*Official* FM 13 Update 13.2.3 - Match Engine v1339 Constructive Discussion & Feedback

[scott MUFC]

Dribbling is still stupid.

conceded against Belgium because Hazard dribbled through everyone, including 2 tackles.

stupid dribbling happens less i give you that, but it still happens.

goals i have conceded in my international matches

IDFK's

that dribble

the odd corner.

not many of the regular passing, moving making space stuff. I do that and hit the keeper :/

[SRL88]

Kriss was moderating when I first joined the forums, he was moderating when I got married, he was moderating when I got divorced, he was still moderating when I took 5 years off from the game, he was moderating when i was moderating, I come back and he's still here. Damn hes an FM ICON even :-)

Kriss was probably moderating when I was in nappies some 22 years ago.

[Duro]

Could one of you post a video where you feel it is evidently displayed? SI have stated that they think it isn't inaccurate, and I wouldn't say that I ever see it. This has led to some theories where people think it shows up differently on different machines or whatever.

The amount of people who mention it suggests that there is at least something worthy of mention, but having never seen it myself I really can't imagine what it looks like.

I'd be interested to see whether people see the same as me, but consider it too unrealistic, or whether people are indeed seeing something different.

I saw this video inthis thread but i saw in my games many times this problem and more evident.

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/333168-13.1.3-Ball-Speed-(again...sadly)

[johnhughthom]

I genuinely think this ME is much better, however the lack of productivity from wingers is ruining it. Any sort of wide play is stiffled and it's very difficult to get first time crosses in even with hit crosses early shout enabled. Also the amount of headers infront of goal missed is way too high.

The other niggles are dawdling players getting robbed of possesion, silly backpasses and the amount of undefendable IDFK's/

If it's so difficult to get crosses in, how are you missing so many headers in front of goal?

Agree on the silly dawdling though. The backpasses do bug me, but it's no worse than real life.

[Duro]

There is a big difference in the ball physics from FM2012 to FM2013, and because of that it's kinda hard to get used to the new ball.

First time i play FM2013 i thought the ball was too fast, and at time seems that the players had no control over the ball.

Now, when i play FM2012 the game just feels so slow... like all games are played in a puddle of mud.

I'm not saying the the ball from FM2013 is perfect and that people that think there are issues are wrong. I'm just saying that, we all play many years with a ball physics that was very different... perhaps we just need to be accustomed to the new ball.

I understand what you say Keyser about the ball physics but the way the ball rolls it´s not normal. In FM 2012 the ball rolls like it should roll. In FM 2013 no.

[Herbert Fandel]

Dribbling is still stupid.

conceded against Belgium because Hazard dribbled through everyone, including 2 tackles.

Show me a video of Heskey doing that in-game and I'll concede there is a problem.

A fantastic dribbler doing it once isn't cause for concern...

[BurakUeda]

Better than before, but still there are quite a few "Direct pass to opposition that leads to goal", "Centre backs won't attempt to intercept", "Goalie won't attempt to get the ball" incidents.

Here is one example, my goalie just won't pick up the ball (21-22 second):

[video=youtube;j1ido_UPRfs]

[fmFutbolManager]

I genuinely think this ME is much better, however the lack of productivity from wingers is ruining it. Any sort of wide play is stiffled and it's very difficult to get first time crosses in even with hit crosses early shout enabled. Also the amount of headers infront of goal missed is way too high.

The other niggles are dawdling players getting robbed of possesion, silly backpasses and the amount of undefendable IDFK's/

I play with wingers and they are out of this world.

Robben: 11 games 8 goals 2 assists

Ribery: 9 games 3 goals 5 assists

Shaqiri: 9 games 6 goals 4 assists

Either yours are not very good, or it's a tactical issue.

