Football Manager 2021 Early Access Beta Official Feedback Thread

[DazRTaylor]

Ok, I have now played the beta for a considerable amount of time so feel I can give my feedback.  This is not in order, just the order my mind remembers!

Pros

+ Very stable, again.  The last few years have been excellent in this regard.
+ Presentation.  Much cleaner, smoother and I love the default skin.
+ Speed.  It is significantly and noticeably faster.  The save function is rapid to say the least as is the processing time.
+ After match screens.  Excellent.  I especially like the screen just before you leave the match showing that stats, xG and social media.  I now find myself reading the social media posts whereas I never bothered before.
+ xG.  The best new feature for me.  I find myself studying this a lot.
+ Pre Match.  Again, loving the new set up.  It makes it a lot easier to see what players think etc.
+ Press Conferences.  Better than before, hence it is a positive.  See below though as it is also a negative.
+ The Match Engine is currently the best in years.  Please do not do any major changes to it!
+ Pre Season Recruitment Meeting.  If you use a Director of Football to assist in recruitment, these meetings have so far proved invaluable.
+ Board Interactions.  I love the new system where they get back to you in due course for whatever you have asked for.  Much more realistic.
+ Fitness and Sharpness.  The heart system is terrific and more realistic.

Cons

- The Press.  When they ask a question, you now need to click onto an extra screen to answer.  Why the need?  I now decline to answer to save time whereas before I always answered.
- Press Conferences.  Still better than before but still full of tedium.  I suppose this is realistic though as they are tedious in real life.
- Very disappointing to see some bugs still exist that were in FM20.  I have reported them in the relevant forum though I don't hold out much hope for them being fixed as they were not fixed last year.
- Player Search.  For some reason, you have removed the templates for when I ask for a specific role.  Before, the key attributes were entered automatically.  Now I have to do it manually.

Overall

Fantastic game.  I don't know how you do it, but it keeps getting better each and every year.  I have given my wife a signed photo of me as she won't be seeing me for a while.

[stevemc]

Only managed an hour or two last night, didn’t get as far as a game but love the look of FM21, the skin, the UX/UI looks lovely, everything seems a little tighter/tidier, was just having a float around screens and it moves quicker between pages and saves really fast too. Custom views are still hard work and hopefully we can get a transparent version of the base skin too.

Going to get stuck into the match engine later but judging by multiple user reports, it’s sounds very promising!

[evertonmarc]

Really enjoying this one 

First game, watched James out on the right wing, cut in and hit a brilliant through ball to DCL just like he does in real life. First time i think i've seen a proper through ball like that!!

One thing though....Man Utd are OP!!!

 

 

Edited November 12, 2020 by evertonmarc

[Zemahh]

4 minutes ago, mistershoko said:

agreed.

If you don't mind, which CPU/how much RAM are you playing on? Not sure if it's hardware related or not.

Apologies for tagging you @Seb Wassell, but do you think this is worthy of a bug report (seeing as I'm not the only one having issues), or is it something that normally gets polished out for the full release? Seems pretty minor, but still a bit on an inconvenience.

[KloppRodgersHodgson]

10 hours ago, YankeeRam said:

So far my only issue is the look of a female manager. It is still a dude's face with a women's body. Can y'all fix that for next year because  women do play. 

Sounds like my ex-wife.

[mistershoko]

1 minute ago, Zemahh said:

If you don't mind, which CPU/how much RAM are you playing on? Not sure if it's hardware related or not.

Apologies for tagging you @Seb Wassell, but do you think this is worthy of a bug report (seeing as I'm not the only one having issues), or is it something that normally gets polished out for the full release? Seems pretty minor, but still a bit on an inconvenience.

Ryzen 7 3700X, 16GB RAM. 
I don't think it's hardware issues, just optimization required.

[SmurfDude]

As a United manager I am getting scout reports on Liverpool players. Come on, sort it out 

[emil_sbn]

Does someone now if there is some way to make the faces bigger in the player profile screen? 

