*Official* Football Manager 2022 Early Access Beta Feedback Thread

[themadsheep2001]

8 minutes ago, DarJ said:

I don't know where people got the misconception that only playing gegenpress press will tire your player. On the tactic screen you have the tactical familiarity bar and the intensity bar and there are a lot of things that determine if the intensity of your tactic is high and pressing is just one of them. As an example, look at the screenshot, pressing is standard but yet the intensity of the tactic is high so players will get tired.

Training and conditioning also matter, if your players aren't conditioned to play intensive football over a season they will tire more too. You can certainly undertrain as much as you can overtrain

If people think they are seeing an issue though they should upload it to the tracker

[BuzzR]

3 hours ago, CharlieTZR said:

- the 3D ME have certainly bugs and this is my biggest worry, if game stays like this is unplayable; I scored a lot when I simply played only commentary. With my usual set up "comprehensive highlights" I barely score and witness minutes of passes between my CD, FB and DLP between them, on and on and on until one is bored and kick it up to nowhere.

The game doesn't work this way.

The match is simulated at the start and then this simulation is presented to you anyway you want it - 2D, 3D, text only, comprehensive / key highlights - with the speed you want. But it doesn't matter how you watch it.

When you make a change - a tactical change, a substitution - the game will redo the simulation with this new changes then will present this new simulation.

So it doesn't matter how you watch the game from this perspective. 

[RTHerringbone]

The game is OK but some core Match Engine tweaks are needed to reduce the one-dimensional feel of games. I've read the polar opposite arguments about central play / wide play and the reality is that both are issues but few people seem to concede a common ground here 

There does seem to be an excessive bias to playing the ball out wide and this is exacerbated by certain setups. As and when the ball ends up with wide players, their reluctance to cut inside (for appropriate roles or traits) makes things worse. I see enough good central through balls etc. when the right opportunities arise and I think these will be more evident once any wide biases are balanced.

I can't tell if it's the quality of crossing or the apathetic defending (both?) but aerial balls into the box are a bloody nightmare and result in too many goals. This is my biggest gripe at the moment because it creates a ridiculously samey feel to matches. This does get artificially inflated by the nature of highlights (they all start after "dead" play - set pieces, throw-ins etc.) so it isn't quite as prevalent as people might think, but it is still a big problem.

Long shots are too effective, even when a player doesn't necessarily have a great combination of attributes to score this sort of shot. When you do face an opponent with a good spread of attributes, brace yourself. I played a game against Wolves where Ruben Neves netted a hat-trick of 25+ yard shots. It felt....hollow.

Then there is the age-old issue of possession and passing in low mentality systems engaged by underdogs. That's a perma-gripe going back absolutely ages.

I think that if this lot can get sorted then it'll be a great game. After a solid day or two on it I'm finding that the sheer visibility of the above weaknesses leaves me a bit disappointed.

I'm actually going to completely change tactical approach so my own team doesn't benefit from the wide play imbalance and that'll indirectly make me more open to being on the receiving end of things. When you intentionally change your system to take advantage of or avoid a Match Engine weakness, then you know something fundamental is wrong.

Someone was posting a series of examples showing how heading was overly effective and how great it is. It's not - it's ruining the current Beta ME.

[thomas166]

33 minutes ago, FrazT said:

Re staff meetings- in staff responsibilities, advice you get  a drop down menu with a list of everything that you want to get advice about so just deselect all those that you want your TD to cover.

Oooh, didn't knwo this. Thanks!

[themadsheep2001]

@RTHerringbone the reluctance to cut inside is definitely for me, one of the key issues. I think if they can sort that, it will immediately bring more balance

[samuelawachie]

1 hour ago, thomas166 said:

Playing as Coventry City, why is Gustavo Hamer so angry?! Before I've even said anything in the dressing room the guys looking aggressive. 

 

Was it only I that found this so hilarious and funny? And that personality and name reminds me of Gattuso, the AC Milan legend!

