FM2006 Dictionary

This is to explain most terms in the game especially ones to do with player attributes, if you cannot find a term please check in the abbreviations section, if its not there then please request so we can add it here.

Note this is alphabetical.

• Acceleration - Acceleration is a measure of how quickly a player reaches their top speed, Acceleration is a must for wingers and attacking players such as strikers. Defenders with good acceleration aren't very common but extremely helpful if your playing with a high defensive line or they have very pace strikers. Stamina and work rate and pace all help with acceleration.

• Adaptability - This is how the staff member adapts to the teams current tactics and settings.

• Aggression – This is what it sounds like aggression, an aggressive player will be looking to take on other players and some times very hard, if an aggressive player is taking on a creative player with a lot less aggression and bravery theres a good chance the aggressive player can win the ball.

• Agility – Agility is how nimble and and moving with grace the player is and not lumbering up the pitch.

• Anticipation – Anticipation is where the players are trying to choose the correct moment to do something, with decisions based on predictions and their expectations.

• Aerial Ability – Aerial ability is how good the goalkeeper is at jumping and grabbing the ball while its in flight, most commonly done when the opponent makes a corner or crosses the ball in.

• Balance – Balance is good for more attacking players then defensive but it is still good for everybody, if a player is dribbling the ball and trips and looses possession this isn't good balance and a good opportunity may have been missed.

• Bravery – Bravery is important for most players especially the defense minded players, and it will increase their chances of wining a one on one, this is quite important for defenders and goalkeepers when trying to gain the ball back.

• Communication – A goalkeeper with communication that is high is extremely helpful, he will be the one shouting at the defense and telling them where to move to, if they don't listen to him, game over in most situations.

• Command of Area - A Goalkeeper with good command of his area is mobile and gets around the box rapidly. He will display this attribute best at set pieces by showing he knows when to go for the ball and when to stay on his line.

• Condition - Condition is the current fitness of the player, its not recommended to play anybody below 95% condition.

• Creativity - Creativity is the ability to make things happen, if nobody is creative you wont see that special pass or anything that makes you think wow that was good, remember for every Zidane there's a Makalelee, so remember to have a defensive player behind him.

• Crossing – Crossing is vital on the pitch, especially if you have your wing backs more involved in the pushing forward of the game, the better the crossing the better the chances of your team winning, if you intend on pushing up, use wingers with better crossing then tackling.

• Barrow – Short for backwards arrow, this is where you right click on a player and drag him to another position so he runs there, like the name says your making him to a position behind him.

• Defensive Line – This is far up and down the pitch your defenders move, imagine an imaginary line stopping them and pushing them all up to the more defensive midfield part of the pitch, this is what it does.

• Decisions – Decisions is important and in most positions i have choose it at least in the main or secondary section, making the right decisions fast can easily win you the game, if the decision isn't made right or too slow, you wont get anywhere. Decisions is also important when creating a tactic, if you have a certain team in mind see if they have players with high decisions, if so set the runs etc to mixed, this will let them decide when to run and if its a decision attribute of 20 he will always get it right.

• Determination - Determination is a measure of your players desire to win and it’s a good attribute to possess throughout your team. Players with determination should maybe be piked as captain as well as they will keep on going threw out the game knowing whats at stake if they fail with a never say die attitude.

• Dribbling - Coupled with Agility and Balance, I consider it essential you have a good dribbler in your side, especially in the more advanced roles with room to run at defenders.

• Eccentricity – When choosing a goalkeeper i try not to pick one with high eccentricity, it is in fact a kind of split personality, one minute you find him a genius, the next you think hes thick as a plank.

• Farrow – Short for forward arrow, this is where you right click on a player and drag him to another position so he runs there, like the name says your making him run in a forward position.

• Finishing – Finishing is basically the finish, when the guy scores the goal, the better the finishing the better he is at planting the ball, attributes such as off the ball etc all contribute to his success you cant just have a guy with good finishing and thats it.

• Fixtures – This is when your games are, the dates, who its against, home or away etc, handy if your trying to see if somebody will recover for an important game or even choosing a tactic.

• Flair – Flair is a bit like creativity, trying different things but sometimes they wont pay off, flair is important for free kicks though and can be quite beneficial with your midfielder.

• Form - Form is their individual player ratings, if a player is on good form he would have quite a high amount over numbers above 8, if he as on a bad form he would have quite a few around 6.

• Goalkeeper Rating - A rating out of 10, this measures how good an outfield player does in goal, keep this in mind when your using a lower club and have lost a goalkeeper.

• Handling – Handling is what it is, how the goalkeeper handles the ball, if he isn't good at handling then he wont stop anything.

• Heading – Heading along side jumping are important, if your defending a corner, a cross comes in your defenders jump for it but are beaten by the opposing strikers then your defenders heading and jumping aren't good enough, good heading and jumping is vital for a striker also especially if he is set to a target man.

• Influence – Influence is how a player gets people to follow instructions, if a lot of people will listen to this player and he has a high influence it can help a lot with the captain role. If the captain is not determined etc then a lot of the influence is lost because he wont be trying to push the team for the win and motivating them.

