*Official* Football Manager 2023 Feedback Thread

[Style]

 

maybe its just my personal opinion, and i don't want to be harsh but: 

 

this is the most dissapointing version ever.

the bad defence is game-breaking so its make the game unplayable for me.

the "new" features worst than ever. nothing really new and even relapse.

the ME is the same as beta version, almost a month after the release.

it seems that SI only care about the money, about releasing every year "new" game for as many as possible platforms. but dont care about quick fixing crucial bugs. 

but dont worry lads, Miles still tweets about how its the most played most downloaded and most successed FM version of all time. ridicoulos. 

im expecting more from SI team. 

 

 

Edited November 19, 2022 by Style

[MarcPTFC]

Fancy having a word with your Celtic/Queen's Park researchers about Johnny Kenny, please?

He's absolutely not this good in real life, in fact he hasn't even started a game for Queen's Park since he joined. 

[Oliver Roland]

I enjoyed beta from the first day of release but something changed and yesterday I uninstalled the game. Defensive mistakes making the game unplayable especially central defenders dwelling on ball for so long till they got robbed by opposition striker who scores easy goal. Bug with defender not reacting to long ball is also annoying and I have to say I think there is a lot of succesfull tackling, seems unreal that players are loosing ball so easily in dangerous areas...This year I do not have the energy to raise bugs and wait if it is fixed, after all I paid full price for fully released game...so wish you good luck and hopefully they get it fixed soon.

[Bakiano]

Board request also need a little revamp.

 

You can only have three requests, like you have a magical lamp and summons a ghost where you have three requests but here every request can't be fullfilled.

 

Why not make a monthly meeting with the board and you make the requests. 

[SC00P0NE]

I find that drawing teams during UCL ceremony needs to be more obvious, convenient and pleasant on the eyes. The current way feels inconvenient and hard to follow, The UCL screen is too small and text moves too fast, it makes me nervous..

Si, can't you just show us the individual drawing cards like here:

Quote

Like, the cards popping into the middle of the screen once one is drawn?

[Caletti]

In my opinion, ME has great potential, but at this point, the game is unplayable because of the defenders' mistakes. Last year there was a bug with too much passing accuracy and the SI couldn't fix it. I am afraid that this year will be similar and we will be left with mistakes in the defensive game.

What is most sad, no one from SI informs us at what stage the work on the patch is. I am very disappointed this year.

Edited November 19, 2022 by Caletti

[phnompenhandy]

8 hours ago, muzza_m said:

Anyone else noticing free kicks are almost always on target?

Switched to comprehensive highlights but still seems like almost all free kicks are on target, for me and opposition teams.

Not in my save. Playing in a low league, there were only a dozen or so goals scored from free kicks last season. In the whole league I mean - I think we scored 1.

[BuzzR]

13 hours ago, LeoFM said:

I'm so sick of seeing these kinds of plays in the ME...

 

 

I was looking at your post.. Thinking on my previously post:

Spoiler

16 hours ago, BuzzR said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Yeah, this is the current state of the game in lower leagues, a lot of the goals look like that. 

Here are the Goalkeepers stats after half a season (2022/2023 2023/2024) from National League and National Leagues North & South.

40 Goalkeepers with at least 1 assist in half a season.

  Reveal hidden contents

I think there is a major issue with the weight of decisions for the defenders with the new changes added into the FM23 match engine. It doesn't look like an "animation hick-up".

Most often than it should happen probably - the decision to hold the line or to cover an empty corner zone is weighting more than the decision to stop the ball. Lower player attributes probably increases the imbalance.

Sometimes you can see the CD stuttering; maybe some contradictory decisions are made in sequence ( go after the ball vs stop & hold the line vs stop & cover FB is rushing ) and this also triggers the same effect for the keeper who seems to rush / stop / rush and finally getting himself out of position to intercept the ball. Some form of you get it - no you get it, oh ! maybe I will get - wait I have something more important to do.

There was a thread for FM22 where someone had analyzed the amount of long balls the keepers were playing on full game highlights. The results weren't pretty, if I remember correctly. The long ball over the top and defenders missing the headers was another issue in FM22 - not completely controlled.

Putting things together: a prevalence of long kicks for keepers ( that most likely has been inherited from previous version(s))  and a new logic for the defenders module added in FM23 (that most likely needs a revision) - gave us the current state of the ME, unfortunately.

 

 

The defenders are clearly more interested in their shape & line and do not register the opposition striker presence until it's behind them.

1. Everybody is chilling except the back 4 ( 3 in the picture) that are moving back into their position. The red striker doesn't care about the ball, yet.

2. Back 4 are still moving back. Red striker registers the ball. Notice the right fullback moving diagonally towards own goal. There is a big distance between defensive line and the striker who starts moving.

3. Right fullback decides he needs to be closer to the sideline for some reason and starts turning. The other 3 defenders will decide they need to preserve the distance between them and will turn also. See point 4.