[RTHerringbone]

Just now, themadsheep2001 said:

@RTHerringbone the reluctance to cut inside is definitely for me, one of the key issues. I think if they can sort that, it will immediately bring more balance

Absolutely. It'll immediately fix a lot of the issues, directly or indirectly. I think resolving that and the accuracy of / defending of aerial balls, plus the long shots will make a big difference.

[Johnny Ace]

That's just a high aggression rating, those guys are always fired up 

[DarJ]

One thing I like with this ME that I have not seen mention anywhere is how players interact with each other, so in previous iteration after a set piece even if the ball was still in play you will see the players go back to there usual position but now I during freekick I send my right CB front he will remain there if the ball is still in play and do the job of the RB and the RB will take his position and do the job of the CB until the have time to switch back to their original position.

[rafaelbenitez]

1 hour ago, Yuko said:

This game feels more and more like a job. 

Too many nuances, dealing with media, players, you need to check the entire screen all the time for hidden options to say, something you feel trapped by the options available. 

 

I am having trouble enjoying it, it's as if I play it because I was programmed over 25 odd years to play these games. And it's not like I'm doing bad, results tend to come my way one way or another, the match engine is smooth, but everything around it is just too much. 

If the game is to be played the way it has been designed and intended by the developers, I think an average person couldn't play for more than 10 full seasons in total during a year. Students and people with a lot of free time, perhaps significantly more. We're past the time of asking whether the direction is to go for an extremely detailed game that requires too much micromanaging versus a football management simulation. 

The intention to add more detail is welcome and appreciated but the execution here just makes this feel like an after-work chore rather than the escapism it used to offer. 

FM Touch was perhaps the answer and an alternative but sadly discontinued.

[Johnny Ace]

2 minutes ago, DarJ said:

One thing I like with this ME that I have not seen mention anywhere is how players interact with each other, so in previous iteration after a set piece even if the ball was still in play you will see the players go back to there usual position but now I during freekick I send my right CB front he will remain there if the ball is still in play and do the job of the RB and the RB will take his position and do the job of the CB until the have time to switch back to their original position.

That happened last year & maybe in FM20 too. It happens in possession too, if your striker goes wandering another player will step up & fill in for him in his absence, I'm seeing more of that this edition & it's awesome at times 

[Rashidi]

6 minutes ago, RTHerringbone said:

Absolutely. It'll immediately fix a lot of the issues, directly or indirectly. I think resolving that and the accuracy of / defending of aerial balls, plus the long shots will make a big difference.

Welcome to the beta ;-)

[Piksi#10]

On the topic of central play. I was very vocal 2 years ago, but right now I think we're not far off from a great ME. I'm seeing a lot of promising things.

Below you have some nice central play from my side. No goal, but the movement is exactly what I expect to see.

All starts out with my IF(S) Torres setting up the move on the right. My DLF(S), Bentancourt drops deep to combine with my SV(A) Alvarez. He then exchanges some passes with my IW(A) Cannobio, while my IF is already occupying the half space, waiting to pounce. As you can see both my IW and IF are in the half spaces, without any further instructions. 

See the move here: https://streamable.com/0215ls

I think a lot of it has to do with creating space. When you clog up the middle, the opposition will do the same and space will naturally be found on the wings. In my formation however I have 2 wide centrebacks, 2 wingbacks and 2 wingers, so I'm overloading the wings, which often frees up space down the middle. You can see an example of that in the screenshot below. When we attack, we often transform into a 3-1-6, completely stretching the backline of our opposition, creating holes.

Here we move the ball out wide, the opposition right back has to close down and my SV(A) ends up with plenty of space to shoot right in front of their box and scores our second goal of the night.

I'm not saying things can't be improved, but this ME is already superior to FM21's as I spent all last year trying to perfect the 3-4-3 with all its intricacies. 

Edited October 28, 2021 by Piksi#10

[zyfon5]

8 minutes ago, DarJ said:

One thing I like with this ME that I have not seen mention anywhere is how players interact with each other, so in previous iteration after a set piece even if the ball was still in play you will see the players go back to there usual position but now I during freekick I send my right CB front he will remain there if the ball is still in play and do the job of the RB and the RB will take his position and do the job of the CB until the have time to switch back to their original position.

