What is wrong with FM 2008?

Yesyes. I went and bought this FM 2008 maybe a week ago even though FM 2009 is being released very soon.

I have been playing fm 2006 for very long time since I love it, but because I have won everything in it and I have been unbeatable for so many seasons I thought its time to move on and get to know 2008 and 2009 when it comes out.

At first 2008 seemed like a good game and I never doubted it.

I always start from the lowest possible league and try to build my way to the top from there. So I took Maidenhead - england - blue square south. I have now played 3 and a half seasons and I probably have the best squad in the division and I am in the 21st position out of 22!

I am very frustrated and I dont like this at all. I mean, I dont know if some stupid actions that players do, are becouse I am in such an low league and they just cant do things like in premier, but why everytime that player runs to get the ball and even if the ball is lying in front of the goal and the player just needs to tap it in with FIRST TOUCH. He still pushes it forward once before he shoots? Even though his first touch is above 10. And this happens in every situations and is frustrating when ball is close to line and he just stupidly pushes it out for a goal kick.

That was just one of the things. I just dont get it, why is this game impossible and match engine seems worse than 2006? Why in every match 2-3 men gets red card, why 2-3 penalties are given in each match, why the team that scores first never wins, why two goal lead after first half never holds, why it seems as if teams are completely different in the second half compared to first half?

I mean, I love fm and I have some tactical knowledge coz I've played them for so long (since cm), but when ever I play fm 2008 my day is ruined. Playing fm 2008 gets me in a bad mood. Sometimes my team even plays very good match, they outperform opponent in EVERY AREA of the match, but its still a one goal defeat or if Im lucky - a draw.

What has changed so much from 2006 and what is this? some kind of torture joke from si? what? is 2009 gonna be like this? I mean come on, give man a change to win a match every once in a while..

oh and btw, I am also succesfull in FML beta atm.

A lot of the issues you describe were resolved in the patches so start by installing the 8.0.2 patch

The 08 match engine is different from previous versions so well used and trusted tactics will not be as effective in 08.

Have a look in the Tactics forum at the FAQ and the Unofficial Tactics Bible threads and you will find some ideas to help you

The game is not esasy and is not intended to be, but FM08 does require some work from you to get things right and the Tactics forum is the best place to start looking.

why is this game impossible

Why in every match 2-3 men gets red card,

why 2-3 penalties are given in each match,

why the team that scores first never wins,

why two goal lead after first half never holds,

why it seems as if teams are completely different in the second half compared to first half?

I don't agree with most of those. Are you patched up?

yeah i doubt your patched up! if not get the 8.02 patch!

i dont agree with everything you say- you tried changing your tactics.

cant say there is always 2-3 oenalties, or loose when i go ahead!

Yeh get patched up like everyones said and for the team being 'completely' different in the second half from the first, team talks have a lot to do with that imo. A bad team talk can ruin your match if your not careful!

Unfortunately after two seasons I did get patch 8.0.2 and it didnt change too much things. I did continue my save though as I dont want to start over since Im happy with my squad but I dont think that is an issue?

Also I do hate team talks so just like in fm 2006 I let my assistant manager take care of those and for that I have gotten imho very good assistant manager for this division. Good motivation amongst others things.

Team talks can, at times, get slightly annoying, but 99% of the time i don't mind doing them, plus, imo they are very important to how a match is shaped in both halves, and i would never trust it to my AM. Maybe try them yourself for a few matchs see if it changes for you, aslong as you get them correct ofcourse! Which is all part of the fun.

Other than that, mix your tactics up and search for what works for you and your team in that division. Many posters say go to the tactics forum, so thats an option, though i never go there as i want to learn, mix and fix my own tactics without any insight.

The is a rare bug that occurs in a save game after you patch to 8.0.2. that renders your defence useless. If your defenders have high morale but are making crazy mistakes and conceding hat fulls, then, unfortunately you have it. The only solution is to start again.

However, it might be tactical. There were fundamental changes between 06 and 08 in how tactics worked. FML settings will mean you haven't really come up against this online. However, in FM08 you will.

A lot of the issues you describe were resolved in the patches so start by installing the 8.0.2 patch

The problem is, the core 2D problems are still there in 8.0.2 and each patch has brought more problems.

The is a rare bug that occurs in a save game after you patch to 8.0.2. that renders your defence useless. If your defenders have high morale but are making crazy mistakes and conceding hat fulls, then, unfortunately you have it. The only solution is to start again.

Are you serious? Sounds very stupid, like a joke. I would be glad though if what you are saying is true. I finished some season (possible before patch) in 5th place and after that my squad has gotten stronger but results have been so bad. Like you said I concede A LOT of goals (58 in 30 matches). Is this really true what wwfan is saying?

oh, his a moderator, just notised, so I assume it is like that.. :O

I am serious. It sounds very much like you have that bug.

