Official FM2011 Match Engine Feedback Thread

[PaulC]

Woodwork - seem to hit the post at least twice every game.

It's around 0.75 per match.

[el_magico89]

well after playing a few games with ac milan, I must admit, that im really disappointed with the defensive behaviour of the players.

I am a real fan of jose mourinhos style of play and always want to have a tight defence, which is the highest priority for me.

but like in 10.3 it seems almost impossible to mostly rely on his defence, since its still to easy for the opposition strikers, to break down my d-line, since the center backs are too far away, no matter which mentality/closing down and marking system you prefer.

and as some of the other users noticed it, the full backs are acting even worse than in 10.3 and the rather stay off than trying to close down the wingers as early as possible so that the central midfielders/holding players can stay more central and dont leave huge gaps in the center, when they immediately rush out wide to close down the winger and the opposition winger just play back to one of the central midfielders, who can play the dead pass.

another aspect is the fact, that no matter how bad the mental and technical attributes of your striker is, as long as he is quick enough (agbonlahor style) his performance will always be much better, since he can easily run away from your center backs.

this leaks really make me frustrated and as I heard, that ME problems might be solved in patch 2, I think Im going to wait till christmas to buy the game and will much more start a season with my old 10.3, which I think looks much better than the 11 demo so far!!!

[SJ234]

Throw ins? Easy out balls?

Didnt think of throw ins . Would love to say how much the playmaker saw the ball but the demo stopped working for some reason

[crouchaldinho]

Why is it that my fullback always see the ball most, one of them has twenty more passes than my midfield playmaker

Left fullback by any chance?

[El Zar]

One thing I've noticed is that a when a forward makes a run between the CBs into the channels he tends to dribble along the goal line directly at the goalkeeper, rather than just holding the ball up and waiting for the midfielders to arrive in the penalty area.

[gate2]

1. ME seems reward individual effort much more than teamwork. In my RM game, CR7 scored lots of his goals by sole work but missed many clear chance his teammate create.

2. Winger with decent jump and header scores too much header from crossing. CR7 score 23 in 20 games he play in my save. Around 40% of his goal came from cross. Meantime, Klose only scored 1 header from cross.

3. Stupid kick away when player is near byline.

4. Playmaker with support duty does not perform well in ME. I guess it related to issue#1, teammates just can not get it done when you create chance for them. With attack duty, it seems ok.

[yadda]

It looks good, graphics wise. Game play, not so good. I feel like I'm watching sunday league games tbh and I've gone Juve. It's not just me or my tactics, even the opposition look awful. The number of times I've seem my own players trip over each other going for a ball is silly. Happens to the AI all the time as well. Seems to be no fluidity of play for me or anyone else and I've watched some AI vs AI matches to make sure it's not just me. Perhaps this is realistic and football really is rubbish but it doesn't make for a good game. I also see no rhyme nor reason to pace anymore, I've got some of the fastest players in the game and they look like pensioners when they 'burst' down the wing yet I've seen some older players move like the flash for the whole game. Frankly it just all seems a bit random now, finishing is strange and player judgement appears to be quite flawed. I've loved watching players in three vs one situations just run for the byline then run it out of play for no reason. Me and the AI do that a lot. Perhaps there sould be a 'look up for a pass' option.

[PaulC]

Left fullback by any chance?

A left fullback in space will always be a natural out ball or easy pass to right footed players in the centre if you think about it.....

[crouchaldinho]

A left fullback in space will always be a natural out ball or easy pass to right footed players in the centre if you think about it.....

Yes Paul, it makes sense. That's actually what I was going to say as I remember having this conversation before at some point.

[SJ234]

Left fullback by any chance?

Of course .

[Chochip]

I found that players pointlessly head the ball towards the opposition when there is no pressure and when he could easily control it.

And sometimes they don't try very hard to avoid conceding corners when they can simply put it out for a throw.

[Ackter]

Please sticky this thread. It's great to see this happening for FM this year, and even better that Paul himself has started it.

My feedback - it's the most enjoyable engine yet (so far ) and I can mostly get people doing what I want.

There's a few deficiencies but I've already mentioned them elsewhere so won't go into them here as well.

[maxtheking]

hi wasnt sure if i should put this here as its to do with the AI of the game. just played liverpool and they had glen johnson playing upfront with ngog on the bench!

[Myros00]

Please sticky this thread. It's great to see this happening for FM this year, and even better that Paul himself has started it.

My feedback - it's the most enjoyable engine yet (so far ) and I can mostly get people doing what I want.

There's a few deficiencies but I've already mentioned them elsewhere so won't go into them here as well.

