Well that was Embarrassing... (Player naming)

Just playing an England save, in the World cup, already qualified for the 2nd round, easily. So we are playing Saudi Arabia, I was trying to play some of the fringe players, gaving my stars abit of a rest. All going well, 2-0 up. Then something, I don't know what happened. Didn't change tactics, Bam, bam, bam within 5 minutes we were 3-2 down. Picture says it all. Fans aren't happy to say the least.

You were right, that's just embarrasing.

Don't really know what to say. I mean you could have changed tactics but i wouldn't have thought that Saudi Arabia could have got a second or even third. How were they're goals scored. And good luck in the world cup.

Well the first goal was an interception from a throwing just outside of the 16 yard box and the striker took it forward 10 yards, defenders left him alone, bang from just inside the 16 yard box. Keeper didn't get near it,

Second was a cross to the back post, a player ran in, no defender on him. Then tapped it in from 6 yards. Doh.

Thirdly was a long punt over my defence, their attacker got it, ran 30 yards, had a shot, keeper parried and then scored from the rebound. Doh! My defenders fell asleep I think.

Al-Qahtani is awesome anyway, no big deal.

I have a screenshot of England losing to Liechtenstein, and there's one somewhere on this forum where England lost to Andorra.

do you mean 18 yard box?

just being picky, but yeah that is 1 in a million. maybe you could have bought time-wasting in or gone more defensive after their first goal because they have momentum

Al-Qahtani is awesome anyway, no big deal.

I assume you do want realism in the game? Do you think if England lost to Saudi Arabia with 3 mins + injury time to go the press would say 'no big deal' or 'expected'? I really, really doubt it.

I have a screenshot of England losing to Liechtenstein, and there's one somewhere on this forum where England lost to Andorra

Both of these would never happen. Not now or for the next 30 years or so, it simply wouldnt happen.

Clearly what has happened is a bug in the game yet again. Because the user hasn't gone to defensive tactics he has been punished, which if he was playing against Brazil, Argentina or Spain fair enough, but against SA? Ridiculous. Where is the reality in this game? It's not reality it's a bunch of ridiculous freak occurrences so people can say, "hey that could happen in real life you know!, remember 1957 when my local team was playing and a horse ran on the pitch and scored a hat trick and it was allowed..........". A little over the top granted but you get the idea.

This is the most annoying thing ever when you are trying to play a 'realistic' game. The most realistic thing should be the results and the manner in which the results are achieved. Fair enough if SA had clung on to a lead but the odds of them banging in 3 with so little time left? I think the quote above of a million to one are good odds...

My point is btw..............

Don't be embarrassed, it's the game at fault, not you.

Any result is possible, just because he lost doesn't mean the game is at fault. You're right, something like this would be very rare irl, real life is one reality. There are thousands of people playing their own saves so something like this is always going to pop up. People don't make threads saying "look what happened, exactly what I expected."

My point is btw..............

Don't be embarrassed, it's the game at fault, not you.

Absolute rubbish.

If that was the case what is the point of even playing the game. In fact if it can't ever happen why are we even bothering with a World Cup next year we could just hand the trophy out now.

Just to point out some flaws in your theory:

A) You don't know what team he picked

B) You don't know their morale

C) You don't know what tactics were played

D) Saudi Arabia aren't some sunday league team

To the OP

In a twisted way it may even be a benefit as it will focus the team for the next match.

Didn't change tactics

Rookie error

Let's look at the facts. It is 2010, so the current squad are pretty much still together. By the looks of it he has played a strong team. At the minute SA are ranked 69th in the world (I think), behind Iran, Wales, Bahrain, Algeria, Burkina Faso.....

Taking all this in to consideration and also taking their competetive records too I don't get what you are saying when you say 'real life is one reality'? This game as SI keep telling us is supposed to reflect real life, not life in my head, your head or anyone elses.

Also your point of people not making threads saying this is what I expected means exactly nothing in relation to what this guy or I have said, so I can't understand why you said that either.

You say any result is possible, so Ossett Town stand a chance in this years FA Cup do they? Man Utd vs Ossett Town final? If that happened on FM (not RL) I would bet on one thing, some people on here would try and explain it.

With the amount of people playing these games, you don't expect some freak results?

Absolute rubbish.

If that was the case what is the point of even playing the game. In fact if it can't ever happen why are we even bothering with a World Cup next year we could just hand the trophy out now.

Just to point out some flaws in your theory:

A) You don't know what team he picked

B) You don't know their morale

C) You don't know what tactics were played

D) Saudi Arabia aren't some sunday league team

To the OP

In a twisted way it may even be a benefit as it will focus the team for the next match.

The team he picked managed to go 2-0 up and stay that way for 87 minutes. Did you not see that, or is that just a fluke on Englands behalf?

