What Happens at 33?

Why is it always the same in every version of this game that when a player hits 33 his career is over (goalkeepers are exception)! Quick tip dont keep a player past 33 release him, sell him if you can, just get rid of him he is now a waste of time! They cannot play at a high level past 33, i have had 30 goal a season strikers on their 33rd birthday he now cant hit the target, midfielders the cake gets eaten and now they cant pass to someone 10 feet away without it being intercepted. Defenders are the worst i just watched my centre back hold the ball and hold it and hold it until the opposition player disposses him for an easy goal! There is me screaming at him to pass the ball but he stands there like a moron! Defenders at 33 they dont want to run, jump or do anything they are a waste of space and make constant mistakes, if this was a 18-19yr old you would put it down to experience but this is a 33yr old man a player with experience. I just wish i could get an excuse out of him, wish i could ask him why he stood there for what seemed like an eternity and let the opp striker disposses him.

I've had plenty of players in past FM's perform very well all the way up to 37/38 (not just goalkeepers) so unless it's some new sort of issue with FM15 then I think you're either generalising or not using a system that allows older players to perform well.

I had a great RW on FM12 that I slowly started moving into CAM as he aged between 32 and 34 and began loosing his pace, he actually had one of his best seasons aged 37/38 but annoyingly retired at the end of it.

Zlatan ibrahimovic for me age 35 doing very well as a false 9 thank you very much.

Unless something has changed, there is nothing special at 33. I've had 35+ year old players still dominate, I've had 29 year olds over the hill. There is a lot of variance and it depends on a mix of visible and invisible attributes, as well as good old injuries.

Last FM I saw a league one quality 28 year old Bale (don't worry, his 4 goals and 7 assists kept Preston up that year), and world player of the year 37 year old Ronaldo (with 11 Champions League goals and 24 for Chelsea...).

I still remember convincing 43 year old Akinfeev to go one more season around FM09/10. Great times. Gerrard and Lampard changing places between Chelsea and Liverpool was a classic too. Gerrard retired first (at Chelsea) at 36 having done his ACL (same game as Akinfeev), while Lampard went on to play for Man City at 39.

I suppose you guys are right i mean i am in 2022 Ronaldo and Messi are still messing up the spanish leagues in my game at 36 miles better than anyone half their age. Its just for me they seem to just dip drastically after 33.

This is player in question, he isnt terrible (stats wise) but he plays like a schoolboy and its so frustrating seeing one of the elders of the game making those kind of mistakes. I also had Gary Cahill between 33-35 (when he packed it in because he was 3rd string) making the same kind of mistakes not winning headers that he should have been winning, making stupid passess, holding onto the ball too long. These arent things that are happening 1 in 10 games either, happening every game he plays in.

It is known that players attributes, especially the physical ones, will decline slowly as they get older, but there is no coding in the game that causes this at a particular age and it will be gradual

I understand that physical attributes deteriorate as the player gets older, but it is my understanding that the mental attributes continue to grow with experience, his anticipation is 16 and positioning is 20 so he should be able to read the game really well but yet he is constantly in the wrong position!

Apart from acceleration and agility, his attributes are fine, so perhaps he is just going through a spell of poor form, so have a talk to him about this and perhaps give him a couple of reserve games as well.

Steven Gerrard says hello.

I suppose you guys are right i mean i am in 2022 Ronaldo and Messi are still messing up the spanish leagues in my game at 36 miles better than anyone half their age. Its just for me they seem to just dip drastically after 33.

This is player in question, he isnt terrible (stats wise) but he plays like a schoolboy and its so frustrating seeing one of the elders of the game making those kind of mistakes. I also had Gary Cahill between 33-35 (when he packed it in because he was 3rd string) making the same kind of mistakes not winning headers that he should have been winning, making stupid passess, holding onto the ball too long. These arent things that are happening 1 in 10 games either, happening every game he plays in.

It should be said that Ranocchia used to do the same things in RL till last season, and he was only 26.

I broke my foot, partially tore ligaments in my wrist, and lost a lot of fitness at 33. I fully support any effort to model body deterioration at 33 in this game.

I broke my foot, partially tore ligaments in my wrist, and lost a lot of fitness at 33. I fully support any effort to model body deterioration at 33 in this game.

I am not dissing it the fact that they start to lose their physical attributes, thats what happens when you get old. My problem is the fact the player has seemingly turned into a moron overnight. despite having pretty good mental stats he has no ability to read the game whatsoever and he seems really, really lazy rarely chases down loose balls or makes interceptions. The good news is i only got him on a 2yr contract and i signed him at the start of 2021/2022 so at the end of the next season i will release him. I already have two 19 yr olds while not yet fully developed make less mistakes than him and it seems like they want that first team spot more than he does

Rannochia's poor passing and holding on to the ball too long has something to do with his Creativity only being 8 and Passing 10, so he can't 'see' or distribute a wide range of passes. Combine that with terrible technical attributes and you have a player that is useless on the ball, particularly in certain tactics. That has nothing to do with age because he starts the game with similar attributes. Then he might look lazy when chasing down lose balls because his acceleration, pace and agility is very low at that level, as you would expect of 33 year old centre back who was already slow at 23, so he physically can't get to the ball ahead of quick forwards in certain situations.

My advice; buy better players or adjust your tactics to make him useful. Give him more simple passing options and drop the d-line deper so he has less space behind him to cover. Then you'll see his excellent mental and marking attributes come to the fore.

They don't decline slowly, they decline at a pace which is a bit too noticeable. Players don't age like wine in this game. I thought I'd be able to turn my Di Maria into an older version of Giggs but even if I try to play him in a position that will suit his new attributes he still can't find form.

