Playing Time

[Miravlix (Inactive)]

Managing Ajax, so I have the league, Champions Cup and dutch cup matches.

 

The Champions Cup matches get pushed into the schedule so I almost have 3 matches a week, so of course I'm resting my star player in the league matches and using him in the Champions Cup where I need his higher quality.

 

I can either play him in the two league matches and rest him for the cup, or rest him in the league and play him in the cup, because he SIMPLY can't recover to play matches with just two days between them. it used to be that there was 3 days on one side and 2 days on the other, but for the last couple of years the scheduling create match 2 days match 2 days match and two days simply isn't enough for the player to recover.

 

It seems like complete BS to code in that high a demand for matches played and then code in a system that ENSURES you can't play them enough. I haven't seen any big teams that play in Champions Cup loss half there star players every year because you played them in the Champions Cup to try to win it.

[fc.cadoni (Inactive)]

Preferences > Match > Match Scheduling Options (Use Saturday & Wednesday Matchdays). Will apply after few months. With that setting you will play 2 games per week.

[HUNT3R (Inactive)]

If he's a Star Player (in terms of playing time) he's going to expect to start about 90% of the matches.

I wouldn't bother playing him in the Dutch Cup, but try play him as much as possible in the Eredivisie and CL matches.

If I have a tough schedule (which is only a couple of weeks though) I will give a lot of players a break from training or schedule only recovery sessions. I know I'm overworking them already with match loads, so I know I can't expect too much training - they need to recover for the next match.

[Miravlix (Inactive)]

Dutch Cup matches doesn't count. Only League and Champions Cup is counted by the system for calculating if they play enough matches.

 

So you have to remember to not play them in cup matches thinking you are giving them playing time, but at least that bit of "hidden" mechanic has been around for years.

 

Wanting  to play 90% of matches is just a weird mechanic, at least make it count if it's even possible  to play 90% of the matches in a year, just as it ignores league cup matches, it should count 2-3 matches in the same week as 1. Instead the system is totally broken if you get Champions Cup matches, because then it's play X% of league AND Champion Cup matches and create some weird % from that, BEFORE I play the matches, they are complaining pre- winter break that they aren't playing enough matches.

 

And I bet the pre-season Euro "final" and League Final most likely doesn't count as having played a match, even while it's a REQUIREMENT of my board to win them and they get placed so close to the season starter match that I start off with my star players not being in that match, since that is another case of almost 3 matches in a week scheduling.

 

I feel like the scheduling used to be one league match a week and then you get mid week matches like Champions Cup and League Cup. Now we have two league matches a week most of the year and then it force Champion and League cups matches into the week, but someone didn't bother to change the match played system to account for the changes.

[HUNT3R (Inactive)]

2 hours ago, Miravlix said:

Dutch Cup matches doesn't count. Only League and Champions Cup is counted by the system for calculating if they play enough matches.

I didn't say they don't count. All I said was focus on the league and CL. The CL matches are obviously the most important, so will carry more weight.

 

2 hours ago, Miravlix said:

Wanting  to play 90% of matches is just a weird mechanic,

That's what a Star Player looks for though. Some players just want to play every match. I remember reading about someone like Wayne Rooney getting upset any time he wasn't picked.

 

2 hours ago, Miravlix said:

at least make it count if it's even possible  to play 90% of the matches in a year,

 

It is quite possible. I have 2 star players in my team:

So far this season, my star left back has started 9 out of 10 matches. No cup matches, 2 CL matches and 8 league matches. He played for most of the minutes too, but I will show you in a screenshot as well:

The matches before that were friendlies. I can also keep track of his playing time happiness : 

To be on top of playing time happiness, I have added a column to my squad screen so that I am aware of it when I select a team.

My other star player (and captain) is satisfied with his playing time and has also started 9 out of the last 10:

 

 

Sometimes I see a player is 'concerned' about their playing time, so if possible, I try and give them a bit more playing time. You can see that both players went through a run of 5 matches, where it was a match every 3 or 4 days.

 

[OxfordUnitedFC (Inactive)]

The playing time issue is a bit of a joke now. I have specifically put a squad together that should allow me to give them the time they want but I have multiple ‘squad players’ demanding more playing time after the first 2 games of the season because they are not getting games. 
 

Surely 2 games into a season with no mid week game they shouldn’t be surprised I have opted to play my strongest 11. I wonder if it’s down to their personalities although it’s still way over the top.

[HUNT3R (Inactive)]

6 hours ago, OxfordUnitedFC said:

The playing time issue is a bit of a joke now. I have specifically put a squad together that should allow me to give them the time they want but I have multiple ‘squad players’ demanding more playing time after the first 2 games of the season because they are not getting games. 
 

Surely 2 games into a season with no mid week game they shouldn’t be surprised I have opted to play my strongest 11. I wonder if it’s down to their personalities although it’s still way over the top.

It doesn't sound like it's your first season, so last season's matches will be taken into account as well, not just the 2 matches this season.

[OxfordUnitedFC (Inactive)]

44 minutes ago, HUNT3R said:

It doesn't sound like it's your first season, so last season's matches will be taken into account as well, not just the 2 matches this season.

Thanks you are right yes. I do try to keep an eye on the happiness screen too but I feel like I am picking the best team to keep the players happy rather than the best team to win a game lately.

[HUNT3R (Inactive)]

5 minutes ago, OxfordUnitedFC said:

Thanks you are right yes. I do try to keep an eye on the happiness screen too but I feel like I am picking the best team to keep the players happy rather than the best team to win a game lately.

