Youth developement is very dynamic, so it could have been any number of things that has changed
Also, see what signings othe P/L clubs have made, as that can also effect players star ratings (although normally it should ha minimal effect compared to your own signings), but could be a case if several clubs have gone out a signed wonderkids
While everything aussielad has said is correct, I’m convinced the star ratings are also bugged in this release. It feels like every single time I find a 5* potential kid and sign them up, the second they arrive they’re suddenly 2.5*-3* potential, and I dump them straight in the reserves with no intention of playing or developing them. And that really sucks when you’re limited to only signing 6 foriegn U21s each season.
Edit: and all my scouts are 18-20 for spotting potential ability
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But what about their actual stats? I always found the potential ability to be a bit off but if their actual stats in the right places kept growing they’d go on to be quality.
Also isn’t it dependant on who is rating them for you, they need the 19+ judging pa/ca stats to be accurate.
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Well that was a fucked Dec/Jan.
Sat 2nd, 6 points behind Oxford City and a game in hand in Van League South, then proceeded to get knocked out of FA Cup in 1st round and FA Trophy 3rd Round and lost 3, drew 3 and won 1 in the league to start Feb 7th and now 12 points behind Oxford City. Best I think I can hope for is to finish in one of the play off spots and hope I can go up through the play offs which has been something I’ve never been good any good at - I fucking hate knock out games 
And we enter squeeky bum time.
Pos Team P W D L GD Pts
-
Havant & W 35 19 12 4 38 69 -
Ebbsfleet 35 20 9 6 29 69 -
Dulwich Hamlet (me) 36 21 6 9 25 69
They’ve both got a game in hand and better goal difference, so despite a valiant run to climb back into contention, but not confident I can overturn both teams. And annoyingly, just started trying to renew contracts with some of the younger players, but the greedy little cunts want to go from £150p/w to over £700p/w - fuckers can fuck right off if they think I’ll pay them that
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But youth potential, for those who were like 4 stars and when they come to your club, they become like 2 stars…the possibility is that when you ask your scouts to scout that youth in other clubs, the scout would not have access to the youth performances during training or have up close look because the youth would most likely be not playing often or in official matches so scouts most likely based it on their own observation (therefore the quality of scout might make a difference) but still they can only make best estimate. But once they move to your club, then you will start to have inputs of your coaching team and having the ability to see them in training and up close and personal, then naturally you will get a more realistic potential rating and again this can be affected too by the quality of your coaches, your youth setup etc…thats what I think.
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Definitely one of the weirder things I’ve done in FM. Result of a bug methinks. I accidentally put him in goal for one game, but that coupled with his season at right back earned him goalie of the season 
Also, fm22 is the first one I’ve played since 17 and gegenpress is broken af. Won 3 straight league’s with Curzon Ashton and then 1 with Reggina. Now challenging for CL/EL places in my first serie a season
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I’ve found gegenpress in FM22 impossible to use, get 3-4 games and the whole team is fucked and needing to be rotated.
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Tbf I do rotate quite a lot anyway, no more than two games in a row for anyone if I can help it. 3 subs every game all at half time. If they have to play three in a row they’ll be subbed off in two of them. Plus lower leagues you can just fill the squad with players who don’t get paid unless they play and Italy has 12 man bench.
Half of Clynes games in the run to goalie of the season were as a sub
When I get to Liverpool I’ll see how well I can keep it balanced
Here it is 
Thanks @ZinedineBiscan
So I’ve restarted FM20 , Yeah so it’s an older game.
I’ve started with Fulham this time and am trying to see whether the “play ball into the box” really works. from my experience , It doesn’t work…Am I doing something wrong here… This is more when I’m facing stronger teams in my second season after I get their asses promoted.
I tend to shift between a 4-2-3-1 when playing cautious or a 4-4-2 diamond when playing attacking , both with full pressing and a high backline etc.
Also , The FM20 gegenpress is fucked as well , not sure about the gegenpress in FM22 but there’s rarely any pressing nor anything even remotely related to gegenpressing happening
Re the gegenpressing, this was apparently something they focused on particularly for 22, and imo you can see it working. To the point where it’s almost OP lol.
Can’t remember 20 specifically, but there was a recent edition I wasn’t impressed with at all, maybe it’s that one. Play ball into the box is basically telling your players not to blast it at goal so often, but you often still need to go to the individual player instructions and set long shots to ‘never’.
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Gengenpress in 22 is quiet OP as it was in 21, but they have countered it as it is physically demanding, so if you stick with it your players will very quickly end up fucked.
Best approach is to use 2-3 tactics 1 being gegenpress 1 being control/counter that you can swap between during games so that you can get players to rest once you have a match won
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Great! There is someone else that is still playing FM20.
Could you explain further on what does not work for “work into the box”?
If it is with regards to shooting, there might be a few factors which overwrite this particular team instruction:
- players having the “shoot from distance” individual trait
- roles of your players, for example, box to box and inside forwards
- shouts such as “get further forward”. This instructs the team to emphasize more on attack and usually results in more shots attempted
- little to no options for players to pass to when trying to work the ball into the box. Hence, the player furthest forward would attempt to shoot as he might already be surrounded. This might be related to your tactics
- bad decision making attributes by certain players
I also find the gengenpressing tactic to be particularly hard to execute, unless you have really good players in your squad. For one, the players’ collective familiarity, decision making, teamwork and work rate attributes should be top notch. This is so as to enable the press to be executed more effectively. Second, your defenders need to be proficient in defending the high line, or else you tend to concede plenty of goals from long balls into space or channels.
