Most Glaring ME Errors

FM 2012 is a great game, but I thought it'd be interesting to see what glaring errors you see in the ME compared to RL football.

Here's what I spotted:

-short and long passing too accurate for lower levels

-overpowered reaction time for attacking players over defending players

-not enough "flicks" of the ball and not enough flair to the dribbling game

-attacking players generally not dynamic enough with their dribbling

-acceleration not properly portrayed as players don't tend to start-and-stop, especially when dribbling

-overcooked corners and long passes don't travel fast enough

-long shots overpowered

-bouncing balls are controlled too quickly

-balls generally don't bounce enough

Addendum:

-players often unmarked for throw-ins

-doing ballerina turns instead of switching ball to other foot

-players frequently play ball off opponents for a throw-in (rather than dribbling, etc.)

-poor AI for crossing

-defenders passing ball back to keeper when box is crowded

-stalling tactics overpowered (e.g. taking 30 seconds to take a throw-in or for keeper to kick the ball)

-players often pass ball to corner kick taker right after a corner kick even though he is offside after the ball was cleared

You might want to edit the offside throw in bit before everybody starts jumping on you; you can't be offside from a throw in.

However, players standing unmarked near the byline during throw ins is an ME glitch.

Thanks J. So the other ones are valid then?

All of the annoyances mentioned are valid & most relate to poor ball physics in the ME which iirc is something that has been acknowledge by PaulC, hopefully when the new ME gets to see the light of day they'll be fixed & we can move on to a whole new set of annoying bugs or glitches in the ME.

a lack of ball boys

seriously, if you told Ronaldo to get the ball after someone throws it back from the crowd, he'd tell you to get f'ed

With regards to players unmarked near the byline at throw-ins, it will depend how close that player is to the taker, as I believe you have to be a certain distance from the thrower(such as free kicks- 10 yards, Penalties outside the arc and corners ten yards.)

It's 2 yards for throw-ins.

Yeah the unmarked striker near the touchline on throw-ins is a laugh.

Pretty much every single aspect of defending. Still.

Most glaring - near post corner crossing. The exploit which can increase your lone striker's haul up to 60 goals a season.

Less glaring:

Weird shots, like when a player receives a ball behind him, or gets it to feet and goes back by himself, and then suddenly turns around and scores a goal from 20 afar.

Shoots free kicks with power - this move always triggers, and if the FK is near the box, it always hits the wall.

That little squatting competition players have when battling for the ball.

The ballerina turn instead of just switching it to the other foot.

The number of times players try to play it off an opponent for a throw in/corner/by ball.

Players more interested in their own position on the pitch than the ball, and run back into position rather than go for a ball closest to them.

Crossing, why does every option seem to mean, "Wait until an opponent closes you down and never cross when you are in space"?

The disallowed goal bug that completely ruins the surprise, and seems to have been around forever.

I wouldn't say long shots are overpowered.

Players more interested in their own position on the pitch than the ball, and run back into position rather than go for a ball closest to them.

My personal favorite is player colliding with his (in possession) teammate wile trying to return to position ...and they said that arrows made players run like mindless chickens.

Defenders in their own 6 yard box back-passing to the keeper after he has just made a save when in real life it would just be hoofed clear.

Add this glitch to the list

-Corner taker collects the ball from behind the goal, he stops about 3 yards short of the corner spot and kicks the ball towards the corner spot, he then watches the ball till it stops and continues to take the corner.

^^ always annoyed me having to watch that malarkey.

a lack of ball boys

This is unbelievably annoying.

Players not positioning themselves in set pieces the way you tell them to is also very annoying. And there are also a million others problems, but at this point they are all very well knowed by SI. Hopefully for FM13 we will have a new and much improved ME.

Add this glitch to the list

-Corner taker collects the ball from behind the goal, he stops about 3 yards short of the corner spot and kicks the ball towards the corner spot, he then watches the ball till it stops and continues to take the corner.

^^ always annoyed me having to watch that malarkey.

A few other issues like that, having to watch 2 minutes or so of nothing happening when a player is injured and having the last few minutes of a pre-season friendly played out fully, despite it being set to 'Key', because it's a close match. I don't think many of us are actually that bothered by the results of pre-season friendlies SI, it's not tense, just tiresome.

its more annoying when the player leaves the ball, goes to the spot, then goes to get the ball.

i thought the most glaring error, would be the ease of scoring corners and free kicks rarely going in.

I see plenty of goals from free kicks, both direct and from crossed free kicks.

So many but two annoying ones for me are the opposition players taking about a minute to do anything once the ball goes out of play. I though it was 6 seconds and you were booked!! The other is we take a corner, it's headed away (again) we regain possession and pass it back to the corner taker who is ALWAYS offside!!!

So many but two annoying ones for me are the opposition players taking about a minute to do anything once the ball goes out of play. I though it was 6 seconds and you were booked!! The other is we take a corner, it's headed away (again) we regain possession and pass it back to the corner taker who is ALWAYS offside!!!

Not if you set him to "lurk outside the area". (defend might do it as well)

Just read through this thread and thought I would add a few observations from my LLM play.

-Defenders playing a back pass to the keeper from the half way line seems to happen too frequently / Defenders playing a back pass to the keeper, to have the keeper pass it back - this goes on several times until the keeper just elects to hoof it up the field.

-The keeper watching a slow back pass roll over the byline, seemingly happy to concede a corner.

-The very occasional throw in being lobbed straight up the pitch to no one.

-"Wooden Peg Syndrome" Players occasionally switching off in relation to their placement and where the ball or threat is. This one can be frustrating when it leads to a goal. i.e, A player who is turned away from the play when a cross comes in, alone, stock still and oblivious, and the ball pings in off the back of his head. Or other variations which lead to it becoming a bit like pinball in the 18 yard box. Another example - my fullback goes in for a couple of vital tackles, winning the second one. He and and the opposing winger are the last men back. My fullback wins the challenge and is closer to the ball. He stops in his tracks, turns in a semi-circle, and elects to walk away from the ball giving the other player free reign to jump on it, run down the half of the pitch and score. Could only laugh at this one.

All in all I admire the massive amount of work that's put into this game, and know that the ME is a very complicated beast that has to deal with innumerable variables from one moment to the next, and for the most part, it does an admirable job I feel.

"-The very occasional throw in being lobbed straight up the pitch to no one."

That's when a player is injured and the other team sportingly puts the ball out of the field, so they then repay the favor.

Defenders not closing down the space correctly on counter-attacks. For example, when an attacker breaks through the last line of defence on one-side of the pitch, the defender/s on the far side of the pitch continue to head towards goals in a straight line instead of running diagonally across to close off the attacker, even though there is no other attacker to mark.

3 things (may have been mentioned already):

- Walls on free kicks are often placed wrong, covering the far post instead of the near.

- After receiving the ball from a player on the wing (often a corner taker or recipient of a throw-in), players will pass the ball back into offside. This happens faaaar too often, at least for top clubs.

- Players never (or extremely rarely) turn 180 degrees after receiving the ball. Instead, they stand around, panicked, waiting for the opposing players to close them down from behind. This is especially a problem if the player is not two-footed.

I'd also like to see the possibility of playing Barcelona/Spain-style football, where players pass the ball to a semi-marked player who meet the ball and one-touch it back to the original passer, to open space and pull the other team out of shape.

How about when the player rushes towards a ball and gently leads it out of play for a throw-in while not under pressure? It doesn't happen alot in the top divisions but it's just ridiculous in lower divisions.

Another one is when one team-mate tries to get to the ball, other team mates will not make any attempt to do the same even if they are closer. Often happens when a corner kick is headed away, toward the corner taker. Someone inside the penalty area will run like a madman to try to get to the ball, and the corner taker will be picking his nose a couple of meters from where the ball is headed

The whole mechanics for crossing and generally making passes across the goal feel 'nerfed' to me - In previous versions if a player was coming in from a tight angle and he had an open striker they would almost always pass it across for the easy tap in, now I see this happen maybe once a season.

Full backs always seem to take it to the byline even if set to cross from deep and 'poachers' rarely make good runs to get on the end of crosses despite having good Off the Ball skills.

Head Tennis!

One big limitation of the ME is that the keeper never ever touches shots that are off target. The ME is probably coded in that way so that they do their jumping but never actually hold or punch off target shots. If you carefully match up the stats and the shots, you will notice this. The keeper will only save on target shots, unless it goes in of course.

One consequence of this is that the keeper will never touch shots that are destined for the woodwork, because it's considered to be off target. Then it creates further unpredictable situations after the ball reflects off the woodwork.

In real life, most shots headed for the woodwork will be saved.

You may claim that you've seen off target shots being saved, but just check your match stats in real time as the shots are made. It will show the truth about the limitation of this ME.

Hmm. I've seen my goalkeeper "save" shots that I thought for sure was going to miss target, but I wasn't lining it up with a ruler so I may be wrong.

The disallowed goal bug that completely ruins the surprise, and seems to have been around forever.

disallowed goal bug?

the first i know the goals disallowed is when the linesman raises his flag. that generally happens just as the striker receives the ball and goes to shoot.

