Football Manager 2016 - 16.2.0 Official feedback thread

[Kriss]

No date yet but around then probably

[Bigpapa42]

Ran a watcher game up 2020. Bayern bought Henrikh Mkhitaryan in 2016 for 23.5m Euros. He played in 17 matches in that season, then 1 match in the 3 seasons since. He had one injury of 5 months. Great squad building, Bayern.

[Ahmed Al Majed]

Big clubs over spending on players and not playing them has been an issue for past few versions.

Its good for us though, they transfer list them for cheap later.. Although it feels like cheating..

Also, something else I would like to state regarding the match engine. I understand that stats look like they are close to real life from the perspective of goals scored from crosses. What SI is missing is the way in which they are scored. It's very frustrating seeing the same type of goals every game; the winger holds the ball and waits for the fullback to overlap and a cross to far post and a goal. It's starting to get really boring and frustrating. This is a real glaring issue and due to this me and my friends stopped playing FM draft.

Another thing is the shooting from impossible angles, time and time again wingers would run into the box and instead of passing to 2 open players they shoot it near post or straight at the keeper. Fixing this would increase the number of goals obviously and will make the stats compared to real life deviate by a lot. One-on-ones also happen way more often than in real life and this is the key reason I believe which leads to the frustration of being "FM'd". You see your striker miss 3-4 one-on-ones and then the AI scores from an attempt or two. You can't say "oh but this happens in real life ! Look at x game where they scored from their only shot!". In such games in real life there WONT be 3-4 one-on-ones simply because the other team has 10 men behind the ball.

Very dissapointed with the ME this year.

[velvetsky]

i just hope they fix the transfers that the AI makes - far too many for my liking

[Poize]

I just came here to find out whether it was worth shelling out £35 for '16.

I only read this one page...think it'll stick with '15!

[Welshace]

I just came here to find out whether it was worth shelling out £35 for '16.

I only read this one page...think it'll stick with '15!

Pretty sure that says more about you than the state of the game...

you only read one page in a thread about leaving feedback.. which inherently is going to be negative feedback 90% of the time, as it's human nature... not many will bother coming in here just to leave a comment saying ' yep, enjoying it as usual'.

If you had any sense, you'd at least download the demo and try for yourself.

[TAV2]

Pretty sure that says more about you than the state of the game...

you only read one page in a thread about leaving feedback.. which inherently is going to be negative feedback 90% of the time, as it's human nature... not many will bother coming in here just to leave a comment saying ' yep, enjoying it as usual'.

If you had any sense, you'd at least download the demo and try for yourself.

Thats you told!

[stevemc]

So I finished 2nd (on goal difference), as seen in this table below:

However, the season review, bizarrely states we won the league:

Key points from this:

• Shouldn't all the last round of EPL games be played on the same day & time?

• I played Saturday, won & went top. Man City played Sunday.

• The season review was produced on the Saturday (before some teams played on Sunday).

Doesn't seem right all round to me. I'm in the year 2025.

Thought I'd raise it, but I don't have the save before this happened.

[Guest]

Are you using any custom files? This could explain the incorrect fixture scheduling.

[stevemc]

Are you using any custom files? This could explain the incorrect fixture scheduling.

Just the real name fix which is pretty standard, i think (been months since I set up this save though).

I've not noticed this issue in any of the other seasons.

[Silver Twilight Sparkle]

Not really feedback but is there any way to upload non-scoring highlights? I only see the option to include goals. I want to report some bad finishing on the bugs forum but i can't really find an easy way to record the chances, is there an easier way to record from the game or create gifs?

[forameuss]

Not really feedback but is there any way to upload non-scoring highlights? I only see the option to include goals. I want to report some bad finishing on the bugs forum but i can't really find an easy way to record the chances, is there an easier way to record from the game or create gifs?

There isn't as far as I can see, and it's a pretty glaring omission (unless I've missed it). You could have a pulsating 0-0 with 40 shots on target each, but can't upload highlights? Poor.

BUT if it's for bug reporting you really need to upload the pkm. If they saw something wrong, there's absolutely nothing they can do about it from a gif. With a pkm, they can actually investigating and use it to fix it. Giving them a gif would be like organising for your car to get a service but not giving them the car. They could maybe work out what's going on by you telling them, but they won't be able to fix it.

[Silver Twilight Sparkle]

There isn't as far as I can see, and it's a pretty glaring omission (unless I've missed it). You could have a pulsating 0-0 with 40 shots on target each, but can't upload highlights? Poor.

