Football Manager 2021 Official Feedback Thread

[anindyarajan19]

Is it just me, or are La Liga and BuLi players rated very harshly, while EPL players are rated very leniently?

[alian62]

On 19/06/2021 at 11:13, RinusFM said:

We will see. Like stated a few times by me I hate the fact next version has things patched, but the previous version not. Little bit crazy March is often the latest month it receives a patch. There's some stuff in FM21 that needs to be fixed. Perhaps they should bring out a June Patch or so.

Will never happen so close to the next release in November ..... The way it goes is a beta release 2 weeks before the major release . then a patch usually 2 weeks later if there is a major issue , otherwise a patch just before Xmas , then a patch around March , then a winter update and then on the the next release . Been this way since i can remember since 2005 

Edited June 20, 2021 by alian62

[Platinum]

It would be great if in FM22 the major updates arent focused on fixing major bugs like in FM21 and instead are about improving the game. 

 

Edited June 20, 2021 by Platinum

[Showerman]

On 17/06/2021 at 23:06, Showerman said:

i spent 11 seasons at spurs making them a dynasty

i am a legend

i won 9 titles and 26 trophies then left for madrid

10 years later spurs are suffering after some decent seasons and winning the title 2 seasons ago, last season they just abut survived relegation and this season they are a low mid table side

my contract is up in june it is january and they just sacked their manager so i thought id apply and bring back glory

fans are laughing at me and say i have no chance and the club should ignore me and onefootball says something similar when i declared interest

 

lol why ?

i dont get it they are still ****1/2 rep side and in top 10 or are they laughing at me because im no good ?

genuinley confused ?

i am a club legened

to add to this im now the spurs manager again

finanaces are shocking got soo many players 33+ all the highest earners at the club

starting transfer budger of £11m... I left a decade ago with £600m in the bank and they have only spent about £20m a season for the last 5 seasons MAX... somehow CR7 managed to win the league a couple years back but players are rejected me for the likes of Hull and Norwich (none of us have european football) my rep is much higher so god knows why. A player would never reject the likes of Chelsea/United if they midded out a couple seasons of CL for a team that is also not in CL or EVEN a team that made it for 1 season as a one off or a team that is in the europa league.

[FrazT]

It is worth noting that guaranteed playing time will be a strong pull for younger players when trying to attract then to a big club- lots of very good players have disappeared while waiting for a chance at a big club, so they may well choose a lower rep team and better chance of playing regularly

[Showerman]

19 hours ago, FrazT said:

It is worth noting that guaranteed playing time will be a strong pull for younger players when trying to attract then to a big club- lots of very good players have disappeared while waiting for a chance at a big club, so they may well choose a lower rep team and better chance of playing regularly

yh i know, even though they were offered important roles and 1 i think star player as i had no choice (ask agent)... maybe it was to do with loyalty fee and lack of sell on/yearly wage rise as i like to negotiatie them down/out

[mattjames]

guys how can i increase the draft budget?

[anindyarajan19]

Possibly the craziest title race I have been in. Neither us nor Madrid dropping any points, though Madrid still have to play us away. Interestingly, the only Madrid loss was to me. 

[KeegBCFC]

Stadiums are so bugged in FM. Everton build the Bramley Dock stadium and never move into it, nations build stupid stadiums for international tournaments that make no sense whatsoever (Steven Gerrard Stadium - Built in Leicester). 

[dolph11]

I thought throw-in's were fixed? They're driving me mad! It's genuinely inconceivable that a player would throw the ball so unrealistically to the opposition so often throughout a season! Even when I win I feel bemused and a sense of disbelief after the game as I can't even lambast the player taking the throw-in or the players nearby as it may be their fault for lack of effort. As with most things in the ME, it's unclear!

 

[_mxrky]

I don’t know if this is a bug but on my save there are 0 newgen staff scouts after 5 years 

[alian62]

7 hours ago, dolph11 said:

I thought throw-in's were fixed? They're driving me mad! It's genuinely inconceivable that a player would throw the ball so unrealistically to the opposition so often throughout a season! Even when I win I feel bemused and a sense of disbelief after the game as I can't even lambast the player taking the throw-in or the players nearby as it may be their fault for lack of effort. As with most things in the ME, it's unclear!

 

Firstly the game is scripted so if you do nothing the game will calculated out a result

Secondly if you make alterations like subs or tactic changes etc etc it will then recalculate the result and i have read that the first half is totally scripted but not sure on that one

Thirdly if you dont play in full mode you wont see all the throw ins so if you play extended or key moments that is what you will see . 

