Football Manager 2014 - Full Game Feedback/Tilbakemelding 14.1.3

[Mordo48]

I really like the game but lower league management is becoming a continuing frustration as the years go on. With every FM it becomes more and more difficult. Can't even manage to scrape together a run of form with Sutton Utd this year let alone a promotion push! Seems far to relient on tactics, almost like a game of chess at times - are the lower leagues in real life that deep tactically? Getting beat by non-league teams in the friendlies and the Fa Cup by greyed out players scoring absolute screamers / amazing dribbling runs.

Probably is my tactics at the end of the day but couldn't there be more realistic feedback ? - maybe after game meeting stating what we really suffered from in the game? Half the stuff the assistant manager says during the game doesn't even make sense at times.

[Porthos]

Please stop trying to hit the ball against the defender for a corner. Especially as you just beat him and you're inside the box.

[Ackter]

If you have examples of that happening, please post them in the bugs forum.

[daylight]

But do you see how people are getting to the top?

If they aren't exposing the tactics/strategy part of the game, who cares?

The game is called football MANAGER...but for those of us who really are more into the strategy/tactics portion of the game, and trying to win in that fashion, I'm not impressed by someone getting to the top in the way described.

In seasons past I would search for hours, I do mean hours for just the right player, I used the tools SI gave me, I never reloaded because I got beat, I never reloaded because my best player was injured for 6 months.

I would load up the game once my kid went to bed, I would search for a player I needed, lets say a striker, I would go to bed some 4 hours later after putting in an offer for say 3 players and I have not moved a single in game day.

That is the game, or at least it used to be, you build a team and get them playing together, some players may only look at what the scouts offer, some players search all the under 21s and the lesser know full international squads and try and find the diamond out there.

I feel like showing a screenshot of Ger, I will go dig it out.

[Ackter]

I once reloaded because I'd spent 3 seasons trying to sign Iker Casillas, finally got him for £72m and was injured 15 minutes into his first game - for 9 months

[ed123]

Is it hard to find these kind of players in FM 2014? And if it is harder, why?

[daylight]

Here is Ger my greatest ever find.

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/558701251500190015/08E4973280526C9858BA118A401659DB19BF1C95/

Here is a link to the thread I made because of him.

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/315541-Honestly-have-you-ever-had-a-player-like-this

[Ragazzo_SLB]

Again we will only enjoy the game at 100%, there in February or March. The number of times that the games end up with 30-20 in shots is something inexplicable.

And if last year were giving feedback on upcoming patches, this year or by whom this consideration have bought the game.

[Ackter]

Is it hard to find these kind of players in FM 2014? And if it is harder, why?

Seems just as easy to find them, but this year so far I've lost out on signing a few of them to other teams.

[Freyyr]

I think it was said but there are too much goals in fixtures. Look at that !

A patch please SI !

[ed123]

Well, I think that is the right direction, Ackter. In fact, instead of the lower league teams signing these guys, the top clubs should be very aggresive with these young new regens.

[Warmaker]

I thought the ratings were fixed? Is there an actual reason for my forwards 5.1 ?

[john1]

SI needs to patch up the defending bug, my team defence just stands there and gives the ball away and let AI score.

[Ackter]

SI needs to patch up the defending bug, my team defence just stands there and gives the ball away and let AI score.

If that was a defending bug, the AI team defence would just stand there and let you score as well.

[noikeee]

I think in the FM12 match engine it was easier to get a 4-2-3-1 or a modern 4-3-3 working right, whereas since FM13 a huge amount of fine-tuning is necessary to get those systems gaining you an advantage on the pitch. Those are the formations I enjoy playing, particularly possession-based systems, which is why I have a lot of sympathy for FM12 and have never really enjoyed FM13 (haven't yet gone deep enough into 14 to enjoy it much, neither).

... that being said, a major reason why those formations worked then was because a lone advanced forward guaranteed you between 30 to 60 goals per season. Through-ball to the quick man, goal!! That compensated hugely for the inherent problem of lack of incisiveness of possession-based 4-2-3-1s/4-3-3s. Immensely fun, but not that realistic to be perfectly honest.

