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Football Manager Guide Dealing With Injuries - Tactics and Team Selections
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| How do you reduce player injuries on Football Manager? |
In this article we are going to review how your tactics and team selections could impact on the number of injuries your players are picking up. We will also take a look at how roles and duties could impact the number of injuries your players are getting.
Tempo - I do prefer my teams to play with a higher tempo. I like to see them chasing the ball down quicker, winning it and then playing some quick football to try and score. With higher tempo football, your players will be more prone to getting injured. If you are in a winning position you might want to consider lowering the tempo of a game down and saving your players energy. If your players are tired or running around at 100mph, then they do have a higher chance of picking up injuries.
Player Condition - As a rule, I try not to select players if they have a starting match condition of 89% and below. It will be important to make sure that any players who have a role where they will be doing alot of running, for example, fullbacks who will be getting forward often, are given enough rest after matches. Make sure you keep an eye on the condition of these type of players during a game. If their condition drops, instead of an attacking role, maybe give them 15-20 minutes on a defend or support duty.
Hard Tackling - I mentioned earlier that I do like my teams to win the ball back quicker and the hard tackling should increase the chances of this happening. You do need to pick and chose which players are doing the hard tackling. If you have a weak, skilful winger who is 5ft 6" - do you really want him to be going into hard tackles? I would feel alot more comfortable with a tough midfielder who is strong and good at tackling making harder tackles. Do make sure you use hard tackling, but make sure only the right type of players are using it.
There are some player roles that will have harder tackling on them by default:
Ball Winning Midfielder, Defensive Midfielder, Defensive Winger, Defensive Forward
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Get Stuck In - Much like the hard tackling tactic, you will win the ball back quicker if your players are getting stuck in more. You need to be very careful of discipline though, telling an aggressive player he is allowed to "get stuck in" could see alot of red cards being shown. I would only use this shout on players who are strong and capable of harder tackling and also to just close down a few players, for example if the team you are playing has a playmaker who is running the show, you might want to put in a few harder tackles on him to show him who is boss.
Match Sharpness - With lower match fitness there is more chance of a player picking up an injury. During pre-season you might want to go for easier tackling, lower tempo and give players more rest, this will help with reducing the chance of picking up injuries. If you have players who are coming back from injury, especially a longer term one, its going to be a good idea to give him reserve football for 20-45 minutes at a time and to try and bring him on as sub for your first team until his match fitness improves. It might be a good idea to put your players on a "fitness" training program to increase their fitness between matches.
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