4. All defenders are turning towards the sideline, pulled by the fullback in step 3. The only one who follows the ball is the red striker.

5. Now defenders are stopping because they are in position. I don't think they register the striker or the ball. Or if they did register them, the weight of " being in position and preserving the distance " is larger than the threat.  The striker is in full sprint following the ball. Still, he's the only one actually following the ball. 

6. The defenders are in their " perfect position " - almost standing still, sadly. The ball is behind them, the striker is on the same line with them.

7. The defenders "notice" the threat when the striker is behind their defensive line. Too late.

8. Three defenders will stand by for a bit more. Only one defender reacting. Again, ( resistance) it's futile.

I do think that this behavior is triggered by some conditions ( tactical setup , player attributes ) but it's really really too often observed - we cannot hide this elephant behind the tree.

What I would have imagined is that it would have been corrected by now, because it has been reported on the first days of the beta. I imagine it has been reported even in "closed alpha" ( or whatever SI is calling the close testing phase ) because you cannot miss it after 2 or 3 matches. 

Now here we are, a month from the beta release. There was no ME patch at launch and there is no news of a patch until December, which it feels dreadful for 2 reasons:

1. We have to keep playing like this for another month and

2. I do remember the FM21 December update that messed the FBs and DMs ratings, and we went through the holidays with a really bad version of the game until January. I would hope we get a patch sooner so if anything else is really broken or this isn't really fixed maybe there is time for another quick fix.

 

 

[LeoFM]

2 hours ago, BuzzR said:

I was looking at your post.. Thinking on my previously post:

  Hide contents

 

The defenders are clearly more interested in their shape & line and do not register the opposition striker presence until it's behind them.

1. Everybody is chilling except the back 4 ( 3 in the picture) that are moving back into their position. The red striker doesn't care about the ball, yet.

2. Back 4 are still moving back. Red striker registers the ball. Notice the right fullback moving diagonally towards own goal. There is a big distance between defensive line and the striker who starts moving.

3. Right fullback decides he needs to be closer to the sideline for some reason and starts turning. The other 3 defenders will decide they need to preserve the distance between them and will turn also. See point 4.

4. All defenders are turning towards the sideline, pulled by the fullback in step 3. The only one who follows the ball is the red striker.

5. Now defenders are stopping because they are in position. I don't think they register the striker or the ball. Or if they did register them, the weight of " being in position and preserving the distance " is larger than the threat.  The striker is in full sprint following the ball. Still, he's the only one actually following the ball. 

6. The defenders are in their " perfect position " - almost standing still, sadly. The ball is behind them, the striker is on the same line with them.

7. The defenders "notice" the threat when the striker is behind their defensive line. Too late.

8. Three defenders will stand by for a bit more. Only one defender reacting. Again, ( resistance) it's futile.

I do think that this behavior is triggered by some conditions ( tactical setup , player attributes ) but it's really really too often observed - we cannot hide this elephant behind the tree.

What I would have imagined is that it would have been corrected by now, because it has been reported on the first days of the beta. I imagine it has been reported even in "closed alpha" ( or whatever SI is calling the close testing phase ) because you cannot miss it after 2 or 3 matches. 

Now here we are, a month from the beta release. There was no ME patch at launch and there is no news of a patch until December, which it feels dreadful for 2 reasons:

1. We have to keep playing like this for another month and

2. I do remember the FM21 December update that messed the FBs and DMs ratings, and we went through the holidays with a really bad version of the game until January. I would hope we get a patch sooner so if anything else is really broken or this isn't really fixed maybe there is time for another quick fix.

 

 

FYI, this was the tactic I used in that game, not that it really matters, since this stuff shouldn't be happening anyways. 

[pizzachips]

 

the "rec" tab never works in order. for example it should be A+ first but A- exists 

also when you bring players on mid game "would have preferred to stay on bench " is just dumb- happens for happy players with a succeeding team far to often

[KamyKaze]

yeah. got tired of the defensive mistakes. unninstalled the game. not sure I'll be back next year...

[eXistenZ]

Still unmarked people at the edge of the box by a wide free kick despite two people on edge of area.....

 

Seriously, this has been in since FM21. Its bad enough there isnt a setpiece creator, its even worse that this still isnt fixed despite spending an hour on setting up your freekicks....

[Domoboy23]

Does this keep happening for anyone else? Happened first season but just put it down to being over the wage budget for the playing squad... now it's happened the second season when there's no excuse or possible explanation

[alian62]

1 hour ago, KamyKaze said:

yeah. got tired of the defensive mistakes. unninstalled the game. not sure I'll be back next year...

So did uninstalling the game fix the defensive errors? 

[CFuller]

I've played through nearly a season-and-a-half on FM23 and... yeah, I am not enjoying this game very much.

As others have said, this FM23 match engine has the potential to be the best ME yet. I like that more mistakes are being made more often, and that weaker teams don't keep passing the ball between their defensive players to rack up ridiculous passing stats anymore. Non-league teams don't play so much like top-flight teams anymore... but once again, SI seem to have massively overcorrected things, and now the opposite is happening.

