Football Manager 2021 Official Feedback Thread

[Svenc]

20 hours ago, Whufc10000 said:

I haven't been past season 3 in FM21

Almost all of my saves are in the EPL and if I play as a "Big Club(not Liverpool)"  then Liverpool usually reach 100 points or more in the first 3 seasons.

If I play as a mid table team or relegation fodder then whoever wins the EPL usually do so with a points tally around 79-92, until of course I'm able to challenge for the title and in that case usually Liverpool or Man Utd go back to picking up 100 points or more.

 

That said, there's nothing whatsoever like that in the game (as also mass recorded on many FM platforms). This is again not defending the game, but being concerned in terms of long-term development of the series. If "cheating" or "Unfairness" perceptions persist, the chance of AI improvements drops below zero (if the AI would improve, the game would be perceived as even more "unfair"). The game has actually not even ever giving a **** whether you're at all doing anything, outside of starting a save and pushing the space bar to progress the date.

Edited April 10, 2021 by Svenc

[marioNOW]

Of my god I just get super upset about a this... 

The inbox message into the scouting centre of of "I've finished scouting XY...  watched him for a week and receiving back a blank scouting report is just plain unaccaptable. I get it, he is from Georgia and we have no scouting knowledge of the country overall and he did not play a single match during that period. But for the love of god then watch a youtube highlight or ask a random fan of his club, just tell me SOMETHING about him.... is he fast, is he strong, something. He is an under 21 national yet this imbecile scout did NOTHING for a whole week while on paycheck and sent back a scouting report with 100% of his attributes masked. 

Other one is assigning another scout to watch a competition (U21 Euro qualifiers" and during the whole competition him not producing any reports with zero filters (age below 23, CA: Fairly Good PA: Excellent for my level - 2.5 *repu, 3* league, my team is garbage rated so an Excellent level player is around Championship level in UK terms) is unaccaptable. Basic scouting functions does not work as intented. I don't care if it realistic. If I as a non-professional random user can manage to look up a 21 year old Brasilian backup striker from Botafogo on youtube in 15 mins by just searching his name, a professiona scout earning 10k EUR a month should be able to do this as part of his job.

I swear that if you don't have finances for a world scouting package the attribute masking kills the game. I have a scouting range of EU but no money to have the 300k package, so to gather knowledge around my region I would have to assign every individual scouting assingment priorities on a weekly basis to have any kind of results . 

And no I will not make the effor to report it as bug as this is reoccuring theme since scouting was rewamped a few years ago and it is broken since and been reported multiple times.If I assign a scout to watch a competition or a player I do expect to get some results from it. No blank reports on players and 0 player reports from U21 EU Qualifiers. 

Just had to vent this out. 

[FulchesterFred]

On 09/04/2021 at 04:36, TokyoWanderer said:

You could argue this is unrealistic (Spurs winning a trophy that is), but I think things like these are what makes FM so great. The game even gives Spurs fans hope  

 

(Please don't ban me. Making fun of Spurs fans is the only thing us gunners can enjoy from football these days)

haha. I wonder how Arteta’s save is coming along? Probably complaining to SI about last minute goals from slavia Prague and Partey/ willian/ auba etc being unrealistically rubbish. 
Good luck in finishing in top half ;-)

[DP]

There are patterns in the early seasons that are pretty consistent - regardless of saves. I guess that’s to be expected. 
 

Liverpool start running away with things in season 2, Norwich get promoted and do well, City start to struggle. Same old teams at the bottom. 

Edited April 11, 2021 by DP

[XaW]

11 minutes ago, DP said:

There are patterns in the early seasons that are pretty consistent - regardless of saves. I guess that’s to be expected. 
 

Liverpool start running away with things in season 2, Norwich get promoted and do well, City start to struggle. Same old teams at the bottom. 

I don't think it's as clear cut as you say, this is the current PL in my save.

[IrrelevantLion]

I need to get this off my chest. 

I downloaded FM 21 again after a long hiatus. 200 hours in. I had deleted all my saves before uninstalling previously. 

I have dedicated 11 hours of the past two days to a new save in the French league 1 - Strasbourg. I chose to become unsackable because I just wanted to kick back and enjoy a season without feeling pressure - you know - just play the game in the background. 
 