Fourthly the 3D isnt a real life football game its just simulating a result and plays it out that way so if a player throws to an opposition player then its coded to do that to get some sort of result or a chance of a goal . 

Please im open to being corrected but this is what i have been advised 

[HUNT3R]

4 hours ago, alian62 said:

Fourthly the 3D isnt a real life football game its just simulating a result and plays it out that way so if a player throws to an opposition player then its coded to do that to get some sort of result or a chance of a goal . 

You're making it sound like the ME decides a score and then fills in some highlights to get to that score. It's the other way around. It calculates everything first and whatever the score is at the end of the half, is the score. Imagine how delicate that is - multiple decisions per second, per player, for 45 minutes and to still have it look like football and generate realistic stats, including score lines.

Neil has posted about it before. Here:

 

 

[RinusFM]

13 hours ago, dolph11 said:

I thought throw-in's were fixed? They're driving me mad! It's genuinely inconceivable that a player would throw the ball so unrealistically to the opposition so often throughout a season! Even when I win I feel bemused and a sense of disbelief after the game as I can't even lambast the player taking the throw-in or the players nearby as it may be their fault for lack of effort. As with most things in the ME, it's unclear!

 

Haha. Nearly lost a game versus Sheffield in EL due my Wingback long throwing the ball into the enemies feet. Short and fast throw-ins help a lot. Long throw is buggy when you're near a goalpost or so.

Anyway, I am having a blast. 60 million in the bank now. Sold some great players for some bucks. 12m was highest. Still want the competition and team grow better. They are now 29th and 70th of the world. Once the competition reaches 20th and under I hopefully can sell players for more than 20. Even 80. By the way.. too bad I can't get a B-team and a reserve team.... Really want that feature.. Or perhaps my reputation isn't that high enough (Cork City). After 11 years is still 2.5 star... If I remember correctly in FM18 I should already by 4 stars or so. I am a regular group and first round knock-out CL/EL team. Or my game is bugged.. hmmmm

At last I've my eyes on some awesome dude. He's 9 months without a club. He doesn't want to come cause Irish Premier League is too low. Nobody else is interested in him. I hope he doesn't retire. I really really want him. If I was 9 months unemployed I would even join fricking FC United or so.

Edited June 25, 2021 by RinusFM

[_mxrky]

16 hours ago, _mxrky said:

I don’t know if this is a bug but on my save there are 0 newgen staff scouts after 5 years 

Am I missing something? Is there a way to edit to see if newgen staff are allowed?

[One Black Atheist]

The match engine fans are truly awful. They are oversized in comparison to the players; they mostly appear in team colours, which isn’t at all realistic; and there exist about 4 types of fan which are duplicated throughout each stadium. Games like NBA Live on the Megadrive had superior fan representation than FM - and that was in the 90s.

Please address this problem.

[Grifty]

Ok, I'm on it.

[Platinum]

3 hours ago, _mxrky said:

Am I missing something? Is there a way to edit to see if newgen staff are allowed?

No they should automatically be there. How do you know there are none?

[_mxrky]

59 minutes ago, Platinum said:

No they should automatically be there. How do you know there are none?

Because I have searched and there are 0

[Platinum]

1 minute ago, _mxrky said:

Because I have searched and there are 0

How did you search? There isn't a filter for newgen staff.

Also just in case you didn't know, newgen staff are the same ages as regular staff, they aren't young like newgen players.

[_mxrky]

2 hours ago, Platinum said:

How did you search? There isn't a filter for newgen staff.

Also just in case you didn't know, newgen staff are the same ages as regular staff, they aren't young like newgen players.

yes i know but there is no newgen scouts on my save. I scrolled through th free agents and employed and there are none

[johnsie]

I've been wanting to play it again but can't bring myself to buy the latest marginally different version even at 50% off. The reason is that FM is way too unrealistically easy in terms of performance. No need to have any sort of debate about it and point out how some people complain about their difficulties - it's common knowledge and undeniable. With time, as early as the second season, you could say that the game simply breaks and a manager experiences little challenge blowing past realistic expectations. While it's good to have a possibility for casual "managers" to screw around and still win more seriously minded people have higher standards (note that I'm not referring to using any tactics from anywhere, either this forum or youtube, which is another common excuse). When will people who want more of the realism and challenge this game promises actually get it, and how are you going to accomplish this? (Yes, I know about taking a bottom tier team and managing it without signing players and by euthanizing players over 26; that's not a realistic challenge.)

