*Official* Football Manager 2013 Constructive non-ME Feedback Thread

[Azz_88]

Can I please get a response from SI on my comment yesterday:

Lower League Loans

Didn't realise this thread existed so posted the following in a new one but seems more appropriate in here:

Really like the new FM and this is just an idea for the next update. I always play as my team, Lincoln City, which means lower league management. This is great on FM 2013 but there is one thing that is really unrealistic:

When you try to loan players from teams in the same league, or league or two above, they ask for no contribution. For example, I wanted to loan Fleetwood from Luton after the first season when they had been promoted. He is on 1k and for a season long loan they asked for no contribution at all - this is really unrealistic as in real life all lower league teams are struggling financially and would look for at least 50/60% contribution for a player on 1k who is no longer needed. I can understand the big teams letting players go for no contribution to get experience but you should have to contribute to wages for experienced players at lower league teams otherwise it acts as a cheat for lower league managers that is not realistic. I know that in real life we have loaned players from our league or league above and have had to contribute the majority of their wages as everyone is extremely cash strapped atm.

Any chance this would be considered as an item to be updated in future?

I understand you are busy (especially right now) but it would be nice to know that you acknowledge how unrealistic this is or that its being considered for a future update.

[hluraven]

Can I please get a response from SI on my comment yesterday

You got one from SI (Tom Laskowski) in the thread you started about it? He agreed with you.

[Azz_88]

Apologies my comment was answered in a seperate thread!

Keep up the good work.

[DaveGLeeds]

Nice, easy draw, you won't be laughing if you lose it though!

4-2 to Wrexham after one of my players getting a straight red and my goalkeeper turning into a raspberry jelly

[Graham206]

)...

I am simply saying that people (people in general, not just yourself) need to stop confusing 'This shouldnt hapeen in FM!' with 'This shouldn't happen very often in FM!'. Often, but not yet perfectly, things which shouldn't happen very often in FM, don't.

Tell that to my mate Roberto: he's spent hundreds of millions on the best players in the world and they can't even defend a simple corner! And he can't get the players to do what he wants - one match he tried five different tactics and the players just wandered round randomly like a bunch of stoned sheep. And then to top it all Celtic beat Barcelona. It's nothing like real life. [/irony]

The quote is spot on: players, even at the very top level do make horrific mistakes sometimes, so while it's immensely annoying for me when one of my "wonderkid" players passes to an opposing striker on the edge of my penalty area in the 89th minute I also have to recognise the Shaktar manager was probably more annoyed when his keeper made two mistakes and gave away goals against Chelsea. Stupid things do happen in real football.

The only really big issue for me at the moment is the way play does tend to get bunched up in a strip from the edge of the penalty area and back twenty metres or so. If I could pick one thing I'd like to see looked at first it would be play getting condensed into that strip.

[deceit]

I have never particularly used or cared about agent offering players but this one caught my attention:

Mind you that I'm managing Wisla Krakow with about 60k transfer budget and max wage of 3k p/w

[amazingg]

* Positional behaviour is more rigid and interdependent than before. I'll explain: When I set the FRL's to AMRL I noticed that the full-back behaviour changed for both teams. When using FRL their full-backs stayed back (probably because they had to mark their man tighter), while when I use AMRL they often join the attack, doubling on the flanks. So even though my AMRL's work more defensively than the FRL's, the result was weirdly enough that the latter was better defensively because their full-backs didn't help their winger, so they became less dangerous on wide play (and hence, I became more dangerous on counter-attacks when using AMRL's because their full backs did join the attack). Similarly, the three midfielders probably dropped so deep when I used the FRL setup because they are hard-coded to do so when there are no teammates on the flanks, forcing me to push up unnaturally high to prevent this from happening. I also noticed that my 4-1-4-1 (defensive 451) tactic meant to be ultra-defensive had the midfielders pushing up high even on defensive mentalities and low closing down, likely because the central midfielders -do- have someone on the flanks. Thus, the formation matters more than the instructions and the players.

