First time I regret buying a football manager

I don't claim to be a FM specialist even if I play football managers since the FA Cup on Sinclair Spectrum. I mostly play them because I enjoy being THE manager and second because I like watching results and games.

My biggest problem is that sometimes it feels that the game is being played beforehand and there's nothing I can do about it. Case in question: on 3 different games, playing in Romanian first league as Universitate Craiova. Everytime I have made different transfers. Everytime I tried a different tactic: attacking 4-4-2 with some modifications, MW and 4-1-4-1 Counter-Attacking. Vs. Farul Constanta (at Farul's home) in all 3 games there was always the same outcome or almost the same: 1-3, 1-3 and 2-3 with Tiberiu Moldovan always scoring 2 goals and one of his goals always being from long range. This happening at different times during the season (but always during season 1). Never had so almost identical outcomes against other teams.

EDIT: In all 3 games Farul had 2-0 at HT.

And yes, I know it's just one match in a season but it's very disturbing.

My second problem is that I was really looking forward to seeing the matches in 3D as I don't buy EA games. Why do sometimes players run from the ball? Even after the ball hits them, they run from it. It looks very stupid.

Do you have the 9.3 patch? Players don't run from the ball (or at least not nearly as much--I've seen it a couple of times.)

yer the running away problem was fixed in my opinion by 9.0.3, it would be worth posting your tactics/instructions as you may be doing something very fundamental wrong, as most people do when they can not string a result, this version requires a lot more on the tactics and instructions than any other, for me gameplay wise this has been the best so far, no more easy wins, no more taking teams from oblivion into top leagues in consecutive seasons, im sure we can fix your problems!

Do you set opposition instructions to close down the player in question and turn him onto weaker foot. The 9.2 / 9.1 patches had a few too many bugs but 9.3.0, when you play it a couple of days, improves the game no end.

Of course, if you already are patched, it's probably opposition settings - the AI manager has had success against you before so remembers this and plays a particular way.

There are still some issues with players not running for the ball when my player is 5 meters away from the ball and waits for it while opponents defender who was 15 meters away sprints for it and gets it...

But all in all it's a pretty fluid play now, especially when I've figured my tactics...

Yeah, the OP's description of the 3D match view suggests to me that he might not be running on the latest patch.

If you never had almost identical results in three games with different pre-conditions and if you are playing management games since Jesus was born, what exactly makes you believe that this isn't just a coincidence which is so liekly to occur that you should have experienced something like this already long before? I can't see any sign of this being a pre-coded FM09 flaw. Come on...

My biggest problem is that sometimes it feels that the game is being played beforehand and there's nothing I can do about it. Case in question: on 3 different games, playing in Romanian first league as Universitate Craiova. Everytime I have made different transfers. Everytime I tried a different tactic: attacking 4-4-2 with some modifications, MW and 4-1-4-1 Counter-Attacking. Vs. Farul Constanta (at Farul's home) in all 3 games there was always the same outcome or almost the same: 1-3, 1-3 and 2-3 with Tiberiu Moldovan always scoring 2 goals and one of his goals always being from long range. This happening at different times during the season (but always during season 1).

Many people have tried to argue this point before, all to similar endings. The game is not being played beforehand; you need to learn to adapt to changing situations during games. Opposition change their tactics as well! So you must do the same so that you can adapt to the differences on the pitch.

Also, paying more attention to detail will help. Yes, I myself get tired of messing around with the tactical sliders, but sometimes this is what is required. [thread=61144]TT&F[/thread] should also offer additional help with tactics. I found it very useful when trying to understand why certain things happen during matches

Many people have tried to argue this point before, all to similar endings. The game is not being played beforehand

Actually, technically it is. Of course you have the option to alter the result with tactical changes but the result is calculated in advance of the game if you were to make no such changes.

Actually, technically it is. Of course you have the option to alter the result with tactical changes but the result is calculated in advance of the game if you were to make no such changes.

But that is not the point made by those who claim it's pre-defined.

Of course it has to be pre-calculated, otherwise the game could not know in advance when highlights are due to happen. The argument made is that whatever the human user does, the results will remain more or less the same (obviously when losing, never read that claim for a win) which is just not true. Similar results may happen from time to time when tested but there is no AI code which makes us lose or win unfairly for whatever purpose.

One might debate how much randomness should be in the results, but that's not the point here. The OP argues that with different players and different tactics the results against one specific club is always more or less the same in three games with one specific player always scoring. After he said that this is a singular experience in years of playing FM, I see no reason why this shouldn't be coincidence. I'm sure such coincidences happen a lot of times to many players as that is not all that unlikely.

Actually, technically it is. Of course you have the option to alter the result with tactical changes but the result is calculated in advance of the game if you were to make no such changes.

I know what you mean, but I think you slightly misunderstood what I meant. The point was that the game in question can be in the hands of the user; they should not just give up and blame AI 'match-fixing', because this is not what is happening. Jayahr explained my reasoning better actually ....

But that is not the point made by those who claim it's pre-defined.

Of course it has to be pre-calculated, otherwise the game could not know in advance when highlights are due to happen. The argument made is that whatever the human user does, the results will remain more or less the same (obviously when losing, never read that claim for a win) which is just not true

Hello again. Sorry for not mentioning it earlier but yes, I am on 9.3.0.

Players running from the ball doesn't happen often and it's not game breaking, it's just very "immersion breaking".

