Football Manager 2021 Early Access Beta Official Feedback Thread

[bassistuk]

having all these screens hidden away between highlights is sooo annoying. And as soon as they appear they dissapear again.... I just lost a match because i wasn't quick enough selecting to change my penalty kick taker cause the game decided to just flash by to the penalty without me deciding yet. FRUSTRATING! please fix the info screens and stats. PLEASE ! then it woul dbe perfect!

Edited November 12, 2020 by bassistuk

[Zemahh]

What do people think about the body language icons? For me personally, they can be quite hard to read. Can't just hoover over them either, you have to click on a player to get the text description; smileys can be quite hard to differentiate on smaller monitors, unless you burn your eyes out with turning the brightness right up.

I've to say, while I absolutely love the match engine and the rest of the game, the matchday experience UI really is AWFUL. Sorry to be blunt, there's no getting used to it—the more I play, the less I like it. I hope to God SI didn't prevent those panels from getting edited, because a year of such clutter and just in general an inconvenient matchday experience, would be painful to endure. And that would be a real shame, because while I'm excited for every single highlight I see, I fear the moment it ends and I have to return to the train wreck that is The Dugout. Give me FM21 with the FM20 matchday experience (in-between highlights screen, text body language and ability to use widgets) and I would have given the game a solid 10/10 without a single complaint.

[bassistuk]

Just now, Zemahh said:

What do people think about the body language icons? For me personally, they can be quite hard to read. Can't just hoover over them either, you have to click on a player to get the text description; smileys can be quite hard to differentiate on smaller monitors, unless you burn your eyes out with turning the brightness right up.

I've to say, while I absolutely love the match engine and the rest of the game, the matchday experience UI really is AWFUL. Sorry to be blunt, there's no getting used to it—the more I play, the less I like it. I hope to God SI didn't prevent those panels from getting edited, because a year of such clutter and just in general an inconvenient matchday experience, would be painful to endure. And that would be a real shame, because while I'm excited for every single highlight I see, I fear the moment it ends and I have to return to the train wreck that is The Dugout. Give me FM21 with the FM20 matchday experience (in-between highlights screen, text body language and ability to use widgets) and I would have given the game a solid 10/10 without a single complaint.

very hard to read atm. my brain cant compute as fast as text does. I used to be able to just glance at it from the corner of my eye.  now i have to look at it then hover the mouse to see whats going on.

[samdiatmh]

23 minutes ago, Gingerdilligaf said:

Every league loaded,large database & running superfast. Hopefully it stays this way by season 10

in my experience, yes

my holiday save tends to take around 3 hours per season, and that's fairly consistent up to 2028 (autosave every year, and just holidaying)

save times:

2020 - 09:08 - 134MB save size - literally the first save after creating the manager
2021 - 11:21 - 264MB save size
2022 - 14:53 - 308MB save size
2023 - 18:16 - 350MB save size
2024 - 23:09 - 372MB save size (I left the house, so turned off the PC) - resumed the holiday just before bed that night
2025 - 02:14 - 399MB save size
2026 - 05:33 - 423MB save size
2027 - 10:47 - 444MB save size (I got up around 6am, so saw a one month progression and turned it off - starting the morning routine)
2028 - 13:49 - 462MB save size (stopped here as the save became fairly regen-dependent)

fairly consistent progressing through the years, and this is pretty reassuring for longer term saves
DB Setup: France, England, Germany, Spain and Italy (loaded fully), with all players in the DB

Edited November 12, 2020 by samdiatmh

[h3nrique_SEP]

ME is good

but I’m still concerned about the passive playing style of AI managers, I’m playing against Man City and I haven’t conceded a goal in 5 matches playing with a very offensive tactic

[pizzachips]

Is anyone noticing key highlights feels almost like extended. I dont seem to go more than 10 in game mins without a highlight and this is now based over 5 games. Feels alot more than before.

[ajt]

Just now, pizzachips said:

Is anyone noticing key highlights feels almost like extended. I dont seem to go more than 10 in game mins without a highlight and this is now based over 5 games. Feels alot more than before.