Agreed, probably my main praise for the ME is that the players tend to follow your instruction MUCH better than in FM10.. I just hope the patches (which have a handful of bugs to address, apparently..) do not screw this up!

[akkm]

I think an improvement to the ME is crucial for the first patch...in essence this is ultimately what the brilliantly interwoven intricacies of FM should be all about...contributing to an enhanced match and the current iteration of the ME detracts from that.

Personally I love the beautiful game played by barca and the ME on 10.3 allowed for that and the responsiveness of my players to tactical instructions was incredibly good...the ball went thru the trequartista playing as primary playmaker behind forward/forwards as it should playing short passing/slow tempo but not in the demo. The number of passes as I said on previous post (by my whole team but particularly midfielders/trequartista) is nowhere near what it should be and % of completed passes is lower too. I played with barca in a preseason friendly against lower league opposition and xavi and iniesta playing as central midfielders in a 4-1-2-1-2 formation had just 5 passes each and completed just 4 and 2 of those respectively...that's off the wall...in a few friendlies they were having just 20-30 passes each over 90 mins and xavi averages 80+ passes per game IRL...

there has been a significant drop in this element of the game which from my experience over the years always seems to happen...this gets perfected (as well as can be at least as in ME from 10.3) but then drops and gets addressed again thens drops and gets addressed again. I feel the final patch each year gets it right but its very frustrating that its not right first time at this stage in SI's career. I appreciate the need/quest to constantly improve things but i can never understand why things deviate so much on the passing effectiveness of the game and effectiveness of playmakers (ie no 10s playing behind the strikers) between versions of the ME.

Also on the full backs receiving the ball...this is does happen for sure but the players of xavi and iniesta quality/ability do not always need an 'out' ball to full back as they can get out of it in other ways...the number of passes by full backs increases between versions of the ME as number of playmaker passes decreases...similar phenomenon...please P Collyer could you make this tweak (prob not at simple as a tweak but there does seem to be that obvious change between MEs ) to bring back the effectiveness of playmakers and good passing and increase number of passes where trying to play that way ie slow tempo/short passing for the patch released on 5th nov...the rest of the game is awesome right now...other improvements on graphics/contract negotiations etc are great but new ME would make the game AWESOME from day 1

[bluemoon1992]

I have found that its impossible to score!

im playing with man city and the amount of good players (silva, ade, tevez super mario etc) they just dont score.

they either miss the target my some stupid amount or hit it at the keeper?

SI explain please

[crouchaldinho]

I have found that its impossible to score!

im playing with man city and the amount of good players (silva, ade, tevez super mario etc) they just dont score.

they either miss the target my some stupid amount or hit it at the keeper?

SI explain please

You are a bad manager, could be the likely answer.

[Fabio MVP]

I have found that its impossible to score!

im playing with man city and the amount of good players (silva, ade, tevez super mario etc) they just dont score.

they either miss the target my some stupid amount or hit it at the keeper?

SI explain please

Crouchie explained you.

[bluemoon1992]

Well my players and 1 and 1 with the keeper and then they miss, so how is this down to me? were creating chance after chance but nothing.

[strombo]

Well, I dont't know if these things are happening just with me, but what I didn't like so far (I'm playing the brazilian quickstart)

-too much yellow, and then red cards

-too much own goals (don't like it even being in my favor, e.g.: http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/3430/3autogolos.png - this is not my save)

-often the difference in ball possession is very large

-it's hard to miss a penalty, and then the penalty shootout take some time (it's a bit weird 17x16 in a penalty shootout, isn't it?)

[Ackter]

Well my players and 1 and 1 with the keeper and then they miss, so how is this down to me? were creating chance after chance but nothing.

Sign a striker that likes to round or lob keeper.

[pewa2303]

i think there are too many "lob goals"

i like the new way to score but i think it happens too often. its not realistic.

in 10 matches i have one lob goal. i can remember that in real life lob goals occur once or twice a season!

P

[Arutha]

2 minor issues.

1. Players seem to be dribbling a lot. And very easily at that. Should be toned down a bit.

2. I have noticed that many or most of the long range goals end up in the middle of the net...that is there is less of the top corner stuff !

Apart from these

[DSYoungEsq]

i think there are too many "lob goals"

i like the new way to score but i think it happens too often. its not realistic.

in 10 matches i have one lob goal. i can remember that in real life lob goals occur once or twice a season!

P

You are joking, right? You have one such goal, and it occurred within the first ten matches. Now if you go the remainder of the season without one, how many will there be that season?

Statistics: helpful to understand.

