warlock

I'm far from an expert, but my limited understanding is that most games benefit more from raw clockspeed than multiple cores. All other things being equal. Happy to be corrected, though.

This! I've seen goals ruled out where although the player was technically offside he wasn't really interfering. And I've seen goals allowed where the offside player was literally standing in front of the goalkeeper. Added realism

Yeah, that's harsh. If you could have converted just two of those draws into wins you'd have done it. Still a good season, though, especially with your injury woes. Good luck in the playoffs

I think it depends to a large extent on the league you're playing. I get them pretty much every game in the PL, less often in the Championship, and almost never in the lower leagues unless it's getting towards the end of the season or the later stages of a cup (or there's some controversy regarding player rows or contract renewals). As to the OP, sometimes you just have to take it on the chin. And even if you're right, the authorities will often take the officials' side. Even if I'm convinced it was a bad call I always 'no comment' bad decisions.

I always handle my own recruitment so I couldn't say for sure, but I'd expect it to work that way.

I would definitely say no to the high-pressing part. I've had a few successful saves this year and have rarely - if ever - used the high-press. In some tactics I've used a higher defensive line, but typically with a standard or lower LoE, pressing is either switched off or left on default, and I never use 'get stuck in' or 'tackle harder' instructions. In fact, my last few tactics have all included 'Stay on feet'. Usually my teams have one of the best defensive records and the best disciplinary record in their division.

That would be 'yes' and 'dunno' . Yes, the Derby save is ongoing, and looking pretty safe for a lower-mid table finish. I dunno whether I'm easing off - I've hit the usual PL issue where we're playing above expectations, don't really have the funds to improve the squad in January, and it's hard to maintain the enthusiasm. I'm also pretty much burned out on FM, having played almost daily since November. Spent the last couple of weeks mostly dusting off my Elite: Dangerous save. But, like you, I think I probably have one more FM save in me, but it would probably have to be L1 to keep the interest past the first season. No idea who, though. At the same time, I'd like to push on with Derby at least a little further. The plan, then, is to give Elite another week or so and see how I feel. Might have to combine it with some kind of specific challenge - either a tactical one, or maybe a DoF challenge (been enjoying @Stuniverse's Derby thread in the Careers forum).

They probably are, but you can certainly improve your overall coaching by filling those two empty vacancies. Other things: change the 'Coaching staff' advice setting to every week to generate more recommendations. But also double-check that you're responsible for recruiting staff, otherwise you won't see those recommendations (unless you're happy to leave recruitment to whoever might be handling it). Also double-check your Training/Coaches page and make sure that every category has a light or average workload, and that you have at least 3-star coaching in each category (and 4 or 4.5-star would be better).

Pleasure - always happy to contribute where I can.

Think that nails it! Those injuries have hit hard. On the upside, you're only losing away at the moment. As @Jogo Bonito says, Boro have everything they need to succeed in the PL - except a couple of key players, and hopefully you can solve that problem.

That's a great run of results. Shame about the draws costing you in the Champion's League, but top of the league with a game in hand is a good position to be in .

I never really use a DoF for anything, but @fmFutbolManager has a great blog where he went into a lot of detail about how he does it: https://theresonlyoneball.com/2018/05/15/my-approach-to-utilising-a-director-of-football-in-football-manager-2018/ About halfway down the page, he explains how to put your targets into groups (eg, RB, CM) and set the priority for each. He was playing FM18 at that point, but as far as I can tell it works the same way this year.

Mixed bag about sums it up. Had a mare last season, did better (albeit not brilliant) this window. Not exactly sure how you've been playing it, but maybe the way to use a DoF is to specify the roles you need reinforcing, and to give him a shortlist of players you want. The DoF is just the general AI manifest in a role, and we all know how the AI does in the transfer market - duplicate signings sitting on the bench while they never really identify the team's weak spots. Perhaps hence your GK situation. Hope this doesn't sound too critical but maybe you allowed Igor's Derby connections to override his quality (or lack of) in the DoF role? If I was to play a DoF challenge, I'd certainly be picking the best possible person ahead of any other consideration. As a Man Utd fan it's a thorny issue right now given the public discussion regarding United's approach to the problem (and they look like getting it wrong!)

A short post, yet so wrong in so many ways.

Oh no! That's a massive blow. You have my sympathy .