Staff Reports and other game questions

I've had a few scout reports done on some players and a few coach reports on existing Under 18 players of mine, and I'm a bit confused about some of their comments.

- When they say "Player X has the ability to become as good as Ryan Giggs", does this mean Player X could become as good as Giggs is now (i.e., a current ability based on him being a 36 year old) or does it mean he could be as good as Giggs was in his best days?

- When they say "Anderson is the 7th best central midfielder in the squad", is there a way of accessing this list to see who the coach rates in numbers 1-6, and 8-10? I'm interested to see who is better and worse than Anderson.

- When they say "he doesnt have the mentality to challenge in the air", what does this mean? To be good in the air, I assumed all you needed was good jumping and heading abilities - what mentality do you need? If the coaches have this opinion of him, would they not even bother training him up to be a better header of the ball?

- Is there any way I can get a good physio report on Hargreaves? I can request a report and there's a section in the report regarding training and I keep being told "We have no concerns about Hargraves regarding training". However, I know Hargreaves has recurring injury problems, and although he's fit now, I'd like to know what my physio thinks about his long term status. If a physio says "he's fine now, but you'll probably only get 1-2 more years out of him", then I'll sell him. I'd also want to know if he's completely clear of problems and a recurrence isn't likely. I can't see how to request a detailed physio report.

Other queries?

- Is there ever any wrongly disallowed goals for offside? So far, I've had 5 disallowed and they've all been correct. Do bad decisions happen?

- I sometimes get told, when I score playing as Man Utd - "Newcastle players are going absolutely furious with that decision", but I can see them on the 3D pitch, and they're not at all - they're just walking back to the centre quite peacefully. It'd be quite funny to see players surrounding the ref, and getting booked, and getting a bit heated and jumping into tackles, or maybe completely losing their head and conceding another 1 or 2 quickly, things like that.

- I've got it set to have my assistant deal with under 18 player contracts. However, he isn't at all - no under 18 player gets renewed and I have to do it. I only noticed when Chelsea and AC Milan tried to steal Josh King from me. The option to set the assistant to handle Under 18 contract renewals - what does this mean? Does it mean the assistant will auto-renewal all contracts or he'll make a decision on whether they're worth it? Because I want it to be the first one and not the second!

- In an ideal world, I'd love to watch the game from a managers point of view - i.e., right on the touchline, really close. That would be a great view. And animations (hand gestures) could be added to simulate me shouting instructions with a little figure of me standing there. I play the game using the Zoomed Vertical Scrolling view, but sometimes I can't tell if headers are going in or over. Is there an option to set custom camera angles, because I want that view, but a bit lower?

- I wish my board and fans would be a bit cleverer. For example, I had already qualified for the next stage of Europe, and so I played 11 reserve team players in my final game against Panathinaikos. I lost 3-1, but played quite well, and still finished top of the group. However, the fans were hugely disappointed, and everytime I get a board update, they keep reminding me of that loss and say it's not good enough. I wish they'd just shut up - it didnt matter, and we haven't lost since! The fools!

Apart from that, I think this is the best game since FM07. It plays and works really well, and the players that other teams are signing make sense, so it seems really realistic. I'm loving this game.

re: offside goals... I've had goals given FOR me that were clearly offside... I dunno what I've done to stop getting the replays with the lines across the pitch when they're disallowed though - anybody?

re: under 18's contracts: I definitely DON'T want my coach/assistant to offer deals to ALL my U18's, only those who have a chance of 'making it'. The others I want to choose myself whether to give them a deal or not (i.e. can I sell them later?) It's always been like this in the past and I hope it still is... it's a bit worrying that you said that your assistant didn't offer a contract to a hot prospect though... :/

re: who does your assistant rate above a player... look at your other players, get a bleeding notepad and make notes like the rest of us (don't use the in-game one cos it's garbage -sadly - once you have more than 1000 notes it'll hang even the best computers for a while before it opens... sort it out SI!)

He's got the potential to be as good as Giggs is now. But that's still good!

