Alright boyz, here we go!!! (The Football Manager 2011 Impressions/General Thread)

[SirFozzie]

Apparently, it is now go time:

Miles on Twitter (about five minutes ago)

I've just had a call to tell me Steam #fm2011 will be live in the next 45 minutes. Hurrah!

[sovereignstar v2]

BEST FM 2011 ADD-ONS

FACEPACKS
Cut-Out Megapack (Over 70,000 Faces) -- Discussion and Links (http://sortitoutsi.net/forum/topic/39782-megapack-home-thread)

LOGOS
Shiny Logos -- Discussion and Links (http://sortitoutsi.net/forum/topic/48912-shiny-logos-2011/)
Metallic Logos -- Discussion and Links (http://sortitoutsi.net/forum/topic/24480-metallic-logos)

KITS
SS'11 2D Kits -- Discussion and Links (http://sortitoutsi.net/forum/topic/37278-ss091011-kits-requests/)

MISC
FM11 Susie Real Names for Clubs, Competitions and Awards Fix -- Discussion and Link (http://sortitoutsi.net/forum/topic/47125-fm11-susie-real-names-for-clubs-competitions-and-awards-fix-full-release/) **beta version due to be updated in a week or so**
Base Skins -- Link (http://sites.google.com/site/michaeltmurrayuk/Skins/baseskinsfm2011) **these skins make for easy modding**

SITES FOR ADD-ONS
Sortitoutsi.net (aka Susie) (http://sortitoutsi.net/forum/index) Note: Best to find stuff via the forums as some stuff isn't entered into Susie's "download library" by the authors
FM Europe (http://fmeurope.net/forum/index.php) **in French so good luck!**
FM-Base (http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/)
The Dugout (http://www.thedugout.tv/community/) Note: Better place for discussion than downloads from what I remember
FM Scout (http://www.fmscout.com/c-fm_genie_scout.html) Home to Genie Scout, which I don't believe is out for 2011 yet as of 11/4
Los Wonderkids (http://loswonderkids.com/community/)
FM Fanboys (http://www.footballmanagerfanboys.net/discussion/)

[SirFozzie]

I asked him on twitter if it was UK only, or world wide, but I think he's getting flooded, don't know if I'm going to get an answer (someone wanna hunt down Marc V? :D)

[sovereignstar v2]

Game is unlocked like Icy said. Just noticed there is a cool retro 2006/2007-ish Skin included. And just as an FYI, anyone with Steam already has the 11.1 release day patch. Already one up on the pirates!

[sovereignstar v2]

Going to try to keep the 2nd post in this thread updated with what are the best add-ons in my opinion.

[DaddyTorgo]

FML...I was out at a business dinner...hoping that would be the case this year again.

Fuckin busy at work tomorrow unfortunately, but planning on playing all weekend.

HERE I GO!!!!

[Flasch186]

Going to try to keep the 2nd post in this thread updated with what are the best add-ons in my opinion.

AWESOME... I cant buy it right now though.

[JetsIn06]

Here we go! Playing now!

[DaddyTorgo]

Aaargh. I had a great right back I managed to get in the demo game for not huge amounts of money who was awesome. Come to find out now in the full version he's worth like 3mil more and his team won't sell him like at all!

[bhlloy]

Aaargh. I had a great right back I managed to get in the demo game for not huge amounts of money who was awesome. Come to find out now in the full version he's worth like 3mil more and his team won't sell him like at all!

This is always the worst part of getting the full game... the guys who were absolute steals in the demo often aren't there anymore :D

I think the data team fixes a lot of stuff based off the demo feedback which makes sense but it still sucks when you have a good demo team going. I had a sick Newport County team on a good run, hopefully I can still get some of those guys in the full game. Loading up now...

[DaddyTorgo]

NICE!!!

I just signed 37 y/o Roberto Carlos for Juventus. Should give me a nice option at DL for this year on the cheap.

[DaddyTorgo]

holy shit. i just had a crash.

[DaddyTorgo]

ugh. fuck me. i hadn't made it a month so it hadn't auto-saved.

[MrBug708]

Hows the MLS?

Too soon?

[SirFozzie]

Hey all, could I get a couple folks to beta-test the re-created American Premier League? I just want a sanity check, it's mostly the same as the FM2010 version (three levels, 20, 20, 24 teams, a 64 team open cup tournament, and a SuperCup to start the season..

[sovereignstar v2]

Hows the MLS?

nobody fucking plays the MLS!

[Jon]

Hey all, could I get a couple folks to beta-test the re-created American Premier League? I just want a sanity check, it's mostly the same as the FM2010 version (three levels, 20, 20, 24 teams, a 64 team open cup tournament, and a SuperCup to start the season..

I'm up for beta testing it. Just tell me what to do.

[SirFozzie]

Download APL.xml (http://www.filefront.com/17477767/APL.xml)

Put this in the editor data directory (for me it was Documents/Sports Interactive/Football Manager/editor data) and start a new game.Use this file instead of the Standard USA file. It starts in January 2010.

[bhlloy]

Might be small sample size but so far I've seen 3 terrible own goals where the keeper could have just picked the ball up but instead the defender slides in and hammers it into his own net.

Other than that, very impressed with the improvements in the match engine so far. This one just "feels" more like real soccer, more goals off balls across the area and headers from crosses rather than a million breakaways a game.

[DaddyTorgo]

grrrr....want to play...football manager.

i'm literally going to have a fucking weekend-long marathon session. minimal sleep and social activities - just FM

[bhlloy]

So I like that they fixed the exploit of getting a really good affiliate and the players listed for loan on that team would almost always accept a season long loan (you could get close to Premiership level young guys in the lower leagues for example) but I think they tweaked it a little too far.

There are scrub players on Swansea (Championship team) who are worth 10k and have no shot in hell of playing any part this season (or future seasons) that have no interest in coming for 3 months to play on my conference national Newport team. Right now having an affiliate seems almost pointless. I'm sure it's due to my reputation being lower than most other conference teams but realistically, a kid who is the 30th on the ladder at a Championship team is going to jump at an opportunity to play ever day in the conference.

[sovereignstar v2]

A new version of the Cut-Out Megapack was released last night (v3, same link as the old one up above). The bad news is that it's only available in two places right now - their premium server or File Factory, which is a free hosting site that makes you wait an hour between downloads. I paid 1 pound so I could download it from the premium server last night all at once. Else you'll have to download 8 massive chunks and it's going to take you most of the day to complete. They said they're going to upload the files to other free hosting sites, but they will not make a torrent this time around.

[GoldenEagle]

Does this year's game have 64 bit support?

[Icy]

I just finish to install 6Gb worth of graphical add ons (players faces, logos, kits, etc) and tweaked some things in the db, now is time to start to play.... if i can decide which league and then which team to manage, i always take a lot of time to decide, read in the wikipedia about the clubs, etc :D

I thought on starting in Spain, but the yellow cards limits bug is too big for me to ignore (players get a game ban after two yellow cards instead of 5), so i'm trying to decide if to go to England lower leagues as i usually do or to Italy where i have not coached since 09 i think.

