Quickfire Questions and Answers Thread (Tactic and Training Questions Only)

[furiousuk]

Just the one question. Signed Cavani and although he's scoring goals for me on a regular basis, his stats have dropped by 1 or even 2 points in some cases. He's happy with his training schedule and is performing well. Can anyone explain to me why this is happening?

This sometimes does happen when they change training regime or club. It can be indictable of a player struggling to settle or general unhappiness that is not otherwise reported by the game. Or it could just be the change in schedule (from his old club).

It is most likely temporary and will sort itself out, just make sure he is training hard enough. By the end of the season he should of bumped back up (if not improved) from the time you bought him (depending on his age, games etc), if not then it might mean something more problematic is happening (training is poor, training facilities/coaches too poor for player, unhappiness, jadedness, unsettled etc)

[JackInDerBox]

I presume this question has been answered in the previous 25 pages so I apologise but after skimming it can't seem to find it, if a player is set to swap position with another will the player retain his own instructions or take on those of the player he swaps with?

[waynehead]

A lot of FM games in the past have had a side bias (the left side more time than not). For example two wingers both with the same attacking role and both with same level of ability, and the one on the left nearly always has the most assists, most goals and the higher average. So the stupid question is, In an Barca shape 433 which central midfielder and which side winger is more likely to create and score more (out of two box 2 box mids and two wingers attack)????

[vasilli07]

I presume this question has been answered in the previous 25 pages so I apologise but after skimming it can't seem to find it, if a player is set to swap position with another will the player retain his own instructions or take on those of the player he swaps with?

No, he will just take the role instructions.

[furiousuk]

A lot of FM games in the past have had a side bias (the left side more time than not). For example two wingers both with the same attacking role and both with same level of ability, and the one on the left nearly always has the most assists, most goals and the higher average. So the stupid question is, In an Barca shape 433 which central midfielder and which side winger is more likely to create and score more (out of two box 2 box mids and two wingers attack)????

It's to do with footedness and which side they are shown onto by the opposition. If your side has roughly equal footedness then you won't see a bias. If everyone is heavily right footed and the opposition show onto weaker foot you'll tend to see a left side distribution pattern, this doesn't mean that you'll be more successful focussing down there, it's just a natural consequence of the setup of the 2 teams.

[Bigpapa42]

Have a question regarding mentoring... I took forever to pick a club and finally seem to have found one that fits what I was looking. There are a number of promising young players and veterans. Mentoring time! After matching a few of them up, I "disocvered" that a few of the veterans have very diverse personalities. So one might have high Determination and Loyalty but very low Professionalism. Or high Professionalism but much lower Temperment and Controvesry. I assume that if the player being mentored is actually more professional than their mentor, they would still move toward what the mentor is in that trait? Or do they not take on negatives?

[furiousuk]

Have a question regarding mentoring... I took forever to pick a club and finally seem to have found one that fits what I was looking. There are a number of promising young players and veterans. Mentoring time! After matching a few of them up, I "disocvered" that a few of the veterans have very diverse personalities. So one might have high Determination and Loyalty but very low Professionalism. Or high Professionalism but much lower Temperment and Controvesry. I assume that if the player being mentored is actually more professional than their mentor, they would still move toward what the mentor is in that trait? Or do they not take on negatives?

Yeah, they take on negatives! Mentoring is hard man!!

Sometimes it is worth a hit in determination though to get a boost elsewhere, it is usually possible to rise determination (or the hiddens) back up at a later time with a different tutor.

[SloPantelija]

Hi I have a question regarding player tutoring.

On what basis does the game select young players that will be available as tutees to a certain senior player?

For example, I have a player whose positions are d/wb/m/AML and when I go into tutoring screen, his available tutees are, among a bunch of u18 players, three young CB's from my first team (aged 18, 19 and 21) and a amr/ST (who is 17) - but not my first team LB/wb who is 18, or my 4th young first team CB who is 20. Where is the logic behind that? If anything, that LB seems as the most appropriate choice for tutoring. And why is my 4th CB omitted?

And this is not the only case, I have a ton of senior MC/AMC players who can't tutor my youth in the same position, I have a bunch of senior CB's who can't tutor those very same CB's that were available for tutoring to the d/wb/m/AML player... Why?

[vasilli07]

A question about pk taker.

