Football Manager 14 Feedback Thread - 14.1.4

[Thengil]

Also, unless the DR is on "Mark Specific Player", which I KNOW he isn't, he should never track his man that far into the pitch. That is simply bad play, you're coached to leave horizontal runs to the next defending player while you SHOULD track vertical runs.

Another point to be made is that this happened straight after kickoff in the first half, so this is not a case of a counter attack against a disorganized defence.

[RTHerringbone]

The two teams were not managed by me but two of my friends playing our online game. As far as I know neither of them have any specific player instructions on their fullbacks

The "as far as I know" bit needs clarification.

I agree that ordinarily a player shouldn't track like that for as long as that, but IF Mark Specific Player was used, he would.

I know you rightly said "Also, unless the DR is on "Mark Specific Player", which I KNOW he isn't, he should never track his man that far into the pitch.", but having gone from "as far as I know" to "I KNOW" is quite a change in stance.

[Thengil]

The "as far as I know" bit needs clarification.

I agree that ordinarily a player shouldn't track like that for as long as that, but IF Mark Specific Player was used, he would.

I know you rightly said "Also, unless the DR is on "Mark Specific Player", which I KNOW he isn't, he should never track his man that far into the pitch.", but having gone from "as far as I know" to "I KNOW" is quite a change in stance.

Well, as I said, I know for a fact that Mark Specific Player was not used here. And this is merely one example of something I see quite a lot - in the next match 1860 actually scored from an almost identical situation against an AI team. This is not a bug, but perhaps a point of improvement on an admittedly already impressive defensive AI.

[loisvale]

Well, seeing as you don't really know me that well, I can see that you could have that perception. I spent a fair amount of time in the T&T over the years, so you will have to just take my word for it.

The truth is that there is no indication that gamers are getting any better at the game, and the discussion of how many perceive the tactical and instruction element really proves that. I don't always like to rain on the parade, but I have always been looking at things from a gamer's point of view. Now, you do see threads where someone will give a perspective of how they see the tactical side of the game - but it is tailor made for a certain team (or type of team). But there is a broader picture that is absolutely missing - being an old dog as myself can see that relatively quickly...

I would be very supportive of the comments made by loversleaper. Firstly he has made an enormous contribution to my, and many others, understanding of how best to play this game tactically and how the match engine works. Many threads he has posted over the years has helped me become self-sufficient in determining my own tactics very successfully based on his theories and his use of the sliders. By being able to use the sliders it has allowed gamers to "think out-of-the-box" and make very specific changes to how individual players will operate on the pitch. It seems a shame to me that, as was the case in the last version, both options are not available.

Having said that, I cannot comment much, as I have not yet purchased FM14, as on reading posts from LL, I feel certain that I would enjoy the last version more due to being able to use sliders. In any case, given his huge contribution to the understanding of how tactics operate within the game I would say that his thoughts on tactical matters are worth a great deal of consideration from the developers.

[RTHerringbone]

Well, as I said, I know for a fact that Mark Specific Player was not used here. And this is merely one example of something I see quite a lot - in the next match 1860 actually scored from an almost identical situation against an AI team. This is not a bug, but perhaps a point of improvement on an admittedly already impressive defensive AI.

If you can supplement the Bug thread you opened with some .pkms from your own games which demonstrate this behaviour, I'm sure some of the SI guys will have a look and feedback accordingly.

[jimbo22]

The "as far as I know" bit needs clarification.

I agree that ordinarily a player shouldn't track like that for as long as that, but IF Mark Specific Player was used, he would.

I know you rightly said "Also, unless the DR is on "Mark Specific Player", which I KNOW he isn't, he should never track his man that far into the pitch.", but having gone from "as far as I know" to "I KNOW" is quite a change in stance.

This is my major problem with the ME at the minute. I play 4 across the back with no special instructions. Players get dragged all over the place, players leave their area of the park to dash over and mark a player that should be someone else's "man". I dont believe for a minute that this hasnt been noticed by yourself and others.

I also seem to get 2 players push out to a opposition wide man and leave a gaping hole in the centre of defence quite often. I dont want my central defenders to surge out, I want them to stay in position waiting for balls to come into the box.

Its been mentioned that people think the ME has been dumbed down, I dont think thats the case but it seems like you have less control over what you want your players to do individually.

One of the things I've seen is the "stick to position" tab. Rather than stick to position its stick to role. Stick to position would be, to me, sticking to the place on the pitch that you are meant to. That would seem to suit the problem that I seem to be seeing with defenders getting pulled all over the place and being caught out with balls over the top or 1 touch passes that take them completely out the game.