Btw, some of the reported crashes seems to have something to be with old graphics packs, so it's recommended to save games often if you use them.

[Atocep]

Does this year's game have 64 bit support?

I've run this version and 2010 fine on Vista 64.

[sovereignstar v2]

OMG I just noticed the custom views finally blend seamlessly between the first team and reserves/u18 teams, so you don't have to create them for each level. Also looks like you can set a view, check out your inbox or league table, then go back to your squad and the view will be remembered. This is a nice change that may or may not have been in the demo.

[GoldenEagle]

I've run this version and 2010 fine on Vista 64.

Yes, but it can take advantage of more than just 2 GB of memory?

[Big Fo]

I didn't pay much attention to what new features were mentioned over time until the game was released. The ability to readjust your season expectations (and the board changing your budget based on what you select) during the midseason transfer window is a nice addition.

I'm eight points ahead of Arsenal and Spurs with a game in hand, I suppose it'd be unrealistic if I didn't change my expectations from title contenders to league winners.

edit: When I changed my expectations, I thought I would get an extra £7m to play with (at the beginning of the season and on January 1, title contenders = £30m transfer budget and winners = £37m transfer budget). I was down to £3.5m so I figured it would move up to £10.5m or so. However, I now have £37m to spend as if I hadn't spent anything during the summer. Is this working as designed?

Blackpool have a chance to be historically bad on my game, six points after 20 matches with only seven goals scored and their goal differential (-37) is more than twice as bad as the second worst team.

[sovereignstar v2]

That doesn't sound right. I looked for stuff at the SI boards and found this -- £27m Transfer Budget From Nowhere - Is This A Bug? (http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/234882-%C2%A327m-Transfer-Budget-From-Nowhere-Is-This-A-Bug) -- though no one in that thread is talking about adjusting expectations.

[sovereignstar v2]

Dola

I'd report that one in their bug forum, Big Fo. Just to make sure someone else can chime in (SI or not).

[BreizhManu]

Finishing my first season with Rennes in Ligue 1, so far I like the player's agent and the private discussions with the players, it gives them even more personality.

I've noticed odd though, so far 7 penalty kicks were awarded in the games i watched, and all were missed :s

[Marc Vaughan]

I'm sure it's due to my reputation being lower than most other conference teams but realistically, a kid who is the 30th on the ladder at a Championship team is going to jump at an opportunity to play ever day in the conference.

Actually no they aren't - there's considerable stigma attached to dropping to play conference level football irl, the divisions above that are viewed as the 'professional' leagues with conference and below being seem as 'semi-pro'.

Few 'professional' players in the upper divisions will accept loans to play in the conference because they fear (1) if they do well it doesn't have much impact because of the perceived standard of the opposition, (2) if they do badly then they'll be percieved very poorly indeed, (3) fear at the lesser training facilities impeding their development, (4) fear that it shows they lack ambition.

If you have a 'link' to a Championship level club as a conference club then I'm afraid you're THEY'RE feeder club - don't expect to get many players from them coming down to you.

The ones who 'might' are those who aren't cutting it in their youths and about to 'bust out' of the club full-stop, ie. transfer listed, contract expiring within a year etc. - but again for the reasons mentioned above its likely they'll be hoping to land a place in a league one/two club (if they are willing to 'step down' it might help if you're 'local' to where they're based presently - ie. same town/area, players won't generally want both a step down in football quality AND having to relocate).

(if your link is to a league one/two club you should find it a little easier to persuade players to join you on loan - but again target the ones likely to leave their parent - if you look at Brighton irl you'll find we loan kids out to the conference level Sussex clubs normally the season or so before they 'bust out' ... I think its an effort on both clubs parts to find them a home and a way to continue their footballing careers)

PS - I wasn't involved in FM PC development this year, but this is what I'd presume with the games behaviour from my knowledge of real-life.

[DaddyTorgo]

Didn't get to play Friday night like I wanted.

About halfway through my first season with Juve. After some minor additions (Jo from Man City on loan, Roberto Carlos back from Brazil, Rafael from ManU on loan) I've managed to take Juve up to #1 in Serie A. Suffered bad injuries to Krasic and Pepe though, and De Ceglie/Giorgious Karagounis (who i brought in on loan also) (sp?) just aren't as great a backups as I would have liked, so I've slipped a bit in my last 3 matches and am now in 2nd (8 pts. behind Inter and 1 ahead of whoever's in 3rd - I forget).

[Big Fo]

I just had my most nervy game yet. I drew Barcelona in the first knockout round of the Champions League and was playing the first leg at their place. The first half was alright, they shaded it but my guys at least had some decent possession and created a chance or two. Early in the second half I went down to ten men and was under siege for the next forty minutes. Every couple of minutes they had another highlight (I watch only the key plays), it was just constant pressure. Every time we cleared the ball it went to Pique or Puyol and came right back at us. They hit the post twice, van der Sar made a number of great saves, and Vidic, and Fletcher were outstanding, constantly mopping up loose balls in the box with Villa and Messi ready to pounce. I couldn't believe when the final whistle blew and we'd gotten out of there with a 0-0 draw.

Hopefully we can keep eleven men on the field at Old Trafford.

Dola

I'd report that one in their bug forum, Big Fo. Just to make sure someone else can chime in (SI or not).

I went ahead and did this. It seems nobody else has noticed it so far, or at least nobody else in the bug reporting forum.

[DaddyTorgo]

Wooo!

3-0 victory over Catania (#4 team in Serie A). Opens up a 5pt gap between me and AC Milan (#3), and I'm 4pts back of Inter (top team), with both of the derby matches still to play.

Given they were down to 10 men for like the entire game.

[DaddyTorgo]

Nice. Just picked up a young kid (21) who has 3.5 star potential (and is 2.5 star now), D/WB/M/AM R for 2.1 million. Love me some bargin buys!

[EagleFan]

I finally got into the game enough to keep a dynasty going two versions ago. With that said, I loved last year's version even more and that pulled me away from the previous version (and thus the dynasty).

If I am enjoying last year's version enough and am not a major soccer enthusiast (I don't need to have all the players on their curent roster as I don't even know what their current roster would be anyway), is it worth it for me to get this year's version or am I better off staying with last year and maybe waiting for the next version to see what changes?

[sovereignstar v2]

I finally got into the game enough to keep a dynasty going two versions ago. With that said, I loved last year's version even more and that pulled me away from the previous version (and thus the dynasty).

If I am enjoying last year's version enough and am not a major soccer enthusiast (I don't need to have all the players on their curent roster as I don't even know what their current roster would be anyway), is it worth it for me to get this year's version or am I better off staying with last year and maybe waiting for the next version to see what changes?

If you're still having fun with it, I'd hold off. There's nothing groundbreaking in this version, just some polishing and a few neat things here and there.

[Shepp]

I finally got into the game enough to keep a dynasty going two versions ago. With that said, I loved last year's version even more and that pulled me away from the previous version (and thus the dynasty).

