Decreasing Stats

This is just one think that i hope is addressed in FM09.

When a player gets to the age of 30/31 his stats decrease dramatically. Now i dont quite understand why.

I am always told that experienced players make up for the lack of pace by using there experience (positioning, concentration etc) so why as a player ages do there mental stats decrease dramatically? If anything they should increase!

Now i can fully understand physical stats decreasing (although they still decrease too quick) because that is natural.

Technical stats should decrease over time, but nowhere near as fast as they do.

For example, Paolo Maldini is 39 in the start of FM08 and he has not only been the most consistent defender over the past 15 years, he has also been the best.

Now he starts with 18 for marking and 16 for tackling in 08 (which is a joke), but by the end of the season his marking is 15 and tackling 13. Now this is a player who is still playing week in, week out for one of the best clubs in the world at 40. A few weeks ago i seen him completely embarrass Ibrahimovic in the milan derby, the poor man hardly got a touch. Now if he has been playing that well for 24 years, how can he decrease so dramatically over the space of one year? There are several other players this happens to aswell, Pippo Inzaghi, Javier Zanetti etc

Well, this needs changing, As a player ages, his mental stats should increase, you cant argue with that. His physical stats should decrease (but not as dramatically) and his Technical stats should decrease, but very slowly.

Sorry for the essay but it is very annoying when you have a player who litterally becomes worthless as soon as they hit 33, when in some cases, thats when they peak IRL.

I agree with this, over 30 players simply do not have a place in the current FM and I hope they do in 09, would love to have Figo, Nedved, Maldini, Cafu type player at my club from his youth til his mid 30's or past.

it's a good post and also, it's silly to see these players end up in the clubs reserves...

either they stay as squad players at least (e.g. giggs / bergkamp) or the club allows them to leave for free / small fee (e.g. mark hughes joining chelsea).

this is what occurs in real life, but rarely in fm.

it would be nice for example, as manager of, say everton, to sign a (formerly) world class player aged 33, and be able to get a couple seasons of excellent service from him.

it's a good post and also, it's silly to see these players end up in the clubs reserves...

either they stay as squad players at least (e.g. giggs / bergkamp) or the club allows them to leave for free / small fee (e.g. mark hughes joining chelsea).

this is what occurs in real life, but rarely in fm.

it would be nice for example, as manager of, say everton, to sign a (formerly) world class player aged 33, and be able to get a couple seasons of excellent service from him.

Yes, its weird that they are just put in the reserves and are never used. Would that happen with Giggs? no Maldini? no.

And also how can a players influence decrease as they get older? Maldini's influence goes from 20 to 18. Thats laughable.

I totally agree!!!

But I'm afraid that main work in FM 2009 is in 3D and new transfer system, I don't believe that code for progression of players was changed

I would like too see older players playing 2 or 3 years at good level (Gigs, Maldini, Klose...)...and wouldn't like to see them useless after 6 months.

Alex Del Piero is another example.

He played his best football last season, and although starting slowly after the long year, has finally put his injury plagued days behind him (especially after the gorgeous curling wonder strike tonight against Madrid)

Obviously not everyone should be old wonder players, nor should everyone be labelled as washed up at 30. We need to find the right balance so that we dont have to constantly look for a high player turnover after each season

when i went rangers in fm08 david weir was in the reserves and pretty rubbish, but irl hes a first team regular and is solid at the back. its obviously because he is 38, but hes still a quality defender.

I NEVER buy any players above the age of 28. The most 28 as 27 is already consider quite old for me. Preferably 26 and below. Anyone above the age of 30 or when they just hit 30/31, they will be off my first team

Please do a search in future as this has been covered before.

Here is just one example.

I NEVER buy any players above the age of 28. The most 28 as 27 is already consider quite old for me. Preferably 26 and below. Anyone above the age of 30 or when they just hit 30/31, they will be off my first team

same here, but that's not normal ! In real life 30y.o. players are not garbage yet, a lot of them are being bought and sold.

The ageing issue was introduces in the last patch of 08 to overcome the fact that good players were selected in AI teams (and call ups for national teams) way past a realistic age.

In the ‘old’ form there was a replay from SI that they overshoot the target and that this will be addressed in the next release. So I hope that this issue has been fixed in 09.

Please do a search in future as this has been covered before.

Here is just one example.

As for it being an issued that was introduced with the last patch, I don't think that's right. I played with 8.0.1 for a long time before I eventually bothered my backside to download 8.0.2 and it was an issue on 8.0.1 as well.

