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The order of player attributes changes depending on the game language. I'm used to the Norwegian player attributes order, but I will be playing with English language this year, but I find the player attributes to be kinda all over the place. I'm sure I could eventually get used to it, but it would be nice if we could: Click+hold, and drag player attributes vertically to change the order. I have wanted this for years, and I have previously tried to change from Norwegian game language to English, but I gave up after I couldn't get used to the English player attributes order. I also think that this feature would be easily implemented. If this gets implemented, I'm sure that it will feature in the full version of Football Manager, but as Touch user on PC, I would appreciate if this feature could also be implemented on Football Manager Touch for PC.

New Attributes: TECHNICAL Premise: the last FIFA I played was ‘98 (RtWC) but i think that they have now some attributes that FM should stole: Volley. it would depend from "tecnique", "agility", "balance" and "finishing" or "passing" Sliding tackle - standing tackle. That’s in particular can give defenders more variables and you, as a manager, can (e.g.) play with an higher defensive line also using slow defenders but with good sliding tackles (and good position of course) Skills. I starting love football thanks to some old tv program about Pelè. When WC94 arrived i just turned 10yo and in the final i, italian, supported the opposing team ‘cause there was Romario. Then in 1996 i saw Ronaldo in tv and it was amazing. All this premise to say that ‘skills’ and ‘flair’ are important part of football for me. This attribute would be not a stand-alone, but it will depends from ‘tecnique’, ‘flair’, ‘agility’ and ‘balance’. It would be both an aesthetic attributes (that some fan love and boosted merchandising, support etc... for some teams the show of a game has the same importance of results), both a way to distinguish player that can can thrash a man marking for example. Long Passes Short Passes First time passes - it would depends from 'tecnique' and short or long passes New Attributes: MENTAL Reactions/reflex: i think that should be an important attributes not only for the goalkeepers Awareness: how a player knows his own ability - that would be important to determinate his role in the team (e.g. if think to really deserve more app, or in the team meeting before a matches in response the possibility of victory etc..) New Attributes: PHYSICAL Explosion: it determines the explosion speed in the first few meters. Different from acceleration that is a) a speed-dependent parameter (e.g. how can we know who player is the faster in the first few meters between one with acc 20 and speed 10 and one with acc 10 and speed 20?) b) act in 20-30 meters

So, a week ago I was playing fm16 as Bharat FC (Indian National Football League). In my team, there was one thing I noticed most was that stats didn't really matter! For example- A ball playing defender with defend duty has stats like - Tackling-8, Marking-6 Anticipation-10 and other attributes even worse plays better than another defender with same role and duty and attributes like Tackling-11 Marking-13 Anticipation-15 and other attrubutes also better than the above. Similarly, in Forward, two deep lying forwards play together, one has stats like Finishing-4 Dribbling-5 Acceleration-11 Stamina-10 Pace-14 and the other has stats like Finishing-9 Dribbling-6 Acceleration-10 Pace-12 and former has scored around 30 goals this season whereas the latterhas scored just 8. Notice that in both the cases the age of the players are same

Hey! Aren’t there no longer available the players’ weight and height in ‘19? 😱 Thanks!

I just noticed similar with a goalkeeper coach (jani paananen) had in 19s in staff search hired him few weeks later checked my coaching and only 2 stars, so checked it out and now he only has 13s, can't fire him because he's just signed fortunately board request allowed another coach but for now I have wasted a valuable coaching spot. Posted this in the beta topic, I'm playing as Everton pretty much culled my staff and went recruiting when the above happened an well into game now so haven't got a save now. I know you can't fire hired staff, it's only the attribute change the bvugged me. Couldn't work out which bug forum to post this in, if this is wrong please feel free to move me.

Does anyone find the jumping reach of regens quite odd? One of my regens had a height of 183cm but a jumping reach of 7 while another had a height of 175 and jumping 12. Did that ever happened to you guys and is it possible to improve it drastically?

Hi everyone, I'd like to monitor history of attributes of changes of each player in the squad. For example, let say we have a 16 years old wonderkid. 10 years later, I'd like to see his previous profiles, i.e. when he is 18, 20, 22, 25 to make conclusion about player development. Maybe when he became 21, we would be able to make conclusion that "this player has not improved as much as I expected for 5 years" and change our minds. This will also let us to learn more about the player development process, how aging affects it, how the physical building affects it, etc. Cheers.

