Football Manager 2020 - Feature Announcement Blogs

[bigmattb28]

Has the specs for 20 been released yet?

[HUNT3R]

4 minutes ago, bigmattb28 said:

Has the specs for 20 been released yet?

Have a look in here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1100600/Football_Manager_2020/

[Munkey Luv]

Just checked the steam page for the specs and noticed that it says minimum requirement 64 bit processor! Is this true? 

I think older versions did still support 32bit processors. So big change there if your not supporting the older systems. 

(Btw super hyped for fm20 I buy it every year)

 

Ps bring back the one man and his dog fm ads :-p

[Armistice]

8 hours ago, kingking said:

Thank you FM Team for develoment centre

One of the reasons i love FM is watching my players develop

A system where it's easier to develop and manage my players... that's amazing

 

I don't understand how this is something new and mindblowing. Yeah, a new panel where you have all the info, a life quality improvement I agree, but could aswell have got the exact same info by going to the Coach Report of each young player.

Edited September 20, 2019 by Armistice

[Powermonger]

Please let this be the year we get football league maps. 

[mackos7]

So now if I want to see my full U19 or Reserves squad I need to go to the Dev Center first, and then chose it form the dropdown menu instead of just clicking it on the sidebar? That doesn't make any sense. You could simply keep those icons and the Development Center. There's still plenty of wasted space on the sidebar anyway.

I know it seems like some minor complaint but there were a lot of changes to the UI like this one in previous editions, that make this game less and less accessible.

[martplfc1]

Sunday league levels of athleticism and baldness 

[Bothan Spy]

I really like the new features. Progress and more realism has to be applauded. However, I personally would like to see the training tweaked.

I found last year's changes confusing and frustrating and for the first time in years I had to reluctantly leave it to my Ass Man.

I would also happily welcome a return to being able to train individual attributes such as heading, crossing, dribbling, etc. As that was sorely missed.

The individual mentoring for youth players was another aspect that I would welcome back.

[Tha Real behanger]

15 hours ago, akm.91 said:

Another year gone and still nothing regarding a stadium creator/editor smh. Another year of stale, boring, robotic matches in dull, repetitive stadiums. All we want is a bit of realism 🤦🏻‍♂️

 

First time I’ve ever seriously considered not buying a game in this franchise, hardly anything has changed. Pitch textures, managers suits and a 5 year plan are the headline features...

Really this is a point for not buying the game?

[Brother Ben]

1 minute ago, Tha Real behanger said:

Really this is a point for not buying the game?

I bet he still buys it  

[akm.91]

Just now, Tha Real behanger said:

Really this is a point for not buying the game?

My point is the headline features are crap. Just features we already have given a new tab or glossed over and presenting them as something new. 

This game refuses to improve on the immersion, I want to feel like I’m managing a team. Everything just feels so robotic, from the stadiums to the press/fans reaction to winning a trophy. The graphics are worse than a mobile phone game, the match engine doesn’t work properly. 

You can’t present a product like this to the next generation and believe this game will continue to be sustainable. They need to evolve, us Old school gamers can’t carry this franchise forever 

[VP.]

Just now, akm.91 said:

My point is the headline features are crap. Just features we already have given a new tab or glossed over and presenting them as something new. 

This game refuses to improve on the immersion, I want to feel like I’m managing a team. Everything just feels so robotic, from the stadiums to the press/fans reaction to winning a trophy. The graphics are worse than a mobile phone game, the match engine doesn’t work properly. 

You can’t present a product like this to the next generation and believe this game will continue to be sustainable. They need to evolve, us Old school gamers can’t carry this franchise forever 

Didn't 2019s version hit record sales though?

[akm.91]

6 minutes ago, SortitoutsiVP said:

Didn't 2019s version hit record sales though?

I started playing football manager games from about 12 years old, it was new and innovative at the time. 

There is no way younger audiences will buy into this game as it is. This franchise has become so stagnant in recent years that it’s actually sad to see. Since they introduced the new match engine and graphics maybe around 6 years ago, nothing has improved. Still looks and plays crap. 

[VP.]

4 minutes ago, akm.91 said:

I started playing football manager games from about 12 years old, it was new and innovative at the time. 

There is no way younger audiences will buy into this game as it is. This franchise has become so stagnant in recent years that it’s actually sad to see. Since they introduced the new match engine and graphics maybe around 6 years ago, nothing has improved. Still looks and plays crap. 

