Football Manager 2021 Official Feedback Thread

[Abysmal]

Anyone know why im getting no scout report on players even though they are being scouted?

[Platinum]

I have just understood the joy of custom views. Wow I was missing out before, allows you to understand and view your squad and other squads at a much better level and also means you have less clicks. 

[Platinum]

1 hour ago, Abysmal said:

Anyone know why im getting no scout report on players even though they are being scouted?

Once the scout has scouted a match/scouted him for enough days I think the scout report will show up 

[dolph11]

Is xg. accurate? It's something I've noticed a lot but couldn't be bothered to really delve into and I haven't much here but I'm at a loss to understand the stats in this recent game. I'm using a deep block 4411 as it's a difficult away game and it's being executed perfectly. I had 4 1on1's and the opposition never really got close, apart from a few scrambles in the box that didn't even test the keeper. Yet, we have a similar xg.? I'm happy to upload the highlights should they be requested. 

 

The point of this isn't to complain about my players not scoring, even though they probably should have managed at least one, it's point out something I've noticed beforehand and to see if anybody else has seen the same. 

[CaptCanuck]

Speaking of crosses, has anyone raised this as a bug yet?

These are all from set pieces. And funnily enough I have been man marking him since the start of the match.

Just total nonsense.

[ImDaWeasel]

10 hours ago, dolph11 said:

Is xg. accurate? It's something I've noticed a lot but couldn't be bothered to really delve into and I haven't much here but I'm at a loss to understand the stats in this recent game. I'm using a deep block 4411 as it's a difficult away game and it's being executed perfectly. I had 4 1on1's and the opposition never really got close, apart from a few scrambles in the box that didn't even test the keeper. Yet, we have a similar xg.? I'm happy to upload the highlights should they be requested. 

 

The point of this isn't to complain about my players not scoring, even though they probably should have managed at least one, it's point out something I've noticed beforehand and to see if anybody else has seen the same. 

I ignore xG and don't have it selected in my match stats. Total waste of time and tells you nothing about the match itself.

[Johnny Ace]

7 hours ago, CaptCanuck said:

Speaking of crosses, has anyone raised this as a bug yet?

These are all from set pieces. And funnily enough I have been man marking him since the start of the match.

Just total nonsense.

It's been like since day one, it's the key passes thing, he's getting so many from setpieces your ass man thinks he's ripping your team apart. I really dislike this change 

 

 

[Johnny Ace]

11 hours ago, dolph11 said:

Is xg. accurate? It's something I've noticed a lot but couldn't be bothered to really delve into and I haven't much here but I'm at a loss to understand the stats in this recent game. I'm using a deep block 4411 as it's a difficult away game and it's being executed perfectly. I had 4 1on1's and the opposition never really got close, apart from a few scrambles in the box that didn't even test the keeper. Yet, we have a similar xg.? I'm happy to upload the highlights should they be requested. 

 

The point of this isn't to complain about my players not scoring, even though they probably should have managed at least one, it's point out something I've noticed beforehand and to see if anybody else has seen the same. 

A couple of those scrambles could've led to a decent chance on goal that they obviously missed. Watch back their chances because just looking at the stat doesn't tell you a lot . Even one good chance could've been 0.50 which would bump it up  

I like xg & find it pretty accurate to be honest, it's been done very well  

 

[themadsheep2001]

8 minutes ago, Johnny Ace said:

A couple of those scrambles could've led to a decent chance on goal that they obviously missed. Watch back their chances because just looking at the stat doesn't tell you a lot . Even one good chance could've been 0.50 which would bump it up  

I like xg & find it pretty accurate to be honest, it's been done very well  

 

Yeah that's why I pay attention to the Xg story as well as watching games on comprehensive as usual. Big difference between two similar xgs If one is a lot of lesser chances Vs one with few but bigger spikes. That would tell you straight what the breakdown was

[BuzzR]

2 minutes ago, themadsheep2001 said:

Yeah that's why I pay attention to the Xg story as well as watching games on comprehensive as usual. Big difference between two similar xgs If one is a lot of lesser chances Vs one with few but bigger spikes. That would tell you straight what the breakdown was

I generally see my team having a lot of lesser chances ..mostly misplaced headers. I am wondering how can I improve on that ?

