Player Criteria - The Stats

I thought I had done this thread already, but can't seem to find the original. So apoligies before hand if I'm just being blind

All these are just the stats that I prefer to look for personally and that other people will probably disagree.

Its also worth noting, that pace can be classed as crucial for everyone. A team full of pace always seems to excel that little bit more than a team of snails, regardless of other stats I have found. Teamwork and workrate are 2 other stats I like to look out for on all my players, so I won't mention these much as this is pretty much a standard for me to look for players with these attributes high.

Keeper

When I choose a keeper I always try and make sure he as handling, reflexes and agility as these are what make a good keeper and someone without one of these stats will not even get a look in by me, unless I am really desperate. There are a few other stats as well but the above are like a standard base imo. Remember goalkeepers mature very slowly and are not in their prime until after the age of 30 in most cases.

He also needs to have good jumping, positioning and strength for if the goalie is being bombarded game after game with high balls into the box. It will also help him when defending set pieces.

Vital Skills

Positioning, command of area, agility, stamina, jumping, strength, decisions and aerial ability

Other

Throwing, pace, concentration, composure, bravery and anticipation

Centre backs

There are two types of centre backs in my eyes and they are one who lumps the ball forward and is the un pretty sort of defender or there is the fancy one who likes to bring the ball out of defence and is very comfortable with the ball at his feet. It is always good to get a good mix in your team as it will offer you different options later down the line or if things are going wrong in a game.

Vital Skills

Positioning, jumping, tackling, marking, aggression, strength, bravery and heading

Other Skills

Stamina, anticipation, determination, pace and acceleration

Fullbacks

You can do a lot with fullbacks and you can actually have them very attacking if you wish, but if you do you need to remember to get someone to cover their position or you could be vulnerable to attacks down the flanks. The fullbacks can be deadly if you get a couple who are good dribblers and crosses of the ball.

Vital

Work rate, stamina, teamwork, decisions, positioning and acceleration

Other Skills

Determination, strength, crossing and dribbling

Defensive Midfielder

The defensive midfielder are key players for breaking up play and beginning attacks,

Whether it is a killer ball to your strikers or a last ditch tackle. These men are the engine room of most teams when played correctly. Attacking sides may not want to use one of these as they would have to sacrifice a player. A lot of lower league teams use anchormen to break up play of creativity and flair. These men act as the first line of defence in some cases and can make the defenders work a lot easier.

Vital Stats

Tackling, strength, aggression, marking, stamina, work rate, teamwork

Others

Pace, passing, acceleration, determination, concentration, creativity

Attacking Mids

These guys are the links between midfield and strikers and play in a very important position of the pitch. The ball is often there to be won in the last third of the pitch, so ideally you want an all round player a bit like a DMC. Also they can be the creativity of a team pulling the strings for all the game. These are the most difficult players to find on the game as they are a rare breed.

If you find one who works well try and keep hold of him as they are quite rare.

Vital Stats

Creativity, passing, off ball, technique, finishing, work rate

Others

Stamina, teamwork, flair, long shots, pace, acceleration

Wingers

These men provide the ammunition for your striker while hopefully chipping in with a few goals them selves. Many fans love wingers with their entertaining style of attacks. But many clubs can’t afford these types of player, or they can’t fit them into there team. These days a winger is also expected to defend which is far from the traditional winger. So now days a midfield who can play on the wings is a good idea.

Vital Skills

Crossing, creativity, dribbling, pace, acceleration, tackling, balance, technique, passing

Others

Finishing, long shots, teamwork, work rate, off ball

Forwards

Forward score goals but in the modern game there is a lot more too it.

If you find a good creating forward who can also score he can be devastating for the opponents, a real nightmare to mark.

The real life examples over the years have been Beardsley, Bergkamp, Scholes, Lampard and even Henry.

Vital Stats

Creativity, flair, finishing, off ball, dribbling, passing, technique, pace, acceleration

Others

Teamwork, flair, balance, long shots, anticipation, crossing

Strikers

The goal machines of any team. The people who can single handily change the course of an entire game. If you get a good striker make sure he’s not isolated and gets a regular supply of balls, If not your team will suffer. Make the wingers and midfielder support him as much as they can.

Play to the striker’s strength’s. So if you use a fast striker get the ball to him as fast as possible so he can turn and run at defenders, defenders hate this. If it’s a target man you use make sure he holds the ball up etc.

