DP

We all do right? It’s just not impactful enough (rightly so for the most part) and if it’s not fun, why include it? In terms of an idea, how about; press conferences are assumed to run in the background at a set ‘level’ which means week to week it happens but you don’t need to do anything, the configuration will say there are ‘standard’ press conferences happening in the background and sometimes there will be news items on what is said to add some flavour but you won’t have to do anything. Then at set points in the season you have the option to throw in some controversial press conferences to impact morale. These will all be completely context based (going for the league, relegation etc) and will only happen once or twice. Also instead of selecting answers you just select a general tone of the conference so it’s easily set without going through each question That I could cope with and the contextual press conferences may have a slight bearing on your team’s morale (or maybe the morale of competitors). Get rid of them for each match and get rid of answering each tedious question.

Out of interest, you must be aware of these general trends? And the limitations of the AI. I’m convinced a save game here will give you no more insight than what you already have as you know the intricacies of how the AI works (and has done like this for some time).

Yes. More systems than the AI can handle and the game world falls over 10 seasons in. A quick way to test the theory is to create a great team and then watch what the AI does to it as soon as you leave. Literally every time it falls off a cliff.

Does this mean we probably won’t see a traditional release this year I wonder? If it’s revealed this summer it may not be released until next year?

Surprises me how the Rodrygo signing for £258m is ‘not really bothered about’ considering how City’s transfer record is £100m. Cant see any world where City will be buying players for over double their current transfer record, especially with P&S rules. These inflated transfers have been unrealistic in FM for some time but maybe it’s a mechanic to try to catch up with what the human player can feasibly do?

Possibly the worst suggestion I’ve ever seen This is Football Manager. Not 5 aside or Futsal Manager.

You hope.

Which then leads to the question of how first chance is computed when strikers are taking on chances. How noticeable would it be to have a 20 finishing striker with 1 first touch and one with 20 in both attributes? Would you notice this in the animation and the stats at the end of the season? I’m not sure… I think there is a lot of smoke and mirrors with regards to attributes. Remember, this system was designed when we had to imagine the goals (pre graphics engine) and I still think there is some imagination that exists with how attributes work. Some tests that have been performed appear to support this too.

We’ve all suspected something isn’t right with attributes for years now. Just isolate the penalty taking attribute and it’s an easier experiment. Some will say ‘oh but there’s lots of other attributes at play’ and whilst true it’s still a bit of an excuse. ‘Penalty taking’ should tell you everything you need to know and I don’t think the difference is big enough for someone with 1 and someone with 20.

I’d love the challenge that Pep, Arteta and Klopp have battling for league titles. It doesn’t really exist in the game after the first few seasons. Still too easy to run away with the league once you have established yourself. There needs to be more jeopardy introduced for big teams such as high reputation players randomly dropping in CA, more players leaving for a new challenge and more risk when signing high potential players or even those with a high CA not settling.

The range really is horrible. Looks horrible, isn’t really a thing outside of FM and doesn’t add much to the game. Would be so much more impactful as an approximate value - like past FMs - and how people talk about players in real life. It was a very questionable design choice.

Get rid of the transfer value range, please. It looks so ugly and confusing. Is it really difficult to say a player is worth, say, £50m like on the older versions? People realise there is variance each way but it’s so much easier on the eye and a better way to judge a player to just give him a single value like in the old days.

So how about when you buy from leagues where the match engine is the quick version or not even simulated at all? How are those players compared to ones in the full simulation match engine for your own league? The entire dynamics are completely different.

Because the underlying systems are not a reflection of real life. That’s really not a criticism of SI as it’s still a game. But player roles and formations are still way more powerful than the player so the underlying performance stats will more likely be in response to the role they are playing in rather than their attributes.

And this is what makes those skins that hide attributes useless. They’d be great if the underlying systems were not ‘questionable’ but I’m not sure I trust looking at how many chances a player converts over a season as I don’t know if it’s because he’s a good player or if he’s playing in a role that makes chances easier to convert.