A couple of small criticisms of the match engine (hopefully constructive)

Firstly, there are still numerous occasions when I am forced to wait for up to 30 seconds as a player ponderously walks halfway across the pitch to be booked, or take a throw in or corner. When playing games on key highlights, these tedious waiting periods all add up so that I seem to spend almost as much time watching nothing happening as watching football being played. It really breaks up the flow of the game and is incredibly frustrating (even if it means reaching for the game speed slider every time someone wins a corner or is fouled). The highlights would be infinitely more enjoyable if they were presented in a short and snappy way, not dragged out with unecessary padding.

Secondly, and this is perhaps a more subjective issue, but I feel that each individual highlight sequence (assuming you're not watching the full game) is inevitably leading up to one specific incident, usually a shot (on or off target) or a corner or booking. Now, this isn't of itself a problem - but what it means is that you can usually infer through the build up in play which team is going to create the chance, and from that point on you just know that your players are going to miss their tackles and fail to win the ball, or even if they do, they will quickly lose it again (unless a counter-attack takes place - these are exciting, but relatively rare). The players seem to be engaged in some futile dance, going through the motions before the inevitable attack which the game is trying to show you.

In other words, the result is always the same, and it feels as though the build up play is just delaying the inevitable. You don't really expect your players to win the ball and break up the opposition's attack, unless they are going to create a chance for themselves. Thus you don't really get to see effective defensive play, because of the way highlights are selected.

Of course, I am a fan of the game, and just want to see it getting better. Any thoughts on this would be welcome.

I agree with you. It is relatively easy to see right away who is going to get the chance, especially on Key Highlights. Since my team plays relatively efficient football, I often find myself maximizing game speed whenever the opponent start passing the ball aimlessly to each other in the midfield, simply because I know by experience that they will eventually have their shot. There is very little good defending being shown in both Extended and Key highlights.

As I have said before, I want Key highlights to only show very big chances, red cards and goals. A match on Key at Normal speed should only take around 2-3 minutes unless there are unusually many chances in it (30 or higher). Now it may take 10+ minutes, where most of it seems to be watching yellow cards, corners and throw-ins. I sometimes wonder why they have programmed the match engine to depict someone walking with or without the ball to the corner flag at all... That **** shouldn't even be in Full Match mode!

Excellent points... I wondered what the hell was annoying me but you guys articulated it really well. I watch it in key and do spend half the time wondering if the yellow may perhaps be a red.

And anytime the other team completes 2 passes I start to worry..... or just hope they fire an aimless long shot.

My biggest annoyance with this game and whilst it is relativly small is rather annoying. Lets take my mighty Rovers for example, the whloe team plays very very average (Only managing a 1-0 against some unknown Irish team) So i want to skip the team talk not say anything. Two PLayers (Samba and Rochina are the only two players who actually did anything worthwhile) so i want to skip the overall team talk and just congratulate these two. So I press the skip overall team talk and these two become angered? Just a little thing that gets on my nerves.

Also I agree completely with the OP very good points, I've always thought this of FM games if the highlight starts with one team having the ball, that team has the chance unless, as you said, there is a very rare counter attack (which are a joy to behold might I add)

The problem is when you have selected 'Key Highlights', realistically its only going to show goal attempts when the match engine is creating footage. If you have only ever played the game using 'Key Highlights' then of course you are going to get the feeling that the play always seems to be building up to a chance. Its like watching match of the day 2 on a Sunday night when they show the goals round up from Saturdays games and complaining that all you see are the goals and key incidents!

You're problem doesnt seem to be with the match engine, its that you are expecting more from 'Key Highlights' than you should. If you ever watched 'Extended Highlights' you would see much more of the game and wouldnt feel that every highlight is leading to a chance. In 'Extended Highlights' you are much more likely to see incidents of a nature that should possibly be prompting you to make tactical changes and be ii a better position to see where your team is going right/wrong. 'Key Highlights' will give you a basic idea of what may be going wrong on occasion, for example if you keep seeing highlights of one of your wingers putting in crosses that come to nothing the match engine might be trying to tell you that your crossing aim is set up incorrectly or your strikers are set up incorrectly.

Obviously because you are using 'KEY' highlights. So whatever action is showed will eventually lead up to a shot or goal. If you want to see more good defending and more attacking play, than use 'EXTENDED' highlight.

pfftt...

Actually I thought that side to the game has improved, I'm playing FM11 and although chances are predictable most of the time, there are still quite a few counter-attacks which I certainly didn't expect.

It is arguable that extended highlights (which I do use often - I only mentioned key highlights by way of argument) are more likely to produce the desired result, and display more detailed attacking and defensive football. While this is true to an extent, it also adds a lot of padding: there will be a great deal of laboured build up play, going nowhere, simply to show you that a foul took place, resulting in a free kick or booking. Also, even on extended highlights there seems to be a shortage of 'defensive highlights' for their own sake - usually in the highlights you only see your team defending well if they are about to initiate a counter-attack. Otherwise, you generally only see your defenders when they are being ineffective at preventing an opportunity. I don't always feel that learnt enough from watching extended highlights to justify the extra time spent on them.

Ideally, each incident shown should have a real purpose to it, something to learn from and make tactical decisions based on - key opportunities created, opportunities foiled by a great tackle or interception (and not just because it results in a corner or throw in!), examples of how your team are building up their attacks through passing moves, counter-attacks and individual skill (and what areas of the pitch they are happening in). I want to see my defence tackling and winning the ball, even if it goes nowhere, because that shows me that they are holding back the opposition's attacks, and how they are doing so. I want to see opposition passing moves being broken down and frustrated through pressing and closing down in midfield. I want to see how my strikers and wingers are finding it hard to break through a dogged defence, because then I can try a different strategy. I also want to see when things go right - a perfectly executed attacking move that cuts through the defensive line at last - all the sweeter because you have seen similar attempts fail.

What I am less interested in is dull build up that goes nowhere and tells me nothing, save that a foul has been committed or a throw-in won. These may have their place, but they are currently over-represented in the highlights. The highlights should be full of interesting, exciting, or otherwise informative moments.

"The highlights should be full of interesting, exciting, or otherwise informative moments." - Agree with you Simon. Maybe in FM13 they add informative moments, it would be great.

Sorry...but how do you expect "key highlights" to work ?

Sorry...but how do you expect "key highlights" to work ?

Key highlights should show key highlights, not players walking from the left back to the right corner flag, from the corner flag to the only ball on the field lying by the 16-meter corner, pick up the ball, walk back to the corner flag, and then cross the corner into the box into the hands of the keeper.

Key highlights should take 1/5th of the time they do now, and be completely and utterly useless for those of us who wants to figure out which tactical changes to do by watching the match.

That is how I expect "Key highlights" to work. I also expect highlights to be entertaining to watch and varied enough to prevent me from seeing patterns.

If you look at it like match of the day which I am presuming you watch. That not very similar? Apart from the walking to the corner flag that is key highlights of matches and IMO it is very similar to how key highlights shows. SI have done a good job