Central attacking midfielders are not as effective as they should be. Too many goals come from wide areas where irl crosses are easier to deal with defensively...wide play and crossing is more of a percentage play and the better the defense the easier it is to deal with it. High class creative players playing lower level opposition would very consistently destroy trash and have the abilities and talent to open up defences through the middle but this is not well represented in this years or last years match engine. It seems the complaint people had about fm12 me was it was vulnerable to fast forwards and the protection the last two years ME has tried to negate this too much. Creative players with good and intelligent movement will still find gaps in a packed defence but this ME definitely seems to need wider play to enable the scoring of goals more frequently which is not how it should be. Fm12 enabled effective wide play and central play with instructions this current ME does not, it is too vulnerable to wide play. Also the high number of tackles and interceptions and lower pass completion rates unfortunately reek of protection of faults in the current ME

I have been thinking about these posts from yesterday, 3 pages ago, and have decided to make a mini-list of the faults I find in the current ME. They are very subtle faults, but there are a lot of them, which is why the ME resembles a realistic match of football but "something doesn't feel quite right" to a lot of people. Please notice I have not played enough to be 100% sure of these points, all I've done is half a season with Arsenal (documented extensively in a T&T thread), and 10 matches or so with an edited superteam with 11 world class players such as Ronaldo, Messi, etc in the Championship as an amusing experiment people were attempting in another thread. I would love to give definitive proof of my findings, but for now they are just "feelings".

Please notice I'm not a gullible novice that believes the AI is playing under magical physics and different rules than we do, and I do realize the immense complexity of the task SI has, being a programmer myself. I appreciate the great effort they've done in developing it, this post may read like I do not as I have lots of "complaints" but I think it's necessary to expose everything I feel it's wrong. They'll never get it right without extensive feedback.

Let's start by the glaringly obvious shortcomings of the ME:

1. Near post / short corners are bugged as the first post attacker is regularly unmarked

A well known bug, not a subtle ME fault.

2. Keeper distribution is not correct as they tend to hoof it up too much even when given short distribution instructions

Another well known bug.

3. There's lack in variety of scored direct free kicks

Not sure about the raw numbers as I believe they're slightly low in-game, but it's true that in reality the number of scored free-kicks is actually rather low these days. But there's always very little curl on the ball, and I don't ever remember watching a blasted powerful free-kick as per Cristiano Ronaldo? Wasn't the ball physics revamp 1 or 2 FM editions ago supposed to have taken care of this?

4. Attacking players are still a little too keen to shoot long

One of the most obvious reasons why shot counts are high, that being said we are getting into subtler territory here as 1) the willingness to shoot long is just part of the story, not the problem in itself; and 2) perhaps they are doing this because the players are a little short-sighted and cannot see the other options they have, such as a through ball or a dribble?

5. Players with teamwork do not dribble, and players in the AMC position are not keen enough to dribble neither

I see a recurrent pattern here - regardless of whatever I tried, Mesut Özil rarely dribbles for me in my Arsenal side. In my little experiment with the fantasy 11 world class superstars team, Messi hardly ever dribbled as well even as an inside forward. Now, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar? Please do not give them the ball as they'll hog it all day long - after delightfully going past 4 opponents. I believe the reason is heavily linked to teamwork - all 4 players have high dribbling and pace but Özil and Messi have high teamwork, Ronaldo and Neymar do not. It's well simulated that selfish players will hog the ball more than unselfish players, but the effect is too exaggerated in the match engine. Messi shouldn't refrain from taking on players just because he has decent teamwork and can see team-mates (is high creativity linked here, too?).

I have read several other threads in which people also complain about Özil and Messi not dribbling enough, particularly in the AMC position. I haven't attempted a selfish player in the AMC position yet, but when was the last time you saw in this engine a quick dribbling AMC gallopping past the opposition defence, Kaká-at-Milan style?

6. World class players should still be able to slice in a through-ball vs a packed defence once in a while

7. It's too easy in the current ME to get your defence to stay in perfect position to cut things down the middle, just stay deep and play 2 DMs, do not press, nothing will ever go past that barrier.

6) and 7) are 2 sides of the same coin. Through balls, they are rare. The key aspect of why FM12 was so fun, because it was ridiculously easy (in a heavily unrealistic way due to the lack of collision detection) to get your playmakers to slice in some through balls to your quick forwards and wingers. In FM14 there's still a healthy amount of through balls, but they seem to heavily, heavily depend on the opposition's defence being moved out of position, such as when they come out to press you, or when you catch them on the break in a transitional counter-attack move. When the opposition is defending deep as a block, forget about being able to put in a through ball. Any mildly organized defence will easily block you by just sitting there.

