And here is my biggest question and one that has never been answered ;)

[Cruisey]

Ok so you have your 1st team tactic. In the staff responsibilities you have tell u21 or u18 team to play with 1st team tactics.

Now does this mean all tactics? Does this mean just formation and tactics? Does it cover player individual instructions? Does it mean just formation and not tactics. Because surely if you are playing a huge target man up front for your 1st team as I am and your reserves are full of quick nippy pacey skillful players like mine are I dont want them playing my 1st team tactics. But I do want them learning the current formation but I want them to play there own tactics to a point.

Also does it mean follow current 1st team set pieces etc? i have not tested it yet on Fm 15. On an old FM i think I tested this and watched a reserve or youth game to see if they was following my 1st team set pieces and I cant remember if it was or not.

Anyway what would be perfect is if I could just tell the manager to play our philosophy, like certain tactics. At the mo I am playing direct football from the start of games as I have a huge 6'7 striker Michael Cheek. But I dont want my reserve and youth teams playing this tactic. I want them to play attacking passing football.

Another huge prob and maybe the biggest with this is lets say I am playing an away game for the 1st team to a higher division team. I need to go counter attacking and defensive ish. But if my reserve and youth teams have there next game at home if they are copying first team tactics then I dont want them playing defensive counter at home, especially if they have an easy home game.

What do other people think it means or what happens when this copy box is ticked. I currently have it ticked but im thinking of taking it off due to this dilemma. Any help would be great. Over the year I have put this up 2/3 times and nobody knew for sure.

[podunkboy]

I'm sorry, your "biggest question" is at least 7 questions...

Somehow, the game is able to simulate results for u21s and U18s even if you don't have 11 players on the team, I loan off most of my kids so sometimes the team doesn't even show a goalkeeper. My only observation is that when you play a friendly against your reserves, they always start out with the same tactic you've set for the senior team, so i'm thinking they simulate with your primary tactic. Sometime I guess I'll have to watch a reserve squad game...

[nickdc]

Formation yes, individual player roles no. As for anything else, not sure.

I would think tactically probably so as the U21/18 managers in my set up change the player roles to types I never use.

[thomit]

Tick the filter boxes for U21 and U18 so that you have all players together on your list. Then go to tactics and change individual roles, instructions etc. for any player you like. When your U21 or U18 manager (playing with your tactics) puts your nippy U18 striker in that striker slot, his role and everything else will change just as you have ordered. Problem solved.

Whether you should be bothered about this is another question entirely. The important thing for the young ones is that they play. What roles and instructions they get when they play is probably not all that relevant, but of course - getting used to your preferred 1.st team formation can't be bad.

[Cruisey]

I'm sorry, your "biggest question" is at least 7 questions...

Somehow, the game is able to simulate results for u21s and U18s even if you don't have 11 players on the team, I loan off most of my kids so sometimes the team doesn't even show a goalkeeper. My only observation is that when you play a friendly against your reserves, they always start out with the same tactic you've set for the senior team, so i'm thinking they simulate with your primary tactic. Sometime I guess I'll have to watch a reserve squad game...

No my question was 1. The rest were side questions within that. If people just wanted to ask the main question I was ok with that.

For people who knew more or wanted to answer more the other questions were for them. Always someone online that has to be smart

Anyway thanks for the replies guys. I never knew that one about the individual instructions and you can add all the players and change theres separately. I am very new to FM 14 and FM 15. Hardly played either. I am still back playing FM 10 which i found to be the best version but am really into FM 15 now.

So it seems if I dont want my youth players to follow certain team instructions I can just add them to 1st team tactics and set what there roles will be when they play for the reserves and u18. But It seems to me these instructions I am giving them is for the 1st team only. Are you sure its for u21 and u18?

[chocolatecoatedballs]

When you first join a club and have the intra squad friendly, you will see the youth playing your formation, but the roles may be very different. So I would think that by that the coaches will play the tactic, but change roles and instructions to what they think is best.

[Cruisey]

When you first join a club and have the intra squad friendly, you will see the youth playing your formation, but the roles may be very different. So I would think that by that the coaches will play the tactic, but change roles and instructions to what they think is best.

yeah in my original post I did mention formation is used. But not sure how much of your tactics is copied by your reserve and youth teams.

[chocolatecoatedballs]

yeah in my original post I did mention formation is used. But not sure how much of your tactics is copied by your reserve and youth teams.

I would hazard a guess, very little.

When you hire an U18 or U21 coach their profile will tell you if they like to play a pressing game, attacking and all that, so I guess it's best to choose someone that might want to play like you would like. Even their preferred formation could give you clues, say for instance you only have CM, but their preferred formation includes DM, expect your CM to be set up more as a DM or playmaker if it's a DLP.