BUT if it's for bug reporting you really need to upload the pkm. If they saw something wrong, there's absolutely nothing they can do about it from a gif. With a pkm, they can actually investigating and use it to fix it. Giving them a gif would be like organising for your car to get a service but not giving them the car. They could maybe work out what's going on by you telling them, but they won't be able to fix it.

I plan to post both, its easier to make a better analysis of what i'm posting if i can include sequences explaning what i think is wrong. I already have the pkms here. The gifs would also help other people to share what they think if anything is wrong.

Edit: Okay i got it, as long as the match isnt paused, you can start recording by clicking a little circle next to the match pause/play controls, then just need to make a 10 second video.

[Dagenham_Dave]

After the game is finished, you can go back and record custom highlights, so you can effectively record any part of the match you want.

[GOODNAME]

I play 4-1-2-1-1 Narrow with no wings,my wingbacks are alex telles and martin montoya (im playing with inter), and they have both 24 assitst and 7 goals in 18 games

Thats broken,crosses in so much OP,im very dissaponted that playing football and make some assitst and one two football from the middele is so much hard,every time my team move the ball around nice but at the end the ball come to one of my wingback and then a cross

[themadsheep2001]

Roncatto, this thread is for constructive feedback, not for rants, and certainly not for posts that include swearing (filtered or not).

Thanks

[Roncatto99]

I'm sorry, no more defending this game. I have played every single champ/football manager since the beginning on the Amiga and this game is just awful. If you sneeze in the wrong direction, the players morale drops, if you don't have your tactics 100% accurate, you cannot do anything.

Every game its 2 shots 2 goals to the CPU and 20 shots with banana feet for my players.

Every CPU goal is Cross, defender sees his mum in the crowd, stops to wave, oh the striker is free. GOAL!!

2015 was a brilliant game. The movement, passing, variety of goals.

This is just shambolic.

[themadsheep2001]

I'm sorry, no more defending this game. I have played every single champ/football manager since the beginning on the Amiga and this game is just awful. If you sneeze in the wrong direction, the players morale drops, if you don't have your tactics 100% accurate, you cannot do anything.

Every game its 2 shots 2 goals to the CPU and 20 shots with banana feet for my players.

Every CPU goal is Cross, defender sees his mum in the crowd, stops to wave, oh the striker is free. GOAL!!

2015 was a brilliant game. The movement, passing, variety of goals.

This is just shambolic.

In truth, all but the first and last sentence is incorrect, and some of it is hyperbole. Going to have to be a lot more specific and accurate if you want any of that taken on board.

[Maw74]

2015 was a brilliant game. The movement, passing, variety of goals.

Do the same as me then, keep playing that game.

I'm not happy with the ME in FM16 too many goals from deep crosses for my liking plus I was disappointed with the create-a-club feature as I can't do as much as I wanted or hoped.

So I will wait to see what the game is like when we get another patch but I'm quite happy to play 15 anyway.

[Roncatto99]

Hang on. The title thread is feedback on 16.2

After giving the company my money since 1992, I think I have earned the right to tell the devs that the game is unacceptable.

Hundreds have tried to be constructive and it falls on deaf ears.

You guys want praise when the game is great, for example FM15 quite rightly was well received. You need to accept criticism as well.

[themadsheep2001]

Hang on. The title threat is feedback on 16.2

After giving the company my money since 1992, I think I have earned the right to tell the devs that the game is unacceptable.

Hundreds have tried to be constructive and it falls on deaf ears.

You guys want praise when the game is great, for example FM15 quite rightly was well received. You need to accept criticism as well.

You neeed to be constructive. That has never changed, see the house rules. What you posted is nothing more than an inaccurate rant( it' s 2 shots 2 goals every game then you are conceding at 76 goals in a 20 team league, if that was even remotely true, then you are doing something horribly, horribly wrong no matter how long you've played), which is not something that's going be helpful or wanted round here. use another social space for that.

Playing for ages doesn't give you right to suddenly not follow the rules.

Actually, SI don't want anything other constructive feedback, you've just made that up.

[Danchinaski]

Do the same as me then, keep playing that game.

I'm not happy with the ME in FM16 too many goals from deep crosses for my liking plus I was disappointed with the create-a-club feature as I can't do as much as I wanted or hoped.

So I will wait to see what the game is like when we get another patch but I'm quite happy to play 15 anyway.

