Football Manager 2021 Early Access Beta Official Feedback Thread

[AllyJoseph]

Early impressions

Once the bugs get removed, it will definitely be the best installment of FM in years. No enforced un-needed features, no minimal changes, everything that has been done has been done with a purpose and you can really feel the difference.

I was afraid the media overhaul would just be differences to flavour text, but I'm already doing many more press conferences than usual. xG is a wonderful addition and actually something I put in the suggestions forum a few months before it was announced. The "hearts" instead of exact figures for fitness is the single biggest improvement in my eyes, and here's why.

1. It gives a layer of accessibility for the "it's too hard" crowd that's popped up over the last 10 years.

2. It's more realistic for the realism crowd, why? It's so much more realistic to have a general idea of a few areas of fitness rather than know a percentile. What club would say "player X is around 72% fit" and then at half time say "he's now around 53% fit", it was a bit silly and gamey tbh. It also lead to you really having things to worry about you didn't need to, what was the difference between 70-75%? Was it huge? Was that the same difference between 85-90%? Now its much clearer and much more realistic, you'd have a "general" idea and you can feel the difference between dark green and light green, huge thumbs up for something that I'm sure a lot of people will say they hate or is a step backwards.

The match engine is also visibly better, although I've always erred on the side of caution with regards to criticism of match engines as a lot of the time it does boil down to poor tactics or a poor representation of the graphics showing us what the game has decided will happen. This year already feels smoother.

 

Now the praise is over, here are some criticisms, hopefully contstructive....

The graphics, please please please just hire some of the modding community to work for you, even as a freelance option. The faces they put out as regens are so far ahead of you guys its not even funny, it had got to the point it was becoming a bit of a deal breaker but this year they seem less "bad", but still not good enough for this day and age.

The UI, I like some of the additions and ideas that have been taken on board like the programme feel of the pre-match teamsheet, I like how journos are lay out as if they are sat at a press conference, nice little touches. I feel like much more could be squeezed out to give it a club feel still.

Attributes, oh boy this is a big one and I'm sure people will hate me for it, but...they need tweeking and changing. We've sat on the same group of attributes for what? 20 years now? Maybe more? They need an overhaul and I was kind of hoping to see one this year, we can't think that attributes today reflect the same sport of 20 years ago? I'd like to see either "more" attributes within the core ones or more in general. Maybe this is more a suggestion than feedback....

 

Overall this is a 9/10, definitely one of your better efforts in the modern day when it had become a bit lazy in terms of some of the older features needing improvement.

[Nahuelzn]

Do you guys feel that gegenpressing is still OP as in FM20?

My issue is that I feel I should be punished if my team doesn't have the skills to play that kind of tactics. Players should be way more tired (FM said that this will happen on this ME, but haven't the chance to test it thoroughly) and the opposition should find more spaces to create chances. Not everyone can be Liverpool

[Mcfc1894]

Already enjoyed the few days of this Beta more than I enjoyed the whole of FM 20 

[2feet]

OPTION TO MIRROR ROUTINES WHEN SETTING UP SET-PIECES

You set up your attacking corner for the left side, and finish it

Then you start working on the right side.

If there was now a button to press that said 'Mirror left side setup' then you could pres this and it would replicate everything you just did on the left side but for the opposite way around (like a mirror)

This would save a lot of time. You could then make any tweaks to it.

This would hugely cut the amount of time it takes to set these things up. Thanks.

[HUNT3R]

44 minutes ago, Chime_Chime said:

Everytime I want to change the color of my kit in ''Make A Club'' I get a crash dump. Also can you change the height and weight of Noni Madueke like in real life, Height: 176cm and Weight: 65kg. Thank you.

Please report technical/crash issues in the appropriate section :

https://community.sigames.com/forum/799-crashes-technical-issues/

 

Also, if you have database/research issues to report (with factual backup), post here:

https://community.sigames.com/forum/798-database-and-research/

Thanks.

[Johnny Ace]

20 minutes ago, Nahuelzn said:

Do you guys feel that gegenpressing is still OP as in FM20?