Morale fair enough I don't know but I am guessing it can't be that bad, at least not V.poor on everyone so probably not a factor. Edit: As we can see his morale was high.......players over confident? lol is that the feel you got in the dressing room?

Tactics were good enough as I said to get him 2-0 up against a team ranked 69th in the world atm. If they were that bad how did he get 2-0 up?

SA aren't some sunday league team. And they don't compete with teams like England in major competitions either, proven time after time, comp after comp.

I think you fall in to the category of what I said earlier, there will always be people who say, hey that could happen through blind support of this game.

Well, it's abit of a pain, they only had one real player. Anyway, went onto win the next game agaisnt France 1-0 in extra time, so it's not all bad.

It is quite unrealistic, but it's football, maybe I should have changed something around.

Morale was high (But a few players overconfident)

My team was:

------------Green----------

Johnson-Ferdinand-Terry-Cole

-----------Barry-----------

Walcott---J.Cole---Milner--

----Defoe-------Crouch---

Not a horrible team, but not my first team either.

Match stats:

I had 21 shots, 10 on target, 2 Clear cut chances.

They had:

5 Shots on target, 3 clear cut chances.

I had 57% possesion. Meh

With the amount of people playing these games, you don't expect some freak results?

It depends on how you would describe a freak result. A non league team beating a League one team may happen. A League one team beating a PL team may happen, even a Lague two team.....I don't deny that.

But for a poor team to beat one of the best in the world with 3 mins + injury time left is beyond ridiculous IMO. All because he didn't change tactics as you put it? The players in this game must have all had half time labotomies for this to happen. As if in real life they would lose just because Capello didn't say, with 3 minutes to go, hey lads back off these guys are handy with 3 mins to go, they are notorious for it. I can see the back pages now, 'England lose to Sa because they fail to change tactics, beginners error from Capello' - Yea right, think I will start training for the Olympics to run against Usain Bolt as I may beat him!

The tactics may have been good enough to get him 2-0 up but if the other team started to attack more and nothing was done to counteract it, then it is possible they would create chances. It's a very unlikely result but to say it's impossible is wrong, like I said above, with the amount of games being played by FM'ers, there are bound to be some freak results.

And, let's not play the fanboy card, ay?

Sorry, it was king of an half arsed way of explaining it becasue I assumed you'd get the jist of what I was saying.

Take this weekends set of fixtures, they were played once and we got one set of results. If everyone who owns a copy of FM were to simulate those fixtures we would have thousands of sets of results, there would be plently of results in there that would be considred a freak result, a lot freakier than SA three goalsin the last 10 minutes.

Rookie error

To be fair 3 goals in the last 5 mins didn't give him much chance to change tactics

Let's look at the facts. It is 2010, so the current squad are pretty much still together. By the looks of it he has played a strong team. At the minute SA are ranked 69th in the world (I think), behind Iran, Wales, Bahrain, Algeria, Burkina Faso.....

A) He is the England manager so he could have picked anyone but its fair to assume we are familiar with all of them.

B) Its June 2010 and he started the save in July 2008, in that two season period you don't know the SA results and therefore you don't know their ranking.

Moving back to your earlier point you stated the chance of it happening is 1,000,000 to 1.

If that was the case then with a million people playing a save 1 of those people would be expected to see that odd result. Damien's point was the 999,999 wouldn't bother making a thread because it wasn't odd but the person that did experience that result is much more likely too because it is an odd result.

SA are ranked 75th in the world, currently. In this save

The tactics may have been good enough to get him 2-0 up but if the other team started to attack more and nothing was done to counteract it, then it is possible they would create chances. It's a very unlikely result but to say it's impossible is wrong, like I said above, with the amount of games being played by FM'ers, there are bound to be some freak results.

And, let's not play the fanboy card, ay?

Yes because SA as I said are notorious for their attacking prowess once they go 2-0 down with 3 minutes left, every team in the world knows it and backs off when they are 2-0 with 3 mins to go against SA LMAO...

The amount of results possibel is irrelevant, if he was in 2020 perhas this would come in to it, you have seen his team which he posted not so long ago, his morale is good, I won't even go in to the tactics because I think your argument is beyond ridiculous, as I said, it depends on what you call a freak result. This is a joke.

Oh and when did I play any 'fanboy' card, what ever that is. I simply stated some people will try to explain anything because of their blind love for the game. I am allowed to say this am I not?

Cougar, so that means SA have got worse than they currently are. Your points are running out lol

Oh and when did I play any 'fanboy' card, what ever that is. I simply stated some people will try to explain anything because of their blind love for the game. I am allowed to say this am I not?

No, because it just serves to wind people up.