If I understood it well, the Leadership/Influence affects how that player will motivate the other players (having said "influences other players" or "leads the other players" would be redundant). And determination is how much that player will believe in the positive result, and how far would he go to achieve it, etc. So, if a player has Leadership 20, and Determination 1, will he pass his low determination on to the other players of the team? I mean, it would make perfect sense, that a player could be a highly charismatic demotivator, as there is such a thing, but I'm not sure if that's taken into account in the match engine. Thanks

Currently, we can see a player's stats (goals, assists etc) from previous seasons in their history page. I want to be able to see what a player's attributes were each previous season. For example, my 30 year old superstar who currently has great attributes... I want to be able to view in his player history what his attributes were at 25, 21, 17. I see this being of benefit in two ways: 1) helping with scouting... If I can see what attributes my current older star players had when they were younger, I can look out for young players with similar attributes in the transfer market. 2) player development... I want to be able to see exactly how my players are developing year on year. If I can see their current attributes and compare them to their attributes for the previous year, or 2 years ago or 5 years, whatever you may wish, then I can monitor and improve player development more closely and efficiently. Interested to hear any thoughts on this.

I have a few questions and I'd really appreciate if someone could answer them for me. Scouting Packages - why can I keep changing them multiple times a season? How does it make sense that I can select the expensive one, shortlist any players I want and then change to the cheaper one, before even being charged for it (my scouting budget doesn't change at all when I select a package)? Assignments - in previous FMs I would send my scouts on ongoing missions all around the world, but apparently that costs a lot of money now - I can't actually see the price of it anywhere though. I'm managing a club with low finances and I'm worried that if I do that, I'll end up being bankrupt without even noticing. I'd be way less worried if all scouting costs went directly from the scouting budget, but apparently it goes from your club balance, unless you're scouting players outside your scouting reach - makes zero sense to me. Scout attributes - what I used to care about in previous FMs, was that my scouts had good scouting knowledge. I didn't care about their JPA/JPP, because I had one or two ~20/20 scouts that I used for scouting players, the rest was just to build up my scouting knowledge. Apparently these attributes matter more now, apparently scouts with better JPA/JPP send more reports than the poor ones, is that true? Thanks!

Hi, I want to know if exists any panels for seeing the hidden attributes in the player profile. In FM16 there was some panels but now I cant find it. If anybody has created this panels for FM17, if someone explains to me how to do it, I will create the panels. Thanks and sorry, my English isnt very good

My intention with this topic is to show an obvious flaw regarding youngsters and their attributes. The ones who have 0 in the pre-game editor in particular. Part A-Youngsters and their "Decisions" attribute. I manage Olympiacos in Greece (FM17) and while comparing my U20s Team with other teams from my league, I noticed this: "Worst in Greek U20s Group 1"... "Why is the Decisions attribute so low" I asked myself. Ah, yes! It's because I edited all my players who had 0 in their attributes in the pre-game editor and gave them more reasonable stats. This is how they look now (which gave me the "Worst" result) and how they looked before any editing: And this is the mental comparison before any editing: But wait a minute. Does this mean that now I have to compete with a bunch of smart Einstein's? Let's have a look at the other teams and the "Decisions" attribute from their players (without any editing): In every FM version the same thing happens. The game gives unreasonable values for youth players with 0, and it especially gives a very high Decisions attribute for some reason. Part B-The not so reasonable distribution of attributes in youngsters. Let's compare some youngsters from my team who had 0 in all their attributes and my editing afterwards: (Image to the left=Before any editing, Image to the right=After editing) (Besides the editing in all their attributes, I increased the CA of some youngsters by 5 points (for example, CA60 became CA65) Now, a question for anyone who read this topic: If you had to choose between the "before" and "after" youngsters, who would you buy? Conclusion Why do you(people at SI) make me edit all those players every year? Why? Can't you add some attributes on your own? Yes, I know that there is no way you can know the current ability of those young players. Fine! Just create templates, I don't care. I don't care if you create "samey" saves. Besides, the vast majority of real life players at those ages (15y-18y) are the same. Only a 5% is what stands out and become great footballers. There is also this very good topic, which shows some very bad results regarding the "Important Matches" attribute for youngsters who have 0 in it. Please, do something.

