pandamk

Thanks for the advice! I implemented some of the changes suggested and tried to keep things pretty simple for an away game against Nottingham Forest. I'm not sure the goals to shots/XG ratio is quite sustainable but the result was pretty dramatic... Only our second-ever Premier League win by multiple goals (the other we played most of the game up a man). Finally got some life out of the to-this-point completely dysfunctional left side. Even Kalimuendo was able to break his duck off the bench.

After back-to-back promotions including a 92-goal Championship season, attempting to establish MK Dons in the Premier League has been absolute hell. We stayed up with some luck last season on 36 points. It was a miserable season to manage — we played very little football and just had to grind out points where we could get them — but given we had a wage budget of less than half the second-lowest team in the league I was pleased with the achievement. In our second season, I feel we should be starting to push on but it just isn't happening. We are young but have some quality with two wonderkids in Bardghji and Aseko Nkili and some decent experience in Oxford, (Oriol) Busquets, and O'Riley. Kalimuendo scored 15 league goals last season which basically kept us up despite a poor average rating. We just cannot score and still struggle to impose ourselves on games in any way. After eight games we have scored ONE goal, and that was from a corner. This is roughly the system that has got us two promotions. Reeled off five consecutive losses to start the season, no goals. We had two big problems: defenders and deep midfielders making absurd decisions on the ball and losing it in dangerous areas, and too many rushed, hopeful passes hit in the vague direction of our quick and skilful but not very physical front three. I realize it's aggressive but we were the lowest-budget team in the Championship as well and overachieved by playing a high-tempo, pressing game (with players FAR inferior to what we have now). In an attempt to solve those issues, I (against my will) switched to a more counter-attacking 4-2-3-1. This improved us defensively with three clean sheets in a row, but we still can't score. While I appreciate we are still big underdogs in this league, we surely have enough talent after three Premier League transfer windows to expect a bit better than this. Any ideas?

I've just won back-to-back promotions from League One to to the Premier League and my dressing room is absolute mayhem. It feels like the game has real problems dealing with playing time and wage expectations after unexpected success. League One-calibre players are turning down big pay increases because they want a contract comparable with a normal 'regular starter' or 'important player' in the Premier League, and then handing in transfer requests and signing for clubs in lower divisions for less than I originally offered them. Has anyone else experienced this?

The good: The changes to the match engine are really well done. I feel like introducing more of a chaos element had the potential to be a disaster if done badly, but it feels good. This probably isn't getting the credit it deserves because it doesn't 'pop' like other headline features might have but it changes the game significantly for the better. Skin changes look good. Still early but tactically the game has felt less prone to a small handful of player roles that are far more effective than others and more about building a cohesive team, which is good. I'm facing a lot of 3-4-2-1s which I don't think is unrealistic as it has become a very popular attacking shape, but I think it plays a bit more defensive in FM with three CBs + two DMs than it does in real life. Quite a lot of cagey games. But overall I'm encouraged by the tactical side. The not-so-good: While not terribly implemented by any means, I feel like the squad planner is another example of SI observing how people play the game and then attempting to build tools to cater to that into the game itself. This seems logical on the surface, but I think it's very difficult to build such a tool that is more intuitive for me than the way I've been doing it myself for years — and the way every other player has been doing it with their own quirks and differences. It doesn't really make my life easier than just having Excel or Notepad open. Similar kind of idea with interactions, which continue to be incredibly dull. We all 'imagine' the game and the storylines in our heads and autopiloting through in-game press conferences doesn't add anything. I would much rather more time was spent on the core of the game — match engine, tactics, recruitment etc — than this stuff. Have to echo that as has been discussed, improvement to international management and set pieces feels a long way overdue.