Football Manager 2021 Early Access Beta Official Feedback Thread

[Johnny Ace]

1 hour ago, TheInvisibleMan said:

Agree with this, it was a nice feature. 

I like the new 'tv' style scorer popup but having the assister on would be nice too.

It could easily fit in that bottom bar where all the players are, it shows the goal scorers & could easily have a little A in there for an assist 

[semiki]

Very impressive game overall, probably the biggest improvement in a long time. I however need to point out an issue with the tactics screen UI, and in particular the usable screen width. The tactics screen is expected to be the most information-intensive screen of the whole game, but we see here that a good portion of the screen is intentionally unusable to show a "dressing room" background.

Out of curiosity, I compared the usable area of the tactics screen out of the whole screen area, excluding the top bar. Approximately, the usable area had dimensions 2260x2006, while the whole (potentially usable) area excluding the top bar had dimensions of 2948x1914. Now, (2260x2006)/(2948x1914)=0.8, meaning TWENTY PERCENT of the potentially usable area is just wasted away intentionally - I could easily squeeze in 4 more columns in the selection info panel in full width, for example. This ratio may of course vary between screens, but I think I've made my point clear.

Any plans to enable full width? Frankly, having to rely on skins to work around this issue would be slightly absurd if necessary. Thank you!

 

[KlaaZ]

7 minutes ago, kingking said:

I for one are extremely disappointed by the lack of devs participating in the Match Engine A.I & Tactics bugs sub forum. So many posts with 0 replies from devs.

So many bugs reported are being ignored by devs in the Match Engine A.I Sub forum.

I'm utterly ashamed. I want this game to be better.

It's not because they're not posting on every thread that these haven't been looked at. If they'd have to respond to every little thing there, they would get no work done whatsoever.

Your tone is way over the top by the way. You should be utterly ashamed. 

[Rashidi]

24 minutes ago, kingking said:

I know you guys get paid by FM staff to maintain the illusion that this game is perfect.

That is uncalled for. I suggest you stop suggesting things like that.

[Broken_Record]

49 minutes ago, Dagenham_Dave said:

Try doing the same thing with Fulham? That would be a better test, surely?

Why don't you try comparing this test to real life?

Chelsea had huge defensive difficulties for more than a season before finally finding a stability after Silva, Chilwell and Mendy arrived. And they were not actually playing with a 4-2-4.

And I've seen a few twitch streamers doing the same successfully with smaller clubs such as Newcastle and Leeds. 

Using super attacking style of play should always lead into conceding more goals, no matter what team you are. 

 

Edited November 15, 2020 by Broken_Record

[Rashidi]

6 minutes ago, Broken_Record said:

Why don't you try comparing this test to real life?

Chelsea had huge defensive difficulties for more than a season before finally finding a stability after Silva, Chilwell and Mendy arrived. And they were not actually playing with a 4-2-4.

And I've seen a few twitch streamers doing the same successfully with smaller clubs such as Newcastle and Leeds. 

Using super attacking style of play should always lead into conceding more goals, no matter what team you are. 

 

It's still a beta stage and it's a good thing there are so many people playing super attacking football, including me. Its one way of getting SI to notice plus there are more pkms and save games that we can provide them with a full season of data. I do agree that attacking play seems to be easy and some defences need to tighten up a fair bit to handle overly aggressive systems, imagine the opposite which has actually happened on betas - people can't score. Its still only the beta.

[pizzachips]

Hey guys,

 

Is this screen ( average positions highlighted below) only available at half and full time?

I've only seen it then but would like to check it any pt as the AI makes changes to tactics

[mozza79]

56 minutes ago, Fruity__ said:

I know that, but I do not see them redoing the entire UI. The only thing that can save this disaster of a UI is skins now, I've added a picture to show how massive the difference in information is. I've seen people it is to make it more real but it's a game after all, analyzing the game was a big part of it and I used it often. The widgets were one of my favourite things and the game feels naked without them.

