In this article, I’m going to take a look at the new squad planner. I’m not writing this article as a guide but as an exploration of the new functionality for myself and anyone interested in exploring the new feature in Football Manager 2023.
Football Manager squad planner overview
The squad planner is split into three sections, and we will go through them individually.
Football Manager Squad planner section
In the squad planner section, we can plan which players are likely to fill the positions within the team and squad. Not just for the current season, the following season, and the season after.
The squad planner can include players in any of your club squads along with players on your shortlist, allowing you to plan ahead with players you would like to bring in to strengthen your squad for next season or the season after.
You can add a player from the squad planner that brings up a list of players on your shortlist with the players that the game thinks are the most likely choice at the top of the list. You can also add players by right-clicking on the player from your team or shortlist, which seems to avoid long menus once you have many players on your shortlist.
You can change the order of players within your squad planner by selecting and dragging the player to where you want to put the player on the list for that position. Any changes made within the squad planner are kept internal, with no information being passed to the players.
I haven’t used this functionality much in my game of Football Manager, but I’m still in my first season, but I can see myself using the squad planner as I approach the end of the season and start planning for the next season.
Players can be removed by pressing the minus button to the far right of the player’s name.
Football Manager Experience matrix
The experience matrix gives you an idea of how balanced your squad I,s from experienced players coming to the end of their playing careers to players coming through in development. It also shows the role the game thinks each player has in your squad.
As well as the squad view, you can see the balance for each position. Again this could be useful in identifying areas of weakness within your squad.
Football Manager Squad reports
The squad reports have been moved to the squad planner section, which makes sense and comes with several reports.
- The best XI allows you to find out who your backroom staff think is your best player in each position and the weakest player.
- The assistant report gives you facts about your team compared to the league in which your team plays. As well as showing your squad’s strengths and weaknesses which is useful
- The stat report gives you information on various statistics over the season.
- The comparison report could be helpful as it allows you to compare your squad attributes with the League your team plays in, allowing you to work out where your strengths and weaknesses lie.
Conclusion
I have to admit that I felt a bit underwhelmed by the squad planner introduced in Football Manager 2023, but while writing this article,e I can see how it will have its uses as my game develops. I don’t think it is enough of a reason to buy Football Manager 2023. You can read my full review of Football Manager 2023 here.