My hopes towards FM 2010

I've played this game since CM 0102 and this is really the game I like most. I must praise the 3D view which is really enjoyable. But still, after playing FM 09 for 2 seasons ( I play full 2 season and played full match every time)..I really want to suggest a few things, mainly on the tactical screen, for the FM next year. This is especially stimulate but SI 's decision to remove the function of arrows and the new 3D engine:

1. add a new bar which is ranging from "to cross" to "to shoot", the middle is "mix". I think this can be specifically designed for winger. so tht even after remove "arrows", the manager can instruct the winger to try to cut in and shoot more, or vice versa

2. add a new bar for cross, ranging from "high cross" to "low cross", the middle is "mix", so that the manager can instruct to put in low cross for short striker, or vice versa

3. add a new bar ranging from "to pass" and "to shoot", so that the manager can instruct the players to be more selfish or not

4. add a new option called "passing aim", similar to the existence "cross aim" and "distribution" (for keeper) and it can specific the passing aim player.

5, add a new bar "come deep to get ball"..in previous versions I thought this is a very good preferred move..but it is removed in 09!!! I really think it should become a tactical option so that u can ask striker like Rooney to play a style which he is really gd at

6. add options which can allow attackers to give pressure to a particular defender, for example "dribble past" a particular player..so that the attacker can make the defender to make mistake

7. Free kicks - shall distinguish the options ( like types of FKs and FKs takers) between FKs in own areas and in opposition areas. also should add an option of "attempt "fast deliver" free kicks"

This is so far my thoughts. I think as a manager game the game (especially 09) has done a super gd job in transfer market and media interaction, but it should also improve in terms of the tactics area. I really think it should allow gamers to have a much variety of tactical choices, instead of only fine tuning "creativity" , "passing style" and "mentality" when it comes to attacking option.

I thought this post was worth commenting on mate.

I like number 2 straight-away, and number 5 has potential to become a slider for strikers with Comes Deep to Get Ball/Mixed/Try to Beat Offside Trap (3 clicks). I think those two could be implemented with no trouble and would add something to the game. Number 3 is actually not as bad an idea as I originally thought. Each player could be set to be more, or less, selfish with a selfishness slider designed for shoot or don't shoot purposes. The existing Creative Freedom slider does not really address this.

I see problems with the rest - 1, 4 and 6. Especially in terms of being too limiting.

(1) The "new bar which ranges from cross to shoot" is not needed. All you need to do is lower the existing Crossing setting to Mixed, or Rarely. If Through Balls are also low, then the winger will already be looking to shoot more often. Besides, if there was a slider for Selfishness as you have suggested, then there really would be no need at all. What is needed is some form of Cut Inside option for full-backs and wingers in my opinion, perhaps a slider with Hugs Line/Mixed/Cut Inside (3 clicks).

(4) We can already set a main Targetman to aim at, or a Playmaker to generally pass the ball to. But giving each player a passing aim to specific player? Too mechanical in my opinion.

(6) What happens if your striker ends up in a position away from the particular defender you have set him to take on/dribble past? Football matches are fluid. We could end up seeing our striker choose to go sideways to dribble past that defender instead of continuing a straight run on goal. We aready have the Run With Ball option, so having it on maximum should mean that your striker will attempt to dribble past their marker often, if their marker is in front of them. Which is as should be I reckon.

Would be nice to see other's opinions on this, after they have taken some time to think instead of knee-jerk reacting. :-)

And also any SI staff's opinions.

Hei The Gaffovski tks for your comment. I especially think your comment on "6". My original thought is about giving pressure to a particular defnerder..for example Bramble (who always make mistake when in pressure situation in real life). Do you think the existing "closing down" in "opposition instruction" will do?

I also agree to add "Hugs Line/Mixed/Cut Inside (3 clicks)" compare to my original suggestion.

also I added a comment abt free kick..see if you wanna comment on it as well.

I'll just add, in view of the fact that "Likes to Beat Offside Trap" can be learned as a PPM (IF the player agrees to this in the first place...) that PPM's can be a pain sometimes and are really not the best solution.