Agree.

The UI is awful.

 

I have gone back to 2020 for now and am hoping that when the game is released some other skins and MODS are able to get it back somewhere near how it was.

 

Many things needed adapting and improving but i actually think they had the matchday UI nailed and a big overhaul like this was not needed. 

[kingking]

35 minutes ago, Rashidi said:

It's still a beta stage and it's a good thing there are so many people playing super attacking football, including me. Its one way of getting SI to notice plus there are more pkms and save games that we can provide them with a full season of data. I do agree that attacking play seems to be easy and some defences need to tighten up a fair bit to handle overly aggressive systems, imagine the opposite which has actually happened on betas - people can't score. Its still only the beta.

Let's all work together and acknowledge the issues.

I very much apologise if I have insulted you, that is not my intention. I respect your involvement in this site.

Let's all just agree A.I Managers tactics can be better and improve by the devs for FM 21.  For example devs should make A.I managers play more attacking and direct in certain situations such as when they are losing, even if the a.I manager is facing a stronger team as they need to take risks sometimes. Fulham shouldn't park the bus against every stronger team.

Edited November 15, 2020 by kingking

[KlaaZ]

2 minutes ago, kingking said:

Let's all work together and acknowledge the issues.

I apologise if I have insulted you, that is not my intention.

Let's all just agree A.I Managers tactics can be better and improve by the devs for FM 21.  For example make A.I managers play more attacking and direct in certain situations such as when they are losing even if the a.I manager is facing a stronger team as they need to take risks sometimes.

This may come as a surprise to you, but a smaller team may be happy just losing by a few goals to a bigger team. In real life, it's unlikely they will go out as well as that will just mean they'll ship more goals.

And stronger teams already do this. I've just witnessed it in my FC Kopenhagen game where I was 0-2 up in Sevilla and they went all out attacking in the last 15 minutes and rescued a draw.

[Sterling]

3 minutes ago, mozza79 said:

I have gone back to 2020 for now and am hoping that when the game is released some other skins and MODS are able to get it back somewhere near how it was.

Many things needed adapting and improving but i actually think they had the matchday UI nailed and a big overhaul like this was not needed. 

Yeah I'm the same, I've gone back to FM20 and will reassess FM21 once SI have reflected on the feedback and we have full release. I'm finding the matchUI rather frustrating to use, just poorly thought out, unintuitive and a chore to use.

[kingking]

1 minute ago, KlaaZ said:

This may come as a surprise to you, but a smaller team may be happy just losing by a few goals to a bigger team. In real life, it's unlikely they will go out as well as that will just mean they'll ship more goals.

And stronger teams already do this. I've just witnessed it in my FC Kopenhagen game where I was 0-2 up in Sevilla and they went all out attacking in the last 15 minutes and rescued a draw.

I respectfully disagree. Leeds and wolves are an example of smaller teams not being happy losing and would rather go all out and attack.  There needs to be a balance as I feel quite frankly, too often A.I Managers are more cautious and slow, than aggressive and quick when facing top teams.

 

[angelo994]

I see teams go for broke all the time? I don’t know what you are talking about when you say teams don’t go more attacking when they are losing. 

[ImDaWeasel]

1 hour ago, kingking said:

However

A.I inability to Counter Attack or Attack efficiently is a known issue.

With a team predicted to be 17-20th, if I went Very Attacking, Direct, High Tempo, High Press I would achieve above expectations easily and be 10th or something.

We fans do not want this and we expect better from the devs.

So you want to manage a manage a club that's expected to finished 17th-20th and ,despite everything you can do, you want to finish 17th-20th? 

And this is a knock on the creators of a game?

SI better just give up.

No pleasing some.

[GOODNAME]

A recommendation to SI :

Bring back the "last 10/5 minutes possession bar"

Bring back the match bar 

At the score, put it "( ) " the player who assisted the goal

Put the sorcerer face when he scored a goal and put the name of the player who got the assist 

Edited November 16, 2020 by GOODNAME

[2feet]

--- Love the User Interface - less cluttered data, shouts work better and have more clearer effect (you should be watching your players play football, not watching a stats table fluctuate).

