Sometimes the stats aren't the whole story.

I've been managing Liverpool since the start. At the beginning of the 2016-2017 season I had to sell my 2nd string LB and didn't have any super promising young ones to backup my starter (who himself was a super promising young player anyway). So I went out and bought a veteran that I would use for 1 season in case of injuries and during cup matches.

I picked up Andy Butler off of Bristol City for 2.5million.

Here he is:

http://www.jamespwright.com/images/public/screengrabs/8d626de45347c50e847f807a989b3d70.PNG

The season I got him, he ended up starting 23 matches and coming on as a sub in 16 in all competitions. His average rating was 7.20. He even had a MoM performance in the Champions League.

Just goes to show that the stats of a player aren't the whole story on what that player can do.

Marking 15

Tackling 15

Anticipation 15

Concentration 10

Positioning 17

Teamwork 14

WorkRate 14

Acceleration 14

Stamina 14

How are these not good stats? :/

Very impressive for a defender.

I think what you mean is that the star rating of a player is not to be taken as the whole story, as I assume he would be down as a 2.0 or 2.5 star?

Except for concentration, he is easily good enough for pool.

It's true that players can perform higher than their attributes suggest. This is a good example- whilst he's a solid defender, he is pretty ineffective going forward, by his attributes.

I'm playing with Man U, and after Van der Sar retired signed mexican GK Guillermo Ochoa from America (Mex) and Akinfeev from CSKA.

Ochoa is lower, almost in every stat, than Akinfeev. I started with Ochoa as starter for cup games and Akinfeev for CL and EPL. After mid-season Akinfeev is the back-up with 6.90 and Ochoa is now my first choice with avg. rating of 7.10 in 20 app. and voted as the second best european GK just below Casillas.

So I guess stats are not everything too.

I judge players more on their stats than their attributes.

I judge players more on their stats than their attributes.

Sadly attributes dont seem to have a lot of effect on the way a player plays. A seemingly perfect player can be rubbish but one that looks average can bang the goals in.

Yes attributes are not everything - but the hiddden attributes are pretty important. Although we don't know them - after a while we can kind of guestimate them. Such as pressure, Big game performance etc. I don't agree with Kenco mind - attributes are far more important than stats IMO. Each to their own!!!

Sadly attributes dont seem to have a lot of effect on the way a player plays. A seemingly perfect player can be rubbish but one that looks average can bang the goals in.

Are you sure you're not just seeing some anecdotal evidence and making conclusions prematurely?

I tried to go the Arsene Wenger way in my Man U save and tried to develop bunch of potential first-teamers from my youth squad by giving them as many games as I could. Whenever half of my team was made up from the youth squad guys, the team would play worse as a whole and bring worse results.

Are you sure you're not just seeing some anecdotal evidence and making conclusions prematurely?

No, Ive played every FM since the amiga days.

I tried to go the Arsene Wenger way in my Man U save and tried to develop bunch of potential first-teamers from my youth squad by giving them as many games as I could. Whenever half of my team was made up from the youth squad guys, the team would play worse as a whole and bring worse results.

Its well documented pace makes players amazing and I also think theres way too much emphasis in mental attributes. I can only think of a handful of players that play below their level of skill IRL but it happens all the time in FM.

Perhaps the best example here would be Eren Derdiyok. Has a finishing of 12 but still manages to finish pretty well.

My first post !

I am managing AC Milan and using Antonini as starter LB for years (I am still using him).

I ask him to learn from Zambrotta and his determination raise to 16, and other stats (mental and technical) raise to 1 point.

He always finish the season with average rating >7.0 and apps >30.

I only sign Antonino Barilla as his back up for €500k in the first season.

My first post !

Welcome to the forums!

apps >30.

WOW! I can never get him to play two consecutive games. Always gets injured.

WOW! I can never get him to play two consecutive games. Always gets injured.

He works well with me..

and never really had a serious injury problem.

even my LB back up Barilla injured more often than him althought his average apps per season is only >20, and mostly as a sub. :-)

He works well with me..

and never really had a serious injury problem.

even my LB back up Barilla injured more often than him althought his average apps per season is only >20, and mostly as a sub. :-)

Oh! I was talking about Barilla. *facepalm*

I think you can really see this effect most clearly in the lower leagues. I once (FM 2008?) played several seasons in the lower reaches of the Icelandic football leagues and I had a wily old veteran striker with rubbish stats. I mean terrible, utter rubbish stats. But he just loved to bang in the goals. If I played him, we won; It was like magic. I'm sure his hidden stats were not altogether that impressive as I did eventually take a peak at them after I was done with that game. It was that player in particular that made me completely reassess how I buy and rotate players in FM, focusing more on character and magic zing than on pure stats. This gives FM a sense of depth that is probably irrational and just dumb luck, but is nonetheless ultimately more interesting than finding the scientifically best player for a position.