I am watching the games on comprehensive highlights and usually I see we dominate possession as intended, but with less clear changes as I would love to see.. 

[dolph11]

43 minutes ago, Johnny Ace said:

A couple of those scrambles could've led to a decent chance on goal that they obviously missed. Watch back their chances because just looking at the stat doesn't tell you a lot . Even one good chance could've been 0.50 which would bump it up  

I like xg & find it pretty accurate to be honest, it's been done very well  

 

Their chances were pretty minimal. Their big chance was when the ball dropped to one of their players in the box and he hit it first time straight at my defender, it rebounded to another one of their players (standard procedure) who again hit it straight at another defender. It was like a goal-mouth scramble but not chaotic. I had plenty of bodies in there and I wouldn't really call those 2 chances nearly as big as 4 one-on-ones, fairly clear one-on-ones at that which were denied by some fantastic goalkeeping (standard procedure).

Edited March 24, 2021 by dolph11

[dolph11]

1 hour ago, ImDaWeasel said:

I ignore xG and don't have it selected in my match stats. Total waste of time and tells you nothing about the match itself.

I agree with your sentiment. I've noticed it be off a few times not even closely reflect the match or the opportunities in it. Might be worth turning off. 

[Johnny Ace]

12 minutes ago, dolph11 said:

Their chances were pretty minimal. Their big chance was when the ball dropped to one of their players in the box and he hit it first time straight at my defender, it rebounded to another one of their players (standard procedure) who again hit it straight at another defender. It was like a goal-mouth scramble but not chaotic. I had plenty of bodies in there and I wouldn't really call those 2 chances nearly as big as 4 one-on-ones, fairly clear one-on-ones at that which were denied by some fantastic goalkeeping (standard procedure).

They could still be really good chances, where they've hit your defender when they could've hit it on target. Hard to tell without looking at anything though. You could check the XG analysis map thingy & find the chances on there, they could've been 2 0.30 + XG chances which would boost their total XG quite a bit even if you felt the situation was under control, you obviously defended well seeing as they didn't get a shot on target  

[themadsheep2001]

35 minutes ago, BuzzR said:

I generally see my team having a lot of lesser chances ..mostly misplaced headers. I am wondering how can I improve on that ?

I am watching the games on comprehensive highlights and usually I see we dominate possession as intended, but with less clear changes as I would love to see.. 

Hard to say without seeing how you're setup but it sounds like you're controlling the first 2/3rds of the pitch, without being able to open up the opposition (who are presumably sitting deep). I'd say create a thread in the tactics section so we can see how you might need to manipulate space

[themadsheep2001]

6 minutes ago, Johnny Ace said:

They could still be really good chances, where they've hit your defender when they could've hit it on target. Hard to tell without looking at anything though. You could check the XG analysis map thingy & find the chances on there, they could've been 2 0.30 + XG chances which would boost their total XG quite a bit even if you felt the situation was under control, you obviously defended well seeing as they didn't get a shot on target  

Absolutely. A goalmouth scramble might not be a well worked chance, but they can be huge chances. the XG story shows this stuff clearly. 

Just because it's hit a defender does not mean it's not a good chance

[danielclouston1]

The only thing that frusrates me with the game is the disparity of transfer fees. Whenever I want to buy a player I have to pay over the odds from their value but my best players can't command a fee that's above their value because when you negotiate the fee the teams pull out and the player gets unsettled and wants transfer listed. It makes it so frustrating.

 

Example: I bought Camavinga valued at £30mil had to pay £55mil, way over the valuation. Fine, he's totally worth it.

 

PSG come in for my player Tete, just won European player of the year etc, valued at £40mil. Tried to negotiate to £60mil and they withdrew. Player unsettled, wants to leave Ajax for PSG which is understandable, can't get anything above £45mil.

 

This happens with pretty much every transfer, to the point I don't actually want to make any transfers.

[Johnny Ace]

Well, PSG could probably unsettle 90% of players by having a bid rejected for them. You could've probably done the same with Camavinga (assuming he was still at Rennes & still have a lower rep than Ajax). Contract lengths, player loyalty & all sorts factor into it more than just Big fish vs Small fish too, it's pretty complex    

[themadsheep2001]

Also, anything 0.20 and up is a good chance,  0.25 and up is excellent, and 0.3 and up is pretty much a clear cut chance. 

