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Making The Most Of Pre-Season


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I often get asked how I set up for pre-season and make the best of the time available. Pre-season is one of the most important times at the club because if you get this right you can start the season in the right frame of mind and hit the ground running. The majority of my success on FM is down to how I approach pre-season as I believe I set up the best I possibly can for me and my club and the style I play. So why is it important? Well let me show you how I approach it and then you can see why.

I break preseason down to;

  • Morale/Friendlies
  • Fitness
  • Tactic/Player Familiarity
  • Team Cohesion

The above is what I class as really important and are all the things that will make the biggest difference over the season especially at the beginning.

Morale and Friendlies

Having players with high morale is always a bonus and it’s a really good idea to get it as high as possible straight away. To achieve this as soon as possible what I do is make sure any friendlies I play are against extremely weaker opposition. The reasons behind this is I want the team to score a lot of goals. I don’t see the point in playing hard friendlies and risking affecting a player’s morale.

I like to set up very easy friendlies against very weak sides. This means my team should win them easily and winning builds morale, so if I can beat a non league or amateur side 10-0 then this is what I’ll do. I want to ease the players into the new season while building confidence. I don’t see the point of playing against sides who I might lose against and lose morale, so rather I’d focus on building this up during preseason.

You can play more tricky opposition if you like but for me, the personal preference is to make pre-season as easy as possible.

The amount of friendlies I play is squad size dependant, the smaller the squad the less games you can play. In smaller squads I find that around five friendly games is enough to get everyone up to speed and match fit in those games. For bigger squads I might need double the amount of games or at the very least seven plus. It’s hard to give game time to lots of players, especially at the start of a new saved game.

When I start in Brazil the first pre-season isn’t very long at all yet my squad size is massive. I have around 30+ players in the first team now obviously I don’t need this many players so I’ll cut the squad size down. But even after doing that I’m still left with a big squad because of the youth’s I promote. So one of the ways to combat the lack of time I have, is to schedule friendly matches for the reserve and under 20 sides too. This way I can make people available who aren’t playing in the first team matches and still get them match fit. You can also do this approach if you have smaller squads I guess. But I find it a really effective tool for the bigger squads. I try to schedule the games for the reserves and under 20’s the day after my first team’s games.

In some cases I even take control of these teams just for preseason so I can dictate who does and doesn’t get game time. It just depends how hand on and in-depth I want to be.

Fitness

Every player at the club must be match fit before the season starts. If not then you’ll find they tire more quickly and increase the risk of picking up injuries or little niggles from games. I can do without this so I ensure everyone is fit all the time. By getting everyone match fit it means you can throw them into the first team should you suffer injuries/suspensions early on in the season and don’t have to worry that they aren’t fit. It also becomes easier to maintain fitness throughout the season if everyone is fit at the start. If not you’re already playing catch up.

This fits in with the morale and friendly section above and playing easy opposition, as it means who plays in the game and in what positions doesn’t really matter. The results are secondary really but because I play weak teams, it’s highly likely we still win by a big amount. It also means I don’t have to play players in their natural positions. It’s purely about giving players playtime so they can build match sharpness. The only way to make this rise is by playing games, so if players don’t play it doesn’t build.

I’d say that building match fitness (or sharpness now it’s called) if likely to be the biggest factor of pre-season and the whole point of it. I try my best now to waste it and when the first game of the season arrives every single player should be around 95%+ for match fitness, if not then I’ve wasted pre-season and not made the best of it.

Tactic Familiarity

Probably the second most important thing to concentrate on for me. The sooner everything is fluid the better because it means your tactic will play better and the players are used to every aspect of it. You can get tactic familiarity fluid before the start of the first game of the season if you play properly. Depending on your players in the squad already and those you bring it, will determine how long it takes to make this rise. Since FM17 tactic familiarity has been linked to the player and this year for FM18, we saw it taken to the next level and now it’s all about the individual, everything is now linked to the player. I’ve seen people post saying they set general training focus to tactics to get familiarity levels up however that doesn’t actually work despite the misleading name. What you have to do is set the match training focus to tactics. This is what gets tactic/player familiarity up.