I'm managing a team in La Liga, but far too often, I'm seeing high-quality players look completely incompetent on the ball. Defenders in particular are prone to making silly gaffes in very dangerous positions that often lead to goals, like this, this and this. Sweeper keepers also have an alarming tendency to charge out of their area without reason, leading to situations like this.

I'm also regularly seeing defenders hold the ball up and literally stop play for about five seconds before making a decision on what to do next. All the while, opposition players don't hassle them with nearly enough urgency. In real life, I couldn't imagine John Stones stopping the ball dead for five seconds to catch his breath while Roberto Firmino says, "In your own time, John..."

And then something like this happens.

 

Good job, William Carvalho. 

Players seem to be completely unaware of their own surroundings. They might take no notice of an obvious pass to them, or they might even move away from the ball. Other times, a long ball might hit them in the back. This goal - scored FOR my Betis team when we played Getafe - was the moment where I really began to ask myself, "Is this match engine even fit for purpose?"

 

I am usually very quick to defend SI (I've been called a fanboy more times than I can count) or justify why bad/weird things happen in the game. But I really am struggling to be constructive about this ME, which is probably the most bugged I can ever remember seeing in FM. I would expect to see bugs like these in another game like Soccer Manager (seriously, folks, play that for an hour or two; its ME is genuinely insane).

Of course, I've reported a lot of these issue to SI through the Bug Tracker. I would probably have time to find more if my computer wasn't running/sounding like death warmed up.

Outside of the ME, I hate the new scouting system - it feels like SI tried to fix something that wasn't broken and made a complete mess of it. For one thing, when you set up a recruitment focus and don't set a specific area/competition for your scouts to focus on, they will usually just go through all the major countries in alphabetical order and scout them in turn. They'll scout a load of Argentinians to start with and then a bunch of Austrians, Belgians, Brazilians, etc...

The User Interface seriously needs an overhaul - not necessarily because it looks the same as it did on FM19 or whatever, but just because there are so many frustrating UI bugs and glitches, many of which have gone unaddressed for YEARS. And as for those issues that have been addressed... let's say that 'improving' the set piece editor by making the shirts bigger is like 'improving' a Michael Bay film by adding MORE explosions.

So many things are so buggy right now that I'm actually considering playing on a custom skin for the very first time if I start a long-term save in the new year. Note that I said if, not when. That's how disillusioned I feel about the game right now.

This is the 4th time in 7 years that I've played FM from the beta release (FM17/19/21/23). Every previous beta has felt like a full release, just with some rough edges. But we're now on the full version of FM23 and it still feels like a beta to me. I still hope that SI can sort out most of these issues for the big winter update and make FM23 an enjoyable experience, but until then, I might as well go back to FM22.

[axelmuller]

Why are managers being 'fired' instead of sacked?

Shouldn't the game be called 'Soccer Coach' instead of Football Manager.

[Phil930]

A relatively low sample in my first season, but finding many of my games are just Win or Loss, few Draws.  In the League P11 W9 L2.  Full view including Champions League and Preseason, P21 W18 D1 L2.

In the Premier League, this is also pretty consistent across the top 7, however mid table is where there are more draws.  Again low sample, but an early observation.  The other top leagues loaded are similar to a degree, perhaps just a sign of early season and strong teams.  

Loving the game!

Edit - Total commentators curse.  Just drew my first game after posting 0-0 away to Leeds haha

Edited November 19, 2022 by Phil930

[GOODNAME]

Mid season 1.. super high values for players.. i just not get it! and the SI team telling me its not a bug, how???

 

[autohoratio]

2 hours ago, KamyKaze said:

yeah. got tired of the defensive mistakes. unninstalled the game. not sure I'll be back next year...

Same here - I haven't played since the beta because no matter the result matches didn't feel enjoyable. I'll stick to my FM22 save until an ME patch

[Brian Stapleton]

2 hours ago, axelmuller said:

Why are managers being 'fired' instead of sacked?

Shouldn't the game be called 'Soccer Coach' instead of Football Manager.

Are you playing in UK English or US English?

[Mush1983]

2 hours ago, GOODNAME said:

Mid season 1.. super high values for players.. i just not get it! and the SI team telling me its not a bug, how???

 

basically means there not for sale unless you offer a ridiculous amount of money hence the high value looking at that list i dont think any of them players would be allowed to leave there clubs irl/1st season on fm the value is not what the players worth but what the club value them to there team 

[TheVerySpecialOne]

i'm still enjoying the game, it's football, something i love, I also love these kind of games, but this game is not that good, defensive mistakes alone are something that make it maybe worse than fm22.

[GunmaN1905]

Will scheduling ever be fixed?

I'm in the middle of a tight tile race in EPL and my final 4 matches are played on Saturday 10th, Tuesday 13th, Thursday 15th and Wednesday 18th of May. For no apparent reason.