[Johnny Ace]

1 minute ago, themadsheep2001 said:

Also, anything 0.20 and up is a good chance,  0.25 and up is excellent, and 0.3 and up is pretty much a clear cut chance. 

Best chance I've seen better than a penalty was a 0.90, a winger had crossed low to the far post taking out the keeper leaving the striker a tap-in from 3 yards. Have seen a few 0.60's too but I can't remember those, maybe when the keeper was out of position with only a defender between the ball & goal 

[dolph11]

44 minutes ago, Johnny Ace said:

They could still be really good chances, where they've hit your defender when they could've hit it on target. Hard to tell without looking at anything though. You could check the XG analysis map thingy & find the chances on there, they could've been 2 0.30 + XG chances which would boost their total XG quite a bit even if you felt the situation was under control, you obviously defended well seeing as they didn't get a shot on target  

They were half-chances with players between them and the goal (they were just behind the penalty spot), I had 4 chances with just the forward and the opposition GK, there is no way on this earth they can be considered equally as dangerous. In addition, they had only two from the same phase of play, I had one-on-ones 4 from different moments. 

[dolph11]

What I'm saying is, we had the same amount of shots, two of their opportunities were 'dangerous', the rest were long range efforts. I had 4 one on ones and we have the same xg? Makes zero sense. 

[themadsheep2001]

6 minutes ago, dolph11 said:

What I'm saying is, we had the same amount of shots, two of their opportunities were 'dangerous', the rest were long range efforts. I had 4 one on ones and we have the same xg? Makes zero sense. 

You could just post the Xg story and the PKM, so everyone has all the facts. It does make sense and it's been explained why it could. Buy it does sound like you've already decided it's a problem anyway

[Johnny Ace]

@dolph11 it's impossible to say without seeing the chances, if you think it's buggy, upload a PKM on the bug forum & let SI have a look at it. Personally, I've never had a problem with it  

Just saying two teams had similar shots at goal & similar XG but one had better chances that the other doesn't tell us anything 

Edited March 24, 2021 by Johnny Ace

[themadsheep2001]

2 minutes ago, Johnny Ace said:

@dolph11 it's impossible to say without seeing the chances, if you think it's buggy, upload a PKM on the bug forum & let SI have a look at it. Personally, I've never had a problem with it  

Just saying two teams had similar shots at goal & similar XG but one had better chances that the other doesn't tell us anything 

This. There's loads of context missing. Don't know the Xg breakdown and can't see the shots

[Johnny Ace]

I'd be interested to see the PKM now 

[Platinum]

7 minutes ago, Johnny Ace said:

It's been like since day one, it's the key passes thing, he's getting so many from setpieces your ass man thinks he's ripping your team apart. I really dislike this change 

 

 

Its dissapointing that they havent fixed issues like that. I think changing the definition of key passes is fine, but the assistant feedback should take into account this change. It's like the implications of the change werent thought through properly

[dolph11]

How do I upload a pkm.?

 

[Johnny Ace]

5 minutes ago, dolph11 said:

How do I upload a pkm.?

 

After the game's done, you should have an option top right to Save Game, save it, the default's the Match folder, find the file & drag it to the paperclip below 

 

Edited March 24, 2021 by Johnny Ace

[dolph11]

Got it, will do it now.

[dolph11]

Ok, most of the action happens in the 1st half up until the point I posted the screenshot. They have 1 good chance late in the game after I gave a few wrong shouts (frustration) and ruined the morale of my team. 

Bruk-Bet Termalica v Widzew.pkm

[Johnny Ace]

26 minutes ago, dolph11 said:

Ok, most of the action happens in the 1st half up until the point I posted the screenshot. They have 1 good chance late in the game after I gave a few wrong shouts (frustration) and ruined the morale of my team. 

Bruk-Bet Termalica v Widzew.pkm 129.21 kB · 1 download

Alright mate, sound thanks, I'll have a watch later & see if anything's wonky 

[kertiek]

since the development stopped for fm21, should we start a wishlist thread for fm22 and just start a group colaboration of thoughts and prayers to get the broken features of fm21 fixed in the next release of the game?

