Football Manager 2019 Official Feedback Thread

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, isignedupfornorealreason said:

Picked the game up recently on the cheap. >_>

 

Took me a while to get a save running, but I'm doing a Manchester United save with my 4-4-2, balanced, no instructions from 2018.

I like the tutorial, however, if you disable the initial transfer window for more realism, the transfers tutorial bugs out and just puts up a blank screen. It registers you as having completed the induction though, but still, a bit of an oversight.

Graphically, can something be done for the clay-monster that is our manager avatar? They look so freaking scary, with those alien length arms... Eww. 

I'd like to see build options for the body type, you could put a guy in at 5'11, 90kg and he would look a bit like a smaller version of fat sam. You could be 90kg and muscular for example... I basically cheat on my weight since it makes me look like a fat lad taking advantage of the McDonalds sponsorship.

 

Anyway, I went through six matches so far and have finished with a 6 win record. Some observations on the match engine:

 

1. Long shots

Seem to be a common theme. It was a rarity for me to see long shot goals in 2018 but in 2019 it happened almost every game. Mostly in my favour though, so I shouldn't complain, but it isn't realistic imo.

 

2. Transitions are still too slow

 

I complained about this in 2018, sometimes players recover the ball in the defensive zone, but it takes until we get to the halfway line before players transition quicker into an attacking mood. This has caused some very odd behaviour, where if your CM picks it up outside the box and doesn't counter attack, then the opposition retreat fully and your midfield pass it about taking all the time in the world instead of getting on with moving forward. I know restraint is useful, but this is taking the mick. (Remember, I go more or less without instructions, so this is 'neutral' style of play, but it comes across as super-defensive/cautious.)

 

3. Long balls.

Conveniently, if a defender gets this recovery he is more likely to launch it long, even where there is no pressure. Now, I benefit from this since it often ends up as a long ball over the top for my player to run onto, But it's weird because I feel the behaviour should be the other way round. The defender should be seeking out the more creative midfield players and the midfield players should be driving forward or launching it long. It is almost as if, the lower the vision the more likely they are to unlock a defence (by accident) with a howizer of a ball played long... It's odd.

 

4. Players sit inside and ignore width sometimes.

Same issue on 2018 imo; in the attacking third, everyone goes narrow. I remember one of the staff saying it was a 'feature' not a bug, that wingers et al would push in on the final third. Fine, but now it seems it isn't just them it is almost the entire front line scrunching into a line along the back four. My deep lying forward seldom drops back as much as he should be doing, and I'm not seeing many through balls or movement in that area. When my full backs push up, bizarrely they're tucking in and getting into the box to join the 'line', it's not right. In fm2018 they would take up advanced passing positions out wide, and sometimes drive into the box, but at the moment in 2019 the balance isn't right, they're a bit too far forward and neglecting the pass. It's weird.

Additionally, I still see lots of incidents where a WM will ignore the overlap from a FB, unmarked with yards of space, in order to take a pot shot into a wall of bodies. I saw this happen all the time with WM/S and FB/A on FM2018 (Mata in that role) and I'm still seeing it in 2019. Mata's vision and decisions are exceptional, I'm not entirely sure why he feels the need to pot shot from out of the box into a sea of bodies when a free overlap occurs that has no defender able to track or block him...

 

5. Crossing is... absurd.

The deep cross from say, a bit diagonally from the edge of the penalty area? That seems to be the code hotspot this time. I have repeatedly seen crosses from that specific area, of varying types but often a curler that sweeps through a few bodies to bit hit first time on the volley for a goal. It is a repetitive pattern and happens both in my favour and against me. It looks awful, particularly animation wise as it seems coded to trigger regardless of the player's body shape and movement. So I've seen some pinpoint backwards crosses at times too.

 

6. Defensive teams are maybe a bit too defensive.

 

I get that this is modern football, but I do think that perhaps the AI is a bit too defensive at times. It's weird seeing something like 8 players back in the box defending from kick off until the final five minutes. I wouldn't mind them being a bit more adventurous, if anything I think it might make the game a bit more fun and bit more challenging. I think you can brute force defensive set ups with time and patience, but it isn't really that exciting or fun to play against. (I speak more from a game perspective than a simulation perspective I guess.)