Anyway, long story short, we couldn’t get out of 20th place from about October and got relegated. About 4 wins in the whole season. I wasn’t mad I was just morbidly curious how far it wanted to go. I managed the season to the best of my ability and tried to detach myself from the absolutely heartbreaking results we were getting - those games that make you want to hit your desk. Something was happening behind the scenes but I would rebuild the team and get promoted - the team was actually not bad. But they couldn’t do anything. It was just a matter of morale right? 
 

Anyway I put the hours into the preseason. It wasn’t a bad team and it was more than enough for the second league. One or two new additions. The morale increased significantly in the pre season and everyone was happy despite being relegated. 

First game we lose 2-0. That’s fine. Maybe a bit rusty. It’s just a one off.

The second game we are 2-0 up at half time. Feeling good - this was the beginning of the redemption.

Then we lose 3-2. I’m not joking, each goal was a 25 yard screamer. Even at this point I couldn’t take it any more. 

Sometimes it just feels like the game is stacked against you and there is nothing on Gods earth that you can do to stop it. The utterly devastating last minute goals. The utterly cheesy ass deflections and world class 30 yarders. The predictable patterns that you see in a highlight that you just know lead to a silly goal that you have seen so many times before - you stop getting annoyed and wonder what you are getting out of it. It’s nice to watch a rendered game of football but It just stops feeling like a game. 

Thanks for listening  

[rp1966]

Looks like something is a bit out of balance, probably too many overrated players in the EPL allowing Scotland and Wales to get that far.

Semi final line-up for 2024 Euros:

Edited April 12, 2021 by rp1966

[Whufc10000]

On 10/04/2021 at 11:15, Svenc said:

That said, there's nothing whatsoever like that in the game (as also mass recorded on many FM platforms). This is again not defending the game, but being concerned in terms of long-term development of the series. If "cheating" or "Unfairness" perceptions persist, the chance of AI improvements drops below zero (if the AI would improve, the game would be perceived as even more "unfair"). The game has actually not even ever giving a **** whether you're at all doing anything, outside of starting a save and pushing the space bar to progress the date.

Stalker alert, stalker alert, there is a stalker alert going on here 

[XaW]

22 minutes ago, rp1966 said:

Looks like something is a bit out of balance, probably too many overrated players in the EPL allowing Scotland and Wales to get that far.

Semi final line-up for 2024 Euros:

There is a bit of randomness into this. In my save England won it in 2028, but other than that no British side have gotten past the quarter finals. (In 2032 currently).

Not to say there couldn't be any overrating, but an isolated Euro tournament don't say much in that regard, really.

[FulchesterFred]

18 hours ago, IrrelevantLion said:

I need to get this off my chest. 

I downloaded FM 21 again after a long hiatus. 200 hours in. I had deleted all my saves before uninstalling previously. 

I have dedicated 11 hours of the past two days to a new save in the French league 1 - Strasbourg. I chose to become unsackable because I just wanted to kick back and enjoy a season without feeling pressure - you know - just play the game in the background. 
 

Anyway, long story short, we couldn’t get out of 20th place from about October and got relegated. About 4 wins in the whole season. I wasn’t mad I was just morbidly curious how far it wanted to go. I managed the season to the best of my ability and tried to detach myself from the absolutely heartbreaking results we were getting - those games that make you want to hit your desk. Something was happening behind the scenes but I would rebuild the team and get promoted - the team was actually not bad. But they couldn’t do anything. It was just a matter of morale right? 
 

Anyway I put the hours into the preseason. It wasn’t a bad team and it was more than enough for the second league. One or two new additions. The morale increased significantly in the pre season and everyone was happy despite being relegated. 

First game we lose 2-0. That’s fine. Maybe a bit rusty. It’s just a one off.

The second game we are 2-0 up at half time. Feeling good - this was the beginning of the redemption.

Then we lose 3-2. I’m not joking, each goal was a 25 yard screamer. Even at this point I couldn’t take it any more. 

Sometimes it just feels like the game is stacked against you and there is nothing on Gods earth that you can do to stop it. The utterly devastating last minute goals. The utterly cheesy ass deflections and world class 30 yarders. The predictable patterns that you see in a highlight that you just know lead to a silly goal that you have seen so many times before - you stop getting annoyed and wonder what you are getting out of it. It’s nice to watch a rendered game of football but It just stops feeling like a game. 