Edited June 26, 2021 by johnsie

[Marko1989]

18 hours ago, johnsie said:

I've been wanting to play it again but can't bring myself to buy the latest marginally different version even at 50% off. The reason is that FM is way too unrealistically easy in terms of performance. No need to have any sort of debate about it and point out how some people complain about their difficulties - it's common knowledge and undeniable. With time, as early as the second season, you could say that the game simply breaks and a manager experiences little challenge blowing past realistic expectations. While it's good to have a possibility for casual "managers" to screw around and still win more seriously minded people have higher standards (note that I'm not referring to using any tactics from anywhere, either this forum or youtube, which is another common excuse). When will people who want more of the realism and challenge this game promises actually get it, and how are you going to accomplish this? (Yes, I know about taking a bottom tier team and managing it without signing players and by euthanizing players over 26; that's not a realistic challenge.)

If the game was realistic you would never win any trophies. Playing with some 6th tier English teams would not have sense, because if the game was realistic, you will never be able to lead that team to Premier League. You can always find your ways to make the game harder, but the fact that this game is unrealistic is what makes it fun, because you can take some lover reputation club and win Champions League for example.

If the game was realistic, we would have to play only with best clubs if we want to win trophies so the realism is kept, and I don't want to play with Real, Bayern, Barca, I want to win Champions League with Chievo Verona. 

 

[RinusFM]

Well.. the game has to be kinda 'unrealistic'. I don't think it will be fun if you have to play 30 years to make a team like Sheffield a regular CL-finalist, etc. It simulates Football, etc but it's not 100% realistic. Flysims and Racesims are still not realistic but they can simulate realism.

[Sneaky Pete]

On 06/06/2021 at 14:57, zyfon5 said:

I used to chuckle a little every time people bring up FM17. The same game that I played my first edition of FM. First save led Arsenal (which was predicted to finish 4th) to become Premier League champions with a crap tactic that involves crossing to Lacazette who scored 28 league goals. Very good game indeed.

FM17 certainly had its flaws, particularly in buildup play and in how teams (didn't) defend, but there's a reason people bring it up as "the last time the ME didn't suck". It's the last time most elements of attacking play worked at the same time. I mean, look at what followed:

FM18 - Long shots hit corner flag more often than goal.
FM19 - Central play broken.
FM20 - Central play still broken.
FM21 - Central play mostly fixed, but wide defending and crossing are a complete mess as evidenced by multiple posts in this very thread.

FM17 had issues, but at least it mostly felt like football. FM21 is fantastic until the final third, then turns into "bang it off the defender's shins" simulator if you are a top team.

Frankly if there's a lesson to be learned from FM21, it's that the game is completely different for players managing top sides and players managing mid-table or even LL teams. The game needs to work for both, and right now it's pretty painful viewing for the former group, even when we win most of our games comfortably.

Edited June 27, 2021 by Sneaky Pete

[Showerman]

 

never seen that poor partnership arrow before

nice... except for the fact i spent my transfer budget last season on Dos Santos and this season on Romano

specifically bought Romano because i wanted to go to a 3 at the back and he is not built for a 2 man back line (5ft9)

[zyfon5]

4 hours ago, Sneaky Pete said:

FM17 certainly had its flaws, particularly in buildup play and in how teams (didn't) defend, but there's a reason people bring it up as "the last time the ME didn't suck". It's the last time most elements of attacking play worked at the same time. I mean, look at what followed:

FM18 - Long shots hit corner flag more often than goal.
FM19 - Central play broken.
FM20 - Central play still broken.
FM21 - Central play mostly fixed, but wide defending and crossing are a complete mess as evidenced by multiple posts in this very thread.

FM17 had issues, but at least it mostly felt like football. FM21 is fantastic until the final third, then turns into "bang it off the defender's shins" simulator if you are a top team.

Frankly if there's a lesson to be learned from FM21, it's that the game is completely different for players managing top sides and players managing mid-table or even LL teams. The game needs to work for both, and right now it's pretty painful viewing for the former group, even when we win most of our games comfortably.

If there was a game that a newbie that knew nothing could come in and smash it right away, I think most people will think that it is a pretty bad game. But according to some ppl, at least the ME did not have issues even though it is practically a crossing simulator with few known exploits.

