prof101

I was sat at the station this morning reading the football publication 4-4-2 (for those who don't know, it is an English football magazine mainly looking at the English game) and I read a fantastic interview with Arsene Wenger. Held within this article was a quote, which, made me think about one aspect of Football Manager in detail. That aspect is of Youth, Development and Training which in my opinion are lacking at present in the current game.

The question asked of Wenger was:

You're brilliant at improving players, but what do you actually do with individuals to make them better? Does it always involve giving them a new position?

To which his reply was:

I believe that for a player to develop in the long term they can only play in a position where they have the necessary qualities. So I will analyse the players Physiologically and Psychologically, looking at their strengths and weaknesses, then I choose their best position according to their profiles.

A very interesting quote which gives a good insight into how young talent is developed in the Arsene Wenger school of thought. The obvious example of this process in action is with a young Thiery Henry, who came to Arsenal a left winger and left a World Class center forward. In looking at Henry's game you can see Wenger's reply in action. It explains how he identified the potential for Henry to be a striker looking at his abilities.

It made me think of my experience of football in my younger days, where I played all over the park for a large portion of my younger years, settling into a position in my mid to late teens. (A wonderful career sadly ended by a broken leg ). From this I thought I would have a look in detail at youth generation and discussion/ideas for improvement.

They system at present

FRED generation has come a long way in recent titles, with a very good standard of new players being generated. There are few issues with their generation at present compared to other releases.
Sadly in my opinion I find the interaction with youth development somewhat one sided, in this I mean the player is generated with natural position, PPM's which leaves little scope for development.
Therefore it removes some aspect of youth management as it is given to us “on a plate” so to speak.
Due to the current training module, a scenario like Thiery Henry is impossible in game as you could never shift a player generated a left winger into a natural striker.

Ideas for improvement

I feel if youth players were generated with little more than a general position based on the four areas of the field (GK, D, M, S) there would be more scope for youth development, including much more input on the managements part in looking at each player as an individual and training him in a certain way to compliment the player with relation to his generated attributes.
This would promote more interaction on the managers part with youth development and would develop a new, skill based aspect on the managements part. In order to Judge a player and train him in the positions you feel he is best suited, the user will have more input and the rewards would be greater in the long run.
In this new system the natural position could be “lost” after a time frame in a new position much like the Case of Thiery Henry.
This system is fare more flexable, realistic and rewarding. I personally would take great enjoyment from looking at the youth in this way, as input from the user will directly influence the chance of the player becoming the next big thing.
The Assistant can also make a judgement on what he feels the players best potential position to be to help the user decide
This would also make more use of position specific training and getting the best out of the player with the resources available. A far more immersive experience than the youngster being given to the human manager “on a plate”.

-For those who have no interest, a tick box should be included to leave it to your assistant.

Just some personal thoughts on the issue. I will be greatly interested on what other users feel about the issues discussed here and any other ideas suggestions other users may have on youth development.

(ps: if you made it this far have a gold star! )

boostboy97

Arsenal bring in loads of players aged 14 - 16. I generally find it impossible (even playing with big clubs) to get kids of that age to leave their current club.

That's where the Wenger method falls down for me.

retired_jess29

sounds like a very good idea to me

retired_aluckeroth

Excellent point Alurny - the "youth development" system in FM is little more than a game of chance and normally speaking it is very difficult to know exactly how to develop players in order for them to reach their full potential.

Its about time this aspect of the game was improved

FitTrainer

great idea!! :thup: can i have me gold star now, please?!

Dave2k5uk

Excellent idea, I would be all over that aspect of the game.

Sometimes players just have the wrong attributes for that position, such as an extremely quick and agile striker with garbage finishing.

greg22

Nice post Alurny.

When the season starts and my assistant manager announces the new intake of youth players, the very first thing I do is start tweaking their positions. I had one guy who was a defender that had awesome finishing and composure for his age, so I retrained him as a striker and voila! he was netting goals like it was going out of fashion. Tweaking youth players rarely works, but when it does, it's really satisfying!

prof101

Just one of the scenario's I was thinking of when deciding to post this. :thup: Glad you get where I am coming from. Personally I really enjoy signing young, developing a team from kids and bringing success with these players.

Here

retired_lambent3

Whilst I certainly agree with the gist of your post, Henry is perhaps not the best example. Henry began at AS Monaco under Wenger, where he played as a Striker. He was bought by Juventus who played him as a Left Winger in less than twenty games, sold him back to Wenger at Arsenal. Where he reverted back to being a Striker.


With youth players, I have always ignored their assigned position, preferring to train them to the position that their attributes best suit. Their initial position is taken as a sign of their natural inclination towards attack or defence, so the retrained position rarely differs to a great extent, from Winger to Fullback for example.

If the game could develop into a more free form direction where youth training is concerned, that'd suit me just fine.

prof101

Whilst I certainly agree with the gist of your post, Henry is perhaps not the best example. Henry began at AS Monaco under Wenger, where he played as a Striker. He was bought by Juventus who played him as a Left Winger in less than twenty games, sold him back to Wenger at Arsenal. Where he reverted back to being a Striker.


With youth players, I have always ignored their assigned position, preferring to train them to the position that their attributes best suit. Their initial position is taken as a sign of their natural inclination towards attack or defence, so the retrained position rarely differs to a great extent, from Winger to Fullback for example.

If the game could develop into a more free form direction where youth training is concerned, that'd suit me just fine. </BLOCKQUOTE>

I understand the Henry example is perhaps not the best however I am sure there are many, many examples across the footballing world. I *think* that Ashley Cole began as a striker (though I may be wrong) and there are many other high profile cases.

I am glad you see where I am coming from generally though! :thup: