***** Official Football Manager 13 Thread *****

[Darrensen]

Have you tried my tactic guys. Worth trying if you're struggling! See the vid a few posts up.

 

[Ol!ver]

Have you tried my tactic guys. Worth trying if you're struggling! See the vid a few posts up.

Sort of defeats the point though, doesn't it? I mean, the idea is you adapt your tactics to fit and find one that works. Copying someone else's just feels all kinds of wrong.

 

[melmac]

I've given up on this. Wont be playing it again until they release an update that fixes it.

£30 well spent.

Is it just completely random for everyone else as well? I've tried pretty much everything and still can't string consistent performances together from any team that I've used.

What's broken so bad that you can't play it? The last patch solved most of the problems I had with the game and I am really enjoying it at the moment. Before the last patch, I hated the game.

As I tried to explain to Killsw1tch before, to get consistency, you have to manage consistently. In the previous Football managers that I played you could pick any tactic for any game. In this one, you can't get away with that any more. From my experience with football manager 2013 it takes two months to get the team to play properly with any given tactic.

The problem I think with this version of the game is that you really have to get a tactic that suits your team. To give an example, I play a 4-2-2-2. I play narrow but I have my full backs set to support. I have two right full backs. After nearly a season playing, I know my team plays better with one of the right full backs and not the other. One right full back has crossing 8, tackling 7, pace 8, acceleration 10. The other has crossing 3, tackling 12, pace 10, acceleration 9. Not much between them, the second guy is rated much higher than the first guy, but, my team plays better with the first guy and I am guessing because he crosses better.

It's little things like that that you have to really look out for. I don't think there is any one tactic fit all. You will just have to look at the players to have and decide. IF you have the money, then you can buy the players to suit the tactic.

Also spend time setting up the roles. And make sure when you make a sub in the game you change the role to suit the player you are bringing on. Personally I don't worry too much about shouts on game day. All of them come with plus and minus features. The only thing I might do if I need a goal is to hit early crosses or get ball forward. Other than that, I try to trust the tactics and team I have picked.

The most important thing is, don't change tactics every couple of weeks, I know this is hard when you are losing or whatever, but, it will take at last 8 or 9 games for new tactics to become effective.

 

[The__Malteser]

Few screenshots from the end of the season:

League table:

Spoiler

League Stats:

Spoiler

Achievements (?):

Spoiler

Not a bad season. We were voted overachievers, obviously It sucks that we could have gotten Europa league qualification if we finished above Feyernoord (they had beat us 3-2, after coming back from 2-0 down). i got eliminated in the first round in the play offs by Ajax.

The intentions are still there, that to leave MVV and actually start winning some continental cups.

I am in August now, but I won't spoil anything until the end of the transfer season.

Started removing a lot of leagues to make it faster. Down to 21 now.

 

[pingwing]

^^ Ah go on where are you now?!?!

Make sure you get 4 GOOD season long loans, with no cash towards his wages, there's many. It's the most important thing to do at that level, unless you spend a lot of time finding a diamond in the rough.

Yep! You can have 5 long term loans, 4 under 23 and one over 23 (works out something like that) so I managed to secure some decent midfielders this time to pack it out with a 4-3-3 sort of formation.

Worked a treat up until christmas, was 3rd as a high but now back down to 8th (just out side playoffs) but its 3 points difference back to 3rd which gives me hope.

Mathew Patterson is my top goalscorer so far (again) with 29 in all competitions! Have another ex saint of Lee Barnard as player coach for cover.

Either way L2 is mad, next season I should get over double the money with my bigger stadium which will be nice, just need another massive FA cup run. This year it ended in the 3rd round (again) away to Arsenal who beat us 5-1 nothing much you can do in those sorts of games but the money is very very useful.

 

[molinari]

What's broken so bad that you can't play it? The last patch solved most of the problems I had with the game and I am really enjoying it at the moment. Before the last patch, I hated the game.

I agree with pretty much all of Melmac's post. You really have to be careful with your tactics, chopping and changing every game will just make things worse. I'm managing Ipswich, and at Christmas in the first season I created a new 4-5-1 tactic with players assigned roles that suited their stats. Since then, my results have improved so that I'm just outside the playoff zone with 3 games to go, and I'm in the FA Cup final against Chelsea . Admittedly I haven't played a premiership team in any round, but I'm pretty excited!

There are still issues with the match engine though, this is what I've noticed:
- Players still very slow to react to incidents, especially keepers.
- I rarely see bad passes or interceptions, especially with lower leagues. Sometimes the passing is way too fluid.
- A large number of goals scored when a player dribbles to the goal line in the area, and then dribbles towards the goal and scores at the near post. My striker has had about 10 goals this way.

 

[pingwing]

- I rarely see bad passes or interceptions, especially with lower leagues. Sometimes the passing is way too fluid.
- A large number of goals scored when a player dribbles to the goal line in the area, and then dribbles towards the goal and scores at the near post. My striker has had about 10 goals this way.