For eg,

Player A pk 20 composure 5 finishing 5

Player B pk 10 composure 10 finishing 10

Does that still make player A a better pk taker than player B?

[furiousuk]

A question about pk taker.

For eg,

Player A pk 20 composure 5 finishing 5

Player B pk 10 composure 10 finishing 10

Does that still make player A a better pk taker than player B?

For me, no, player B would probably work out better.

Technique would be important too. Tech 10 Finishing 10 would be better than Tech 1 Finishing 20 in my book. Technique modified all the technical attributes. Similarly, the mental attributes tend to modify all the technical attributes.

[CornishGas]

A question about pk taker.

For eg,

Player A pk 20 composure 5 finishing 5

Player B pk 10 composure 10 finishing 10

Does that still make player A a better pk taker than player B?

Not in my book.

To me this means that Player A is very proficient at actually taking penalties: confusing the goalkeeper, making him guess the wrong way. He knows when to shoot high, when to shoot low, when to tap it straight down the middle. With PK 20 he's probably one of those annoying ***ks that pauses about six times during the run-up and then passes the ball into the net with the instep of his weakest foot from around the back of his strongest, or chips it so weakly that it barely reaches the net and the goalkeeper looks like a tool for diving out of the way. But mentally he is a nervous mess who forgets his own name if it's an important penalty (such as one that needs to go in to keep his side in a shootout or if a match is a draw in normal time), and he'll often pelt it straight over the bar or past the post due to his poor finishing.

Whereas Player B doesn't know all the tricks of the trade as far as taking penalties goes, but he's far more likely to keep his cool in an important situation, and far more likely to get the penalty on target even if it doesn't beat the keeper. I'd have B as my regular penalty taker any day of the week if A was my alternative option.

Also, I'm not sure if it has any effect or not, but in a shootout scenario I always pick the player with second highest composure as #1 and highest as #5 (once I've filtered out all the really bad takers, of course), with all the average composure takers in between. I figure the first penalty would be pretty nervy, but the last one (which in most shootouts is usually a kick to either win or keep your side in the game) would require far more, whereas the ones inbetween not so much. Like I said, not sure if that's modelled in the game at all though.

[Soldatino]

I have two question regarding contracts and squad.

1) When negotiating contracts I have always used clause "wage of xxx.xxx€ after 25 appearance" etc. I always considered it meant that once this player featured for me in 25 league matches, his contract would be automatically changed. Is that right? Yesterday when buying a player, next to the negotiations screen it said career matches: 13, looking at his history, he has played 13 matches in his career indeed, but that would mean this clause would be valid after only another 12 matches in my team?

2) Regarding loans and transfers of loaned-in players. The situation is, I play in Italian Serie B and my squad consist of 2/3 loaned players. The thing is, when it comes to teamwork, gelling etc. once the season is finished, during the summer I managed to bring back some of those players on full transfer, will they be recognized as completely new to the squad, or there's this "memory" that past season they spent on loan by me?

[Fletchdt]

Im a little confused when i look at the AI's assist locations. When you look at the AI's assists from the left and the right side of the pitch is that from their left or right or from your right and left as you look up the pitch? I have included a pic to try explain better what i mean.

So for example, the 11 assists by the AI. Is that from their right or left side of the pitch?

[vasilli07]

@Fletchdt, it's their right.

[MeesterCat]

I would assume that to be their right side.

[MeesterCat]

A question of my own. I have a player who is Natural in the AMC position and Unconvincing in the MC position. I want to train him to be at least Accomplished at MC. Would he lose PA for that, considering he already has some 'experience' of that position?

[Fletchdt]

Thanksvasilli07 & MeesterCat for the quick replies. I would assume the 4 assists on the bottom right of the pitch are goals conceded from the right as well?

[Sussex Hammer]

How can I stop Andy Carroll from performing his "vertical header move"?! Set to HUB a ball is played up to him and an easy option is to head it back to the player behind him or ideally (and I have never seen this) take it down on his chest and neatly play it off. However he just seems to flick it on to no-one in particular although the corner flag receives a good pass!! and the ball usually has ice on it when it comes down! Can't get him doing a PPM to HUB more as he already has that. He isn't set to target man and I don't really want to go down this route and it's very limiting. Very frustrating.

[vasilli07]

Thanksvasilli07 & MeesterCat for the quick replies. I would assume the 4 assists on the bottom right of the pitch are goals conceded from the right as well?