And I disagree that FM20 central play is entirely broken. I have shown last time that one of my saves through balls were my top assist type across 50 games. There are definitely some issues with it but it is not broken.

Edited June 27, 2021 by zyfon5

[ottey_swe]

Where do you find the odds for the upcoming match nowadays? Can't see it in the calendar

[HUNT3R]

5 minutes ago, ottey_swe said:

Where do you find the odds for the upcoming match nowadays? Can't see it in the calendar

On the left hand side of the news item about the upcoming clash.

[duesouth]

I've been following this thread all year and the FM19 and FM20 equivalents as well.  One thing that never seems to happen, and I think would help SI make the game better (which is what we all want), is for us as a community to reach some sort of consensus.  At the risk of being shot down, can we perhaps have a go at doing this and then tag in someone from SI - who can then perhaps review and ask any questions and even give us some feedback?

So, trying to summarise the 5,800+ posts to the thread:

1) This is the toughest one to grasp.  Some say the game is too easy - others it's too hard.  My thought - it's too easy to go on long runs without losing or without winning.  Morale has always played a big part in the game - even back to the CM days and from some gets the "Morale Manager" tag.  Perhaps morale is OP and needs to be reduced slightly.  Certainly form that matches real life form tables would be something to shoot for (long runs without losing or winning do happen - but only happen to the very best and very worst teams in a div) - but not sure how to achieve it!  I will say here that part of the "too easy" debate is people using exploit tactics, some of them without quite knowing they are exploits ("I downloaded it" and most downloaded tactics are essentially exploits) - those players need to be educated, and I think are excellently by ED in the tactics part of the forum, but few FM players head there.

2)  It is OK for the AI to attack before 80 minutes and being 2-0 down.  This is also part of the "too easy" debate - the human player will always have an advantage over a limited AI - but the AI needs to be more expansive sooner when they fall behind, or in many cases perhaps from the outset.

3)  Tactics wise - it seems there is a lot less margin for error when you use a sensible tactic compared to a lot of these "set everything to max" attacking tactics.  I know a large portion of players won't like it when they don't win with these tactics - but if you are an average/poor side in a division and play a top team and try to play attacking, in most cases you will be pulled apart and that's as it should be for what is a serious simulation.  Try to make it a level playing field tactics wise - linked to point 2 above in that the AI will go attacking late in the game and often have success doing it, which makes it rather predictable and frustrating.

4) The consensus is the match engine is better than FM20 - but is not there yet.  It's always going to be a work in progress, but more than small tweaks are required at this stage.  The blocked crosses are a big problem.  At times, the defending is also maddening (missed headers, poor GK positioning) - but I think part of some frustrating issues here are that the graphical representation of what happens just looks bad (same applies to penalties - a lot get given that just don't look anything like pens).

5) The match UI is something we've got more used to, but personally when I go back into FM19 I like that a lot more.  Perhaps SI could give users the option to use either the "classic" UI or the new one?

6) Clear up the bugs - we'd all like to see a real push for that and also better communication from SI when you report a bug.  Example: I was asked to submit a save game on 25 March - I did so same day and it's still set to "Save Game Required" - has this been received, actioned and fixed?

7) I've been thinking for a while about perhaps a tweak to the life cycle of the product.  The 2 week beta leads to sometimes fairly big changes to the ME particularly - but it seems a very tight turn-around.  Perhaps the beta could be extended - or SI would only fix game breaking bugs.  They could then patch the ME when it's ready (which they make a pretty big point of doing at other points in the life cycle) as I think with FM20 they had to rush to patch the beta ME and it just never recovered.  A lot of us would also like to see perhaps one more patch at the end of the life cycle - a period of 2-4 weeks where SI really focus on bug reports and clear as many as they can, rather than fix them in the next game.  I do understand there have been challenges with FM21 and Covid - but to many of us, the game still feels unfinished.

8) New features need to be polished the year after they're released.  Three examples:  club vision etc. is nice - but needs tweaking and perhaps less about the 0-0 draw you had last game;  development centre - lost count how many times my initial report of the intake is reported as great and it's been awful, or the other way around.  I know we have poaching, but unless the report is more accurate people will basically ignore it - certainly you can't plan January transfer window signings around it, which I believe was the intention of the feature; recruitments meetings - after a promotion I'd like to be able to say to my scouts here "bring me players who can play in the division above".  Also a lot of players pushed in front of you who aren't scouted - surely if my scout is suggesting a player they might have actually at least partially scouted him, or know a little about him from existing knowledge?

