dannyfc

I know SIGames would never go down this route but I loved the aesthetic of Premier Manager with the landline telephone and notepad as an graphic interface for signing players. A lot more could be done to build on the manager role-play aspect and give the game less of a spreadsheet feel. Even basic things like improving the match audio would make the game more immersive. Or personalised stadia, if it's too much work then release an editor so the community game handcraft these for every club. Just more to give a sense of identity and differentiation for the club you are managing, through the background landscape, facilities, playing surface extra. Seeing that change and evolve through your career at the club. Getting a randomised update to the match shirt as a news items for a new season. For sponsorships, maybe you start with the local butcher and end up with a multinational deal as you grow, but an identity and name attached to them rather than just a financial number in a sub-page. Just little aesthetic and atmospheric touches like that would go a long way imo.

You can achieve both in the full version. It just needs customization settings based on the player's preference. Similar to the attribute masking option that exists currently. I'd suspect the vast majority of the userbase just want to cruise through the seasons at lightening pace to accumulating the best wonderkids. Which is completely fine an SI need to appease that to remain commercially viable, but it would be nice to allow a bit more depth for us nerds.

Completely agree with the notion that the user being omnipotent is the root cause of the game being 'too easy'. Obscuring information, or at least making it more ambiguous, would bring it much closer to the experience of a real life manager. I like the idea of attributes becoming more concrete the longer a player is at the club. Physicals should always be very apparent, but technical and particularly mental ones should have room for error until the player becomes established at the club. (and maybe intentionally mislead based by form, e.g. an in-form striker receives a perceived higher finishing attribute) This would open up much more ambiguity on who your best XI is, as in real life. You'd be much more likely to experiment and be surprised by emerging stars. Right now you basically write-off 90% of your youth intake on day 1 based on a quick glance of their attributes.

To be fair to SI, I don't think it's a case of 'fixing' it but rather trying to replicate a simulation of real life football is just an absurdly difficult task so there will always be limitations. If you watch any other football game try to simulate AI vs AI it doesn't even remotely look like football. Even beyond football genres, there isn't a single game that has AI sophisticated enough to convincingly emulate human behaviour. I think the challenge is to properly replicate final third play you need to simulate creative decision making and sensible risk taking. That's a hell of lot harder to code then wing-play, which is simply showing a faster player beating his man down the line then a forward with higher anticipation getting to the cross ahead of his marker. There was a big overhaul in FM 13 that introduced physical presence to the game to prevent players ghosting through one another. Fingers crossed FM 25 yields another leap forward with something similarly impactful.

Fully agree - I think the game struggles to properly simulate close control in tight spaces which is why play often gets funneled wide where there's more space. Players are too risk adverse to holding on to the ball when play gets congested. It's largely why technically brilliant players are less effective than physical ones in the match engine. I'm sure it's got a lot worse since FM 19 but may be remembering the older versions through rose tinted glasses.

Stupid question - but are FM 24 saves compatible with FM 23?

@Rashidi I notice you opt for Work Into the Box in most of your tactics, any particular reason why? Id be interested to know how it influences player behaviour differently from tempo and passing settings. Thanks

But even then still you'd expect a high line to encounter less passes per defensive action in your own half compared to a lower defensive line. Having very few teams clustered in the bottom right quadrant feels off.

Great, thanks. Maybe I'll drop pass into space in the meantime. I'm in the Championship, my team is probably below average hence the desire to play on the counter. However paradoxically I'm dominating the ball but just can't seem to unlock defences. I've always assumed that direct passing is a necessity for counters, but based on your mentality which determines short I'm assuming that's not true. Would you say high tempo is a requirement? With regards to wingers, I'm looking at few in pre-season but with my budget it's rare to find 16+ pace without extreme deficits in other areas. Bit of a tangent but how important are balance/agility? I've got my eye on this guy but unsure if he'd be that effective in the Championship. My targetman is dominant so as look as he can whip in some crosses it might work These are my current wingers. Technically decent but struggling to make much impact

How defensively sold is a DM(s) compared to an Anchor man or DM(d)? How would they differ positionally? Doesn't it risk exposing the CBs? I'm always be weary of not having any defensive roles in midfield, so be interested to know if that's too risk adverse. Also in regard to quickness, my front three all have 14 pace which feels just on the threshold of 'quick'. You think that's adequate or should I adopt a less direct style?

I'm also struggling on the possession won and can't seem to move the dial. Tried counter-press, high defensive line, high closing down, but we're always amongst the worst in the team league.

For me '14' is above average quickness, which Kane definitely doesn't have, so it's already generous. His abilities are in essentially ever other attribute. If that doesn't translate to the match engine the issue is there rather than grading him as a quick player to compensate

I don't buy that, I still think it's far too easy to maintain and ultra higher pressing style over the course of the season without being penalised by jadedness or injuries. I would like to see SI make the effectiveness of pressing much more dependent on player attributes and training sessions that specifically practice the traps in-week. It should be a style you can impress over time, rather than simply slap on to any team at any level and get results from. As a tangent to that I feel tactical familiarity itself is far too easy to build and maintain and should be largely governed by the focus of your training sessions. (i.e. set-pieces, defensive organisation, transitions, pressing, etc)

I'm glad you're getting good results out of a low block and low LoE. Near enough every successful tactic I see is some Gegenpress variant with ultra high lines and closing down. Always wanted to avoid that route as it feels a cheap to overachieve so it's a relief to know other playing styles are not only viable but effective.

If you're scoring goals but the issue is defensive stability, I think something as simple as changing the DM(s) to an Anchor role could help give the defence more protection. Only two defensive roles is very attacking. What type of goals are you conceding?