If you are one of the lucky clubs who gets to go to training camps then while these are on you gain tactic/player familiarity/fitness a lot quicker.

To build tactics familiarity the best you can you need to ensure you have;

  • Set up friendlies. The amount depends on how many new players are in the squad, how low the familiarity bars are on the player’s profile. And how many new players you bring in.
  • Do not allow rest before or after a game.
  • Signing new players will reduce tactic familiarity, so the more signings you make the longer time you need to become fluid in all areas. Unless you sign players who are already familiar with the style and shape you already play. This makes things a lot easier and the transition from the old team to your side is a lot smoother.
  • You must set the scheduling bar in the training section all the way to the left so it’s set on 50%. The end of the bar is 50% and not the middle like some assume.
  • When you’ve set up the friendlies check on the training calendar to make sure you have a training day before each game. If not cancel the game because it’s pointless.
  • Changing team instructions also makes familiarity go slower. So make sure you decide on your tactical shape and the team instructions you’ll use sooner rather than later.
  • The more tactics you learn at once the longer it’ll take

If all this criteria is met and you’ve done it correctly then you should have almost full tactical familiarity. In the first season though it can be hard to achieve in some leagues due to the dates of when the game starts. It’s much easier to achieve from the 2nd season onward.

Team Cohesion

If I’ve promoted players from my youth/reserves team into the first team or bought any new players then I focus on this heavily as the general focus to help players settle quickly into the team and gel. It helps them settle into the team quickly and get an understanding. This is vital because it helps with language barriers if you have foreign players who might not understand the language of the country you play in and his team mates.I tend to focus on team cohesion for the entire of pre-season if I’ve bought any new players. If not, then I’ll likely just keep it on balanced.

This is how I basically approach pre-season and handle it. These are definitely the most important aspects that I try to focus on to give me the best possible start. Match fitness and tactic familiarity are a big part of the game so these two areas are the most important factors of my season.

If you have any questions feel free to ask.

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This is EXACTLY how i set up my seasons.

Though i have recently stopped using Cohesion and started using Fitness, but i guess that isnt all that important if im playing games, i have a 6 week pre season and around 10 games.

 

My wife asks me why i want to play Amateur teams as im just destroying their morale if i hammer them 12-0. Im Liverpool so i always set my games against AFC Liverpool and the like and tell her they wont mind as they are playing their idols lol.

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With this new item in FM18 telling you how much the team coheres, I've been determined to get the bar full. I had my general training on Team Cohesion High/Very High for the entire first season and it progressed from Abysmal to Good (centre). Now into my second season I'm up to 'Very Good'. I guess it will take 2 full years to fill. Is that right? (I'm a fulll-time lower league side, starting with all new recruits, by the way. I don't bring in anyone and just promote from my academy intake)?

 

Secondly, does focusing match preparation on 'Teamwork' enhance Cohesion in the long term or just for an individual match?

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3 hours ago, phnompenhandy said:

With this new item in FM18 telling you how much the team coheres, I've been determined to get the bar full. I had my general training on Team Cohesion High/Very High for the entire first season and it progressed from Abysmal to Good (centre). Now into my second season I'm up to 'Very Good'. I guess it will take 2 full years to fill. Is that right? (I'm a fulll-time lower league side, starting with all new recruits, by the way. I don't bring in anyone and just promote from my academy intake)?

 

Secondly, does focusing match preparation on 'Teamwork' enhance Cohesion in the long term or just for an individual match?

Once it maximum you get no benefit. 

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3 hours ago, Cleon said:

Once it maximum you get no benefit. 

Teamwork? But as I say, it's taking 2 years to get Cohesion up to maximum (the bar in the Dynamics screen) - is there a boost in the meantime or should I be on Balanced? League matches are a grind and I need every point I can get. 

 

My main question was is it reasonable to take so long to get Cohesion up, and also is above average Cohesion enough or should I keep going to max it out?

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6 hours ago, BamBamBam said:

I’ve read it in an article on FMscout and a guide in the dugout site.

And? It still doesn't make it true just because you read it there.

