Nad's brilliant post.

Surprised his post got closed to be honest, SI obviously don't like a bit of criticism. In many ways I think he is right. I love the game and for some reason despite how frustrating it can be I still play it.

But my god there are some frustrating things.

For me, the worst are:

- Free kicks that ALWAYS get crossed in straight at the goalie, regardless of free kick taking ability.

- Press Conferences and Team Talks having strange limitations on them. I find that whenever I actually want to say "We Can win This!" or " I Want more of you the second half" I never actually can say it.

- The amount of crosses that full backs put in which lob the goalies.

- The amount of times wingers seem to stop and wait for the full back so they can have their crosses deflected.

- The corners which are always mid height to the near post despite me changing that.

- My transfer stories being leaked then not being able to do anything to the bastard that done it.

- My personal achilles heel is the amount of long range goals I concede. My worst two were playing Middlesbrough and dominating the game, then going on to lose thanks to two chances they got where both 10 skill long shotters scored phenomenal strikes. The other being playing in the League Cup against a Division 3 club and having a centre half with 3 long shots banging a screamer in to score his only goal in 5 years.

- A long running footy manager flaw of defenders tackles playing the ball through to an opposition striker. I've conceded bucket loads of goals through the years courtesy of my defender's saving tackle poking the ball through the other striker.

But still I play this game so much... Why do I do it to myself.

The thread was closed as a mod felt that it wasn't going anywhere and that it could lead to arguments .

Besides which, it wasn't deleted so anyone call still go read his moan if they want; if SI were all that bothered it would be vanished.

Its not constructive criticism in any way though. He wasn't trying to be helpful nor could he bother to post in the bugs forum about anything he thinks needed fixing. He just wanted to rant and say he wasn't going to buy fm 12 which is totally pointless and deserved to be closed.

Pretty sure SI can take criticism and are pretty thick skinned by now but yeah his post was a rant with absolutely nothing constructive in it no wonder it got closed.

Nothing constructive? Like the points weren't valid? Right.

Ok, I'm feeling generous, let me show you just a couple of examples from the wonderful match engine.

Here's my season so far.

Not exactly struggling right? Played 8, won 8, including Man U away. Don't worry about the friendlies, Sammy Lee was in charge.

So here's a couple of gems from the 6-1 demolition of Villa (could have been 15-9 btw).

Yes, fullbacks know what they're doing! Let's leave Suarez in acres, I mean he's down the flank!

What a surprise. 2 passes later Suarez is free down the right flank and in a great position to deliver a beautiful cross to Gerrard storming down the centre. Right? Right?

Don't be silly! He has to stop, remember, so Richard Dunne can make up 10 yards and make a tackle on the byline!

Honestly, from this match alone I could show you a thousand examples of the utter lunacy that goes on in the match engine. Years of refinement and it's still cack. Somebody's not doing a very good job.

(PS: this was to back up the points about fullbacks and wingers I made in the original thread. How much more constructive do you want?)

Just playing at the moment and as I have red this post I had a one on one, only for my striker to turn and pass it back to another of my forwards. WTF!!!!!

Just playing at the moment and as I have red this post I had a one on one, only for my striker to turn and pass it back to another of my forwards. WTF!!!!!

this is what happens when people complain about missing the 1 on 1´s, the alternative :D

Nad did miss one feature..

*A forum full of useful topics, that blame a manager's tactics on problems ranging from wandering fullbacks, to TV rights, to genital warts.

Nothing constructive? Like the points weren't valid? Right.

Ok, I'm feeling generous, let me show you just a couple of examples from the wonderful match engine.

Here's my season so far.

Not exactly struggling right? Played 8, won 8, including Man U away. Don't worry about the friendlies, Sammy Lee was in charge.

So here's a couple of gems from the 6-1 demolition of Villa (could have been 15-9 btw).

Yes, fullbacks know what they're doing! Let's leave Suarez in acres, I mean he's down the flank!

What a surprise. 2 passes later Suarez is free down the right flank and in a great position to deliver a beautiful cross to Gerrard storming down the centre. Right? Right?

