Does preferred positions have that much of an effect on ability?

I have a 4.5 Star player according to my assistant, I ask him for a team report which says this player is 3 stars, I looked at his preferred position which is "Natural" at DM and "Accomplished" at CM, and in the Team Report he is at CM, but does playing at a slightly different position really take off 1.5 stars of his ability because that would be disappointing. Feel free to tell me if I'm missing something here, and if screenshots help just ask

I'm actually curious if anyone has any real info about this as well. I mean specifics of why it their rating is supposedly lower, even when they have perfect attributes for the position/role.

Also, can players in 11 still go from accomplished to natural at all? Can they do it just playing the position or do they need position training as well? Ask because I've not seen any positions change from my teams.

I ignore coach reports opinions in regard to a player's positional ability and instead just focus on the highlighted key attributes for the position I intend to use him in. I'm currently using a natural cm with red for all other positions as a full back while he's also being retrained to right back. He hasn't been brilliant while he's learning but his ratings have been >6.5 in every game he's played there so far so he hasn't had what I'd consider a particularly bad game (<6.1) there yet either.

If the player has an accomplished rating then as long as they have the key attributes required it isn't a real worry however I tend to follow a coach's report when I should just ignore it. It obvious will have a slight impact as it does in real life as they are not in their most comfortable position but it all depends on their ability to play their consisently. So if you have a player with an accomplished rating play him there for 5 games or so to see if his form justifies him playing there for you and if he is sucessful play him there permantly.

If the player has an accomplished rating then as long as they have the key attributes required it isn't a real worry however I tend to follow a coach's report when I should just ignore it. It obvious will have a slight impact as it does in real life as they are not in their most comfortable position but it all depends on their ability to play their consisently. So if you have a player with an accomplished rating play him there for 5 games or so to see if his form justifies him playing there for you and if he is sucessful play him there permantly.

Yes yes, the common sense answer, and in my case this is what I do anyway... why my second question as asking about gaining natural in a position they've been playing.

What I want to know is if anyone knows the specific mechanics of why accomplished positions can be so different from natural. Does it give a penalty to decisions (one of the things I've heard) or some other attribute(s). Just want to know if anyone has specifics.

It barley has an effect, if any.......messi scores 30+ goals for me every season playing as a rite winger (which isnt his natural position on the game ), he is not even that profilic in his preferd AM position.......think it mostly depends on player attributes+PPM

Well....

Imagine van der Vaart. He's a top player irl, but imagine if Redknapp used him as a defensive midfielder instead of an attacking midfielder? I very much doubt that he'd play very well... Even dragging him down to play alongside the other central midfielders would probably mean that he wouldn't be playing as well.

Moving a player from defensive midfield to central midfield, like you have done, means that the player gets much more offensive responsibility. And I'm guessing he's a lot better defensively than offensively. But, assman recommendations don't take roles into account AFAIK, so he could still be very good as a defensively oriented midfielder, like a ball winning midfielder set to "defensive".

A lot of the "transfer blunders" comes from players who are awesome in one role, but when they change clubs they're played in a different position and end up playong horribly. The reverse is also common, a player considered to be garbage changes clubs, plays in a different role and suddenly he dominates.

Obviously nobody knows anything about the actual in-game mechanics of this.

Thanks again for the incredibly obvious HoreTore.

Obviously nobody knows anything about the actual in-game mechanics of this.

Thanks again for the incredibly obvious HoreTore.

i asked if players you're training in a new position will ever become a natural there a couple of days ago; and i was told yes they would depending of course on how high their versatility is!!

Obviously nobody knows anything about the actual in-game mechanics of this.

Thanks again for the incredibly obvious HoreTore.

I wasn't replying to you, now was I?

if you think of a player like cristiano ronaldo then you wouldn´t think it would be that big a difference using him in any of the forward positions. it might in fm, but i am no professor so your guess is as good as mine. i have tho had 4 star players playing in an accomplished position and still had 4 stars in the ass man viewpoint, there could be other factors that play a part in how it´s screwed together with how stars are determined. god, i sound nerdy :o

i asked if players you're training in a new position will ever become a natural there a couple of days ago; and i was told yes they would depending of course on how high their versatility is!!

It's lies. My players who are up to 20 in that position still say accomplished not natural.

It's lies. My players who are up to 20 in that position still say accomplished not natural.

elaborate please

Yes, a player can be trained to natural. Someone in the tactics forum mentioned it and I tried. Took my player more than a year but now he is a natural AML in addition to AMC. His star rating for AML went from 2.5 to 3 stars with the same potential now of 3.5 for either position.

As for performance. He played as well before as now. Now slightly better but that is because he has developed his stats slightly further.

It's lies. My players who are up to 20 in that position still say accomplished not natural.

If i know i'll be playing someone only/mostly on his accomplished position (ie. MC instead of DMC), i have him train that until it reaches natural. Which it does

The only thing i noticed: if i remove that position training, natural changes back to accomplished after a while.

So in order not to screw with talent development, i only start natural-position training once i think the player reached his peak CA and then keep that position training on forever (it doesnt auto-drop from selection anyway once natural is reached).

I had a 19 year old striker learn to play AML for me last season. He became natural late in the season.

He also won the English Footballer of the Year with a 7.61 average rating.

Yes, players can train from accomplished to natural. I've done it with a few players so far, but there's one thing you should keep an eye on- even after a player becomes "natural" the computer will leave him training at the "new" position. At the end of every month, when the training reports come in, I go through each player and check his training tab to make sure I'm not wasting training time once they've become naturals.

I'm pretty sure one of the main attributes that determine how well a player can play in a role they are less comfortable with is their adaptability. Unfortunately, the mechanics of the situation are extremely difficult to pinpoint, and we can't expect an answer from SI on it as it is the sort of behind-the-scenes stuff that companies tend to be reluctant to share.