Football Manager 2021 Official Feedback Thread

[MatthewS17]

Have had to stop playing since learning about the newgen bug. Can't really progress further now without the game losing the plot and don't want to risk it either in my long term save.

Well that's FM21 for me atm. 

Bit disappointed by that. 

Edited December 9, 2020 by MatthewS17

[mutwale]

I am playing with FC Copenhagen in the Danish Superliga, i have played 2 seasons so far and is successfull winning the league both seasons, my players do very well. I am wondering if others also experience the lack of interest in players? In these two seasons, there has been no bids for my players, even though i have Jonas Wind scoring more goals than playing matches.

[Fraaj]

11 minutes ago, MatthewS17 said:

Have had to stop playing since learning about the newgen bug. 

What bug is that? Could you give me a link, please? 

[kertiek]

9 minutes ago, Fraaj said:

What bug is that? Could you give me a link, please? 

 

[LolloViola]

by chance I found an old photo in my iphone, FM19 old. 
God, never thought how much I was going to miss that screen.

Edited December 9, 2020 by LolloViola

[Sharkn20]

The stat "Errors" doesn't show any numbers, so seems that no players are making any mistakes never in any game.

Just perfect robots playing football!

Edited December 9, 2020 by Sharkn20

[hagedisboy]

13 minutes ago, LolloViola said:

by chance I found an old photo in my iphone, FM19 old. 
God, never thought how much I was going to miss that screen.

This was so much better man... everything you need on one screen. It's actually baffling SI decided to make this so much worse.

Edited December 9, 2020 by hagedisboy

[LolloViola]

6 minuti fa, hagedisboy ha scritto:

This was so much better man... everything you need on one screen. It's actually baffling SI decided to make this so much worse.

Exactly. Clean, useful and customizable.

[Preveza]

2 hours ago, rp1966 said:

Really?  My recollection of FM18 graphics was that it was a major step backwards from FM17 and was the version marked by the invasion of picnic tables and really bright, over-saturated cartoon-y graphics that we're only now starting to get away from.

There's still a way to go on the lighting (and texturing for the stadiums), but things are definitely starting to look a bit more natural to my eye.

Hmm. I get what you're saying rp, but I did enjoy the night lighting and bright sunny days on a regular 12pm kick off. I here you when you mention the over saturation but it seems a bit dull for me at times.

[goranm]

1 hour ago, Sharkn20 said:

The stat "Errors" doesn't show any numbers, so seems that no players are making any mistakes never in any game.

Just perfect robots playing football!

Stat tracking is bugged across the board.

Free kick goals and key tackles are not recorded. Assist leaders in a season and the overall record holder for assists are both not shown.

Edited December 9, 2020 by goranm

[ImDaWeasel]

1 hour ago, LolloViola said:

by chance I found an old photo in my iphone, FM19 old. 
God, never thought how much I was going to miss that screen.

Ah before the dark times. Don't know what you've got till it's gone I suppose.

Here's to the next 4 years of rubbish match UI and broken stats. All hail the xG! 

[andyt365]

I just counted over 30 clicks of the mouse to go from end of a match to another match 3 days away. Theres so much needless information popping up. 

I've a quick computer and even that is slow and cumbersome. I really think the game has reached a point where its too detailed.

The tactics screen I dont even bother with anymore. It feels like a chore rather than anything enjoyable with all the different stages of play and options available, with the ball, without the ball, transition etc...

What do other users think?

[tbsn1fan]

have you tried fm touch? seems like it might be good for you.

[jcp1417]

Although I agree that that the game does stop a bit too much after clicking continue, yes I know there's ways to help it, I feel like you're playing the wrong game for you if you can't be bothered with tactics

[freddieos]

2 hours ago, mutwale said:

I am playing with FC Copenhagen in the Danish Superliga, i have played 2 seasons so far and is successfull winning the league both seasons, my players do very well. I am wondering if others also experience the lack of interest in players? In these two seasons, there has been no bids for my players, even though i have Jonas Wind scoring more goals than playing matches.