 

 7. Physics for the ball is not right at times.

Sometimes a shot 'hangs' and you can see the keeper do some somersaults before he gets into position to save it. It looks... gamey. I'd like this animation to be revisited and made more fluid so that it matches up. 

 

Those are what I've seen so far. I'm half and half as to whether it is an improvement or not on 2018's version. My main assessment of the match engine, from what I watch is that it is just odd. Things feel wrong and out of place with it. I'll see how it goes as my season progresses though.

Around 82' to 90'+ I see more and more "they start to shoot from everywhere" line from my assistant.

AI defends very narrow and deep which makes hard to break and at the same time they can produce the perfect (like a seminar) counter attack. 

[Tiger666]

3 hours ago, Seb Wassell said:

Could you post this in our bugs section please? Ideally including a screenshot and save demonstrating the issue. Thank you kindly.

I did. It's here:

 

[Novem9]

@Cadoni Overquoting is terrible 

[autohoratio]

4 hours ago, Seb Wassell said:

With the introduction of the Training revamp in FM19 we did a lot of work behind the scenes on Condition, Sharpness and Fatigue. If you have examples of player not tiring quickly enough, or recovering too quickly, given the workload you are demanding of them (training/match/combination) please do head over to our bugs area and document your findings. We can add these to our internal examples for investigation and continuous balancing.

A couple of questions regarding training, firstly is there any specific reason that II team training is greyed out? Secondly, my team cohesion seems to be improving only very slowly if at all and always seems to be "hasn't seen much change in recent matches" - is that the intended behaviour or a bug?

[Guest]

5 hours ago, Novem9 said:

@Cadoni Overquoting is terrible 

Not telling the truth is terrible.

[Tiger666]

I have a player who's training  keeps resetting. I train Son Heung-Min as AMR-Trequartista, the next day when I load my game it's reset to AMR-Position. Bug? Also just noticed Moussa Sissoko is resetting too.

Edited April 27, 2019 by Tiger666

[herne79]

1 hour ago, Tiger666 said:

I have a player who's training  keeps resetting. I train Son Heung-Min as AMR-Trequartista, the next day when I load my game it's reset to AMR-Position. Bug? Also just noticed Moussa Sissoko is resetting too.

Do you have yourself defined as being in charge of individual training (found under staff > responsibilities)?

If not, that could be your answer.  If you do then probably worth opening a thread in the bugs forum and upload a game save for SI to take a look at.

[Tiger666]

7 minutes ago, herne79 said:

Do you have yourself defined as being in charge of individual training (found under staff > responsibilities)?

If not, that could be your answer.  If you do then probably worth opening a thread in the bugs forum and upload a game save for SI to take a look at.

Yes I take charge of everything. I'll make a post in the bugs section.

[jujigatame]

Not sure if others have seen this but red card animations don't work correctly.  Sometimes a player will get sent off for a "brutal two-footed challenge" but the animation that plays looks like a mundane standing tackle.

[LucasBR]

Crossing in this game its completely broken, ALWAYS you gonna be blocked by defenders, always.

[BigV]

53 minutes ago, LucasBR said:

Crossing in this game its completely broken, ALWAYS you gonna be blocked by defenders, always.

Gotta disagree there but it happens quite often. Wouldn't say always, I've had lukaku score 27 headers out of 65 goals with wingback crossers and I don't even play "wide". Wingers seem more box players imo unless you use them as support or cross from deep. I've noticed if you play more direct then more crosses happen but the percentage is low although there is a case as crossing in reality is the weakest combination to score in top flight football so top prem, german, spain etc APPARENTLY according to someone in this thread a while back. 