Dribbling is still stupid.

conceded against Belgium because Hazard dribbled through everyone, including 2 tackles.

stupid dribbling happens less i give you that, but it still happens.

goals i have conceded in my international matches

IDFK's

that dribble

the odd corner.

not many of the regular passing, moving making space stuff. I do that and hit the keeper :/

Because Hazard doesn't have the ability to dribble the ball and score goals? Do lesser players do this? My wingers can because I have Robben and Ribery. but when I have to play my backup wingers they don't, because they don't have the skills.

I'm not sure there's a problem. If all my wingers were doing it I would be worried. The fact is mine are only making 2/3 runs per game, and they have the 'runs with ball often' PPM.

[dazbowski]

Inside forwards or out and out wingers?

[DuncanBarr]

If your tactic sees 3 or 4 people occupying the same space on an attack, and then someone on the edge of the box pinging off a shot having had it passed back to them, they might not have much choice...

I agree with you its still not much like real football, but I don't see anything like the amount of stupid decisions you claim to.

Its constant, the stupid decisions dont always lead to anything bad but watching it is is awful. And I stress its not my tactic, its the inbuilt 4312. I havent mentioned anything about pinging off shots, so dont quite get that point.

Things is we agree on one key point: its not much like real football and it ruins the experience as it just stops watching games being an enjoyable experience. Have SI forgotten that games are meant to be enjoyable?

On top of that when a player does make a genuine clanger that leads to a goal it isnt even recognised by the ME as an error. Ive just had my goalkeeper pass a goalkick directly to an attacking player and it goes unnoticed. The game only see it as '"Roche is clean through behind the defence', how crap is that this isnt even registering as a player mistake? This is how shoddy the new ME is.

[dazbowski]

Defo afree with that, some horrendous mistakes go unpunished games rating wise, mostly in defence yet a striker missing a chance gets an instant 1.0 drop.

[fmFutbolManager]

Inside forwards or out and out wingers?

Mixed. They play in the AML/R position in a 4-1-2-2-1 formation. It depends on the full-back they're against but usually they will be IFs, but occasionally if they're playing against a really slow FB I'll deploy as an out and out winger.

[Dagenham_Dave]

its not much like real football .

This year's 3D Match Engine is more like 'real football' than any previous version, although clearly as it's just a collection of small sprites 'running' around a virtual pitch, it's never really going to me exactly like real life. Does the job though, and it's good enough that you can see what's going on and react to it.

[fmFutbolManager]

This year's 3D Match Engine is more like 'real football' than any previous version, although clearly as it's just a collection of small sprites 'running' around a virtual pitch, it's never really going to me exactly like real life. Does the job though, and it's good enough that you can see what's going on and react to it.

It always makes me laugh. The ME will never be like real football, but it can make an accurate representation. Considering the players on a real pitch each have the processing capacity of .1 quadrillion instructions per second, it's hard to get the little men on the 3D pitch to make as many calculations to make it life like.

[Domus Clamantium]

I am very happy with the match engine. The variety of passes is really noticeable now, as many of them are now aerial.

[Rashidi]

Show me a video of Heskey doing that in-game and I'll concede there is a problem.

A fantastic dribbler doing it once isn't cause for concern...

Exactly, its like how teams irl should complain that Gareth Bale shouldn't be able to dribble so much cos players MUST be able to stop him...*sigh*

[johnhughthom]

Better than before, but still there are quite a few "Direct pass to opposition that leads to goal", "Centre backs won't attempt to intercept", "Goalie won't attempt to get the ball" incidents.

Here is one example, my goalie just won't pick up the ball (21-22 second):

[video=youtube;j1ido_UPRfs]

That's a rare issue, and something I've personally never seen. For me the first goal is a bigger issue. Players regularly get time to control the ball and shoot or pass from a corner, this is something that is very rare in real life.

[madrikxiv]

Since the patch, as I always watch in 2D it seems like everyone is running on Ice, the ball just seems to skate along the pitch.

All seems to quick for Danish Prem (and it's not an icey pitch)

Seems My keeper doesnt like to save any shot from a player coming in from the corner of the box, lost track at how many times a player comes in from the corner of the box and scores.