I've been playing since CM1 on the old Amiga back in 1992 and can safely say that most, not every but most years the game has improved and certainly continues to do so. I've played more hours on the current version than any other in the last 10 years so it's definitely improving in my opinion.

Everyone of course is different but I do think you are going massively over the top here.

[chuckles1234]

I only care about the ME at this point. Nice little add-ons but I'll play an older version if the ME is similar to 19.

[Federico]

I mean, I read people complaining for the lack of freatures and no improvements on the ME and no here and no there and and and....

Like if this was the first and last announcement of new features regarding FM20. We don't know what FM20 is yet, news are dropped slowly and measured.

[CFuller]

I've been playing CM/FM since 1999, when I was eight years old. That has NO relevance with regards to whether I believe FM20 will be an enjoyable game, but I thought I'd put it out there. 

14 minutes ago, Federico said:

I mean, I read people complaining for the lack of freatures and no improvements on the ME and no here and no there and and and....

Like if this was the first and last announcement of new features regarding FM20. We don't know what FM20 is yet, news are dropped slowly and measured.

Exactly. If a new freature  you want hasn't been announced yet, don't assume that it won't be. SI never give you all the big news at once.

As for the ME, there are always improvements every year. SI just won't be in a position to reveal more details about that until much closer to release.

[grade]

If... today's world that is a big word. If... this, if... that.

To be fair all games/products that release yearly, have been stagnating, with small improvements, maybe because costumers expect too much of a year release. Games like Fifa, PES, NBA2K, and products like the Iphone, get the same criticism. I'm getting saturated with it all.

Companies, don't have much time to make revolutionary updates. The product cycle is too small. If companies like their product and the majority of costumers like the product, expect little revolutionary upgrades to it, it will be incremented updates with new features that may or not add extra fun to the game (may or may not add, depends point of view of each one). The solution to this is quite simply. Accept and expect nothing revolutionary (like I have) or change a yearly cycle to 2 or 3 year cycle (which has been talk here in the forums, but probably unviable financially to them), or subscription base model (which has been talked about for the last few years, specially with Fifa and PES).

What the user above said about CM4, is quite relevant to the discussion. Majority of costumers put polls here, about your favourite CM/FM ever, CM4 is among the lowest liked games of all SI games. To be fair, it was good thing, because the consequences of it, made launched a new era of great games by SI. 

If that needs to happen or not, depends on lot of factors, but it ultimately depend if normal consumer (that consumer that doesn't live and breath in these forums) likes it or not and spends money on it or not... well time will tell.

I don't agree, with several features of the latest games and several decisions of SI with their games (lack of editor FMT, for example). I stated here in the forums (for example i hate press conferences and for good, bad or worse consequences of that decision, I put to my assistant to do them, one point why I like about FMT no press conferences). i was and still are among the minority in some of that aspects, but I accepted that fact that SI doesn't see and agree my way.

So people, chill out. Wait for the new features to be announce and go making decisions to pre-order the game or wait for another set of announcements or  entirely wait for the beta to be release and read the other people comment on these forums and on Social media.

Edited September 20, 2019 by grade

[craiigman]

2 hours ago, mackos7 said:

So now if I want to see my full U19 or Reserves squad I need to go to the Dev Center first, and then chose it form the dropdown menu instead of just clicking it on the sidebar? That doesn't make any sense. You could simply keep those icons and the Development Center. There's still plenty of wasted space on the sidebar anyway.

I know it seems like some minor complaint but there were a lot of changes to the UI like this one in previous editions, that make this game less and less accessible.

Another year of making us click more times to see the same info.

[themadsheep2001]

1 hour ago, SortitoutsiVP said:

Didn't 2019s version hit record sales though?

Yep, and sold faster than before too. So this idea that "the younger generation" whatever that is, won't buy it is decidedly false. 

[Spedding]

2 hours ago, mackos7 said:

So now if I want to see my full U19 or Reserves squad I need to go to the Dev Center first, and then chose it form the dropdown menu instead of just clicking it on the sidebar? That doesn't make any sense. You could simply keep those icons and the Development Center. There's still plenty of wasted space on the sidebar anyway.

I know it seems like some minor complaint but there were a lot of changes to the UI like this one in previous editions, that make this game less and less accessible.

There still on the sidebar

[Powermonger]

20 minutes ago, Spedding said:

There still on the sidebar

Yes you can clearly see them in this pic. So it might just be a UI option whether to display them or not.

