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FM2018, or The Free Kick Paradigm


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Just completed my second season in FM2018, and my biggest struggle with this new installment is converting direct free kicks into goals. I have 4 players with 17 (or over) in free kicks, also with high shooting and technical attributes and yes, you guessed it where I'm going with this, 2 seasons, 98 official matches and not one single goal from this kind of situation. E-v-e-r-y single shot from a direct free kick ends up in the stands or at best, in a pole. Not even one shot directed at the goal. I'm not going to blame my players, after all, a goal from direct free is still remaining to be seen in my save. Occasionally it comes to my knowledge from match reports, that somewhere in the game world, someone has managed to score a goal from still ball. What is going on? The laws of physic do not apply whenever there is a match being watched by me? 

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9 minutes ago, mitzra3l said:

Just completed my second season in FM2018, and my biggest struggle with this new installment is converting direct free kicks into goals. I have 4 players with 17 (or over) in free kicks, also with high shooting and technical attributes and yes, you guessed it where I'm going with this, 2 seasons, 98 official matches and not one single goal from this kind of situation. E-v-e-r-y single shot from a direct free kick ends up in the stands or at best, in a pole. Not even one shot directed at the goal. I'm not going to blame my players, after all, a goal from direct free is still remaining to be seen in my save. Occasionally it comes to my knowledge from match reports, that somewhere in the game world, someone has managed to score a goal from still ball. What is going on? The laws of physic do not apply whenever there is a match being watched by me? 

I've read it somewhere it got something to do with Mental aspects too,there are some mental stats that's required to be a Good Frkicker.Either that or SI just changed the mechanics

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Just now, M4nager1a said:

I've read it somewhere it got something to do with Mental aspects too,there are some mental stats that's required to be a Good Frkicker.Either that or SI just changed the mechanics

Sure, but secretly I'm hoping we do get to see a future update fine tuning some aspects in ME, namely the free kicks and some very odd choices the players take when it's time to take a shot at the goal in normal game situations. Very often a player has the goal right in front and they place the shots over the z row or the corner flag, giving the feel that the ME is yet to be finished

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Just now, mitzra3l said:

Sure, but secretly I'm hoping we do get to see a future update fine tuning some aspects in ME, namely the free kicks and some very odd choices the players take when it's time to take a shot at the goal in normal game situations. Very often a player has the goal right in front and they place the shots over the z row or the corner flag, giving the feel that the ME is yet to be finished

Yeah I hope so :)

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4 hours ago, mitzra3l said:

Sure, but secretly I'm hoping we do get to see a future update fine tuning some aspects in ME, namely the free kicks and some very odd choices the players take when it's time to take a shot at the goal in normal game situations. Very often a player has the goal right in front and they place the shots over the z row or the corner flag, giving the feel that the ME is yet to be finished

Did you see all those free kicks De Bruyne and other City players wasted yesterday?

I'm playing in the tenth tier with my free kick taker's attribute being 4 - he actually gets the occasional one although he is aided by hapless out of position defenders and slow goalkeepers. I'm not saying as many are scored as ought to be in FM18, but they aren't as rare as you make out.

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There's definitely something going on with the match engine.  I just checked the team stats for my current season and there have been 2 direct free kick goals in 6 weeks in the entire EPL.  I don't remember the exact amount from last season, but there were less than 10 direct free kick goals the entire season.  

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15 hours ago, phnompenhandy said:

Did you see all those free kicks De Bruyne and other City players wasted yesterday?

I'm playing in the tenth tier with my free kick taker's attribute being 4 - he actually gets the occasional one although he is aided by hapless out of position defenders and slow goalkeepers. I'm not saying as many are scored as ought to be in FM18, but they aren't as rare as you make out.

I missed Man City's match so I have no idea how many free kicks De Bruyne squandered, I'm just saying that in 2 complete seasons and 10% into the 3rd, not even one of my players has scored a direct free kick, nor has my team conceded one. There is something sketchy with this ME

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9 minutes ago, mitzra3l said:

I missed Man City's match so I have no idea how many free kicks De Bruyne squandered, I'm just saying that in 2 complete seasons and 10% into the 3rd, not even one of my players has scored a direct free kick, nor has my team conceded one. There is something sketchy with this ME

Well that doesn't sound right. I don't know if this is relevant, but I'm still on the 18.1 update since I read too many bad reports here about 18.2.

