Football Manager 2014 - Update 14.2.2 - Feedback Thread

[solon]

Either my computer is a secret Cardiff City fan and hates Barcelona and many other big teams with passion or there is something a bit wrong in the way the game produces results for AI teams. I've tried many times to start a save in December 2013 (Finnish league start date) and everytime I check how the big leagues are doing I see very strange league tables. In EPL, Cardiff are almost every time topping the table and Arsenal, Liverpool or Man city are at the bottom end. In Spain, Barcelona are always stranded at the bottom, sometimes accompanied with Real Madrid. In Germany, Bayern are mid table or near bottom. In Italy, Juventus are usually at the bottom end; and in France, PSG is always mid table.

Here are two examples:

Haha I started one myself in full detail and Barcelona is on 17th and martinos job status is precarious. I get the feeling Messi will be leaving them very soon

[Bill_Strevros]

A big thank you for this update.

It seems to have fixed a problem that was annoying me.

That problem was players trying to buy corners of defenders and instead just kicking it out for a goal kick or less often just giving the ball away to the defender. I have not noticed this happening at all since the update. That is a huge positive to me with this save.

Thank you for fixing this problem.

[cachirro]

i don't know the why's, but something must have changed a lot, i just came from winning the CL, i rarely lose or conceed goals, then steam updated to 14.2, and i lost 4-0, it's not just the losing factor, it's that my team was completely dominated, and i was lucky to end just in 4-0.

it's like changing from night to day

[RTHerringbone]

i think we may need quick patch for too many own goals and still woodwork issue

Can you advise how many woodwork hits you are seeing per game please?

They have reduced noticeably and you are (I think) the only person to imply that there is no improvement in this area.

[Quantum Madness]

How do I revert the game to the previous version? 14.2 is crap....

[ademac]

i don't know the why's, but something must have changed a lot, i just came from winning the CL, i rarely lose or conceed goals, then steam updated to 14.2, and i lost 4-0, it's not just the losing factor, it's that my team was completely dominated, and i was lucky to end just in 4-0.

it's like changing from night to day

Same here. 14.2 update and I've gone from winning and dominating games 55%+ of possession both home and away to no wins in the next 13 games. Either I start from scratch with a complete new tactic and play for another 16 hrs+ to "bed it in", or give up. Just when I begin to understand whats going on it all goes to ****. Don't know if I have it in me to bother spending 2 full days of gaming just to get back to where I was.

It's been that clear for me. 15 wins and 2 draws in the first 17 games, game updates and suddenly 10 losses and 3 draws in the next 13 games. And all the associated c**p from players when the club is underachieving. Meh:/

[forameuss]

How do I revert the game to the previous version? 14.2 is crap....

You can't.

[Dagenham_Dave]

Are the people who've gone from winning every week to losing using downloaded tactics?

[RTHerringbone]

Same here. 14.2 update and I've gone from winning and dominating games 55%+ of possession both home and away to no wins in the next 13 games.

Did you play those 13 games in exactly the same way as you did prior to the update, or did you try to identify the reasons for things appearing to stop working?

When an update is released which has some fairly significant Match Engine fixes included, there will almost certainly be a need to reappraise the tactic you are using.

[bethal]

Few things iv noticed

The Good

Red cards have toned down for me. none in 6, vast improvement.

Player ratings are up mainly on the full backs and cen mids in my game.

A few of the team instructions that didnt do much for me b4 seem to do things now.

Wingers not looking for corner from every cross is gone, good stuff.

Long shots dont seem so useless. not that iv scored from many but no longer aimlessly shotting from distance for the sake of it.

The Bad

Tactics famil, mentioned enough so wont bang on about it

Having a lot of passes played straight into the back of my players. (Prob tactics related but still tweaking)

Crossing, iv been tweaking my cross aim but still no luck. Crosses to the goal line on 9 out of 10 crosses, which there keeper collects. They look more like shots.

The Ugly

Corners, they are horrible.

