Noobs Guide to Developing Players

Alcaraz

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Introduction:

I am pretty sure each and every one of us has their own particular strategy on the way they develop their players, I am just writing my own strategy which has been quite successful for me. I am not trying to say that only my strategy will work, this is just something I have tried and tested for over 9 seasons on FM11.

If you have anything to add to my Guide or if you disagree with any part of my strategy, by all means comment and we can have a discussion as long as you get your points across nicely and without insult.

What I aim to explain through this guide is a step-by-step process on how to develop a potential 16 year-old budding footballer so that he realizes his full potential and becomes a first-team regular.

Remember that there are many things that happen in a footballer's life which are not under our control and which may prevent him from reaching his full potential. All we can do is to do correctly what is in our hands.

16 Year-Old Footballers

Some people are under the illusion that when footballers are 16, their is hardly much we can to develop them as they are not allowed to go on loans to other clubs and are maybe too young and inexperienced to challenge for a place in your team. I disgree.

I have learnt that there are 3 things which are important for a footballer of this age namely:

-Training Schedule
-Game time
-Morale

Training Schedule

Putting your footballer on a good Youth Training Schedule is essential as it is at this age where he will build his foundation for the type of player he is to become. If your footballer is not developed on a proper training schedule at this age, chances are as he grows up he will have a much lesser chance of fulfilling his potential.

It is a good idea to put him on a more specialized training schedule so that right from this age you are moulding him into the type of Role and Duty you want him to adopt one day. For eg. Attacking Mid

Most of time you will have no idea if he will become a good Attacking Midfielder so its always safe to be general but specialized at the same time. For Eg. You have a good idea that he will become a midfielder who will attack but you have no idea if he will be more suited to a Playmaker Role or a Central Midfielder Role.

He may get angry with you if you keep him on a schedule that tires him out too much. It is a good idea to check after 2 weeks after you have put him on a new schedule to see whether he is happy with it and then you must adjust his workload accordingly. It is also a good idea to give him rest days to keep him fit and prevent him from developing injuries that may hamper his progress

jack-wilshere-andrey-arshavin-cesc-fabregas-2009-9-28-9-43-4.jpg

Game Time

Obviously you must place the player in the U-18s and I also suggest making him availiable for the Reserves. You must just remember to check on him periodically to make sure his fitness does not drop after playing so many games.

Often times I have found that when developing not so good Youngsters, they perform poorly for the Reserves when they are 16 and their morale drops as a result, in that case it his better to allow him to play only U-18 games as when young player's morale drops it has a more adverse effect as it tends to slow down their progress

Nevertheless, it is always good to give the player as much game-time as you possibly can pertaining to his ability

Morale


It will definetly help if you praise your young guns periodically to keep their morale high as a young player's morale is extremely important. If his morale is high you can regularly find him improving rapidly and getting good performances on the pitch but if his morale is low then you see him progressing much more slowly.

There are many ways you can increase a player's morale.

PS: Off-Topic but if you have a 16 year-old wonderkid, it is always good to make him commit to a future contract so that other clubs don't snap him up. This also helps to increase his morale for a period of time.

neymar.jpg

17-19 Year Old Footballers

This is probably the most crucial stage in the development of any footballer. In this period is when you have to slowly mould your player from the U-18s Team to a back-up for the First Team.

The Three Things that I would touch on in this section is:

- Training Schedules and Development
- Game Time
- Loans

Training Schedules and Development

I am pretty sure that in these years you get a clearer picture of the Role and Duty you think this player will be most suitable for in the future. Now is a good time to out him on a more specialized Training Schedule so that he can focus on attributes that are important for his particular Role and Duty so while Strength and Tackling are good attributes for any Midfielder, they wont help if he is more suited to an Advanced Playmaker Role.

It is also essential to place him under the tutoring of a first-team regular in your club who has a similar approach to the game as he does. For Eg. I placed Alan Dzagoev under the Tutoring of Arshavin in my Arsenal Game and they both have very similar approaches to their game. Obviously it helps if you place him under the tutoring of someone who is from the same country as he is but it is not essential.

Game Time

In these years it is essential that your player is playing Regular Reserve-Team Football and is making a fair amount of Substitute appearances from the bench for your First-Team and maybe even starting some matches.

If your a big club such as Arsenal, then you play around 60 odd games a season, so it is a good idea to play these players in the League Cup as it is their best chance to get some competitive action under their belts and also they should make sub appearances for your Team in the League. It is a good idea that if you are a big club, then footballers of this age should get atleast 20-25 games a season either by starting the game or by Sub Appearances.

Obviously it is not going to help if you bring on a Youngster for the last 5 minutes of the game so if you are brining on a youngster, it should be for a good 20 minutes atleast for him to make a decent impact. Sometimes the odd friendly League in the middle of the season just to play these youngsters is not a bad idea either.

Either way by doing so you are able to rest your first-team regulars so it is a win-win situation.

If you are a smaller club such as Burnley, you must be playing 45 odd games a year so it is basically the same approach. Play him in a decent 15-25 or so games, give him maximum game time.

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Loans

Controrary to Popular Belief, this is absolutely the worse thing you can do to a potentially talented Youngster. Only send him on a loan if you feel he is not going to get as many appearances as you would like him to have for the First Team.

The reason why Loans are bad is because in the season your Youngster is away, he may come back being a totally different player than you planned for him to be. His manager at the club you loaned him too may develop him to become a Attacking Midfielder and not train his defensive attributes at all when you though he had the potential to be a Box-to-Box Midfielder.
However, Loans may not be so bad for a GoalKeeper or a Centre-Back for example as they can hardly adopt 5-6 Roles and Duties that a Striker or a Midfielder can adopt so it is better to send them out on loan as their relevant attributes will increase

However, he will be put in the normal AI Training Schedule which is not as effective as the Training Schedules we can make so the rate at which he will progress at the club you loaned him too will eb significantly slower than the rate he can progress at your club

Also he may become fond of the club you loaned him too and then become depressed when he has to come back to your club and when such things happen, his morale hits an all-time low

It is always better to have a Youngster training at your club where you can mould him how you want too, when you can give him the amount of game time you want too and give him rest when you think it is needed.