Not sure as I'm playing on extended but there are certainly way more highlights than last year imo (which is a good thing!)

[anagain]

1 hour ago, wattzy said:

Anyone else just feel that things are just overly ‘gimmicky’ now?

Why the hell have all the players been splashed around the screen for team talks, what was wrong with the lists? And why so many things on the screen during games?

Gameplay wise I’m sure the game will be enjoyable as ever, but feel like some things have been changed interface wise just the for sake of it. 

I'm not sure I'd call it gimmicky.

As has been said, the circle effect for players in the team talk is to suggest you are the center and they are your audience. The same with press conferences. I will admit I couldn't find some of my players when I first did a team talk. I didn't see the ones at the top, but that was short-lived.

What do you mean by "so many things on screen during games". If you asked me I'd say that SI have nicely decluttered the screen. 

As much as I liked widgets, and used them a lot, I do really like that the UI is sparse and that you can open other info windows as and when you like, and easily. For example, the tablet. It lets me view the match in all its glory. 

I think SI are just steamlining as well as making things more real world. 

[Tiger666]

3 minutes ago, anagain said:

I'm not sure I'd call it gimmicky.

As has been said, the circle effect for players in the team talk is to suggest you are the center and they are your audience. The same with press conferences. I will admit I couldn't find some of my players when I first did a team talk. I didn't see the ones at the top, but that was short-lived.

What do you mean by "so many things on screen during games". If you asked me I'd say that SI have nicely decluttered the screen. 

As much as I liked widgets, and used them a lot, I do really like that the UI is sparse and that you can open other info windows as and when you like, and easily. For example, the tablet. It lets me view the match in all its glory. 

I think SI are just steamlining as well as making things more real world. 

It's far from streamlining imo, a lot of screens are far more cluttered now. Some good feedback here:

 

[samdiatmh]

1 minute ago, anagain said:

I'm not sure I'd call it gimmicky.

As has been said, the circle effect for players in the team talk is to suggest you are the center and they are your audience. The same with press conferences. I will admit I couldn't find some of my players when I first did a team talk. I didn't see the ones at the top, but that was short-lived.

 

I think the idea is to turn those names into actual faces - kinda simulating a real-life press conference / team talk, rather than just a random list
Although not exactly sure when that'll be, but this is a good first-step

I still think it's the "aaaah change" - I still remember the outrage when 3D was introduced (as well as the "old" timeline at the bottom of the screen)

I give it a few months until people start accepting it - and it'll be almost universal by FM22 (there's some people that still play in 2D, but they're exceptions rather than the rule)

I quite like this FM, it almost feels like FM20.4 - just needs an updated DB to back it up (frequent reports from the data issues is that it's an old DB version - although COVID will do that)

[FrazT]

58 minutes ago, superposh said:

Initial thoughts.... Pretty good. Match engine seems to be a big upgrade on previous versions. The match UI will take some getting used to. I don't mind the heart icons instead of the percentages for fitness. 

Question... Can I turn the advertising boards off? I play in 2D, the boards moving and flashing is distracting and driving me slightly mad. 😒

The adboards can be turned off in preferences

[Crb1986]

What happened to the split view option during the 3d match?

[Tiger666]

3 minutes ago, FrazT said:

The adboards can be turned off in preferences

They can? Where is that option?

[pizzachips]

ha just learnt with a simple click you can just turn on and off the player belt at the bottom of screen on matchday- provides a full screen- i like that

[Gingerdilligaf]

Strikers maybe a little overpowered. Won a pre season friendly 6-2 with a particularly average forward scoring all 6 goals. Also suffered a 4-2 defeat & opposition striker bagged all 4 goals

[Domoboy23]

7 minutes ago, Gingerdilligaf said:

Strikers maybe a little overpowered. Won a pre season friendly 6-2 with a particularly average forward scoring all 6 goals. Also suffered a 4-2 defeat & opposition striker bagged all 4 goals

Key word there is ''friendly'' IMO

[FrazT]

11 minutes ago, Tiger666 said:

They can? Where is that option?

