FM 2020 - Is it just me or game seems a bit weird?

[rafamaximo]

Like, your team, with some of the best offensive players in league has to finish 36 times to score 1 or 2 goals. Then you play against worst team in league... 2x2, when they score 2 out of 3 shots. Or when playing against other good teams in your league, 36 shots/1 goal vs 8 shots/2 goals. Or even worse, when playing against a better team in international competitions...

Also, most goals are the same. Your team spends most of the match wasting countless unbelivabe opportunities to score. Then:

88': A through pass, your defenders stop and stare at the ball, your goalkeeper stops and stare at the ball... opposing strikers comes running from far away, no one does anything to stop him. Goal.

89': Your team waste another unbelivable opportunity.

90': Opposing keeper makes an impossible save.

91': Opposing defender makes a magnificent sliding tackle between your player legs to block a shot.

92': Long cross and/or a free kick in midfield... long ball to box, your defense decides to stop and stare. Someone on opposing team hits an incredible header. Goal.

In ALL seasons, this intensifies during February, I've had a team coming up from 15 straight wins to getting not a single win during whole February month (would always be a loss or a draw with one or more goas conceded after 88'), no matter what I do - changing starting players, tactics, formations, team talks or any other strategies. That happens even if I don't sign up or sell any players during winter transfer season. During that month there is AWAYS a 1-5 loss against a mid-table team and another heavy loss (by 3 or more goals) in a local derby.

EVERY SINGLE PLAYER performance drops significantly during that period.

This also happens in specific moment/games like "win against 18th place and you take 1st place in league", semi-finals in national cups, whenever you play against a title contender in international cups playoffs (even if said team is a little bit inferior to yours). I make sure to ALWAYS rotate players, so they are in good shape, they are always reacting well to team talks and instructions, no players unhappy at all.

This same pattern repeats to all leagues I've been on this save file: Brazil, England, Spain and Italy. It's like the game is trying to hold you back, but sometimes it's too late to recover when that ends.

Am I really doing anything wrong or is the game just like that for everyone? Honestly, this is killing the game for me, been playing less and less...

[XaW]

I'm moving this to the tactics forum, because this is a tactical discussion. Please post a screenshot of your tactic and someone should be able to give you some pointers to help out.

[phnompenhandy]

I just got a scout report on a match between Brighton and Man United. Brighton 76% possession, 19 shots to 1, United won the game. Thing is, it was perfectly understandable as I'd just played Brighton and was up against United in the next game.

Compare your emotional reaction to real football fans watching their team - every ref and VAR decision is a conspiracy. Oppo strikers and goalkeepers put in world class performances against their team and their team alone. It's all bias of course; in that respect I find FM to be astonishingly realistic.

[Zemahh]

9 hours ago, rafamaximo said:

Like, your team, with some of the best offensive players in league has to finish 36 times to score 1 or 2 goals. Then you play against worst team in league... 2x2, when they score 2 out of 3 shots.

You haven't posted your tactic, so we can only speculate, but that kind of inefficiency is usually very typical for overly aggressive tactics (high-risk mentality combined with multiple Attack duties, no back-pass options, etc.). If that describes your tactic, here's an example from @Svenc of how more sensible setups can improve your efficiency.

10 hours ago, rafamaximo said:

Am I really doing anything wrong or is the game just like that for everyone? Honestly, this is killing the game for me, been playing less and less...

I'm certainly not seeing my teams have 36 shots and only convert 1, at least not very often. And if I do, that's usually a clear sign for me to tone things down a notch and try being more patient, because that sort of conversion rate certainly isn't normal.

[zyfon5]

10 hours ago, rafamaximo said:

Like, your team, with some of the best offensive players in league has to finish 36 times to score 1 or 2 goals. Then you play against worst team in league... 2x2, when they score 2 out of 3 shots. Or when playing against other good teams in your league, 36 shots/1 goal vs 8 shots/2 goals. Or even worse, when playing against a better team in international competitions...

Also, most goals are the same. Your team spends most of the match wasting countless unbelivabe opportunities to score. Then:

88': A through pass, your defenders stop and stare at the ball, your goalkeeper stops and stare at the ball... opposing strikers comes running from far away, no one does anything to stop him. Goal.

89': Your team waste another unbelivable opportunity.

90': Opposing keeper makes an impossible save.

91': Opposing defender makes a magnificent sliding tackle between your player legs to block a shot.

92': Long cross and/or a free kick in midfield... long ball to box, your defense decides to stop and stare. Someone on opposing team hits an incredible header. Goal.

In ALL seasons, this intensifies during February, I've had a team coming up from 15 straight wins to getting not a single win during whole February month (would always be a loss or a draw with one or more goas conceded after 88'), no matter what I do - changing starting players, tactics, formations, team talks or any other strategies. That happens even if I don't sign up or sell any players during winter transfer season. During that month there is AWAYS a 1-5 loss against a mid-table team and another heavy loss (by 3 or more goals) in a local derby.

EVERY SINGLE PLAYER performance drops significantly during that period.

This also happens in specific moment/games like "win against 18th place and you take 1st place in league", semi-finals in national cups, whenever you play against a title contender in international cups playoffs (even if said team is a little bit inferior to yours). I make sure to ALWAYS rotate players, so they are in good shape, they are always reacting well to team talks and instructions, no players unhappy at all.

This same pattern repeats to all leagues I've been on this save file: Brazil, England, Spain and Italy. It's like the game is trying to hold you back, but sometimes it's too late to recover when that ends.

