Football Manager 2018 *Official* Feedback Thread

[kandersson]

3 ore fa, OLLMEISTER1 ha scritto:

Please tell me the glitch where a random player hovers over the centre circle in between highlights has been rectified? Not sure what it would come under on the fix list.

Still there for me. Though most of the time it looks like one but they're actually two, one on each other.

[Guest El Payaso]

Have to say just based on one round of fixtures that with the new update the direction seems right.

The game seems to produce bigger amount of goals and that is what the AI was lacking before. Also based on what I saw on comprehensive some stuff is beautiful. I think that in my first game I won the ball back in the midfield like five or six times which lead to turnovers but not all of them into scoring chances. I don't remember when was the last time when I actually saw ball being won in the midfield that many times. Also, not sure about it though, I think I actually saw my CBs now challenging to most of the long balls that the opposition was throwing to their striker which would make the engine look a lot better. Might be just illusion based on one game but don't really have time to test more. 

Basically I would say that in terms of the ME there are no many complaints anymore. Of course the space between midfield and defense is still not balanced well as my striker still summed about 60 pass attempts and the opposition AM even against a formation where there is a DM summed about 80 and these two players were running the game too much. Also the indirect free-kick marking seems still to be woeful: I don't think that anyone wants to score or concede goals through that unmarked edge of the penalty area player as that is simply random stuff and an exploit where you cannot influence. Also I would raise the players' tendency to take woeful first time long shots from the edge of the area when they should just try and progress with the ball or try to pass. Too many times players decide to shoot the corner flag instead of showing patience. 

I know I'm usually just complaining but this is positive and I like to be honest with my opinions. Good work. 

 

[jed300]

The touch part of the forum is absolutely dead so I'll put this here in hope I get some help;

After the game updated to 18.2.0 my purchased download of unlimited scouting doesnt work. I'm only getting 12/13 reports a day instead of 100. Considering I paid extra for this feature, how do I make it work again?

[rdbayly]

4 minutes ago, El Payaso said:

Have to say just based on one round of fixtures that with the new update the direction seems right.

The game seems to produce bigger amount of goals and that is what the AI was lacking before. Also based on what I saw on comprehensive some stuff is beautiful. I think that in my first game I won the ball back in the midfield like five or six times which lead to turnovers but not all of them into scoring chances. I don't remember when was the last time when I actually saw ball being won in the midfield that many times. Also, not sure about it though, I think I actually saw my CBs now challenging to most of the long balls that the opposition was throwing to their striker which would make the engine look a lot better. Might be just illusion based on one game but don't really have time to test more. 

Basically I would say that in terms of the ME there are no many complaints anymore. Of course the space between midfield and defense is still not balanced well as my striker still summed about 60 pass attempts and the opposition AM even against a formation where there is a DM summed about 80 and these two players were running the game too much. Also the indirect free-kick marking seems still to be woeful: I don't think that anyone wants to score or concede goals through that unmarked edge of the penalty area player as that is simply random stuff and an exploit where you cannot influence. Also I would raise the players' tendency to take woeful first time long shots from the edge of the area when they should just try and progress with the ball or try to pass. Too many times players decide to shoot the corner flag instead of showing patience. 

I know I'm usually just complaining but this is positive and I like to be honest with my opinions. Good work. 

 

I agree that central defenders are now aggressively challenging for long balls more often, but I'm still finding it inconsistent. There are still major issues with the closing down mechanic, which all too often sees 2 or 3 players close down the same wide man; vacating large areas of central space which leaves your backline exposed. 

There are definitely better passing decisions and off the ball movement in midfield, which is hugely welcomed. The negative here is I'm still having big problems with match ratings for AMCs and Inside Forwards; even though they seem to be involved in high numbers of passing combinations and general solid play.

The AI still cannot handle you placing 3 players outside the box for attacking corners. This is a symptom of broken set piece marking, and is a definite exploit. 

Overall, a good patch and it's encouraging for the development of the ME.

[Kcinnay]

5 minutes ago, rdbayly said:

I agree that central defenders are now aggressively challenging for long balls more often, but I'm still finding it inconsistent. There are still major issues with the closing down mechanic, which all too often sees 2 or 3 players close down the same wide man; vacating large areas of central space which leaves your backline exposed.

That's not an issue, in my opinion. Although it should be a tactical decision, maybe something where shape kicks in. Lots of teams try to create defensive overloads by agressively closing down certain zones with lots of player, to squeeze the opponent at the touchline. There are other managers who are happy with 1vs1 duels. I consider the first option as fluid defending, the second option as structured defending.