Hmm. I've seen my goalkeeper "save" shots that I thought for sure was going to miss target, but I wasn't lining it up with a ruler so I may be wrong.

i've seen this as well. the shot was definitely going into the side netting. no chance of ever going in and the keeper often saves it. i presume that he's just covering his lines to be sure, as every good keeper should.

One big limitation of the ME is that the keeper never ever touches shots that are off target. The ME is probably coded in that way so that they do their jumping but never actually hold or punch off target shots. If you carefully match up the stats and the shots, you will notice this. The keeper will only save on target shots, unless it goes in of course.

One consequence of this is that the keeper will never touch shots that are destined for the woodwork, because it's considered to be off target. Then it creates further unpredictable situations after the ball reflects off the woodwork.

In real life, most shots headed for the woodwork will be saved.

You may claim that you've seen off target shots being saved, but just check your match stats in real time as the shots are made. It will show the truth about the limitation of this ME.

I remember seeing my keeper save a shot that was going miles wide the other day, and conceding a corner for no reason. I don't think that keepers never touch a ball going wide, but it certainly may be the case that keepers with sufficiently high stats in certain areas don't go for a shot that's going off target. The woodwork thing actually makes a lot of sense, it would explain the very high numbers in the match stats (I recently started a game with Fulham, in the first 3 UEFA Cup qualifying rounds I hit the woodwork 16 times over six game, plus there was at least one instance that didn't register on the match stats).

Wingbacks play as DL / DR's too often.

Wingbacks play as DL / DR's too often.

I'd say that's more down to your settings, I've never had an issue getting wing backs to get forward.

-Players running on to a loose ball and just running it out of play.

-Players with "Hits free kicks with power" always hit the wall.

-Players dribbling down the wing can't change direction without stopping the ball and letting the defenders catch up.

Strikers dispossessing defenders, particularly when they're running back toward goal. Happens with infuriating regularity.

Also, attacking players shooting into team mates in offside positions.

I remember seeing my keeper save a shot that was going miles wide the other day, and conceding a corner for no reason. I don't think that keepers never touch a ball going wide, but it certainly may be the case that keepers with sufficiently high stats in certain areas don't go for a shot that's going off target. The woodwork thing actually makes a lot of sense, it would explain the very high numbers in the match stats (I recently started a game with Fulham, in the first 3 UEFA Cup qualifying rounds I hit the woodwork 16 times over six game, plus there was at least one instance that didn't register on the match stats).

What you see in the animation is different to what is counted in the stats window of the ME. Something may seem like a definite off target shot, but if you actually look at the shot stats, it always counts as 'on target' if saved by the keeper. Most likely due to the weird curve physics I would think.

This is one area that I've checked through and through in all my matches and I am 100% sure that this dysfunctional coding exists.

I'd say that's more down to your settings, I've never had an issue getting wing backs to get forward.

Fairly universal, without the ball they drop far too deep regardless of 20/20 attacking, 20/20 pressing.

What you see in the animation is different to what is counted in the stats window of the ME. Something may seem like a definite off target shot, but if you actually look at the shot stats, it always counts as 'on target' if saved by the keeper. Most likely due to the weird curve physics I would think.

This is one area that I've checked through and through in all my matches and I am 100% sure that this dysfunctional coding exists.

You are observing the stats correctly: a saved shot will always be counted as "on target". I think you're just drawing the wrong conclusions here.

Once fired, a shot will have the following attributes I think:

- Blocked: if it hits someone on the way.

- Saved: touched by keeper and not resulting in goal

- Woodwork: any shot resulting in touching woodwork

- On target: any Saved shot or Goal

- Off target: Any shot not Blocked, On target or Woodwork (I think)

The sum of Off target, Blocked, On Target and Woodwork should correspond to the total number of shots.

It's just a way of counting. From this way of counting you cannot however draw the conclusion that a goalkeeper doesn't attempt to save an Off-target shot. It just means that saved "Off-target" shots are chalked up as a Saved (and therefore "on target") shot. It's much easier to do this than to extrapolate the path of a saved shot and chalk it up in the right category. Unfortunately, there is no way from stats only to distinguish a true "On target" shot from a saved "Off target" shot.

Fairly universal, without the ball they drop far too deep regardless of 20/20 attacking, 20/20 pressing.

There are other setting that determine whether they will make attacking runs. My experience with the game is that wing backs will, more often than not, attack just as I want them to.

As for dropping far too deep, and it being fairly universal, who appointed you judge of football position standards and all gamer's experiences?