Yes, you are correct.

[pedromanuelpinto]

Hello,

One question.

What about High Press, Shorter pass, Counter Attack and Balanced mentality using a 3-5-2 (with 1 DM).

It's possible to have sucess?

I will not have a big player in attack, but have one fast player.

Should i user a more possession football?

Just one note, I'm with Cardiff.

[Praha06]

When someone mentions "frameworks", what do they mean and how does it relate to creating a sound tactic? Also how widely is this technique used?

[furiousuk]

When someone mentions "frameworks", what do they mean and how does it relate to creating a sound tactic? Also how widely is this technique used?

Do a google search for Tactical Theorems and Frameworks and you'll find the TT&F. It's a little old now but the theoretics are superb and are a great example of creating frameworks.

Basically a framework would be a set of tactical instructions (usually fairly generic) that define your general style of play i.e. direct 442 (smash-and-grab/wimbledon), fluid 433 (tika-taka/barcelona), expressive 4231 (short-intricate/arsenal) etc etc etc.

Then from that framework, or base, you make smaller more intricate 'tweaks' that adapt how you play. Some of these 'small changes' can actually be far reaching. A framework encourages making changes and adapting to your situation as, by itself, it's not normally something too special. The tactics creator makes creating a framework fairly quick, fairly simple and pretty intuitive. The TC also allows you to make more intimate changes too, especially when used in conjunction with the shouts (which is really how it should be used).

I'd say that probably most regulars in here use frameworks and make adaptations from there but probably across the whole spectrum of FMers the adoption of using frameworks, shouts and changes is likely quite low. Which is a shame because surely you buy and play FM to make decisions, even if you don't want to play particularly realistically?

The game evolves year on year and gets more sophisticated which means that in order to beat it you have to get better too and over the last few years the game has encourages those that like to make decisions and has all-but-killed the 'super tactic beats all' of previous FMs.

[furiousuk]

Hello,

One question.

What about High Press, Shorter pass, Counter Attack and Balanced mentality using a 3-5-2 (with 1 DM).

It's possible to have sucess?

I will not have a big player in attack, but have one fast player.

Should i user a more possession football?

Just one note, I'm with Cardiff.

Sounds like it would probably work nicely. Are you also going to 'make the pitch smaller' by playing higher up? Would seem to complement shorter passing and pressing.

The counter attack would only refer to when a counter situation is on (particularly if you have a fairly smart team who can make decisions) so they'd play the ball more direct only when it was on, and, in any case you'd have 2 guys up top to try and move around and get on the end of a more direct ball. Presumably they'd also be supported with wingers, or possibly a midfielder who likes to get forward quickly.

[furiousuk]

A question of my own. I have a player who is Natural in the AMC position and Unconvincing in the MC position. I want to train him to be at least Accomplished at MC. Would he lose PA for that, considering he already has some 'experience' of that position?

I'm not sure exactly on the mechanism but I've heard retraining to a position does use up PA, although I don't know what happens when a player loses positional competency - does it free up PA in return? Seems unlikely.

I'd probably guess that rather than actually using up PA it just takes time away from training that would use that PA to up attributes, so, it wouldn't use PA but it would limit it from leading to player improvement, which would probably look like the same thing. If this is correct then it would just take longer (possibly too long) for PA to get converted to attributes.

[MeesterCat]

I'm not sure exactly on the mechanism but I've heard retraining to a position does use up PA, although I don't know what happens when a player loses positional competency - does it free up PA in return? Seems unlikely.

I'd probably guess that rather than actually using up PA it just takes time away from training that would use that PA to up attributes, so, it wouldn't use PA but it would limit it from leading to player improvement, which would probably look like the same thing. If this is correct then it would just take longer (possibly too long) for PA to get converted to attributes.

That makes sense, cheers. I'm not too hung up on squeezing the absolute maximum attributes - I'd rather have a good distribution for the role and the correct personality - so I'll happily retrain him in that case.

[CornishGas]

Im a little confused when i look at the AI's assist locations.

It's telling you they've scored 11 from assists from around their AMR position, so you'll probably need to pay special attention to him with your DL.

It's also telling you that their DL has been really good, as they've only conceded one from crosses/assists on their left flank. Hope that helps.

