Understanding Midfield Ratings

[Stogey23]

I would appreciate any help in understanding midfield ratings. Obviously, this is one of the most important aspects of HT...but one I've yet to grasp.

My midfield rating for my last game was disastrous (very high). This was with my first team, and my 3 IMs totalling 7 stars. I play a 3-5-2 and usually Attack on the Wings. My wingers always pull either 2.5 or 3 stars. My entire team usually pulls 25.5 - 26.5 stars.

My question is, why do I not have a higher midfield rating? That is my number one question, but I have others - mostly based on my players listed below:

Is Attack on Wings dragging down my rating/would AIM raise it?

Is my midfield's stamina dragging it down?

Any other comments will help!

Here's my team and my 6 IMs (sorted by HT Buddy 'value'):
http://matt-stachelski.com/images/ims.jpg

I would also like to note that I primarily rely on using HT Buddy's "value" rating to decide who starts. Is this a bad idea?

[Helghallen]

Your stamina does have an effect on your midfield ratings and looking at your mids, I think that is probably part of your problem. The reason the midfield rating tends to be lower than the other ratings is that it is pooled (instead of a left/center/right rating like the others). I'd say the rating was a bit low, but not much. What was your TS when you played?

And I too use buddy's value to help pick my lineup. I don't think it is a bad idea at all.

[Stogey23]

Thanks Helgallen. My TS was irritated.

So TS can directly be seen as affecting the ratings? I thought TS and MOTS/PIC doesn't show up in the ratings or stars, but it is hidden. Am I wrong?

[Kevin in Louisiana]

After looking at some of your matches, I'd suggest playing only one midfielder (the one with passable passing) offensive. Those ratings do seem a bit low (probably just due to the TS), but stick with it and they'll improve (I'd assume you're training midfield, judging by their ages). Your midfield is pretty much in the position mine was a season ago. By season's end you should be able to pull at least poor midfields all the time.

[Stogey23]

So having my midfielders set to normal will help the midfield rating but lower the attack rating, right? (and vice-versa?)

[Pattrick]

So having my midfielders set to normal will help the midfield rating but lower the attack rating, right? (and vice-versa?)
No, putting midfielders offensive or defensive has no effect whatsoever on your midfield. It's just the defence/attack that improves/decreases.

[Deuteriumoxide]

Improving your stamina and team spirit will go a long way towards helping your midfield.

[kopiteinkc]

Instead of both of your wingers being played offensively, play one of them towards the middle. Leave the other as offensive.

The "winger towards the middle" will boost your midfield rating some. It will adversly affect your attack ratings though.

I would avoid AOW and AIM as part of your experiment as they adversly affect your defensive ratings.

Let us know how it works out.

[Deuteriumoxide]

Instead of both of your wingers being played offensively, play one of them towards the middle. Leave the other as offensive.

The "winger towards the middle" will boost your midfield rating some. It will adversly affect your attack ratings though.

I would avoid AOW and AIM as part of your experiment as they adversly affect your defensive ratings.

Let us know how it works out.

However, before you go putting wingers towards the middle you need to make sure you have a winger who is decent at playing towards the middle.

Basically you might want to consider just playing one of the IMs you arent using for your starting three and then playing a fourth IM as a winger TM.

A winger with no Playmaking or stamina played towards the middle is a waste of attack ratings,

[Kevin in Louisiana]

No, putting midfielders offensive or defensive has no effect whatsoever on your midfield. It's just the defence/attack that improves/decreases.

Ack, looks like you're right and I was wrong.

I could've sworn I read in the rules that playing an IM offensive or defensive impacts midfield, but another look at the rules makes it seem as though that's not the case.

[Stogey23]

Thanks for the advice guys. I like the Winger towards Middle idea, specifically because I could use a couple of my IMs in that position too...freeing up one of my wingers to start at wingback (Agnis V).

Here's my wingers:
http://matt-stachelski.com/images/wingers.jpg

[Craig P]

I would also like to note that I primarily rely on using HT Buddy's "value" rating to decide who starts. Is this a bad idea?Make sure you're comfortable with the things that go into it for IMs (and any other positions where you use it) and how it's weighted. You might, for example, think that it gives a little too much weight to passing and adjust your choices accordingly. I usually do use the positional listings when I'm setting my lineup because it helps to organize the players by skill, form, and experience, and there aren't any drastic disagreements with my own assessments (although I always use the central defender rating to select my wingbacks, because I need a lot more defense than offense from that position).

[johno]

Stogey... mind if i ask what series u are in?

[Stogey23]

Stogey... mind if i ask what series u are in?
VI.79

You?

[johno]

im in VI too... its just your im's are all mostly better than mine at such young ages... oh well...

[Stogey23]

im in VI too... its just your im's are all mostly better than mine at such young ages... oh well...
What is your team ID?

I've only been playing for 11 full weeks, and I am thrilled to already have an excellent IM (even if he never starts). I was fortunate to have a week before I got my team to prepare my plan, which was to buy 6 passable IMs as quickly as possible for training purposes and spend the rest on 4 wingers and striker upgrades. I chose not to expand my stadium right away, and that allowed me the extra cash to fill my training needs.

The IM who is excellent now popped to solid within 2 weeks of training PM, and then I had one pop each week for the next 5 weeks. I think I was pretty lucky, but that's the way it is. I had virtually NO sellable assets when I started, so I've been struggling financially for a while. However, I was just able to upgrade my stadium to 15K, which put me about 220K in the hole. I was lucky to get two straight passable goalie YPs, which cut about 120K off of that debt.

The moral of the story is, it's all about the training baby.

[Helghallen]

im in VI too... its just your im's are all mostly better than mine at such young ages... oh well...
What are you training?

[johno]

What are you training?

Playmaking... i guess i did not get into the whole science of the game. I mean, its fun, but sometimes i find its too much like work. I started poorly I guess... did not know what to train trained scoring then pm and went a few weeks without friendlies etc. in the early going... i have had shity youth pulls for the most part save a pa gk. the one thing that's going well for me is my finances... I am only about 50k in debt and in 9 days I will have a 25k stadium (I have been selling 10450 tickets everyweek for awhile).

[johno]

What is your team ID?

223426

[junjunforever]

as stated above, i can clearly tell you with 95 percent confidence that the problem is the stamina of your players.