My experience of the last two is for a while I have gotten to see lovely football but the way highlights are generated this year means you tend to see less rubbish interceptions. So I have seen games that only have 2/3 highlights in lower leagues because it is all rubbish. You do get probably a little to much nice fluid football in the lower leagues but it tends to be the thing you just see more of.

The dibble and smash it in at the near post just reflects the poor quality of keepers in lower leagues (should watch Kelvin Davis in real life more as this is the goal he concedes on a regular basis)

 

[The__Malteser]

^^ Ah go on where are you now?!?!

I went on to apply to a few big teams, because there were literally NO VACANT PLACES in non-European teams. The only teams that considered me were Metalist (they finished 2nd in Ukraine) and Dynamo Kiev (3rd in Ukraine). I would have been in CL/EL if they took me. unfortunately, both of them decided to go for other managers.

I also applied to 'bigger' teams, just because I could. Monpellier (sp), Gladbach etc. but they all laughed at me

That means I will stay at MVV until a manager at a big club leaves. Not much I can do at the moment :/

I will post my transfers etc. later.

I do have one big name player though A few games before the end of the season (3 or 4) I got Suso (Liverpool irl) on a free. He was a f/a since the summer, but he was only offered to me then. his wage is pretty high, 7k/w, but he should be good. There were A LOT of very good players who were on a free. Sneijder, Ibrahimovic and Podolski, to name a few. These are the times I wish I am a big club

 

[Mark1989]

Bullcrap how can this happen every game im getting injuries i just got 2 in one game this season ive had all my first 11 out at one point, Now losing to Norwhich 5-0 just pure BS, Prior to the update i had injuries fair enough but never this much.

Scored 30 and Conceded 30 defense has also fallen apart this year last year i did well barely let any goals in this time they all go in

EDIT: Just done another game and another injury :/ **** take

 

[molinari]

Can't believe it, I won the FA Cup against Chelsea !!!
(Ipswich, first season, finished 10th in the league)

I had my best team out, playing counter attack from the start with no shouts. I was prepared for a heavy defeat, but we defended really well. They had men forward for a free-kick in the 66th minute, and we cleared it and broke away. I couldn't believe Taylor had half a pitch and only the keeper to beat, I was almost out of my seat, and then he pulls one of his special near-post goals out of the bag....1-0!!!! There followed some pretty scarey defending until the final whistle.
I didn't even realise until after the match, Ipswich are in European competition next season .

Had to put vid here, would be better zoomed in a bit but is in HD. Chelsea in Blue, Ipswich in white.

 

[pingwing]

Soooo........





Nail biting last 4 games with 2 wins and 2 losses, sealed it with a 2-1 home win against Plymouth and Gillingham loosing it on the last day.

Probably didn't deserve promotion as I lost to a few teams around me but put in the performances against the dross in the league.

L1 is going to be hell, most of my team need replacing again and I think it will be a step too far considering my lack of players and staff...

I went on to apply to a few big teams, because there were literally NO VACANT PLACES in non-European teams.

Seems to be the running theme of this one, takes a lot to get a job at a top club this time. Haven't even been considered for another post in 3 seasons at Bishops Stortford...

 

[The__Malteser]

Seems to be the running theme of this one, takes a lot to get a job at a top club this time. Haven't even been considered for another post in 3 seasons at Bishops Stortford...

First of all, congrats for your save!

In FM12, i played a network game with my friend, and he was Lecce. He got relegated first season, and got sacked. He created a new manager, and took on Lecce again. He missed out on promotion in the 2nd season (play-off final). In the end of the 3rd season (with a few games to go) he managed to get a job with Fiorentina, who finished a disappointing 10th.

Still a HUGE jump!

Nothing like that for me on 13

Doing really bad in the league. 5 games, 2 wins, 2 losses, 1 draw, even against very bad teams. Will leave at the first decent job I get.

 

[pingwing]

Cheers! Dreading L1, going to risk the clubs future on a Wales u19's striker who has destroyed the BSP for 2 seasons (let down by Hereford being rubbish) though 500k is a huge amount...

12 eventually I got linked with good jobs after a few good runs and things (jumped from Burton in L1 to Blackburn in the champ then to Everton before in less than 3 full seasons), but this one not a sausage yet.

I see in game managers getting jobs more by leaving their posts and getting sacked, then applying for places without having to pay compensation, seems to be the new model now sadly.

 

[Kavalree]

Cheers! Dreading L1, going to risk the clubs future on a Wales u19's striker who has destroyed the BSP for 2 seasons (let down by Hereford being rubbish) though 500k is a huge amount...

12 eventually I got linked with good jobs after a few good runs and things (jumped from Burton in L1 to Blackburn in the champ then to Everton before in less than 3 full seasons), but this one not a sausage yet.

I see in game managers getting jobs more by leaving their posts and getting sacked, then applying for places without having to pay compensation, seems to be the new model now sadly.

I got Crewe into the Prem in 2 seasons, as I landed in the Championship I got an offer from Hearts and QPR...

 

[melmac]

Ok, I finished my season with boreham wood and won the BSS. Everybody happy. Most of my players need a contract renewal with my assistant manager telling me that it's not worth renewing the contracts of some of them because they aren't good enough for the team.