[jujigatame]

I also cannot stand that installment payments will count towards a sale price promise, but will NOT count towards triggering a release clause.  So if you promise to sell a player for 40m, and someone offers 40m in installments, you have to accept, but then if you find a player with a 40m release clause, you will not be able to purchase that player as a replacement.

[Earnie is God!]

6 hours ago, LucasBR said:

Crossing in this game its completely broken, ALWAYS you gonna be blocked by defenders, always.

I get your frustration and that's why you say always but that's clearly an exaggeration. Although a lot of the time when they crosses do get past the defenders, they fly straight past your strikers because, for some weird reason, the crosses are aimed at your winger on the other side. Instructions to make the 'low' or 'whipped' crosses are just ignored, in my experience anyway.

Edited April 28, 2019 by Earnie is God!

[Earnie is God!]

Defending, or lack thereof, is annoying me the most right now.

Corners
Can someone tell me why AI teams defend corners so amateurishly? It always seems to be the same: 3 men zonal on the edge of the 6yd box (near post, centre, far post) and the others have a Mother's Meeting around the penalty spot or stand on the edge of the area and stare into space.
There's no man marking per se, there's nobody protecting the GK and the worst thing is you can send in a player to stand on the near post, one on the GK and another on the far post and they are just left to it, nobody picks them up at all. Here are just two examples that I took a screenshot of in the past hour but it happens all the time.

   

Wolves in the 1st pic have 6 players defending in the box and 1 just outside but what are they doing? Only one of my players is being picked up and I've got my CB at the near post and they have just ignored him.
In the 2nd pic, Villa are similarly set up, 6 inside & 2 outside. Most of them are asleep and neither of my two players in the most dangerous positions, near post and challenging the GK, are being marked.
And it's not as if our own defending of corners is much better but at least I can instruct players to mark the posts.

Free Kicks
Defending free kicks is also just as bad; in fact it's worse as your own defenders can be pretty useless for these too. For indirect ones, defenders just stand there while the ball is (usually) floated in to the far post and they just watch the attackers run past them to get on the end of these deliveries.
Direct ones aren't much better. In a game I played tonight, against Fulham I think, they had a shot from a direct free kick, it hit the crossbar and then hit my GK and landed a few feet away from him. He just stood there and watched, as did all my defenders, as a Fulham player was free to run into the box and put the ball into the net.

Long Balls
Ignoring how weird looking the long, swervy, curly balls over the top are, they should be easy for defenders to deal with when the strikers are 25yds away. In my experience, one of three things happens and only one of them is good.
1) The defender calmly collects the ball at his feet and then looks to pass/dribble/clear the ball
2) The defender has no clue of the dangers and no awareness of the players around him and heads the ball forwards and straight back to the opposition. This happens far too often, even when the defender is near the byline/touchline and could just let the ball go out of play
3) The ball is in the air, going over the defender's head, and will land roughly 10yds behind him. He turns and starts running as it is dropping but then freezes, like a dog fooled by its owner who has just thrown a pretend stick and shouted "Fetch!" followed by, in a voice only ever used for dogs or babies, "Where's the stick? Where's the stick? Who's a good boy? Yes, you are. Yes, you arrrrreeeee". No you aren't, you idiot because, while you stood there like a lemon, the striker has run past you, miraculously bringing down this long ball from the clouds with a touch that belies his rather rudimentary skills and is through on goal. The fact that he will then go on to smash the ball straight at the GK when one on one is a different matter entirely.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It might not seem like it with all the criticism I've given this year's version but I love this game, I really do. There are a number of good things about FM19 but there are too many things that just don't work. Not just with the ME but that is obviously the biggest thing.
I will persist with FM19 for the time being but it frustrates the heck out of me. I might just fire up FM17 tomorrow to see how much calmer it makes me feel but I fear if I do that, I'll never play FM19 again.

Edited April 28, 2019 by Earnie is God!