But it's mostly supposition on my part, all I have to go on is the intra friendly. But as long as you run their training and mold them how you like, the most important thing is that they get game time, I don't think playing a certain role would effect development to much.

[Cruisey]

Hmm done some testing and found some interesting stuff.

On the old Fm i play Fm 12 when you tick res/u18 to copy 1st team tactics they copy the last 1st team fixtures tactics. Not the current one picked just in the tactics screen.

so I tried to change formation in my 1st teams tactics, played an u18 fixture where they had been playing my 1st teams 3-5-2. Only prob with this is if I had just had a tough away game and had gone defensive I didnt want my u18s playing a home game with defensive mentality's and tactics, although some people here think the reserve and u18 manager use there own tactics but just copy the 1st teams formation.

It still seems nobody is fully sure how much the Reserve and u18 manager copy 1st teams tactics. Or if it is just formation. It seems I may have to do some more in depth testing but setting up crazy corner routines like tell keeper to go up in the 1st team and see if the u18 and u21 copy it. I will come back here with the results. It is very tough to find out if they copy mentality and structure.

I just wish it was the way it used to be back on good old Fm 06. On this one you could see the exact tactics and individual player roles the reserves and u18s were using. And they used to copy your 1st teams completely if you ticked the copy box. Plus you could go back to old fixtures and check what tactics and instructions were used for all your teams for each game. Very useful to find out what worked v certain teams, what you were doing when on that brill form streak a season ago. Or what you were doing when you was on bad form etc. And weight up which is best.

Anyway i will see if corner routines are copied by reserve/u18s and report back. If they are there a high chance he is copying your 1st teams set tactics and formation fully.

[chocolatecoatedballs]

Hmm done some testing and found some interesting stuff.

On the old Fm i play Fm 12 when you tick res/u18 to copy 1st team tactics they copy the last 1st team fixtures tactics. Not the current one picked just in the tactics screen.

so I tried to change formation in my 1st teams tactics, played an u18 fixture where they had been playing my 1st teams 3-5-2. Only prob with this is if I had just had a tough away game and had gone defensive I didnt want my u18s playing a home game with defensive mentality's and tactics, although some people here think the reserve and u18 manager use there own tactics but just copy the 1st teams formation.

It still seems nobody is fully sure how much the Reserve and u18 manager copy 1st teams tactics. Or if it is just formation. It seems I may have to do some more in depth testing but setting up crazy corner routines like tell keeper to go up in the 1st team and see if the u18 and u21 copy it. I will come back here with the results. It is very tough to find out if they copy mentality and structure.

I just wish it was the way it used to be back on good old Fm 06. On this one you could see the exact tactics and individual player roles the reserves and u18s were using. And they used to copy your 1st teams completely if you ticked the copy box. Plus you could go back to old fixtures and check what tactics and instructions were used for all your teams for each game. Very useful to find out what worked v certain teams, what you were doing when on that brill form streak a season ago. Or what you were doing when you was on bad form etc. And weight up which is best.

Anyway i will see if corner routines are copied by reserve/u18s and report back. If they are there a high chance he is copying your 1st teams set tactics and formation fully.

Cool mate, I'll wait to see what you come up with.

I think it was FM10 where I had a save and took over the first team and U18 squads, the coaches have a tendency to pick players by age and not potential (even if JPP was high) and I wanted to remedy that. Each season was doubly long because of it, so I only did it for one save, but it did help the youth team players with the higher potential get more game time.

[Cruisey]

Cool mate, I'll wait to see what you come up with.

I think it was FM10 where I had a save and took over the first team and U18 squads, the coaches have a tendency to pick players by age and not potential (even if JPP was high) and I wanted to remedy that. Each season was doubly long because of it, so I only did it for one save, but it did help the youth team players with the higher potential get more game time.

Ah ok cool Well I really like to take an active interest in my youth and reserve teams. I do all I can to help them win the league, ofcourse the main one bringing in players to the club that can play in the squads. I brought in over 120 trialists using the FM scout. only bringing in players who were interested in coming in on non contracts basis if they signed or accepting the 5 per week youth contract. Then picked the best 18 for my u18 Academy. Sticking to the age regulations that they can turn 19 after Jan 1st. This helps the team become alot stronger. As many of the best players are 18. Not many 16/17 year olds with profile pics that want to come to chelmsford.

I also only put players in the Academy that have pics, so are real players in real life, the rest of the players can be regens but they have to work there way up from the U18's B team or u17's I should add I have edited player pics into the game that made the academy as hate the black picture, took me ages that. How to do that is on utube.