Well if it possible then I definetly have it. Man, you dont know how frustrating this has been. I got few new very promising defenders amongst other good players for this season and since then, they have done everything in their power to keep me from getting full 3 points. This is beyond words, but thank you so much. I have to try new game later today.

Is it 100% sure that starting a new game works or should I reinstall whole fm 2008 and the patch?

Just start a new game. It'll work fine. It was something to do with player attributes being regraded in the 8.0.2 patch. Starting with it will have them regraded from the off so it won't affect game play.

The is a rare bug that occurs in a save game after you patch to 8.0.2. that renders your defence useless. If your defenders have high morale but are making crazy mistakes and conceding hat fulls, then, unfortunately you have it. The only solution is to start again.

However, it might be tactical. There were fundamental changes between 06 and 08 in how tactics worked. FML settings will mean you haven't really come up against this online. However, in FM08 you will.

I have this problem too, but only for lower leagues It seems to be strange, but as a manager of Aston Villa, everything is fine, but in the same save as a manager of York in League 2 I have been forced to tackle on EASY whole season (lurking on the bottom of the league despite beeing a promotion candidate) and still stupid penalties are whistled against me, while my strikers are still yellow carded for simulating and diving really strange. If AI needs to win, it give the penalty against me despite easy tackling, quite high decision and determination and morale too.

With Villa I am tackling also easy by all means. Just for case...

Yeah, the patch doesn't affect a save game, start a new game and it will be fine.

Yeah, the patch doesn't affect a save game, start a new game and it will be fine.

It does affect a new game, the only difference is you don't get the data updates i.e. transfers.

This FM 2008 version is very wierd..I found zero complains of 2006 and I always enjoyed it so much.

Now I started a new game and this time I started as unemployed as I thought it would be more realistic

Leagues that I took are germany (first division) and all of englands divisions (blue square north/south and above).

Now I've gone a whole year without anyone accepting my job application (very much similar to my real life fortune, so thats a big plus for being very realistic and well simulated). But I would like to know if its even possible to get a job really because I've send an application to the lowest of all teams that have had a free spot and all other teams too. If the worst teams in the lowest leagues do not accept my applications and Ive gone full year without getting the job then what is the meaning of this "start unemployed"....

I understand that I cant get job from premiership teams or 1 division or 2 division etc, but there is no lower team or lower division in the game imho than england amateur league blue square south/north and no1 there has accepted my job application. :O

Kazuyalee, you'll get a job eventually, but it's based on the reputation you set yourself. If you set it as automatic, then you are considered a Sunday league footballer, so it might be a while before someone offers you a job.

I've never tried that, but in my experience if you applied for a job you'd never get it, whereas if you didn't you would. Didn't make much sense and I didn't report it as it could have just been a coincidence. Make a new manager, grab a team that has been promoted to the BSN/S and retire the old one. At least that way you'll get soem playing time

sigh....

So I anyway started a new game once again. This time with a job from maidenhead as it is one of the worst teams in the game. This time I thought to myself that I will do everything as well as I can from the beginning. Friendlies went okey and as I got better coaches, better assmanager, better players and better training schedules I was feeling good.

I was happy with my current situation, I was eager to get the season under way as everything had been done as well as possible. I even offered all my first team squad full time contracts instead of part times. I did the same with my staff. So anticipation was high as I entered my first league match of the season. It was an away match against Dorchester that had been predicted to 17th place by the media. Result: 7-4 defeat. I have no idea where I went wrong, but as I write this, I am playing my second match of the season.

Home match against eastleigh. I started very well. 1-0 in 4th minute. But just like always when I play a match in fm08. After the goal its totally different match. On the 26th minute Im 1-2 down, doesnt honestly surprise me at all. When HT comes its 2-3, remember that Im still the only full time team in the league. Well I leveled the match early in the second half but the match ended with 3-4 defeat with late penalty that I gave away after being dominated.

I am so frustrated and I hope I would have skipped this version of fm and waited for 09. I always had such an good picture of fm and si but this is below par imho. I still probably play this before 09 comes so I just might post more how Im doing...I just dont get it. FM is still by far the best football manager game ever and any competitor doesnt come even close, but how can you go from fm06 to this? How can fm08 feel so much worse than fm06 or is it just me....?

I believe a trip to the tactical forum is in order. Read Tactical Theorems and Frameworks, Fundamental Football Manager or the Libero Defence: Reworking RoO (or something like that). All will also leave you in good stead for FM09.

The only issue I had/have with FM08 is tactics. It's too difficult to actually get your players to do what could easily be done in real life. I've posted something similar to this before but bear with me:

For instance, if I want a player to close down...I have a stupid amount of incremental options......in real life you would tell the team to "Close Down wherever you can" or "Close down only if their in our half/final third" or you would tell individuals. You wouldn't click a slider 20 places left or right to get players to understand!

