4 headed goals, 4 corners, 1 player, 1 half...oh dear, no corner bug huh?

I am getting increasingly annoyed at how I am constantly winning games by my players heading in goals from corners.

Gone are the days of my strikers clinically scoring goals. Since 9.3.0 I am still winning just as many but with little help from my strikers. Instead that enjoyment has been reduced considerably and now my midfielders run them close by spanking in 30 yarders and my centre back set to challenge keeper even closer. Since 9.3.0 my world class strikers simply cant finish like they used to. At present my four strikers havent scored in NINE games yet I've won SEVEN of those scoring TWENTY ONE!!!!

Here is a ridiculous game where my centre back scored FOUR goals in 30 mintues all from corners when given the instruction to challenge keeper

Is it just me or does anyone else experience this in their game?

As I said before I am still winning games like I used to but just not in an enjoyable way!

its not exactly a bug... they just tweaked it so that headers work better thats all. Otherwise I would sometimes never see headers at all in 9.02.

Anyway it does not always work. If the opposition keeper has high aerial ability, Vidic(in my man utd game 9.03), does not necessarily score goals.

So it kinda offsets each other.

I can't wait to see what the ratio of goals to corners is like when I manage a world class center back ..

Luke Chambers is my teams top scorer with 19 this season for Forest.

My centre back got two goals the other day, both from penalties though. Not the same, and I see what you are talking about, but 9.2 I agree the lack of headers was an issue.

Not perfect but you could just set your defenders not to challenge the keeper, thats what I did when I felt it was getting unrealistic.

My strikers are scoring fine TBH

Do you have your CB on challenge GK? If you have and you're saying it ruins your game, just don't use him there. Put him on attack either post for example. And have corners on mixed instead of 6 yd box.

It is a bug of course, but if people deliberately take advantage of it then it's a bit rich of them to complain that it ruins their games. If you have everything on mixed and it still happens then it's actually a bigger problem. I for one have distribution on mixed and my CB challenging the keeper doesn't get more than 5-6 a season. Seems normal to me. Then again I currently have a top side in a top division so I don't know if it can be more of a general issue in lower leagues.

Ya... I have tried Jonny Evans; 16 Jump, 16 Header, 17 Positioning and 16 Anticipation.

Yet he doesn't score.

If I used Vidic; 19 Jump, 19 Heading, 17 Positioning and 17 Anticipation.

He scores sometimes and at crucial times (1-0) win.

Must point out Aggression and Bravery is also quite a factor into the calculation. (John O Shea doesn't score headers because these attributes of his are weak.)

So to me, the headers are better than FM08, where I can have Micah Richards as my top scorer.

Do you have your CB on challenge GK? If you have and you're saying it ruins your game, just don't use him there. Put him on attack either post for example. And have corners on mixed instead of 6 yd box.

It is a bug of course, but if people deliberately take advantage of it then it's a bit rich of them to complain that it ruins their games. If you have everything on mixed and it still happens then it's actually a bigger problem. I for one have distribution on mixed and my CB challenging the keeper doesn't get more than 5-6 a season. Seems normal to me. Then again I currently have a top side in a top division so I don't know if it can be more of a general issue in lower leagues.

Yeh maybe I should take him off challenge keeper. But im just worried that if I do that I wont score at all! I have a brilliant team and won the prem and euro cup last season on 9.2.0 and am hopefully going to do the league and european double again. Its just that my strikers dont seem to score nearly as many anymore, instead the old corners seem to be filling the gap.

Anyway im gunna take my CB off challenge keeper and see if it changes things.

I think having a CB set to challenge keeper is fine, it's perfectly natural, there're goals scored like this each weekend in any league. But in FM when you combine challenge keeper with playing corners into the 6 yard box, it is too effective. The answer I think is to set corners to mixed, as metioned above. You'll still get goals from the CBs, just not so many. Plus this opens up the corners to all sorts of potential goals -- volleys, shorts, flick-ons, etc.

I'm not saying that there's no corner bug, but iirc Bayern Munich scored four headers all from set pieces at the weekend, so it's not totally unheard of. But I'm not dismissing the points raised here out of hand.

