A final attempt at solving my injury nonsense

[kevinsuave]

I've started a few threads during different patches for FM2013, concerning the crazy amount of injuries I have to put up with. The only conclusion that came out of these threads was that there's no such thing as an injury bug, and it probably has something to do with either my tactics, training or both. Seeing as the latest update seemingly solved a lot of stuff, I decided to give the game yet another try. Yet again, the injuries are becoming incredibly frustrating.

I try to follow the advice I've been given within these other threads. Training is very mellow, putting a minimal amount of pressure on my players. My tactics are very laid back as well, not putting any pressure on the opponents, soft tackling and low tempo. I don't like to play this way, but the game forces me to because of the injuries. As I already mentioned though, it's not helping! Could somebody PLEASE hand me the golden advice on how to get rid of this?

Below are screenshots over the course of ONLY 3 months. These screens only show players that actually had to leave the pitch due to their injury. I also get a lot of players who pick up a knock but do not have to leave the game. Please, help me for I am going absolutely f'n nuts.

Previous threads on the same issue:

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/345011-What-am-I-doing-wrong-(Injuries)

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/335762-Just-wondering-(about-the-injuries)

[Welshace]

Are they knocks or serious injuries etc?

but I'd have to say, I never see this amount of injuries and I haven't done anything in particular to stop them.

[Neil Brock]

I assure you there is NO fitness/injury bug within the game right now. However there's clearly something in your game causing you problems (it may end up being just bad luck though). Upload your save game to our FTP and let us know the file name so I can take a look. FTP details here - http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/345403

Thanks.

[tomtuck01]

What was your training like in preseason? Getting them fit in preseason is very important.

[kevinsuave]

I assure you there is NO fitness/injury bug within the game right now. However there's clearly something in your game causing you problems (it may end up being just bad luck though). Upload your save game to our FTP and let us know the file name so I can take a look. FTP details here - http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/345403

Thanks.

I believe you when you tell me there's no bug - I do hope you understand my frustration, though.

@tomtuck01 - I focus on conditioning my players on medium intensity. Pregame training is usually tactics.

[kevinsuave]

Btw - uploaded my savegame as suave.fm

[tomtuck01]

@tomtuck01 - I focus on conditioning my players on medium intensity. Pregame training is usually tactics.

Well in preseason I give them Fitness work on High intensity. I do this from the minute they return to training after summer until my first league game of the season. I don't get anything like the level of injuries you appear to be.

[SeanNUFC]

I'm always getting bad luck with this, no matter what you do it will happen, it can cool off later on in the season for some reason, but i've had saves ruined in the first 2-3 months because of this so have to edit them out just to keep the game fun, i don't edit them all though obviously! that would be stupid. I've tried everything, happens every time, and the most annoying ones are continuous injuries to non injury prone players. I'm personally done with trying to find ways around, and if i modify my tactics for it(such as cautious tackling) the AI just walks all over me. Shouldn't be forced to play a certain way because of injuries every time, its happened often enough for me to think its a flaw in the game, not saying its a bug exactly.

Oh and i've tried high fitness training in pre season to.

[Erimus1876]

I think the amount of injuries is about right, its the type of injuries that I think are a bit skewed. There's not enough minor 1 to 2 week knocks and too many 4, 5, and 6 week injuries for my liking. Lowering the injury frequency in your editor or reducing the number of medium & long term injuries in favour of more short term ones may be a quick fix for this if its something you can't resolve.

I've tried lots of different training regimes and always field players who are at least in their 90's fitness and condition wise and I'll still get a my fair share of medium & long term injuries - sometimes 2 or 3 in one match - which leads me to believe its my tactics

[Äktsjon Männ]

A few questions.

