Star Ratings

I've search throught the 9.3.0 changelist and i couldn't find anything on there about this subject but basically all i am asking is whether or not star ratings have changed on this patch, or indeed just on the game overall. Take this for example,

Say if i wanted to buy Gerrard/Messi for Man City at the start of the game and i aksed my scouts for a report on them. When i eceive the report back all i get it is a 'good' or 'decent' signing rather than a 'sign at all costs' response. I don't know if it is just my game but there are alot of world class players who, when bought, appear on my team report has having only four stars when clearly they should be considered as ' one of the best players at the club, and therefore having a much higher star rating (5+ stars).

It doesn't matter who i am on the game but whenever i start one with a top division club, the teams are just riddled with 3 to 4 star players when in some cases they should be higher. It just doesn't help in buying players as when you are looking to improve the squad, the only scout comments i receive are 'not too much difference between player A and player B', and this is all due to this use of only 3/4 star ratings

Can anyone spare a thought on this subject or give me some suggestions to lower the difficulty in signing players to improve my squad? i find it alot tougher on this game.

Thanks in advance

Best advice I think anyone can give you is ignore the stars and buy the type of player you want for each position. Manually look at attributes.

I'll give you a couple of examples.

- Fabio Aurellio is considered a 2 star LB in the game but he always performs very well for me because he's exactly the type of player I need at LB.

- On my Chesterfield save I had 2 strikers. One was considered a 3 star striker the other was the best player in my team. My supposed best player was pretty much useless during a match because he was too slow. My 3 star striker who should've been 3rd in the pecking order ended up with the most assists and goals that season.

Choose a formation(s) you'd like to play. Figure out what you want each position to do then scour the world for the player you need. Buy different types of players for each position so you can change you tactic whenever you need to. Basically have one attacking left back and one defending. When it comes to strikers you can have a pacey one, the goal poacher and the big strong guy you can use when teams play narrow and clump the middle. This approach has never failed for me.

What bardock said.

I have noted myself that in 3rd and 2nd tier competitions the ratings seem to make much more sense than the 1st tier ones. The smaller the differences between players the least useful general eveluations will be.

Yes to the above as well.

I have a save (2021 - IMSMC) where basically all the best players for each position are in my team - yes it took me 13 years, but I got there. Anyway, I digress - basically, if you have a great side the stars are next to useless. HOWEVER, the information in the text IS STILL USEFUL, IMHO. It will tell you "could be better than", "will not improve" etc - just use this. I know it makes it harder to do at a glance, but then I guess in real life scouting for the very best is both more a personal choice and not an exact science anyway. Much easier in Serie C1, with minus £2m in the bank - then there's plenty of good starred players, but none'll come, and you couldn't afford them anyway!

Cheers.

thanks for your advice guys, i will apply what you said to a brand spanking new game and see if i can start enjoying FM again! cheers for clearing it up