If I am enjoying last year's version enough and am not a major soccer enthusiast (I don't need to have all the players on their curent roster as I don't even know what their current roster would be anyway), is it worth it for me to get this year's version or am I better off staying with last year and maybe waiting for the next version to see what changes?

I would try the demo if I were you. I was going to skip out on this years version too but after I played the demo I changed my mind. I'm still loving my FM10 save so I'll probably hold off on 2011 until the final patch comes out at the end of February.

[Alan T]

I would try the demo if I were you. I was going to skip out on this years version too but after I played the demo I changed my mind. I'm still loving my FM10 save so I'll probably hold off on 2011 until the final patch comes out at the end of February.


I did the same. Wasn't going to buy this year, but liked the demo enough that I made the plunge.

[DaddyTorgo]

Nifty new feature - your assman will look thru your shortlist automatically and tell you when guys are 6 months away from expiring. So you don't need to worry about remembering or whatever.

[kingfc22]

Dumb question but I'm too lazy to look it up, but I'm sure the answer is no.

Can you import a FM10 saved game?

[Sweed]

Dumb question but I'm too lazy to look it up, but I'm sure the answer is no.

Can you import a FM10 saved game?

No you cannot.

[DaddyTorgo]

Ugh - I just held Inter scoreless for 75 minutes and then lost via a screamer from Cambiasso from long range.

[aran]

I'm surprised this thread hasn't blown up. The new features look great and seem like they'd make the game significantly more immersive (which is crazy considering how immersive the game already is.)

[DaddyTorgo]

Maybe we're all too busy playing to post??

LOL

[Flasch186]

I cant buy it right now :(

[Big Fo]

Maybe we're all too busy playing to post??

LOL

Starting on Thursday night, I'm about to finish a season. I haven't done much this weekend aside from play FM11 while watching a ton of college football, NFL, and soccer games. I went to a movie on Saturday, that's about it. Maybe a bit sad but at least the game is quite good.

[bulletsponge]

im waiting for the disk version

[DaddyTorgo]

Couple of great signings. Pipped Inter and Napoli for Mirel Radol to provide me with a third solid DC for $2.8mil

Pipped Barca and Real Madrid for Vinicius, a 17 year old Brazillian striker who lets set to develop into something solid, for $3.7mil.

And I've still got the guy coming in at the end of the year who finished 2nd in the Serie A Italian Player of the Year award (the midfielder).

[Young Drachma]

I'm saying I won't buy this version but I've said that each year since 2008 and I've bought it each year. I'm more interested in fm handheld for my iPad, but there's no customization so I dunno if I'll be able to plunge because for me it's just how I play.

I would love a chance to get back into the PLA again though so that's alluring for me to consider this years.

[SirFozzie]

DC: Help me out with my APL if you get it :)

[Young Drachma]

DC: Help me out with my APL if you get it :)

My computer is actually with the manufacturer right now because the HD crashed. But if I did get this, at least Steam doesn't make me worry about licensing issues like my other text sims.

You all are tempting me for sure.

[DaddyTorgo]

Ugh. Just had that same crash. It's tied to one player in the DB. Wiped out my last 3 weeks, including the couple of nice signings I had. Now to replicate them and get rid of that player.

Marcel Buchel, who is with Siena (on loan at Juve to start the game). If your coaches recommend in their meeting doing something with him, don't do it. Private conversation or adjusting squad status = crash.

[Axxon]

I've just had an odd crash twice. Why odd? It's crashing at the opening load game screen. That's not the oddest part. It's crashing when it's just sitting in the tray doing nothing.

I had fired up the program but never started playing. I started watching a DVD on my computer instead. Halfway through the movie the program crashed. I was amused since I wasn't even playing. I restarted FM and again let it sit in the background and again it crashed.

Odd, but again not a real biggie. I'm going to try loading a saved game and letting it sit and see if it crashes but I do that all the time and it never has. This is my first crash with the new version.

[Blade6119]

I'm surprised this thread hasn't blown up. The new features look great and seem like they'd make the game significantly more immersive (which is crazy considering how immersive the game already is.)

- Love the change in the news feed, really does help the immersion

- LOVE some of the new match engine quirks, crosses in particular look a lot more realistic to what I see in real life (though players seem to run in bursts, which I guess makes sense, but is odd to watch then speed up and slow down while running after a loose ball)

- The new contract negotiation and player interaction feature is such a great overhaul, really makes things more interactive. Got my first agent to just say give me an offer and we will work from there, cool to have to come up with it myself. And cool as well on other guys to get their wage demands down from like 350k to 150k just by working around with them

- I really love this game, it has hooked me far better then FM10 which I still played the hell out of

[Icy]

Ugh. Just had that same crash. It's tied to one player in the DB. Wiped out my last 3 weeks, including the couple of nice signings I had. Now to replicate them and get rid of that player.

Marcel Buchel, who is with Siena (on loan at Juve to start the game). If your coaches recommend in their meeting doing something with him, don't do it. Private conversation or adjusting squad status = crash.

Being tied to one player in particular, i wonder if it is related to custom graphics (face cut) as most of the reported crashes seems related to that.

Update: i just clicked on him and his page loaded fine, with the face picture included.

[DaddyTorgo]

Being tied to one player in particular, i wonder if it is related to custom graphics (face cut) as most of the reported crashes seems related to that.

Update: i just clicked on him and his page loaded fine, with the face picture included.

I don't have any custom graphics added yet though. still just playing stock.

[Alan T]

- Love the change in the news feed, really does help the immersion



I really don't like the combined inbox/news feed and I really hate the "bubbles" that everything shows up in. Maybe that is something I can fix if I look for other skins?

Both of those things really annoy me constantly.

Everything else I like so far though

[SirFozzie]

I just had the most awesome game(s).

Cambridge United down 3-0 after the first leg of the Conference Playoffs, needed a hatful of goals to progress. Figuring I had nothing left to lose, I went all out attack from the get go.. figuring "Hey, we made it this far. We might get lucky."

Did we ever.

3 minutes in.... GOAL, CAMBRIDGE!
8 Minutes IN.... GOAL, CAMBRIDGE!
22 Minutes in.. GOAL, CAMBRIDGE!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? 3-3! Not only that, but the other team just folded, and we ended up winning 6-0 on the day, 6-3 on aggregate. Which led to the Conference playoff final in Manchester against Grimsby Town.. back and forth game.. they took the lead.. we tied. We took the lead.. they tied us. They had corner after corner (18 of them in total!)

It went to extra time. We were just four minutes from the Russian Roulette of penalties. Could we hold on for PK's.. or would one team score a dramatic winner?

My on-loan striker gets a long ball, beats the defender and is one on one with the goalie.. (YES!!!)... he jukes once.... twice, and.. passes?? (WHAAAAAA) to a trailing man.. the goalie's out of position.. shot.. (geettttttttt INNNN THERE!).. GOAL!!!!!!

Cambridge is headed to League Two Next year!

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[Jon]

DC: Help me out with my APL if you get it :)

I haven't had any real chance to play longterm with it, but I have included it twice using the updated database. Once by itself, with all three leagues playable and a large database. The second, with England, Italy, Spain, Denmark, and Russia (all leagues playable). It's worked fine through the first month both times and I've had no crashes.