I wasnt sure what the poster was asking and although they cant actually be switched off completely, they can be deactivated so as to not take you to the advertisers website- sorry for the confusion

[Dagenham_Dave]

Sorry if this has been mentioned elsewhere, but has the section you used to get to via the tactics page that showed lots of useful info like when goals were scored/conceded and where assists came from also been removed from the game? 

[Tiger666]

Got a refund, far too much in the matchday experience I hate. I'll see if any design decisions have been reversed in time but I doubt it. FM20 was great apart from the match engine, you fixed that and ruined the matchday imo. FM20 with this match engine would have been perfect. Back to FM17 for me.

Edited November 12, 2020 by Tiger666

[pizzachips]

6 minutes ago, Dagenham_Dave said:

Sorry if this has been mentioned elsewhere, but has the section you used to get to via the tactics page that showed lots of useful info like when goals were scored/conceded and where assists came from also been removed from the game? 

uhm you referring to this section?

[91427]

You actually can turn the ad boards off. Just delete the ads.fmf file in steamapps > common > Football Manager 2021 > data. Funnily enough you get non-animated boards with Football Manager 2008 written on them instead

[ajt]

13 minutes ago, Gingerdilligaf said:

Strikers maybe a little overpowered. Won a pre season friendly 6-2 with a particularly average forward scoring all 6 goals. Also suffered a 4-2 defeat & opposition striker bagged all 4 goals

and how has it been for you over your league season? because for me my top scoring striker had 19 goals in the league

some more examples:

Lewandoski 15 goals in 2020/21 & 19 goals in 2021/22.

Harry Kane 17 goals in 2021/22.

Icardi 13 goals in 2020/21 & 18 goals in 2021/22.

Cavani 21 goals in 2020/21.

Salah 13 goals in 2020/21 & 14 goals in 2021/22.

 

If anything the most unrealistic thing that I've seen so far is that Messi is still playing for Barcelona in my save 

Either that or Martial being sold to Barcelona for £131 million this past transfer window 

[Dagenham_Dave]

5 minutes ago, pizzachips said:

uhm you referring to this section?

 

No, you know the page that showed you how many goals had been scored and conceded in 15 minute chunks, and it also showed you if assists were from crosses, through balls, etc? That one, can't find it anywhere. 

[Rashidi]

6 minutes ago, Dagenham_Dave said:

No, you know the page that showed you how many goals had been scored and conceded in 15 minute chunks, and it also showed you if assists were from crosses, through balls, etc? That one, can't find it anywhere. 

This?

[Rashidi]

It's in the analyst report>scoring

[Dagenham_Dave]

Yes, @Rashidi, or at least similar, where are you finding that? 

[Rashidi]

Team Report>Analyst Report>Scoring or Formations or Conceding. Each shows what used to be on the tactics page. They streamlined all analysis to the analyst reports

[Dagenham_Dave]

2 minutes ago, Rashidi said:

It's in the analyst report>scoring

Thanks, it's in the team report section now, used to be on the tactics page. 

[Ellis_D]

It's REALLY annoying having to pick your team on this new Team Selection page. Why can't we just pick the team in the old way we used to? Whenever I pick my defenders and move on to the midfielders on the normal squad page, it de-selects them all. It seems the only way I can do it is on the Team Selection bit which is very annoying.

[Ellis_D]

And this thing with the love hearts instead of numbers for the condition and fitness. It's awful. It's actually really messing with my very mild OCD. Please, please, PLEASE patch it and change these two things back SI.

I actually think they are game breakers for me. I will soldier on with it for a few days,  but I need the numbers for the condition and fitness, I can't be dealing with emojis like this!

[anagain]

44 minutes ago, samdiatmh said:

 

I think the idea is to turn those names into actual faces - kinda simulating a real-life press conference / team talk, rather than just a random list
Although not exactly sure when that'll be, but this is a good first-step

I still think it's the "aaaah change" - I still remember the outrage when 3D was introduced (as well as the "old" timeline at the bottom of the screen)

I give it a few months until people start accepting it - and it'll be almost universal by FM22 (there's some people that still play in 2D, but they're exceptions rather than the rule)

I quite like this FM, it almost feels like FM20.4 - just needs an updated DB to back it up (frequent reports from the data issues is that it's an old DB version - although COVID will do that)

Yeah, I like it very much too. There are a few teething problems, but as long as we all report them - which is being done - SI can make changes for the better. 