[themadsheep2001]

1 minute ago, kertiek said:

since the development stopped for fm21, should we start a wishlist thread for fm22 and just start a group colaboration of thoughts and prayers to get the broken features of fm21 fixed in the next release of the game?

There's already a forum section for wishlists and SI will already have ideas of both what they want to introduce and also improve

[StewG]

Loving the game this year. Only thing is my wing backs getting to the byline in space and waiting until they get closed down 

[Johnny Ace]

@dolph11I had a look pal, you were hard done by

Your man, Pawel, had 3 cracking chances, 2 at 0.30 & one at 0.21 because I think the defender was hassling him

Then Bruk had pretty much the same, a 0.30, 0.29 & 0.21 chances, they weren't put through into space like yours but they were shots in the box, in space all the same

 

 

You're right on the second half too, it was a snooze fest 

 

[dolph11]

43 minutes ago, Johnny Ace said:

@dolph11I had a look pal, you were hard done by

Your man, Pawel, had 3 cracking chances, 2 at 0.30 & one at 0.21 because I think the defender was hassling him

Then Bruk had pretty much the same, a 0.30, 0.29 & 0.21 chances, they weren't put through into space like yours but they were shots in the box, in space all the same

 

 

You're right on the second half too, it was a snooze fest 

 

I appreciate the feedback! I think I ruined the 2nd half with my over-zealous shouts born out of annoyance, unfortunately. Plus, I didn't switch it up at all, I trusted the system, which obviously didn't work after they'd gone more defensive. You live and you learn!

 

[Johnny Ace]

3 minutes ago, dolph11 said:

I appreciate the feedback! I think I ruined the 2nd half with my over-zealous shouts born out of annoyance, unfortunately. Plus, I didn't switch it up at all, I trusted the system, which obviously didn't work after they'd gone more defensive. You live and you learn!

 

Yeah, they were playing for the draw in the second half, you were getting balls in behind them in the first & they just stopped that after a they had a guy sent off 

[CaptCanuck]

7 hours ago, danielclouston1 said:

The only thing that frusrates me with the game is the disparity of transfer fees. Whenever I want to buy a player I have to pay over the odds from their value but my best players can't command a fee that's above their value because when you negotiate the fee the teams pull out and the player gets unsettled and wants transfer listed. It makes it so frustrating.

 

Example: I bought Camavinga valued at £30mil had to pay £55mil, way over the valuation. Fine, he's totally worth it.

 

PSG come in for my player Tete, just won European player of the year etc, valued at £40mil. Tried to negotiate to £60mil and they withdrew. Player unsettled, wants to leave Ajax for PSG which is understandable, can't get anything above £45mil.

 

This happens with pretty much every transfer, to the point I don't actually want to make any transfers.

I feel your pain. Had one of my starting double-pivot's head turned during the winter window. Got a decent 50m offer against a 35m or so valuation but rejected it, we agreed if it got to 60m he could go. That offer never comes.

He eventually gives up the ghost and is happy to stay. Crocked player ratings + playing as a CM linchpin who doesn't take corners = value drop. Eventhough he's a key contributor on a team that finished 3rd, 3 points behind winners ManU.

Summer window we get a matches value 28m offer. Rejected. Player wants to leave... here we go again, yet with poor season rating (6.85 iirc) for a 23yr old who is better in June than Jan, we're not touching that 60m, so looks like we'll have to spend another 1/3 season with a key player having the hump.

I like the head-turned scenarios that arise, adds to the player management side of FM, but I don't like it one bit when the underlying bugs/unexpected behaviour that supports the immersion of that scenario, effectively ruins it.

[Freakiie]

3 hours ago, CaptCanuck said:

I feel your pain. Had one of my starting double-pivot's head turned during the winter window. Got a decent 50m offer against a 35m or so valuation but rejected it, we agreed if it got to 60m he could go. That offer never comes.

He eventually gives up the ghost and is happy to stay. Crocked player ratings + playing as a CM linchpin who doesn't take corners = value drop. Eventhough he's a key contributor on a team that finished 3rd, 3 points behind winners ManU.

Summer window we get a matches value 28m offer. Rejected. Player wants to leave... here we go again, yet with poor season rating (6.85 iirc) for a 23yr old who is better in June than Jan, we're not touching that 60m, so looks like we'll have to spend another 1/3 season with a key player having the hump.

