Scout Report: The Scouting System, Part 2

Posted in Guides | On November 30th, 2007 | By Kazzy

The second part that takes you into the the new-improved scouting system of Football Manager 2008. What are the different scouts reports structure and what information you can learn from them? How to use scouts to your own advantage on daily basis? How do you sign scouts? Read on the second part to discover the answers, it's also featuring special hints and tips for more advanced users.

Your scouts are integral part of the team future squad and pre-game strategy, making their reports as much as important as any other aspect of the game. They're producing, respectively, two different types of reports: Player's Report (scout report card, 1/2/3 matches attended) and Tactical Report (scouting next opposition).
 

Player's Report

Best Position – Pretty self-explanatory, the scout will tell you the player's best position and probably also his second best position. Information which can also be available through the 'Positions' screen.

Ability – The scout will treat the player ability in four different ways. (1) The player will be compared to whom the scout believe to be the club's best player in that position. (2) The player will be compared to the league standard (decent, good, leading etc.) (3) The scout will rate him as the 2nd/3rd/4th best position at the club. (4) The player will be compared to the youngest potential player that plays in his position.

Potential – The scout will treat the player's potential in two different ways. (1) He will give you indication of how good the player will be by comparing his potential to your current best player that plays at the same position. (2) The player's potential will be compared to the league standard (again, decent, good, leading etc.)

Character – The scout will give you information regarding the player's character (determined, ambitious, professional etc.), moreover he will give you also indication of how well he will fit in your squad personality-wise.

Strengths – The scout will give you information about the player's strengths, based on the player's visible attributes (speed, set-pieces, athleticism etc.) and hidden ones (big matches player, versatile etc.)
 
Weaknesses – The scout will give you information regarding the player's weak spots, if any. This usually similar to the strengths information, with the exception of injury proneness that can be listed only here.
 
Transfer – The information here is sub-divided into four noticeable areas: (1) Indicates how much the player want to be signed by your club. (2) What is the player's current status at his club, and what offer may need to be offered to get his signature. (3) How much wage the player would like to receive per week/month/year. (4) How much time it will take to approach the player with a pre-contract, meaning signing him out of contract.

Recommendation
This will tell you the scout recommendation of the player, from worthwhile, last resort, decent, good, quality, excellent and for whatever price.

There are two different types of stars, silver and gold. I quote from the game itself: "Senior players are given gold stars whilst younger players will get silver stars and are compared to similar players at their own age group".  

Tactical Report

The tactical report of scout is usually structured as following:

- Indication of the team's usual formation (most likely to be the opponent's manager preferred formation)
- The game-style the team likes to play (possession, sitting back and counter and so on) and then passing style they combine with it (usually, the manager preferred passing style).
- Warning of a treat or indicating of potential weaknesses. For example: suggesting on using quick defenders or defending deep because of pacey attackers, or pointing out that if the defenders will push up there would be room to for quicker players to take advantage of.
- Note about the pitch, short, long, narrow, wide etc. Also, recommendation of what can be done to avoid its defect or what causes it will have.
- Key player. Pointing out an opponent player as a threat and allowing you to comment on him ('Comment on Dangerman')

Amongst the options of scouting a certain player you can find four different types – getting a report card only, and scouting the player for one, two or three matches.

If you have a scout with good knowledge regarding the player's nationality, or the based country he's playing in, it will be time-saving to give him instruction of 'report card only'. If you don't have such as scout, you'll have to scout the player for at least one match to discover his all attributes and receiving reliable information concerning his ability and potential. The higher your scouts attributes are, the less time it will take them to compile a detailed report about a certain player.

WARNING. MINI-CHEAT:
You're at the top of the table, few points behind your opponents that plays a mediocre club in few days. If the mediocre club has a determined key-player, it's worth scouting him and then attending the match of his team against his opponents. At the beginning of match you'll see on the commentary: "Manager X has been seen on the stands today". The determined player would like to prove himself, against your opponents. You can have the other effect about your opponents players that can't handle pressure very well. Nice eh?

Signing scouts isn't very complicated with the addition of the 'Job Centre'. Simply place an advert for scouts and when the new item will come, pick up the ones with the highest mentioned attributes. Make sure you pay notice to the compensation sum, because it will go off right from your transfer budget.

Other way, condemned by LLM managers, is to use the 'Staff Search' function and filter for unemployed scouts with relatively high attributes. Sorting them out by 'View', 'Mental Attributes' and then clicking on the top of the column, is also an option.

To summarize, I was very impressed with the scouting system changes in FM 08'. They might be minor and ridiculously pointless once FM Genie is out and you all could tell how good a player is by a number, but I believe they add nice touch of realism and playability to the game. The benefits of a good scouting system can easily be replaced by having a good eye for players, and knowing which attributes indicate of good player and potential. Yet, it can save you a lot of time and effort, and with more exotic types of games (unknown countries, continents, lower-leagues) it is priceless, literally, it saves you money.

My Rating: Ability - 5 Stars, Potential - 7 Stars.

I've compiled here few hints, tips, and things that I basically didn't know before writing this article. I believe it's the closets thing for shortened hints for advanced users, and I hope you'd like the idea as I'm going to use it with every piece I write.

- Scouts with very high 'Judging Player Ability & Potential' attributes don't need to attend three matches of a player to give you the most detailed information about him. One is enough.

- Bear in mind that the price the scout recommended on is not written in stone, and most likely to be wrong. Make sure you bid for players considering the entire picture, factors such as club reputation, financial position, player's role at the club, etc.

- When scouting a player that is wanted by other club, you will enter the 'Interested Teams' list. By removing him from your shortlist you'll get to scout the player without being interested on him and potentially forcing other clubs to battle for his signature.

- Make sure that when scouting a player for certain a mount of matches, there are also fixtures for his team to attend to.

- If you're playing in low-league level and have no available scouts even after placing adverts, it's worth sending other backroom staff for special scouting of potential individuals. Make sure you don't use them as scouts too often or the chairman will moan about lack of realism.

- Back in previous versions of the game, when a scout was sent to next opposition match, he was also compiling reports of your opponent players. Nostalgic.   

- Scouts with low tactical knowledge attribute will compile exactly the same tactical report on your opposition as scouts with high attribute.

- Sending scouts to regions which have very few or none at all real players is rather pointless, whereas improving your scouting at your own area progressively can be beneficial.

- Kit Carson never existed.

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