'Cos You're Hot Then You're Cold...

So, Sears bags seven goals in as many games as I begin the season - I'm delighted with this. Whenever the goial mouth appears before him, he slots it to the side of the keeper, blasts it high into the net, slips it in from a rebound, etc. But, here comes the next game - ah yes, Sears is first on the teamsheet obviously, no point in even putting the likes of Stern John on the bench as my darling striker is in brilliant form. His morale is 'Superb', his average rating is about 7.50 and his energy level is 95%+.

Kick Off.

1. Sears through on goal, just the keeper to beat, easy! Wait! No! How? The ball has just been struck into the stands and decked some poor lad from Bromley.

2. Ah! Another chance for Sears, one on one again, if he gets this on target the keeper has no chance as he isn't the league's best. Wuh? No! The ball is struck straight AT the keeper.

Repeat points 1 and 2 X times. After the match the fans are upset: they single out Sears as particularly useless and say - why on Earth did you not start Stern John? Why start Sears, what madness my dear manager!

The moral of this story is simple: how can one star player perform so admirably and then suddenly forget how to shoot properly? Hmm? Is it just the dice roll of his Finishing 12 stat? Something I cannot control?

While we are on the subject of statistics, I'd like to raise the question of what the average IQ is for a footballer.

Now, if you're a Central Defender, and you have a high Marking stat, and you happen to see a particularly tall and prolific opposition Striker standing unmarked as a Winger is about to deliver a ball in, surely your initial conclusion would be: 'Hey, I really should get in front of that guy and try my best to ensure the beautifully floated ball gliding in cannot reach said chappy's head.' Would you agree?

Here's another example. If you are a Ball Winning Midfielder and there is a loose ball lying a few metres in front of you, with an opposition chappy rapidly closing in, what would be your single greatest urge? Call me old fashioned, but I personally would accelerate at knots toward the ball to try and tear it from the clutches of the incoming player. Is this what my player does? My player who is playing at the team's High Tempo, who has an Acceleration of over 13. Nope. He actually WALKS, and I seriously mean WALKS toward the ball, and, yep, you guessed it, he just misses out on it. Oh and btw, his energy levels are consistently good - I promise.

I could spout many more of these bizarre incidents, and believe me, they are very frequent, happening across a wide range of downloaded tactics, personal tactics, and even sod all tactics.

My biggest complaint of the ME is quite simply this: I strongly believe every player needs two new statistics - Urgency and Common Sense. I presume Determination is the primeval version of my Urgency stat - but in every game I've played, I've genuinely never truly believed any player on the pitch - on my side and on the opposition side has felt a geuine urgency to grab the ball, kick the ball, shoot it, clear it, tear it from someone's feet by ANY means necessary. Now one of the first things you will notice about football is that it is a frantic and often ugly game. The ball is like a magnet, a magnet that every player will do anything to get at - FM doesn't have this for me. Common Sense is a vital stat. Once again, I preumse Decisions is the primitive form of this stat, but Decisions can affect everything from where you shoot to who you pass the ball to, etc. Common Sense would be far more incorporating of every generic situation where, in real life, any player with half a brain, from John Terry to Billy McFootieturd, would understand what is going on and just do the darn obvious thing that the situation is screaming out for.

Hootoo has spoken, you have the floor.

I think a lot of the poblems people have with the ME is this lack of common sense you see, the full back who puts it out for a corner under no pressure. The player who as you say walks back to get the ball whilst the opposition player is going like a bat out of hell.

I dunno what its down to though, I'm not 100% sure its all down to the ME I reckon it might have summit to do with the graphical reprensentation of the ME that causes all this frustration.

I tend to get quite frustrated at times with this match engine.

Billie McFootieturd

Yeah I get wound up by my players' lack of 'drive' on the pitch quite often, in exactly the same circumstances that the OP has outlined.

The problem is, if my players all played the way their real-life counterparts can, I would be THRASHING every opponent about 8-0 or more. I have a sneaking suspicion that a lot of the funny goings-on within the match are happening in order to 'balance the scores' to a more realistic level.

The vast majority of my results are realistic, and I have no complaints there, but how the matches are often presented (and how the results are achieved) is sometimes laughably bad.

So, Sears bags seven goals in as many games as I begin the season - I'm delighted with this. Whenever the goial mouth appears before him, he slots it to the side of the keeper, blasts it high into the net, slips it in from a rebound, etc. But, here comes the next game - ah yes, Sears is first on the teamsheet obviously, no point in even putting the likes of Stern John on the bench as my darling striker is in brilliant form. His morale is 'Superb', his average rating is about 7.50 and his energy level is 95%+.