[RTHerringbone]

This is my major problem with the ME at the minute. I play 4 across the back with no special instructions. Players get dragged all over the place, players leave their area of the park to dash over and mark a player that should be someone else's "man". I dont believe for a minute that this hasnt been noticed by yourself and others.

I also seem to get 2 players push out to a opposition wide man and leave a gaping hole in the centre of defence quite often. I dont want my central defenders to surge out, I want them to stay in position waiting for balls to come into the box.

I don't see it, and that's probably because I have a controlled series of Player and Team Instructions - no Close Down More or Hassle Opponents Instructions, as examples. If you see the same with no Instructions that would prompt this behaviour, I urge you to post in the Bugs Forum accordingly.

Two players pressing a wide man is standard "doubling up", and should ordinarily be seen with a full back and wide midfielder "doubling up" on an opposition wide ball carrier. It shouldn't really see a centre back pulled out wide to supplement that press, so please upload .pkms of examples of this to the Bugs Forum.

[milnerpoint]

I play a 4 man defense with hassle opponents for my attacking set up, i really havent noticed this to be honest. There is the odd occasion where it happens but ive just put that down to football, i wouldnt say my back 4 is getting dragged about to much, but my back 4 has been there for the best part of 3 seasons now.

[RTHerringbone]

Why are you deleting my posts?

I've just said... This is the worst FM ever! What is wrong whit this, i can't say what i really feel about this FM? i've paid for this horror so i have right to say what i mean about FM14. Release new patch becouse this game is unplayable!

Tnx, cheers!

Last one was probably deleted because, like this one, it offers nothing constructive.

It is fine not to like the game, but at least qualify that dislike with some sort of reasoning, otherwise it is just a toys out of the pram rant.

[jimbo22]

I don't see it, and that's probably because I have a controlled series of Player and Team Instructions - no Close Down More or Hassle Opponents Instructions, as examples. If you see the same with no Instructions that would prompt this behaviour, I urge you to post in the Bugs Forum accordingly.

Two players pressing a wide man is standard "doubling up", and should ordinarily be seen with a full back and wide midfielder "doubling up" on an opposition wide ball carrier. It shouldn't really see a centre back pulled out wide to supplement that press, so please upload .pkms of examples of this to the Bugs Forum.

On the "Doubling up", I agree it shouldnt see a central defender dash out but should see the winger drop back to help out. A lot of the things I see dont seem to be "bugs" as such, id say they were more down to poor AI. I posted a earlier in the thread that I see a lot of poor making from dead balls like throw ins, free kicks. There was 1 throw in around the area in line with my 18 yard line and there was 3 opponents standing 5/10 yards away from the ball with none of my players marking them.

Here is the image I posted back then (this is nothing to do with "poor tactics" IMO).

I've put the game to the side just now, but when I try it again i'll post examples in the bugs forum.

[richardh2136]

Im honestly at my wits end with this game right now.

I've laboured on under the impression that its just my tactics. But at what point do i start questioning that?What if it isnt my tactics?

I've tried reading the tactics articles and setting up my own tactics and tweaking them, ive tried keeping it simple, ive tried downloading tactics that apparently work well for many others and ive tried tweaking the downloaded tactics. Nothing seems to get my team playing anything like decent football with an end result.

Its all just so incredibly frustrating.

Someone earlier in this thread commented that they didnt feel like they had any control over what goes on on the field in the ME, id be more inclined to suggest its a bit more nuanced than that. I can see the effects of changes i make, but i dont feel like any of it actually has any bearing on the outcome of the game.

Im sick of seeing my players not doing what theyre supposed to be doing, and im even sicker of seeing them **** up good chances.

Whats the point of trying to play it around and craft a good looking through ball for a 1-on-1 with the keeper when 99% of the time i know the attacker is either going to fire it straight at the keeper or hoof it over the bar, and the other 1% the defender somehow manages a successful slide tackle from behind.

That doesnt seem to work so lets keep it a bit simpler. Lets work it wide and get the ball into the box, except whenever my tricky winger beats his man he decides not to put it in, he just stops and waits for the challenge. Brilliant. another corner.

Or on the odd occasion the challenge doesnt come he just cuts it back, he doesnt attempt to cross it to either of the two guys ready to contest inside the box, he pulls back to an onrushing midfielder for them to hoof it over the bar or fire it straight into the keepers hands again. Brilliant.