My issue is that I feel I should be punished if my team doesn't have the skills to play that kind of tactics. Players should be way more tired (FM said that this will happen on this ME, but haven't the chance to test it thoroughly) and the opposition should find more spaces to create chances. Not everyone can be Liverpool

Unsuitable players get a lot more tired from playing using gengen

[craiigman]

Not being able to get the match analysis from clicking the result on the fixtures screen is really annoying. Now have to go into 2 extra screens to get to it.

edit: also a drop down menu

edit 2: apparently it does show by this method, but I was just getting highlight options a minute a go. How very strange.

Edited November 14, 2020 by craiigman

[f.zaarour]

27 minutes ago, Nahuelzn said:

Do you guys feel that gegenpressing is still OP as in FM20?

My issue is that I feel I should be punished if my team doesn't have the skills to play that kind of tactics. Players should be way more tired (FM said that this will happen on this ME, but haven't the chance to test it thoroughly) and the opposition should find more spaces to create chances. Not everyone can be Liverpool

True if thats still the key in this FM it should be abit less or better balanced. I think the connection between quality, fitness and tactic should be key if a team succeeds or not. For example, Liverpool is the best example ofcourse, they have the quality, the players are top level in fitness with great stamina players like Trent and Robertson etc, and the tactic fits in well from the coach Klopp. But not every team could do the same and in a game there is also the factor tiredness. You see teams giving it all, pressing but after a while in game, they get tired and the succes of that is going downwards, the opponent gets more space etc. 

Edited November 14, 2020 by f.zaarour

[limey150781]

1 hour ago, tobybilton1 said:

 

Don't think I have ever been more disappointed in FM in all the years of playing it and it hurts me to say that. I appreciate that this is a BETA but the past two have not been this bad or had as many issues. 

 

Lagging match engine

Drag/drop players picking the wrong ones (the main issue for me)

Role suitability / stars on tactics screen should be looked at as suggested by somebody in other thread

Save game crashes (being looked at)

Literally not doing the tactics you have set up 

Messed up zoom at game start, put it to 85% it's better will deal with it. 

Setting opposition instructions pre game, sometimes I can select more than one player at a time, sometimes I can't 

Individual team talks take longer because you have to deselect every player first

They don't respond to shouts as much or as well as in previous years 

Hojbjerg marking of 10 and probably out of your Spurs team in a year or so (have posted about this on data-issues using the template they ask for and with evidence to support my argument and been blatantly ignored) 

 

I'm so gutted to have to come across as moaning or to write these complaints because I am mad about this game and have been for years, as many of us are. I just hope and prey everything gets sorted by full release otherwise i'll stick to FM20, which would be a great shame because all the new features have the potential to be ace, but they're just not working as they should. 

 

 

Anyone who goes back to the mess of FM20 over what is a fantastic FM21 Beta is insane.

[Mikal]

On the topic of xG on the previous page, SI please allow xG to be added as a column in the squad view and also in the player scouting.

[FMLegend1983]

On 13/11/2020 at 11:20, Jack Joyce said:

If you're seeing games where you think the AI is being unrealistically defensive then please start a bug thread on it and we can have a look. 

@FMLegend1983 - Seen a few posts about gegenpress tactics, we did increase the stamina drain high intensity play has on players this year, and our analysis suggested that although the tactic is strong, it's not overpowered (and it's weaker than last year). However that does mean it's better than an unbalanced tactic, and "Yet despite this they had a 6 game period where they got absolutely hammered 4/5 goals being conceded every game" suggests that there may be something going on tactically that could be corrected. The tactics forums are great to get some advice on what might be going wrong.

I get what  you are saying and I do enjoy the game I have after all sank 50 hours in it all so far, what stands out for me is just that the  dramatic and rapid transformation of my team was just so unrealistic it made the whole thing most unpalatable.

I expected a difficult first season being Leeds United in the EPL, I expected the odd losing streak, even a few thrashings. The first losing streak came about because I was a bit too harsh with the players as we lost key games we should have won against  thew weaker so called lesser teams. That said as an experienced player I noticed this and I managed to narrowly beat the sack I steadied the ship which during its voyage went from being in the top 8 the first 10 games to being as low as 17th (nearly getting me sacked) to then being comfortably between 10th and 12th thereafter.