[Novem9]

It will be very interesting to look at MU and Arsenal players attributes in FM20. Researchers do a great job, but sometimes its seems like attributes of some players didn't decrease after bad season IRL

[BigV]

1 hour ago, Novem9 said:

It will be very interesting to look at MU and Arsenal players attributes in FM20. Researchers do a great job, but sometimes its seems like attributes of some players didn't decrease after bad season IRL

Jones, smalling, pogba, martial, lukaku, mata, mustafi, ozil are all overrated in some areas. Jones and smalling's technical defending is wayyy to high and works quite well getting into top 2. Can sell them for 40-60. 

[Earnie is God!]

17 hours ago, Earnie is God! said:

I might just fire up FM17 tomorrow to see how much calmer it makes me feel but I fear if I do that, I'll never play FM19 again.

Hello, beautiful football!!!

This was just my 2nd game after going back to FM17. No CBs moving out to the side edges of the area to receive a short goal kick, no long balls with really strange swerve on them and, when through on goal with just the 'keeper to beat, no smashing the ball straight at him.

No, none of that. Instead, some slick passing and great one touch stuff to open up the defence. Through balls actually work and your strikers aren't static. When one on one, my striker took a step to the side before beating the GK.

And some people wonder why we get so frustrated with FM19. Well, here's why, just watch this clip.
When we've witnessed what is possible with the ME and how fantastic football can actually be in this game, is it any wonder that so many of us are pulling our hair out when we watch FM19's BananaBall Extravaganza?

[LucasBR]

Why strikers are so uneffective in this version?

[isignedupfornorealreason]

4 hours ago, BigV said:

Jones, smalling, pogba, martial, lukaku, mata, mustafi, ozil are all overrated in some areas. Jones and smalling's technical defending is wayyy to high and works quite well getting into top 2. Can sell them for 40-60. 

 

I think Pogba's fine. If anything Lukaku's underrated in some aspects, but Rashford is overrated. Manchester United have always been severely overrated though, and I'm a United fan. Look at Juan Mata if you want to scratch your head. He is excessively good. Pereira is pretty much David Beckham with his set pieces! 

Arsenal are another offender, far too good for what they are collectively.

 

49 minutes ago, LucasBR said:

Why strikers are so uneffective in this version?

 

Possibly down to the more deeper, defensive set ups from the opposition denying them space? Though, personally I think long shots are playing a major part in this as well. There's a lot of loose shots coming from just outside the area instead of taking the pass sometimes. 

[BigV]

47 minutes ago, isignedupfornorealreason said:

I think Pogba's fine. If anything Lukaku's underrated in some aspects, but Rashford is overrated. Manchester United have always been severely overrated though, and I'm a United fan. Look at Juan Mata if you want to scratch your head. He is excessively good. Pereira is pretty much David Beckham with his set pieces! 

Arsenal are another offender, far too good for what they are collectively.

Pogba is OP, scores wayy to many goals. Lukaku is awful mentally his first touch is like a 7 and some of his technical attributes do need a buff. Rashford seems accurate, mentally alright, physically good fitness wise, strength needs a buff and a bit more aggression too. Yeah mata's attributes make him seem amazing but his pace is poor, treq or false 9 or AP-A would make him an assist god if there wasn't issues with the roles and AI. I dunno pierera is very good on set peices but never takes them consistently. When he was u23 he was banging them in left right and centre, probably needs lowering to keep up to date though- long shots do have that extra buff to him aswell. 

[CFuller]

If you really want to discuss whether Manchester United's players are overpowered, can you do so in this thread? (And I'm sure the researchers will need more proof than just "Pogba scores way too many goals".)

[BigV]

5 hours ago, CFuller said:

If you really want to discuss whether Manchester United's players are overpowered, can you do so in this thread? (And I'm sure the researchers will need more proof than just "Pogba scores way too many goals".)

Already discussed and agreed with someone, was merely replying to the person that mentioned United. Cheers for the link though 

[Armistice]

Ok I honestly think this is a bit of a joke.

Guy has played 5 league games out of 9 and he's already crying? Not to say that he's slow as a snail so he's going to be rotated in some games. Do they have a common sense because I can't see it. Also had a player who started to moan after 4-5 games that he isn't playing. I mean why don't you wait for your turn, the season has just began...............

