Overview[]
The depth charts govern who replaces a player if a player gets injured and is forced to come off during a match. It also plays a more limited role if you have a starting player who is injured and cannot start the match, or a player who you had in as a starter but then sold so is no longer available.
In addition, you use your depth chart to set who you want to take your team's penalties, corners and freekicks. When one of them is needed to be taken, the system will pick the player in the lineup that is highest on the relevant depth chart.
If a player is injured during a match then they will be replaced by the first bench player on the depth chart for the position the player being replaced was playing. For example, if your Goalkeeper was injured and had to come off, then the match engine (ME) would look at the depth chart for goalkeeper and pick the bench player who was highest up the goalkeeper depth chart list to replace them. If there are no bench players on the list then the ME will use a smart replacement system and replace the player with a player on the bench that has a similar best position to the player coming off.
If one of your starting players is unavailable to play when the match begins, either due to an injury picked up in a previous match or because you have sold them and not updated your line-ups to take account of it, then the ME will look at your depth chart and pick a player on the depth chart for that position that is not already picked in the lineup i.e. will pick a player on the depth chart that is not already a starter or a bench player. If there is no such player on the depth chart for that position, then the ME will select a player who is not in the current lineup (starters and bench) who has the highest level in the position in question.
For example, suppose you sell your goalkeeper but forget to change the line-up. When a match starts the ME will see you have no player picked to play goalkeeper. It will first look at the depth chart to see if there is a player that is not in the current match squad on the goalkeeper depth chart. If there is, then the ME will have that player start at goalkeeper for the match. If there is no player on the depth chart, then the ME will pick the player with the highest level at goalkeeper in your squad that is currently outside the match sqaud.
Note: A player is in the match squad when they are either a starter or a bench player.
Depth Chart Management[]
To access your depth charts click on the left most small blue icon with silhouettes underneath any player’s avatar on the player info screen. You will then get presented with a list of all the positional depth charts. When you open one of these up you will see all the players you have currently in that position’s depth chart, as well as the charts to do with taking penalties, corners and freekicks. When you open one of these up you will see all the players you have currently in that depth chart.
You can add players to the depth chart by clicking on the blue plus sign at the bottom of the chart. You can remove players from the depth chart by clicking the grey X on the far right-hand side of their bar. You can also re-arrange the order of players in the depth chart by clicking and holding on a player and then moving them up or down on the depth chart and then releasing.