Football Manager 2021 Official Feedback Thread

[Dingusen]

At the very end os season 1 now, Then something happens that I always hope you guys woukd be able to weed out each and every year: Matches too close to eachother. Now I have Sat, tue, thu, and saturday again. Last saturday the FA cup final, 3 games before all in PL. 

I guess this means that the problems with 2 matches following days will happen later too. I cant understand how come this is so hard to fix once and for all.  

[RHKC]

12 minutes ago, Niyas46 said:

So.... I have reached half time and I am smashing a team and my players must be loving it and gaining experience and growing in this game, at half time I have not done the team talk as I want to rest a player and bring in a young gun, so I go to tactics make the change and find out there's no way back to complete the team talk... GREAT!!!! 

 

 

This is my only complaint with the game so far.

[WilltheWolf92]

16 hours ago, FrazT said:

 I have had a quick look through the Belgium data Issues thread and I cant see any report about this- to be safe please report it there and at least they will be aware of the issue.

Sadly I can't post anything in the post, there's no window at the bottom like here 

[Niyas46]

Yeah it's shocking and very disappointing. there supposed to be adding to the game, expanding the whole aspect of how we play and there simplifying things and removing options.. And this team talk option being removed is madness. I remember team breifing aswell before team selection in 2020. They've ruined that aswell... They should of added not removed and changed the whole thing. 

[Neil Brock]

24 minutes ago, Niyas46 said:

So.... I have reached half time and I am smashing a team and my players must be loving it and gaining experience and growing in this game, at half time I have not done the team talk as I want to rest a player and bring in a young gun, so I go to tactics make the change and find out there's no way back to complete the team talk... GREAT!!!! 

Sounds like a bug, can you please raise it via the Bugs Forum?

Thanks. 

[2feet]

Somewhere out in FM World, a certain 5'5 inch Argentinian 15 year old Second Striker with 20 for dribbling has just re-genned.

[potbellypigs]

I am only 4 games into a new season from the Beta. Is it worth starting a new one or will all the bugs be fixed once I load up?

[GOODNAME]

Still.. opposition team never attack me!!

Edited November 25, 2020 by GOODNAME

[Nonlondoner]

A question from someone who's scratching his head too much here. 

While in 3d match I notice my assistant has suggested something, I move my pointer up to it and, whoosh, it's slipped south and disappears as the next highlight plays out. I can't see any way of finding what he or she said to me until it appears between highlights again. By which time I'm taking a mouthful of coffee and......ugh it's gone again. 

There's no option to add Assistant Feedback to the "in match tablet" which would be really, really useful. 

Unless of course, I'm an idiot and need showing. 
 

[Dagenham_Dave]

13 minutes ago, Nonlondoner said:

A question from someone who's scratching his head too much here. 

While in 3d match I notice my assistant has suggested something, I move my pointer up to it and, whoosh, it's slipped south and disappears as the next highlight plays out. I can't see any way of finding what he or she said to me until it appears between highlights again. By which time I'm taking a mouthful of coffee and......ugh it's gone again. 

There's no option to add Assistant Feedback to the "in match tablet" which would be really, really useful. 

Unless of course, I'm an idiot and need showing. 
 

That's a really frustrating thing about the matchday UI. One of many. 

[johnhughthom]

28 minutes ago, 2feet said:

Somewhere out in FM World, a certain 5'5 inch Argentinian 15 year old Second Striker with 20 for dribbling has just re-genned.

And a mysteriously glowing hand.

[Os]

1 minute ago, Dagenham_Dave said:

That's a really frustrating thing about the matchday UI. One of many. 

There used to be a setting where you could lengthen the time the message would appear for.

 

There have been some really odd decisions regarding the match UI

[Nonlondoner]

28 minutes ago, Dagenham_Dave said:

That's a really frustrating thing about the matchday UI. One of many. 

Crikey, that's poor. I guess it's trial and error with a revamp. Someone in the development team will currently be whatsapping the group highlighting some of these comments saying "I told you". 

The best idea would be a Dugout button bottom left. It could be flash and take you to a camera above and behind the dug out and a slightly larger bottom bar with more options. A small optional adjustment would provide additional so much more absorbing game play. 

Also, why has there never been a "tell sub/subs to warm up" option? Again, tiny feature, could have consequences if not managed well.  