9) Continue to work on improving player interactions.  The squad are unhappy when you reject an offer for a player - but you might then accept a bid/sell him and then they're unhappy you sold him!  Consistent position of your squad is needed - who are they as a group, what do they want?  I'm a Southampton fan and we sell our better players every year (if we have any - not sure we do this year!!) - you don't see the squad kicking off as they know if they play well it'll be their turn for a big move.  Some of them, therefore, might be unhappy if a massive bid from a big club for a player is rejected as perhaps they might not be allowed their dream move if that was to ever happen.  Now, if you're managing Man City and you sell your best player - perhaps that squad might be unhappy with that.  Certainly, derisory bids from the AI should not cause the chaos to squad unity that they do now.  I'd also like to think irl that squads are more professional around the business side of the game.

10) Transfers - it feels like you have to bid 10 times the value of a player to prise him away from the AI, but in reverse the AI expects the afore mentioned derisory bids to be accepted for an important player.  This needs to be more consistent.

11) Mentoring.  You should be able to mentor U18 players without moving them into the first team squad.  Training is the most important thing for U18's and having to move them into a first team squad, where many people's training is much more match prep heavy (particularly if you're in Europe or the EFL and playing a lot of midweek matches), hurts their attribute development.

12) Clean up VAR - checks for offside seem to 99% result in disallowed goals - and please can we cut out the sssslllloooowwww walk by the ref to the VAR monitor - just give us the decision!

13) Give international management some love - right now it's just bolted on and isn't much better than CM03/04.

14) When you get promoted, let's say from League Two to League One, you don't seem to be regarded as a League One team until early July - so it's hard to get players to sign for you.  As soon as promoted is confirmed, potential new signings should see you as being in a higher division.

[FrazT]

It is worth mentioning here that the SI staff have monitored and will continue to monitor this thread since it was opened, so all comments will have been noted, both positively and negatively.

Suggestions should be posted in the Feature request thread as that way they will be noted and reviewed.

[duesouth]

45 minutes ago, FrazT said:

It is worth mentioning here that the SI staff have monitored and will continue to monitor this thread since it was opened, so all comments will have been noted, both positively and negatively.

Suggestions should be posted in the Feature request thread as that way they will be noted and reviewed.

Sorry there, FrazT.  I was trying to put myself in SI's shoes and thinking how hard it must be to take concrete things from the thread where there's not always a great deal of consensus, which you'll know more than most modding it!!  Just trying to bring something together to help make FM22 better.  I will add suggestions, but that seems a bit hit and miss from my point of view, often closed with the only feedback "thanks for the suggestion" - thankless task for SI like the bug reports, but I guess a bit linked to my point 6.

[FrazT]

3 minutes ago, duesouth said:

Sorry there, FrazT.  I was trying to put myself in SI's shoes and thinking how hard it must be to take concrete things from the thread where there's not always a great deal of consensus, which you'll know more than most modding it!!  Just trying to bring something together to help make FM22 better.  I will add suggestions, but that seems a bit hit and miss from my point of view, often closed with the only feedback "thanks for the suggestion" - thankless task for SI like the bug reports, but I guess a bit linked to my point 6.

No problem- well thought out and articulate posts like yours with criticisms and suggestions are always appreciated and are noted , even if you don't get any specific response.  Don't also be put off by the feedback thread and its responses, as we know from SI that every one is looked at, logged and discussed, so anything posted in there will be worthwhile.  Silence from the developers does not always indicate lack of interest or appreciation for the input.

[Icy]

hace 4 horas, duesouth dijo:

 

7) I've been thinking for a while about perhaps a tweak to the life cycle of the product.  The 2 week beta leads to sometimes fairly big changes to the ME particularly - but it seems a very tight turn-around.  Perhaps the beta could be extended - or SI would only fix game breaking bugs.  They could then patch the ME when it's ready (which they make a pretty big point of doing at other points in the life cycle) as I think with FM20 they had to rush to patch the beta ME and it just never recovered.  A lot of us would also like to see perhaps one more patch at the end of the life cycle - a period of 2-4 weeks where SI really focus on bug reports and clear as many as they can, rather than fix them in the next game.  I do understand there have been challenges with FM21 and Covid - but to many of us, the game still feels unfinished.

