Trouble scoring in 1-on-1 situations... (FM14)

[C-Mon]

Wasn't sure wether to put this in tactics or training or whatnot, so thought I'd post this here.

So I've had Football Manager 2014 for a couple of months now and I have three separate saves, the first with a random Singaporean side, the second with Juventus, and the current one with Southampton. In the beginning with my first game, I didn't have much trouble; my team generally responded to my tactics as you'd expect and any shortcomings were mostly down to bad judgement from my part or bad luck. Then, I started a game with Juve and quickly noticed I was having real trouble scoring from open play, especially in one-on-one situations. The same issue followed in my Southampton save.

The thing is, I'll generally notch up at least six or seven great chances per game where the "normal" conversion rate would probably be around 25% in real life and their goalkeeper ends up catching/deflecting everything. It's like my strikers refuse to do anything but blast the ball straight at the keeper and everyone else has Gigi Buffon in his prime between the sticks.

Obviously, there must be a way of fixing this that I haven't seen, that's either down to tactics or training. Either that, or the only reason I kept scoring in the Singaporean league was the goalkeepers not being good enough to act as human walls

EDIT: Oh, and I suppose it goes without saying that the opponents are about twice as efficient, no matter the nature of the chances. Though I guess that's how it's always been. Scratch that, they're generally pretty terrible at converting chances themselves.

Any advice?

[Dagenham_Dave]

EDIT: Oh, and I suppose it goes without saying that the opponents are about twice as efficient, no matter the nature of the chances.

That should be proof enough that it's possible to do. Pop over to the tactics forum, and there will be people there who'll help get your strikers scoring more chances.

[C-Mon]

That should be proof enough that it's possible to do. Pop over to the tactics forum, and there will be people there who'll help get your strikers scoring more chances.

I suppose, though that still doesn't make any sense to me. The chances on either end of the pitch could be identical; same angle, just as much time on the ball, just as much pressure, but they're getting it in. I'm not.

Anyways, I'll post a thread over there as well. Either way, I'm sure not everyone around here is entirely clueless, so feel free to post your input if you've got something!

[Dagenham_Dave]

There's normally quite a lot of selective memory involved in these situations too - not accusing you of this necessarily - but a lot of users tend to remember the games where their own chances are missed more than the ones scored, particularly if there are multiple misses.

But fundamentally, there's nothing the AI can do that you can't, despite what others claim on here.

[C-Mon]

There's normally quite a lot of selective memory involved in these situations too - not accusing you of this necessarily - but a lot of users tend to remember the games where their own chances are missed more than the ones scored, particularly if there are multiple misses.

Oh, yeah, I know this, that's why I tried to separate myself from said posters. In general though, the games where I haven't had the most chances or the amount of chances are pretty much equal, I lose. If I dominate the chance statistics, I scrape a win at best, but lose out just as easily. As we speak, I'm at 1-1 with Sunderland where I've had 5 shots on goal, and Sunderland have had one shot in total. My goal was a penalty.

But fundamentally, there's nothing the AI can do that you can't, despite what others claim on here.

I know this too, but I was wondering if it could have something to do with the new training system as well. Perhaps none of my strikers know how to pass the ball into the goal?

[thebadger1976]

It is possible to get strikers finishing chances regularly, but I think the game is quite poor in the way it visually represents misses. Far too often you'll have an experienced natural finishers blasting the ball full power straight at the keeper when he's through one-on-one. I've played about 17 seasons in FM14 so far, and I can maybe remember one or two occasions of seeing a player (mine or the AI's) dribble the ball past the keeper when clean through on goal. Also, loads of misses hit the woodwork, but that's another issue.

Moral seems to play a massive (and probably unrealistic) role in determining how often strikers score. If it's anything less than 'good' then it's likely that the player will end up in a goal drought, which I find can happen several times per season. Incidentally, I find it quite frustrating that for certain users on here it is impossible to accept that the game is unrealistic in any aspect.