Vital Skill

finishing, off ball, jumping, heading, anticipation, technique

Other

Pace aggression, acceleration, strength, long shots

once again, an other grat post Cleon

Can help a lot of people looking for the right player.

But i would have add :

-> tackling for fullbacks

-> flair for striker

-> balance for striker

-> stamina for wingers

Silverblade

Originally posted by silverblade86:

once again, an other grat post Cleon

Can help a lot of people looking for the right player.

But i would have add :

-> tackling for fullbacks

-> flair for striker

-> balance for striker

-> stamina for wingers

Silverblade

Aye you could add all them in too. I didn't add tackling for fullbacks because I genuinly don't think its important for the way I play. My fullbacks have very poor tackling yet they are solid because they have all the nessecary stats.

But yes, many people will look for other stats that I've not mentioned. Be good to see what other people think or look for as well

Regarding the amc I agree with all your stats. However, if you particularly want an amc that puts your strikers in on goal I've found decisions to be essential.

Having two amc's in my squad the one who has great decisions seems to produce more chances for the forwards even though both are highly creative stats wise.

You (Cleon) or someone else could add to this thread some stats that are unnecessary for each positions. For example, finshing isn't the one that you colud look for full back. That's simple and clear but some other stats won't. I think that would be nice.

I am not sure if I am correct. I think decisions also plays a part in a good gk. They will know when to and when not to come for the ball.

Originally posted by vasilli07:

I am not sure if I am correct. I think decisions also plays a part in a good gk. They will know when to and when not to come for the ball.

I already mentioned decisions

I've believed for quite a while now it's all about the players and NOT the tactic.

Unless you have a particularly poor tactic then it's quality of players that matters.

I would certainly add pace to a vital stat for the fullback, especially if you want them to join the attack and therefore be able to get back quickly.

Although I also believe these are the very important stats for the specific positions, I would rather have a player with good allround stats then very high stats for these specific stats.

Do you do the same and do you just use these stats to eliminate possible transfer targets or would you still buy players with high values in these specific stats, but not so high in other stats and if so what are your results?

Is a sweeper considered the same as a centre back?

Thanks for this Cleon - though I do remember an old version, this is neat... Though perhaps you could ammend it with the training types essential for those stats .

Cleon, i struggle to know what a high attribute is when i change the level i am playing at eg. premiership, conference etc.

Could you please outline, in the format of important and other, what the minimum value of an attribute i should be looking for in the n/s confernce and above.

eg. premiership important 15

other 13

Does anybody have a good system for evaluating players?

What I do is a comparison system. I set up a T-Account on paper and put the incumbent player (player I'm looking to replace) on the left-side column and the challenger (player I'm evaluating for transfer/loan/signing etc) on the right-side column. I then go through five or so key attributes/skills for the position I need them to play and see who is superior in each category and then assign the difference in their numbers to the winner into their column.

For example, if Player A (incumbent) has 10 in Tackling and Player B (challenger) has 8 in Tackling, I put a +2 in the left-column.

At the end I tally up the numbers and see who is net ahead. It's not the best system as outliers can distort the comparison, but it's a rough guide to who is better and can reveal where my existing player might be very weak compared to his peers.

Originally posted by Andrew K:

Does anybody have a good system for evaluating players?

What I do is a comparison system. I set up a T-Account on paper and put the incumbent player (player I'm looking to replace) on the left-side column and the challenger (player I'm evaluating for transfer/loan/signing etc) on the right-side column. I then go through five or so key attributes/skills for the position I need them to play and see who is superior in each category and then assign the difference in their numbers to the winner into their column.

For example, if Player A (incumbent) has 10 in Tackling and Player B (challenger) has 8 in Tackling, I put a +2 in the left-column.

At the end I tally up the numbers and see who is net ahead. It's not the best system as outliers can distort the comparison, but it's a rough guide to who is better and can reveal where my existing player might be very weak compared to his peers.

Why not just use the in game comparison?

Theres a little question for you Cleon or anyone else that can help 3 posts above. Think you might have missed it

Originally posted by Terriers4ever:

Theres a little question for you Cleon or anyone else that can help 3 posts above. Think you might have missed it

I saw it just don't have the time to do it sorry. Alrhough all u have to do is look at some of the better players in your league and judge by that.

Well would i be right in saying P-15

C-13

L1-11

L2-10

C-9

CN/S-8?

