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ChrisNUFC

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    Newcastle Upon Tyne

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    Newcastle United

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  1. It’ raises the question why can’t you study when unemployed, or shadow other managers to gain reputation and knowledge
  2. It’d be interesting to see how many players with 15+ rating in work rate, teamwork and stamina there are across the database. Rarely see players with less than 10.
  3. Peaked at 26, 2011/12 season and then had a sharp decline. The ratings he had for natural fitness would have had him playing and maintain his top ability until he was well into his 30s. By the time he was 30 he wasn’t anywhere near the player he was at 28 and struggled to even make the England team. FM 13 he had Natural Fitness 17 FM 15 he had Natural Fitness 12 Compare this to Ronaldo, Beckham, Maldini, Giggs, Messi, Modric, Ramos, etc. who have had a similar career journey yet maintained their ability or at the very least didn’t see such a sharp decline once they hit 30. But this is besides the point… The point I’m making is natural fitness ratings seem very liberal, if we’re to assume a 10 is ‘average/normal/balanced’ in regards to game engine standards. How are all these 15+ Natural Fitness ratings skewing long-term games and squad developments. it has been a common theme for many FMs where managers will stick with the older 30 year old players and not bring through the younger players. So when you have high end CA players with high natural fitness and a dataset which seems to have very few players between the ages of 21-28 with little growth room between what their CA and PA is (and in some cases it would appear as if there a very few who will even match the current top 10 players in terms of CA even if they do fulfil their PA) it creates a what looks like a drop in quality. Granted, this could be accurate, but in terms of raw data it creates a gap in natural progression and development. I also think this is why long term saves always end up newgen heavy even a few seasons into a save, as the real life players are rarely rated as being able to develop into suitable replacements for the outgoing top 25 CA rated players in a position. I know in the past that -9 PA players didn’t always develop into World Class players, if they didn’t have the right coaches or mentoring, to help them improve their professionalism and work rate, for example. Judging potential is one of the hardest arts, as it is what it is… potential. Something they could be. I just think looking at the data, FM might be overly cautious with PA ratings considering all the variables which can affect development in-game (Game time, professionalism, training facilities, coaching standards, injuries, etc.).
  4. But it’s ‘potential’ ability, players in-game don’t always reach it. I’m not saying that every player in their 20s should be given an increased PA, what am I saying is that there’s a generational gap in the data between, which is exaggerated by the natural fitness attribute of older high CA players staying at their prime longer. If natural fitness is worded how you mentioned for researchers then it needs some rewording, as in-game the attribute lengthens how long a player maintains their top CA ‘past their prime’. Rooney was never naturally fit. It’s like saying Gazza was naturally fit.
  5. This data is only for the rightbacks in the EPL, so it might not be the case throughout the database. Lack of Growth There seems to be a real lack of depth amongst 23-28 year olds to grow and develop. Given that this should be their time to gain first team football and see the biggest developments in their game mentally (and fitness wise) it's surprising to see that there are only two players in the EPL that have room for 30 or more points of growth in their CA. Couple this with the what I feel are high Natural Fitness ratings in a lot of 28+ year old players with high ratings, means they never get to play or develop in game. As the higher rated CA players with high natural fitness don't start to decline until very late into their 30s. This could be having knock on effects to AI Squad Building. Wayne Rooney is someone who for some reason used to have a high natural fitness, which I believe was never the case. He was just someone who worked EXTRA hard to maintain his fitness as he wasn't natural fit. Here are the RBs in the EPL with a Natural Fitness above 15. Again this is just personal take on natural fitness, I sometimes wonder if researchers overlook or take for granted that these are professional footballers who are training to maintain their fitness. Off-Season is sometimes a good indication of natural fitness, returning from injuries too. I'd always side on caution with this rating, given how impactful it is to prolonging careers at the very top of their CA. There's very few players in the modern era that can mantain their ability longer than a decade within the Premier League. 15 ratings should be rare, 20 rarer still. Giggs, Maldini, Ibrahimovic etc. should be given as example, they naturally looked fit. Lean bodies, athletic, able to play back-to-back games with minimum recovery times and still maintain their work rates. In short... from what I've seen in the EPL data there is little room for the next generation of players to grow, and the current generation of 1st team players have high natural fitness which means they potentially 'over stay' their welcome.
  6. Still a huge fan of journalists contacting every idiot they can get hold to find out their opinions on XXX's struggle at YYY.