[CaptCanuck]

Didn't play FM20 until March (I am a Covid-convert) so I missed all the 'fun' of early patches and hotfixes.

Bugs aside, should the league DBs be pretty solid at initial release? Was thinking of picking a 2nd tier continental club and would hope I wouldn't have to worry about needing to update various squads and the like.

[Tony Wright 747]

1 hour ago, Dagenham_Dave said:

That's a really frustrating thing about the matchday UI. One of many. 

HI Dave, as you are on, as someone who has generally been in favour of the ME, I have seen quite a few people complaining about away teams not attacking even when losing and that gegenpress is OP, what is your experience.

[johnhughthom]

6 minutes ago, CaptCanuck said:

Didn't play FM20 until March (I am a Covid-convert) so I missed all the 'fun' of early patches and hotfixes.

Bugs aside, should the league DBs be pretty solid at initial release? Was thinking of picking a 2nd tier continental club and would hope I wouldn't have to worry about needing to update various squads and the like.

Lots of people play a long term save from the beta database, never mind release, so I wouldn't overthink it and just go ahead and start your game.

[Flußkrebs]

Just as a little bit of feedback (at risk of poking the bee hive again) on potential gameplay changes, after playing 14 games:

The anecdotal:

1) I have noticed way more long shot goals, both for and against. 

2) I have noticed way more FM20 style one-on-one and tap in misses. 

3) I have noticed more crossing it into the first man, again FM20 style.

4) Defenders seem to be a little, ahem, poorer

5) There are more, mostly little, injuries (more realistic) compared to same training regime in beta

The empirical:

Sorry to keep banging the xG drum (I'm sure you're all getting fed up with it). But because I'm a sad bloke with little going on in the evenings, I've used this wonderful tool https://danny.page/expected_goals.html to calculate the odds that this string of results would occur: 

Given the xG- not just totals from the matches, but each individual shot. The odds that this string of results D-L-D-L-L would occur given mine and the opponents shots is 0.4%. So not outside the realms of possibility, after all, probabilities work very weirdly and are notoriously difficult  for us to intuit on. But 1 in 250 is still a little sad. I will be paying close attention. Admittedly I haven't looked at the odds for "2 draws and 3 losses" in any order from those games so maybe I'm being a little harsh. 

My intuition is that the impact morale and fitness have on results has been increased significantly, although of course this is just a guess. I believe SI when they say there has been little change to the match engine, so external factors like this must be the cause of such change. But I wonder how other's are getting on  

Edit: Another way of looking at it is that the odds of not getting a win from those 5 games is 2.1% (just over 1 in 50). So again, within the bounds of possibility but very unlikely. YES I am salty, how did you guess 

Edited November 25, 2020 by Flußkrebs

[CaptCanuck]

1 minute ago, johnhughthom said:

Lots of people play a long term save from the beta database, never mind release, so I wouldn't overthink it and just go ahead and start your game.

Thanks for that! I tend to be a bit of a pedant, so can use that kick in the backside.

[Mars_Blackmon]

1 hour ago, GOODNAME said:

Still.. opposition team never attack me!!

Report it again 

[craiigman]

If nothing else Napoli vs Roma looks great in 2D, just look at the colours

[fm2020.smith]

what on earth have you done with the game. game is slow and jittery since the update and now cant get past the end of the game.

im stuck on penalties and wont go any further !! 

[DementedHammer]

5 hours ago, harrycarrie said:

Five goals disallowed in one match

 

Happened to me once in an actual 11-a-side game. I was absolutely furious, as at least two of them should have counted. 

[JordanMilly]

2 hours ago, GOODNAME said:

Still.. opposition team never attack me!!

Report it in the Match Engine - AI + Tactics section, and provide pkms and saves then. Posting an end of the match screenshot won't tell us anything.

https://community.sigames.com/forum/822-match-engine-ai-and-tactics/

16 minutes ago, fm2020.smith said:

what on earth have you done with the game. game is slow and jittery since the update and now cant get past the end of the game.

im stuck on penalties and wont go any further !! 

See above.

[rdbayly]

On 25/11/2020 at 18:43, Dagenham_Dave said:

That's a really frustrating thing about the matchday UI. One of many. 

