If you register for free, you will be able to post threads, vote on polls and lots more. If you have problems with the registration or logging in, please contact the administrator.
My point of discussion is the idea of a fixed PA. In FM, a players PA is fixed when he appears in the game. I think the PA should be able to change.
I'm going to use Nicky Shorey as an example, in real life he started off life at Leyton Orient before moving to Reading. He was a 'Championship' quality left back for many years before moving to the Premiership. He played for England last year so it could be argued he is 'international' or 'Premiership' quality.
What I'm trying to say is that when Reading were in the Championship, Steve Coppell and Nicky himself probably thought he was good enough for the Championship, not much more (my opinion), however he has taken great strides and proven he is a good player and played for England. Something I bet was beyond is wildest dreams.
Going back to FM, in 07 his PA is 154. That's reasonable for a average Premiership left back. In FM08 his PA is 162, the PA has gone up because he has shown in RL, he's a good player.
Therefore PA has gone up, which is something I would like to happen in FM. For example, in my game a player called Rosario Tortara (regen) was the best player in the world for a few years, had a PA of 170, his CA was 170. Surely he has shown that he is best player in the world, that merits a rise in PA. There are players on 180+, yet they can't buy a goal. Obviously there are other factors to take into account.
But what I'm trying to say is that when a player is playing at his maximum PA, surely if he is scoring 50 goals a season for 4 years in the Premiership and his PA is 170, it should go up.
Maybe I'm just chatting a load of rubbish, but I would appreciate what other people thought about the fixed PA.
Great post, I actually agree. It'd be great for a Lower League team especially, like as you said, their PA can go up thus it will make it easier to get up each tier of the league structure.
Whats the big deal with PA anyway? Its not as big an issue as its made out to be. What you say is I suppose right and maybe it could be incorporated in the game somehow. But I dont see it as a big issue. Some players with low PA are still better than others with much higher PA. Take for example, Rhys Murphy. He's not got a very high PA (not sure, but its less than 160) but he's an excellent striker. Why he's an excellent striker is because he develops in just the right areas. I just looked it up in FMM and it says his PA is 158 and CA is 132. So he's still got a lot of development in him. And as of now, his stats read:
Finishing: 17
First touch: 17
Heading: 14
Long shots: 12
Passing: 13
Technique: 13
Composure: 16
Off the ball: 16
Jumping: 14
Pace: 14
Stamina: 15
Strength: 17
These are I suppose the main areas where you'd want your striker to develop and be good at (depending on whether hes a TM or FS). And Rhys is only 17 years old. Fair to say that most of those stats are going to go up and he'll be world class very soon imo. And thats with a lowish PA.
It just depends on how you set up their training schedules and what areas you help them develop and how much exposure you give them etc. A very high PA just means that he's going to start developing in areas which I dont really care about (say FK's and Corners?) and for which I have other players. It'd be the same with Shorey. If you give him the right training schedule, he'll become a great LB. So its not really that big a deal.
Further, I think in the game as you train a player on one position more and more, he loses some of his ability in the other areas where you dont make him concentrate much (I'm not sure about this but I think it works that way from what I've noticed). For eg, if you want Shorey's defensive stats to go up, you could put him on intensive defence training and drop his set piece training (in which he's decent), even if he's maxed out his PA, his defensive stats will go up as the cost of his set piece stats dropping. I think thats fair enough tbh. You become better at what you train more on. Exactly what would happen irl.
And also, how would you compensate for players like Fabregas, Ronaldo etc who have PA's of 195? I mean these guys are world class and play well all the time. They'll put in great performances all the time so how would you explain their stats going up? If it kept happening, there'd come a time when you have lots of "perfect" players in the game with almost every area maxed out!! That wouldnt be right now would it?
Fabregas and Ronaldo have a PA of 190 and probably a CA near to that. They're world class and produce the goods.
But what I'm saying is that a player of CA 150 or 160 can outdo a player of CA of 180 or 190. I've seen it many times. Then you ask yourself, whats the point looking at his CA and PA.
For example i had a regen striker with CA of 190 and PA of 190. He didn't do anything for me, I gave him couple of years, tried different things, didn't work. My 170 CA guy was still scoring for fun.
How do you explain that? There are reasons for one players failure and success, the manager, style of play, language, country etc. But the 190 player Danny Weerman was Dutch, been in England since 18, settled and had all the right attributes. Didn't do anything. My 170 man, Tortora had a PA of 170.
So who's the better player? Who would you buy?
In terms of player history, Tortora wins buy a mile. But if you checked their PA and CA, Weerman comes out on top (after I sold him, didn't do much either for Real Madrid)
I'm not saying 190 CA players don't perform, they do, most of the time they're the best players in the world. But if players like Tortora are performing better than most, consistently with a 170 CA, they must inherit an increase in PA.
The current PA system is fine, most players have a ceiling where they can only get so good. For every Steve Finnan or Nicky Shorey who have cemented their place in the Premiership there are 500 players who will never ever make it above the level they're current playing. Most players in the Championship who have the ability to play in the Premier League for the majority of their careers will get signed by a big club or have an accurate PA anyway.
Can't go changing the whole game for every exceptional thing that can happen in football.
Well of course it's not as simple as CA and PA telling you how good a player is in his position. If one number told you how good a player is then FM would be a lot more boring than having to pick the right players based on a whole array of different stats.
Look at Thierry Henry. Is he the best player in the world at Barcelona? No. But he was close to it at Arsenal. Different ways of playing, but all of the stats Thierry Henry has are the same.. but performances are wildly different. The same applies to his performances for France when he was still at Arsenal. He's no worse a finisher or a passer or lost his first touch or pace or anything like that by moving to Spain. Other thing are affecting it that wouldn't have anything to do with PA or CA. So in that respect FM is even more realistic and not flawed at all.
Current Ability and Potential Ability 
Linear Mode
