[The Realism Thread]

4 minutes ago, Junkhead said:

See my post above, but you could well be right. The game is now built for realism in respect of scouting knowledge and attribute masking. Those weren't really part of the game in 1999, for example. And also in 1999, the internet was a very different place.

The player search function then gave you everything, immediately. Now the in game search function is likely closer to real life. It was miles away back then.

As I said, rule is a hangover.

The original LLM rules included "only scout your borders" - there was no board control of scouting at all, you could scout everywhere, IIRC.

Actually the more I think of it, the more I think it's a fair rule. The only thing you should be able to see in the player search to make it realistic is scout's advices (max wage, max AP, recommandations) and stats.

Even the current databases won't give you the real-life equivalents of the attributes or say, the personnality. So it's a very fair rule.

Going forward, I'll only use the player search with the 2 scout views provided in-game, that's a good compromise I believe.

[The Realism Thread]

11 hours ago, Junkhead said:

Hi @gam945!

I think this rule is a bit of a hangover from the days where the player search was different.  It used to work differently from the scouting packages in that it was a search of every player in the world based on reputation.  IIRC it didn't show all players, only those with a high enough reputation to make the list.  It was filterable and it meant that you could basically find whatever you needed quite quickly, particularly if playing with no masked attributes.  It was pretty much the same as the staff search now.

What the scouting packages do is show you realistic players for your club depending on your purchased package, so a completely different ball game.

If I'm honest, using the scouting package is probably more realistic than not using it at all as the club is paying for it anyway.  It's probably me that is being unrealistic here!

 

I see, that makes sense, but not anymore imo. I began with FM19, so didn't know about the old system.

Very nice thread, I've already took some ideas from the different posts in here that I'll implement on my save.

[The Realism Thread]

I try to be as realistic as possible (and play with attributes masked - until the player's scouted), but I use player searches with the appropriate scouting package for my club. It is equivalent to the real life scouting database services, that professional clubs use.

Could someone explain me the logic behind this rule? I'd love to implement it means more realism, genuinely. 

[FM Data Export Visualisations]

1 minute ago, saihtam said:

If you look people to do this with can PM me also. Dont have huge background on SQL writing, know the basic etc. Been QA ( + learning master in Software architecture currently)  for 5 years so have my share of connection with it.

Already had vision to make this thing work faster to put somekind of automation in. When the data is exported to specific folder, the background program would do the work to quickly visualise it. So you could in the game export needed info and later you can quickly check the results

will definitively PM you and @hardayas. I'm myself not an expert, but know the basics+ such as maintaining it and extracting data from it. R however I'd say intermediary+, used it (and still using) in school and at work, but not at data scientist level. I've already installed PostgreSQL (initially wanted to use SQL server express, the free version, but there's limitations on the DB size, and Access won't be good as there will be heavy querying from the R Shiny web app to the DB). Will PM soon, after I finalize a suggestion of how the app will be like and so then we can either discuss it or approve and begin to create views on FM to update the database.

[FM Data Export Visualisations]

@JPKD Are you familiar with R and SQL? I've wanted a lot of times to this sort of analysis and most of the time I abandoned cause even if I could produce those graphs, I had no platform to regroup the graphs and be able to do my analysis... Now at work I'm working on a project using Shiny from RStudio, and it offers exactly what I was looking for before  I'm planning to build a web app that enables us to manage our club using data, from salaries to squad analysis to scouting. The beauty of Shiny is that you need no experience with classic web dev tools such as html and css: it's all wrapped in R code 

Will surely create a thread later about it

[[Italy] Data Issues]

Uploading this here also, in case it was not a bug but a researcher that went mad  Loaded a career with Padova (serie c/b) and I see that 70%+ of the squad including U20s and U18s have the same PPM: run with ball down the left. Even central defenders/midfelders...

Here's an example:

[For FM 21 they should include the option to perform two formations (offensively and defensively). Explain case (RB Leipzig tactic vs Atlético)]

The formation in the Tactics section is the defensive shape. Now try to choose players roles and instructions that will lead to the shape being altered into a new one, and you will have a defensive (default) formation as well as an attacking formation. That's how I see it.