I want to start with a positive about the game. The ME is the best its been in years. From my perspective, the success of an iteration depends almost entirely on the football we are presented with on the pitch. If I feel that my tactical decisions and tweaks make a tangible and visible impact on the outcome of a match - for better or worse -  then that makes me feel like a manager. Variety and unpredictability are key to achieving this, which I have to say has been achieved this year. Well done SI!

Now the criticism. I genuinely lack the vocabulary to communicate how much I despise the match day UI. For me, the design choices taken here have me in a state of bafflement and bewilderment in every match.

FM is a decisions-based experience. We absorb huge amounts of information, and use it make informed decisions. We rely on this information to plug the gaps in the simulation that we miss due to not watching the entire 90 minutes. I have never felt less able to be in a position to make sound and timely decisions during a match. I've lost count of how many times I've missed a player picking up a booking or slight injury in a match.

If there are genuine justifications for any of the below, or I am missing something very obvious, please do let me know:

• Why have the yellow and orange booking / injury indicators been removed from the central panels?
• Why can't I customise the match stats panel underneath the timer? (and instead, am forced to duplicate it to my liking in the tablet, taking up precious panel space)
• Why can't I customise the information we receive from our staff via the disastrous dugout panel?
• Why does ALL match information disappear from view like a Tinder swipe when a 3D highlight begins?
• Why were widgets removed? ('realism' is a fundamentally flawed argument, as there needs to be some common sense applied to what we need to function properly in a simulated world)
• Why are my eyes always forced to the extreme edges of my monitor to scan for critical information in tiny text? (when it should be displayed clearly in a central location)
• Why arrange players both vertically and horizontally on the team talk screen? (I've been teaching people to read for years, and its been empirically proven that this takes longer to scan and decode) 
• Why can't I access full player stats during a half? (I see a player's rating dip to around 6.3, but now I can't quickly establish why. The statistical tools have been taken away and they are now fed back to me one column at a time through laborious singular drop down menus)
• Why don't the analytical tools work? (I assume they are bugged and weren't fixed for release)

The ME has undergone the equivalent of open heart surgery, and survived. What I find incredulous is that having achieved the most difficult feat, the game has voluntarily given itself a metaphorical skin disease.   

Edited November 28, 2020 by rdbayly

[GOODNAME]

Played copule of games.. and wayyyy too many shots are blocked 

[JordanMilly]

1 minute ago, GOODNAME said:

Played copule of games.. and wayyyy too many shots are blocked 

Report it to the appropriate forum with pkms and saves then, highlighting where these things happen, so they can be reviewed and the match engine made better: https://community.sigames.com/forum/822-match-engine-ai-and-tactics/

[GOODNAME]

Just now, JordanMillward_1 said:

Report it to the appropriate forum with pkms and saves then, highlighting where these things happen, so they can be reviewed and the match engine made better: https://community.sigames.com/forum/822-match-engine-ai-and-tactics/

i report a lot in there but its rare that some1 answer me so whats the point 

[HUNT3R]

Just now, GOODNAME said:

i report a lot in there but its rare that some1 answer me so whats the point 

To be fair, they are a small team and received a lot of posts in the 2 week period. They do read the threads though. Especially now, after release, when there's a bit more time, you'll see more responses etc.

[JordanMilly]

1 minute ago, GOODNAME said:

i report a lot in there but its rare that some1 answer me so whats the point 

SI do review the reports - obviously they're not going to have the time to provide responses to everyone unless more info is needed. If you don't though, the match engine stays as it is, so it's up to you really 

[anagain]

3 hours ago, Niyas46 said:

So.... I have reached half time and I am smashing a team and my players must be loving it and gaining experience and growing in this game, at half time I have not done the team talk as I want to rest a player and bring in a young gun, so I go to tactics make the change and find out there's no way back to complete the team talk... GREAT!!!! 

2 hours ago, Neil Brock said:

Sounds like a bug, can you please raise it via the Bugs Forum?

Thanks. 

It's been bugged. Bugged in beta. Bugged yesterday.

If you can maybe push it, @Neil Brock it would be appreciated. Understand the dev team are busy as hell, but I believe this is massive.