Don't be silly! He has to stop, remember, so Richard Dunne can make up 10 yards and make a tackle on the byline!

Honestly, from this match alone I could show you a thousand examples of the utter lunacy that goes on in the match engine. Years of refinement and it's still cack. Somebody's not doing a very good job.

(PS: this was to back up the points about fullbacks and wingers I made in the original thread. How much more constructive do you want?)

The 3D match is a 'representation' of what the Match Engine is processing. It isn't perfect, SI admit that it isn't perfect and they do remind you to allow for the imperfection. Suarez and Dunne probably weren't as far apart as the screenshots suggest...

this is what happens when people complain about missing the 1 on 1´s, the alternative :D

Well he clearly missed this particular 1 on 1 - Had to fine the player it was the only option.

It'll be your tone, rather than your content.

If you'd have presented it in a different form it would still probably be open.

Nothing constructive? Like the points weren't valid? Right.

Ok, I'm feeling generous, let me show you just a couple of examples from the wonderful match engine.

Here's my season so far.

Not exactly struggling right? Played 8, won 8, including Man U away. Don't worry about the friendlies, Sammy Lee was in charge.

So here's a couple of gems from the 6-1 demolition of Villa (could have been 15-9 btw).

Yes, fullbacks know what they're doing! Let's leave Suarez in acres, I mean he's down the flank!

What a surprise. 2 passes later Suarez is free down the right flank and in a great position to deliver a beautiful cross to Gerrard storming down the centre. Right? Right?

Don't be silly! He has to stop, remember, so Richard Dunne can make up 10 yards and make a tackle on the byline!

Honestly, from this match alone I could show you a thousand examples of the utter lunacy that goes on in the match engine. Years of refinement and it's still cack. Somebody's not doing a very good job.

(PS: this was to back up the points about fullbacks and wingers I made in the original thread. How much more constructive do you want?)

Right is it just me that thinks Suarez probably slowed as he's 25 yards ahead of the man in the middle?

Well your fullback went to close down the man who was about to receive the pass leaving your DCL to pick up Suarez who I guess he was man marking.

If it is happening regularly maybe you want to look at the orders you give to your fullback.

EDIT

After having read your original post some of what you have listed is tactical, some is valid and some I guess you must be playing a different game because I don't see it in my saves.

The idea that CM/FM was at its peak 10 years ago is quite frankly ridiculous. If the game isn't moving in a direction you like thats fair enough but others do want a simulation and not an arcade version.

Right is it just me that thinks Suarez probably slowed as he's 25 yards ahead of the man in the middle?

Exactly, what I was thinking, had he not slowed down, he'd have no support.

And the fact that as he's pushing and chasing (see how far the ball is ahead of him) that he's pretty much unable to cross anyway in the middle picture, even if he did have someone to aim at. He needs to turn inside and look up to see Gerrard. There's no way he can cross to Gerrard without slowing down based on these screenshots.

Right is it just me that thinks Suarez probably slowed as he's 25 yards ahead of the man in the middle?

a very valid observation

Will you guys stop making sense? It ruins a good moan

Nothing constructive? Like the points weren't valid? Right.

Ok, I'm feeling generous, let me show you just a couple of examples from the wonderful match engine.

Here's my season so far.

Not exactly struggling right? Played 8, won 8, including Man U away. Don't worry about the friendlies, Sammy Lee was in charge.

So here's a couple of gems from the 6-1 demolition of Villa (could have been 15-9 btw).

Yes, fullbacks know what they're doing! Let's leave Suarez in acres, I mean he's down the flank!

What a surprise. 2 passes later Suarez is free down the right flank and in a great position to deliver a beautiful cross to Gerrard storming down the centre. Right? Right?

Don't be silly! He has to stop, remember, so Richard Dunne can make up 10 yards and make a tackle on the byline!

Honestly, from this match alone I could show you a thousand examples of the utter lunacy that goes on in the match engine. Years of refinement and it's still cack. Somebody's not doing a very good job.

(PS: this was to back up the points about fullbacks and wingers I made in the original thread. How much more constructive do you want?)

