Official FM2011 Match Engine Feedback Thread

[Schotsmannetje]

Hey guys, loving the new FM match engine. It's much less predictable and looks much more like real football.

However, there is one issue that I would like to address, but if it has been indicated many times before in this thread I apologize for wasting your time.

I'm scoring an incredible amount of own goals. You don't hear me complaining, goals are goals, but I think the amount of own goals is much too high. I don't have the exact stats at the very moment. But I just wanted to know if others have noticed the same issue? To specify: I play with two wingers and I've put crossing on drill crosses. Which might explain some increase in own goals (as all of them are scored from crosses), but the amount I'm getting now is just too much.

If I'm the first one to report this, I will try to upload a savegame and the match report of my previous match (in which I won 2-0, both own goals). If I'm not, is this an issue SI have taken into account and are trying to solve?

Thanks in advance, looking forward to replies.

[Schotsmannetje]

You're playing as Celtic, in Scotland. Point invalid.

Typical - How is my point invalid exactly? I even said that getting that as you goals against in any league is no mean feat or are you one of these scottish football bashers who can't see past thier stuck up nose

Take it easy lad, I'm sure he didn't mean it as negative as you perceive it, just a bit of banter This is a football forum after all

[Wakers]

More like you have a vastly superior squad to almost every other team in the league.

[Defensive]

More like you have a vastly superior squad to almost every other team in the league.

I´ve seen plenty of screens with teams not vastly superior, conceding just about 25 goals in a season. So i think the amount of conceded goals is not the problem with the right tactics. Now you can say that´s only the strikers missing the goals, i dont know yet because i still played not enough. But i think we need not forget that even in reality even top teams allow the opponent some chances nearly every match and about 90% of the goals are not a result of brillant football but could be prevented by the defending.

[Marcussy]

You did that with Scholes or the AI?If yes how?I still can't make it work with Xavi in Barca....

No wasn't me - the AI. Looked at a few more matches and admittedly that was an exception but he still seems to make around 50 passes a game. I'm only a few games into the season - and not getting any further now because neither 2D or 3D matches are showing for me now - but had a look round a few other teams and the players you would generally expect to be most involved are averaging around 40-60 passes a game and are receiving the ball most along with usually the fullbacks.

Gerrard and Raul Mereles at Liverpool, Sneidjer and Stankovic at Inter, Schweingsteiger at Bayern, Xavi and Iniesta at Barca and Xabi Alonso at Madrid.

[tottivillarossi]

I'm conceding an incredible amount of own goals.

[Äktsjon Männ]

There seems to be lot of love for FM10's match engine in this thread, which I don't agree with at all. It's great if you can get your Barcelona or Arsenal play possession football as they do in reality but if you see Mansfield or York City do the same then something is not quite right with the game. Hell, go and watch Stoke vs Blackburn and see if either of them can manage four or five passes in succession during the whole game. Or go on 101gg and see how many goals can you find that come as a result of an inch perfect killer ball through/behind the defense (the typical FM10 goal) and how many come through bad defending/attackers gambling on crosses/scrappy play in and around the box/set pieces and make your conclusions from that.

Now I don't have FM11 nor do I intend to buy it any time soon so I can't comment on 11.1 and whether the variety of goals in that look realistic to me or not. I also can't argue that one shouldn't be able to get Xavi or any other brilliant playmaker to play more than 25 passes in a game - but these players have to be exceptional in the game as they are in reality. If I can get a no mark lower league midfielder to spray 40 yard pinpoint passes left right and centre then it's not a well balanced match engine at all.

[spankie]

If you don't have FM11 then what position are you in to be able to judge if the match engine is good enough or not?

There are big differences between the demo and 11.1.

My BSS team sometimes play beautiful football and sometimes play something like a bunch of 10 year olds in the park where the ball is lucky to arrive in the same part of te pitch as one of my players. That is realistic as I've seen the smaller clubs play some wonderful football including League 2 and lower and especially at times Watford last season and at times this.

You seem to be under the impression that smaller clubs all like to play bruising football like Stoke and Blackburn have to play like to survive in the EPL.

Personally I'm enjoying it and am secretly glad that they are no ME updates in the hot fix.

[Äktsjon Männ]

Where exactly have I said anything specific about FM11 match engine? Try to read the post again perhaps.

