What is your main method of scouting a player? -1- Youtube -2- Football/ Championship Manager -3- FIFA/Pro Evo -4- Generally watching a lot of football
I find it hard to believe that anyone can form an opinion of a player from a computer game. The only way you can form an informed view of a player is by watching him playing.
Totally agree with that.Actually I thought it was a joke at 1st. It has to be watching a lot of football for me.
I'm being serious. I'm playing Football/Championship manager years and the amount of players in the game that are only youngsters and you've never heard of that turn out brilliant in the game and real life is unreal. You then look out for these players in real life and so many have turned out to be brilliant players.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_Manager#Influence If it's good enough for Premier League clubs it can't be that bad.
Football manager hire high profile scouts and get them to scout and analysis players lads, so don't knock it
too right. excellent book. long before youtube and overpaid wasters that only care for their bank balance
Football manager great for seeing random players from south america and africa. Unreal the amount of players they are on the money with. Only watch youtube if we are linked with a player but the clip is only their best bits. Can do that for anyone! But there is plenty of ball on all the different channels so i like to watch a full game or 3 before forming an opinion
If theres a player we're being linked with constantly I'll make the effort to watch him playing in his home league a few times. Dont put much stock in You Tube clips as generally theres unlikely to be a montage of his poorer moments or games where the player is totally anonymous. Pretty sure any of us given the time could get a clip together making us look if not Messi like then at least a decent player. Put no stock in Football or Championship manager at all, since many moons ago managing Barca I was told by my scouts Messi was unlikely to progress and wasnt worth a new contract. Also a lot of younger players on it are simply unbelievable as they age, and bears no relevance to real life. Kim Kalstrom was always one of the kids I always got on the games as he turned into the world player of the year many times over. If the games reflected life, there'd be no need for scouts at all.
That's 2 instances, I can give you 50 going the other way at least. Diego, Ronaldinho, Robinho, Adriano, Aguero, Suarez, Robben, Sneijder, Modric to name but a few. Off course there's the odd one that "Evolves" wrongly, or had stats entered incorrectly. But it's not a bad starting point, especially with watching the player in games then. It also helps people get excited. But when random talent pops up on that, I'd go to youtube for look at him, and if I like what I see I'll start keeping an eye on him to see what he can do. People are too quick to right certain things off at times. Also regarding Kallstrom, he WAS regarded as one of the hottest properties around(in real life) and actually played VERY VERY well for awhile, then he just went stale.
I must admit I was expecting the OP to come back in here and say this was a massive piss take. Personally I judge a player by a the ratings the Sunday World give them. From what I can recall on this site I've recommended signing Valencia, Zaki, Defour, Young, Ireland, and Nzogbia to name a few. I've also recommended not signing players we're linked with including Enrique, Carroll, Downing, Jones and Wickham. Some I was really right on and others I clearly got wrong, maybe I should have checked their digits on championship manager
If you haven't seen a player play then you cant have an opinion on him. Computer games,no matter how good the scouting is supposed to be is someone else's opinion.
I don't think anyone said they ONLY use Football Manager. As I said below, I watch an AWFUL LOT of football, and I spy players I like the look of myself. However if I'm playing FM and someone is recommended, I'll have my own scout around, I'll watch a few vids, and then I'll try catch a couple of matches to see how he fairs, doens't hurt to try talk to some people who support the club they play for too. I had Sneijder recommended to me when he was 15 in the game. He actually turned out better in real life. But I've always kept an eye on him from early in his career. Christian Erikson is another one, as is Ozil, Marin, Goetze, Hazard, Drogba, Niang all rated highly in FM before anyone even heard of them. So as I said I wouldn't fully dismiss it, but I reckon it is defo helpful at helping you take notice of unheard of players.