I like the head-turned scenarios that arise, adds to the player management side of FM, but I don't like it one bit when the underlying bugs/unexpected behaviour that supports the immersion of that scenario, effectively ruins it.

Was he already 23 in the Winter? Not sure if it's quite as extreme in FM21, but in FM20 the AI stops seeing players as youth players for the future the second they hit 23 and the result is that their valuations for a player will completely drop. Had some hilarious situations where a transfer offer went from 80mil down to 30mil in a week, simply because a player had his 23rd birthday in FM20.

 

That aside, anyone else seeing some completely nonsensical player unhappiness? After rejecting the first guy wanting to leave for RM due to them paying higher wages because he wanted a payoff to compensate for those "higher wages", I had a second one that happily moved from RBL to RBS (Yeah the irony in that one) for half the wages.  Then my Star Player rolls up to me, complaining about a lack of playing time and how he feels he'll never be good enough to become a regular starter, while having Star Player playing time...

[Showerman]

Sold Kane in 2021 to PSG for £200m an unwanted sale but had to accept as the finances were crazy

Bought Greenwood (£95m) and Haaland (£131m) to replace him and they have both been amazing

Haaland got 45 league goals and 58 all comps in 2022/23 but his head was turned Jan 2024 with 23 in 19 at that point of the season, I dropped him for Moukoko(free transfer) and waited for him to be happy again, 2 years passed with out him being happy or me receiving a single acceptable bid for him (initially £150m, then value between £85-90m)

HOW!? I don’t know as he still scored when he played (mainly cup and sub) 33 goals in 2024/25, 17 goals in 13 starts/14 sub for the first part 25/26 season.

So in Jan 2026 with 18 months left on his contract I let him go to Inter on loan for half a season(me picking up his £300k wages as no one was willing to pay it) hoping that he can be happy again and it WORKED however, now its the start of the 2026/27 season and he is in his final contract year but no longer being unhappy i thought we could get a new contract done but he wanted to wait until after the World Cup OK no problem but NOW there are 2 clubs interested in a transfer and he is unwilling to renegotiate AGAIN

The frustrating thing is no one is bidding, I refuse to transfer list him again because even though more clubs become interested no one bids anything negotiable and definitely nothing near his value and when I start rejecting bids that will make him unhappy.

Now I didn’t mind all this I was willing to risk riding it out till end of transfer window ends and maybe interest ends to and we can do a deal if not I will sell him for what I can get before he can negotiate with other clubs in Jan to leave on a free.

My problem is now Greenwood who still has 4 years on his deal but has given me similar problems but on a much smaller scale and is my only world class right winger and my 2nd best striker behind Moukoko is being bid for by Barca and I have been rejecting all summer they have reached that £200m mark again

Do i reject a £200m bid for Greenwood or accept and risk losing Both Greenwood and Haaland for a combined loss of what I initially paid for them before they even hit their prime.

TLDR

The Haaland thing is stupid and could never happen like that in real life I paid £131m for him in 2021 he improved under me won everything possible club/individual and with 3/4 years left on his contract wants to leave(no reason given why) to clubs with smaller reps in smaller rep leagues but they wont bid more then i paid or even his value.

Initialy Man City made him hand in a transfer request but they failed to make CL that season and haven’t been interested since.

[jc1]

Not said too much about this years game as it's generally a lot better than the last couple of years but there re still incredibly annoying things happening. 

Last 3-4 years we've had either WB's or wingers wait until they're closed down and then just kick it against the oppositions legs, we've all complained but still all these games down the line and it's still happening.

Players randomly running  towards the by line or goal line and instead of stopping they just carry on running with no pressure on them and run over the line.

We still have the wonder keepers from lower level teams making saves that most in the Premier league can't make, especially during pre season games, just ridiculous afte all these years it's not been sorted.

Overly defensive AI teams, no matter who you play they just load their box with players making it impossible to get shots away and the ball ricocheting about like a pinball machine.

ME changes so now IF or IW players are ineffective, wingers seem fine but not IF's, if they don't score they barely get above 6.6 same goes for midfielder, unles they score or get an assist 6.6.

The game is OK, not great just OK which is a shame,

[DMaster2]

This year is particularly bad, where you struggle to sell or even loan out anyone. Now people will come in with "it's realistic covid blah blah blah" except in my save i'm well past the first years and most clubs are rich or close to (none of the clubs in Italy where i'm managing are below okay finances, majority are either rich or secure) and it's still the same.

