Cleon

I thought we'd have a decent discussion about the player stats and see if people agree/disagree with what I think each one does. Remember this is my own opinions and views.

GOALKEEPING ATTRIBUTES

Aerial Ability: - This is a must for any half decent keeper because its how good he is in the air. This is used for any high balls (shots or crosses.) It measures how the keeper judges where to jump to get the ball.

Command of area: - This is a bit like a presence and determines what sort of goalkeeper he is. Will he be one who stays on his line and wont challenge for crosses? If he as a low stat for this, then he tends to not come for crosses. So basically its a tendency for the GK to come for crosses.

Communication: - This makes the defense play better, as a unit if the keeper as a high attribute for this stat. It's his way of organising the defence and getting his orders across to them.

Eccentricity: - I hate goalkeepers with a high attribute for this, due to it can make him do something silly and cost you a game.

Handling: - This is probably the most important goalkeeper stat there is. The higher the attribute the more chance of him holding onto the ball more often and not dropping infront of an oppositions player.

Kicking: - Fairly simple this one, Its how far the can kick the ball. How accurate the ball is, is down to passing and technique attributes.

One On Ones: - How good the keeper is in One on One situations. He attempts to make himself big and try and narrow the oppositions angles.

Reflexes: - This determines how good a keeper is at closed ranged shots where he might not have time to think and just reacts. Other factors influence this stat too like agility.

Rushing Out: - If a long ball is played over your defence and is going towards the keeper, if he as a high attribute for this then he might rush out. Like most attributes things like acceleration also come into play.

Tendency To Punch: - Another straight forward attribute. If this attribute is high then he will punch more often than he catches the ball.

Throwing: - The ability for the goalkeeper to throw the ball.

Cleon

MENTAL ATTRIBUTES

Agression: - How incisive the player is in his tackles. An aggressive player will try more tackles and will mark more closely. A player with low aggression will play further back, will be more selective with his tackles, etc. The down side of a high attribute for this is he could pick up a few extra bookings, or even a red card. So be sure to check other attributes like tackling and decisions.

Anticipation: - This attribute only works when the player does not have the ball. It's how good he reads the other teams play and your own teams play. It's basically his reading of a player and what they are likely to anticpate next, be it attacking or defensive. Wether he makes it or not is down to things like determination, teamwork and workrate.

Bravery: - If the player has high Work Rate and Bravery then you got yourself a soldier. It determines if a player will go for 50/50 tackles. The higher the attribute the more likely it is.

Composure: - How calm a player can stay when in a tense situation. It affect both defensive and attacking minded players. Strikers to keep cool while trying to score that all important goal, defenders while trying to take the ball of a skillful atacker.


Concentration: - How focused a player can stay for 90 minutes or beyond if needed. If a player as a low attribute for this, then it's common for him to switch off from time to time. This is why we see defenders do so many mistakes at times, due to them not paying enough attention.

Creativity: - It's about seeing options, not executing them. A player with a high attribute for this might see a certain pass another player doesn't. It's not an attribute that determines if it's the right option or not, thats down to decisions. So basically this attribute is just someones vision of the game.

Decisions: - The higher the stat the more chance of a player doing the right thing i.e instead of shooting maybe he passes to someone better placed than himself. Again though other attributes need to be taken into consideration.

Determination: - This attribute also works off the pitch and can help with injuured players when trying to get them to recover and match fit. A determined player will also train harder as well as go that extra mile in a game. The higher the attribute, the less chance of him giving up.

Flair: - A player with high Flair will try the improbable more often, but - and thats a big but - this does not mean he will succeed. He needs to have high decisions in order to make it work and also some good ability in what he is trying to make. For example: A striker with high Flair needs to have high decisions AND high finishing attributes. I my opinion, a high flair in a player with low decisions is a bad thing.

Influence: - The higher the attribute for this the more of a leader they are. All good capatins needs this.

Off The Ball: - How well the player positions himself. Basically it's his movement when he doesn't have the ball.

Positioning: - How well the player positions himself. A higher attributes means he is more likely to be in a better position to recieve the ball or for any interceptions you might make.

Teamwork: - A high attribute for this means he will be less selfish, meaning he plays for the team and won't be greedy.

Workrate: - It's how hard the player will work. The higher the attribute the more likely he is to give 100%

Cleon

PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES

Accelration: - How fast a player can reach speed from a still position.

Agility: - The ability to turn his body fast and make quick movements.

Balance: - If a player is challenged for the ball, does he stay on his feet or go to ground. Or maybe he is challenging for the ball. That's what this attribute does.

Jumping: - This is how high the player can get his top of the head. It's not a attribute that makes him jump more. It's just how high he can jump

Natural Fitness: - Its about how fast he recoveres from injuries or little knocks.

Pace: - A players maximum speed

Stamina: - It determines how long a player can last. A player with low stamina is more likely to become tired in wet conditions than someone with a higher stamina attribute.

Strength: - The overall physical strength of the player

NOTE - I found this old quote from Marc Vaughan about jumping;

Cleon

I might do one for the sliders next, if I can find the time.

Brend

I think you're spot on for most of the attributes, but I do have a few points to make.

I'm not sure that it follows that Aggression has a relationship with tighter marking. I can't help but think that the Marking, Positioning, and Decisions attributes would contribute more than aggression would (individual or team settings for closing down and tight marking not withstanding) for tighter marking.

You might want to consider Composure for goaltenders, as well. I consider it a crucial stat, because single digit composure on an otherwise world-class keeper will lead to some disasterous outings. I have the best regen GK in the world in my Sheff Wed game, and he's about on par with a Cech or Buffon sort for his attributes, except for composure. As a result, if he lets in an early goal, I know the match is as good as over, because he'll let in at least three goals, even if my defenders don't make any sort of mistakes. He's also got high scores (18+) for Consistency and Important Matches, but in general, because of his tendency to allow multiple goals, he's inferior to my backup keeper, who has 17 for composure but who is inferior in basically every goaltending attribute as well as positioning.

I also seem to remember hearing back in FM05 days that it also determines how quickly a player regains his fitness between matches (a player with 20 natural fitness will get closer to 100% fitness than a player with 5 natural fitness, if they were at 80% at the end of the preceeding game, for example), which is a big deal during the congested December and January schedules in the English Premiership, for example.

Cleon

Yeah thats true, but agression still plays a part too I feel. Someone with a high agression stats seems to hound the player more, hence why I mentioned marked more closly.

Aye composure is really important for keepers as well.

Agan also true, it does help immensly inbetween games.

Hawshiels

Composure is a key attribute for defenders. I saw some debate about this on another thread, but if a player does not have high composure, they are also more likely to:

- score an own goal
- kick the ball out for a corner when the sensible thing to do was to pass to another player or put the ball out for a throw
- cause penalties

Most people on the thread I looked at believed that this was a striking attribute only, but as you have said (and as is clearly stated in the manual), it is a key defender attribute and one that is difficult to train - so its worth trying to find young players with a high enough natural ability in this.

Brend

I wonder if Dirtiness could have any link to this. I could see a dirtier player doing one of two, very different things-- either marking more closely and giving the other player a little bit of roughness; or marking a little farther away, so that he's got an extra step and can really accelerate into the challenge to crunch the other guy with a hard tackle. Thoughts?

Cleon

I think dirtyness is just things like 2 foot tackles, keeping a leg in, tripping up etc. So basically he plays to hurt.

Law_Man

Could a dirty player also be more prone to other more general rule violations such as diving, handling the ball, abuse etc?