 

With the Club Vision and Backroom Staff changes, will hiring the staff who's style and philosophy that matches the clubs or your own have more significance now?

Edited September 20, 2019 by Powermonger

[gunner86]

2 hours ago, CFuller said:

Exactly. If a new freature  you want hasn't been announced yet, don't assume that it won't be. SI never give you all the big news at once.

The last couple of years, some of the most enjoyable things about the new games have been things they haven't announced.

You just notice them while you're playing.

[mhaffy]

Playing time Pathway appears to be a good development to existing contract options etc and will, hopefully, not become too onerous/time consuming to manage. The announcement refers to playing time pathway being available when negotiating new contract but presumably each player must, at the start of a game, have a base pathway reflecting the views/input from FM researchers etc. On the basis that this must be the case, there will be further information to consider when you review your squad after taking over at a club.

[WilltheWolf92]

On 19/09/2019 at 15:05, Neil Brock said:

 

Graphic Improvements

Redesigned player and manager models, improved lighting and overhauled pitch visuals combine to create the best-looking match experience to date.

 

Just a minor update of the 3D Engine i see?

[saiyaman]

Pretty good stuff. I like the approach to make the game more realistic opposed to shoving in features just for the sake of something.

I guess you've won a "ooh shiny" pre-order.

[Chief232]

Fairly underwhelmed by this annoucement I guess. Club visions make sense to add to the game for sure but don't necessarily make me excited, and I could see it also being another frustrating part of the game if it isn't implemented very well right off the bat. Development center is nice but it's a lot of quality of life improvements although I really appreciate being able to see youth intakes early. The overview screen is useful but I've personally never had an issue tracking this part of the game. The loan screen looks good but there was already a list of players on loan in older FMs which you could use to track basically all the things shown in that picture, just in a less aesthetically pleasing way I suppose.

Playing time pathway, again, makes sense. But managing player complaints and such is already something a number of people on these forums find difficult and it wouldn't shock me at all if this also lead to more frustrations - how much playing time is an "important player"?

New backroom staff is barely exciting to me. We got the likes of the sports scientist which you literally just trawl through newgen staff sorting by the highest sport scientist stat. Nothing really immersive and fun about that, and that's how the vast majority of staff in the game work. There's a bunch of attributes being shown but how much does it actually affect the game? What does, for example, man management actually do? When searching for coaches does anybody do anything besides look for the highest level of discipline, determination and motivation and then the necessary stats? For me I can't tell you I've noticed much of a difference in that case whether or not their ambition is 1 or 20, their man management is 1 or 20, etc. I really hope a lot of work is done here so I'm not just signing the exact same staff in every save because they get 4+ stars in training, disregarding literally everything else about them.

Additional tactical advice is nice but it has to be a mile improved from older versions telling your possession based, tiki taka preset team it's a good idea they play with direct passes and much higher tempo. Seeing an automatic role in one of the recommended lineups bothers and worries me though. I think there's a bit of a disconnect with how the game tries to "teach" you how to play tactically, and how the majority of popular, successful posters on this forum approach things. The automatic duty shouldn't even exist, a lot of people don't even understand how it works and experienced users just "abuse" it to have a role with completely customizable instructions and I don't think they're compatible with the preset concept either.The Gegenpress preset with three attacking duties in a front 3 and all pressing instructions to the max would've been pretty rightfully criticized on these very forums if a user was looking for advice, and it disappointingly looks like it'll be set up more or less the same in FM20. There's no use in adding more advice if it's just going to still continue to confuse players and then they come on here to be told their tactic is all wrong when it's literally just a preset one with 0 changes. The presets are all far too extreme in 19, and then come match day your assistant tells you to change your positive mentality to a defensive one anyways disregarding literally everything about your side.

[martplfc1]

I think most people expect way too much. I'd like nicer graphics - I still think the regens/faces etc are horrible but the animations on pitch will (and have tbf) undoubtedly improve year on year. I'd also like better interactions but the tech just isn't there yet.

Be thankful your defenders dont do this:

https://reddit.app.link/VCrUO1xS8Z

Come to think of it, has FIFA or PES improved at all since about 2014?

[janrzm]

The announced features are very welcome but.....are they really "Headline Features"? Obviously, there will be more announcements but I'd kind of expect the first announcement to be punchier. If all other alterations are of equal or less significance than these then it's underwhelming. 