  7. As long as stats are used alongside observational analysis, I've got no problem with them. I do feel Martinez should be considered one of the best GKs around at the moment. I've added the top GKs from around the world to the spreadsheet, and he's currently sitting at So he sits as top of the pile of GKs who aren't currently considered Elite, behind Donnarumma (CA 160 Consistency 16). A few things I'd personally increase would be: Positioning (13); his starting point for engaging in crosses is good, as his natural set position for angles/saves/dive coverage. Composure (12) might not seem bad at first glance, but when you look at the GKs rated around him, it starts to feel low. The only GKs that received the ball more in open play from their teammates last season were: Alisson - 901 touches Ederson - 833 touches Raya - 808 touches Leno - 783 touches Martinez - 707 touches 2 miscontrols is joint third highest, so perhaps his first touch/concentration could be looked at. But to put it into perspective Nick Pope also had 2 miscontrols with only 344 touches of the ball in open play. Lloris similar numbers 2/353. 17 touches in the middle 3rd would show he's fairly comfortable with his positioning outside of the penalty area when his team are in possession of the ball. Of course, this number also depends on the style of play of the team and how high a line they play. Fraser Forster Ambition: 19 - this seems extreme considering the last few years he's been happy to be number 2 GK despite only being 35. He also stayed at Newcastle as 3rd choice keeper until he was 24/25 before moving to Celtic. Loyalty: 8 - Seems low given if you're happy with Ambition of 19, as he doesn't move clubs until he has to, excluding loans he's only played senior football for Celtic, Southampton and Tottenham. Composure: 16 - This seems excessive as his confidence on the ball has been one of his weaknesses for much of his career, while improved I have doubts he's as composed as this. This would make Forster the joint 4th highest composed GK amongst the top rated GKs in the world. Determination: 17 - Perhaps a difficult one to rate for GKs, unless you consider their performances improve and they go beyond their normal ability after conceding a goal to keep the score respectable. A 17 again seems extreme. Linked with a 19 Ambition, you'd expect Forster to be pushing to be the best GK he can be. Granted he did well to recover from his injury problem several years ago
  8. Ergh this happened as far back as FM19… and it’s still in FM24!? thankfully the decision to move to Unity has made my decision not to buy FM25 much easier.
  9. Goalkeepers I haven't looked through this in great detail yet, but really confused by how highly rated Caomin Kelleher is. 24 years old with a total of 27 senior appearances, yet they're 15th best GK in PL. based on CA of 141. Some questions over composure 14, first touch 14, heading 10, passing 14, technique 13. Appreciate he's at Liverpool at might be learning from Alisson, yet it feels very high and if certainly if he was so highly regarded in those areas I can imagine Liverpool would have had several offers for the player given the current trend towards GK being a true outfield player when in possession. Especially considering his concentration and consistency is also 14, along with decisons 13. Agility On initial inspection, it looks like there could be some coordination between researchers, or perhaps suggested guidelines to help get a structured approach on agility. There are some very tall and also some heavy goalkeepers who have been rated surprisingly agile. I'd consider agility to be more than a person's ability to simply dive, but also what kind of save they're making. A low down save with hands or feet requires more agility than a top corner dive, another example would be single hand scoop pulling the ball back from behind the GK requires a lot of agility. While its not always the case, GKs with a slight frame tend to be more agile than taller or bulkier GKs. You could also consider a person's age and injury history (certainly if they've had a torn rotator cuff for example). So seeing the likes of 36 year old Darren Randolph (188cm/98kg) with an agility of 14, which is similar to Jose Sa (192cm/84gk) doesn't look right out in the pure data sense, and makes me think one should be lower and another should be higher. I'd also take into consideration a GK's bodyshape when looking at things like balance too, especially their set stance and and footwork. Do they have a straight back or are their sticking their backside out when set. Can they move their feet in quick shuffles sideways to help launch themselves into a dive or do they push/flop from a set position? Cross Claiming and dealing with Corners This is a major issue for GKs at the moment, and I think the above attributes should be grouped together to help deterimine if a GK is good at claiming crosses in open play and during set peices. Aggression - I feel this should be used and judged on how confident the GK is at attacking the ball while it is in flight Bravery - Key to the above when dealing with a congested penalty area Strength - How well they can move through a crowded penalty area (linked to balance above for footwork) Anticipation - Recognising where the location of the highest point they (GK) can catch the ball (Do they often move under a ball when coming to claim?) Decisions - Absolute key attribute for GKs, which should be modified by aggression and bravery. For example: Do they come and claim? Do they