I can live with a flawed ME. I've always seen the ME as a constant work in progress, so there will always be something to complain about. I play FM whilst working, and as such I can deal with longer processing time as without it I'd never get any work done. So the issues which, at present, render FM16 unplayable for custom databases (the lack of newgen managers for lower non-league sides, which happened out of the box with FM15), and the problems with tabbing out (without which I can't play and work smiultaneously without bother) mean that I too am going back to FM15 because a long-term, big database save in FM16 lacks the immersion and functionality at present.

I really, really hope these things are fixed, because in all other respects FM16 is far superior to FM15, but in its present state it lacks the required functionality to be enjoyable in the same way FM15 was.

[themadsheep2001]

I can live with a flawed ME. I've always seen the ME as a constant work in progress, so there will always be something to complain about. I play FM whilst working, and as such I can deal with longer processing time as without it I'd never get any work done. So the issues which, at present, render FM16 unplayable for custom databases (the lack of newgen managers for lower non-league sides, which happened out of the box with FM15), and the problems with tabbing out (without which I can't play and work smiultaneously without bother) mean that I too am going back to FM15 because a long-term, big database save in FM16 lacks the immersion and functionality at present.

I really, really hope these things are fixed, because in all other respects FM16 is far superior to FM15, but in its present state it lacks the required functionality to be enjoyable in the same way FM15 was.

Are you playing with a Nvidia card by any chance?

[Danchinaski]

Are you playing with a Nvidia card by any chance?

I'm not, it's an AMD Radeon r7 m260 (according to my device manager), with an Intel integrated card running alongside. I only play FM, and have very little knowledge of PC gaming, but when running on Windows Borderless I get horrible screen-tearing, so I sacked it off and stuck to standard resolution. This means I have to use Ctrl+Alt+Del and go to Task Manager when launching the game to get it past a blank screen, but I can then watch a match without juddering or screen tearing.

As a PC-gaming novice with absolutely zero knowledge of how to faff about with configuring PC gameplay, I acknowledge that some of the techy issues are probably due to my ignorance, but having tried every layman solution (via catalyst control centre, configuring in-game graphics settings etc) I still find that after tabbing out I then have to wait between 30 and 60 seconds to tab back in, and this is worse during a match. FM15 allowed me to skive a great deal more than FM16. I'm now having to actually do some work, and that is a very bad thing indeed.

[Roncatto99]

Obviously the rant is not "literal"

If you read between the lines I am creating joking sentences to explain the problems with the game.

Your instant shutting down of anything overtly negative is why I came back with stronger rhetoric and yes, being a customer for over 25years does give me the right to tell the devs when a game is not up to standard. We as customers pay for SI.

But I digress, lets put the feedback into constructive ways.

1. Crossing - Fullbacks are getting absurd amounts of assists. In several of my friends games, their fullbacks have had 30 plus assists. The reason for this is in my opinion the combination of overly accurate crosses, overpowered movement by the forwards and statuesque defending. With this "easy access" to a goal, what i feel is then happening is the players are always looking for that said fullback which distorts the play. The number of times I will have a player with the ball 20yrds out with either an easy pass inside to his partner to shoot or a shot himself, only to belt the ball to the other wing.

No fullback has EVER topped the assists chart in the BPL. Baines got close once, but that was because he took free kicks. He got 11 btw.

Also, most assists are passes in real life not crosses. Players like Ozil with cute passes, Henry laying off to his on rushing players, through balls from Gerrard. I know, a lot of people with think, ahh but Beckham and Gigg's are right at the top of the charts, they crossed the ball in. Yes the best Right and Left sided midfielders to play in the league,(I'm a Liverpool fan before people think im a homer). Now in FM15, when you looked at the statistics on those games, passes came a clear top with the others a mixed bag depending on setup.

2. Far too many games across many leagues and tactics seem to end up with the CPU opposition have very few shots to goals. Yes, this will be tactical in some aspects, but not every team has Mourinho in his Inter Milan days who were constantly boring people into submission. I truly believe that the ME is the same for both, but there is other unknown factors which are affecting the human controlled teams that you cannot see. The "sneeze" comment was referring to the overly sensitive manager/media and manager/player interactions.

[themadsheep2001]

Obviously the rant is not "literal"

If you read between the lines I am creating joking sentences to explain the problems with the game.

Your instant shutting down of anything overtly negative is why I came back with stronger rhetoric and yes, being a customer for over 25years does give me the right to tell the devs when a game is not up to standard. We as customers pay for SI.

But I digress, lets put the feedback into constructive ways.