 

[FrazT]

3 hours ago, WilltheWolf92 said:

Sadly I can't post anything in the post, there's no window at the bottom like here 

Cant see why- post in here:

https://community.sigames.com/topic/538387-belgium-data-issues/

 

[Dagenham_Dave]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright 747 said:

HI Dave, as you are on, as someone who has generally been in favour of the ME, I have seen quite a few people complaining about away teams not attacking even when losing and that gegenpress is OP, what is your experience.

I haven't noticed opposing sides not attacking, but then I've started a save at Scottish League 2 level. It all seems balanced enough, could be an issue the more successful you are. I'm probably not the best person to ask. 

[Nonlondoner]

Again, I'm putting together a full list but this is a bit more urgent. 

Match UI Good and bad. 
The more matches I see the more flaws I see with the design of the match UI. There's so little functionality, I've become an observer and had to delegate shout outs to my AM so as not to miss incidents and urgent adjustments. I like the player strip, the ease of sending individual instructions is actually genius, but the means to get there via the feedback from the assistant manager and physio (if that's still a thing because it should be) renders its use somewhat redundant. 

Also, fairly urgent in my opinion, CAPITALISATION EVERYWHERE! EXCEPT THAT THIS FONT IS CLEARER SO YOU CAN READ THIS UNLIKE THE, sorry got carried away there, blocky font used in high contrast on the basic skin. 

We don't read every letter of words when we read. What we see are the shapes of the words and if the brain recognises it your eyes move on and so on. When words are capitalised they become more difficult to read quickly, putting strain on the eyes as they have to focus fully so the brain can register each word. The trend for capitalisation in FM seems to have not let up, my 48 year old eyes already struggle with too much bright contrast (like purple, white and yellow) and I found the basic skin was too much after only an hour. Thank Bergkamp (or your supplication of choice) for the Poland Dark skin, it's so much easier on the eye. 

Put the new UI layout with last year's UI's ease of functionality with this year's match engine and the Poland Dark skin with its calm presentation and FM21 is perfect.

"Less" is sometimes "more" . 

 

  

[sedge11]

4 hours ago, Dingusen said:

At the very end os season 1 now, Then something happens that I always hope you guys woukd be able to weed out each and every year: Matches too close to eachother. Now I have Sat, tue, thu, and saturday again. Last saturday the FA cup final, 3 games before all in PL. 

I guess this means that the problems with 2 matches following days will happen later too. I cant understand how come this is so hard to fix once and for all.  

You got to remember season 1 schedule is covid affected. Season starts later and is more congested, so if you have gone far in cups then very likely that will happen. 

[Johnny Ace]

This is why I hated FM20, I couldn't stand the ME & with the FM21 beta, thought this nonsense had been erased 

Scott Hogan is a Pressing Forward on attack under a Positive team mentally, why on Earth would he play a one touch pass out wide with his weaker foot rather than turn & shoot??

 

 

 

Edited November 25, 2020 by Johnny Ace

[FrazT]

Poor decisions attribute maybe?- I bet every manager in the country asks that kind of question every game

[Johnny Ace]

1 minute ago, FrazT said:

Poor decisions attribute maybe?- I bet every manager in the country asks that kind of question every game

10 so nothing brilliant but I find that utterly bizarre, worth logging you think? 

[FrazT]

4 minutes ago, Johnny Ace said:

10 so nothing brilliant but I find that utterly bizarre, worth logging you think? 

To be honest probably not unless this is a trend you are seeing across multiple matches- a player taking a wrong option is not necessarily a bug and it could depend on what level he is playing at.

[Johnny Ace]

3 minutes ago, FrazT said:

To be honest probably not unless this is a trend you are seeing across multiple matches- a player taking a wrong option is not necessarily a bug and it could depend on what level he is playing at.

Right oh, I'll keep my eye out 

[ai2ker]

2 hours ago, rdbayly said:

I want to start with a positive about the game. The ME is the best its been in years. From my perspective, the success of an iteration depends almost entirely on the football we are presented with on the pitch. If I feel that my tactical decisions and tweaks make a tangible and visible impact on the outcome of a match - for better or worse -  then that makes me feel like a manager. Variety and unpredictability are key to achieving this, which I have to say has been achieved this year. Well done SI!

Now the criticism. I genuinely lack the vocabulary to communicate how much I despise the match day UI. For me, the design choices taken here have me in a state of bafflement and bewilderment in every match.