This is already in the game since FM20 at least. Maybe player will stay in their starting position for a longer time now but it is nothing new. My CB has assisted a few goals in my current save from these kind of situations after the initial set piece was cleared.

[DarJ]

2 minutes ago, zyfon5 said:

This is already in the game since FM20 at least. Maybe player will stay in their starting position for a longer time now but it is nothing new. My CB has assisted a few goals in my current save from these kind of situations after the initial set piece was cleared.

I’m seeing more of it now together with BPD bringing the ball out. I want more of that 😂

[FM1000]

15 minutes ago, MrPompey said:

Some of your comments are quite bonkers....

"does SI actually watch the ME" - of course they do...

"the last time it was this bad, they skipped a whole game and left their customers with a broken game for a year." incorrect

"they actually don't see any problems here with the ME" you do realise that this current version is the early access beta?

If you want change and want to contribute to that change then why not raise a bug / add to an existing bug and upload PKMs detailing the times in each PKM you see these issues. That is the way to contribute to change, the more evidence the better and the greater chance of getting change

 

 

People know it's a beta but we all remember the lack of central play in FM 2020 that SI did not fix even in the last patch of the version....

Instead they announced central play in FM 2021 as a new feature, instead of a bug fix...

[Junkhead]

2 hours ago, thomas166 said:

Really annoying thing, I changed tactical plan halfway through a game. The tactics part of the match screen is in the bottom left. Why oh why is there a not very big confirm changes in the top right of all places. Spent the last 15 mins of a game thinking well this isn't very go all out and then spotting confirm changes at the top there. Of all the places they could put it. Wouldn't be so bad if they put a big arrow for the first time you do it so that you actually notice it.

100% this

[MrPompey]

28 minutes ago, FM1000 said:

People know it's a beta but we all remember the lack of central play in FM 2020 that SI did not fix even in the last patch of the version....

Instead they announced central play in FM 2021 as a new feature, instead of a bug fix...

As I said the best way to get change is to log bugs with evidence. Unfortunately as with any change, there may be knock impacts to other elements that were working, the ME is a complicated and sensitive beast.

The more examples of issues, the greater the chance of change, and thats how we can all play our part in making the ME better

[Sledger]

Beginning to see some rather questionable results/performances.

Playing as Arsenal, just played away to Man City, won 1-0 with a last minute winner. Using a tiki taka setup. Had the bulk of possession throughout the match (60%). Momentum on my side for the entire match pretty much. Restricted a full strength Man City to 2 shots at goal, neither of which was on target.

Not the most realistic outcome, I daresay.

[VinceLombardi]

10 hours ago, themadsheep2001 said:

 

A couple from the end of my last game playing 4-3-3-  above we worked our way around the pitch, only for Ronaldo to absolutely spoon it over the bar.

Below, with the centre back following Ronaldo dropping deep, Fernandes makes the run in behind, and Pogba plays the pass.

Both slightly different to what I get in a 4-2-3-1, partly because with that formation I will always have a 10 in the golden zone, which makes those central passes easier than a 4-3-3, because I can try and get in behind more without getting quite so disconnected. in a 4-3-3, you need to manufacture a bit more space, and manipulate defences more

 

Somehow my post breaking down how these aren't central play got deleted overnight. I'm sure this was totally accidental, as I didn't get a warning or anything.

But please, allow me to rewrite it.

The first highlight isn't central play. Your central players are only utilized immediately after the RB plays out of the defense. The bop it around 3 times and to then the ball sticks to the flanks. First it works up the right flank in the middle third. After that they switch flanks through the CBs and finish the attack from the left flank with a low cross from deep. After the initial play out of the defense, your midfielders only took 1 touch on the ball and immediately passed it back to the flank.

The second highlight is the same buildup on the right flank by the RB. Again a central player touches it, but only to immediately pass it back out wide. Then your wide attacker has the ball tackled off of him and your central players are lucky in that it falls into their lap. The defenders step out of position because of the loose ball and your striker catches them out. The midfielder that gets the loose ball, plays the killer ball forward and you score. 