--- Personal taste: In the bar of players at the bottom, i wish there was an 'i' button to have their attributes flash up...... (sometimes I see a player do something like play a key pass and I want to check their Vision attribute immediately).

--- During a match, the tactics screen to substitute a player allows you to customise the columns which is great, BUT you CANT add the 'Overall risk' column for injuries. This is vital, to know which player to select for the substitution so you know who is at imminent risk of breaking down with injury. See attached pic.

 

 

[Christmas]

Matchday UI

- Scorer Face

- Assist player

- When a goal disallowed just a floating "X - Goal disallowed" - Very well understand what X means but it looks so half finished

- Not playing contemporaneously but  I remember no badges or kits displayed in match UI at all, even for licensed league? So bad (and yes I know Sky sports scorebar IRL has no badge or kit, but it has colours and both show many times during game.

- Team name condensed, seems to be anywhere from 4-6 characters? What about old 3 characters? Newcastle is "NEWC", Huesca is "HUESCA", but Mirandes is something like "MIRAN" - all seems inconsistent and change from either full name, or the 3 letter we all know.

- SI already know of pass map (how did it include in beta?)

- I understand 'realistic' issue of taking away many stats but, even noticing that.

Matchday UI is so bad it crazy. So so so so so so so so bad. Also, quite bad.

 

Very waiting for skins at release, However, other than team colour top bar I think non-matchday skin is best SI-default skin in many long time. Mixed.

[kiwityke1983]

7 hours ago, LucasBR said:

What kind of extra info have you given to them? I just selected the preferred role, age and ca & pa.

I'll try to add few more info and see if it'll work.

Thanks.

I add the options in regards to me clubs transfer policies. They are in a  drop down menu in the top right corner. Usually I just select all transfer policies. Other times I just pick some of them. I also tell them to only scout within the UK as due to Brexit most foreigners can't get a work permit anyway. I've yet to struggle to get a player recommended for a position.

[Overmars]

Changes I would like:

1. Match widgets to return - especially the customizable match stats widget that enabled me to track the match without jumping to a table popup
2. Numerical fitness and match sharpness to return - if a 1-100 scale was too precise then change it to 1-20 or 1-10
3. A lighter skin
4. A larger xG shot chart - I can't view or click on the actual goal-scoring plays because they get obscured by all of the other 0.05 xG chances
5. Removing the "Summary" at the end of every chat
6. Fewer redundant staff members in relatively unimportant roles - There is no joy in signing 8 performance analysts, 4 recruitment analysts, 4 sports scientists, or a half-dozen physios. Multiple coaches and scouts make sense for this game, but these other roles are annoying to maintain. And assigning that duty to someone else isn't fun either because you still ultimately want to be the one hiring Bergkamp as a coach. There is no joy in hiring faceless Regen Smith as a sports scientist.

[alian62]

2 hours ago, Christmas said:

Matchday UI

- Scorer Face

- Assist player

- When a goal disallowed just a floating "X - Goal disallowed" - Very well understand what X means but it looks so half finished

- Not playing contemporaneously but  I remember no badges or kits displayed in match UI at all, even for licensed league? So bad (and yes I know Sky sports scorebar IRL has no badge or kit, but it has colours and both show many times during game.

- Team name condensed, seems to be anywhere from 4-6 characters? What about old 3 characters? Newcastle is "NEWC", Huesca is "HUESCA", but Mirandes is something like "MIRAN" - all seems inconsistent and change from either full name, or the 3 letter we all know.

- SI already know of pass map (how did it include in beta?)

- I understand 'realistic' issue of taking away many stats but, even noticing that.

Matchday UI is so bad it crazy. So so so so so so so so bad. Also, quite bad.

 

Very waiting for skins at release, However, other than team colour top bar I think non-matchday skin is best SI-default skin in many long time. Mixed.