[makmak]

I dont know, where exactly are these great improvements in the ME. Watching the game in 3D still makes my head hurt. Seeing players runing away from the ball or

passing to behind other players back. Like watching kids play. Defense is still a joke. Tacticaly i can make players come to the 5 yard box (ccc).

Buts Its incredible how many chances are wasted by shooting in the GK or above/near goal. In short, i dont see those great improvements.

I realise, that its impossible to replicate a sports game to the ME. ME is just an approximation and i guess it cant get much better than that.

[Fuzzy Blue]

I'm doing my first save with Portsmouth and have noticed a few things with the ME that frustrate me.

Fouls: Long balls (especially goal kicks) that result in a CB and ST challenging for the ball seem to result in a free kick one way or the other about 90% of the time, this coupled with the seemingly constant fouls all over the pitch (even with tackling on easy) lead to games feeling very disjointed.

Long shots: I'm in February on my Pompey save, i play with 2 CM's who i allow to shoot from distance. Michael Brown (Long shots = 11 Finishing = 10) and Arnold Bruggink (Long shots = 13 Finishing 9). Now i realise that these stats are pretty woeful but not only have neither of them scored from outside the area but neither has hit the target in the 40 odd games I've played, NOT EVEN ONCE. I thought this was down to their stats to begin with but the further through the season i get the more i see the AI pinging in Screamers from all over the place, even Nadjim Abdou (Long shots = 6 Finishing = 9) and Lewin Nyatanga (Long shots = 3 Finishing = 6) Scored against me from 25 yards plus. I have noticed a possible reason which is my players seem to shoot alot with their wrong foot whilst the AI doesn't.

Dribbling: Players with RWB set to mixed never seem to take people on or even run into space in front of them when possible, this is especially true of my full backs and wide Midfielders. I know that FB's and WM's are not supposed to go on Giggs style runs but it would be nice if they would carry the ball into space to open up better passing opportunities.

Loose balls: All to often i see my player chasing a loose ball only for him to start doing some kind of baywatch impression, it's like hes running through treacle and the opposition player who was miles away zooms past and whips the ball away.

All these thing add up to the matches looking quite unrealistic which is a real shame because there are so many good points to the ME. The dribbling when a skillful player gets the ball looks great as do the crosses. The goal mouth scrambles add realism which has been lacking in past FMs and probably my favorite thing is how my team close down in the zonal marking system, looks just like a real game of football.

I think if the little issues are sorted out and the matches flow a little better then this will be the best FM ME by a long way.

[makmak]

I want to show the result of the ME "improvements". This is not an one time thing. And of course im Milan.

The point is not to show the result, but to show the different efectivness of the shots. Like i said in previous post, i can tacticaly make

my team to have lots of ccc and to take shots inside penalty area. But lots of times, that is just not good enough....

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[pelicanstuff]

Many times it's not good enough in real life, either. Posting up analysis of one match says absolutely nothing about the engine.

[makmak]

Many times it's not good enough in real life, either.

that would be true, if ME would generaly simulate things like it should.

Posting one match is just an example, i cant post 20 matches can i? Choosing to ignore the obvious is your choice. Critic can only make this game better.

[Chochip]

I don't know if anyone has noticed this, but it seems that there are a lot of keeper bugs in the game atm.

- rushing out and diving heading unnecessarily

- trying to hug the ball to the chest when it's no where near him

- standing still and watching crosses fly over him right in front of the goals like it's a balloon in the air

- not even trying to save certain shots and the 'emotion' sort of showing as given up even before the ball's crossed the line.

More than other bugs the GK bugs are absolutely critical because they decide the score. When you see these bugs happening you wonder if it's even worth spending time with all the tactics and whatnot.

[edgar555]

that would be true, if ME would generaly simulate things like it should.

Posting one match is just an example, i cant post 20 matches can i? Choosing to ignore the obvious is your choice. Critic can only make this game better.

You're right, constructive criticism will help make the game better. However I see nothing helpful in your post, you've just put up some screenies and said this is not good enough. Some more info would be constructive.

[makmak]

Picture is worth a 1000 words. Im sure mayority of people understand the point. If you dont see it, thats ok, it wasn t meant for you personaly anyway.