Then from nowhere despite myself learning from previous mistakes with the morale, strengthening the squad but not selling/buying too much, not using a tactic that is too attacking nor having too much space on the pitch, I just went on the most terrible losing streak from a quality perspective that I've ever seen in any addition.

I went from being a solid EPL team that got some notable victory’s and draws against the top 4 teams to being a team that gets destroyed by the relegation fodder who previously I would squash. My defending was that of a pub team balls bouncing off players shins, opposition left completely on their own, good teams beat me 5-0/5-1, the weak teams beating me 4-0 the cherry on the cake Manchester United beating me 7-1!.  During this period I made sure I was not harsh on the players that I said sensible things in the media and respected their concerns and nurtured them to improve. I tried giving more micro management in terms of who I marked/pressed, paying more detail to opposition scout reports/training, my assistant manager, the game stats and changing defender/midfielder role mentality, defensive lines, close marking, offside trap, I didn't do this all in the course of one game it was incremental but nothing made an improvement at all to such calamitous defending I was on a road to nowhere I was powerless.

Where I take umbrage is the very second I  played a match with the out of the box Gagenpress my defenders who played like Titus Bramble and Frank Sinclair played Like Franco Baresi and Matheus Sammer! They went from the worst defence in the league to title challenging form winning 10 game in a row with around 9 clean sheets. It just felt too dramatic and hard to accept that how no matter how much I studied the game, tinkered I could not improve the most awful defending ever, but changing to 1 specific tactic magically could. To further my experiment I reloaded the game at the point of that 6th defeat of getting hammered tried a few different formations, tried the out of the box possession tactic to see if my fortunes improved as they did with the Gagenpress and nothing I did helped this awful defending and the poorest of form just continued.

To surmise it was only the Gagenpress that could act like a magic wand and made defenders that on form would struggle to get in my Sunday league become a brick wall and title challengers.

I'll never get over that 7-1 defeat to my rivals leaves me feeling so dirty lol, and to lighten the mood this leads me onto another question..... Should Manchester United be so overpowered in this year’s version given that current state of play shouldn't art should be imitating life?  

Edited November 14, 2020 by FMLegend1983

[Pattric_b]

I’m confused as to why you can’t add a column for xG on your squad view? Is that a known bug I missed somewhere because I can’t see why they would intentionally leave that out. 

[HUNT3R]

Just now, Pattric_b said:

I’m confused as to why you can’t add a column for xG on your squad view? Is that a known bug I missed somewhere because I can’t see why they would intentionally leave that out. 

And @Mikal

It's a known issue that was included in the list posted in the OP of the thread. Have a read through the list. It's available for all to view. 

[Mikal]

1 minute ago, HUNT3R said:

And @Mikal

It's a known issue that was included in the list posted in the OP of the thread. Have a read through the list. It's available for all to view. 

Fair dos, thanks, didn't read through that. Hopefully it's included by way of scouting as well and not just squad view.

[XaW]

2 hours ago, Domoboy23 said:

I love your goal gifs. Please keep them coming

I liked this one, even if it was against my team (high line is a double edged sword). It wasn't excellently executed by them, but is a nice one.

[tobybilton1]

1 hour ago, limey150781 said:

Anyone who goes back to the mess of FM20 over what is a fantastic FM21 Beta is insane.

Each to their own mate, I've spent more time on this forum than the BETA because of bugs and issues that either I've raised or have seen other people raising. Some of which are making it almost unplayable. 

Needed to raise my mood so gone back to a save/challenge some friends and I setup during the first lockdown.

I'm sure they'll fix it but I personally think this is the worst/most unfished BETA they've released. Like I said, if and when they get it right, it will be great! 

[Broken_Record]

6 hours ago, Sherkey said:

That was addressed somewhere. It doesn't appear from the start but after a while, by which time, your assistants would have told you what roles each opposition player is performing. Again. mirroring realism, which is good in this case.

Wouldn't say so as you are able to see each role change in real time during matches. That kind of information should not be available, no matter how well your staff knows the opposition. Seeing predicted roles in a team report would be fine but they should never be visible during matches imo. 

Edited November 14, 2020 by Broken_Record

[Azrael]

Hi,

I can't find how to add stats widgets on the screen in FM21 when watching matches in 3D or you can't add stats widgets in FM21?