Edit: Oops, already answered by about 25 people. Not sure how I missed all those.

I have two question regarding contracts and squad.

1) When negotiating contracts I have always used clause "wage of xxx.xxx€ after 25 appearance" etc. I always considered it meant that once this player featured for me in 25 league matches, his contract would be automatically changed. Is that right? Yesterday when buying a player, next to the negotiations screen it said career matches: 13, looking at his history, he has played 13 matches in his career indeed, but that would mean this clause would be valid after only another 12 matches in my team?

Nah, it's matches played for YOUR team. So if you sign a player, their wages will be automatically increased after he's played 25 (competitive, ie, non-friendly or reserve) appearances for YOU. Whatever he's played before doesn't count, they only start counting during his new contract. It also doesn't count if he goes out on loan during the contract. It's only games he's played for your first team.

2) Regarding loans and transfers of loaned-in players. The situation is, I play in Italian Serie B and my squad consist of 2/3 loaned players. The thing is, when it comes to teamwork, gelling etc. once the season is finished, during the summer I managed to bring back some of those players on full transfer, will they be recognized as completely new to the squad, or there's this "memory" that past season they spent on loan by me?

To be honest I'm not sure. I'd assume that they would be considered 'new signings', but I haven't tested that at all so I could be wrong.

[CornishGas]

I have a question:

The arrows on the training and attributes screen, that indicates a player has improved or declined in a given attribute. What do they actually mean? What does the game use as a 'baseline' for those arrows? For example, is it "better than he was at the start of the game"? Or "better than he was at the start of the season"? Or does it just mean "is improving" in general; like, not necessarily quantifiably better at it, but working well in training.

I've noticed most attribute arrows go orange or red when a player is injured, which is pretty obviously because he's not training at all. Does that mean he's actually getting definably worse at those things, or just that he's not applying himself as well as he could be in those areas (due to not applying himself at all because he's injured)?

Also, one further question: What relationship does a silver star have with a gold one? For instance, say I have two players:

Player A is 19 and has 3 golden stars of current ability and 4.5 of PA.

Player B is 16 and has 4 silver stars of CA and 4 of PA.

Let's assume for the moment that my AssMan is a psychic and knows the CA and PA of both players exactly. Let's also assume that I'm playing in the highest division in my country.

Does this mean that B is technically a better player than A right now, but due to his age shouldn't play regular first team football?

Or does it mean that because B is only 16, he's only graded against youth team players, so the scale used is different and shouldn't be compared to A at all. He's just "really good compared to all the other youth players and could become a first team regular in the future". Whereas A is "just about good enough for the first team now, and could become a star for us in the future".

Out of the two, should I be giving B some cup appearances and stuff, or sending him on loan, while A is the regular in this position? Or should I be leaving B in the U19s?

[SloPantelija]

Hi I have a question regarding player tutoring.

On what basis does the game select young players that will be available as tutees to a certain senior player?

For example, I have a player whose positions are d/wb/m/AML and when I go into tutoring screen, his available tutees are, among a bunch of u18 players, three young CB's from my first team (aged 18, 19 and 21) and a amr/ST (who is 17) - but not my first team LB/wb who is 18, or my 4th young first team CB who is 20. Where is the logic behind that? If anything, that LB seems as the most appropriate choice for tutoring. And why is my 4th CB omitted?

And this is not the only case, I have a ton of senior MC/AMC players who can't tutor my youth in the same position, I have a bunch of senior CB's who can't tutor those very same CB's that were available for tutoring to the d/wb/m/AML player... Why?

Seriously, does noone know this? It's making tutoring really impossible for me.

[CornishGas]

A tutor needs to:

- Have a higher reputation than the prospective tutee (actual reputation score, not just the word description used. They might both be National rep for instance, but it won't work if the tutee is actually higher than the tutor, and there's no way to tell a player's actual reputation score in-game).

- Be able to play at awkward or better in a role where the tutee is accomplished or better.

- The tutee must have a squad status of Rotation or lower, and the tutor must be higher than the tutee.

- The tutor has to be older than the tutee, and at least 23 unless he's the club captain.

Also, the tutor can't be currently training a preferred move, as it takes too much time.

[SloPantelija]

Ok that makes a lot of sense and it completely explains my situation. Thanks man!

[mikcheck]

Hi guys.