Am I really doing anything wrong or is the game just like that for everyone? Honestly, this is killing the game for me, been playing less and less...

There are serious issues about your tactic if you are having such abysmal conversion rate. And from what you have described it seems that you are using unbalanced tactics that can be really good when form is good and then completely suck when things does not go your way which leads to huge fluctuations in results.

[Experienced Defender]

12 hours ago, rafamaximo said:

Am I really doing anything wrong or is the game just like that for everyone?

The game is perfectly logical and rewards balanced and logically designed tactics, so it's definitely you doing something wrong. Therefore, please post a screenshot of your tactic so that we could analyze it and offer some useful feedback. 

 

4 hours ago, XaW said:

I'm moving this to the tactics forum, because this is a tactical discussion

Not really, Unless the OP shows his tactic. Otherwise, it is just a pointless rant more than anything else. 

[rafamaximo]

Thanks for all input. But that happens regardless of team, league and tactical approach. That happened in Brazil, Spain, Italy and England leagues, five different teams. In every single one of them I've been using 3 different game plans (one offensive, one defensive and one balanced). No unhappy players, no poor morale, no low respect from players. Again, they are responding well to team talks and instructions. Been playing every single version of this since CM 01/02 so I kinda know what I'm doing at this point.

But it seems same pattern repeats regardless of team and tactical approach. Having like 4 or 5 one-on-one opportunities, in ALL of those your player hits a super weak shot which opposing keeper proceeds to save easily. Headers in goal area going straight to keeper hands or up and away. Or having 5, 6 balls hitting a post during a match. Only to see your defense stopping after 88' and easily conceding easy goals.

I really thought those were isolated, unlucky matches. But then I started to recall previous mathces in different teams and leagues and figured out there's a pattern as to how players behave when wasting opportunities / conceding goals. There's also a pattern as to when/how those losses happen. As a title contender, whenever my team is in great form and starting to get ahead in first place, there's a 5-1 loss against an underperforming team. And then one month without winning at all when we're like 2/3 into the season.

In Brazil, that happened in Sao Paulo FC for two years, 5-1 losses against Bahia (17th) one season and Santos (8th) another - both were chances to consolidate in 1st place. Then during August (season ends in 1st December week in Brazil) my team didn't get a single win, during both seasons and, of course, in both seasons we lost first place (being able to overcome later). Losses with a lot of wasted chances in semi-finals in Brazilian Cup, with defense conceding an easy goal after minute 88, both seasons. From there i went to England, same happened in Leicester. Was in 4th place, two points behind United and Liverpool, one point behind City and running for a title attack. Then suddenly comes 5-1 loss against Wolves (16th), right after a draw with Liverpool in Anfield and a win against City at home. Another unbelievable loss against Everton in FA Cup semi-finals. No wins at all during February, ended in 6th.

Next season, Spain, Sevilla. Again, 4th place but in a good form and starting to get closer to Barcelona, Real and Atletico. A 5-1 loss against Valencia (10th), an incredible loss against Atletico in Copa del Rey semi-finals (1-1 at home, goal conceded at 92 and 0-1 away after sending 5 balls against the post, goal conceded in 89). After no win February, was still able to keep 4th place, but couldn't try for something better.

From Sevilla, I went to Juventus. They were really bad and ended last Serie A in 10th place. First season expectations were simply qualifying to Europa League, which I did by finishing 5th while rebuilding squad. Nothing unusual happened this season,team performance was consistent to what is expected. But second season? Great form, attacking title (tied with Inter in 1st place), playing at home against Perugia (expected to be 10th but currently 18th). Guess what? Another 5-1 loss. Italian cup semi-finals? Guess what: 1-1 at home (wasting that much opportunities and conceding at 91), 0-1 away (again, wasting a lot and conceding at 90'). To make things worse: Europa League Semi-finals against Chelsea. 1-1 at home (same thing) and 0-1 away (conceding in 92' but this time was much worse because Chelsea had a player sent off in minute 62). And after no win February, ended Seria A 7 points behind Inter, 2nd place.

Comes in a Man City offer, after they were in 6th place last three EPL seasons. Again, unexpectdly going for a title run. Great form, two point ahead United in 1st place. Another 5-1 loss, against Leicester (11th). This time I didn't care for FA Cup, my reserves lost for Everton in quarter-finals - that was a fair loss. But Europa League semi-finals? Another 1-1, 0-1... this time against an inferior Napoli. After no win February, ended in 3rd place - behind United and Liverpool.

Second season in City, started winning ALL matches. Jumped ahead in EPL by winning ALL matches so far. After beating Liverpool in Anfield (a really tough battle), here comes Tottenham, currently sitting in 11th... and you guessed right: a 5-1 loss. United is now in 1st place (they haven't lost yet but have a draw).

You see, different leagues, different teams, different situations. It's a pattern. Not a pointless rant nor looking at it as a supporter mad his team didn't win a game despite playing better. This is why I thought about posting it here - was wondering if anyone has gone through the same or if I am really that unlucky

Edited May 26, 2021 by rafamaximo

[Experienced Defender]

@rafamaximo You were asked twice in this thread - first by @XaW and then by me - to post a screenshot of your tactic. However, you have ignored the request and failed to show the tactic, so I am locking this topic.

NOTE: The tactical forum is exclusively about tactical discussions and nothing else. No tactic - no topic!