My centre back got two goals the other day, both from penalties though. Not the same, and I see what you are talking about, but 9.2 I agree the lack of headers was an issue.

i completely disagree that headers is an issue in 9.2. i havent got 9.3 as my game on 9.2 was getting good, but jamie carragher has 9 goals in the 09/10 season, all from set-peices, which is quite an achievement, ans hes just one of the players to be scoring regularly from corners.

and also, there aren't THAT many goals from set pieces in real life in a PL weekend

my team has scored 2 and im in december with liverpool. adriano and agger. sounds realistic to me...

Yeh maybe I should take him off challenge keeper. But im just worried that if I do that I wont score at all! I have a brilliant team and won the prem and euro cup last season on 9.2.0 and am hopefully going to do the league and european double again. Its just that my strikers dont seem to score nearly as many anymore, instead the old corners seem to be filling the gap.

Anyway im gunna take my CB off challenge keeper and see if it changes things.

I've said this before and I'll say it again...

It's a sad state of affairs that we have to resort to this- avoiding flaws in a game engine- and essentially try to prevent ourselves winning.

Up to game 22 of my premiership season, Vidic had scored 7 goals in all competitions. This was with him on challenge keeper and corners on mixed.

For the next 6 games I set corners to 6 yard box, and he then scored a further 8 goals, upping his tally to 15 in all competitions.

This needs to be fixed, SI need to re-think their three-patch-policy and have more time for beta-testers to find bugs.

how do i get my cb to score this many goals? i need this 'cheat'!!!!!!

Whilst the corned bug is certainly evident in my game, especially with very good CB's, I'm finding that in the goals from corners stats that pop up at processing time that I'm not too far ahead of second place.

Maybe the AI has a corner bug of their own??

It's just like it was on FM08 from what I remember, even with 902 I thought he scored a bit much. But no doubt headers is even more important now than ever. Most of my goals from open play are headers and now my CB is outscoring anyone in the league! After 8 games he had scored a goal a game, he got injured after that for a couple of weeks and we didn't score as many from corners/freekicks. He got 17 last season ,mostly used 902 after 903 he doubled his tally in quite a short time. I didn't even know about a possible corner bug and was quite suprised to see him score that much, but after a while it becomes just silly. And I really shouldn't have to change my tactics just because the game has flaws. That FM spark really is long gone for me these days. I really should learn to backup a game when a new patch comes out, it simply got worse after 903 and now I'm stuck with it, it's either a clean install, 902 and a new save or back to FM07 yet again.

I'm disappointed that particular instruction is an exploit in 9.3, but if its any consolation the AI wont use it, as until I was 100% sure it was fixed I was going to keep it disabled for AI managers.

So if you just dont use it you will be ok. I'll make sure its in better shape for FM2010.

An admission it appears! TBH I have not been scoring ridiculous amounts of goals this way despite using the "cheat"(!), and on one occaision my "Challenge GK" DC didnt actually charge in despite being instructed to, and my Near Post Flick on" guy back peddled and header it into the corner - Class!

An admission it appears! TBH I have not been scoring ridiculous amounts of goals this way despite using the "cheat"(!), and on one occaision my "Challenge GK" DC didnt actually charge in despite being instructed to, and my Near Post Flick on" guy back peddled and header it into the corner - Class!

i dont think si have ever denied it exists have they?

well im playing as man u at the moment, i'm in the middle of jan, 9.3.0 patch, vidic challenges GK, corners into 6 yard box and yet i've only got 4 goals from corners. rooney also has 19 goals so far, and tevez and barba have 11 between them. so i'm not seing any problems with the new patch. so i would have to say from my observations that it might mainly be a lower league prob.

It's not an issue. There are tons of little ways to cheat in FM. If you don't like the corner bug don't use it. Not the hardest solution to come up with, is it?

But there isnt going to be any 9.4 resulting from something that has a simple workaround. We simply dont have the resources to make another patch as well as work on FM2010.

well maybe the patch should come first. for all those people who have paid there money and wont want to buy fm2010

well im playing as man u at the moment, i'm in the middle of jan, 9.3.0 patch, vidic challenges GK, corners into 6 yard box and yet i've only got 4 goals from corners. rooney also has 19 goals so far, and tevez and barba have 11 between them. so i'm not seing any problems with the new patch. so i would have to say from my observations that it might mainly be a lower league prob.

Not a lower league observation, Micah Richards was my top scorer last season with 24 in 35 in the league.

Its a shame that the bug exists. Ruins the game.

Not a lower league observation, Micah Richards was my top scorer last season with 24 in 35 in the league.