FM is a decisions-based experience. We absorb huge amounts of information, and use it make informed decisions. We rely on this information to plug the gaps in the simulation that we miss due to not watching the entire 90 minutes. I have never felt less able to be in a position to make sound and timely decisions during a match. I've lost count of how many times I've missed a player picking up a booking or slight injury in a match.

If there are genuine justifications for any of the below, or I am missing something very obvious, please do let me know:

• Why have the yellow and orange booking / injury indicators been removed from the central panels?
• Why can't I customise the match stats panel underneath the timer? (and instead, am forced to duplicate it to my liking in the tablet, taking up precious panel space)
• Why can't I customise the information we receive from our staff via the disastrous dugout panel?
• Why does ALL match information disappear from view like a Tinder swipe when a 3D highlight begins?
• Why were widgets removed? ('realism' is a fundamentally flawed argument, as their needs to be some common sense applied to what we need to function properly in a simulated world)
• Why are my eyes always forced to the extreme edges of my monitor to scan for critical information in tiny text? (when it should be displayed clearly in a central location)
• Why arrange players both vertically and horizontally on the team talk screen? (I've been teaching people to read for years, and it's been empirically proven that this takes longer to scan and decode) 
• Why can't I access full player stats during a half? (I see a player's rating dip to around 6.3, but now I can't quickly establish why. The statistical tools have been taken away and they are now fed back to me one column at a time through laborious singular drop down menus)
• Why don't the analytical tools work? (I assume they are bugged and weren't fixed for release)

The ME has undergone the equivalent of open heart surgery, and survived. What I find incredulous is that having achieved the most difficult feat, the game has voluntarily given itself a metaphorical skin disease.   

Great Post - my addition to this:

 

[ImDaWeasel]

What's the chances of SI actually being able to sort out the entire match UI in this years version? Usually these things are set in stone until the following years versions. Looking like the skinning experts might find it difficult to completely change for the good. Would a roll back of such be possible or do we all just have to suck it up and put up with it for a year?

[AlexJames]

2 minutes ago, ImDaWeasel said:

What's the chances of SI actually being able to sort out the entire match UI in this years version? Usually these things are set in stone until the following years versions. Looking like the skinning experts might find it difficult to completely change for the good. Would a roll back of such be possible or do we all just have to suck it up and put up with it for a year?

Pretty sure that any future changes would only be minor, at this point. Gotta remember, the opinions of those on this thread likely represent the minority. There are plenty of FMers out there currently enjoying their Man Utd save, blissfully unaware that this forum - and all the issues that have been raised within - even exist. 

[KiLLu12258]

started a new save with hertha bsc berlin and my problem is that every player in my squad has 4 stars potential? and the CA is also not known?

 

is this a bug or what i can do about it?

 

 

Edited November 25, 2020 by KiLLu12258

[hagedisboy]

I want a timeline. I want to see the face of the goalscorer. I want to see who gave the assist. I want to see my team’s stats, the latest scores and the league table inbetween highlights. I want the game to pause when I’m doing a ‘quick sub’. I want to see the match odds before the game starts. Please SI, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the match UI in FM20, why the need to change it for the worse?

 

[kertiek]

i just want the damm match plans working without automatic subs :/

[roykela]

54 minutes ago, ai2ker said:

Great Post - my addition to this:

 

 

3 hours ago, rdbayly said:

I want to start with a positive about the game. The ME is the best its been in years. From my perspective, the success of an iteration depends almost entirely on the football we are presented with on the pitch. If I feel that my tactical decisions and tweaks make a tangible and visible impact on the outcome of a match - for better or worse -  then that makes me feel like a manager. Variety and unpredictability are key to achieving this, which I have to say has been achieved this year. Well done SI!

Now the criticism. I genuinely lack the vocabulary to communicate how much I despise the match day UI. For me, the design choices taken here have me in a state of bafflement and bewilderment in every match.

FM is a decisions-based experience. We absorb huge amounts of information, and use it make informed decisions. We rely on this information to plug the gaps in the simulation that we miss due to not watching the entire 90 minutes. I have never felt less able to be in a position to make sound and timely decisions during a match. I've lost count of how many times I've missed a player picking up a booking or slight injury in a match.