[edgar555]

Picture is worth a 1000 words. Im sure mayority of people understand the point. If you dont see it, thats ok, it wasn t meant for you personaly anyway.

Ok, no one needs a thousand words to tell you that your team should shoot less from distance and that you came up against a good keeper (which De Sanctis is). So you played a game of football, you lost, you move on.

[makmak]

If you d bother to read my post you would see that the point is not in result. Losses hapen i have no problem with that. Fanboys just dont get it, that

leting the developers know whats wrong could only improove the game. If you think that there are to many long shots in the picture-case, you dont know what are

you talking about. Most of the shots are inside penalty area.

1. I have a problem with players shooting direct in to the non-moving keeper.

2. I have a problem with players shooting above/near target INSIDE 5m box area. Thats harder to do, than actualy hit the target. And yes, it happens, but not most of the time.

[Dicko99]

Ok, no one needs a thousand words to tell you that your team should shoot less from distance.

they do this regardless what instructions you give them so this cant be helped no matter what anyone says its nowt to do with tactics

[xavierm]

My main problem with the ME is the ridiculous amount of goals conceded from crosses. The ball just flies to the near post, with no intervention either from the keeper, CB or fullbacks, and the opposite winger slides the ball into the net.

Frustrating, annoying.

[edgar555]

they do this regardless what instructions you give them so this cant be helped no matter what anyone says its nowt to do with tactics

As I said to you in another thread, long shots are tweaked too high, but not by much and it is tactically controllable. It annoys the hell out of me that I have to sacrifice certain options but it is controllable.

[pelicanstuff]

Couple of other things I've noticed the past couple of days:

- While forwards attempt to slide in crosses, it seems that defenders never bother to slide or dive to block crosses, passes or shots. Would be good to see a bit of desperate defending of this type.

- Occurrence of sliding tackles seems too high compared to block tackles.

- Not enough variation in shot trajectory, particularly from long range. Too many shots seem to be lofted shots without much power. I want to see 20-yard grass-cutters, wild powerful shots that are still rising even as they miss, attempts to curl it low round the keeper to the far post, shots that end up at waist level, these kinds of things.

- I haven't ever seen a central midfielder picking the ball up a bit deeper than the corner of the box and drifting an early cross in to the far post. This happens relatively often IRL.

[Spireite82]

Far too many cards shown in matches. I get an average of 7 yellows and a red in each match.

[Myros00]

Couple of other things I've noticed the past couple of days:

- While forwards attempt to slide in crosses, it seems that defenders never bother to slide or dive to block crosses, passes or shots. Would be good to see a bit of desperate defending of this type.

- Occurrence of sliding tackles seems too high compared to block tackles.

- Not enough variation in shot trajectory, particularly from long range. Too many shots seem to be lofted shots without much power. I want to see 20-yard grass-cutters, wild powerful shots that are still rising even as they miss, attempts to curl it low round the keeper to the far post, shots that end up at waist level, these kinds of things.

These 3 points = WIN! Especially the shot trajectory.

[spankie]

Far too many cards shown in matches. I get an average of 7 yellows and a red in each match.

There's quite a few reasons why you're seeing more then the average number of cards. They are:

1. Your captain is too aggressive and/or a dirty player. In the game the captain seems influences the way the team handle themselves.

2. You have players with the PPM of "Argues with Officials"

3. You're playing a high line against fast strikers and your defenders have to commit a foul to stop him.

4. You have tackling set to hard either for the whole team or just the one or two players. At lower levels with players with low Technique then hard tackling will result in more fouls and cards.

5. You're in a packed fixture schedule and your players are more tired. Tired players make more mistakes.

6. You're running a high tempo and/or lots of forward runs for a large portion of the match. This tires out the players more what I said above about tired players applies.

In my game up until the punishing New Year fixture schedule I had no red cards at all. In December and January I had 5; 3 were for professional fouls, 1 for a 2-footed tackle and the last oen was a player arguing with the ref after conceeding a penalty when he was already booked. The fact that this happened after applying the hotfix is just a coincidence.

[SSGTroyer]

I'm getting an average of 5.63 yellows per game in my entire league, so it's not just my tactics. Which, by the way...

1. Your captain is too aggressive and/or a dirty player. In the game the captain seems influences the way the team handle themselves.