A couple of weekends I won't play at all due to some unexplainable reason even though others are playing (no, my opponents aren't playing, either) then this will happen.

And constant Sunday-Wednesday or Wednesday-Saturday matches are extremely annoying if there's nothing for at least 5 days after the second match for neither me or the opponent.

[XaW]

2 minutes ago, GunmaN1905 said:

Will scheduling ever be fixed?

I'm in the middle of a tight tile race in EPL and my final 4 matches are played on Saturday 10th, Tuesday 13th, Thursday 15th and Wednesday 18th of May. For no apparent reason.

A couple of weekends I won't play at all due to some unexplainable reason even though others are playing (no, my opponents aren't playing, either) then this will happen.

And constant Sunday-Wednesday or Wednesday-Saturday matches are extremely annoying if there's nothing for at least 5 days after the second match for neither me or the opponent.

If it's the first season, it's most likely due to the WC in Qatar. I imagine the scheduling will be horrific in England if any team reaches far into several tournaments this year...

[GunmaN1905]

4 minutes ago, XaW said:

If it's the first season, it's most likely due to the WC in Qatar. I imagine the scheduling will be horrific in England if any team reaches far into several tournaments this year...

No, it's the third season, actually.

I think that new CL format is the issue.

Others just played a regular mid-week matchday, while me (Everton) and Liverpool played CL semi-final.

All the group stage CL matches are also played on Wednesdays and the league schedule starts getting questionable during play-off round (9th-24th team round).

[XaW]

2 minutes ago, GunmaN1905 said:

No, it's the third season, actually.

I think that new CL format is the issue.

Others just played a regular mid-week matchday, while me (Everton) and Liverpool played CL semi-final.

All the group stage CL matches are also played on Wednesdays and the league schedule starts getting questionable during play-off round (9th-24th team round).

Hmm... then I hope you have reported it. I imagine more matches will make the scheduling worse in real life as well, though.

[Ferocious289]

3 hours ago, CFuller said:

I've played through nearly a season-and-a-half on FM23 and... yeah, I am not enjoying this game very much.

As others have said, this FM23 match engine has the potential to be the best ME yet. I like that more mistakes are being made more often, and that weaker teams don't keep passing the ball between their defensive players to rack up ridiculous passing stats anymore. Non-league teams don't play so much like top-flight teams anymore... but once again, SI seem to have massively overcorrected things, and now the opposite is happening.

I'm managing a team in La Liga, but far too often, I'm seeing high-quality players look completely incompetent on the ball. Defenders in particular are prone to making silly gaffes in very dangerous positions that often lead to goals, like this, this and this. Sweeper keepers also have an alarming tendency to charge out of their area without reason, leading to situations like this.

I'm also regularly seeing defenders hold the ball up and literally stop play for about five seconds before making a decision on what to do next. All the while, opposition players don't hassle them with nearly enough urgency. In real life, I couldn't imagine John Stones stopping the ball dead for five seconds to catch his breath while Roberto Firmino says, "In your own time, John..."

And then something like this happens.

 

Good job, William Carvalho. 

Players seem to be completely unaware of their own surroundings. They might take no notice of an obvious pass to them, or they might even move away from the ball. Other times, a long ball might hit them in the back. This goal - scored FOR my Betis team when we played Getafe - was the moment where I really began to ask myself, "Is this match engine even fit for purpose?"

 

I am usually very quick to defend SI (I've been called a fanboy more times than I can count) or justify why bad/weird things happen in the game. But I really am struggling to be constructive about this ME, which is probably the most bugged I can ever remember seeing in FM. I would expect to see bugs like these in another game like Soccer Manager (seriously, folks, play that for an hour or two; its ME is genuinely insane).

Of course, I've reported a lot of these issue to SI through the Bug Tracker. I would probably have time to find more if my computer wasn't running/sounding like death warmed up.

Outside of the ME, I hate the new scouting system - it feels like SI tried to fix something that wasn't broken and made a complete mess of it. For one thing, when you set up a recruitment focus and don't set a specific area/competition for your scouts to focus on, they will usually just go through all the major countries in alphabetical order and scout them in turn. They'll scout a load of Argentinians to start with and then a bunch of Austrians, Belgians, Brazilians, etc...

The User Interface seriously needs an overhaul - not necessarily because it looks the same as it did on FM19 or whatever, but just because there are so many frustrating UI bugs and glitches, many of which have gone unaddressed for YEARS. And as for those issues that have been addressed... let's say that 'improving' the set piece editor by making the shirts bigger is like 'improving' a Michael Bay film by adding MORE explosions.

So many things are so buggy right now that I'm actually considering playing on a custom skin for the very first time if I start a long-term save in the new year. Note that I said if, not when. That's how disillusioned I feel about the game right now.

This is the 4th time in 7 years that I've played FM from the beta release (FM17/19/21/23). Every previous beta has felt like a full release, just with some rough edges. But we're now on the full version of FM23 and it still feels like a beta to me. I still hope that SI can sort out most of these issues for the big winter update and make FM23 an enjoyable experience, but until then, I might as well go back to FM22.