Just like bambi on ice, gone to commentary mode now so as not to watch it

[Arecibo]

I am just finishing my second season after installing the patch.

I'm playing with arsenal and my players are very good (I've won the PL last year). I am wondering if anyone is having problems with long shots while playing the 4-1-2-2-1 (4-3-3) tactic? I play this tactic 95% of the time and I've yet to score a goal from more than 17-18 meters out. The 20% of the shots that reach the goal are saved. Sometimes by superhuman reflexes. This also happens to the opposition, I've only conceded 1 or two goals in the same 100 game period and those were from deflected shots.

Actually I did score from 30 meters out once, but that was when the keeper was trying to score during a corner. My 5 best players have long shots attributes of at least 14.

The last patch was overall much worse and I had a huge amount of unreasonable long shots, but at I scored a 3-4 long ones every season.

[Hazerbaijan]

I haven't played much since release (as I thought the match engine was horrible) but I started again after the latest patch. I'm quite impressed and think it's now better than 2012. Certainly more enjoyable and less predictable.

There are a few things I've noticed, which, if ironed out, would make it very playable for me:

Ball Physics

In general I think this is vastly improved from 2012 but the ball just doesn't seem to stop. I haven't seen any moments where an attacker is in a foot race with a defender for a ball hit into the space between the goalkeeper and the defence as the ball rolls so much faster than the running speed that the player never gets anywhere near before the ball rolls out. I also don't see any realistic no-man's-land moments for the keeper (from a similar ball forward or underhit backpasses). I see this type of thing reasonably regularly when I watch real football but it's missing here.

Chipped Through Balls

I think everyone likes to see these when they come off but I think they're too common in the match engine (especially in lower leagues). I think its reasonably rare in real football that a player will attempt a difficult chipped through ball down the middle instead of an easier through ball along the ground to the same player when there's no obstruction. Angled chips over the full back to a winger is great though (unless it just speed rolls out...).

GoalKeeper Awareness

It seems to me that goalkeepers occasionally become completely unaware of the ball or attackers. I see many occasions where the ball is rolling across the box and the goalkeeper is either unaware that he can easily reach it or he's unaware that there's a striker obviously getting on the end of it (or both!). It looks like the keeper is engineering his own 'caught in the middle of nowhere' scenario and it looks quite unrealistic. I'm all for realistic goalkeeping errors but these ones are bizarre.

Defenders Heading The Ball Behind

This seems to happen extremely often and in circumstances where it would be very difficult to actually do. I've seen players diving towards their own goal and to the right to head the ball to the left of the goal. Players also head behind their own goal when a normal headed clearance is much easier and sensible. They will also head the ball out for a corner when they're near the byline and it's going straight out for a goal kick (not like a dangerous cross with a lurking winger, which I could understand).

With these sorted I'd be very happy!

[Steboyuk]

Still unplayable for me. Reasons:

1. Goalkeepers still awful, and especially at one-on-ones and fluke deep crosses that either go in or hit the bar. I have Gabor Kiraly, 16 for One on ones and he's just awful, players just walk up to him and he just basically lets them score into an open goal. The deep crossing is happening far too often, sometimes the keeper has ages to assess the flight of ball and just catch it and still he inexplicably leaves and it hits the woodwork. Very rare in real life but happening almost every 5-6 games for me.

2. Centre mids not tracking back quickly enough

3. Far too many long shots still, mainly from wingers even though as have them set to rarely and they don't have PPM's for long shooting either.

4. Long shots in general and stupidly bad, still getting shots regularly going out for throw ins, or sometimes trickling towards goal with no power whatsoever. Technique just looks awful on the 3D aswell totally unrealistic.

5. Players constantly under-hitting simple passes leading to interceptions. This is a drastic error and happens constantly, far too often, I'm playing in the German Second Division, not the 10th tier in England.