5 hours ago, phnompenhandy said:

Teamwork? But as I say, it's taking 2 years to get Cohesion up to maximum (the bar in the Dynamics screen) - is there a boost in the meantime or should I be on Balanced? League matches are a grind and I need every point I can get. 

 

My main question was is it reasonable to take so long to get Cohesion up, and also is above average Cohesion enough or should I keep going to max it out?

I've not had it take this long at all. However someone else who manages in the lower leagues mentioned it to me the other day too. So I'm unsure. However what is the description? The description is key and anything over a strong understanding should be fine.

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10 hours ago, Pablo Sanchez said:

Can you do a summary on the different types of match training. I usually just do match tactic and leave it like that every game but i suppose after a year or so if tactic has not changed would it really have any benefit?

Apart from tactics, the others give a very slight boost to whatever they train for the next match only.

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1 hour ago, Cleon said:

Apart from teamwork and tactics, the others give a very slight boost to whatever they train for the next match only. So there's no need for a summary really. Once your tactic is all familiar and team cohesion is high you get no benefit from keeping it on these two. The other categories that are left, give you a very slight boost for the next game only though.

Ah now we knew that about match training tactics - it has a long-term effect, but did we know this about teamwork? You're confirming that match prep on teamwork has a long-term benefit to team coherence, right?

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9 hours ago, phnompenhandy said:

Ah now we knew that about match training tactics - it has a long-term effect, but did we know this about teamwork? You're confirming that match prep on teamwork has a long-term benefit to team coherence, right?

Edit - No.

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7 minutes ago, Cleon said:

Yeah.

People should know about it, myself and others have wrote about it on multiple occasions. Was even mentioned in the Ajax stuff I did.

Okay, sorry. I guess I didn't pay as much attention to cohesion before FM18. Previously the assman would say the boys have blended well early door, say after a couple of months and that was it. Now I'm getting this slow slow creep up the bar.

Into September 2018 now and the blurb under "Match Cohesion - Very Good" is...

'The players have forged an extremely strong understanding.

* The team's collective mental state has seen improvement.

* This will improve players' positioning during matches.

* Players will experience an improvement to their vision and reactions to events unfolding when playing.'

 

The previous descriptions were quite ominous but this sounds good - maybe I can make a push fro promotion this season.

I think I'll keep going with Cohesion/Very High until the end of 2018 - -18 months in all. After that, given my incoming players only come from within having been inducted into our system by the junior coaching staff, I guess it ought to remain maxed out.

 

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6 minutes ago, phnompenhandy said:

Okay, sorry. I guess I didn't pay as much attention to cohesion before FM18. Previously the assman would say the boys have blended well early door, say after a couple of months and that was it. Now I'm getting this slow slow creep up the bar.

Into September 2018 now and the blurb under "Match Cohesion - Very Good" is...

'The players have forged an extremely strong understanding.

* The team's collective mental state has seen improvement.

* This will improve players' positioning during matches.

* Players will experience an improvement to their vision and reactions to events unfolding when playing.'

 

The previous descriptions were quite ominous but this sounds good - maybe I can make a push fro promotion this season.

I think I'll keep going with Cohesion/Very High until the end of 2018 - -18 months in all. After that, given my incoming players only come from within having been inducted into our system by the junior coaching staff, I guess it ought to remain maxed out.

 

The assistant still gives you the same feedback if you look at assistant manager > team talk feedback. Focus on the descriptions more than the bar being at the very end.

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3 hours ago, Cleon said:

And? It still doesn't make it true just because you read it there.

I've not had it take this long at all. However someone else who manages in the lower leagues mentioned it to me the other day too. So I'm unsure. However what is the description? The description is key and anything over a strong understanding should be fine.

And it doesn't make it true because you said it either. You tested this? If you have and have results then fine.

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7 hours ago, BamBamBam said:

And it doesn't make it true because you said it either. You tested this? If you have and have results then fine.

 

The thing about the sites you mention is its full of people writing about the game yet don't understand the workings of it. They prefer quantity over quality. They are 10000000% wrong on this. Those sites aren't reputable ones for articles. 