[RedJonnyBoy]

I'm pretty sure this is a known problem and is being looked at with regards the next update. I might be wrong, but I'm sure I've seen it posted on here by at least one mod.

[forameuss]

A lot of the times when this comes up, it's a case of being very simplistic about the situation of a one-on-one. The result of the chance can be affected by events weeks before it. You've played the previous week and been frustrated. Your side created a shedload of chances, but took none of them. Your striker leaves the game frustrated. The next game goes along the same lines, and you come to this one-on-one. If someone is low on confidence or is frustrated, then sometimes you just can't score, no matter who is over the ball.

That's why I don't entirely agree with this...

Moral seems to play a massive (and probably unrealistic) role in determining how often strikers score. If it's anything less than 'good' then it's likely that the player will end up in a goal drought, which I find can happen several times per season. Incidentally, I find it quite frustrating that for certain users on here it is impossible to accept that the game is unrealistic in any aspect.

Of course it matters. There is no way that morale playing a part in strikers form is unrealistic. You see it all the time in real life - you miss once, then often you're likely to miss again if you're a "confidence player". Conversely, you can get times where everything you hit goes in.

[C-Mon]

Of course it matters. There is no way that morale playing a part in strikers form is unrealistic. You see it all the time in real life - you miss once, then often you're likely to miss again if you're a "confidence player". Conversely, you can get times where everything you hit goes in.

I think it's good and well that morale plays a larger role than it has before (where the difference between "Abysmal" and "Superb" was slightly noticeable, but nothing that could destroy a team), but I think they may have exaggerated it's importance on the game this year around. There is just no way that two losses in a row will leave a team of determined professionals uninspired and with 'poor' morale.

I posted this issue over in TTD, and though I've gotten a few suggestions, nothing has really helped the problem at hand: converting chances. I'm still creating a ton of chances, but barely scoring goals. In 14 matches now, I have 174 shots, 75 of which have been on target, and 11 goals. It's gotten to the point where I refuse to believe it has anything to do with my tactics, because 1-on-1 situations or point-blank shots are what I'd consider goals on platters, and I have no idea how the likes of Rickie Lambert and Eduardo are managing to blast the ball straight at the keeper every single time. One can only assume that this is down to morale then, which is fairly ridiculous, since it basically means that every finisher on FM14 turns into an out-of-form Torres if their morale is below "Good".

EDIT: It's worth noting that this isn't exclusive to my team. In my current save, I have only seen two goals scored in one-on-one situations, one in each end. All the rest are saved by the keeper. Surely this could be an issue with the code?

[GJHowell]

I've seen comments made about strikers not scoring regularly - I don't think that's the case, my strikers in my current save are putting chances away pretty consistently (25 league games played in the current season, one has around 28 goals, the other about 20)....But, I think there is an issue with the types of chances they score - I do think there is a problem with the situation where the striker beats the defence, and finds themself one on one with the keeper. They very rarely score in this situation, keeper nearly always saves. I have tried training the strikers with different PPM's that may help (try to round keeper, lob keeper etc), but despite good technical and mental attributes, still doesn't happen.

That said, I disagree that the AI manages to do it - I've seen my keepers pull off some wonder-saves when the opposition is in the same situation.

[C-Mon]

That said, I disagree that the AI manages to do it - I've seen my keepers pull off some wonder-saves when the opposition is in the same situation.

Yeah, I retracted that statement as soon as I had a game against Liverpool where Boruc made 10-12 inhuman saves. 1-on-1 is just not a good scoring chance in FM14, it seems.

[Dagenham_Dave]

There is just no way that two losses in a row will leave a team of determined professionals uninspired and with 'poor' morale.

Newcastle United are a prime example of this currently. Ok, they've lost arguably their best player, but this is a team that was flying earlier in the season. A couple of bad defeats including one in the derby (pleasing..) and they look like a team who've only just met each other for the first time. They are currently the very definition of uninspired with poor morale'. Long may it continue, but that's for another thread...

