Bruce Drundrige

Great stuff - a flick on from the Target Man for the other forward to run onto and score is the dream surely!

The timing of this thread arriving is spooky as earlier this week I was listening to the Zonal Marking podcast about Dyche's Burnley, hence my comment/quote above about it being a long pass not a long ball. As with most football podcasts, as I'm listening I can't he;p but think about how to apply the theories etc to FM. Link is below for anyone interested in their discussion about Burnley and their tactics over the past four seasons in the EPL: https://theathletic.com/podcast/145-zonal-marking/?episode=16

And don't forget, if you are emulating Burnley it's a long pass not a long ball...

Indeed - weirdly I'm now predicted to finish 4th :shrugs:

In terms of the section in bold, that statement can be true regardless of who you are or how you setup but it can say more about them than it does you (I mean just look at the performance of those two clubs in the EPL over the past three seasons...) For the bit in italics, @xavierm has already given you plenty of good stuff there. In terms of the opposition analysis, and linking to xavierm's post, make sure one of your scouts is set to Scout Next Opposition because they will return a report in advance of each match setting out the expected formation and roles of the opposition. That - plus things like the betting odds* in the preview story - give you a good indication of how they are likely to set up. *You can anticipate their approach based on this, i.e. are you overwhelming favourites which means they will defend or take less risks? Are they favourites so likely to attack you?

Have you tried it in game to see what works? Sometimes you just need to watch what happens and make adjustments if required based on what you see. I've plugged my current tactic into that app - a nice tool btw - and it mentions I have four "High Risk Direct Partnerships" and one "High Risk Overlapping Partnership"...and it's correct, but that's kind of the point of the tactic (it's a 4-2DM-4). The current iteration has been tweaked based on what works in game and it scores a lot of goals because of those high risk and direct partnerships. If anything the issues I have with mine are because the players aren't quite good enough!

This challenge consistently breaks my heart. First season I end up comfortably mid-table after a pre-season prediction of 24th. Season two, I'm predicted to be 18th and I finish 2nd with 85 points (basically throwing the league away in March). Lost in the first round of the play-offs. Kidderminster win the league with 90 points. Season three, predicted to finish 7th, finish 2nd with 90 points...Chester win the league with 107! Season four, just started and I'm predicted to finish 24th!? Budget has been cut, bank balance is -440k but I kept most of my team from last season. 24th? Really?? One point from my first two games, could be a long season after all...

Sure, and Neil Brock acknowledges that a great many of them have been read and considered. There's a limit to how much can be done or fixed for each version though. It's also worth considering just how many people play the game versus how many people are angry enough to rant on a thread about how flawed it is... My point to the previous poster was more to do with the perception of what a 'bug' actually is. I feel like it's a word or phrase thrown around when half the time it's simply a quirk of football (GK mistake causing a goal, wing-back making bad choices, missing one on ones, etc). I've probably shouted at my own (IRL) team's full-back for not making the correct decision with a cross or pass more than I have on FM. I can also only speak from the many hours spent playing the game and I've seen nowhere near the level of bugginess others apparently have.

Great stuff. Learning about soccer football strategy is a great place to start - applying those principles to FM should see you right. After that, it's up to you to take it to the next level....

They don't NEED to do anything - and plenty of people think the match engine is great (myself included). Do you have any specific examples of the 'bugs'? And by 'bugs' do you actually mean quirks or features within the current match engine that you aren't happy with? Have you provided any constructive feedback to SI about the issues you've experienced?

I'm not sure what it is you think I will be doing with my spare time if FM didn't exist, so of course I will be buying FM21. Also, if you're complaining about very specific things within the game engine over and over then I think you're taking it waaay too seriously.

If you're keeping your CMs as they are, maybe consider a DLF or Target Man instead, as his movement can open space for your midfielders to run into. The AML then changing to an Inside Fwd can also exploit the space the striker leaves. Your winger then has lots of potential targets to aim his crosses at: the IF at the far post/attacking space the DLF the CM (A) and B2B arriving late or ahead of the DLF

I've just finished my first season, and I still don't have an U23 or U18 team. This is the first time I've experienced this in all the years of playing the game(s). I guess once I'm in a better financial position they will grant the request, but if I was determined to have signed my entire youth intake I wouldn't have had many games for them to play...!

Anyone who thinks the AI is rigged because of unfair results or 'unscored goals' can't have watched much football, or perhaps isn't familiar with the agony of supporting a team whose results are definitely not deserved despite how well we played! Unfair, unexplainable or shock results and scenarios are part of the joy of football (and sport in general). Interesting that it's always the team who dominate but don't win who complain? Also, be careful what you wish for in terms of the intelligence of the AI. If it was as smart as us, and could react like us to in-game events, we'd never win.

I keep trying to give 3D a chance but can't quite seem to find a viewpoint I like. I even have a gaming laptop now in case I was able to stick to that viewpoint, but I find the 2D version so much better in terms of how I want to view the game (I.e. looking for patterns/gaps/etc). I watch the goals on Director View though, particularly my own...