It feels like the only way to score is to try and get the ball fizzing about in the box and hope one of my players gets on the end of a rebound.

[Thengil]

Also on my wishlist for a later version of FM - AI managers who can identify formation mismatches a bit better and actually make changes during the match. Would make the game a lot more challenging! For instance, the "4-4-2 Diamond" that some AI teams use is a death trap against my counter-attacking 4-1-2-2-1 with inside forwards. When we break fast on a counter, the SCs, AMC and the outside midfielders are completely out of position and the poor DMC is left alone against three central midfielders. Would be lovely with an AI that realizes this and corrects its formation accordingly.

[milnerpoint]

at what point do i start questioning that?What if it isnt my tactics?

When the people in the tactics forum start saying the same thing. The day Cleon or wwfan say its not your tactics is the day you can bet its nothing to do with how your set up.

[RTHerringbone]

What if it isnt my tactics?

Consider starting a thread in the Tactics forum, detailing what you have tried and what your current set up is.

You'll get a lot of constructive advice in there, and you will come away with a better idea of what is going wrong, and why.

Sounds like you've possibly tried too many things, and whilst reading that forum is a good thing, asking questions and receiving direct feedback is better.

[richardh2136]

When the people in the tactics forum start saying the same thing. The day Cleon or wwfan say its not your tactics is the day you can bet its nothing to do with how your set up.

Okay, i guess i asked for that.

So despite having read through the tactics forum a lot and tried to take on board a lot of the advice in there, i need to specifically post up another thread on a forum asking for personal help to be able to work out how to play the game?

Am i the only one to see the problem with that?

[milnerpoint]

Okay, i guess i asked for that.

So despite having read through the tactics forum a lot and tried to take on board a lot of the advice in there, i need to specifically post up another thread on a forum asking for personal help to be able to work out how to play the game?

Am i the only one to see the problem with that?

Without being harsh, and please dont take this to heart i dont mean to insult anyone, perhaps your tactical knowledge is not as good as you thought, and this year the ME requires more thought and knowledge than ever before. I've played this game all my gaming life and i felt the need to ask the experts for advice this year as my tactical knowledge wasnt as good as i thought it was.

There is no shame in asking for help with a complicated game.

[RTHerringbone]

There is no shame in asking for help with a complicated game.

Precisely this.

There's a strange sense that seeking help amounts to some sort of admission of failure or weakness.

Instead, it is the most efficient way to learn and develop, and more people should swallow their false sense of pride and go and actively participate in that section of the forums.

[richardh2136]

Without being harsh, and please dont take this to heart i dont mean to insult anyone, perhaps your tactical knowledge is not as good as you thought, and this year the ME requires more thought and knowledge than ever before. I've played this game all my gaming life and i felt the need to ask the experts for advice this year as my tactical knowledge wasnt as good as i thought it was.

There is no shame in asking for help with a complicated game.

No offence taken, i totally understand where your coming from.

I'll readily admit that, despite having played FM and previous incarnations for a long time, ive always tended to just keep the tactics quite basic, maybe tweaking for a certain match or to take advantage of a particular trait of one of my star players. I'll happily admit that, in terms of making a tactic from scratch to take a 'lesser' team above and beyond, im a novice. However i've always previously been able to muddle along by myself and do okay.

This year im totally not muddling along and doing okay. So ive accepted the need to do a bit of boning up and spent time in the tactics forum for the first time ever and that still doesnt seem to have helped. Im going to need to go even further to find out what im supposed to be doing.

Therefore, is it wrong to suggest there may be something fundamentally wrong with the intuitiveness of this years version if the average user cant use the tools supplied by the game to at least muddle along?

[CactusC]

Therefore, is it wrong to suggest there may be something fundamentally wrong with the intuitiveness of this years version if the average user cant use the tools supplied by the game to at least muddle along?

I second that.

[milnerpoint]

No offence taken, i totally understand where your coming from.

I'll readily admit that, despite having played FM and previous incarnations for a long time, ive always tended to just keep the tactics quite basic, maybe tweaking for a certain match or to take advantage of a particular trait of one of my star players. I'll happily admit that, in terms of making a tactic from scratch to take a 'lesser' team above and beyond, im a novice. However i've always previously been able to muddle along by myself and do okay.

This year im totally not muddling along and doing okay. So ive accepted the need to do a bit of boning up and spent time in the tactics forum for the first time ever and that still doesnt seem to have helped. Im going to need to go even further to find out what im supposed to be doing.