I admit I have been a little bit to quick to get upset but: in my very first game I realised that 2009 it's quite harder than its predecessors and I had quite some poor perfomances (including the one mentioned) so I started a new game. Paid more attention to tactics, and trying the WM. At first things were looking bad then I started to take off then I met Farul again and bang. Started a new game again, this time going with the 4-1-4-1 CA tactic, fiddled with every tactics and instruction but trying it to keep it rather simple (to not confuse the players ) and this time things were looking great. Solid defense with most of my team packing my half when defending and solid attacks with quite some counter attacks.

And there it goes, I met Farul again and everything falls apart.

The disturbing part is that it's mathematical improbable for things to happen that way.

1. Always get drawn to play the first game vs Farul away. 3 out of 3

2. They always scored 2 in the first half

3. Moldovan always scored the first 2 goals

4. One of the two goals was always from range

Now I can accept that this might be an extremly rare occurance that will never happen again if I start my 4th game but on the other hand I am pretty convinced that the game is favouring the AI if the human payer goes for a more attacking approach when away. Because that is the thing I never altered in all my games, vs. Farul wich is considered a weaker team and fighting to avoid relegation I play on my at home settings. And this is a trend I witnessed in more away games, playing more defensive is usualy better. And this is not always the case in real life football, if you are the better team , with good morale and big confidence, and you start hammering the weakest opponent at their home (wich also have few fans attending games) more often than not they collapse.

There is one other thing I am a bit curious about. I find the friendly games to be very misleading. In my first game I played friendly mostly against Israeli first league teams, in the 2nd vs Czech first league teams and in my 3rd against Polish first league teams. Now for the record, the romanian first time league isn't much better thant the 3 mentioned leagues. Always playing away and always winning my games giving me the impression that I have choosed a decent tactic. And except for my 3rd game, in the previous two I have found the bitter way that my tactics weren't actualy good. So why do I alway win and sometimes even demolish other teams in friendlies when my tactic sucks? :confused:

There are quite a lot of areas far from perfect yet and most notably tactics is one of them. SI have confirmed to be aware of that and I hope their efforts will lead to a serious improvement.

Until then we have to stick to what we got and if it proves to be more successful being more defensive away than at home, I would just do that.

btw I'm using the very same tactics home and away with realistic results. Away slightly worse than at home but still good enough to do well, so I'm not entirely sure that you have to be more defensive.

So why do I alway win and sometimes even demolish other teams in friendlies when my tactic sucks? :confused:

If you are deomlishing teams, great! Remember what worked well against what tactic. Because it does not always guarantee success against different tactics.

In other games, you do not need to dominate the whole game; it is about the quality of chances you create, not the quantity.

Although [thread=103509]this thread[/thread] goes off course after about page 3, there are plenty of in-depth discussions about even the most experienced players absolutely dominating games, getting up to 10 shots on target, but losing 1-0 to a team who manages 1 or 2 shots on target.

Can you tell us more about why you are losing? E.g. possession, shots on goal, clear-cut chances, fouls, etc.

If you are deomlishing teams, great! Remember what worked well against what tactic. Because it does not always guarantee success against different tactics.

In other games, you do not need to dominate the whole game; it is about the quality of chances you create, not the quantity.

Although [thread=103509]this thread[/thread] goes off course after about page 3, there are plenty of in-depth discussions about even the most experienced players absolutely dominating games, getting up to 10 shots on target, but losing 1-0 to a team who manages 1 or 2 shots on target.

Can you tell us more about why you are losing? E.g. possession, shots on goal, clear-cut chances, fouls, etc.

In my first 2 games (4-4-2 attacking and WM) I had bigger possesion but it was mostly because of wrong tactics and players passing one to another ad infinitum. In the 4-1-4-1 I had less possesion but was doing better overall. That was my biggest upset and the reason I started the thread, finaly found a tactic that worked for my team only to have a sense of deja vu against that Farul team

In my first 2 games (4-4-2 attacking and WM) I had bigger possesion but it was mostly because of wrong tactics and players passing one to another ad infinitum. In the 4-1-4-1 I had less possesion but was doing better overall. That was my biggest upset and the reason I started the thread, finaly found a tactic that worked for my team only to have a sense of deja vu against that Farul team

If you are having less of the possession but getting decent results, this may mean you are using an effective counter-attacking tactic. The opposite applies when you dominate a game and lose or get a disappointing draw.

Basically, what the TT&F told me was that; if I am creating lots of chances, but not getting many goals, I need to play a more patient build-up to create better chances (quality not quantity ). If I was creating just a few chances each game, but not enough, I should increase the tempo and creative freedom. See what help you can get from the Tactics & Training Tips forum for more information about these sorts of things

And this is a trend I witnessed in more away games, playing more defensive is usualy better. And this is not always the case in real life football, if you are the better team , with good morale and big confidence, and you start hammering the weakest opponent at their home (wich also have few fans attending games) more often than not they collapse.

You sure? I always find that even major teams like chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool often play more defensively away from home (not that defensive, but more cautious) comparatively because the pitch might be different, the players they play might be different and the likes. Of course, if you are playing a really crappy team, an attacking formation should work, but anything less than 1-10 odds should require some cautious behavior. At least that is what I think. However, that is when you spring a tactical surprise. I shocked Everton once with an EXTREMELY ULTRA-offensive formation away from home, changing my formation too from my usual one.

I won 4-1, and an inbox message mentioned how I was a Tinkerer. I like that.