Anyway, I played through the off season and was a week away from the time when all the contracts expired I said I would try something. So I saved my game and played on just to see what would happen if I didn't renew their contracts.

Well, all of them walked, every single one of them. I was left with 5 youth players and 2 older players that I would never play. LOL It gets better, just for the laugh I said I would try to sign a few of them back on, nope, even the worst player said they weren't interested in playing and would need a massive contract to make them sign on. WHAT??? really lol rubbish.

And that's the part of the game I hate. During the off season a lot of youth players were let go so I looked through them all and picked out some of good ones and put them on my short list. I am in the BSP now so I thought I would have chance at getting some of them to sign on. Any player that was rated decent or higher by my scout wasn't interested in joining. The only players that I could get were useless, even my scout said they were useless.

If these players were been signed on by high level teams I could understand it, but, most of the ones that I had shortlisted went to blue square south and north teams. Only one of them went higher and he went to a League 2 team.

So whats going on? It's absolute BS that players who played with the team wouldn't sign on again, one of those players even had me as his favorite personel and still wouldn't join. And it's more BS that no youth players want to join my team, but do want to join teams in a lower league with worse reputation!!

 

[pingwing]

^^ Team reputation kills this, you pretty much have to suffer BSP with some utter dross in the squad. Then loan some talent and hope for the best with some BSP standard signings.

Basically Borehamwood haven't played in high leagues ever (or for a very long time) so they are an unknown. Did you get anywhere with the FA cup or trophy? Those help your reputation a lot for getting more players in.

Also getting foreign staff helps in finding more free players...

The standard between the majority of the teams between the BSP and BSS/BSN isn't that different, apart from the old league teams that are relegated into it, so hanging onto some of the core of your BSS team isn't too bad an option.

Make sure you target a good set of cup runs and survival next season and that opens up the doors to better players coming in eventually.

Got Bebe to Bishops Stortford in L1

I got Crewe into the Prem in 2 seasons, as I landed in the Championship I got an offer from Hearts and QPR...

Oooo! There is hope!

 

[melmac]

I wrote a long post about my season on the last page!!! Guess I knew nobody would read it,

To sum up, I got to the fourth round of the FA Cup where Chelsea beat me 3-2. I won the FA Trophy and won the BSS.

And I thought I understood that it was reputation that was a major factor in how players viewed your club and if they would have any interest in joining or not. But it doesn't seem to be the only factor.

I said in the post above that these players are signing for clubs with a LOWER reputation than me. Tobridge and Bromley got two of the players I was hoping to sign. These clubs have never won anything. How can it be possible that a player would have zero interest in a team in a higher division and sign for those teams?

If It was an isolated incident I might be, but of the 15 players I shortlisted, not one of them had any interest in joining me, yet they all signed for teams in the BSS and BSN apart from one who went to a league 2 team. As a test I even tried to give one player a massive contract, £1200 a week, key player, £400 appearances bonus, £500 goal bonus. I offered that to him, and he said that the negotiations were going nowhere and walked out. He signed for Bromley, he gets £5 a week.

I was pretty happy with the game after the patch, but not anymore. It feels like the game is stopping you getting good players just for the sake of it. IF those players had signed for higher league teams or even teams in the BSP I might have went ok, but, not when they all went to totally rubbish teams.

 

[pingwing]

Sorry forgot too scroll up and double check

Humm that is odd, what sort of squad status are you offering? And is there a lot of competition for the places they want?

 

[Tummy]

Actually enjoying this now I've had a bit of time to sit down and settle in to a game, will throw up some screen shots soon

 

[The__Malteser]

I wrote a long post about my season on the last page!!! Guess I knew nobody would read it,

To sum up, I got to the fourth round of the FA Cup where Chelsea beat me 3-2. I won the FA Trophy and won the BSS.

And I thought I understood that it was reputation that was a major factor in how players viewed your club and if they would have any interest in joining or not. But it doesn't seem to be the only factor.

I said in the post above that these players are signing for clubs with a LOWER reputation than me. Tobridge and Bromley got two of the players I was hoping to sign. These clubs have never won anything. How can it be possible that a player would have zero interest in a team in a higher division and sign for those teams?

If It was an isolated incident I might be, but of the 15 players I shortlisted, not one of them had any interest in joining me, yet they all signed for teams in the BSS and BSN apart from one who went to a league 2 team. As a test I even tried to give one player a massive contract, £1200 a week, key player, £400 appearances bonus, £500 goal bonus. I offered that to him, and he said that the negotiations were going nowhere and walked out. He signed for Bromley, he gets £5 a week.

I was pretty happy with the game after the patch, but not anymore. It feels like the game is stopping you getting good players just for the sake of it. IF those players had signed for higher league teams or even teams in the BSP I might have went ok, but, not when they all went to totally rubbish teams.

I read all the posts, but I don't always answer them all, as it would take me ages!

Possible glitch here:

Spoiler

I got both messages on the same day. i couldn't answer the contract offer. Not sure why but oh well.