In my perception, since 18.2, it happens less and less that 2 or 3 players charge the same player, which is a pity. In my tactical philosophy (FM and real life), defensive overloads are very important.

[OLLMEISTER1]

1 hour ago, kandersson said:

Still there for me. Though most of the time it looks like one but they're actually two, one on each other.

Terrible, how can this be overlooked time & time again. How many hotfix's or patches have we had and this still has not be rectified? Glaringly obvious.

[kandersson]

2 minuti fa, OLLMEISTER1 ha scritto:

Terrible, how can this be overlooked time & time again. How many hotfix's or patches have we had and this still has not be rectified? Glaringly obvious.

It does look weird tbh. Best part is when you're on commentary only and get the random rotating camera so you see this empty, rotating pitch with just this guy (or guys) in the center circle entertaining the crowd. Wicked!

[rdbayly]

11 minutes ago, Kcinnay said:

That's not an issue, in my opinion. Although it should be a tactical decision, maybe something where shape kicks in. Lots of teams try to create defensive overloads by agressively closing down certain zones with lots of player, to squeeze the opponent at the touchline. There are other managers who are happy with 1vs1 duels. I consider the first option as fluid defending, the second option as structured defending.

In my perception, since 18.2, it happens less and less that 2 or 3 players charge the same player, which is a pity. In my tactical philosophy (FM and real life), defensive overloads are very important.

I guess it's about opinions, but I want my wide players to press their wide players and my central players to press their central ones. The problem with shape in FM is that it also applies to both attacking and defensive play. I want to defend in a structured fashion but attack in a fluid way, but this is hard to recreate.

[Guest El Payaso]

39 minutes ago, rdbayly said:

I agree that central defenders are now aggressively challenging for long balls more often, but I'm still finding it inconsistent.

Yep, this basically should always be the case as that is basically the first thing that is taught to defenders, well at least that was first thing that I was told when I played. Challenge for the first ball always to make it harder for the attacker even if you don't win it. This should make it harder for forwards to perform and also make the striker roles by that harder to fulfill as for example something like deep lying forward role would actually demand more from strikers as the defenders always are on your back so you have to be strong and technical to pull it out. Currently (at least on previous builds) you could throw anyone on top and pull it out as the player is never marked tightly or closed down. This still is the case when you play the ball along the floor but at least they have improved the tendencies on long balls which is good. The game looks fantastic when the defenders aggressively step up from the line and even win the ball back and then after a few steps make a simple pass to a playmaker and return like "there the job is done". More behavior like this from defensive minded players like DMs, CBs and FBs please. 

[OlivierL]

Just saw a very weird situation..

I conceded a penalty with Bilbao against Kopenhagen.. my DC got a second yellow and it should be penalty for Kopenhagen.

In stead my Raul Garcia was ready to take the penaly with my goalkeeper in goal.. he didn't shoot, he passed the ball back into the field and we started with the buildup ??

Edited December 15, 2017 by Olivierlandman

[frank_olaf]

Since the update/patch I'm getting occasional lag in the match engine which I never had before. 

Anyone else having this issue?

[Glenn Wakeford]

43 minutes ago, Olivierlandman said:

Just saw a very weird situation..

I conceded a penalty with Bilbao against Kopenhagen.. my DC got a second yellow and it should be penalty for Kopenhagen.

In stead my Raul Garcia was ready to take the penaly with my goalkeeper in goal.. he didn't shoot, he passed the ball back into the field and we started with the buildup ??

Please post this as a bug in the match engine forum and upload the PKM. Thanks.

[Kcinnay]

3 hours ago, rdbayly said:

I guess it's about opinions, but I want my wide players to press their wide players and my central players to press their central ones. The problem with shape in FM is that it also applies to both attacking and defensive play. I want to defend in a structured fashion but attack in a fluid way, but this is hard to recreate.

You're right. It's a matter of personal preferences and philosophy, and in fact, it should be possible to recreate both of those options. And you're 100% right about the problem with shape. Something that could help you with the wide midfielder problem is het 'mark position' option? Make your MR mark the position of ML and vice versa?

 

2 hours ago, El Payaso said:

Yep, this basically should always be the case as that is basically the first thing that is taught to defenders, well at least that was first thing that I was told when I played. Challenge for the first ball always to make it harder for the attacker even if you don't win it.