[SackAttack]

After watching the AI in the last, oh, five versions or so, it's clear that the reason I struggle with this game is because I don't know the right options to set to turn opponent pressure into perfect long-ball goal setups.

I don't even get beat by guys who just make defenders look silly. I get beat by interceptions and perfectly placed 40m passes immediately afterward.

[DaddyTorgo]

I really don't like the combined inbox/news feed and I really hate the "bubbles" that everything shows up in. Maybe that is something I can fix if I look for other skins?

Both of those things really annoy me constantly.

Everything else I like so far though

I like the return to a combined feed - makes me feel more involved with the rest of the world. And I've gotten some great leads on players to go after from it - since I have the Serbian league selected I see for example who their young player of the year is and i can try to go poach him. Also reminds me to keep an eye on other leagues and countries.

Not wild about the bubbles either myself, but I'm sure after a time I won't even see them anymore.

[DaddyTorgo]

After watching the AI in the last, oh, five versions or so, it's clear that the reason I struggle with this game is because I don't know the right options to set to turn opponent pressure into perfect long-ball goal setups.

I don't even get beat by guys who just make defenders look silly. I get beat by interceptions and perfectly placed 40m passes immediately afterward.

direct passing...check "pass into space" under tactical options during each match (from the in-match dropdown menu), have an advanced forward so he's sitting on the shoulder of the last defender...your guys will bang the ball forward into space and he'll run onto it and try to beat the trap.

that's the simple version of advice. there's more to it than that naturally, but i don't have time to get all the way into it at the moment. busy day.

[SackAttack]

direct passing...check "pass into space" under tactical options during each match (from the in-match dropdown menu), have an advanced forward so he's sitting on the shoulder of the last defender...your guys will bang the ball forward into space and he'll run onto it and try to beat the trap.

that's the simple version of advice. there's more to it than that naturally, but i don't have time to get all the way into it at the moment. busy day.

The funny thing is, before I checked this thread and saw your reply, that's what I did - set it to 'direct passing' and amped up our defensive closing down.

The result was a 4-2 victory over a previously-undefeated Tottenham side.

I'll take it.

[sovereignstar v2]

I went ahead and did this. It seems nobody else has noticed it so far, or at least nobody else in the bug reporting forum.

See that you got a response.

[DaddyTorgo]

The funny thing is, before I checked this thread and saw your reply, that's what I did - set it to 'direct passing' and amped up our defensive closing down.

The result was a 4-2 victory over a previously-undefeated Tottenham side.

I'll take it.

Nice!! :D

There's obviously still tweaks you could make it to (maybe clearing to the flanks for example so that your long balls come from your fullbacks rather than your DC's dithering on the ball and possibly getting stripped), setting up your two forwards so you have one as a target and one as an advanced striker, adjusting your defensive line so that it's deeper and you draw them further on to you (thus leaving more space in their back for you to exploit), making sure your guys are set to "counterattack=yes" in the team formation-advanced screen....etc.

[SackAttack]

I guess Marc-Antoine Fortuné was antsy to get back on the pitch following his injury. Three goals in the first half hour of League Cup play against Hull.

[Marc Vaughan]

If you're having problems defending against sides who play direct football then consider dropping your defense deeper to compensate or if you've at least one fast central defender push them UP and hope that your fast defender is good enough (and has enough distance) to cover in order to deal with any such balls. Remember a person dribbling the ball is inherantly slower than someone who isn't - so while the through ball (and striker pace) might give them a bit of an advantage so long as your defense aren't tortoises you do have a reasonable chance to recover if they're setup right.

(if you've a fast keeper consider letting him act as a sweeper and deal with things - I had a 20 pace/acceleration keeper in FML who did that role very nicely for me pre-reset ;) )

[SackAttack]

My staff keep suggesting things like a deep defensive line, but I'm not sure where to find that option yet. So far, the direct passing game is working out okay.

We'll get our crucible against Manchester United this week, looks like. Thank goodness Rooney is broken. He's a thorn in my side.

[DaddyTorgo]

My staff keep suggesting things like a deep defensive line, but I'm not sure where to find that option yet. So far, the direct passing game is working out okay.

We'll get our crucible against Manchester United this week, looks like. Thank goodness Rooney is broken. He's a thorn in my side.

Right click on the formation so that it brings up the team strategies in the left pane. click "advanced." Scroll down. The options for defensive line depth (as well as things like "counter attack" and "play offsides trap" are on the advanced tab.

[SackAttack]

Right click on the formation so that it brings up the team strategies in the left pane. click "advanced." Scroll down. The options for defensive line depth (as well as things like "counter attack" and "play offsides trap" are on the advanced tab.

Thanks.

Where's the option for "sniper in the stands"?

[DaddyTorgo]

Thanks.

Where's the option for "sniper in the stands"?

lol

[SirFozzie]

Update on two bugs found (improper La Liga yellow cards rule, and bugged French National Team Suspensions), from a sega guy on the SI boards

Very brief, and not very detailed, news update;
- There will be a hotfix.
- It will fix the Spanish and French issues. A couple of other issues are currently under discussion to see whether they can be incorporated. I don't know what they are at this point.
- I don't know whether or not it's savegame compatible.
- There is no date for it yet. That, to me, suggests that it's a couple of days away. I should stress that SI haven't mentioned a date so that is purely my speculation.
- What I do know is that it'll be rolled out across all formats (digital / boxed) and languages - and therefore we will not be releasing an update for the Russian version of the game before this - so SI can focus on getting this out to all customers at once.

[DaddyTorgo]

There's a Russian version? So I presume you can play with Cyrillic script? That's sweet.

[SirFozzie]

The Russian versiom is the reason why all the cracked versions leaked early.

[Marc Vaughan]

There's a Russian version? So I presume you can play with Cyrillic script? That's sweet.

There are quite a ludicrous amount of languages which the game is localised into - even back in the day CM01-02 was localised into such languages as Russian, Korean and Japanese ...

[DaddyTorgo]

The Russian versiom is the reason why all the cracked versions leaked early.

dirty Russian fuckers

[DaddyTorgo]

There are quite a ludicrous amount of languages which the game is localised into - even back in the day CM01-02 was localised into such languages as Russian, Korean and Japanese ...

I mean I knew that...but I guess I never pictured it with cyrillic...funny mental picture

[Axxon]

A close-fought game at Estadio de Dragao ended in a one sided result as Manchester City defeated Futebol Clube de Porto SAD 5-0.

Hmm, this word close-fought does not mean what football365.com thinks it means.

Just saying.

[sovereignstar v2]

dirty Russian fuckers

???
http://lyricsfever.net/images/e/enrique-iglesias--img-m3e1f130a8556acd95e1886038affe302.jpg

[DaddyTorgo]

Player fatigue is modeled much better in this version. Guys are actually exhausted at the end of their weekend game after playing a midweek game, and Alberto Aquilani can barely play 2 games in a row for me.