6. Headers are just totally broken - players heading the ball the wrong way far too often, defenders constantly 'heading it behind' even though half the time they can't manage that and it just goes off in a random direction. Set pieces in general are pretty horrible to see, how many times to you see a defender in the 6 yard box take a corner down, turn and shoot despite being crowded out by players? Bizarre and just doesn't happen irl.

7. Bugs everywhere - on one of my games just as I started it there was already a yellow card that had been pre-determined by the match engine. It was there on 18 minutes and yes as predicted it happened right at that moment. What's that about? Also I was viewing the highlights of a game where in the Championship, the score was apparently 2 - 0 to Brighton. But as I viewed the highlights it showed Burnley winning 4 - 1. What is happening?

8. Players just ignoring the ball and still not reacted or putting in a tackle anywhere near quick enough. I've had passes to players just ignored and the ball just goes through them, and players in generally just defend bizzarely.

9. Players just walking with the ball, then getting tackled, or just standing still then getting tackled. Very frustrating error this, the first bit mainly with wingers/full backs who have no pressure on them but instead of at least jogging with the ball or passing or whatever they just walk, and walk for a good 10-15 seconds before finally doing something (if they haven't been tackled before then) No wingers actually do this, Berbatov and maybe Zlatan are special cases here. Standing still one just ridiculous, happens with my defensive midfielder or centre back most often and leads to a very good chance. They have options to pass the ball but instead wait ages far too long and normally the options and now unavailable so they just stand still and lose it. Clueless.

Sad really I've barely even played this game and won't be buying 14, especially considering the state this game was released. Really do think we are on the verge of a bit of an FM collapse.

[Tyler_bode]

Wrong. The result is calculated before the ME even starts. The ME then attempts to give the illusion of a real-time game but in reality it is just making the already known result play out for you to watch. If you make subs or change tactics then the result is re-calculated to see if your changes made any difference and the ME runs to fit the new calculation. The current ME does it very badly resulting in the player seeing stupid GK errors or defenders that go to sleep / forget which side they are on etc. because that goal just has to be scored.

Strange thing happened to me. As soon as I pressed play to start match on 2D all these yellow cards and one red appeared on timeline at bottom. Then they all disappeared 10 minutesinto the game. Sure enough they all happened exactly on predicted time! Wierd.

[Chasing Lamely]

One thing I've noticed with the match engine is that, a lot of the time, the refs are horribly out of position. Now, I get that in the Conference North, for example, that's to be expected (because the refs at that level really are cack every week) but I've seen Howard Webb lagging horribly behind play, or (worse) not even facing play. Obviously, I'm kind of nerdy to be paying that much attention to referees, but it should be looked at. When I figure out how to do it, I'll upload some footage to the YouTube and point it out properly.

[johnhughthom]

Strange thing happened to me. As soon as I pressed play to start match on 2D all these yellow cards and one red appeared on timeline at bottom. Then they all disappeared 10 minutesinto the game. Sure enough they all happened exactly on predicted time! Wierd.

You sure they actually occurred that game, this is a known bug with the yellow/red cards from the previous match showing up.

[Rowe23]

I'm not sure if this is just me or if it could be a bug but i appear to be seeing a lot of goals scored against me from the 18 yrd box, its almost as though the keeper just lets them in.

[Emmeth]

Kriss was probably moderating when I was in nappies some 22 years ago.

I expect Kriss to have some sort of compensation for his experienced and valuable job in this forum !

Also SRL88 looks a promising youngster wonderkid but he has some road ahead to reach Kriss

[DuncanBarr]

This year's 3D Match Engine is more like 'real football' than any previous version, although clearly as it's just a collection of small sprites 'running' around a virtual pitch, it's never really going to me exactly like real life. Does the job though, and it's good enough that you can see what's going on and react to it.

Im guessing you must be the FM ME commentator, that'll be the one that comments that a ball has been cleared from danger when a defender heads it back into the danger area.

I dont expect real life but I do expect stupid things like this to be ironed out. This is just one of many things that happen in FM on a regular basis that makes watching the FM13 ME an awful experience.