Would you make a player an advanced forward or complete forward (attack) learn beat offside trap PPM? And i'm talking of a really smart player. In my case he has 20 off the ball and decisions, 19 antecipation. Could it be beneficial? Thanks

[max787]

Does pitch size make a noticeable difference to the effectiveness of tactics?

I'm playing a 4-5-1 with a counter strategy, I use the shouts "press higher up" and "hassle opponents" at the beginning of the match. This means that pressing is on full, and the D-line is somewhere in the middle after using the shouts.

I've always used the largest pitch possible, since I wanted space behind the opposition D-line for my forwards to counter-attack into. However, recently I've been thinking that the smallest pitch possible could be beneficial since it will be easier to aggressively press the opposition (less ground to cover), defence will be tighter (less space to mark), and counter-attacks could be faster (as there is less space needed to cover when moving up the pitch).

Thinking (reminiscing ) about the old Highbury pitch is what brought me to these conclusions, the pitch was notoriously short and was a large factor in our lightning fast, 3 pass counter attacks of old.

Does this logic translate into FM? does pitch size actually make a noticeable difference?

Thanks for any replies

[däkkä]

Hi guys.

Would you make a player an advanced forward or complete forward (attack) learn beat offside trap PPM? And i'm talking of a really smart player. In my case he has 20 off the ball and decisions, 19 antecipation. Could it be beneficial? Thanks

If he has effective finishing sounds like he certainly can be effective that way, but for me it comes down to if he's more effective running behind defenders than he is running at defenders. If he can cause troubles in the pocket with his dribbling, interplay or through balls I wouldn't simplify his game.

[mikcheck]

dakka, he is also very creative guy. I play 4-2-3-1. To give you an example of that, he is my best scorer with 38 goals in 38 games but also the one with most assists (20 or 21 total) which i think is something incredible. So maybe i should just leave it as it is, maybe he'd be unable to play that creative game

[däkkä]

Yeah with those goals and assists I wouldn't think twice of it. Spare him from that PPM. I can definitely see it hurting his overall play as he wouldn't be as keen to take part in the build-up at all.

It's nice to have a squad player from the bench that can offer something different a la Chicharito or Inzaghi. But for your key players you probably want a more expansive role.

[mikcheck]

Thats right. Thanks

[furiousuk]

Does pitch size make a noticeable difference to the effectiveness of tactics?

I'm playing a 4-5-1 with a counter strategy, I use the shouts "press higher up" and "hassle opponents" at the beginning of the match. This means that pressing is on full, and the D-line is somewhere in the middle after using the shouts.

I've always used the largest pitch possible, since I wanted space behind the opposition D-line for my forwards to counter-attack into. However, recently I've been thinking that the smallest pitch possible could be beneficial since it will be easier to aggressively press the opposition (less ground to cover), defence will be tighter (less space to mark), and counter-attacks could be faster (as there is less space needed to cover when moving up the pitch).

Thinking (reminiscing ) about the old Highbury pitch is what brought me to these conclusions, the pitch was notoriously short and was a large factor in our lightning fast, 3 pass counter attacks of old.

Does this logic translate into FM? does pitch size actually make a noticeable difference?

Thanks for any replies

Yep, you're pretty much spot on and FM simulates this perfectly. I pay little attention to pitch size but I know that I should, it can and will make a difference to how effective you are.

[Os]

If I loan a young player who has been in my club for 2 seasons to my same nation affiliate feeder club will he maintain the club home grown status?

[max787]

Yep, you're pretty much spot on and FM simulates this perfectly. I pay little attention to pitch size but I know that I should, it can and will make a difference to how effective you are.

Thanks for the reply I'll try out a smaller pitch next season!

[Ukchris]

I have a question:

The arrows on the training and attributes screen, that indicates a player has improved or declined in a given attribute. What do they actually mean? What does the game use as a 'baseline' for those arrows? For example, is it "better than he was at the start of the game"? Or "better than he was at the start of the season"? Or does it just mean "is improving" in general; like, not necessarily quantifiably better at it, but working well in training.

I've noticed most attribute arrows go orange or red when a player is injured, which is pretty obviously because he's not training at all. Does that mean he's actually getting definably worse at those things, or just that he's not applying himself as well as he could be in those areas (due to not applying himself at all because he's injured)?