I definitely agree with this. now i am entering my fourth season with Morecambe @ npower league 1 (unfortunately not being able to win my playoff at the 3rd season to secure promotion to championship), and after trying different kind of formation, i have found that the opposition's positioning will be affected by my formation and "mentality". It also seemed to me that the "standard" strategy worked much better with my team compare with "control" and "attacking" where by I concede more goals and yet do not attack as well as "standard". Also when I see my team are losing in possession, I'll change the strategy to "counter" and I actually regain possession and attack better! Besides that, while i use "standard" & "counter" strategy, when Key Highlights shows up that I normally will concede a goal if using "control" or "attacking" strategy, it actually turns out that I do not concede the goal, where either my keeper save the ball, my defenders get a block in, the opponent misses the target etc

I just have a hunch feeling that this time round with the match engine, we should not be telling our players attack as much as it actually hinders their attacking moves! Maybe until one can find a good formation to combine attacking strategy/mentality, one should avoid doing so. You would be surprised by how much better the team play when they actually use a less attacking strategy.

I play with 4-2-3-1 (DL DC DC DR // DMC DMC // AML AMC AMR // ST)

[mcgav79]

I would say that the problem wouldn't be too many high potential players being from South America, that seems plausible, the problem is that nearly all high potential players "make it" in FM whereas IRL most don't. This is due to a number of factors including the standards of coaching and facilities and the financial side to the game. If you had a lot of very high potential South Americans, most of whom don't make any impact whatsoever in world football, then perfect. Trouble is, in FM they are instantly scouted with all attributes revealed at first glance and signed and developed. That is the part that is unrealistic.

Thanks hluraven for the reply.

Agree regarding the "hit rate" of young talent - I hadn't thought about it that way. That is something that could perhaps be tweaked to fix also.

Generally though, when scouting, I do find the vast majority of 5star potential (or whatever the highest potential can be if you're with a world leading side where 5stars does not really ever happen?!) players being found seems to come from SA (Arg/Braz mainly). So the players I am bringing in to develop to star levels are mostly coming from there which means I end up years on with a team comprised heavily from SA.

Maybe world football today reflects this view, but not all of today's top players come from there. Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal etc. Maybe the game evolves over time in this regard, but so far it appears to be a static bias to SA.

Would be keen for others' views on this also.

[Svenc]

IIt also seemed to me that the "standard" strategy worked much better with my team compare with "control" and "attacking" where by I concede more goals and yet do not attack as well as "standard". Also when I see my team are losing in possession, I'll change the strategy to "counter" and I actually regain possession and attack better! Besides that, while i use "standard" & "counter" strategy, when Key Highlights shows up that I normally will concede a goal if using "control" or "attacking" strategy, it actually turns out that I do not concede the goal, where either my keeper save the ball, my defenders get a block in, the opponent misses the target etc

Not defending the ME, but questioning your logic. Going from something more conservative to attack isn't bound to get you more goals by default - as you see, your results appear quite the opposite, with the more attacking strategy apparently frequently opening up more space for the opposition to score, and your own players probably wasting a chance or two due to the quick tempo the TC's default attacking strategy employs. It is hard to tell what exactly is happening as it depends on context you need to watch, but just pushing "attack" isn't a free ticket to score more goals and conceding less or anything. By and largue your players will play a more aggressive game and take more risks, as the TC's attacking strategy will in broad terms make the team try to adopt a quicker tempo, increase closing down, width, d-line, the FBs will push forward and the team increases in passing risks taken. But what then happens on the pitch depends on your own team as well as the opposition. In general you should get to see the results in your team pushing more aggressively towards the oposing goal, at the very least by an increased number of shots taken, but might as well get countered by opposition capable of taking advantage of full backs always bombing forwards, anything.

Likewise, "Counter" is a fairly defensive TC strategy, aimed to keep men behind the ball, which in itself can lead to better passing success and possession, in particular perhaps with the many advanced midfielders you employ, I reckon. Your team will try to take advantage of the opposition pushing forward, so the attacks you get to see in highlight mode are bound to be more clear and better. If the opponent doesn't do that, however, that won't be quite as much the case. There's context to be taken into account.

[sirgiorgio]

- FM2012's ball physics are way way behind the new model. The ball moves too fast in the air and then dies a death as soon as it starts to roll. It also bounces way too high and straight up. The FM2013 model looks more like a real football in our opinion. It needs a few tweaks here and there but overall we are happy with its direction.

Following on from that I think there are various factors contributing to some of the complaints about this year's ME:

- Definitely in beta, and yes, to a point in release the ME is rougher around the edges. We know defender reactions and keeper handling in particular are still needing improvements and we are committed to that as ever as well as the other genuine issues raised in this thread and the bugs forum.

- FM2013 is harder for some users, partly due to improved use of the tactics creator and team selection by AI teams. My experience of FML taught me that the more people fail to live up to their own expectations the more the ME is blamed. I know some dont want to hear this, but its true.