I've had a few scout reports done on some players and a few coach reports on existing Under 18 players of mine, and I'm a bit confused about some of their comments.

- When they say "Player X has the ability to become as good as Ryan Giggs", does this mean Player X could become as good as Giggs is now (i.e., a current ability based on him being a 36 year old) or does it mean he could be as good as Giggs was in his best days?current ability

- When they say "Anderson is the 7th best central midfielder in the squad", is there a way of accessing this list to see who the coach rates in numbers 1-6, and 8-10? I'm interested to see who is better and worse than Anderson. squad selection page, change the view to assistant report, where you will see the players individual star ratings

- When they say "he doesnt have the mentality to challenge in the air", what does this mean? To be good in the air, I assumed all you needed was good jumping and heading abilities - what mentality do you need? If the coaches have this opinion of him, would they not even bother training him up to be a better header of the ball?

good jumping and heading are important, balance would possibly taken into consideration. not certain whether height is included

- Is there any way I can get a good physio report on Hargreaves? I can request a report and there's a section in the report regarding training and I keep being told "We have no concerns about Hargraves regarding training". However, I know Hargreaves has recurring injury problems, and although he's fit now, I'd like to know what my physio thinks about his long term status. If a physio says "he's fine now, but you'll probably only get 1-2 more years out of him", then I'll sell him. I'd also want to know if he's completely clear of problems and a recurrence isn't likely. I can't see how to request a detailed physio report. there used to be a physio report but it is no longer in the game in this manner. checking using the editor of FMRTE will tell you a players injury proneness rating, but generally if a player get injured a lot then look to modify aspects of their training

Other queries?

- Is there ever any wrongly disallowed goals for offside? So far, I've had 5 disallowed and they've all been correct. Do bad decisions happen?

pretty sure i've seen this happen

- I sometimes get told, when I score playing as Man Utd - "Newcastle players are going absolutely furious with that decision", but I can see them on the 3D pitch, and they're not at all - they're just walking back to the centre quite peacefully. It'd be quite funny to see players surrounding the ref, and getting booked, and getting a bit heated and jumping into tackles, or maybe completely losing their head and conceding another 1 or 2 quickly, things like that.

what happens in the commentary is what happens, it is not always represented properly in the match engine. think of it less as a live game, but more of a re-enactment

- I've got it set to have my assistant deal with under 18 player contracts. However, he isn't at all - no under 18 player gets renewed and I have to do it. I only noticed when Chelsea and AC Milan tried to steal Josh King from me. The option to set the assistant to handle Under 18 contract renewals - what does this mean? Does it mean the assistant will auto-renewal all contracts or he'll make a decision on whether they're worth it? Because I want it to be the first one and not the second!

assman makes up his own mind whether or not players deserve a contract and his opinion may occasionally differ from yours. use the assistant report view on the u-18 page to determine which players are going to be better occasionally and if the assman hasn't already done so, you may choose to offer a contract yourself

- In an ideal world, I'd love to watch the game from a managers point of view - i.e., right on the touchline, really close. That would be a great view. And animations (hand gestures) could be added to simulate me shouting instructions with a little figure of me standing there. I play the game using the Zoomed Vertical Scrolling view, but sometimes I can't tell if headers are going in or over. Is there an option to set custom camera angles, because I want that view, but a bit lower?don't think this is available but would be a good addition

- I wish my board and fans would be a bit cleverer. For example, I had already qualified for the next stage of Europe, and so I played 11 reserve team players in my final game against Panathinaikos. I lost 3-1, but played quite well, and still finished top of the group. However, the fans were hugely disappointed, and everytime I get a board update, they keep reminding me of that loss and say it's not good enough. I wish they'd just shut up - it didnt matter, and we haven't lost since! The fools!

AI doesn't always distinguish between your first team getting gubbed or your reserves getting gubbed. i guess some people will still be upset at losing a game but try not to worry about this too much

Apart from that, I think this is the best game since FM07. It plays and works really well, and the players that other teams are signing make sense, so it seems really realistic. I'm loving this game.

hope some of this helps