Game time for developing youngsters?

[gbpacker]

I'm having an issue with my most recent save. I've gone out and replaced essentially my entire starting youth and reserve teams with high-potential youngsters from all over the world. Now I'm left with two teams chock full of players that - if developed properly - could end up being world class starters for me or huge sources of transfer revenue. The problem is that there simply aren't enough games in the season to develop all forty-odd as I would like. I've been ruthless in terms of selling older players to make room for developing replacements, but have only managed to get about 10 of my hot prospects into the first team as rotation options.


How do you guys tackle getting youngsters adequate game time? What does a good amount of playing time look like? Have I simply expanded beyond my means? If all else fails, at what point does first team football from loan deals outweigh the loss in coaching quality and tutoring?

 

[Snorks]

Not sure if by 'game time' you mean first-teams games or enough matches for the U23s and U18s, either way,some suggestions:

Make sure you are set to manage friendlies and arrange some extra matches, picking the young'uns.

Otherwise, send them on loan. Your coach report will give you an idea of what level they are suited to, just make sure the loan agreement includes them playing at that level, in their position and a squad status of First Team or Key Player.

At least half a season is needed to see real improvement.

Accept that only a small percentage of youth will make it. The Ajax model, one of the best systems in the world, regards 2 youth into the First Team squad a season as an excellent return.

 

[Bigpapa42]

40 prospects? Ummm... that's not really workable. I have about 25 and its not really workable. 10 of those are first team regulars (starting or regular rotation options), but a couple of them started out very close to that and didn't need to develop much to be that.

There a lot of variables involved with the development of a player, but playing time and personality are two of the most important. That's not to say a player won't develop without both of those, but they won't develop as well, as fast, and are less likely to hit their potential (if its fairly high). And with so many, like Snork says, not all of them are going to make it. You will be like a lot of the big clubs in England - high potential players who get loaned out a bunch and never really make it.

There are a few issues I see:

-Professionalism and Ambition are hidden but they are the key personality traits for development. Determination was at one point and is often mistaken for a factor, but its an on-field attribute. A helpful one, but it doesn't impact training and development.
-for young players without good Professionalism and Ambition, they need to be tutored if possible. That means you need veteran players with good personalities in the squad.
-having Ambitious youngsters is good for development, but means you have young players who want playing time. And will often coming whining about it. They are less likely to be content playing nothing but reserve matches.
-speaking of which, reserves and Under-18 matches can only develop a player so far. Its almost impossible for a high potential player to max out through that. The more developed they are for their age, the more likely you are to hit the point where they need more competitive matches. If you manage in Spain or Germany, where the reserves can actually be a competitive team in the lower leagues, it alleviates this to a degree but not entirely.

Loans become really valuable to players who need more competitive football than the reserves but won't get match time in the first team. To be most effective, you want a level of football that is close to their ability (you will get coaches reports that tell you this) and with a loan squad status to ensure they play regularly. Great facilities and coaching will help too.

 

[loveunitedhatecity]

what you really and truly gotta do is rotate your squad that doesnt mean dropping your entire team for cup comps it means rotates 3-4 players at a time but when you do players give them an extended run play 1 central formation as welll as a wide formation so you can switch part way through season which is also giving all your players game time meaning they arent so annoyed with game time