Therefore, is it wrong to suggest there may be something fundamentally wrong with the intuitiveness of this years version if the average user cant use the tools supplied by the game to at least muddle along?

I was much the same, before this year i ALWAYS played with one formation, a 442 set up in the most basic of ways and i filled my team with the best players i could find and i went through the years like that, it was only this year when i actually attempted to do something different that i realised i really didnt fully understand all of what i was trying to achieve.

It all depends on what you want from the game, if your happy to plod along just enjoying managing a team, you probably wont ever care that much about how well you do, i have friends who would never venture on here, they just accept they will lose from time to time and dont really worry about whats gone wrong tactically, thats the way they enjoy the game, there will be a lot of people in the same boat. Others will be far more demanding of what the game is showing them. I would say for FM14, if your the more demanding type, there is a chance at some point you will have to look a few things up to really get what you want out of the game, its not really different from looking up advice on hard missions in certain games, or looking up a map for GTA, or tips for tactical advice on COD.

[WormboY]

Newgen/regen with a few days:

Well 4 stars, when my scout have 20 on Potential and Current hability, with players like Corchia and Montoya for the position, nice nice.

Than, lets see this young player:

:lol:

Is this a problem of mine or almost everyone have this, and that player(s) become star(s) in future? Is it normal?

I will go to the 3rd season and I NEVER seen a good newgen...

[richardh2136]

Okay, ill concede for now. But as things stand, my current familiar tactics in my save are downloaded ones from the tactics forum. I'll spend the rest of my current season trying to get my own tactics saves working and the team playing well and then start a thread pleading for help when it all goes pear shaped again.

However, with regards to your last point: "its not really different from looking up advice on hard missions in certain games, or looking up a map for GTA, or tips for tactical advice on COD".

I'd argue it is somewhat, its more akin to looking for advice on the internet to find out how why the instruction manual appears to be somewhat misleading.

To use an analogy that just popped into my head, can you imagine purchasing a flat pack wardrobe from a popular Swedish furniture vendor, getting it home and getting started working through the (somewhat vague) instructions.

You get to section 7, and that section seems to suggest doing X & Y will fit the doors onto the front of your wardrobe. But not matter what you do, X & Y just doesnt seem to fit the doors to the wardrobe.

So you go onto the internet and find a helpful chap that tells you actually, doing X & Y doesnt quite do what the manual says, and if you actually want to fit the doors to the front, do Z & X instead.

You'd be pretty hacked off with the popular Swedish furniture vendor, no?

[jimbob1000]

How SI have the bottle to say this game aint rigged is laughable.

I've just spent a weeks ban for just mentioning it. Lets face it, if it wasn't rigged then they would just laugh off suggestions that it was, not ban people.

I've had enough of **** like this.................................

This is the 10th almost identical game of this 2nd season of mine where the AI get a goal from their first effort after we have already had quite a few and THIS screenshot shows what has now happened 3 times already this season, an early 2nd half straight red when you know otherwise you will get back into the game.

My RB with aggression of 10 takes out the opposing player in the middle of the park under absolutely no pressure, no hard tackling, no get stuck in, the player has barely made a foul all season, yet suddenly he's Eric Cantona kung fu kicking.

Absolute ***** SI and you know it!

I guess i'll get banned for this and/or the post removed, any chance i can get a reply from SI before the obvious happens?

[milnerpoint]

Whats the issue?

(WormboY)

[milnerpoint]

Okay, ill concede for now. But as things stand, my current familiar tactics in my save are downloaded ones from the tactics forum. I'll spend the rest of my current season trying to get my own tactics saves working and the team playing well and then start a thread pleading for help when it all goes pear shaped again.

However, with regards to your last point: "its not really different from looking up advice on hard missions in certain games, or looking up a map for GTA, or tips for tactical advice on COD".

I'd argue it is somewhat, its more akin to looking for advice on the internet to find out how why the instruction manual appears to be somewhat misleading.

To use an analogy that just popped into my head, can you imagine purchasing a flat pack wardrobe from a popular Swedish furniture vendor, getting it home and getting started working through the (somewhat vague) instructions.

You get to section 7, and that section seems to suggest doing X & Y will fit the doors onto the front of your wardrobe. But not matter what you do, X & Y just doesnt seem to fit the doors to the wardrobe.

So you go onto the internet and find a helpful chap that tells you actually, doing X & Y doesnt quite do what the manual says, and if you actually want to fit the doors to the front, do Z & X instead.

You'd be pretty hacked off with the popular Swedish furniture vendor, no?