[SirFozzie]

My American Premier League mod file needed a pretty major bugfix: Here's the updated details:

The American Premier League - 20 teams (3 down)
The American First Division - 20 teams (3 up, 3 Down)
The American Challenge Division - 24 teams (3 up, special rules, Limit of 20 Over-24's, 15 Foreigners, Semi-professional, meant to be a developmental league)

The US Open Championship - 64 team Cup
The Lamar Hunt Cup - Pits the winner of the APL and the USOC.

For those who want to play with the US without all the hinky MLS rules.


Download APL.xml (http://www.filefront.com/17495882/APL.xml) (or if you can't get FileFront to work...)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NKY1PREZ

(note: If you downloaded it before the 9th of November, please re-download it)

This is the 1.1 file, and should be used. This is primarily a bugfix version, 2.0 is on the roadmap:

Fixes in American Premier League 1.1 File

All Challenge League Teams set to semi-pro or Professional Status
Minor tweaks of team names
Fix bug with regards to American League Reputations:


Coming in 2.0

Modding of stadiums to ensure growth of American Footy
More bugfixes and the like

Comments, bugs, thoughts, examples of what happened in your game, all welcome.

[RainMaker]

Thank you SirFozzie, going to give yours a whirl next week when my new computer gets here.

[Marc Vaughan]

I'm saying I won't buy this version but I've said that each year since 2008 and I've bought it each year. I'm more interested in fm handheld for my iPad, but there's no customization so I dunno if I'll be able to plunge because for me it's just how I play.

Out of interest what customisation are you interested in for FMH ...?

(sorry but my FM senses tingled and called me to the thread ;) )

[Flasch186]

LOL

[Shepp]

Out of interest what customisation are you interested in for FMH ...?

(sorry but my FM senses tingled and called me to the thread ;) )

Android support!!!:D

[jbergey22]

Is it more difficult this year?

Im still pissed that myself(a person that knows absolutely nothing about soccer) could start out as a lower Norway team get promoted, win the championship, move on to Spain Liga, get promoted. All in a span of 4-5 years. It just seems too easy if I can accomplish this.

All I read about in other forums is people taking their favorite their favorite teams to the Premiere League Championship in past versions. Am I the only one that finds a game uninteresting if everyone can do it?

Does anyone actually have a failure story so I can quit hearing about the 99% of the people that own this game that accomplish their goal.

[bhlloy]

Just out of interest, what text sim isn't easy to succeed at (at least without significant house rules)

[DaddyTorgo]

Is it more difficult this year?

Im still pissed that myself(a person that knows absolutely nothing about soccer) could start out as a lower Norway team get promoted, win the championship, move on to Spain Liga, get promoted. All in a span of 4-5 years. It just seems too easy if I can accomplish this.

All I read about in other forums is people taking their favorite their favorite teams to the Premiere League Championship in past versions. Am I the only one that finds a game uninteresting if everyone can do it?

Does anyone actually have a failure story so I can quit hearing about the 99% of the people that own this game that accomplish their goal.

I find it more difficult so far (small sample size). You do have to account for the fact that a number of those people are probably cheating too - aka saving before matches and replaying them until they win.

Then again, using San Marino last year I found it real difficult once I got up to Serie A...

[jbergey22]

Just out of interest, what text sim isn't easy to succeed at (at least without significant house rules)

Ive found the new Fast Break College basketball tough starting out as a lower tier school but you do make a good point. Basically, Im just saying since I know so little about soccer and its tactics that promotion isnt something that should happen. I would think for people that actually follow the sport it would be so simple that they would lose enjoyment from it.

I guess I find the game a lot of fun but I wish there were different levels of difficulty. I think the creators of these games make it too easy to have success thinking buyers need to win in order to enjoy the game.

[Alan T]

Is it more difficult this year?

Im still pissed that myself(a person that knows absolutely nothing about soccer) could start out as a lower Norway team get promoted, win the championship, move on to Spain Liga, get promoted. All in a span of 4-5 years. It just seems too easy if I can accomplish this.

All I read about in other forums is people taking their favorite their favorite teams to the Premiere League Championship in past versions. Am I the only one that finds a game uninteresting if everyone can do it?

Does anyone actually have a failure story so I can quit hearing about the 99% of the people that own this game that accomplish their goal.


I personally have figured it was a design decision by most text sim writers to make the game "winable" as success probably helps create more interest than one failure after another would. I think that is generally why multi-player leagues in most text-sims are so popular as it does greatly increase the difficulty level competing against other humans.

The one nice thing about soccer is that no matter how good you get, there is always another level to try to conquer next. So if you want a challenge, you generally can find one somewhere out there.

[jbergey22]

I find it more difficult so far (small sample size). You do have to account for the fact that a number of those people are probably cheating too - aka saving before matches and replaying them until they win.

Then again, using San Marino last year I found it real difficult once I got up to Serie A...

Ok Thank you! This is the response I was looking for. Perhaps its easier at lower levels and becomes much more difficult as you get bumped. Ive never actually competed in the Premiere League as Ive been saving that challenge for when I earned it by the game offering me that job.

[jbergey22]

I personally have figured it was a design decision by most text sim writers to make the game "winable" as success probably helps create more interest than one failure after another would. I think that is generally why multi-player leagues in most text-sims are so popular as it does greatly increase the difficulty level competing against other humans.

The one nice thing about soccer is that no matter how good you get, there is always another level to try to conquer next. So if you want a challenge, you generally can find one somewhere out there.

Thanks Alan! Great points.

[DaddyTorgo]

Ok Thank you! This is the response I was looking for. Perhaps its easier at lower levels and becomes much more difficult as you get bumped. Ive never actually competed in the Premiere League as Ive been saving that challenge for when I earned it by the game offering me that job.

Just FYI - I'm an experienced player...been playing this game for over 10 years now...and once I got my San Marino side promoted last year (fairly quickly thanks to relying on a lot of loan signings) up from C2C to Serie A, I found Serie A very hard. Like "fighting relegation all year long" hard. Hella fun though.

[bhlloy]

I'd echo what the guys have said above, it can get easy at lower levels (although tactically I'm having a tough time so far this year) just because you seem to have such an advantage over the AI in evaluating talent and usually it's decently easy to bring in a superior team and walk the league. But again, this year they've done a nice job of eliminating some of the exploits (e.g. get a top level affiliate and any of their young guys in the reserve team will likely come to you on a season long loan) and I'm definitely finding it tougher.

Those advantages are largely gone once you get to a higher level though, because the other teams have more money to spend, have better scouting and evaluation and are bringing in players of a similar quality. Last year I found myself struggling at Championship level and tactically, the game seems even tougher this year.

[thesloppy]

So, I have an a first team coach that regularly feeds me scouting reports (about 3 a week). The report says it's according to my instructions, but I don't remember doing any such thing, and his name doesn't even show up on the scouting page.

Is this a regular new feature for all teams, or just the result of having an eager coach with scouting abilities?

I'm certainly not complaining. He's a better scout than my scouts, and I've picked up like half-a-dozen hot prospects based only on his random reports. I'll be especially impressed if I learn he's somewhat unique in sending out these unsolicited reports.