Neither of these are examples of central play. In both, the central players play back immediately back to the flank when they get the ball. All the creativity occurs on the flanks, through the wing players. This is our issue with the ME when we explain how there is no central play.

Edited October 28, 2021 by VinceLombardi

[hursty2]

Any way to stop the in-game tablet from becoming transparent? I can only see it when the ball isn't behind it. 

[FrazT]

OK- a question for you beta players:

If you go to Staff, Responsibilities, Advice and Reports and then scroll down and select coaching there are 2 long columns of choices- one column is for inclusion in the staff meetings, which is OK but the other column is for "show contextual advice"  What does this do and what is included or removed if you deselect these options?

[XaW]

6 minutes ago, FrazT said:

OK- a question for you beta players:

If you go to Staff, Responsibilities, Advice and Reports and then scroll down and select coaching there are 2 long columns of choices- one column is for inclusion in the staff meetings, which is OK but the other column is for "show contextual advice"  What does this do and what is included or removed if you deselect these options?

The hover text explains it, or at least tries to.

I *think* it's this:

[Mars_Blackmon]

4 hours ago, CharlieTZR said:

Had same issues with 

Yep, pretty much the same issue as described by you; I am not playing gegenpress, not even pressing but regroup; in some games I play much higher tempo but not all of them and I am in a league with normal league games and cup; that's all; it's ridiculous

High tempo = high intensity 

[themadsheep2001]

2 hours ago, RTHerringbone said:

Absolutely. It'll immediately fix a lot of the issues, directly or indirectly. I think resolving that and the accuracy of / defending of aerial balls, plus the long shots will make a big difference.

Yeah it definitely exacerbates anything you're trying to do centrally imo. In a 4-2-3-1, you can get the 10 playing through balls from there (incidentally, there has got to be an easier way to create gif highlights, took like an hour last night). But you don't get the stand up and drive In, which then blocks the overlap. So it's a multiple issue knock on. And I find it worse in IF-A than IF-S

[FrazT]

1 minute ago, XaW said:

The hover text explains it, or at least tries to.

Thanks- that is really clear now- or not

[XaW]

Just now, FrazT said:

Thanks- that is really clear now- or not

I updated the post with more!  

[Mars_Blackmon]

5 hours ago, tajj7 said:

I am not playing gegenpress, slight pressing, players with good stamina are dropping to yellow condition after 30 minutes, 30 minutes! 

Like I said it was broken enough in the last version, with players barely playing games getting 'jaded' (I had a player who had 18 natural fitness, 18 stamina, who played 12/20 games and got 'jaded'). But it's also not realistic, players like Mane play, who plays in a pressing team, he played pretty much all year round for like 3 years barely missing games. 

James Ward-Prowse didn't miss a game for over 100, played ever minute last year, yet people like him in FM, 'get jaded and need a rest', it's nonsense and they have made it worse.

'Drawbacks' ? It's not drawbacks, I am fine with my players getting tired after 70-80 minutes, not 30, and then people who play 90 minutes suddenly dropping to like yellow condition 3-4 days later, that's not realistic in the slightest. Even the biggest teams playing champions league their biggest players play lots of games at high level.  Mo Salah has played over 200 games in 4 years for Liverpool, plus internationals. Ruben Dias played nearly 4000 minutes in the league/champions league alone for Man City, 50 starts in all competitions and played 12 times for his national side as well, he played 62 games in total last year and played pretty much the full 90 for all of them.

And Robertson, played pretty much every minute in the PL last year, 3386 PL minutes, played 10 times in the Champs league, once in the cup and played 13 times for his country, he's a full back in a gegenpress system, says it all really.  You wouldn't be able to even get close to that in game currently. 

Players getting this knackered is simply not realistic at all IMO. 

As an example, I have a player who has had ONE match in the last 14 days, plays one 90 minute game and 3 days later he is tired and like at 80% condition. Yeh that is not realistic. 

James Ward-Prowse in game has 20 stamina, 20 natural fitness. He's played 18 of the last 20 games, but been subbed off or on in 6 of those games, playing either 30 or 60 minutes, so he's played 12 full 90 minutes in the last 20. I've done training rests after big games, have recovery sessions after every game. I drop tempo and mentality during games I am winning to avoid players getting tired, yet this still happens.