It's a difficult balancing act sometimes. I try to keep the squad happy, but I am not willing to risk weakening the team too much. I'd rather have an unhappy player or two than sacrifice 3 or 4 wins. I have a squad player right now who has only played in 3 out of 10 matches and even then, subbed off at 55, 60 and 69 mins. His playing time happiness was 'concerned' in the beginning of the season and it still is. He hasn't complained yet though. At 34 and 2.5* (and declining, probably because he's not getting time) he'll either have to accept a lower status or suck it up.

[du Garbandier (Inactive)]

Maybe a stipulation concerning fitness could be worked in? I don't mind playing my high-status players when they're fit, obviously, but I don't want to send someone out at 80% just to keep them happy.

That could also feed in to the absence through injury aspect, which can be a problem when low levels of match fitness keep players from resuming their previous routine.

Edited April 13, 2022 by du Garbandier

[XaW (Inactive)]

4 hours ago, OxfordUnitedFC said:

Thanks you are right yes. I do try to keep an eye on the happiness screen too but I feel like I am picking the best team to keep the players happy rather than the best team to win a game lately.

I made a post not long ago for another user who asked something similar, and I gave an account on how often I've found players need to play to remain happy. A big note here is that they are more likely to kick up a fuzz if they don't like you, so until you have a good relationship with the players their demands might be a bit higher. As soon as everyone likes you, this has never failed to work for me. I will also add I review all player roles at least once per season (usually in pre-season) and push down everyone I don't think I'll be able to give enough game time to. If they kick up a fuzz, then I try to either sell them, loan them out (if a talent), or rethink my squad and perhaps bump down someone else. It's not exactly revolutionary, but it's something that I've found to work.

Quote

Star Player: Will play every match they are fit for. If I plan on resting them, I'll let them know.
Important Player: Will play almost every match, perhaps on the bench for a few games through the season, but should play about 90-95% of matches.
Regular Starter: Should play almost every match, but can be left out for a few unimportant matches now and then. Should play about 80% of matches or more.
Squad Player: Should play in about 50% of the matches, and be on the bench whenever they don't play.
Impact Sub: Be on the bench for every match they are fit, should also start about 20% of matches.
Fringe Player: Should be on the bench often, but I don't care about starting them at all. Will expect them to play in a very rotated side in lower ranked cups for example.
Emergency Backup: No expectations.
Surplus for requirements: No expectations.

In my current team, I had one player be unhappy about their playing time, and he was a squad player I just couldn't fit, so I changed it to Fringe Player since that was how much I would want him to expect, he kicked up a fuzz and are now on the transfer list. Other than him, everyone is happy here.

[HUNT3R (Inactive)]

19 minutes ago, XaW said:

I made a post not long ago for another user who asked something similar, and I gave an account on how often I've found players need to play to remain happy.

I'm not surprised that you don't really have issues. Those numbers are higher than they should be (for the 3 most important roles, certainly) but aiming higher ensures that your systems works very well. The fact that everyone is "delighted" regarding their playing time, definitely shows that.

[OxfordUnitedFC (Inactive)]

Thanks for the advice, I find I have bigger issues with this when managing a bigger club as typically if you are managing a top 4 premier league team for example your back up players still need to be high quality so won’t want to sign for a lower playing time roll as they are very good players.

[XaW (Inactive)]

1 hour ago, HUNT3R said:

I'm not surprised that you don't really have issues. Those numbers are higher than they should be (for the 3 most important roles, certainly) but aiming higher ensures that your systems works very well. The fact that everyone is "delighted" regarding their playing time, definitely shows that.

Yeah, I guess I am quite conservative in regard to squad statuses, but with how morale being so important, I've found it works wonders for me to follow that setup if I can.

[du Garbandier (Inactive)]

Generally, how does being on the bench figure in keeping happiness levels up? And to what extent does being used during the game or not make a difference?

[HUNT3R (Inactive)]

2 minutes ago, du Garbandier said:

Generally, how does being on the bench figure in keeping happiness levels up?

Being on the bench doesn't mean anything. Players want to play.

Quote

And to what extent does being used during the game or not make a difference?

Match minutes count, so even coming on as a sub helps. Starts count for more though.

In general, minutes count too. The more minutes, the better.

[phantombandit (Inactive)]

On 12/04/2022 at 06:40, Miravlix said:

Managing Ajax, so I have the league, Champions Cup and dutch cup matches.

 

The Champions Cup matches get pushed into the schedule so I almost have 3 matches a week, so of course I'm resting my star player in the league matches and using him in the Champions Cup where I need his higher quality.

 

I can either play him in the two league matches and rest him for the cup, or rest him in the league and play him in the cup, because he SIMPLY can't recover to play matches with just two days between them. it used to be that there was 3 days on one side and 2 days on the other, but for the last couple of years the scheduling create match 2 days match 2 days match and two days simply isn't enough for the player to recover.

 

It seems like complete BS to code in that high a demand for matches played and then code in a system that ENSURES you can't play them enough. I haven't seen any big teams that play in Champions Cup loss half there star players every year because you played them in the Champions Cup to try to win it.

It is quite micro managing but right before match day rest him for 1 day. He won’t be mad if he misses a match due to being rested.

 

if he does still get mad I think you can talk to him about resting him before you do.

i agree, annoying tho.

Edited April 15, 2022 by phantombandit