This also should be a matter of instructions. A CD with more closing down and/or a stopper duty and/or tight marking instruction should step out of the line and challenge for the first ball. But it isn't something that every defender should do. Sometimes, a coach instructs his central defenders to not challenge for the long ball with a striker that's too powerful in the air, because by stepping out of the line, you open space for a fast striker to play in. In some cases, it's better to not challenge in the air, stand off, and wait for the second ball or challenge for the ball on the ground. That behaviour should be something for a CD with (much) less closing down and/or a cover duty and/or no tight marking. And maybe the explicit opposition instructions NO tight marking and NO closing down on that specific player.

[rdbayly]

33 minutes ago, Kcinnay said:

Something that could help you with the wide midfielder problem is het 'mark position' option? Make your MR mark the position of ML and vice versa?

I've not experimented much with this so will test it out. Do you think a similar approach with DM marking instructions would work?

[Guest El Payaso]

1 hour ago, Kcinnay said:

You're right. It's a matter of personal preferences and philosophy, and in fact, it should be possible to recreate both of those options. And you're 100% right about the problem with shape. Something that could help you with the wide midfielder problem is het 'mark position' option? Make your MR mark the position of ML and vice versa?

 

This also should be a matter of instructions. A CD with more closing down and/or a stopper duty and/or tight marking instruction should step out of the line and challenge for the first ball. But it isn't something that every defender should do. Sometimes, a coach instructs his central defenders to not challenge for the long ball with a striker that's too powerful in the air, because by stepping out of the line, you open space for a fast striker to play in. In some cases, it's better to not challenge in the air, stand off, and wait for the second ball or challenge for the ball on the ground. That behaviour should be something for a CD with (much) less closing down and/or a cover duty and/or no tight marking. And maybe the explicit opposition instructions NO tight marking and NO closing down on that specific player.

Well the case usually is on FM that the striker is far away from the rest of the team and facing 4-5 defenders alone and on those situations the best bet for the defenders always is to have one of the players there to step up and challenge. This is the case because strikers don't drop into the midfield to defend.

[rdbayly]

7 minutes ago, El Payaso said:

Well the case usually is on FM that the striker is far away from the rest of the team and facing 4-5 defenders alone and on those situations the best bet for the defenders always is to have one of the players there to step up and challenge. This is the case because strikers don't drop into the midfield to defend.

 To compound the problem further, when the lone forward picks up the ball, I often see the whole backline drop further, which allows the forward to turn and run at the defence causing mayhem. The next phase of play often involves a lay off to the attacking midfielders, which kicks off the insane pass combination numbers we are seeing.

Edited December 15, 2017 by rdbayly

[Guest El Payaso]

6 minutes ago, rdbayly said:

 To compound the problem further, when the lone forward picks up the ball, I often see the whole backline drop further, which allows the forward to turn and run at the defence causing mayhem. The next phase of play often involves a lay off to the attacking midfielders, which kicks off the insane pass combination numbers we are seeing.

Yes and high long balls are not even the worst part but when you play along the ground or a ball is passed down the flank. You would think that something like a lone forward is one of the toughest roles to fulfill. Look a Chelsea in real after Drogba fell from his best level in 2010 for example. Costa basically was the first one who could play that lone forward role for them so it took years to find the right players to fill that gap and that meant years without trophies. On FM the forward role is quite simple to get working and for example I would say that in my team Jonathan Calleri is doing much better than he should be even though he is only scoring about one goal per two games. The link up play is far too effective from him and it's not a surprise as he regularly sums up 50-70 pass attempts in the danger zone. 

[rdbayly]

11 minutes ago, El Payaso said:

Jonathan Calleri

A legend!

[mbchuz]

The notes don't mention anything regarding hidden attributes or personalities redefined, but something has definitely changed. 

 

I'm hooked on tutoring and have been frustrated by how difficult it is to maintain Model Citizens and Perfectionists because of random drops. Now, a few in-game weeks after the patch, the number of Model Citizens in my game has increased from 2 to 9! Six of those new Model Citizens are my players or very recent departures who had been tutored very very close to MC or had achieved MC and then declined in Personality afterwards.  Now they're magically MCs... But most interestingly the other one is a teenage Peruvian defender who is the first natural regen Model Citizen I have ever seen in my hundreds of seasons in FM. 

 

Unfortunately one of them has a Determination of 17, which means the requirements have actually decreased rather than all these players magically becoming better. I'm very tempted to check out their hidden attributes to see what has changed but I don't want to spoil my game...

 

Also, there are now 19 Perfectionists, up from ~6. 