Hi Was just wondering if I edit a player's attributes without editing his CA, would that mean that the edited attributes would (fast/slowly?) decrease to fit the CA? Because, afaik, the CA "overrides" the attributes, am I right? And if I edit a players CA (raising it) without editing the attributes, would that lead to a (fast/slow?) increase in the attributes, and if so, which ones? All? Those fit for his positions/roles?

training is FMs biggest weakness. Managers often refer to the quality of weekly training and how a player has performed. I also want to marry this up with attribute scoring. Why not make attributes much more fluid. Eg its possible (Spurs are my team btw) that Dele has a week where his shooting was 20 out of 20. Maybe play him up front that week. Later in the month it could drop to 10 when hes had a bad training week. Attributes then become an average based on a series of training sessions. Ie Unless dele is shooting at 20 out of 20 every week, actually his real score is more like 15. This will also help spot rising talent. Eg a 17 yo CB who suddenly hits a 19 out of 20 week on passing suggests you have a Beckenbauer on your hands. This will also make decisions for the big games more exciting. Do you pick the best player or the best trainer? I think this makes attributes much more realistic. Obviously your height will only change when growing up and your speed will always be pretty consistent. But the other metrics would be much more fluid in real life.

Right now you have the option to set 3 thresholds in the game (by default at 16, 11 and 6) so in the player profile screen there are 4 different colours dividing the attribute grading. I would like to have at least one more threshold to divide the attributes. That way I can divide the attributes in 1-9 (bad), 10-12 (average), 13-14 (good), 15-16 (very good) and 17-20 (exceptional) for example. As I said by default you have the some colour for 11-15, but for me 15 is way better than 11 so there should at least be one extra colour to number of attributes per group. Like to hear what others think

This was mentioned in the old "wishlist thread", but now there's a sub forum just for feature requests, I'd like to pick up this suggestion again, and hope to have a healthy discussion around it. As of now, the way we "measure" players in FM is by specific numeric values, i.e. "Pace - 17", "Strenght - 14", "Stamina - 12" and so on. Instead of quantifying the attributes in such a way, I'd suggest (it's been mentioned before, so I'm not taking credit for the suggestion as is) that the attributes are replaced by text, a report from the scouts/coaches, with real-life numeric values where applicable. This would mean that for instance, the physical attributes would be "replaced" as follows: Instead of "Pace - 17", you would have the players result on a 100m running test (or 200m fwiw), for "stamina", a 5.000m run, for "acceleration", a 40m dash, for "strength", a couple of weight-lifting results (or other applicable measuring instruments). Same for "jumping reach", a high jump test. The mental attributes would be "replaced" by a coach's (or scout's) report on the player, i.e. "tends to be very aggressive and brave, but shows great composure and concentration. His leadership skills are very poor, but he's got good vision and has a very high work rate, while being a team player." Likewise, the technical attributes could be combined by a textual report and test results, "Penalties" can be tested in practice (i.e. "has scored 20/20 in practice shoot outs for the past five weeks" or something, and could also be combined with other relevant attributes.), "dribbling" means running a test course on the field, with the ball, and getting a time score. Same goes for "technique", while "marking" and "heading" needs text reports. I don't have the exact solution for how to "replace" each and every one of the attributes, but I figure that once the discussion is on, suggestions are free to be made, and if - if - SI would someday find this interesting, I'm sure they could find even better ways to do it. Please, do notice that I've repeatedly written "replace" just like that, because, of course, the real attributes shouldn't be replaced in the database. All players in the database should keep their attributes as they are, what I'm after is to replace the "visual representation" of said attributes in the player profile screens within the game. I just feel that having Adebayo Akinfenwa's bench pressing results would seem more "real" than just listing his strength attribute (20, I'd presume, don't have his attributes available right here, right now), or Theo Walcott's 40m/100m sprint times instead of "acceleration 19" and "pace 17" (as of october 2020). Feel free to pick my suggestion apart if it deserves it, but constructive feedback would be appreciated. -M