I agree that people can grow to like the changes once they are perfected. The change from sliders was another moment that most don't miss now. 

[Gingerdilligaf]

23 minutes ago, ajt said:

and how has it been for you over your league season? because for me my top scoring striker had 19 goals in the league

some more examples:

Lewandoski 15 goals in 2020/21 & 19 goals in 2021/22.

Harry Kane 17 goals in 2021/22.

Icardi 13 goals in 2020/21 & 18 goals in 2021/22.

Cavani 21 goals in 2020/21.

Salah 13 goals in 2020/21 & 14 goals in 2021/22.

 

If anything the most unrealistic thing that I've seen so far is that Messi is still playing for Barcelona in my save 

Either that or Martial being sold to Barcelona for £131 million this past transfer window 

Its still early days for me. A 2-2 draw in the League Cup then off to work on a nightshift. Glad to know the season doesn't end up a goalfest & its probably just something that occurs in pre season friendlies. Mind you the real life season is seeing scorelines more like ice hockey at the mo.

[Sterling]

1 hour ago, Tiger666 said:

Urgh.. so I have to wait until there's a break in play, then pause to read the dugout to notice if someone has a knock.

Its like a game inside the game mate.....................like 'whack a mole', FM is testing that you are paying attention, you have to anticipate the break in play and quickly mash pause so you can read the dugout info before it quickly disappears again.

It is a truly frustrating and downright crazy change to the match UI. 

These match UI changes are verging on a deal breaker for me.

 

 

Edited November 13, 2020 by Sterling
Correction

[ajt]

7 minutes ago, Gingerdilligaf said:

Its still early days for me. A 2-2 draw in the League Cup then off to work on a nightshift. Glad to know the season doesn't end up a goalfest & its probably just something that occurs in pre season friendlies. Mind you the real life season is seeing scorelines more like ice hockey at the mo.

haha true enough, yeah I've found so far that the goal tallies aren't too crazy. In fact if I compare Bayern in the 2019/20 Bundesliga season to the two seasons in my game then they are actually scoring less 

[Dagenham_Dave]

I have to say I love this new screen after a player has approached you with an issue...

[Ellis_D]

Another stupid thing. On the subs screen, the players on the pitch are only shown by their numbers, yet on the panel on the right, it just shows the players names but not their numbers.... How am I supposed to do know which player relates to which number?! This information should be right there on the screen, I shouldn't have to go looking for it.

I've got to say, some serious changes need to happen over the next two weeks or this game is ruined for me. Several really, really frustrating things about it. I sold FIFA because of the rubbish they served up yet again, I hope SI won't let me down this year, they never normally do!

[ut21wx]

One thing for SI to consider.

Can we see the replay of the expected goals highlight by simply kicking the icons on the shot map?

 

Right now we have to go to the team performance to see all the highlight of the shoots. 

 

Thank you for your attention.

[Ellis_D]

And why can't we click on the player on that screen to view his attributes?! This is insane. I'm managing Port Talbot, I don't know their players, I need to check how good they are!

[GOODNAME]

Its so hard and annoying to see which player assist when im clicking on the result of a random match.. 

[tobybilton1]

3 hours ago, FixUpDanSharp said:

Are Spurs completely awful in anyone elses save? ive started a couple of saves now, they have been relegated in one and sit 16th in another

Playing as Spurs and pretty disappointed to be fair and was really keen to get stuck in, despite supporting them I never normally play with them as I prefer a challenge.

Despite being in a discussion on a closed thread over the past month Son doesn’t seem to be as good as he is in real life. Probably because he doesn’t play for United or isn’t South American. Also difficult to get Kane firing. Tanganga pretty much as good as Alderweireld already... Joe Hart starts with squad status first choice, then moans when you change it. He knew what he signed up for when he joined in the summer.