Thanks for listening  

Except it’s not a rendered game of football. It’s a rendered game of FM. so you’re watching something that isn’t happening naturally. I really don’t believe FM is scripted but I’m concerned there are more comments like this than FMs peak a few years ago. As they try to balance things more and more (which is fair enough) they’re creating artificial scenarios to creat that balance. Eg strikers who can’t score so that a team doesn’t win by 10. 
all this betrays a problem in the ME. I think SI are finding it really difficult to limit the dominance of the best teams in each match so find sticking plaster solutions. I have no problem with the developers, it must be really complicated, but I think they’ve gone down a rabbit hole.

[zyfon5]

2 hours ago, FulchesterFred said:

Except it’s not a rendered game of football. It’s a rendered game of FM. so you’re watching something that isn’t happening naturally. I really don’t believe FM is scripted but I’m concerned there are more comments like this than FMs peak a few years ago. As they try to balance things more and more (which is fair enough) they’re creating artificial scenarios to creat that balance. Eg strikers who can’t score so that a team doesn’t win by 10. 
all this betrays a problem in the ME. I think SI are finding it really difficult to limit the dominance of the best teams in each match so find sticking plaster solutions. I have no problem with the developers, it must be really complicated, but I think they’ve gone down a rabbit hole.

I am pretty sure if he would share his save someone would be able to instantly turn it around. Comments like this have been here since the start of this forum. I like to call them the daily rant thread.

[alian62]

19 hours ago, XaW said:

There is a bit of randomness into this. In my save England won it in 2028, but other than that no British side have gotten past the quarter finals. (In 2032 currently).

Not to say there couldn't be any overrating, but an isolated Euro tournament don't say much in that regard, really.

 Depends if your playing in full detail or not . Full Detail gives you more honest results

[forameuss]

So I'm starting a season with a newly promoted squad to the top tier.  If I tell them I believe they can avoid relegation, is "offended" really the reaction that a professional footballer and human being would have?  As in, they're offended that I actually believe they're better than they think?  I can understand disagreement, feelings of inadequacy, but the entire squad jumping to extremes seems off.

EDIT: Actually, it's not an entire squad saying they're offended.  A few got "insulted" too!  And I get that suggesting a weaker squad can compete and avoid relegation would have an impact on morale, perhaps have players feeling like too much has been asked of them, but offended/insulted and an extreme negative reaction seems way too much.  Particularly when this is a club managed for 10 years that has often overachieved, the season just finished included.  Once again a complete lack of context in interactions.  

Edited April 13, 2021 by forameuss

[themadsheep2001]

21 hours ago, zyfon5 said:

I am pretty sure if he would share his save someone would be able to instantly turn it around. Comments like this have been here since the start of this forum. I like to call them the daily rant thread.

Absolutely, people will make up the most convoluted theories as to why they cant win a particular game or run. Despite the fact, that every year SI point out this is, well not true, and nonsensical.

You never hear people complaining when the lucky goals go their way

[blejdek]

8 hours ago, alian62 said:

 Depends if your playing in full detail or not . Full Detail gives you more honest results

Where is the option to decide if the game is full detail or not ?? I hope its not like full version or touch version and I'm making fool of myself ?

[Freakiie]

27 minutes ago, blejdek said:

Where is the option to decide if the game is full detail or not ?? I hope its not like full version or touch version and I'm making fool of myself ?

In the menu "Detail Level", right below Add/Remove leagues. The league you're managing in will always be automatically on full detail.

World Cup should also be full detail automatically, for the European Cup it's the later stages.

[blejdek]

3 hours ago, Freakiie said:

In the menu "Detail Level", right below Add/Remove leagues. The league you're managing in will always be automatically on full detail.

World Cup should also be full detail automatically, for the European Cup it's the later stages.

Ahhh I see it yeah. Anyone has experience if I set all on high detail, how much slower the game would run ? Because I have all leagues loaded and I prefer to play game real slow, I try to be invested as much as the time allowes me

[Platinum]

32 minutes ago, blejdek said:

Ahhh I see it yeah. Anyone has experience if I set all on high detail, how much slower the game would run ? Because I have all leagues loaded and I prefer to play game real slow, I try to be invested as much as the time allowes me

It really depends on the computer specs, I've had all leagues on full detail before and it runs quite fast but I've got a very good PC, other computers will ages to the point where its basically not playable.

An important thing to remember though is that putting all leagues and competitions on full detail isnt a good idea regardless of your computer specs. The game only saves up to 300mb of match data so you with all leagues loaded you will quickly find that you cant watch matches or generate match reports from other leagues as there isnt enough space to save them.  On top of that there are a load of competitions that really dont need to be on full detail,  it wont affect realism or player development. 