Hi guys, i love playing FM especially when it's in the future (e.g. 7-10 years from original database) where the regens/newgens are beginning to take the football world, the reason i like this type of game is because i love developing those hideous looking kids into some WC players if they have the talents needed, or in this case, sufficient Potential Ability. But somehow until FM 17, the "template" (i don't know how to call it) used to generate all the random numbers so the regens have their related attributes when they're appearing on the youth intake day so they can be perceived on their natural position, well the "template" is kinda obsolete and does not represent/recreate the original database and (it's always been like this since past FM). Here are the problems i found that need to be addressed: 1. Lack of Natural Inside Forwards (well, "lack" is a bit understated, maybe "rare" is the correct term): 9 of 10 AMR/AML regens is a Classic Winger, the right footed on the right and vice versa with their Classic Winger stats as well (RUN, CROSS, RUN) so the chance that they can be retrained to the opposite flank is not so good because they can't shoot the ball, it's better to retrain some fast strikers to Inside Forward role, i mean, most of the teams in the world no longer/rarely use the Classic Winger on their attack, we all know 2 of the GOAT right now are Inside forwards and other WC players like Hazard, Neymar, Alexis, so please do update on this AMR/AML newgens because i feel a bit annoyed if i found a WC potential AML/AMR regens who's only good at crossing and running but ***** at direct penetrating. 2. Lack of Natural Wing Backs: Still related to No. 1, because of the Classic Winger role is considered as not-so modern role, the duty of winger to cross the ball from wide is now become the usual work of the full backs (on the Wing Back role in the game), so the IF will cuts inside, then the Fullback bombs forward to provide width and anticipate to cross the ball from out wide, the problem is the full back regens generated in the game are MOSTLY a Classic Full Back, most of them have ridiculously low attributes on dribbling, crossing, quickness because they are born to be classic full back who always stays at the back and try to clear the ball, and if somehow a FB regens who have potential to be WC player then it's absolutely disappointing since they'll eventually have only fairly decent attributes of a modern wing back and will never be a great attacking full back like Marcelo or Dani Alves. 3. Lack of Central Defenders who can pass: The central defenders are no longer an ultra defensive unit in the team, right now the central defenders considered as a first line in the build up play, but in the game, it's more of the same like issue number 2, most of the CD regens is a Classic CD who have very low attributes on passing, first touch, and even lower on technique, THAT is NOT how modern defender play, they need to be all-rounded, not just tall and strong. 4. Too many player who has great potential gonna choke on big games): This is the issue that make me realize that i have to play god by using FMRTE because of the Important Matches Attributes are frustratingly low on some great regens, and this is painfully disturbing because if you have some Messi-esque regen who regularly bang goals in the league but he'll never score or have low match rating when he is playing a derby or some final stages, i get it that not all player can handle pressure of a derby day, but come on, i've seen in the FMRTE that way too many players who have potential ability above 160 only have 5-7 important match attribute, and you should know that this attributes is fixed and won't improve. 5. Too many Inconsistent but somehow talented players. 6. All Regens only have 1 natural positions. Maybe you're thinking that i'm just don't understand the basic principle of statistics, the normal curve or stuff, but when i said too many, then it's true, that "too many" is another form of "It shouldn't be too many". And go find yourself about this issues, use FMRTE or Genie Scout, i know that i'm not alone in this because i've read the few same threads on the bugs forum but never got the proper attention. Heck, even there were a guy who do statistical research on that low important matches attributes and he compared the regen on his database with the original database and find out that the "template" needs to be revamped. And yeah, i know that Training in the game can change one or two things above, but it won't help much, i assure you that. So that's all what i've found, and i get it that not every player is the same, but i just want the regens to be accurately depicts the real-life modern football, and i believe that most of the FM players doesn't want to have a team full of great players but can only do 1990-ish playing style.

