Players to look for in next patch

[Weezer]

Anybody who smugly says form is temporary class is permanent obviously has never been unfortunate enough to support a team that Francis Jeffers has played for in the last 10 years.

[djvandyke]

Rooney and Jeffers have a lot in common to be fair.

[Canadian Red]

Yeah, so many clubs are after him that there wasn't a single bid made for him in the January transfer window.

Except - there were. Liverpool for sure did.

I'd like to see all the ones mentioned, plus Jay Spearing, Conor Coady, Chris Mavinga, Suso (especially Suso), Andre Wisdom and Toni Silva at Liverpool.

The "known" youngsters in the game never seem to pan out, at any club. A couple of years ago Fabio and Rafael were both kinda useless (having already looked the part before that season), same with a few of the Arsenal youngsters.

[martvez]

cheating club like Juventus.

Did you took some of Diego M's funny pills?Juve never cheated anyone,even Bergamo said that.We will be back to the top sooner or later,and then what are petty teams like yours going to do?Southern scum!

[matthiele]

if juve didnt do anything wrong why did they get kicked out of serie a?

[ndebergerac]

downrated:

neymar - the next denilson(should be labeled that in description)

What has Neymar done to deserve being downrated? Last I heard he is still considered the best attacking prospect in Brazil and very much part of the national teams plans. Not that I'm saying you're wrong, I've never seen him play, but from what I understand of the player, he deserves his "wonderkid" status.

In need of a boost.

Steven Naismith

Gareth Bale

Robert Snodgrass.

Decreased

Ronaldinho, time to give his technical and mental attributes a hit, it's not just his physical attributes that deserved downsizing.

[sneakysmeagle22]

A BLIP IN FORM?!

Then again, the English do think that the England national team is world-class.

And, yes, Torres should have lower attributes. He hasn't been the same player for a while now- AT LEAST since the World Cup.

Don't be too quick to assume that we're all English and living in England sir, we all know what assumption is the mother of...

My comment was not to defend Rooney to the end, it was to highlight that very often in the fm world a player can go from being god to cack and vice versa. Seem to remember Landon Donovan being upgraded through the roof when he played well for ever ton, Chelsea or Real Madrid always bought him, again, a knee-jerk reaction, and although I rate him as a player, this was obviously a little over the top in the boost stakes.

Sometimes players do need toning around, agreed, but for me and many in the professional game, Rooney IS world class and his stats should reflect it.

From an FM point of view though he should have personal problems in his major concerns box

In terms of looking at his goals ratio, notice a switch between berbatov and Rooney this year? It's almost like Fergie has swapped his player roles around is it not? Glad to know it's not just me that can tinker too much!

Anyone who's seen Rooney play recently will know he's nearing top form, but to judge him just on goals is missing the point IMO, his game wasn't about that until last year which unfortunately seems to have raised the bar and turned into a stick to beat him with.

My point is that if you drop rooneys stats then there are many more world cup strugglers who should be dropped (Drogba and Torres being the examples I used before) which I think is too quick a reaction...

Lastly, agree for calls to up eriksen at Ajax. After having watched Hugo Lloris a bit recently too, does anyone else think he's quite overrated in game?

[sneakysmeagle22]

What has Neymar done to deserve being downrated? Last I heard he is still considered the best attacking prospect in Brazil and very much part of the national teams plans. Not that I'm saying you're wrong, I've never seen him play, but from what I understand of the player, he deserves his "wonderkid" status.

A point backed up by the current south American youth championships where he is certainly looking awesome. Seem to remember some little tricky winger for Argentina taking the same competition by storm a few years back, don't know what happened to him though, last I heard he was playing for some rubbish Catalan based team

[charlo116]

Don't be too quick to assume that we're all English and living in England sir, we all know what assumption is the mother of...

My comment was not to defend Rooney to the end, it was to highlight that very often in the fm world a player can go from being god to cack and vice versa. Seem to remember Landon Donovan being upgraded through the roof when he played well for ever ton, Chelsea or Real Madrid always bought him, again, a knee-jerk reaction, and although I rate him as a player, this was obviously a little over the top in the boost stakes.

Sometimes players do need toning around, agreed, but for me and many in the professional game, Rooney IS world class and his stats should reflect it.

From an FM point of view though he should have personal problems in his major concerns box

In terms of looking at his goals ratio, notice a switch between berbatov and Rooney this year? It's almost like Fergie has swapped his player roles around is it not? Glad to know it's not just me that can tinker too much!