Edited November 14, 2020 by Azrael

[GOODNAME]

If anyone notice it too, come for help

 

[Mikal]

35 minutes ago, XaW said:

I liked this one, even if it was against my team (high line is a double edged sword). It wasn't excellently executed by them, but is a nice one.

We'll have to start a thread of "Guess the xG" .

I do like how that is not perfectly executed like we'd often see on FM20. Martin making the run inside and Agouda playing it further wide making the chance slightly more difficult if Martin was to check his run after the initial inside movement and run on the outside.

[XaW]

1 minute ago, Mikal said:

We'll have to start a thread of "Guess the xG" .

I do like how that is not perfectly executed like we'd often see on FM20. Martin making the run inside and Agouda playing it further wide making the chance slightly more difficult if Martin was to check his run after the initial inside movement and run on the outside.

Haha, The xG was 0.15 for the record!  But that's not a bad idea really!

And, yes, it's not perfect, but that just makes it better for me. This is semi-pro football in Norway, so it's not Messi and Griezman who are playing here!

[bielsadidnothingwrong]

41 minutes ago, XaW said:

I liked this one, even if it was against my team (high line is a double edged sword). It wasn't excellently executed by them, but is a nice one.

I’ve seen quite a few lovely goals in my save too! Really like the tweaks to the ME so far. Can’t wait for the kinks to be ironed out for the full release. 

Not related to the quote...

One thing, and I’m sorry to continually harp on the match day stuff, that I don’t like is the sub menu only shows their positions, not really how they’ll perform in the selected role. It seems like i’d have to already have knowledge of their attributes and role suitability before I go into the match. 

[janrzm]

17 hours ago, janrzm said:

I've only just noticed the "Tactical Changes Apply to All Matches/Next Match only" button. Thank you!!

Has anyone noticed issues with this not working as it should? 

[GOODNAME]

10 minutes ago, janrzm said:

Has anyone noticed issues with this not working as it should? 

Its working only in match day.. i wish they will add the option to do it 1 week before the match

[samdiatmh]

5 hours ago, robot_skeleton said:

Sporting Lisbon mean business

I had a takeover at Southampton and the new owner immediately bought McNeil and Ruben Neves for a combined fee of 80M.

Do you guys see these crazy figures in your saves?

 

how about a record 252m GBP AI-to-AI signing? (check the milestones)
 

[autohoratio]

Just needed Ødegaard to either play it behind the defender for Benzema to run onto, or for Benz to play a one-two for Ødegaard to shoot from closer range...

[janesy20]

Love the game, only very minor issue for me that is slightly annoying is York City haven’t been given the couple of million for the Ben Godfrey transfer sell on, hopefully this is corrected in the full release.

[kelevra]

Sorry if this isn't the right place for this but I feel like the text in game isn't as crisp and clear to look at as it possibly could be.

[Altius]

Love the new fluidity in the attacking third, but my Lord, every goalkeeper - even on teams like Burton and Cadiz - can turn into Jan Oblak against sides like Manchester City and Barcelona?! Looking at 13-16 saves from them on players like Messi, de Bruyne, Aguero, etc. to keep it scoreless? Pretty absurd.

Overall, though, a great beta. Enjoying it and can't wait for the full release.

[Dougiefresh]

In general, the game is really enjoyable. The ME has made enourmous steps since FM20. It is just way better, more dynamic and more realistic in every aspect.

My negative feedback would be that you cant hide the assistant managers advices prior to or during the game anymore (or at least I havnet found a way to do so). These advices are (for most of the time) useless, and just really annoying. They kinda reminds me of internet popups and makes the whole experience less enjoyable imo. 

[yezzko]

7 hours ago, XaW said:

Sure, but this is lower league in Norway, so it's not exactly top tier players this. And I've only seen it once, which could happen due to players not noticing a free player. Like the goal Man Utd conceded to the Turkish side not long ago. So as long as it doesn't happen too often, I love it.

As you say, if it's one off then ok. I hope I'm not seeing 4-5 a season.

[XaW]

Just now, yezzko said:

As you say, if it's one off then ok. I hope I'm not seeing 4-5 a season.

Yeah, I've seen one in 3 seasons so far. I am lower league though, so no clue what happens at the top.