How long are you giving your team to adjust to new set ups?

I dont think anything is misleading, sometimes a bit under explained but not misleading.

Football is all about perceptions, at times peoples perceptions can conflict with each other, but i dont think that means anything is misleading.

Like i say you can survive at this game without being on here, there are a lot more people not on this forum than there are on here, playing the game. But if you really want to reach the top, and quickly, you might have to read up from time to time.

[WormboY]

Whats the issue?

(WormboY)

Very low stats for now. On FM'13, for example, this newgens with nice PA (ok, nice stars like 4/5) had nice initial stats. And on this FM 3 seasons and never saw one.

And i'm asking if its normal this year...

[richardh2136]

Usually around 6 months, unless im getting threatened with the sack.

However, I feel this is becoming more of a discussion for the tactics thread rather than the feedback thread.

[Pafeu]

WormboY, not only this year's edition. This kid is 14 years old. And hist attributes are not that bad as you think. Plenty of time to improve too.

[WormboY]

WormboY, not only this year's edition. This kid is 14 years old. And hist attributes are not that bad as you think. Plenty of time to improve too.

Ok, 14yrs. I have anothers with 17/18 with 4/5 stars, and same sh*t. And on anothers year's edition i saw newgens with better stats than this year. but it's ok.

I'm not the hoster, online save, but i'll get the save and download an "add on" genie/fmrte to see CA/PA.

Tks for the answer Pafeu.

[Pafeu]

Ok, 14yrs. I have anothers with 17/18 with 4/5 stars, and same sh*t. And on anothers year's edition i saw newgens with better stats than this year. but it's ok.

I'm not the hoster, online save, but i'll get the save and download an "add on" genie/fmrte to see CA/PA.

Tks for the answer Pafeu.

Some players reach their potential sooner than others. But I don't see the issue, I have 16 yo boy in my Ligue 1 side and he is good enough to be 3rd choice centre back.

PaulC, I think wingers in the AM strata tracking back and defensive engagement needs slighty tuning. Yes, they do engage but too late - one of MC's in 433(41DM221) formation is already closing down opponents fullback/winger and this leads to tons of space in the middle. I didn't adjust any of MC's closing down instructions so it's clearly ME issue. So manager's preffered formation is pointless, the whole point of this system is that in attack it's like 433 or 343 and in defensive phase of play it is 451(4141). I'm surprised one of the most popular systems is so unbalanced, I'm sorry to say that. Right now I have to specific man mark opposition's fullbacks but it shouldn't be like that.

[RTHerringbone]

PaulC, I think wingers in the AM strata tracking back and defensive engagement needs slighty tuning. Yes, they do engage but too late - one of MC's in 433(41DM221) formation is already closing down opponents fullback/winger and this leads to tons of space in the middle. I didn't adjust any of MC's closing down instructions so it's clearly ME issue. So manager's preffered formation is pointless, the whole point of this system is that in attack it's like 433 or 343 and in defensive phase of play it is 451(4141). I'm surprised one of the most popular systems is so unbalanced, I'm sorry to say that. Right now I have to specific man mark opposition's fullbacks but it shouldn't be like that.

Depends hugely on the Duties you assign them, and the overall Team Mentality.

EDIT - Plus, if you want a Winger to Defend, why not use a Defensive Winger? They also contribute effectively in attack.

EDIT 2 - A teams' defensive shape is best represented by the formation, so if you want behaviour as you state (4-1-4-1 to 4-3-3), then you may want to use a 4-1-4-1 or even a flat 4-5-1 rather than the 4-1-2-2-1.

[whilewolf2]

I keep logging Problems with newgen Attribute distribution in the bugs forum but the only response I've had so far says its a bug limited to my game and the mods not seeing the same issues in his save. I've made three long term saves now and keep seeing the same problems arising in all of them. As its always been the proliferation of weird newgens and the deterioration of the players that has lead to me stopping playing career saves on previous versions of FM I'm very keen to see it fixed on this version. Here are the problems I'm seeing.

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

Newgen Attributes Bravery and Aggression too low too often.

I simed a game until 2023 and noticed a few weird patterns emerge in newgen attribute values.

So I have recorded the values of Aggression and Bravery for all first team players between the ages of 22 and 28 in the first ten teams in the Premier league original database and done the same in the 2023 save.