I don't think they care at this point. The games been sold and they're bragging about the amount of copies sold and positive reviews, objective achieved. Beyond that all complaints and dissatisfication with the product is just white noise and they'll sort it out in their own time. There is no urgency to get an update out asap, they've had 2 months now including from the alpha/beta period to test/fix bugs which have been reported and only one hotfix has been released in that time which involved player development bug.

[GunmaN1905]

3 hours ago, CFuller said:

This is the 4th time in 7 years that I've played FM from the beta release (FM17/19/21/23). Every previous beta has felt like a full release, just with some rough edges. But we're now on the full version of FM23 and it still feels like a beta to me. I still hope that SI can sort out most of these issues for the big winter update and make FM23 an enjoyable experience, but until then, I might as well go back to FM22.

My favorite goal on current save, how does something like this even go past Alpha play testing? And many more similar ones where defenders just seem to shut down and ignore the ball.

 

 

[Nator]

I agree, the lack of contrition/acknowledgment there is even an issue is getting on my nerves a little. 

[Gooner88]

The game is almost unplayable at the moment. Today I’ve started a new game and spent hours setting tactics up and sorting the training out tO play the first game and concede two goals in the first 15 minutes via long balls, the first of which my keeper came out and let the pass bounce over his head and the second one my CB mysteriously runs away from the ball. 
 

It seems like no matter who you play against, they will Score by whacking a bouncing long ball forward and no matter who you have in defence, in whatever system, they cock it up. 
 

it’s so frustrating.

[GunmaN1905]

Also, somehow the entire EPL season ended at 18th of May 2025.

Except for one match that was left...Arsenal-Tottenham.

Which is to be played at 23rd of May, Friday.

And not only that, but Arsenal plays FA Cup final on 25th, Sunday.

Just amazing.

I also played European Super Cup two days before the first PL matchday this same season.

I won't even try to go into how broken scheduling for some other leagues is if you can't even sort EPL out.

Anoter thing is that Club World Cup's implementation is laughable. Players are still on international duty during the group stages, schedule is so messed up and mid-way through the tournament you'll have "pre-season begins" message and a team chat.

These aren't some issues like ME which are complicated to solve. These are the most basic things that must be tested before the game is out. We're not even in beta anymore, we're in full game and ridiculous stuff like this simply must be not allowed to happen.

Then you'll say that you're looking into it and that's the end of that. We'll see a "passing accuracy and defending AI decision making improved" ME fix and onto FM24.

Edited November 19, 2022 by GunmaN1905

[anagain]

I've reported this issue but wanted to post here in case it's something more likely to be seen by the design devs if presented as feedback.

I find it strange that The Athletic are reporting on matches in the second tier in Hungary

Especially when this is their coverage;

Maybe it matters very little in the greater scheme of things, but for someone who likes to immerse himself in the game it does rather destroy that immersion.

I had The Guardian reporting on my league or club previously too.

This is other news from The Athletic. Slovenian third tier?

[samuelawachie]

I don’t have the game, so I’m forcing myself not to comment on some of the feedback on here…

But I just gotta say, when people say it’s the best M.E. ever made, what are they basing that on? Coz some of the gameplay I’m seeing uploaded here are worse than in FM14

[shaunwwfc]

Wrong thread, apologies. 

Edited November 19, 2022 by shaunwwfc

[RandomGuy.]

1 hour ago, GunmaN1905 said:

I won't even try to go into how broken scheduling for some other leagues is if you can't even sort EPL out.

 

 

The Scottish Premiership relegation play off game is scheduled after contract expires, and theres no option to offer temporary deals.

When your that low in the league, and youve got the player relationship system broken too so half the squad are in a huff, you can imagine the situation it puts you in.

Two games to save your top flight status and likely job, and dependent on your team youre either left relying on 15yo kids or greyed out players.

[waldywaldy]

The UI is just so wonky. All the extra clicks.

 

[chipspice1974]

Ok so here’s my input after 2.5 seasons on fm23 and countless years playing the CM/FM series.

Scouting is broken. Youth intake issue still persists after many versions of fm - still hugely random and doesn’t seem to mater what level your facilities are. Skin is horrible and dated, thankfully I can custom this but 3 years without change is poor, please try to make Game look and feel different with each version otherwise just comes across lazy. Animations are horrible, game imo went backwards trying create a graphical representation of gameplay which si have never been able to do properly. Media comments options are boring, I don’t even read them anymore as I know which generic option to press now as it’s never changed in years. 
 

This game needs a major me and ui overhaul but until a competitor makes a game to challenge it si will just continue to churn out effectively a data update every year. I hope a big patch comes very soon with massive improvements but not holding my breath tbh

[SC00P0NE]

so what's really dumb in my opinion..

