LFC Lloydy

To start with, this is quite a long post so apologies, I will do it over two posts to make it a bit more readable. Apologies as well if it gets confusing, some parts are hard to explain in words. This post will be about how I think the training module should be improved over the next few versions.

The training module in FM was last revamped for FM2006. The basic concept of changing from a timetable format to the present slider system was good, in essence they both worked the same way but the new format was much more simpler and to the point. So IMO the revamp did achieve what it set out to do but as a result it became very detached from how real life training really works and it was too basic.
Since the training revamp, several parts of the game have been revamped, most notably for me was the scouting revamp. There have also been many additions to the game that did not exist at all then, for example, affiliate clubs. These developments have improved the game so much leaving training in its wake with very little detail and control compared to the other modules. I now feel it is time to go back to training and bring it back up to par with the rest of the game (or hopefully even better).
It could be said that it has not been long enough since it was last revamped and that other aspects of the game deserved attention before focusing back on the training. To that I would say two things:
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<LI>Training is one of, if not the biggest part of a manager’s job and only once the core aspects of the game are of good standard, can the lesser aspects be convincingly improved.
<LI>I am not proposing a revamp of the module but rather an expansion – the foundation is already there, it simply needs building on.
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Hopefully you agree so far otherwise you may as well stop reading

So How?
That is the question... I propose splitting training into four sections; Player Development, Team Development, Match Preparation and Overview. Player development is what is in the game at the moment – i.e. improving a player’s ability. Although that can also do with improvement it is not what I will focus on. Instead, most of this post will be about the three new sections.

TEAM DEVELOPMENT
This section would be about improving the ability of the team rather than the ability of a player. In real life a lot of time is spent on getting the team to gel together and play well as a team. Some of this is already replicated in the game, for example, if you sign a lot of new players at the same time it may lead to the team not playing well. I feel it should be made a lot more viewable and controllable though as would be the case in real life.
I am going to focus on 2 different things that could be part of a team development section:
Tactics Learning - In real life a manager doesn’t just tell the team how to play, they will spend a long time perfecting it. If this was included in the game I believe it should work like the following:
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<LI>Any tactic that is saved in the tactics section is available to select via a drop-down menu. Once selected the tactic would appear on a list to show that it is selected.
<LI>Any selected tactics would then be learnt during training and a star rating (similar to the one used for scouting) would show how used the team is to that particular tactic. The more time spent learning the tactic the better the star rating would be.
<LI>The more tactics you select to learn and/or the more complex the tactic is, the longer it will take to learn each one. You can also deselect a tactic which would free up time to learn others but will also mean the star rating eventually falls for the deselected tactic.
<LI>Other factors will also be involved such as the quality of the training ground and whether the clubs is pro, semi pro or amateur.
<LI>How good the team is at a tactic would influence their performance in a match.
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IMO this would add a lot to the game and make it more realistic. A good example to justify this idea is Arsenal, they have a very distinct and recognisable playing style which will take a lot of practice, it is not the case that they are all able to just suddenly do it so well in the match.

The Team Relationship – This is all about how the squad gets along with each other. I am not proposing that we should be able to look in the phone book and ring the local restaurant for some team bonding but there should be more depth in this area. A lot of this is related to player interaction but I think it should be brought together into one section.
There are a lot of things this section could include so I will only give a few examples:
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<LI>You should be able to find out team morale and team concerns which would look similar to the confidence screens in FM08. However, instead of the supporter spokesmen it would be the club captain talking to you. By looking at this you would be able to judge whether there are any problems and attempt to solve it by talking to a player/ the team or whatever else may help.
<LI>When a new player arrives you should be able to ask another player to help them settle in (similar to player tutoring), this would influence how quickly the new arrival starts performing to the best of his ability. You would choose which player to ask to do this by looking at factors such as languages, nationality, age and personality.
<LI>The Assistant Manager should list any relationships between players that he has noticed – good or bad. He might say player x and player y are getting on well with each other. This would mean that if selected together in a team they will perform well, it would be especially beneficial if their positions are related to each other, for example, if they are both strikers the attack will be more effective. On the other hand the Ass Man may say that two players are not getting along very well, this would result in the opposite to a good relationship and they would play poorly together. This could also spill over into the media, the commentator might comment on how good a partnership is looking or possibly pick up on some tension between players. Journalists could approach about rumours surrounding player feuds and your own scout’s report on the next opponent could comment on a good relationship on the opposing team.
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More to come....

LFC Lloydy

MATCH PREPARATION
As the name suggest this would be about preparing for a match. IRL a manager will get the team ready for the next match during training, not just practice in general. My suggestion is that this is replicated in the game but only in a way that it is voluntary, by this I mean the manager should not be forced to do any match preparation but neither should he not have the option to use it when he wants to. I believe that it would work well if implemented the way I imagine it.

