What player form is in a football manager
Form is a player's current level of performance: if he has been playing well he is in form and gives more; if he has been poor or not playing, his form drops and so does his output.
In football people say a player is in great shape or has lost his form. Manager games turn that idea into a number that sits alongside quality: two players with the same overall can perform very differently depending on how they are going. Form tends to rise with good games and fall with poor ones or long spells out of the side, which is why you look at it before picking the team and not only at the rating.
In ELDT form is measured on a 100-point scale and in practice moves between 30 and 90. It rises when the player earns good ratings and drops when he plays badly; if he does not play, it slips little by little. The match engine uses it to adjust the real output of every starter.
Check it before every match: a player on form 40 will do worse than one on 80 even with better numbers. In the line-up screen the Pick by form and fatigue button takes this into account and sends the exhausted to the bench. The captain matters too: one in good form lifts his teammates' form.
See it in the game: the manager's guide.
Related terms
More on Players
See also: online football manager · guides on the blog