2. You have players with the PPM of "Argues with Officials"

3. You're playing a high line against fast strikers and your defenders have to commit a foul to stop him.

4. You have tackling set to hard either for the whole team or just the one or two players. At lower levels with players with low Technique then hard tackling will result in more fouls and cards.

5. You're in a packed fixture schedule and your players are more tired. Tired players make more mistakes.

6. You're running a high tempo and/or lots of forward runs for a large portion of the match. This tires out the players more what I said above about tired players applies.

1. My captian has aggression of 9, sportsmanship of 14, and dirtiness of 6.

2. None of my players have this PPM.

3. I almost always play Control or Counter with Closing Down set to Stand Off. My lines are not high.

4. When coming against a card-happy ref (which can mean 7 to 8 cards and 1+ red per game average), I OI every player to Easy tackling except those my assman wants to go in Hard on. Those, I set to Normal. Edit: forgot about "Cautious" team tackling, too.

5. My squad is deep enough that I never start a player with <96% fitness. Edit: unless, tbf, he's a recent signing and is out of match shape. Starting two of these guys in my next match...

6. More often than not, I sideline shout "Retain Possession." This slows the tempo down. Default forward runs. By the end of the match, some of my less-stamina'd players will be <70%, but by no means all of them.

And lastly, especially for FM11: Unless the ref has an established history of ~2 yellows a game (and there are 2 or 3 of them out there), I also sideline shout "Stay on Feet" and "Stand Off Opponent."

Now. Tell me again about how my tactics have gotten me 13 yellows and 2 reds in 7 matches...tell me again how my tactics see an average of .723 yellows per foul.

[Lindhoffen]

I'm not sure this is after the latest hotfix or if it's been like this the whole time:

* If I, during a match, go to another menu (reading the news for example) and then go back the players sometimes disappear. The match is still ongoing, the camera is moving about, but there are no players on the pitch. And more than once have I encountered two separate menus 'colliding' with each other making the whole screen a jumbled mess. It's easy to get out of, but a little annoying at time nonetheless.

* I've also noticed the text commentary sometimes is lagging compared to what is actually happening on the pitch.

* Defenders (both your own and AI) still make really odd choices. They give the opponents a corner even though they weren't under pressure. I noticed this in the demo too so it's been around since release.

[DMaster2]

Again too many times shots (mine of course, not AI) hit the bar. I installed the 11.1.1 fix yesterday and in 3 matches the first i hit the bar once and in the last match i hit the bar three times in the same match!!! Of course the long shot of the opponent team (the only one of their match) goes straight into my net...

Will it ever be fixed???

[bean824]

Maybe it's just me, but there seems to be a very high number of penalties given in my games. I've just had 6 in 3 games so far, and I always set my tactics to low tackling etc. Has anyone else noticed this?

[spankie]

SSGTroyer: It's not your tactics.

If the whole league is running almost twice as many cards as they do in real life (a little under 3 per game in the Championship IRL so far this season) then there is a problem, just one that I've either not noticed in my team or isn't happening in my game.

I'll have a look tonight and see what the average is in the Championship and also work out what the average is on my team and the BSS.

I have noticed my team getting more bookings over the past few game months then they did at first but I just put that down to a more punishing fixture schedule and the tiredness of my players combined with having to put in lesser quality players due to injuries and fitness.

[PaulC]

The following stats are from 11.1.1 ME code, running the first season with no human manager and no transfer budgets in the first window:

I hope its of interest

English Premier Division

---------------

Games played 380

Goals per match 2.57

Shots per match 21.25

Shots on target per match 7.84 (37%)

Goals per match (home) 1.52

Shots per match (home) 12.46

Shots on target per match(h) 4.53 (36%)

Goals per match (away) 1.06

Shots per match (away) 8.79

Shots on target per match(a) 3.31 (38%)

Penalties per match 0.16

Penalty conversion 0.12 (74%)

Own Goals per match 0.10

Disallowed Goals per match 0.23

Clear cut chances per match 3.43

Blocked shots per match 5.16

Hit woodwork per match 0.77

Passes per match 616.39

Passes completed 471.56 (77%)

Passes key 12.89

Crosses per match 44.58

Crosses completed 7.29 (16%)

Tackles per match 70.91

Tackles completed 45.16 (64%)