Edited April 29, 2019 by Armistice

[Guest]

Bring Diogo Jota here.. https://www.footballmanager.com/the-byline/diogo-jota-why-i-love-fm?fbclid=IwAR2BvI1kYXE1FRMeGWsXvgqhAKO2K3XF02a2oJKrFYszO4vOYRxH68o8KT8

 

[HUNT3R]

18 minutes ago, Armistice said:

Ok I honestly think this is a bit of a joke.

Guy has played 5 league games out of 9 and he's already crying? Not to say that he's slow as a snail so he's going to be rotated in some games. Do they have a common sense because I can't see it. Also had a player who started to moan after 4-5 games that he isn't playing. I mean why don't you wait for your turn, the season has just began...............

He isn't complaining though. You're getting  notification that he might be soon. How many did he start out of the last 5 and what is his squad status?

[warlock]

11 minutes ago, HUNT3R said:

what is his squad status?

One year later in my save he's a key player, so I'd bet it's the same in 2018. And I'm not sure why a lack of pace is an issue for a top-class playmaker.

[Earnie is God!]

Players do still moan too soon and too often though.

On a different note, I had this one...

He may well have gone ages without scoring but I'd just signed him and this (a Europa League Qualifier) was his first game for us so the "Cardiff should be congratulated for sticking by him" comment isn't relevant. It doesn't seem to take into account the transfer to a new club.

[LucasBR]

17 corners in a game, most of if come from blocked crosses, thats not normal, I really hope SI fix this in next version.

[warlock]

12 minutes ago, Earnie is God! said:

the "Cardiff should be congratulated for sticking by him" comment isn't relevant

Well, you signed him and maybe a lot of clubs wouldn't have, given his recent record. Of course, it would be better if FM had dozens of different responses to things that happen in game, but until we reach that promised land I think we have to take some things with a shrug.

[isignedupfornorealreason]

Yeah, I just had a player complaint that was ill-timed;

 

I just put it down on the bugs forums, since I had a backup player (Darmian) complain, get listed, request to stay and then complain about being dropped. He started 6 (and subbed on 2) of the last 10 games when he complained about being dropped. He's a backup player so I kind of expect him to... well, deal with it or raise the issue when he's not playing 8 of the last 10.  I didn't promise him any games btw, I said he could leave initially and he changed it as I started him over the Christmas period when things got busy. His second complaint is the end of January, when the 8/10 happens... Just bad timing.

[Earnie is God!]

1 hour ago, warlock said:

Well, you signed him and maybe a lot of clubs wouldn't have, given his recent record. Of course, it would be better if FM had dozens of different responses to things that happen in game, but until we reach that promised land I think we have to take some things with a shrug.

It's the wording of it. Sticking by a player would be in the context of continuing to believe in a player already at the club, not a new signing. Same with losing faith. 

[Hovis Dexter]

Many people agree that moaning players are a pain. In my present save it’s 2026 and I’ve a top class reputation. I’ve just moved to Barcelona and it seems as if virtually everybody either wants a new contract or assurances that they will start more games. I’ve also turned down various transfer offers which gave rise to more complaints.

I think that some of this perfectly understandable. I’m a new manager and some / most of the players are simply “trying it on.” They want to see what they can get away with as this will set the tone for the rest of my tenure. If I give a new contract to the first person to request one then everybody will demand a new contract. So IMO it’s very important to be strict to ensure that I’m the boss rather than the players.

Having said that, one thing drives me mad. That is, when I’m approached with a demand for more playing time and the player won’t accept the perfectly reasonable reply to the effect that I’m new and it’s a new start for everybody. So far as I can remember nobody has ever been happy to accept that response in all the years I’ve been playing the game. I would have thought that pretty much everybody would realistically accept that answer, at least in the short term, and then see how much playing time that they receive before approaching me again.

In my present job that’s particularly frustrating because two of the players who approached me for more time were players I had earmarked as first team starters but, to paraphrase the words of the game,  I’m not going to guarantee that anybody will definitely be playing.

