Training & ME: What i like, what can be improved...

Hello Forum,

This is my first post in years since signing up but i have been playing fm since i was 16 (6 years ago now) so have seen how it has developed over the years. I first of all would like to say that this years installment, as it so rightly should be, is the best yet. I feel some of the cracks have been ironed out but would not go as far to say that is perfect. Two things that i really wanted to comment on that i feel will help improve the game immensely are the training and the extremely frustrating match engine.

Training

In this years iteration i like the fact that you can give individual training to your players such as "quickness" and "composure" as i think these help to give the feeliing of strenghtening the weaknesses of your players and therefore you gain a more complete well-rounded team. In addition to this, I think the match preparation does somewhat give the human player some kind of comfort that they aren't totally unprepared going into a top-of-the-table clash with chelsea having leaked 3 goals against Aston Villa in the previous week (Arsenal save). However, this feature does come across very gimmicky and i honestly don't think merely clicking a tick box should represent the entire focus or gameplan you wish to employ to stop a bullish drogba in the aforementioned circumstance. This brings me to my solution:

Training should now be something that is far more in depth as it has failed to lift itself up from its rather flat appearance. I personally think training should now be something you oversee on a day-to-day basis and by this i dont mean sit there watching the entire thing but rather have something similar to match preparation where you select the focus of the session(s) however many your team has - maybe the amount the team trains in real life. You would get reports after every session to see who performed well and this would help you make better decisions when picking your team for matchday. Oh yeah, this would have obvious implications on morale like if they train well then they are happier etc.

Training would also be where you say exactly how you want your team to play so that you can develop a more definitive style rather that sliders that doesn't really give you much options. e.g. short, mixed, direct.

Utimately, this would be a much better environment for players to improve stats and if they suit the team tactics &/or style they improve at a quicker rate.

The Match Engine

Even though the best of all the FMs (I only count from fm 09 of course), there are still a lot of bizarre things that happen and don't portray the beautiful game in all honesty. Rather than me repeat what i know the majourity of disgruntled posters on here usually say on these forums i would like to ask a question to anyone who feels they can answer it. The image i have in my head to winning or beating the ME is tactics + morale + good players with good stats and the occosional motivational team talk. As real life football is not based on just haiving the best players, how as a gamer do you assess where your team is failing? Yes, i know that this is my own preconception but having just one of those three components i think it takes to consistently win, ends badly - most of the time.

I know people think the game is realistic and, to an extent, it is. However, at the end of the day someone (si) programmed and made the game based on real life circumstances meaning it is meant to behave in a certain way. Unfortunately, that's where it the seems to take on a whole bunch of cliches like losing away to the winless bottom table team (does happen in real life but why only the human user?) and getting the question about your team lacking motivation which you categorically answer "no, i will ensure it does not happen!", yet still, your team does - against lowly yeovil in the domestic cup (no offence).

I guess the only other question left for me ask in regards to the ME and my theories is how much of an impact do the stats have on how well a player plays?

I ask this because the stats for a big player can look pretty but possibly be the only purpose they serve based on current observation.

Sorry for the long post but tried to express in as much detail what my opinion was...

I agree wholeheartedly with every point you make about Training, which has been an afterthought in FM for many a year. It needs a top to bottom overhaul.

However, I sort of disagree on what you're saying about the ME. The issues you seem to have a problem with are the press conferences (which admittedly are very, very poor). You are right in saying that approaching a game needs a combination of tactics, morale and player quality, but you also have to take on board pre-game and half-time motivation based on feedback from your Assistant Manager and OI's (which do make a difference). Then there's player conditioning (you don't want to select a half-fit player).

To be honest, that's everything a real life manager takes on board. I do agree with you that the Match Preparation feature is dreadful as it stands. It actually makes no sense ^^ But other than that I honestly believe the FM11 ME is by far and away the best of the series and as close to perfect as I can envisage it.

EDIT: Post number 2000! ^^

I agree wholeheartedly with every point you make about Training, which has been an afterthought in FM for many a year. It needs a top to bottom overhaul.

However, I sort of disagree on what you're saying about the ME. The issues you seem to have a problem with are the press conferences (which admittedly are very, very poor). You are right in saying that approaching a game needs a combination of tactics, morale and player quality, but you also have to take on board pre-game and half-time motivation based on feedback from your Assistant Manager and OI's (which do make a difference). Then there's player conditioning (you don't want to select a half-fit player).

To be honest, that's everything a real life manager takes on board. I do agree with you that the Match Preparation feature is dreadful as it stands. It actually makes no sense ^^ But other than that I honestly believe the FM11 ME is by far and away the best of the series and as close to perfect as I can envisage it.

EDIT: Post number 2000! ^^

thanks for the response, i see what your saying but with regards to the pre-game and half time talks the problem is i'm at that point where i dont want to touch them if team morale is high. The reason why i say this is because on fm 06 and 07 you could say certain things and always get the same result depending on situation. For example, at home and 2-0 up at half time if you said "dont let your performance drop" or "dont get complacent" your team would practically never lose from that winning position. The point im making here i guess is that, as a game, things like team talks and press conferences seem to have too much of an impact on how the match plays out or how players are affected during the match which you cant reverse while the match is in progress. Plus, what you say from team talks has been, quite frankly, the same for the past few years. I didn't know managers were so limited in their speeches.

Last thing, when would you say someone is half-fit? as i never play anyone below 92% if good fortune allows and i have someone fitter to play in their position.

thanks for the response, i see what your saying but with regards to the pre-game and half time talks the problem is i'm at that point where i dont want to touch them if team morale is high. The reason why i say this is because on fm 06 and 07 you could say certain things and always get the same result depending on situation. For example, at home and 2-0 up at half time if you said "dont let your performance drop" or "dont get complacent" your team would practically never lose from that winning position. The point im making here i guess is that, as a game, things like team talks and press conferences seem to have too much of an impact on how the match plays out or how players are affected during the match which you cant reverse while the match is in progress. Plus, what you say from team talks has been, quite frankly, the same for the past few years. I didn't know managers were so limited in their speeches.

Last thing, when would you say someone is half-fit? as i never play anyone below 92% if good fortune allows and i have someone fitter to play in their position.

Well, what I mean is that I can't really envisage a way FM could incorporate motivation into the ME in a more versatile way without becoming a gimmick. They're still pretty predictable. "You Can Win This" pre-game, followed by "Encouraged", "None" or "You Can Win This!" at half-time and you can't go wrong. "Pleased", of course, is motivational suicide for some reason ^^

But there's intricacies. For example, if you check your Ass. Mans feedback before a game, you'll find out if someone is looking overconfident, so you can then go to that individual player and say "Expect A Performance" etc.

I'd imagine that's pretty close to what a manager would do in real life, but given we're dealing with a text-based game here we have to find a balance between having motivational tactics in the game and not overblowing them.

By "half fit", for me I'd say that's anyone below 85%, but I'd usually only play people above 90%. But that's up for interpretation depending on the player, so again that sort of shows what I mean by FM allowing the user to go into the Match Engine prepared in their own unique way.

Now for the bit I bolded... Yes, they do have a massive impact in that if a player doesn't respond to your team talk and is still "looking complacent" in the 60th minute, you may as well take him off as he's going to be crap for the rest of the game no matter what you do. But I actually think that is true in reality. How often have you heard the phrase "I bet the manager can't wait to get them in the dressing room at half time"? I think the effect of motivation is about right as it stands; I do understand your point about the boring team talk responses for quite a few FM's in a row now, but as I say above, I'd be really wary about changing a system that works and creating a gimmick in its place.