Erithtotl

I'm now in my 6th season with FM 2008, having played the first 4 with the beta patch and the last 1 2/3rds with the final patch. I've been playing FM/CM since CM3, but understand I'm an American and have pretty spotty knowledge if European football, especially when it comes to players and teams. (A lot of what I know about the teams I manage is from what I read on wikipedia!).

The first team I took over was Shelbourne, the down on it's luck Irish League power. It was pretty easy to get them promoted and take them to the top of the Irish Premier Division. They have strong financial advantages (even though in real life they are broke) and are just a much larger club that most of the teams in Ireland. I also was affiliated with Man U, which gave me plenty of good loan players to stack my squad. Suffice it to say I won consecutive Division titles, though a couple teams gave me troulbe. Against most oppontents I pushed my line way up, turned on the pressure and took the game to them.

After my success I was offered a job at Sheffield Wednesday (which I had picked as my favorite club). I finished up the first season in strong fashion, ending 9th in the Championship, and after overhauling my side I was ready to compete for a playoff spot the following year. Only it didn't quite work out that way.

The same tactics I had used to pummel opponents in the IPD just weren't working. I was generating fewer chances, scoring almost not at all, and giving up a LOT of chances, including a large number of breakaways. I was incredibly frustrated and hadn't won in 4 matches, falling to 17th in the Championship. While many of the squads I played had better players, certainly not all of them did.

I have spent plaenty of time over the years trying to learn all the ins and outs of the match engine to get my tactics at their best, so obviously I was getting really frustrated, when none of the advice I had read and used in the past seemed to be working. But after taking a break I came back and decided I would try and figure out what was going wrong. The key? I started watching my entire match instead of just the extended highlights, and I reduced the playback speed one notch. I also expanded the window size (I always play in window mode) so that the 2-D pitch is less cluttered.

The difference was enormous. I started to notice all sorts of things that weren't apparent just from watching the highlights. Like how my defenders were going for and missing too many tackles (thus I reduced my tackling to 'medium' from 'hard', after having set my defenders to hard for the last several versions of FM), and getting beaten by through balls (so I lowed my D-line a little), that my target man was heading the ball to the opposition (so I gave him a back arrow so he'd have someone in front of him to head the ball to), and how my fullbacks were making too many stupid passes (so I set them to short passing). I noticed on my counterattacks that I didn't have anyone filling the space in the middle of the field, so I gave one of my center mids a forward arrow.

Some more subtle things I started to notice too. With the match engine speed turned down a little, I could really tell the difference between hard hit shots and softer ones. Now suddenly all those misses started to make a lot more sense. Weakly hit shots can still be 'on target'.

I also started to notice just how good the match engine is. It's definitely the best 2d representation of all the versions I've played. The play is more varied than 2007, and you really get a feel for what is happening and why. It's not perfect, but there are way fewer boneheaded plays than previous versions.

I made plenty of other observations that helped me tweak my tactics, and thankfully now my team has recovered and is playing at a reasonable level. I'm even winning some matches where my opponent is out shooting me, the reverse of the problem most people are complaining about. Of course, I still lose games I should win, and win those I shouldn't, but that's football.

A lot of you might read this and say 'well, duh!'. But I had fallen into a pattern of going through my matches as quickly as possible, and wasn't learning anything from them. That might be ok when you totally outclass your opposition, but not so much when you are working at an even basis or a disadvantage.

Clearly this observation won't solve everyones problems. And for some, the idea of patiently observing and tweaking tactics may sound more like work than fun, and I understand that point of view, even if I don't agree with it. But before you give into frustration, write the game off as broken and throw it into the trash, take some time to really watch what is going on during your matches. Alter your tactics based on those observations (using advice from the tactics people here, but not following it bindly, as you have to adjust your tactics to your situation, not theirs), and you might just get the satisfaction of your team playing better, and whats more, knowing WHY.

Phippsy

Good read :thup:

I agree with your point that people tend to just rush through season as fast as they can not taking much detailed notice into their teams performances in the matches. I playu my games on extended highlights and i may even start to watch the full match.

Well done on the thread

mdabat

agreed, really good read..

i agree with ur points on the match engine, it is the BEST out there, i just dont understand why so many people complain about it, it had its flaws before the patch, but its a 'joy to behold' after the patch.

So many people complain about having so many shots on target then losing the game, i think most of these people stopped watching live football, they settle for highlights on youtube or something

lets look at real life events, Manchester United just lost to Bolton whos bottom of the league, and i think Bolton created ONE chance the whole game, and tevez (who has really high stats in FM) missed an open goal being positioned around 3 meters away!

Look at barcelona too, the scariest strike force in the world with Ronnie, Messi, Eto'o, Henry..any 3 playing will make their opponents quiver, yet they have an awful away form, and for that reason Rijkaard might be leaving in December

overall, great post, great match engine, and the people who complain should probably give themselves a slap on the wrist

Erithtotl

In most American sports, the manager, or 'head coach', has little or no input on the players that make up his team. That's the 'general manager' role.

For many players of FM, I think they'd rather be more of a general manager than a manager. They want to play the buying and selling game, but the tactical part of the game doesn't interest them as much or is frustrating.

I think this is a perfectly acceptable opinion. But they have to come to the realization, for better or worse (in their opinion), FM is no longer that game. You have to fill both the personel role and the tactical role to be successful, and that takes a lot more time and patience. Again, nothing wrong with not wanting to do that. Ideally FM would have options to allow it to appeal to both audienes.

wiley

Dear Erithtotl,
Like you, I'm a Yank, and I've played CM, FM and WWSM for years, and always have had a much easier time than I'm having now. I can't seem to get tactics right, and have gotten slaughtered by lower and higher clubs alike (I play as Atalanta. I'm finding this INCREDIBLY frustrating, as I can barely keep from gtting relegated, and what fun is it to lose more than you win (that's what real life is for)? But I'll give your suggestion a try. It's either that or chuck the whole thing.