1) How big is your squad? Make sure you have at least two players for each position who you're willing to play regularly enough (not just the very occasional match against very poor opposition)

2) Do you keep an eye on match fitness and condition percentages? My custom squad screen looks like this. I always keep everyone at 100%, the only exceptions are the players returning from injuries/knocks. This is helped by arranging regular reserve friendlies where members of the first team are included based on their match fitness. Anyone from 90-100 plays 45 minutes, 80-90 means 60 minutes, anyone on less is available for the full 90.

3) Rotation. Are you making sure you keep the whole squad fresh? What kind of condition do you look for with your starting eleven?

Personally I've said it a lot but by paying attention to the above I get way too few injuries to be anywhere near realistic.

[Cleon]

How did Cuenca play when hes injured at the start for like 9 months? You used some kind of editor?

Plus some of the players you've posted like Kishna, Praets, Fischer and Andersen have really low stamina and match fitness. So if they are been run ragged during a match or having to much to do, then fitness levels will drop and you'll get injuries.

I play Ajax myself and some of the players who have got the injuries aren't capable of playing 2 games in a week.

[hashassin]

I think the amount of injuries is about right, its the type of injuries that I think are a bit skewed. There's not enough minor 1 to 2 week knocks and too many 4, 5, and 6 week injuries for my liking.

Honestly, in my game proportions are about right. Most often 5-6 days, than 10-12 days... Rarely i get 2-3 months. Longest i got during almost over 20seasons was 4-5 months, and number of those injuries i can count on one hand... and to be honest, i often forget to check whether player is injury prone before getting him...:o

I train fitness pre-season very heavy for 2 weeks (but not one after another, and when i have one friendly in the week max)... rest of the pre-season goes for tactics and team cohesion after transfers...

[kevinsuave]

@Cleon - yes, the official FM2013 editor that comes along with the game. I removed his injury. That is also the only thing I edited.

@Akstjon Mann - Will keep that in mind, thx.

[SeanNUFC]

Honestly, in my game proportions are about right. Most often 5-6 days, than 10-12 days... Rarely i get 2-3 months. Longest i got during almost over 20seasons was 4-5 months, and number of those injuries i can count on one hand... and to be honest, i often forget to check whether player is injury prone before getting him...:o

I train fitness pre-season very heavy for 2 weeks (but not one after another, and when i have one friendly in the week max)... rest of the pre-season goes for tactics and team cohesion after transfers...

i might try that next pre season.

[kevinsuave]

I guess I'll give all the advices yet another try. Thanks people.

[Erimus1876]

Honestly, in my game proportions are about right. Most often 5-6 days, than 10-12 days... Rarely i get 2-3 months. Longest i got during almost over 20seasons was 4-5 months, and number of those injuries i can count on one hand... and to be honest, i often forget to check whether player is injury prone before getting him...:o

I train fitness pre-season very heavy for 2 weeks (but not one after another, and when i have one friendly in the week max)... rest of the pre-season goes for tactics and team cohesion after transfers...

I'm a fitness freak too - I make sure my squad is 100% match fit and in 100% condition before the first league game. I even have a 'friendly' tactic for pre-season games, with easy tackling set and take a breather shouts, and I often use it in reserve games when players are coming back from injury. I always have cover for each position too and effectively have 2 teams that are constantly rotated, one for the league and one for the midweek cup games. By the end of the season everyone has played plenty of games and there are no ever-presents.

What I think is causing my injuries are my high-pressure tactics. I play fast counter attacking football and always closing down and hassling my opponents. Like I say, I have no problem with the amount of injuries, just the type of injuries. More minor knocks and less torn hamstrings would be nice But its something I can put up with since my tactic and style of play has proved very effective results-wise and something I don't want to compromise to reduce injuries (if it is the root cause).

[Neil Brock]

Looking at the save, the tempo is fairly high and you are closing down a large amount which could contribute to injuries. Saying that at present time you don't have many injuries and your training regime is fairly mild - although I would suggest changing it to Balanced for the default as opposed to Team Cohesion - this may help matters.

Also you deserve all your bad luck for selling Ryan Babel

Not really.

