New Feature Suggestion - "Team Reports" with an official depth chart per position...

SI Games,

This post is a simple question regarding the possibility of adding a new feature for the next edition of Football Manager.

Whenever you start a new job from both being unemployed or switching clubs you currently get a team report in which you are told your best senior and youth players, this might be useful for the experienced player, however for a new/younger players this might not be as useful in determining who to keep, sell or release.

Mockup w/ Paint.NET

The good thing about the current team report is that it will take your current tactic and base the best senior and youth players and you might get a recommendation on what areas we need to improve the squad and in this case would look into someone who does play a specific position based on your tactic.

If we could keep the best parts and somehow introduce an interactive team report/depth chart in which you can request from your assistant manager/coaches (if no assistant manager at club) to sort each player per position based on your tactic, and filter this report to include;

• Strikers no older than... (personal preference)
  
• Midfielders no older than... (personal preference)
  
• Defenders no older than... (personal preference)
  
• Goalkeepers no older than... (personal preference)
  
• Youth Team no older than... (this would be based on country rules, if any or by personal preference, if club doesn't have a youth squad)
  
• No more than "X" players per position... (this would be saying 2x GK, DL, DR, DM, MC, AML, AMC, AMR, ST, 4x DC and allowing 1x GK-ST and 2x DC for a youth player)
  
• Minimum/Maximum Senior Squad Size... (this would be based on country rules, if any or by personal preference)
  
• Maximum Youth Squad Size... (this would be based on country rules, if any or by personal preference)
  

These filters can assist to reduce wage bills if the club you are taking over has a higher wage budget than actual budget allowed and by knowing who to sell/release you can reduce the wage by offering the extras that you don’t need.

I know that people might suggest that you use your squad screen however when you play a tactic that doesn’t utilise that position/or you have too many people for that “Best Position” you really need to rank and sort your roster to the tactic being used.

An example of this is my current tactic which is a 4-3-3 tactic (however it is actually 4-1-1-3-1 – GK, DL, DCl, DCr, DR, DMC, MCr, AML, AMCl, AMR, ST) however if you only have ML, MR, WBL, WBR or SW you just don’t want to sell or release them if they are useful in any of the positions in your tactic, that will also help with positional training.

Also for SI Games I had a previous suggestion post however it appears no one has provided any feedback, if possible can you please look at it and provide feedback; http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/266000-New-Feature-Suggestion-quot-On-Holiday-quot-and-apply-for-International-Manager-positions

Regards

I would like a tool to allow me to see who can play in a position, but I'm not too sure about all the other filters you have suggested. I alter the look of my squad screen to include all the columns I want to see in one place, and I have a few different squad screen setups.

Perhaps if you could just go to your AssMan and ask him to provide a report of who might be able to fill in in positions other than their best. That way at least you wouldn't have to search through every player hoping to find someone for another position.

In the reports, it already tells me that he is the 5th best midfielder i have. Well who are the other 4 then? I want that list to be shown on a screen.

In the reports, it already tells me that he is the 5th best midfielder i have. Well who are the other 4 then? I want that list to be shown on a screen.

I wouldn't mind if they had two star ratings too. One as it is now that compares the player to the season objective and the rest of your squad. The second to show how the player is rated for his position compared to the average of the league he is in.

That way I can with new teams, decide whether I want to challenge for the title or stick with being a relegation avoiding team. At lower leagues with relegation tipped teams its really easy to assemble a promotion contender team but not have the media or team report reflect that (though the team report DOES reflect it around the time the media say you're "over-achieving" in which case, the stars scale to rate your players as if they're promotion contenders kinda, but it's a bit late by that point.)

I would like a tool to allow me to see who can play in a position, but I'm not too sure about all the other filters you have suggested. I alter the look of my squad screen to include all the columns I want to see in one place, and I have a few different squad screen setups.

Perhaps if you could just go to your AssMan and ask him to provide a report of who might be able to fill in in positions other than their best. That way at least you wouldn't have to search through every player hoping to find someone for another position.

The filter options are just a way to ask the assistant manager/coaches to rank all players so if you have internal requirements an example might be (as per FM11 Tips);

Goalkeepers will generally peak and enjoy their best footballing years between the ages of 31 and 35

So your filter would be to get a team depth chart by sorting all players as if they would be playing as a Goalkeeper and to exclude those that are older than 35 years of age, this way if they are older than 35 might either want to sell, release or consider making them an offer to become the teams goalkeeping coach also by listing them you can ensure that your keepers are (1x 31-35 yrs old, 1x between 22-30 years old and 1x youth/no older than 21 years old) this can also assist by using your peaked keeper to tutor the learning keeper.