Anyone who's seen Rooney play recently will know he's nearing top form, but to judge him just on goals is missing the point IMO, his game wasn't about that until last year which unfortunately seems to have raised the bar and turned into a stick to beat him with.

My point is that if you drop rooneys stats then there are many more world cup strugglers who should be dropped (Drogba and Torres being the examples I used before) which I think is too quick a reaction...

Lastly, agree for calls to up eriksen at Ajax. After having watched Hugo Lloris a bit recently too, does anyone else think he's quite overrated in game?

So then why is it his game about that on fm? He's a godlike goalscorer and has been that way since at least fm 09. The same goes for Tevez, they're good players but they score more goals in fm than they're capable of irl. Maybe thats something to do with the ME though.

[ArranoBeltza]

Don't be too quick to assume that we're all English and living in England sir, we all know what assumption is the mother of...

My comment was not to defend Rooney to the end, it was to highlight that very often in the fm world a player can go from being god to cack and vice versa. Seem to remember Landon Donovan being upgraded through the roof when he played well for ever ton, Chelsea or Real Madrid always bought him, again, a knee-jerk reaction, and although I rate him as a player, this was obviously a little over the top in the boost stakes.

Rooney MAY be world-class, but he is not as good as the game reflects. He had one great season and a number of good ones, and has been good again this year. However, he's done nothing internationally.

I don't think Donovan is much overrated- I think the only reason he got such a boost after good performances is because, I hate to say this, the developers and researchers are largely based in England (as are most of the players of the game). In the States, Landon has been good in MLS for a while, but never did too great in Germany. I would say, though, that he's really come into his own the past 2-3 years and his performances for the LA Galaxy show that, with his national team form showing that even more and his form for Everton showing it a bit less. Landon is a bit of a late bloomer, though.

[gunners4eva]

Urko Vera (being a new signing for Athletic Bilbao) should get an upgrade, Athletic youngster Ekiza (who basically came out of nowhere and has been a solid central defender) should be decent in the next patch. Also on the Athletic side, I don't understand why Jon Aurtenetxe has his primary role as CB, because he mostly has played at LB- he could use a few attribute tweaks to reflect this.

Stuart Holden is also a bit underrated, though I wouldn't say greatly so.

English players generally don't need upgrades because they're pretty much all overrated, but it would be nice if Rooney's attributes were lowered.

Very true, especially about "Roonaldo", who just started scoring after about a year-long drought.

I think because of this it'll make sense to see most upgrades on players outside England, such as Zaragoza (soon to be joining Athletic Bilbao in June) playmaker Ander, and Chievo midfielder Kevin Constant (finally playing close to the level expected of him 3 years ago) .

The one English upgrade I won't argue with is Martin Kelly. As for Chamberlain it's too early. Theo Walcott was in a similar position a few years ago and see what happened.

[bigdanio]

Cheick tiote deserves a slight upgrade, he's been very consistent all season.

Definitely.

[bigdanio]

jack wilshere is already one of , if not THE top midfield prospect around... should get upgraded TOO much.

alex chamberlain i agree with... needs his CA and attributes upgraded quite a bit ... and his potential somewhat too.

josh is a little bit behind the likes of wilshere etc in terms of development but his potential should definately be high

looking forward to seeing the likes of cristian erikson, coutinho (inter) and realllyyy wanna see jordan henderson upgraded... the lads special

Wilshere NEVER makes it to be an England regular on my game and never plays at a big club. On my current save he has no full caps and has been playing for Fenerbache for 10 years.

[bigdanio]

Josh McEachran definitely needs a better starting CA, he's good fitting potential but it's a massive leap for him to reach it.

Maybe Cavani a little one, already top class but he's destroying the Serie A at the moment.

Correctly so. How many games has McEachren STARTED?

[milnerpoint]

Wilshere NEVER makes it to be an England regular on my game and never plays at a big club. On my current save he has no full caps and has been playing for Fenerbache for 10 years.

in one of my games he plays for barca and has 31 caps at 25.

[Jaetinh]

Pablo Sarabia - Real Madrid Castilla

Àlvaro Morata - Real Madrid Castilla

Àlex Fernández - Real Madrid Castilla

Daniel Carvajal - Real Madrid Castilla (he's not even in the game :\)

[bigdanio]

in one of my games he plays for barca and has 31 caps at 25.

I always find the problem is Arsenal. He rots in their reserves until hes 22/23 and then the development period is all but gone. He doesn't hit stats above 14/15s on my game. I have even managed him and he turns out good performances, but low ratings and value stays around £3m mark - even in a CL winning side.