[lobbyrhino]

hi i have ticked in prefrences/match/show match preview in build up to match and i have noticed on the first game when i load in the game background moves in team talk and opposition tactics and slows down the game but after that on every other game the background is still and runs great just letting u know this needs fixing so the background is still on the first game u play game would run a lot faster cheers darren

[Lohan]

It's my impression or the game was easier?

[DuncanBarr]

Another thing is players dont get beaten when they are run at, they just allow the player to pass. This is why it doesnt look like real football. Really everyone may as well the 2D as the 3D representation is useless when it fails in so many areas.

[S2008]

Ok had a go with this latest patch and have made the following observations

1. Long shots are down which has stopped me tearing out my hair. sometimes I end up with a game with loads of long shots but this is a tactical issue and can be remedied.

2. From my own perspective defending is worse- positioning is horredous at times and Ive seen two of my defenders bang into each other allowing the attacker to run in on goal where my goalkeeper has charged past the ball and given a free shot at an empty net. I rage quit that game so I dont have the evidence to hand. I can accept a few defensive errors in a game, no defence is perfect and its not like Im saying I dont benefit from it either but in a 2-3 game where 4 of the goals were born from glaring errors by the defence (it could have been 5 thanks to a suicide pass along the backline) I dont feel like its realistic.

3. There are still super dribbles (less often fair enough) but it seems like point 2 makes the problem worse- defenders are afraid to tackle, even when it doesnt look like players are running at pace. They just back off or let them run.

4. The home advantage for me seems to be exaggerated- getting a result away from home to ANY team is like pulling teeth. Like most things its a double edged sword as I find myself beating teams easily at home as well but the contrast in difficulty is far too big.

[DuncanBarr]

Agree defending is atrocious. Ive just benefited from a goal where the ball was chipped in and the opposing defender headed the ball to safety (according to the commentary) whereas what I saw was him heading it down for my striker to smash home. Come on SI this is terrible!!!!

[Guest]

Is the problem the poor header or the lousy commentary?

Personally I feel the commentary has been awful for a number of versions now & has little resemblance to what I see on screen in 2D or 3D, it all started on FM09 with [Player] kicks it into row Z when it clearly dribbled over the line & went downhill from there, this year I think it has finally cracked.

[BiggusD]

Is the problem the poor header or the lousy commentary?

Personally I feel the commentary has been awful for a number of versions now & has little resemblance to what I see on screen in 2D or 3D, it all started on FM09 with [Player] kicks it into row Z when it clearly dribbled over the line & went downhill from there, this year I think it has finally cracked.

The commentary is freakishly sensationalist and so inaccurate that I feel sorry for those who go oldschool and rely on it for decisions. I have also noticed that very often what the commentary say is an excellent clearance really is a through-ball to the opposition.

One thing I don't understand is in the game is goalkeepers intercepting a wide ball and punting it upfield for an easy 60-meter goal. I have only ever seen this once in real life, but I have never seen a FM goalkeeper blast it to row Z in those situations. They always choose the worst option possible.

Another annoying thing with 13.3 is how often players walk with the ball.

[Guest]

I really do not get how people can use commentary only these days, they are basically being lied to for the full match.

As for keepers, I've see them more often than not blast the ball straight out of play or at least down the line when dealing with balls out wide, the example of them sending it into midfield for an open goal is not something that I've since since the launch ME (I've gone & jinxed it there haven't I?), the one aspect of their game that is missing is having them control a ball outside the area in a wide position & then take it inside the area so that they have full advantage in possession.

Like you say they just tend to punt it straight back from where it came which is very unsatisfying.

[linuxe]

The game is still terrible and a huge step backwards, if you want to make a realistic match engine. Then make a realistic tactic editor, slides are terrible and NOT fun to tweak with.

And for some reason players become ******** when playing away and teams like Barcelona could easily lose against Getafes youth squad.