This is an excerpt from a guide I will be releasing in the future, which will be a giveaway to my loyal patreons who've supported me over the last few months. I do plan on dribbling this down on the forums too. Its just a massive 70 page guide. So bear with me. I find that most players have a good idea of the basics about tactic creation. Where most go wrong is surprisingly over squad building. Now this may even sound strange, but its true. Overachievement demands that you know what goes wrong in transitions, however most times people fail to recognise the failure point in transitions. They won't know why a player failed to make a challenge, or close down a flank, or even take a shot at goal. It's not an issue when you are managing one of the top sides in the world, because let's face it most of their attributes are already above average. Its when you go down the totem pole that the challenge increases. In the following excerpt. I talk about squad building and how important it is to identify key swing attributes in your team, even before we take a look at what I've termed in my book as Core Role Attributes, these are attributes central to the performance of a role and duty. SQUAD BUILDING So do you build a tactic around your squad or do you build a team around your system? You always need to make the latter your goal, and there is a basic reason why. When you build a tactic around the squad you have, you're always going to be in band-aid mode. This means that you're trying to shoe horn your players into a particular system. Its not ideal and you frequently need to make compromises. Regardless of budgetary constraints, you need to find a way to build a team into the kind of system you want to play. Many people have told me that they find this impossible in certain cases. They could have taken over a club and discovered that the board has given them no wage budget and worse still, every loan signing they've made is uselss. Let's face it most loan signings can be terminated, so you still have a window to make a number of changes. You could be left with no wage budget, but you should still be able to fit a side around a system. There are certain golden rules I follow to make things simple when I want to choose who plays for me: THE SWING ATTRIBUTES Bravery - Determination - Work Rate For me when all things are equal, these attributes are the swing factor. Sometimes these attributes are the very first I look at. For certain duties, these are absolutely vital. Bravery Without this attribute, a player won't go into a challenge, or dive into a header. They affect offensive and defensive situations. A 50-50 ball, becomes a certainty for the opposition AI. So, when it comes to support players, Bravery is a swing factor. If you have less than 8, you have no place in my side as a Support duty. And this duty is huge, because it affects you during transitions. You can't improve bravery, sometimes it may be ok for a striker to have low bravery, but in those tight matches where lunging into a cross is important, this attribute could swing the result the wrong way. So I never pick players with low bravery. This becomes especially true for LLM saves, low bravery means no squad number. And it gets really tough in LLM football, which means I trial the hell out of the world. Work Rate If you are looking for a team to give you lung bursting work, then high stamina and natural fitness are not enough, you need work rate. And a good dose of it. Nothing less than the league average. This attribute defines whether a player is capable of covering every blade of grass, twice. A player with stamina may do it, but a player with low work rate will never do it. Determination Are you fighting to the last minute for an equaliser? Are you urging on a support player to cover miles of grass? Do you want the player to work hard during a game when you are a goal down? Do you want players who are willing to fight for a point? Then you need determination. For me, this is the most important attribute for any team. It gets especially important for sides that are planning to over achieve. A player may have anticipation and positioning, but if he doesn't have the determination to get back in time, then transitions may fail due to his lack of desire. This makes it one of the most important swing attributes in the game. These 3 attributes together form the core requirements for any side that wishes to play with ANY kind of block. If you are looking for players to defend from the front, then the front liners need all these attributes. If you want your midfield to come back and work hard all the time then you need them to have it too. In fact, whenever I build my squad these are always the first 3 attributes I zoom into. Once you have isolated the players that fit the mold of the battling warrior, then you go and start shortlisting players. I always have a few rules for these too. Rule 1 More central midfielders are always better than more wingers. There are more systems that control midfield with central midfielders in the game than there are with wingers. You can also take central midfielders and play them as playmakers, defensive midfielders, box to box midfielders and sometimes even wingers. You usually can't do the same with wingers. Furthermore, most good wingers are low on technical skills like marking and tackling. Rule 2 More fullbacks are better than wingers. Full backs are one of the more versatile positions in the game, they can be retrained as wing backs and as wingers. And they can tackle. They are also incredibly versatlile positions in any system. Furthermore, if you can build a system with good full backs, then you can build really good attacking and controlling systems. Full backs give you incredible width and they can tackle. Rule 3 Always have at least one striker who has strength and good first touch. Having a striker who can hold up the ball, gives us options up front. If he has the Swing Attributes, then you also have a final third bully. Imagine having a "Diego Costa" bullying an opponents back line. These players can work well with pacey off-strikers and can bring others into play. Their ability to hold the ball up will give your sides time to build attacks. If they fail to hold up the ball, you will be a victim to quick transitions. It's very dangerous losing a ball in the final third transition off a player who is trying to hold up the ball and is unsuited to the role. Rule 4 Great mentals are important for central defenders Always try to get one defender or select one defender who has great positioning, marking anticipation and concentration. This defender will usually be the one racking up the interceptions. Eventually SI will rework how interceptions are calculated in the game, but for now, you need a defender who can read the game. If you have two fast