Since then, I have used vertical tiki taka with some modifications. IMO, much better balance and there is still an element of pressing.
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I give the full backs the “Cross from Deep” Option
I play a 4-2-3-1 with one inside forward whose instructions are always to come in and one inverted winger who’s looking to cross to target the inside forward coming in from the other side. I’ve tried other formations as well including a 4-1-4-1 (The closest to Jurgen’s 4-3-3) and also with a 4-4-2 (diamond) as well as a 4-2-1-3 (With a a double Pivot). My teams just struggle to get enough deliveries into the box. Most of my goals almost always come from setpieces and not open play.
I rotate between having a Target Man in a Supporting Role or a Pressing Forward in an attacking role depending on the opponent etc. I somehow struggle when I try to play a CF in this formation.
It’s mostly a crossing game and most of the games I barely get enough shots in the penalty box. I use the "get further foward shout as well as the demand more shout…
I always get the opponents to be marked and go a bit conservative on the tackles (except for the BWM) but that’s beside the point.
I think if you look at Klopp’s tactics and try to convert it to a football manager style tactic.
It’s gegenpressing but it’s more focussed on targetting players at one particular area before quickly regrouping and hence conserving energy. That’s something that is difficult if not impossible in this game to have… For example , Right now the pressing mostly happens in the upper part of the field around the wings forcing the players to hit a long ball which then have a chance of being intercepted etc etc.
How do you get the instructions that only one forward and 1 at max other player (closest to the ball) gegenpress where the rest all hold positions and wait for the counter ? Is that something which is better in FM21/22 ?
The other strategy which generally works for me is to use one wingback as an inverted wingback with one midfielder being pushed wide whenever the wingback cuts in, This leads me to play down the center a bit more and still enable the overlap to happen at the other end.
This is also slightly derived from Liverpool’s tactics this season when you see Trent going on to the central midfield area and the other midfielder goes wide (Either Hendo/Elliot) and links with Salah.
This worked for me against the weaker teams in the championship quite well. Doesn’t work that way when my Fulham meets Jose’s Tottenham though
For me, I use a pair of wingbacks in a 4-1-2-3 DM Wide (Vertical Tiki-Taka). One on support duty paired with a IW or IF. The other with an attack duty, paired with a Winger or IF (depending on who is playing). They are typically supported by two box-to-box midfielders and one deep-lying playmaker. At least one of the box-to-box midfielders has the trait “Gets Forward Whenever Possible” or “Arrive Late in Opponent’s Box”.
My wingback on attack duty tends to get a lot of shooting chances as other players flood the box. Originally, I had a player who had finishing and long shots >10 in that position and scored a fair few goals from there. However, he was sold and the replacement has a much lower conversion rate (finishing and long shots about 6-8).
Like you, my main forward (Isak) has issues scoring goals. He is very streaky and many of them come from set pieces. I have rotated among roles and players and figured out that a CF role works best, but only if you have a player suited for it. As the developer has hinted, this player should be good in almost all aspects, particularly decisions, anticipation, composure, off-the-ball, long shots. My best striker is slightly lacking in decisions and long shots, so he tends to suffer when playing in a CF role. Actually he suffers in almost any role against top sides unless I sub him on as an Advanced Forward against tired legs in a two man striker system.
Against bottom sides, they are wary of my team and tend to sit back. Most of the onus is then on my team to break the defence down and I just need to be wary of balls over the top (and set pieces). The CF doesn’t need to be prolific in open play; he will seldom get chances against a packed defense, or at least for me. Instead, his movement creates chances for other players to score, or open gaps for him to attack eventually. Usually, I look out for the opposition’s formation and tweak instructions accordingly. If they are packing the middle and own penalty area, I would remove the instruction to attack from middle. If they have good jumpers, I also switch my crosses to “low” from “mixed”. Pressing is usually successful when the opponents tire or have a player with poor composure or decisions.
I tweak my tactics slightly against top sides. No point using an egg (my striker) to hit a rock (their elite defense). Rather, I let my team probe where to attack, before focusing on a particular area. The starting striker usually tires their defence out, then I sub one of my wingers/IF off and switch to a two-man attack in the last 20-30 min to increase pressure. Seemed to have worked so far.
But as I progress further in the game, this would require further changes and probably I need to upgrade on some of my players (like getting a more suitable CF and IF). I guess it is harder to continuously stay at the top if you do not own a couple of “world class” players while the AI continues to upgrade. That is part of the challenge though. My team is not the most reputable and cannot afford to pay sky high salaries.
5 seasons into my save, and having just got Dulwich promoted to League 2, have jumped ship to Ebbsfleet, also L2 but better off financially and instead of media prediction of 24th, they have media prediction of heady heights of 21st 
Assistant squad review suggests a 4-2-3-1, but reviewing it myself, with no natural wingers and very strong DM, CM, AM and CF I’ve decided to do something I’ve not done in possibly 12-13 years - I’ve decided to use a diamond midfield. Picked up Leyton Stewart on a free and so far has been a bloody superstar. 14 games, 12 starts and has scored 13 and 5 assists has seen us after 20 games settle into 9th.
Best part is I still have 50K in transfer budget and 8-9K in wage buget available, so can strengthen if I want, but with a full 22 man squad need to sell to make space and none of the players I’ve identified as ones I can happily sell are attracting any interest. Next step is to bag my next coaching badge, but so far board have been reluctant to let me do a coaching course as I’m needed on the training pitch.