Same problem for Ramsey. They need some sort of an increase to get the AI to play them for Arsenal so their careers don't stall.

I would love to see him at Barca, raking up the caps.

[DB11]

Players shouldn't be upgraded simply because they've been on form this season.

[milnerpoint]

I always find the problem is Arsenal. He rots in their reserves until hes 22/23 and then the development period is all but gone. He doesn't hit stats above 14/15s on my game. I have even managed him and he turns out good performances, but low ratings and value stays around £3m mark - even in a CL winning side.

Same problem for Ramsey. They need some sort of an increase to get the AI to play them for Arsenal so their careers don't stall.

I would love to see him at Barca, raking up the caps.

it was probably my doing, i signed him for a lot early in the game and developed him and sold him for £15m after a few seasons, i had a home grown regen i wanted to play and barca picked him up, you are right tho i have seen him rot for a few seasons before leaving for a smaller club, Ramsey tho in my games seems to get first team football after a season or so and him and Fabregas seem to be the midfield generals for Arsenal. I have found the AI teams are not good for developing youngsters sometimes, in the same game Inter signed an amazing young brazilian, he chose them over me and didnt play him for 3 seasons, such a waste.

[wally13]

Players shouldn't be upgraded simply because they've been on form this season.

I dont they are some players may get a slight increase but most are left till summer

[Cas46]

I don't understand the calls to reduce Rooney, which ones of his attributes are unrealistic? Lets not forget he is the joint 3rd best assistant in the PL this season despite only featuring in 16 games, and I'm fairly sure none of them come from corners/FKs, I don't see anyone on here advocating that he be turned into a creative genius. In total he has either created or scored 14 in those 16 games, not too shabby I would say.

[Richie_Magpies]

Rafael and Fabio.

[Ventricity]

rooney isn't that fast in real life, he is not as technical either. both stats should be lowered to 14-15. he is just too good in game atm. i also feel lampard and gerrard is overrated always on fm. macherano is probably the most overrated player in the history of fm. others who need downgrading are aguero, kaka, arshavin, vela, ashley cole, torres, mikel, essien and ribery.

if a player doesn't perform over a period of a year in rl, then it would be stupid that he should continue to be world class in game. it may be a poor run of form, but the game should reflect them right here and now or it doesnt feel real. i don't mean they should be reduced to average, but they rarely drop anything at all.

[milnerpoint]

rooney isn't that fast in real life, he is not as technical either. both stats should be lowered to 14-15. he is just too good in game atm. i also feel lampard and gerrard is overrated always on fm. macherano is probably the most overrated player in the history of fm. others who need downgrading are aguero, kaka, arshavin, vela, ashley cole, torres, mikel, essien and ribery.

if a player doesn't perform over a period of a year in rl, then it would be stupid that he should continue to be world class in game. it may be a poor run of form, but the game should reflect them right here and now or it doesnt feel real. i don't mean they should be reduced to average, but they rarely drop anything at all.

but thats like saying ability is a direct effect of form which is not true at all. Kaka has been injured for the past 9 months so how can you make a decision on him? Aguero is one of the most sought after players in the world, Torres just moved for a british transfer record fee because he is that good when on form, Essien is the lynch pin of chelsea's midfield and one of the best central midfielders in the world and Ribery has had serious personal problems recently which have affected his form you cannot reduce stats purely on a half seasons form. Macherano is only really good mentally, technically he is nothing special in the game but for liverpool last season he was fantastic easily one of the top 5 midfielders playing in the EPL.

[Pozzati]

Iturbe. Been immense at the u20 World Cup. Already almost at the same level as Neymar and we know how he's like on FM... And of course Leandro Greco. Ingame he's not even good enough for the worst Serie B teams. Don't think he's even good enough at Serie C level. IRL he's probably a decent Serie A player.

[FM1000]

rooney isn't that fast in real life, he is not as technical either. both stats should be lowered to 14-15. he is just too good in game atm. i also feel lampard and gerrard is overrated always on fm. macherano is probably the most overrated player in the history of fm. others who need downgrading are aguero, kaka, arshavin, vela, ashley cole, torres, mikel, essien and ribery.

if a player doesn't perform over a period of a year in rl, then it would be stupid that he should continue to be world class in game. it may be a poor run of form, but the game should reflect them right here and now or it doesnt feel real. i don't mean they should be reduced to average, but they rarely drop anything at all.