Tackles key 2.78

Headers key 17.04

Assists per match 2.34

RPOs per match 12.25

Interceptions per match 64.97

Offsides per match 6.72

Fouls per match 25.55

Throw ins per match 30.04

Corners per match 10.21

Goals from corners 0.40

Goals from DFKs 0.05

Goals from IFKs 0.22

Yellow cards per match 2.91

Red cards per match 0.17

Major injuries per match 0.44

Minor injuries per match 0.15

Hat tricks per match 0.05

First half goals 50%

Goals by strikers 43%

Goals by midfielders 46%

Goals by defenders 7%

Headed shots 15%

Headed shots on target 45%

Headed goals 18%

Long range shots 52%

Long range goals 14%

Close range shots 21%

Close range goals 52%

Draws 28%

0-0 Draws 8%

Win margin 1.33

3 goal wins 11%

4 goal wins 4%

5+ goal wins 2%

Goalkeeper Rating 6.85

Right Back Rating 6.83

Left Back Rating 6.89

Centre Back Rating 6.96

Right Wing Back Rating 6.80

Left Wing Back Rating 6.80

Def Mid Rating 6.86

Right Mid rating 6.86

Left Mid rating 6.88

Centre Mid Rating 6.93

Right AM rating 6.92

Left AM rating 6.91

AM rating 7.00

Striker rating 6.87

Overall rating 6.90

npower Championship

---------------

Games played 556

Goals per match 2.74

Shots per match 20.03

Shots on target per match 7.15 (36%)

Goals per match (home) 1.53

Shots per match (home) 11.29

Shots on target per match(h) 3.99 (35%)

Goals per match (away) 1.20

Shots per match (away) 8.74

Shots on target per match(a) 3.16 (36%)

Penalties per match 0.18

Penalty conversion 0.12 (67%)

Own Goals per match 0.10

Disallowed Goals per match 0.24

Clear cut chances per match 3.64

Blocked shots per match 4.78

Hit woodwork per match 0.84

Passes per match 585.14

Passes completed 436.60 (75%)

Passes key 11.90

Crosses per match 46.99

Crosses completed 7.99 (17%)

Tackles per match 68.06

Tackles completed 43.76 (64%)

Tackles key 2.83

Headers key 16.21

Assists per match 2.50

RPOs per match 12.47

Interceptions per match 68.62

Offsides per match 6.70

Fouls per match 24.78

Throw ins per match 32.00

Corners per match 10.07

Goals from corners 0.42

Goals from DFKs 0.02

Goals from IFKs 0.25

Yellow cards per match 3.11

Red cards per match 0.20

Major injuries per match 0.49

Minor injuries per match 0.16

Hat tricks per match 0.04

First half goals 50%

Goals by strikers 51%

Goals by midfielders 36%

Goals by defenders 9%

Headed shots 14%

Headed shots on target 45%

Headed goals 19%

Long range shots 51%

Long range goals 14%

Close range shots 22%

Close range goals 53%

Draws 25%

0-0 Draws 6%

Win margin 1.29

3 goal wins 8%

4 goal wins 3%

5+ goal wins 2%

Goalkeeper Rating 6.81

Right Back Rating 6.82

Left Back Rating 6.83

Centre Back Rating 6.95

Right Wing Back Rating 6.80

Left Wing Back Rating 6.80

Def Mid Rating 6.83

Right Mid rating 6.84

Left Mid rating 6.86

Centre Mid Rating 6.87

Right AM rating 6.83

Left AM rating 6.86

AM rating 6.83

Striker rating 6.88

Overall rating 6.87

[Icy]

I'm enjoying the new ME so far, my only issue is with the amount of long shoots scored from guys with average to low long shoot attribute.

[RonnySanchez]

There are a lot of good things in this new ME. I like it but the following thing is something that should be corrected:

Predominantly right footed left winger trying to dribble past the opponent (and fail, either to pass or to make a good cross) on the outside in the majority of the cases when the natural thing for him would be to cut inside, that’s just common sense.

I play him on wide play “normal” as I want him to occasionally go on the outside, because if I put him on “cut inside” then he will do that all the time, I would like him to play something like 80 % to cut inside and 20 % to go on the outside, that would be “normal” wide play for a right footed left winger.