Oh and it's clear in the first picture that the full back is pushing to the man receiving the ball who is unmarked.

Right, because explaining all the maybes in one example clearly means there are no flaws. I accept your challenge. Here's the list again:

* Goalkeepers who can ping a waist high backpass on to the instep of their striker 70 yards upfield with a first touch, weaker foot volley!

* Fullbacks who are happy to let strikers wander free down the flanks without getting goalside!

* Midfielders who charge to the opposition area to close down their centrebacks but don't do a damned thing about strikers who get in behind them!

* Wingers who can dribble down the flanks at will but who stop to let the defender tackle them when it's time to cross!

* Strikers who actually play quite realistically!

* Players of any position that can take up to a minute for every set piece without any repercussion whatsoever!

Right, so how many examples of each, just from the games I've played so far, do you want before you'll remove the cotton wool from your eyes? And not just from my team, I'll show you the opposition's players doing the same things just so you can shut up about tactics. The flaws are because of the hardcoded positioning and decisions in the engine, not tactics.

Ok

Right, because explaining all the maybes in one example clearly means there are no flaws. I accept your challenge. Here's the list again:

* Goalkeepers who can ping a waist high backpass on to the instep of their striker 70 yards upfield with a first touch, weaker foot volley!

Graphical representation - The 3d is a representation of the ME and only has a certain number of animations to pick from. This example is probably one where there is a shortage of animations.

* Fullbacks who are happy to let strikers wander free down the flanks without getting goalside!

Mostly tactical, I don't see it to the extent that you suggest.

* Midfielders who charge to the opposition area to close down their centrebacks but don't do a damned thing about strikers who get in behind them!

Definitely tactical.

* Wingers who can dribble down the flanks at will but who stop to let the defender tackle them when it's time to cross!

Graphical representation again, maybe an element of player attributes (decisions etc)/tactical as well. Again its not something I see as often as you suggest but I do see it fairly regularly. Probably something for SI to tweak.

* Strikers who actually play quite realistically!

Urm? expand?

Personally I'm fairly happy with the way mine move/react/make runs

* Players of any position that can take up to a minute for every set piece without any repercussion whatsoever!

What sort of repercussion do you want? Sometimes the ref is talking to other players. Maybe an area SI could tweak a little to speed it up but its hardly a massive issue.

Ok

Graphical representation - The 3d is a representation of the ME and only has a certain number of animations to pick from. This example is probably one where there is a shortage of animations.

Ah, the representation chestnut. Anything that is unrealistic is just representation? I'm not buying that. They can create plenty of animations of swinging babies, aeroplanes, sitting down etc when players score but they can't do an accurate representation of goalkeepers clearing a backpass? Unsold.

Mostly tactical, I don't see it to the extent that you suggest.

I'll provide you the examples (tomorrow, I got to go to bed soon).

Definitely tactical.

Mentality 8, closing down 8 = close down the centrebacks, don't worry about strikers and AMs. Ok, examples will be forthcoming.

Graphical representation again, maybe an element of player attributes (decisions etc)/tactical as well. Again its not something I see as often as you suggest but I do see it fairly regularly. Probably something for SI to tweak.

It sounds like you accept this.

Urm? expand?

Nothing to expand, I said it's quite realistic because I'm generally quite satisfied with striker behaviour (except being unable to turn in the box, but hey, I'll accept that)

What sort of repercussion do you want? Sometimes the ref is talking to other players. Maybe an area SI could tweak a little to speed it up but its hardly a massive issue.

Not a massive issue? The fact that you lose maybe 10-15 mins per match if you ever fall behind? It's a huge issue because there are simply no bookings for timewasting. You can take a minute for every throw-in, free kick, goalkick, corner etc. Is that in any way realistic? It's utterly crazy!!

Ah, the representation chestnut. Anything that is unrealistic is just representation? I'm not buying that. They can create plenty of animations of swinging babies, aeroplanes, sitting down etc when players score but they can't do an accurate representation of goalkeepers clearing a backpass? Unsold.