Training/Attribute progress has a progressive scale:

Downwards red arrow = a definite, clear drop

Angled downwards orange arrow = slight, gradual drop

No arrow = no change

angled upwards light green arrow = slight, gradual gain

Upwards, bright green arrow - definite, clear gain

I think there are actually 3 shades and angles of the green 'gain' icon, each a little more than the one before, but I'm not ingame right now.

Anyhow, each attribute will show the progress icon and it will match the recent change, as you can see by clicking the attribute on the training screen and looking at the chart. The progress is affected by a number of things, including (but not limited to) current ability vs potential ability, training focus and workload, coaches, facilities, game time, game events, morale, personality etc. and will vary from player to player. Some players with great personalities and constant game time, playing well at good morale with potential to fill might constantly have high green markers for the attributes focused on while still having room to develop, along with the overall progress marker. Other players might be shown as having high potential but certain factors have led to different progress, with recent change a slower gain, no change or even a slight decline.

Players who have reached full potential will usually show '-' for no change as the factors are all combining to maintain their current ability. They might also show a slightly upwards green arrow showing they're training well but have no visibile attribute change. This is due to the attributes working behind the scenes on a 1 - 100 scale, rather than the 1 - 20 displayed. A player might be at 149 CA, 151 PA and have a slight green arrow showing some progress in Strength, for example, but still be at at 15 when it was 15 before. The chart might show the line going ever so slightly up, and this signifies a change from something like 15.1 to 15.2. It's a slight gain but not enough to change his displayed attribute.

On the other hand you might have a player at full potential with a slight downwards orange arrow. This is working the same way as the above example but as a slight negative rather than positive. It could be due to morale loss, poor performances or a lack of focus and doesn't mean the player is declining, merely that recent events have resulted in slight changes. Using the above example it could be Strength dropping from 15.1 to 15.0. It's not unusual and usually changes itself when events change again, but is something to keep an eye on in case it becomes a trend. Players showing this can often have it halted by a talk asking for them to work harder in training.

It is the big, downwards red arrow signifying the real drops. As you point out, this often happens when a player suffers a lengthy injury - in fact it's usually only a result of either bad injury or age decline. In the case of injury it might only be temporary as a player can drop from 16 to 15 pace while injured but after getting fit again, playing some games and working hard go back from 15 to 16 in time. That depends on the individual player and how they respond. It can also result in attribute change as any drop while injured drops CA. When the situation changes and CA is regained, the game might determine that a different attribute is to increase rather than regaining the previous loss - again down to factors such as training focus and ingame events.

Injury doesn't always cause a drop, and players injured for a few days or a week can still show progress arrows as they get fit again before it has an impact. It depends on the type of injury and severity/length.

Anyhow, short answer = it's recent progress, the extent of which is signified by the strength of the arrow. Different factors changing progression rates.

Also, one further question: What relationship does a silver star have with a gold one? For instance, say I have two players:

Player A is 19 and has 3 golden stars of current ability and 4.5 of PA.

Player B is 16 and has 4 silver stars of CA and 4 of PA.

Let's assume for the moment that my AssMan is a psychic and knows the CA and PA of both players exactly. Let's also assume that I'm playing in the highest division in my country.

Does this mean that B is technically a better player than A right now, but due to his age shouldn't play regular first team football?

Or does it mean that because B is only 16, he's only graded against youth team players, so the scale used is different and shouldn't be compared to A at all. He's just "really good compared to all the other youth players and could become a first team regular in the future". Whereas A is "just about good enough for the first team now, and could become a star for us in the future".

Out of the two, should I be giving B some cup appearances and stuff, or sending him on loan, while A is the regular in this position? Or should I be leaving B in the U19s?

Ability star ratings are based on your current league, players and expectations. Gold stars show strength relative to senior players, silver relative to your youth players. 3 gold stars pretty much means a player of average ability compared to your current first team squad.

With the example you gave...

Player A is 19 and has 3 golden stars of current ability and 4.5 of PA.

He's currently of average current ability rating when compared with the rest of your first team squad and that current ability is also quite a bit gigher than Player B. He has a potential ability rating allowing room to develop further but whether he does or not depends on quite a few things (personality, training facilities/staff, gametime etc.). If he does continue developing he could become one of the better players in your team as it is now.

Player B is 16 and has 4 silver stars of CA and 4 of PA.