1. Crossing - Fullbacks are getting absurd amounts of assists. In several of my friends games, their fullbacks have had 30 plus assists. The reason for this is in my opinion the combination of overly accurate crosses, overpowered movement by the forwards and statuesque defending. With this "easy access" to a goal, what i feel is then happening is the players are always looking for that said fullback which distorts the play. The number of times I will have a player with the ball 20yrds out with either an easy pass inside to his partner to shoot or a shot himself, only to belt the ball to the other wing.

No fullback has EVER topped the assists chart in the BPL. Baines got close once, but that was because he took free kicks. He got 11 btw.

Also, most assists are passes in real life not crosses. Players like Ozil with cute passes, Henry laying off to his on rushing players, through balls from Gerrard. I know, a lot of people with think, ahh but Beckham and Gigg's are right at the top of the charts, they crossed the ball in. Yes the best Right and Left sided midfielders to play in the league,(I'm a Liverpool fan before people think im a homer). Now in FM15, when you looked at the statistics on those games, passes came a clear top with the others a mixed bag depending on setup.

2. Far too many games across many leagues and tactics seem to end up with the CPU opposition have very few shots to goals. Yes, this will be tactical in some aspects, but not every team has Mourinho in his Inter Milan days who were constantly boring people into submission. I truly believe that the ME is the same for both, but there is other unknown factors which are affecting the human controlled teams that you cannot see. The "sneeze" comment was referring to the overly sensitive manager/media and manager/player interactions.

No one shut you down, again making this up does not serve your point well. The one thing that is asked for is constructive feedback. It's not asking for alot.

And not it doesn't, not outside the house rules, and that is a point not up for debate, thank you.

You could have simply have made the two points from the start, which is far more useful than anything you have posted previously, though the part in bold isn't true, there are no hidden mechanisms in play for human players.

Onto the actual points you made, could certainly make full back defend wider and more aggressively, that would in turn open up central space more, and provide a better balance.

assists will vary massively due to the number of set ups though, as will crossing (IRL it accounts for roughly 40% of goals, but this will differ hugely between sides)

[themadsheep2001]

I'm not, it's an AMD Radeon r7 m260 (according to my device manager), with an Intel integrated card running alongside. I only play FM, and have very little knowledge of PC gaming, but when running on Windows Borderless I get horrible screen-tearing, so I sacked it off and stuck to standard resolution. This means I have to use Ctrl+Alt+Del and go to Task Manager when launching the game to get it past a blank screen, but I can then watch a match without juddering or screen tearing.

As a PC-gaming novice with absolutely zero knowledge of how to faff about with configuring PC gameplay, I acknowledge that some of the techy issues are probably due to my ignorance, but having tried every layman solution (via catalyst control centre, configuring in-game graphics settings etc) I still find that after tabbing out I then have to wait between 30 and 60 seconds to tab back in, and this is worse during a match. FM15 allowed me to skive a great deal more than FM16. I'm now having to actually do some work, and that is a very bad thing indeed.

Have you tried maximum borderless? I had the same issues, and switched to that and it's been fine since. I think my issues are link to Nvidia driver conflicts.

[Dagenham_Dave]

I truly believe that the ME is the same for both, but there is other unknown factors which are affecting the human controlled teams that you cannot see.

You can if you look in the mirror.

[McPard]

No one shut you down, again making this up does not serve your point well. The one thing that is asked for is constructive feedback. It's not asking for alot.

And not it doesn't, not outside the house rules, and that is a point not up for debate, thank you.

You could have simply have made the two points from the start, which is far more useful than anything you have posted previously, though the part in bold isn't true, there are no hidden mechanisms in play for human players.

assists will vary massively due to the number of set ups though, as will crossing (IRL it accounts for roughly 40% of goals, but this will differ hugely between sides)

I agree with most of this his statement, as i do have the same problem that my full backs are getting the most assits even though im playing short passing football through the middle, with one of my fullbacks getting 34 assists !! normally my attacking midfield would have the most assist???

[themadsheep2001]

I agree with most of this his statement, as i do have the same problem that my full backs are getting the most assits even though im playing short passing football through the middle, with one of my fullbacks getting 34 assists !! normally my attacking midfield would have the most assist???

Without seeing how you play it would be hard to say much more on why. I play an AMC as Shadow striker, and he is heavily involved in playing through ball assists and chances, when he is a Attacking mid support, even with more risky passes and get forwards more, he is more prone to playing into the wide areas. Part of this will be a knock on because the central areas are heavily congested as full backs are often very narrow. Widening them would have all sorts of knock on effects, so it's not a simple area to deal with.

