Training in Hattrick
January 5th, 2009 |Lately, I've been training at 90% intensity and have been working mostly on passing and goalkeeping. But lately, I decided to start training form mostly.
I also decided to invest a great deal of money in assistant coaches, and now have six of them plus two goalkeeping coaches.
I believe that well-rounded players will become much more important in light of the new tactics implemented by the HT developers, especially those with a high defensive secondary skill. Gone are the days where the one-dimensional player rules, unless you are a striker or goalie. Do you buy those players or train them? The market, and how quickly it perceives the new reality, will determine that question. If well-rounded players are preferred by more teams, you will get less for your specialized midfielder on the transfer market. But, if the market is slow to adapt to the new ways, you will get more value out of your specialized middie and your training regimen while the market slowly changes. Newer or poorly performing teams will likely be the first adapters of this new insight since they have nothing to lose and little invested in the old ways of doing things. You’ll be less able to take that cellar dweller for granted next season.
After AvidSinger's initial query, I began to think about my own plans and wondered how much the new match tactics will change our long term training strategies? Arguably this season, it was pretty easy to look at midfield ratings and with relative accuracy you could predict the finish of the teams in your series. The new tactics that will be implemented next season have the potential to shake things up a lot due to the decreased(?) importance of the midfield. If the new tactics allow teams with weaker midfields to have a viable chance at winning, the current theories on training may be outdated.
The newer or poorer performing teams have less money than the upper echelon squads. Upper echelon squads will be better able to afford the well-rounded player and his larger salary while specialized players may be the only option for newer teams. Of course that only becomes the case if the upper echelon teams see a financial as well as a tactical advantage in owning one well-rounded player versus two specialized players for the same ‘job’. The tactical dilemma with utilizing two specialized players on your roster is which one do you start? If you are playing a predictable opponent who always attacks on the wings, then you start with your defensive winger. But if you guess wrong, do you lose?
Training is, by nature, a long-term affair. The quick fix is to hire a new player that someone else trained or bring in a super stud (yeah, right) from your youth squad. Will teams still train a single skill in hopes of utilizing a specialized player, or will they train multiple skills in the hopes that a well-rounded athlete will help a team better play against/with the new tactics? Players that have multiple skills ‘above-average’ will become much more desirable in spite of their higher wages. All you have to do to achieve your well-rounded player is train the second (or third?) skill. For instance, a pressing team training defense would be on the lookout for high stamina, ‘powerful’ players to train defensive. I expect specialized players, those with just one good skill, to be less valuable on the transfer market and in the lineup. The next option may be using an alternating training program where a counter-attacking team will train Defense one season, while training Passing the next.
Teams utilizing the new match tactics aren’t the only ones that will need well-rounded players. Teams playing against these strategies will value more the well-rounded players on their squad because of the flexibility provided to the manager when setting the lineup against a known special tactic team.
The tactics and how they will possibly alter our training regimens…
******************
The counterattacking team takes advantage of their opponent’s missed opportunities. In other words, you had better finish your chances on goal with a strong front line. But then again, maybe a good defense to halt the counters is a worthy alternative. Without one or the other, you may lose those close games with your exemplary midfield - much like in the real world. They bypassed the midfield with long balls/passes to their front line. You beat the team everywhere except the scoreboard.
Counter attacking teams MAY train passing and defense. To counter them, opponents MAY start players with more scoring or defense. How do they get these players? Train them or buy them?
******************
Against the press, you had better finish your chances on goal because there will be fewer of them. I see more draws in our future if teams are unable to capitalize on their goal scoring opportunities. And we'll even lose a number of close games to pressing teams.
Pressing may be the easiest tactics for weaker teams to achieve and utilize. Stamina training yields quick results (yes, at the expense of form) and mixed in with defensive training will yield decent results. Since defense is on a slower training schedule, the Stamina training is a nice carrot for these teams to grab early on while they watch the form creep back up while training defense. Opponents to the press MAY choose to counter by starting players with higher stamina and scoring.
How do they get these players? Train or buy?
******************
Attack on Wing/in Middle - Maybe, MAYBE, middies with wing skill will be more important. You can't train 'center'. But you can train 'winger'. Early on though, I bet that these two strategies (while making Winger skill more important) are likely to be only tactically important and will not strategically alter the training regimens of teams. Teams playing against these strategies will likely choose to counter by putting their wing players on defensive or towards the middle in their lineups.
But looking a little deeper into this tactical change and you can envision that a team preferring to play Attack on Wing will value middies with better defensive skills to reduce the central defense penalty. And teams that prefer the Attack in Middle tactic will value perimeter players with better defensive skills to offset the weaker wing defense. Once again, a well-rounded player has more value, and with good reason.
******************
I like what the development team is trying to do and congratulate them on their efforts. It appears to me that they are trying to accomplish four things.
1) Take away the midfield training crutch
2) Making well rounded players more desirable due to their lineup flexibility
3) Potentially increasing the perceived need for defensive players
4) Enhancing the value of wingers
What do these four things have in common? They attack the current established theories on training and make it more possible for weaker teams to have success.