[craiigman]

I really, really like the recruitment meeting. Going to be really helpful when you join a side you don't know too much about.

[dpt8544]

The shortened names for clubs on the scoreboard are absolutely terrible for most clubs. We want the match to have more of a TV feel but then the teams have ridiculous shortened names. For instance, Hoffenheim are listed as "TSG 18". What kind of abbreviation is that? I would prefer the scoreboard to be a bit larger and just have the short name (as opposed to 6-letter name). Alternatively, someone needs to painstakingly go through every single club in the game and fix these 6-letter names.

[sporadicsmiles]

I'm going to type my first impressions as I go, so it is a legit reaction to everything I find. 

• Nice to see tool tips added to philosophy. I think that is new? Either way it is good to know what these things mean.
• Everything feels a lot faster than FM20. I can actually feel that I am running this on a good PC.
• The little video to explain what players should do is a nice touch when designing a tactic. This is clever and something I advocated for. Visually seeing something is much better than reading it, and now people can make a choice of role based on this. I would note that it would be nice to see the animation change for roles that span multiple positions. E.g. a Treq in a wide position rather than the centre. Just would make this whole thing complete. But very nice. 
• Is roaming playmaker from DMC new? I can already feel the tactical forum filled with posts on why defensive cover is poor from this role =D.
• I can understand the decision to move away from percentage representation of the condition and match sharpness on the display, but I wonder how easy this will be to make informed choices. I also do not seem to be able to find condition and match fitness to add to custom views (that could just be me).
• I have not gotten to interviews yet, but I like that they are apparently now split up in responsibilities in League, domestic cup, continental cup and broadcast. This is nice because you could delegate less important competitions but speak at important ones. 
• Once again this game is very well optimised, it is very quick to process. 
• I like the meeting screen.
• The initial team meeting is no longer a guess the correct goal for the season mini game. This is a lot nicer. Many more options and actually feels like you are really discussing with your team your plans. And the gesture thing is going to take some getting used to but it seems fun. There is going to need to be a guide as to what these are meant to signify, I'm not sure how general gestures are or if they are culturally specific. Also talking about each competition. This is very nice, it is no longer a click and move on exercise, you actually have to think about your aims and the team aims properly. 
• Oh the board telling me which questions I should answer in a press conference. That is also cool. 
• Press conferences. Seeing who is there and who asks the question is a lot nicer. This setup is much more engaging than we had previously. The questions and answers are pretty much the same, but there is more engagement with the process. And feedback is nice. 
• It is very nice to be able to choose how your intrasquad friendly is set up, who to play, who to play against, and who to manage. I like this a lot. 
• The match screen. I do like the visuals, but I am not sure about the lack of widgets. I will wait and see, but it looks like it will be harder to grab the info you want quickly.
• The ME looks significantly nicer at first glance. Football feels more realistic, and the animations look very good. Player movement looks nice and passing looks better. Obviously I need a better sample size to know for sure, but so far so nice. Very well done. Oh and the TV camera is making me feel motion sick, that is the dynamic zoom I think. 
• Still seeing a lot of offsides in the wide channels which do not make a lot of sense. 
• The half time stats thing is pretty cool to have. Someone is going to have to explain to me how xG works mind. Also for the shot map thing, there are different symbols but no key as to what they mean. This needs explaining somewhere (I did not find where if it is). xG is a nicer way than CCC as well, it actually quantifies how good chances are (I think).
• Team talks are again set up quite nicely. I do not think it is as easy to read what is going on as before. Also for individual team talks you need a select all/deselect all option. Or to default to nobody selected. This is going to be a click fest if you want to give multiple players specific team talks. 

That was quite extensive. I will leave it there. The conclusion is that FM21 seems really nice even in the beta phase. Easily the most well rounded beta I have played. Well done SI. 