If there are genuine justifications for any of the below, or I am missing something very obvious, please do let me know:

• Why have the yellow and orange booking / injury indicators been removed from the central panels?
• Why can't I customise the match stats panel underneath the timer? (and instead, am forced to duplicate it to my liking in the tablet, taking up precious panel space)
• Why can't I customise the information we receive from our staff via the disastrous dugout panel?
• Why does ALL match information disappear from view like a Tinder swipe when a 3D highlight begins?
• Why were widgets removed? ('realism' is a fundamentally flawed argument, as their needs to be some common sense applied to what we need to function properly in a simulated world)
• Why are my eyes always forced to the extreme edges of my monitor to scan for critical information in tiny text? (when it should be displayed clearly in a central location)
• Why arrange players both vertically and horizontally on the team talk screen? (I've been teaching people to read for years, and it's been empirically proven that this takes longer to scan and decode) 
• Why can't I access full player stats during a half? (I see a player's rating dip to around 6.3, but now I can't quickly establish why. The statistical tools have been taken away and they are now fed back to me one column at a time through laborious singular drop down menus)
• Why don't the analytical tools work? (I assume they are bugged and weren't fixed for release)

The ME has undergone the equivalent of open heart surgery, and survived. What I find incredulous is that having achieved the most difficult feat, the game has voluntarily given itself a metaphorical skin disease.   

And my thoughts on it. Wholeheartedly agree with these views about the ME UI.
 

 

[FrazT]

24 minutes ago, ImDaWeasel said:

What's the chances of SI actually being able to sort out the entire match UI in this years version? Usually these things are set in stone until the following years versions. Looking like the skinning experts might find it difficult to completely change for the good. Would a roll back of such be possible or do we all just have to suck it up and put up with it for a year?

Given the size of the changes to the UI, it is unlikely that there will be any roll back, to be honest.  Like all change, it is mostly not wanted, but once you start to get used to it, its annoyance decreases.  There may well be some minor changes with future updates, but I would have thought nothing major

[cocoadavid]

Match Engine 

I don't want to go into details here, it's simply the best ME ever IMO. Kudos to the ME devs.

Match UI and UX  

Uhoh... I just want to highlight the 2 most frustraing match user experiences:
- I miss at least half of the yellow cards, minor injuries, substitutions during a match, which is a big no-no. Something really has to be done with this, I have no idea how this passed UX testing. Information like this should catch the eye. In previous FMs you have already got it, now this is a step backwards.

- We are not able to see a lot of information during the match, like average positions, heat map, etc. - only at half-time and after the match. IMO it was an ill-considered decision. I've read that the thinking behind that was to make the match experience more realistic, because IRL managers mostly got these information during half-time and after the match. BUT. Real managers don't look at these analytical stats, average positions, etc. every minute because they can see what is happening on the pitch for 90 minutes and can react instantly. But most FM players only see the highlights (extended, key or comprehensive), and by removing these tools from us, we may have no clue what is going on between 2 highlights! Sometimes there are like 20 minutes between 2 highlights, and we can only guess what is happening on the pitch. In previous FMs I constantly watched average positions and heat maps, because that way I could see the gaps in formations and imagine what it look likes on the pitch. If I was a real manager and watched the full 90 minutes, I would not need it. But this is a game, I have no time the watch the full 90 minutes, and I need it.

Overall the game is really good, but the above mentioned UX frustrations can really ruin the match day experience.

Edited November 25, 2020 by cocoadavid

[He can't believe he's missed it]

There is a beautiful irony to the whole changes to the ME.

Last year there were constant announcements that they couldn't just do little changes to the ME because even a minor change can have a monumental knock on effect to how the ME will perform.

Yet this year yes we have made some very minor balances but of course there is no way that this would drastically affect how the ME looks.....

[akkm]

4 hours ago, Johnny Ace said:

I can see stats from my players & team from the beta & fullgame. Pass completion % ratios, key passes made, tackles, goals scored, assists & the sources of them. I played close to two full seasons (that's close on 100 matches) with the same tactic in the beta & only the final 9 games in the full release. Honestly, I can see a difference because I'm a stickler for how my tactic plays out. Wether it's my tactic, how I view things or it tied in with the end of season & my players were knackered/ bored, there's a difference for sure   

you're factually correct to say things have changed as jack joyce himself said that. minor as he said balancing but could have certain knocks on unintended even