Keepers, My Keeper in 3 games has gone crazy. First game from new patch he chased a ball down, that was going out for a goal kick, and from the side of the 6 yard box, played it along the floor to there striker, who first time side footed it in from about 25 yards! Second game he came out to collect a ball that had been overplayed by the opposition. At the edge of the box he just stopped running and let the ball roll past him, like he was invisible. when there striker run on to the loss ball, my keeper just stood on the edge of the box with his back to goal, he didnt move. Opposition GKs seem to pull off world class saves every game

Also if what was previously mentioned about top teams in the bottom 3 are true, thats not good. Hope its a one off

[RTHerringbone]

How do I revert the game to the previous version? 14.2 is crap....

Any chance of anything constructive?

What specific things prompted you to draw such a comprehensive and articulate conclusion?

[Gilbs]

Just goes to show that Football Manager games in regards to tactics are practically a 'gimmick' doesn't it? Pathetic really how tactics are deemed useless after an update. If a tactic works fine, there is no way anything should disrupt it. Yes, by all means an update could or should make a tactic even more better, or maybe not as effective, but it shouldn't have at least an 80 per cent negative effect on it! Sums it up really...

[ademac]

Are the people who've gone from winning every week to losing using downloaded tactics?

No Dave, 3 custom made tactics. I did suffer a slight drop in familiarity with all of them ( which I knew was going to be the case from reading earlier in the thread ), so reverted back to tactics only for match prep. Within 3 weeks I was back at full familiarity but by that point everyone was in awful morale.

Ofc there are too many variables to pinpoint any one issue and point the finger at that. What is annoying is having spent probably 40 + hours reading the tactic forums, taking notes and implementing then testing over and over until I finally get it working perfectly only to have to start all over again, which is why I'm feeling pretty negative about it atm. Don't see why I should have to go through many hours of testing every single update.

That coupled with how sluggish and "ploddy" the game feels, especially around player interactions is making me question if I can really be bothered going through this rigmarole all over again. Atm there is more stuff that annoys me than gives me fun.

I have managed to find a solution to the auto default to Selection on the tactics screen however. I cleared cache and verified files on steam. Don't know which of those was the fix, but it was one of them.

[Gilbs]

And I bet the AI tactics are never changed around after an update, and have no major effect!

[Marchw]

Overall, very good update. Might have to make a few tactical switches but that's to be expected. Plus I'm generally not very good anyway so my tactic falling to pieces won't be too dissimilar to my normal form!

One negative, however: who decided to remove the option to make transfer offers non-negotiable?! Fairly annoying that that's gone, and then to top it all I realised that a non-negotiable offer I made pre-patch is forever stuck in the limbo of being non-negotiable. I can no longer make a new offer for that player, it always appears as the same old non-negotiable offer, no matter how many times I withdraw it and continue! Crazy. But obviously this won't be an issue going forward with new saves.

[themadsheep2001]

And I bet the AI tactics are never changed around after an update, and have no major effect!

You'd lose all your money on said bet then, any adjustment to the ME/tactical familiarity has a universal effect.

[MeesterCat]

Just goes to show that Football Manager games in regards to tactics are practically a 'gimmick' doesn't it? Pathetic really how tactics are deemed useless after an update. If a tactic works fine, there is no way anything should disrupt it. Yes, by all means an update could or should make a tactic even more better, or maybe not as effective, but it shouldn't have at least an 80 per cent negative effect on it! Sums it up really...

The tactic could be fine, but it just needs small amounts of tweaks to get working to its previous effectiveness. Just like in pre-season when you fine-tune your formation and instructions.

If an update modifies how, for example, wingers play, then if you're using a formation with wingers, maybe you'll need to tweak their instructions a bit. It doesn't mean the whole tactic is suddenly invalid.

[RTHerringbone]

And I bet the AI tactics are never changed around after an update, and have no major effect!

As you well know, AI tactics will be equally affected by updates, so if they remain effective whilst you do not, the finger of blame points squarely at your own set up.

[forameuss]

Just goes to show that Football Manager games in regards to tactics are practically a 'gimmick' doesn't it? Pathetic really how tactics are deemed useless after an update. If a tactic works fine, there is no way anything should disrupt it. Yes, by all means an update could or should make a tactic even more better, or maybe not as effective, but it shouldn't have at least an 80 per cent negative effect on it! Sums it up really...