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Don't worry,18. 2.1 Coming thruu

3 hours ago, phnompenhandy said:

Well that doesn't sound right. I don't know if this is relevant, but I'm still on the 18.1 update since I read too many bad reports here about 18.2.

 

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I noticed how bad direct free kicks are. I barely see any on target, let alone goals! 

Thinking about it, direct free kick goals are relatively rare irl but I’d expect at least one or two per season if your players have high fk related attributes. 

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2 hours ago, Newkid said:

I noticed how bad direct free kicks are. I barely see any on target, let alone goals! 

Thinking about it, direct free kick goals are relatively rare irl but I’d expect at least one or two per season if your players have high fk related attributes. 

1 or 2 per season? I have no idea what football do you watch, but that is not accurate, Up that number to 4 or 5 per season, some beasts like Messi hit the mark 10 times per season

 

PS- never forget Rogério Ceni, the former goalkeeper who managed to net 68 goals from direct free kicks in his carrer ;) in this FM that would not be possible

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In terms of a tactical discussion (which is what this forum is for after all ;)) a "good" free kick taker will need decent attributes for Free Kicks and Technique.  Hidden attributes to help him deal with Pressure or a Big Match can also prove useful, as may Consistency.  Check the Coach Report for those.  The Footedness of the player might also have a bearing.  The "Curls Ball" PPM can also be handy, as can "Tries Long Range Free Kicks".  I'm basically describing Pirlo :p.

If anyone believes there are issues with the Match Engine and your statistics don't seem to be at least in the ball park of real life free kick conversion rates, that should be raised in the Match Engine Issues Forum, along with your save game uploaded to the ftp server (instructions of how to do that are found here).

For other general feedback, gripes and groans, please use the General Discussion Forum :thup:.

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Good news folks, finally after 387 matches later I finally saw live a direct free kick goal. And yes, you guessed it, against my team. And it wasn't scored by a player with decent attributes for free kicks and technique. 14 in FK and 14 in technique. My "specialists" on my own squad have 18 in FK and 17 in technique, and the other one 17 in FK and 19 in technique haven't got one yet. Thanks for your opinion herne79, but so far it seems that Free Kicks in FM2018 are all about randomness. BTW, the player that scored that goal against my team has scored his first goal for the last 73 matches 

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8 hours ago, mitzra3l said:

Good news folks, finally after 387 matches later I finally saw live a direct free kick goal. And yes, you guessed it, against my team. And it wasn't scored by a player with decent attributes for free kicks and technique. 14 in FK and 14 in technique. My "specialists" on my own squad have 18 in FK and 17 in technique, and the other one 17 in FK and 19 in technique haven't got one yet. Thanks for your opinion herne79, but so far it seems that Free Kicks in FM2018 are all about randomness. BTW, the player that scored that goal against my team has scored his first goal for the last 73 matches 

Pppffttt hahaha XD funny how the engine is so broke I'm the game.And sorry to hear that you conceded a free kick tho :/

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My players only manage to score direct free-kicks in pre season , does taht have anything to do with pressure?  ****ing Gylfi Sigurdsson can't hit the target from a close range free-kick . 

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1 hour ago, YO97 said:

My players only manage to score direct free-kicks in pre season , does taht have anything to do with pressure?  ****ing Gylfi Sigurdsson can't hit the target from a close range free-kick . 

Nope,Pre season when you play noob team with Poor Goalkeeper positioning are easy to score.And close range frkick is harder I believe since you have to keep it low in a very close range while putting power to make sure it will go fly above the wall

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Your hit ratio is extremely poor, I agree, but yes, direct free kicks are very likely not to hit the goal area. Fewer times than in real life. However, I usually score 4-5 direct free kick goals per a season, usually taken by Willian, (FK16, decent technique).

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2 hours ago, cruyff14 said:

There must be a bug with free kicks as this total for the season is awfully low.5a54d23f50d48_freekicks.thumb.PNG.e724d873fd59936355c36487eb205ae8.PNG

That's my opinion at least, but my point is, it's very rare to see a DFK going in, or at least framed between the posts when you're watching the game

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On 01/01/2018 at 20:46, mitzra3l said:

PS- never forget Rogério Ceni, the former goalkeeper who managed to net 68 goals from direct free kicks in his carrer ;) in this FM that would not be possible

Seems weird, Wiki has him at 60 in his career. FWIW, L'Équipe has Juninho at 77 (or 75) and Beckham at 65. But yeah, IRL it's pretty tough to see 4-5 goals per season from free-kicks. Juninho did score 8 in a season both in 2004-05 and 2005-06, but if you average his 44 free kicks for Lyon with the number of seasons he stayed there... That's pretty much a detail though in this discussion.

