'm still right if i'm doing very high fitness as 'training' in the first 10/12 days ? or should i start with team cohesion or balanced from the first day of the pre season ?

[Cleon]

Thanks, but i'm still right if i'm doing very high fitness as 'training' in the first 10/12 days ? or should i start with team cohesion or balanced from the first day of the pre season ?

I answered your question and explained.

[OlivierL]

I answered your question and explained.

i wasn't sure what u mean with 'staying on fitness' , because my question was , should i "start with fitness " .

Like u probably already noticed , this is not my native language )

[Cleon]

i wasn't sure what u mean with 'staying on fitness' , because my question was , should i "start with fitness " .

Like u probably already noticed , this is not my native language )

If you want to focus on specific attributes that fitness trains then yes. But if not then no its pointless. It's explained in post 10

[Jean-Luc]

Thanks, but i'm still right if i'm doing very high fitness as 'training' in the first 10/12 days ? or should i start with team cohesion or balanced from the first day of the pre season ?

Fitness will raise physical attributes, as explained. It does not matter, if you train fitness in summer, in winter or in spring. Effect is always the same. In terms of "special summer break preparation", fitness is irrelevant. You can still decide to train fitness, if you want to, but the effect will be to raise physical attributes. No more, no less.

edit:

Think of fitness training as "long term character development": You will make a player faster, stronger, etc., but the effects will be very small and only really take effect over a few months or even several seasons. As I said, it does NOT have anything to do with how well your players can cope with the long season, stay fit, stay in good condition, etc.

[OlivierL]

If you want to focus on specific attributes that fitness trains then yes. But if not then no its pointless. It's explained in post 10

Ok thanks, i should re-organize my schedules because now i know for sure , the 'fitness' think isn't improving the general condition..

[Amunt]

Thanks it makes more sense now.

Before I get my pre-season rolling, I would like to know where I can see the current Team Chemistry? Does players signed outside the game last summer affect the Team Chemistry or only players that you sign in-game? So I know if I need to focus on Team Cohesion or set it to Balanced directly. How long would it take for a tactic to reach Fluid if you have the slider all the way to the left? And lastly, what General Training intensity and match preparation focus(%) would you recommend during the season?

I miss the sliders from older games. If you set the General Training to f.e. Defending, the forwards would focus on that too right?

[Cleon]

Thanks it makes more sense now.

Before I get my pre-season rolling, I would like to know where I can see the current Team Chemistry? Does players signed outside the game last summer affect the Team Chemistry or only players that you sign in-game? So I know if I need to focus on Team Cohesion or set it to Balanced directly. How long would it take for a tactic to reach Fluid if you have the slider all the way to the left? And lastly, what General Training intensity and match preparation focus(%) would you recommend during the season?

If you start a new game and the team you select has new players in it, that weren't signed by you, then the team cohesion still needs working on as the game still recognises them as new players. You can see team chemistry if you go to the Assistant Manager > Reports > Team talk feedback

It takes around 13 friendlies with the slider all the way to the left for a tactic to become fluid. Longer if you make new signings or change shape/team instructions. It'll be slightly quicker if you get to go on a training camp too.

As for the general intensity and match prep question, that depends really. If you want to focus on player development then as little match prep as possible. Myself I don't use any but most use 20% I think. And general intensity should be high.

[Amunt]

If you start a new game and the team you select has new players in it, that weren't signed by you, then the team cohesion still needs working on as the game still recognises them as new players. You can see team chemistry if you go to the Assistant Manager > Reports > Team talk feedback

It takes around 13 friendlies with the slider all the way to the left for a tactic to become fluid. Longer if you make new signings or change shape/team instructions. It'll be slightly quicker if you get to go on a training camp too.

As for the general intensity and match prep question, that depends really. If you want to focus on player development then as little match prep as possible. Myself I don't use any but most use 20% I think. And general intensity should be high.

My biggest problem is I don't know how I will play in my 4-4-2 formation, does player instructions also affect the familiarity or only the stuff like Width, pressure, formation etc? I might go for a standard 4-4-2 with balanced mentality etc and build from that during the season as I dont want to change anything during the pre-season. Thanks for your help mate.

[roggiotis]

Different roles and P.I s doesn't affect familiarity.

There r also a few T.I that doesn't affect (but i don't remember right now, the d-line i think ,check them by yourself)