retired_pschnapps13

There was a guy I went to school with (who now actually plays professional lower league football in Italy), who loved to hog the ball. He'd get the ball, dribble past the entire opposing team 3 times, before losing the ball. He had great flair (lots of flashy tricks, difficult to read; if he DID score it was generally quite spectacular), great technique (would pull off what he was trying to do, even in awkward situations, had the ball under control), but had no creativity (never played a great pass to a free team mate or saw where to move to create a shot on goal) and no team work (team? what team? I can do it alone). Instead of creating opportunities with the aid of his talent, he'd just run around the entire pitch on his own until he lost the ball - and 19 times out of 20 it led to nothing, often actually resulting in him losing the ball near his own penalty area after he'd been up and down the entire pitch a few times. So yes, without creativity, his flair, dribbling, technique etc. were actually detrimental to the team. Playing against him was actually quite easy, because you didn't need to take the ball off him, just herd him somewhere where he wasn't a danger to your goal.

There was another guy who was the complete opposite (and actually turned down the offer to play professional football at his parents' insistence). He'd always play the correct pass to the man in a better position - even if that player was far less gifted and unable to do as much with the ball. He could be very creative, splitting defences with great passes, and did so to great effect. But I remember one match, we were losing 4-0 (despite playing the opponents off the pitch). From the kick-off after the fourth goal, he took the ball, dribbled past the entire opposing team, and slammed the ball in the net. He then headed straight back to the centre and continued as if nothing had happened. No one was expecting him to do anything of the kind. So he could definitely also turn on the flair when he wanted to. But not only was he extremely technically gifted and stylish with it, he had an excellent footballing mind. Willing to try the unexpected, but good enough not to do so to the detriment of the team.

So flair CAN be a double-edged sword in the wrong hands. What makes Ronaldo or Ronaldinho so special is that there is generally an end product after the fancy footwork - i.e. it's an end to a means, rather than being purely a case of showing off.

retired_egebrecht

I believe 'flair' is also related to potential popularity with fans and higher flair players are more likely to fill up stadiums and perhaps generate more profit from merchandise.

retired_sweet

Now I think you're confusing Creativity with Decisions. Creativity is either only to do with passing, or it mostly is.

Creativity is about being able to see opportunities, and it doesn't require Flair.

Some players can be very creative without being Flair-type players, like the English midfielders kenichan described.

So, a player with high Creativity would see a lot of opportunities for good passes. His Decisions would determine if he made the right pass in the situation and his Passing (aided by Technique) would determine where the ball landed in relation to the receiver.

He could do all this consistently without a high Flair attribute.

If he did have a high Flair attribute, this player would be able to do all this, but it would also possibly be a one-touch volleyed through ball. A low Flair attribute would preclude this kind of extravagant play, and the player would be more orthodox in his passing.

And like you pointed out, Flair is most often connected to a player's Dribbling attribute - stepovers, 360 turns, Cruijff turns, elasticos, etc.

Well they're both situations where the player has used his vision aren't they?

FitnessDiva14

So, if I read this right your saying a midfielder could still be world class, even with very little flair, yet the manual says "A player with a lot of flair will be one of the key attacking components in any team" which sounds like its very important to me.

FitnessDiva14

I've just been on the editor and found that there are only 15 good midfielders (good = PA greater than 160, not including DMC's) who have a flair rating of between 1 and 10, so i'm thinking that flair is mighty important, rather than just extravegant play.

FitnessDiva14

and nearly 350 good Midfielders with a rating of between 11 and 20 for flair

retired_sweet

That's exactly what I'm saying.

You verified it yourself - there are 15 good midfielders (not including DMC's who are midfielders) in the database with a Flair attribute below 11.

Bear in mind that you'll be lucky to find a world class player with any mental attribute below 11.

Note also that for a world class player even a score of 13 is relatively low.

It is. I play a 4-3-3 with wingers and I find Flair is a key attribute for those 2 attacking midfielders and the striker. They all have high creative freedom.

But the DM and MC's can all do their job quite well without a high Flair score.

retired_sweet

At the top levels, where defences are very well organised, extravagant play (and the players capable of performing it) is mighty important.

This is why the best teams (including teams that win the major cup competitions of the world) all have a couple of guys capable of creating something out of nothing.

If England ever manages to develop one of these guys they might win another world cup one day.