I'm playing as Albion Rovers in the Scottish D3. I've had games we didn't score, and games we scored 5. I had a 3 - 3 barn burner, and a 1 - 1 snoozefest. Seems pretty realistic to me.

[pewa2303]

You are joking, right? You have one such goal, and it occurred within the first ten matches. Now if you go the remainder of the season without one, how many will there be that season?

Statistics: helpful to understand.

I'm playing as Albion Rovers in the Scottish D3. I've had games we didn't score, and games we scored 5. I had a 3 - 3 barn burner, and a 1 - 1 snoozefest. Seems pretty realistic to me.

sorry for my englisch.

i mean that every 10th game i see a lob. failed and successful

i have played now 30 matches (wiht pre-season friendlys) and i have seen 4 lob attempts

and i found out, that in other matches its the same

nearly every month i have one goal of the month scored by a lob

[?]

Few people are having a problem with really high cpu utilization in the 3d view which makes it really laggy regardless of the detail level - hope this is fixed in the patch because 3d is currently unusable for many.

[trotter13]

the biggest problem imo is that defenders let players past them way way way too easily, this means that attack is the only option, which is a very big problem. when you are a weak team playing a strong team what do you do? if you defend you lose because your defenders are useless because of the bug. if you attack you get done on the counter. this needs fixing in the 1st patch.

[Pipson]

One on ones being missed so badly

[bc1sjw]

I've only played 4 competitive games so far (i dont care about pre season) but i have already began to notice the amount of one on ones/through on keeper/situation where your player is 12/6 yards from goal with only the keepr in front of him and it either goes straight at the goalie or wide......

I battered spurs at home with 23 shots on goal and won 1-0....(in fairness Balotelli is still "fitting in" and Tevez is UNH with me)

Battered Wolves away with 16 shots on goal and won 1-0

Had a lot of shots on goal against Aris away in Europa qualifier and won 1-0

But its only 4 games and could be the players mentality/my tactics etc so I think I'll till about 10 competitive games. In fairness though I suppose the ME has to sdhow missed chances in some way and on 2D its maybe difficult to see.

In fairness as long as i am able to get a few goals in a game and my strikers can score (hasnt happened so far mostly defenders/midfielders scoring) i dont care how many shots I have as I know its unrealistic to win every game 3 or 4 nil

[JonnyCurrie]

Haven't read alot of the posts in this thread so I'll just add what I've noticed and apologies if it's already been mentioned:

Positives:

The play itself, aesthetically, looks much more smooth and slick to watch. The emotions from the players have improved it aswell.

The wide play seems to have come on a bit more since FM10 which is a good thing after some criticism.

Negatives:

Maybe I'm just giving too much or not enough creative freedom to my forwards but I'm noticing an astonishing about fluffed finishes when one-on-one/clean-through. This is with strikers like Rooney and Berbatov by the way, not lower league players. Again, maybe I've just been unlucky but it does seem to be an issue in my book.

[Wakers]

Defenders have never been good in any version of FM. I don't think they ever will be - simply because if they make defenders too good, it makes the game less exciting because there will be less goals/chances/penalities etc.

This is the only reason I can think as to why full backs have run alongside attackers and letting them cross since the first 2D engine was introduced

[el_magico89]

the biggest problem imo is that defenders let players past them way way way too easily, this means that attack is the only option, which is a very big problem. when you are a weak team playing a strong team what do you do? if you defend you lose because your defenders are useless because of the bug. if you attack you get done on the counter. this needs fixing in the 1st patch.

mate I absolutely agree with you.

before I switched to SI's FM I played the EA manager and the only real positive thing about it was, that you could also have success with a defensive tactic.

but now after a year of playing FM 10 and the demo of 11, ive noticed, that you cant rely on defence and you really need play attacking style even if youre burnley playing away chelsea, since if you try to park the bus or just play on counter attack, you will definately get destroyed, since defending is very low especially the center backs' way of acting defensively

but as far as Ive read, the first patch wont include any ME changes but the 2nd, which will come arrount christmas time!!!

[el_magico89]

Defenders have never been good in any version of FM. I don't think they ever will be - simply because if they make defenders too good, it makes the game less exciting because there will be less goals/chances/penalities etc.

well if this is the case, than its really poor and why the hell do you pay so much money for the likes of david luiz, terry, ferdinand and so on, when their attributes dont really have an effect on the way you defend?

its just so easy: having a solid d-line with the right tactical instructions should give you a tight defence.

having bad defenders facing rooneys, drogbas and so on should cause problems and you might find some tactical instructions, to tighten up your defence.

but unfortunately none of these examples are really considered in the ME

its a real bug and it has nothing to do with your players attributes or your tactical instructions, when someone like marlon harewood can easily run through your center backs.