[KloppRodgersHodgson]

22 minutes ago, evertonmarc said:

Really enjoying this one 

First game, watched James out on the right wing, cut in and hit a brilliant through ball to DCL just like he does in real life. First time i think i've seen a proper through ball like that!!

One thing though....Man Utd are OP!!!

 

 

I think this is because AI managers don't really make a difference in FM, which negates the fact that Utd have a PE teacher in charge.

[cris182]

22 minutes ago, evertonmarc said:

Really enjoying this one 

First game, watched James out on the right wing, cut in and hit a brilliant through ball to DCL just like he does in real life. First time i think i've seen a proper through ball like that!!

One thing though....Man Utd are OP!!!

 

 

While i agree it must be quite hard to get right as on paper the players they have the attributes are right, And making them perform as they do in real life at times must be tricky 

[Bradley21]

35 minutes ago, mistershoko said:

dude make up your mind

This graphic is obnoxiously crowded and doesn't tell anybody anything. They could put literally anything else there and it would make more sense. 

[HUNT3R]

2 minutes ago, Bradley21 said:

This graphic is obnoxiously crowded and doesn't tell anybody anything. They could put literally anything else there and it would make more sense. 

SI did list this as a known issue, so it's something they're looking to improve.

[SmurfDude]

25 minutes ago, evertonmarc said:

Really enjoying this one 

First game, watched James out on the right wing, cut in and hit a brilliant through ball to DCL just like he does in real life. First time i think i've seen a proper through ball like that!!

One thing though....Man Utd are OP!!!

 

 

I disagree. United have a pretty good team, but they are a badly run football club with a poor manager. In FM these factors are much less significant

[Cro-cop]

Didnt have time to play the game properly, but i see lots of positive reviews about ME. My question for you guys is, would you be fine if they leave ME exactly as it is until fm 22?

Edited November 12, 2020 by Cro-cop

[iAlwaysWin]

Lack of assists from wide areas.

Midfield centre area struggling to gain decent ratings.

Strikers not getting involved enough.

3D Match Engine difficult to watch for second year running.

Set Pieces the only consistent supply of Goals.

[SmurfDude]

1 minute ago, Cro-cop said:

Didnt have time to play the game properly, but i see lots of positive reviews about ME. My question for you guys is, would you be fine if they leave ME exactly as it is until fm 22?

I'd be delighted if it stayed as it is. I'm worried they'll try to tweak things for release and it'll have a knock on effect and break something else. 

[mistershoko]

14 minutes ago, Bradley21 said:

This graphic is obnoxiously crowded and doesn't tell anybody anything. They could put literally anything else there and it would make more sense. 

Yes.

Actually, the point of the screenshot is that he's recommending two opposite instructions in 4 mins difference 

[pearcey_90]

41 minutes ago, DazRTaylor said:

Cons

- The Press.  When they ask a question, you now need to click onto an extra screen to answer.  Why the need?  I now decline to answer to save time whereas before I always answered.

This is one of my main gripes from this years release. Overall game is great so far, but why did they feel the need to add in an extra screen for a simple response? It's pointless and annoying. Because as you say, before would always click an answer, not just decline vast majority of time. 

Hopefully it's something that can be changed for full release, but probably too much coding maybe to change this late on?

[mistershoko]

12 minutes ago, Cro-cop said:

Didnt have time to play the game properly, but i see lots of positive reviews about ME. My question for you guys is, would you be fine if they leave ME exactly as it is until fm 22?

absolutely.

ME is the last thing I'd change right now.

most of the issues I encountered are UI bugs and optimizations that are still missing

[Dagenham_Dave]

It's going to take some time to get used to the stars for role suitability. I really wished they'd used something different from stars, as this is getting very confusing. I get that they're trying to move away from general role suitability to role suitably within YOUR own team specifically, but when I'm looking at players and see they have hardly any suitability for any role, it's counter-intuitive to what we had before. And then we have players who have higher role suitability for totally different positions from their natural position than a player who is actually natural at that position. It makes the squad depth screen on the team report section virtually redundant now, and this was an area I used extensively when identifying weak spots in the squad. 