 

As a long (forever) FM fan this is what disappoints me the most about SI. Unless there are big attribute or, physics or similar big scale changes, the ME is a constant evolution and not rebuild from scratch not compatible with the rest of the game code.

Id say, at least FM19, FM20 and FM21 ME are evolutions fo the same code. So to have to wait from March until Nov for us to receive an update is a loooong waiting time for a new ME version that is not brand new but an evolution. If you are evolving the ME, why to stay 8 months without a single ME release? why not to let us test these improvements and evolutions? Even if you don't want to force everybody to test it, allow us to voluntarily opt in in steam for the beta ME as some other games do.

The only justification I can find and that in fact is the most heart hurting one, that SI (or Sega) wants us to pay for the next version of the game to receive the improvements. But the result is more frustration that loyalty. Most of us are going to buy the game every year anyway. So unless there is going to be a total ME rebuild, that happens rarely every X years, don't have us with the same ME for 8 months when you are internally evolving it. 

Use us instead to improve it in a constant cycle so for these that are new to the game or buy it every other year, at least they will have a much better product constantly evolved and tested but thousands of clients instead of for a few official betatesters. Even EA (not known for taking care of their clients) releases updates to the ME for Fifa, NHL, Madden etc almost all year long and in fact let you chose the ME version that you want to use in your solo games.

I know it's been discussed already, but I wish there was a subscription model with constant ME and data updates over the year, I'd pay it happily.

Edited June 28, 2021 by Icy

[MasterFolke]

I would it to be so that when my player scores during the game, that i want it show how many goals he scored in just that competition that im playing in and not the total amount of goals. I would also want to have a top-10 or something like that stat-site on my club of top 10 scorers and assists since my save started.

[HUNT3R]

8 minutes ago, MasterFolke said:

I would it to be so that when my player scores during the game, that i want it show how many goals he scored in just that competition that im playing in and not the total amount of goals. I would also want to have a top-10 or something like that stat-site on my club of top 10 scorers and assists since my save started.

If you have feature suggestions, here is where to post them : https://community.sigames.com/forums/forum/353-football-manager-feature-requests-pcmac/

[anindyarajan19]

Transfer negotiations, especially with big clubs feel too easy honestly. It is one of things which makes FM rather easy after 1-2 transfer windows. Big clubs in the game are very happy to let go of their best players for sums which they would never accept in real life. On the other hand, contract negotiations are a huge pain. Players ask for massive wages after 1-2 good seasons, even if they're very young. Irl, even really good players aren't THIS money-minded, barring a few exceptions. Players should be more willing to earn smaller wages, as long as they're winning trophies, or the team is doing well in general. Why would a player want to leave a multiple treble winning team for one which hasn't won the CL in the last 5 seasons,even if that team is offering slightly higher wages?

[RinusFM]

Oh my ... I found out how unrealistic FM is.. :O Story short: I had three players debuting in three different national teams. Turns out I can congratulate them, but... I can hug them, give them a pat or a handshake. They are gone from the club.. No way I am going to fly to three people to give them a handshake A tiny oversight by the developers. or.. I can teleport.. hmmmm since FM is a alternate universe it's possible they have invented teleport or anything similar.

Edited July 1, 2021 by RinusFM

[andu1]

Game is good, the best of the purple trio ( 19,20,21 )

My only gripe with FM 21 is that there isn't a role for a Wide Center Back in a 3 man defense. I love using a 3-4-1-2 but there doesn't seem to be a way to make the wide CB more attacking and do overlapping runs.

The wide center back role is a must for FM 22 since so many teams use the 3 man formations ( including at the Euros )

[Grifty]

2 hours ago, andu1 said:

Game is good, the best of the purple trio ( 19,20,21 )

My only gripe with FM 21 is that there isn't a role for a Wide Center Back in a 3 man defense. I love using a 3-4-1-2 but there doesn't seem to be a way to make the wide CB more attacking and do overlapping runs.

The wide center back role is a must for FM 22 since so many teams use the 3 man formations ( including at the Euros )

I've got the exact same issue, got my defensive set to wide but quite often they are sat in the very middle of the box.

[andu1]

12 hours ago, Grifty said:

I've got the exact same issue, got my defensive set to wide but quite often they are sat in the very middle of the box.

Yes, and when they receive the ball the don't advance with the ball at their feet even if the have space to get into. They rarely ever get past the halfway line and i use much higher def line, BP Def with Dribble more. Their movement should at least resemble a libero on support.