The only reason i ask is i normally manage in league 1 and above so when you make the fall to ConfN/S it is difficult to gauge how good your squad is because i don't no what a good player is at that level.

Originally posted by Terriers4ever:

Well would i be right in saying P-15

C-13

L1-11

L2-10

C-9

CN/S-8?

The only reason i ask is i normally manage in league 1 and above so when you make the fall to ConfN/S it is difficult to gauge how good your squad is because i don't no what a good player is at that level.

Along them lines yeah

For these critical stats the question is who do you believe???

The manual???

Marc Vaughan's tips???

The in-game hints & tips???

I mean please! Do SI even know???

Nice post Cleon! Real helpful.

But to turn things around a bit: What stat do you not want high ratings for?

For exampel: For GK I don`t want to see to high stats for eccentricity and tendency to punch.

Does this make any sense or am I way off?

Originally posted by MGREEN:

Nice post Cleon! Real helpful.

But to turn things around a bit: What stat do you not want high ratings for?

For exampel: For GK I don`t want to see to high stats for eccentricity and tendency to punch.

Does this make any sense or am I way off?

Hmm, depends on you really. I quite like a tendency to punch slightly high rating of around 13 or something. It helps in difficult situations where he can't catch the ball but still comes out.

Originally posted by Cleon:

Hmm, depends on you really. I quite like a tendency to punch slightly high rating of around 13 or something. It helps in difficult situations where he can't catch the ball but still comes out.

Ok. So tendency to punch is not necessarily a bad thing?! How about eccentricity? Does a high value here give GKs how behave like Jens Lehmann IRL?

Regardless of position, as an LLM, I always try and sign players with 10+ for Passing, Stamina, Work rate and Pace.

I can't always attract them, so I'll usually sacrifice passing before the other 3.

I am sorry, but I have to mention my main issue with the engine (for a couple of versions of FM). It seems to be less of an issue after the patch, but...

Jumping for every position.

If you add Pace and Acceleration you will never be disappointed. There are loads of bad players performing well, because they have these stats. I always end up signing them, cause they are cheap, amazed that I want them, and never perform below an average of 7, no matter how poor there CA/PA is.

I think you forgot midfielder?

Originally posted by Peets:

I think you forgot midfielder?

Nope, I don't use em

I've never actually understood why people are so obsessed about the stamina stats. If it's not below say 5, it's good enough to sign a player if he's good in other areas.

If someone gets tired, I substitute him. Simple as that. Even if I'll have to sub him 8 times out of 10. I don't use three subs per game very often, so that leaves a bit of room for that though.

what is the difference between a striker and a forward? i always thought they were the same thing?

Anybody notice a difference in the jumping/heading relationship. In past versions I largely ignored heading for my defenders, focusing instead on jumping as it appeared to be a far bigger factor whether the aerial battle was won or not. Now, it seems like if your defender is great in jumping but poor in heading it'll really cost you as their clearances are woeful.

I am always confused by the criteria judging a 'good' player.

e.g. for a GK

the FM online movie tutorial says the most important attributes are Reflexes,Handling,Command of area and positioning.

while the in-game 'hits&tips' tells they are Reflexes, handling, communication, jumping and positioning.

FM Genie Scout reveals a default rating system for each position which weighs each attribute as for goalkeeper:

Handling, Reflexes (100)

Aerial, Jumping (80)

Positioning, Communication (60)

Command of area, One on one (50)

etc.

Here cleon approbates Agility so much.

Can any1 help me out?

For a GK, all goalkeeping attributes are important, period.

I would suggest to get the player that you feel the best about, if you can't decide who to choose. Maybe you can get him on trial, or as IRL get him on loan with a future transfer fee included in the deal.

Originally posted by catafan:

I am always confused by the criteria judging a 'good' player.

e.g. for a GK

the FM online movie tutorial says the most important attributes are Reflexes,Handling,Command of area and positioning.

while the in-game 'hits&tips' tells they are Reflexes, handling, communication, jumping and positioning.

FM Genie Scout reveals a default rating system for each position which weighs each attribute as for goalkeeper:

Handling, Reflexes (100)

Aerial, Jumping (80)

Positioning, Communication (60)

Command of area, One on one (50)

etc.

Here cleon approbates Agility so much.

Can any1 help me out?

Everyones different, but I tend to get someone who's good all round and not just in 1 particuar area.

What about composure for strikers surely?

Or is that sytle of play you use doesnt leave you with many one-on-one one situations and you see it as a luxury?