[Viking]

You should release this game with a tool that tells you the exact mechanics behind why you lost a game. Oh, and a "autowin match" button. Replaying the same match 20-30 times to get a win is tedious and exhausting.

Thanks.

 

[FulchesterFred]

4 hours ago, Viking said:

You should release this game with a tool that tells you the exact mechanics behind why you lost a game. Oh, and a "autowin match" button. Replaying the same match 20-30 times to get a win is tedious and exhausting.

Thanks.

 

Haha. I do want to know the exact reason why I lost a game. In chess I always know why I lose (v often). It’s no secret. But it’s the greatest strategy game of all time. the more you learn the harder the opponent you play against and again you learn. 

Knowing why you lost allows you to change and develop. Otherwise it’s guesswork. If understanding the rules, parameters and mechanics of a game makes it too easy there’s a problem with the game....especially with the AI which the developers may fear is too easily overrun. So keep us guessing, create debates etc but never give us the full armoury at our disposal.

Edited April 14, 2021 by FulchesterFred

[Zoolok42]

1 hour ago, FulchesterFred said:

Haha. I do want to know the exact reason why I lost a game. In chess I always know why I lose (v often). It’s no secret. But it’s the greatest strategy game of all time. the more you learn the harder the opponent you play against and again you learn. 

Knowing why you lost allows you to change and develop. Otherwise it’s guesswork. If understanding the rules, parameters and mechanics of a game makes it too easy there’s a problem with the game....especially with the AI which the developers may fear is too easily overrun. So keep us guessing, create debates etc but never give us the full armoury at our disposal.

First of all, Chess is a game with strict rules, not at all comparable to football, a game where chance and luck play a huge role, so the comparison doesn't make sense.

Second of all, when you watch a football game in real life, do you understand why a team won or lost?

[blejdek]

10 minutes ago, Zoolok42 said:

First of all, Chess is a game with strict rules, not at all comparable to football, a game where chance and luck play a huge role, so the comparison doesn't make sense.

Second of all, when you watch a football game in real life, do you understand why a team won or lost?

If they won they scored more goals than the opponent, if they lost they scored fewer goals than the opponent.

[Zoolok42]

1 minute ago, blejdek said:

If they won they scored more goals than the opponent, if they lost they scored fewer goals than the opponent.

Yes, but if you watch the game, you also understand why they scored more or fewer than the opponents. And you can watch the entire match in FM, as well, so I hope you see where this is going.

[FulchesterFred]

9 minutes ago, Zoolok42 said:

First of all, Chess is a game with strict rules, not at all comparable to football, a game where chance and luck play a huge role, so the comparison doesn't make sense.

Second of all, when you watch a football game in real life, do you understand why a team won or lost?

There are some pretty strict rules in football. If chance and luck played such a big role Seria A and the German league would have had at least one different winner over past 10 years. If it’s mostly chance and luck the managerial job would be irrelevant and this game defunct. So it’s not mostly chance and luck is it....

secondly.....I do understand some of the time. But there’s one key difference. I’m not actually in the dressing room and I’m not the manager. What did Pep see when spurs beat them 2-0 earlier this year. I don’t know. But he saw something cos he’s the manager. He then refined and altered his tactics and training to make them almost invincible. Or maybe.......he told them to be more lucky.

[Zoolok42]

Just now, FulchesterFred said:

There are some pretty strict rules in football. If chance and luck played such a big role Seria A and the German league would have had at least one different winner over past 10 years. If it’s mostly chance and luck the managerial job would be irrelevant and this game defunct. So it’s not mostly chance and luck is it....

secondly.....I do understand some of the time. But there’s one key difference. I’m not actually in the dressing room and I’m not the manager. What did Pep see when spurs beat them 2-0 earlier this year. I don’t know. But he saw something cos he’s the manager. He then refined and altered his tactics and training to make them almost invincible. Or maybe.......he told them to be more lucky.

Well you are right, it isn't mostly chance and luck, but I never said it was, so what point are you arguing?

And with FM, you can go in the dressing room and talk to the players. That part will always be an issue (mostly because people expect the footballers to react in the game the same way they, the player would react, so you see a lot of "why is he asking for this or being upset" threads here; there are bugs sometimes, I agree, but it works most of the time).

