Height without jumping stat?!?

I've always considered height and weight purely cosmetic and that stats were all that really mattered, in effect this meant that if i wanted a target man then i'd rather have a 6'1'' striker with 20 jumping than a 6'7'' striker with 13 jumping (disregarding everything else in this debate). But now after seeing so many regens who are extremely tall but have very little jumping i wanted to ask if this was effectively a bit of a glitch or not.

Effectively i'm asking this: Does height effect matches and if so is it as important as jumping?

and also: If it isn't important then why are there so many tall players with poor jumping stat if it is this that effects matches?

P.S I'm awaiting many 'Crouch' comments about him not winning enough headers.

Height is factored into the jumping attribute. Generally a taller player has a higher att, but shorter players can sometimes leap higher than taller ones.

This is purely my own opinion, but short players who can jump high can reach the same ball as tall players who can't jump at all.

Check this out - LeBron James blocks Yao Ming - it's not football but it kinda shows what I mean

So for your tall target man, I'd pick someone who's tall and jumps high. Check your target man's match stats and see if he's winning his headers.

Heading (if we're talking purely about making contact with the ball in the air with your head) is a factor of both jumping and height.

Think of height as the starting height of your head. From a standing position, taking away all other factors, someone who is 6'1 will win the header up against someone who is 5'8, because his head 'starts' at a higher position.

Then, think of jumping as the maximum potential height your head can reach. So, if we take a standing vertical jump; if the 5'8 person can jump vertically by a distance greater than then 6'1 person's jump + the difference in their height, then the shorter player will end up winning the ball, as his head reaches higher and can get to the ball first.

As such, if you have a whole lot of 6'1 players who can't get off the ground, while they will still be reasonably good at winning aerial balls due to their superior 'starting height', they will be very vulnerable against a group of slightly-shorter players who are excellent jumpers, because the jumpers are able to get their heads to a greater 'maximum height', thus winning the ball first.

Obviously, it's not going to be an exact science in FM, and the basic scenario is highly simplified (not taking into account varients such as positioning, body strength, running jumpts etc.) but that's how the principle would work in real life, and that's how I would expect it to work in the game.

As Balthazars says.... Coz check out Crouch... If im not mistaken he has 20 for jumping even though he never has to really or he rarely does IRL...

Just to clarify Balthazars post:

Jumping - The maximum height a player can reach including his height and his ability to get off the ground.

Heading - Once he has reached the ball this is the ability to direct it where he wants.

Height isn't factored into the ME's actual calculations

Source: Repeated several times by SI and researchers

Although height does have an effect according to PaulC's posts in the 3D Announcement thread. All it does though is determine which animation is displayed if you watch in 3D. The Jumping (and Bravery, Decisions, Anticipation) attributes affect whether the header will be won, the Heading (and possibly Technique and First Touch) attributes affect the control of the header.

All height does is affect the choice of animation.

SCIAG- thanks! That's what i wanted to know, thanks everyone else but of course i know what height and jumping means i just wanted to know if it was a real factor in the match engine.

Then surely Crouch shouldnt have 20 in jumping? He doesnt actually jump alot, but obv. coz of his height, wins a lot of headers...

Then surely Crouch shouldnt have 20 in jumping? He doesnt actually jump alot, but obv. coz of his height, wins a lot of headers...

"Jumping", from a researcher's point of view, is how high their head is at the top of their jump. Crocuh, being 6'7, gets higher than, say Evra.

Ah.. ok. Im sure that has been clarified... For some reason I am being really thick today.... As all other days.

We'll see how much jumping he does at Spurs I suppose.

As Balthazars says.... Coz check out Crouch... If im not mistaken he has 20 for jumping even though he never has to really or he rarely does IRL...

crouch scored quite a lot of headers for pompey this season

Yeah I didnt mean that, I just meant that he rarely jumps, because he doesnt have to....