Agree with most but i love the Matchday UI . Just have to keep reminding ourselves this is a BETA version . It could be months old ?

[alian62]

2 hours ago, GOODNAME said:

A recommendation to SI :

Bring back the "last 10/5 minutes possession bar"

Bring back the match bar 

At the score, put it "( ) " the player who assisted the goal

Put the sorcerer face when he scored a goal and put the name of the player who got the assist 

The match bar is there ? its under the Time clock ? And by clicking on the clock you get all the things you got in the time line ( Goals Cards etc  ) . I think its better than cluttering the screen up . Assist would be a nice option and using the face

[alian62]

3 hours ago, Sterling said:

Yeah I'm the same, I've gone back to FM20 and will reassess FM21 once SI have reflected on the feedback and we have full release. I'm finding the matchUI rather frustrating to use, just poorly thought out, unintuitive and a chore to use.

Shame but your entitled to your view of the game but remember its a BETA and not the full game . People complaining about things missing yet dont look for them . Think the Match A1 is cool and easier to use 

[alian62]

For people saying the attendances are missing they are now located on the top right hand side of the tactics meeting before you go to the team selection and of course you can view it after the game in schedules 

[alian62]

Is it me or does the Match day lighting seems dull . Its ok on a night game but during a day game it seems dull . 

[FrazT]

5 hours ago, Fruity__ said:

Pathetic how they have removed widgets during matchdays, so much important information is lost now and they've replaced it with some weird gimmicky crap.

 

Cannot believe this company, the UI gets worse and worse every year. I look forward to this every year, the ME keeps improving (debatable at times), but these UI designs are horrible. Hire some new people

No issues with not liking the UI, but please leave out the personal digs at the developers.

[kiwityke]

5 hours ago, Rashidi said:

It's still a beta stage and it's a good thing there are so many people playing super attacking football, including me. Its one way of getting SI to notice plus there are more pkms and save games that we can provide them with a full season of data. I do agree that attacking play seems to be easy and some defences need to tighten up a fair bit to handle overly aggressive systems, imagine the opposite which has actually happened on betas - people can't score. Its still only the beta.

Please just stop we really don't want to end up with the boring and stale rubbish that FM19 and FM20 largely served up. The ME is just fine as it is I don't want it ruining again!

Edited November 16, 2020 by kiwityke

[RocheBag]

11 hours ago, thiagoanjo said:

Yeah, at least all games Ive being watching, players dont waste plays like that 7 in 10 times

The best chances in football are about 1 in 3. You've been complaining about this for two days it would've taken 10 seconds to Google it. Clear cut chances are missed way more often than you see to think.

[zyfon5]

7 hours ago, kingking said:

However

A.I inability to Counter Attack or Attack efficiently is a known issue.

With a team predicted to be 17-20th, if I went Very Attacking, Direct, High Tempo, High Press I would achieve above expectations easily and be 10th or something.

We fans do not want this and we expect better from the devs.

I can do the same playing counter attacking football without using anything you mentioned above. Am I a tactics wizard now?

[Sohamkar]

My feedback for the game after playing 40 hours,

Pros:

1) First and foremost even for an EA / beta version the game is smooth and glitch-free.  I can run it in a mid-level PC without any hitch. 

2) The game play and simulation experience is almost same from previous year. It has been improved but not a big leap. Such as I can follow a well-versed Lower League tactics and beat almost any team without thinking as I have done in FM19 and FM20  

3) The introduction of few RPG elements such as in conversation or in interviews is great

4) Financial aspect of the game is now more realistic. At least for lower league teams. 

5) The graphics and match engine is good on the eye and much more improved than previous year. I can see the player actions / movements in the pitch more clearly now and it seems more fluid. The UI has received a Modern-day overhaul which is cool. 

6) The Game performance is great. The save time is very minimal now. 