This one has a current ability rating considered quite a bit lower than first team standard, but a little above average when compared to your youth team. He's currently considerably weaker than Player A in terms of overall ability points. He has a potential rating that could allow him to become one of your better first team players in the future but with a silver current rating he has a long way to go to fulfill that.

There are 2 extra things to note:

1. Potential (and current) ratings can change as your team changes. For instance, when you first get promoted to the top division your squad and expectations will be at the lower end, fighting for survival. You might have better players here at 4 star ability. However, after a few seasons you could be up at the top end of the table and expectations (and your squad) change. Those 4 star players might now only be shown as 3 star, or even 2.5. It doesn't mean that the players have declined and become weaker but for the changed situation they are not considered above what 'average' rating would be. It's all relative.

2. Star rating refers to ability points, eg. if 130 CA is considered around average for your team, players around 130 CA will show as 3 star while someone with 140 might be 3.5 star, 150 4 star and so on. It doesn't mean the player will actually play better, though. You might have a 3 star and a 3.5 star player for the same position but if the 3 star player has better key attributes (both visible and hidden) they might perform better than the one with higher star rating. The stars are just a guide.

Out of the two, should I be giving B some cup appearances and stuff, or sending him on loan, while A is the regular in this position? Or should I be leaving B in the U19s?

Any player with silver current ability is going to struggle in usual first team matches. However, cup games against lower league teams might provide opportunity to play ok. Generally they'll want to stay in the U19s until developed further. For my team, young players usually get meaningful gametime when at 2 star current ability, which is often when they're 17-18. From there I can slot them in, see them play well and develop quite fast after. Against weaker teams I might also have players at 1 - 1.5 star, such as a 16 year old in a cup game for their first taste of gametime.

As for loans, I personally keep all players with my team for the first 3 years until they're club-grown. For a young player signed at 15 that means through 15, 16 and 17 they'll be in the youth team getting trained, tutored (if needed) and gametime there. Through those first 3 seasons if they develop fast they might start getting the occasional game in the first team when they're 16, and those with real quality can end up playing quite a few games at 17. After 3 seasons, usually when they're 18-19, they'll be club-grown and reach a key point. If they're developing nicely and will be able to play quite a bit they stay and join the first team squad. If I feel they're currently too weak to factor enough I'll send them out on loan for the season rather than have them sit around not playing enough, and a good loan can see a player come back the following season stronger and ready to play properly for me.

As I mentioned above, a player at silver current ability has a lot of work to do. When I sign a 15 year old they're usually at 1 gold already, signifying they're already at a higher standard. A youth might have 5 gold stars for potential but if they're 17 years old and still only at 4 silver stars it's highly doubtful they'll ever get close to those 5 gold stars, meaning they could have the max 200 potential ability but realistically only hit 120 or so.

[Leon_fogo]

In 2012 I could do fm goals from inside the penalty area and small area. My teams touched the ball, kicked the edge of the area and moves to leave, now I only see bids for the bottom line in all the other teams goals only come out from the sides, what can I do to have played through the middle of the field? and make goals with balls strung in the area?

[CornishGas]

Training/Attribute progress has a progressive scale[...]

Thanks a lot, massively helpful post.

[Leon_fogo]

How to make plays within the area? And to score goals by means of kicks? from outside and within the area? For my teams insist on playing the sides and leaving only the goals from crosses or set pieces: /

[Äktsjon Männ]

The 'stops play' PPM, what does it do? I mean in practice. Is it the same as 'dwells on ball'? There's a player I'm interested in who has this and the 'dictates tempo' PPM, should I expect him to be a player who gets caught in possession a lot?

[Kurospidey]

Hi. Probably being already asked:

- Is there any way to practice with the match engine? A quick mode where you select a team, create a tactic with the TC, set the shouts, ois etc. and play a game against any other team. That way you keep playing and playing and playing until you master the ME, the different tactical aspects, shouts etc. I could create new games constantly but the tactic familiarity being low would ruin the experience.

-If such a mode doesn't exist, what's the best way to experience with tactics and the ME? The main problem is that of familiarity (till october-november) you don't get it to 100%

[Fabian Jonsson]

I have a few questions regarding ppms:

Plays one-twos: if I want player 1 to play a one-two with player 2, should I have both players learn the ppm, or does it only matter wether or not the initiator have it?