And why Kaka needs to be nerfed? He just come back from injury and has been playing good, he's stats are already low for a world class player.

[wally13]

Shefki Kuqi

[Orange Juice]

Mario Gotze.

[animal]

every player are kilmarnock......

[Preveza]

Clayton Donaldson from Crewe.

Sebastien Leto maybe a tad with his CA

[MattyBRFC]

Pedersen's corners and freekicks should be better in my opinion... Morten Gamst that is

[ndebergerac]

A point backed up by the current south American youth championships where he is certainly looking awesome. Seem to remember some little tricky winger for Argentina taking the same competition by storm a few years back, don't know what happened to him though, last I heard he was playing for some rubbish Catalan based team

Not to mention his goal every 2 games at Santos (and Brazil, lol). Maybe the Brazilian League isn't as strong as many of its European counterparts, but that's pretty impressive for a teenager.

[Ventricity]

if you can't reduce player's stats on behalf of their last season's form, then there should be a form button to reduce. if a player has not played good the last 6 moths, it is stupid that in game he is performing world class then. if he then were to recover his world class form in real life, then improve him on fm. fm gets updated twice a year, which is a good reason to take action on recent form. the whole point of fm is to reflect the players performance in real life, and when rooney hardly scores for man utd but keep scoring like a monster in fm, then to me it is not realistic and it is easy to do something about it when fm is being updated so often.

[bigdanio]

Bale needs a massive reputation boost - particularly worldwide.

£6m face value for this lad is so unrealistic.

[ndebergerac]

Bale needs a massive reputation boost - particularly worldwide.

£6m face value for this lad is so unrealistic.

Absolutely, his "value" should be at least doubled based on form and reputation increase. That said, it should probably wait until FM 2012.

[Prongsie92]

I'm personally hoping that David Norris gets a bump in his attacking stats (although most likely at the expense of Wickham).

[milnerpoint]

if you can't reduce player's stats on behalf of their last season's form, then there should be a form button to reduce. if a player has not played good the last 6 moths, it is stupid that in game he is performing world class then. if he then were to recover his world class form in real life, then improve him on fm. fm gets updated twice a year, which is a good reason to take action on recent form. the whole point of fm is to reflect the players performance in real life, and when rooney hardly scores for man utd but keep scoring like a monster in fm, then to me it is not realistic and it is easy to do something about it when fm is being updated so often.

the stats ARE based on last seasons performances, hence why Rooney has really good stats, he had a magnificent season last year, there is no possible way to predict future form. Last season he scored for fun up until he got injured so his stats reflect that. If his does not keep up his recent good form i would expect he would be reduced slightly for FM12, however recent weeks he has been back to playing very well so i wouldnt hold my breath. SI cannot be expected to update player attributes every 2/3 months purely on form alone i think season by season with slight tweaks half way through is the best way to go about it.

[ubos]

if you can't reduce player's stats on behalf of their last season's form, then there should be a form button to reduce. if a player has not played good the last 6 moths, it is stupid that in game he is performing world class then. if he then were to recover his world class form in real life, then improve him on fm. fm gets updated twice a year, which is a good reason to take action on recent form. the whole point of fm is to reflect the players performance in real life, and when rooney hardly scores for man utd but keep scoring like a monster in fm, then to me it is not realistic and it is easy to do something about it when fm is being updated so often.

And so if a player does badly from November to January, his attributes should be dropped for the 3rd patch, to reflect his loss of form? You forget that there are only 3 patches for FM, and once the 3rd patch is rolled out and done and dusted, there's no more changes to that edition of FM. Knee-jerk reactions to raise, and especially drop, a player's attributes or CA would permanently restrict his ability in FM, while his form IRL might just pick up again. Therefore, the researcher (rightly) looks at the quality of the player, and if he persistently underperforms for a number of seasons, then it's time to really take a look at a more severe downgrade. If not, it's fine as he is.

Ventricity listed names like Ashley Cole, Mikel, Essien. Yea lets just take into account their form in the last 3 months and hence downgrade them! We should ignore the fact that Ashley Cole has been a superb left back for the majority of his career and had a sterling season where Chelsea won the double fairly recently! Yea Mikel and Essien started the season brilliantly, but they didn't play so well in the last 3 months, lets drop their abilities! Of course we should! I mean, after all, only the last 3 months count right?

[b13v3r]

Matri is vastly overrated IRL - and just because he has been signed by Juventus (a mid-table to Europa league side this season) doesnt make him a super star.