And similiarly concentration for centre backs?

It's always interesting to see what people's opinions are as to the basics of players to fit their tactics.

My fundamental 5 attributes to even merit a look at have to be pace, acceleration, decisions, teamwork and work rate. I just can't stand having a player at my club that's slow, thick and lazy. As a fan it drives me crazy sitting in the stands, so now it's my turn to be ruthless

Excellent thread yet again by Cleon.

i'm sorry but it depends on how you play and who you have as other players that dictate what stats will make a player successful in your team.

e.g you play a very high line so your defenders need pace a bit more then strength or jumping.

you have smallish CB so you need a big goalie who will come off the line to pick up crosses.

if you don't have big forwards why would you want a crosser of the ball on the wings you'll want someone who can offer through balls and runs in and around the box.

its different for every manager and every team.

what's the best stats for a playmaker again? stuff like creativity and decisions?

for a play maker

decision

creativity

passing

off-the-ball

anticipation

concentration

in that order

I thought Decisions means speed of mind instead of how players choose options... ?

Another doubt about finishing: Finishing is just the technical act or it includes also how to finish. I thought How to Finish was commanded by Flair and Creativity.

Originally posted by Intruder:

I thought Decisions means speed of mind instead of how players choose options... ?

Another doubt about finishing: Finishing is just the technical act or it includes also how to finish. I thought How to Finish was commanded by Flair and Creativity.

Decisions affect how a player decides what passes to play, shots to make, and places to move into

Finishing is a technical ability to indicate how well he puts away chances, flair and creativity are more for midfielders

Thanks mate!

Decisions is a factor in making a striker a "Clinical Striker" according to the game's description algorithm thing

One of my striker's decisions fluctuates between 14 and 15, and at 14 he is an "Explosive Striker" while with 15 decisions he is a "Clinical striker"

hey cleon, wat about one-on-one for the keepers?? thats what i was looking for most goalies at the beginning and im wondering if that isnt a vital skill....

Originally posted by rashidi1:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Intruder:

I thought Decisions means speed of mind instead of how players choose options... ?

Another doubt about finishing: Finishing is just the technical act or it includes also how to finish. I thought How to Finish was commanded by Flair and Creativity.

Decisions affect how a player decides what passes to play, shots to make, and places to move into

Finishing is a technical ability to indicate how well he puts away chances, flair and creativity are more for midfielders </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

hmmm maybe i'm not clear on 'flair,' but doesn't it also bear on strikers who run with the ball a lot, being able to use tricks and such to beat their man?

Need to up so it doesnt get deleted.

Thanks this helped me alot

excellent post cleon. however, you seemed to have missed out on MCs, players who are not quite good enough to be the shield in front of the defence or the playmaker of the team. any thoughts on importants stats for these players?

Originally posted by faruq:

excellent post cleon. however, you seemed to have missed out on MCs, players who are not quite good enough to be the shield in front of the defence or the playmaker of the team. any thoughts on importants stats for these players?

I dont use them, I either have them defensive or attacking there is no inbetween really. If you want them to be neither its pointless playing them imo.

Originally posted by faruq:

excellent post cleon. however, you seemed to have missed out on MCs, players who are not quite good enough to be the shield in front of the defence or the playmaker of the team. any thoughts on importants stats for these players?

i think a generic MC is much more versatile than a focused DM/AM, a really good MC will have the abilities of BOTH, that should give you an idea of which stats to look for.

meh to no edit button ....

I rate Anticipation, Determination & Decisions quite highly, determined players always seem to give that little bit extra in every match.

dont use them, I either have them defensive or attacking there is no inbetween really. If you want them to be neither its pointless playing them imo.

Were Xavi and Inesta attacking or defensive for Spain? Imo, both. And that's exactly what made difference - they completely dominated the midfield both in semi and in the final. Russia played similar style (though quality of players much lower) and actually so did Holland and Croatia. Whilst FM08 may not have entirely caught this new tendency, it's clear that universal MC are very valuable even there. After all, none of big teams have clear separation between attacking and defensive midfielders.

MCs, players who are not quite good enough to be the shield in front of the defence or the playmaker of the team. any thoughts on importants stats for these players?

Look at Essien, Barry, Reo Cocker, Mikel, Song etc. in the game. Even though they good all around, imo Stamina + Work Rate, Passing, Decision are the most important; positioning, anticipation, creativity, and pace add value too, and determination is I think important for all positions.