AntSou

Interesting. Is that from personal experience, or do you recall SI staff making some sort of comment in that regard? So it would be like a hidden "attribute" (or characteristic) which doesn't show up in the editor like actual "hidden attributes". Also, this is the sort of thing I was referring to in my OP. Understanding this game feels like an Anthropologist/Linguist trying to decipher an ancient language I'll just keep valuing Natural Fitness and Professionalism when it comes to players at the age of 30. The latter seems to have very wide implications in the game, it's not unreasonable to think it's also playing a role in preventing player decline.

I was hoping someone would have just compared decline for players over 30 with the same birthdate and with equal attributes but with different values for Natural Fitness. But I can't really find anything of the sort. That "Evidence Based Football Manager" channel has some very interesting tests but often makes what seem like sweeping conclusions. One of his tests seemed to suggest Natural Fitness has no impact on speed of decline after 30, but the test wasn't specifically formulated to test that, so I'm doubtful. Given these sort of analytics seem to have become more common in the community in the last few years, I thought perhaps someone had already done it, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

But I do not want to start a debate? So I don't understand your sarcasm.

I'm struggling to find actual data of the impact of Natural Fitness on... anything? The very few data I've seen seems to show it has negligible impact on loss of sharpness/fatigue recovery, and more importantly, no impact in preventing player decline. I remain sceptical of these tests though, especially on the lack of impact on player decline, yet I've been looking for more information and all I can find are people talking out of their backsides, which frankly seems to have become a tradition among FM players. The amount of common wisdom that turned out to be incorrect over the years makes me highly sceptical of 'word of mouth' knowledge. But it's difficult to blame players when we really don't know how things work in the background, and many in-game descriptions have been proven to be incorrect or not have the impact SI claims it does. If anyone knows of well documented tests on Natural Fitness, I would appreciate it. I would also appreciate SI's definitive response on it (these bits of wisdom are usually shared by si staff/mods on this forum), to at least have an understanding of the intended design for this attribute. I assume it won't contradict the in-game description, but perhaps there's something more comprehensive which has been shared on these forums in the past. Thanks!

I don't think that's the issue in this case, at least it wasn't explicit in the previous screen. However, his contract was terminating in 6 months, and immediately after negotiations broke down his current club extended it by one year. There was a clause, which I didn't notice: There's also another club interested from Belgium's first division. It wasn't there at the time I started negotiations, but maybe it already had some effect in the background, despite not appearing in the "Wanted" list?

I rarely see this occur. Usually my scouts are fairly close in their estimates, so what's the issue here?

I cancelled and rearranged the friendly and now the inbox message shows correctly. Should probably be moved to bugs?

My assistant manager set a friendly at the beginning of the season to be played at home. The expected income is zero: Which makes no sense. So I attempted to arrange this friendly myself and this is the expected income: I haven't posted it in the bugs forum because I don't know if I'm missing something. If this is a known issue, is it just a visual bug? I don't want to pay a €25.000 fee if there's no income, that's the per annum I pay for a Squad Player in wages.

There's an immediate increase in moral for praising a player when he does well. If you want to get the added moral bonuses do the following: - Praise players who score, assist, or whose rating is higher than 7.5 (already recommended above); - Praise players whenever they have a 8.0 or higher in training; - Criticize players if their performance in matches or training is lower than 6.0. With this ceiling/floor I never have any issues. Praising players who trained for 7.5, for instance, can occasionally backfire, depending on their personality. Similarly, if you criticise someone for a 6.2 or 6.3 training, for instance, it can also backfire. But I never have any issues with the 7.5/8.0/6.0 I mentioned above.

@XaW The league player stats is what I was looking for! Thanks a lot.

These pop up occasionally in my inbox. I've seen some graphic skins which let you see them, but I don't know where in game to look for them. I can't find them in the Data Hub, only the graphical representation of the same thing. I want to be able to compare several players at once in these stats and the graphical representation isn't good enough for that.

I never use the Free Kick/Corner individual focus for my actual takers. They tend to be older players who grow slowly anyway. I use a single Set Piece Routine per week and that seems to be enough to prevent the stat from dropping. I use the Free Kick/Corner individual focus for younger players (20-26) who have the potential to be good takers in the future but not quite good enough yet, so that they can eventually replace my current takers when those retire.

Using those Routines before a match gives you a boost in matches. Supposedly. This was not the video I watched, but he finds the same for 24 year olds. Notice how the set piece attributes do not improve unless when they are specifically trained. Finally, the player Potential Ability dictates the maximum a player can grow to (it's hidden). I'm not certain but I think Free Kicks and Corners also have an "Ability" cost, thus the fact those are dropping releases space for other more important attributes to grow. Someone correct me if I'm wrong please.

Sorry, I meant it only affects players practicing set pieces. You said you have "quite a few players" dropping in those attributes, I assumed you were referring to players not actually taking set pieces. Is that not the case for the player in the picture? If you wish to increase those attributes, there's a couple of videos on the internet which tested the different "Additional Focus" and found Free Kick Taking and Corner Taking to be effective. I believe those attributes stop growing at a very early age (20 or whatever), and it requires specific focus for them to develop. I'll try to find the video.

Notice what the Routine actually says. The bit in pink: I noticed those drops myself but never anything so drastic. But I see it as a positive thing for anyone who isn't going to be a set piece taker. From videos I've seen online, using "Free Kick Taking" or "Corner Taking" additional focuses is effective. Regular set piece takers will not suffer such drastic drops in those attributes. I don't know if that's purely thanks to the Set Piece Routine in training or if actually taking set pieces in matches also helps.