- Ball physics: it may be true, but still, the ball is too small (and I think you know that) and its trajectories are sometimes weird to say the least: too many "scored a total fluke", too many "he certainly didn't mean that", too many banana shots, too many free kicks where the ball goes up up up and then down down down and then "skimmed the top of the bar";

- Beta ME: this is, with all due respect, unacceptable. You didn't tell the customers they were buying a beta product. You advertised this:

Match Engine

The 3D match engine has seen huge improvements this year. Everything on the pitch looks more realistic; from the stadiums, the players’ movement, intelligence, and the way the ball moves through the air.

We’ve also introduced hundreds of new animations to make the game feel more realistic and we’ve made the whole experience more televisual by introducing new camera angles and showing the kick-off and final whistle.

Since I know how you work, and I know it can only get better, I am not worried nor angry. But frankly speaking, I don't think it's a good way to treat paying customers.

- FM13 harder and tactics are different: isn't it a bit of a contradiction? If the ME doesn't (still) work as it should, how could any rational, logical, realistic tactic work as it should?

[Mintah]

Young players are generally valued 'low' as they don't have big reputations in the game - this is to stop users going in and instantly signing any youth team player valued at a large price at a young age. Also the club is essentially saying 'he's not for sale'.

I am happy that this change has been implemented. I have to admit that I used to use this tactic to sigh all of the high value youngsters in the world in previous FMs.

[roarslakt]

The issue with generating match reports when one wants to look at a certain match statistics is really a HUGE step backwards. Are there really a rational reasoning behind the decision to implement that? Ever since CM95 I've looked at stats from other matches (and especially my reserves and U18 to get some proper feedback), but now that this damn annoying four-five seconds of loading occurs every time, it really ruins the whole game for me.

I can cope with the ME-issues for now (although the game seems to favour the tactical geniouses among us), but this, which really should be an easy fix, needs to be re-done asap.

[mcgav79]

I am happy that this change has been implemented. I have to admit that I used to use this tactic to sigh all of the high value youngsters in the world in previous FMs.

Fair point - but I find that scouting uncovers the top talent irrespective of the value. Thus you can still sign up all the top talent in the world! You often have to pay 20x the "value", but if the value is 100k then 2m seems like a bargain for a future Messi?

Apologies - meant to reply with quote before

[Kriss]

The issue with generating match reports when one wants to look at a certain match statistics is really a HUGE step backwards. Are there really a rational reasoning behind the decision to implement that? Ever since CM95 I've looked at stats from other matches (and especially my reserves and U18 to get some proper feedback), but now that this damn annoying four-five seconds of loading occurs every time, it really ruins the whole game for me.

As previously stated it was caused by under the hood changes rather than by design, it's under review but isn't as simple to implement as it might seem.

[amazingg]

Not defending the ME, but questioning your logic. Going from something more conservative to attack isn't bound to get you more goals by default - as you see, your results appear quite the opposite, with the more attacking strategy apparently frequently opening up more space for the opposition to score, and your own players probably wasting a chance or two due to the quick tempo the TC's default attacking strategy employs. It is hard to tell what exactly is happening as it depends on context you need to watch, but just pushing "attack" isn't a free ticket to score more goals and conceding less or anything. By and largue your players will play a more aggressive game and take more risks, as the TC's attacking strategy will in broad terms make the team try to adopt a quicker tempo, increase closing down, width, d-line, the FBs will push forward and the team increases in passing risks taken. But what then happens on the pitch depends on your own team as well as the opposition. In general you should get to see the results in your team pushing more aggressively towards the oposing goal, at the very least by an increased number of shots taken, but might as well get countered by opposition capable of taking advantage of full backs always bombing forwards, anything.

Likewise, "Counter" is a fairly defensive TC strategy, aimed to keep men behind the ball, which in itself can lead to better passing success and possession, in particular perhaps with the many advanced midfielders you employ, I reckon. Your team will try to take advantage of the opposition pushing forward, so the attacks you get to see in highlight mode are bound to be more clear and better. If the opponent doesn't do that, however, that won't be quite as much the case. There's context to be taken into account.

I am actually not against the ME on this at all, don't get me wrong. I actually think the ME is doing a good job, except several bugs and require some polishing.

Maybe I shouldn't have started the post by saying I agree with "Positional behaviour is more rigid and interdependent than before" haha. But I only wanted to support the fact that formation are now taken into account into the positioning of your opposition, so does the tactical strategy help shape the positioning of your own players - which in effect, affect the positioning of the opposition as well.