A 35 year old at my club, team leader, comes to me and demands to be sold since, in his mind, there wouldn't be anything left to achieve at the club, allegedly..

• So I am like "but.. but.. you are a team leader and important to the team! WTF??!!".
• His reaction : "Oh yea? Well, but I really.. really WANNA!..".
• I, compromising : "Can you at least wait until the end of the season???"
• Manchild, turning petulant: "NO! I really, REALLY need to leave NOW!"
• So I'm finally like : "Fine.. fine.. if you are so hell-bent on running away, you can leave.. *sigh*"

Next thing you know, another guy comes to me accusing me of intentionally selling an important team leader like I had a grudge or something and all my options to answer were exclusively indicating that I absolutely wanted to sell the player for financial reasons which I obviously didn't..

My suggestion, the game should recognize the fact that I, the manager, am not resonsible for the player's desire to leave, and that I merely did what was asked of me..

Edited November 19, 2022 by SC00P0NE

[ElJuanvito]

While I'm enjoying the game overall, SI really needs to sort out the match engine. Defenders and goalkeepers too often completely forget what they're supposed to do when dealing with long balls.

[anagain]

2 hours ago, samuelawachie said:

I don’t have the game, so I’m forcing myself not to comment on some of the feedback on here…

But I just gotta say, when people say it’s the best M.E. ever made, what are they basing that on? Coz some of the gameplay I’m seeing uploaded here are worse than in FM14

I just find it more realistic this year. Passes don't always find targets and control is not always perfect.

I've seen some nice football in past FMs but it was always a bit too 'perfect'. This year's ME fixes that. Players make mistakes more. You don't regularly hit 35 yard balls and your winger controls it seemlessly with his foot from out of the air.

Defenders seem tighter too. They'll put a foot in and what could have been a lovely ball into the path of your onrushing IF will dribble out of play. It looks like there is more, for want of a better word, chaos in the game. I believe SI have used that word in their efforts to represent the hustle and bustle of real football. Tackles look more real. You can almost hear the crunch.

I'm always a glass half full kind of person and I see the good in FM more often than I see the bad, not that I don't see the bad - ask me how I like the schedule screen in April. I really do see a lot of good in the ME.

The defenders issue has come up a lot. I saw examples of it when playing a deep, cautious long ball game with Salisbury in beta. I'm not really seeing it with MTK Budapest. In my last match the opposition played long, searching balls. My defenders defended them fine. I certainly wasn't seeing huge problems, but I don't mean that to deny issues that SI have accepted as there.

I don't look at the FM ME as needing to be 100% perfect. It'd be lovely, but how possible really is that? This is a simulation of football using 1s and 0s, essentially. I'm no expert but binary is in there somewhere, right? I digress, I just think SI do a fantastic job to bring football to life in this way. I'm not a FIFA fan. They can keep their fancy graphics because I don't like the jerky movement in those types of games. FIFA never looks real to me. FM23's match engine creates a simulation that, to me, looks as close as I'm going to get to a real game of football that I can manage.

I would also say "don't make your decisions on the game by reading what people here say". Make your own decisions on the game by playing the demo. People will also upload the bad bits that make their points. Again, I am not saying there might not be bugs, but most of what's uploaded here is the bad.

The game is not unplayable, as many say here. Maybe my tactic is hiding some defensive issues but I am not seeing a massively broken match engine ruining my experience.

If SI 'fix' the defending issue, as they said they tried to, and make the game better still then I think FM23 is going to be the best match engine we have seen yet...by a long, long way.

 

Sorry, I wrote more than I planned to there.

Edited November 19, 2022 by anagain

[ElJuanvito]

hace 2 horas, samuelawachie dijo:

I don’t have the game, so I’m forcing myself not to comment on some of the feedback on here…

But I just gotta say, when people say it’s the best M.E. ever made, what are they basing that on? Coz some of the gameplay I’m seeing uploaded here are worse than in FM14

 

To be fair, most of us just upload the clips from when the ME does something stupid.

 

I think the current engine can be one the best ever in the series, once the rough edges have been filed off. The thing is, there are a lot of those right now.

[Ferocious289]

2 hours ago, samuelawachie said:

I don’t have the game, so I’m forcing myself not to comment on some of the feedback on here…

But I just gotta say, when people say it’s the best M.E. ever made, what are they basing that on? Coz some of the gameplay I’m seeing uploaded here are worse than in FM14

it's better than fm22 in terms of fluidity, but functionality and response to tactics it's broken as hell. Defenders not tracking their runners, defenders dwelling waiting on the ball for no reason until they get dispossesed which leads to conceding. Defenders missing routine heading clearances from long balls. Defenders kicking the ball on to their own teammate which then deflects into the goal. These things happen every other game and there's nothing you can do about it because it's clearly a M.E problem whether intentional or bugged it ruins the game

These things after a few games you begin notice after being impressed with the M.E which just ruins the rest of the game. The fact we have to wait until xmas to get a functional M.E is nothing short of  a disgrace