Weird, I had this in the beta with Watford. Came 5th in the Premier League and loads of my young players overperformed and developed, yet not a single bid in two seasons. 

Now I'm playing with Malmo in Swedish league and the top clubs around Europe can't stop buying up all the young talent from Scandinavia for cheap - even though they don't need them and the players are not good enough for their squads. They just automatically place them on loan and the loan description says "looking to loan him out so that the club can make a profit". 

Bizarre.

[Piksi#10]

Big fan of the game. Played since I was just a kid in 97/98, but there are so many issues with the current game that I almost feel sorry I bought the game. Not because of the money, as the prices are more than reasonable IMO, but because I actually looked forward to playing and can't. Bugs like the newgen issues are in fact game breaking if you don't own a super pc. Now I learn there's stat tracking issues as well and that's a killer for me personally, as I always love to keep track of the important data. 

The UI has been another big factor in killing immersion and although I understand a lot of things are different during this pandemic, the overwhelming negative response should warrant some kind of change surely? Who is the person blocking this? Is it a company decision and something that cannot be altered or could subtle changes be introduced to make things easier and more accessible for the players?

Edited December 9, 2020 by Piksi#10

[kalokalitokalo]

I think that the easiest way to change the match UI would have been like the change in tactics. Stay for a year with the old UI and the new one so people can choose.

Then decide if it makes sense going for the new or maintain the older one. If going  for the new one.

 

Same with the match engine. At the start of the save you can choose database version, why not ME version?

 

But I have to say that compared to the disaster that was FM20 I'm really enjoying this FM21.

Edited December 9, 2020 by kalokalitokalo
misstype

[anagain]

25 minutes ago, andyt365 said:

I just counted over 30 clicks of the mouse to go from end of a match to another match 3 days away. Theres so much needless information popping up. 

I've a quick computer and even that is slow and cumbersome. I really think the game has reached a point where its too detailed.

The tactics screen I dont even bother with anymore. It feels like a chore rather than anything enjoyable with all the different stages of play and options available, with the ball, without the ball, transition etc...

What do other users think?

Have you ever considered that maybe a game as complex as FM ain't for you anymore? Tried FIFA? 

But seriously, have you tried to limit the number of things you are subscribed to? Go Inbox > Social Feed and then Manage bottom right. You can then turn off things you don't care about.

You can then go to Staff > Responsibilities and designate tasks to other members of your backroom team.

Failing all that, and like was suggested above, FM Touch might be more you.

 

Personally, I don't actually believe you. Sorry to be blunt, but I play with the whole of Europe loaded and as many players as I suspect it is possible to load. I can go through seven day period, from one game to the next, in less than 30 clicks. If I am setting up a tactic then it will obviously be more.

Is 30 clicks really all that much anyway? I don't think so. The game is engrossing. If nothing happened throughout a week of this incredibly detailed simulated football world then would it in any way be compelling?

Perhaps you have RSI in your mouse finger.

[h3nrique_SEP]

Is this a good way to treat my players? 

Edited December 9, 2020 by h3nrique_SEP

[4football]

3 hours ago, mutwale said:

I am playing with FC Copenhagen in the Danish Superliga, i have played 2 seasons so far and is successfull winning the league both seasons, my players do very well. I am wondering if others also experience the lack of interest in players? In these two seasons, there has been no bids for my players, even though i have Jonas Wind scoring more goals than playing matches.

are you using gegenpressing?

[andyt365]

19 minutes ago, anagain said:

Have you ever considered that maybe a game as complex as FM ain't for you anymore? Tried FIFA? 

But seriously, have you tried to limit the number of things you are subscribed to? Go Inbox > Social Feed and then Manage bottom right. You can then turn off things you don't care about.

You can then go to Staff > Responsibilities and designate tasks to other members of your backroom team.

Failing all that, and like was suggested above, FM Touch might be more you.

 

Personally, I don't actually believe you. Sorry to be blunt, but I play with the whole of Europe loaded and as many players as I suspect it is possible to load. I can go through seven day period, from one game to the next, in less than 30 clicks. If I am setting up a tactic then it will obviously be more.

