Always know what to expect? Always see same types of goals?

It only occurred to me tonight while watching the champions league highlights on tv... there are so many different ways a goal can be scored and so many different types of goals scored in football.

I've played a lot of matches in FM. My current main save is in 2024. I'm enjoying it, at least outside of matches. It seems though, that every time I play a match now I know what to expect. There's always going to be a stupidly conceded corner that leads to a centre-back somehow getting a free header in the box and scoring. There's always going to be the slide-tackle goal when the ball is whipped in from out wide and a forward somehow slides and pokes the ball into the net. There's always going to be the 25 long-range shots that go so far wide they nearly go out for a throw-in. And I don't know about you but it seems whenever it's 2 against a goalkeeper the striker insists on shooting and missing rather than just squaring the ball for an easy tap-in.

Now I know some of these things could my be own doing or because of the players I have. For that last example my striker may have low decision rating or something. But I've seen these things happen from the Premier League right down to the Blue Square South. Very rarely is there a passage of play or something rare happening that I've never seen before. I watch matches just showing key moments, which is perhaps my problem. Should I be watching extended highlights just to see a wider variety of things happening? It seems at the moment I can just predict that a goalkeeper is going to launch the ball only for an opposition defender to head it back down into the path of a forward who then slots it past my keeper, who only kicked the ball out 5 seconds ago. I can see what's going to happen as soon as the match decides to show another key moment.

I'm not saying anything bad about FM as a game. I mean I've played it a lot as I'm sure some of you have. Does anyone else get this a lot?

It only occurred to me tonight while watching the champions league highlights on tv... there are so many different ways a goal can be scored and so many different types of goals scored in football.

I've played a lot of matches in FM. My current main save is in 2024. I'm enjoying it, at least outside of matches. It seems though, that every time I play a match now I know what to expect. There's always going to be a stupidly conceded corner that leads to a centre-back somehow getting a free header in the box and scoring. There's always going to be the slide-tackle goal when the ball is whipped in from out wide and a forward somehow slides and pokes the ball into the net. There's always going to be the 25 long-range shots that go so far wide they nearly go out for a throw-in. And I don't know about you but it seems whenever it's 2 against a goalkeeper the striker insists on shooting and missing rather than just squaring the ball for an easy tap-in.

Now I know some of these things could my be own doing or because of the players I have. For that last example my striker may have low decision rating or something. But I've seen these things happen from the Premier League right down to the Blue Square South. Very rarely is there a passage of play or something rare happening that I've never seen before. I watch matches just showing key moments, which is perhaps my problem. Should I be watching extended highlights just to see a wider variety of things happening? It seems at the moment I can just predict that a goalkeeper is going to launch the ball only for an opposition defender to head it back down into the path of a forward who then slots it past my keeper, who only kicked the ball out 5 seconds ago. I can see what's going to happen as soon as the match decides to show another key moment.

I'm not saying anything bad about FM as a game. I mean I've played it a lot as I'm sure some of you have. Does anyone else get this a lot?

So, when your Striker is in this position...

he doesn't do this...

so that his team mate can do this??

Weird? The Match Engine must be broke...

Owait..

I only watch the game on key highlights but even so it shouldn't be as repetitive as it is imo.

The goals are just all a bit boring!

I agree about cut backs, time and time again I've seen players who could simply cut it back for a simple goal but instead decided to try themselves and hit it straight at the goalkeeper.

I can only ever recall one cut back in a game which was Messi cutting it back to someone for Barcelona. No one else has done it for me/against me.

I agree, was thinking of posting a thread about this a few days ago. My strikers virtually never square the ball either, incredibly frustrating. On the flipside, if they did, then we'd have a hatful of goals and the game would be "broken".

I think it's just going to be a case of waiting... hopefully with each year more and more animations and algorithms will be added to give players more options on the ball, and more ways of seeing the game played and goals scored, but it's all going to take time to implement. The funny thing is, back in the old days when there was just text, you could imagine the most incredible goals in your head. Now that they're in 3D, SI actually has to model all of them

I have seen good choices like that too, maybe a couple of times in 20+ seasons (half of those with a friend or two watching two-three games per league round). Mostly, they just shoot, though. And miss. A lot.

To the OP: the variation of chances, the animations, the gameplay this I am not worried about. There are of course a limited number of animations, but that number has increased every year and I expect more of them in FM2012 too. I experience much the same as you: watching Key Highlights (and to an extent Extended) I can very often tell once a highlight loads what is going to happen in it. I recognize the patterns.

And I don't know about you but it seems whenever it's 2 against a goalkeeper the striker insists on shooting and missing rather than just squaring the ball for an easy tap-in.

In one game my striker passed, shame it was to Heskey who put it wide

I understand that obviously it's just limited to the animations. It just seems that after playing it for so long I see the same thing over and over. And the most annoying thing is... the same wrong decisions time and time again. Or for example when I'm watching key highlights... I'm 1-0 up with 5 minutes to go. I just KNOW that when the enemy get the ball in the next highlight, they're going to go and score. Or the corner they have in the 93rd minute is going to result in a goal.

In fact, even though they're meant to be highlights, I was very impressed yesterday when a seemingly typical cross into the box from the opposition was actually simply dealt with and cleared by my defenders. The highlight lasted about 8 seconds and ended as soon as the ball was cleared.

Edit - And yes BiggusD that's exactly the word I was looking for... I can see the patterns as soon as the highlight loads up. Quite annoying when you just know the other team are going to score from a multitude of errors or whatever and there's nothing you can do about it!

It only occurred to me tonight while watching the champions league highlights on tv... there are so many different ways a goal can be scored and so many different types of goals scored in football.

I've played a lot of matches in FM. My current main save is in 2024. I'm enjoying it, at least outside of matches. It seems though, that every time I play a match now I know what to expect. There's always going to be a stupidly conceded corner that leads to a centre-back somehow getting a free header in the box and scoring. There's always going to be the slide-tackle goal when the ball is whipped in from out wide and a forward somehow slides and pokes the ball into the net. There's always going to be the 25 long-range shots that go so far wide they nearly go out for a throw-in. And I don't know about you but it seems whenever it's 2 against a goalkeeper the striker insists on shooting and missing rather than just squaring the ball for an easy tap-in.

Now I know some of these things could my be own doing or because of the players I have. For that last example my striker may have low decision rating or something. But I've seen these things happen from the Premier League right down to the Blue Square South. Very rarely is there a passage of play or something rare happening that I've never seen before. I watch matches just showing key moments, which is perhaps my problem. Should I be watching extended highlights just to see a wider variety of things happening? It seems at the moment I can just predict that a goalkeeper is going to launch the ball only for an opposition defender to head it back down into the path of a forward who then slots it past my keeper, who only kicked the ball out 5 seconds ago. I can see what's going to happen as soon as the match decides to show another key moment.

I'm not saying anything bad about FM as a game. I mean I've played it a lot as I'm sure some of you have. Does anyone else get this a lot?

You may have the reason already. Try a different setting, you may start to enjoy the matches again.

I would recommend watching at least one match in full, if you can make the time, just to see the difference. I watch every match in full and don't experience that kind of predictability, of course you get to know certain passages of play, but there's only so many animations so that's bound to happen eventually.

EDIT: I should have mentioned that I am playing FM10, which has less animations.

the goal i see the most from open play is the left winger will run up to the left hand side of the edge of the box, passes 10/15 yards back to the left back who curls a cross in and usually the right winger will head home from about 8 yards out.