[davebl2012]

I get injuries all the time.... But when I am rebuilding my squads normally and all my players play in all 4 comps due to squad size of 16/17. I used to think that it was an issue, that the issue was too enhanced but it really does make a difference to simply rest them every now and then, I also used to think the guaranteed injury after all 3 subs was a bug, but again, take away the bad luck element and sub the right players based on fitness levels and not match rating (as tempting as subbing the useless tit on 5.9 rating is) this can be avoided too.... Making 3 subs and leaving a player with 40% fitness is always gonna end in tears, no matter how important to the team. I have sat back and taught myself how to play all over again and if you are willing to put the time in, you will get more out.

[SeanNUFC]

An idea I just had while on the game now is to put players on individual stamina training after they've had an injury, hoping this will stop continuous injuries.

[kevinsuave]

Thought i'd update you all on my progress.

Been working with all the advice that's been given. Rotating my squad pretty much every game, not too much pressing and medium tempo. Training is, as it was, still on medium. Kept an eye on all my players and their condition and match fitness. Still losing at least one player due to an injury, every friggin' game.

The weird thing is, I am not playing any different from previous FM installments. I even dare to see I've put (way) more strain on my team and players in earlier versions of this game. I've never, ever had these problems before.

I have given up. See you at FM2014.

[benallen002]

Not sure what country you play in, but I usually play in the lower English leagues where there are large amounts of midweek fixtures. I can tell you the best strategy for combating injuries I have found is 100% rotation every week. By that I mean I keep a Senior squad of 21 players: team A is best Keeper and 10 best outfielders and team B is the best keeper and the second best 10 outfields. With very few exceptions, team A gets the weekend games and team B gets the midweek games. This assures that almost every single game all 11 players start at 100/100 on their condition/fitness. Most seasons I go the entire year without any injuries in the "months" category and I can go months at a time without an injury at all. This also allows for more training for the whole squad because they are always getting a full 6 days between games so they can handle a more active training regime. Just some food for thought.

[paul1224]

I've not really had many major issues with injuries and I have most things set to their default............the main thing I do is make sure that wherever possible none of my players play when they are below 90% fitness........I try to keep my first eleven playing as much as possible but just make relevant tweaks when the players start to reduce fitness wise and then chop and change them when necessary.

[Erimus1876]

Thought i'd update you all on my progress.

Been working with all the advice that's been given. Rotating my squad pretty much every game, not too much pressing and medium tempo. Training is, as it was, still on medium. Kept an eye on all my players and their condition and match fitness. Still losing at least one player due to an injury, every friggin' game.

The weird thing is, I am not playing any different from previous FM installments. I even dare to see I've put (way) more strain on my team and players in earlier versions of this game. I've never, ever had these problems before.

I have given up. See you at FM2014.

Like I mentioned earlier, if you can't resolve the issue through squad rotation or tactical instructions, the other option is to lower the injury rates in the editor. Not ideal though since it means starting a new game.

SI have mentioned that there isn't an issue with injuries in FM13. They run soak tests and compare them against real life stats, and the numbers come back normal.

However I would like to see how the types of injuries in FM compare against the RL types.

The number of injuries may be spot on statistically, but the types could be way off. Getting 2 or 3 long term injuries every few games is whats concerning me - I can accept 2, 3, or 4 minor knocks every game or every other game, but when players are frequently injured for months on end it can get tiresome (especially when their injury proneness is low).

[hursty2]

Could you post a screenshot of your first 11's match fitness along with therest of the squad?

[OlivierL]

i might try that next pre season.

I'm having succes with very high intensity 'fitness' , almost no match training and no specific training settings . No rest before a game but rest after a game is 'checked' untill the end of the pre season.

Never had many injuries or tires players.. they could play two games a week..

