played till 2022 : won a lot but still clueless.

FM 2011 looks like a great game. It certainly is the best football manager sim available.

That being said, there are fundamental weaknesses in the game.

LACK OF FEEDBACK.

LACK OF DOCUMENTATION.

LACK OF PROGRESSION.

I started my game as Gladbach, one of the weaker teams of the German league. The year now is 2023, I won the league 10 times, the champions league 4 times, the German cup 7 times, I am one of the most successful managers in football history.

But – I don't have a clue how this game works!

Things I noticed:

morale is everything

topstars underperform

rising stars (youth players) overperform

tactics don't matter much

To put it short: The only thing I can really _manage_ are player's morale and transfers. I understand how to keep player's morale up. I also understand who to buy and not to buy. -- Everything else seems to be... well, random. It also seems to be based on some other (hidden?) values than attributes or tactics.

I never noticed dramatic differences between different players and player instructions. Defenders with passing "8" still play 50 yard killer passes. Strikers drift wide (when told not to). Wingers don't cut inside (when told to). Players run with the ball (when told not to). Players play crosses (with the whole team forbidden to play crosses). Players man mark. Players play in D® or D(L) position even when instructed to play DM or M(L/R).

--- So while I am still winning most of the games, I am NOT winning in the way I am expecting to win...! And this kills the game for me. ---

I played 3 saisons (my last 3) with creative freedom close to minimum. So here is my resumee.

The game computes a result beforehand and the ME shows how this result is happening.

I did not notice much of a difference when I managed the matches myself as opposed to letting my assman take over for 1 day during the matchday (go on holiday).

This is after 12 saisons and trying every kind of tactic available. I still don't have a clue if it is better to play 1 or 2 strikers vs 1 or 2 DM or if it would be better to play more offense or more defense vs this or that team. I don't have clue because I don't know what most instructions do. I don't know what most instructions do because there is a lack of feedback in the match engine (all the games look the same) and there is no manual worth speaking of available for this game, hence this post.

tl;dr:

Game is in need of proper documentation, less hard-coding and tooltips.

PS: And: The stronger (overall) team wins. If the game decides your 35 goal/saison striker has to experience 900+ minutes of football without scoring a goal, the game will make someone else score. So if you want your wingers to score, play your "bad form"-striker, not your 10 goals-in-5-matches man.

Interesting post...

I think I read somewhere that matches are decided as soon as you give your pre match team talk but every time you make a change they are re determined.

I dont share your opinion on tactics not being important having a good tactic I've found is very important to the success of your club.

Interesting post...

I think I read somewhere that matches are decided as soon as you give your pre match team talk but every time you make a change they are re determined.

I dont share your opinion on tactics not being important having a good tactic I've found is very important to the success of your club.

almost right, the result is calculated as soon as you pick your team, then recalculated after your team talk and then as you say after every change that it is made including the half time team talk.

almost right, the result is calculated as soon as you pick your team, then recalculated after your team talk and then as you say after every change that it is made including the half time team talk.

What would be the point of calculating a result before the team talk and another one after the team talk?

and whats the point of having toucline shouts if the game is calculated when you do the team talk ?

and whats the point of having toucline shouts if the game is calculated when you do the team talk ?

Because everytime you make a change or give an instructions the ME recalculates what happens afterwards.

What would be the point of calculating a result before the team talk and another one after the team talk?

because thats when the inital tactical calculation is made based solely on the teams status's, ie formation, tactics, condition, moral ect, then it calculates what affect your team talk has had and adds that to the equation, and again after every single little change you make from touchline shouts to swapping players to increasing your attacking by one notch.

so what your trying to say is, highest morale = winner?

I wholeheartedly agree with the OP...

Sadly it's a feeling I've had for the longest time, basically since the introduction of visual match reports...

The tactical side of the game is still far from a clear and understandable "what you see [in the tactics screen] is what you get [during the match]"... Strikers wandering on the flanks, wingers not cutting inside, AMCs walking aimlessly around, Fullbacks venturing forward despite having been set as Defensive, players taking 10+ long shots despite the whole team having been set on "Rarely" and with "Work Ball into Box" shout...

All of that is both frustrating and baffling, to the point I really wonder whether I should just stop bothering and going with a half-assed basic formation anyway.