TRAINING
In the real world, a large part of the influence a manager has over the performance of his team and of his knowledge of his players' capabilities comes from his time on the training ground. Here, he can watch the strengths and weaknesses of his players and introduce training to develop the first of these and eliminate the second. Here, having thought about the problems his next opponents will pose for him, he can work on the tactics he will use and prepare his team for the match to come. He needs to get this part of his responsibilities right or face the consequences.
The majority of smgs ignore the importance of the training ground and expect little from the gamer-manager in training and match preparation.
The assistant coach's comments on the performance of the players is the most definitive information on the form of the players outside the match itself. There's a subjective assessment of each player's performance and verbal comments on the best and worst three. The picture here illustrates the training screen with the assistant coach's assessment and comments.
Each daily session, following the schedule you set on Monday, has a similar report. The "best three" players are noted and the notes reproduced on the teamsheet screen to help select the best in-form players.
The type of training you choose has both a long and short term effect on the players' skills. It will emphasise those skills in preparation for the next match and it will have an incremental effect on each player's skill development - assuming that player is developing (see player development).
So the training screen has three purposes. It informs you of the form of the players in the skill defined by the training type. It prepares the team for the coming match and it helps develop the skills of players in the long term. A good manager will make his training selections taking into account all three and applying priorities according to the needs at any one point in time.
In SaaP, the training ground becomes very important and the demands on the gamer-manager quite severe. It begins on the Monday morning, immediately after the report from the assistant scout on the next opposition, when he must define the training schedule for the week. He needs to prepare the team and monitor the form of his players.