[s1111]

A snapshot of my most recent season across the league;

12 of the top 20 average ratings were fullbacks, including all of the top 6.

14 of the top 20 players with the most MoM awards were fullbacks, including all of the top 6.

9 of the top 20 assisters were fullbacks, including all of the top 4.

Every single one of the top 20 tacklers is a fullback.

The top 2 key passers and top 2 dribblers were, you guessed it....fullbacks!

20 players got 15 or more yellow cards, up to a record of 23 (and he somehow managed not to get sent off once!)

15 players got at least 2 red cards.

An AI striker was offside 106 (!!!) times in 34 starts.

11 players in the league were offside more than the record 36 times that Christian Benteke was caught IRL last season. And 4 of those crazy fullbacks broke the top 20 and somehow had 23-28 offsides.

The game has been out for 3 months now.

[Danchinaski]

Have you tried maximum borderless? I had the same issues, and switched to that and it's been fine since. I think my issues are link to Nvidia driver conflicts.

I've just tried that now, it does help a lot with tabbing, thank you - I just hope it doesn't create screen tear. There are a few other techy issues I'm having, for example I can't watch highlights packages and 'the teams are warming up' for up to a minute (the match preview is like running through quicksand, when on the pre-release Beta these things were as smooth as butter). I can live with these issues, mind. Thanks again.

[puffascruffowitz]

I'll post it again as I haven't gotten a response in here or a thread I made about it.

Why has the 'Players on Loan' screen in the squad section been changed to show only the player's most recent match report?

It used to be that it showed an overview of their loan spell. The only way I can see that overview now is when I get the montly loaned players report. Or go to the regular squad screen and show players on loan.

What use is the 'Players on Loan' screen if it only shows their most recent match? Why even have it at all at that point?

[Dagenham_Dave]

A snapshot of my most recent season across the league;

12 of the top 20 average ratings were fullbacks, including all of the top 6.

14 of the top 20 players with the most MoM awards were fullbacks, including all of the top 6.

9 of the top 20 assisters were fullbacks, including all of the top 4.

Every single one of the top 20 tacklers is a fullback.

The top 2 key passers and top 2 dribblers were, you guessed it....fullbacks!

20 players got 15 or more yellow cards, up to a record of 23 (and he somehow managed not to get sent off once!)

15 players got at least 2 red cards.

An AI striker was offside 106 (!!!) times in 34 starts.

11 players in the league were offside more than the record 36 times that Christian Benteke was caught IRL last season. And 4 of those crazy fullbacks broke the top 20 and somehow had 23-28 offsides.

The game has been out for 3 months now.

3 of the top 20 in my league for ave. rating are fullbacks.

5 of the top 20 in my league for MOTM awards are fullbacks

5 of the top 20 in my league for assists are from fullbacks

9 of the top 20 in my league for tackles are from fullbacks

Only one of the top 10 key passers in my league is a fullback, same with dribblers

No players in my league finished with an offside count of over 36, only one player finished with this exact amount.

Only one player got more than one red card.

The moral of this post is that everyone's save is different. You might well be seeing all what you posted in your save, but I'm not. And someone else will have some other anomaly somewhere along the line. And that's the difficulty that SI have. With many other games, it's quite straightforward to see where something is massively wrong. In FM, every single player has a different experience due to the massive amount of variables that go into each and every save.

The game is by no means perfect, but then it never has been and probably never will be. IMO though, there's not an awful lot wrong with the engine itself. Defensive positioning (inc keepers) is the main culprit at the moment, which is why I think a lot of saves are seeing overpowered wide play, particularly from fullbacks. But then if they simply do one fix for that, how would that effect the stats in my save? Your numbers would look better, mine would see fullbacks not contributing at all.

Yes, the game has been 'out for three months', but I'd rather see SI taking the time to make sure any fixes are done properly, rather than rush it and ruin the entire balance of the game.

[Georgik]

3 of the top 20 in my league for ave. rating are fullbacks.

5 of the top 20 in my league for MOTM awards are fullbacks

5 of the top 20 in my league for assists are from fullbacks

9 of the top 20 in my league for tackles are from fullbacks

Only one of the top 10 key passers in my league is a fullback, same with dribblers

No players in my league finished with an offside count of over 36, only one player finished with this exact amount.

Only one player got more than one red card.

The moral of this post is that everyone's save is different. You might well be seeing all what you posted in your save, but I'm not. And someone else will have some other anomaly somewhere along the line. And that's the difficulty that SI have. With many other games, it's quite straightforward to see where something is massively wrong. In FM, every single player has a different experience due to the massive amount of variables that go into each and every save.

