coach : Stars vs current ability

[Quasi]

Hello,

I want to sign a fitness coach. I have two choices :

- one who has 125 as current ability, and has 4,5 stars for training

- one who has 140 as current ability, and has only 4 stars for training

Which one is the best ?

[heathxxx]

Clearly you're using an editor or scout utility to view the CA and PA, but in game, you only have the attributes (always on view) and the star ratings (once signed) to go from.

If you also look at the "Personal" tab on their information screen, you will see bars on the right which gives you another indication. The fuller the "Training" bar is with green, then clearly the better they are at coaching. If you hover your mouse over these bars, you'll be given a percentage figure, something like "80% - Good knowledge", or "100% - Excellent knowledge".

Personally, I would ignore the CA and look at the attributes and suitability for the role. CA or "current ability" is actually worthless as an indicator for coaches and players suitability, if the attributes aren't in the right places for the role they're going to assume. For example, Cristiano Ronaldo might have 194 CA, but it doesn't mean he's a good centre-back does it?

In the case of a fitness coach, you need to look for:

Fitness - as high as you can get, but it's easy enough to get 18+ at even lower level clubs.

Determination, Level of Discipline, Motivating - as high as you can get, but 12+ for each as a guideline for good star ratings.

In general, I look for any coaches to have "DDM" (Determination, Discipline, Motivating) at 12+ if possible for all my coaching staff. Even with a third-tier Spanish club, I managed to get two 4.5 star fitness coaches, one for aerobics and one for strength. In actuality though, you only really need one coach to have the high rating in any given training area. You can get a lesser rated coach and the rating for the best coach is the one which gives the overall high star rating. The lesser quality coach will just help spread the workload if you have a large squad with many players working on a particular area of training. For example, if you have two coaches working on aerobics, the highest rated coach is all that matters.

Don't be pre-occupied by the CA and PA ratings you see in the editor/scout utilities. Look at attributes for player and coach attributes. Coaches are more straightforward. Players though, you can now see the most suitable attributes highlighted in the tactics creator and tactics screens. The higher those highlighted attributes are, the better they're likely to perform in those positions and roles.

As for potential ability, although it can be useful to see the PA, it's not always an indication players will actually reach that potential ability. There's much more you can do as a manager to shape the ability of players via training and playing them in matches. Good scouts can provide much more information if you know what to look out for. They'll give you an indication of the player's potential ability, star ratings, comparisons with your existing players, their temperament, suitability in different positions, etc... Lot's of information.

[Quasi]

Thanks for your kind answer.

In order to find out the stars, I looked at this thread, where 7=5 stars, 6=4.5 stars and 5=4 stars.

And I used an editor to validate my choice, and that's how I found out the CA difference. I have the same problem for scouts, where some with 18 in Judging ability and judging potential have less CA than others with 14.

It doesn't seem logical, as the ones with the best abilities should have a better CA.

[heathxxx]

That's why like I said, the CA doesn't matter so much for a specific role. All the CA does is provide an overall indication of all attributes combined. It's like a ceiling guide that dictates the maximum the overall attributes can reach.

For example, you could have a scout with 20 JPA and 20 JPP and low attributes in everything else. He'll still be a good scout. You might have another who has a high CA rating, higher attributes across the board in other areas, but lower JPA and JPP. The lower CA scout with 20/20 JPA/JPP will always be the better scout.

[Cleon]

You should always choose the person with the best attributes and not base it on current and potential ability. It's attributes what count.