Original database

Players : 130

Aggression 10 or less : 32

Bravery 10 or less : 26

Both Aggression and Bravery 10 or less : 16 or 12%

Both Aggression and Bravery 11 or more : 85 or 65%

Newgens

Players : 110

Aggression 10 or less : 63

Bravery 10 or less : 70

Both Aggression and Bravery 10 or less : 41 or 37%

Both Aggression and Bravery 11 or more : 16 or 14%

I know the sample size is small but I have to do this by hand. I can see the same patterns repeating throughout the divisions.

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Regen Fullbacks are awful going forward.

For some reason it's nearly impossible to find good attacking regen full backs. They seem to lack in one or all of Crossing, Dribbling and Off The Ball attributes.

Here's a comparison between a new game save made on the English start date 2013 and a save with the same leagues in 2034. 2013 figures in black 2034 in red.

English Premiership

Right Backs : 179 156

Left Backs : 160 147

Right Backs with Crossing between 11 and 20 : 49 14

Left Backs with Crossing between 11 and 20 : 64 17

Right Backs with Dribbling between 11 and 20 : 48 13

Left Backs with Dribbling between 11 and 20 : 55 10

Right Backs with off the Ball between 11 and 20 : 46 10

Left Backs with off the Ball between 11 and 20 : 58 15

Right Backs with both Crossing and Dribbling between 11 and 20 : 36 4

Left Backs with both Crossing and Dribbling between 11 and 20 : 45 3

I think it might have something to do with the next set of figures about what other positions they can play. There are far fewer Fullback/Wide Midfielder players among the regens.

RB and CB green dots : 81 70

RB green dot and CB orange dot : 104 72

RB and RM green dots : 24 10

RB green dot and RM orange dot : 57 21

LB and CB green dots : 40 37

LB green dot and CB orange dot : 61 47

LB and LM green dots : 31 13

LB green dot and LM orange dot : 79 25

I really hope you can fix this because its going to ruin any AI team that relies a tactic that uses attacking fullbacks once the regens start taking over.

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And I made another about Long shots being too high too frequently but the 14.1.4 update seems to have taken care of that so fair play to SI they are working on it.

[jc1]

After looking at my tactics I change my IF's to cross more often and un clicked the play fewer risky passes, which meant they now cross more and will be more direct, it meant more chances were created.

In 1st game in a new save, I hit the post/crossbar 6 times from direct free kicks, I know this is a well known issue and will be dealt with, still bloody annoying though.

I also directed my defence to sit slightly deeper but still got caught out with the long ball overhead, been mentioned by many people.

These seem to be the 2 main issues in the ME which needs looked at asap as it can spoil a somewhat good game.

[Pafeu]

Depends hugely on the Duties you assign them, and the overall Team Mentality.

EDIT - Plus, if you want a Winger to Defend, why not use a Defensive Winger? They also contribute effectively in attack.

EDIT 2 - A teams' defensive shape is best represented by the formation, so if you want behaviour as you state (4-1-4-1 to 4-3-3), then you may want to use a 4-1-4-1 or even a flat 4-5-1 rather than the 4-1-2-2-1.

Counter mentality, balanced fluidity.

I know that formation we set is team's shape in defence. But that leads to question - what's the point of manager's preferred formation? Guardiola has 433 so he plays with this system. And no matter what AML/AMR should be ML/MR in defence. The same goes with 4231, 424 etc. Or should I play 4141, 4411 and 442 and retrain all of wingers in my team to play in MR/L positions?

[jimbob1000]

How SI have the bottle to say this game aint rigged is laughable.

I've just spent a weeks ban for just mentioning it. Lets face it, if it wasn't rigged then they would just laugh off suggestions that it was, not ban people.

I've had enough of **** like this.................................

This is the 10th almost identical game of this 2nd season of mine where the AI get a goal from their first effort after we have already had quite a few and THIS screenshot shows what has now happened 3 times already this season, an early 2nd half straight red when you know otherwise you will get back into the game.

My RB with aggression of 10 takes out the opposing player in the middle of the park under absolutely no pressure, no hard tackling, no get stuck in, the player has barely made a foul all season, yet suddenly he's Eric Cantona kung fu kicking.

Absolute ***** SI and you know it!

I guess i'll get banned for this and/or the post removed, any chance i can get a reply from SI before the obvious happens?

Just a few games later.................

The same player, aggression 10, just missed 3 games and been fined 4 weeks wages, kung fu fighting again.

How poor must this ME be that it only has about 3 or 4 scenarios???

Oh and just look how we have already missed 2 ccc's so early in the game.

[Dagenham_Dave]

In 1st game in a new save, I hit the post/crossbar 6 times from direct free kicks, I know this is a well known issue and will be dealt with, still bloody annoying though.

