The Byline

For me, player development is one of the most exciting and engaging aspects of a Football Manager save – that thrill of bringing a youngster from your academy through to the first team is hard to beat. It’s not just about the excitement, though, as the success of a long-term save often hinges on your ability to bring through and develop youth prospects.

FM20 gives us more control than ever over the development of our youngsters with Playing Time Pathways built into contracts and a very in-depth Development Centre which puts all the relevant information at our fingertips. This comes with more detailed advice and suggestions on training, mentoring and loan time than ever before.

This wealth of information can be overwhelming, especially if you've just taken over at a new club and are not as aware of the youth players as if you had been there for a couple of years.

In this blog post, FM blogger InvertedWingbacks gives you a more specific, in-depth example of how all the youth development tools work together in order to shape the youngsters in your squad.

It’s all going so well. Your team seemed comfortable, even with a narrow lead. Now the opposition have equalised with a speculative effort that went in off your central defender’s backside. You’re chasing the game as the clock ticks over into added time and suddenly you win a corner. You need this to go in, you need just one goal to win the game because the referee has already checked his watch twice. As your central midfielder trots over to take it, you realise that your palms are sweaty and the ends of your nails are, well, not there anymore.

But then a serene calmness comes over you. You’re good at corners, you’ve scored plenty from them this season because you put the time in and worked on them. You set up your approach and then drilled the lads in training session, after training session, after training session to the point they could replicate them on the team bus. The ball floats over and there’s your target man at the back stick, unmarked, with enough time to down an espresso and a biscuit before heading the ball home.

Does that sound familiar? Probably not. Definitely not the espresso and the biscuit part.

AFC Fylde researcher and FM content creator @CharlieTangoFM is here to help you achieve that sense of calmness, with a beginner's guide to corners.

Football is a game of fine margins, with split-second decisions often deciding promotion and relegation, or who wins the title and who finishes second. As said countless times before, history is written by the victors. 

This is no different in Football Manager and for this reason it’s vitally important to focus on the attributes of your young players. Ensuring that they are mentally strong, capable of remaining calm under pressure and able to make the right decisions at the right times could be the difference between scintillating success and disappointing defeats. Here, Dan Gear talks us through the key steps for developing the mental attributes of your young stars.

When looking at young players I imagine most focus on the Physical and Technical attributes. I’m the same - I usually glance at Mental attributes but I'd would never back out of buying a young player because these were poor if the rest of their profile looks good. We must remember physical attributes develop earliest, followed by technical then finally mental. In other words, a youth player has time on their side when it comes to developing their mental attributes.

Some words of wisdom from Dan Gear on bolstering the mental fortitude of your latest wonderkids. 

Goalkeepers sometimes get a bad rap, and they seldom seem to get as much recognition within the Football Manager universe as perhaps they could and/or should. It’s arguably one of the most important positions on the pitch when you think about their individual contribution and influence on a game, but ask yourself – how much energy and attention do you give them when it comes to their recruitment, development and training? Does your work stop once you've signed the right man? How many goalkeeper wonderkids have you managed through the years?

Join me as we delve into developing a top quality keeper – analysing how to go about signing and training them to their full potential. What steps can you take to ensure your own stopper develops into Goalkeeper number one rather than Public Enemy number one?

Words of wisdom and some sage advice from @MaddFM_.

Why does football continually surprise us, when it’s essentially a game of 11 vs 11 on similar sized pitches played over 90 minutes each week? The answer is often related to how players and teams use ‘space’ differently; either in an attacking sense (creating it) or a defensive one (suppressing it). It’s why particular types of football are identified over time as ‘cultural styles’ or ’identities’.

It’s why I’ve come to The Byline to talk about space in an attacking sense. Firstly, looking at why it’s important and then explaining how you can create and utilise space to your advantage. You’ll learn more about your team in FM20 if you watch how your players move without the ball, as opposed to with it.

Words, advice and incredible insight from @FM_Grasshopper. 

Scouring the globe and hunting for future superstars is a big reason why we play Football Manager. 

When your scouts present a player with five-star potential and a 90+ recommendation, you think you’ve hit the jackpot. The bid goes in, the contract is offered, and he signs on the dotted line. Your new wonderkid Attacking Midfielder joins the other four wonderkid Attacking Midfielders you already have in your squad… 

It doesn’t have to be this way. You can build a successful squad while maintaining balance. You can look beyond the star ratings and shape your recruitment strategy, in numerous ways, that’ll be much more beneficial in both the short and long term. Here are a few ideas from FMSamo.

Much emphasis is placed on finding the next wonderkid in FM, through global scouting and leaving no stone unturned your pursuit of a rare discovery. That’s natural, football is a dynamic and rapidly changing sport, but I want to encourage you to adapt your approach by considering older players to complement your squad of fledgling talents.

These players have been around the block before. Their minds are strengthened by experience, and they have the knowledge, skill and ability to cope with pressure. Whether it’s a lengthy relegation scrap, or the crunch fixtures in a title challenge; don’t underestimate the older guy in a profession where men usually peak young. Here are five reasons why…

This week's Wednesday Wisdom is brought to you by Ihor Crusadertsar of Dictate the Game who focuses on two underrated and under-utilised roles. 

At first glance both Pressing Forwards and Defensive Wingers might appear to be roles you would make use of in the dying moments of a game. Maybe you’d use them when you’re trying to preserve a fragile lead in a tight game, or competing as the underdog in a big match? Whatever the case, it would be very unusual to consider either role as the basis of your standard tactic or formation. However, appearances can be misleading. A different sport gave me the idea of mixing things up.

A throw-in is not all that different from a free kick or a corner; it’s a set-piece that you can train and prepare multiple routines for. There is one major difference, though: while corners and free-kicks are aspects of the game that are coached rigorously from a young age, throw-ins are often neglected. This is madness as, on average, football teams get to take and defend around 50 throw-ins per game. That is a colossal figure, far too big just to ignore. The good news is, though, that (like all set-pieces) throw-ins can be improved upon both in terms of technique and positioning.

By @MerryGuido 

Strikers are the lynchpin of almost every system. They make or break a good tactic because it doesn’t matter how many goals you can keep out, if you can’t get your front man firing, it’s all over. No team ever won the league with 38 0-0 draws…

Number nines come in many different shapes and sizes in the modern game - no longer are they one-dimensional, known purely for their pace or aerial ability. 

In Football Manager 2020, strikers operate in eight roles, from Deep Lying Forwards to False Nines. Whichever flavour yours comes in, let’s take a look at how you can go about getting the best from him.

We should say, from the top, that the role deployed should suit your player’s individual attributes but since so many strikers can play in so many different roles, it’s key that you begin by getting your selection right.

Regular Wednesday Wisdom contributor, FM Grasshopper is back and this time he's joined by his Grass n Gear podcast co-host, Dan Gear. Today, they're running an experiment to see if aggressive and passive tactical styles can be applied to the same squad, while giving you guys an idea of what's required to get the best out of both options.

Whether it is multi-club ownership or the traditional feeder club method, it is always an advantage for a football club to have affiliates around the world. Some affiliates in world football are obvious and share the same branding, others may not be so in your face. How does Football Manager represent these in-game, and what benefit can a player get from having these links? @AccordingToFM breaks down the ways you should be using your affiliated clubs.