To be fair 3 goals in the last 5 mins didn't give him much chance to change tactics

A) He is the England manager so he could have picked anyone but its fair to assume we are familiar with all of them.

B) Its June 2010 and he started the save in July 2008, in that two season period you don't know the SA results and therefore you don't know their ranking.

Moving back to your earlier point you stated the chance of it happening is 1,000,000 to 1.

If that was the case then with a million people playing a save 1 of those people would be expected to see that odd result. Damien's point was the 999,999 wouldn't bother making a thread because it wasn't odd but the person that did experience that result is much more likely too because it is an odd result.

I think we have seen more than one person with this sort of thing happen haven't we Cougar? That is half the point, things like this happen too often, it has happened to me and several other people on here and has always been accounted for with some dodgy explanation.

If your theory is right we should have seen one post on ehre shouldn't we? Two at the most cos didn't this game sell about 1 million copies?

It isn't as if we're trying to explain anything insane, how is so unbelievable for a team of professional footballers to score 3 goals in a short space of time?

No, because it just serves to wind people up.

You are the only one bringing it up and you are a mod, so you are trying to either wind me up or just trying to flex your 'mod' muscles because you are losing the argument. I see nobody else saying anything about what I said.

Also you are dragging the debate off topic with your pursuit of your point, your point is noted can we move on now seeing as no one else has brought it up?

When players become complacent these things can happen thats why a half time team talk of ' dont let performance drop' .... is useful. For the guys blaming the game, grow up anything is possible in real life and FM.

It isn't as if we're trying to explain anything insane, how is so unbelievable for a team of professional footballers to score 3 goals in a short space of time?

Have you not seen all the points to this discussion Damien? If it was that simple and this game could be explained in such basic terms when anything happens nobody would even create a single post about anything...

When players become complacent these things can happen thats why a half time team talk of ' dont let performance drop' .... is useful. For the guys blaming the game, grow up anything is possible in real life and FM.

Grow up, take a look at your post then look at who needs to grow up. Neij or whatever your name is, if his post isn't trying to wind people up then what is? As I can see nothing in his argument which offers anything to this discussion.

I don't know what you're trying to achieve here. You are giving your opinion of the game but when anyone disagrees with you or tries to give a rational explanation you accuse them of blindly defending the game.

I think we have seen more than one person with this sort of thing happen haven't we Cougar? That is half the point, things like this happen too often, it has happened to me and several other people on here and has always been accounted for with some dodgy explanation.

If your theory is right we should have seen one post on ehre shouldn't we? Two at the most cos didn't this game sell about 1 million copies?

I am getting lost for words but it isn't because of the result, its because of your narrow minded attitude that something couldn't possibly happen unless you deem it acceptable

So 69th/75th in the rankings, hardly a difference so you can lose the elitist attitude you are coming across as having in your posts.

I'm not going to argue further but I will leave you with a question - What was the score in RL the last time England & SA played?

Actually Damien I have explained my argument in detail. I have said his morale, tactics and team selection all seemed sound. I have said SA are a poor team now IRL and their ranking on his game has got worse.

I have also taken everybody's point and argued it properly making several points to counter their points.

My aim initially if you look was to say to the OP it isn't his fault, it is the game at fault.

Let's not turn this into an argument guys.

SA aren't actually that poor, they're one of the best teams in Asia. Your counter points just seem to be dismissive rather than constructive.

And no problem Neji, I'll leave it there. Doesn't look like this is going anywhere anyway.

England lost to N.Ireland in real life, did anyone see that happening?

N.I are 37 places above Sa in the world rankings...

N.I are 37 places above Sa in the world rankings...

So? It is still a shock result.

I am getting lost for words but it isn't because of the result, its because of your narrow minded attitude that something couldn't possibly happen unless you deem it acceptable

So 69th/75th in the rankings, hardly a difference so you can lose the elitist attitude you are coming across as having in your posts.

I'm not going to argue further but I will leave you with a question - What was the score in RL the last time England & SA played?

Why am I narrow minded? Because I don't agree with you?

If England dropped 6 places in the rankings I bet someone would have something to say...

As for my elitist attitude I can only assume you are saying that because you are annoyed that I am continuing my argument. SOrry if I came across as elitist.

The last time they played was 0-0 wasn't it in a friendly? If I am right? If you are going to use that then surely you should also be noting that it was a friendly and not a competitive match. I'm sure you are aware of Englands friendly stats and their competitive stats which vary wildly....

So? It is still a shock result.

So....yes, it was a massive shock, but my point is NI would be expected to beat SA in a competitive match when 2-0 with 3 mins to go, nevr mind England. Lets not forget the 3 mins to go bit....

Just beat mexico 6-1 in the semi's. Kinda makes up for the **** storm.

With the amount of people playing these games, you don't expect some freak results?

