Players Potential

Apologies if this has been explained before but on doing a quick search i couldnt find anything.

Each player obviously has a potential ability rating whether it be from 0-200 or -1 to -10. These stats appear in the editor as so.

Do these potential ratings have the ability to change in-game? ie. can players effectively exceed their potential? So if someone started the game with 130 maximum potential you would naturally assume they wouldnt really cut it in the Premiership and wouldnt necessarily buy them. However, we have seen in real-life, players making the move to the Prem and exceeding all expectations. Andrews at Blackburn as an example.

I would be really interested to know if this is the case....

Players can never exceed their potential in the game, just as they can't in real life.

So if a player has a PA of 150 that's as good as he can ever be with the best training and match practice etc. What varies is his ability to reach that potential.

Your Andrews example will have occurred because Andrews always had the potential to do well in the Premiership, he'd just never managed to reach that potential before.

There are rare occurences where a players PA can drop, after a serious injury or 'burn out'.

Just wondering but does re-training a player reduce their chances of reaching peak PA at all? I'm not sure I understand how the system works - does each additional position dilute the number of points they get to distribute among stats or is it cumulative?

I agree in principle, but a few years ago i would assume Andrews potential in the game would not have exceeded 100. I think it would be great to have a feature in the game where this could happen on a few rare occasions personally - maybe after sustained periods of form. It may stop people buying the same old players in each save.

Re-training a player does not affect the players ability to reach their PA, it only affects the spread of attributes that their CA will give them.

For example, Defenders have certain 'free' attributes that do not take up CA points. If you re-train the player to be a midfielder he will get different 'free' attributes, so the free attributes he had as a defender will no longer be free and will take up CA points, but this will be balanced by the new free attributes that he has.

Ahh right. Thanks for clearing that up.

I agree in principle, but a few years ago i would assume Andrews potential in the game would not have exceeded 100. I think it would be great to have a feature in the game where this could happen on a few rare occasions personally - maybe after sustained periods of form. It may stop people buying the same old players in each save.

I agree in principle, but a few years ago i would assume Andrews potential in the game would not have exceeded 100. I think it would be great to have a feature in the game where this could happen on a few rare occasions personally - maybe after sustained periods of form. It may stop people buying the same old players in each save.

Isn't PA variable with each new initialized database then? I thought it was .. I also thought that good and bad form had a direct effect on CA?

The trouble is that players potentials are derived from the the observations of researchers, so are very difficult to accurately predict. That's why certain players can very from year to year in the amount of potential they're given.

In my opinion a player in real life could never exceed their potential. Every person has a limit to how good they can be at something if given perfect conditions. So for that reason I would not like to see players exceeding their PA in the game.

Isn't PA variable with each new initialized database then? I thought it was .. I also thought that good and bad form had a direct effect on CA?

That is correct. Many young players are given a PA 'band'. So if they have -9 in the editor it means that when a new game is started that player could be generated with a PA that's anywhere between 160 and 180 (those may not be the exact limits for the -9 rating). This gives variation from game to game and ensures that different players can excel in different games.

I'm not sure how much effect form has on CA, I would imagine that a player who is playing well, and therefore playing regularly, would show more of an increase in CA than someone playing poorly.

The trouble is that players potentials are derived from the the observations of researchers, so are very difficult to accurately predict. That's why certain players can very from year to year in the amount of potential they're given.

In my opinion a player in real life could never exceed their potential. Every person has a limit to how good they can be at something if given perfect conditions. So for that reason I would not like to see players exceeding their PA in the game.

True and in fairness its a tricky job to guess how someone is going to be in a year's time, let alone five or six. Arsene Wenger gets it wrong all the time and he's supposed to be the Munchkin Master!

How many highly promising young players come and go without ever really realizing their potential?

In the UK for example, it is widely acknowledged that youngesters tend to fall into bad habits, are over paid and over hyped too early in their careers and few can rise above it. Those that do, often get burned out by international and European pressure and too many games.