[Effective scouting]

I tend to only put filters on value and potential (minimum 3 stars) when sending scouts so this way I have a much larger pool of scouted players to build my shortlist. I do this from September to November. Then December to April, i scout the players in my shortlist, with priority given to players with less than 6 months of contract. So I'm able to make my free transfers in the end of January and my transfers in May. I only look for loans in the transfer period and almost never spend money in the winter period.

The transfer policy and transfer targets are decided in september and following is a "template" of what I consider a transfer target:

[youngster/sub/starter] [position] from [specify countries] for [free/specify max amount to be paid]

I'm very biased toward buying players from the club's country (I'm a one club man in FM so Italy) and Germany/Denmark/Holland/Ukraine/Spain/France but thats a personal preference. So I optimally need 8 scouts: 2 for Italy and 1 for each other country.

[Back four to a back three.]

On 25/07/2020 at 10:51, 04texag said:

On a midfield player, particularly if they have a playmaker role, that PPM can really do the trick. You can also tell the GK to distribute to playmaker on the In transition section of TI's to boost this.

I second this.

I've been using my DLP-de in the LCM slot, and with the Comes deep trait and Distribute to Playmaker TI, he always come between the 2 defenders and form a back three when building up from the back.

[HT Player Pep Talk: I Am Not Happy With Your Performance Today; Player Reaction (Looked Delighted)]

Go to Tactics > Team talk and you'll have more detail on the effect of your talk

[Keep a player on loan from extending his contract]

Hi guys,

I'm wondering if you have any strategies to prevent a playern on loan from extending his contract with his team? I'm in 20/21 and I just got promoted to Serie A from Serie B; also managed to extend Perr Schuurs on loan from Ajax until the end of 2022. The thing is that his contract also ends in 2022 and I would like to get him on free.

He's happy at the club, part of the main social group and supports me as a manager. Any tips? thanks in advance!

 

[Total Football (Very Fluid)]

On 25/06/2020 at 05:03, Ö-zil to the Arsenal! said:

This is brilliant 

How are you getting on?

I finished the season unbeaten with this tactic and a slight variation of it that has lower tempo and shorter passing, so now I'm in the Serie B in the 2nd tier of Italian football. However I didn't touch the save since 3-4 days due to being bored somehow. This is the second time since 2 years of playing FM that I finish a season 

Now I'm rethinking my approach for coming season, I don't want anymore to "copy" Guardiola (wide wingers, two 8s in halfspaces, etc) who has his own understanding of Total Football. Total Football is a more a philosophy than a "system".

I'm more reading some tactics related articles (FM and non-FM) than playing. The only thing that I'm sure about is that I'll use a 4-4-2/4-4-1-1. First because it's a real challenge to transform the 4-4-2 into whichever system I want in attacking phase, and secondly because I'm very stubborn and I never used another formation than the cited ones.

Also hesitating to begin a new save with a mid/low-table Serie A club because I want Van Basten as my assistant manager from day 1, but there's no team playing in red and white 

[Unexplained Attribute Drops Over Time [FM20]]

Check the CA progress graph (select progress instead of attributes). Sometimes there's those declining arrows, but if the progress graph doesn't show a decrease it should be ok.

At least that's how I do in my save.

[Total Football (Very Fluid)]

I'm currently trying to implement Total Football in my Italian 3rd division side using a 4-4-2. The ultimate idea is to reproduce this shape:

Basically wingers should be technical players providing width, a #10 and a #8 as playmakers, a #6 protecting the backline and starting the possession phases. As I lack quality players for now I'm beginning by implementing a quick transitions playing style, while still having average possession of >55%. As many players developped the Play One-Twos trait, I'm able to reproduce some typical passing patterns and attacking patterns of Total Football. Current formation is as follows:

Key elements:

False 9: comes back in midfield and combines with the CM. They act as attacking playmakers for the team.
Poacher: attacks the penalty area, I mainly chose this role because I don't want him wide.
CM-su (Moves into channels, Take more risks, Get further forward): gets forwards and plays in the half spaces
W-su and WM-at: the two of them provide width. However the one on support overloads the left side while the one on attack has more space and tries to create chances for the Poacher.

Pass into Space, Higher Tempo: I feel those two contribute to having a quick and entertaining passing game that sometimes reminds me of last season's Ajax.

The FBs are pretty much some times providing width, sometimes play in the middle. When my #8 will have more of an attacking responsibility I'll maybe use IWBs.

