Last minutes of the game...

This post is made mostly out of frustration after my cained 3-2 in the second leg of the UEFA Cup Semi final against Man City....

The one thing I HATE about FM is how if the AI team is losing as the game draws to a close is how the last few minutes of the game seem to play in real-time, and more often than not they end up having about 10 shots on goal, usually scoring at least one!

Yet, Whenever my team is trailing the last few minutes of the game are gone in the blink of an eye!

I put it down to my imagination at first, have dismissed it as swings and round-abouts and hoped it would happen to me, and even blamed my tactics but I'm now buying my membership to the 'The AI is Cheating' fan club. lol

Had this have been just a 1 off game I would have continued on in ignorance, but I decided not to accept a similar out come earlier on tonight when i refused another blatant AI cheat, and reverted back to the save game before the match.

After 11 matches (yes 11 matches!!!) with different tactics, mentality, starting line ups - the best outcome I could manage was the 3-2 defeat I ended up with!

My last game, Newcastle v Man City 2013 Uefa cup final away - the 1st leg was a 1-1 tie. I run out and get a goal in the first 20 minutes. No tactical changes are made by either side by half time. Second Half they come out immediately and score (super half time talk). I resonated 10 minutes later with a scrappy goal that came from a corner.

The game plows on and man city look more and more dangerous. Then it happens, they switch to the infamous 4-2-4 in the 83rd minute, which by now is playing highlights in real time by the second!

Then BANG - before my quick counter tactics to teh 4-2-4 are initiated (it was still 'making changes'), they slot another goal home! Level pegging at 2-2 and the game continues in super slow motion when man city have the ball in my half of the pitch, and onyl cuts to tehnext highlight, that is just 20 seconds or so later, when I get possession of the ball.

Subsiquetly, on the 93 minute they slot home another goal! Bosh 3-2, Newcastle fail to list theUEFA cup for their third successive season because the AI fancied the silverware more!

Lol, that`s very true and very frustating. I must say i was chuckling to myself when reading your post though, i`ve suffered it myself so many times!

It is something the programmers need to sort out though, and make it the same whether the SI or human team is winning because it is a bit of a farcical situation at the moment...

You need to counter act their 4-2-4. Simple as that.

Originally posted by DietSpam:

You need to counter act their 4-2-4. Simple as that.

You need to read the post. Simple as that.

BANG - before my quick counter tactics to teh 4-2-4 are initiated (it was still 'making changes'), they slot another goal home

this is a constant issue i face. it seems that the AI can make changes in a heartbeat, but we have to wait anywhere up to 20 game minutes for it to occur. i've even had games in which while i'm waiting for my subs/changes to occur, the AI has made 2 subs and changed their formation at 3 different times!! this really needs to be fixed for 09. it does have the potential to completly ruin the game for me.

i am sick of making the typical lead holding sub (defender on for striker) and while waiting for it to happen I get a player sent off, or when bringing off that player who hasn't been doing quite while you're waiting he turns into a demigod and scores a 30 yard screamer, then he leaves the field pi**ed off at me!

The substitution is always made in a reasonable amount of time for me, but if it's taking 20 minutes then, well... wow. Do none of your players see you jumping on the sidelines yelling and screaming at them to kick the ball out of bounds?

Anyways, for the original poster, the only advice that I could think of is that when you noticed at the beginning of the second half that they were fired up, and you got a lucky goal, would be to automatically switch to a defensive tactic after your goal in the ~55th minute. I don't know how limited your normal counter to the 4-2-4 is against other formations so you might not want to switch to that right away, but at least I would take forward runs off of my fullbacks and say to always close down his CM's in case the AI switches. Then with about 15-20 minutes left in the game, switch to the 4-2-4 counter even if it hasn't switched yet because you "know" it will very soon at that point in the game.

If it feels like the game is over in the blink of an eye in games where you are losing compared to the ones you are winning, I'm pretty sure that just means the AI manager has a better tactic for killing games off than you do, or your tactics just aren't as good at creating chances when you are behind. One or the other, probably both.

And I'm feeling a bit of a void in my life right now because nobody else has bothered to say this, so to make myself whole again, here it is... "the game doesn't cheat".