If someone with the literal best stats for staying fit, can't do 12 full games out of 20 without getting jaded, then the game is clearly not working IMO. 

Nothing is stopping you from still playing players when jaded or tired. So saying that a guy had 1000 minutes isn’t giving any context. I’ve played plenty of jaded players but added PI’s to conserve their energy.

[FrazT]

4 minutes ago, XaW said:

I updated the post with more!  

Thanks again- unchecking stop the irrelevant advice in the Tactics Meeting pre-game?

[XaW]

2 minutes ago, FrazT said:

Thanks again- unchecking stop the irrelevant advice in the Tactics Meeting pre-game?

I don't know, sorry. I've always just left it on.

[RTHerringbone]

Adding to my list of ME grumbles: are those drilled cutbacks across the six yard box too effective?

I applaud the pass but the defending often isn't represented well visually. You'll typically see a full back press the ball carrier and you'd want to see the DCs act as if they're in a chain, with the closest filling the space vacated by the full back and his DC partner(s) shuttling across. What usually happens is the DCs just fumble about and leave a really easy tap-in for an onrushing attacker.

[Lord Rowell]

My own thoughts on the ME thus far. For context, I'm playing as Man Utd so I obviously have good players esp. in the forward positions.

Primarily been switching between / experimenting with 4231 and 4123.

First thing to say, the more I play it, I think its not far away from being a very good ME and it is a case of tweaks rather than sea-change. Specific issues for me include:

- Wing play is over-powered, its too easy to get crosses in now and we should be seeing more blocked crosses

- Inside forwards aren't cutting in enough

- Biggest issue, but its not unusual in a Beta, is poor finishing (feet, not headers) from central areas - seems to be a real lack of composure from top strikers (inc. Cavani, CR7)

Other observations...

- I am seeing central play though have adjusted some tactical things from when I've played earlier versions of FM. One thing sounds really obvious but setting attacking width to the narrower settings has helped

- On central play, I am seeing forwards get behind the defensive line (hopefully more when my faster forwards actually get fit! :D)

- Still on central play, I am seeing midfielders break the line with forward runs and getting onto good quality chances

- Again to repeat and re-inforce, quality of finishing is a big issue

All that said, it feels to me like tweaking %'s rather than anything structural that will have big knock-on issues

Lots of the movement and defending seems intelligent, ME is very smooth - in some ways visually its a long way ahead of FM21.

[Platinum]

37 minutes ago, XaW said:

The hover text explains it, or at least tries to.

I *think* it's this:

Ahh yep that must be it, ive always wondered what that meant. Is it even relevant anymore since we have staff meetings?

Edited October 28, 2021 by Platinum

[craigcwwe]

16 minutes ago, RTHerringbone said:

Adding to my list of ME grumbles: are those drilled cutbacks across the six yard box too effective?

I applaud the pass but the defending often isn't represented well visually. You'll typically see a full back press the ball carrier and you'd want to see the DCs act as if they're in a chain, with the closest filling the space vacated by the full back and his DC partner(s) shuttling across. What usually happens is the DCs just fumble about and leave a really easy tap-in for an onrushing attacker.

Ah, the 'Maguire' 

[Freakiie]

Anyone else that's playing relatively far into the future? I get the feeling that two footed players are way too common, but not sure if that's just me.

Doing some quick testing, out of the ~40k players I have available on my player search, ~5% are two footed. Sounds a bit too common, but I have no idea how this looks in the original data base.

[XaW]

16 minutes ago, Platinum said:

Ahh yep that must be it, ive always wondered what that meant. Is it even relevant anymore since we have staff meetings?

Well, it can be nice if you pay attention to it often, but if you don't, well you don't need to. Nice to have options, I always think.

[kertiek]

so ... i was checking that fm22 has a public beta available...

and according to steamdb the public-test branch is a newer version compared to the vanilla version

 

no patch notes about it tho

[kiwityke1983]

I can't believe people honestly think this ME is as bad as FM20 it's nowhere near that catastrophe. 