I think what you wrote here helps elaborated what I was trying to say, which I didn't manage to comprehend what I wanted to say correctly.

"attack" certainly is not a free ticket to score, it is only to ask the team to take more risk, and hence a greater chance of losing possession when risky passes do not connect. What I did want to say was that, it seems like by adopting a more defensive mentality it actually helped my team, and I guess thats because I am playing with less skilled players (in a lower league) and therefore by adopting "risky strategy" actually reduced my chance of winning a match, as most of the risky passes failed, and I was countered by the opposition while most of team are committed to the opposition's half. I just wanted to bring across this point for the other managers out there that this could be one of the reason they should consider why they might be struggling out there, before they blame the fault of the ME straight away.

I have yet to see if skilled players behave better (as in risky passes/runs success rate becomes higher) with attacking mentality. - certainly this will also depends on the "strength" of the opposition team.

anyways thanks for sharing your insight, it is always great to see good reply like this

[Just-Wool]

I am liking the new FM, in particular I am enjoying the DoF and head of youth development roles. The only thing I have a gripe with about those two roles though, is they don't necessarily adhere to the club philosophy.

For example, I am playing as Liverpool atm, been told to just bring players in through the youth team and play attacking football. I have also been told that I have a problem out wide in my 4-1-2-2-1 formation. Gerrard and Suarez are playing out wide there at the moment, and I have Borini and Sterling who also play there. In my youth team I had 2 5 star potential players who can play out wide turn up this year, I also have Henderson and Ibe as backup. So I am pretty much set and don't really need another. However, my DoF insists on bidding 10m for 26 year old mediocre wingers when I haven't put people I want on his wanted list.

This goes against the philosophy of bringing through youth from the youth team and potentially wastes money. It may well be that my DoF is just a wrong fit and I should change him, but ideally I would love to see a general philosophy that you can set for your DoF, or have him follow your team's philosophy anyway. I'd love to just sit and chat to my DoF and say, look. I don't want wingers, I have this guy this guy this guy and this guy who will come good in the next few years, can you concentrate on getting a talented young striker instead.

I know I can do this with my own wanted list anyway, but sometimes I would just like him when he's doing his own thing to be on the same page as me.

Also, I am a little confused at what a youth development director does, I have him set to recruit youth players but I haven't really seen him do anything yet.

Finally, I don't know if it is a bug or if I missed something, but in the first season neither my youth or my reserves team played any games other than the friendlies at the start of the season. A whole year of development was messed up, I am also having trouble developing Sterling, he just doesn't seem to be improving at all, even though I play him regularly.

Other than these small issues, the game is solid and I like the changes that have been made this year, FM12 was a little too easy for me in truth.

[S2008]

I am having a terrible time with this ME. I know I'm not the most skilled manager about believe me but I refuse to believe that my tactics are that bad that they cant create even half chances against the bottom of the league whipping boys.

Im playing a fluid standard mentality 4-4-2 and we create absolutely nothing from open play. There is only one new signing in the team and the morale was at an ok level. I think Im realistic when I say shocks can happen in football and I don't expect to dominate and win every game but the fact is that my team are playing so badly even at decent morale that its beyond a joke.

I think I'll go back to FM12 because at least I could get my defenders to defend properly and my midfielders actually created a few chances.

Its a shame really because I really like the rest of FM13 from the skin to the fact they fixed the add/remove league problem, I was really enthusiastic about this version but for me Im just finding it unplayable for whatever reason.

[Kriss]

I am having a terrible time with this ME. I know I'm not the most skilled manager about believe me but I refuse to believe that my tactics are that bad that they cant create even half chances against the bottom of the league whipping boys.

Im playing a fluid standard mentality 4-4-2 and we create absolutely nothing from open play. There is only one new signing in the team and the morale was at an ok level. I think Im realistic when I say shocks can happen in football and I don't expect to dominate and win every game but the fact is that my team are playing so badly even at decent morale that its beyond a joke.

I think I'll go back to FM12 because at least I could get my defenders to defend properly and my midfielders actually created a few chances.

Its a shame really because I really like the rest of FM13 from the skin to the fact they fixed the add/remove league problem, I was really enthusiastic about this version but for me Im just finding it unplayable for whatever reason.

I'm not trying to deride the students of tactics or those who spend hundreds of hours tinkering to get their team performing, but this is how I play the game.