Is 30 clicks really all that much anyway? I don't think so. The game is engrossing. If nothing happened throughout a week of this incredibly detailed simulated football world then would it in any way be compelling?

Perhaps you have RSI in your mouse finger.

Thanks I'll try the inbox thing. 

As for FIFA, Ive played football manager since champ manager 93 so I probably have a lot to compare. How many of you played this?

 

Edited December 9, 2020 by andyt365

[Harper]

I found that having auto-continue helps speed things a long in the in between. Though, sometimes you miss a player complaining about his contract or playing time and then he gets upset.

[marioNOW]

47 minutes ago, kalokalitokalo said:

But I have to say that compared to the disaster that was FM20 I'm really enjoying this FM21.

Man, I hate to be negative. Everybody compares this game to FM20, which had just a horrible match engine which was literally unable to replicate any central play. In FM19 the defenders heading back to the strikers, FM20 was only gegenpress+wingplay with a sh*tload of blocked crosses, this year FM21 is the ball-hoofing defenders is the main negative point for the ME.

Cosindering that the general, vocal audience hates the new UI features, add the possible game-breaking newgen generation (although I play with a 200k player playable database so I am not affected) and contradictory stat logging, I even consider this version a backward step anything outside the actual ME.

The obvious thing that the ME might not have been officialy changed from the beta, but it ACTS/simulates differently on the pitch for the end-users for some reason. 

For me personally, everything else from FM20 with the beta FM21 engine  WOULD BE THE PERFECT GAME. Even withouth the irrelevant new tone system and the xG (but at least working stat logging which I could use manually to determined some basic xG from an excel sheet anyway  ), it would be way ahead of this current FM21 version as the +ME (which I do not enjoy so much after beta, that a cautious CB-DE with pass shorter and take less risk with a wide open DLP in front of him just hoofing everything route-one) .

But this is just my opinion, that SI missed the opportunity to make this game so much better. All the working hours went into designing and implementing the new UI and the tone-rebranding could have been saved/resourced to maybe reported bug fixing. They did not need to touch anything connected to the ME from the beta, yet they did something. Nobody asked for UI changes from FM20, yet they reworked it and made it worse.  Just saying, the general direction is worrying for me and I find it a really scary comparison for what EA did with FIFA over the years. 

Edited December 9, 2020 by marioNOW

[CaptCanuck]

6 hours ago, Mayzie said:

I was looking around to see if there was a way to see conversation history.  It seems to have completely disappeared.  When you click on Discuss, your assistant or whoever gives you an indication as to what you might want to speak to them about.  I wonder if he will warn me not to praise their progress in training as it's only been a week since I last did that.  I usually leave it a month in between otherwise they get annoyed but with no conversation history, it's going to be guess work.

Bingo. It's ANOTHER 'small thing' that can have a genuine impact on match performance, if players do play better when their morale is higher - and you inadvertently make a players drop by over praising/under praising.

[anagain]

36 minutes ago, andyt365 said:

Thanks I'll try the inbox thing. 

As for FIFA, Ive played football manager since champ manager 93 so I probably have a lot to compare. How many of you played this?

 

I didn't. I started playing this game in '99. My point about FIFA was meant as a joke though.

I don't think you can hold on to the past in gaming as something that is still relevant. Around the time I was introduced to CM, as it still was back then, I was introduced to a 4X game called Birth Of The Federation. Compared to something like Stellaris, BotF was like tic-tac-toe. Why was BotF so primitive a 4X? Not because the creators didn't want it to be incredible, but because the technology wasn't there in gaming at the time. Compare Civ 6 to the original Civ. They are lightyears apart.

Should game stay rooted in 1993? As long as new mechanics presented are necessary to the game then surely they can't be called excessive and bloated.

If you were a real Football Manager would you turn about and say this week between matches is a slog, can I turn off Tuesdays? And if you don't want to emulate being a football manager then what is the draw of this game?

For any other reason than nostalgia, would I play BotF over Stellaris? Quite honestly, no. Admittedly, I like full worlds in my gaming, as evidenced by the loading of all of Europe.