But what annoy me to no end is how they lowball every single one of your players. I have a squad player worth 7 millions and they offer 2, he's not even transfer listed. You have a promising youngster and they offer you a few hundred ks, meanwhile for any young player you want it's AT LEAST 4-5 millions upward regardless of how ****** they are. And even worse, they keep spamming you with low ball offers you have no intention of accepting if you have a brain.

And let's not talk about contracts, i've seen plenty of young players especially where for me they ask the moon, for AI managers they settle for half of what they ask me. It's just ridicolous.

I've been played this game since FM 15 and this is easily the worst one when it comes to transfer AI.

[Freakiie]

Apparently miracles do happen

[CaptCanuck]

18 hours ago, Freakiie said:

Was he already 23 in the Winter? Not sure if it's quite as extreme in FM21, but in FM20 the AI stops seeing players as youth players for the future the second they hit 23 and the result is that their valuations for a player will completely drop. Had some hilarious situations where a transfer offer went from 80mil down to 30mil in a week, simply because a player had his 23rd birthday in FM20.

 

That aside, anyone else seeing some completely nonsensical player unhappiness? After rejecting the first guy wanting to leave for RM due to them paying higher wages because he wanted a payoff to compensate for those "higher wages", I had a second one that happily moved from RBL to RBS (Yeah the irony in that one) for half the wages.  Then my Star Player rolls up to me, complaining about a lack of playing time and how he feels he'll never be good enough to become a regular starter, while having Star Player playing time...

Interesting. Not seen that big 23 drop. Koopermeins (or however you spell it) playing in Italy I think at 24 (valued low 30s) just went to Real Madrid for 50+

[Freakiie]

1 minute ago, CaptCanuck said:

Interesting. Not seen that big 23 drop. Koopermeins (or however you spell it) playing in Italy I think at 24 (valued low 30s) just went to Real Madrid for 50+

Yeah, the bigger the league you're playing in the less noticeable it is, as the high league reputation will prop up a players valuation. Perhaps it's not as bad in FM21 anymore as player valuations have gone up in general, even in lower leagues.

[Johnny Ace]

After this talk of XG yesterday, I've just conceded to a 0XG chance, wasn't quite as comical as an oggy but wasn't far off 

 

 

[WelshMourinho]

Having just completed the 2031/32 season, I think I'm at a decent point to sum up my thoughts on certain elements of the game.

Match engine

On the whole I'm a fan, it's not as dreadful as last years version and you can see actual progress from what we had last year. Players on attack duty will happily attempt risky through balls in order to break down a defence, and I've seen some cracking passes played that we absent from the previous games. I'm seeing a lot more of variety in my own attacking play, whereas last year especially it felt as though no matter what you did you had to suffer through the same goals.

In terms of improvements, I think there's too many of what I've decided to coin 'Tony Pulis overload goals.' These goals are incredibly frustrating with their regular occurrence. A throw in gets taken in the corner on one side of the pitch, and it's instantly switched to the back post with a De Bruyne like pass for an easy header/volley. It feels less like a well worked goal and more a weakness in the game's engine. I did use a versatile CB who  can play at FB and it counteracted it quite well, but that seems quite a drastic solution for a problem that imo at least shouldn't be as prevalent as it is.

One other thing I'll mention is gegenpressing. My own view is that this needs to be toned down in some way, or at least altered in how it's implemented in the tactical creator. My view of it from watching the ME is that the main attribute required is pace and acceleration. I often find some players who've caused me nightmares with their press are absolutely lacking in the team work and work rate department, but it didn't hinder them as much as it should have. It should work in conjunction with the oppositions technical ability and their composure under the pressure, but for me the weighting of it seems a tad off. I think this is exacerbated once you get a few years in, because any regen worth their salt in the top leagues will have godly physical attributes and lends to a difficult press. 

This leads me on to a viewpoint on tactics, and specifically the AI's tactics.

