Potential Ability changes in FM19

Is it normal in Football Manager 2019 (PC version) that game changes Potential Ability for one of more of your squad players?

Some of the players that were affected were backup players, while others where rotation or even in first team occasionally.

This happened to Alexandre Lacazette at the end of my 2nd season, and he was my second option to Aubameyang, or even first option when Aubameyang needed rest or was injured.
His PA changed from 4 stars to 3.5 then to 3 and he was still under or around 30 years old.

Another player was Dan-Axel Zagadou which I bought in my first season with Arsenal to be a backup/rotation player until his CA gets improved and he had 2.5-3.5 PA, but after several months that dropped to 1.5-2.5 PA.

Correct me if I am wrong, but that should not change even if they don't play significant minutes and CA is what should be changing?


Keep in mind that my chief scout has Judging CA 19 and Judging PA 20, but when I click on players page, my HoYD has 18/18 and since his abilities are the best out of all of my coaches, I use him to keep an eye on players CA & PA.



Any info is much appreciated

The Potential Ability isn't actually changing. Stars are purely opinions of scouts/coaches based on a number of factors including, but not limited to, the ability of a player, the potential of a player, the performances of the player and the club's expectations. They do not accurately reflect the CA or PA of a player.

A dramatic change that you have witnessed is likely to come from your club first being a side expected to challenge for top 4 to a side expected to finish higher up the table than 4th. A player who is 4* for a team challenging for top 4 may only be 3* for a team challenging for the title.

Personally, I pay absolutely no attention to stars, as they are completely opinion-based. Pay attention to attributes instead. They're the only things that actually matter about a player.

Thanks for your input.

You're right, my team finished 4th in my first season while winning the Premiership in 2nd season, which is when Lacazette's PA or stars dropped.

I actually ended up cashing in on him for nearly 60M plus 50% if he gets sold to Man Utd, since he reached age of 30. So I thought better get something out of him while I can and then used that money on Timo Werner, who hit the ground running better than Lacazette did in 2nd season.

So far I used opinions of my best (chief) scout when buying young players under age of 23, rather than using attributes like you do. I do look at them when comparing players and things like that.

Hence the reason me hiring the best scouts on the market.

So if creators of this game try so hard with that feature- scouts opinion, why not use it along side of attributes?

I mean if it does not do any giid to us, why have it there anyway?

Another question for you... how come most of the listed wonderkids from FMScout's list of wonderkids turn out to have extremely poor scout reports and their star rating for PA is extremely low?


Thanks in advance for your input

Regarding my list of wonderkids.

Most U20 players have a negative PA value which means they get random PA within a certain range in every new save. To make it as fair as possible, I did my best to calculate ratings of how good they are based on the average PA they'll get. For example, a -8 (130-160) player gets a rating to reflect a PA of 145. My ratings are still my opinion, but it's as subjective as it can.

As Justice said, the star rating assessment of players in-game by your scouts and coaches is not something you should blindly trust. The pros/cons and comments in those reports can be reliable, assuming your scout/coach has high attributes for judging player ability and potential.

To sum up. Take star ratings with a pinch of salt, pay attention to the actual comments of a scout report, and rely on the attributes and how they fit specific roles in your tactics.

@ Stam

Thanks for your input as well. I will keep that in mind.

However, I do have a question for you...
How much attention do you pay to players positional ability and how large of a role do those colored circles in tactics have in FM19?

I know that your players will perform better if you play them in their preferred role, but how much can you expect from a player if you play him in a position where he is only accomplishef and gets a yellow circle.

For example, Aubameyang has ability to play on left wing, but since it's not his preferred position, there he won't get a full green circle.

In my last save I experimented between Jadon Sancho and Hirving Lozano on left wing, but when I do that I can't utilize both Aubameyang and Lacazette at the same time, rather one of them ends up riding a bench.

So when FM20 comes out, I am planning on playing another save with Arsenal, but I am not sure if I should keep investing in players just to get full green circles on every position or try to use current players even if it means not getting the best out of them, and play them in their secondary preferred position(s)... but at least this way most of them will see first team time and won't be unhappy.

And speaking of players expecting to be in first team, correct me if I am wrong, but in England first team only means in Premier League and noy if you start them in competition such as FA or League Cup?

And finaly, do you know if there is a significant difference playing FM19 in 3D mode with entry-mid PC video card and one of those top tier video cards?
I am currently running Intel UHD Graphics 620 and according to FM19 I only get half a star/circle in preferences when it comes to 3D for this game... and was wondering if I would see any difference if I was to upgrade my video card?

About a player's positional competence, in my opinion it's not so important. I mostly ignore the colored circles for role suitability.

For a player to perform well in a certain role, what matters the most is to have the necessary quality for the primary and secondary attributes of that role. Select a role and the key attributes will be highlighted.

I believe player happiness / morale affects his performance much more than role suitability (assuming he has good attributes for the role you want).

About keeping players happy, it's probably one of the most difficult things.

Hopefully in FM20 it should be easier to manage player happiness with playing time pathways.

About 3D match details and smoothness, a great GPU will definitely make a difference. However, you need the rest of your system to pass the minimum requirements.