 

Anyone else noticing similar?

Edited December 16, 2017 by mbchuz

[Matorko]

Great ME, SI. From 3 promotions in a row to a team that conceded 90+. I've tried literally everything, but nothing seems to work, while AI keeps putting float crosses from DL/ML/AML to MR/AMR who will score or heads to 6y box where their striker will reach the ball first no matter what and most likely score. Sane has more than 8 dribbles per game this season, wingers are OP as hell, unguardable, full backs can't stop them, no matter what role you give them,  if you close them down or man mark. if they want to cross, they will find the way and if it's decent, striker will surely get the ball before defender.  And AI would score 3 with Ameobi, Heskey and Samaras up front in 433 narrow/flat. Immobile was 102 times in offside this season in that formation, 65 times more that Calleri who's on 5th place. And some results are more for water polo manager, like 10-2 my mate just had in AI v AI clash. Made a huge mistake updating FM just two days before the start of the season. But then again, it could be my tactic. Or tone of them I tried to ease the issues with this ME.

Edited December 16, 2017 by Matorko

[Andi Makmur]

4 hours ago, mbchuz said:

The notes don't mention anything regarding hidden attributes or personalities redefined, but something has definitely changed. 

 

I'm hooked on tutoring and have been frustrated by how difficult it is to maintain Model Citizens and Perfectionists because of random drops. Now, a few in-game weeks after the patch, the number of Model Citizens in my game has increased from 2 to 9! Six of those new Model Citizens are my players or very recent departures who had been tutored very very close to MC or had achieved MC and then declined in Personality afterwards.  Now they're magically MCs... But most interestingly the other one is a teenage Peruvian defender who is the first natural regen Model Citizen I have ever seen in my hundreds of seasons in FM. 

 

Unfortunately one of them has a Determination of 17, which means the requirements have actually decreased rather than all these players magically becoming better. I'm very tempted to check out their hidden attributes to see what has changed but I don't want to spoil my game...

 

Also, there are now 19 Perfectionists, up from ~6. 

 

Anyone else noticing similar?

Yes, I also experienced this, it looks like the attribute requirement to reach "model citizen" become lower? is it intended? or we have to raise this issue in bug forum?

[mbchuz]

1 hour ago, Andi Makmur said:

Yes, I also experienced this, it looks like the attribute requirement to reach "model citizen" become lower? is it intended? or we have to raise this issue in bug forum?

I doubt it's a bug, but it's odd that they didn't mention it.

All the relevant attribute requirements have been lowered to 16 from 18. I've only noticed Perfectionist and Model Citizen but it's quite possible others have been changed too. 

[binarychoice]

I'm noticing that the number of shots seems up, same team, same tactic and my average went from 18 before, to 25 in 20ish games since the patch , with some 35+ shot games against non trivial opposition

[DaveTheEditor]

Hi Guys,

I dont know if this is the right thread for this question, but i dont know what to do.

From when can you seduce the players in Spain free of charge?
Is it like in Austria, 6 months before the end of the contract or like in England, 1 month before the end of the contract or is it completely different?

Please help me!

[Neil Brock]

4 minutes ago, davie77 said:

Hi Guys,

I dont know if this is the right thread for this question, but i dont know what to do.

From when can you seduce the players in Spain free of charge?
Is it like in Austria, 6 months before the end of the contract or like in England, 1 month before the end of the contract or is it completely different?

Please help me!

Do you mean when you're playing in Spain as well? Or are you in a different nation? 

[DaveTheEditor]

vor 1 Minute schrieb Neil Brock:

Do you mean when you're playing in Spain as well? Or are you in a different nation? 

I play with Racing Santander in the third league, so yes. 

[Neil Brock]

I believe it is six months, but I'm not 100% sure as I've not played a Spanish career game in a while. Another user may well be able to answer you for sure. 

[DaveTheEditor]

vor 36 Minuten schrieb Neil Brock:

I believe it is six months, but I'm not 100% sure as I've not played a Spanish career game in a while. Another user may well be able to answer you for sure. 

Thank you

 

[Helmut]

On 15.12.2017 at 02:46, ElectricBoogaloo said:

My team's defence seems to have gone tits up as well.

The yellow line signifies my results before and after the patch. So I went from conceding 5 before the patch to conceding 10 after it in only 4 games, including my first league loss to the team in 18th who scored 3 in 5 minutes at the end of the game.