[jefflackey]

Not sure what country you play in, but I usually play in the lower English leagues where there are large amounts of midweek fixtures. I can tell you the best strategy for combating injuries I have found is 100% rotation every week. By that I mean I keep a Senior squad of 21 players: team A is best Keeper and 10 best outfielders and team B is the best keeper and the second best 10 outfields. With very few exceptions, team A gets the weekend games and team B gets the midweek games. This assures that almost every single game all 11 players start at 100/100 on their condition/fitness. Most seasons I go the entire year without any injuries in the "months" category and I can go months at a time without an injury at all. This also allows for more training for the whole squad because they are always getting a full 6 days between games so they can handle a more active training regime. Just some food for thought.

I'm also playing lower leagues (Luton at the moment) but that is hardly a realistic way to play. If you follow real life LL teams, they don't play entirely different players every other match, and many/most don't have the redundancy in talent to be able to do soi. I certainly don't with my Luton squad. As a long time FM player (every version since CM 00/01) I'm familiar with fitness training, etc. but my first couple of tries with FM 13, both with LL teams, have resulted in obscene amount of long term injuries. My current Luton squad currently doesn't have enough players without longer term injuries to field a full squad + 5 subs.

[achilles-the-victorious]

I haven't had too much bad luck when it comes to injuries, but I have a creative trio (Adryan, Marcio, Abilio), and for THREE YEARS in a row, one of them got a major injury. The first time it was my AMC, Marcio, and he was out 2 months, as of April. Also known as, the worst time to get a 2 month injury to a key player.

The summer that follows, Adryan does his ACL. Something like 8, 9 months out, didn't ruin him, but made him so much worse I had to cash in while he still had a reputation. The next year, on July 15th, first preseason game, my 24 year old, 20 first touch, 19 technique regen, Abilio, gets his leg broken. I undid that one with FMRTE, because it was just too much (a big goal for me that season was to establish Abilio as a starter, he had been groomed over the previous 6 seasons).

The next season, on October 1st, my world class RB gets his leg broken in a game. I decided to 'pay my dues' for reversing Abilio's leg break, and just bit the bullet.

Other than that, though, I haven't really had trouble with injuries. In preseason the focus for me is FRIENDLIES FRIENDLIES FRIENDLIES. Every 4 days, for most of the preseason. Then around Aug. 10 I will see how the schedule looks (I.E. is there a Super Cup match, season starts early, international break, etc.), and try to fit one 4 days or so before the season kicks off.

It gets everyone fit, and I don't have to make too much adjustment to training schedules (if any).

[tomtuck01]

The next year, on July 15th, first preseason game, my 24 year old, 20 first touch, 19 technique regen, Abilio, gets his leg broken. I undid that one with FMRTE, because it was just too much (a big goal for me that season was to establish Abilio as a starter, he had been groomed over the previous 6 seasons).

So you cheated?

Also, what the hell were you doing with him for six years? He would have developed a hell of a lot more playing during those six years. Unless of course you just FMRTE'd his "grooming" process.

[vlobben]

There's no need to point fingers. It's a single player game, people play they way they want to.

[MisterX]

A few questions.

1) How big is your squad? Make sure you have at least two players for each position who you're willing to play regularly enough (not just the very occasional match against very poor opposition)

2) Do you keep an eye on match fitness and condition percentages? My custom squad screen looks like this. I always keep everyone at 100%, the only exceptions are the players returning from injuries/knocks. This is helped by arranging regular reserve friendlies where members of the first team are included based on their match fitness. Anyone from 90-100 plays 45 minutes, 80-90 means 60 minutes, anyone on less is available for the full 90.

3) Rotation. Are you making sure you keep the whole squad fresh? What kind of condition do you look for with your starting eleven?

Personally I've said it a lot but by paying attention to the above I get way too few injuries to be anywhere near realistic.

I want to at some question:

4) How well is your fysio? I think it has some influence at the injuries. Also at lower level, i look for a good fysio. Each year, there are people complaining over the new FM and to much injuries, but mostly i don't have many injuries and i think, a good fysio is a key.