Now, sitting deep and soaking up pressure by cutting the ways to your goal by the middle, IS the recommended way of killing a highly creative possession side. I agree the game should simulate that, and it does that well, however even this strategy sometimes cannot stop a world class side in real life - because a world class side with great playmakers, and forwards with great movement, can occasionally do wonderfully precise things in tiny amounts of space; and because your regular defence cannot just sit there all day long in perfect position, they will make tiny marking mistakes as the game goes on. It is effective in real life yes, but it's even more so in FM and it shouldn't.

Look at Barcelona's goals yesterday against Betis, slicing them constantly thanks to through balls - http://www.tvgolo.com/match-showfull-1384113909---41 - this was made a lot easier thanks to Betis playing a suicidal high line, and attempting comically to play offside, but I'm looking in particular at the 3rd goal, when was the last time you saw a chipped ball over the defence like that in FM? Barcelona are capable of doing a goal like this every other game in real life. They are an extreme case with crazy good players, you should not be able to do that with "normal" teams which do not possess such a talent advantage over their opponents, but I don't believe you can replicate half of that effectiveness in FM.

[noikeee]

... continuation of the previous post:

8. Wingers win the byline too easily, and cross too often by the air - where have the low crosses gone?

The dreaded "full-backs suck" issue. If cutting your ways to the area by the middle is easy, cutting them by the wings is not at all at the moment. Amusingly this makes the "play wider" shout very effective at the moment both defensively and offensively, by pushing your reluctant full-backs wider, whilst allowing space in the middle where things are not dangerous in the current ME, provided you use DMs. There is A LOT of crosses. The wingers win the byline so easily it's not funny. I think SI attempted to counter the sheer amount of crossed goals by making headers less precise, but it's still a big way to beat the ME if you want to.

On a related point, why is it that wingers always cross the ball by the air? What about a low ball once in a while? What about patterns of play like running to the byline, but then cheekily playing it low to the entry of the area for an unrushing midfielder? I don't remember watching this ever on FM?

Many pages back (it might not have been on this thread), I think it was by wwfan or a mod or a SI member, someone said "the percentage of goals scored from crosses in FM is actually realistic to real-life stats". Okay, yes, but do those real-life stats include low crosses, and crosses that are finished by foot instead of by head? They don't happen in FM. Also, are these stats by chance from British football (they've got to be), because the traditional British football even in the modern Premiership plays a hell of a lot more crosses than many other leagues in the globe...?

Like akkm says in that post I quoted, in real life crossing is more of a percentage play and tends to never be the premier path to scoring goals by big, world class, talented sides. A side like West Ham, maybe. A side like Barcelona or Arsenal or Man City or Bayern, will try to score by dribbles, through balls, pass-and-move moves, and only then the occasional crossed goal or set-piece goal on top of it if possible, yes (I do believe Barcelona would be even stronger if they had a big lad upfront, like if per example they had managed to get the better out of Ibrahimovic - it's a very useful tool to go around those packed deep defences, when they get the defending right).

This is becoming a very long post but incidentally, related to low crosses, I see that a few pages back a user was ridiculed for wanting to instruct Pedro Rodriguez to NOT cross as winger/attack om AMR position. Pedro Rodriguez in real life does cross once in a while, but it's not his main job - his main job is to stretch play both horizontally and vertically, and to score goals. When he does cross, he does it low, not by air to the non-existent target man. Good luck replicating this in FM.

9. It's far too easy to pass short provided the opposition doesn't press and/or cannot tackle

In the various iterations of the match engine since the beginning of FM13, it's been a major complaint at some times that "too many teams play like Barcelona". Little lower league sides appear to be able to pass at will from their defence. This problem has been diminished as the ME developed, but still exists. Every side of the Premiership I face with Arsenal, when I play away, appears able to pass the ball around casually and effortlessly from the back all the way to the surroundings of the area (it gets much harder from there onwards). Myself as Arsenal, I do have the talent to play the ball from the defence, but in half a season I only ever remember once it backfiring as a player gave away the ball deep.