The emphasis on game longevity is to be applauded, at present I can't take a game past 2-3 seasons before I lose interest because of a gradual and perceived lack of realism on my part.

I'd welcome anything that makes managing a club feel like less of a generic experience and some of the changes achieve this. For the love of god, please give the community a stadium editor and let it work it's magic. What a massive step this would be in realism and game immersion. 

It can't go unsaid, the biggest issue with the game is the ME..... I was hoping it would be addressed in this release because for me personally its the one thing that has the potential to prevent me buying the game for the first time ever since it's release. 

Edited September 20, 2019 by janrzm

[ThunderCelt]

4 hours ago, Chief232 said:

New backroom staff is barely exciting to me. We got the likes of the sports scientist which you literally just trawl through newgen staff sorting by the highest sport scientist stat. Nothing really immersive and fun about that, and that's how the vast majority of staff in the game work. There's a bunch of attributes being shown but how much does it actually affect the game? What does, for example, man management actually do? When searching for coaches does anybody do anything besides look for the highest level of discipline, determination and motivation and then the necessary stats? For me I can't tell you I've noticed much of a difference in that case whether or not their ambition is 1 or 20, their man management is 1 or 20, etc. I really hope a lot of work is done here so I'm not just signing the exact same staff in every save because they get 4+ stars in training, disregarding literally everything else about them.

I take a look at staff personality and attributes.  I like coaches whose preferred formation is the same as my own.  I prefer some personalities over others, in much the same way as players - in lower league saves I don't like ambitious staff for example, as they tend to leave at the end of their contract when I want to build an off-field team that'll be around for the long haul.  I also like man management; I've not tested this at all, but my feel is that staff with good man management tend to get on with the players which makes for a happier dressing room.  Again, I've not checked and stats but my feel is that staff with high man management are more likely to be listed as players' favourite staff, so making them happier. 

[Chief232]

4 minutes ago, ThunderCelt said:

I take a look at staff personality and attributes.  I like coaches whose preferred formation is the same as my own.  I prefer some personalities over others, in much the same way as players - in lower league saves I don't like ambitious staff for example, as they tend to leave at the end of their contract when I want to build an off-field team that'll be around for the long haul.  I also like man management; I've not tested this at all, but my feel is that staff with good man management tend to get on with the players which makes for a happier dressing room.  Again, I've not checked and stats but my feel is that staff with high man management are more likely to be listed as players' favourite staff, so making them happier. 

Actually meant to put "adaptability" rather than "ambition" in my point there.

I see what you mean and I do also lean towards staff with more professional/determined personalities and the like. I don't doubt that man management has some effect and you're probably not imagining that. When I have the option for two coaches that'll both give me the same rating in training, I do look at the other stats. I just think there's a ton of room for improvement on the existing staff roles (particularly non-coaches), where a large amount of the attributes don't have a seemingly large impact on the game, or they just aren't explained clearly enough.

A physio or a sports scientist, for example - you can just find some random newgen physio with 20 in the physio stat but super low stats everywhere else. I'm pretty certain that's the only stat that matters for them, but there's a lot of room for the likes of determination, man management, motivating, working with youngsters, etc. to give all staff roles more personality and variance. If the new staff additions have a bit more to them than when they added the sports scientist and data analyst, then I'll be happy enough.

[EdL]

16 hours ago, Munkey Luv said:

Just checked the steam page for the specs and noticed that it says minimum requirement 64 bit processor! Is this true? 

I think older versions did still support 32bit processors. So big change there if your not supporting the older systems. 

 

This is true, its pretty common now - most new games only support 64bit, we had very few players still left on 32bit and those users were affected by a disproportionate amount of issues due to the legacy OS & hardware and trying to fit a massive daabase into a 2GB address space available to the game.

[alian62]

18 hours ago, Tha Real behanger said:

Really this is a point for not buying the game?

The pitch textures that went downhill after FM17 when the War Hammer Developers got involved . Yet they introduce it as a new feature . I find after buying this game since FM09 that this is what they seem to do . They take out features then reintro them as new features years down the track . Spray on chalk ? Where did that go ? No word on stadium upgrades or the backgroubd scenery . If it's tall buildings in the background again ill be peed off .   It's just the demo for me this year and that will be a first . Im expecting a real change this time in this area as its the year 2020 not 1990 graphics . 