[Firehouse]

Yeah, a lot of things are gonna take some time to get used to, there are a lot of UI changes, some for better, some not. But I don't mind them as I can see where SI are going with them.

I am enjoying the matchday though, ME seems really good now (my judgement could be clouded since is going really well for me ), but changes like making tactical changes for the next match only, the data/performance analyst seem like they are finally doing something.

The only thing I'm really bothered by is the lack of timeline during the match.
PLEASE BRING BACK THE TIMELINE.

[evilpimp972]

il y a 23 minutes, iAlwaysWin a dit :

Lack of assists from wide areas.

Midfield centre area struggling to gain decent ratings.

Strikers not getting involved enough.

3D Match Engine difficult to watch for second year running.

Set Pieces the only consistent supply of Goals.

Its gotta be your tactics.

My midfieldiers have the best ratings of the team (one of them is a DM on support, lol) 

And wide areas do not need more assists, please dont let them comeback to fm20

[Nonlondoner]

I'm impressed so far. Like others have said, it's a very stable Beta and the new match engine is excellent. 

Gripes so far;
The press conferences are clunky. I like the idea but the screen is a bit busy and old gits like me might struggle to see where the question is coming from. 
The Dugout. I'm sat in it, but can't see how I can get my assistant's suggestions on demand. I see them between highlights and they're gone before I can read and action them. 
New fitness/morale/injury icons will take some getting used to. 

Is there a step between picking the team and starting the match. I don't seem to be able to make any last minute tactical changes before the game starts?
Default kits are the same which is disappointing. Some variety is needed around the basic designs, the default Arsenal kits are awful this year. I know we can't go too close but some subtly different versions around the defaults would give us more to play with.  

 

Otherwise another strong showing from FM21 and I will be recommending it. 

[sporadicsmiles]

Oh I just got to the recruitment meeting. This is a nice addition as well. Not really ground breaking but it is a nice way to formalize what you need to strengthen and what players to target. In fact having played through the entire meeting this is something that is really excellent for building a squad in an informed and structured way. I will note that these suggestions appear spot on, as they matched my own assessment of the squad perfectly.

I will say that the suggestions I am getting for players to look at in this meeting are a bit weird. For example I was told I need a quality player for DMC playing as Man Utd. Which is absolutely correct, by the way, we do. However I am given one player as an option. Victor Sanchez, who is 32 and not really better than the options I have. Further, I am supposed to sign young players or high profile players, this player is neither. Should I bug report this, or am I missing something?

Edited November 12, 2020 by sporadicsmiles

[Nikopol]

vor 29 Minuten schrieb iAlwaysWin:

Lack of assists from wide areas.

Midfield centre area struggling to gain decent ratings.

Strikers not getting involved enough.

3D Match Engine difficult to watch for second year running.

Set Pieces the only consistent supply of Goals.

Thanks for describing your teams issues to us.

[Armistice]

Hi, haven't had time to read the reviews but can some of you tell me an unbiased opinion on the ME? Is it SIGNIFICANTLY improved compared to last year? Which isn't a lot in itself as last year's ME was a mess imo. Also can we download demo now or wait until full release? I forgot how it worked last year.

[The Danimal]

Is nobody else bothered about there being about 40 blocked crosses a game and 20 corners a game?

[Wavelberry]

How are people finding GK ratings? I know it was pointed out that they could be a bit low during the Twitch stream last week and I've had a couple of quiet games where the GK is getting below average despite having nothing to do.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

16 hours ago, 0141607 said:

Hi guys

Possible longshot here but I've bought them game from HRKGame.com and was wondering if anybody else had done so?