I don't think you quite get it.

The players in the 3d aren't reacting to whats happening on the pitch. The ME is calculating what is happening from the inputs you choose and then selecting the "best fit" animations to bring the ME to life for you to watch.

Nothing to expand, I said it's quite realistic because I'm generally quite satisfied with striker behaviour (except being unable to turn in the box, but hey, I'll accept that)

Ah right, given everything else was negative I took this as sarcasm.

Not a massive issue? The fact that you lose maybe 10-15 mins per match if you ever fall behind? It's a huge issue because there are simply no bookings for timewasting. You can take a minute for every throw-in, free kick, goalkick, corner etc. Is that in any way realistic? It's utterly crazy!!

In real life time is wasted, the ball is actually only in play around 60 mins in a 90 minute match. Again at the end of the day the ME has already calculated the result and you are watching the result of your selections so if the ME has calculated you will equalise then you will.

To all people suggesting players don't way too often stop running and, instead of delivering a 100% fail-proof pass/cross from that perfect position, unnecessarily wait for the opposition defence to regroup: you are either lying or you don't pay enough attention to matches. (No matter that group includes certain people I respect a lot.)

Players do, pretty much often, just what Nad showed, even if his example is not a correct one. I am working on releasing a tactic pack for one English club and I've been watching full matches for weeks now - hours and hours of material.

It's a fact players do strange, even stupid things, that are not remotely close to either what they were told to or common sense; and I am talking about world class players here. It happens on daily basis; match after match.

Again, whoever tries to dispute that is wrong.

It'll be your tone, rather than your content.

If you'd have presented it in a different form it would still probably be open.

Exactly so, this thread proves that Nad's observations can be discussed without histrionic and agressive/abusive language which just provokes people into replying in the same vein.

Personally I take the ME's representation of play with a great big pinch of salt because it's severely limited by the animations available to it, that aspect should improve as they add more.

But that doesn't account for all of his points and there are some questions to be asked about player intelligence.

* Fullbacks who are happy to let strikers wander free down the flanks without getting goalside!

Why do people keep banging on about tactics for this point? In the screenshots above, NAD clearly shows the he is Liverpool. Not Villa. He's pointing out the AI controlled Villa fullback leaving the striker in acres of space down the wing.

Why when its the users team to people immediadely say 'its your tactics', but when its the AI managed team all of a sudden its a 'graphical misrepresentation of the ME'.

So is it posible that when its the users team, its not their 'tactics' but a misrepresentation of the ME?

Why do people keep banging on about tactics for this point?

Because they are either trolling or didnt read/understand the thread

* Fullbacks who are happy to let strikers wander free down the flanks without getting goalside!

Why do people keep banging on about tactics for this point? In the screenshots above, NAD clearly shows the he is Liverpool. Not Villa. He's pointing out the AI controlled Villa fullback leaving the striker in acres of space down the wing.

Why when its the users team to people immediadely say 'its your tactics', but when its the AI managed team all of a sudden its a 'graphical misrepresentation of the ME'.

So is it posible that when its the users team, its not their 'tactics' but a misrepresentation of the ME?

I must admit I missed the point that Nad was Liverpool and he was attacking but that doesn't change the discussion.

Why would the fullback be dropping back to mark Suarez (playing as a ST?) when he is quite clearly moving forward to pick up the man receiving the pass.

Suarez should be picked up by the DCL but again you wouldn't want your DCL moving that far wide and leaving acres of space in the middle for the opposition MCs to exploit.

So what happens is Suarez gets the ball out wide in space then as the attack progresses the DCL is forced to move wide to close him down, the fullback/DMs are racing back to cover along with Gerrard who is busting a gut to get on the end of a potential cross.

I've made a few assumptions with regard to formation and I could easily be wrong looking at the pictures again.

You also need to consider how good Suarez is off the ball and how much freedom he has been given to go looking for space. Along with that I suspect the two sides weren't lining up man for man and behind the fullbacks was an area that Liverpool had a tactical/formation advantage at.

