How Staff Attributes & Working With Youngster affect player growth - Evidence Based Football Manager

Summary

In this video, Max from Evidence-Based Football Manager explores how coaching staff quality impacts player development in Football Manager 2022. Through controlled experiments, he tests the effects of coaching staff attributes on player growth across different scenarios, including varying staff ratings and player attributes like professionalism and determination. Max also investigates the significance of the 'working with youngster' attribute. The results show that higher-quality coaching staff can slightly accelerate player development, though factors like player attributes (PID values) play a critical role in growth. Overall, Max concludes that while staff attributes do affect development, they are not the sole determinant.

Takeaways

• 😀 Coaching staff quality has a noticeable effect on player growth in Football Manager, although the impact is relatively minor.
• 😀 Three experimental conditions were tested with different coaching staff attributes: 20/20, 10/20, and 1/20.
• 😀 Player growth was measured based on the CA (current ability) increase over a season, with results recorded for 25 clone players.
• 😀 When the coaching staff attributes were at 20/20, players grew by an average of 5.8 CA points. When set at 1/20, growth was only 5.5 points.
• 😀 Player professionalism, ambition, and determination (PID values) can significantly override the effects of coaching staff quality.
• 😀 Lower PID values (set to 10/20) resulted in more noticeable differences between coaching staff quality levels.
• 😀 With 10/20 staff attributes, the average player growth was 6 CA points, which was the highest growth observed among the three sets.
• 😀 Working with youngsters, a specific coaching attribute, didn't influence the growth of players aged 15 or 18 significantly when PID values were 20/20.
• 😀 A stronger correlation between the 'working with youngsters' attribute and player growth was observed when the players' PID values were lower (10/20).
• 😀 In a real-world test using Manchester United, players' growth was slower when the staff attributes were lowered to 1/20, supporting the earlier findings.
• 😀 While the coaching staff's quality does influence player development, its effect is not as significant as the player's personal attributes, especially professionalism and determination.

Q & A

How did the experiment in the video aim to test the influence of coaching staff on player growth?

The experiment tested the impact of coaching staff by changing their attributes, specifically the overall coaching attributes, and then tracking the growth of 25 clone players over one season. The staff attributes were manipulated across three different levels (20/20, 10/20, and 1/20) to observe the correlation with player development.

What were the age groups of the 25 clone players used in the experiment?

The clone players were subdivided into five age groups: 15, 18, 21, 24, and 27. Each group consisted of one striker, two midfielders, one defender, and one goalkeeper.

Why was a custom league set up with no matches played in this experiment?

A custom league with no matches played was set up to prevent match experience from influencing the results. The experiment aimed to isolate the effects of coaching staff on player growth without the variable of match exposure.

What were the results of the first experiment when the coaching staff had attributes set to 20/20?

When the coaching staff had attributes set to 20/20, the 25 clone players grew by an average of 5.8 CA (Current Ability) points over the season, indicating a moderate growth rate.

What was the impact of staff attributes on player growth when the PID values (Professionalism, Ambition, and Determination) of the players were at 20/20?

When the PID values of the players were at 20/20, the coaching staff's attribute level had minimal impact on player growth. The growth rates across all coaching staff levels (20/20, 10/20, 1/20) were very similar, suggesting that highly professional, ambitious, and determined players grow well regardless of coaching quality.

What changes were made to the experiment to see if lowering the PID values affected the results?

The PID values of the players were lowered from 20/20 to 10/20 to see if this would make the growth more dependent on the coaching staff's attributes. The experiment was then repeated under these new conditions.

What were the findings when the PID values were set to 10/20?

When the PID values were set to 10/20, the correlation between staff attributes and player growth became more apparent. Players developed faster when coaching staff attributes were higher and slower when the staff attributes were lower, suggesting that coaching quality became more influential under these conditions.

What did the experiments reveal about the 'Working with Youngster' attribute of coaching staff?

The 'Working with Youngster' attribute was tested to see if it specifically influenced the growth of younger players (aged 15 and 18). For players aged 15, there was little difference in growth across various levels of the 'Working with Youngster' attribute. However, for players aged 18, there was no noticeable effect on growth regardless of the attribute level, suggesting that this attribute might not significantly impact older young players.

How did the real-world simulation with Manchester United players support the experimental findings?

The real-world simulation with Manchester United players showed similar results. When the coaching staff attributes were set to 1/20, most of the young players grew slower compared to when the staff attributes were at their default levels. This further supported the conclusion that coaching quality influences player development, especially when the players’ PID values are not maximized.

What is the overall conclusion from the experiments regarding the effect of coaching staff on player growth?

The overall conclusion is that coaching staff attributes do influence player growth in Football Manager, although the effect is not massive. Players will grow faster when coaching staff attributes are high, but if the players have high PID values (professionalism, ambition, and determination), the coaching staff’s quality becomes less impactful. The findings suggest that maximizing both player and staff attributes will result in the best player development.