Some Persistent Problematic Areas

[astandet]

Hi. I feel there are some things the FM series that haven't been addressed virtually throughout its history. 1st off all - getting a player sent off. In many cases it's an actual advantage. Let me get this straight - there is no wonder tactics in the world to compensate for a lack of a player, let alone two. And yet playing with incomplete  squad I recorded some of my most spectacular wins (notably 8-0 vs Barcelona having 2 players sent off early on in FM2005). In CM9798 red card often helped me win, especially GK, where DL took over and played better than the original GK, somehow at the same time still fulfilling his DL duties to good effect. The same goes for AI teams, they only become stronger. In FM20 it's never a good news when an opposition player gets sent off - this is usually when the trouble begins. I feel this is totally unrealistic. Next - conceding straight after scoring. Sure, it happens in real life too, but nowhere near with such regularity. Third - home advantage. There are teams that I regularly destroy at home 8-0, 9-1 but can't for the life of me beat away, and I've tried various approaches. Typically, it's a draw. 4th - regularily struggling against teams at or near the bottom of the table. I understand their having an extra motivation, but IRL - if I crush Barcelona, I will crush them too. There are other problematic areas, but these 4, I feel, are most important and most detrimental to the enjoyment of the game.

Edited July 27, 2022 by astandet
typo

[HUNT3R]

While I won't deny that I don't have many issues when going down to 10, like yourself, if I am up against 10, I don't struggle at all. On occasion, we might struggle to break them down, but I am never in danger of losing a match. Typically, what I've seen is people going too attacking, leaving themselves too open to a counter attack. I usually create fairly patient tactics, so if I am a player up, I don't change much at all. We have the advantage. Let us pull them apart and the win will come.

Home advantage makes it sound like some unquantifiable factor that cannot be controlled or changed. The biggest factor is how teams line up differently at home vs when they're away. The AI needs to be a little less cautious when playing away, making our home matches more difficult. It is too easy to dominate them because they're too passive.

1 hour ago, astandet said:

but IRL - if I crush Barcelona, I will crush them too.

IRL (and in FM) you will if you set up to beat both Barcelona and the bottom team. IRL, tactical changes (and possibly personnel changes too) are made with specific opponents in mind and they would not play the same way against Barcelona as they do against a bottom team.

Barcelona and the bottom teams are (typically) on opposite ends of the table so their setup against you will be very different. Some tactics can deal with both situations. In a case (like yours) where it can not, it's probably a good idea to have tactic to specifically deal with the more defensive teams. That way you still retain the tactic that brings you wins against the better teams, but you can have a crack at the bottom teams with something specifically designed to deal with the lack of space in the final third.