SI doesnt really need to lower the goal rate or to improve defensive players in general, they just need to make sure, that every single attribute of your defensive players is truelly implemented into the match engine.

for example, if you have a defender, who is good in the air, who is a very aggressive player with good tackling and marking stats and has solid mental attributes, but is even slower than terry and you play with a very high d-line, than its quite normal, when you might get caught often if the opposition striker is very quick and you dont put pressure on the playmaker, so that he can easily play a through ball from his half.

but lets say, if the game is been played in your own third and one of the opposition strikers or anyone else runs from deep towards your defender, than the possibility, that your defender wins the challenge shoud be much higher.

even in real life, you never see someone like rooney or ronaldo running through the likes of pique, terry so easily.

they only have success, when they have space can immediately run into your defender who has not cover and so on, but not if all your 4 defenders build a line in their own third and with 2-3 central midfielders arround the striker and he just runs away from everyone and scores maradona like goals xD

[DSYoungEsq]

sorry for my englisch.

i mean that every 10th game i see a lob. failed and successful

i have played now 30 matches (wiht pre-season friendlys) and i have seen 4 lob attempts

and i found out, that in other matches its the same

nearly every month i have one goal of the month scored by a lob

Ah, you are talking "on average." I see.

I don't have the same issue. Maybe you should tell your strikers not to lob the keeper.

[mlindqui43]

3 major things I have noticed...

GK are slow to react to crosses... no biggy

Midfielders tend to stand and watch ALOT and do not close down enough, even with a setting of ball winning mid and defensive setting. But I've noticed all mids seem to be standing around or not dropping back when they should

Passing is not as sharp as it should be with top clubs. It just seems "stiff", I dont know how else to describe it

Just had a player score... and on his celebration slid maybe 20 yards on his knees. Not an issue, just really funny to watch

[Chris Rice]

Paul, maybe u can help with this. Does the ME recognise the seasons. For example a game played in July at 19.45 will be light, and then a game played in Oct at 19.45 will be dark?

Sun positioning is taken into account. Your 19.45 example would happen in the game, likewise 17.30 kick-offs would be daylight in the summer and floodlit in the winter.

[Äktsjon Männ]

Defending is way too loose. Players with any sort of pace can run rings around defenders regardless of their attributes. Attacking players constantly find themselves in acres of space because defenders fail to stay close to them. Full backs still position themselves awkwardly, giving too much space for a clear cross or letting attackers run past them along the byline. Midfielders' marking is plain weird. They get dragged wide when there's a horde of opposition players charging through the middle. On the other hand they often choose to closely mark their direct opponents high up in midfield (even on zonal marking) who are not participating in the attack while the defenders are being run at in numbers.

Also the weak foot long shot issue is something that really needs a fix. Tons and tons of horrible pot shots in every game when your midfielders aren't either footed. Finishing is buggered (again) as well. Strikers with good finishing ability seem to specifically aim it straight at the keeper while the ones with poorer attributes try as hard as they can to hit anything but the goal even from excellent positions.

[Lord Rowell]

Strikers tend to get a lot of one-on-one clear cut chances, and then miss them, either due to a brilliant save, hit the post or a poor finish. Occasionally, the ball does go in through a rebound of the keeper and then follow-up.

I'm playing as Man Utd, a few games into the season. We've created loads of CCC's of the type discussed above, but not converted one. I should add that the AI seems to have a similar problem when attacking. All my goals have come from crosses, set pieces, long shots through the middle (Scholes, Rooney) or rebounds / follow-ups.

It does feel, very much, like a regression to the problem inherent in the early patches of FM2010.

[lukino99]

It seems to me that goalkeepers still don't dive on penalty kicks, the just stand still, exactly like in the previous versions of the game.

[blala]

Any one know where I can find ME files in the game folder !!!

[paganizer]

It looks good, graphics wise. Game play, not so good. I feel like I'm watching sunday league games tbh and I've gone Juve. It's not just me or my tactics, even the opposition look awful. The number of times I've seem my own players trip over each other going for a ball is silly. Happens to the AI all the time as well. Seems to be no fluidity of play for me or anyone else and I've watched some AI vs AI matches to make sure it's not just me. Perhaps this is realistic and football really is rubbish but it doesn't make for a good game. I also see no rhyme nor reason to pace anymore, I've got some of the fastest players in the game and they look like pensioners when they 'burst' down the wing yet I've seen some older players move like the flash for the whole game. Frankly it just all seems a bit random now, finishing is strange and player judgement appears to be quite flawed. I've loved watching players in three vs one situations just run for the byline then run it out of play for no reason. Me and the AI do that a lot. Perhaps there sould be a 'look up for a pass' option.