That ME had multiple game breaking issues. Strikers were barely involved and when they were it was usually to miss a wide open net.

Fullbacks would just ping 40 yard cross field balls to each others feet sometimes 10 times in a row.

The only and I mean this only play down the middle were super accurate long balls for strikers to run on to from centre backs and keepers.

Amcs may aswell have not been an option in the game...

Yes there may be some balancing issues with this year's ME but good God it's massively ahead of FM20 and if this is what we get for the rest of the year at least it resembles football.

[craigcwwe]

22 minutes ago, kertiek said:

so ... i was checking that fm22 has a public beta available...

and according to steamdb the public-test branch is a newer version compared to the vanilla version

 

no patch notes about it tho

Interesting, 3.95mb download fwiw. 

Edited October 28, 2021 by craigcwwe

[DarJ]

24 minutes ago, kertiek said:

so ... i was checking that fm22 has a public beta available...

and according to steamdb the public-test branch is a newer version compared to the vanilla version

 

no patch notes about it tho

I want to test it but I’m enjoying the game now so I’m not sure 🤔 

[TCSSkin]

On 27/10/2021 at 12:05, Zoolok42 said:

First, it was a hyperbole, second, you can clearly see 23 years of technological progress in FM's 3D engine (<- that was sarcasm), and finally, if you ignore the low resolution, tell me the player movement here doesn't look better than in FM (go to 8 minute mark): 

 

the issue comes from legacy support. A large portion of SI’s player base plays on laptops with integrated GPUs, laptops that are like 10 years old or PCs that wouldn’t dream about playing a AAA game released last 2014. 

It’s just the way FM is, incredibly accessible to anyone if they have the time and willpower. It’d be impossible to make a AAA game that scales to the point that it runs on a toaster like fm does. 

Cut those out with new engines and AAA graphics and so on, FM lose like half their player base, which isn’t a viable option for any company whatsoever. 

If you want cutting edge graphics, play 2K or play FIFA, FM isn’t that game and it will never be that game. 

[Kingstontom88]

12 minutes ago, kiwityke1983 said:

I can't believe people honestly think this ME is as bad as FM20 it's nowhere near that catastrophe. 

That ME had multiple game breaking issues. Strikers were barely involved and when they were it was usually to miss a wide open net.

Fullbacks would just ping 40 yard cross field balls to each others feet sometimes 10 times in a row.

The only and I mean this only play down the middle were super accurate long balls for strikers to run on to from centre backs and keepers.

Amcs may aswell have not been an option in the game...

Yes there may be some balancing issues with this year's ME but good God it's massively ahead of FM20 and if this is what we get for the rest of the year at least it resembles football.

I don't think any are saying this is as bad as FM20 - it's just there are some glaring similarities with wide play and heading that have reared their ugly heads again.

I think generally it is better overall, certainly from an animation stand point, but there is still a lot of fine tuning to do in my view. FM21, while not perfect itself, was streets ahead of both as it stands - though we must accept FM22 is in it's BETA stage and certainly has the potential to the best one yet come full release.

[Lord Rowell]

28 minutes ago, kertiek said:

so ... i was checking that fm22 has a public beta available...

and according to steamdb the public-test branch is a newer version compared to the vanilla version

 

no patch notes about it tho

We could do with an announcement on the forums about this from SI re. exactly what it is and if people are wanted / should be opting into it.

[gggfunk]

7 minutes ago, bluestillidie00 said:

the issue comes from legacy support. A large portion of SI’s player base plays on laptops with integrated GPUs, laptops that are like 10 years old or PCs that wouldn’t dream about playing a AAA game released last 2014. 

It’s just the way FM is, incredibly accessible to anyone if they have the time and willpower. It’d be impossible to make a AAA game that scales to the point that it runs on a toaster like fm does. 

Cut those out with new engines and AAA graphics and so on, FM lose like half their player base, which isn’t a viable option for any company whatsoever. 

If you want cutting edge graphics, play 2K or play FIFA, FM isn’t that game and it will never be that game. 