 

[Novem9]

12 минут назад, Hovis Dexter сказал:

In my present save it’s 2026 and I’ve a top class reputation. I’ve just moved to Barcelona

What do you think about newgens?

I stopped my save in 2025 where I moved to Atletico and it was terrible. I have no idea why AI-Simeone (he was in club all seasons and moved to ManCity in 2025) bought all this players, but when I sold ballast... broke the transfer record of club  

But when I started to buy players by my filters I noticed that its still real players, just 6-years older. Just few newgens have attributes of my filters. In compare of first season where I really have a choice its smaller in few times

[Hovis Dexter]

1 hour ago, Novem9 said:

What do you think about newgens?

They seem fine to me. My B team and U19s are, of course, all regens and the spread of ability among them looks normal to me.

[jujigatame]

I played a 10 season save and I noticed towards the end that there was a massive surplus of high potential newgen strikers.  Like 80% of recommended players from my scouts would be strikers.

[Double0Seven]

Ive been playing fm on and off for years and always lurk a bit in these forums.

One thing I notice and other old timers have as well most likely, is people posting complaints without any real proof other then "I feel its this way". I cant believe people saying FM 17 was better. Do people forget that it had a bunch of negative reviews in the beginning from a lot of players? People were complaining all over the forums as well. 

I suggest anyone claiming something should back it up with solid proof. Too many long shots? Multiple seasons from multiple leagues with stats that we can see please. I dont want your feelings or the way you experience the game. Give me the hard numbers. Thats something SI can look at too, not just "but i feel its this way!!!". 

7 hours ago, jujigatame said:

I played a 10 season save and I noticed towards the end that there was a massive surplus of high potential newgen strikers.  Like 80% of recommended players from my scouts would be strikers.

Same thing with this. I would really like to see the numbers. Show me your scouts, your recommendations and maybe open an editor that shows us the newgens and which ones are on top in terms of PA. Are the really "massive" as you suggest? 

[Amarante]

On 28/04/2019 at 16:44, Earnie is God! said:

Hello, beautiful football!!!

This was just my 2nd game after going back to FM17. No CBs moving out to the side edges of the area to receive a short goal kick, no long balls with really strange swerve on them and, when through on goal with just the 'keeper to beat, no smashing the ball straight at him.

No, none of that. Instead, some slick passing and great one touch stuff to open up the defence. Through balls actually work and your strikers aren't static. When one on one, my striker took a step to the side before beating the GK.

And some people wonder why we get so frustrated with FM19. Well, here's why, just watch this clip.
When we've witnessed what is possible with the ME and how fantastic football can actually be in this game, is it any wonder that so many of us are pulling our hair out when we watch FM19's BananaBall Extravaganza?

I can also point out bad defensive play, no pressure on the ball, no marking being done. See where it goes wrong now? 17 had awful defending. I used a tactic that left the entire wings free and was keeping clean sheets for majority of the matches. 

[Federico]

2 ore fa, Amarante ha scritto:

I can also point out bad defensive play, no pressure on the ball, no marking being done. See where it goes wrong now? 17 had awful defending.

Thanks for pointing that out.

[Rashidi]

2 hours ago, Amarante said:

I can also point out bad defensive play, no pressure on the ball, no marking being done. See where it goes wrong now? 17 had awful defending. I used a tactic that left the entire wings free and was keeping clean sheets for majority of the matches. 

I agree that video was just an example of how terrible defending was on FM17 it made attacking look so good. 

[akkm]

39 minutes ago, Rashidi said:

I agree that video was just an example of how terrible defending was on FM17 it made attacking look so good. 

There's absolutely awful defending there but that is more an example of how bad defending should be punished...ie if defending is that bad then decision making employed and simulated in FM17 means that it gets exposed as it should. Movement, decision making and pass execution destroys bad defending as it should be so that shows attacking decision making was superior then. Yes defending was inferior then but the latest engine has inferior attacking decision making and movement...so really defending has advanced and attacking declined so current engine you could flip the dynamic...terrible attacking makes defending look good...yes defending is improved but bad decision making/movement makes it seem better.