Edited December 9, 2020 by anagain

[CaptCanuck]

Has anyone found a way to mitigate players on the wing (W/WB/FB) being unable to get crosses off?

I switched Lamptey from WB(a) to WB(s) and now instead of running down to the end line and then turning in, he just stops 5-10yds short of the end line and gets his cross blocked there. I think it slightly improves the opportunity to pass it back to a trailing AMR or CMR, as I have had one goal come from him doing a shimy, but it's still not great.

You can see when the ME code actually artificially pulls him back - like brake assisted traction control on your car - and stunts his progress. It's similar to the when the ME stops central defenders for a brief moment on balls over the top.

Thankfully central play is a possibility now, with one-twos, and through balls actually happening. Otherwise without crosses we'd only score penalties and corners.

[LolloViola]

28 minuti fa, marioNOW ha scritto:

For me personally, everything else from FM20 with the beta FM21 engine  WOULD BE THE PERFECT GAME.

perfect sum of 47 pages. 

[duesouth]

31 minutes ago, marioNOW said:

For me personally, everything else from FM20 with the beta FM21 engine  WOULD BE THE PERFECT GAM

This. Exactly this.

[mikcheck]

I'm a bit tired to see my GK giving possession away cheaply, with these nonsense long kicks, when he could perfectly keep it short as you can see in the first image. More often than not, the opposition gets the ball, like happened here with number 23 winning it. They also ended up scoring a goal. 

 

 

Edited December 9, 2020 by mikcheck

[CaptCanuck]

18 minutes ago, mikcheck said:

I'm a bit tired to see my GK kicking long balls when he could perfectly keep it short as you can see in the first image. More often than not, the opposition gets the ball, like happened here with number 23 winning it. They ended up scoring a goal here.

 

 

I don't know how it would fit into your overall tactic, but I was seeing it too much with mine, even with 'Distribute to CBs' turned on and a back 3 of BPD (ST) CD (CO) BPD (ST).

When I then made that CD (CO) into an BPD (ST), I do not know whether it was causation or correlation, but I have seen a reduction in the hoofballs. I know we shouldn't have to consider 'known issues' behaviour in the creation of our tactics, but right now maybe we do. I am playing with Brighton and have a keeper and CBs that are comfortable on the ball so that helps too.

[h3nrique_SEP]

34 minutes ago, mikcheck said:

I'm a bit tired to see my GK giving possession away cheaply, with these nonsense long kicks, when he could perfectly keep it short as you can see in the first image. More often than not, the opposition gets the ball, like happened here with number 23 winning it. They also ended up scoring a goal. 

 

 

Changing your GK to a SK-D would help

[mikcheck]

17 minutos atrás, CaptCanuck disse:

I don't know how it would fit into your overall tactic, but I was seeing it too much with mine, even with 'Distribute to CBs' turned on and a back 3 of BPD (ST) CD (CO) BPD (ST).

When I then made that CD (CO) into an BPD (ST), I do not know whether it was causation or correlation, but I have seen a reduction in the hoofballs. I know we shouldn't have to consider 'known issues' behaviour in the creation of our tactics, but right now maybe we do. I am playing with Brighton and have a keeper and CBs that are comfortable on the ball so that helps too.

One of my defenders is a BPD, but it doesn't matter because he kep doing these crazy balls more often than I'd like.

4 minutos atrás, h3nrique_SEP disse:

Changing your GK to a SK-D would help

He's already a GK-D with take fewer risks PI

Edited December 9, 2020 by mikcheck

[h3nrique_SEP]

2 minutes ago, mikcheck said:

He's already a GK-D with take fewer risks PI

It's a game issue, theres not much we can do.

Try SK-D with take more risks and distributes do CBs and FB's

[jimbo22]

5 hours ago, mutwale said:

I am playing with FC Copenhagen in the Danish Superliga, i have played 2 seasons so far and is successfull winning the league both seasons, my players do very well. I am wondering if others also experience the lack of interest in players? In these two seasons, there has been no bids for my players, even though i have Jonas Wind scoring more goals than playing matches.