Like a fool I rushed into buying it and didn't even notice there is no mention of early access/beta so I have raised it with them. That was 6 hours and still looking into it. I don't want to activate the code on steam yet in case I can still get a refund and purchase it elswehere.

Just wondering if anybody has bought FM21 from that site and if so does it come with early access/beta??

Cheers

As far as I am aware once you have got a valid key and activated it in Steam you have access to the Beta, at that point it doesn't matter where you purchased your key.

The main issue with purchasing from sites not on the official list is you don't know where they got the keys from and can not guarantee they'd provide a key ahead of the full games release which is what allows you to access the beta.

[sporadicsmiles]

Being able to make tactical changes that apply to the next match only, that is lovely. 

[Hootieleece]

I am enjoying it so far. I am playing as Southport FC in Vanarama North.

My biggest pet peeve so far is that in my opposition and scouting reports pregame. I am ALWAYS told the other team will play a 4-4-2. But when I actually play them it is something else like a 5-3-2WB or a 4-2-3-1.

Other than that I haven't really gotten into scouting yet because I am playing as a team with no money.

But I definitely agree with @DazRTaylor comments further up.

[sporadicsmiles]

3 minutes ago, Armistice said:

Hi, haven't had time to read the reviews but can some of you tell me an unbiased opinion on the ME? Is it SIGNIFICANTLY improved compared to last year? Which isn't a lot in itself as last year's ME was a mess imo. Also can we download demo now or wait until full release? I forgot how it worked last year.

The demo will come with full release (I guess, but do not quote me on it being available exactly at release). 

The ME honestly looked a lot better to me. But I only played a single game so far, so perhaps it is too early to call. If you are on the fence about the game and are in a situation where you are not definitely going to buy it at some point anyway, I'd wait. 

[Armistice]

4 hours ago, Hicks said:

What if Nani passes ball directly to CF?

Well it looks like it's a counter-attack so of course he's exposed to risks.

[Kingstontom88]

Only played a few hours but echo the sentiments in this thread for the most part

* Matchday UI needs getting used to; have to adapt to monitoring my player's condition looking at the hearts which are quite hard to focus on

* Star system for roles can be a bit confusing - though the visual aid on them is an excellent addition

* Recruitment meeting is nice addition

* ME is definitely an improvement, albeit I'm seeing quite a few goals from precise through balls against deep defences - it's great to look at but I hope it isn't too common; seen 3 worldy assists in 1 game

[Luke Strangwood]

When you go to start a game and then go back to change tactics, it doesn't allow you to change your attacking, neutral or defending tactics. It only shows "attacking" but you cannot edit this anyway.

[TheBasic]

Hi,

I am a bit of an old man and don't have any social media accounts but I really wanted to express my appreciation for the latest Football Manager and didn't really know where to go.

As I'm sure with most of you, I have had Football Manager every year since the 2013 entry so I like to think my opinion is worth something. I have to say, this newest edition of Football Manager has really impressed me. The user interface, the changes to the in-match features and pretty much all aspects of this years game have been a huge improvement and have led to a much smoother and immersive experience. I particularly like the new recruitment meetings where you can discuss which positions you feel you need to strengthen and send your team off to go look for them, this is incredibly realistic and a much smoother experience than the last two years, in my opinion.

I'm really enjoying the new game and wanted to share my appreciation with the Sports Interactive team for continuously striving towards improving the game.

[Zemahh]

5 minutes ago, Hootieleece said:

My biggest pet peeve so far is that in my opposition and scouting reports pregame. I am ALWAYS told the other team will play a 4-4-2. But when I actually play them it is something else like a 5-3-2WB or a 4-2-3-1.

Out of curiosity, what's the Tactical Knowledge attribute of the Scout you've assigned to provide Opposition Reports (Staff Responsibilities -> Scouting)? I believe that influences the accuracy of their reports, but it's something I'd love some definite info on, because I'm not sure about it myself.