defenders and neither can read the game, then you will usually end up praying they run faster, which is usually never a good thing. Now that we have sorted out some requirements lets start building the rest of the squad. Lets start with the core support players. In the book I have listed out them out as Destroyers, Supporters and Creators, or something along those lines. Essentially we want at least a few attributes that are core. The Swing attributes form the core for all of them. For the Destroyers you need to add acceleration, anticipation, tackling and concentration. For the Supporters you need to add teamwork, passing, tackling, first touch and decisions For the Creators you need to add, decisions, passing, crossing, first touch. For strikers it goes without saying they need finishing and composure. sWhen you have isolated these attributes you will notice one thing, there are a large number of systems your team can now play. 4411, 4312, 4231, 3421, 3412, 532, 352, 51221DM Wide, 4231, 4213DM, 41221 At this point, I am expecting some of you to say :"You don't have any wingers, so how can you play some of these systems?" The game is versatile, it allows you to play someone out of position. So long as they have the attributes for the job, it will get done. You can retrain him for the position, but you should never allow the player to dictate what you can and cannot do. You need to get creative with some of the roles in the game. Let's take one example: This happens to be on of my central midfielders, he has decent off the ball, and has average crossing and dribbling, but he has no acceleration to speak of. However his anticipation and tackling make him a good choice as a wide midfielder who can play on support. I can expect him to get up to support and drop deep to defend. Knowing he doesn't have great acceleration will mean I don't need to think of him as an attack duty, or I could give him the attack duty but tell him or the team to hit early crosses. This is how I think with every single player that I've identified as a support player. Now I look for those that can be played in multiple positions. If I can find a fullback who can play as a winger, then his tackling, positioning and workrate make him more valuable to me than a winger who can only cross and dribble. Now I have a player who can drop back to help the team out. The next step is to put them together into systems that allow me to morph from one tactic to another if I need to. I love playing LLM, and sometimes the only way to win, is to react to ingame events .If the AI is willing to go into a 424 to win matches, why should I stay on one tactic, shouldn't I be able to have the same sort of adaptability? Yes, but it all depends on how well your team can move from one role to another role. You need players who can be versatile, you can't have an entire second or third team on the bench, but you can certainly play a different system by changing a role and duty here or there. I can maintain the same level of risk, but change the profile of my attack. Now isn't that more powerful? Setting up a System Now that you have shortlisted your squad its time for you to think about the tactical system you will be using with them. Essentially whatever system you create has to control key zones on the pitch, which I will explain later as Zone 14 or the Golden zone. This immediately gives systems with a Defensive Midfieder and Attacking Midfielders an edge. This part is easy, right? I mean we go out we get ourselves enough players to be versatile. What's the next part? What kind of systems should I build? And this is where people stumble. When we go out and secure these players there is a reason why I chose so many midfielders. To do that I need you to understand a concept common in Germany and Austria called Juego de Posición. It basically boils down to telling your team to play football by controlling grids on a pitch. “Do you know how Barcelona win the ball back so quickly? It’s because they don’t have to run back more than 10 metres as they never pass the ball more than 10 metres.” – Johan Cruyff Football is about controlling space, and these are covered in numerous articles on the web as "Principles of Positional Play". There is also a little known theory about "half spaces" and how to control Zone 14, or what I like to call in FM as the Golden Zone. Zone 14/Golden Zone/Juego de Posición Whenever you create any system, it plays against another system. When you head out and play a game of football, its one tactical system against another tactical system. The goal is to breach the defences and score goals, and in the last 10 years, numereous studies have postulated the co-relation with controlling Zone 14 with a large number of assists. This can easily be applied in FM. A large number of goals come from assists created from within the Golden Zone. When we decide on the Swing Attributes we have basically decided which one of our players is going to be the frontline battling titan sent out to control areas of the pitch. So whatever system you create, when it comes down to transitions you don't want to see the AI happily camping in our Golden Zone. And, you want to be able to get into theirs. This can be done with many systems. Does this mean we need to set up shop and camp there? No it means we somehow need to drag the opposition around in that area so that we can free up one player to play a deadly pass to a goalscorer. And this is one of the reasons why I favour using an APM as a wide playmaker in a wide 41221, he's an instant magnet. So what kind of systems lend themselves naturally to creating control here? Immediately several pop to mind: 4231, 4312, 4132, 41221, 433Narrow, 3142, 442 Diamond What do these systems have in common? All of them have a DM or an AM in either zone. This doesn't mean that you automatically gain an advantage. It just means that you have the players and with the right attributes they stand a good chance of making something happen. As a manager its up to you to design a system which either drags them around creating space for your scorers, or if you are defending, herd the AI into cul-de-sacs where you win the 2nd ball or they turn over possession. The Swing Attributes I listed earlier make it easier for you to filter out those who can work hard to control the space. Anytime you see someone fail to, check those attributes first before you check on their technical abilities. Some of these tactics seem a bit odd, like the 442 Diamond and the 4312narrow, both of these play narrow. And it would appear that we are ceding control wide to have an advantage in the middle. Yes, we are ceding control, but remember eariler when I looked around for fighting midfielders with bravery, determination and work rate, why do you think they are in the team? To battle over every blade