Kick Off.

1. Sears through on goal, just the keeper to beat, easy! Wait! No! How? The ball has just been struck into the stands and decked some poor lad from Bromley.

2. Ah! Another chance for Sears, one on one again, if he gets this on target the keeper has no chance as he isn't the league's best. Wuh? No! The ball is struck straight AT the keeper.

Repeat points 1 and 2 X times. After the match the fans are upset: they single out Sears as particularly useless and say - why on Earth did you not start Stern John? Why start Sears, what madness my dear manager!

The moral of this story is simple: how can one star player perform so admirably and then suddenly forget how to shoot properly? Hmm? Is it just the dice roll of his Finishing 12 stat? Something I cannot control?

While we are on the subject of statistics, I'd like to raise the question of what the average IQ is for a footballer.

Now, if you're a Central Defender, and you have a high Marking stat, and you happen to see a particularly tall and prolific opposition Striker standing unmarked as a Winger is about to deliver a ball in, surely your initial conclusion would be: 'Hey, I really should get in front of that guy and try my best to ensure the beautifully floated ball gliding in cannot reach said chappy's head.' Would you agree?

Here's another example. If you are a Ball Winning Midfielder and there is a loose ball lying a few metres in front of you, with an opposition chappy rapidly closing in, what would be your single greatest urge? Call me old fashioned, but I personally would accelerate at knots toward the ball to try and tear it from the clutches of the incoming player. Is this what my player does? My player who is playing at the team's High Tempo, who has an Acceleration of over 13. Nope. He actually WALKS, and I seriously mean WALKS toward the ball, and, yep, you guessed it, he just misses out on it. Oh and btw, his energy levels are consistently good - I promise.

I could spout many more of these bizarre incidents, and believe me, they are very frequent, happening across a wide range of downloaded tactics, personal tactics, and even sod all tactics.

My biggest complaint of the ME is quite simply this: I strongly believe every player needs two new statistics - Urgency and Common Sense. I presume Determination is the primeval version of my Urgency stat - but in every game I've played, I've genuinely never truly believed any player on the pitch - on my side and on the opposition side has felt a geuine urgency to grab the ball, kick the ball, shoot it, clear it, tear it from someone's feet by ANY means necessary. Now one of the first things you will notice about football is that it is a frantic and often ugly game. The ball is like a magnet, a magnet that every player will do anything to get at - FM doesn't have this for me. Common Sense is a vital stat. Once again, I preumse Decisions is the primitive form of this stat, but Decisions can affect everything from where you shoot to who you pass the ball to, etc. Common Sense would be far more incorporating of every generic situation where, in real life, any player with half a brain, from John Terry to Billy McFootieturd, would understand what is going on and just do the darn obvious thing that the situation is screaming out for.

Hootoo has spoken, you have the floor.

Have you tried looking at the split view screen during the game and clicking on your team's motivation. I have started to use this when I seem to dominate a game and can't win or stikers just keep missing etc. What I have found is that, without any warning, certain players suddenly become complacent or nervous for games. I am not sure how the game does this but it is probably a combination of team talks and press conferences with some sort of random element, as it happens to nearly all players, regardless of their ability to handle pressure, their determination or their professionalism etc. However, one thing that seems to consistently happen when one or two players are nervous or complacent is that nobody can score easily, despite chance after chnace and the opposition are far more likely to score from very few chances.

Many people keep saying "its your tactics" to problems like this but that is not the whole story. There is a thread somewhere on this called "teamtalks if you are clueless" that provides more detail on how to get round this problem. I still find it hard to fully combat this but the advice there really helps. Oh and don't bring on substitutes too early if you are winning, it doesn't matter what team talk you give them (or none), they always start off complacent and team performances tend to suffer for it.

Yeah that teamtalks thread is good, and I've employed nthe advice I've read there. Thing is, my example of Sears incorporates times when he is confident, complacent, okay and fired up - so my problem really is across the spectrum.

