To work on weaker foot or not?

[phnompenhandy]

I've started a new save and all my players are very one-footed. They're all 16 years old, and the training facilities are minimal. Should I train some to use their weaker foot, or does that take too much away from their general and individual training? How long does it take and how much improvement can I expect to see anyway?

[Andrew Marines]

It obviously affects training intensity but improving the weaker foot will increase their CA. Obviously when the PA is really high not that much of a problem but if it isn't you'll limit how much the player will improve in their career. My tip is to not improve it when they are that young. Wait until like 25 so that the learning curve is already close to the end anyway

[phnompenhandy]

12 hours ago, Andrew Marines said:

It obviously affects training intensity but improving the weaker foot will increase their CA. Obviously when the PA is really high not that much of a problem but if it isn't you'll limit how much the player will improve in their career. My tip is to not improve it when they are that young. Wait until like 25 so that the learning curve is already close to the end anyway

That's an interesting perspective. It seems counterintuitive to wait until they're old, but my instinct it to avoid it when they're young as I prefer to focus on their positional skills.

[Andros]

@phnompenhandyif i remember correctly you like to start in the lower leagues?  I am not sure you will have much PA to play with here - if you go down to the 10 tier of the pyramid then getting a PA of 20 is a challenge! i would guess the players would be coming and going a lot at these lower levels so I wouldn't be worrying about this type of thing.  If you are playing at a much higher level - then I would consider the position of the player.  Also I think one of the mods mentioned a long time ago that there is a maximum a player can reach on their weaker foot.  like if the weaker foot is 1/20 the highest it can get to is like 11? don't quote me on those numbers but I believe it is something like that.

[phnompenhandy]

21 minutes ago, Andros said:

@phnompenhandyif i remember correctly you like to start in the lower leagues?  I am not sure you will have much PA to play with here - if you go down to the 10 tier of the pyramid then getting a PA of 20 is a challenge! i would guess the players would be coming and going a lot at these lower levels so I wouldn't be worrying about this type of thing.  If you are playing at a much higher level - then I would consider the position of the player.  Also I think one of the mods mentioned a long time ago that there is a maximum a player can reach on their weaker foot.  like if the weaker foot is 1/20 the highest it can get to is like 11? don't quote me on those numbers but I believe it is something like that.

Yeah, you're right. I manage to retain most of the players and being an academy-challenge sort, there's no 'coming' except once a year, but the low PAs is a pertinent point. I'll stay with my hunch and totally ignore my coaches' advice every damned staff meeting!