[C-Mon]

Ok, they've lost arguably their best player

That's putting it lightly. They lost their main conductor of play and one of their most important midfield engines. There's a big hole in the team where Cabaye used to be, and they seem to have completely lost their head because of it. Sure, it's probably down to morale as well but the catalyst was losing Cabaye.

[martinji]

That's putting it lightly. They lost their main conductor of play and one of their most important midfield engines. There's a big hole in the team where Cabaye used to be, and they seem to have completely lost their head because of it. Sure, it's probably down to morale as well but the catalyst was losing Cabaye.

Plus, all IMO of course, I think the main impact of low morale on real life football is less determination and energy, and less confidence to try the unexpected or to take people on. This IRL leads to less chances being created (and more conceded), and much less conversion of *slight* chances because players are more reluctant to have a go (eg will look for a pass when there's a half-decent shooting chance). However if a good, obvious chance is created, I don't think low morale affects conversion that much (say reduces the chance of a 50:50 conversion to 40%).

In other words, while IRL I think morale causes a big impact on good chances created, and a slight impact on good chances converted, I feel like in FM it's the other way round - bad morale causes a slight impact on good chances created but a big impact on good chances converted.

On a related note I also think form is an over-rated concept IRL. A lot of what we put down to form I think is likely just luck, but gets called form because humans like to think there are underlying reasons for things and patterns. I'm not saying there's no such thing as form, just that half the time when someone says such-and-such is in bad form, actually if you look at their games they're just on a run of bad luck.

[Ben Delat]

That should be proof enough that it's possible to do. Pop over to the tactics forum, and there will be people there who'll help get your strikers scoring more chances.

Isn't this part of the problem with the game though?

I remember having problems when my 40+ goals a season striker for the last 3 seasons started missing everything. So I experimented as you do. I changed one of his player instructions to Hold Position and he had, despite starting poorly, his best scoring season yet.

Not so sure tactics should have this sort of influence, player ability needs to mean something.

[Dagenham_Dave]

Isn't this part of the problem with the game though?

I remember having problems when my 40+ goals a season striker for the last 3 seasons started missing everything. So I experimented as you do. I changed one of his player instructions to Hold Position and he had, despite starting poorly, his best scoring season yet.

Not so sure tactics should have this sort of influence, player ability needs to mean something.

Yes, but changing a player's instruction can be instrumental in how he fits into your team's shape, therefore if done correctly, this could have a massive impact on his productivity. This sort of thing never gets discussed in real life by Jamie Redknapp and Alan Shearer, but giving a player an individual instruction which is out of sync with a team's tactical shape is clearly going to impact on performance.

[Jimbokav1971]

I'm not going to go too much into tactics, but there are a few tiny little things that seem to help.

1. Well anything down the middle seems to be a harder chance for some strange reason. Have a similar chance with the same player coming in from either the left or the right however and either GK's are nor positioning themselves as well or something else is happening, but a 1v1 from wide is no problem at all. A 1v1 down the middle, not so good.

2. I used to be a huge fan of the ppm "places shots" on previous issues of the game. It really was a benefit, (if not quite a guarantee of success). Now though SI seem to have put the kibbosh on that and I have to find something else. "Likes to lop keeper" seems to work very well at the moment, (and although not related specifically to this, "hits first time shots" also interests me).

3. I would love to say that "takes the ball round keeper" works a treat, but I must admit I am only starting to experiment with it so can't give it the thumbs up at all. It would be something i would look at though if I had a problem, (I don't particularly).

[thebadger1976]

Of course it matters. There is no way that morale playing a part in strikers form is unrealistic. You see it all the time in real life - you miss once, then often you're likely to miss again if you're a "confidence player". Conversely, you can get times where everything you hit goes in.

I never said morale shouldn't matter, just that it was (probably) unrealistic how drastically a striker can be affected my having less than good morale. A top striker IRL is unlikely to go on a ten game goal drought just because his morale is average, but that seems (to me) a fairly typical occurrence in this version of the game.