I've had a completely different experience. I'm playing with Rangers and in the 2nd season. Currently I have 10 of my first team with Wnt, I've had multiple bids for players this window. I've also sold Morelos, Helander and Goldson for a combined total 90m. 

[CaptCanuck]

23 hours ago, CaptCanuck said:

There is currently something knackered in WB/W/FB play down the wings. They do sprint dribbles to the end line and turn in.

I am seeing some decent dribbling/touches/movement with the ball in the middle of the park out of my more offensive/flair oriented midfielders. So TBF I think it's in there, just that the wonky wide play overwrites it right now.

@RinusFM - I don't want to always be Buzz Killington/Whingy McWhingeface.

So here's a feint and a shimmy from WB/FB leading to a goal. It can happen

Apologies for the bootleg quality, but ya there ya go.

 

[Sunstrikuuu]

49 minutes ago, h3nrique_SEP said:

It's a game issue, theres not much we can do.

Try SK-D with take more risks and distributes do CBs and FB's

I think this is a big part of the answer.  Pretty sure keepers view long clearances as low risk, even if they will concede possession, and short passes as high risk, even if there's a fairly reasonable option. 

[Dagenham_Dave]

11 hours ago, Junkhead said:

The whole experience feels quicker to me, I feel like I'm more immersed

Biggest compliment I can pay the full game this year is that at the moment, I've no real desire to start a save on Classic mode, which has never happened since it was introduced in FM13. The main game zips along now, whereas as much as I enjoyed FM20, I felt the full game was really slow from day to day, and I ended up enjoying FMT20 more. 

This far, the current game is head and shoulders the best one yet, despite the misfires with the matchday UI (which I'm getting used to now anyway)

[ATV]

I always wonder how the game is coded - genuinely, as I'm not a coder, IT person or game creator etc.... I think "Why, if something in FM20 worked well, how does it not work, or is it not included in FM21"

[Double Indemnity]

6 hours ago, ImDaWeasel said:

Ah before the dark times. Don't know what you've got till it's gone I suppose.

Here's to the next 4 years of rubbish match UI and broken stats. All hail the xG! 

xG is good! The problem is treating it like a Big New Feature instead of just quietly slipping it into a robust, customizable Match Stats panel that the user can resize and rearrange.

[ImDaWeasel]

2 minutes ago, Double Indemnity said:

xG is good! The problem is treating it like a Big New Feature instead of just quietly slipping it into a robust, customizable Match Stats panel that the user can resize and rearrange.

xG barely works in the game as a useful tool. The match stats and player stats are bugged too. Not worth the hassle imo.

[Leon_fogo]

I'm having fun ME has a lot of different movements, it's a dynamic game and also the tactical changes we make have an effect on the game.
Now, I expect an optimization of the game on Nvidia cards and that the lags will end, I have seen this problem with other people in old versions and I realized with me in this 2021.

[RinusFM]

@CaptCanuckLooks like a bugged running animation or so. 

[Pav_Makarov]

I know, I know it's not a big deal of a bug, just another small dent. Looks like someone can't count

[iAlwaysWin]

Not scoring enough corners, its not like my players can't get a head on it, its quite the opposite, they always hit it over the bar or the goalkeeper saves it. The beta i was scoring corners but yet we keep getting told the match engine wasn't changed and its outside factors that are causing the change, well if i believe that i may as well believe elephants can fly.

[Jaggra]

Just created a thread for this and was directed here instead...

Historically, the thing I love so much about FM is being lost in an incredibly immersive experience, celebrating goals as though your real life team has just scored, and being pissed at individual players to the point that you actually kinda hold it against the player in real life. 

Yet this year, for the first time in possibly a decade, it just feels to me like... a video game: 

- Constant late goals - I'm talking 3-4 in stoppage time of individual games on a semi-regular basis
- Having 11 fixtures one month and just two the next (and no, it's not just Qatar 2022). I am frequenting arranging multiple friendlies in the middle of the season because we don't have a fixture for 28 days. 
- Players coming to you with issues that don't make any sense (ie wanting to play in a higher division, despite playing for a Premier League side)

The game has never been perfect, and it would be unreasonable to expect that. But I feel like this year, the game simply feels... unfinished. For the record, I've logged all the bugs mentioned above.