[alian62]

9 hours ago, martplfc1 said:

I think most people expect way too much. I'd like nicer graphics - I still think the regens/faces etc are horrible but the animations on pitch will (and have tbf) undoubtedly improve year on year. I'd also like better interactions but the tech just isn't there yet.

Be thankful your defenders dont do this:

https://reddit.app.link/VCrUO1xS8Z

Come to think of it, has FIFA or PES improved at all since about 2014?

It's certainly a quirk when defenders seem to back off when they are clearly in front of the chase or a lot closer to the ball . This is why people bring up the scripting issue

[theballstopshere]

Yeah graphic improvements are good and necessary but the real deal about the game is really match engine, modern tactics and player AI - it is not called a football simulation game for nothing?

What SI should be focusing on is how the players react on the pitch according to the tactics we set them and them behaving as close to possible (movement, off-the-ball running, defending, positions...) as how a professional football team plays. To be fair, I think SI have made strides towards it, but a lot more needs to be done. 

No more ridiculous stuff like 3 players running after one striker in a single line even although i set them on gengenpressing.

Where is cutting off of passing lanes? Where is trigger pressing? These are modern tactics and SI should totally reflect them in the game, esp when they pride themselves on being the best in realism. 

No more of my two fullbacks defending so wide when the instruction is for them to defend narrow. It frustrates me when they just stay on their wings without falling deeper with their centrebacks even when under a counterattack. I mean this is just basic football right?

Where is the tussling between two players when running after a ball?

Where is the part when players try to wind down the clock by running towards the corner flag when they are defending a narrow lead (and have instructions from me to waste time). Instead, they cross into the box and lose the ball. LOL

Where is the part when the goalkeeper rushes off his line and out of the penalty box to clear a loose ball, especially when I set him on GK Sweeper (attacking)? 

Where is the one to one between goalkeeper and strikers? 

I have never seen any of these. 

How about goalkeepers reacting towards balls that rebound off the goal frame? Now they are just rooted on the ground, frozen and almost useless to the second balls.

Yes, it is not realistic to expect it to be like an actual game (and no one is expecting that) but surely the above are just the bare basics that a game like this should get right by now? After what, 20 editions?

Please SI, get the basics right. 

 

 

[DP]

21 hours ago, Powermonger said:

Yes you can clearly see them in this pic. So it might just be a UI option whether to display them or not.

 

With the Club Vision and Backroom Staff changes, will hiring the staff who's style and philosophy that matches the clubs or your own have more significance now?

This screenshot worries me a bit. 
 

Why would the goalkeeping coach suggest to the manager what team he thinks they should put out? Has this ever happened in the history of football?

[yolixeya]

10 hours ago, Chief232 said:

I don't doubt that man management has some effect and you're probably not imagining that.

You can clearly see in game that man management is one of the imporatant attributes for head coaches. I guess it affects how the AI manager manages his squad, handles discipline etc... It's not so impotant for your own coaches other then maybe U19, u23 head coaches and assistant managers.

[chuckles1234]

15 minutes ago, DP said:

This screenshot worries me a bit. 
 

Why would the goalkeeping coach suggest to the manager what team he thinks they should put out? Has this ever happened in the history of football?

A local coach here was goalkeeper coach for Melbourne Victory and has now just won "division 2" as a head coach.

It all depends on whether the AI is any good. More than likely the suggestions will be poor.

[DP]

Sure but Man City’s GK coach won’t be telling Pep what team he should put out. I guess FM won’t distinguish big clubs from small so you’ll see this unrealistic scenario happening. And it can easily be avoided. 

[(sic)]

8 minutes ago, DP said:

Sure but Man City’s GK coach won’t be telling Pep what team he should put out. I guess FM won’t distinguish big clubs from small so you’ll see this unrealistic scenario happening. And it can easily be avoided. 

I really don't see an issue here, I'm fairly sure you can select who you are getting a report from, under staff responsibilities.

[themadsheep2001]

1 hour ago, DP said:

This screenshot worries me a bit. 
 

Why would the goalkeeping coach suggest to the manager what team he thinks they should put out? Has this ever happened in the history of football?

Kieran Mckenna at United has become a leading first team coach precisely because of his input and acumen when he was a less senior  coach. So it does happen and in his case, got him a bigger role and say in matters (he's been highly influential in the type of players Man United scout and target now)  so while not every club will do it, it's also still an option (which is why you should be able to choose who tells you imo, which is what it looks like there, but I might be wrong )

[themadsheep2001]

4 hours ago, theballstopshere said:

Yeah graphic improvements are good and necessary but the real deal about the game is really match engine, modern tactics and player AI - it is not called a football simulation game for nothing?

