enigmatic

jeez... those consistency and important matches and mentals too...

I was thinking of something simpler, but I actually think view only WIBL WOBL would be superb at illustrating what the roles, instructions and combination with mentality are supposed to do (and because it's view only, you can do things like draw multiple arrows to illustrate positions which have freedom to make runs into two or three different areas and runs players make on and off the ball). Especially useful for making non-obvious choices like WB(S) and a FB(A) set to run wide where the text doesn't really give you that much clue what if any difference in behaviour can be expected. Only downside is that player behaviour should and will look very different in transition Might also be useful as a diagnostic tool so that people know whether their striker not making certain runs is because he's lazy and naturally a winger or the role he's been given wants him deeper, and whether stuff like a libero hitting an invisible "wall" and stopping his off the ball run or centre backs not splitting for the half back are current generation match engine weirdness or how SI believes that role is supposed to play under a given mentality.

Delap and Dave "20 long throws" Challinor?

I won a game on the counter attack due to skill. The AI FMmed me because it was lucky.

£9 m per annum in shirt sales reduces that seasonal cost a lot...

You can always drop the status later. And unless he's got a serious injury, his pace isn't dropping from 16 to too-slow-to-be useful in the first few months of the contract Hell, you could probably build a tactic around him to win Champions Leagues if it dropped to 8...

He's probably one of the best two or three players in the world in your game and he's still going to be an excellent (peak Xavi level) player when his pace and acceleration drop to 11, which probably won't even happen in the two years he's asking for a contract That said, he wants £25m a year, so he still isn't exactly cheap if you really don't need him.

German third tier, during normal transfer window. Player was created as an unattached newgen, and has previously been on trial with me. I am alerted to multiple other clubs offering him a contract, which makes me reassess his potential. Unfortunately unlike the other clubs, I am unable to approach to sign him (clicking on the link shows the standard "must have a transfer offer accepted" screen) even though he is out of contract and has not accepted any deal with any of the bidding clubs yet. This appears to be because he is on trial at another club. His being on trial at the other club does not seem to have prevented other clubs from bidding, only me. I have a save, but I suspect this one is relatively easy to replicate just by finding players currently on trial at other clubs and attempting to bid for them

Goalkeepers are often the best (or least worst) players on a side that have been given a thrashing. That said, goalkeeper ratings on FM are nonsense - it's basically "distribution plus whether your side won" with decently saved shots and saveable conceded shots having surprisingly little impact. A keeper can get comfortably over 7 for a win in which he concedes the only shot the opposition have on target, and comfortably below 7 for a string of spectacular saves if you still lose.

Ideally I'd like the opportunity to set tackling to "normal" as well (I'd also like 5 levels of tackling from "aggressive" to "avoid", but that might be a matter for another post)

It would help a lot if SI provided an image with arrows (like those for pressing) to reflect the roles and duties in attack, as requests like this for a more visual illustration of what the formation does are common

I mean, they've massively reworked tactics and training, which is about 50% of the game, but you're suggesting it has a lack of content because they haven't introduced an explanation of why you're resigning from the club?

It'd certainly be nice if there were some options to narrow the range for researchers that hadn't seen enough of a player to rate a particular attribute clearly but knew that it was towards the high or low end of the scale

It's also been confirmed in other threads that JPA/JPP and Working With Youngsters does have an influence on selected players in each youth intake (probably among the better ones) and that the HOYD influence on position spread is minimal. It's actually quite annoying how many contradictory things FM like to confirm...

It'd be nice if the adverse attribute weighting drop was mostly in stuff that was related to the old position rather than the new one. The idea that a midfielder learning to become a defender might shed a bit of technique and finishing because they're focused on playing in a position where they're less important is plausible, and the idea they just naturally lose a bit of pace or balance isn't that problematic. The idea they get worse at tackling and marking after months of focusing on being a DC is daft, and obviously just a CA-balancing fudge)