[ak71]

Hi there,

Been quite happy with the current update. However, having 2 gripes:

1. Players seem to knock onto each other at times. I know, some will say "It's your tactics...", but i beg to differ because it happened to players with high attributes such as composure, creativity, etc.

2. It's almost near impossible to replicate Barca tactic in the current ME. I've got no problem with the previous version of FM, but this one left me in frustation. I've been following guides from wwfan, Rashid1 and Cleon but to NO success. Is it because possession has been tone down in this version..? Is there anyone out there who managed to maintain 65-75% possession each game, no matter home or away..?

Thank you.

[mixmkz]

2. It's almost near impossible to replicate Barca tactic in the current ME. I've got no problem with the previous version of FM, but this one left me in frustation. I've been following guides from wwfan, Rashid1 and Cleon but to NO success. Is it because possession has been tone down in this version..? Is there anyone out there who managed to maintain 65-75% possession each game, no matter home or away..?

Thank you.

I used to have roughly 50% possession in each match before this patch but win tremendously because each time I get the ball I either score or lose it in the opposition's box. After the patch, same tactics, I have over 65% possession in each match as players tend to pass and retain possession better. Though the passing is more direct, but the possession gets recycled better instead of blindly attacking and losing the ball.

[scott MUFC]

just... what

no match, no nothing, just broken?

[Bob Sardinia]

Aside from injuries.. which is bearable

Defending corners seems broken, not alot of goals from intial corners in.. But ALOTTT of "garbage" goals where it get lost in a cluster or passed around in a tiny area and then hit in.

[crowsus]

just... what

no match, no nothing, just broken?

He crashed his car drink-driving, but they can't say that for legal reasons... however I can ;-)

[fmFutbolManager]

Ok had a go with this latest patch and have made the following observations

1. Long shots are down which has stopped me tearing out my hair. sometimes I end up with a game with loads of long shots but this is a tactical issue and can be remedied.

2. From my own perspective defending is worse- positioning is horredous at times and Ive seen two of my defenders bang into each other allowing the attacker to run in on goal where my goalkeeper has charged past the ball and given a free shot at an empty net. I rage quit that game so I dont have the evidence to hand. I can accept a few defensive errors in a game, no defence is perfect and its not like Im saying I dont benefit from it either but in a 2-3 game where 4 of the goals were born from glaring errors by the defence (it could have been 5 thanks to a suicide pass along the backline) I dont feel like its realistic.

3. There are still super dribbles (less often fair enough) but it seems like point 2 makes the problem worse- defenders are afraid to tackle, even when it doesnt look like players are running at pace. They just back off or let them run.

4. The home advantage for me seems to be exaggerated- getting a result away from home to ANY team is like pulling teeth. Like most things its a double edged sword as I find myself beating teams easily at home as well but the contrast in difficulty is far too big.

Free-kicks are also classed as long shots. Not a lot of people take this into consideration. If you're having a lot it could be why there is an increased number in the stats.

Positioning is horrendous at times in all matches (real life). Did you see the Reading goal last night. Shocking positioning from the United defence to let Reading score. The United goals, one was scored where the reading defence were two yards of a line of four united players to let Nani score, the other the defender got the wrong side of Hernandez. Had this been in the game we'd be crying foul. The point to remember is that any defence, no matter HOW good, cannot play a solid line for 100% of the game. Most goals are born out of mistakes by the defence. Either they let their man they're marking go, they don't intercept, they miss a header, they are out of position, they make a bad pass. Watch MoTD this weekend and see just how many of the goals are analysed for defensive errors rather than the fantastic play of the attackers. There will ALWAYS be something the defenders could do better. That's football. The problem is with ever goal conceded in FM it's because the defence made a mistake which must be a bug.

There are players that can dribble at pace. It's an attribute of some players. Look at Bale, do you think he is ever likely to stop driving at players? Most players with pace do this. Defenders are frightened to make a tackle because a mistake could cost them a goal.