If you really think about it, it's bound to happen, and it's by no means a gimmick. A tactic is an input into the ME, which has thousands of "moving parts". Any of these parts change, the output is going to change. That's putting it simply. Going more complex, when the ME changes, it's usually to fix a bug or try and balance things. If the tactic used before the update exploited (I use that word carefully) one of these bugged components, and that is then fixed, then you're going to get something different happening. Generally speaking, if a tactic is fairly sound and logical before, it will be the same afterwards, but that can't be guaranteed. Of course, logical and sound is difficult to pin down.

It's not perfect, but there's no point acting like it's some kind of concerted effort to ruin everyone's good time. It's the nature of the beast. The alternative is that the ME is only updated on the release of a new game. And how much fun would that be?

[forameuss]

My several tuppence worth after playing yesterday and a bit today.

ME wise, even my rudimentary understanding of tactics seems to be working. Joined a new club the evening before the update and played my first matches on 14.2. Currently unbeaten after 10 games, and my tactic - built with nothing more than uncommon sense - seems to work as I want it to. That wasn't always the case pre-patch, so I'm pretty happy.

One thing I am noticing though is that there are a lot of corners. For example, you get a corner - no problem with that - but then on several occasions I've seen corner after corner following. Ball comes in, scramble, headed behind. Ball comes in, headed behind. Ball comes in... etc etc. It could just be by chance, but wondered if anyone else has seen similar.

[johnnyquest409]

My assistant is making subs in friendlies! Finally!

[Gilbs]

I still think it's down to pot luck, really. And this is coming from someone who has always won Titles, Doubles etc in every FM down the years. I've seen people's tactics that are utter **** and make no sense and contradict themselves (like FM does anyway, a lot of tactics that contradict themselves) and they've been successful. Like only playing one proper CB. That would never work in a million years in real-life football. I'm not too bothered anyway. Pretty bored now with the game, won my couple of Titles, lol.

[Contexx]

Ok, I don't think there are 4 or 5 versions, and this may be far fetched, but is it possible for unusual things to happen in the beginning post-update? I am not getting any of these issues - my keeper is fine, if not better than before, my defenders actually defend and I'm even able to properly stand off opponents and not have to close down like crazy in order to keep things tight at the back. Sure my tactic familiarity went down slightly but the team is playing well and it's going up. If anything, I'm finding positioning and passing to be much better than in previous versions.

The things I have noticed which are odd is I'm scoring A LOT more corners, whereas before I didn't, in spite of playing three DC's with excellent jumping and anticipation. Also, I haven't conceded from a corner in the ten games I've played since the patch, even though it used to be one of the most maddening aspects of the game pre-patch.

Finally, even in the slightly loony Seria A, scores are steady, although the typically direct, physical minnows (Torino, Citadella) which used to Stoke their way to the top of the table have all gone through massive slumps and are getting beaten.

I really don't know if it's just me and after reading some of the complaints, I had to double check if indeed I have the right update- judging by the bolded player names I obviously do.I'm in no way dismissing some of the complaints, just my two pence.

[hehe_hoho]

Played a few matches with the new patch. Poacher and players in AM position used to peform badly for me.

Now they are the best players in my team. The AM with the highest rating ànd poacher scores lot of goals.

[hewey]

Also if what was previously mentioned about top teams in the bottom 3 are true, thats not good. Hope its a one off

Unfortunately it isn't one off, at least not for me. I've now tried 3 more times and everytime it's the same, the big clubs are struggling.

I noticed another weird thing when checked Barcelona squad: Almost none of their stars have played a single game in the season! And they haven't been injured (except Messi, but he's not been out for all the season). Instead reserve and U19 players are used.

[jc1]

I like the latest update to the game, tactics wise I play with two, 4-2-3-1 and 4-5-1, first is the attacking tactic and the later is the more defensive one, basically the trick is simply to get players who are natural in the positions and roles you want for the tactics, making sure they don't upset the balance of the team and tweak as you go along by watching the games in extended highlights.

[kozmik]

One negative, however: who decided to remove the option to make transfer offers non-negotiable?!

I for one would be interested to know whether everyone is having this same issue. It certainly doesn't show in the update's change list that you can no longer make non-negotiable transfer offers. Somehow I don't believe it's an intended change, it just doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Besides, why not remove the whole "negotiable" -button, if the intention is to remove the non-negotiable option and make all offers be negotiable?