His selection for Italy was not boosted by performances but only by the fact that he now plays for Juventus. Italy and its politics will never change. If Matri would have stayed for Cagliari or moved to a southern club, he would never get picked for Italy.

125 appearances and 36 goals (at Cagliari) is a mediocre return for a striker who is nearly 27 years old and will probably only have another 3-4 seasons left in his legs.

I am sorry but Matri is what he is, a mediocre striker who was the focal point of a mediocre team (and never netted over 13 goals in his career) and nothing will change at Juventus.

The Juventus scouts and Italian National team selection scouts all need some "revision" while I think Matri is just fine and doesn't need a boost in FM.

The last thing we need is Matri to be boosted so that he actually scores like Cavani, Di Natale and funnily 35 year old Di Vaio... (another mediocre player playing for a mediocre side, but is the focal point so he scores a lot of goals.)

I just know that if Cavani were to be playing at any other "top club" there would be endless talk of how great he was and how he required a boost, especially if he were to be (god forbid) playing for a cheating club like Juventus.

WHAT THE Fu#K? you don't know lot of footy, I guess... Matri is a beast!!! he s very great in real life.

In fm, hes not even a first team player in my game... He s rated unfair by italian researcher. some spotted this earlier this season. now, with his juve transfer and a lot of goals later, he meyby get a boost...

hes

[jamesb123]

Dale Jennings should be given a bit of a boost.

And if he isn't then I'll have to do it myself.

[FM_Benfica]

Eduardo Salvio and Roberto Jimenez

[Sikker]

looking forward to seeing the likes of cristian erikson

It's Christian Eriksen, thank you. He is Danish not Swedish And according to the English newspapers after the Denmark - England match Eriksen have equal to or even higher potential than Wilshere.

Also Frederik Sørensen from Juventus should get a boost. He has already played several 1st team matches from start and done well.

[gunners4eva]

"Form is temporary, class is permanent", as they say. One (calendar) year is not a temporary phase, that's about a season and a half. If a player has not performed for a year (unless he has been injured for a lengthy period like a year, mental issues, or any other well-publicised issue that would affect his play, infidelity not included) then he is not as good as previously thought. Rooney, Ronaldinho, Lampard, Amauri, I'm looking at you.

Eriksen for sure seems to have a bright future. Edinson Cavani is on a tear and should be upgraded. Palermo must be kicking themselves for selling him.

That being said, ability judgments in football are a bit subjective, as it is not as stats-heavy as some other sports are. It's easier to tell the sh--e players than the world-class ones. Everyone can think of a once-hyped player that's either in the lower leagues, on the bench somewhere or even out of the game altogether for reasons that do not include injury or personal problems.

[OohAhhCantona]

I'm not saying that Rooney needs to be made into a bum but he should not be one of the best strikers in the world. Rate him based on his career as a whole which is still a very very good player but not world class.

Just asking but didn't you ever see him played down the left?....I mean he has played everywhere up front for united so... you seem to not know what you are talking about when you put striker and career in the same sentence as he has played everywhere up front for united and when Ronaldo was gone last year he had his best season since joining the club and handled being the main man pretty darn well...pretty darn well as he had 40 goals in 50 games and 7 assists to boot he should be wearing the #7

[Adam.S]

Adel Taarabt.

[milnerpoint]

well for an average player struggling, that was a pretty special goal today.

[neushoorn70]

really believe stekelenburg still needs to be improved and sergio romero needs to be downgraded, stekelenburg is probably the best keeper in the eredivisie and much better than romero

[mm007]

what about Christian Eriksen from Ajax? I do hope he gets an upgrade in PA at least!!

[charlo116]

Just asking but didn't you ever see him played down the left?....I mean he has played everywhere up front for united so... you seem to not know what you are talking about when you put striker and career in the same sentence as he has played everywhere up front for united and when Ronaldo was gone last year he had his best season since joining the club and handled being the main man pretty darn well...pretty darn well as he had 40 goals in 50 games and 7 assists to boot he should be wearing the #7

You don't seem to realise it was 34 goals, which is a good record but in general he hasn't beenone of the top scorers in the world. He is a good player and deserves to be rated well atm in fm but for fm 12 he should be altered so that he isn't consistently one of the very best goalscorers in the world. He has never done that consistently and if he can prove he can do it in the future then he can be reated that way in fm but tbh he needs to be made more realistic so his goal tallies don't border on the freakish.

[Rubentus_Juventus]

Fredrik sorenson