[whomario]

In case anyone is interested despite it not being free anymore : Football Manager 2011 Guide | Ultimate Tactics & Strategy Walkthrough (http://footballmanagerguide.com/) has their new version ready.

acording to an email i got from fm britain you get 50% off by typing in FMBRITAIN at checkout which would be £3.49 then.

Is any free guide in the works or posted on the si forums btw ?

I ordered the boxed game btw (game not on steam in germany due to stupid EA exclusivity, their game has 1.5 stars on amazon btw on like 100 votes :D ) when amazon had it for 17.50 pounds, should arrive early next week.

Will likely table it until christmas where i´ll have time to get into it while having 1 1/2 weeks off from work.

played the demo a bit and am intrigued :)

[whomario]

@ jbergey : You should definitely set yourself a few house rules for added difficulty. The game portrays real life soccer pretty good, but it´s still a game.

suggestions that worked well for me in 2010 :

- no transfers in first transfer period and no transfer budget for all teams set on startup (all team rosters are dated from after the period ended)
- only buy players from outside your own division that you discovered via scouting trips or that were recomended by your staff or that you noticed when playing that team (in cup or european matches)
- limit yourself in terms of buying young players as other teams give up on youngsters 2 early and sell them for peanuts. I had a limit of 2 sub-21 players per year and might go 3 for 2 years this time around.

[Icy]

The difficulty level in FM is basically the team you chose, the league you play in and how realistically do you play (house rules). Have on mind that a lot of those over performers you see in forums do the following:

- They read all the "good players" threads at SI forums and sign those players that they have not scouted but they know are so good or will become good.

- They use editing/scouting programs to find the good players or re-gens from outside the game.

- They download already proven tactics (that sometimes have exploits like past corner bug) from the tactic forums instead of developing their own.

If i don't use house rules, basically the ones used by the LLM community (Low League Managers that doesn't only mean that they play with low league teams but that they chose to roleplay as if they were real new coaches) else i find too easy to climb to top divisions from lower ones. This is the forum at SI for the LLM Lower League Managers (http://community.sigames.com/forumdisplay.php/19-Lower-League-Managers)

One of the problems i have always seen in FM is how easy is to sign veteran unemployed players that can still dominate in low leagues. It could be a problem with the db or with old players not showing aging enough. So you can have a pretty decent team in the lower leagues for really cheap.

But even if you promote fast, if you are coaching a team with a really small stadium for example, once you reach the top leagues you will struggle, as your finances won't allow you to pay top salaries, and the players you can get for free and cheap, won't have enough level to play in the top leagues as they do in the lower ones.

So basically i find easy to over-perform early, but find it harder to become a top team with a low league team unless it's a team that even playing in the lower leagues, have a big stadium (as maybe they played in the top leagues years ago but got relegated).

Also as it's been said, in soccer there is always a new challenge, if you are so good for your league level, you can always promote, and once you reach the top level, then you have the continental championships, to try to win all the competitions in one season (like Inter Milan did past year or Barcelona 2 years ago), etc.

For realism and hard difficulty you should adopt the LLM religion and join the sect :D

- Start unemployed with Sunday leaguer reputation (lowest) so you will be offered jobs from teams doing bad already (that is why they fired their coach) in the lowest division.

- No transfers in first transfer period as when you join a team at the beginning of the game, they have already expended their money on signing as the database is up to date to the start of the season

- Don't sign any player that you haven't scouted first, even if you know that in real life he is so good. As in lower leagues your board won't let you scout outside your country, it ads to the realism, as small teams can't pay scouts to travel so far.

- Never use outside the game editors/scout programs to find who are the good future players.

- Don't use somebody's else tactics or training routines.

- Roleplay, don't do things you wouldn't do in real life if you were a coach. A career should be followed like a real life one. Would a manager leave a club just because he's got it promoted? Maybe because another club comes in for him, but not because he's reached the Football League.

- There's an adage in LLM, "If you have to ask if you're cheating, then you very probably are"

- Don't ask for top players to be loaned to your crap lower league team, maybe 1 or 2 young kids, that is all, else it's not realistic as top stabilized players wouldn't ever accept to be loaned out to crap teams.

[Icy]

In case anyone is interested despite it not being free anymore : Football Manager 2011 Guide | Ultimate Tactics & Strategy Walkthrough (http://footballmanagerguide.com/) has their new version ready.

acording to an email i got from fm britain you get 50% off by typing in FMBRITAIN at checkout which would be £3.49 then.

I just purchased it and highly recommend it specially for new players but also for vets as it can help you a lot to enjoy the game and to learn a lot about real soccer tactics, history, rules etc.

At 3 Pounds ($5.77) with the discount price i find it really cheap for the huge work they have put on it and keep putting every year so i just bought it to keep supporting this and their past job when it was free.

[NorvTurnerOverdrive]

i agree with everything brought up in the last couple posts. i haven't bought 11 yet (waiting for the last patch) but to piggyback, if there's one thing i'd like to see it would be that larger clubs would be more aggressive in poaching your players.

one of my house rules is that if a bigger club shows interest in a player i have to sell him. even so, it doesn't happen enough and offering your best players new contracts every year is usually enough to ward off interest.

if i'm a hull city and playing way above expectations with a bunch of talented youngsters i should get raped. there's no way i should have a 4 star anything for more than a couple months.

beyond that i'd say that i'm disappointed tactics pale in comparison to motivation. i can trot out a bunch of stiffs and so long as they're happy, cohesive and motivated it really doesn't matter what we line up in we'll play well. too well.

don't get me wrong, i love fm. i just wish there was a 'bring the pain' setting.

[jbergey22]

@ jbergey : You should definitely set yourself a few house rules for added difficulty. The game portrays real life soccer pretty good, but it´s still a game.

suggestions that worked well for me in 2010 :

- no transfers in first transfer period and no transfer budget for all teams set on startup (all team rosters are dated from after the period ended)
- only buy players from outside your own division that you discovered via scouting trips or that were recomended by your staff or that you noticed when playing that team (in cup or european matches)
- limit yourself in terms of buying young players as other teams give up on youngsters 2 early and sell them for peanuts. I had a limit of 2 sub-21 players per year and might go 3 for 2 years this time around.

The difficulty level in FM is basically the team you chose, the league you play in and how realistically do you play (house rules). Have on mind that a lot of those over performers you see in forums do the following:

- They read all the "good players" threads at SI forums and sign those players that they have not scouted but they know are so good or will become good.

- They use editing/scouting programs to find the good players or re-gens from outside the game.

- They download already proven tactics (that sometimes have exploits like past corner bug) from the tactic forums instead of developing their own.

If i don't use house rules, basically the ones used by the LLM community (Low League Managers that doesn't only mean that they play with low league teams but that they chose to roleplay as if they were real new coaches) else i find too easy to climb to top divisions from lower ones. This is the forum at SI for the LLM Lower League Managers (http://community.sigames.com/forumdisplay.php/19-Lower-League-Managers)

One of the problems i have always seen in FM is how easy is to sign veteran unemployed players that can still dominate in low leagues. It could be a problem with the db or with old players not showing aging enough. So you can have a pretty decent team in the lower leagues for really cheap.

