retired_kathryn0628

So in other words the AI DOES cheat. If you had a team like mine (Not fully developed youngsters, new to the team, but still allstars... think Fabregas), you should NOT get worse from one season to the next, you should only improve. Your team gets better teamwork, your players develop, and you should become more consistant.. but you dont.

At the same time, having a team full of new superstars (any new season with Chelsea and the $240mil bank) WILL NOT allow you to win as easily as it would in real life. Playing the World Cup Dream Team in the EPL you SHOULD win every game, but in this game you will not if you have a default tactic.

Sky King

Whether you call AI adapting to your same starting 11 for two seasons "cheat" or not is really up to people. And World Cup Dream Team does not or should not win every game. Chelsea didn't win it, Barcelona didn't win it. Football is full of unpredictability and good teams losing or being held to a draw isn't uncommon.

retired_mgavlick

Wrong, worng, wrong, wrong, wrong.

You are confusing player or employee quality with the actual process of managing them. It is undoubtedly easier to manage a decent team of people. Tactics is one side of FM management. However, management is so, so much more than this.

Management is about recognising what has changed and doing something about it. If, for example, you were told to slash your budget would you still go on spending willy-nilly as before. No. Why? because you'd lose your job. If, in FM, something begins to happen that you don't expect (i.e. losing games you should win, dropping down the table, having players on low morale) don't bleat about it being a cheating AI. Something has changed and you, yes YOU, haven't adapted. It is your fault. You are the manager. Recognise it and do something about it.

What could have changed?

You reputation is now so great everybody (including big teams) plays defensively against you. You begin to lose big games, then medium games, finally smaller games as the effect snowballs out of control.

Because you are three time champions, all the sides have a morale boost when they play you (looking forward to the biggest game of the season). You fail to adapt and your poorish morale team struggles against fired up underdogs.

Two possibilities. Both can be countered by good, logical man/tactical management. Just bleating the AI cheats and this isn't realistic achieves nothing (and is plain wrong, or have I already said that?). It doesn't cheat, it just behaves differently, and it is your job to do something about it. Alternatively, you could keep on stickking your head in the sand.

retired_hope

I disagree with you here wwfan. The AI receives no artifical boost for playing a team that is superior, human controlled or not.

However a manager can used the media interaction to cause a morale boost if they use the correct option.

If you are sucessful then to remain so you need to build on that success. Teams will start to be more cautious against playing you, however if you do not improve the playing staff then you will not have the ability to break these more cautious teams down.

You can also use the media interactions to get the AI to play more attacking than they would normally.

This works well against big and small teams, although professional players will not like it.

I use it to either goad a better team into suicidal tactics where I hit them on the counter or against weaker sides who will shut up shop so that they are just that little bit easier to break down.

Sky King

My stance is very close to that of Leroy. Having the same squad and not bringing in anyone simply won't do it here in FM2007; I know it looks odd, because your squad may be coming off of a championship season. But just like IRL championship teams DO ADD players season in and season out, and there are very good reasons for it.

retired_kathryn0628

Marseille, champion teams add players because they DONT have perfect teams. I DID have a perfect team, and there was no room for improvment in my squad - i had bought the best avaliable.

wwfan, im not set on using the word "cheating" either, i just think its an unrealistic adaption. Next year, teams will not face Man Utd any different (overall, you know what i mean) then they did this year... because they have dominated for a while. After being champions for THREE years did I have a dip in form, rather than after my 1st "outbreak" season or something of that sort -- teams had known to defend cautiosly against me for years.

I just believe that unless the others teams have a great offseason and upgrade their teams greatly, I should NOT drop from 1st to 12th. If i had finished top 4, I wouldnt be so suprised... the EPL (and football) is tough and things can happen, but from 1st to 12th is unrealistic. My young players got older, more mature, better statistically, grew a stronger team strength, and had high moral... what could possibly have gone wrong? Only tactically.

retired_mgavlick

I disagree with you here wwfan. The AI receives no artifical boost for playing a team that is superior, human controlled or not.

However a manager can used the media interaction to cause a morale boost if they use the correct option.

If you are sucessful then to remain so you need to build on that success. Teams will start to be more cautious against playing you, however if you do not improve the playing staff then you will not have the ability to break these more cautious teams down.

You can also use the media interactions to get the AI to play more attacking than they would normally.

This works well against big and small teams, although professional players will not like it.

I use it to either goad a better team into suicidal tactics where I hit them on the counter or against weaker sides who will shut up shop so that they are just that little bit easier to break down. </BLOCKQUOTE>

I was suggesting what could have changed (hypothetically) rather than defining what had. You are probably right about that.

My point still stands though. Management is a holistic process. It is not JUST about tactics, players, man-management, media, but a combination of all four. Doing any one badly (and badly could be different season to season: i.e. one season it is good management to be defensive, the next maybe bad) may drastically affect overall performance. Using negative team talks when they should have been positive can turn victory into defeat, counter-attack when you should have gone for the jugular likewise.

I will agree that a 12th place finish after three 1sts is unlikely in the real world. However, most quality real world managers would make adjustments that we aren't making, so.... Blaming the AI for cheating or an being an unrealistic adaption isn't really helpful. I think it is reasonably easy to see when different methods are required and to do something about it. The 'I can't beat small teams with this tactic' scenanrio being the most common. If you can't, then do something different (and logical). If all fails, then complain. What did you do differnet in your 12th place season DD? Something, or did you assume it would all come right in the wash?

retired_hope

If you can't break down defensive teams with the successful squad you have and you know tactically how to break down a stubborn defense then it is time to get your wallet out and improve the squad.

Sky King

This is becoming sort of like a chicken-and-egg situation. Did Deadlydevice have a "perfect"squad as he claims? If such was the case, then 12th place finish is indeed strange.

On the other hand, if his squad was actually not as strong as he thought, we have a completely different situation. I think we need to assess what kind of team he had, to go forward anywhere.

retired_mgavlick

I'm not sure if that is the right question. He obviously had a squad good enough to win the previous season. He amy have sold off/let go a key player (older captain). He may not. The main question is: did he try to change things when his previous methods began to fail?