[Dagenham_Dave]

Not sure if this is down to the update or just coincidence, and I'm in no way complaining as it's worked out well for me, but I'm a few weeks into the start of season 3 in my Hibs save, and I noticed international fullback Alan Hutton had been released from his 42k a week Villa contract. For the banter, I approached to sign him, assuming some astronomical wage demands would be on show...

...and he signed for me for just £675 a week. He's still just 30 in the game, with decent stats. Seems a bit unrealistic that he'd accept such a drop in wages. It did say the reason for him signing was to be closer to his family, so perhaps that was the biggest incentive. I've never seen a player accept such a low amount having been on a huge contract at a big club previously.

[daylight]

I have only managed a handful of games as I have been rather busy, I sure hope I will not be seeing many of these goals though.

[video=youtube;EmlGBRIqfhk]

It really frustrates me when keepers at the top level make these sort of errors, if it only happens once in a blue moon I can just about make my peace with it but I sure hope it is not like when the keeper was taking free kicks from the sidelines and passing it to the opposing player to score open goals, that was happening way too often.

On the video keepers would and should be launching it out of the stadium.

[Keyzer Soze]

Just goes to show that Football Manager games in regards to tactics are practically a 'gimmick' doesn't it? Pathetic really how tactics are deemed useless after an update. If a tactic works fine, there is no way anything should disrupt it. Yes, by all means an update could or should make a tactic even more better, or maybe not as effective, but it shouldn't have at least an 80 per cent negative effect on it! Sums it up really...

Actually i think it's something very basic!

Just imagine the ME like the rules of a board game, and your tactic it's like the strategy you use to win the game.

If, someone change the rules... it's pretty logic that the strategy must change too.

There is no universal tactic that works for every team, in any conditions, with every ME.

[Beestonite]

Not sure if this is down to the update or just coincidence, and I'm in no way complaining as it's worked out well for me, but I'm a few weeks into the start of season 3 in my Hibs save, and I noticed international fullback Alan Hutton had been released from his 42k a week Villa contract. For the banter, I approached to sign him, assuming some astronomical wage demands would be on show...

...and he signed for me for just £675 a week. He's still just 30 in the game, with decent stats. Seems a bit unrealistic that he'd accept such a drop in wages. It did say the reason for him signing was to be closer to his family, so perhaps that was the biggest incentive. I've never seen a player accept such a low amount having been on a huge contract at a big club previously.

This has to be a bug, simple. Unless his wife has got a fantastic new job. Have you reported it?

[RTHerringbone]

It really frustrates me when keepers at the top level make these sort of errors, if it only happens once in a blue moon I can just about make my peace with it but I sure hope it is not like when the keeper was taking free kicks from the sidelines and passing it to the opposing player to score open goals, that was happening way too often.

On the video keepers would and should be launching it out of the stadium.

I had one of these last night, and they are frequent enough to be considered bugged in my opinion.

Please upload a .pkm to the Bugs Forum.

[bethal]

Its like you posted a video from my game daylight! Thats exactly what iv just mentioned in previous post happened in my game after the update. not seen it before then. Glad its not just me, but not glad its happening to some of us.

[jc1]

Not sure if this is down to the update or just coincidence, and I'm in no way complaining as it's worked out well for me, but I'm a few weeks into the start of season 3 in my Hibs save, and I noticed international fullback Alan Hutton had been released from his 42k a week Villa contract. For the banter, I approached to sign him, assuming some astronomical wage demands would be on show...

...and he signed for me for just £675 a week. He's still just 30 in the game, with decent stats. Seems a bit unrealistic that he'd accept such a drop in wages. It did say the reason for him signing was to be closer to his family, so perhaps that was the biggest incentive. I've never seen a player accept such a low amount having been on a huge contract at a big club previously.

How could you sign him for the mighty Hibs does seem a bit weird that one though.:confused:

[Quantum Madness]

Any chance of anything constructive?

What specific things prompted you to draw such a comprehensive and articulate conclusion?

