[Training] I don't get why flair is part of the training

Hi all,

I was just looking at training categories, and each time I am wondering why is flair included in training and in ball control?!

I see mental attributes in 2 differents ways, either abilities like creativity, composure, anticipation... or tendencies like influence, aggression, bravery...make sense for me as what is included in training I consider it as abilities (mean these mental stats are taken into account in CA Calculation) and tendecies are linked to tutoring, age, match event like red card then fine, these kind of attributes and are not taken into account in CA calculations

But I have always consider flair as a natural tendency to do something special to beat defence anticipation for example, from Cleon's attributes thread sticky in TT Forum

Flair

A natural talent for the creative and occasional unpredictability. A player with a lot of flair will be one of the key attacking components in any team but at the same time may need tactical restraint to get the best out of him. Flair and Creativity work well together.

It is considered as a natural talent, seems like a tendency for me and not an ability like anticipate thing or make the right decision. How can you train such a tendency?

I am not sure of something else, is flair taken into account in CA Calculation? If yes I guess it is considered as an ability...

Well I am a bit confused, it would be greatly appreciated if somebody can shed some light on this.

Thanks

I would say to a degree flair is a learned ability if you think about it it takes a lot of time to practice the tricks and flicks that you would associate with flair and then to be actually able to pull them off as well.

I would say to a degree flair is a learned ability if you think about it it takes a lot of time to practice the tricks and flicks that you would associate with flair and then to be actually able to pull them off as well.

Flair sounds as some kind of innate ability, since the player was born, to play football. Tricks, flicks can be trained and have more to do with technique.

I have always thought that the current PA should be splitted in three. Flair would be PA for technical atributes. Natural fitness would be PA for physical atributes. And we would need another PA for mental atributes.

The way I undertsand Flair it can be trained.

When I train I spend a fair amount of time doing flicks, tricks and the unusual. I am getting better at this - i.e. my back heel flicks are getting more and more accurate. My control of the ball is becoming more advanced and I try things which other players don't.

I see this as me improving my flair. My creativity isn't really increasing (as it doesn't in FM) but flair is.

Also, agreed with JuanSuarez - technique and flair are closely linked.

High flair with no technique - shocker

Low flair with high technique - Steven Gerrard

High flair with high technique - Lionel Messi

Thanks for the input guys,

As I understand Flair, it is not related to the successfull outcome of the move, it's what technical and physical attributes are for I think. I can't see flair as "how well" or " how accurate" I am doing tricks, flicks and unusual stuff, you are improving your technical skills when training tricks or so.

It is a natural bias during decision making process that make somebody more likely to choose the hollywood ball or the crazy trick.

I mean, you can make Heskey train tricks, flicks or so, he would eventually be more accurate, but you will not see him choose to do back heel or tricks as he doesn't have the flamboyant bias. C. Ronaldo is exactly the opposite for example.

To me I've always thought of flair as the players natural ability/tendency to do the unexpected and that is something that can't be trained.

Tottenham had a skills coach under the Ramos days, if memory serves me right.

To me I've always thought of flair as the players natural ability/tendency to do the unexpected and that is something that can't be trained.

Agree, I feel exactly the same, it is almost like a personnality trait, something hard to change, maybe with psychological training, for example something like „be brave lads“ written in huge caps lock in the locker room .

That’s why I was asking this question, to me it doesn’t make perfect sense to train flair within the ball control category just as first touch, technique, tackling or pace.

But I don’t think it is should be fixed either, maturity can play a role here, Giggs is surely less flamboyant at 35 than at 20 for example even if physical decline obviously play a role in his decision making. Maybe he want to do the trick but he is not able anymore and he knows it

Would it be realistic if flair decreases a bit with age? Has anybody noticed something like this in the game?

What about tutoring? As it is now I am pretty sure it doesn’t influence flair like it does with other personnality traits, do you think it would be possible and realistic like for determination?

And about CA calculation, is flair taken into account like other „ability“ mental stat? As none of „tendency“ stats bravery, aggression, determination actually are?

Just to be clear when I say unexpected I don't mean "tricks"

I mean the tendency to do the unexpected, this could mean cutting inside and when the most obvious thing in the world is to take a shot on his favoured foot as he looks at the goal he plays a pass.

To me I've always thought of flair as the players natural ability/tendency to do the unexpected and that is something that can't be trained.

Agreed, that is not something you can train, there is a hard line between natural talent/flair and a hardworking player, both should be rewarded, just not on the same page.

I don't think it's wrong to suggest it can be trained. You can tell a player to become less predictable (or if he is a loose cannon, more predictable). Granted it's probably not going to shift a great deal, but I don't think it's wrong to suggest it can be trained.

If anything, we should have the ability to "untrain" flair - if you want to stop your highly-insane centre-back from dribbling through the middle because he has a very high flair, for example.

Agreed, I think it is easier to tone down flair with "training", player psychology or interaction.. to me it seems really harder to become less predictable because you have to play "beyond" your natural biais in decision making.

At least, thanks to creative freedom as it is mainly a flair modifier, there is an option to try to limit consequences of an insane centre back.

But, only regarding how flair evolution could be influenced, do you think a player interaction like "I'd like you to keep it simple on the pitch" would be useful? Kind of specific training actually?