[Scriblerus]

I'm really enjoying 11.1.1

The football on the pitch is rubbish, but I've no idea if that's failure of

the ME or just my dreadful BSS squad.

Looking forward to a long road to the top.

[Scriblerus]

However......

I can't find out from anywhere (inc bugs) whether there

is a way of taking off an injured player after 3 subs have

been used.

Anyone?

[SSGTroyer]

However......

I can't find out from anywhere (inc bugs) whether there

is a way of taking off an injured player after 3 subs have

been used.

Anyone?

Just noticed this, myself. Wondering why such a feature had been removed...

[paganizer]

One thing that needs fixing:

"Hug touchline" - Setting this on a central defender og central midfielder doesnt work.

The ME has horizontal and vertical borders where the horizontal borders (I see 3-5 - defence, DM, mid, AM, Attack) can be passed by the setting "forward runs" making players go from for example midfield to a position in attack.

You would think the vertical borders (i see 3 - left, center, right) could be passed in the same way by "cut inside" and "hug touchline", yet only "cut inside" works (letting wide players move towards the center). The "hug touchline" doesn't work, but imo it should allow for central players to take up a wide® positions.

Is this something that is ever gonna be fixed?

[SSGTroyer]

"Hug Touchline" works fine for me, when applied to a winger or fullback, as it is intended (?) to be. What you are looking for is "Moves into Channels", which sees many a MC move wide...

[Svenc]

This thing is looking slick. Easily the slickest "football experience" FM ever has had on offer. However, lately I've been wondering about some of the tactical logics behind the thing. I did some testing inspired by a poster who claimed having put your team to "Overload" via the tactics creator for the entirety of a match and a season would prove quite successful.

You see, if you don't fiddle around with the sliders for yourself thereafter, "Overload" vastly increases each player's mentality and closing down settings, amongst a few others. The team is told to employ a super high tempo game on tops, with barely a second to breathe in sight. This is a TC setting meant to be the last resort when you're desperate to find a late equalizer. It is pretty much as extreme as you can go as far as attacking tactics are concerned. Or so you're told. So I did the same for a league match with my German 3rd division side - and let them play on "overload" for the entirety of the match. Granted, it was early season, my team (Saarbrücken) was on high morale after a striking start and my opposition (Babelsberg) was the exact opposite, as they were dead last. But I still found it odd that this "overloaded" Saarbrücken side not only barely managed to loose this away clash, but that this third division side barely struggled to hold up the aggressive settings the Tactics Creator instructed it to do.

On top of it all, its condition barely dropped any quicker than that of its opposition. This is the first time I'm losing this game in four reloads now, but surely the super aggressive mentality, tempo and closing down settings should have made my players far more tired as they are now 60 minutes into the game. Yeah, I know, according to the statistics, Babelsberg didn't run around any less, but then why is that the case considering my aggressive settings as well as their midfield domination? Speaking about statistics, the passing completion percentage looks at odds as well considering the tempo, the quality of players and the risk-taking approach of "overload" settings, but it is probably being helped by a defense told to recycle possession (the tc puts it on "short passing).

This is an observation I also made when starting a new game with another side, playing a friendly during season prep. Am I interpreting something wrong here? (Further ado: I faintly remember that the TC settings took a player's attributes into account in the FM 10 demo - doesn't seem to be the case here in this iteration as even lower league wingers are given high settings for creative freedom or closing down, for instance.)

[Wakers]

It's always been like that with FM - defensive tactics simply do not work, because the defensive coding in the match engine is miles behind the attacking coding. That is why the best tactics in any FM series have always been on the attacking side (or counter attacking side) rather than defensive. It's also why you get more clean sheets playing in 'overload' than any other setting.

[Svenc]

It's always been like that with FM - defensive tactics simply do not work, because the defensive coding in the match engine is miles behind the attacking coding. That is why the best tactics in any FM series have always been on the attacking side (or counter attacking side) rather than defensive. It's also why you get more clean sheets playing in 'overload' than any other setting.

That doesn't make sense. "Overload" is a last resort, it is meant to be a physically exhausting, frantic, get-the-goal, gung-ho tactics. This cannot be the faintest bit of viable for the entirety of a match, let alone a season. Neither for a side out of the top flight nor one that just got promoted from semi-amateur football. That is one thing. What is really odd is that the condition of the overloaded team doesn't even appear to drop any real faster than that of its opposition, and I'm not even simulating matches between teams that are miles (let alone league levels) apart or something.