IMHO, defending is much more difficult after the 18.2. update. Before the update i lost about 0,7 goal per match, from 0,6-0,7 opposition CCC per match. After the update - 1,7 gpm from 1 opposition CCC per match. From one of the best defending teams (even in Champions League, where we've reached big final) with defenders like Glik, Jemerson, Lucas, Sidibe and defensive midfielders like Doucoure and Fabinho i became mid table outsider, eliminated in 1/8 CL final by Porto, with 5 balls in my keepers net during 60 minutes).  Also Bordeaux hit me with 4 goals at Matmut Atlantique. Something that can't happen earlier. 

[Iakovenko]

New patch has just broken the game for me on network. Can't confirm any subs, can't even cancel trying to make a sub so it's either 90 mins with the same players or can't complete a game,can't confirm bids for any players, can't offer players out. 

[KUBI]

vor 12 Minuten schrieb Iakovenko:

New patch has just broken the game for me on network. Can't confirm any subs, can't even cancel trying to make a sub so it's either 90 mins with the same players or can't complete a game,can't confirm bids for any players, can't offer players out. 

Try deleting the cache and also the preferences. If it does not work, open a thread in the bugs forum.

 

[rdbayly]

Below is a screenshot of 3 misses from my most recent match Southampton v Sunderland in the League Cup. All three shots were taken in 1 v 1 situations whilst clear of the last defender and under no pressure. My question is why were the two attempts from outside the area taken from that range? Players are consistently shooting from ridiculous distances rather than dribbling in to the area to improve their chances of scoring. I included the attempt inside the area as it made me laugh out loud. 7 yards out and almost hit the corner flag.

Can't complain too much of course as we won the game, but this image is representative of dozens of matches in which this behaviour costs vital points. 

 

[szp]

This is currently one of the biggest issues for me. The behaviour of the strikers in one on one situations is very very poor. They either shoot straight at the keeper or do something like on the picture above. Generally speaking there are way to many first time shots in this ME. 

[Swindon69]

Hah I'm playing as Hereford vs QPR and a QPR player put it in his own net and the text called it a goal for QPR.

[Swindon69]

Apparently the Championship now schedules fixtures on the 26th, 27th and 28th December.

[DazRTaylor]

Trying FM18 again and I just can't do it.  No matter how hard I try, I am really really struggling with this.  4,000 hours played on FM17, but FM18 is just not doing it for me.  The biggest factor (among many) is the scouting system.  In my opinion (and I know a lot of you disagree with me) it is an utter mess.

[rallav]

2 hours ago, szp said:

This is currently one of the biggest issues for me. The behaviour of the strikers in one on one situations is very very poor. They either shoot straight at the keeper or do something like on the picture above. Generally speaking there are way to many first time shots in this ME. 

I have to agree on this. The new Patch just brought weird weird decision making by Strikers. Its not working anymore for me. I reloaded so many times with different settings and they hit nothing just shoot from weird angles with one timers.
Also u set whipped crossed and they just shoot the crosses high and slow to your 1,70cm false nine/dlf forward.
I just played Paris FC (3rd league) vs Toulouse (2nd place top division managed by me) in 2032 and there were 10shots on target and like 5 clear cut chances. no highlights shown until 90minute and there was a 0:0 as a result 15 times (i just reloaded the 16th time to see if iam mistaken).
Inside Forwards are useless for me in a 4-1-2-2-1, the whole system seems useless with this patch, i used this since fm11 with variations in the system (1dm/2cm or 3cm etc.) but it is not working anymore.

Also the highlights in 3D Matches seem to be less frequent after the patch (Set on Key Highlights).
The game tends to show less highlights, sometimes 2,3 per match when before there were 5,6 with the same statistics showing in the pitch screen.
 

I cant show u screens on this but its the "feeling" i have when playing now.

Edited December 16, 2017 by rallav

[Swindon69]

In fact all own goals are coming up as goals scored by the team putting it into there own net in the match commentary.

Edited December 16, 2017 by Swindon69

[wicksyFM]

1 hour ago, DazRTaylor said:

Trying FM18 again and I just can't do it.  No matter how hard I try, I am really really struggling with this.  4,000 hours played on FM17, but FM18 is just not doing it for me.  The biggest factor (among many) is the scouting system.  In my opinion (and I know a lot of you disagree with me) it is an utter mess.