By contrast, some users are reporting that by employing an extremely aggressive pressing system with very tight marking, they can unsettle the AI easily and they obviously are not able to build up play anywhere nearly as well. This is probably related by how incredibly overpowered tackling is at the moment - my BWM Valon Behrami managed 22 out of 22 attempted tackles in my last match for example and I don't even play a pressing game.

This tells me players in deep positions (such as defenders or DMs) are unsettled by high pressing and do make mistakes. This works as intended although the amount of tackling is ridiculous and a major bug. HOWEVER players in deep positions under only relatively normal pressure, ie, against opponents that do not sit too deep but do not press extremely aggressive neither, they are able to pass the ball at will regardless of their skill level and make far too few mistakes. It's as if the "passing" attribute does not count, it makes far too little difference.

A side-effect of this... is that teams are very very easily able to walk the ball up to near the immediations of the area, into shooting positions. Conversely the opposition's defenders, in "normal" mode (ie not extremely aggressive pressing) will sit and watch. This is the other reason why there's so so so many attempted shots on goal. It's also the reason why there's so many shots on goal, but the number of goals is correct. The players will easily get into shooting positions yes, but those will be in the immediations of the area (ex. just barely within the area) with the opposition sitting behind, they're rarely clear one-on-ones! Although I do think SI toned down the shooting accuracy a bit to prevent hockey scorlines.

10. It's far too HARD to pass long

A curious phenomenon about the current ME that I struggled to understand is why on earth people are having success with tactics that have 3 at the back and wing-backs. Okay the full-backs are so bad at defending that you can scrap them, yes, but if wing play is so key on the current ME, how can people have success with a single WB vs teams that employ a FB + a W?? Then a lightbulb brightened up above my head.

If you read the big bible of tactical history (Inverting the Pyramid by Jonathan Wilson), it will tell you one of the reasons 3-5-2 almost died a few years ago, was that the modern systems of 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 kill the wing-backs by keeping an advanced winger behind the opposition wingback. The wingback is then left with an awkward choice - go attack and risk being caught behind his back by the advanced winger, or stay back and withdraw his team from their only source of width?

If you play a single man on the wing, why on earth don't the AI just pin balls behind his back to an advanced winger then? The answer is that long passes seem very inaccurate on FM, to me. Okay long passes ARE difficult to execute in real life, but it appears that it doesn't matter if you have Pirlo, you will be awfully innacurate trying to initiate an attacking move by a long pass - the ball always seems to just slide and slide out of bounds, too far away for your advanced winger or advanced forward to catch it. With Arsenal, I have tried my vast array of wonderful DLP types or AP/s types in MC position to "play more direct passes". Only once I've ever seen a long ball to Walcott result in a goal.

The result of issues 9) and 10) is that deep-lying playmakers... I won't say they're useless, but their effectiveness is severely limited. They don't appear to initiate any attacking move in any meaningful way, at least not more than any regular MC can do - Behrami isn't a terrible player admitedly but he appears to create as much play as my other more talented midfielders. This also makes the "passing" attribute completely pointless - any player appears to be able to pass short regardless of their passing skill, and no player appears able to pass long regardless of their passing skill. Why bother? Is this a remaining artifact of the overhaul SI did from FM12 to FM13, in order to kill the "long ball to quick forward" exploit? So in a very very very indirect way, this has made wing-backs effective. Go figure.

Conclusions

Please notice I have exaggerated some points for the sake of the argument, these are not hard truths, these are slightly unbalanced bits in the ME that result in the mesh we have now. Add it all together and you can see why I still have sympathy for FM12. It was awfully unrealistic in one single particular way yes, but my list of other subtle problems with it wouldn't have 10 points. In many ways it felt more realistic because you did not have all these minor issues all on top of each other. Many of these seem to contradict each other, too - the easy short passes make it seem like it's easy to play Barcelona-like possession football, but then you hit the problem of through-balls which makes it impossible to play Barcelona-like possession football. No wonder people contradict each others so much in these threads.

Also whilst this post is ALL about the exploits to the current ME, I'm with the wwfan train of thought that you should try to play football to your strengths, not try to beat the ME... unlike the "standard approach" I am unable to turn a blind eye to what I see that's wrong, though...

[Jimbokav1971]

I'm not one who is generally overly critical but there is something that was not happening in previous games that is simply driving me mad.

