squadrotations during season - manager mode

[sabres32]

How does a soccer manager determine his starting lineup each week? In hockey and American football a coach has basically the same line up every game barring an injury and what not.


If a soccer manager has his team at the top of the table, would he put his reserves in against bad teams?


I'm just curious as to how a soccer manager decides his team and if he uses the same 11 players every game except if theres an injury.

[GingaGeordie]

Re: squadrotations during season - manager mode

How does a soccer manager determine his starting lineup each week? In hockey and American football a coach has basically the same line up every game barring an injury and what not.


If a soccer manager has his team at the top of the table, would he put his reserves in against bad teams?


I'm just curious as to how a soccer manager decides his team and if he uses the same 11 players every game except if theres an injury.

Find a good lineup that works for you and use that consistently in league games unless injuries occur or you get into bad form, then make changes accordingly. Use reserve players for early rounds of the cup tournaments.

[Fabric]

Re: squadrotations during season - manager mode

^ This. Also, I usually replace most of the team with young talents, low rated players or disgruntled players against teams from the bottom of the table - unless I really need the points. It may not be the most realistic thing to do, but it goes a long way to develop talents and keeping your reserves happy (and from demanding trades or complaining over playing time). When I sim games I also try to use players who are in good form as I find that usually means that they and the team perform better

[DirectFX]

Re: squadrotations during season - manager mode

Make sure you have injuries slider high enough and fifa will take care of this by forcing you to fill in for injured players. Last thing is make sure you play longer halves than 5 min default as you would not even need to sub with those fast games, if game is bit longer players will get fatigued so you can rotate in subs and if you have games within short amount of days you will see energy is low so you need to switch up some starters. Those are only ways to kinda force you to make changes and give players besides top 11 playing time but like others said you can also manually switch them up for easier opponents and cup games to break up the rotation as you should never in reality go like 10 games with same players in real life ..

[Onlyfutbol86]

Re: squadrotations during season - manager mode

^ This. Also, I usually replace most of the team with young talents, low rated players or disgruntled players against teams from the bottom of the table - unless I really need the points. It may not be the most realistic thing to do, but it goes a long way to develop talents and keeping your reserves happy (and from demanding trades or complaining over playing time). When I sim games I also try to use players who are in good form as I find that usually means that they and the team perform better

You hijack my pic? lol Uconn fan eh? Niiiice

[bigbad25]

Re: squadrotations during season - manager mode

I use a the team sheets option and make me a second team and use my young players and my reserves and i will play them every once in a while, especially in tournaments games that happen 2-3 days before or after a league game. IMO the league is always more important than a cup. A higher league finish always pays more than a cup advancement.

[Yeah...THAT Guy]

Re: squadrotations during season - manager mode

I don't know what's realistic, but I use my reserves against lower-level teams/in early rounds of cups.

And I'll also use some of my reserves if I have a League game and then a Champion's Cup game a couple days later so that my best players are fresh for which ever match is most important.

[Stulad]

Re: squadrotations during season - manager mode

Hi. I’m a long time fan of this site but don’t post much. Also, I’m from the UK so have a lifetime of football watching under my belt.

With regards to squad rotation there are generally two extremes and you can do a strategy anywhere in the middle:
1. Jose Mourinho at Chelsea 2015 (Strong first team and weak reserves)
Play your first XI in every league match, changing only when injured.
Play a complete reserve team in the cups, except Champions League, when you want to play a better and better team as you progress (Introduce some reserves to preserve best players for crucial league games at the weekend but then first XI from knockouts onwards)

2. Rafa Benitez at Liverpool 2005 (Tinkerman)
Play a slightly tweaked team every week to balance fitness and ability (First XI minus one or two players)

I use the Sir Alex Ferguson approach which is somewhere in the middle and prioritise matches:
Look two or three games ahead and plan to have your best XI all fit for the most crucial matches (Top 4 clash, Champions League knockout, Cup game v high placed team). Think tactically – e.g. will I need an extra DM against them, and plan accordingly.
When playing weaker teams in the league (but only if your schedule has some tough games coming up) introduce as many reserves as you think you can get away with to win the game.
When winning comfortably withdraw star players with time to spare to preserve their fitness and remove risk of injury.
Also, I find using a tactic of two out of three stars playing with a reserve and rotating them keeps everyone happy, especially if the lesser players start asking for more playing time.

Hope this helps!