Players
Players are the main asset of your club. They will bring you victories and increase club's popularity.
There are thousands of different players to pick from in the game, from specialists to all-rounders.
Selecting the right one for your team is your main job. Use your scouts to get 2 key information: traits and performance.
In terms of their quality, players are primarly defined with 16 skills and up to 4 traits. Read their explanations in the skills and traits section.
In addition, there are numerous other modifiers and attributes explained here that you should know.
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Position. Each player has a primary position in which he plays the best which is written next to his name on the player's info screen.
He can have numerous other positions where he is competent as indicated on the field view on that same screen with an empty circle.
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Age.
Young players are attractive as they have their whole careers ahead of them.
A youngster with high potential can potentially turn into a star in several seasons.
But they are inexperienced and prone to making more fouls and errors in a match. Errors that could cost you dearly.
Youngsters could easily have a great season and fall down the next one.
Older players, on the other hand, are less impulsive and will create less mistakes, fouls and generally perform more consistently.
They can also be converted into staff when they retire.
However, they will lose skills faster than their younger colleagues and their price will drop the older they get.
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Price.
Player's price is a combination of several factors: his current skills, potential, experience and performance (form).
Price is a good indicator of player's worth on the field but a more expensive player often doesn't mean a better player.
Age, playtime, match sharpness, and other things can make a player under or over-valued so it is worth scanning the market for bargins.
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Squad status. Squad status represents player's authority in the dressing room - how others in your squad perceive him.
- Leaders motivate or discipline other players in the team. A leader needs to be in the club for some time to build his reputation and needs to play regularly on an impressive level to earn his status. He also needs to have experience and age to pose as an authority to others. These players give +3% to team spirit but also when they complain they cause a -3% penalty for each of their complaints.
- Respected players have proven their worth but are missing some of the things to be leaders. A kid at 22 years can't really be an authority in the dressing room even though he plays well, but he can be well respected by others. Such players give a bonus of +1% to team spirit and also a penalty of -2% for each of their complaints.
- Fringe players don't play regularly, don't have experience, and in general aren't recognised as all that important in the squad. These are the ones that the club can live without. They don't give a boost to team spirit but each of their complaints is still a -1% penalty to it.
- Prospects are players that are still waiting for their chance to prove themselves or that are still to young to be heard in the dressing room. They have a lot to learn and need others to mentor them so they cause a penalty of -1% to team spirit and each of their complaints reduces team spirit by additional -1%.
- Newcomers are players that just recently joined the club. They still need to find their place in the squad and get familiar with other players so they penalise team spirit by -3%. On the bright side, they won't complain about their contract and they will, within a month, assume some other squad status.
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Skill level. When you scout a player one of things the scout reweals is his current level of skills.
It is important to understand that player's skill stars are always relative to your club's popularity.
Stars represent how good the player's skills are for his position. 3 stars means the player is of average ability for a club of your reputation.
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Performance. Player's effectiveness in a match is based on his skills, but there are other things affecting his match performance measured with this stat.
The most important thing is how well he fits with the rest of the team, but things like sharpness and current form also chip in.
Performance is presented as a range and changes throughout the season.
The player will perform at a level within that range (i.e. if he has a range of 74-109% he can equally likely perform at 74% of his power, 109%, or anywhere in between).
You might want to consider fielding a weaker player that is performing well rather than a good player that's down.
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Experience.
Playing matches increases player's experience, especially if playing for national teams or in international club competitions.
It is important that the player plays on an adequate level, his experience can only grow so much in C division.
Experience is primarily a measure of player's consistency and those without it can have wildly different output from match to match.
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Match sharpness. Players that play reguralry will have high match sharpness. That means they make fewer mistakes, are harder to get injured and simply play better altogether.
Sharpness changes slowly with matches the player plays and it can take a whole season to increase it from awful to great or superb.
But keep in mind that match sharpness will drop quickly for players in B team due to their harsh training regime.
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Natural fitness. Players with low natural fitness are more likely to get injured in a game.
This stat is outside of your control but it changes a bit over time and young and old players usually have lower natural fitness.
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Versatility. This is a measure of player's ability to adapt to a new position or club.