Selected Neuva Chicago in Argentina Div2 (predicted to struggle but have decent finances)

I use default 442 and just make a few changes to player roles (nothing else)

My transfer policy is to replace my worst player in a given position with one who is better than my best one in same position (never more than 2 transfers in any window)

I hardly ever use shouts or make more than one team tactical change in a match.

After 4 seasons I'm challenging the leaders in the Prem and doing very nicely thankyou.

I've always refused to believe you need to do much more than that to succeed at this game, of course I do occasionally come an almighty cropper but that's the exception rather than the rule.

[Jibby123]

I'm not trying to deride the students of tactics or those who spend hundreds of hours tinkering to get their team performing, but this is how I play the game.

Selected Neuva Chicago in Argentina Div2 (predicted to struggle but have decent finances)

I use default 442 and just make a few changes to player roles (nothing else)

My transfer policy is to replace my worst player in a given position with one who is better than my best one in same position (never more than 2 transfers in any window)

I hardly ever use shouts or make more than one team tactical change in a match.

After 4 seasons I'm challenging the leaders in the Prem and doing very nicely thankyou.

I've always refused to believe you need to do much more than that to succeed at this game, of course I do occasionally come an almighty cropper but that's the exception rather than the rule.

Much to be said for this. It is basic pick a man for a role as much as trying to find the utopia holy tactic. The tactic tinkering is fun, but to start with the basics; you have to have the players to do the result. Which is why I was always sus when peeps came on and say they've had Sunderland in the Champions League in 2 seasons or a BSP to EPL in five seasons. No tactic will change your Sunderland team against say a Man City or Chelsea player wise to not be caught out. All tactics in 9/10 Sunderland will have to do really well to get a win. As irl as much as FM.

Too many want to beat the game, rather than play it, and when they can't beat it it's the game's fault??

[Woodmansee]

I was having problems, and think it was down to the insane tactics that worked in previous games. Like Kriss, I went with a simpler approach, and made small changes that I felt was absolutely necessary, and can't stop winning.

Moving all the sliders one way or another, (for example, setting the whole team to short passing), is prob going to get you in trouble. If in doubt, stick with sometimes (right in the middle), and work from there.

I like the challenge, and it feels a lot more realistic, compared the joining a club and forcing an unrealistic tactic that would dominate from the get go in previous games.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Just have a question about in game widgets.

In FM12 if I had selected League Table for a League game, and then had a Cup game then it was just turned off for the Cup game and appeared back for the following league game. In FM13 it doesn't come back for the next league game and I have to add it back to my widgets again? Is there anyway to make them stay?

[jujigatame]

Woodmansee, what team are you using?

I use the same very basic strategy when it comes to developing tactics, but playing with Man Utd I find myself conceding multiple goals to poor teams frequently. I have come to the idea that people who are doing very well (or at least better than their team does in real life) are mostly playing small clubs, and that universally lax defending is the game's "great equalizer".

[shiftytheblue]

one thing which I've noticed, which is really not very important, but is something that slightly bugs me as I am a qualified ref - the assistant refs always use their right hand to flag, even if they are flagging left they will put their right arm across their body to flag left when in reality all assistants will change flag hand depending on which way they are flagging - sorry for the pedantry!

[hluraven]

Just have a question about in game widgets.

In FM12 if I had selected League Table for a League game, and then had a Cup game then it was just turned off for the Cup game and appeared back for the following league game. In FM13 it doesn't come back for the next league game and I have to add it back to my widgets again? Is there anyway to make them stay?

Known bug which they are working to fix.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Known bug which they are working to fix.

Thanks hluraven, that sounds excellent

[Apos]

Woodworks,woodworks and woodworks again and again.They seem to be a bit over the top.

Also, can we get a proper balance between how much stats and morale influence a player's performance? I can understand that getting pessimistic in the middle of a match can make someone a bit worse,but this seems to be overdoing it. Moreover, the title of the game is "football manager", not "football psychiatrist".