What should be upheld in that video and what FM17 offers is the superior attacking decision making and movement and were current engine at that level then the repeated attacking patterns currently wouldn't be a thing and the overall balance would be better.

Pointing out bad defending on FM17 is valid but the slant on attacking in it is a limited view and frankly a regressive one to development of the match engine

[Rashidi]

Ok, in FM17 everybody would step up the entire team would shift up when defending. this led to acres of space opening up. It was so bad any central attacking play was rewarded. Hence the popularity of narrow systems.There was no discipline in defending, so it was fairly easy to make the AI give you space. The poor defending just made ANY kind of attacking look good. 

FM19s attacking play can be improved, but the balance is tricky. Right now too many strikers have move into channels which make central attacking play with players arriving late in the box extraordinary strong. It's not a limited view, it was a match engine problem. I am not saying FM19 is perfect, far from it. Personally speaking I am a big critic of the AI setup of tactical systems and how systems are chosen by AI managers - the limited use of tactics presets and the less than varied use of instructions in the game is really the issue. Improve that  and we will see better attacking play from AI team which will give us the variety we need, and the space will open up.  Its a tricky challenge, because we also want the AI to make adaptive choices based on how your side plays over time. The stronger you get the more cautious it has to be playing against you. 

[Earnie is God!]

And in FM19, AI teams just crowd the centre of the pitch. Is that really better defending? You might want to call it that but I don't think so, it's just the tactics that AI teams have been given, or the change in formations they employ. That's not really active defending, just sticking extra players through the middle. It's just papering over the cracks.
So the throughballs don't work as well in FM19 but the defending in general is hardly any better. There are other issues with defending instead, such as aimlessly heading the ball back to the opposition which was rarely an occurrence in FM17, or defenders just standing there, letting the ball drop for a striker to pick up.
Watch the defending at corners and free kicks and try and tell me that defending is better in FM19.

And from an attacking point of view, FM17 was so much better. Forget the throughballs.
If you got the ball out wide, they would actually follow your instructions re crosses. If you wanted them to whip them in, they would; if you asked them to beat the man and cross from the byline, they would at least try to. What they wouldn't do is, rather than cross when given the opportunity, wait until a defender got back so that they could smash it into their legs. What they wouldn't do is ignore instructions to cross low and instead float them in (if they'd stopped playing 'Smash your legs off'). What they wouldn't do is send in a long, banana cross in search of the winger on the other side, as if the striker(s) didn't even exist.

That's just the crossing issue. Do I really need to get into the ineptness of strikers to rarely do anything but hit a shot straight at a GK when one on one or just a few yards out, yet give your midfielder the ball outside the box and he can curl one in from 30yds+ ?

@Rashidi I respect your work, I really do. Not just all the articles on here. I must have spent many hours watching your vids and I especially enjoyed the Torino Diaries and your love of Benassi but we are going to have to disagree on this one. As you might expect, there are far more people IRL who enjoy watching the likes of Barcelona play than they do Burnley and the same applies to FM. Majority of people want to watch fantastic, free flowing attacking football, not hoof-ping-pong-smashyerlegs bananaball.

[Rashidi]

35 minutes ago, Earnie is God! said:

 I respect your work, I really do. Not just all the articles on here. I must have spent many hours watching your vids and I especially enjoyed the Torino Diaries and your love of Benassi but we are going to have to disagree on this one. As you might expect, there are far more people IRL who enjoy watching the likes of Barcelona play than they do Burnley and the same applies to FM. Majority of people want to watch fantastic, free flowing attacking football, not hoof-ping-pong-smashyerlegs bananaball

I appreciate that, i do agree that the attacking side of the game can be improved, especially how the attackers use space and how they move. It is annoying when you consistently get midfielders banging in 20 goals a season, you do want to see more strikers get like 30+ goals a season in the league. Without a doubt there is something fundamental off about how the AI itself sets up its tactics, its something i've said many times. I know SI have wanted to improve the defensive side for a long time, and they are also now focused more than ever to get that balance right for FM20. 