Its a shame that the bug exists. Ruins the game.

SIMPLE...Don`t challenge the GK

SIMPLE...Don`t challenge the GK

I don't find it as simple as that. That's a simple fix, yes, but it quite badly ruins the feel of the game that I have to try NOT to score...

Why is it a neccessity to bring out FM2010? Could this game not be improved via patches until the fixes/development needed requires more than a patch, and then develop a new game?

I think by leaving individual games with (albeit minor) bugs people are losing their faith with the game, yes they may buy each new release, but it is only in hope that their problems from the last game are solved, whereas instead new issues arise each and every release.

I don't find it as simple as that. That's a simple fix, yes, but it quite badly ruins the feel of the game that I have to try NOT to score...

But if it ruins your game that much then it is simple dont use it.

But if it ruins your game that much then it is simple dont use it.

I don't. Yet, it still bugs me that I could. It sort of shatters the illusion and reminds me that I AM playing a computer game after all...

I don't. Yet, it still bugs me that I could. It sort of shatters the illusion and reminds me that I AM playing a computer game after all...

Whereas the state of the art graphical representation doesn't do that?!

While it obviously is a bug, and it's nice to see PaulC acknowledge it, I don't think it's a major issue. It is clearly avoidable, and SI have ensured that the AI teams don't do it.

It's not anything I've ever seen, but then I don't fiddle around with my corner instructions. The defaults work just fine for me. *simpleton*

Why is it a neccessity to bring out FM2010? Could this game not be improved via patches until the fixes/development needed requires more than a patch, and then develop a new game?

I think by leaving individual games with (albeit minor) bugs people are losing their faith with the game, yes they may buy each new release, but it is only in hope that their problems from the last game are solved, whereas instead new issues arise each and every release.

Good point! The phrase "bottle of bubbly for the shareholder's meeting" springs to mind,....however if you took a poll of FM players with the options

A/ NO more patches, November 09 release of FM10

or

B/ Patch 9.04 and delayed FM10 release

you could be pretty sure that the delay of FM10 would not be the most popular option! (though it probably should be).

Good point! The phrase "bottle of bubbly for the shareholder's meeting" springs to mind,....however if you took a poll of FM players with the options

A/ NO more patches, November 09 release of FM10

or

B/ Patch 9.04 and delayed FM10 release

you could be pretty sure that the delay of FM10 would not be the most popular option! (though it probably should be).

Certainly not for me it wouldn't. I also don't think it would be as one-sided as you suggest.

Obviously, the reason that they can't not produce FM 2010 is that they need money. The workers of SI need to be paid, and the only way that is going to happen is if they have money coming in, through a new version of FM.

Certainly not for me it wouldn't. I also don't think it would be as one-sided as you suggest.

Obviously, the reason that they can't not produce FM 2010 is that they need money. The workers of SI need to be paid, and the only way that is going to happen is if they have money coming in, through a new version of FM.

Yes, but you know what its like, come August the Posts "When is FM10 out?" will flood in and all talk of patching will be secondary. I think that SI could not say hand on heart that any fully patched version of any FM game is as good as it could be had other patches been released, but we the consumer encourage the yearly new release and the shortfall from perfection probably irks SI as much as it does us. I wonder if the year by year devlopment is now so advanced & complex that SI should issue the new ME version / "Game" only once every 2 years and that the interim years should see the release of data update discs with those extra features included that dont risk corrupting the tactical side of the matchday programming (and maybe a selection of skins & audio packs to justify the cost), maybe that could be £20. Then the extra development time should mean that the 2nd yearly full game release would be less prone to bugs due to more testing.

I think it is unfair for us to bemoan the testers work by the way, as the time they can spend is a tiny fraction of the true gameplay time of all the Purchsers even after as little as 2 weeks so of course bugs will appear in the first few months with the current development - production - release schedules.

Yes, but you know what its like, come August the Posts "When is FM10 out?" will flood in and all talk of patching will be secondary. I think that SI could not say hand on heart that any fully patched version of any FM game is as good as it could be had other patches been released, but we the consumer encourage the yearly new release and the shortfall from perfection probably irks SI as much as it does us. I wonder if the year by year devlopment is now so advanced & complex that SI should issue the new ME version / "Game" only once every 2 years and that the interim years should see the release of data update discs with those extra features included that dont risk corrupting the tactical side of the matchday programming (and maybe a selection of skins & audio packs to justify the cost), maybe that could be £20. Then the extra development time should mean that the 2nd yearly full game release would be less prone to bugs due to more testing.

