COACHING and PLAYER DEVELOPMENT
There are two ways in which you can improve your squad of players in SaaP and they are both equally effective. You can buy better players on the transfer market and pick up quality free transfers. You can "grow your own" and develop the young players who come into your youth squad each year or who you take from the lower divisions for a song. This development of young players is very much more sophisticated in SaaP than in other smgs.
But a player doesn't always develop. In fact there are three phases to his career.
In the first phase the player responds well to this training. If maintained for some time then a particular skill will approach his maximum potential. The rate at which he approaches his maximum slows as he gets nearer. If he reaches his maximum and then the training stops then he will fall back a little. Not all the way but a little. To maintain him at maximum you must retain the training.
At some point you may decide that it is better to move to another skill which will show more improvement. That's a decision you need to make - is it better to maintain his maximum skill or better to develop another skill.
During the second phase a player will cease to develop but neither will he automatically fade. He can maintain his skills during this phase but will show little improvement.
In the third phase a player will deteriorate regardless of what you do to arrest it. If he's a particularly good player it may be ok to keep him for a while but at some point you'll need to get rid of him. The earlier you do it the more you'll get for him.
There are no fixed ages at which these phases change. One player can continue developing until he's 30 or more, another player will never get better than when he was at 19. One player will hold his skills for several years another will start to deteriorate soon after he ceases to develop. Serious injury can also effect these phases.
How do you know which phase a player is in? You never completely know. His performance will reflect it slowly and the assistant coach will weigh in with his opinion. You need to keep your eyes open.
The picture (left) shows the individual training setting of each of your senior squad players. Each week, each player undertakes training specific to his own needs. This is usually set to develop particular skills or help a player recover from injury. This training works on his long term development.