 

Cons: 

1) When simulating a game, the UI options specially the dug-out and tabs are a bit limited in comparison with previous year. It is a bit tire-some to take quick actions and quick tactical changes. It should be expanded a little. 

2) The newly introduced Recruitment meeting is great on the eye but not practical in times. It cannot add anything more which I do not know already. It does not save me any game time. It should be more intuitive and expanded.

3) I simply cannot understand the role of Performance Analyst and Recruitment analysts. They do exactly the same thing that Data Analysts did in the previous iterations. I think scope of these roles should be expanded. 

4) The most hyped and marketed addition for the game is new Data Analysis thing and xG but I do not like them very much. It should have been properly explained. I cannot understand how can they improve my game. For example I am playing with Southend and Lost 5-0 to Man Utd in a FA Cup game. My xG is very similar to Man Utd. But I cannot understand where my players did wrong from xG or from the Data analysis. I know my strikers are not good, and for that I do not need xG. 

 

Last but not least I really like Football Manager 2021 and will dedicate many hours to it even if I cannot understand xG  

Edited November 16, 2020 by Sohamkar

[rp1966]

2 hours ago, alian62 said:

Is it me or does the Match day lighting seems dull . Its ok on a night game but during a day game it seems dull . 

Lighting/texturing still does not feel quite right, but it's better than the over-saturated cartoon-y feel of most MEs since the initial 'invasion of the picnic tables' version (FM18?). Hopefully some more tweaking will get us there.

 

 

[Teme55]

4 minutes ago, Sohamkar said:

4) The most hyped and marketed addition for the game is new Data Analysis thing and xG but I do not like them very much. It should have been properly explained. I cannot understand how can they improve my game. For example I am playing with Southend and Lost 5-0 to Man Utd in a FA Cup game. My xG is very similar to Man Utd. But I cannot understand where my players did wrong from xG or from the Data analysis. I know my strikers are not good, and for that I do not need xG. 

 

Last but not least I really like Football Manager 2021 and will dedicate many hours to it even if I cannot understand xG  

There are many many ways to use it to analyse your team/players and it actually is very useful metric for this game.

How I would suggest to use it in a simple way:

I don't know how you operate, but I'd say often times people make their tactical decisions based on the outcome of a match. However one outcome of a football match in real life and in FM is very random.

Instead of changing/honing your tactics based on results, you could use the xG to do that. Did you lose 3-0, but xG is very close to each other say 2.0 - 1.8. Analysis -> The game was pretty even, I had a bad luck, perhaps no need to change anything.

Another example: You won 1-0, but xG wasn't in your favour say 0.5 - 1.5. Great, I won, but the perfomance was not that good. What should I do to make my team perform better?

[rp1966]

2 hours ago, kiwityke said:

Please just stop we really don't want to end up with the boring and stale rubbish that FM19 and FM20 largely served up. The ME is just fine as it is I don't want it ruining again!

Agree.  Things have made a definite move in the right direction with attacking play actually functioning this release - it's what has helped make FM21's ME one that people like again.  The last thing we need is for such a stink to be kicked up that strikers get nerfed again.  

Yes, playing extreme attacking tactics should have consequences, but that requires more work on the midfield, defence and player physicals (like fatigue) having greater effect.  

The FM21 ME is the best we've had in years. Please, don't push SI into a knee-jerk adjustment that breaks what's great about it.

 

[kiwityke]

22 minutes ago, rp1966 said:

Agree.  Things have made a definite move in the right direction with attacking play actually functioning this release - it's what has helped make FM21's ME one that people like again.  The last thing we need is for such a stink to be kicked up that strikers get nerfed again.  

Yes, playing extreme attacking tactics should have consequences, but that requires more work on the midfield, defence and player physicals (like fatigue) having greater effect.  

The FM21 ME is the best we've had in years. Please, don't push SI into a knee-jerk adjustment that breaks what's great about it.