The game is by no means perfect, but then it never has been and probably never will be. IMO though, there's not an awful lot wrong with the engine itself. Defensive positioning (inc keepers) is the main culprit at the moment, which is why I think a lot of saves are seeing overpowered wide play, particularly from fullbacks. But then if they simply do one fix for that, how would that effect the stats in my save? Your numbers would look better, mine would see fullbacks not contributing at all.

Yes, the game has been 'out for three months', but I'd rather see SI taking the time to make sure any fixes are done properly, rather than rush it and ruin the entire balance of the game.

You are the exception mate, the rule is that wingbacks are overpowered, number of goals scored from crosses is insanely high.

Why then SI aren't taking their time when they release the game and make sure it doesn't have such bugs and we always have to wait for an update to fix them ? We pay money to get the full experience on release, not to get frustrated and angry with it.

[Karnack]

You are the exception mate, the rule is that wingbacks are overpowered, number of goals scored from crosses is insanely high.

Why then SI aren't taking their time when they release the game and make sure it doesn't have such bugs and we always have to wait for an update to fix them ? We pay money to get the full experience on release, not to get frustrated and angry with it.

And if they didn't release it when they usually do people would also be upset. There is no pleasing everyone here.

[Georgik]

And if they didn't release it when they usually do people would also be upset. There is no pleasing everyone here.

And why they shouldn't release it in the same span of time ?

[themadsheep2001]

You are the exception mate, the rule is that wingbacks are overpowered, number of goals scored from crosses is insanely high.

Why then SI aren't taking their time when they release the game and make sure it doesn't have such bugs and we always have to wait for an update to fix them ? We pay money to get the full experience on release, not to get frustrated and angry with it.

No that isn't not the rule. Stop making things up. It varies from save as to save as we seen when various people post their stats.

[Karnack]

And why they shouldn't release it in the same span of time ?

You just asked for more time to make sure it doesn't have bugs. What, you don't think they test things right now?

[Cougar2010]

No that isn't not the rule. Stop making things up. It varies from save as to save as we seen when various people post their stats.

Reading between the lines it seems to be more of an issue at the higher rep clubs/leagues with better players and less of an issue at the lower levels for some reason.

All of my experience on FM16 has been at lower league sides and I see nothing like the stats or highlights users have been showing over the last couple of months from higher rep leagues.

EDIT

The only one that has been brought up that I see fairly regularly is the fullback being offside when overlapping. The ball gets played around in midfield, the fullback makes the run but the pass doesn't synch with the run and is far too late. This happens too often and the fullback half the time is already coming back from his run. The point at which the pass is made it should be clear to the midfielder that the player is offside and he should look elsewhere or wait for the fullback to return.

[forameuss]

Why then SI aren't taking their time when they release the game and make sure it doesn't have such bugs and we always have to wait for an update to fix them ? We pay money to get the full experience on release, not to get frustrated and angry with it.

Because it's unrealistic and pointless to expect a game to be released with no bugs. Not to mention a system with as many moving and interchanging parts as the Match Engine. The game isn't making you "frustrated and angry", your unrealistic expectations are.

[themadsheep2001]

Reading between the lines it seems to be more of an issue at the higher rep clubs/leagues with better players and less of an issue at the lower levels for some reason.

All of my experience on FM16 has been at lower league sides and I see nothing like the stats or highlights users have been showing over the last couple of months from higher rep leagues.

I'm not sure it's as straightforward as that. You'd think I'd run into many of the same issues on my United save, but i rarely do. There is work to be done on the positioning of full backs, but the impact is varies hugely, depending on setup.

[HUNT3R]

I'm not sure it's as straightforward as that. You'd think I'd run into many of the same issues on my United save, but i rarely do. There is work to be done on the positioning of full backs, but the impact is varies hugely, depending on setup.

Very much. I use(d) a narrow 442 diamond and even with only the fullbacks protecting the flanks, I'm still conceding an 'average' amount of 30-odd% from crosses. This with a team who is predicted to be relegated, so I have teams attacking me and I regularly face 4-4-2 and 4-1-2-2-1 (4-5-1) formations.

[noikeee]

I've recently worked out that, quite counter-intuitively, narrow formations like the Christmas Tree (4-3-2-1), diamonds, and the narrow flat 4-3-3, are the most dangerous the AI throws at you when it comes to conceding goals from crosses. This is a pattern I've seen across the seasons, whilst playing mostly variants of a wide 4-3-3 with inside forwards.