I also directed my defence to sit slightly deeper but still got caught out with the long ball overhead, been mentioned by many people.

Setting your defence to drop deeper doesn't mean you'll never be caught out by a long ball over the top. People need to get out of the way of thinking 'If I do A, then B will NEVER happen', otherwise they'll simply never enjoy the game.

[BiggusD]

Newgen/regen with a few days:

Well 4 stars, when my scout have 20 on Potential and Current hability, with players like Corchia and Montoya for the position, nice nice.

Than, lets see this young player:

:lol:

Is this a problem of mine or almost everyone have this, and that player(s) become star(s) in future? Is it normal?

I will go to the 3rd season and I NEVER seen a good newgen...

A good rate of development means +1 in most attributes per year. At least I set the bar there, but it is possible to develop faster. Most will develop slower than that, though. He is 14. He's got 10 years until he's 24. Add +10 to all his relevant attributes (except Aggression, Bravery, Determination, Flair, Influence and Team Work) and see what you think then?

[wwfan]

I would be very supportive of the comments made by loversleaper. Firstly he has made an enormous contribution to my, and many others, understanding of how best to play this game tactically and how the match engine works. Many threads he has posted over the years has helped me become self-sufficient in determining my own tactics very successfully based on his theories and his use of the sliders. By being able to use the sliders it has allowed gamers to "think out-of-the-box" and make very specific changes to how individual players will operate on the pitch. It seems a shame to me that, as was the case in the last version, both options are not available.

Having said that, I cannot comment much, as I have not yet purchased FM14, as on reading posts from LL, I feel certain that I would enjoy the last version more due to being able to use sliders. In any case, given his huge contribution to the understanding of how tactics operate within the game I would say that his thoughts on tactical matters are worth a great deal of consideration from the developers.

I have a great deal of respect for his contribution to tactics over the years. However, I fundamentally disagree with his "gamer approach" perspective, as it tends to result in beating the game, not the AI, and thus weakens the simulation. I also think that that kind of approach ultimately harms the "learning to play" FM process.

[WormboY]

A good rate of development means +1 in most attributes per year. At least I set the bar there, but it is possible to develop faster. Most will develop slower than that, though. He is 14. He's got 10 years until he's 24. Add +10 to all his relevant attributes (except Aggression, Bravery, Determination, Flair, Influence and Team Work) and see what you think then?

i'm just saying the newgens are more weaker than other editions, with almost 3 years and none of good newgen (when i say good, its with nice initial stats).

But well, tks for the reply. I'll wait some years to see what happen.

[afailed10]

guys i changed my game language to chineese and noticed the ME bugs disappeared! no more silly wing play! no more lobs every 2 games! now i play amazing football i don't get why!

[chucklechuck]

guys i changed my game language to chineese and noticed the ME bugs disappeared! no more silly wing play! no more lobs every 2 games! now i play amazing football i don't get why!

Wait! We're all giving our instructions to players in Chinese! No wonder they don't follow them..

[TIR669]

So I finished another season. This time it was a trip to Scotland. Inverness CT was my pick. MP 3rd place. Finished fifth.

The game itself, based on 14.1.4 patch feels OK. I was able to control how my team plays, there weren't as many dumb goals as in previous patches, not so many dumb and unrealistic red cards/defender mistakes/injuries/whatever.

BUT the game feels scripted. Although I payed attention to my tactic, TI/PI, OI, team talks, match preparation in the first part of the season and felt it had some effect on the game and on the result, I found all those things useless later on. I can say that because I knew that I would lose or draw a match after 15 minutes of play. If you are the better team, in 60% of the games, YOU WILL DROP POINTS. And there is nothing I could do about that fact. I created many chances, had lots of corners, free kicks from close range, but the ball simply chooses not to go into the net. Whether my striker is Billy McKay (this dude) or Curtis Allen (this dude), it does not matter. It also doesn't matter who is the opposition's goalkeeper.

So I made a statistic which you can see here - http://i.imgur.com/Idr4shw.jpg.

In 47 official games I played, I lost 12 of them whilst having more clear, half chances or woodworks hit. 8/12 were lost where I was better at two categories.

