Skill and Form

Skill
The player's skill is the most important factor of all. It determines how well a player performs in matches. Form can strengthen or weaken skill and that must of course be taken into consideration when selecting your team. The skill level you see represented by a number of "skill boxes" is not the player's exact skill. For example if a player has 6 skill boxes, his/her true skill is somewhere between 5,50 and 6,50. You will however never see the player's true skill, it takes a good manager to get to know the players well enough to be able to make good estimates about their true skill.

The player's skill level stays virtually the same during the whole season and changes only at season updates. It is then the player's average form during the season that decides if the skill level is raised or lowered.
The skill level has no upper limit. Though in reality there are of course limits on how good a player can get before he/she becomes too old.

Form
All players have a current form and an average form. The form varies between 0 and 20 with 0 the lowest, 20 the highest and 10 the norm. Note that the form bars you see do not show exact form but a value rounded off to the nearest whole number. The higher the player's form the better he/she will perform during matches. If his/her form is below 10 he/she will perform below his/her normal capacity and if it is above 10 he/she will perform above his/her normal capacity.

The form decides how the player's skill will develop
After each season players are updated and their skill level can be raised or lowered. This depends a lot on their average form over the whole season. A player who has been in good form during most of the season has a greater chance of having his/her skill level raised than a player who has been in poorer form who instead is at greater risk of having his skill level lowered. In other words form is relatively important. When you select your team it is often better to choose a player in good form ahead of a more skilled player in poor form. This is of course only true if the difference in skill is not too significant.

Players will have their skill level raised or lowered between seasons depending on their average form over the whole season. Therefore it can be good to try and keep your players in good form and to do this they need to be playing matches and you can also order individual form training for a player.

What affects the form
A player's form will as mentioned above also depend on how well he/she performs in a particular match. For example, a goalkeeper will raise his form if he/she makes a lot of good saves but his/her form will be lowered if he/she lets in a lot of goals. Defenders will raise their form if they do not give the opponents too many scoring chances. Midfielders will raise their form if they create a lot of scoring chances. Attackers will raise their form if the team often scores when having the opportunity. Furthermore form also depends on individual factors. A missed opportunity to score will lower the form slightly especially for an attacker. A player who misses a penalty will also lower his/her form slightly whilst the goalkeeper who saves it will raise his/her form. There are in other words a lot of things that can affect form. In addition to this the normal form update will also be a big factor when it comes to form changes. Read more about these below.

How the form changes are calculated
Increases in form are always percentage of the form the player doesn't have and form reductions are always percentage of the form the player has. The maximum form is 20 form bars so if the player has a current form of 18 then it is 2 form bars that the player doesn't have. This means that increases in form will be smaller the higher current form the player has and form reductions will be bigger the higher current form the player has. As a result of this the player's form will tend to go towards the norm. Read more about the norm below.

The norm
It is also good to know that players' form is always drawn towards the norm, which is 10. This means for a player in good form further increases will be smaller while reductions will be larger and the opposite is true for players in poor form. You can liken it to a rubber band hooked on 10 form bars making it harder to stretch the further away from normal form it is.

The norm is not the same for all players. As the player gets older (30+) the rubber band is hooked at a lower form proportional to the players age. This means that a player who is 35 years old will have a form norm on around 5-6 form bars instead of 10 which is the norm for players in their 20s. Very young players will instead have a norm over 10 form bars which means that they will easier contain a great form.

Average form
Every time a player's form is updated the player will get a new form status. The average form the player has is based on the form notations that the player has had after each competitive match during the current season. The average form is important because it forms the basis for the skill level update which takes place at the season update. If a player's average form over the whole season is above 10, which is the norm, his/her skill level will be raised (this does not necessarily mean the number of skill boxes will increase since they only show whole numbers) and if his/her average form is below 10 his/her skill level will be lowered. Therefore it is important to try and keep the players in as good form as possible especially the younger players since they have a greater potential of raising their skill level than older players have. For older players it is most important to keep their average form above 10 as they can more easily lower their skill level.

The hidden form tendency and the normal form updates
A player's form is influenced by a hidden form tendency which every player has. If this tendency is on its way down the player's form will be drawn downwards and vice versa. The form also depends on how players perform in matches. Players' form is updated after every match. The hidden form tendency affects the direction in which the form changes, how much it changes depends on a player's current form as well as a random factor.

The hidden form tendency decides the direction of the form change at the normal form updates after each match. If a player has a negative form tendency he/she will lower his/her form and vice versa. The hidden form tendency is, as its name suggests, hidden and you cannot see it. It can change at regular form updates but can also change at special events for example during matches. A player in good form will more easily get a negative form tendency than a player in poor form. A player in poor form will more easily get a positive form tendency than a player in good form. It is however always more likely that the form tendency remains unchanged. The form trend for a player can turn to positive through form training. There are no guarantees but the chances are good it will happen and they are greater the poorer the form of the player.

3 or 4 form bars equal 1 skill bar
One important thing to remember when you´re setting up the tactics for your next game is the players skill in relation to the players form. Although some of your players have less skill you should always take a look at their form. 3-4 form points is equivalent to 1 skill point. Which means that a player with (S6, F18) is better to use than a player with (S7, F3).