Or maybe... Pep Guardiola is a football manager and you are a Football Manager player, and it turns out those two are not really the same.

[FulchesterFred]

12 minutes ago, Zoolok42 said:

Well you are right, it isn't mostly chance and luck, but I never said it was, so what point are you arguing?

And with FM, you can go in the dressing room and talk to the players. That part will always be an issue (mostly because people expect the footballers to react in the game the same way they, the player would react, so you see a lot of "why is he asking for this or being upset" threads here; there are bugs sometimes, I agree, but it works most of the time).

Or maybe... Pep Guardiola is a football manager and you are a Football Manager player, and it turns out those two are not really the same.

You didn’t say it’s mostly chance and luck fair enough :-) . But you did allude to the fact that luck is so important that it makes rules less important.

I play FMT so don’t get to manipulate players through interaction. Tactics are everything. So I need perfect, or near perfect stats, hmmmmmmm. I also need a reasonably good idea why we lost or won and, yes sometimes it’s down to luck. I don’t think the game provides enough reasoning and doesn’t explain itself well enough through manuals. Hence why I said I understand every rule in chess but it’s still a massive challenge. I don’t understand enough about FM as they don’t provide a strong manual. Hence why I’m on these boards asking bucket loads of questions.

 

Edited April 14, 2021 by FulchesterFred

[Zoolok42]

Just now, FulchesterFred said:

You didn’t say it’s mostly chance and luck fair enough :-) . But you did allude to the fact that luck is so important that it makes rules less important.

I play FMT so don’t get to manipulate players through interaction. Tactics are everything. So I need perfect, or near perfect stats, hmmmmmmm. I also need a reasonably good idea why we lost or won and, yes sometimes it’s down to luck. I don’t think the game provides enough reasoning and doesn’t explain itself well enough through manuals. Hence why I said I understand every rule in chess but it’s still a massive challenge. 

 

Well ok, let me rephrase it like this: do you think anyone fully understands why Timo Werner is struggling at Chelsea right now? Or why Neymar hit the framework twice yesterday? Or why Jesse Lingard is suddenly the new Messi in West Ham?

[zyfon5]

49 minutes ago, FulchesterFred said:

There are some pretty strict rules in football. If chance and luck played such a big role Seria A and the German league would have had at least one different winner over past 10 years. If it’s mostly chance and luck the managerial job would be irrelevant and this game defunct. So it’s not mostly chance and luck is it....

secondly.....I do understand some of the time. But there’s one key difference. I’m not actually in the dressing room and I’m not the manager. What did Pep see when spurs beat them 2-0 earlier this year. I don’t know. But he saw something cos he’s the manager. He then refined and altered his tactics and training to make them almost invincible. Or maybe.......he told them to be more lucky.

Although football is not all chance and luck, research using betting odds has found that football is a sport that is more affected by chance and luck compared to other sports. And as why the leagues have not had a different winner over the past ten years (Serie A and Ligue 1 might change that this season), this is because league games are played with more than 30 matches a season and there are a minimum of 18 teams in a league which averages out all the bad luck and good luck. The sample size is so large that the luck factor do not make too much of a difference when compared to the differences in ability of the teams. And this is the reason why any meaningful data analysis requires a large enough sample size to reduce situations where players overperform during a hot streak. Compare this to the Champions League which is played over less games and it is no surprise that you will get surprise semi finalists almost every year and favourites being knocked out in quarter finals.

[Svenc]

1 hour ago, zyfon5 said:

And as why the leagues have not had a different winner over the past ten years (Serie A and Ligue 1 might change that this season), this is because league games are played with more than 30 matches a season and there are a minimum of 18 teams in a league which averages out all the bad luck and good luck. The sample size is so large that the luck factor do not make too much of a difference when compared to the differences in ability of the teams.

 

Whilst it is debatable how much the table "lies" (that is as an actually accurate ranking of teams), that it doesn't "lie" actually remains one of football's biggest myths.   Bit OT, so:


Why Brentford are leading the way in recruitment strategy. (footballbh.net)
Brentford's Moneyball Way To Beat Football Teams With Huge Budgets | Bleacher Report | Latest News, Videos and Highlights
Does the league table lie? (footballradar.com)


"Telling people that the league table lies is like telling people that the earth is flat. All their preconceptions are being challenged, and the media won't accept it because they rely on having tragedies and triumphs, so it's a difficult thing to say—especially when you are underachieving."