When you view the Squad>Players screen, if a player is injured or suspended and assigned a starting or sub position, then his squad position, (on the left hand side), will see the abbreviation of the position, (for example AML ), change from white writing to red so that you can see that the player is injured or suspended and unavailable. The problem is that it should also be happening on the list going across the top.

That doesn't sound like too much of a problem, but when you permanently have "Hide unavailable players" ticked, then the unavailability doesn't show up because it's hidden on the left and isn't shown for some reason across the top.

I am guessing it's only an oversight and should be easy to fix, but it's quite a big deal for me.

[Ackter]

Have you posted it in the bugs forum?

[BiggusD]

Very good posts noikee. Summing it up nicely.

[thomas_e]

You really don't have to do this. You can let your scouts do all the work for you.

Well, yes, but surely is a time saver to just browse through the nations. The talented youngsters are also attractive for other teams, so I try to grab them at the start of july.

[afailed10]

If that was a defending bug, the AI team defence would just stand there and let you score as well.

That's quite an interesting point you have there... I notice my wingers don't overlap AI fullbacks as much but still i usually get an average of 35 shots and 6ccc per game. So i wouldn't consider their defenders very realistic.

[YKW]

Your last point is interesting. As you know, it really only takes 20-30 minutes of effort to learn the basics and apply them. If people are unwilling to even put that minimal degree of effort into playing, then should we really be putting ourselves out trying to help them? I actually think that many of the other FM forums are harmful to the understanding of playing FM as they spread so many falsehoods and myths. Some of the blogs are excellent though.

As somebody who has improved a lot because of your advice I would like to say (along with an obvious 'thanks') that the point I feel you are missing is that the best advice on the game IS NOT available from within the game itself. Some people are as you describe, being just lazy, but others just don't know that your advice exists. Some people who read this forum don't even know your advice exists, so what hope is there for someone who doesn't visit (or even is unaware of) these forums?

Personally I would like to see you have the chance to write something that would exist in the game. At the very least, a link to the tactics forum on the the tactics screen would be helpful.

I see.

How did you handpick so many of these new gens? Like did you use a cheat to figure out who the new top players would be?

The cheat was scouting. It is far too powerful and there is only an almost insignificant margin of error. To prevent the specific issue mentioned, teams now ask for unrealistic sums of money for their prospects. A poor addition, but for a good cause. A major update to the way scouting works is desperately needed.

[Ackter]

Wrong on two counts. Scouts are a lot less accurate than you think (their main judgement of potential being based on current age and current ability) and it's easy to pick up youth for incredibly good prices in FM14 - as long as you don't wait until they're older (18+).

[GreyedOutMan]

Anyone had this bug?

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/372743-Historical-XI-bug....?p=9189383#post9189383

[SurferJames]

people keep complaining about fm being bad well its not at least it works and plays quite well, call of duty ghosts so many users on pc version can't even launch it with top nvidia graphic cards so I will say again at least you can play the game and enjoy it

[akkm]

Good post noikeee...some interesting points there

[Peter G]

Anyone had this bug?

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/372743-Historical-XI-bug....?p=9189383#post9189383

What is the issue with It as I can't see one?

[Ackter]

Anyone had this bug?

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/372743-Historical-XI-bug....?p=9189383#post9189383

Have you posted it in the bugs forum?

[wwfan]

As somebody who has improved a lot because of your advice I would like to say (along with an obvious 'thanks') that the point I feel you are missing is that the best advice on the game IS NOT available from within the game itself. Some people are as you describe, being just lazy, but others just don't know that your advice exists. Some people who read this forum don't even know your advice exists, so what hope is there for someone who doesn't visit (or even is unaware of) these forums?

Personally I would like to see you have the chance to write something that would exist in the game. At the very least, a link to the tactics forum on the the tactics screen would be helpful.

Is that not the case in all computer games? Don't Hints and Tips Guides and Walkthroughs exist for that very purpose? I'm not suggesting that the game shouldn't have more in-game info, but that the amount given has to be very carefully managed.

The point I made to daylight was that if people were unwilling to read something that was suggested might help them, even when it would only take a maximum 20-30 minutes of effort, then they might be beyond help in the first place. I have never yet seen anybody say "it's definitely not my tactics" who hasn't had one very serious tactical issue that they could address, but very few people calm down for long enough to make the effort to find out if they could play better. We just hear "I'm not a newbie, I've been playing FM since year dot, I understand football, why should I change my approach, it's obviously the ME". The answer is, of course, that as the AI and ME improves, approaches that worked in the past may get found out. It might be the ME, but surely you owe it to yourself to see if you can fix things. That's how I started off anyway.