The reason is that these formations with so many midfielders tend to win the possession battle, or at least have lots of situations they manage to camp in your half, and have time until they pass the ball (usually an amazing, perfect pass!) into an unmarked fullback rushing from deep. And these situations spark the most dangerous of crosses.

You'd think with 2 men on the wings (my own fullback and my IF) I'd always have the advantage over a single fullback, instead my own fullback stays too narrow and too far back to help, and my IF is constantly caught in no mans land infield trying to help out with the extra numbers in the midfield. This prompts the ridiculous sight of the team playing the narrower formation (in this case the AI), making over 40 crosses a match, most of them 40 the most dangerous type of all in this ME, and eventually getting a couple of them in the back of the net.

Increasing width seems to help but not much (frustratingly and counter-intuitively), what really kills the space for the opposition fullbacks and finally stops the issue, is to increase your mentality, push your defensive line higher, and/or close down more. Basically give them no space at all to cross from deep because you're so high yourself. Of course this then has its own problems, as you then become vulnerable to balls played over your defence, but at least that's logical and to be expected.

I believe all these users that play narrow 4-4-2 diamonds aren't witnessing a problem because a) by playing a narrow diamond you're the one winning the numbers in midfield, and making it harder for the opposition to hold onto possession until the fullback rushes forward; b) I bet you're all playing an aggressive mentality and/or a high line and/or high closing down, therefore reducing the space the AI fullbacks have; and c) it must look natural and normal to once in a while to concede a goal from an onrushing fullback, because you don't have any players covering him like we do in a 4-3-3! It's exactly what you'd expect when you play a diamond anyway...

Myself I've now switched to a flat 4-5-1 (wide midfielders help a little more than IFs) on Control, Push Higher Up, Close Down More. First results are promising, but I'm waiting for the occasional match I'll be torn apart by pacey strikers...

[themadsheep2001]

I've recently worked out that, quite counter-intuitively, narrow formations like the Christmas Tree (4-3-2-1), diamonds, and the narrow flat 4-3-3, are the most dangerous the AI throws at you when it comes to conceding goals from crosses. This is a pattern I've seen across the seasons, whilst playing mostly variants of a wide 4-3-3 with inside forwards.

The reason is that these formations with so many midfielders tend to win the possession battle, or at least have lots of situations they manage to camp in your half, and have time until they pass the ball (usually an amazing, perfect pass!) into an unmarked fullback rushing from deep. And these situations spark the most dangerous of crosses.

You'd think with 2 men on the wings (my own fullback and my IF) I'd always have the advantage over a single fullback, instead my own fullback stays too narrow and too far back to help, and my IF is constantly caught in no mans land infield trying to help out with the extra numbers in the midfield. This prompts the ridiculous sight of the team playing the narrower formation (in this case the AI), making over 40 crosses a match, most of them 40 the most dangerous type of all in this ME, and eventually getting a couple of them in the back of the net.

Increasing width seems to help but not much (frustratingly and counter-intuitively), what really kills the space for the opposition fullbacks and finally stops the issue, is to increase your mentality, push your defensive line higher, and/or close down more. Basically give them no space at all to cross from deep because you're so high yourself. Of course this then has its own problems, as you then become vulnerable to balls played over your defence, but at least that's logical and to be expected.

I believe all these users that play narrow 4-4-2 diamonds aren't witnessing a problem because a) by playing a narrow diamond you're the one winning the numbers in midfield, and making it harder for the opposition to hold onto possession until the fullback rushes forward; b) I bet you're all playing an aggressive mentality and/or a high line and/or high closing down, therefore reducing the space the AI fullbacks have; and c) it must look natural and normal to once in a while to concede a goal from an onrushing fullback, because you don't have any players covering him like we do in a 4-3-3! It's exactly what you'd expect when you play a diamond anyway...

Myself I've now switched to a flat 4-5-1 (wide midfielders help a little more than IFs) on Control, Push Higher Up, Close Down More. First results are promising, but I'm waiting for the occasional match I'll be torn apart by pacey strikers...

Not sure this is entirely accurate. Think people are trying to tie down far too many specifics into this. My setups vary from a control level 4-2 DM 3-1 (wide) to a standard 4-4-2, to a counter 4-3-3, across all three conceding against crosses is relatively. Crosses don't just come from the possession battle, but also quick transitions, so you cant really say its a narrow formation that wont see it/be the most dangerous.

[Wwarrddy]

Just wanted to share my story on FM so far! I'm really loving this edition and after having a hiatus for several years I am firmly rooted back into my addiction!