Dundee United (A) - 1-3-1 / 1-0-0 - lost 0-1 - screenshot

St. Johnstone (A) - 4-4-1 / 0-0-1 - lost 0-1 - screenshot

Patrick T (A) - 9-3-2 / 4-1-3 - lost 2-3 - screenshot

St. Johnstone (A) - 3-1-2 / 0-2-0 - lost 0-1 - screenshot

Celtic (A) 3-3-1 / 1-1-2 - lost 0-1 - screenshot

Patrick T (H) - 1-4-1 / 1-0-0 - lost 0-1 - screenshot

Abeerdeen (A) - 2-1-4 / 0-3-0 - lost 0-1 - screenshot

And many many more such as these linked below.

http://i.imgur.com/3qH3D2C.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/E6W92AT.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/JKNyxOY.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/oOjmU1P.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/O6ECJe9.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/GnuAfYz.jpg

Basically, what I learned:

- you will win 70% of the matches if you are two times better than AI

- you will lose 70% of the matches if you are as good as AI

- you will lost 70% of the matches if you are worse than AI

And there is nothing you can change or do about it. My team is playing well, creating chances, so naturally I am waiting for them to score and win the match. But then AI steps in and plays a Barcelona-style move, scores a goal and leaves me sitting here like a moron. Closing down the match, playing defensive, offensive, none of it matters.

The game feels scripted because it is scripted.

[RTHerringbone]

The game feels scripted because it is scripted.

Anagram of sloblock, I'm afraid.

[TIR669]

I stand by what I said.

On a side note... For a moderator on a forum with 300k members, that was extremely helpful and thoughtful reply, cutting out one part of my 300 words post that you think is b*ll*cks.

[RTHerringbone]

I stand by what I said.

On a side note... For a moderator on a forum with 300k members, that was extremely helpful and thoughtful reply, cutting out one part of my 300 words post that you think is b*ll*cks.

My comment related directly to the fact that it is ludicrous to state that the game is scripted.

Focusing on statistics is an easy stick to beat the game with, but there are only lies, damn lies, and statistics.

The number of shots, the amount of possession, the number of CCCs and half chances aren't the be all and end all.

If you fail to react appropriately in a match, then you can form some incorrect suppositions.

[Loversleaper]

I have a great deal of respect for his contribution to tactics over the years. However, I fundamentally disagree with his "gamer approach" perspective, as it tends to result in beating the game, not the AI, and thus weakens the simulation. I also think that that kind of approach ultimately harms the "learning to play" FM process.

Once again you have put me in the 'exploiting the ME' department, first time you did that you were big enough to apologise - but it seems that you have changed your standpoint and that anyone that is not in your camp must be using exploits. With the 'gamer' remark I made was that I was in the gamer camp and not in the developement/testing camp - if that disappoints you and somehow harms the "learning to play" then fair enough... You haven't read any of my threads, so I guess it's only natural that you don't have any real back-up to your claim.

I had made a remark at one point, for example, that it was nearly impossible to use exclusively Defensive Strategy to go through the Champions League all the way to winning the final - so it was a good idea for gamers to understand that Stratagy Reality. You emmediately jumped on my back saying I was making a false statement, because you had used Defensive Strategy in 75% of your games with Southampton. Two things:

1: 75% is not 100%, so in that context you did change which proved my point regarding strategies. You lost me entirely in that interaction...

2: Southampton would have a low reputation being new to the CL causing AI opponents to treat you as so, which could enable you to 'soak up attacks' - it would be a different case if you had a higher reputation (such as the bigger teams) due to the retraction in the AI's usage of the Mentality Frameworks (causing them to be harder to break down)...

Now, you have me scratching my head why a head-honcho in the Tactics and ME department would come out with those statements causing more confusion to the masses. This is one of the big problems that is (in my oppinion) happening over in the T&T, and no one is getting any wiser to the tactical side of the game. On top of that, many gamers can't see, for example, things like why their wingers don't cross the ball using IF's on both sides or thinking that lowering the D-Line will stop balls going over the top. The information aspect is not getting any better and the gamers are not getting any wiser, there is a bigger picture in the tactical department that is obsolete...

[Mike Fordham]

Having had a chance to play 14.1.4 a bit more I've got to grips with the ME updates and am not so negative about it now. However, I am adamant that player morale is too sensitive and has too much influence on performance. In fact I would say as long as your tactic is solid, the state of morale is without question these biggest thing that influences your result.

If the morale really is supposed to impact results to that degree then I don't think it should be so sensitive.

[afailed10]

It just baffles me how the players are not aggresive enough inside the box and let them be caught by defenders when they had a great chance to score...

[scott MUFC]

is anything going to be done about players trotting around with the ball, they always get fouled and always a booking.

[afailed10]

Just me or the scout reports always report at least 2 of the same players over and over again?