The reason why most of the bigger leagues are dominated by the usual suspects (in particular in the last couple years / decade) is because the top dogs have run completely away from the pack (money, team strength), and will likely continue to do so (European Super League incoming).

FM has introduced "Expected Point" tables, suggesting that good and bad fortune over such a short period as a single season may play a role here too (as said, I've seen AI underperforming xG by -15 points). And that's but "xG". Fortunate / unfortunate fixture lists, injuries (for own team and opponents...) 

Btw, I had cloned Bayern Munich on a prior release on full match details, AI managed, mind (including players, staff, managament, etc.) This isn't meant to unsettle anyone, but the only bigger difference to a more unbalanced league with small and bigger teams competing in the same contest was to be found in the goal differences. Most matches were fairly tight affairs, to less heavy beatings or huge wins.  This is AI vs AI. How much your own save has been influenced by randomness has always depended on how much you were able to outperform the game's AI managers (for some, saves are very random, for others, less so).

Edited April 14, 2021 by Svenc

[SebastianRO]

There's nothing quite like a time machine

 

 

[rp1966]

Probably related to the invisible kits bug - some of my players have acquired black kits ...

[Sunstrikuuu]

One of them appears to have acquired more than that...

[Delvi]

I'm an avid player of the series since Championship Manager: this is the best FM ever and I'm enjoying it a lot.

There's room for improvement? Sure, however IMHO it's miles better than FM 17-18-19-20...

[alian62]

7 hours ago, Delvi said:

I'm an avid player of the series since Championship Manager: this is the best FM ever and I'm enjoying it a lot.

There's room for improvement? Sure, however IMHO it's miles better than FM 17-18-19-20...

For many FM17 was the benchmark but in my own opinion FM21 has surpassed it and now is the benchmark for future installments . With a new franchise coming out in June and looks to be very promising i am hoping this will give SI some serious competition to make this game a lot more better 

[samuelawachie]

4 hours ago, alian62 said:

For many FM17 was the benchmark but in my own opinion FM21 has surpassed it and now is the benchmark for future installments . With a new franchise coming out in June and looks to be very promising i am hoping this will give SI some serious competition to make this game a lot more better 

Just imagine if they didn't mess up the Analysis tools and the Match-day UI. 

I didn't get the game yet this year, but I might just get it when it's really on sale or better yet, free

[CityAndColour]

Just a normal season in the Conference South...

Goal-scoring in full detail leagues is just mental. Four players in TOTAL scored 20 or more in all the other English leagues, which are obviously not on full detail while I'm in the Conference South.

[Weasek]

10 hours ago, alian62 said:

For many FM17 was the benchmark but in my own opinion FM21 has surpassed it and now is the benchmark for future installments . With a new franchise coming out in June and looks to be very promising i am hoping this will give SI some serious competition to make this game a lot more better 

What franchise is coming out?

[alian62]

2 minutes ago, Weasek said:

What franchise is coming out?

cant say on here ... will get locked out

 

[danielclouston1]

On 12/04/2021 at 12:19, rp1966 said:

Looks like something is a bit out of balance, probably too many overrated players in the EPL allowing Scotland and Wales to get that far.

Semi final line-up for 2024 Euros:

How do you feel about a Nigeria v Qatar 2030 world cup final? 😂 Qatar beat France and England on their way to the final and Nigeria beat Brazil and Croatia.

[witticism]

On 11/04/2021 at 07:41, XaW said:

I don't think it's as clear cut as you say, this is the current PL in my save.

 only five years in:

 

Edited April 18, 2021 by witticism

[CityAndColour]

Why are all my players "hurt" and "offended" when I tell them they're good enough to avoid relegation?

[ExeChris]

55 minutes ago, CityAndColour said:

Why are all my players "hurt" and "offended" when I tell them they're good enough to avoid relegation?

Especially when they finished 7th the season before?!

