FM 2013 training guide: Match preparation and individual training explained

Training has changed in FM 2013, there are no more individual schedules you can create for defenders, midfielders and so on. And I think it’s a much more realistic and simpler way to deal with training in the game, but I understand why many of you are a bit confused. Since quite a few readers have requested a FM 2013 training guide, I decided to do it earlier than planned. Today I will be trying to explain how to set up FM 2013 training, with a special part of the post dedicated to match preparation.

As I said, there are no more individual schedules now. The main part of training in FM 2013 is general training, where your team trains as a whole and as all real life teams do. Let’s see what this is about.

General training in FM 2013

If you go to your squad’s training screen you will see this: a calendar with a few settings above it.

The main part is on the top left hand side, where you can pick the type of training you want the team to perform and the intensity. On the left side you can set up the training parameters in advance for the future weeks.

There are seven types of training you can choose from in FM 2013:

• Balanced
• Fitness
• Tactics
• Ball Control
• Defending
• Attacking
• Team Cohesion

And there are five levels of intensity:

• Very Low
• Low
• Average
• High
• Very High

My advice:

Use fitness training with high or very high intensity during pre-season or during winter breaks if available in our league, in order to prepare your team for the long season ahead. Alternatively, if you have signed many new players during the transfer window, you might want to set the focus to team cohesion in order to help your squad gel. 

Also, when you try a new tactic for your team you might want to change the focus to tactics for a while. The rest of the focus settings depend on your team and style of play: if you want to build a technical team with good ball possession then you might want to switch the focus to ball control, or if you want to have a sturdy defensive side you can choose defending and so on.

However, you have to know that if you choose tactics that doesn’t mean that the team will train only on tactics, they will spend time on the other areas as well, but with most of the time on tactics.

For a regular side that plays decent football I suggest setting the focus to balanced and the intensity to average during the season. You might want to lower the intensity though if you notice that your players are particularly tired.

Match preparation in FM 2013

First you have to decide whether you allow your lads a day’s rest before and after a match, using the check boxes on the top left hand side of the screen. My suggestion is to give them a day’s rest after a match and only give them an extra day off before matches if the squad is suffering from fatigue.

You can set the focus of the match training using the drop-down menu, with six available settings:

• Tactics Only
• Teamwork
• Defensive Positioning
• Attacking Movement
• Defending Set Pieces
• Attacking Set Pieces

My advice:

Focus on tactics only when you want to improve familiarity with a new tactic you are trying to set up. Focus on teamwork when you need your squad to gel. The other four settings are easy to understand, you just have to see what doesn’t work in your team’s play and focus on that particular area. My suggestion is to focus on defending set pieces for some time because generally that’s the main source of goals your team lets in.

As for the slider in the top centre of the screen, that’s where you can set how much time is spent on match preparation and how much for general training. My suggestion is to have that set at 30% during the season and 10 to 20% during pre-season.

Individual training in FM 2013

The second part of training in Football Manager 2013 is individual training, the place where you can fine tune the development of your players.

The individual training screen has two main settings: focus and intensity. The focus area has two main settings, you can choose to have your player focus on learning a tactical role (like trequartista for instance) or you can have him develop one of his attributes. The following attributes can be improved using individual training focus:

• Corners
• Crossing
• Dribbling
• Finishing
• First Touch
• Free Kicks
• Heading
• Long Shots
• Long Throws
• Marking
• Passing
• Penalties
• Tackling
• Technique
• Composure
• Off the Ball
• Positioning
• Agility
• Balance
• Jumping
• Quickness
• Stamina
• Strength

These are pretty much self-explanatory, you will have a player focus on learning the trequartista role if you play him in that role and he’s not fully familiar with it or you can train him to develop a specific attribute which you think will help him improve his performances.

Then you have to decide on the intensity, and there are three levels:

• Light
• Average
• Heavy

My advice is to leave it at average for first team players and only use heavy intensity when you want to boost a specific attribute on one of your young prospects.

You can also have your players learn a new position or a new preferred move using the drop-down menus on the right side of the individual training screen.

The last tab in the training screen is the coaches tab, where you can assign your coaches to specific training categories. All that is covered in the FM 2013 coaches guide, so you’ll need to read that if you haven’t already.

That’s about it, feel free to ask any questions in the comments area.

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