[YKW]

Wrong on two counts. 1.Scouts are a lot less accurate than you think (their main judgement of potential being based on current age and current ability) and 2.it's easy to pick up youth for incredibly good prices in FM14 - as long as you don't wait until they're older (18+).

1. And how accurate do I think scouts are then? Because "an almost insignificant margin of error" when compared to reality is such a true statement that it is laughable you would call me wrong with such conviction.

2. I wish I could comment in more detail but I only have demo of 13 and 14. I'm happy to believe what you are saying is true, at least some of the time. And my comment about teams asking for unrealistic sums of money is also true, at least some of the time. I think this is pretty well documented over the last 2 years, or would you rather I found specific threads?

I have not enjoyed scouting in this game so far at all, FIFA's is a more realistic depiction of real life, and that deeply saddens me.

[YKW]

Is that not the case in all computer games? Don't Hints and Tips Guides and Walkthroughs exist for that very purpose? I'm not suggesting that the game shouldn't have more in-game info, but that the amount given has to be very carefully managed.

Your advice is general enough that it would easily be suitable for inclusion in the game. You don't tell people what roles or duties to use, but you tell people to have certain things in mind when choosing their roles or duties. That's the perfect balance right there surely? I'm a great fan of your scripture.

The point I made to daylight was that if people were unwilling to read something that was suggested might help them, even when it would only take a maximum 20-30 minutes of effort, then they might be beyond help in the first place. I have never yet seen anybody say "it's definitely not my tactics" who hasn't had one very serious tactical issue that they could address, but very few people calm down for long enough to make the effort to find out if they could play better. ~We just hear "I'm not a newbie, I've been playing FM since year dot, I understand football, why should I change my approach, it's obviously the ME".~ The answer is, of course, that as the AI and ME improves, approaches that worked in the past may get found out. It might be the ME, but surely you owe it to yourself to see if you can fix things. That's how I started off anyway.

You are generalising too much, the italics is particularly annoying. But fair play, I had missed the context of your original discussion, and I was kind of considering the previous quote in isolation. I agree about the type of people you mention. Thanks again.

EDIT: italics wasn't working so I put it in ~s

[DIJRP]

... Antonio is very angry about ME. Next update please.

[Ackter]

... Antonio is very angry about ME. Next update please.

Not a bug - it's a tactical issue.

[Ste-25]

Not a bug - it's a tactical issue.

4 ccc, doesn't have half chances showing, bossed possession shots etc much superior team but tactical issue? I wouldn't say that was the case, more along the lines of very unlucky. If Pellegrini said why did he lose to Sunderland would you reply 'You don't know what you were doing tactically'? No, you would say (if u watched that game ofc) not sure how you lost that you were very unlucky..

[Ackter]

His text suggests it happens to him all the time.

It's a tactical issue.

[iMan]

Not a bug - it's a tactical issue.

Or a motivational issue or his players are crap finishers or just one of those days.

[Shake Appeal]

I just...

I just saw my advanced forward take the ball past the keeper and slot in from an angle.

It was... beautiful.

[Aidan1991]

I just...

I just saw my advanced forward take the ball past the keeper and slot in from an angle.

It was... beautiful.

Such a rare occurrence,

I bet it was, majestic.

[Ste-25]

His text suggests it happens to him all the time.

It's a tactical issue.

But to be fair u cud have shola ameobi upfront in the EPL. If u bossed every game like that you would be getting a champions medal at the end of the season 95% of the time. He's probably just picked the worst (most unluckiest match from a few) to complain tho ignoring the fact this happens IRL

[SurferJames]

alot of issues here are for tactical forums

[CityAndColour]

Correct, it's the same reason Lee McCulloch, a centre half, scored so many goals in the Scottish 3rd Division last season. He's a beast of a player.

Not intending to rehash a previous issue but McCulloch has actually played up front and in midfield for a lot of his career (has over 100 league goals IIRC). He is a genuine utility player, not strictly a centre half.

[Porthos]

If you have examples of that happening, please post them in the bugs forum.

I actually didn't have any... so I played a game.