• Jumping - You’ve got to link it with a good Heading attribute and be sure if you ever want to play long ball or crossing-intensive tactics that your players are good at springing off the ground. If, say, your players are also high on bravery and aggression as well as jumping, make sure you’ve got them putting in some hard tackling to really dominate the opposition.

• Kicking - If you ever let your goalkeeper just kick the ball or your trying the long ball tactic, make sure your goalkeeper has a good kicking attribute. He’ll be able to stick it on your target man’s head from his six yard box. If your goalkeepers kicking is poor distribute with quick throw or defender collect, i normally do this because i don't believe in just kicking the ball up the pitch with no gain from it.

• Long Shots – Long shots are important, they can be used cleverly with corner and free kick tactics, also if you have the odd player with a lot of creativity and flair etc everynow and then if he has a high long shot he will shoot from very far out and score an amazing goal.

• Long Throws – Long throwing is a good thing if you use it to its potential. Some people set a long throw to a player outside of the box to try and get the rebound, this is no easy task, i tend to set my fullbacks to take the throw in on their side this way the ball moves up the pitch a bit more.

• Marking – Poor marking doesn't mean the defender cant do his job of, well defending, it means he wont be as good at specif man marking, even though modern days most people use zonal marking. The only time this may be a big factor is if your defending a corner or free kick and your defenders are man marking.

• Mentality – How the team play the football, moving like a snail two forward one back, staying back and not moving at all, or rushing ahead.

• Morale - This is the persons overall happiness, it is affected by many things, i have explained these in the happiness section.

• Motivation - This is another attribute for staff, it tells you how motivating they can be, this is can be used if the assistant manager is more motivating then yourself.

• Off the Ball – Off the Ball combined with positioning and pace can be devastating, especially if the players have high decisions making, the players can draw defenders out of position or even make that perfect run between them to score the goal.

• One on Ones – For a goalkeeper this can be very important and is good for defending penalty's etc, for the striker, a higher finishing, dribbling and acceleration can combat this.

• Passing – Passing is very helpful, one problem is some people set their own passing with in tactics without looking into passing types, this can cause all sorts of problems, an amazing passer say Zidane, but you stick him on direct, now wheres all these amazing passes going to come from? If you wont to know more about passing please look in the tactics section i have explained more there.

• Pace – Pace is very helpful but with out acceleration and dribbling theres not much it can do, but with all the speedy attributes combined this player can kill defense or just scare them.

• Penalty Taking – Penalty taking is fairly simple, the penalty taker should have higher influence and composure like a team captain like i said in the who plays where section. But everybody will always remember England's captain kicking it miles over the bar.

• Positioning – Positing is a lot like the off the ball skill, but its more for the defenders overall, one thing that requires a very very high positioning is the offside trap, as risky as it is with extremely fast defenders with very high positioning, it can be pulled off time and time again.

• Reflexes – Reflexes are similar to agility, instinct saves and extremely fast movement is what comes into play here, this is personally the first thing i look for when choosing a goalkeeper.

• Rushing Out – This is a goalkeeper attribute, if a player slips past your defense this can come into play and make the goal look smaller, this also applies to balls being hit towards your end but nobody there to receive it.

• Sarrow – Short for sideways arrow, this is where you right click on a player and drag him to another position so he runs there, like the name says your making him run to the side.

• Set Pieces – Set pieces are corners, free kicks, penalty's and throw ins, each can be improved by following simple rules like i said in the who plays where.
• Stamina – Stamina is your teams overall ability to keep going before they gas, if your playing high tempo football, high closing down, or fast paced stylish football this is very important.

• Strength – Strength is a great attribute for defensive midfielder and defenders, instead of tackling with a high strength players will try to muscle the strikers off the ball, providing the strikers doesn't have a higher strength and aggression attribute.

• Tackling - If you combine this attribute with Strength, Marking and particularly Aggression and Bravery, you’ll have a great defender on your hands. Essential for defenders and battling defensive midfielders.

• Tactical Knowledge - Something to look for when trying to find an Assistant Manager, this is how good he is tactically.

• Teamwork – Team work can be the god of all things if used correctly, if the right tactician used a tactic that promotes full teamwork and he had a high team work team with good strength and stamina, he could probably beat most top sided teams without much trouble.

• Technique – Technique in the game is a skill level in a way, would you prefer to see your team pass the ball like a big oath or pass it perfectly around, the higher the technique the higher the style of football.

• Tempo – This is how quick your team look to build up the attack, slow tempo will give a lot of passes and is more possession football, quick tempo will aim to get the ball upto the front men with in a couple of punches.

• Tendency to Punch – Tendency to punch, it isn't a greatly good thing, unfortunately for me, Frances goalkeeper Fabian seemed to adore this technique and take it to heart. All it does is hit it out and gives the players another chance to shoot it at him.

• Throwing – Throwing is a technique i use more closely then kicking for goalkeepers i use the throwing because it puts it straight to an unmarked player where you can build up, and not straight to the opposing team with a kick.

• Work Rate – High work rate along with stamina is good, especially if you have a high closing down team where a lot of work is required.