That and a number of other tactical issues relating to the same issue. They need to resolve that for me and make it more fluid to get your message across to the players.

I doubt they have however. I'm sure it will happen in the fullness of time though. Trust in SI!

lol

I cant believe that tactic that has worked well in previous version AND IN FML is A TOTAL FAILURE in fm08, its just not possible imho.

Third match of the season and Im 2-0 down after 5 minutes. Half time Im 4-0 down and Im still the ONLY full time team in the league. If I owned this club I would fire my ass in an instant and as it stands I uninstall this fm08 right now and forget it ever excisted.

Managing Orlando Pirates & South Africa, I had over 20 players called up, but was still supposed to play cup & league games with my team! I tried to see if i could postpone the game but there was no option! (also it was the african nations) so i dont understand why the clubs games continued!

1. As soon as a player hit 30 they get useless.

2. Defending is horrible - the AI cant deal with tactics like Kimz, where you overload the opponents area.

3. The AI time waste and play ultra defensive for 85 min all games if your favorite in the media.

lol I assume I got lucky and picked "perfect" team talk answer (its so stupid its beyond words) as I won the second half 3-0 so I lost the third match of the season 3-4 after AGAIN my team was totally different compared to first half...this game gets worst and worst by every minute.

lol

I cant believe that tactic that has worked well in previous version AND IN FML is A TOTAL FAILURE in fm08, its just not possible imho.

Third match of the season and Im 2-0 down after 5 minutes. Half time Im 4-0 down and Im still the ONLY full time team in the league. If I owned this club I would fire my ass in an instant and as it stands I uninstall this fm08 right now and forget it ever excisted.

Firstly, there has been a massive shift in tactical sophistication between FM06 and FM08. Secondly, the default tactics in FML aren't all that hot, so judging how good yours is against them isn't going to tell you much. Third, if you are struggling with FM08 tactics, you sure as hell will struggle with FM09.

Try to play without arrows. That would be my immediate advice. And read one of the three tactical threads I directed you to. They tell you everything you need to know.

I feel sorry for the OP.

We've been (well, most of us) playing FM08 since it came out and have adapted our game to suit it.

We've learned how to be successful over the past year and many of us are still enjoying the experience.

When you jump from FM06 to FM08 it's like being thrown into the deep end with bricks attacked to your legs and being told to "swim"....

TT&F would be a good place for him to start, it's a bloody interesting read.

Firstly, there has been a massive shift in tactical sophistication between FM06 and FM08. Secondly, the default tactics in FML aren't all that hot, so judging how good yours is against them isn't going to tell you much. Third, if you are struggling with FM08 tactics, you sure as hell will struggle with FM09.

Try to play without arrows. That would be my immediate advice. And read one of the three tactical threads I directed you to. They tell you everything you need to know.

If it has been so massive shift, how come my tactic works well in FML. and I have been told that fm09 has ME similar to FML so why would I struggle with 09 if I struggle with 08, but at the same time Im succesfull with FML?

Also how is it possible with useless tactic to win second half 3-0 after losing first 4-0? This is just too bizarre imho...this fm serie starts to look like some puzzle game that si send out and all the hackers (players) try to crack it. It should be possible to be competitive without ultimate inch perfect slider positions and this version really gets me in a bad mood and games should not do that.

hehhhehh!!! I almost won after three losses but after I took 1-0 lead, I gave two penalties to the opponent and I lost 1-2

I now go uninstall this game so this topic is over as far as Im concerned.

If it has been so massive shift, how come my tactic works well in FML. and I have been told that fm09 has ME similar to FML so why would I struggle with 09

Because the AI in FM09 uses better tactics than most of the people you're playing against in FML.

Sigh. Why do we bother?

One more time: The default tactics in FML aren't great. Hence, they are not difficult to beat. There is also the slight difference that in FML you will have a team full of high quality players. With Maidenhead, that won't be the case. Comparing the two games does not work.

All the answers to your questions are in the tactic forum. If you are going to buy FM09, then you'll need to go there anyway as it will be a step further from FM08. Why not use the time available to become au fait with the new system?

sorry to semi-hijack the thread, but as it seems its become redundant, it'll save me starting a new one!!!

Just wondering if wwfan has any plans to rework TT&F for 09. I'm sure he realises that it'll be needed by us mere mortals

Out of interest wwfan do you remember how many hours I spent on my 08 tactics? not looking forward to dong this all over again in 2 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Try a little experiment. Play your FM08 tactics without arrows. If they do well, then they will provide a solid starting point for FM09.

TT&F '09 has already been written and will be released as a forum thread and downloadable pdf on November 14th. I've been fortunate enough to have all its major contributors play a significant role in various Beta tests over the last 12 months which has allowed all its theories to be tested in advance of release.

cool, thanks for the advice, and KUTGW. i'm off to re-read TT&F 08 because my defence is bleeding goals atm. doing my head in.