[jacob_m_mack]

It really feels like whatever decision making progress was ruining keeper distribution has just been ported wholesale to centrebacks to fix the problem of centrebacks being too conservative with their passing and just hitting it back and forth between each other. Obviously the players are bugging out when reacting to long balls over the top, but I'm skeptical there would be this level of outcry if the distribution from the back wasn't as horrendous as it is, upping the same size of defenders failing to react to long balls to the point where it becomes impossible to overlook. As is keeper distrubution is STILL completely broken with any keepers not explicitly instructed to roll it out going for long punts over the middle 20-30 times a match (genuinely no exaggeration, I've watched full matches and kept track of the rate they do this, it's ludicrous and undoes any work put in by the looser midfield in terms of making FM look like real football. It's also an issue that's persisted across multiple titles and been brought to SI's attention by the community many times to no acknowledgement from SI I'm aware of) and now CBs are in on the act as well, given time and space I see CBs invariably stutter in place for a second or two before launching the ball at the middle of the other team's back line. Last year when highlighting the broken keeper distribution I said CBs needed to play more long balls, but that both them and keepers need to prioritize balls to the flanks. The point I brought up in my post is that balls to the flanks can unlock direct attacks while not putting teams vulnerable to dangerous counters the way central balls might, but I think for me, watching the nonsense plays this year also highlights the fact that balls to the flank are played because the attacking player can track the ball with their eyes while moving forwards. They look dumb regardless but part of what makes this year's trademark goals look absurd is that the players who should know where the ball is act like they have no clue, while the player running directly away from the ball, who should have no clue whatsoever where it is, runs on to it perfectly and is occasionally even able to trap it without even letting it touch the ground.

The thing is, decision-making processes that better resemble real football are something SI should be able to create BECAUSE THEY ARE IN THE GAME. They can be produced with the right arrangement of player instructions and player traits. The problem is that right now they are treated as extremes while this disgusting hoofball non-football is treated at the norm. Why can't the behaviour of keepers when instructed to "Roll it Out" be the default keeper behaviour? When they get this instruction their distribution actually ends up nicely varied, mixing in long throws to full-backs and the occasional longer kick as well. Why can't more defenders behave as though they have the "Bring Ball out of Defence" trait, which causes them to move into open space in front of them and often seems to move shorter, more sensible passes to full-backs and DMs up above all of the direct nonsense in their decision tree?

Also the improvements to passing, where passes feel like they have varied weight and pace are very nice, but they need to start applying to these massive punts that go 3-quarters the length of the pitch. The ball is too slow in the air and it feels like it dies immediately upon hitting the ground. Defenders need to track these balls better but attacking players definitely need to track them worse as well, especially if they are running a direction that would prevent them from having the ball in their periphery. Part of the reason these goals seem so ludicrous is not just the defender's inability to track the ball, its that the ball should be going out of play, hitting the ground and continuing to move fast enough that the attacking player shouldn't be able to get anywhere near it, letting alone be able to trap it in the air.

Edited November 19, 2022 by jacob_m_mack

[(sic)]

Best ME ever made imo. I'm not seeing any issues, therefore it must be your tactics. /s

 

Goes for it, then changes his mind, then goes for it again, then changes his mind again. Just lets the striker score. Amazing stuff, even that through ball might be offside.

 

 

Edited November 19, 2022 by (sic)

[eXistenZ]

2 hours ago, SC00P0NE said:

so what's really dumb in my opinion..

A 35 year old at my club, team leader, comes to me and demands to be sold since, in his mind, there wouldn't be anything left to achieve at the club, allegedly..

• So I am like "but.. but.. you are a team leader and important to the team! WTF??!!".
• His reaction : "Oh yea? Well, but I really.. really WANNA!..".
• I, compromising : "Can you at least wait until the end of the season???"
• Manchild, turning petulant: "NO! I really, REALLY need to leave NOW!"
• So I'm finally like : "Fine.. fine.. if you are so hell-bent on running away, you can leave.. *sigh*"

Next thing you know, another guy comes to me accusing me of intentionally selling an important team leader like I had a grudge or something and all my options to answer were exclusively indicating that I absolutely wanted to sell the player for financial reasons which I obviously didn't..

My suggestion, the game should recognize the fact that I, the manager, am not resonsible for the player's desire to leave, and that I merely did what was asked of me..

Player conversations/happines has always been *****. Its way i use the editor.

 

Goalkeeper who had a 6.0 is kicking up a fuzz because i fined him a week wage, as in his eyes "he played excellently", and i had to promise i wouldnt fine him again. Despite him ******** the bed the next 3 games.

[kingjericho]

Promises work so badly that even if I could try to negotiate them I won't.

Player is promised promotion at the end of the season.

Team reaches promotion playoffs (not automatic promotion). Playoffs haven't begun yet.

Player wants to leave because team was not promoted as promised.

What if I win the playoffs? This makes no sense to me.