[stuyatesefc]

Seen others mention it but the match skin is shocking. I watch on commentary and there's a 2D pitch rather than the skin that's present in the rest of the game. Back on 12 till this is sorted

[DukeKrostif]

How are people happy with the ME? The flow of games is TOO fluid, every team is capable of one touch passes all the way up the pitch and the amount of times I see passing triangles used is so stupid, West Brom aren't exactly a crap team but when in the hell do they ticka-tacka at the edge of the box with one touch triangles playing circles around a CDM. They have pace up front but don't try long balls or through balls, they have not changed their team much so why magically change the tactic to get 90% pass accuracy? Something that is lacking massively is that I never see dribbles through the middle, I never see through balls that send a player through the centre for a 1on1. Goals mainly come from crosses/set pieces or extreme passing at the edge of the box ending with either a long shot or a clinical finish from some guy with 11 finishing and composure. I have also noticed that when low crosses come in defenders are still pretty useless, I constantly see my RB and RCB marking the same guy, they both have like 14/15 anticipation and decent marking so how can they not cut the ball out? Mainly they wander towards the penalty spot and leave the striker for a tap in. Watching the game in 3D mode is extremely boring, the flow of game play is predictable as half of the highlights make me feel like I'm watching a loop. I actually find it incredibly more entertaining having it on commentary only so that I can imagine a better build up play via the text. My tactic was fine the first season and I avoided defeat the majority of my games, in the second season I noticed a change so I tried to tweak my tactic in areas it was clearly failing, this seemed to have little effect. By decreasing through balls and shortening my FBs passes I saw an increase of punts up field towards my strikers when their are easy passes to my wingers or CDM. I've tried to push on in the game as I like the rest of it, interaction and layout, the newsfeed, transfers, all that end is great but when I play a match I want to go to sleep or rip my eyes out. I have never felt this way about any of the other series' titles but this is just poor, I have said this before and will again, following RL stats and trying to implement that into the game is all well and good as long as you can recreate all aspects of real football. I don't think they've managed it, hell they've been struggling to make keepers and defenders into useful players, a week ago I could have stuck Javier Hernandez in the net and not noticed the difference. I will play FM12 and return to this game hoping that it becomes fun to play again, if the ME is not improved 100% by January and is going to be the basis of future games I feel I'd get more joy playing Premiership Manager 98 and will certainly not continue to purchase the newer versions of the game I love.

[tom25194]

Here's my constructive feedback - some of the aspects of the 3D match engine are shocking. While I see slight improvements, I've seen some things in recent games that are just ludicrous, sorry but there's no other word for them. My defender passed back to my keeper in a game earlier, there was no opposition player or player on any team anywhere near them, the pass was a soft one from outside the box, and the keeper just stood there and the ball rolled past him into the net. He barely moved at all, didn't turn around to chase it as it rolled another 10 yards between where he was standing and the goal. It really got me worked up at the time.

[Kriss]

Here's my constructive feedback - some of the aspects of the 3D match engine are shocking. While I see slight improvements, I've seen some things in recent games that are just ludicrous, sorry but there's no other word for them. My defender passed back to my keeper in a game earlier, there was no opposition player or player on any team anywhere near them, the pass was a soft one from outside the box, and the keeper just stood there and the ball rolled past him into the net. He barely moved at all, didn't turn around to chase it as it rolled another 10 yards between where he was standing and the goal. It really got me worked up at the time.

A bug report and PKM would be useful for that one, haven't seen anything quite that bad myself.

[Q.P.R]

I have to say that this years 3D match engine are shocking ... this surely is the worse iv every come across .

very disspointed with this years game .. FMC was a very good plan ..

3D match engine my word what have you done to this

[jujigatame]

Kriss, I had a similar issue with keeper behavior. There was a long through ball that my keeper should have been able to handle, but he took the wrong trajectory and the ball (and attacker) went right by him. He ended up doing this awkward looking backpedal as the goal was scored. Uploaded a PKM and posted on the bugs forum but never got a response.

EDIT: Scratch that, I did get a response this morning but didn't see it. Carry on.

[Kriss]

Kriss, I had a similar issue with keeper behavior. There was a long through ball that my keeper should have been able to handle, but he took the wrong trajectory and the ball (and attacker) went right by him. He ended up doing this awkward looking backpedal as the goal was scored. Uploaded a PKM and posted on the bugs forum but never got a response.

There are actually fixes in the pipeline and I see this has been reported a few times which is probably why you never got a direct response.

Hang in there, it'll get better

[Fabio MVP]

Kriss calming people down all over the forum.

[trfc2012]

Quick question for the moderators, I am managing in the lower leagues and have my director of football set up to identify and attempt to sign new young players but for me to have final say on them. With this in mind quite often when a director of football offers a contract I have to make a decision whether to say yes or no based on nothing at all as there are no reports on the player and hardly any attributes visible. Should this be the case or should a report be made of the player by the director of football before I decide. I doubt many managers sign a player completely blind

[Kriss]

Quick question for the moderators, I am managing in the lower leagues and have my director of football set up to identify and attempt to sign new young players but for me to have final say on them. With this in mind quite often when a director of football offers a contract I have to make a decision whether to say yes or no based on nothing at all as there are no reports on the player and hardly any attributes visible. Should this be the case or should a report be made of the player by the director of football before I decide. I doubt many managers sign a player completely blind

Seems to be a bit of a gap there, personally I'd get a scout report on the player anyway rather than trust my DOF.