Of course you can always use a physical notepad and pen and 3rd party programs to note all of this however if SI include a propper Team Depth per Position it would be ideal so you don't feel like producing a thesis every time you just want to know who your best players are and who to consider for transfer/release, and if you remind yourself to review your team report every 6 months this can assist in making sure you only keep the best and sell whos note and possibly even repeave an old sell for a new one if they become one of your best.

Depth charts listing who is better than who? Do people not want to work anything out for themselves these days?

Yeah this kind of takes a lot of work out of the game.

Depth charts listing who is better than who? Do people not want to work anything out for themselves these days?

Yeah this kind of takes a lot of work out of the game.

My suggestions are based on the fact that the team report only gives enough information for the experienced users however for a young user working out who to keep and who to sell can be difficult you would still be using the assistant "star rating" reports, however if their best position is not apart of your tactic these rating/recommendations are useless, however if you could get the star ratings based on your tactic it just makes it easier.

You are both saying where is the challenge, however you still have to find players that will blend well with your squad and suit your style of play so it is not 100% easier to play the game however it just makes "clearing the excess/rubbish out" of your squads/rosters.

Regards

PS When will someone from SI reply so we can get an understanding from SI as to why this hasn't been implemented in the past and why it may not be implemented in the future?

Another option would be to create multiple pages/views in which everyone on you squad is ranked by that position this way depending on your tactics and can world out who to keep and who is wasting your budget.

Mockup 2 w/ Paint.NET

I have created a topic in the skinning forum to see if something like this could be created for FM11 (click here) you can either introduce this by using a word or the number equivalent (Natural = 20, Accomplished = 19-15, Competent = 14-12, Unconvincing = 11-9, Awkward = 8-5 and N/A = 4-0).

surely it's who is doing it on the pitch that are the best players on your team not who has the highest star rating?

I pay no attention to the star-ratings in truth... I am more concerned with how they fit into my tactics and perform on the pitch. In fact, at the moment at least, my biggest consideration for who to keep and who to release/sell is dictated by the size of their salary. I will be releasing a whole bunch of players at the end of the current season (we're at the end of November atm) simply because I can't afford them and I'll be selling a player in January (I hope) who is OOC at the end of the season cos he is "dubious" at "key player" and not interested at anything less and I can't even offer him the same money he is on now.. (he's supposedly my best midfielder..)

Star ratings are good for a guide, but as a tool for deciding a retained list? not for me

I agree Lazarus. My best performing centre half for the past three years only has a half star rating. Explain that with a depth chart.

surely it's who is doing it on the pitch that are the best players on your team not who has the highest star rating?

I pay no attention to the star-ratings in truth... I am more concerned with how they fit into my tactics and perform on the pitch. In fact, at the moment at least, my biggest consideration for who to keep and who to release/sell is dictated by the size of their salary. I will be releasing a whole bunch of players at the end of the current season (we're at the end of November atm) simply because I can't afford them and I'll be selling a player in January (I hope) who is OOC at the end of the season cos he is "dubious" at "key player" and not interested at anything less and I can't even offer him the same money he is on now.. (he's supposedly my best midfielder..)

Star ratings are good for a guide, but as a tool for deciding a retained list? not for me

I agree Lazarus. My best performing centre half for the past three years only has a half star rating. Explain that with a depth chart.

The whole idea behind the "Depth Chart" whether it be the original 1 page version or a multiple page version, would be to have a ranking of that person in that position (instead of just telling us their best position only), of course match performance matters however if you replace a terminated manager the actual performance still matters, however just because you list a player doesn't mean he would be sold and you can review your lists every 6 months and if a listed player works hard enough he could be taken off the transfer lists and replaced.

Also if your first task is to reduce your wage budget this can be an easier way to work out who to keep and who to list based on your tactic as the previous manager would have his style and would have more players to fill that position compared to your created tactic/your style, so if his tactic was a 4-2-4 so his squad might have 6-8 strikers and if your tactic was structured as a 4-1-1-3-1 (4-3-3) then you only need 2 or 3 strikers in your first team.

This is why I suggested the Depth Charts feature, only if SI would response so I can get their standing on this suggestion.

Regards

The whole idea behind the "Depth Chart" whether it be the original 1 page version or a multiple page version, would be to have a ranking of that person in that position (instead of just telling us their best position only), of course match performance matters however if you replace a terminated manager the actual performance still matters, however just because you list a player doesn't mean he would be sold and you can review your lists every 6 months and if a listed player works hard enough he could be taken off the transfer lists and replaced.