 

[DP]

As a long term player of FM I stopped playing around 2016 due to work and not liking versions between 2016 and 2019. 
 

However, I’ve played a few saves of FM21 - including my latest across 3 different teams over 12 seasons - and I think the game really is excellent and a lot of fun to play. It’s kept me engaged for the first time in years and the addictiveness has returned. Having said this I feel I’m now qualified to call out the things that absolutely need sorting out in the next version as well as some nice to haves. Playing over this time allows you to see the issues, trends and things that are not right as opposed to not having a good enough sample size:

Needs fixing:

1. Media questions around internationals - every time I’m asked about a goal someone has scored which is too repetitive

 

2. Ball winning midfielders - There are very, very few ten years in, if any at all on a standard database. I think the game struggles to give good marking and tackling stats to newgen midfielders

 

3. High scoring games - Something isn’t quite right with defending. There are too many crazy 7-4 type score lines with players scoring 5 or 6 goals note often than you see in real life. Maybe the code where teams take their foot off the gas needs to be more prevalent as things get out of control too often. 

 

4. Big teams scoring too many against small teams - Similar to the above, it means the leagues are often too polarised and smaller defensive teams find it hard to flourish. I think it’s down to the work required on the defensive side of the game and possibly how smaller teams line up. 

 

5. Multiple bids for my young u18s - It’s constant. Small bids that I’ll never accept. The system needs to change here rather than receiving constant, unrealistic bids. 
 

6. Players running half the pitch from corners - Happens a little too often. A break from a corner leading to the player having a shot or scoring after running from their box

 

7. Player ratings - a smidgen low and disparity between full and non full detail leagues. I’m a big advocate of dropping the decimal place for individual games and just using for the season average. Much more impactful seeing a player get a flat 6, 7 or 8 for a single match and less ambiguity. 
 

8. International call ups - Too strict for lower rep teams in the top leagues. If my striker is the top goal scorer in the Premier League, he should get a call up even if the team he plays for is low rep. I get the concept but it’s a bit too strict in FM. 
 

9. Shouts - Need a rethink. Should they all be morale based? Surely I should be able to quickly shout tactical things too? I can easily game the ‘encourage’ shout by just using it every 5 minutes to get a positive morale boost, no risk.

10. Goalkeepers in the ME - Please give us some jeopardy with the ability for them to get sent off and more chance of injury. In ten seasons I’ve never needed to have a keeper on the bench.

 

11. VAR - If it’s used in the game it needs to be more random. Pretty much every call you can guess once you’ve played long enough. The offsides are always called offside. Please deliver a feeling of tension.

 

Some of the main annoyances I’ve seen. It’s a great game this year but hopefully some of these are addressed. 

Edited July 5, 2021 by DP
Title

[Iwabik]

Why are the AI transfer offers mostly "non-negotiable"? What's the point? Who starts negotiation with low-ball non-negotiable offer?

[XaW]

42 minutes ago, Iwabik said:

Why are the AI transfer offers mostly "non-negotiable"? What's the point? Who starts negotiation with low-ball non-negotiable offer?

Someone who knows they will never get them for that price, but are trying to see if the player will make a fuss about not getting a move, and then buying him for a lower price than if they hadn't done so. This is a very effective strategy in the game, don't you use this as a tool to get lower prices?

[phd_angel]

My feedback thus far is that FM21 is better than FM20. It's satisfying but far from perfect. (I'm sure in 10 years time we'll be SOH at the current version).

Set Pieces remains broken. (Throw-ins to opposition feet, and ping-pong corners are short of ridiculous, a clear step back from prior versions). I've seen people posting about this issue, and I posted a request in the bugs forum a few months ago. IMHO, it's the most frustrating flaw in FM21...

Also, offside goals have been become way more common (and frustrating), probably due to some recent patch (I write this in July 2021 IRL).

There are other tweaks I'd suggest here and there in game interface, negotiations, and attack settings being overpowered, but Set Pieces (and offside goals) is the most glaring problem I see in FM21.

Nice new office BTW (I just watched Miles' walk-around video...). 

Edited July 7, 2021 by phd_angel

[Whufc10000]

No point listing the games many, many faults. First off, it would take too long and second, It would only be removed anyway.

This screenshot is just the latest of so many biased AI actions that I've lost count.