... no idea why the .gif runs so slow.

[scott MUFC]

Players are still handing in Transfer requests for broken promises, which is fine...

IF

A. I hadn't sold a player in the position he plays

B. he was injured after the promise was made.

C. I played him the match just before the request was handed in

and speaking of goals, I loaned out a Wing Back to Huddersfield.... he scored 2 in 8 games for them...... he has 4 finishing... FOUR!!

[SurferJames]

I actually didn't have any... so I played a game.

... no idea why the .gif runs so slow.

Thats quite wierd but should be in bugs forum to help si

[ReggaeBwoy]

Have not played the game yet but reading some of the team threads, the transfer fees need to be fixed. Seen someone reporting in the Saints thread that teams offered £25m for a 31 year old Lambert. Ridiculous. Monaco are rich but offering £25m for KDB of Chelsea is quite OTT who someone said is used as a rotational player for them in the game. There are many more transfer negotiations that I have seen which irks me and I hope this is noticed. There are many more I can pick out but hopefully people have reported this issue as well.

[Matej]

Very good posts noikee. Summing it up nicely.

Yes its great post. But he forgot biggest mistake of this game. Its WAY TO EASY. I know its best selling game. I know that you must make game for smart ones and dumb ones. For pro FM players and amateur players. But in 20 years of playing CM/ FM, i had just 2 versions of your games where the game was hard to beat. Where i had challenge.

We, old players tried all your advices:

1. Start with lowest reputation

2. Start with low league club or unemployed

3. Dont go to tactic forum

4. Dont read on internet who is wonderkind.

5. if you know exploits in ME, dont use it ( like first post corners)

6. I dont even talk with people about FM , because i dont want to hear who is great player in the game.

7. Etc etc etc

I was doing all that and much more , but its still really too easy. Only time i had fun was when i was using FMRTE to make AI clubs full of ronaldo like players. Now i bought your EDITOR and i see ill have to "upgrade" every single AI player to 190+ ability, to make game hard. Do you know that i need 12-18 hours to do that, just for one league? Its really hard work. i was reading this thread, so we all know what are the problems. ( not good AI, AI managers just sucks, easy to buy wonderkinds , easy to get money for good players with wheeling and dealing.. etc .. etc)

Right now, im playing FM14 in championship(ENG), Media Prediction 18th, at half of the season im 5th. Next season ill be in Premiership. Then ill be 8-12 in Premiership. after that season ill be 3rd or 4th. Then ill be first. i know what im saying, im playing this game for 20 years... i have 50 examples like this.

Please SI, i dont know how many years in my life i have. But please make FM 15 hard to beat. Please!!! i beg you. I still remember last time when i was sacked. it was 13-15 years ago with Saint Etienne.

God i loved that version of the game. it was HARD to beat. and it was REALISTIC If you really want.

You made that FM Classic, never tried that, but i was very happy, because i thought it was made for people who a) dont have much time , b ) for amateur players c) for people who dont like micro management

d ) for people who want to beat the game in EASY way.

And thats fine by me, but i really thought youll make full FM for people who want challenge. But nothing happened. Game is still very easy. I just dont get it.

P.s. Out of topic, please stop closing threads where people saying that something is wrong with the game. every day i see 3-4 good topics about problems with game. And they just want to talk about that and help you to make better game. But your people are closing these threads in 10 min. tops. its pretty sad to do that every day. Its like in 1984.

[rogerramjet]

Playing with chelsea, and I've tried around 15 variations of short passing 4-3-3 tactics. Can't seem to make it work and I end up around 6th -10th place after 20 games.

I would have thought just by pure chance I'd have hit on something successful by now... I've tried faster tempo, lower tempo, high lines, pressing no pressing, fluid systems non fluid systems... safe to say I just don't get it.

Before anyone mentions it- I've of course given each of these tactics time to gel (I've played 20 games in about 5 or 6 different saves).

[Ackter]

Have a read of the tactics forum, in particular the guide to FM14 - it'll help you understand what's going wrong.

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/366111-How-to-Play-FM14-A-Twelve-Step-Guide

[David91]

Not a bug - it's a tactical issue.

Ok. Explain us how to score more from clear cut opportunities, o mighty Ackter.

[wpmk]

Ok. Explain us how to score more from clear cut opportunities, o mighty Ackter.

Yeah I want to hear too...