People will say some of the above is tactics or whatever but I’ve used various now and it’s not having it.

Can’t believe either that media prediction is 7th... Some of those top 6 are so overrated in comparison to this Spurs team. 

[Dutchy1983]

Gameplay looks a lot smoother. Speed through the game and saving is great. Few clunky/jittery screens, on tactics screen and whenever selecting players to play in U23 or U18 games when requested screen changes sizes and wierd stuff. Match engine 🤦🏼‍♂️ I've seen the over powering of long ball goals before but it's out of control on my save. 6 friendlies and 2 league games in the championship and they are everywhere. Meanwhile I'm playing a 442 wing play, two monsters up top. Not one cross with a headed finish... 

[warlock]

1 hour ago, Rashidi said:

It's in the analyst report>scoring

Are assists being recorded in your save? Just checked mine and while the "Scoring" text says "4 of a total of 12 assists have come from the left side of the pitch", no assists are shown in the graphic (and the same for assists for goals conceded):

[Christmas]

I just had my first example of selling player wants a payoff.

Player was going to much bigger club for **almost same salary, although yes I had just bought him 6 months ago. He was very unhappy before big club offer already.

I negotiate for a bit, no budge, I reject because I think, well OK he tries but moving to CL mega club. Deal broke down.

I don't say bug, but can SI confirm it is at least a % possiblity to succes to reject sometimes?

Edited November 13, 2020 by Christmas

[superposh]

1 minute ago, Christmas said:

I just had my first example of selling player wants a payoff.

Player was going to much bigger club for much more money, although yes I had just bought him 6 months ago. He was very unhappy before big club offer already.

I negotiate for a bit, no budge, I reject because I think, well OK he tries but moving to CL mega club. Deal broke down.

I don't say bug, but can SI confirm it is at least a % possiblity to succes to reject sometimes?

I sold Naby Keita who wanted a £1.3m pay off to go to PSG. I negotiated it down to £1m. 

[Dircks]

Is there a way to display the aggregate score in the second leg of cup matches?  I can't find it anywhere inside of the match.

[h3nrique_SEP]

2 hours ago, ajt said:

haha true enough, yeah I've found so far that the goal tallies aren't too crazy. In fact if I compare Bayern in the 2019/20 Bundesliga season to the two seasons in my game then they are actually scoring less 

this ME still produces few goals, little more than FM20, but less than FM18, i hope SI can somehow "increase" the number of goals for the final version

[ferrarinseb]

1 hour ago, warlock said:

Are assists being recorded in your save? Just checked mine and while the "Scoring" text says "4 of a total of 12 assists have come from the left side of the pitch", no assists are shown in the graphic (and the same for assists for goals conceded):

So it wasn't just me then. 

[Gah Rii]

I'm really enjoying the match engine in this edition so far, particularly the pass/cross interceptions.

 

I see a lot of players cutting off passing lanes now, and rather than the pass just going directly through them like it would in previous editions they'll actually block it. It's definitely much more noticeable in this than previous editions. Removes all the annoying low cross spammed goals from fm20

[samdiatmh]

2 hours ago, warlock said:

Are assists being recorded in your save? Just checked mine and while the "Scoring" text says "4 of a total of 12 assists have come from the left side of the pitch", no assists are shown in the graphic (and the same for assists for goals conceded):

I've found that you actually need to "refresh" the page in order for stats to actually appear (particularly notable at HT stat analysis - you actually need to highlight a player first, it doesn't display all)

go back to that menu, but change it from "all competitions" to something else, and then change it back
and it should update

no idea why it works like that, but might be due to some optimisations under-the-hood

 

the stats are being recorded (the "report" on the left side is an example of that), it's literally just a visual issue

Edited November 13, 2020 by samdiatmh

[Deisler26]

I'm not enjoying the Ass Man's comments every two seconds.

"We need fresh legs on".. in the 26th minute. Pretty sure the guy can make it to half time FFS.

But I don't want to ignore it all, because maybe, he might say something I need.