Players Performance Not Set in Stone??

Hey guys, I have only recently purchased FM08 but I have spent the past 2 weeks reading every post and fact sheet I could find. First of all Iam not a soccer fan, Iam a league fan but the best manager games are soccer...I still love the game though.

Anyway my question..

I recently started my first game with the Wolves, one of my midfielders is Knightly. I saved the game pre season and continued on through the friendly matches. Knightly was outstanding, his stats didnt impress but he averaged 8 or 9 every friendly game and scored about 5 goals. One of the premier league teams offered me $7 mill for him. His value was about $105k... of course I said yes. After I sold him the team couldnt win a raffle let alone a match.

So I went back and started again with my preseason save, this time Knightly's performances matches his abilities. He plays ok, but nothing like his previous games. He averages 6-7 per game with 1 goal after playing 10 games into the season.

Is it usual for a random player to excel far above his abilities in one persons game and then in another persons he is ordinary??

I didnt do anything different in game, his training is the same, his position hasnt changed??

Hey guys, I have only recently purchased FM08 but I have spent the past 2 weeks reading every post and fact sheet I could find. First of all Iam not a soccer fan, Iam a league fan but the best manager games are soccer...I still love the game though.

Anyway my question..

I recently started my first game with the Wolves, one of my midfielders is Knightly. I saved the game pre season and continued on through the friendly matches. Knightly was outstanding, his stats didnt impress but he averaged 8 or 9 every friendly game and scored about 5 goals. One of the premier league teams offered me $7 mill for him. His value was about $105k... of course I said yes. After I sold him the team couldnt win a raffle let alone a match.

So I went back and started again with my preseason save, this time Knightly's performances matches his abilities. He plays ok, but nothing like his previous games. He averages 6-7 per game with 1 goal after playing 10 games into the season.

Is it usual for a random player to excel far above his abilities in one persons game and then in another persons he is ordinary??

I didnt do anything different in game, his training is the same, his position hasnt changed??

In such a short course, yes. It's the same when you see one player being brilliant for some time, than crappy later or vice versa. It happens in real life too.

There are a lot of factors such as morale (most probable in your case), condition, injuries, luck (also probable) etc.

Sometimes everything goes your way, sometimes nothing.

Also 7 Mill for 105 k priced player seems a good deal.

Yeah your probably right. His moral was down for a while...now its suberb but he still isnt performing. No injuries...it could be that I spent money on a more talented midfielder and he is out playing Knightly...maybe the new player is taking the opportunities from Knightly??

I just couldnt say no to $7 mill, and the board were just about ready to offer me life membership for doubling their bank balance in one month. But the money must have been cursed, as I couldnt sign a player after Knighly was sold. I had 8.7 mill transfer and couldnt buy a 2-3 mill player.

I just found it strange that an average player excels enough that after 5-6 friendly games he is offered huge money.. start the same game again and he is ordinary?? The joys of not knowing..

This is the beauty of the game, if it was predictable we wouldn't play... you just happened upon an extreme example in Kightly's case.

IRL any player is capable of having a purple patch. IMHO this aspect of the game is well represented in FM, the trick is getting the most out of a player for as long as possible and then sell him when his stock is high, as in your first save.

I sold Salcido to Newcastle for £15.5 just 'cos he had a good pre-season... that paid for 5 players better than him. Sweet. Your example shows perfectly the art of playing the transfer market in FM, excepting that you should have had a better, younger replacement lined up to plug the gap and stop your form going crappy...

Ramble, ramble, ramble...

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> excepting that you should have had a better, younger replacement lined up to plug the gap and stop your form going crappy...

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Yeah your right, but with that sale my transfer fund went from 1.8mill to 8.75mill and I thought I could pick up someone really good, but as I said the money seemed cursed, I just couldnt buy anyone.

On the good side, Iam 10 games into the season and havent lost a game.

The unpredictability is the beauty of the game. If Knightly performed like he did everytime I started a new game then its no challege to win.

Cheers for your comments

I'm managing Spurs and generally going great guns. However, I've been unlucky to come up against Liverpool in every flippin' cup compo, and every time I'd be skinned by Torres - just couldn't contain him and he single-handedly knocked me out time and again, causing great fury on the board.

Eventually I got the funds together to buy him. For 3 months he was the biz, top scorer, propelling us to the top of the league. Then - pants. Didn't score again until the last week of the season, never got a rating higher than 6, was scolded, dropped, everything, but no improvement.

Suddenly, in the last week of the season with three critical games to play - and win, he comes off the bench and bags the winner in each one.

I <STRIKE>hate</STRIKE> love this game