The game handles 3 tactics as separate things regardless of the settings they have. You cannot make TF be learnt quicker, the only methods are by what it highlighted in the opening posts. Or by choosing the shape you'll be playing as one of the favourites for your manager when setting up his profile. 

If you don't want to believe me that's fine, you are free to believe what you want even if its wrong.

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Isn't the pre-season a perfect way to test your tactics against different formations and different level of teams?

Sure, a good moral at the start of the season is important, but the knowledge that the tactic is working against the teams of your level also is.

 

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18 minutes ago, baggi0 said:

Isn't the pre-season a perfect way to test your tactics against different formations and different level of teams?

Sure, a good moral at the start of the season is important, but the knowledge that the tactic is working against the teams of your level also is.

 

I don’t believe it is no. As players aren’t fit, not gelled together and they play different in non competitive games. So you don’t really learn anything tactically as the players are used to it, they don’t have an understanding and they only try half arsedly in friendlies compared to competitive games.

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Is playing much weaker teams just to batter them 10-0 really that realistic? 

Most teams play a few weaker local sides, granted, but there's almost always a game or two against stronger or equal opposition. 

I also set up friendlies against ***** teams because I know the benefits of good morale in game but it's not how it works irl.

Here's Luton's pre season fixtures

  • Wednesday 5th July – Hitchin Town (A) 7.45pmkick-off
  • Saturday 8th July – Bedford Town (A) – 3pmkick-off
  • Tuesday 18th July – St Albans City (A) – 7.45pm kick-off
  • Saturday 22nd July – Boreham Wood (A) – 3pmkick-off
  • Wednesday 26th July – Leicester City (H) – 7.45pm kick-off
  • Saturday 29th July – Scunthorpe United (H) – 3pm kick-off

4 local teams we should beat (although the St Alban's one got called off and we played someone equally local)0, and two teams above us in the league. One of them we think we should be competing with next year so makes a good test and Leicester put out a pretty strong side as well (compared to Luton putting out a b team) so was a proper test.  The last two games were used a test to measure how we were as a side against a team we want to be competing against (Scunny) and a bit of a profile raiser against Leicester and a good experience for the other players.

Bigger sides use it as a marketing ploy in some corner of the globe so although I'm sure real life sides do want a bit of momentum and good morale from pre season, I think they're more concerned with the team playing to and learning the tactics and getting fit more than spanking some team of nobodies 10 for a laugh.

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23 minutes ago, Cleon said:

Is you being the manager of the side realistic? All realism is out of the window the second you take over.

If I wanted realism I’d be managing a real life side.

Really? :lol::lol:

Are you in a bad mood today or something?

Is the idea not to have a realistic management simulator? 

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53 minutes ago, HemHat said:

Really? :lol::lol:

Are you in a bad mood today or something?

Is the idea not to have a realistic management simulator? 

I love how when people come into threads and say stupid stuff it’s great, I do it and I’m in a bad mood. It’s like people say things and then can’t take it back when someone says something equally as stupid.

This thread is about my approach. I state this in the opening paragraph. If you do it a different way great. No one is forcing people to play smaller sides who you can batter. That's a personal choice down to you.

But let’s not be silly and say things like in real life it’s not done like this because in real life you’d not be the manager. This is just my approach and there are many other approaches. I’m not following real life and neither are you with what you said above.

 

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I know it's about your approach. I have the same approach as it is the most successful in game.

I just wondered if it was something that could be tweaked to be more realistic, ala scouting. I understand that the game is not real life as I'm the manager - but isn't the point of the simulation to be as realistic as possible while having the player as manager?

I know you've had input in the game so I thought maybe you'd have a more constructive opinion on it than 'ooh it's not realistic because you're not really the manager'.

Could it be made more realistic by turning down the morale boosts for easy 10-0 wins and maybe rewarding team cohesion more than during the season if the player uses the right training? 

 

As an aside, I read a piece on YD by you (I think) and it was really helpful - so, thanks :).

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44 minutes ago, Seb Wassell said:

What's up?