Makes sense, one question comes to my mind though. If you recommend us to play 2D, why the 2d games are not being improved? What's more, it looks worse and worse every year... There is no stadiums, crowd, etc. visible anymore... I love playing 2D and will never skip to 3d, but I wish it would look at least as good as couple of versions back, not worse.

Edited October 28, 2021 by gggfunk

[DarJ]

Just now, gggfunk said:

Makes sense, one question comes to my kind though. If you recommend us to play 2D, why the 2d games are not being improved? What's more, it looks worse and worse every year... There is no stadiums, crowd, etc. visible anymore... I love playing 2D and will never skip to 3d, but I wish it would look at least as good as couple of versions back, not worse.

What do you need crowd and stadium for in 2D? I play in 2D and my concentration is on the 22 dots and I don’t care about anything else 

[vivu]

SI need to look into the way the players keep asking for contracts is enabled. I keep getting players requesting meeting to discussing improved contracts despite they having 3-4 years on their current deals. I have generally worked around this by renewing my key players contracts at the end of season/beginning of new season with a contract coming into force at end of season (thereby being protected for couple of seasons).

In case I miss out on any, they generally keep asking for a meeting like clockwork. I generally play with continue timeout enabled and have missed out on the meeting requests on occasion and then I have an upset player on hand. I can understand if the player has 1-2 season left on their contracts or had a massive boost in reputation by becoming a national team star. But the way it is currently implemented, I see my star players on a 200k+ per week contract (signed recently) coming up and asking for new contract.

[Jonthedon26]

Very interesting seeing a lot of people discuss the lack of play through the middle/through balls and everything going out wide as I have had a somewhat similar but also rather different experience. 

I am playing as Birmingham City and am a very old school football guy so I play 442 get it out wide for the wingers to cross it in. Obviously as I am using this set up I see a lot of goals like that, however I do sometimes tweak my tactics and change my DLP centre mid to an AP and I often see him linking up with my target man (support) before playing a through ball to my other forward to run on to finish. 

I really can't comment on other formations or how IF's play in the match engine, but from my experience as I say I notice a variety of different goals and ways my team plays depending on the individual roles I select and how I tweak my instructions. 

[kertiek]

39 minutes ago, DarJ said:

I want to test it but I’m enjoying the game now so I’m not sure 🤔 

i was enjoying the game also, am in season 2 10 league matches in, but the problems with central play and IF never cutting inside dribbling, just playing like wingers crossing every play from byline made me stop, i will continue playing when they release a patch trying to address at least those 2 problems

Edited October 28, 2021 by kertiek

[VinceLombardi]

26 minutes ago, Kingstontom88 said:

I don't think any are saying this is as bad as FM20 - it's just there are some glaring similarities with wide play and heading that have reared their ugly heads again.

I think generally it is better overall, certainly from an animation stand point, but there is still a lot of fine tuning to do in my view. FM21, while not perfect itself, was streets ahead of both as it stands - though we must accept FM22 is in it's BETA stage and certainly has the potential to the best one yet come full release.

Yeah. I'm one of the more vocal about the lack of central play and I would say it's closer to 21 than 19/20. The central players are moving around well, they are making themselves available for passes, and making good attacking runs. In 19/20 they didn't do any of those things. 

But despite all that, the central players just aren't playing the ball well. When given the option they push the ball wide and really support the wing play more than they build their own central attack.

Additionally most players, upon getting the ball, have a tendency to run wide with it rather than look for runs centrally. In some cases strikers are even pulling off their attacking runs, even after they beat the keeper so that they can make one of those cutback passes from the byline. 

19/20 was a lost cause for central play. However it doesn't feel that way for 22. This seems like something that can get adjusted and tweaked out. Plus we were super spoiled for central play in 21. I think that people are vocal because we feel so close to what it could be and we saw it on full display in 21. We just want to capture that back and incorporate it into the otherwise great changes they have made to 22. 

[Neil Brock]

34 minutes ago, Lord Rowell said:

We could do with an announcement on the forums about this from SI re. exactly what it is and if people are wanted / should be opting into it.