[C-Mon]

1. Well anything down the middle seems to be a harder chance for some strange reason. Have a similar chance with the same player coming in from either the left or the right however and either GK's are nor positioning themselves as well or something else is happening, but a 1v1 from wide is no problem at all. A 1v1 down the middle, not so good.

The fact that this could be a necessary step to take in order to get something out of 1v1-situations speaks volumes of how silly the current predicament is.

I never said morale shouldn't matter, just that it was (probably) unrealistic how drastically a striker can be affected my having less than good morale. A top striker IRL is unlikely to go on a ten game goal drought just because his morale is average, but that seems (to me) a fairly typical occurrence in this version of the game.

I agree, and I've also noted that players may be performing significantly poorer for a less prestigious manager. Me, preferring my background as realistic as possible, come from Semi-Pro football, and some of my players seem to hate me for it. Still, so what if Rickie Lambert thinks I'm unproven? It shouldn't drastically affect his morale and ability to convert chances. What am I, managing children?

[Clifton14]

There's normally quite a lot of selective memory involved in these situations too - not accusing you of this necessarily - but a lot of users tend to remember the games where their own chances are missed more than the ones scored, particularly if there are multiple misses.

But fundamentally, there's nothing the AI can do that you can't, despite what others claim on here.

oh here we go. To the OP it's a bug in the the game. It has been an issue to many players, but any mention of it here will be greeted like a political opponent in North Korea. Constructive criticism is certainly a no no here.

Players not scoring, regardless of their current ability as well as GKs acting superhuman also at all levels & the insane amount of corners that are conceded have ruined the experience this year, sadly for me. I have stopped playing until the update comes out and see if it gets any better.

[Guest]

Here's the stats for clear cut chance conversion rates for the top forwards in Europe. Just over 50%, so top strikers should be finishing one out of every two chances when clean through in FM.

[Jimbokav1971]

Since this thread was started I have hit a bit of a purple patch in terms of one-on-one's. Ayala (ARG) just keeps chipping the GK. Love it!

[Dagenham_Dave]

oh here we go. To the OP it's a bug in the the game. It has been an issue to many players, but any mention of it here will be greeted like a political opponent in North Korea. Constructive criticism is certainly a no no here.

If you can pop down from your high horse for a second, you might just notice that at no point did the OP mention he thought it was a 'bug' at the point I posted that reply. In fact, he started the thread to get some tactical advice, and he's also started a thread in the tactics forum re the same issue.

Still, don't let the facts get in the way of taking the moral highground.

[Jimbokav1971]

& the insane amount of corners that are conceded have ruined the experience this year, sadly for me

I just finished a run of 31 games and 230+ corners without conceding a goal from a corner. Might I suggest that there are very good reasons that you are conceding and that others are not. It's easy to blame the game. It's not always accurate though.

I've now conceded 2 goals from corners in 40 games. (Just like buses).

[C-Mon]

Here's the stats for clear cut chance conversion rates for the top forwards in Europe. Just over 50%, so top strikers should be finishing one out of every two chances when clean through in FM.

This is exactly my beef with the game. I understand the new tactics system, and there's nothing wrong with mine. How do I know this? Because my team is playing the way I want them to. They're passing the ball around, my style, and creating chances, my style, but they just do not score. The exact same thing happened with in my last save with a different team.

Yes, I could completely change the way my team plays and exploit corners and crosses or something, but where's the fun in that? I've spent the last three FM's perfecting my very own style of play, but now it seems that it is no longer a valid strategy since scoring from the chances generally spawned by it seems incredibly difficult. All I ask is a skew towards realism in these situations. If I was a manager in real life and got my team to play like this, they would score; not all the time, but often enough to make it an effective way of playing football. I want the conversion rate to be slightly more realistic in terms of clear cut chances, either by making the finishers slightly less inept, or the goalkeepers slightly less superpowered. Or maybe a teensy bit of both.

[Jimbokav1971]

I've spent the last three FM's perfecting my very own style of play, but now it seems that it is no longer a valid strategy since scoring from the chances generally spawned by it seems incredibly difficult.