As someone who has played since CM 03-04, it's frustrating to not be able to get my FM fix in the same way I'm accustomed. Is it just me? 

---
Just as I write this, a friend of mine has just completed his 20/21 season with Arsenal. Eddie Nketiah bagged FORTY TWO goals - in my opinion, something you should only see when you play FIFA Career Mode on semi-pro. Sadly, that's just pure silliness in a simulator I've always loved for being grounded in reality.

[Sunstrikuuu]

@Pav_Makarov Stupid question, but have you played six games yet?

 

6 hours ago, Double Indemnity said:

xG is good! The problem is treating it like a Big New Feature instead of just quietly slipping it into a robust, customizable Match Stats panel that the user can resize and rearrange.

I do think there's a moderate issue with making it so central to feedback, and with such a simplistic model.  Currently, the xG feedback is something like "we had a good performance according to xG, with an xG that was higher than that of our opponent" or "we had a bad performance according to xG, with an xG that was below that of our opponent".  That's so simplistic as to be almost pointless.  xG is already in the other panel; we don't need a second place that just compares them.  Making this feedback useful requires context - "Though our xG was higher than that of our opponent, we were still reliant on a favorable penalty"; "We forced Milan to play to our strengths; though their xG was higher than ours, their team is weak in the air and they were unlikely to score from the crosses we conceded."  That's certainly more difficult, though, and it also has the problem of mismatches between what the AI assistant manager thinks you're trying to do and what you're actually trying to do.  It might be more trouble than it's worth.

It would also be really nice if it were displayed as non-penalty xG + penalties (0.72 + 1) rather than raw xG, too. 

Edited December 10, 2020 by Sunstrikuuu

[agreed]

does anyone know why my assistant manager isn't arranging any friendlies for me? the option is checked. never had this happen before so i'm at a bit of a loss

[kiwityke]

14 hours ago, anagain said:

Have you ever considered that maybe a game as complex as FM ain't for you anymore? Tried FIFA? 

But seriously, have you tried to limit the number of things you are subscribed to? Go Inbox > Social Feed and then Manage bottom right. You can then turn off things you don't care about.

You can then go to Staff > Responsibilities and designate tasks to other members of your backroom team.

Failing all that, and like was suggested above, FM Touch might be more you.

 

Personally, I don't actually believe you. Sorry to be blunt, but I play with the whole of Europe loaded and as many players as I suspect it is possible to load. I can go through seven day period, from one game to the next, in less than 30 clicks. If I am setting up a tactic then it will obviously be more.

Is 30 clicks really all that much anyway? I don't think so. The game is engrossing. If nothing happened throughout a week of this incredibly detailed simulated football world then would it in any way be compelling?

Perhaps you have RSI in your mouse finger.

There is easily 9 or 10 clicks per press conference. It takes 4 just to enter and leave. So if anything 30 could well be low ball. 2 press conferences alone between games would add 20+ clicks depending on the amount of questions.

A lot of bloat in FM now and pointless clicks like having to click twice to enter and leave a press conference.

[teknokryptik]

On 05/12/2020 at 09:24, Kingstontom88 said:

Is anyone else experiencing issues with shouts? I make one and it doesn't happen for ages - every time it seems to come after the next highlight which in some cases is too late as we concede.

Last few games I make a shout on minute 83/84 and it doesn't appear until the final highlight when the final whistle goes.

YES! I thought I was going crazy and couldn't find anyone else mentioning this.

Went down 2-0 conceding in the play directly after the start of the 2nd half (46th minute) and selected "berate" as a sideline shout.

We scored a goal in the 57th minute and as everyone is lining up to restart I see the shout notification pop up with me berating my team!

Feels silly to wait that long to see the shout take effect, especially because it no longer applied to the match situation (and there's no option to cancel a shout).

[Pav_Makarov]

3 hours ago, Sunstrikuuu said:

Stupid question, but have you played six games yet?

Yup, I'm on 14th