Moves into channels: Does it mean different things for central vs. wide players? That is, will a wide player seek to run between fullback and centerback to get into the area, wile a central player will seek to run through the same channel towards the corner flag?

Related to the one above, but more specific:

If I want a MC to make lateral runs behind the opposition defense, which one(s) do I want to teach him:

gets forward whenever possible, gets into opposition area, moves into channels, tries to beat the offside trap?

If I want a box-to-box kind of player, can create that by having a BWM/D with comes deep to get ball and arrives late in opposition area, provided of course he has the workrate, stamina and off the ball rating to match?

That'll do for now, I might have more questions later.

Just bumping this one, as I'm about to start teaching a youngster PPMs and want to make sure I teach him the right ones. I have a player that I feel will make a very good inside forward (basically he's a poacher type, but I want him to start wide and make diagonal runs behind the defense). Is it the "moves into channels" or the "cuts inside" PPM I should go for?

[CornishGas]

Just bumping this one, as I'm about to start teaching a youngster PPMs and want to make sure I teach him the right ones. I have a player that I feel will make a very good inside forward (basically he's a poacher type, but I want him to start wide and make diagonal runs behind the defense). Is it the "moves into channels" or the "cuts inside" PPM I should go for?

Plays One-Twos only needs one player. It's more about the running than the return pass. He'll play a pass to B, run into space, receive the ball from B, then look to play another pass, to B or to C or D or whoever is available at the time, and carry on from there. I guess if A and B both have it, you could end up with a sweet little one-two lasting half way down the pitch. Or you could end up with a confused mess...

Runs Into Channels means the same thing for any player. It just means he'll run into space and look to receive the ball regardless of what you've asked him to do out wide in individual instructions. Where he's playing on the pitch will dictate (or tends to, in my experience) which channels he runs into. A wide player is more likely to find space either side of the fullback, for instance, while a central player will find space between centrebacks more often. It's most useful for inside forwards, AFs and Poachers, I reckon.

Not sure about the other questions so I'll leave them for others.

The 'stops play' PPM, what does it do? I mean in practice. Is it the same as 'dwells on ball'? There's a player I'm interested in who has this and the 'dictates tempo' PPM, should I expect him to be a player who gets caught in possession a lot?

Dwells on Ball is entirely negative. It means he'll hesitate and give himself time to think (time he may not have), before deciding what to do with it, even if he has few good options or the 'correct' decision is obvious. DoB should be unlearned as soon as possible.

Stops Play, however, can be a good thing. It's useful for players who you want to hold up the ball. If you play slow tempo football, he'll be useful for holding it up and picking out options (he'll need good strength though, and obviously good decisions and passing if he's a playmaker). If you play quick tempo, tiki-taka style football he'll be a hindrance though.

[Cleon]

Dwells on Ball is entirely negative. It means he'll hesitate and give himself time to think (time he may not have), before deciding what to do with it, even if he has few good options or the 'correct' decision is obvious. DoB should be unlearned as soon as possible.

It doesn't have to be negative and it doesn't need to be unlearned straight away, what a silly thing to tell someone when you don't know which player, what set up he uses and how strong a team he is. Like every PPM it can be useful if you have the right set up, there is no right or wrong.

I normally like your posts because you speak sense, this however...

[Cleon]

Originally Posted by Äktsjon Männ

The 'stops play' PPM, what does it do? I mean in practice. Is it the same as 'dwells on ball'? There's a player I'm interested in who has this and the 'dictates tempo' PPM, should I expect him to be a player who gets caught in possession a lot?

It can be a good PPM to use depending on which player and what you except from him. If he is a player who has time on the ball, i.e DLP or someone and they'll have space then it can be a great PPM to have. If you are a strong team the majority of the opposition you play will sit deep against you, this kind of PPM can be really useful in those type of situations because the player will take his time and look at all his options. It doesn't mean he does this all the time if he has he correct mental attributes, it just means he'll do it in the right kind of situations based on his teamwork, workrate, decision making etc. If its a player who is getting closed down heavily and doesn't have much time then he will be very high composure so he doesn't panic and rush his decision.

So it can be a negative and a positive at times just like the other PPM's. This one is no different in that sense.

[Fabian Jonsson]

I imagine having, for example, an attacking winger with dwells on ball can be useful if your team defends very deep and need time to get upfield when they have won the ball...