When they are not playing a match, resting or on holiday your squad will train at your club’s training ground. Training enables your players to maintain and improve fitness, tactic familiarity and team cohesion. Perhaps most notably though, it plays a particularly important part in player development by enabling your players to maintain and improve attribute ratings, learn positions and learn new traits.
You can control each aspect of training on the following tabs of the Training screen:
- Team – Your players will spend most of their training time working together in team training, which is led by your coaches and split between general training and match preparation training.
- Individual – The remaining training time is available for them to work on personalised individual training.
- Coaches – You can assign coaches to train different groups of attributes according to their individual specialisations.
In addition, the Overview tab provides you with a general summary of training related information which can bring your attention to particular issues and help you to manage your squad’s training more effectively. For example, you can view:
- match feedback that can help you to plan match preparation training;
- a general training focus pie chart that can help you to allocate time as desired between your favoured general training focuses;
- a training happiness pie chart that can alert you to any issues players have with training;
- a player fitness pie chart that can alert you to fitness issues in your squad; and
- a summary of notable training performances that can make you aware of any particularly poor performers or good performers.
Most aspects of training for your under 21s squad and under 18s squad are controlled separately from each squad’s Training tab. This allows you to tailor training to the particular needs of these squads. Alternatively, you may want to delegate control of their training to a member of your staff on the Responsibilities tab on the Staff screen.
Advice on how to manage training for your senior squad is provided throughout this guide, while the Youth Training guide discusses how to train players in your reserve and youth squads.
Short-Term and Long-Term Benefits
Training has both short-term and long-term aims.
In the short-term training is used to manage your players’ fitness and happiness, which is generally achieved by not underworking or overworking them in team and individual training, and also to prepare your players for matches, which is achieved using match preparation training.
In the long-term training is used is to help develop your players by improving and shaping their ability. This is achieved by:
- working them as hard as you can in team training (specifically general training) and individual training, ideally without sacrificing the short-term aims of fitness, happiness or match preparation training;
- tailoring their general training and individual training to improve weak areas and mould them for your tactics, and;
- optimising the quality of training by signing the best available coaches, setting their training assignments efficiently and improving your training facilities as much as is feasible.
Player Development
Further factors also affect the dynamics of player ability and the development of your players. These are discussed in the Player Ability guide and the Player Development guides.