[BiggusD]

Free-kicks are also classed as long shots. Not a lot of people take this into consideration. If you're having a lot it could be why there is an increased number in the stats.

Positioning is horrendous at times in all matches (real life). Did you see the Reading goal last night. Shocking positioning from the United defence to let Reading score. The United goals, one was scored where the reading defence were two yards of a line of four united players to let Nani score, the other the defender got the wrong side of Hernandez. Had this been in the game we'd be crying foul. The point to remember is that any defence, no matter HOW good, cannot play a solid line for 100% of the game. Most goals are born out of mistakes by the defence. Either they let their man they're marking go, they don't intercept, they miss a header, they are out of position, they make a bad pass. Watch MoTD this weekend and see just how many of the goals are analysed for defensive errors rather than the fantastic play of the attackers. There will ALWAYS be something the defenders could do better. That's football. The problem is with ever goal conceded in FM it's because the defence made a mistake which must be a bug.

There are players that can dribble at pace. It's an attribute of some players. Look at Bale, do you think he is ever likely to stop driving at players? Most players with pace do this. Defenders are frightened to make a tackle because a mistake could cost them a goal.

Yes this is all fine, and the calculations concluding with a defensive mistake leading to a goal are probably spot on statistically. The problem, however, is that the magnitude of error is over-exaggerated in FM. In real life, a defender taking two-three touches in his own area while crowded by opposition attackers before being tackled happens all the time. It is often the result of stress and/or poor technique. In FM, however, that defender takes 10 touches while walking aimlessly forward doing nothing whatsoever, meanwhile the opposition attackers stand still two meters away before deciding that enough is enough, tackles him and gets an easy chance. There is a difference between dawdling on the ball for 2 seconds and being caught out (rl) and dawdling on the ball for 10 seconds and only being caught out in the 11th despite the opposition having the manpower to do so after 2 seconds like in real life.

Also, as has been the case since FM10 iirc, the goalkeeper still, under no pressure (oppositon on own half), dawdles on the ball for several seconds before wildly clearing the ball to the excited "ooooh" of the spectators.

Players still head the ball on after a corner or saved shot attempt even though the logical course of action is to control the ball with their feet and then clear the ball if that is desirable (i.e after the opponent has a chance the team is in auto-clearance mode until the next "highlight", unless the point of the highlight was to show a counter-attack, of course).

Players still try to intercept a long over-head ball by leaping into the air and heading it even though no real-life player would ever attempt such a thing since a successful clearance/backpass would defy the laws of physics. Sometimes they nevertheless do succeed doing so, and I subsequently label the guy "Dynamite-brow Owl-Man" to much entertainment, since these incidents usually involve the defender running after a high ball headed towards the corner flag chased by an attacker and then leaping into the air and -blast- the ball in an entirely different direction... or fail to do so... both equally ridiculous.

My players inexplicably keep their bodies angled towards the opposition goal when in possession. The wingers and wide players never seek towards the sideline where there is plenty of space; they cut inside despite being told not to do so and having their best foot angled that way. I doubt this is a tactical issue, but it is puzzling if it is. How on earth can a wide tactic with hug-the-touchline same-footed wingers be realized as a tactic where all 10 outfield players angle towards the centre line like moths to the flame at all times? This is new, though.

[fmFutbolManager]

Regarding your last point, do they have the PPMs to do so? I've realised recently that the PPM is effectively like ticking the box on custom tactics. It over rides everything. I have Shaqiri as a winger, he cuts in and shoots from distance despite being told to hug the touchline and never shoot from distance.

[ak71]

I used to have roughly 50% possession in each match before this patch but win tremendously because each time I get the ball I either score or lose it in the opposition's box. After the patch, same tactics, I have over 65% possession in each match as players tend to pass and retain possession better. Though the passing is more direct, but the possession gets recycled better instead of blindly attacking and losing the ball.

Great to hear that mate. Was wondering if you can share with me your tactics cause i'm stump right now as i've problem retaining possession. No problem at all to score. Lately, my Spurs team beat Man U away 3-0. However, i'd only managed 45% possession. For me, it's not good enough.