To make it more understandable I am going to use a scenario – You are manager of Liverpool and on Sunday you will be playing Arsenal, you know it is going to be a difficult match so you want to make sure the preparation is as good as possible:
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<LI>3 days before the match the options for match preparation become available and will be available until the match actually happens. At the same time you will receive the scout’s report on the next opponent to help you decide what tactics and team to play with.
<LI>When you click on the Match Preparation section you will be presented with a screen that shows a pitch (like the one in the tactics section) and a list of the squad. Using this you can select your planned team and substitutes for the match as well as the formation and tactics. However, they do not necessarily have to be selected at the same time.
<LI>The sooner these things have been selected the sooner the team can start to practice which would hopefully mean they are more prepared. The more prepared they are the more likely they are to have a good performance in the match.
<LI>However, the longer they spend preparing with the selected team and tactics the more vulnerable they will become to changes in the plan.
So for example, as the manager you select Pennant to play on the right wing 3 days before the match, but just before the match he gets injured, the replacement for him will be unprepared and unmotivated and the rest of the team will be affected by the change. However, if Pennant does not get injured he will be more prepared and motivated because he has had 3 days to get ready.
<LI>These advantages and disadvantages leave you with a decision to make – do you prepare straight away so that the likely team is as prepared as possible or do you leave it to the last minute so that all the squad is slightly prepared?
<LI>How well the team prepare for the match will also be dependent on things such as morale, how well they know the tactic (relating to tactics learning as suggested above) and whether there is a new player in the team etc...
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This gives you a lot of control and decision making to do, it is not like many features in FM where it can often seem there is only one correct answer, match preparation is all down to your personal opinion and is very customisable. You may decide to select the tactics 3 days before but only select the team one day before the match, alternatively you can decide not to do any preparation at all.

On the match preparation screen the Ass Man would say how preparation is coming along for the team as well as which individuals have been performing well over the last few days. You can mae alterations based on these comments.

OVERVIEW
The overview is self explanatory and will just sum up all the different parts of training. There are two things on this screen that are worth mentioning.

The Overview Sliders – There would be 3 of these sliders which would work in a similar way to the ones currently in the training module. Each slider would represent a training section – player development, team development and match preparation. You would use these to decide how much of training time is spent on each area. Obviously, the more time you assign to each area the more that area will affect the player. So if you assign a lot of time to player development the attributes are more likely to rise but that would also mean less time to prepare for a match. These sliders would also let you decide how much time is spent on training overall.

Training Reports – First of all training reports should be improved but I won’t go into detail as to how except for to say they should be a summary of all the training as well as any advice from the Ass Man about training. You should also be able to select how often you receive the training reports. In the overview section you should be able to view the last few reports as well as request a new one. They would be a quick and easy way to assess how training is going.

These are my thoughts and some of it I am not too sure about myself but I would appreciate your opinions.....

P.S. Just ask if there is something you want me to try and explain more clearly.

chris.davidson

Good thread, these features would make the training much better

SiN8

Good post. What I really want is a revamp of coach stats. What's the point of making this complicated algorithm to determine coaching stars. Just use the number of coaching stars as attributes. Makes things clear and simple.

The_Jaguars

As ****ed off as real managers get :p

Sean M

I think it is a brilliant concept for training to have a short term effect on the next match.

So that you could emphasis a certain type of training which would boost team performance in a certain area.

You could train to play as battling and scrappy. And for the next match your team will be more effective at playing that way. Or you could emphasise a open technical game or defending set pieces or the winger crossing to striker or fullbacks overlapping. etc

The match engine would recognise that your team is more proficient in that area for the next match.

This gives you tactical options in adapting to your next opponent. Or you could use it to strengthen your weaknesses.


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Re the point about selecting a preferred line up for training.


I think it would get too repetitive to keep selecting it for each match.

So I would just have a screen in training, where you could indicate your first 11. Then you could change it whenever you wanted.


What makes it interesting is that it gives your players a good idea of your first choice side. Which means it can easily upset some of them.

So you could choose not to have a preferred 11 for training. But that means your players may have less cohesion together.

I would also work it into the youth development model. Where a young player may develop better if he is training as part of the first 11 regularly.

Sean M

Actually I think it could be impractical to program team effects of training into the match engine.

Because the match engine is the most complex part of the game. And the hardest to get right.

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So I think your ideas are good. Because most of them would not require a huge rewrite or have a big direct impact on the match engine.

It mostly affects team-gelling, tactical familiarity, player happiness.

woody2goody

I think these ideas are really good I hope SI take note of them.

There should be more situational things you can do with the tactics and training, such as practising different set piece routines, and full backs overlapping, strikers timing their runs and knowing when the midfielder is going to try to play them in.

There are so many things that can be done here.

Grateful One

Does the game presently not penalise a manager for arbitrarily changing tactics match-to-match (or within each match)?

LFC Lloydy

Sort of but at the same time you won't perform as well you could if you use exactly the same tactic for every match. The key is getting the right balance, something which would be replicated with my suggested changes above.