 

Exactly this I really, really can't stress enough how much I worry when I see those kinds of posts. They are essentially calling for the ruination of the game again. I stopped playing FM20 in January, which is a first for me, because the ME was so stale boring and frankly rubbish. Yet here we are after SI have created a thing of beauty that has me loving playing the game again people want strikers nerfed!

NO THANK YOU.

If you don't like exploit tactics simply don't use them! If you use balanced well thought out tactics this year you'll have a smashing time IMO. That was impossible on Fm20 as I saw my striker fluff a sitter for the 17th time in a row!

Edited November 16, 2020 by kiwityke

[Christmas]

2 minutes ago, kiwityke said:

 

If you don't like exploit tactics simply don't use them! 

But what if you dont look at any websites, build a tactic, then oh no I'm winning every game and striker scoring 50 goals. Seems to be many people, especially high goals. 

Do you just pretend to forget? Not easy or fair to players. 

The ME is visually more 'real' than all past years. But if it has easy to find exploit tactics, is it 'better'? 

For me, maybe only just, if the exploit tacts get good reasults but at least mixed play, not same goal 5x every game like past iterationsgame.

[RTHerringbone]

Bug reporting is a key part of the Beta. I've just scanned the Match Engine section and less that half of the threads created there are supported with examples to help SI out. 

Some may be totally legitimate bugs, but if SI don't have files to refer to, then those threads are nothing more than anecdotal statements.

"I haven't scored enough goals from corners". What can SI do with reports like that? It's great that people want to flag issues, but if they aren't done properly then they simply won't make a difference. 

 

[themadsheep2001]

3 minutes ago, kiwityke said:

Exactly this I really, really can't stress enough how much I worry when I see those kinds of posts. They are essentially calling for the ruination of the game again. I stopped playing FM20 in January, which is a first for me, because the ME was so stale boring and frankly rubbish. Yet here we are after SI have created a thing of beauty that has me loving playing the game again people want strikers nerfed!

NO THANK YOU.

If you don't like exploit tactics simply don't use them! If you use balanced well thought out tactics this year you'll have a smashing time IMO. That was impossible on Fm20 as I saw my striker fluff a sitter for the 17th time in a row!

People are entitled to their views, whether you agree with them or not, as long as they're respectful and constructive. Let si decide what they will take from it

[themadsheep2001]

1 minute ago, RTHerringbone said:

Bug reporting is a key part of the Beta. I've just scanned the Match Engine section and less that half of the threads created there are supported with examples to help SI out. 

Some may be totally legitimate bugs, but if SI don't have files to refer to, then those threads are nothing more than anecdotal statements.

"I haven't scored enough goals from corners". What can SI do with reports like that? It's great that people want to flag issues, but if they aren't done properly then they simply won't make a difference. 

 

Just reinforcing this. Right now is the absolute ideal time to be raising issues in the right manner, it can't be stressed enough, that if you even suspect something is a bug, please head to the bugs forum

[gechal]

8 minutes ago, kiwityke said:

Exactly this I really, really can't stress enough how much I worry when I see those kinds of posts. They are essentially calling for the ruination of the game again. I stopped playing FM20 in January, which is a first for me, because the ME was so stale boring and frankly rubbish. Yet here we are after SI have created a thing of beauty that has me loving playing the game again people want strikers nerfed!

NO THANK YOU.

If you don't like exploit tactics simply don't use them! If you use balanced well thought out tactics this year you'll have a smashing time IMO. That was impossible on Fm20 as I saw my striker fluff a sitter for the 17th time in a row!

My striker went through, skinned the goalie and tapped it in. Wonderful

[kiwityke]

5 minutes ago, themadsheep2001 said:

People are entitled to their views, whether you agree with them or not, as long as they're respectful and constructive. Let si decide what they will take from it

I really don't want SI to think nerfing strikers is a good idea though, because it really isn't.

I'm guessing the fact this time last year we were up to about 100 pages 90% of which was god this ME is awful strikers can't hit a barn door is evidence enough though (I hope)

[themadsheep2001]

3 minutes ago, kiwityke said:

I really don't want SI to think nerfing strikers is a good idea though, because it really isn't.