It might be your very own style of play, but any time you spent perfecting whatever it is on previous issues is largely irrelevant because it's a different game with a different match engine. What you did in previous versions simply won't help you with this one.

What I might suggest is that you had something that worked very well in previous issues of the game, and now works somewhat less well.

[tieio]

It might be your very own style of play, but any time you spent perfecting whatever it is on previous issues is largely irrelevant because it's a different game with a different match engine. What you did in previous versions simply won't help you with this one.

What I might suggest is that you had something that worked very well in previous issues of the game, and now works somewhat less well.

All this made me think was how so many will say "pick a style for your team, try to envision how you want them to play, try to make it your own" etc, etc and then when they do they get a message like this one... "yeah, sorry, that doesn't work".

[C-Mon]

It might be your very own style of play, but any time you spent perfecting whatever it is on previous issues is largely irrelevant because it's a different game with a different match engine. What you did in previous versions simply won't help you with this one.

What I might suggest is that you had something that worked very well in previous issues of the game, and now works somewhat less well.

I don't really think you're reading my post properly. The playing style more or less matches my preferred playing style in earlier FM's, though yes, I've had to go through different steps to make it happen. What I am saying is that there are teams in real life that play the way my team plays. They do it because, if they pull it off, they create goalscoring opportunities and score. In FM14-land, they create goalscoring opportunities and do not score because they're not the "right" kind of opportunities and the goalkeeper somehow covers the entirety of the goalframe as long as the finisher shoots from within a 30-degree area in front of the goal. Wether this is down to morale, finishing/composure, GK-ability, coding imbalance, whatever, is up for debate.

TL;DR: It might be true that what I did in previous versions won't help me here, but it shouldn't be; because the way it doesn't work is plain unrealistic.

[Jimbokav1971]

[sigh] It seems that whenever anyone struggles with anything, the game is broken. It was fine when what you did worked, but now it doesn't the game ME must be broken. Maybe it is. What do I know.

I would have agreed with you 2 days ago I think. At the moment I'm on a roll with 1v1's and and all I can put it down to is either a ppm or even more possibly a link between ppm's and reaching a certain level in some ability. All I know is he goes through on goal..... and then he scores. He certainly didn't do that for me last season.

[C-Mon]

[sigh] It seems that whenever anyone struggles with anything, the game is broken. It was fine when what you did worked, but now it doesn't the game ME must be broken. Maybe it is. What do I know.

I'm not usually one to complain. In fact, I don't think I've ever complained about FM gameplay before. Usually, when something unexpected happens, I manage to narrow it down to a cause or I can write it off as a one-off. Just got spanked and lost 0-3? Well, little wonder, since I was stupid enough to leave a high line against very fast attackers/failed to man-mark their star trequartista/one of my central defenders had a really bad day. Struggling with scoring goals? Well, little wonder, I'm not getting my finishers in the right positions/my main poacher is out of form/the opponents expertly cancelled out my main strengths.

This particular case is just mind-boggling for me though. Maybe I have to give every single forward-oriented player the Places Shots PPM, but that's rather weird, isn't it? Imagine out in the real world if you had to teach every one of your adult, experienced players to place shots. "Oh, so I don't always have to close my eyes and murder the ball into the back of the net? That's new to me, thanks coach!"

I would have agreed with you 2 days ago I think. At the moment I'm on a roll with 1v1's and and all I can put it down to is either a ppm or even more possibly a link between ppm's and reaching a certain level in some ability. All I know is he goes through on goal..... and then he scores. He certainly didn't do that for me last season.

I think this could also suggest that it's morale that effects it the most. My team has been fairly depressed from the start, and if it's true that morale has an unprecedented effect on performance, it's not difficult to see why they're not scoring.

[Jimbokav1971]

After reading my last comment back, it reads as if I don't think there is a 1v1 issue at all. That's not the case at all, (because I do). What I think though is that nothing is as easy as it was before. Everything is harder. Is this too hard at the moment? Yeah I think so. But I also thought initially that we were conceding too many corners in the game. The reason I thought that was because I was conceding loads and was really finding it hard to stop. Now I hardly concede any. 2 in almost a whole season.