[LucasBR]

https://imgur.com/HAfwsnb

 

[img]https://i.imgur.com/HAfwsnb.png[/img]

 

Why this changes from one match to another? The previous match I didn't have any complaints about the tactic.

Edited November 14, 2020 by LucasBR

[Cassius99]

For a few years I had started to wonder if I might have ‘outgrown’ FM. I didn’t want to- because I have been playing it since CM2 and had loved it for years. 
 

FM 21 is the first time I have felt that I am enjoying it like I used to. It feels like a lot of the different dots have been joined up this year. The development centre fits nicely, transfer market seems generally decent, press conferences are enjoyable and the presentation is better and more immersive. The match engine is superb. 
 

Overall. It’s brilliant. In terms of my small criticisms- having the indicators for fitness during matches rather than the numbers means I have to constantly watch for player falling to red instead of being able to anticipate it over time- this strikes me as being much less realistic than the percentages. I also find it really tough to pick up on when a player is injured because I keep missing the notification. 
 

I also miss the statistic that used to show which player in your current squad had made the most overall appearances for the club which used to be recorded on the history/records screen but seems to have been taken out of the last couple of versions. I always enjoyed that and hoped it might sneak back in this year. 
 

Overall, very impressed. 

[Ruh Roh]

How do individual team talks work?

As I see it, the interface is telling me that I need to uncheck 13 boxes to tell Liam Noble that he scored a nice goal. But there's no way that's how it works. It has to be something else.

Edited November 14, 2020 by Ruh Roh

[Shrewnaldo]

Wasn't sure where to post this as I suspect it's a deliberate removal rather than a bug to report. Can I therefore check that this club selection screen has been removed for FM21?

 

EDIT - it seems that it is still in the game but I can never see it so will raise it as a bug once I confirm it's not just me being a moron

 

SECOND EDIT - nevermind,  confirmed moron.

 

Edited November 14, 2020 by Shrewnaldo

[thiagoanjo]

5 minutos atrás, Ruh Roh disse:

How do individual team talks work?

As I see it, the interface is telling me that I need to uncheck 13 boxes to tell Liam Noble that he scored a nice goal. But there's no way that's how it works. It has to be something else.

I think this in the complete list of known issues, did you read that?

[GuitarMan]

2 hours ago, 2feet said:

OPTION TO MIRROR ROUTINES WHEN SETTING UP SET-PIECES

You set up your attacking corner for the left side, and finish it

Then you start working on the right side.

If there was now a button to press that said 'Mirror left side setup' then you could pres this and it would replicate everything you just did on the left side but for the opposite way around (like a mirror)

This would save a lot of time. You could then make any tweaks to it.

This would hugely cut the amount of time it takes to set these things up. Thanks.

@2feet - This is well worth a post in the Feature Request forum. I think it would be a big timesaver if the Quality of Life change was made. This can be found - https://community.sigames.com/forum/680-football-manager-feature-requests/

[dominoes012]

Am not exactly sure if this is the correct place to post this. However players such as Mbappe Griezmann Messi Neymar Allison Ederson Salah Koke are being called up to the U23 Olympics for some reason. Clearly this would not happen in real life. Should this be reported as a bug or a gameplay issue

[StevehFC]

2 minutes ago, dominoes012 said:

Am not exactly sure if this is the correct place to post this. However players such as Mbappe Griezmann Messi Neymar Allison Ederson Salah Koke are being called up to the U23 Olympics for some reason. Clearly this would not happen in real life. Should this be reported as a bug or a gameplay issue

I'm sure Messi was called up for Argentina in 2008 Olympics. 

[samdiatmh]

seems a bit redundant that with 3 over23 players, and Brazil call up both Allison and Ederson as part of that quota

[dominoes012]

4 minutes ago, samdiatmh said:

seems a bit redundant that with 3 over23 players, and Brazil call up both Allison and Ederson as part of that quota

That's really not the point as none of these current players would be called up to an under 23s competition.

[thiagoanjo]

5 minutos atrás, dominoes012 disse:

That's really not the point as none of these current players would be called up to an under 23s competition.

Olympics teams cant call up 3 players above 23yo?