I believe FM uses the 'random' element too heavily at times - and I do mean at times - because a lot of my experience has been good. When a game incorporates the 'random' element, it leaves me very frustrated, especially when it causes something diastrous to happen. I do often feel the game has taken a set against me and I do not like that - let me give you an example. The other day I was playing an in-form West Brom at the Hawthorns and ended up losing 3-0. Before the game I noticed that Brom tended to score most goals in the opening 15 minutes of the match. I also took stock of exactly which attackers were the most lethal and set man marking in variosu areas, plus the usual weak foot, hard tackle, close down, etc. I also started the match with 'Counter' set, so my team knew its duties. By the 18th minute I was 3-0 down. Two of those goals just did my head in, simply because the players failed in their duties. One goal happened where a Brom left winger dribbled the ball into the penalty box, two of my defenders tracking him all the way, this chap gets to the six yard area at a snail pace - my defenders do not budge. They proceed to remain still as the left winger passes the ball to an unmarked player in the six yard box who taps it in... My defence have good stats, I promise, so why did they do nothing? Especially since I'd specifically instructed them to do so. And that is how Brunt managed a 30 yard rocket too - no one closed him down when I'd SPECIFICALLY told them too, they stood there watching instead. Their energy and condidence were both fine too I hasten to add - and besides, even if they did have low confidence or were only playing okay, why would that stop a player from actually performing his duties on the pitch? Does he just stand there saying: 'I have something of an inferiority complex, and thus I cannot be bothered to actually try and tackle this incoming Striker.' (???) So yes, a Common Sense stat NEEDS to be incorporated - no player is as thick as I've been seeing in-game. And also, this random element needs to be eradicated to a certain degree, which is where my proposal for FM11 comes in.

How about, in between matches, instead of just leaving players to their own computer generated, stat-driven training, you actually take a more hands on and fun approach where you go through training routines with some of the players. Doing this week in, week out for every player would of course be both tedious and monotonous, so I do not advocate this at all. BUT if you are having the problem I've had with Sears where the AI decides to make his shots something akin to clay pigeon rifling, then you can have the option of going over a shooting training routine - a sort of mini-game maybe? - where you can win a temporary boost to certain stats (like Finishing or Composure in this case). This would also perform the wonderful role of depicting a player who is IN or OUT of form. You with me? This training minigame could only be implemented once a month or fortnight per player perhaps, and it would be made so it is entirely down to you how well you do, based on your skill with said minigame.

I think a lot of the poblems people have with the ME is this lack of common sense you see, the full back who puts it out for a corner under no pressure. The player who as you say walks back to get the ball whilst the opposition player is going like a bat out of hell.

I dunno what its down to though, I'm not 100% sure its all down to the ME I reckon it might have summit to do with the graphical reprensentation of the ME that causes all this frustration.

Yeh in 3D mode when your player has kicked it out for a corner from 40 yards outside his own box, with no pressure - what has actually happened is he passed it the other way and you scored, but this is just graphically represented incorrectly via the 3D option of watching the match.

The players creeping desperately slowly towards a free ball is usually caused by low Anticipation - again though it's poorly represented by the 3D. I put a youth CB in for a couple of games because his stats looked good at first glance (jumping, positioning, tackling, marking etc) but he had 1 Anticipation. The result was many highlights of him having a 10+ yard headstart for a loose ball but just standing and looking while the opposition player steamed past him.

The players creeping desperately slowly towards a free ball is usually caused by low Anticipation - again though it's poorly represented by the 3D. I put a youth CB in for a couple of games because his stats looked good at first glance (jumping, positioning, tackling, marking etc) but he had 1 Anticipation. The result was many highlights of him having a 10+ yard headstart for a loose ball but just standing and looking while the opposition player steamed past him.

And even if the player has 1 Anticipation - that must translate to real life to mean that players do actually stand and stare at a ball instead of running for it. Never ever seen that happen, even 9 year-olds don't do that. Once again, I think this shows that the stat system is fundamentally flawed.

Why isn't billy Mcfootieturd in my DB? sort it out SI!!

I think (and hope) that alot of what looks like players not sprinting for the ball etc is because the ME just isn't very good and struggles to show what is really happening.

And even if the player has 1 Anticipation - that must translate to real life to mean that players do actually stand and stare at a ball instead of running for it. Never ever seen that happen, even 9 year-olds don't do that. Once again, I think this shows that the stat system is fundamentally flawed.

My 1 Anticipation defender hasn't read that play as well as the 15+ Anticipation forward so the forward gets to the ball first. That is fair enough as far as I'm concerned. Unfortunately with the way the 3D displays that it looks more like the defender has suffered a seizure as, instead of being caught out of position and not being able to make the ground up, the defender is in a good position but then runs on the spot for a few seconds. The end result is the same but it looks bonkers on the 3D representation.

I'd expect the 3D will become slicker and slicker over time as there are more 'bits' (excuse my ignorance) added in which fit better with what the background match engine is doing.

