Hi all,
I just ended my sixth season in Croatia and got second place after HNK Rijeka. We will be playing Champions League Football, albeit the League Path Second Qualifying Round. I'm loving the save so far and I'm enjoying the beautiful goals we score. The mistakes I made in my Norwegian Save are avoided and thus I have a core of strong footballers.
Yet, after six seasons, the "original" players are overtaken by the youth players. My best 11 only has 2 players left, a winger (2.5 stars - Good Second League) and a goalkeeper (2 stars - Decent Second League). The winger is putting in some solid numbers, with an average of 15 G/A in the league, and around a 6.9 average rating. The goalkeeper is just declining season after season, his masterclass in the first season in the Croatian First League won't be forgotten (12 of 36 clean sheets and 8 (!) stopped penalties) but he has no future in our club. None of the original players have a personality other than "Balanced" so I won't use them as a mentor.
(1) How do you all work with this transition? They are taking the playing time of players with a PA higher than their current CA. Yet, it feels like I need some older players in the team. A squad with the oldest player being 21 seems just weird.
(2) Last season I got a 4 gold-5 white PA goalkeeper through my YI with a Professional personality. Would it be best to wait 1 or 2 seasons until he is 18 and start him then? Or should I start him as quickly as possible? I'm still uncomfortable with player development at a young age.
(3) Does anybody know how to get my youth team into the Croatian Youth League system? Some third-division clubs do have their youth team in this league. Based on reputation, we are the 8th team in Croatia. Orijent (In Youth League) is 28th. We are only playing friendly matches at the moment and winning most of them against teams that are in this CYL.
(4) How do you all build your squad? Until now, I built the squad with the best 11, then all "Original" players, and then the youth prospects, so 22 players. Then 3 youth players with bad personalities but high CA, they won't grow so just for the depth in the squad. The problem is that it seems like the starting 11 players are growing, but the rotational players don't. It feels like a waste of their PA to keep them in the squad. These rotational players have on average 10 starts and 15 substitute appearances from the 60th minute, so 30 minutes minimum. With the "original" players leaving, there will be more young players on the bench. I'm worried it will stagnate their growth.
If someone is interested in my save, I will post a Season Review after season 7.
Have a nice weekend!