[bassistuk]

4 minutes ago, Luke Strangwood said:

When you go to start a game and then go back to change tactics, it doesn't allow you to change your attacking, neutral or defending tactics. It only shows "attacking" but you cannot edit this anyway.

same issue here. thisnk its a bug!

[michaeltmurrayuk]

14 hours ago, Zemahh said:

Could be just me, but the tooltip doesn't add much clarity at all. I feel they could include more keywords such as "calmly", "aggressively", "passionately" etc., rather than tell me that an Outstretched Arms gesture will make me outstretch my arms. I end up not bothering with gestures at all, because having to slow down my workflow significantly to actually have a think about which gesture to use, just isn't my cup of tea. I know it's not that difficult, but text descriptions were much more intuitive and easier to understand (especially for non-English speakers). There's a thin line between making something more immersive and making it a chore.

And press conferences are along the same lines for me. While the first two or three were interesting, there's simply no way I'm going to be reading all that text week in and week out during my 10+ season saves (I mean, even the SI guys delegated them immediately on the First Look livestream ). That said, I do understand some people enjoy playing at a slower pace and immersing themselves completely, so on that front they're definitely an improvement.

One thing that may help you out as you get used to the gestures is if you select one it will disable responses that don't go with that gesture, so you can see which gestures and which answers go together to get a better understanding of how the game ins interpreting the gesture (and answer).

[glosoli]

Are we going to see any patches during the beta or day 1 patch with the full release?

[evertonmarc]

52 minutes ago, SmurfDude said:

I disagree. United have a pretty good team, but they are a badly run football club with a poor manager. In FM these factors are much less significant

don't get me wrong, they have some brilliant player in real life.......but in my save they are smashing everyone. They just beat Chelsea away 4-1, coming off a 6-0 at home to Wolves, and a 5-1 away to Newcastle. Think they are averaging 4 goals a game at the moment.

Only loss was at home to Villa haha!!

[HUNT3R]

2 minutes ago, glosoli said:

Are we going to see any patches during the beta or day 1 patch with the full release?

Neil has already answered : 

 

[crarfc]

terrific  game, runs very well,started 2 games, one with Rangers and one with Brentford.

only problem i have as the awful stats (and no change) for Michail Antonio!!! Hes now a striker (not been changed) and  compared to the likes of Ashley Barnes he looks very poor.

this definitely needs looked at,

Edited November 12, 2020 by crarfc

[michaeltmurrayuk]

14 hours ago, Dagenham_Dave said:

Not sure if this is by design, but the new role suitability stars are causing a bit of a headache. On my squad depth screen, my two best right wingers are both central midfielders naturally, whereas my one natural right winger is listed 4th in the depth chart despite being good in the role. 

Is this a deliberate change to indicate more fluidity in a player's suitability for the role, or are there gremlins afoot?

Check your Players Attributes as it should now better reflect your players ability - So if your CM's have better Winger Attributes than your RW then it should be working as intended as your CM's are no longer being 'punished' for being able to play multiple positions.

Though if you feel your RW is better than the CM then raise it as a bug as something might have broken.

[Nikopol]

I am really enjoying the game but have to say that the depiction of the transfer market during Corona is kind of botched. The prices paid for some players are way too low, teams are selling key players left and right, or even players that underachieved for barely anything. And some teams, like Dortmund, are making very illogical transfers.  I know the devs have said that this will be an issue in the beta but i just hope that they will fix it in time for release, because if the carefully crafted DB gets messed up with 2-3 messy transfer periods that would be a real shame.

 

 

[Justified]

Well effing done 

That's it. That's the reply.

[Iwabik]

While I like that we moved on from percents in condition, I have to admit I'm not a fan of the design. Especially match sharpness - we have different colors, all come with different mini icons on them, it's all super messy for me and to be honest, I'm having trouble to assess wheter my player IS match fit or ISN'T.