Say you have two first choice strikers, Rooney and Eto. Ideally, you'd want one of your strikers to come deep to get balll more often, and the other striker to try and beat offside trap. So let's say Rooney has the PPM "Comes Deep to Get Ball" and Eto has the PPM "Likes to Beat Offside Trap". All well and good. Until Eto gets injured. And another sub striker is injured too. The 4th choice striker has PPM "Comes Deep to Get Ball" just like Rooney, but you want to keep the SAME sytem and make that striker try to beat offside trap. And you can't. That's the problem.

I strongly feel that PPM's should only be the most personalized stuff instead of tactically-altering stuff. For example, Curls Ball, Shoots with Power, Places Shots, those are fine as PPM's.

But say Shoots Long? We already have a slider for long shots, so what's the need for this? Ask player to unlearn shooting long and he might not want to, either. Moves Into Channels? What if you want your striker not to, for a particular game? Etc.

yup.. i totall agree that "PPM's should only be the most personalized stuff instead of tactically-altering stuff."..many of them should be switch to tactical option.

Hei The Gaffovski tks for your comment. I especially think your comment on "6". My original thought is about giving pressure to a particular defnerder..for example Bramble (who always make mistake when in pressure situation in real life). Do you think the existing "closing down" in "opposition instruction" will do?

I also agree to add "Hugs Line/Mixed/Cut Inside (3 clicks)" compare to my original suggestion.

also I added a comment abt free kick..see if you wanna comment on it as well.

7. Free kicks - shall distinguish the options ( like types of FKs and FKs takers) between FKs in own areas and in opposition areas. also should add an option of "attempt "fast deliver" free kicks"

You're welcome Batiroy, thanks for your thought-provoking post. :-)

The closing down in OI should put pressure on Bramble, when your team does not have the ball. When your team has the ball, then Run With Ball often should force Bramble to tackle your striker and possibly committ a lot of fouls.

Differentiating Free-kicks is something that FM'ers have been asking for, for a while now. I agree that something ought to be done. Especially for Crossing Free-kicks and Shooting Free-kicks where you may want different takers. I think when you get a Free-kick in your own area, the game makes a default player take it. Like the nearest defender or whatever. So that's ok in my opinion.

Your "fast-delivery" idea..... I don't see why not and it's not a bad idea. We already have a choice of Mixed, Long, Short or Quick Throw-Ins. So it could be the same for Free-Kicks. In Team Instructions. Yeah, would like this.

Just had a look at the Free-kicks options in Team Instructions. The options available at present are -

Mixed

Short

Long

Cross Near

Cross Far

Cross Centre

Best Header

So it would just need adding a Quick option.

But yeah, two Free-kicks settings are needed really. For the crossing type, and the free-kicks in front of opposition area type.

I agree about PPM should be only personalized and for the first post there are allready options about low or high crosses.

PPMs being 'personalised' as you guys suggest is surely exactly what they are now; 'comes deep to get ball' is something rooney has always done because he's basically a kid playing football; hungry for the ball, always.

PPMs SHOULD alter tactics because players do having playing styles they aren't just complete robots who can follow whatever strategy you define;hence the split between 'set a tactic then build a team to fit in it' v build your tactic around the team you have, etc

I've played this game since CM 0102 and this is really the game I like most. I must praise the 3D view which is really enjoyable. But still, after playing FM 09 for 2 seasons ( I play full 2 season and played full match every time)..I really want to suggest a few things, mainly on the tactical screen, for the FM next year. This is especially stimulate but SI 's decision to remove the function of arrows and the new 3D engine:

1. add a new bar which is ranging from "to cross" to "to shoot", the middle is "mix". I think this can be specifically designed for winger. so tht even after remove "arrows", the manager can instruct the winger to try to cut in and shoot more, or vice versa

2. add a new bar for cross, ranging from "high cross" to "low cross", the middle is "mix", so that the manager can instruct to put in low cross for short striker, or vice versa

3. add a new bar ranging from "to pass" and "to shoot", so that the manager can instruct the players to be more selfish or not

4. add a new option called "passing aim", similar to the existence "cross aim" and "distribution" (for keeper) and it can specific the passing aim player.