I'm guessing the fact this time last year we were up to about 100 pages 90% of which was god this ME is awful strikers can't hit a barn door is evidence enough though (I hope)

Si will look at all relevant feedback and evidence, will also have their own thoughts. But everyone is entitled to their constructive respectful views. It's arguably more important at this point than at any other. You're more than welcome to disagree with Rashidi (or anyone else) but you can't really be saying they should stop speaking, that's all

[mitzra3l]

My review

I just played almost 2 seasons of the brand new FM2021, as usual I start picking the dream job at my forever favourite club, FC Porto. First thing I did was taking a peek at my finances. Blimey, 0€ available for transfers, and a 2.7M€ available for wages and a wage allocated of 2.9M€, so a whole 200k€ bellow par. It's fine, the house is on fire but all is just fine. No problem here. I'll try to capitalize a few bucks selling one or two first eleven starters to wing it.

Next step, the board expectations: they want me sign big name players. How? With fish and chips? I can't even buy a pack of nuggets from BK or McD. What the hell guys? Okay fine, I'll go into the woods to hunt a lion armed with a toothbrush. I can do this. Easy.

So I sold two first team players, and all I could get from that was to even the wage budget. At the end of season I picked up the league title, the portuguese cup, supercup and league cup. So guess I'm not bad at making omelets without eggs. The end of season comes and the board assessment is out: they are devastated that I didn't sign any big name player or a rival's player. That is not realistic at all. I was hired to manage, not to perform miracles. And by the way, it never was or never will be realistic for portuguese clubs to sign big name players, and as for snatching players from rivals is not very common also. Get real with this. Now more than ever portuguese clubs main aim is to grow their own talents, and to discover potential stars for tomorrow before the big cats with big money find out about them. The board expectations are not in tune with the money they have in the bank and the reputation of the league. Any league bellow 5th in the UEFA ranking, is more of a feeder of the top dogs, they don't get to sign the biggest names in the game

In the second season I managed to sign Isco (buy) and Vinícius Junior (on loan) from Real Madrid, to quench the boards desire of big name players. It seems like Isco is not big enough for the portuguese standards. Really? Next season I'll try Messi, Dybala and CR7. Maybe they can be convinced if I offer them my body parts, knees, liver, heart, lungs, maybe a kidney, IDK it might just work. Other than that, I'm loving the game, but I'm not a fan of the new way of interaction with players, journalists, staffers or other managers. 

[Icy]

Finally! 3 years waiting for a goal like this one I just scored with Crewe against Stoke in the cup, please don't touch the ME!

Good interplay between my target men, midfielders and finally my RIW scored after a nice through ball.

 

Edited November 16, 2020 by Icy

[kiwityke]

9 minutes ago, themadsheep2001 said:

Si will look at all relevant feedback and evidence, will also have their own thoughts. But everyone is entitled to their constructive respectful views. It's arguably more important at this point than at any other. You're more than welcome to disagree with Rashidi (or anyone else) but you can't really be saying they should stop speaking, that's all

It was very much tongue in cheek the just stop bit! 

I think though it is a bit Daft to suggest defences need buffing to stop exploitative tactics. Yes exploits have always existed and should be kept to a minimum but nerfing attacks and strikers wholesale led to last years abomination of an ME.

The ME is seemingly fairly well balanced at the moment IMO.

I think the problem lies with the AI once again being incredibly passive. They'd rather lose 1-0 than even try and win a game.

[Johnny Ace]

I really really like player interaction where it lets you know you're making a promise to a player

I lost count last year with how many promises I'd broken because I'd made a promise without knowing it then a few months later having a grumpy player banging my office door down  

Edited November 16, 2020 by Johnny Ace

[rp1966]

4 minutes ago, kiwityke said:

I think the problem lies with the AI once again being incredibly passive. They'd rather lose 1-0 than even try and win a game.