I understand his pace will decrease but why does the technical attributes decrease so much too? There's loads of players in their 30's that can still strike a ball. Why can't we have a Pirlo, Giggs or Totti? Is this possible in FM?

On the other hand... Ronaldo's 36 and still at his best.

Well, I'd say the dribbling make sense, since he's not as quick with his feet anymore at 33, but free kick taking I'd expect to be able to remain at high level.

Well, I'd say the dribbling make sense, since he's not as quick with his feet anymore at 33, but free kick taking I'd expect to be able to remain at high level.

Giggs was 39 in FM14 and had 17 for dribbling. He wasn't quick on his feet either...

Coloccini is performing amazingly for me at 35

Some age quite well. A key stat to look at (and barring any catastrophic injury) is natural fitness. Player with a high rating there will generally have longer careers playing at a high level.

At the end of the day my guy i keep my guy to cup and league games against weaker sides which he doesnt seem to mind, i have already spoken to him about demoting him to rotation/backup which he doesnt mind as he understands that younger players are always going to beat him to the first team spots, but he doesnt seem to handle the big games against the strong sides that well so i leave him out of that. Seems to work his performances have picked up but i dont think i will be renewing his contract

Players age much more naturally now in FM07 they fell off a cliff aged thirty and if they missed a few games it got even worse.

Only issue I find with older player is that once they pass 30, their value just PLUMMETS, no player ever once they pass 30 has a high value, which doesn't make sense as some players are still valuable (i.e Jermain Defoe, likely will go for 15m)

Only issue I find with older player is that once they pass 30, their value just PLUMMETS, no player ever once they pass 30 has a high value, which doesn't make sense as some players are still valuable (i.e Jermain Defoe, likely will go for 15m)

Jermaine Defoe £15m?

Your joking right, he moved to Toronto for £6m and any transfer fee is likely to be less than that now.

Remember, not everyone is going to remain and play like Giggs.

OP is nonsense. I'm managing a lower league side stacked with teenagers. I started with 3 ol' warhorses -2 CDs and a striker, the CDs being captain and vice-captain. They were aged 33, 36 and 34 at the start of the game. They nurtured the kids and played consistently although the legs of the 36 year old started to go late in the season. In the second season the 36 yr old took a player/coach position and remained back-up as a young player had developed enough to be a first team regular. In the second season the now 34 year old striker (fans' fav and top scorer first season) slowed up and needed easing out - in fact he announced his retirement in the third season and is due to take up a scouting post with us. The 34 year old skipper, now 36 has another year in him, but in all cases they performed a vital role in bringing up my youngsters and easing them into the first team. The 2 CDs were always slow and I needed to defend deep (and always had a terrible goals against record) but they did a brilliant job. I kept them all on light training schedules and never scolded them for losing attribute points, by the way.

i thought cambiasso would do that on mine but i kept him on for another season and even in february he's still a good player at 35.

I have a 37 year old left back that's still worth 17.5m - no way am I letting him go and no way he's being dropped.

Playing as Liverpool I bought Negredo at the age of 34 for £2mil and after 20 games this season he's scored 24 goals...

I have a 37 year old left back that's still worth 17.5m - no way am I letting him go and no way he's being dropped.

That's outrageous. Screenshot?

Yeh not at home at the moment.

I signed Cristiano Ronaldo on a free in 2022 at the age of 37 for PSG (primarily for the shirt sales) however he is scoring for fun and doing good for me.

Just started playing the game, and during my first preseason with Bayern, I somehow sold Pizarro (35 years old, 1.2 million value) to Real Madrid for 1.2 million cash! Don't ask me how, RM just made the offer little after I listed him for sale.

I have a 35 year old midfielder at Cefn who's best form has been in the later stages of my second season at the club. I gave him another year which will see him to his retirement and then I plan to appoint him as my Head of Youth Development.

Only issue I find with older player is that once they pass 30, their value just PLUMMETS, no player ever once they pass 30 has a high value, which doesn't make sense as some players are still valuable (i.e Jermain Defoe, likely will go for 15m)

Got Neymar on my save at 31 years old is still worth £30m+

OP is nonsense. I'm managing a lower league side stacked with teenagers. I started with 3 ol' warhorses -2 CDs and a striker, the CDs being captain and vice-captain. They were aged 33, 36 and 34 at the start of the game. They nurtured the kids and played consistently although the legs of the 36 year old started to go late in the season. In the second season the 36 yr old took a player/coach position and remained back-up as a young player had developed enough to be a first team regular. In the second season the now 34 year old striker (fans' fav and top scorer first season) slowed up and needed easing out - in fact he announced his retirement in the third season and is due to take up a scouting post with us. The 34 year old skipper, now 36 has another year in him, but in all cases they performed a vital role in bringing up my youngsters and easing them into the first team. The 2 CDs were always slow and I needed to defend deep (and always had a terrible goals against record) but they did a brilliant job. I kept them all on light training schedules and never scolded them for losing attribute points, by the way.

So you're saying that older players can still do a job outside the top few teams in the world, where only a select few elite players can still do it.

Sounds exactly like real life then.

Lionel Messi was still a fantastic playmaker in central midfield for me at the age of 37, despite having had 2 bad injuries beyond the age of 30. With good central defenders, if they avoid getting injured they can play into their latter 30's with ease as well. The main problem is if you have a player in a position that makes use of pace a lot (in his younger days Messi was playing AMR for me) then they are going to perform poorly as they get older and lose that physical edge. Generally I find as players get older you need to move them to move central positions, which are less easily exposed by pace on the counter.

If a player lacks professionalism and has poor natural fitness he will decline quickly, and that is almost unavoidable but with a bit of luck with injuries and the right management you can still get players performing well into their late 30's.