Player rating....

When you see on a players Caoch report, the hes rated as the "x best" in the squad....is there any way to see the coaches listing for the players????

Ass. Man. team report? He will rate the best XI (in his opinion) out of a 7 star rating. But I would worry too much what coaches say, they normally don't know that they are saying in FM

A coach with a high judging player ability/potential will provide you with accurate reports CA/PA-wise. But 2 players with the same CA playing the same position can be on totally different levels, since CA only takes into account the total amount of stat points, not how they're distributed, so I'd say you're better off trusting the stats.

The only problem with ignoring the CA/PA (good Assman/scout input) is that the AI uses those values, so you can end up with a good player that is hard to sell for a fair price due to a relatively low CA/PA.

I agree, scout reports are good for young players (to tell you what their PA range is) and to find out a player's mental attributes. But to decide which players are best for your team you really have to look at their stats and decide for yourself.