Training - should I?

[GaloVingador]

My question is not out of laziness, I see the drills as a chore but I know I can simulate them and get the same benefits.

Actually, my concern is if training could eventually make my team overpowered compared to the opposition. I'm afraid it could be "cheating" normal growth mechanics. But I have no idea if it works the other way and avoiding the drills could lead my players to some sort of growth penalty which in the end would make my team underpowered.

So this is a question for people who have experience with career mode since the training feature was implemented:

What should I do if I want my senior squad players to grow at generally the same rate as they would in CPU controlled teams? Training or no training?

[Schrankwand]

That's actually a good question i asked myself a couple of days ago. And i wanted to try the "no training" in another career mode save myself.

You are definitely right; that player training can make your team overpowered. Players are more likely to grow further of their original potential.

I am currently running a FC Valencia career mode. A good team with a lot of young players from good to great potential. One of those players is left-midfielder Goncalo Guedes. He starts at 79, his potential lies at 89. Improtant side note: Guedes is only on loan at Valencia from Paris Saint-Germain. I bought him back pretty quickly in the winter transfer window of the second season. His overall did not grow there in that time he was back in Paris. Probably the best 35 million i have spent in a long time. I am saying that so you can see that all of his growth happened at my club and not on any of the CPU controlled clubs, which could possibly lean towards different results.

I am now in the middle of my fourth season and he already grew to 86 - with no player training. Since he is just 24/25 years old (or should i say "young"?) at this point, he still has the chance to grow and it his ceiling at 89 overall. I also should add that he played pretty good in most of his matches and he is a regular starter for the team (he is also absolutely rapid, holy smokes!).

So, here's my theory: if the player performs relatively well, he will grow to his original potential - without training. If he can grow above his potential without training is yet to be answered. I'll have an eye on him and his rating throughout this career mode and i'll tell you the results.

A short-term solution for your problem could be that you only train your young prospects or youth academy players (if you have one in your team). Another thing which i like to do sometimes, if i don't know who to put in training at the moment, is to take a player who has and overall like 79 and put him to an 80 overall. I basically round them up. After that i just let them grow normally. Of course it's only logical to do this if the player is not in his 30s and already declining.

[GaloVingador]

Great answer.

I read in other forum someone saying the training growth is a "bonus" on top of the normal growth we had in previous years, but I was not sure. Your post confirms that this seems to be the case.

Using it only for players from the youth academy is a very good middle ground, which I think I'll follow. I don't usually play more than five or six seasons in a career (I never sim) and so far trying to manage a youth squad always seemed to me like a big waste of time. This might help.

Thanks.

[ImmortalMindz]

I would suggest being extremely cautious with player training. CM is already way too easy, and player growth is a big part of that.

[Schrankwand]

Quote: Originally Posted by ImmortalMindz

I would suggest being extremely cautious with player training. CM is already way too easy, and player growth is a big part of that.

This, i can confirm. Even with sliders it's way too easy most of the time. Especially when you have a good team.

What i also noticed in prevous FIFAs is the growth of physical stats on young players. In FIFA 16 & 17 it did not grow at all when you decide to train those young players who have some potential. Now they do, but still not enough. So it is really diifficult to decide when you gonna start train them. This holds me off to do some sort of career where you only bring in Youth Academy players. It's a bit of a shame that you cannot train those physical attributes. Hope they'll put it into future FIFAs.

[RagingTrav]

What happens if i train a fullback as an attacking winger (think Gareth Bale) does anybody know if this would influence the players progression?

[Miles Perry]

You can always set yourself a rule: Don't train any player that is above 75 overall? 70 Overall? Whatever you choose. I use training as a way to get my youth academy players to a level where they can actually play in the first team and not hurt me.

[Thrax]

I've been looking around to research this myself the last few days as I was interested about training & potentials for my own career mode.

While there are some differences in opinion, almost everyone seems to agree that too much training can be bad for getting well-rounded players.

The common analogy is that potential is like a container (e.g a cup or bucket). Every time you train something it adds to the container, filling it up, and once the container is full then no more growth can occur. So if you train all the trainable (mostly technical) attributes, there will be no room for the un-trainable (mostly physical) attributes to grow.

Suggestions seem to fall into two camps:
- Train slightly (e.g. up to XX overall, commonly either in 60-70 range or "first team ready" at lower clubs) then let the rest grow naturally to keep things fairly balanced.
- Don't train at all and let growth happen naturally. Sometimes supplemented by the idea of training when they near their potential to shape the top end of their stats to your liking.

After reading everything I personally like the idea of the second no-training method. In the real world players seem to hit their peaks in their mid-to-late 20s, which the natural growth in game should replicate.