Anyways there are 2 steps you need carry out before you loan a player to a prospective club

Step 1- Will he act as a cover or will he be a First-Teamer

The whole point of sending a player out on loan is so that he gets competitive match experience and how will that happen if the club you loan him out too will only use him as a cover for the first-team

Generally when clubs offer to loan your player it is written in the mail you receive whether they think he will act as cover for the First-Team or if he will be a Valuable member of the First-Team

You then narrow down the clubs you think your player will become a Valuable member of the First-Team.

Step 2- Club Stature

Next thing you do is to see which one of these clubs has the best Training and Youth Facilities and has the better Youth Coaches.

This is extremely important as you want your player to receive the best Training and Development he possibly can while he is away on loan.

I will now present a Case-Study for a Question raised several times:

Case Study

Manchester United offer to loan Player X for one Season and think he will act as cover for the First-Team

Queen's Park Rangers offer to loan Player X for one Season and thinks he will become a valuable member of the First-team

Conclusion

I will choose Queen's Park Rangers despite Manchester United having far better Training and Youth Facilities as the whole point of send your player on a loan is for him to get competitive match experience and not to go to the best Training Facilities and Train. If you want to train him then its better you keep him at your club where you can mould him the way you want to no matter how bad your facilities are.

qpr_415x275.jpg


20-25 Year Old Footballers

This is the period of time when Footballers have to be slowly bled in into the First-Team and become a First-Team Regular. You can do this by continuing to put him on good Training Schedules, giving him more game time and keeping his morale high

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Last Few Tips

Obviously I have not lised down all the elements needed for a Footballers Success but I have listed down what I feel is important for each player of his age. Obviously things like Morale are important in every stage of a Footballer's life but I'd be hard pressed to write a paragraph for Morale in each section.
 
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very nice guide, is this your work :)


yes, i learnt my lesson after stealing someone else's work

---------- Post added at 07:08 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:01 AM ----------

Would appreciate some ffedback and opinions for this Guide :)
 
Pretty useful, good job if it's yours. :)


Glad you like it so much you think I stole it lol :)

---------- Post added at 07:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:11 AM ----------

Would defo aprreciate some more points I can add to this Guide
 
I am dumbfounded how someone like Neymar can carry someone like Pele.

Anyway, very good guide with information that will definitely come in handy for me and just a thumbs up on a good thread.

(Y)
 
good guide mate, the only thing i find with guides like this is that although yours is very well sectioned, i get bored half way down and skim it.

natural reaction of a student :$

i know there is no real way of splitting it up on here other than what you have done, but that is the only negative i can muster, however this is only personal opinion.

i like how you have included an introduction and conclusion, very succinct and shows readers the exact aims of the guide.

well done
 
I am dumbfounded how someone like Neymar can carry someone like Pele.

Anyway, very good guide with information that will definitely come in handy for me and just a thumbs up on a good thread.

(Y)


lol and thank you mate, glad you like it

---------- Post added at 07:42 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:41 AM ----------

good guide mate, the only thing i find with guides like this is that although yours is very well sectioned, i get bored half way down and skim it.

natural reaction of a student :$

i know there is no real way of splitting it up on here other than what you have done, but that is the only negative i can muster, however this is only personal opinion.

i like how you have included an introduction and conclusion, very succinct and shows readers the exact aims of the guide.

well done

yeah I guess that is a problem with all of us, I tried to make it brighter by adding images but I wanted to make my guide as in-depth as possible so I wrote loads and it took me an hour
 
In text for 16 year-old footballers, you say that it will be best for him to play in U18 and give him chances for Reserves.
When I have 16 year-old man in squad, I force him sometimes in first team (use him as subtitution and give him chance in 60min, or in Cup from start). And his develop also is very well despite he's only 16 and with his age is in first team
 
In text for 16 year-old footballers, you say that it will be best for him to play in U18 and give him chances for Reserves.
When I have 16 year-old man in squad, I force him sometimes in first team (use him as subtitution and give him chance in 60min, or in Cup from start). And his develop also is very well despite he's only 16 and with his age is in first team


Yes, there are few 16 year-old footballers who can directly start to play for the first-team but such youngsters are far and few and I'm trying to aim this guide at the bulk of the youngsters we train, but yeah players like Verratti and Cristeig back in FM10 were exceptional :)
 
In text for 16 year-old footballers, you say that it will be best for him to play in U18 and give him chances for Reserves.
When I have 16 year-old man in squad, I force him sometimes in first team (use him as subtitution and give him chance in 60min, or in Cup from start). And his develop also is very well despite he's only 16 and with his age is in first team
Yes, in cups I like to play my youth too, it helps their morale alot, and the occasional start against a poor club in your division. Also for example if Man Utd are playing Sunderland, it is always good to have your 16 year old getting a sub appearance.
 
Yes, in cups I like to play my youth too, it helps their morale alot, and the occasional start against a poor club in your division. Also for example if Man Utd are playing Sunderland, it is always good to have your 16 year old getting a sub appearance.


yeah i try to give my youth the maximum game-time, if we are winning 3-0 or soemthing then I usually bring on a Youth Player and let my first-team regular rest and minimimize the risk of him getting injured

---------- Post added at 08:25 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:10 AM ----------

Would really like a few comments, i see loads of people reading this guide but not commenting, even if it is criticism please do comment so I can make my guide better in the future
 
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