Last updated on August 30th, 2022
When going through your scout reports, you most likely judge players based on the three common attributes; technical, physical, and mental. All you want to know is if your Brazilian wonder-kid can score from 25 miles out or if he’s aggressive enough to play in the EPL.
While these attributes are good and absolutely necessary, they mostly rely on an unseen but highly important factor called Consistency.
Before you rush to that player’s profile in search of a 1-20 consistency rating, just know that you won’t find such a thing; consistency is actually a hidden attribute!
Despite its hidden status, there are ways you can check a player’s consistency and also improve it.
So do you have a winger with 16+ attacking ratings who never goes above 10 G/A a season? Or a midfielder with good ratings struggling to pull a string of good games? They’re probably suffering from inconsistency. Luckily, you can help them out!
In this article, we’ll explore the concept of player consistency in Football Manager and look into ways you can improve it.
Contents
What is Consistency in Football Manager?
Consistency is one of the most important yet underrated attributes in Football Manager. It influences every other attribute and determines how often a player can perform to their full potential. A striker with 15 dribbling and 17 finishing ratings will struggle to deliver goals if he’s inconsistent. So basically, while he has the potential to score from any shot he makes, he won’t be able to do it often if he’s inconsistent.
For example, I once had an amazing Brazilian wonder-kid. He was touted to be a world-class player at just 19, and most of his ratings were bright green, a true dream of any FM player.
Despite his huge potential, Araujo failed to maintain a 7.00 per season rating even while playing in the Championship and with a good squad.
Though you could blame it on tactics, team cohesion, and a bunch of other reasons, it became an issue when other players (with much lower ratings) were bagging goals and assists. I went back to my coach’s reports, and it turned out that inconsistency was one of his cons!
Despite Araujo being a highly gifted player, he was always going to struggle to show those gifts. I ended up selling him to S.Gijon, and guess what? He’s still pulling low numbers there. So the problem was never from me.
However, this doesn’t mean you should sell all your low-performing players because of low consistency. Some mental attributes like professionalism and determination can weather down the effects of low consistency in the long run.
Moreover, I’ve had some players that were tagged inconsistent in reports go on to perform wonderfully for me. Consistency will play a huge role in a player’s success, but it shouldn’t be the only deciding factor.
Lastly, a player’s form, discipline, and morale will heavily influence their consistency. Consistency increases and reduces per game.
Where Can You Find A Player’s Consistency Attribute?
A player’s Consistency is usually mentioned in scouts or coach reports. They are listed under the player’s pros and cons. If you can’t find any mention of consistency on a player’s report page, it’s probably because the scout or coach feels it’s too insignificant to be commented on.
This means the player’s consistency isn’t too low or high either; it’s just laying somewhere in the middle.
The lowest you can see in the reports is “very inconsistent performer.” If you’re still in the scouting stages, you should probably avoid signing such a player as he might struggle to find form.
Meanwhile, the highest you can see is “very consistent.”
This is pretty rare in Football Manager, especially among young players. If you find such a star, you’re a very lucky manager!
Other common descriptions you might find include ‘fairly inconsistent performer,’ ‘Consistent performer,’ ‘Should be focusing on becoming a more.’
How Do I Improve Consistency in Football Manager?
Here are some tips to help bolster a player’s consistency.
#1 Criticise Bad Player Performance
What do you do after a heavy loss or any loss in particular? When half of your squad averaged a bare 6.4 rating against a mid-table team? Do you press the space button angrily, send your assistant for the post-match conference, and move on to the next match?
If your answers to these questions are yes, you’re playing a massive role in your players’ inconsistency!
After every loss, you’re supposed to analyse your player ratings and see who performed poorly. Anything below 6.4 and 6.5 is poor.
However, knowing they performed poorly isn’t enough; you must know why they did. If your match timing was set to Key Highlights, you might not have seen how poorly your team played.
Worry not, though, because there’s detailed player analysis after every game.
You can check their pass completion rate, tackling, or shooting rate.
Once you’ve seen the problem, go to interaction, criticize the last game, and criticize that particular issue.
For example, in my game against Exeter City, my fullback Djed Spence had a poor 6.4 rating. I checked his match stats, and his problem was his poor tackling. Here’s me criticising him.
Most times, they’ll agree with you and make promises. This will encourage them to perform better and will, in turn, improve their consistency.
In cases where they don’t agree, even after a poor performance, you can fine them one week’s worth of wages. However, this can be considered extreme and might lead to potential issues with the player.
This should only be used for stubborn players.
#2 Praise Good Performance
Praising a player’s performance can also improve their consistency. That doesn’t mean you should praise your players after every win. Only save it for special performances; I’m talking 8.5 and above.
However, I once praised my 19-year-old winger after a 7.5 performance that saw my championship Reading side defeat Manchester United in the FA Cup. He wasn’t up to 8+, but he was phenomenal and deserved it.
Also, check your top performers every month; you should praise players above a 7.30 rating. Good training performances should be praised too and poor ones criticised.
Praising good performances is also a good way to improve your team’s cohesion and determination as well!
The Bottom Line
One of the reasons we love Football Manager is the similarities it shares with the real sport. In recent years, we’ve seen players with huge potential fail to deliver consistently. This happens in FM too.
There are players with amazing technical, mental, and physical attributes that perform poorly every week. While dozens of factors might be causing this, it mostly has to do with the player’s consistency. This is an underrated but powerful attribute that many know nothing about, partly due to its hidden status.
However, knowing a player’s consistency level can help determine how often that player will play at his full potential. For players with low consistency, you can improve them by criticising poor performances (in games and training) and praising spectacular ones.
To improve Consistency, players need discipline, good morale, and a good run of games.
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