There is another thread on here bemoaning the lack of goals from outside the area. I've just scored another. Just because a bloke with long shots of xx+ doesn;t fizz them into the top corner every week does not mean that there is an issue.

I'm 2-0 up in my current game. 1 was a pile-driver from outside the box. The other one was NOT a 1v1. That would be too good to be true, but I did score one in my last game, and then one in the game before that too.

I have been watching bits and pieces of games in full detal this week in order to help me with my tactics, and it's like watching a completely different game. Things happen the whole time that never make the highlights. They might not be highlights, but they are bloody important as to why your team keeps coughing up possession the whole time.

What I realised is that when I was watching these games on extended highlights or full detail, it felt like I was getting battered, (because I saw so much stuff not work).When I looked at the stats however, they suggested that I was actually doing reasonably well. I don't mean I was doing better than the AI, I mean I was doing better than I had been doing previously. It just didn't seem that way when I was watching.

[Jimbokav1971]

the one on ones are too low and it is aknowledged by si, the next patch should solve that aswell as those corners. well, hopefully.

Haha. Yeah. Those corners that you can't defend.

[Jimbokav1971]

With respect, I was not the one who brought up the subject of corners in this thread.

[C-Mon]

too much 1on1's missed.

SI has aknowledged it, so what are you on about?

In fairness to him, he did acknowledge that in his last post. He just said there were ways to work around it.

Which is probably true, of course, but I'm probably going to wait until the patch comes out before picking up the game again. I have too little free time these days to spend it getting stomach ulcers because my strikers all suffer from frequent finishing retardation.

[Dagenham_Dave]

The next thing of course, will be wildly unrealistic scorelines as strikers batter in 5 1v1's per game after the update.

I really don't envy SI's job.

[C-Mon]

The next thing of course, will be wildly unrealistic scorelines as strikers batter in 5 1v1's per game after the update.

I really don't envy SI's job.

Coding is hard, dude. Especially when you have to balance out hundreds of equations and need to end up within a reasonable probability range.

This is why I don't understand why so many refuse to believe that certain parts of the game could yet be unbalanced. It's a bloody difficult programming job, and the programmers are all human. A slight blunder at one point or another is almost unavoidable. We shouldn't trash the creators for it, but we shouldn't sweep it under a rug either by going "nope, the game is perfect and I just suck at it".

[Dagenham_Dave]

I don't think anyone has said the game is 'perfect'. There are quite a few unbalanced areas of the game. What shouldn't be done though is simply blame a personal failing at the game on an 'imbalance' as many - not necessarily you - do.

[C-Mon]

I don't think anyone has said the game is 'perfect'. There are quite a few unbalanced areas of the game. What shouldn't be done though is simply blame a personal failing at the game on an 'imbalance' as many - not necessarily you - do.

It wasn't necessarily aimed at you though. Many are in the wrong on either side of the debate - those that you're talking about that blame personal failings at the mechanisms of the game, and those that retort by absolving the programming for most of the blame in every case, no matter how unreasonable the occurence.

[ChrisLiebing]

That should be proof enough that it's possible to do. Pop over to the tactics forum, and there will be people there who'll help get your strikers scoring more chances.

Don't get your hopes up, all the advice in the tactics forum is very pretty but doesnt add up to much. I've been thru much of it and only after tinkering with 'Mr Houghs Beast' tactic did i get something that works, still needs you put some effort in (drop one striker to AM/ tweak mentality+marking) when needed (against stronger team/awkward formation), but its the best starting point for making your own tactics that will create nice footy. A lot of people like to use the old chestnut "Pop over to the tactics forum" but very few actually post exactly what they've found there, ask yourself why.