AIs tactics 

We have a lot of different roles in the game, a lot of different possibilities of combinations. And yet I think every midfield 2 combination I've seen is a MEZ next to a DLP who sits. It doesn't matter what formation, or what the other roles look like, this is by far the most common 2 I've seen in midfield. I think maybe this is because of how the game calculates the role suitability and it rates these 2 particularly highly, but it often feels like every team sets up in the same way. Considering the amount of roles we have, I'd say a good majority of them are rarely used, and everyone's just sort of setting up with the same systems.

It feels stale at times, much like the games development of regens, and for me the two aspects are definitely linked.

Regens

I feel like the majority of regens I see are all the same now. Every midfielder is a playmaker, every good striker will be fast and strong with finishing ability. Has anyone ever seen a good attacking full back? They all look Wan Bissaka lite to me, rather poor going forward but great stamina, tackling and marking in order to be defensively solid. We're in a period where Guardiola is inverting fbs because they have the ability to play there now. Okay that's an extreme example, but in the real world atm, players are having to contribute effectively to all different parts of the game. But in FM, it feels like they all end up being able to do one thing very well, and their physical stats end up absolutely ridiculous.  I'd like to see variation.

 

I would like to say more, and I realise this post has come off negatively, but I greatly enjoy the game this year. Many things are done right and this feels like the biggest step forward we've taking in years! I'll stop here though because I think this post, at least for now, is big enough 

Edited March 26, 2021 by WelshMourinho

[blejdek]

I am really going to throw something off my window. Every ****in time when I get a good result against a better AI the extra time just randomly gets +1min at least of that that referee showed. Let it be first half or the second half. got forbid I ever get any (extra) extra time.  And this is not random occurence, every god damn time this happens. Among all the other bugs people mentioned this one is the one that frustrates me most. I mean, I get it. There is too much bugs to fix them all, but such things just make it totally unrewarding and throwing a bad light at the development team who are resposinble for that kind of things......

[Johnny Ace]

1 hour ago, WelshMourinho said:

In terms of improvements, I think there's too many of what I've decided to coin 'Tony Pulis overload goals.' These goals are incredibly frustrating with their regular occurrence. A throw in gets taken in the corner on one side of the pitch, and it's instantly switched to the back post with a De Bruyne like pass for an easy header/volley. It feels less like a well worked goal and more a weakness in the game's engine.

Very good post @WelshMourinho! On the above, I completely agree!! It's something I've picked up on in bug reports 1) the lazer guided passes out wide, then 2) Useless to average in the air wide players being able to beat defenders in the air to score. It happens in real life, it's acceptable, sure, it's just too frequent of a way of scoring in the ME.  For example,I ran a season with Barca & I've never seen Messi score so many headed goals. It been like it a while now 

On the regens positions, I think the idea is to retrain the players young to play a more suitable position, like I'm sure TAA wasn't a RB at 15 & I'm sure Harry Kane played in midfield when he was kid sort of thing 

[WelshMourinho]

45 minutes ago, Johnny Ace said:

Very good post @WelshMourinho! On the above, I completely agree!! It's something I've picked up on in bug reports 1) the lazer guided passes out wide, then 2) Useless to average in the air wide players being able to beat defenders in the air to score. It happens in real life, it's acceptable, sure, it's just too frequent of a way of scoring in the ME.  For example,I ran a season with Barca & I've never seen Messi score so many headed goals. It been like it a while now 

On the regens positions, I think the idea is to retrain the players young to play a more suitable position, like I'm sure TAA wasn't a RB at 15 & I'm sure Harry Kane played in midfield when he was kid sort of thing 

I think the games problems really do get highlighted when regens kick in. They're like superheroes. I've got a winger right now who's 6'1 with 16 acceleration. I don't think there's many fbs in the game who'll be able to cope with him lurking at the back post. Still common at the beginning of the game of course, but regens come in and it sticks out like a sore thumb.

re: regens. I'm happy to go with that thinking, but it has to come from the AI too, and I think that's where the game lacks for me. Their decision making is absolutely horrendous and it's hard to see a point where they'll be able to intelligently retrain players. The ones they do retrain end up being bonkers anyway.

It's a bit like letting your DOF do transfers for you. No matter what his attributes are, he could be 20 in all the vital ones, he'll still go out and sign rubbish players, or low PA players, or players that plainly don't fit the system. It's a difficult one, and right now is probably the main reason why there are some on the forum claiming the game is "too easy". 

The human player can only do so much.