I have to say I really haven't seen a lot of the problems Nad brings up, and I'm just getting sick and tired of people saying "it's completely broken, i'm not buying it again etc." If that's really your opinion, then just go, SI will take more notice if their profits drop considerably than if you all come on here and keep whinging about it. I think the game is extremely playable personally (perhaps too playable) so I'll be buying the next one for definite.

Also, I'm not sure why Nad is complaining that Suarez has great movement and managed to find spaces in behind full backs when they push up?!

People do realise that every goal scored in football comes from a mistake of some sort i take it? Be it a positioning mistake, bad pass, missed tackle ect.

As stated in this situation there is not a huge lot wrong with the ME, Suarez has found space, the full back has pushed to try and stop the ball recieving wide midfielder and Suarez has spotted the space behind him.

If you look at the middle screen, Gerrard is in the middle with 2 Villa players to his right and 1 to his left. Every player is running back, apart from the one to the left of Gerrard, who appears to be stood side on watching Suarez. The 2 to the right of Gerrard, the closest one to him should be tracking Gerrard back, along with possibly the one to the left of him aswell.

When you look at the third SS, the 2 to the right of Gerrard have let him go and have gone towards Suarez when there are already 2 on him. Why? Also the player who was to the left of Gerrard is still loitering around, possibly picking up the late runner. But should he really be letting Gerrard go knowing that nobody has picked him up? If Suarez did manage to get the ball in, Gerrard is still completely open.

Why would the fullback be dropping back to mark Suarez (playing as a ST?) when he is quite clearly moving forward to pick up the man receiving the pass.

Cougar - You're right, the fullback (Warnock) is charging forward to close down the ball receiver, Maxi. But that's the very point. Do you see how ludicrous that is?

Maxi is about to receive the ball. Warnock is about 25 yards away from him. Maxi is in the middle of his own half, back to goal, no threat whatsoever. There are 4 Villa midfielders, their CMs, ML and AMC, who are all within closing distance of Maxi. All they have to do is shuffle across, and there simply is no threat.

Instead, their fullback, Warnock, leaves Suarez (who is in a dangerous position down the flank) completely unmarked to charge halfway into the Liverpool half to close down Maxi. He can never get close to Maxi in time, it's 25 yards in 1 second! That leaves Maxi a very simple pass to Gerrard and Gerrard an even easier pass down the wing to Suarez who is totally clear.

This is crazy and the thing is, it happens virtually everytime. Fullbacks do not care about strikers being free down the wing. It doesn't matter about tactics, decisions, whatever, it's hardcoded behaviour in the match engine. No fullback in his right mind would ever try to close the winger in that position while leaving the striker free, but FM11 fullbacks try that every time because of the way they are hardcoded to respond to opposition players.

Like I have said and plenty of others have said, just watch the games and you will see this in every match, irrespective of player quality. If this were an isolated example, all your points about Suarez's ability or a bad warnock moment would be valid. But this is not an isolated example, it is the default behaviour!

its not the full back problem, what you should be looking at is the midfield is pushed so far up and leaving that situation where the full back either lets a player run at him so he can mark Suarez or try and close the ball down so it never gets to Suarez. What should be happening is the midfield should be closing that situation down, but they havent and it has left the full back exposed.

If you look at the middle screen, Gerrard is in the middle with 2 Villa players to his right and 1 to his left. Every player is running back, apart from the one to the left of Gerrard, who appears to be stood side on watching Suarez. The 2 to the right of Gerrard, the closest one to him should be tracking Gerrard back, along with possibly the one to the left of him aswell.

When you look at the third SS, the 2 to the right of Gerrard have let him go and have gone towards Suarez when there are already 2 on him. Why? Also the player who was to the left of Gerrard is still loitering around, possibly picking up the late runner. But should he really be letting Gerrard go knowing that nobody has picked him up? If Suarez did manage to get the ball in, Gerrard is still completely open.

My interpretation is the the player to the left of Gerrard is coming back slower waiting for the runner who he is picking up and this seems to be the natural player for him to pick up.