of grass in midfield to win the ball. Sometimes you will end up ceding control of specific areas to get this done. For example, a 442 narrow diamond would give up some measure of control of the flanks in order for the system to control the middle. Deciding what system you can use sometimes becomes the harder choice. Here I would recommend that you stay away from a 442. In the image above, these are the two zones that need to be controlled for the 442 to succeed. To exploit a 442 or any system we need to identify the weak areas of the system and take advantage of it. The 442 fails to control any zone effectively apart from the flanks, but controlling this area of the pitch also limits the kind of football you can play. Any attempt to play a more attacking role in the final third through the middle weakens your centre. So unless you have very good players, you would probably be better off playing a system like a 41221, 451, 4312 or even a 4231 Each one of these systems seeks to control some part of the pitch with more players. Now having already followed certain rules with player selections you would now have a squad with more central midfielders, this will give you more options to control the middle. Now we need to apply all this into specific games. And I have a match against Leicester coming up and they play a wicked 442. SETTING UP A SQUAD FOR A SPECIFIC GAME Most people start the game with a tactic in mind, they choose their starting 11, set up training and look forward to the first game of the season. Results usually end up working out for them, and then towards the middle of the season, things start to go pear-shaped. Fact is, you need to think about squad building throughout the season. You need to choose who to play for every game and every kind of opposition you face. Most times when you are one of the best teams in the game, it isn't much of an issue. In my long term save with Torino, they just happen to be one of the top 10 clubs in the world. In the Serie A, they are probably the best team. Setting them up becomes an afterthought, because there are probably only 2 teams there that pose a significant challenge. When you reach this stage, then squad building has been perfected. In order to get to that stage you need to go through several years of planning, and it begins when you are a small club punching above your weight. This is when you plan your squad around the matches you face. In the previous section I spoke about how you add players to your squad. I explained why I chose to prefer full backs and central midfielders above all else. There is a simple reason for this - it allows me to choose the right 11 for every match. And this is how I do things. I usually scout opposition teams study their strengths and set up to combat them. Here are a few examples: Playing against a 442 In the previous section I spoke about how you add players to your squad. I explained why I chose to prefer full backs and central midfielders above all else. There is a simple reason for this - it allows me to choose the right 11 for every match. And this is how I do things. I usually scout opposition teams study their strengths and set up to combat them. First I do my homework, with a bit of practice you should do this naturally but here I list out my thought processes if I were going to be playing against a 442. What I do is to develop what-if scenarios in my head. In matches I absolutely need to win, I do this diligently and I watch highlight reels of the AI's matches. Over time you should be able to work this into a habit and you will shorten this list. Ultimately you will be instinctive and won't be watching pkms anymore, instead you would have developed your own solutions embedded into multiple options you could use in the game. In the hands of a human manager, this tactic usually falls apart. In the hands of the AI, it ends up becoming a beast. A 442 has certain strengths, its balanced in all areas of the pitch without being too strong in any particular area. When playing against an AI 442, I study to find out how the attack patterns play out. I scour previous games, study the AI and if possible watch highlights of the AI matches. The goal here is to find out how they attack. If they attack with a double flank attack, ie both wingers attack with fullbacks coming in support. And, in the final third transition, the wingers cut inside and the fullbacks add width, then I need to work on breaking midfield transitions. Here isolation is the name of the game. You need to isolate their fullbacks from the midfielders and identify the playmaker in the system. If the tactic plays with a targetman/poacher combination, then it becomes even harder. If the targetman can hold up the ball in time for support to arrive, it usually means that we have ceded control of our final third. When I analyse the AI play, I look for clues.events that warn me about the AI's style, its these little things I look for before coming up with a plan on how to combat it. Once I've identified the clues, I start building a squad around combating it for my match. During the match itself, I will look for these clues again to see if I need to adapt Clue 1 When Full back enters opponent's final third their central players start entering dangerous positions Clue 2 When central midfielder on defend enters opponents half fullbacks give width in final third and wingers cut inside Clue 3 Midfielder on the ball is ice skating through the middle Clue 4 Midfielder on flank holding up the ball dragging players to him Clue 5 Midfielder on the right side of midfield is switching over to left side of midfield Clue 6 Where does the team win its 2nd ball, in the midfield consolidation phase, midfield penetration phase or does it prevent the opponent from entering midfield phase Clue 7 Who is the most influential link up player in the AI team? This may not neccessarily be the playmaker, it could even be the player who is almost always breaking up interceptions. Imagine Kante with Chelsea, he doesn't tackle much, but he is always around intercepting breaking up plays. Without him Hazard won't get the ball. Prevent Kante from interecepting and Hazard has to drop deeper. Clue 8 Set piece transitions - When defending a setpiece, do they defend with everyone? Do they have a fast counter? Who stays forward? Who stays near edge of box? Clue 9 When attacking set pieces, do they commit everyone? Do those who stay back have any particular weaknesses. Here we are looking out especially concentration, positioning, anticipation and acceleration. Now we need to apply all this into specific games, and that's the objective of the next chapter, how do we adapt to certain tactical systems and what do we look for in transitions. Believe me, there are huge clues in the game, and sometimes they come in quick succession.