Even more hardcoded stuff in the ME?

Seriously hope the ME is not as bad as it seems from the feedback. I thought the 10.3 was decent, but needed improving in many aspects. 11.0 sounds like the usual first edition ME which kills all the fun of the game, until even more changes are hardcoded in with a couple patches, that makes it SEEM good, but really just so on the surface.

The heart and soul of the game is the ME... not flashy new features. Hope you devs see it the same way. No cutting corners on the ME pls.

[ommerson]

I played the half season in charge of East Stirlingshire in SD3 and it appears that a lot of the goals scored are long range shots. Far more than is normal imo. I think 75% of the goals is hit form outside the box.

Furthermore, and I've seen some similar comments above, the 1-on-1's seem to be a bit off. Goalkeepers rushing to the edge of the box and stand still there, strikers shooting straight from great distance in stead of lobbing the obviously wrongly positioned goalie (and as a result lots of shots but few goals), and I have never ever seen a striker taking on the keeper trying to get past the him dribbeling, while this is reasonably common in real life. I also havent seen any Bergkamp-like chips over the diving (rushing out) keeper, also pretty common in real life but that may be due to the low skills of the players at SD3-level.

It also strikes me that the goalscorer is often ignored by his teammates and has to cheer his goal by himself while the others just walk around a bit waving their arms, clogging together a bit, but more often than not some way from the scorer himself. It seems more realistic that his teammates rust to the scorer in celebration of his goal and maybe together celebrate with the fans (especially important at away-games (away block)). More so depending on the importance of the goal (piles of players at late winners for example).

Dont get me wrong, I like the new engine a lot and it looks great, but I hope the reatail version is more realistic in the ways described above.

[Pipson]

Seen far too often when there is a break through and lets say its 1 defender vs 2 fowards, and that defender is going for the player with the ball, instead of that player passing the ball to the other foward so he has a one on one he will usually try to go through byline or attempt a shot instead of an easy pass to the other foward.

[HUNT3R]

I'm finding that keepers set up walls to cover the far post rather than near post. It doesn't happen all the time, but fairly often and I've both scored and conceded with a shot that's just simply hammered in at the near post. Someone else notice this?

[SSGTroyer]

Any one know where I can find ME files in the game folder !!!

You don't. the ME is hardcoded and not user-editable.

[Clrnc]

just had an amazing experience with the match engine. took the lead on 3 occasions against spurs only to be pegged back within seconds all 3 times to take the game to extra time. mind you i am using arsenal and its in the league cup. the 3rd time was 94th min. and they could still equalise within seconds. incredible.

then it went to penalties. theres this new features that have ticks and crosses above. thing is, the feature shows ticks and crosses way before the players actually takes the kicks in the animations. also, i missed 2 penalties but it shows ticks.

anyway, i think the new game engine makes penos so hard to score. i have 3 penos in normal time this season and missed 2 already.

[blala]

You don't. the ME is hardcoded and not user-editable.

I just wanna know where's the files

[Lord Rowell]

Dear SI,

Paul Collyer, who as I understand it is the main designer of the match engine, has taken the trouble to start this thread himself to get feedback from us, the gameplayers.

The ME is surely the most important component of a football management simulation, as SI market this product.

Hence, why on earth, because of both reasons above, is this thread not stickied?

Seriously scratching my head at this one.

[SiN8]

I think a variation of the Diablo tactic is back. I'm using a 4-1-2-1-2 with the default Arsenal roster. Arshavin, who's the AMC, has scored 13 goals in 9 league games. He's scored at least once in every game and has two hattricks already, all from open play. Out of those 9 games, I've played against Man U, Chelsea, Spurs and Liverpool already so the tactics works against top teams as well.

[Alekos]

I'm having this issue as well. I thought that FM10 did a reasonably good job of this, but on FM11 my teams seem to be averaging about 100 passes less a game, which is a significant difference and also moving further away from what we see from teams who dominate the ball irl.

That said I haven't noticed any of the match engine doesn't seem to be throwing up stupid mistakes that I saw on FM10 (like a defender standing still doing nothing while being closed down or a player making a complete screw-up of a 5 yard pass in a dangerous area seemingly for no reason that so that the match engine had an excuse for me to give the ball away) so definite improvement in that aspect.

I am having the same issue and started the topic "Can you play Xavi like real life"?

I think this is a REAL problem and needs to be checked-fixed since it destroys the whole realism...