Figuring Out Your Training Program

Picking the Position (Striker, Midfielder, etc.) You Wish to Train

There are several things which might dictate what sort of training program you put together. Maybe your favorite real-life soccer or football player is an attacking midfielder, and you would like to train a player like that. Maybe on your local rec team, you're a wingback, and you'd like to train players like that. Maybe you prefer an attacking style of play.

I chose striking to train because I happened to have 5 trainable strikers on my beginning roster. One of those players, Kurt Leffew (1295330), is still playing. Because you only start out with $300,000.00, using whatever players are on your beginning roster as your first trainees can really save you a lot of money.

Do you have any trainable players on your roster? A trainable player is under 20 years old, and has a desirable skill distribution for the position you're training. Note: this does not mean that the player has to have good/solid or better in the skill you're going to be training first! Some of my best trainees have had poor or unsatisfactory in striking, which is the primary skill I train.

What Skills Do the Different Positions Need?

Strikers: strikers need striking, pace, and technique as their primary skills. How much of each depends on your league, your opponents, and how long you've been playing. Other skills can come into play in the match... a fast striker with defending can strip the ball from opposing defenders and make a breakaway attempt. A striker that plays closer to the midfield may need playmaking and passing to help distribute the ball.

Midfielders: they need everything. That's not entirely practical, however, particularly at lower levels of play. Generally, midfielders who play the center of the field need more defending. A more attack-oriented midfielder, like wingers or a pure offensive center mid, can get away with low defending. Midfielders need playmaking and passing to setup the offense. The lower the playmaking, the longer it will take your midfielder to make decisions, and the more frequently the decisions he makes will be poor ones.

Defenders: Defense is their primary attribute, with other skills depending on how they will play in your tactic. A sweeper or stopper playing behind your defensive line may need only pace and defense, but a wingback who supports the midfield would need defense, passing, and playmaking. In general, the closer the defender plays to the midfield, the more "midfield" skills he will need (i.e., passing and playmaking).

Keeper: Keeper, pace and passing. The higher a keeper's keeper skill, the more chance he will have to make a play on a shot on goal, or stop a striker in a one-on-one opportunity. A keeper needs pace to close the distance between goal and striker in a one-on-one. And a keeper needs passing to play the ball upfield after controlling the ball or during a goal kick. In my opinion, passing is the least important skill... you can set up your tactic such that one of your defenders with passing will take your goal kicks if necessary.

Buying Trainees

Any training program is eventually going to mix in other skills (tech and pace for strikers, for example). However, when buying (or picking from your initial players) your first trainees, look for players that will be saleable after a season or so of training in the first skill you wish to train.

Examples:

1) You are training strikers, and will be training striking for the first season. You would probably look for trainees that have a nice combination of tech and pace. Here are some examples:

Moe Smith, age: 19

value: 61 000 $, wage: 900 $
excellent form, average tactical discipline

NTDB:

weak stamina	tragic keeper
solid pace	poor defender
good technique	poor playmaker
poor passing	hopeless striker

Moe will likely sell for the $1 he is listed for, if he sells at all. He is trainable in pace in tech. After one season of training, he will likely be average - adequate in striker. This is an attractive trainee for a new team. Skills train faster at lower levels, so a trainee will go from hopeless --> adequate more quickly than from adequate --> very good. At the end of your first season, you can either sell Moe to someone else to continue training, or you can use him in the next stage of your training program, eventually training him in technique and pace in addition to striking.

2) You are training midfielders, and will be training playmaking for your first season.

Marnix Schoofs, age: 20

value: 79 750 $, wage: 1 075 $
excellent form, unsatisfactory tactical discipline

NTDB:

average stamina	tragic keeper
solid pace	good defender
poor technique	weak playmaker
solid passing	unsatisfactory striker

At the end of a season, Marnix could be an attractive midfielder for lower level teams, and is trainable in other midfield skills. He would likely be a good or solid playmaker at the end of the season, and could either be used in the next stage of your training program or sold on to someone else, and could be purchased now for less than $10,000.00.

In this way, you are maxmizing your startup money. Do you have players that look like this? Maybe you're thinking that you have a really shitty starting roster. These players can be good!