[gunnerfan]

The further I get into FM23, the more I dislike the entire player interaction module. Some examples from my Celta Vigo save:

1. I praise a player for excellent work in training (a rating of 8+). When I call him in, he is "very happy", but when I praise his training, he is suddenly "pleased". This makes no sense.
2. A player on my "C" team (ability rated at one star by my AM) wants a better contract. I tell him no, because he's not good enough. Next thing I know, everyone on the squad is upset.

3. Man U makes a transfer bid on my team captain (we are currently at the top of the La Liga table). I turn it down because he's a key member of the squad, and the bid is for less than I think he's worth. He's now unhappy and wants to talk to me about it. So, okay, let's talk. He says he wants to go to Man U because he wants to play in the Champions League. I reply that I want to play in the CL too, so he should wait and see (again, we are currently leading La Liga). He says he doesn't think we can qualify, and I'm left with no reasonable comeback to that.

4. Another player who isn't good enough to be on the team (currently also on the "C" team) and is on the final year of his contract complains about playing time. I offer him out for a transfer. Another team signs him on a free, effective July 1. But he's still miffed about playing time.

There may be some kind of internal logic here, but it's not obvious to me, and probably not to lots of other folks. This whole module needs work, because it affects morale, and morale affects team performance.

[Petros7]

I've made my peace with the ME years ago, so I don't let it frustrate me.

I know when I get a corner that there'll be one opposition player unmarked outside their penalty area who will get the ball to his feet nine times out of ten and drive straight through my defence, but not always scoring - I keep 3 players staying back at all times (and make sure that none of them are taking the corners). I know my players will walk the ball out of the pitch, while the opposition player will manage to get there and in one go send a curling ball across almost half the pitch to land perfectly at the feet of one of their attackers - never seen any of my players do that. I know the long kick of the ball and over my defence will be perfectly controlled by an onrushing attacker driving unopposed right through the heart of my defence to score a goal - but that happens for me too, though not as often. In this version, in my beta save, I lost 3 games on the run by one crazy shot in each from outside the area and the other team had an xg of 0.01 at the end of the match and I had xg of over 3.00 and an average of 3 CCCs & 5 half chances from around 12 total shots (no penalties) - such was my luck.

Even though I know some things will happen in a certain bad way for me and I experience new ways that things go bad for me, I still just roleplay it in my mind as a misunderstanding, bad luck or something else and move on - I ain't got time to lead myself into a negative place.

I understand football, tactics and movement when I see it live or on TV and I can talk about them for hours, but I know that I'm terrible at being able to recreate anything from scratch in the FM tactics board, so I just stick with the presets and occasionally I win. What I find works for me is that if I persist with the tactic and the familiarity and team cohesion increases then eventually my team will get better in winning - this seems to work better when playing with teams that are predicted to finish middle of the table and lower than what it does with big teams - more forgiving I guess. And then when I gain in reputation I join a big team and carry on with the success. I'm lenient with my team when it is building on familiarity and team cohesion, so I don't let the bad results get to them, while still telling them it's unacceptable when I really think it is, but I always defend the team and myself with the media. It's a strategy that seems to be working for me.

My irrelevant opinion is that the ME will never be as perfect as I would like it to be and nobody else will ever come close to what SI is achieving with it. They've entertained me for more than 25 years and I can play the game, so I'm happy with it!

[anagain]

I was quite positive in a post a few hours ago. I meant it.

I've played one more game this evening. We lost, and that does result in a bit more negativity. I try to be constructive though, and there are things I noticed.

I'll start by sayng I watched Zealand's impressions video around the end of beta time. He was talking about the defensive issues in the game and suggested that it looked like it was a case of the pace of players not being properly represented by the graphics engine. Instead of chasing the opponent at a relative pace they look like they're stood still because that is how the graphics engine represents them not able to keep up.

After watching some moments of my latest match I think he is on to something

I have seen what looks like this with strikers not lacthing on to balls in to the area. In FM22 they would have been on that ball in an instant.

I don't think it's only that. I do think there is a case for my player's balls in to the box not being good enough and also a lack of instinct from my forwards.

I didn't really even see it with balls over the top that much, but I see it with defenders too. I do generally find my defenders win most balls over the top but often seem to dawdle in other situations.

It is hard to say for certain from one or two games.

I'm sure SI have some good data. They have tried to tune this once but caused different issues. We just have to trust them to find a middle ground.

Still enjoying the game. Actually very realistic that I just got sucker punched by a team sitting deep and breaking. Just annoying it was a player giving the ball away for one goal and poor defending from a corner for second. Was never long balls over top.

Didn't realise how much I'd posted in this thread...I lead a boring life...

Edited November 19, 2022 by anagain

[GOODNAME]

8 hours ago, Mush1983 said:

basically means there not for sale unless you offer a ridiculous amount of money hence the high value looking at that list i dont think any of them players would be allowed to leave there clubs irl/1st season on fm the value is not what the players worth but what the club value them to there team 

Still the prices are wayyy to high