Also if your first task is to reduce your wage budget this can be an easier way to work out who to keep and who to list based on your tactic as the previous manager would have his style and would have more players to fill that position compared to your created tactic/your style, so if his tactic was a 4-2-4 so his squad might have 6-8 strikers and if your tactic was structured as a 4-1-1-3-1 (4-3-3) then you only need 2 or 3 strikers in your first team.

This is why I suggested the Depth Charts feature, only if SI would response so I can get their standing on this suggestion.

Regards

I don't see how a star rating chart helps me decide who to keep... the first name on my teamsheet is a 2 star, 32 year old left winger who, incidentally, has just won the player of the month award... I wouldn't use any of your suggested filters either as I don't pick my team based on age and I don't limit my squad in any way except with wages, for example I think I have 5 left wingers (or is it six..? hmm).

I don't play the highest "ranked" left winger (well, not in the left-wing position anyway) nor do I play the second highest ranked. My captain is my 5th best striker but is playing every game at the moment. My 2nd best centre-back is playing in central midfield and my best right-back doesn't even make the bench but we have won our last 8 matches and are unbeaten in 9.

Do you see what I mean? What you're suggesting would have no use for me whatsoever as half my team would be classed as 'excess/rubbish' instead of the important players that they are.. no chart can tell me that my supposed 6th best 32year old 2 star rated left winger is a 20+ assist a season man plus he scores goals too (27/9 last season) - how are you going to do that in a chart other than his history? And to get it in his history he has to play...

^^^ seems like an argument for how much the star system sucks rather than an argument against the idea.

I'm having trouble getting to grips with what exactly this idea means but I'd rather spend more time playing than reading charts to be honest. But I do agree that some information isn't as easily accessible as it should be.

I don't see how a star rating chart helps me decide who to keep... the first name on my teamsheet is a 2 star, 32 year old left winger who, incidentally, has just won the player of the month award... I wouldn't use any of your suggested filters either as I don't pick my team based on age and I don't limit my squad in any way except with wages, for example I think I have 5 left wingers (or is it six..? hmm).

I don't play the highest "ranked" left winger (well, not in the left-wing position anyway) nor do I play the second highest ranked. My captain is my 5th best striker but is playing every game at the moment. My 2nd best centre-back is playing in central midfield and my best right-back doesn't even make the bench but we have won our last 8 matches and are unbeaten in 9.

Do you see what I mean? What you're suggesting would have no use for me whatsoever as half my team would be classed as 'excess/rubbish' instead of the important players that they are.. no chart can tell me that my supposed 6th best 32year old 2 star rated left winger is a 20+ assist a season man plus he scores goals too (27/9 last season) - how are you going to do that in a chart other than his history? And to get it in his history he has to play...

It looks like you have a good idea on what stats to look at when it comes to keeping players and/not keeping, however for someone that are not football educated (not everyone in Australia knows Football in and out like the people in the UK) this screen can assist them, also some very young gamers might not know either (and to be honest when I play the game I want to go in depth with all the feature, however I fell like I need a FIFA Pro license IRL just to understand some of the ins and out with squad management. If I had a FIFA Pro License I would be applying for management jobs IRL myself).

^^^ seems like an argument for how much the star system sucks rather than an argument against the idea.

I'm having trouble getting to grips with what exactly this idea means but I'd rather spend more time playing than reading charts to be honest. But I do agree that some information isn't as easily accessible as it should be.

You are correct in regards to some information to be accessible however the who idea behind this is to manage squad numbers and keep the bare minimum per position. Some websites that I have read in the past keep saying it is recommended to have a certain number of players per position (2 GK, 2 DL, 2 DR, 3 or 4 DC (DCl/DCr), 2 DMC, 2 MC, 2 AML, 2 AMC, 2 AMR and 2 ST = 21 or 22 players in the first team) as an example however if your team that you take over might have a total squad of 40 players & be 500,000 over budget so you decide to cull 18 players to help reduce the wage budget.

So by having a depth chart and an assistant recommendation/rating of that person in that position (not the same information in the assistant report w/ best position, and similar to the Ask Assistant for a Team Report, but with more depth than the best 11 seniors and best 11 youth players) you could apply say the above rules of 2 people per position you could temporarily list the remaining/extras and review this screen every 6 months and change any transfer listings as required.

I would attempt this via a 3rd party product (Genie Scout) however you can't multiple sort the columns and the data that advises that the person is a natural, accomplished, competent can't be extracted so I could sort in a excel spreadsheet by Position, PA, CA as an example.