Gerrard should be picked up by the man to his right with the defender (Bottom left corner of second pic) moving more centrally as a secondary cover which is what happens. In the third pic Gerrard his lost his marker which is something that happens in real life (Stoke goal at the weekend anyone? Huth completely lost his for Delap's throw). This could be due to Gerrard's movement or a lack of marking ability by the MC its not easy to tell and this is made to look perhaps worse by a potential lack of animations.

(@mp's post): Look, please pay attention to what is happening: originally, there is no damn problem. Maxi is midway in his own half, just receiving the ball from the fullback. There is no threat at all. The Villa midfielders can get over to close him when required with ease.

Warnock creates the problem. All he has to do is stay close to Suarez to cut off the attacking pass. He CANNOT close Maxi, he is 25-30 yards away from him! By moving towards Maxi, he just ends up in no-man's land, he's still miles away from Maxi and he's nowehere near Suarez.

And this is just the first example in this match that I've shown you. I wouldn't care if it happened once or twice, that could be put down to misjudgements, but this is the default behaviour of fullbacks, it happens everytime a striker moves wide. They completely ignore the striker as if he wasn't there and only ever look at the opoosition winger.

This is such basic marking and it's still not programmed correctly, after all these years. Such simple basics. And they still screw it up.

Cougar - You're right, the fullback (Warnock) is charging forward to close down the ball receiver, Maxi. But that's the very point. Do you see how ludicrous that is?

Without seeing the formations & the movement (Upload PKM?) I can't say for certain but given what I can see then no.

I played as a DL for nearly 10 years and in that position the manager would never be telling me to drop back and mark Suarez (Presuming he was a ST). Should he have been closing down the pass receiver? well thats another question and as you've pointed out there looks to be a MCL & a DM who perhaps should be doing that but its by no means clear cut.

EDIT

Looking at the first pic again the MCL has pushed onto the opposition DR indicating that AV are looking to play a high pressure in defence at that moment. This leaves his "normal" man open and both the DL & the DM have made the decision to attempt to close him down which seems fair as its about 50/50 in terms of distance between them.

What shape/formation are both sides playing? Liverpool 442 standard? AV 442 narrow diamond (DM/2*CM/AM)?

EDIT 2

Also what was the score at the time of those screenshots & how far into the match were you?

Are you seriously saying that a fullback in that position should ignore the striker behind him? That it's not the fullback's problem to pick up the striker on his flank? Wow.

The thing is, if he doesnt close him down, Maxi has a free run at the defense, he is a yard or so ahead of the Villa midfield, if that pass is played in front of him he then has a lot of space to run at, so the full back is trying to close this down, there should be a midfielder closer to Maxi in the first place which would solve the problem.

Are you seriously saying that a fullback in that position should ignore the striker behind him? That it's not the fullback's problem to pick up the striker on his flank? Wow.

If there was someone in front of him covering Maxi then yes your right, but in that situation there is no one closing down maxi or the space he has, so the full back takes up the job, your centre backs should be watching this and covering Suarez.

Are you seriously saying that a fullback in that position should ignore the striker behind him? That it's not the fullback's problem to pick up the striker on his flank? Wow.

I'm making the presumption that Liverpool are playing a fairly standard 442 while AV are playing the narrow diamond. Also I get the feeling that AV are a goal down and chasing the game.

In that situation the AV fullbacks have more freedom to push on and close down the opposition wingers as there is a defensive triangle centrally (DC/DC/DM) picking up 2* STs.

When one ST moves wide his marking DC should go with him with the DM dropping back into the DC's position picking up any runners that get beyond the midfield.

Its natural with those two formations that the 442 would find space out wide while the narrow diamond will have more control in the centre of the field with the AMC a key role.

EDIT

Actually I would have more concern over the movement of the DM rather than the DL in the pics.

This sounds like a job for Keys & Gray.

Now that you're all looking, could anyone answer a question for me..

It's probably nit picking, but I really hate how the history tab only shows league games and goals... Is there anyway to change it to show all the appearances a player makes in a season, rather than having to click on a season to see the exact total?