catch or punch? Is it a single handed punch for extended reach or a double fist puch for security at the expense of reach? Do they recognise they're inability to claim crosses and instead call for the defenders to clear it? Do they spot if it is an outswinger or inswinging cross and change on they'll attack the ball Eccentricity - I feel like this is a difficult one for people to come to an agreed decision upon. But for me I'll always think of it as how well does the GK inspire confidence in the rest of the team during a game. Are they consistent with their decision making, technique, secure handling, etc. or is every cross/shot a new experience with parries and fisted saves pushing the ball wildly into the unknown. Similar for GKs who play out from the back, do they stick to the pattern of play or do they scramble and play wild passes into players who wouldn't normally receive a pass when playing out from the back. Jumping Reach and Areial Abiltiy being the GKs overall ability to jump and reach to their highest point Command of Area and Communication organisation of the defensive unit, stop the cross, defending the 6 yard, pen spot, 18 yard, push out, etc. With that in mind, if we add up the attributes and minus eccentricity we should get an idea of who the best GKs are with cross claiming: If we compare this with: https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/players/total_high_claim you can start to see a picture of who might be better than others at deal with crosses. Of course a TOTAL stat doesn't show you success rate. Sky Sports ran this at the start of the season: https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11661/12933578/best-goalkeeper-in-the-premier-league-revealed-andre-onana-david-raya-and-robert-sanchez-transfers-analysed showing the best GKs at claiming crosses were: Goalkeeper.com data vs (SI) 1. Martinez (Alisson) 2. Pope (Ederson) 3. Alisson (Raya) 4. Ederson (Onana) 5. Raya (Vicario) 6. Leno (Martinez) 7. Kepa (Neto) 8. Ramsdale (Areola)* Omitted Dubravka as Sky Sports only used primary GKs from the 22/23 season Which suggests that Martinez, Pope, Leno, and Ramsdale have perhaps been slightly undervalued at cross claiming, although, I could have easily overthought how much the attributes matter for cross claiming. If we look at it in a simpler sense: This is how goalkeeper.com's data ranked the GKs last season based on 6 factors: Shotstopping and parries; Sweeping and Cross Claiming; Shot Prevention and Distribution. The above are the top 20 GKs in the PL based on CA. goalkeeper.com vs (SI) 1. Martinez (Ederson) 2. Alisson (Alisson) 3. Leno (Martinez) 4. Raya (Raya) 5 Pope (Onana) 6. Kepa (Pickford) 7. Ramsdale (Vicario) 8. Guaita (Kepa) 9. De Gea (Pope) 10. Ederson (Neto) 11. Fabianksi (Ramsdale) 12. Neto (Leno) 13. Pickford (Sanchez) 14. Henderson (Steele) 15. Sa (Kelleher) 16. Sanchez (Areola) 17. Mslier (Turner) 18. Ward (Flekken) 19. Lloris (Sa) 20. Bazunu (Johnstone) Again this is only one dataset comparison, so hardly conclusive, but it does show that perhaps a few GKs have been undervalued and perhaps some have been overvalued in their worth. So let's check: https://fbref.com/en/comps/9/2022-2023/keepersadv/2022-2023-Premier-League-Stats which provides a little more detail Their Top 5 is: 1. Martinez 2. Raya 3. Pope 4. Sa 5. Bazunu GK - fbref - SI 1. Martinez - Martinez - Alisson 2. Pope - Raya - Ederson 3. Alisson - Pope - Raya 4. Ederson - Sa - Onana** 5. Raya - Bazunu - Vicario*** 6. Leno - Meslier - Martinez 7. Kepa - Steele - Neto 8. Guaita - Leno - Areola* Omitted Dubravka as Sky Sports only used primary GKs from the 22/23 season 9 Ramsdale - Sanchez - Flekken 10 Sanchez - Henderson - Ramsdale*Omitted Lloris as Vicario is now 1st choice at Tottenham The noticable name here is Martinez, who seems to have had his ability to deal with crosses overlooked. **Onana ranked 11th in Serie A last season for crosses stopped % with 5.3%, which would have had him ranked 20th overall in the 22/23 EPL season. ***Vicario ranked 9th in Serie A last season for crosses stopped with 5.6%, which would have had him ranked 18th overall in the 22/23 EPL season. I'm sure the same could be done for distribution, sweeping, held shots vs parries, etc. but I've only had time to look at cross claiming. In short, EPL GKs, from what I can see, need some consistency to their ratings and look either overvalued or undervalued perhaps due to CA guidelines. Below are the GK cross stats so far this season.
  10. Anfield should have 'Not Used in Continental Finals' selected due to being unable to reach the desired Field of play size to be considered a Cat 4 stadium. I believe Old Trafford should also have 'Not Used in Continental Finals' selected, due to the position of their tunnel (as required from 2011) to be on the halfway line Anfield, Craven Cottage, Goodison Park, St. James' Park, Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium, London Stadium, Shelhurt Park, Emirates and Molynuex all need digital hordings ticked.
  11. St. James' Park Away fans are sitting in the Gallowgate End, which is like a major no.
  12. Blank due to an editor issue. Same has with Man U. Think it’s due to Bobby Charlton and Bill Kenwright passing away recently and their profiles creating a broken table.
  13. If you believe that, that should mean Ten Hag's Player Management (17) and Motivation (16) attributes are poor (which they're not in-game).
  14. Ah right then. I was thinking too grand a scale thanks for that
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