Two nil up against City and Aguero shoots from where he stands, there are many players offside, but the player blocking my keepers view is the one in question. Not even a VAR decision to be made(100% disallowed goal IRL, even with all the bad decisions we've actually seen)  and this is what the game does when the AI needs a goal to get back in the game.

They equalised a minute later when a long ball from the keeper was completely ignored by my DC(he froze as if the game had crashed) and Aguerro ran right through him 

On the other hand, I keep getting goals disallowed when a player of mine is clearly not interfering with play in any way, but that's FM for you.

Luckily, it appears that lock-down is almost at an end, so we can go back to a semi normal life without having to use this game to while away the many empty hours of our life 

This post will probably get pulled anyway, but at least it only took me five minutes. 

[XaW]

16 minutes ago, Whufc10000 said:

No point listing the games many, many faults. First off, it would take too long and second, It would only be removed anyway.

This screenshot is just the latest of so many biased AI actions that I've lost count.

Two nil up against City and Aguero shoots from where he stands, there are many players offside, but the player blocking my keepers view is the one in question. Not even a VAR decision to be made(100% disallowed goal IRL, even with all the bad decisions we've actually seen)  and this is what the game does when the AI needs a goal to get back in the game.

They equalised a minute later when a long ball from the keeper was completely ignored by my DC(he froze as if the game had crashed) and Aguerro ran right through him 

On the other hand, I keep getting goals disallowed when a player of mine is clearly not interfering with play in any way, but that's FM for you.

Luckily, it appears that lock-down is almost at an end, so we can go back to a semi normal life without having to use this game to while away the many empty hours of our life 

This post will probably get pulled anyway, but at least it only took me five minutes. 

Don't see any reason to remove this, but I will point you to the bugs section and ask that you report it with a .pkm so SI can get an example they can look at to fix it.

[dolph11]

4 hours ago, Whufc10000 said:

No point listing the games many, many faults. First off, it would take too long and second, It would only be removed anyway.

This screenshot is just the latest of so many biased AI actions that I've lost count.

Two nil up against City and Aguero shoots from where he stands, there are many players offside, but the player blocking my keepers view is the one in question. Not even a VAR decision to be made(100% disallowed goal IRL, even with all the bad decisions we've actually seen)  and this is what the game does when the AI needs a goal to get back in the game.

They equalised a minute later when a long ball from the keeper was completely ignored by my DC(he froze as if the game had crashed) and Aguerro ran right through him 

On the other hand, I keep getting goals disallowed when a player of mine is clearly not interfering with play in any way, but that's FM for you.

Luckily, it appears that lock-down is almost at an end, so we can go back to a semi normal life without having to use this game to while away the many empty hours of our life 

This post will probably get pulled anyway, but at least it only took me five minutes. 

Ah, the frozen defender! Such a great addition to this years' version. I'm currently managing FC Inter in Finland and am doing well but I'm growing increasingly bored of the defenders missing headers that are right there from the opposition keepers' kick and throw-ins straight to the opposition for a swift counter-attack. Absolutely tedious!

[Svenc]

Top of the league with a GD of +36 after 17 matches with bloody WHUFC in 2021 -- but clearly it's the AI rigging the game when in need of a goal. (I'm sure none of those 3 goals average  scored for WHUFC ever have any issue, they're all brilliant legit football goals scored by definition no doubt).

This is why this game will never get a more competitive AI btw. Every time in a hundred a perceived "****" hits the fan, it's the game being unfair.   

Gamasutra - Analysis: Game AI & Our Cheatin’ Hearts

That's not a dig, btw. It's just that the human mind in general is a thing of many wonders. It's the same psychology at work that regards the RNG of Baldur's Gate 3 (Early Access release) as borked, even when collecting numbers it shows it isn't.  The devs are actually optionally coding in a bias in the form of loaded dice in favor of the player, similar to the Civ developers in the article linked to above (and even that is perceived as suspicious as the human mind is what it is). Baldur's Gate 3 rolls out a hotfix for players who have 'angered the RNG Gods' | PC Gamer

Edited July 7, 2021 by Svenc

[Whufc10000]

7 hours ago, XaW said:

Don't see any reason to remove this, but I will point you to the bugs section and ask that you report it with a .pkm so SI can get an example they can look at to fix it.

I've seen more than enough on these forums to know that this is a pointless task and a complete waste of time.

There are still issues in this game from the previous 4 or 5 versions(at least)

This screenshot was from my last match. Given offside and absolutely no sign of any VAR lines or a check?????