Shaderach

Hi again mates

This isn't a problem, per say, but just a reality of my history with this game that I was wondering if anyone else has experienced...

Invariably, by the end of the season my goals for & goals against figures don't "fit" with my league position when compared to teams around me... please allow me to diagram what I mean:

for example, my league might finish like this:

5. Manchester United - 60GF, 15GA
6. Everton - 57GF, 18GA
7. Tottenham - 55GF, 22GA
8. Newcastle - 51GF, 28GA
9. Grays - 35GF, 19GA
10. Man City - 45GF, 31GA
11. Derby - 40GF, 33GA
12. Nottingham - 35GF, 37GA

Now those numbers are obviously a little *too* perfect but you get the point I think...

I am *always* below the expected stats for my position both in GF and GA... with the goals against usually being the more "off" of the two...

Does this happen for anyone else on a regular basis? Am I not being clear enough and need to try and explain it again?

Marc Vaughan

This is normally down to the fact that players play a little unrealistically in their matches (in most cases I've found people are scoring (and conceeding) more highly than CPU teams.

The most common example of this is a human failing to 'kill off' a game and continually trying to score whereas irl it'd be more likely that at the end of the match a manager who is 1-0 up would be screaming at his players to go to the corner flag (as Mr. Pearce did irl last night - not that his players particularly listened ).

I think I'm about the only dour minded individual who tends to find results ticking in the other direction ..... but then I get my kicks out of playing a defensive counter attacking style and sucker punching teams 1-0

Marc Vaughan

PS> If you're finding your simply not scoring enough and not conceeding as many as the teams around you (which is what your table indicated) then this often means your team is simply not being attacking enough but has a lot of quality.

Simply put they're a good enough team that they can't be broken down, but are either not good enough to create chances or aren't being 'let loose' enough by their manager to do so.

This does also happen irl - check out Bolton as the highest placed example of goals not appearing at a glance to be sufficent for their position (current league table irl):

Team P W D L F A W D L F A GD PTS
1 Man Utd 10 4 0 1 10 2 4 1 0 13 3 18 25
2 Chelsea 10 4 1 0 9 3 4 0 1 8 2 12 25
3 Bolton 10 3 1 1 5 4 3 1 1 5 4 2 20
4 Portsmouth 10 4 0 1 9 2 2 1 2 7 4 10 19
5 Arsenal 9 2 3 0 9 3 3 0 1 7 2 11 18
6 Everton 10 3 2 0 10 4 1 3 1 6 5 7 17
7 Aston Villa 10 3 2 0 8 3 0 4 1 4 6 3 15

Shaderach

hmm... it sounds like i'm still a bit of an anomaly here then... i play with short passes and attacking mindset w/ an offsides trap and the 3-4-1-2 attacking formation...

more often than not i control the midfield and if i get a shutout it's because the opponent had zero or near zero shots... i'd say even in Premier that half my games i hold the other team to no shots with that smothering midfield...

course when they do get shots... they tend to go in despite the investments i make in net

and don't get me started on that 1-0 finish... there is nothing more terrifying to me in FM than a 1-0 lead with 10 minutes to go. i've had more 90th minute draws dropped on me than i care to remember

you bet your *** i'm attacking till the very last second if it's a 1-0 scoreline!

Lowlife70

I find this goals-not-fitting thing somewhat too. I'm not sure I totally buy into the reasons being suggested... I'm still curious as to whether all the CPU versus CPU games are actually simulated using the same match engine as our games as human managers. Can you confirm or deny that, Marc? I'd understand if they are not, perhaps due to the PSP's power compared a PC.

I also think the CPU teams behave oddly at times in regard to killing games off. I often see them go more defensive when they are 2-0 up, but if I get a goal back with 20 minutes to play they suddenly 'are looking for goals' again. You'd think they would be mre cuatious protecting a one goal lead with 20 mins to play than a two goal lead with 45 mins to play, surely?

For me as a manager, I'm not a fan of going defensive when I'm winning... I think sitting back and inviting attacks is a bad tactic... but I still tend to be on the lower end of goals conceded.