Why You Shouldn’t Trust the Football Manager Star Rating System!

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In Football Manager, many players consider the star rating system as infallible guidance. If a scout presents a player with a 4.5-star rating, the instinct is to secure their signing at any cost. Conversely, when a player’s rating drops below three stars, the focus shifts to finding the most efficient way to part ways and reduce expenses. However, it’s important to note that the star rating system might not be revealing the whole truth about a player’s potential and abilities.

As a gamer, I’ve encountered players time and again who consistently exceed or fall short of their skill ratings. There are those two-and-a-half-star players who mysteriously dominate the team stats, outshining the expensive five-star wonderkid you invested £90 million in, merely because of his impressive rating on paper.

Similar to how Football Manager’s attributes have shown some inconsistencies, it appears that the rating system might not be as dependable as it first appeared. Therefore, we should take a closer look at it to get to the bottom of things. Let’s delve into it and uncover the facts.

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What is the Football Manager Star Rating System?

If you’ve spent some time on Football Manager, you’re likely familiar with the star rating system. However, for those who are just starting out, let me offer a brief overview.

In this context, “If you’ve played” means if you have experience using the game, and “you already know what” means that you are already acquainted with something (in this case, the star rating system). The phrase “But if you’re completely new” is used to clarify that the following explanation is for those who have no prior knowledge of the topic. Lastly, “here’s a quick explanation” means here is a concise and easy-to-understand description.

In the game Football Manager, star ratings serve as an evaluation of a player’s existing skills and future potential, graded from half a star to five stars. These ratings are not absolute but rather are based on the overall skill level of your team. This means that a player could have different star ratings at different clubs due to the varying quality of the teams they play for. For instance, a three-star player in Crawley Town might be considered only a one-star player in Manchester City.

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Sounds simple, right? Well, not quite.

Star Ratings Don’t Accurately Reflect Current Ability

The well-known YouTube personality, Zealand, who specializes in Football Manager videos, has previously uncovered that the star ratings can be quite misleading when assessing a player’s current skills.

As a gamer, I’ve just taken a screenshot showing two players, Kingsley Coman and Manuel Neuer. Their overall abilities are impressively high at 162, but interestingly enough, their star ratings seem to be a point apart.

In the game Football Manager, a full star carries significant importance. Often, even a minor difference of half a star can sway a decision about whether or not to recruit a player. Consequently, if two players with similar skills possess significantly dissimilar star ratings, this disparity should raise serious concerns.

Beyond this point, it’s interesting to note that Noussair Mazraoui and Konrad Laimer share similar skill levels based on their current abilities. However, their star ratings vary by a full half-star. While one could speculate that factors such as form and training performance might impact these ratings, the screenshot taken at the start of the game suggests these elements shouldn’t be in play yet because they are typically influenced by gameplay that follows.

Potential Ability Star Ratings Are Even More Inaccurate

The situation becomes more intriguing when considering the youth programs and their predicted star ratings. For instance, at Bayern Munich, the most highly-touted young talent, Arijon Ibrahimović (unrelated to Zlatan), carries a five-star prospect rating.

Given his rating, one might expect that with optimal development, he would match the skill level of Bayern’s top players such as Harry Kane. However, this is far from the truth: when assessed for his true potential, his ability was found to be 145.

145 is significantly below the skill level of the weakest player on Bayern Munich’s first-team roster, and this disparity only grows larger.

It turns out that a less touted young player, initially rated with only three-star potential, demonstrated a greater ability than the highly acclaimed five-star prospect, Zlatan Ibrahimović. This might lead one to question: “Perhaps the evaluator assigning these ratings isn’t particularly skilled at predicting potential?

In a rather unusual turn of events, New Zealand switched the staff member to one with fully upgraded scouting skills, yet the star ratings remained inconsistent and illogical, with no discernible pattern other than chaos. The anomaly persists when you adjust a player’s current ability; this action also alters their potential star rating, despite their actual potential ability remaining unchanged.

In short: Star ratings are inaccurate and influenced by way too many factors to be trusted.

How This Affects Your Game—and What You Should Do

So, what does this mean for how you play Football Manager?

1. Stop relying on star ratings.
They’re just an opinion, not a fact.

2. Pay attention to a player’s skills or abilities. Examine their statistics—do their values align with the areas that matter most to you? For instance, if you’re searching for a winger, check if they excel in dribbling and crossing. If you require a centre-back, ensure they have strong positioning and tackling abilities.

3. Keep an eye on non-tangible factors as well.

Scouting reports provide valuable insights, such as whether a player maintains consistency or excels under pressure during crucial matches. However, from personal experience, players with exceptional work ethic and determination tend to surpass their rated potential more often than not.

(Football Manager secretly loves a workhorse.)

4. Exercise caution when assessing a player’s probable talent.
Labels such as “wonderkid” can give you a sense of a player’s potential, but for the majority of young athletes, ratings predicting future stardom tend to be highly unreliable, much like Zealand demonstrated.

As a gamer, let me tell you, it may feel annoying at times, but remember, this randomness brings a touch of reality to the game. In actual football, forecasting the rise of young talent is more like buying a ticket for a lottery draw. If Football Manager became overly predictable, the challenge and fun would vanish. So, let’s roll with the unpredictability – it makes the game exciting!

Conclusion

Every Football Manager game has numerous intricacies, and it’s evident that the Star System isn’t always consistent. This suggests that relying solely on this system might not yield the optimal team composition. Instead, it’s beneficial to blend various elements: star ratings, concealed attributes, and current skill assessments. When evaluating any statistic, it would be wise to compare it with another.

As a devoted football enthusiast, I’ve discovered that it takes quite an effort to ensure my team is well-prepared for any league we compete in. But that’s the thrill! We all crave challenges, and Football Manager certainly delivers. Much like a real-life football manager, success isn’t handed to you; it must be earned.

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2025-02-05 17:41