The good players never play!

Have you ever noticed that after a few seasons a lot of good players are on the reserves and players you've never heard of fill the first team. And even though they are in the reserves they still get on the national team. Even players in Scotland after the league stops!

Never seen that on my games and I just can't make any sense from this sentence: "Even players in Scotland after the league stops!", what do you mean by "after the league stops"?

I think he means after the first season, which is when this starts to happen.

I've noticed it and it is very irritating. On my save there is a 198 PA LW Peruvian who has had 6 clubs in 6 years because he never gets a game, thankfully his most recent club is Arsenal who have started to play him with an average rating of 7.48 I bet his former club and relegation candidates Wigan are kicking themselves.

I think this affects perception of loyalty as well, the player in question seems disloyal and possibly Anelka-esque given the amount of clubs he has had, but his loyalty is actually 16 and the only reason he is moving is because of lack of games. I might be put off buying a player like that because of loyalty issues, when there aren't really any issues at all.

right, to be fair I have never noticed anything like this but yeah that would be annoying

Well, also players like gary neville and ryan giggs, who just fade into nothing due to players over 30 fading really too fast and because they start the game over 30, the algorithim thinks it has some catching up to do. e.g in my feb 2009 game, gary neville is transfer listed in the reserves and ryan giggs has been sold to cardiff!

I've noticed the older players disapearing from the ranks but in my games it actually works the other way round, especially with the international sides. I regularly see managers of the international teams sticking with aging superstars despite the fact that there are better options out there.

Whoops just noticed that this was mentioned by the op, so, yeah i agree with everything you've highlighted.

Robbie Fowler and Kevin Phillips aren't getting on the Cardiff and West Brom team respectively, yet they score everytime they play. Walcott also is loaned out every season.

Robbie Fowler has just been signed by Blackburn and Kevin Philips is a first teamer at Birmingham.

We are talking about FM.

Ah right I thought you were comparing FM to real life, in that those players don't get games despite being ok.

Oh, thought you were calling me a lier!

Yep, they are good players but never play.

It's an old Champ/FootMan oddity though isn't it? How many players have you managed who play really well for you, but struggle to make the first team immediately after you leave and have to drop two divisions to get first team football, where they never really do owt anyway. Sometimes it feels like the AI managers are looking at a completely different set of stats.

Yep, I remember on cm00/01, Southampton didn't play Saint Le Tiss very often.

In previous CM/FM the AI based team selection on CA/PA IIRC so it was understandable to see your "on form" striker getting dropped for someone who hasn't recently been producing the good, but has a higher CA/PA. It's not based on that anymore (otherwise the guy I mentioned earlier would play every match), which makes it even more bizarre tbh.

The whole international selection thing is definitely odd. I remember in FM2005 Bamogo at Marseille was actually a joy to watch on the 2D map, scored about 25 a season with an average of about 7.8, yet he retired with a handful of caps to his name. It's a tricky subject; FM is a very stats driven game but IRL performance is all important. Managers should be picking a statistically weak player who does well over a player with great stats who churns out sixes and sevens every week.

FM is a very stats driven game but IRL performance is all important.

I don't agree there. Look at Thuram getting picked ahead of Mexes for the Euros, or Owen getting picked for England despite not playing a full 90 mins in however long.

I agree that int management should be based on ratings rather than attributes though, it's well documented on here that many people see Billy Sharp score loads of goals throughout his career, but he never earns a single cap.

Well that's bringing things like experience, leadership and potential into the mix, but what I was getting at was that real life managers can't look at a sheet and see that Wayne Bridge is better than Ashley Cole because he's got extra points in passing, crossing and positioning.

It's also true that in real life ceratin players play brilliantly but never get a look in because the management don't feel they have international quality. Kevin Phillips is a prime example of that and any number of others who had a few great seasons in the Prem but never broke into the England side.

Is it not based on reputation as well?