Do you mean playing to many games when people say "burned out" How do i know if im buring out one of my youngsters?

Sorry if its a really noobish question but just never really understood it properly i dont think

Yeah that's what I mean by 'burned out'. Unfortunately it's difficult to tell if you're overplaying a youngster. As a rule though I try and introduce youngsters gradually to the first team, never starting them in more than 50% of matches in their first season.

A bit like Man Utd did with Rooney at first.

Yeah that's what I mean by 'burned out'. Unfortunately it's difficult to tell if you're overplaying a youngster. As a rule though I try and introduce youngsters gradually to the first team, never starting them in more than 50% of matches in their first season.

A bit like Man Utd did with Rooney at first.

Cheers, thanks for the advice

Re-training a player does not affect the players ability to reach their PA, it only affects the spread of attributes that their CA will give them.

For example, Defenders have certain 'free' attributes that do not take up CA points. If you re-train the player to be a midfielder he will get different 'free' attributes, so the free attributes he had as a defender will no longer be free and will take up CA points, but this will be balanced by the new free attributes that he has.

I'm not sure I agree here... As far as I know players only have free attributes for positions they have a value of under 10 in. Let me explain:

A table with all the free attributes for all positions: http://koti.mbnet.fi/fmr2008/freeattributes.html It's for FM08 but most likely it completely applies to FM09 as well.

1-4 Ineffectual

5-8 Awkward

9-11 Unconvincing

12-14 Competent

15-19 Accomplished

20 Natural

So for example, if a player is natural as striker, accomplished as AMC and accomplished as MC, all the free attributes listed for positions other than those 3 would not consume his CA.

This was by tested creating players with a certain PA and CA and adding/removing player positions.

Another example - Two identical players with the only exception being their positions. CA is 140 and PA is 160 for instance.

Player A- Only position over 10 is Striker.

Player B- Striker, AMC and MC all over 10 (so from high unconvincing to natural).

Player A would have higher attributes because he would have more free attributes due player B not having the free attributes of AMC and MC.

I'm not sure I agree here... As far as I know players only have free attributes for positions they have a value of under 10 in. Let me explain:

A table with all the free attributes for all positions: http://koti.mbnet.fi/fmr2008/freeattributes.html It's for FM08 but most likely it completely applies to FM09 as well.

1-4 Ineffectual

5-8 Awkward

9-11 Unconvincing

12-14 Competent

15-19 Accomplished

20 Natural

So for example, if a player is natural as striker, accomplished as AMC and accomplished as MC, all the free attributes listed for positions other than those 3 would not consume his CA.

This was by tested creating players with a certain PA and CA and adding/removing player positions.

Another example - Two identical players with the only exception being their positions. CA is 140 and PA is 160 for instance.

Player A- Only position over 10 is Striker.

Player B- Striker, AMC and MC all over 10 (so from high unconvincing to natural).

Player A would have higher attributes because he would have more free attributes due player B not having the free attributes of AMC and MC.

I understand what you are saying but what about Darijo Srna he can play may positions on the wings which are all either natural or accomplished but he still has very high attributes. I know he has quite high CA but his attributes are really good accross the board. I'm not sure if what you are saying will apply to all players, maybe the ones without the top end of CA & PA.

woop - post 100

A good thing to keep in mind here is that the key word is potential. Not guaranteed. Even if a player has a PA of 190, he can still stop developing and only become a sunday league player.

I understand what you are saying but what about Darijo Srna he can play may positions on the wings which are all either natural or accomplished but he still has very high attributes. I know he has quite high CA but his attributes are really good accross the board. I'm not sure if what you are saying will apply to all players, maybe the ones without the top end of CA & PA.

woop - post 100

Nothing that unusual about Srna really. He has a high CA and high attributes. Keep in mind that many of his very high attributes are free for him, such as corners, free kicks, penalty taking, aggression and influence. Those are all 16-19.