[nozshand]

CCC conversion rate is way off in this game, but then again way too many CCCs per game

[forameuss]

Don't get your hopes up, all the advice in the tactics forum is very pretty but doesnt add up to much. I've been thru much of it and only after tinkering with 'Mr Houghs Beast' tactic did i get something that works, still needs you put some effort in (drop one striker to AM/ tweak mentality+marking) when needed (against stronger team/awkward formation), but its the best starting point for making your own tactics that will create nice footy. A lot of people like to use the old chestnut "Pop over to the tactics forum" but very few actually post exactly what they've found there, ask yourself why.

No it isn't. The best starting point for most people will be starting from scratch and building up a tactic where they know everything is going on. If you start with a created tactic, you're already at a disadvantage. Some who know what they're doing can get success from it, but others will just go far down the road of having no idea and then complain when they get poor results.

Not exactly sure what you mean by your last sentence either. Why would anyone post what they've found in the tactics forum anywhere other than the tactics forum? There is great discussion over there, and if you create a topic with enough information, you'll get a lot back. Plenty of people have got great results from visiting there, even if you didn't.

[Clifton14]

If you can pop down from your high horse for a second, you might just notice that at no point did the OP mention he thought it was a 'bug' at the point I posted that reply. In fact, he started the thread to get some tactical advice, and he's also started a thread in the tactics forum re the same issue.

Still, don't let the facts get in the way of taking the moral highground.

This is the problem with this forum. You have the diehard cultists that defend the game even when there are issues. The topic that I made a few days ago about the superhuman AI Gks, poor conversion rate, appalling first touches from technically gifted players, AI Corners always resulting in a goal a game regardless if you are training DEF set pieces, rarely scoring from Corners since they patched the exploit. Insane penalty shootouts that reach 11-12.

I was accused of exaggerating yet someone on here pointed out every issue that I previously stated. Even on Amazon reviews it's pointed out and other FM forums. We just want FM too be the very best it can, but right now it's gone backwards from last year. Which is a shame as I put in 1535 hours into FM 13 & 1997 hours in FM 12. I doubt I will even get to 600 hours in this edition as it's so poor.

[forameuss]

This is the problem with this forum. You have the diehard cultists that defend the game even when there are issues. The topic that I made a few days ago about the superhuman AI Gks, poor conversion rate, appalling first touches from technically gifted players, AI Corners always resulting in a goal a game regardless if you are training DEF set pieces, rarely scoring from Corners since they patched the exploit. Insane penalty shootouts that reach 11-12.

I was accused of exaggerating yet someone on here pointed out every issue that I previously stated. Even on Amazon reviews it's pointed out and other FM forums. We just want FM too be the very best it can, but right now it's gone backwards from last year. Which is a shame as I put in 1535 hours into FM 13 & 1997 hours in FM 12. I doubt I will even get to 600 hours in this edition as it's so poor.

The problem with this forum is posts proclaiming someone else to be "the problem with this forum". Oh the irony. I'll be honest, I haven't seen any posters who blindly defend the game no matter what. I bet any name you put down, you would find they have criticisms too. Just because they don't proclaim it to be the worst game ever, doesn't mean they're blind defenders.

You mention Amazon reviews, but how many reviews of anything on there are fair, balanced and just? You either get a gushing 5* review that tells you nothing in particular, or someone who gives it 0 because a player they like has 15 finishing instead of 16. Yes there will be fair ones, but using these reviews as a basis of how the game really is is pointless. Metacritic (user reviews) are the same. I'm sure the critics gave it in the high 70s/low 80s. I'd say that's about right.

[jc1]

Don't get your hopes up, all the advice in the tactics forum is very pretty but doesnt add up to much. I've been thru much of it and only after tinkering with 'Mr Houghs Beast' tactic did i get something that works, still needs you put some effort in (drop one striker to AM/ tweak mentality+marking) when needed (against stronger team/awkward formation), but its the best starting point for making your own tactics that will create nice footy. A lot of people like to use the old chestnut "Pop over to the tactics forum" but very few actually post exactly what they've found there, ask yourself why.

I found that experimenting with a good few tactics 1st before going with my main save worked a treat, in the end I'm going with a 3-1-4-2 formation, set to control and fluid.