What SI should be focusing on is how the players react on the pitch according to the tactics we set them and them behaving as close to possible (movement, off-the-ball running, defending, positions...) as how a professional football team plays. To be fair, I think SI have made strides towards it, but a lot more needs to be done. 

No more ridiculous stuff like 3 players running after one striker in a single line even although i set them on gengenpressing.

Where is cutting off of passing lanes? Where is trigger pressing? These are modern tactics and SI should totally reflect them in the game, esp when they pride themselves on being the best in realism. 

No more of my two fullbacks defending so wide when the instruction is for them to defend narrow. It frustrates me when they just stay on their wings without falling deeper with their centrebacks even when under a counterattack. I mean this is just basic football right?

Where is the tussling between two players when running after a ball?

Where is the part when players try to wind down the clock by running towards the corner flag when they are defending a narrow lead (and have instructions from me to waste time). Instead, they cross into the box and lose the ball. LOL

Where is the part when the goalkeeper rushes off his line and out of the penalty box to clear a loose ball, especially when I set him on GK Sweeper (attacking)? 

Where is the one to one between goalkeeper and strikers? 

I have never seen any of these. 

How about goalkeepers reacting towards balls that rebound off the goal frame? Now they are just rooted on the ground, frozen and almost useless to the second balls.

Yes, it is not realistic to expect it to be like an actual game (and no one is expecting that) but surely the above are just the bare basics that a game like this should get right by now? After what, 20 editions?

Please SI, get the basics right. 

 

 

SI have have a team that's entirely dedicated to the match engine though. That has its own sole focus. They don't have to choose between the two options. 

[Tony Wright 747]

 That was one of my concerns, I would hope that you could look at all your coaches suggestions before making a choice

[Seb Wassell]

I'd be very surprised if you could not select where the advice comes from 

[Vali184]

You can clearly see in a video posted on twitter that you can select the coach that suggests the best XI...

But i think it's irrelevant. The coach will always suggest the player that has a green circle (or close to that) for a certain position and role.

Edited September 21, 2019 by Vali184

[Sheriff7]

 

 

[Stevicus]

That second one isn't a feature is it? that's an updated rule change surely 

[masno]

I guess all this problem leads to the old phrase "FM is stagnating". The problem right now is that SI simply don't need to upgrade the ME, or even to rewrite it, if any of us dislike it, what can we do? This is the only good management game in the market, the only one with such depth, and exactly because of this that SI take baby steps in their development. For some years right now we see the game having small to medium changes in most of the features, and thats the consequence of a combination: yearly launch doesn't help much with revolutionary changes, and the lack of a competitor trying to take FM's place also make the game stay as it is.

If SI really wanted the game to just be the real simulation of football, they would go full on the ME and on modern tactical concepts, make the core and what is really important (almost) perfect, and then going on the rest. But right now they don't need that. It is so obvious that some aspects in the ME need some fixing, or even a rewrite, but this costs money and time, but why you do something like that when you know that you are the only option, and wanting or not,people will need to buy your game to play it.

I risk to say SI already have other ME in the oven for some years now, with better moves, modern gameplay etc etc. But because of the players with old rigs, with no competition and with a multitude of "features" ready to launch year after year, they decide to just take the easy path and not touch (or talk) about it now.

[Double0Seven]

2 minutes ago, masno said:

If SI really wanted the game to just be the real simulation of football, they would go full on the ME and on modern tactical concepts, make the core and what is really important (almost) perfect, and then going on the rest.

If this was a real simulation, none of us would survive. Good luck competing against realistic versions of Pep, Klopp and whatever. The game would be harsh as hell and 99.9% of the playerbase would be gone. 

SI need to keep some "fun" elements in it and tone it down a bit. Otherwise the game would be completely ridiculous. There is no difficulty bar and I hope there never will be one. Compare the management aspects of the game to other popular management games and you realise that they are already quite in depth. Its not that bad. 

Quote

But because of the players with old rigs

You do realise they cant just make this game for people with insane computers and stuff right? Not everyone is rich or spends money on a good PC. They cant just set aside a good chunk of the playerbase because you want a better game. 

[Vali184]

I hope the defenders won't head the ball away when they are not in any danger. Now that would be a good feature.