[Kriss]

Kriss calming people down all over the forum.

The ones I'm not banning that is

[jujigatame]

Kriss's calming influence has soothed my sorrows.

[Kriss]

Kriss's calming influence has soothed my sorrows.

Not as much as the next ME update will

[fizzo]

Not as much as the next ME update will

i can't wait! started a new game in the mls right now, because i just can't continue with my regular saves, but i'm still hooked. thanks for the very good communications in the last days!

[Kriss]

i can't wait! started a new game in the mls right now, because i just can't continue with my regular saves, but i'm still hooked. thanks for the very good communications in the last days!

Try FMC with instant results, takes all the pain away

[Fabio MVP]

The ones I'm not banning that is

Calm me down!

[wwfan]

I'm not trying to deride the students of tactics or those who spend hundreds of hours tinkering to get their team performing, but this is how I play the game.

Selected Neuva Chicago in Argentina Div2 (predicted to struggle but have decent finances)

I use default 442 and just make a few changes to player roles (nothing else)

My transfer policy is to replace my worst player in a given position with one who is better than my best one in same position (never more than 2 transfers in any window)

I hardly ever use shouts or make more than one team tactical change in a match.

After 4 seasons I'm challenging the leaders in the Prem and doing very nicely thankyou.

I've always refused to believe you need to do much more than that to succeed at this game, of course I do occasionally come an almighty cropper but that's the exception rather than the rule.

I don't do much more.

Step One: Choose a default and change a few roles to make sure some players are moving between the lines in relation to their abilities (i.e. if you have a FB with good crossing and dribbling, give him a WB/Attack role). Ideally, you want one FB on an Attack duty, one midfield line player on Attack and one on Defend, and one FC on Support. Maybe do one or two manual tweaks to counter specific weaknesses in a player or take advantage of specific strengths (e.g. Use TM / Run onto Ball to take advantage of a quick poacher).

Step Two: Check my team against others in the division for strengths and weaknesses and make team adjustments around that knowledge. For example, my team has the best workrate and stamina in the division, so I adjusted the pressing slider to take advantage

Step Three: Design a starting shout around those strengths and weaknesses. I have a fast defence, technical midfield but very small team. I thus need to take advantage of my technical and pace advantages, but counter the height weaknesses. I 'push up' and 'play narrower' to compress space in defence, making it more difficult to get decent crosses in, and 'retain possession' and 'pass into space' to take advantage of my technical players and stop my own team making too many crosses to my midgets in the box.

Step Four: Adjust strategies in relation to my chances of winning or the scoreline. Adjust the shouts if the match conditions (weather, pitch) or opposition formation (packed midfield) make it difficult for my team to impose itself through those shouts. If the pitch is a bogged down mud field, then it is no use trying to play fancy football. Throw on a grunt for one of my technical midfielders, get stuck in and bang the ball forward for those pacy strikers to get onto.

That's it. Not rocket science, just a solid, logical approach.

[ArsenalFan7]

i am close to punching the screen with comedy of how stupid these goals are

if football played out like this in real life i'd be sat laughing in disbelief. i never played before fm10 other than fm06, has there ever been such a random engine?

crying here at my game

[davidallenxyz]

Playing today post Steam update.

- Right-side central midfielders regularly position themselves further up the field than the left-side central midfielder in the 2d match engine. This was happening before the update.

- "Instant" continue game timeout still doesn't work.

Also thought it would be worth mentioning a rather surprising MoM award to my goalkeeper, in a game that I won 3-1 while having twice as many chances as the opposition, six of them clear-cut (none for the opposition). Doesn't seem to me that the GK was the key to my result in that match.

[Fabio MVP]

Playing today post Steam update.

- Right-side central midfielders regularly position themselves further up the field than the left-side central midfielder in the 2d match engine. This was happening before the update.

- "Instant" continue game timeout still doesn't work.

Also thought it would be worth mentioning a rather surprising MoM award to my goalkeeper, in a game that I won 3-1 while having twice as many chances as the opposition, six of them clear-cut (none for the opposition). Doesn't seem to me that the GK was the key to my result in that match.

There were no match engine changes in the latest update.