So I have picked my 18 man Academy. It is strong lol. Looking to win the u18 cup this season with them v the likes of all the big Prem clubs. And should win the u18 league easy. 19 teams 36 game season it is so looking forward to that I have 6 players who made the squad who were at Chelmsford already and really good prospects in real life. Niklas Freund, Charlie Morgan, Rob Girdlestone. Sam Gregory, Jake Gordon, and Jack Barham. Also Marvel Ekpiteta who I had to sign but has just joined in real life. Big powerful center back or RB in real life. The rest went through grueling selection process and pre season friendlies to pick the final 18.

The ones who did not make it and who are u17s will make up the u17s Academy team. And the ones who are left from that will play for the U-18's B Team. this will give the Academy 2 feeder teams. whoever plays well for them will get promoted up to the Academy. This is roughly how they do it in real life but its how I have always played my FM saves. And ofcourse the best Academy players will get chances in the Reserves. In fact they are so good they are mostly better than my reserves already.

I have picked all eligible players for the u18 and picked the best ones. Even if some were good enough for the reserves. For me the Youth Cup is so important and I take my u18s more serious than the reserves. The reserves will be consisted of players not getting game time from my 20 man 1st team squad and players who were too old for the Academy. plus I have lots of trialists and players on non contracts in the Reserves to give me about a 25 man squad.

It gives me so much pleasure working on them, watching them progress, having a proper structure and system to run the club by. I have no money to buy players and dont really like signing players on free transfers. If I do its only players with non pro backgrounds or players who have played for the club im managing, or they join in real life. Normally I manage Barnet but for FM 15 im going for Chelmsford after one of my ex players i coached in real life played for them last season (Nicky Nicolau) and watching a utube fm Story video series which is still running called chumps to champions where the guy is Chelmsford and its a great story.

Anyway some people may wonder what I mean by u17s and u'18s B and how do i do this. All I do is arrange friendlies from the u18s page to play games on days I have no 1st team game or u21 game. As I always watch my u21s/Reserves. So the u17 Academy is going to play on Thursdays and the U18's B is going to play on Mondays. This way if I want to I can watch every game. The u21s are set in the u21 league to play on Wednesdays and the Academy(u18A) plays on Saturday mornings. For some silly reason the game wont let me watch the u18A even if they are at home and my 1st team is at home. So I have a manager added into the game who stays unemployed and just watches the games FM wont let me watch. This way I get to see who the key player is, and how everything happened for myself.

Also I get to process the games properly and not randomly generated by FM. I have always been worried that if you dont let the game play out as you play your 1st teams games the players stats and things that happen are not as real as they could be if you played it out fully instead.

Anyway as you can see I am very excited by this save and the structure I am using as it is very close to how Chelmsford are doing it in real life.

I also brought in all the best staff to manage/coach all these teams.

And delighted that I can set the tactics(I think) and formation I want the u18s to use just by putting it on the 1st teams tactics page. Didnt really want my Youth team playing the 3-5-2 system all the time and want them to really attack with passing football so when I bring them into the 1st team finally they will be used to that way of playing and not have them playing direct to a Target man which I sometimes use as a tactical weapon v teams as I have 6'7 Striker Michael Cheek (heading 16 and jump reach 18) in my 1st team and have to utilise him

And like some people who play Fm I have an away tactic and a home tactic and dont want my lower teams playing attacking when they need to defend and vice versa.

Anyway I have gone on way too long but was going to post this kinda thing up soon on the forums as to what I do in Fm that is interesting so will use most of this message for that.

If anyone plays the game similar to this let me know or is interested by this idea.

Also I will post back on the tactics/set piece routines being copied by u21/u18 teams.

[Cruisey]

Ok finally got off the game for 10 mins to report back. Been stuck to this game like glue. the last FM i got addicted to was FM 12 so this is a huge improvement. FM 13 lost it for me after the AI was messed up regarding interaction with players. Totally went off the game from that point and thought the game had too many features. Anyway really liking FM 15.

ok to the point. I have done some testing and it seems to me the Manager you have set for the u21 and u18 teams use there own tactics and player roles within that formation you have set. They also use different set piece routines and player instructions. Which is good I think. My u21 manager thought it a bad idea to push everyone forward including the keeper for defending corners and attacking corners and free kicks But no he just dont take any notice of the tactics and instructions. Just formation.

Which leads me to ask why cant you instruct your AM or u18 manager to also use your tactics? This means you have to bring in people who follow your philosophy/ideas of how you want to play. Very hard if you are a lower team like me (Chelmsford) Over time you should beable to influence your AM to play how you play?

Any ideas or views on this?

[chocolatecoatedballs]

Yep it is as I thought and nice details in the previous post, so you are a coach then?

All I look for in a U18 or U21 manager is personality (can effect intake) DDM (determination, Discipline and motivation), tacticle knowledge, working with youngsters. I also like his preferred formation to be similar to mine and to be attacking focused. But the first sentence is the main thing I look for

[Cruisey]

Yeah was for nearly 20 years. did all my coaching qualifications and first aid etc. Many of the players I coached and managed on the game. Most famous being Joe Cole. Altho he only played for me in a few tournaments. Next most famous prob Jabo Ibehre. He is IRL the top goalscorer in Britain. 10 goals I think playing for Carlisle in League 2.