5, add a new bar "come deep to get ball"..in previous versions I thought this is a very good preferred move..but it is removed in 09!!! I really think it should become a tactical option so that u can ask striker like Rooney to play a style which he is really gd at

6. add options which can allow attackers to give pressure to a particular defender, for example "dribble past" a particular player..so that the attacker can make the defender to make mistake

7. Free kicks - shall distinguish the options ( like types of FKs and FKs takers) between FKs in own areas and in opposition areas. also should add an option of "attempt "fast deliver" free kicks"

This is so far my thoughts. I think as a manager game the game (especially 09) has done a super gd job in transfer market and media interaction, but it should also improve in terms of the tactics area. I really think it should allow gamers to have a much variety of tactical choices, instead of only fine tuning "creativity" , "passing style" and "mentality" when it comes to attacking option.

I think not/

There are already too many sliders and all that.

The players are'nt stupid to tell them exactly what to do.

MY HOPES FOR FM10?

A better match engine.No more features.Just a match engine that actualy works and no more bugs.

SI should concentrate on this.

Some really good ideas there, like the quick free kicks and the return of the - come deep to get ball - option.

But I think it's not such a good idea to have to deal with MORE bars, clicks, notces left or right etc.

The point is that a players behaviour should not be determined just by bars, but by his attributes, personality and, of course,

prefered moves.

To be more specific, a players effort to cross or to cut inside can be determined by teams width, his prefered move

(if he has one-i.e. cuts inside, hungs line), his passing instruction (short or direct). His decision making, flair, creativity and

teamwork could determine if he will pass or try to score, if he'll cross high or low (depending on the striker he aims) and so on.

So instead of trying to turn a player into a robot, as jumjerome stated, with the use of a dozen bars, we could find the one who has the attributes to fit our team's style, or to "create" one through training or at least give our team the instuctions that will force that player to play as close to our style as possible. But, as I told before, more bars would make the game a continous pursuit of the correct notch. At least that's my personal view of the game...

I'm hoping the next major change will be to training to make it more realistic, i.e. fixed training plans.

I manage in the lower leagues and the clubs are almost always part-time, which means that the teams probably train 2-3 times a week tops for a couple of hours in the evening.

At the moment my assistant is constantly telling me that we can't pass for toffee, so any manager worth his salt would arrange the next couple of training sessions to concentrate on this and include short passing exercises to try and iron out these problems. Also if my real life team concedes sloppy goals from corners, you can be certain that the following Tuesday's training will have an exercise on this. The current system doesn't IMO reflect this.

One idea that has been going round my head the past couple of months is to be somehow able to actually take training. For this I would envisage a training ground/pitch where for example you could drill corners, tell your players where to stand for attacking/defending corners, which runs to make etc. and be able to combine this with the instructions in the tactics, so it's possible to see how things change when changes are made. The results of said training could then be defaulted to the saved tactics. The difficulty I have with this is how to realistically reflect the training times in the game time, so that a gamer can't spend 4-5 real time hours on training at one go, as most training sessions are about 90 minutes.

PPMs being 'personalised' as you guys suggest is surely exactly what they are now; 'comes deep to get ball' is something rooney has always done because he's basically a kid playing football; hungry for the ball, always.

I did say "only be the most personalized stuff".

PPMs SHOULD alter tactics because players do having playing styles they aren't just complete robots who can follow whatever strategy you define;hence the split between 'set a tactic then build a team to fit in it' v build your tactic around the team you have, etc

I respectfully disagree because ultimately what you are saying is that Ferguson cannot tell Rooney not to come deep for certain matches because that's his "PPM", and that he needs to sign another striker with the same "PPM" each time Rooney gets injured. Or train a striker for 6 months so he gains it.