I play a 4-3-3 DM formation with Chivas. The part of my tactic that I'm most fond of, is my front 3. I got one supportive TM in the middle and 2 poachers on the sides. Until update my TM would drop a little back in the field, to receive the ball, pull defenders towards him, and make a fast risky pass to of the poachers running deep in the giant space created. Left poacher right legged and right poacher right legged, these guys would score for fun, with 35+ goals each. After update I'll have like 10/12 shots and 2/3 shots on target. My TM doesn't receive the ball anymore, and it ruins my concept. Another thing which is very annoying, is that the games in generel looks boring now. I don't know to say it in english, but the match doesn't seem to "show" anything. The game just fast forwards and ends with a draw, 0-0 or 1-1. My team used to have around 25 shots 10/15 on target. I like fast offensive football, but now it is just dull and annoying... And corners.... Wtf? And the drop in tactic familarity? Why?

[blala]

Can you advise how many woodwork hits you are seeing per game please?

They have reduced noticeably and you are (I think) the only person to imply that there is no improvement in this area.

every 3 or 4 matches at least 2 matches you will find woodwork and what about own goal it's raised very much if you noticed

[9sublime]

Either my computer is a secret Cardiff City fan and hates Barcelona and many other big teams with passion or there is something a bit wrong in the way the game produces results for AI teams. I've tried many times to start a save in December 2013 (Finnish league start date) and everytime I check how the big leagues are doing I see very strange league tables. In EPL, Cardiff are almost every time topping the table and Arsenal, Liverpool or Man city are at the bottom end. In Spain, Barcelona are always stranded at the bottom, sometimes accompanied with Real Madrid. In Germany, Bayern are mid table or near bottom. In Italy, Juventus are usually at the bottom end; and in France, PSG is always mid table.

Here are two examples:

Is this a bug being more widely reported?? If the big teams are universally struggling then this is COMPLETELY GAMEBREAKING and destroys any sense of realism and enjoyment for me whatsoever.

[RTHerringbone]

Until update my TM would drop a little back in the field, to receive the ball, pull defenders towards him, and make a fast risky pass to of the poachers running deep in the giant space created. Left poacher right legged and right poacher right legged, these guys would score for fun, with 35+ goals each.

This may have directly been affected by fixes relating to player engagement.

There were cases in the last update where more than one attacking player would often attract more than one defender.

If you were seeing AI defenders converge on your TM, which created space for the Poachers, then it is likely to be these fixes which have reduced the effectiveness of your tactics.

- Tweaked urgency of engagement of ball player in own half depending on defensive player's tactical settings

- Fixed some further engagement of ball player issues

[keithfc]

Will SI willing to reduce the amount of tackle for ME?

[RTHerringbone]

every 3 or 4 matches at least 2 matches you will find woodwork and what about own goal it's raised very much if you noticed

How often is the woodwork hit in real life? Are there any stats to suggest the numbers in FM diverge from reality?

As far as own goals go, I'm not seeing an inordinate amount, but again I have no real life statistics to compare to.

[milnerpoint]

I have only managed a handful of games as I have been rather busy, I sure hope I will not be seeing many of these goals though.

[video=youtube;EmlGBRIqfhk]

It really frustrates me when keepers at the top level make these sort of errors, if it only happens once in a blue moon I can just about make my peace with it but I sure hope it is not like when the keeper was taking free kicks from the sidelines and passing it to the opposing player to score open goals, that was happening way too often.

On the video keepers would and should be launching it out of the stadium.

I think the bigger issue there is how the player is able to hit that first time right down the middle of the goal. I mean the keepers kick is certainly an issue, but the fact the player is able to hit that first time straight in would annoy me more than the keeper. Its an extremely hard shot to take and get right and even more so straight from a keeper kicking it up field.

[daylight]

I think the bigger issue there is how the player is able to hit that first time right down the middle of the goal. I mean the keepers kick is certainly an issue, but the fact the player is able to hit that first time straight in would annoy me more than the keeper. Its an extremely hard shot to take and get right and even more so straight from a keeper kicking it up field.

Not really,

The keeper should not be making 'passes' like that, take the keeper fault out of the equation and the player scoring the goal would not happen anyway.

The bigger issue is the keeper making this error.

[Beestonite]

Not really,

The keeper should not be making 'passes' like that, take the keeper fault out of the equation and the player scoring the goal would not happen anyway.

The bigger issue is the keeper making this error.

I think you're both right. The keeper in all honesty should be hitting it out of the ground, not keeping it in play.

