An additional focus can be used to give a player extra training in specific attributes. Along with general training additional focuses therefore play an important part in shaping player development and also affect the rate of development. Notably though, they give you far greater control than general training over how you shape the development of each player.
For each player you can set either:
- A specific attribute focus – With each of these focuses the player will spend his additional focus time working on a single attribute (except for the quickness focus where he will work on two).
- An individual role focus – With each of these focuses the player will spend his additional focus time working on a group of attributes related to a tactical role. This allows more attributes to be trained but has a lesser effect on each individual attribute as the time is split between them.
The attributes trained by each focus are listed below.
Only one focus can be set for a player at any one time but you can change the focus whenever you wish. Therefore, you are able to give a player multiple focuses over a period of time in order to try to shape his attribute ratings as you see fit.
Additional focuses can be useful for all players. However, they are most useful for your young, developing players as they have more potential to fulfil and their ability can be more easily moulded over time to suit your requirements. They can also be very useful for giving extra training in physical attributes to your older players to slow down their natural physical decline, as well as for training your first choice set piece takers in the relevant set piece taking attributes.
How to Choose Focuses
You should ideally look at each player in each of your squads and decide which additional focus is best to give him. It is advisable to give a player additional focuses that train attributes that you consider to be important for him but that he has relatively low ratings in, rather than focuses that train attributes that he has relatively high ratings in. This will help the player improve his weaknesses and will therefore have a bigger impact on his overall match performances. Furthermore, lower rated attributes increase more easily in training. For example, giving a player the dribbling focus will have a greater effect on his Dribbling attribute if it has a rating of 10 than if it has a rating of 18.
To select a suitable additional focus for a player you should first consider the position and role (or roles) that he plays in your tactics, or perhaps a likely future role in the case of a young player. You should then look at his ratings in the key attributes required for that role and other attributes that you deem to be important for your tactical style or general player performance. For those which are lower rated you can check the lists below to see if they can be trained individually using a specific attribute focus or if a group of them can be trained using an individual role focus.
Key attributes for each player role are given in the Roles & Duties guide, while the Assessing Your Team and Specific Team Instructions guides should help you determine which attributes are important for certain players given your tactical style. Those attributes which affect a player’s mental and physical abilities, as discussed in the Attribute Combinations guide, are important for general player performance.
If you believe that a player has no relatively low rated important attributes then you can give him the individual role focus for the role that he plays in most often.
Focus Intensity
A player’s focus intensity can be set to light, average or heavy. A heavier intensity means that the additional focus will have a greater effect on the attribute or attributes being trained, and so any improvement will be quicker. However, it will also add more to the player’s individual workload which can affect his training happiness and fitness, and will take away more of his individual training time from any other individual training.
If you want a player to concentrate on improving attributes then it is advisable not to set any other individual training for him so as to increase the amount of time he spends on his additional focus.
The management of individual workloads and individual training time is discussed more in the Training Reports guide.
Setting a lighter intensity (or no additional focus) for an individual player can make it easier for you to give him player trait training or position training while keeping his individual workload at a reasonable level and allowing more time for the other individual training. Setting a lighter intensity (or no additional focus) for a number of players can make it easier for you to increase the team training overall workload while keeping individual workloads at a reasonable level, perhaps in order to concentrate more on moulding your players’ attributes as appropriate for your tactical style.
Setting a heavier intensity for a player can allow you to concentrate more on moulding his attributes as you desire for his personal development, as discussed above. In order to keep his individual workload at a reasonable level you may want to avoid giving him position training or player trait training, or, particularly if you set a heavier intensity for a number of players, you may want to set a lighter team training overall workload.
Attributes That Cannot be Trained
The attributes that cannot be trained using a specific attribute focus are Aggression, Anticipation, Bravery, Concentration, Decisions, Determination, Flair, Teamwork, Vision, Work Rate and Natural Fitness.
In particular, Aggression, Bravery and Determination cannot be trained using an individual role focus either, nor are they trained as part of general training. However, Determination can be tutored.
The marking, off the ball and positioning specific attribute focuses cannot be used at clubs with training facilities described as poor.
The different levels of facilities are detailed in the Player Development guide.