Yeh in 3D mode when your player has kicked it out for a corner from 40 yards outside his own box, with no pressure - what has actually happened is he passed it the other way and you scored, but this is just graphically represented incorrectly via the 3D option of watching the match.

Well thats not really what I meant. I'm yet to see a player but the ball out for a corner from 40yrd however it might happen. What I am saying is that the ME decides certain things are going to happen, but the graphical representation is so bad that it defies th general common sense in football ala what the OP is getting at. I totally agree that the ME is faulty and the 10.2 version is probably one of the most frustrating ones I have come across. What I am getting at is that as much as the ME needs improving (and it does) the way it is shown t us via the 3D or 2D views does also.

Yeah that teamtalks thread is good, and I've employed nthe advice I've read there. Thing is, my example of Sears incorporates times when he is confident, complacent, okay and fired up - so my problem really is across the spectrum.

I believe FM uses the 'random' element too heavily at times - and I do mean at times - because a lot of my experience has been good. When a game incorporates the 'random' element, it leaves me very frustrated, especially when it causes something diastrous to happen. I do often feel the game has taken a set against me and I do not like that - let me give you an example. The other day I was playing an in-form West Brom at the Hawthorns and ended up losing 3-0. Before the game I noticed that Brom tended to score most goals in the opening 15 minutes of the match. I also took stock of exactly which attackers were the most lethal and set man marking in variosu areas, plus the usual weak foot, hard tackle, close down, etc. I also started the match with 'Counter' set, so my team knew its duties. By the 18th minute I was 3-0 down. Two of those goals just did my head in, simply because the players failed in their duties. One goal happened where a Brom left winger dribbled the ball into the penalty box, two of my defenders tracking him all the way, this chap gets to the six yard area at a snail pace - my defenders do not budge. They proceed to remain still as the left winger passes the ball to an unmarked player in the six yard box who taps it in... My defence have good stats, I promise, so why did they do nothing? Especially since I'd specifically instructed them to do so. And that is how Brunt managed a 30 yard rocket too - no one closed him down when I'd SPECIFICALLY told them too, they stood there watching instead. Their energy and condidence were both fine too I hasten to add - and besides, even if they did have low confidence or were only playing okay, why would that stop a player from actually performing his duties on the pitch? Does he just stand there saying: 'I have something of an inferiority complex, and thus I cannot be bothered to actually try and tackle this incoming Striker.' (???) So yes, a Common Sense stat NEEDS to be incorporated - no player is as thick as I've been seeing in-game. And also, this random element needs to be eradicated to a certain degree, which is where my proposal for FM11 comes in.

How about, in between matches, instead of just leaving players to their own computer generated, stat-driven training, you actually take a more hands on and fun approach where you go through training routines with some of the players. Doing this week in, week out for every player would of course be both tedious and monotonous, so I do not advocate this at all. BUT if you are having the problem I've had with Sears where the AI decides to make his shots something akin to clay pigeon rifling, then you can have the option of going over a shooting training routine - a sort of mini-game maybe? - where you can win a temporary boost to certain stats (like Finishing or Composure in this case). This would also perform the wonderful role of depicting a player who is IN or OUT of form. You with me? This training minigame could only be implemented once a month or fortnight per player perhaps, and it would be made so it is entirely down to you how well you do, based on your skill with said minigame.

Sorry I maybe didn't make this clear in my previous post. If another player is complacent or nervous, this seems to adversley affect other players' ability to score and your team's ability to defend. So, if your goalie is feeling complacent, it seems to have an effect on your strikers ability to score! This is my experience anyway and, if correct, is just plain wrong IMO.

"My 1 Anticipation defender hasn't read that play as well as the 15+ Anticipation forward so the forward gets to the ball first. That is fair enough as far as I'm concerned."

- agreed, I'd just like to see the Ant. 1 player actually make a bloody big effort at it, even though he won't get there.

"as much as the ME needs improving (and it does) the way it is shown t us via the 3D or 2D views does also"

- agreed.

"just plain wrong IMO"

- agreed, and it is a hideous prospect indeed.

I think SI must reduce created chances in front of scored chances. Most of my matches I watch about 15 min. on more than 30 highlights just to end 0-0. It's just waste of time..

Unfortunately, Freddie Sears can't have a perfect match every match

Sometimes, I feel that the opponent always gets there 1st especially when my strikers shot rebounds back, the opponents defenders race past my strikers to clear, but its not a major issue as I win anyway