The next article on competitive training continues with trainings which don’t have as much share in the hattrick world (winger, set pieces, stamina, general, passing), however this might change…


Winger: a very interesting training, which is one of the most cash rewarding if well done
+ if you have very high wing ratings and a well balanced team (good midfield, possibility to put 2 WTM), your team will be very difficult to stop
+ allows creating very interesting multi-skilled players: playmakers with winger skill, wingbacks, forward towards he wing
+ the cost of the winger skill is relatively low so that of for a player given level of playmaking according to your wage budget, you can afford to have the same level of winger skill without too much of an impact on the player wage
- your defense might be flexible as you need to have a wingback slot used. However in those days with the wingback towards the middle order this might not be as bad as it used to be
- you need very good multi-skilled players in the winger or winger towards the middle spot, which are expensive

Set pieces: also a very interesting training, which is also very cash rewarding in those days of declining market values of players
+ you can train older players with secondaries and experience as you which
+ you can choose the tactic you want without impairing training at all. And you will get some extra goals from your high set pieces levels
+ after some 2 seasons or so, all your main players will have high set pieces, meaning that replacing one of them with a player with low level set pieces will not matter at all.
- you will train a lot of relatively low level players otherwise your wages will certainly suffer
- you have to manage very closely your player purchases and sales in order to minimize the impact of potential team spirit drop

Stamina: with the changes to the way stamina drops, more people will have to train stamina, and the question is whether or not this could make people to mostly training stamina during the season
+ the number of players to train in stamina available on the market will increase a lot in the coming season, we will start to see a lot of older(24+) midfielders which will have suffered some stamina drops
+ you have full tactical flexibility
- as for set pieces training, you will train a lot of relatively low level players otherwise your wages will certainly suffer
- in addition to your team spirit which will suffer from the number of buys and sells you will do, your form will suffer a lot

General: despite its bad reputation, I have heard a lot of teams who are using this training quite regularly. I am currently not knowing anyone doing general training simply for profit and my understanding is that it is a very volatile market (buying a player with low form does not always mean that he will be a bargain)
+ you have again the maximum tactical flexibility and in addition, your team form will stay high, keeping on average your performance levels higher than someone with a team of same value but lower form
- renewal of your team might depend on trading players for which you bring them back in form which is less usual and as more uncertain outcome compared to other training types

Passing (short passes): It has gained a lot of hype but my experience is that it as quite a lot of drawbacks
+ you train the secondaries of players which will help you performing better while not having a real impact on wages, apart if you start training your players to a level at which passing is their primary skill. This I would not advise
+ you can train forwards, midfielders, wingers and eventually defenders
+ some tactical flexibility as you can play both 352 and 343 without loosing more training spot and 442 while losing one more spot
- sub-optimal as 253 would allow to train more players
- difficult to train your standard defenders if you aim for long runs in the cup as they will have to play off their natural position
- your team needs to be relatively young, as you will train more than half of it, which as its disadvantage in particular in term of experience and level of the secondaries you will have

To conclude those articles on the analysis of training options when you are playing at competitive levels, it appears that the key aspects that differentiate the different training types are: Tactical flexibility (how you will be able to adapt your team depending on the kind of games you are playing), team secondaries and experience (how much you are optimizing salaries), team renewal (how you will be able to end a cycle of trining). The last aspect which will for sure matter a lot although this will be fluctuating a lot depending on the market is the income you can generate from training, but thats another story :)