But even if you promote fast, if you are coaching a team with a really small stadium for example, once you reach the top leagues you will struggle, as your finances won't allow you to pay top salaries, and the players you can get for free and cheap, won't have enough level to play in the top leagues as they do in the lower ones.

So basically i find easy to over-perform early, but find it harder to become a top team with a low league team unless it's a team that even playing in the lower leagues, have a big stadium (as maybe they played in the top leagues years ago but got relegated).

Also as it's been said, in soccer there is always a new challenge, if you are so good for your league level, you can always promote, and once you reach the top level, then you have the continental championships, to try to win all the competitions in one season (like Inter Milan did past year or Barcelona 2 years ago), etc.

For realism and hard difficulty you should adopt the LLM religion and join the sect :D

- Start unemployed with Sunday leaguer reputation (lowest) so you will be offered jobs from teams doing bad already (that is why they fired their coach) in the lowest division.

- No transfers in first transfer period as when you join a team at the beginning of the game, they have already expended their money on signing as the database is up to date to the start of the season

- Don't sign any player that you haven't scouted first, even if you know that in real life he is so good. As in lower leagues your board won't let you scout outside your country, it ads to the realism, as small teams can't pay scouts to travel so far.

- Never use outside the game editors/scout programs to find who are the good future players.

- Don't use somebody's else tactics or training routines.

- Roleplay, don't do things you wouldn't do in real life if you were a coach. A career should be followed like a real life one. Would a manager leave a club just because he's got it promoted? Maybe because another club comes in for him, but not because he's reached the Football League.

- There's an adage in LLM, "If you have to ask if you're cheating, then you very probably are"

- Don't ask for top players to be loaned to your crap lower league team, maybe 1 or 2 young kids, that is all, else it's not realistic as top stabilized players wouldn't ever accept to be loaned out to crap teams.

Thank you very much for your suggestions. This really helps.

Since I know so little about the sport I couldnt even make "house rules" as I didnt know how they even go about signing players in Europe.

[sovereignstar v2]

Try taking over Queen's Park in Scotland. :)

[NorvTurnerOverdrive]

the portsmouth insolvency challenge is my favorite. keep portsmouth up(in fm10) and navigate through their loan period (2012 iirc) without restructuring the debt or taking out any additional loans. damn near impossible.

trying to get them promoted will probably be my first career in fm11.

[SackAttack]

So with the offside rule, can a goal be ruled offside based on circumstances at any time leading up to the score, or is it specific to the positions of the players at the time of the shot?

Just watched a goal where one of the Arsenal players was drifting back and forth between offside and not offside while the ball was being played around, but he wasn't offside at the time of the score, yet one of the West Brom players was furious about the goal being given.

[cartman]

So with the offside rule, can a goal be ruled offside based on circumstances at any time leading up to the score, or is it specific to the positions of the players at the time of the shot?

Just watched a goal where one of the Arsenal players was drifting back and forth between offside and not offside while the ball was being played around, but he wasn't offside at the time of the score, yet one of the West Brom players was furious about the goal being given.

It is supposed to be the position of the players at the time of the shot/pass. A player can be offside, and as long as the ball isn't played to him, that's ok. Then there is the whole concept of the player having to be actively involved in the play to be considered offside as well.

[Axxon]

So with the offside rule, can a goal be ruled offside based on circumstances at any time leading up to the score, or is it specific to the positions of the players at the time of the shot?

Just watched a goal where one of the Arsenal players was drifting back and forth between offside and not offside while the ball was being played around, but he wasn't offside at the time of the score, yet one of the West Brom players was furious about the goal being given.


As I understand it he only commits an offsides at the time when the ball is played to him. He can be offsides technically as long as he's not part of the play but it becomes an offsides offense when the ball is played to him.

[MrBug708]

IRL if a player offside throws his hands up as he moving back onside, will not be ruled offside if he does not make a play on a ball played to him

[SirFozzie]

Yeah, if a player takes the extra step to show that he's not in the play, they'll be a lot more willing to not call the offsides.

[bhlloy]

It's not really whether the ball is played to him, it's whether he is interfering with play. You can have offsides called on you IRL if the AR thinks you are impacting the play in any way. Examples would be being in the goalies LOS on a shot or if a player draws a defender away from him causing another player to get a clear opportunity (that last one never gets called, the first one usually does)

What you are asking is correct however, it's only at the time of the pass or shot that a player can be played offside. Also bear in mind that you can't be offside if you are behind the ball.

Unless FM simplifies this of course, in which case I have no idea what I'm talking about

[jbergey22]

Ive never liked the soccer offside rule. I wish it was more like the hockey offside rule where if the ball gets in the zone you cant be offsides. Too many questionable calls on the offside rule IMO.

[SackAttack]

I'm not really sure what FM does. There are times when I can pick out the clearly offside goals, because the ball is played to a guy who's behind the line when the ball is played.

Then there are other times when offside is or isn't called, and I'm at a loss for why it was or wasn't.

[jbergey22]

I'm not really sure what FM does. There are times when I can pick out the clearly offside goals, because the ball is played to a guy who's behind the line when the ball is played.

Then there are other times when offside is or isn't called, and I'm at a loss for why it was or wasn't.

I think FM tries to make it like real life where there are a lot of questionable calls. One of my favorite things to do is get fined by my own club for bitching about a crap referree decision:)

I was actually fired for it before. Bastards.

[DaddyTorgo]

I just purchased it and highly recommend it specially for new players but also for vets as it can help you a lot to enjoy the game and to learn a lot about real soccer tactics, history, rules etc.

At 3 Pounds ($5.77) with the discount price i find it really cheap for the huge work they have put on it and keep putting every year so i just bought it to keep supporting this and their past job when it was free.

really? so it's worth it this year?

[Big Fo]

November 2011 - Arsene Wenger has just abandoned Arsenal to take over at Atletico Madrid. Their manager, Quique Flores, had been hired by Man City after they fired Roberto Mancini. A few days later I read that the new Arsenal manager is Roberto Mancini.

[-apoc-]

November 2011 - Arsene Wenger has just abandoned Arsenal to take over at Atletico Madrid. Their manager, Quique Flores, had been hired by Man City after they fired Roberto Mancini. A few days later I read that the new Arsenal manager is Roberto Mancini.

Sweet I can't wait for Arsenal to start playing with 3 DMs considering they barely have 1 this season. That should be entertaining.

[DaddyTorgo]

Finished my first season with Juve. 2nd in Serie A (by like 9pts behind Inter), won the Italian Cup.

Had a very well-balanced attack, with nobody on my team dominating the scoring. Also had a couple nice loan signings...Jo from Man City and Rafael from Man U who helped a ton.

