Can you judge a player by his stats?

Ok so I've been playing FM for a few years now. I am quite successful with who ever I manage however I've now decided that my "judging player ability" skills are pretty poor. I have signed some players in the past and I have deemed them to be stars for my club as there stats can in some cases be brilliant.

However. In my past I've signed players and they haven't performed at all. So I'm asking you guys how do you normally look at players before signing them?

For example when looking at a good centre half I would usually look at heading, marking, tackling, strength, jumping and pace... I look at those usually before I look at other stats. If they had good enough stats in these areas you would probably look at signing him. However once I have signed a player of that class he usually doesn't Perform as he should.

I'd like to know if your successful with your buys and what do you look at before buying them and also try and help to see why and where I'm going wrong?

Can you judge a player by his stats? - To some degree, yes.

My interpretation of what might be going wrong is that you are focusing far too much on 'Technical' attributes. For instance Marking, Tackling and Heading are far less important than, say, Positioning, Anticipation and Strength.

Mental and Physical attributes easily trump technical ones.

Regardless of position, I always look for:

VERY HIGH Priority: Pace, Stamina

HIGH Priority: First Touch, Anticipation, Work Rate, Strength, Determination

OTHER: Technique, Teamwork, Composure,

My two cents :-)

The main attributes are the mental ones, they "control" the technical ones. Thats not just my interpretation but how the game works.

For example, when a player is going to hit the ball in front of the goal the game doesnt use just "finishing", before that is composure, decisions, technique (MAIN attribute when we talk about the technical ones because it affects most of them), maybe creativity, etc...and if we wanna go further, before that is "off the ball" and "anticipation" because those two could have been the ones who made that he arrived to that position before any other opponent.

You never mentioned any mental attributes for the cb, Titus Bramble has good stats in the areas you mentioned but defenders need at least good concentration, positioning and decisions.

Stats can sometimes not tell the whole story. I had Jordan Henderson win best player in the champions league despite having stats a lot worse than Messi, Ronaldo, Rooney and the other world class stars. He also got fans player of the year a head of players like Tevez, Dzeko and Sergio Aguero.

You can judge a player by his attributes, especially if you factor in hidden attributes, but his stats (statistics) aren't a very good guide

I don't even look at how they have performed in their previous club, since I can't tell what role he has had there. I look at his PA first (via scouts) then key attributes like the physical ones then mental and lastly the technical attributes.

You can judge a player by his attributes, especially if you factor in hidden attributes, but his stats (statistics) aren't a very good guide

I think the OP was referring to his attributes but called them stats

I think I'm a pretty good judge of a player based on his attributes only... I also consider age and personality when signing a player. I don't put as much emphasis on physical attributes as some either, certainly not in the lower leagues, a slow, weak, technically brilliant player can be immense played correctly.

When signing new players I consider what roles they would be expected to play in my team, what attributes they would need to play those roles well, and whether they have the required attributes or not... I know what each of my players need to perform in my team as my tactics have never changed in 3 years, each position and it's corresponding player settings is memorised. I can tell instantly whether a player would fit into my tactical setup or not just from his attributes alone..

There are hidden attributes (stats) that are key to how your new signing will perform as well.

First of all, if it is a foreign signing, there is the 'adapability' stat, which determines how quickly they settle into your team. Generally new signings need a few months to really hit their strides IMO, especially ones that don't speak the native language.

There is also the hidden 'consistency' and 'important matches' stat that will determine how these players perform on a game to game basis, as well as in the big matches.

Generally if they are lacking in these areas a good scout will point out that they are not consistent performers, or doesn't relish the big matches.

Agree with Torpy

the hidden stats are the reason why most of the signings don't perform as expected. That's why always look at my scout reports to see whether the player is consistent and relishes big matches or not.