So, I started as Aston Villa with some low beginner level stats, I'm talking Sunday League player and the lowest level of Coaching badges. First year was a struggle, to say the least, as I got to grips with the new features etc. I ended up getting sacked in November... Undeterred, I started the game again, with the same stats as before, determined to make it work. Again, I struggled with Player demands and results and telling my players that I was not pleased with the result (I won 3-0, I didn't mean to press this option, I saw pleased and just rushed through it. That was the final straw and I again got sacked but this time in December...

Again I started the game again, Aston Villa, same stats as before! This year was better, much better..to begin with. I went on a 10 match unbeaten run and won a fair few matches. I was safely mid-table by February. Disaster strikes, hubris sets in and my players simply stop performing, losing game after game and a devastating spiral of poor morale sets in. The team is stuck in an absolute rut with my inexperience unable to pull them out of it. I am 18th by May. It comes down to the last game of the season and all I need is a point and for Palace to not win. Happy days, I stay up.

I make some solid signings in the summer including Charlie Austin and Bas Dost. I start the season magnificently and am 6th by November. However, the deadly spiral of Over-Confidence sets in which quickly sinks into poor morale as I don't win for 5 games. There are talks of a take over at Villa...January arrives and I am under transfer embargo, unable to sign anyone. This is particularly vexing as I have my sights set on 5 million pound transfer listed Jack Wilshire. The take over goes through and the new owner tells me the plan is to get their own manager in charge, I am 10th and the comment strikes me like a knife through the heart. I lose the next game, and get sacked. I am devastated, ready to quit.

I endeavour, this time letting the game run its course and see where I end up next. I get a few offers from League 2, they all reject me. they want more experience in charge. Northampton come in and I ace the interview, I am Northamptons manager in February. I dislike it very much. I am not used to the league 2 system and how to play the league. The coaches are dreadful, the scouts are dreadful, the squad is massive and in my inexperience I do not know what a good player is at this level. They sign me outside of the transfer window leaving me only with free transfers to work with. There's no one available except for...the one, the only, Roberto Carlos!! He is 42 and very slow. He does ok for me, making some assists but the season is a write off, I finish 14th, the position they were when I joined.

I make some good signings in the summer again, 2 strikers again. They are unbelievable and in 10 games the one has 10 goals and 5 assists. I dominate the league with these 2 scoring as and when they feel like. 20 games in they both have 15 goals but the one has 10 assists also to his name. Come January I am top of the league, I get a few bad results and I then play Colchester who had are now 1 point ahead of me, they soundly beat me to take a 4 point lead at the top. I have a few more middling results, my star striker gets injured for 6 weeks. Disaster.

I bring in my back up striker who hasn't had a sniff all year, gets a hat trik in his first game, I feel like Harry Redknapp after lucking out. He goes on a scoring run and has 12 goals in 12 appearences, my star striker comes back and I rotate them. They all chip in when needed and I gain automatic promotion with 3 games left to play. The league title is still within reach and it goes to the last game with 1 point separating three teams. I need to win and for Blackpool and Colchester to lose. Colchester go a goal behind, as do Blackpool...I am at 0-0 and winning the title. Blackpool score, Blackpool score again. Then Colchester score. I need to go for the win and go all out attack, it backfires and I lose 3-0.

Nevertheless, what a buzz I got from that campaing. My striker finished on 24 goals and 15 assists, gets signing of the season, team of the season and player of the season. My other 2 strikers get 20 and 18 goals. Now I must prepare for League 1 and I am absolutely hooked!! Aston Villa also get relegated from the premier league, this makes me happy. You reap what you sow.

TL:DR I failed as Aston Villa manager, getting sacked 3 times in 3 starts with my settings as no experience. Go to Northampton and absolutely love my time there, getting them promoted in my first full season.

Sorry for the wall of text, I am very excited!

[mrdorf]

Wwarrddy. That was a very enjoyable read. Brilliant. I'm glad you're enjoying the game. I haven't bought it yet - I like to wait until the final path - but I can't wait to buy it. I'm definitely going to try LLM.

[Kriss]

Don't Apologise, best read I've had on here for an age

[Wwarrddy]

oops, I had meant to make this a new thread rather than commenting on the patch feedback thread. Not sure how that happened, I was rushing to type that at lunch in work haha...Glad you enjoyed it though

I've got a tricky season ahead of me, signings seem impossible at the moment. Here's hoping I pick up another gem!

[Sunstrikuuu]

Best of luck! It's cool to hear some really positive experiences.