[GuitarMan]

quite often they are called up for the olympics, as the teams are allowed so many over 23s in the squad. at the last olympics:

Brazils squad included Neymar and Renato Augusto

Germany called up Lars Bender

South Korea called up Heung-Min Son

just because the uk dont enter doesnt mean other nations dont play to win. 

 

[samdiatmh]

16 minutes ago, GuitarMan said:

quite often they are called up for the olympics, as the teams are allowed so many over 23s in the squad. at the last olympics:

Brazils squad included Neymar and Renato Augusto

Germany called up Lars Bender

South Korea called up Heung-Min Son

just because the uk dont enter doesnt mean other nations dont play to win. 

 

FIFA regulations regarding Tokyo 2020 (or 2021)

https://resources.fifa.com/image/upload/regulations-for-the-olympic-football-tournaments.pdf?cloudid=djwdytm3sxnc2do3l0gz

 

Article 13.4

All players participating in the preliminary and final competitions of theTournament shall be born on or after 1 January 1997.However, a maximum of three male players who do not meet this age limit may also be included in the official list of players for the final competition.

 

Previous examples (Rio 2016):
Brazil - Weverton 28, Renato Augusto 28, and Neymar 24 were the overage players
Germany - Lars Bender 27, Sven Bender 27, and Nils Peterson 27 were the overage players
UK (2012) - Craig Bellamy 33, Ryan Giggs 38 and Micah Richards 24 were the overage players
Uruguay (2012) - Edinson Cavani 25, Luis Suarez 25, and Egito Rios 30 were the overage players
Brazil (2012) - Thiago Silva (27 - who was also selected in 2008 as another overage player), Hulk (26), and Marcelo (24), were the overage players
 

Neymar, Cavani, Suarez, Thiago Silva, Marcelo? all arguably within their countries greatest ever players - and all selected for Olympic duty

Edited November 14, 2020 by samdiatmh

[dominoes012]

8 minutes ago, GuitarMan said:

quite often they are called up for the olympics, as the teams are allowed so many over 23s in the squad. at the last olympics:

Brazils squad included Neymar and Renato Augusto

Germany called up Lars Bender

South Korea called up Heung-Min Son

just because the uk dont enter doesnt mean other nations dont play to win. 

 

The 2016 olympics was in Brazil and Neymar had just turned 24 so he wanted to play. Either way it's extremely unrealistic to have such top players play in an Olympics designed as an Under 23s competition. The likes of Messi at 34 and Griezmann at 30 and Neymar at 29 amongst the other older players who are stars competing in an Under23s competition just wouldn't happen.

[GuitarMan]

5 minutes ago, dominoes012 said:

The 2016 olympics was in Brazil and Neymar had just turned 24 so he wanted to play. Either way it's extremely unrealistic to have such top players play in an Olympics designed as an Under 23s competition. The likes of Messi at 34 and Griezmann at 30 and Neymar at 29 amongst the other older players who are stars competing in an Under23s competition just wouldn't happen.

As a matter of opinion, I'm happy to agree to disagree. Should you feel this is as you describe above, please raise a bug report about it:

  

On 10/11/2020 at 21:04, Neil Brock said:

Please everyone - this thread is for feedback and we're seeing a lot of what can only be described as bugs here.

Please ALL BUGS should be raised here - https://community.sigames.com/forum/770-football-manager-2021-early-access-beta-bugs-forum/ 

 

[thiagoanjo]

5 minutos atrás, dominoes012 disse:

The 2016 olympics was in Brazil and Neymar had just turned 24 so he wanted to play. Either way it's extremely unrealistic to have such top players play in an Olympics designed as an Under 23s competition. The likes of Messi at 34 and Griezmann at 30 and Neymar at 29 amongst the other older players who are stars competing in an Under23s competition just wouldn't happen.

Absolutely not. It is very much accurated. 

I dont know where are you from, but at least here (Brasil) we give Olympics extreme value.

[Tony Wright 747]

People are saying that they can't see when a player is injured, is the little cross above the players head missing this year

[BuryBlade]

5 hours ago, XaW said:

The dangers of having a too high defensive line against good strikers. This was against my team, but man what a lovely finish.

 

I’d like to know why the net animations still look like this (ridiculous)?