Teamwork match prep isn’t cumulative and doesn’t work towards team cohesion? I thought it used to? The wording when hovering over it still suggest it does.

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On 9/21/2017 at 12:32, samuelawachie said:

I've checked, but can't find the info I need. On FM 2014, in Match Preparation training, is the focus on "Team work" cumulative or not? I know that Tactics is cumulative, but is Team work also cumulative? @Cleon @Rashidi @Seb Wassell @Neil Brock

 

On 9/21/2017 at 12:59, Seb Wassell said:

No, it is a one match boost to Teamwork and Blend.

 

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7 minutes ago, Cleon said:

Teamwork match prep isn’t cumulative and doesn’t work towards team cohesion? I thought it used to? The wording when hovering over it still suggest it does.

General Training - Team Cohesion improves Cohesion, Match Preparation - Teamwork is a one off boost for the next match focusing on Teamwork and the hidden blend value.

Match Preparation - Match Tactics is cumulative, the other Match Prep. boosts are a one off for the next match only, with only the last trained being applied.

 

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3 minutes ago, Seb Wassell said:

General Training - Team Cohesion improves Cohesion, Match Preparation - Teamwork is a one off boost for the next match focusing on Teamwork and the hidden blend value.

 

The wording when hovering over it could possibly need changing then? And is mentions it works towards team cohesion. Or something along them lines, I’m not on the game atm to give you the correct phrasing but it definely says team cohesion.

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1 minute ago, Cleon said:

The wording when hovering over it could possibly need changing then? And is mentions it works towards team cohesion. Or something along them lines, I’m not on the game atm to give you the correct phrasing but it definely says team cohesion.

Agreed.

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I readily agree it is very helpful to win the matches, but I feel like winning against Barcelona with 1 goal or so, is better for the player's mental state when the season start, than winning 10 matches, with cricket scores.

 

I usually go with teams that my guys will beat, but where they have to work for the goals. Upping the difficulty as they gain more and more match fitness. I usually end up with using someone like Barcelona or Real Madrid as the last big test before the end of the pre-season. (I wouldn't want to use them if my team is in La Liga, with my Everton save I avoid all big Prem teams)

 

It's not all that dangerous as Barcelona and Real Madrid is a lot worse than you at getting the team pre-season fit.

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  • 5 weeks later...

I mostly use the same approach.

I always pick local or weak teams so my players increase morale after each win. Morale is huge imo.

 

What i havent done is remove their rest days. May have to try that. I usually just allow them a rest day after each match, as i use that during the season as Liverpool.

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7 hours ago, Drunken Ninja said:

Is there a way to do this or maybe ask the board for it? Because after playing FM16 & 17 I only ever saw it happen in the season you take over a club. 

You get asked where you want pre-season to be for most clubs when your in the top league. You normally have a choice of 3 places to tour.

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  • 2 months later...
On 11/30/2017 at 16:17, Seb Wassell said:

General Training - Team Cohesion improves Cohesion, Match Preparation - Teamwork is a one off boost for the next match focusing on Teamwork and the hidden blend value.

Match Preparation - Match Tactics is cumulative, the other Match Prep. boosts are a one off for the next match only, with only the last trained being applied.

 

I'm gonna bump this as I feel this is a really vague area that many people including myself have misunderstood, hopefully more people will benefit from this knowledge.

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"You must set the scheduling bar in the training section all the way to the left so it’s set on 50%. The end of the bar is 50% and not the middle like some assume."

 

Is it now all the way to the right on FM18?   We want more match training whilst trying to get our tactics to gain a better familiarity ?

Just checking, cos that is what I have been doing, and now hoping I haven't been doing it completely wrong.

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6 hours ago, Torskus77 said:

"You must set the scheduling bar in the training section all the way to the left so it’s set on 50%. The end of the bar is 50% and not the middle like some assume."

 

Is it now all the way to the right on FM18?   We want more match training whilst trying to get our tactics to gain a better familiarity ?

Just checking, cos that is what I have been doing, and now hoping I haven't been doing it completely wrong.

Yeah the bar should be set for more match training. A lot of skins still have match training set to the left.

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