[bigmattb28]

On 28/04/2019 at 22:44, Earnie is God! said:

Hello, beautiful football!!!

This was just my 2nd game after going back to FM17. No CBs moving out to the side edges of the area to receive a short goal kick, no long balls with really strange swerve on them and, when through on goal with just the 'keeper to beat, no smashing the ball straight at him.

No, none of that. Instead, some slick passing and great one touch stuff to open up the defence. Through balls actually work and your strikers aren't static. When one on one, my striker took a step to the side before beating the GK.

And some people wonder why we get so frustrated with FM19. Well, here's why, just watch this clip.
When we've witnessed what is possible with the ME and how fantastic football can actually be in this game, is it any wonder that so many of us are pulling our hair out when we watch FM19's BananaBall Extravaganza?

I've actually gone back to 17, 2 game braking bugs encountered in 19 has put me right off

[Novem9]

@Rashidi Is it correct proposition that attacking mentality is the most powerful mentality in current game? 

If yes, its about to avoid of attacks by possession or why? Btw yesterday Ajax remind me about FM19 attacking mentality so much 

Also I saw video in your channel where you destroyed opposition by extra attack mentality. I was confused because ingame description prescribes to use it like burst in extreme situations, and I use range from cautious to positive as main mentality, but you easily to use it as default option. 

Possibility to play in Extra attacking mentality as main tactic is a bug or feature of ME?

[Mitja]

FM19 ME has good defending, really? The funniest thing I've heard here in a while. Those of you defending fm19, when was the last time you played fm17? I wouldn't call packing the box with some weird looking formation an improvement.

[Double0Seven]

38 minutes ago, Mitja said:

FM19 ME has good defending, really? The funniest thing I've heard here in a while. Those of you defending fm19, when was the last time you played fm17? I wouldn't call packing the box with some weird looking formation an improvement.

As I said above, if you experience problems with defending please show us detailed stats from multiple seasons in multiple leagues that show this. If the ME in terms of defending is really as laughable as you claim, you should be able to whip out broken stats very quickly. I find that people like you are quick to make such claims without proper extensive proof that SI can look at. 

As for your FM 17 question. Dont you remember the FM 17 feedback threads? 

https://community.sigames.com/search/?q=defending&type=forums_topic&item=397894

https://community.sigames.com/search/?q=defending&type=forums_topic&item=386503

And this is just the tip of the iceberg with one search term that doesnt cover everything around defending. I dont wanna even go into the tactics threads or whatever. 

For years I have lurked and read these threads. I think mods need to start being a lot more strict because lets be honest, 90% of the comments are rubbish, have no proper sample size or people are not willing to dig out stats to support their "X feature is so broken, how can SI have not fixed this?" claims. You would assume that if a feature is so broken as some claim, the stats would back it up very very quickly. I already suspect someone will respond to me that the stats are made up and broken and it clearly doesnt represent what he/she sees in game. 

 

Edited May 1, 2019 by Double0Seven

[Mitja]

5 minutes ago, Double0Seven said:

As I said above, if you experience problems with defending please show us detailed stats from multiple seasons in multiple leagues that show this.

Why should I are you some kind of secret SI agent?

On a more serious note check the bugs sections you'll see plenty of proves etc.

[Double0Seven]

2 minutes ago, Mitja said:

Why should I are you some kind of secret SI agent?

On a more serious note check the bugs sections you'll see plenty of proves etc.

I have and I do not see that. The usual post with a few complains, a few examples and not enough sample size. Every year, same things. Lots of threads tagged with need more info, yet the OP's never provide it. https://community.sigames.com/forum/650-match-engine/

Have a look. 

[Mitja]

Dig deeper. You can find what you're looking for. Fm19 has huge ME and AI tactics issues, everyone knows that. Even mods say that and it doesn't happen too often.