https://futebolemnumeros.blogosfera.uol.com.br/2015/03/29/ceni-supera-marcelinho-em-gols-de-falta-por-um-so-clube/

As far as FM goes (and I probably said that somewhere else), I find that the "Curls Ball" PPM has a disproportionate effect on free-kick efficiency. I've seen Payet being more dangerous than Pjanić in FM17 just because of this PPM, even if the Bosnian has better Free Kicks, long range shooting as well as pretty much every relevant technical and mental attributes. Sometimes it can even be worth to channel their inner Cristiano Ronaldo and teach them "Hits Free-Kicks With Power" in order to stun the keeper or injure a player in the wall: it's not like the players are good at hitting the target anyway... :rolleyes:

For some reason, I found that the better the players are at free-kicks, the less likely they are to attempt to hit them directly. :lol: Meanwhile, in real-life where players are more likely to put the ball into the box instead. I've never toyed with free-kick routines to see if I could prevent those idiots from shooting all the time; might be worth it considering how fetid their attempts tend to be. Also, I find that in FM there's a lot, LOT of exploitable if not outright dangerous free-kick highlights. It's toned down by the fact that most of them aren't scored nor anywhere near the target; else you could very well have very unrealistic numbers that would put the likes of Mihajlović or Platini to shame. I wouldn't be surprised if it indeed is harsher in FM18 than it ever was before; let's say that I'm not surprised at all by how poor FM free-kick takers seem to be.

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4 hours ago, BMNJohn said:

Seems weird, Wiki has him at 60 in his career. FWIW, L'Équipe has Juninho at 77 (or 75) and Beckham at 65. But yeah, IRL it's pretty tough to see 4-5 goals per season from free-kicks. Juninho did score 8 in a season both in 2004-05 and 2005-06, but if you average his 44 free kicks for Lyon with the number of seasons he stayed there... That's pretty much a detail though in this discussion.

https://futebolemnumeros.blogosfera.uol.com.br/2015/03/29/ceni-supera-marcelinho-em-gols-de-falta-por-um-so-clube/

As far as FM goes (and I probably said that somewhere else), I find that the "Curls Ball" PPM has a disproportionate effect on free-kick efficiency. I've seen Payet being more dangerous than Pjanić in FM17 just because of this PPM, even if the Bosnian has better Free Kicks, long range shooting as well as pretty much every relevant technical and mental attributes. Sometimes it can even be worth to channel their inner Cristiano Ronaldo and teach them "Hits Free-Kicks With Power" in order to stun the keeper or injure a player in the wall: it's not like the players are good at hitting the target anyway... :rolleyes:

For some reason, I found that the better the players are at free-kicks, the less likely they are to attempt to hit them directly. :lol: Meanwhile, in real-life where players are more likely to put the ball into the box instead. I've never toyed with free-kick routines to see if I could prevent those idiots from shooting all the time; might be worth it considering how fetid their attempts tend to be. Also, I find that in FM there's a lot, LOT of exploitable if not outright dangerous free-kick highlights. It's toned down by the fact that most of them aren't scored nor anywhere near the target; else you could very well have very unrealistic numbers that would put the likes of Mihajlović or Platini to shame. I wouldn't be surprised if it indeed is harsher in FM18 than it ever was before; let's say that I'm not surprised at all by how poor FM free-kick takers seem to be.

Thanks for your advice, guess I'll start to train that PPM on all my best FK takers

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11 hours ago, mitzra3l said:

Thanks for your advice, guess I'll start to train that PPM on all my best FK takers

If I'm not mistaken, "Curls Ball" is, or at least used to be a tutor-only PPM. I don't know if it's still the case, but usually you needed to track a player that has the PPM, is old enough to tutor (24 years old or captain of the team), has a good personality and then hope the PPM rubs on the tutee. I was (half) joking about hitting FKs with power though... unless you have the next Roberto Carlos.

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10 hours ago, BMNJohn said:

If I'm not mistaken, "Curls Ball" is, or at least used to be a tutor-only PPM. I don't know if it's still the case, but usually you needed to track a player that has the PPM, is old enough to tutor (24 years old or captain of the team), has a good personality and then hope the PPM rubs on the tutee. I was (half) joking about hitting FKs with power though... unless you have the next Roberto Carlos.

All PPMs can be learned with training

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