[Wakers]

I'm not sure why it doesn't affect condition so much either. The only thing that I can suggest is that it tends to pin teams down in their own half for long periods of time, meaning that your players cover less distance. You also get a large number of corners and throw ins which help.

The really stupid thing is that using the "hassle opponents" touchline shout doesn't add to condition wear in the slightest. This is either because a) it's not been coded to or b) overload already has the maximum setting for closing down and tempo, in which case the 'hassle' shout should be greyed out for clarity's sake.

My other gripe at the moment is that SI implement something and then never explain to the end user what it does. Touchline shouts are a great idea - but why can it not hint at what they actually do. The manual is extremely vague at describing the effect, as well as the positve and negative of each shout. Something that the player just has to try and observe from the Match Engine, which can take most of a season.

[PaulC]

Interesting stuff, I will double check the effects of overload for 11.2.

[Svenc]

It could be the "overload" TC settings, but it could be individual sliders on the engine's most basic level as well. Tempo, closing down, mentality....

I'm not sure why it doesn't affect condition so much either. The only thing that I can suggest is that it tends to pin teams down in their own half for long periods of time, meaning that your players cover less distance. You also get a large number of corners and throw ins which help.

Yeah, that is a good point. Personally, I'm not sure whether a team "overloaded" permanently over the entirety of a season is really a viable option. I haven't tested that, but some of the guys who claim to employing just that appear to be also fiddling around with the individual player settings thereafter, essentially overriding the TC settings. But if that is the case there is either a blatant bias for attacking football (surely a competitive home side would take advantage of such opposition) or the engine has a problem in simulating proper drops in condition or something. That is a lot of possession for a side of such comparably mediocre quality employing such drastic settings, perhaps?

[bilykun]

6..a little one why does the ref blow his whistle for corners???? and it louder than 17000 cheering when a goal flys in....

Totally agree on this "little" one... not that little for me !!!

[edgar555]

Totally agree on this "little" one... not that little for me !!!

I'm sure SI would agree that sound has never been their strong point, I'm just playing with sound off til someone makes a sound pack this year.

[grep]

Interesting stuff, I will double check the effects of overload for 11.2.

We have also to be sure that the overload tactic produces the proper results, therefore that a team pushes itself in attack like mad, with the related risks of course. When I select overload on last 10 minutes I notice on the 3d ME no differences ( compared to " standard " f.i. ) about how players stand on the field, it is supposed to see them slightly in attack, keeper included if a pro-corner is in place, this doesn't happen.

Told that, a major problem I notice into the ME is that players often skate on the field like it was an hockey match. They should have more grip on the field without skating for several dozens of centimeters ( it would be appropriate during snowy matches only ).

[Wakers]

I really think the skating issue is more of an animation problem rather than anything coded into the ME.

But you hit on another good point - if you're 1-0 down in the last ten minutes, switching to overload will cause absolutely nothing to happen for the remainder of the game - no highlights, no free kicks, just nothing. It doesn't always happen, but it does seem to occur more often if your team is losing to someone they should be beating. Using shouts is much more effective in this situation.

[Svenc]

I've got to test this more properly myself - parallel test in prep season with a different side aside: First, this was pretty awkward opposition, and second, this is a rather modest league level. You can see what "Overload" does by looking at the individual sliders of each player. They are being pushed to extremes, which would suggest that if there is something wrong here, it is the sliders themselves. Either that or that there is a bug in the visual representation of the tactics settings - the sliders appear to be set to extremes, when internally, they just aren't.

However, I'm coming from FM08, and reading about some of your observations, I'm wondering whether what you guys are experiencing might be a result of the TC tactics simply not overwriting the individual settings you set for your players. I don't think the TC overwrites the sliders and tick boxes you tweaked for yourself - tweaking the sliders yourself means what is then being set by the TC is moot, right? Nothing in the UI suggests otherwise, ticked sliders and tick boxes simply stay the way they are, no matter what TC setting you're picking. If, for example, you set your team to rather modest mentality, passing and closing down settings individually, it seems pretty natural that you wouldn't notice a difference when going "Overload".

And speaking of which, how about team shouts? Do they overwrite anything?