Coaching is a new feature in FC 24, added to Career Mode to enhance the realistic feel of the save, and we will show you how coaches work within the game mode.
Whether you are embarking on a journey filled with Career Mode wonderkids, or taking charge of a solid established club, coaching will make life much easier if done right, and see your club excel!
FC 24 Career Mode Coaches
FC 24 has a coaching system that works logically, as coaches are assigned to either goalkeeping, defensive, midfield, or attacking departments. They then use the following dimensions to develop players within their allocated department:
- Tactical knowledge
- Player development
Concerning tactical knowledge, the game consists of seven different philosophies that govern how teams should play within the game. These are:
- Standard
- Wing play
- Tiki-taka
- Counter-attack
- Gegenpressing
- Kick & rush
- Park the bus
Coaches in Career Mode have either a novice, accomplished or expert-level knowledge of the aforementioned tactical approaches, and this is what differentiates one coach from another within the game when it comes to competency.
For example, you could have a coach at Manchester City who has expert-level knowledge of the “Tiki-taka” tactical vision but a novice level of knowledge about the “Park the Bus” approach.
As a baseline (i.e. a minimum), each coach is a novice in all seven different types of tactical vision. As a manager, it's up to you to select the best coaches for your team based on the tactical vision you want to employ during matches.
For instance, let's say you're managing a dominant Leicester City team in the EFL Championship and employing a Gegenpressing tactic that's working to significant effect. Now, you'll get more performance improvement from your players by hiring coaches with accomplished or expert-level knowledge of this tactical vision.
Match XP Earnings
EA has gone a step further by making this tactical knowledge element of coaching a dynamic one. This is because coaches can gain experience points (XP) over time when the team plays matches, more so through wins which provide a considerable boost to the knowledge level of a certain tactical approach.
It's also important to note that all coaches at a club are eligible to earn specific tactical vision XP from matches played, except those who've already attained expert-level knowledge of the active tactical vision.
Attribute Development
Now here's where you get the benefits from coaching. Players can reap the rewards of their dedication to following their coaches' training via attribute increases.
Here's how developers outlined this feature prior to the game's release:
“The Knowledge the Head Coach has can increase attributes of players in their department. The higher the Knowledge level is, the more Attributes there can be. Novice level Coaches typically increase 3 attributes at most, while Expert level coaches can increase up to 9 attributes.”
This is pretty self-explanatory, but in a nutshell, it means that coaches with a higher level of tactical knowledge are able to offer a greater boost to the attributes of players. Let's look through some examples of this below.
Wing Play Coaching Example
Here we have Jack Grealish, a first-choice left winger at Manchester City.
With the wing play tactical vision in force, Grealish can benefit from increases in his Crossing, Sprint Speed, Acceleration, and Dribbling attributes.
Similarly, Erling Haaland gets a boost to Strength, Heading, Shot Power, Jumping, and Finishing from having a wing play coach working on making him a better striker.
Counter Attack Coaching Example
On the other hand, a counter-attacking coach will be able to influence a different set of player attributes.
In the screenshot below, you can see that Grealish's Agility, Stamina, Finishing, Dribbling and Acceleration all get a positive bump from counter-attacking coaching.
Therefore, managers have to choose their coaches carefully because the tactical knowledge a coach can impart directly affects the physical and technical growth of the players being trained.
One other thing worth noting is that the size of the attribute increase is also determined by player sharpness. So, regardless of Coach Knowledge level, it's up to each manager to get players at the right levels of sharpness to get a strong increase while also having enough energy to be eligible to play the entire match.
Player Development
Earlier on in the article, we introduced the two main coaching dimensions in the Career Mode module, but we only spoke about tactical knowledge.
Now, here's where we look at the impact of a coach's player development capability.
This works because each coach has a set of skills for developing players over time. This quality is comprised of a star rating system ranging from one to five, which is also department-specific. Here's what this looks like within the game:
What this basically means is that a coach can have a rating of four stars for attacking skills and a lower rating of two stars for defensive skills. In essence, they're better suited to training attacking players than defensive ones, and their attribute boosts will be weighted heavier toward the players on the offensive side of the field.
Overall Coach Management
Lastly, when it comes to the overall management of coaching duties within Career Mode, you have the flexibility to determine how to allocate hired coaches among the various departments of the club, tailoring the assignments to each department's unique requirements.
However, it's important to note that each club has a limited number of open positions for hiring coaches, primarily based on the club's status and value.
The board can potentially unlock additional coaching slots on an annual basis, contingent upon achieving a favourable manager rating after the preceding season.
Also worth noting is that the pool of available coaches on the market is periodically refreshed. So, if you're unable to find the perfect candidates to fill all the vacant slots, you can revisit the market at a later time for a fresh selection.
Moreover, EA has introduced a coach wish list feature that empowers managers to specify desired attributes for potential coaches such as Tactical Vision, Knowledge, and specific coaching skills. This tool even offers notifications when a suitable candidate matching the criteria becomes accessible.
On a separate note, coaches also have the freedom to transition between departments without any repercussions, allowing for the maintenance of an optimal quality balance within each department.
Additionally, coaches can be released by the club to make room for more qualified available candidates. It's important to note that releasing a coach in this manner incurs a severance package cost, and the released coach will not reappear on the market for consideration.
La Liga TOTS Out Now | Liga F TOTS Out Now | TOTS Williams Objective Guide | How to Complete Flashback Angel Correa SBC | How to Complete Champions Corner Evolution | FC 24 Releases as Free PlayStation Plus Game