I think it is unfair for us to bemoan the testers work by the way, as the time they can spend is a tiny fraction of the true gameplay time of all the Purchsers even after as little as 2 weeks so of course bugs will appear in the first few months with the current development - production - release schedules.

I agree,

Also, that is purely the reason why having such a large beta programme for the lats patch was needed, and was (bar the corner bug an issue with AM ratings) a rip-roaring success.

Unfortunately, as was mentioned above, it's all about making money, and not about providing the best quality product possible.

OK, so today marks the first time I've come across the corner bug. It's working both for and against me, though, as there's far too many crosses being won by the attacking side. I've used the same tactics every game (and every new season) wherein I have one person challenge, one stand at the far post and one set to near post flick-on with my distribution set to mixed, and on defense I have my defenders man mark and the next-best four players set to go back. What I've noticed, however, is that on corners the goalie rarely moves, whether to come out for a ball or to cut down the angle on the posts. This, I feel, is at the heart of the corner issue, as a quick glance at any game on TV will show that corners are rarely succesfull (say, 1 out of every 10 times) with the attacking team making contact only slightly more often (3 times out of ten would be a safe guess.) giving you about a 40% chance of the ball reaching your team.

The game seems to reverse this.

Next time you play a game, pay attention to how many times the goalie actually makes an attempt for the ball. In my experience, the keeper rarely moves for the ball, even when the ball is crossing mere feet in front of him, leaving a 1v1 battle between attacker and defender for the ball in the air. Another interesting thing to note is how ineffectual the defenders are; too often there's a huge gap in between the goalie and the scrum of players that aren't assigned to man marking, resulting in many easy chances for an attacking player to run in behind the defense, a problem for which I haven't found an answer. I tried man-marking with 8 players, though that'd sometimes leave me with 3 defenders in the box and everyone else a good distance away, and I've tried mixing the marking to ensure the immediate threats are covered while clogging up the area in front of goal. No luck, as the gap of wide-open space (that the goalie seems unwilling to venture into) between the two still leaves me vulnerable.

My conclusion- the ball simply moves too fast. Go and watch another game. Notice how long it takes to send the ball into the box and have it reach a suitable height for a header? Sure, some can be whipped in there, but they generally lack the height and/or placement to be reliable. Instead, you'll see numerous attempts that are sent within six feet or so of the goalie, giving him ample time to come out and challenge for the ball. In the game? Rarely does that happen. I'd venture that the vast majority of corners either end up 1. put away, 2. sent over/wide or 3. cleared out by a defender. The goalie simply doesn't catch/clear the ball often enough, much less even challenge for the ball, and I think that is precisely what is leading to the higher-than normal success of corners.

1 game eh? ...

OK, why not put your 2nd, 3rd, or 4th best header on Challenge Keeper?

That should do it for those who feel compelled to use the exploit simply because it's there but at the same time feel guilty doing so because it takes some of the illusion out of the game.

Now it's time to have a look how many tactics that have been uploaded use "Challenge GK"

Have to be honest, that's the setting I use, apart from my most recent match (one of my DC's scored a 1st half hat-trick - two from corners, one from IFK), it's not been a big issue.

Stevie Bruce used to do it all the time back in the 90's

what about 'near post flick on' - bugged? - my DC has scored 6 in 12 now...

no one's on challenge GK.

I've never heard of this bug. You set your corners to '6 Yard Box' and select a good defender to 'Challange GK' and they score?

They don't always score. I think this is the crux of the issue with this 'bug'. While many complain about how it "ruins the game" etc., the simple fact is that the same things do not work everytime. I attempted the Corner bug on 2008 and had mixed success. I scored a high amount of goals, but my top score was still my CF ( my CB was my 2nd top scorer though).

So far in my second season in 2009, I have scored 7 goals from corners in 13 games. Yes, this is an above average number, but think of how many goals Villa scored from corners in that patch last year? This is with either Fazio, Dunne or Richards challenging the keeper (FYI Dunne leads the way) on challenge the keeper and corners set to 6 yard box. This is nowhere near the 4 goals a game some people are experiencing. This provides a headache for testers as they have to replicate the same scenario several times in order to determine what the exact problem is. This is even more difficult when you factor in the amount of variables this game has.