It happened to me with G.Neville and scholes but Giggs has barely changed

Please do a search in future as this has been covered before.

Here is just one example.

Everything on this board has been covered before and the thread you quote is sufficiently different to warrant posting a new thread rather than posting in there.

Everything on this board has been covered before

Yes, but there are certain topics that have been covered more than enough times and discussed at a decent enough level that there is no need to address it again, and this is one of them.

I totally agree!!!

But I'm afraid that main work in FM 2009 is in 3D and new transfer system, I don't believe that code for progression of players was changed

I would like too see older players playing 2 or 3 years at good level (Gigs, Maldini, Klose...)...and wouldn't like to see them useless after 6 months.

2 or 3 years out of Giggs and Maldini, no chance. aint Maldini gonna retire at the end of the season anyway and become a coach for them

same here, but that's not normal ! In real life 30y.o. players are not garbage yet, a lot of them are being bought and sold.

The game ain't REAL LIFE

But I'm afraid that main work in FM 2009 is in 3D and new transfer system, I don't believe that code for progression of players was changed

I would doubt that. SI got a hell of a lot of stick about this problem on these forums, and they would be very foolish to completely ignore a serious problem like this. I expect it will have been looked at, whether it's fixed or not is another story.

The game ain't REAL LIFE

Well, duh. SI do try to make it as much like real life as possible however.

same here, but that's not normal ! In real life 30y.o. players are not garbage yet, a lot of them are being bought and sold.

This is also related to the time aspect. IRL, one season takes.. 1 real time season, while in the game it takes a lot less time, so in just a few days, the player could be 32 and worthless, so we tend to go for younger options to stretch their real time usefulness.

Please do a search in future as this has been covered before.

Here is just one example.

Well if thats the case than the forums may as well be shut down because everything possible about FM has been discussed already. I can understand searching if it was a question, but it wasn't.

I just wanted to put my own opinion across.

i dont understand why stats like finishing etc sdrop because peaople like sir bobby charlton can still kick a ball as good as they could when they were in their prime- its stats like pace etc. that should drop!

I've actually seen Maldini's attributes improve significantly, rather than decrease.

If nat fitness is 15+ then stats don't (significantly) decline till 34/5.

They have to model age somehow and this is how they do it. I think stats dropping accross the board is accurate to real life where players lose motivation (of course their are some contradictions) and physical ability.

If nat fitness is 15+ then stats don't (significantly) decline till 34/5.

They have to model age somehow and this is how they do it. I think stats dropping accross the board is accurate to real life where players lose motivation (of course their are some contradictions) and physical ability.

The system has to allow exceptions to the rule like Teddy Sheringham, Maldini etc. Start a new game and check how many good 34+ players there are in the database. Then check again after three seasons. The decrease is way too extreme.

Well hopefully it will all be fixed to a point in FM09!

I think stats like passing shouldn't decrease as it is something that would only improve over time, I imagine it has been looked at!

In some cases i think the only stats that should decrease are the Physical stats.

Because, Maldini is technically and Mentally still the best defender in the world. He can still pull of unbelievable tackles, he can still dribble past players, he can still even outpace some players.

For legends like him and Giggs, there technical stats and mental stats should never decrease. Only there physical stats until a point where that makes them unplayable.

I do hope it is looked at.

Well if thats the case than the forums may as well be shut down because everything possible about FM has been discussed already. I can understand searching if it was a question, but it wasn't.

I just wanted to put my own opinion across.

good reply thats just what i was thinking, just imagine how boring life would be if once you had talked about something at work or home you could not start a fresh conversation about a similar topic.

good reply thats just what i was thinking, just imagine how boring life would be if once you had talked about something at work or home you could not start a fresh conversation about a similar topic.

To be fair if the topic is still reasonably active you shouldn't start a new one, back on topic now though

I have often found players useless after the age of 31 at most bigger clubs!

Well, duh. SI do try to make it as much like real life as possible however.

Still it ain't.

2 or 3 years out of Giggs and Maldini, no chance. aint Maldini gonna retire at the end of the season anyway and become a coach for them

Actually I was thinking for FM 08...so 2 or 3 seasons with begining in summer 2007

Cannavaro, Totti, Henri...

yeh i agree with this, i really do, you often find your best players lose stats way too quickly and you have to end up getting rid of them

But most players do become useless at around the ages of 32 onwards, for every Maldini there are 6 Edgar Davids.