I suspect there needs to be some rebalancing of AI strategy that increases the effect of manager attributes and reduces the effect of AI strategy choice based on relative team reputation (this is something that has been around for a long time and is the managerial equivalent of the balance between role and player attributes that is also problematic).

 

[Johnny Ace]

8 hours ago, kingking said:

I respectfully disagree. Leeds and wolves are an example of smaller teams not being happy losing and would rather go all out and attack.  There needs to be a balance as I feel quite frankly, too often A.I Managers are more cautious and slow, than aggressive and quick when facing top teams.

 

I can see you're unhappy at this, how about making a suggestion in the relevant board? Manager Traits maybe? NES & Biesla, "will attempt high risk comebacks at  the risk of a heavy defeat" 

Something like that may already be in the game, I'm just firing off the top of my head

I'm finding I concede late anyway, if I'm 2-0/ 3-0, up the AI will normally claw one back rather than lay down & take the loss. The prematch odds are always very close though so maybe that makes them more aggressive 

ETA: A game last night I was playing BL2 team in a winter break friendly, I was only 1-0 up but for the last 15 mins they went 4-2-4 & grabbed a equalizer  

Edited November 16, 2020 by Johnny Ace

[Christmas]

25 minutes ago, Johnny Ace said:

I really really like player interaction where it lets you know you're making a promise to a player

I lost count last year with how many promises I'd broken because I'd made a promise without knowing it then a few months later having a grumpy player banging my office door down  

I agree with this.

But - very seperate point - I also find it weird that the players demand promises all preasons. I promise I will get rid of half of you? Why they want that? 

I normally make a promise of not standing in way, emboldening youngsters in games, yet the still want more promises. But the only more promises are to sign defend/mid/attack - too risky to agree, or to fire sale team. 

I think 2 promises should be enough to not have a response of "we expected more promises"?

[samdiatmh]

1 minute ago, Christmas said:

I agree with this.

But - very seperate point - I also find it weird that the players demand promises all preasons. I promise I will get rid of half of you? Why they want that? 

I normally make a promise of not standing in way, emboldening youngsters in games, yet the still want more promises. But the only more promises are to sign defend/mid/attack - too risky to agree, or to fire sale team. 

I think 2 promises should be enough to not have a response of "we expected more promises"?

"fund a coaching course" is a particularly easy freebie, particularly if you have older players considering it anyway

[aj6658]

I've been very critical of the last few FMs and i still stand by my comments on those iterations. What i will say it that this years ME is superb. I find that wingers and dribbling is much better. The player movements is more interesting. The interplay in midfield and the first time passes into space is excellent. The types of finishes are alot better as well - I have seen dinks, shifts onto other foot, curlers. 

 

My issues

-Consensus is that the MU is awful and i completely agree. There are some good ideas in there but poorly implemented. How do i find stats by player during the game?(I.e the player stats you get at half time?). It would be great to see in the future a companion app where you can have data on your phone/ tablet so the laptop screen could be mostly the match 

- Anyone else finding that 5-2-1-2 is a very comment tactic. I see it ALOT. I think in general, the match AI is pretty basic. I saw in one game against Liverpool they put Andy Robertson as a DLF. I would like to see a much more intelligent and fluid match AI. I.e. the game plan isnt working, whats plan b? Make an early change, change formation e.c.t I only really see this in the last 10 minutes or so.

- Transfers still a bit of an annoyance. Particularly getting rid of players. Seems i can never get rid of players even for half their value. 

[KloppRodgersHodgson]

10 hours ago, Dagenham_Dave said:

Try doing the same thing with Fulham? That would be a better test, surely?

I get we’re not allowed difficulty levels in the game because it would upset the weaker players, so can someone give an up-to-date list of the teams that decent players are not allowed to use, please.

Is it effectively the top 6 teams in every division (80% of the overall fan base?) that good players are not supposed to use now because you’ll win the league every year, or is there an actual list someone maintains?