Newgens in FM17

[AIK]

What do we think about the newgens in FM17? I've seen a few things that seems to have changed from previous years.

There seem to be a larger pool of names this year in some minor countries. Or are that only dependant on existing players so that it only means that the database for certain smaller nations are larger?

In previous years we've seen A LOT of newgens that are bald. This year are no exception, going bald are by far the most popular hairstyle for youths across the world according to Sports Interactive. But maybe we've seen the reason for that this year because at a strong second place, far ahead of number three on the list, we have newgens with the hairline of Wayne Rooney.

And at last, anyone else having trouble finding newgens at wide positions? Almost all newgens in my game play in the center of the pitch. Central defenders, central midfielders (DM and OM included) and central attackers.

And unfortunately the problem that most newgens have extremely low values in the non-trainable attributes are still there. Especially bravery are an attribute that we still rarely find a newgen with over 10 in.

[enigmatic]

Judging by FM17 regens there's certainly going to be a big future market in products to stop hair loss aimed at teenagers. And if their hairline isn't receding, they've probably shave the sides off into a mohawk...

 

More seriously, FM17 regens seem to have similar characteristics to regens in other FMs: higher average potential and worse personalities, which I assume is a deliberate design decision to ensure that most players will get two or three players capable of playing first team football through their youth intake each year, but will have to work harder for them to get there. It only takes 2-3 seasons for half the world's highest potential players to be newgens, but after 2 or 3 more it's clear that some of them will never get there.

I've paid more attention to defenders than other players, because I'm particularly fussy about them.  For top division standard centre-backs, it appears that having high Decisions is very (too) common, and even slightly above average passing and technique still very rare (it might have improved slightly on previous versions, but there's still a lot of Premiership standard newgens that make Chris Smalling look like Bobby Moore).

That said, at the high end I've seen a couple of genuinely wonderful all-round defenders that would walk into any team today, but are still plausible footballers.

Was tempted to file a bug report for an international standard, world class potential regen central defender I found that weighed in 63kg fully grown. IRL, diminutive teenage centrebacks tend to become diminuitive adult fullbacks or DMs, especially if everything except being hopeless in aerial challenges marks them out as having a great future in professional football. Eliminating midget specialist centrebacks from the higher levels of the game shouldn't be one of the more difficult things to get right with regen templates.

[enigmatic]

And a quick check with a scout tool suggests you may be right about there being too few newgens created that are natural in wide midfield positions, especially at MR and ML.

Fullbacks vs centre backs looks a bit more balanced, and you'd expect natural wingbacks to be rare because most teams' tactical setups never use wingbacks