Surely, a simple word with your player should suffice.

As for the "robots" comment, surely it also applies to players always doing what they want too. As a manager, you should be able to change a player from being a robot (always moving into channels, always coming deep to get ball), if you feel like it.

;-)

I think not/

There are already too many sliders and all that.

The players are'nt stupid to tell them exactly what to do.

Sliders with just 3 notches/clicks with a description of what each does, isn't exactly rocket science. Tackling and Forward Runs sliders are like that. And you could always leave them on the default "Mixed" if you want to leave it up to your intelligent players. :-)

I respectfully disagree because ultimately what you are saying is that Ferguson cannot tell Rooney not to come deep for certain matches because that's his "PPM", and that he needs to sign another striker with the same "PPM" each time Rooney gets injured. Or train a striker for 6 months so he gains it.

Surely, a simple word with your player should suffice.

As for the "robots" comment, surely it also applies to players always doing what they want too. As a manager, you should be able to change a player from being a robot (always moving into channels, always coming deep to get ball), if you feel like it.

;-)

I have a better idea, fix the bugs first

i don't disagree with the fact that you should be able to get a player to do all the fancy things available as PPMs as tactical options, but i disagree that this should be limited to as ONLY that, is what i meant.

I see. Cool. It's the same for me but vice versa. i.e. I don't like that some moves are only PPM's. If the game could allow for both ways, then great. As long as Tactical Instruction overrides a contradictory PPM, where the case applies.

haha..my aim surely isn't to turn players to robot. The bar is reflecting what instructions that a manager can give to players. It should be interpreted as "tell the player try to do sth"...instead of "the player will follow exactly wht the bar tells him"... for example even if you set "passing style" to "short", it doesn't mean they players can't play long ball at all. All I'm saying is I think there aren't sufficient bars to let the manager to convert all his ideas to the pitch. For example Ferguson sometimes suggest Rooney to shoot more (be more selfish, but not necessarily long shot), but it also doesn't mean Rooney can't pass rite? (this also related to decision, creativty, etc). surely this is not a matter abt robot.

I'm hoping the next major change will be to training to make it more realistic, i.e. fixed training plans.

I manage in the lower leagues and the clubs are almost always part-time, which means that the teams probably train 2-3 times a week tops for a couple of hours in the evening.

At the moment my assistant is constantly telling me that we can't pass for toffee, so any manager worth his salt would arrange the next couple of training sessions to concentrate on this and include short passing exercises to try and iron out these problems. Also if my real life team concedes sloppy goals from corners, you can be certain that the following Tuesday's training will have an exercise on this. The current system doesn't IMO reflect this.

One idea that has been going round my head the past couple of months is to be somehow able to actually take training. For this I would envisage a training ground/pitch where for example you could drill corners, tell your players where to stand for attacking/defending corners, which runs to make etc. and be able to combine this with the instructions in the tactics, so it's possible to see how things change when changes are made. The results of said training could then be defaulted to the saved tactics. The difficulty I have with this is how to realistically reflect the training times in the game time, so that a gamer can't spend 4-5 real time hours on training at one go, as most training sessions are about 90 minutes.

I thought in previous versions of CM..there was a complet different training system..more like real life...and it tells which training can improve which certain aspect of a player...like you can traing "heading", "attacking free kicks", "penalty"..etc...I think that training system was actually much better than the current one..

I agree about PPM should be only personalized and for the first post there are allready options about low or high crosses.

Do you mean "to feet", or "to head"? but it's only for target man supply...then how about not using a target man? Tks if you can tell wht i can set in my own tactics.

I've a new thought about the 3D engine:

The views now in 3D mode is quite similar to traditional football games. I was thinking if SI can make a "manager" view. It can hv several different views, like one from a view of "manager's instrcution on the pitch", and some from a view of bench (manager seated) - which can vary from different stadium (like in san siro the seat is actually below ground level a bit, but in old traffod the seat is a quite few steps higher). but this may incur some technical difficulty coz it seems it will produce some "dead angle of sight".