[Garethjohn79]

Yeah was for nearly 20 years. did all my coaching qualifications and first aid etc. Many of the players I coached and managed on the game. Most famous being Joe Cole. Altho he only played for me in a few tournaments. Next most famous prob Jabo Ibehre. He is IRL the top goalscorer in Britain. 10 goals I think playing for Carlisle in League 2.

I'm going to watch Carlisle tomorrow. Do you wanna Scout report? I will need my expenses reimbursed;)

[Cruisey]

I'm going to watch Carlisle tomorrow. Do you wanna Scout report? I will need my expenses reimbursed;)

Haha yes please do There playing Barnet arnt they?

Another club close to my heart. And another club who one of my ex players played for Nicky Nicolau. Tell Jabo Lee said hi

I last saw him in a night club in Tottenham He was boasting to me then he was worth a million pounds lol. Shame he never fulfilled his potential.

[Garethjohn79]

Haha yes please do There playing Barnet arnt they?

Another club close to my heart. And another club who one of my ex players played for Nicky Nicolau. Tell Jabo Lee said hi

I last saw him in a night club in Tottenham He was boasting to me then he was worth a million pounds lol. Shame he never fulfilled his potential.

Hope it weren't last night? It's one helluva way from Carlisle!!.

I'm behind the Subs Bench so who knows !! Although I would refrain from a ''flash Cockney'' tale dunno what the reaction would be if he tried one up there.

[Guest]

Ok finally got off the game for 10 mins to report back. Been stuck to this game like glue. the last FM i got addicted to was FM 12 so this is a huge improvement. FM 13 lost it for me after the AI was messed up regarding interaction with players. Totally went off the game from that point and thought the game had too many features. Anyway really liking FM 15.

ok to the point. I have done some testing and it seems to me the Manager you have set for the u21 and u18 teams use there own tactics and player roles within that formation you have set. They also use different set piece routines and player instructions. Which is good I think. My u21 manager thought it a bad idea to push everyone forward including the keeper for defending corners and attacking corners and free kicks But no he just dont take any notice of the tactics and instructions. Just formation.

Which leads me to ask why cant you instruct your AM or u18 manager to also use your tactics? This means you have to bring in people who follow your philosophy/ideas of how you want to play. Very hard if you are a lower team like me (Chelmsford) Over time you should beable to influence your AM to pay how you play?

Any ideas or views on this?

Other staff only using your formation when instructed to use the senior team tactic is a known issue & one that SI will hopefully be able to address for FM16.

[Cruisey]

Ah thats cool. As players playing under a totally different set of tactics/instructions will still take time to get used to being brought into the 1st team if they vary alot anyway. What I do is play friendlies for my 1st team for my fringe players and ones doing well in the reserves to raise confidence and get them used to my tactics and see if they play well in it.

Its time consuming but keeps everyone fit who didnt make the last 11 line up and gets them used to your tactic. I also play games v really poor teams so they get wins and raises morale and form/confidence.

[Guest]

Ah thats cool. As players playing under a totally different set of tactics/instructions will still take time to get used to being brought into the 1st team if they vary alot anyway.

AFAIK your tactical familiarity will not be negatively affected even if you play your entire reserve team in a senior team match let alone the odd reserve player being promoted here & there.

[Cruisey]

AFAIK your tactical familiarity will not be negatively affected even if you play your entire reserve team in a senior team match let alone the odd reserve player being promoted here & there.

No I mean if you have a player playing in the Reserves for your reserve team manager playing under his tactics and instructions surely that players average rating is based on playing with those tactics etc. So bringing him in for playing well in the reserve team may take a bit of time to get used to my tactics and instructions.

[Guest]

It should but I do not believe that it does.

[Cruisey]

Hope it weren't last night? It's one helluva way from Carlisle!!.

I'm behind the Subs Bench so who knows !! Although I would refrain from a ''flash Cockney'' tale dunno what the reaction would be if he tried one up there.

Haha, missed this. No it was about 13 years ago. He was at Leyton Orient at the time and was in his 2nd season in the 1st team I think. Spoke with him a few times on facebook and stuff since but not seen him. Been meaning to go and watch him. Will defo go and watch a London team v his team this season. He has been in and out of teams so much I have never been sure if he will be playing or not but the way he is playing and scoring this season im sure he will be starting.

[Cruisey]

It should but I do not believe that it does.

And even if it doesn't I like to believe it does as in real life this would be a slight prob if 1st team and reserve team were separate. Depends on players position aswel.