What does influence do in FM10?

Is it just how good a captain the player will be, or does it actually contribute to how well they play on the pitch?

Ultimately, it just determines how good 'a captain they will be. It does have more of an impact than that, but I'm not entirely sure in what manner.

Thanks for the response and trying to explain. Does anyone else know more details about influence?

Thanks for the response and trying to explain. Does anyone else know more details about influence?

It's purely leadership. An example would be the way Rio Ferdinand directs his back line and midfield and takes charge when things get dodgy at the back - and he has relatively high influence in-game.

Of course, this isn't always the silver bullet. A player may have high influence but low determination, for example - so he's good when everything goes well, but vanishes when you need your captain the most.

What about when a DC has great tackling/marking/everything but low influence? He can't influence the game because he has low influence? What happens to his tackling? What if he has 20 tackling but 1 influence? His tackling is no longer influential?

What about when a DC has great tackling/marking/everything but low influence? He can't influence the game because he has low influence? What happens to his tackling? What if he has 20 tackling but 1 influence? His tackling is no longer influential?

I think it means influence those around him. Determination would drive him on in his own performance.

Taken from official document with research files

"How well he leads and inspires his team-mates "

My own interpretation from experience is that high influence relates to others' morale. For example, my defender is the captain with high morale, and when he plays with confident, so do the rest of the team (they receive a boost in morale). However, when he plays badly, the team suffers in morale as well and play nervously/have a poor game. Hence, high influence can be both good and bad, and it's a good idea to pick a good player with average influence over a bad player with high influence as your team's captain (think Tevez over Vieira at Man City)

The consensus, and SI from official posts, INF is relevant for selecting captains only. SFraser, on the Tactics forum did an analysis for FM10 and came to a different conclusion. He argues that it functions on the pitch in a couple of ways. One is a bit like a Terry or Ferdinand organising the defence and helping the team collective, as mentioned above. Another is a bit like playmaker; say you have an AMC with INF 20 and another with INF 1. With identical tactical settings, players will pass to the INF 20 more than the INF 1 guy, who is all-but invisible to his team mates.