[Back to Earth]

I was very glad to see the release of the new match engine patch and started a game with Ipswich, playing a 4-2-3-1 Asymetric.

After wheeling and dealing, I assembled a good squad. Pre season went very well. A quarter season in, flop was complete. Some thoughts on the match engine following this experience :-

1.Of the 21 or so goals I leaked, 17 were from set pieces. Mainly corners.

2.I can't understrand how I could dominate so many of the games in terms of possession and clear cut chances. And still lose so many? In short, it didn't seem to me that the stats of the matches and the points accumulated were consistent. Reasonable divergences are to be expected, but not to this extent (IMHO);

3. Alex Ferguson once described the inside forward as the most dangerous player in the game. Mine flopped hopelessly and seemed to operate more as a winger;

4. I can't get how a lone striker operates in the game. Some say (elsewhere) he must be deeplying forward, others have different views. I don't think the ME and the lone striker are for me!

These are general comments.

[Herbert Fandel]

1.Of the 21 or so goals I leaked, 17 were from set pieces. Mainly corners.

I have been noticing this too, in fact I almost only concede from corners on files where I have a strong squad.

(my hornchurch squad concedes in every way imaginable)

[Guest]

Until making a change on my FM12 career save I used to concede plenty of goals from corners, since then I've been consistently able to defend them with relative ease.

Looking at my goal analysis screen in our last 50 games we've conceded 2 from corners (4.65% of goals conceded), not sure how many extra would get tagged on to that figure if I included goals conceded after the initial delivery is cleared but it's not something I notice happening that often.

[Herbert Fandel]

Until making a change on my FM12 career save I used to concede plenty of goals from corners, since then I've been consistently able to defend them with relative ease.

It is only since this patch I have had a high percentage of set piece goals conceded, but of course that doesn't rule out that I can make a change to stop it.

[fmFutbolManager]

Great to hear that mate. Was wondering if you can share with me your tactics cause i'm stump right now as i've problem retaining possession. No problem at all to score. Lately, my Spurs team beat Man U away 3-0. However, i'd only managed 45% possession. For me, it's not good enough.

That's not bad away to United. However, I'd suggest popping over to the tactics forum for some advice on how to retain possession better if that's really your game. Remember, possession ≠ wins. Just ask Arsenal or Liverpool that. It's what you do with the possession that counts.

I was very glad to see the release of the new match engine patch and started a game with Ipswich, playing a 4-2-3-1 Asymetric.

After wheeling and dealing, I assembled a good squad. Pre season went very well. A quarter season in, flop was complete. Some thoughts on the match engine following this experience :-

1.Of the 21 or so goals I leaked, 17 were from set pieces. Mainly corners.

2.I can't understrand how I could dominate so many of the games in terms of possession and clear cut chances. And still lose so many? In short, it didn't seem to me that the stats of the matches and the points accumulated were consistent. Reasonable divergences are to be expected, but not to this extent (IMHO);

3. Alex Ferguson once described the inside forward as the most dangerous player in the game. Mine flopped hopelessly and seemed to operate more as a winger;

4. I can't get how a lone striker operates in the game. Some say (elsewhere) he must be deeplying forward, others have different views. I don't think the ME and the lone striker are for me!

These are general comments.

Do you use the 'defending set pieces' training at all? I've found this really helps. Also, how do you set up your team to defend them? Might be worth popping over to the tactics forum for some advice? Simple things like having wingers mark the posts to free up FBs to mark can help. I've not conceded a goal from a corner in over 50 games.

If you IFs are failing you, try getting them to learn PPMs to help, like cut inside. Lone strikers do work, but it depends very much on the players around him. If you play a slow or quick game. Possession based or quick counter attacking. Best bet as I've said it head to tactics forum for help. People there will be more than happy to have a look at your current setup and advise how to get the best out of the players you have.