Recent Form Comments

When you guys are commenting on a players recent form, how many of his recent games do you take into consideration? A couple, or more?

What other things do you take into account when making these comments??

The game displays the previous five matches played as a player's recent form, so I tend to use that as reference.

If the player has been playing out of his skin in those five matches on a whole, i.e. average rating of 8 or more in those five matches, I would consider praising him in the media. Some players do not seem to respond well to praise though, as they slack off in the next few matches. So for such players, I make a note and rarely praise them.

If the player has been poor in those five matches on a whole, i.e. average rating of 6 or less in those five matches, I would consider either criticising his form or telling him that I will be giving him some time off from matches. Whether I criticise his form or tell him I am giving him time off depends on his morale.

If his morale is between 'very low' to 'ok', I will criticise his form. The severity of the criticism depends on his personality and what is normally expected of him. If he is a key player, has a determined/ambitious personality and I normally expect him to be pulling in man-of-the-match performances, but he has only managed average ratings of 6, I will lay it into him. If he is a squad player and has more fragile a personality, in that same situation, I would temper my criticism more.

If his morale is 'good' or higher, I will let him know that I will be giving him time off from playing and let the next-in-line play. Hopefully in a few matches' time, he would have recharged, refocused and would then put in a better performance on the pitch.

Thank you for the reply Ediocy.

I can't help feeling that the last five matches are parameters that are too far apart. For example, the first three being 6.1 5.8 and 6.0; the most recent two being 7.1 and 6.9. If I left those without comment, because of the overall score, I feel I'd be condoning the first three scores. The same goes for praising because of his latest two perfomnces. And obviously if I slate the player because of the first scores i risk annoying a player who is showing signs of turning good.

Obviously this is an extreme example, but I thought it the best way to illustrate why I wonder about this interaction feature.