Like I said before, these changes won't be readily apparent until further down the road. Likely two or more seasons will pass before we truly comprehend the impact of these changes. But be aware now that the game has potentially changed dramatically. In my opinion, this is for the better. One way or another, the next couple of seasons will be quite interesting indeed.
PS. Now might be a good time to buy those well-rounded players before everyone else realizes their new importance. Of course do this at your own risk. If everyone is slow to adapt to or accept the new realities, the current strategies of training will continue to have relevance for a longer period.
Going to train defense next season as I have a few youngsters who are inad, but should become passable and replace my skipper.
What approach to training do you find works best for you? Do you tend to train one area for several weeks at a time or do you change it every week?
Let me preface this by stating I am a novice to this pasttime (ok, newly acquired addiction) so my theories lack personal experience to back them up. Please also realize that my theories on the new training strategies becoming reality depend on how quickly managers accept the new strategies. Or do the managers embrace them at all and only use the new strategies as a novel way to strike fear into your opponents' hearts once in a while? Not to mention, will certain countries cling to the old ways or do they jump in with both feet?
I believe that well rounded players will become much more important in light of the new tactics implemented by the HT developers. Especially those with a high defensive secondary skill. Gone are the days where the specialized player rules, unless you are a striker or goalie.
The question now becomes, "Do you buy those players or train them?" The market, and how quickly it perceives the new reality, will determine that question. If well rounded players are desired, you will get less for your specialized middie. If the market is slow to adapt to the new ways, you will get more value out of your specialized middie and training regimen.
Also, newer teams have less money than the upper echelon squads. Upper echelon squads are better able to afford the well rounded player and his larger salary while specialized players may be the only option for newer teams. Course that only becomes the case if the upper echelon teams see a financial as well as a tactical advantage in owning one well rounded player versus two specialized players. The tactical problem with two specialized players on your roster is which one do you start. If you are playing a predictable opponent who always attacks on the wings, then you start with your defensive winger. But if you guess wrong, do you lose?
Newer or poorly performing teams will likely be the first adapters of this new insight since they have nothing to lose and little invested in the old ways of doing things.
Personally, I'm going to continue to heavily mix training stamina with my midfield training. I figure my players need it anyway, and it quickly allows me to press with an advantage over teams that have neglected stamina. Very soon, I'll have a viable alternative with the pressing tactic. I still believe in winning the game with midfield, but it is much less important now and I expect we'll see even more 'odd' games where the team that dominated midfield play loses.
I believe that well rounded players will become much more important in light of the new tactics implemented by the HT developers. ...
Personally, I'm going to continue to heavily mix training stamina with my midfield training.
You learn quickly, young one. My team jumped so quickly this season (from a good div iv team to one of the best in the english div iv) that I'm not sure what was responsbible. The experience rules certainly were a big factor, along with stamina (In my second season I went on autopilot for a while and left it on stamina training for eight weeks or so), but also the all-rounders I think, since when I was a newbie I stupidly bought midfielders and defenders who had inadequate scoring, thinking that was good. I'm not convinced the designers haven't made more changes then they're telling us, and that these all-rounders didn't get a boost this season.
However, as to stamina training, its important, but think ahead. My whose squad (with a few exceptions) is excellent stamina, so its awkward for me to train stamina in the offseason, since so few players are going to benefit from it. Certainly, make sure all your midfielders are passable (eventually you shoot aim for your who first team to have passable stamina, in my opinion), but space it out so you can train it for a week or two each offseason without beating a dead horse.
I plan to stick to PM training for another season at least.
Currently my 3 inner mids are formidable and two excellents. The formidable is only 19. I have a 17 and 18 year old playing the friendlies and they are passables.
I also just sold my "passable" goalkeeper and start my "inadequate," but 7 years younger goalkeeper in his stead. I'm only in VI right now and in a bot league, so I don't really need my GK to be quality yet, and I figure my young GK will be up to passable early next season.
If you train midfield, I'd look for passable playmakers with decent stamina and inadequate passing and defending.
But I'll be in a better position to evaluate my theories next season, in division III. This season I've won 11 league mathes, 7 cup matches, and four friendlies. My only loss came in the cup to a premier league team. I have a tough time remembering that I'm not a freakin' genius.
Training form is not very useful in the long-term. You might want to do it for 1 week right before a big game, but it's just not very efficient - better to train a true skill and build some value.
I recommend that people stick with training one skill for 5-6 seasons consecutively. If you switch around every few seasons, you'll get a squad filled with Ex or formidable players, but that can only get you so far.
It's better IMHO to train one skill, get 6 or so (depending on which skill you train) trainees up to magnificent or higher, and then sell off the extras you don't need and buy players with that money to fill the other positions. This strategy definitely takes some patience, as you have to sacrifice some short-term success and resist the urge to waste money on temporary band-aid players.
#If you have any other info about this subject , Please add it free.# |
