Mental Attributes - should be more fluid?

Reflections on Newcastle's (non-)performance on Sunday:

The way the defence stood off Liverpool's attack, and the lack of commitment in the middle of the park translates in FM terms as players having awful Determination and Workrate. However, these are players who previously had very high reputations for these attributes (e.g. Butt, Barton, Smith) and the FM attributes for them reflects that.

With the situation at Newcastle, clearly it''s got to the players and they've allowed these attributes to fall dramatically. In FM terms such a change is really only reflected by players' morale. Now some gamers moan that the ME takes far too much notice of issues such as morale, team talks and tactics. I'd refute that by using this match as an example - the Newcastle players played without confidence, the manager's team-talk was clearly ineffective, and as far as his tactics were concerned, the Scousers got it spot on - "You shoulda stayed on the telly".

What my point is, is this: I think that some of the mental attributes should be more fluid - i.e. they should be able to rise or fall much more. After all, one's physical state and technical ability doesn't change that quickly, but one's state of mind is far more volatile. In particular, the effect of getting a new manager and being transferred to a new club should ahve a quick impact on certain mental attributes - both visible (I mention Determination and Workrate) and hidden (Have some of the 'Toon players lost their sense of Ambition, Loyalty, Consistency etc?).

What do you think?

Nb. Please don't derail this by commenting on RL Newcastle - the essence of my question is about FM and how such players' attitudes are/should be reflected in the game. Thank you.

Reflections on Newcastle's (non-)performance on Sunday:

The way the defence stood off Liverpool's attack, and the lack of commitment in the middle of the park translates in FM terms as players having awful Determination and Workrate. However, these are players who previously had very high reputations for these attributes (e.g. Butt, Barton, Smith) and the FM attributes for them reflects that.

With the situation at Newcastle, clearly it''s got to the players and they've allowed these attributes to fall dramatically. In FM terms such a change is really only reflected by players' morale. Now some gamers moan that the ME takes far too much notice of issues such as morale, team talks and tactics. I'd refute that by using this match as an example - the Newcastle players played without confidence, the manager's team-talk was clearly ineffective, and as far as his tactics were concerned, the Scousers got it spot on - "You shoulda stayed on the telly".

What my point is, is this: I think that some of the mental attributes should be more fluid - i.e. they should be able to rise or fall much more. After all, one's physical state and technical ability doesn't change that quickly, but one's state of mind is far more volatile. In particular, the effect of getting a new manager and being transferred to a new club should ahve a quick impact on certain mental attributes - both visible (I mention Determination and Workrate) and hidden (Have some of the 'Toon players lost their sense of Ambition, Loyalty, Consistency etc?).

What do you think?

Nb. Please don't derail this by commenting on RL Newcastle - the essence of my question is about FM and how such players' attitudes are/should be reflected in the game. Thank you.

I agree with most of what you say. To go back to real life, let's say West Brom managed to get two wins and were a poitn from safety on the last day. Even their lasiest player would be inspired to put in a shift and raise his teamwork and workrate for the occaison.

Implementing this into FM would be difficult though as the attributes represnt a player's mental abilities in general. If these went up and down every game (or even during a game) it would be difficult to get a grip of where we, as the manager is going wrong. I suppose that is why morale plays such a pivitoal role. Perhaps a way forward would be to link morlae to certain mental attributes i.e. poor morale may result in a 2 point decrease in teamwork.

MAybe with a new manager, a club could get a 20% boost on those attributes for a max of 2 months afterwards. Meaning clubs like portsmouth, tottenham and maybe relegation battle teams who get a new manager, will have the sudden boost in ability seen in real life?

A manager sacking could mean that untill a new manager arrives there is a 20% decline in menntal ability untill the new manager is installed.

What I have seen in Fifa Manager was you could pick 1 game a season also when you could tick a box to say "biggest game of the season" which gave your team a huge boost to your teams morale and confidence for the game.

I cant see the mental abilities fluctuate too much because it would be a huge pain in the ass and could mean that playing as any bottom table team would be royally screwed in a down hill mental atrribute decline. Eg cant win because of it so cant increase mental stats again. But i think a event triggered % fluctuation may be an idea.

"Perhaps a way forward would be to link morale to certain mental attributes i.e. poor morale may result in a 2 point decrease in teamwork."

Cheers, I wonder if that could be a way forward.

MAybe with a new manager, a club could get a 20% boost on those attributes for a max of 2 months afterwards. Meaning clubs like portsmouth, tottenham and maybe relegation battle teams who get a new manager, will have the sudden boost in ability seen in real life?

Good thought. Conversely, a manager with a low reputation or track record could have an adverse effect. "Bl00dy hell, we're doomed - it's Schteve McLaren/Tony Adams"