I also find it takes a bit longer this year for the players to get used to your tactics and buy into the way you play and not every player will adapt to your tactic, so you might have to get players who do.

I found 4-4-2 hard because the 2 CM's have to be exceptionally good and the slightest off game and you lose the midfield battle.

4-2-3-1 put a lot of onus on your striker, if his morale drops, then the goals can dry up and a lot of pressure then goes onto your main playmaker.

In my 3-1-4-2 system I have 3 very good ball playing CB's with good defensive attributes, a DM (d)who can pass very well, midfield 4 of 2 wingers( 1 on attack ), and 2 CM ( 1 AP(a) and 1 box2box(s) ) and 2 strikers DLS (s) and AS (a)

My strikers are scoring very well, and my ave rating for all players is around 7.5, it has taking me a hellova lot longer this year to get my best formation and tactic and when the wee niggles in the ME are updated soon, I'm looking forward to many an hour of winning trophies ( hopefully )

[BiggusD]

The problem with this forum is posts proclaiming someone else to be "the problem with this forum". Oh the irony. I'll be honest, I haven't seen any posters who blindly defend the game no matter what. I bet any name you put down, you would find they have criticisms too. Just because they don't proclaim it to be the worst game ever, doesn't mean they're blind defenders.

You mention Amazon reviews, but how many reviews of anything on there are fair, balanced and just? You either get a gushing 5* review that tells you nothing in particular, or someone who gives it 0 because a player they like has 15 finishing instead of 16. Yes there will be fair ones, but using these reviews as a basis of how the game really is is pointless. Metacritic (user reviews) are the same. I'm sure the critics gave it in the high 70s/low 80s. I'd say that's about right.

I read a review of FM14 at release giving it a 9/10 or 8/10 (don't remember that exactly), where all the advancement and improvements were pointed out and the reviewer then went on to say that the usual quality was present. The whole thing was laughable because the release version was an absolute mess, and he could not possibly have played a single match given his description of it was plain wrong as well as superficial.

I'd rather read "amateur" reviews of games while keeping in mind that they don't even try to be subjective, than "professional" reviews which obviously are made by people whose job is to support the industry and dress it all up as objective and serious.

[SKELETOR]

I am delighted to see people voicing their opinions in this thread and it not being closed down by those defending the game.

I personally just won a premier league as Man City and my two strikers only scored 15 in 50 appearances between them. I have 1 up top and have tried every single role possible but they just miss and miss and miss. Yeah a different tactic could probably squeeze a few more goals out of them but the amount of one on ones they miss is ridiculous. I trained them to lob the gk and go around him, yet they kick it straight at him. I get a lot of goals from wingers and corners but everyone loves a striker who gets a shed full. I am hoping that the next patch does something about this, fingers crossed.

[GabrieleGallagher]

I think there are too many 1vs1 in the game, so the only way to keep down the score is missing them.

[BiggusD]

I am delighted to see people voicing their opinions in this thread and it not being closed down by those defending the game.

I personally just won a premier league as Man City and my two strikers only scored 15 in 50 appearances between them. I have 1 up top and have tried every single role possible but they just miss and miss and miss. Yeah a different tactic could probably squeeze a few more goals out of them but the amount of one on ones they miss is ridiculous. I trained them to lob the gk and go around him, yet they kick it straight at him. I get a lot of goals from wingers and corners but everyone loves a striker who gets a shed full. I am hoping that the next patch does something about this, fingers crossed.

I also hope that conversion rate is increased for a certain type of chances, but in doing so they also have to improve many other aspects of the ME since it is now extremely easy to create -many- chances and it shouldn't be.

[Dagenham_Dave]

Game reviews are a dying breed now. Almost all games now come with free trials and demos, and there are countless gameplay videos on the likes of YouTube. You can really get a good flavour of most games long before you buy it without looking at a single review. The days when buying a game was a gamble based on a couple of screenshots from a magazine review are long gone.

[Goon14]

I have seen wingers with 10 finishing scoring more than a striker with over 15 finishing. Its crazy!