QFT.

That's all it is, a freak result. With the amount of games played over all users this is bound to happen. Stop yelling bug everytime something unforseen happens. If the game would mirror real life and your expectations all the time there'd be no use playing it would there?

flex your mod muscles

this made me lol very much i can just imagine it

Why am I narrow minded? Because I don't agree with you?

If England dropped 6 places in the rankings I bet someone would have something to say...

As for my elitist attitude I can only assume you are saying that because you are annoyed that I am continuing my argument. SOrry if I came across as elitist.

The last time they played was 0-0 wasn't it in a friendly? If I am right? If you are going to use that then surely you should also be noting that it was a friendly and not a competitive match. I'm sure you are aware of Englands friendly stats and their competitive stats which vary wildly....

Ok I said the last post was my last word but I will respond to this as it asks a question.

Rankings - We all know that although they generally in the right area they are still not accurate. Given the way points are calculated a six place move around SA position is neither here nor there. TBH a six place drop for England wouldn't really be a surprise either if they lost a couple of matches.

Narrow minded/Elitist attitude - Your narrow minded because you can't accept that this type of result is possible even if extremely rare. Because of this you talk down to and dismiss anyone who doesn't agree with your point of view. Apology accepted btw.

Yes it was 0-0 last time and it was a friendly but the OP also stated he played fringe players as the team had already qualified for the knockout stages so I would expect a similar type of lineup.

QFT.

That's all it is, a freak result. With the amount of games played over all users this is bound to happen. Stop yelling bug everytime something unforseen happens. If the game would mirror real life and your expectations all the time there'd be no use playing it would there?

As I said Lomedae, I can accept freak results, but for it to happen in these circumstances is ridiculous. If Sa had clung on to a lead after a poor first half showing by England then yes, accepted, but when England are going well and nothing is wrong, (we have deduced that) then this is very unrealistic.

I thought the game was supposed to mirror real life, it's one of the main things SI are in puruit of isn't it? After discussions with them on twitter and on here I have got that response all the time.

To give you another example, I lent the game to my dad who used to enjoy it years ago. He was playing as Southend I think and went 6-0 down in the first half. I was there with him watching the game (I'd popped in to see him), and he couldnt believe it cos his opponents were crap. I said to him watch you just never know with this crazy game, what happened? He won 7-6 with 4 goals in the last 5 mins. He was playing 9.0.3 too. How do you explain that?

4-4 in the final at the end of extra time V Italy, penaltys now. I think this is a rather freak tournement. Went down 3-1 and came back to 4-3 in extra time but they scored a screamer. This game doesn't have half ups and downs.

I think SA was just a freak result.

Ok I said the last post was my last word but I will respond to this as it asks a question.

Rankings - We all know that although they generally in the right area they are still not accurate. Given the way points are calculated a six place move around SA position is neither here nor there. TBH a six place drop for England wouldn't really be a surprise either if they lost a couple of matches.

Narrow minded/Elitist attitude - Your narrow minded because you can't accept that this type of result is possible even if extremely rare. Because of this you talk down to and dismiss anyone who doesn't agree with your point of view. Apology accepted btw.

Yes it was 0-0 last time and it was a friendly but the OP also stated he played fringe players as the team had already qualified for the knockout stages so I would expect a similar type of lineup.

I didn't intend to talk down to anyone so again apologies, I think this may have appeared this way because I am trying to discuss this with about 6 people lol! I had to make my points strong to save on typing!

Your point of fringe players - Personally I wouldnt class Terry, Ferdinand, A.Cole, Johnson, Barry, Walcott and Defoe fringe players. Fair enough could be stronger but still world class IMO, and certainly professional enough and good enough to hold a 2-0 lead without the manager having to tell their dumb a** to go defensive with 3 mins to go against a poor team.

Saudi Arabia are a great team IRL, I watch them play and they have some really talented playmakers and reliable strikers. Most of their team could probably play in the Championship at least, at least IRL terms. In FM liken this result to Leeds-Reading Standard team Beating Arsenal....not likely, but Sunderland just won the FA cup in my 2010 save.

It is not at all unbelievable IMO for SA to beat A fringe England side. Have you guys actuialy watched SA play, I do as Im Australian, so we play Qualifiers,...they're good stuff

Oh my god, SA are a great team, I am not even going to go there with someone who has that opinion lol.

I wish my team (Leeds) could buy some fringe England players like Ferdinand and Terry, what are you doing Ken Bates you fool!

The fact that you refuse to beleive SA are a great team is quite...odd

They are very good, I'll tell you an FM experience. I lost to Iceland with Holland 1-0....I dominated the entire match...at the time, Iceland were ranked over 100 places behind me.

It happens, it wasn't unrealistic