[Platinum]

For people that are struggling with getting  a lot of blocked crosses, it's likely because the opponents is forcing you wide or you have a tactic that is making you play  very wide. This can be fine but make sure your wingers/full backs dont have the 'Croff More Often' player/role instruction on. Having that off or chosen 'Cross Less Often' the player will look to pass or hold onto the ball if they dont think the cross will work

[CaptCanuck]

2 hours ago, francis#17 said:

For people that are struggling with getting  a lot of blocked crosses, it's likely because the opponents is forcing you wide or you have a tactic that is making you play  very wide. This can be fine but make sure your wingers/full backs dont have the 'Croff More Often' player/role instruction on. Having that off or chosen 'Cross Less Often' the player will look to pass or hold onto the ball if they dont think the cross will work

Sure there are mitigation techniques (just like having to mitigate over the top balls compared to FM20), but the reason there are a lot of blocked crosses is because that ME rendering/use case is how SI is keeping the scoring chances down and preventing a bunch of 6-5 matches. Like last year's 1:1 misses and no cutbacks and whatever it would have been in FM19 and earlier :-)

Fair enough if things need to be fudged in the ME, not all the moving parts in the ME can be ironed out, but telling people it's their tactics?

[Freakiie]

3 hours ago, ExeChris said:

Especially when they finished 7th the season before?!

To be fair, if they finished 7th and are a somewhat ambitious group it would be kind of an insult if you tell them that you think they're basically good enough to merely go for 16th or something next season!

[ExeChris]

1 hour ago, Freakiie said:

To be fair, if they finished 7th and are a somewhat ambitious group it would be kind of an insult if you tell them that you think they're basically good enough to merely go for 16th or something next season!

No they complain that we're expecting too much!

[CaptCanuck]

I must have forgotten about this one :-S

Trying to sort out how to manage my offseason transfers, with Champions League registration and I get this lovely 'Testing Changes Only' button that I cannot even click. Should be called the didn't test changes button.

Edited April 18, 2021 by CaptCanuck

[Platinum]

4 hours ago, CaptCanuck said:

Sure there are mitigation techniques (just like having to mitigate over the top balls compared to FM20), but the reason there are a lot of blocked crosses is because that ME rendering/use case is how SI is keeping the scoring chances down and preventing a bunch of 6-5 matches. Like last year's 1:1 misses and no cutbacks and whatever it would have been in FM19 and earlier :-)

Fair enough if things need to be fudged in the ME, not all the moving parts in the ME can be ironed out, but telling people it's their tactics?

What lool? This isnt a mitigation, it's literally  not telling your players to "cross more often". If you tell a player to cross more often they will cross even when they think it's not the best option, precisely because you told them to.

A few of the player roles have "cross more often" on by default, lots of people probably don't know this. Whether it should be on by default or not is a separate argument and one inwould agree with.

And I can tell you from experience, the number of chances doesnt increase massively by telling players to cross less, so no that's not why.

Also I'm not an SI employee, I'm literally giving people advice on a problem many have lool, I hope that's ok with you.

Edited April 18, 2021 by francis#17

[CaptCanuck]

3 hours ago, francis#17 said:

What lool? This isnt a mitigation, it's literally  not telling your players to "cross more often". If you tell a player to cross more often they will cross even when they think it's not the best option, precisely because you told them to.

A few of the player roles have "cross more often" on by default, lots of people probably don't know this. Whether it should be on by default or not is a separate argument and one inwould agree with.

And I can tell you from experience, the number of chances doesnt increase massively by telling players to cross less, so no that's not why.

Also I'm not an SI employee, I'm literally giving people advice on a problem many have lool, I hope that's ok with you.

Agree to a point on the option for crossing - as you say it's written right on it what that does/doesn't do, absolutely that does reduce the total number of blocked crosses. Although that doesn't improve crossing per say, it just reduces the total number of blocks because your players are attempting fewer. Whether we term in mitigation or not is just semantics and your advice will definitely help folks see few annoying blocks

I have not seen any differences from a width (defending, attacking, TIs, PIs, etc...) POV that makes a substantive change though. You can be narrow/wide/have time/not have time and still get closed down.

Funnily enough I think I led the league is cross completion % last season - and saw way more than my share of poorly simulated blocked cross situations - I need to check as my faulty memory could very well be wrong.

[CityAndColour]

9 hours ago, Freakiie said:

To be fair, if they finished 7th and are a somewhat ambitious group it would be kind of an insult if you tell them that you think they're basically good enough to merely go for 16th or something next season!

I won the league/promotion and the two options I got for next season were "you are good enough to stay clear of relegation" and "you may well get relegated but I trust you to battle hard" - I picked the former and got players being hurt and offended.

TBH it's one of the things I think is just really poorly implemented in FM - I get the intent is that players don't want to feel pressure above expectations, however no professional athlete is going to be offended when you tell them that you trust they can avoid relegation. It's just really dumb.