For the record. I would prefer that there is no new patch AND FM2010 is delayed as I never buy the new game until January anyway!

i completely disagree that headers is an issue in 9.2. i havent got 9.3 as my game on 9.2 was getting good, but jamie carragher has 9 goals in the 09/10 season, all from set-peices, which is quite an achievement, ans hes just one of the players to be scoring regularly from corners.

and also, there aren't THAT many goals from set pieces in real life in a PL weekend

agreed, i scored plenty with richard dunne on 9.2

if someone wanted to utilise this, apart from set them to 6 yard box and 1 player challenge gk. what do the other outfield get set to to get most possible goals please

I don't find the corner bug to be a problem. No where near the old days. Alot of goals happen from corners in the real world, and I think the game reflects the amount pretty well in 9.3. At least for me. Then again, I don't have the "my strikers can't score issue" either.

I recall hearing that IRL there are around 0.8 goals per game from set pieces, at least in England. I cant see it being that much different elsewhere.

The only thing I would say to have a look at Paul, is real life "fluke" goals scored directly by corner takes in comparison with FM.

I've conceded about six and scored two on my current save, in one season!

Now I used to practice doing this as a kid at youth level, but only ever actually scored two or three a season and they all involved a certain amount of luck. Even though, it's a very rare event and the last one I remember seeing was Beckham on loan to Preston back before he broke into the United first team. I don't recall hearing or seeing anyone score directly from corners in the higher leagues recently, but I'm sure someone will pop up with some stats...

I can send the save if you like, but you would have to wait until I'm out with my laptop. Crap internet at home I'm afraid...

Anyhow, definately something that could do with looking at as I think it needs to earn the "freak" or "fluke" statement it's tagged with in the commentary.

I dont get why people set their best header to challenge goalkeeper then complain... in the English premiership you wont find the best header of the ball marking the keeper... the person that you will find in that position is one of the strikers that arent good in the air. Their job isnt to win the first ball, they are there to knock in any lose ball from the attempt at goal/keeper spill/defender blocking on line.

Take Man Utd... you wont find Ronaldo, Ferdinad and Vidic standing at the goalkeeper. Where do you find these? Well Generally you find Rio placed towards the back of box. Ronaldo and Vidic will be about 16 yrds out just corner taker side of the penalty spot, easy to spot them, it the players whispering in each others ear saying which will split back post and which will attack near post.... In the keepers area will be Tevez/Berbatov more often then not with Rooney outside the box.

I specifically make sure only challenge keeper person is one of my attackers. And as I am playing as Man Utd then this is generally Tevez or Berbatov.

People playing FM and setting their best header of the ball to challenge keeper whilst in the EPL is clearly not "trying to play like the real team". Only one i can think of in the EPL that uses their best player near the Keeper is Everton and this generally on freekicks out near touchline 5-18yrds from the goal line. However this is to try get people to forget marking him (you think they learn by now), and moment the kick about to be made he actually runs towards nearpost to try get a flick into said post area.

I dont get why people set their best header to challenge goalkeeper then complain... in the English premiership you wont find the best header of the ball marking the keeper... the person that you will find in that position is one of the strikers that arent good in the air. Their job isnt to win the first ball, they are there to knock in any lose ball from the attempt at goal/keeper spill/defender blocking on line.

Take Man Utd... you wont find Ronaldo, Ferdinad and Vidic standing at the goalkeeper. Where do you find these? Well Generally you find Rio placed towards the back of box. Ronaldo and Vidic will be about 16 yrds out just corner taker side of the penalty spot, easy to spot them, it the players whispering in each others ear saying which will split back post and which will attack near post.... In the keepers area will be Tevez/Berbatov more often then not with Rooney outside the box.

Quite true actually.

During my own time playing as a striker both semi-professionally (never featured in FM but was in the very first Premier Manager game lol) and as an amateur, I used to "Challenge GK" at corners. This wasn't aimed at getting on the end of corners, but a bit of "gamesmanship" to effectively distract or impede the movement of the keeper. Impeding the keeper in such a way is technically foul play. I was always amazed that I managed to get away with it for all those years and eventually got booked in my very last game by a very observant referee. I had no complaints and congratulated the ref after the match for being the first to ever really spot what I was doing and during the last game I would ever play.