An example of pass combinations and overall position with the ball of a match the team played really well (3-0 win):

Clearly we can see the "midfield trio" formed by the DLP(18)-CM(8)-F9(39). The two wingers should be more far ahead, so I'm just gonna make them learn the Get Forward whenever possible trait. Also the Poacher, while he constantly attacks the penalty area, combines also too much in wide areas. Still have to adjust this. FBs played great and offered width also.

Overall position with the ball shows how the 4-4-2 almost transforms into a 4-3-3, but that there's still room for improvements:
- F9(39) should maybe come deeper
- LB(21) was on attack duty, but still the LB and the LW(28) are taking the same space.
- Poacher(9) should be more central

Also:

I'm still a long way from Total Football, but I certainly feel I'm progressing towards this style of play.

[Monchi Masterclass]

Just discovered the series and wanted to post about it!

[Having Problems Sticking To A Save]

I feel you... almost 800 hours on this game and the most I've done is one complete season. Still trying to figure out how this is possible..

Hopefully this save is the one lol

[Will my team be able to pass their way to world domination?]

Just went over all your posts, it really is one of the best threads here. Keep it up mate!

[Total Football (Very Fluid)]

14 hours ago, Ö-zil to the Arsenal! said:

In fact, going back a little further to 1969 the 4-2-4 shape was even more pronounced.

 

Really interesting post! I would be really interested to know how you would recreate Total Football using this shape (or a 4-4-2/4-4-1-1)

[Analysing FM20 with Python]

@CowShedBarmyArmy wondering how do you visualize your plots?

EDIT: Will just go with Jupyter Lab/Notebook, less of a hassle and it would be sort of a report

I have defined all the plots and data I wanna see using my excel tool (which I can share):
It contains a dictionnary for the attributes (long name, short name), the stats (long & short name, categorization also) a sheet to define my tactic and a sheet with a macro that converts multiple cells into a string containing their values into a python list format, for example ['aaa','bbb','ccc']

I've already wrote a code to import data and clean it, for example converting appropriate stats to integer of float type, or converting appearances (x) y into x+y.

An example of simple plot with matplotlib:

 

In the long term, I also project to analyse how attributes influence my KPIs, so projecting to do some regression analysis after setting up my dashboard, would be a cool project

[Analysing FM20 with Python]

Always wanted to do something similar and doing the "analysis" job of the manager IRL, for example monitoring the squad during the season with stats and attributes...but laziness always takes over

Planning of beginning a new long term save soon, I'll definitively try to be serious about it lol

Also this could be a very useful tool for scouting hundreds of players stats

Will share here if I get something done

[How to keep a player who won't extend contract due to interest shown in him?]

Looks like I found a way to keep the guy lol

Basically just bought time, when offers came in, i answered at the last possible time and with a counter-offer not too big to refuse directly and not too small to accept it also. Then, end of the window transfer, rejected all transfer offers and he accepts a contract mid-September  

[Player traits - plays way out of trouble + brings ball out of defense]

8 minutes ago, coach vahid said:

Hi... I think that these player traits  are only availabe on mentoring. 

besides time of tutoring and some evident factors (injuries, personnality,social group,effect on the mentoring group, etc) is there any factor that could prevent the tutor from learning the trait to the mentored? Is is random?

[Player traits - plays way out of trouble + brings ball out of defense]

Anyone has an answer for this? Been wondering myself how we could do it

[Delagating the U20s tactics to the U20 manager]

I remember in FM19, in the responsabilities I had an option to pick of a formation for the U20s (or U18, B, etc), let the manager pick, or pick a whole tactic. I'm now in FM20 trying to let my U20 manager take care of all the tactics and formation, but I don't see this option. The U20s use my primary tactic for their matches and I don't want that.

Because I control individual training for the U20s, I don't have access to the main "Under 20s" screen in the Dev. Centre. When I desactivate it and have access to it, there's an option to let the manager use his preferred formation. Is there any other way to do the same thing from "Staff Responsabilities"?

Thanks in advance!

[Quickfire Questions and Answers Thread (Tactic and Training Questions Only)]

Any thread on here that focuses on youth development and recruiting (more on cheap youngster recruiting to develop) ? I'm aware of the -excellent- thread of Ozil with Benfica, which I'm reading, but didn't find other interesting guides/threads.