I've found a good coach with CA-116 and PA-151. He is 49y old. Till what age should i expect his CA to improve? Is there an age limit?

Hi, i created two world class players. Their happiness shows fine (green). But their attributes keep dropping at constant rate and I keep seeing messages that player disrupts training session. Is that due to training? I setup an intense training workload. Followed the training mentioned here - https://vibe.community/forums/topic/38482-intensive-training-for-fmm17/ or is it due to tactics?. I bought in game editor as well. Every time I try to edit the player attributes, it keeps showing potential to international even though I set up to world class before due to decrease in attributes. Can anyone suggest what should I do ? I am using default 4-1-2-2-1 tactic with added counter attack and attacking mode. Would be great if anyone can suggest how to stop this.

The recent suggestion on player positions re-ignited my bug bear of the Mental stats, I think it's about time this group of attributes got sorted better and split into two groups: Tactical and Psychological Tactical attributes should be everything that relates to tactical thinking (game intelligence), such as the following: Anticipation Decisions Positioning Off the Ball Teamwork Vision Psychological attributes are the ones that affect the individual, such as: Aggression Bravery Composure Concentration Determination Flair Leadership Work Rate This would make more sense in football terms then lumping them together as they have been for ages. Sure there would be no changes required in the actual code, just how they are presented in the interface. Time for a bit of evolution.

I've recently tried to create tactics for spurs and liverpool which mirror their real life playstyle, and I began to notice something weird. For players like adam lallana and dele alli, in real life you often see them making frequent runs beyond the other attackers, however, i can't get them to do so frequently and I'm certain it's because of their high levels of teamwork. I'm sure because I've experimented with altering nothing else except their teamwork (lowering it) and the number of runs they make afterward as well as the aggressiveness of their runs is greatly increased. Question is, is this working as intended? Because I've always thought that higher teamwork should mean trying to adhere to manager's instructions as opposed to simply coming deep for the ball and wanting to be closer to it at all times. Which should follow that if i tell a player with high teamwork to get further forward, move into channels, AND he has gets into oppo. area ppm, he should be making these runs diligently every other minute for the good of the team (as you often see lallana and alli do irl). I was also wondering if the s.i researchers are aware that this is what high teamwork does, because i believe if they were, a few players would have lower teamwork in the database so that they can make more frequent runs mirroring their real life playstyle.

Hi, I am playing in the year 2032 at the moment and I noticed one small thing. Working with youngsters and Level of Discipline hasnt grown a bit. What do i need to do in order for them to grow? Whenever someone plays bad I issue a warning or fee them a week salary. If they train badly I talk to them warning them that they will not be in the squad if there is no improvement. Any ideas? Any tutorial?

I absolutley hate it when nearly all attributes of a player decrease. Is there something you can do against it in general? Or do you just have to wait until a player of yours get picked and then you have to enjoy the "nice feature"? 0,2 Points down is a lot, when you consider that nearly all of the attributes of a player gets affected. Two cases that are standing out: 1. Youth player, lot of potential, enough gametime, enough resting, loses 0,2 in many areas. When I warn him to increase his training level, he says he already does the maximum. Is he lying? 2. More Serious case: Boatengs Attribute values keep dropping for month now. Passing from 15,0 to 14,4; Stanima from 14,0 to 13,4; First Touch from 13,0 to 12,4, most other attributes down 0,2. I warned him three times now to increase his training level (first time was four month ago), each time he was okay with it and said that he will prove he deserves a chance in the first team. On the pitch I have no complaints about him. What can I do? Does high professionalism prevent such development?