Also, the technique required to score the goal is out of the top drawer, so I can see milnerpoint's argument too. It just wouldn't happen considering the keeper has hammered the ball at him.

Edit: It's out of a special hidden compartment in the top drawer, actually.

[Hit the upright]

Pretty good summary imo, we could do with Pkm's in the bugs forum for keeper errors because a lot of what people are claiming wasn't obvious in testing and though there might be some tactical effect the only way to be sure is to analyse the incidents.

I shall keep an eye out for more, I also had a weird throw in where the receiver of the ball turned round and ran several yards away from the ball although in the same direction as it came towards him.

[daylight]

I think you're both right. The keeper in all honesty should be hitting it out of the ground, not keeping it in play.

Also, the technique required to score the goal is out of the top drawer, so I can see milnerpoint's argument too. It just wouldn't happen considering the keeper has hammered the ball at him.

Edit: It's out of a special hidden compartment in the top drawer actually.

Yeah in real life that goal would be very hard to score.

I am looking at it from SI/game point of view, they need to take the keeper error out of the game, that way we do not need to worry about the goal.

The last thing I would want is the keeper error happening time and again and then the player missing the chance, it is the keeper error that is the bigger issue and should be looked at.

[Dagenham_Dave]

That keeper issue that daylight posted has been there in at least the last two versions of the game (I mean 12 and 13, not updates of this game), so I don't see it being fixed anytime soon. It's happened for and against me in the past, and whilst it shouldn't be happening at all, it's still currently rare enough not to be a gamebreaker IMO.

It must be relatively difficult to fix as the players will be hardwired into trying to keep the ball in play when there's no-one close by, so to give a keeper an instruction to boot it into touch could have consequences in non-threatening situations. The only instance at the moment, as far as I know, where a player will deliberately kick it out the park is for an injury, and that's rare enough. Tough one for SI, at least I assume it is given it's been in at least the last two instalments of the game.

[Tony Fallows]

Is this a bug being more widely reported?? If the big teams are universally struggling then this is COMPLETELY GAMEBREAKING and destroys any sense of realism and enjoyment for me whatsoever.

To be clear, this only appears to happen when you start a game with the start date set mid-season. In this case starting in Finland (December 2013) will put you at a point where 17 matches have been played in the top European leagues. For some reason the AI is selecting youth players for these matches, hence the poor performance. We're looking into it, but if this is something you do not want to experience then be sure to set your start date for the start of the season.

[HUNT3R]

That keeper issue that daylight posted has been there in at least the last two versions of the game (I mean 12 and 13, not updates of this game), so I don't see it being fixed anytime soon. It's happened for and against me in the past, and whilst it shouldn't be happening at all, it's still currently rare enough not to be a gamebreaker IMO.

It must be relatively difficult to fix as the players will be hardwired into trying to keep the ball in play when there's no-one close by, so to give a keeper an instruction to boot it into touch could have consequences in non-threatening situations. The only instance at the moment, as far as I know, where a player will deliberately kick it out the park is for an injury, and that's rare enough. Tough one for SI, at least I assume it is given it's been in at least the last two instalments of the game.

The keeper should either have composure on the ball rather than just clearing it OR he should boot it into touch.

As long as daylight reports it, it should be fixed

[daylight]

To be clear, this only appears to happen when you start a game with the start date set mid-season. In this case starting in Finland (December 2013) will put you at a point where 17 matches have been played in the top European leagues. For some reason the AI is selecting youth players for these matches, hence the poor performance. We're looking into it, but if this is something you do not want to experience then be sure to set your start date for the start of the season.

Sorry Tony but that did make me laugh, I bet Ronaldo and Messi are well chuffed!

[forameuss]

To be clear, this only appears to happen when you start a game with the start date set mid-season. In this case starting in Finland (December 2013) will put you at a point where 17 matches have been played in the top European leagues. For some reason the AI is selecting youth players for these matches, hence the poor performance. We're looking into it, but if this is something you do not want to experience then be sure to set your start date for the start of the season.

Do you know if this was something introduced with this update? I started a save a few weeks ago with a mid-season start date. Can't say I've noticed any problems, but then I've not got too many top leagues loaded. Some big Brazilian clubs were relegated, but that was a few seasons in, and that happens in real life too.