Utilizing Pre-Season Fixtures
Written by Nexus // August 7, 2010 // Articles // 4 Comments
Pre-season fixtures have long being something that many FM players have just left to their assistants. I have to admit i was often one, i would just look at the ratings and see who played well. However then i realised their is a reason why managers in real life used them, and surely they can’t all be wrong? Since i decided to take part in my pre-season fixtures i have noticed a marked improvement in my FM form, so i decided to give you five quick tips to utilizing your pre-season fixtures.
1) Try out new tactics – Many times in FM, half way through a season i have being stuck with the team just not performing in a certain tactic anymore and i have often needed to start building a new tactic halfway through a season. So why not try more than one tactic in pre-season? One you may perform well in a system that you never dreamt you would, two you may have more knowledge on where you will need to strength, and three it makes you flexible. Flexibility is key, if your stuck in mid table in January the ability to be able to call on a new system half way through a season, and the players being used to this system has to be an advantage.
2) Develop Partnerships – Pre-season is not a time for you to starting putting your first eleven out every time, you never say Man Utd putting there’s out in pre-season early on, so why should we on FM no matter who we are. However it is key to start developing partnerships early on in a season, these are key to you performing through out a season. Pick your team on partnerships not on individuals, i.e play your first choice centre backs together, and your first choice cenre midfielders together. This way you can still give everyone a game, yet your players will be developing partnerships that will be key for when the season comes about.
3) Fitness - Over the years with FM i saw myself playing friendlies and taking players off because they where not playing well, but they where the one’s who needed the game more than anyone else. This is one key thing to remember about your side, don’t take players off if they aren’t playing one, stick to the plan you had before the game. Winning may breed confidence but if your first choice midfielder is injured, and your second choice one is not fit because you did not blood him in pre-season you will regret it over time.
4) Picking Opponents - Picking opponents is something that people may not take interest in, however it is absolutely vital who you choose to play. Often people choose to play teams for the money, often in lower league games this is often a good way to raise extra finance, however if you do not test yourself against different types of teams you will not be ready for the season. You will not get away with a season without playing a season against big teams, and you won’t go through a season without playing a team playing quick passing football. So you need to be able to test yourself against these in pre-season and find partnerships that would work against them.
5) Workload – This is something that links into the above point, you need to look at your squad and decide on how many games to play. If you are Exeter there is no point playing 10 games and going on a trip to USA, however much money it will make you. You need to be realistic on how many you play, personally i feel outside of the Premiership no more than five is needed, now this is far less than most people play, however it is for me the perfect amount to get your squad fit and ready and yet still be fresh for the new season. However if you are Premier league side it is up to you as you are likely to have a much bigger squad and be able to cope with the more games.
Anyway this may be a load of rubbish to some of you however, i hope it helps at least one person out there. Feel free to share any pre-season tips you may have with me. Don’t be to harsh fella’s i only just decided to start writing once more.
4 Comments on "Utilizing Pre-Season Fixtures"
I tend to have friendlies with 3-5 day intervals, with varying strenght on the opponents. The reason I like to have to many friendlies is first and formost letting everyone play, and rotating in such a way that everyone has played X number of minutes together, I have had an enormous success this season with bringing on subs in the EPL, and I suspect it might be because they’ve all played together in the pre-season.
Another thing is match-fitness helps your players reach “superb fitness” and generally fitness levels beyond just “Match fit”, so long as natural fitness is above 15.
One good thing I find pre-season can help with is building morale. It is so important to have happy players as sad players play worse, and could fall into poor form and then that is harder to get out of as you go in a decreasing spiral.
I like to play sides from lower divisions and give them a spanking just before the season is about to start, this will jeer up some of my players and I will hit the ground running for the competitive games.
Sebastien – With that amount of games being played, do you not feel your players may become over cooked before the season starts rather than under cooked?
Also Levo i agree with most of what you say, however i always feel my players get nothing out of spanking a lower league team, as one there is no competitive edge, just before the season that is what you need. However i also feel they won’t gain confidence as surely its just a lower league team, your expected to do that. Somehow if you only draw surprisingly it is a massive disadvantage. However that is just my opinion…
Well thats why we hope that you don’t draw, it is a risk, but you would expect your side to have as great chance at spanking them.
I find it has always worked for my sides, obviously you need to mix up your pre-season opposition that way you will maximise the pre-season advantage.