Im in the same situation. Just cant bring myself to play FM18 and i dont want to play FM17 because FM18 is out. In all the years of playing FM, this is the most disappointing release

[jam jameson]

4 ore fa, Helmut ha scritto:

IMHO, defending is much more difficult after the 18.2. update. Before the update i lost about 0,7 goal per match, from 0,6-0,7 opposition CCC per match. After the update - 1,7 gpm from 1 opposition CCC per match. From one of the best defending teams (even in Champions League, where we've reached big final) with defenders like Glik, Jemerson, Lucas, Sidibe and defensive midfielders like Doucoure and Fabinho i became mid table outsider, eliminated in 1/8 CL final by Porto, with 5 balls in my keepers net during 60 minutes).  Also Bordeaux hit me with 4 goals at Matmut Atlantique. Something that can't happen earlier. 

Discouraging more than disappointing, after a few matches with the updated ME, things gone from bad to worse; the most blatant issues are still there (long balls from defence becoming assists for the forwards, with the defence just looking at them, set piece positioning, bad graphics of away attendance) with the added pain of a worse defending on open play, that was not the case before. bad bad bad

[Swindon69]

A ridiculous number of shots per match 44 between the two teams in my last game - it looks like the good old far post cross is back. Strikers running through seem unable to hit the back of the net.

Latest match 5 goals scored between us all far post crosses  - plus defences look static on set pieces.

Edited December 16, 2017 by Swindon69

[jam jameson]

50 minuti fa, Swindon69 ha scritto:

A ridiculous number of shots per match 44 between the two teams in my last game - it looks like the good old far post cross is back. Strikers running through seem unable to hit the back of the net.

Latest match 5 goals scored between us all far post crosses  - plus defences look static on set pieces.

It looks like they can't find a balance, the ME is by far the worst for years

[Swindon69]

16 minutes ago, jam jameson said:

It looks like they can't find a balance, the ME is by far the worst for years

Next match 5 goals from far post crosses.

Edited December 16, 2017 by Swindon69

[jam jameson]

And finally, here it is even another old friend, a crash when checking the season preview of any League; good job SI, good job indeed!!!

[Neil Brock]

4 hours ago, Swindon69 said:

Hah I'm playing as Hereford vs QPR and a QPR player put it in his own net and the text called it a goal for QPR.

Yeah we're aware of this one and we're investigating. Thanks. 

[Neil Brock]

Just now, jam jameson said:

And finally, here it is even another old friend, a crash when checking the season preview of any League; good job SI, good job indeed!!!

Please raise it on the tech forums ideally with the crash dump file and we'll take a look.

Thanks. 

[jam jameson]

6 minuti fa, Neil Brock ha scritto:

Please raise it on the tech forums ideally with the crash dump file and we'll take a look.

Thanks. 

Thanks Neil, but the uploading of the Whole file with FTP  is too much for me, I'd rather give up. Just had a look at the tech forum and it looks like a battlefield, and endless of threads open post-update, you Neil kindly trying to answer to everybody, why adding another useless thread? Moreover, even the announced improvements of the patch are missing in my game: who's seen this one?

'Fixed custom view column sizes changing when continuing'

My columns keep changing every now and again...

[dalesinwales]

Trying to make this 'constructive' criticism...

 

After trying the game again, following the release of the latest patch, unfortunately in my opinion FM18 is still a very poor relation of FM17. The stadiums are poorly designed visually, packed with crowds all wearing the same outfits, and the 3D match still slows down when there's a lot going on, resulting in unsightly jerky movement (despite being run on an £1800 gaming laptop with GTX 1070 graphic card). 

 

There are aspects of FM18 I like - notably the Dynamics and the medical centre, which I will miss when I start a new game in FM17 - but overall the game is (currently) simply not enjoyable to play, with its drawn out pre-match nonsense, confusing scouting system, and inferior match experience.

 

I have been playing FM for over 20 years and this is the first time I have ever reverted to a previous version of the game. Maybe I will return to FM18 after the release of the final patch, but I am not wasting any more time with the current build. 

[Swindon69]

I get the fact that there may have been a desire to reduce the effectiveness of three striker formations but the match engine now seems massively to favour far post crosses and strikers breaking through even on the angle now seem incapable of scoring - and the defending from open play seems worse now.

Edited December 16, 2017 by Swindon69

[Kcinnay]

Even though the ME had it flaws in 18.1.3, I was quite happy with it. It often felt als a real game of football; realistic results, realistic shot amounts. But since 18.2, it's a shooting gallery. Lots of shots, lots of goals in most of the games. The balance is off. It feels like it's FM 15 all over again. Hope the shot amount will be toned down again in a 18.2.1 update.