I liked it before how the game would stop went you pressed tactics and then when the ball went out it let you do the changes then. Now its a bit harder.

Was going to start the good ol' "it's your tactics" rant, but I have to agree with you re: tactical changes. I tend to pause the game to make my changes and it seems to make the changes as soon as you click play, but on occasion it doesn't and ridiculously it takes 10 minutes (in game minutes ) for a substitution

I’m a bit more refreshed this morning, I was really tired and frustrated when making this initial post last night but wasn’t want to rant off that the game was bugged, cheating or generally rubbish. It was just a post about some of the more frustrating ‘characteristics’ of FM lol.

I agree it most likely was the tactics I was using, or rather the timing of the tactics and the time it took to deploy counter tactics. I’m not sure if it was clear from my original post, because of my lazy unclear writing style, I had done 11 reloads of the game using multiple tactics and line ups and I’m not one for slap-dash tactics. I like to get in there preparing for each match , tweaking each players personal instructions and setting the opposition instructions. This final game was the best out-come I managed, and I stuck with it because I was resigned to the fact that short of Man City all getting a case of the “Eartha Kitt’s†on match day, nothing was going to help me win this game!

Originally posted by Nomis07:

Was going to start the good ol' "it's your tactics" rant, but I have to agree with you re: tactical changes. I tend to pause the game to make my changes and it seems to make the changes as soon as you click play, but on occasion it doesn't and ridiculously it takes 10 minutes (in game minutes ) for a substitution

LOL jsut looked at your location details mate , lol nice, i watched "The Day Today" too Makes me feel like I've had a fortnight in a bad balloon !

Originally posted by Box:

LOL jsut looked at your location details mate , lol nice, i watched "The Day Today" too Makes me feel like I've had a fortnight in a bad balloon !

You're talking nonce sense.

lol I always get a picture in my mind of Phil Collins' serious face when I hear that!

I always pause as soon as i score and make some tatical changes, usually score a goal between the 60th and 85th min. Only 1 team has scored against me in the last 10 mins and it was blackburn with a david bently speciality free kick takes a deflection and in.

Originally posted by bjquick:

I always pause as soon as i score and make some tatical changes, usually score a goal between the 60th and 85th min. Only 1 team has scored against me in the last 10 mins and it was blackburn with a david bently speciality free kick takes a deflection and in.

I did pause, as i always do, that has nothing to do with the fact it takes upto 10/15 INGAME minutes to apply changes - you know that bit that says "making changes".

Originally posted by Box:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by bjquick:

I always pause as soon as i score and make some tatical changes, usually score a goal between the 60th and 85th min. Only 1 team has scored against me in the last 10 mins and it was blackburn with a david bently speciality free kick takes a deflection and in.

I did pause, as i always do, that has nothing to do with the fact it takes upto 10/15 INGAME minutes to apply changes - you know that bit that says "making changes". </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

The worst I've ever experienced was 7 minutes and that was only once.

Ya, the way the match engine works is that you are "destined" to lose some games and it's not really possible to win unless you get really lucky. I posted a thread a few weeks ago. I was away to Derby (in last) and I needed 7-8 tries to not lose (I would have taken a draw, but the match engine makes draws impossible because everyone can comeback) even though my team were far superior and my team talks worked. I think this match engine in 2008 is a downgrade from the FM2007 engine. They should revert to 2007 and build off that. Just make it easier to score 1v1s, make the opportunities harder to get and then you have a really realistic engine. I feel for you

Originally posted by AB-forever:

The worst I've ever experienced was 7 minutes and that was only once.

7 minutes is not exactly insignificant when we're talking about the 'Last minutes of the game' !

Originally posted by phnompenhandy:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by AB-forever:

The worst I've ever experienced was 7 minutes and that was only once.

7 minutes is not exactly insignificant when we're talking about the 'Last minutes of the game' ! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Exactly. Happens too often, happened again last night against Arsenal in my last game of the season. I was needing a home win for a place in the Champions League, I went 1-0 up early second half, immediately paused the game changed to defensive tactics, applied the changes and while the game was "making changes", Van Persie slotted home an equalizer. Silly