It's not much but when you start to get 7-12 year spans with one player it's really hard to count up how many goals or assists or appearances he's made with me.

Also, by the way, I by no means hate this game like I see some people do. There's no malice in my criticism, it's just the depression of another season of mid table obscurity in the Championship. Everytime I string together a couple of wins I start to think we could steal a late play off place but no, my boys then go and find a way of throwing away a 1-0 win against some relegation battlers like Doncaster and we go on a 2 month draw and lose streak...

But yeah, SI could pretty much **** in a paper bag, I'd still check it out. The new games amazingly good, it's just frustrating as hell.

Wednesdays my day off anyway, so it's time to go through a full length preseason dragging my club into financial insecurity by signing free transfers who get paid way too large amounts in the hope they will bag me 30 goals in a season when the actual fact is they will leave to join Millwall by January. (See Leon Best and Caleb Folan)

This sounds like a job for Keys & Gray.

Why, are there some females around that need harrassing?

So, if a winger slows down to wait for the full back to close the cross down, there is nothing tactically i can do to remedy this? It's just an ME problem? I've tried everything, but none of my players get crosses in the box, and when they do no-one can be arsed to get on the end of it!

Cheers

Just read his thread, very very good imo, no surprise it was closed. I dont think the game nowadays is a patch on what the CM's were in the '90's and turn of the millenium. It's gone in completely the wrong direction imo and FM10 will prove to be the last one I buy having got them all before since CM2.

The new player interaction I saw on the demo was the very last straw, the whole, leave before I say something I regret crap and cartoonish speech bubbles left me stunned. It is so so far removed from how it used to be.

As for the press conferences....

Ah, whatever, its just not for me anymore, good luck to them who like it.

Now that you're all looking, could anyone answer a question for me..

It's probably nit picking, but I really hate how the history tab only shows league games and goals... Is there anyway to change it to show all the appearances a player makes in a season, rather than having to click on a season to see the exact total?

It's not much but when you start to get 7-12 year spans with one player it's really hard to count up how many goals or assists or appearances he's made with me.

No way to change it.

Its something thats been brought up in the past and SI's line has always been "Thats the way its recorded in real life"

Personally I would like to see something like a tick box on the screen so you can switch between just league and all competitions. Maybe if enough people ask its something SI will consider in future versions.

If there was someone in front of him covering Maxi then yes your right, but in that situation there is no one closing down maxi or the space he has, so the full back takes up the job, your centre backs should be watching this and covering Suarez.

I would imagine that since players on the ball tend to travel slower than players without, even if there isn't a ML to cover for Warnock, it is the job of the nearest midfielder to close down Maxi, since the distance is smaller.

I would imagine that since players on the ball tend to travel slower than players without, even if there isn't a ML to cover for Warnock, it is the job of the nearest midfielder to close down Maxi, since the distance is smaller.

No it's the full back that needs to close down because if the midfielder leaves his man to mark a winger he will open up space in the middle. In this case it's clearly Warnocks job to close down Maxi, the DCL needs to move over to close down the space left by the FB, the DCR moves to DCL to cover space left by the DCL. DR moves to DCR to cover space left by DCR and MR moved down to DR to cover space left by DR. (Asuming that you play a standard 4-4-2). The midfield needs to fall back to provide cover for the defence.

I do agree that the ME has flaws, but I do not this is a very good example of those flaws? The real problem here is that the midfield has pushed to far up and left themselves exposed. Adding to the problem is that the DMC has missed his mark (Gerrard).

Based on that first picture I'd say that AV is behind and chasing a goal. The AI has switched to a more attacking mentality and in doing so has left to much space between midfield and defence. Maybe he has instructed players to hassle opponents and given them a high creative freedom meaning that they will leave their positions to try and close the opposition down. In doing this they expose themselves at the back.

3rd picture can also be explained. Suarez does not have anyone in the box to cross to so he does the only sensible thing in slowing down. Trying to keep the ball untill he can get more options. Also he can't cross while at full speed, not with any accuracy at least, so he needs to slow down to do that as well.

Nad, do you play any FM/CM game now? What is you favorite?