[Kriss]

I don't do much more.

Step One: Choose a default and change a few roles to make sure some players are moving between the lines in relation to their abilities (i.e. if you have a FB with good crossing and dribbling, give him a WB/Attack role). Ideally, you want one FB on an Attack duty, one midfield line player on Attack and one on Defend, and one FC on Support. Maybe do one or two manual tweaks to counter specific weaknesses in a player or take advantage of specific strengths (e.g. Use TM / Run onto Ball to take advantage of a quick poacher).

Step Two: Check my team against others in the division for strengths and weaknesses and make team adjustments around that knowledge. For example, my team has the best workrate and stamina in the division, so I adjusted the pressing slider to take advantage

Step Three: Design a starting shout around those strengths and weaknesses. I have a fast defence, technical midfield but very small team. I thus need to take advantage of my technical and pace advantages, but counter the height weaknesses. I 'push up' and 'play narrower' to compress space in defence, making it more difficult to get decent crosses in, and 'retain possession' and 'pass into space' to take advantage of my technical players and stop my own team making too many crosses to my midgets in the box.

Step Four: Adjust strategies in relation to my chances of winning or the scoreline. Adjust the shouts if the match conditions (weather, pitch) or opposition formation (packed midfield) make it difficult for my team to impose itself through those shouts. If the pitch is a bogged down mud field, then it is no use trying to play fancy football. Throw on a grunt for one of my technical midfielders, get stuck in and bang the ball forward for those pacy strikers to get onto.

That's it. Not rocket science, just a solid, logical approach.

I just knew you'd come along and make it seem complicated

[ArsenalFan7]

just seen robinson go to the back post from an indirect free kick crossed in, almost like he decided to mark their player, leaves the goal completely open and someone in the centre just heads it straight in, almost too easy for them. if it's not a nice 25 yard screamer or a rebound it's gonna be something else magical. aaaaaaaaaaaaaand rage.

[davidallenxyz]

Also thought it would be worth mentioning a rather surprising MoM award to my goalkeeper, in a game that I won 3-1 while having twice as many chances as the opposition, six of them clear-cut (none for the opposition). Doesn't seem to me that the GK was the key to my result in that match.

And now my GK received MoM in almost the exact opposite situation - a game I lost 2-1 where I had half the chances of the opposition, and about even CCCs. He should be MoM if he gets me a result, not when he has no influence on the result.

[randomopening]

I don't do much more.

Step One: Choose a default and change a few roles to make sure some players are moving between the lines in relation to their abilities (i.e. if you have a FB with good crossing and dribbling, give him a WB/Attack role). Ideally, you want one FB on an Attack duty, one midfield line player on Attack and one on Defend, and one FC on Support. Maybe do one or two manual tweaks to counter specific weaknesses in a player or take advantage of specific strengths (e.g. Use TM / Run onto Ball to take advantage of a quick poacher).

Step Two: Check my team against others in the division for strengths and weaknesses and make team adjustments around that knowledge. For example, my team has the best workrate and stamina in the division, so I adjusted the pressing slider to take advantage

Step Three: Design a starting shout around those strengths and weaknesses. I have a fast defence, technical midfield but very small team. I thus need to take advantage of my technical and pace advantages, but counter the height weaknesses. I 'push up' and 'play narrower' to compress space in defence, making it more difficult to get decent crosses in, and 'retain possession' and 'pass into space' to take advantage of my technical players and stop my own team making too many crosses to my midgets in the box.

Step Four: Adjust strategies in relation to my chances of winning or the scoreline. Adjust the shouts if the match conditions (weather, pitch) or opposition formation (packed midfield) make it difficult for my team to impose itself through those shouts. If the pitch is a bogged down mud field, then it is no use trying to play fancy football. Throw on a grunt for one of my technical midfielders, get stuck in and bang the ball forward for those pacy strikers to get onto.

That's it. Not rocket science, just a solid, logical approach.

Without a doubt, i play a standard rigid 451 and have tweaked a couple of things to get team how i want to play. pleasing thing ive noticed, at the beginning my st and wingers were very rigid not getting much space. i havent changed anything with them but now my strikers comes a little deeper to help out and my wingers stay wide or come inside to yet some space. Never happened in previous versions.

Quick question for mods or guys in the know. in 12 games i have conceded 5 goals from wide players shooting at near post. my keeper covers the near post fairly well but could do better. do you think its my gk attributes or something that could maybe be looked at? These are not crossing situations but wide players running and shooting at near post. my LFB is bad.