Season 2 might be interesting. I did manage to bring in some very strong younger players in midfield to cover up there, and signed Hamit Altintop and Capdevilla on a free (since Roberto Carlos is 38 now), but Del Piero is really starting to decline (he wasn't that great for me last year TBH, although he always seemed to come up when I needed it), so I need a marquee striker still. I'd also like to bring in more of a dedicated DR so that Bruno (who I signed last year) can be my #1 off the bench, since he's a D L/R and very valuable to me because of that flexibility. Might also need a creative force in central midfield as i declined to bring aquilani back (too poor on the fitness). Might just go creative wingers though and ball winning MC's.

Fortunately I sold on a couple guys - Felipe Melo and Jorge Martinez, so I should have some extra cash coming in from those.

[Easy Mac]

patch # Football Managerâ„¢ 2011 - News - Football Manager 2011 Patch 11.1.1 (http://www.footballmanager.com/news/4659)

my favorite fix: "Tim Cahill has jumping 14 in the DB, but it shows up as 11 in game. "

[vex]

Football Manager 2011 Patch 11.1.1

Football Manager 2011 Patch 11.1.1 Out Now


Football Managerâ„¢ 2011 (http://www.footballmanager.com/index.php?p=patches)

The full fix list is as follows:

• 52096 - Sports Interactive Community (http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/235264-Urgent-help-please-game-won-t-load-my-network-save)
• 52077 - Cannot approach to sign players based in England with less than 6 months left on their contract as a foreign club's manager
• 52106 - New season in Greece not being scheduled. Sports Interactive Community (http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/234374-New-season-wont-start!?p=6090478&viewfull=1#post6090478)
• 52105 - The Top Division relegation wage decrease clauses are not being triggered at the end of a season after being relegated from the English Premier Division.
• 52053 - Danish users are complaining that their filters seem to screw up after a brief period of playing time, making the B-teams disappear. They are using the first patch - Sports Interactive Community (http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/234918-B-squad-shows-up-empty-minor)
• 52089 - Crash when managing a B Team and selecting to 'Change Squad Status' through Backroom Advice - Sports Interactive Community (http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/234943-Deportivo-quot-B-quot-New-Players-and-Squad-Status-Crashes)
• 52054 - Reported on the FM 11 Bugs Forum at Sports Interactive Community (http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/230992-Cutom-Views) on patch 1. It appears that if you play a certain amount of matches at some point coming out of a match, the custom views created will all disappear.
• 52068 - Game becomes unresponsive when attempting to arrange international friendly in future years
• 51775 - Set piece instructions for delivery type not saved when using the set piece creator. Sports Interactive Community (http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/230844-Freekicks-and-corners) on the FM 11 Demo.
• 51675 - B teams not showing any players. Sports Interactive Community (http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/228361-15101-Catastrophic-AI-Squad-Management-empty-reserve-squads-in-Germany)! on FM 11.1.0 v153290.
• 52024 - Relegation Playoff makes game think all teams should be relegated
• 52026 - Coaches incorrectly gain other categories when a coach leaves
• 51988 - Selecting [Interact with Board] to buy a player causes you to lose your transfer budget if another team buys the player
• 51975 - FM11 Dark Skin - Board restrictions text cannot be seen on the Contract Offer screen
• 52069 - Competitions ranking panel is missing reputation column. Sports Interactive Community (http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/234977-FM11-Competition-reputation-stars-have-possibly-disappeared).
• 52001 - Yellow card suspension rule is incorrect in Spain.
• 52019 - Random crash when playing the full match engine
• 51985 - French players with international bans are unable to play friendlies for their club.
• 51995 - Tim Cahill has jumping 14 in the DB, but it shows up as 11 in game. Sports Interactive Community (http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/233759-Tim-Cahill)
• 51754 - [MAC] Crash soaking with edited league - Sports Interactive Community (http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/229533-15186-Game-with-edited-league-crashes-on-16.-November)
• 51945 - Players disappear from set piece assignments
• 52037 - Crash in when pre-match news item about record attendance. Sports Interactive Community (http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/234058-Crash-dump-Bulgaria)
• 51913 - Team-based widgets change when going from a home game to away game or vice versa
• 52060 - Blue Square North/South Playoffs not being scheduled at the end of the first season. Sports Interactive Community (http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/234374-New-season-wont-start)!
• 52055 - Squad Registration Action Button taking the User to the Squad screen. Sports Interactive Community (http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/235244-Can-t-register-players-in-Scottish-League-2?p=6087261&viewfull=1#post6087261)

[Toddzilla]

Should a hold-out purchase the game now or wait another patch?

I was dropped from the beta-test team because family issues got in the way and I dropped off after the release date of 2010, so I have no idea what to expect this time around.

Has the data editor been updated / improved?

[Butter]

the portsmouth insolvency challenge is my favorite. keep portsmouth up(in fm10) and navigate through their loan period (2012 iirc) without restructuring the debt or taking out any additional loans. damn near impossible.

trying to get them promoted will probably be my first career in fm11.

Portsmouth fucking sucks. My first challenge would be to take them to the Blue Square league or whatever it is. :p

[Toddzilla]

I think I was what I was looking for re: the editor but I have a specifc question if anyone knows. I see that you can now change a team's *continent*.

Does that mean you can set the MLS, or all US teams, to be considered European so they can compete in the Champions League?

[Icy]

Should a hold-out purchase the game now or wait another patch?

I was dropped from the beta-test team because family issues got in the way and I dropped off after the release date of 2010, so I have no idea what to expect this time around.

Has the data editor been updated / improved?

I think the game is really playable now, i was waiting for today's hotfix as the Spanish league was almost unplayable (imho) with the yellow cards bug, but with it fixed, the game is ready to be enjoyed. Reading SI forums i think this has been the most polished day one release for a while, past years their forums were a bitching fest and this year there are just a few moaners.

The only complain now at SI forums is that top teams are sometimes selling stars that they never would in real life (like Barcelona selling Xavi) but it's not a huge issue for me, as FM is not a season replay game, so as soon as you click the button to advance the first day, the whole universe becomes dynamic and that is exactly what i like from career games.

Of course the game will become pure gold after the 3rd patch like every year, when more bugs are found by the community, but then you need to wait like until February to have it fully fixed.

I'm ready to start my first long term game today.

[DaddyTorgo]

So after finishing 2nd in Serie A and earning Champions League football next season, I've brought like a dozen new names into my Juventus squad.

A fair number of those (1/3 maybe?) are youngsters, and a couple are backups, but there's also a lot more depth that I acquired in all three levels of my team to bolster us for the upcoming campaign. I can hardly wait!!

New signings:

Diego Buonanotte (Free from River Plate)
Matias Eqequiel Schletto ($2.2m from Atalanta) - 22 y/o backup midfielder
Joan Capdevila (Free from Villareal)
Hamit Altintop (Free from Bayern)
Sasa Markovic ($2.1m from OFK Beograd) - 20 y/o future starting MC
Nico Bianconi (Free from Vicenza) -19 y/o ST prospect
Nazareno Belfasti (Free from Modena) - 18 y/o D prospect
Abuda ($1.6m from Cruzeiro) - 16 y/o Brazillian/Italian DR future starter
Serge Aurier ($1.7m from RC Lens) - 18 y/o future DR STUD
Ezequiel Lavezzi ($10.75m from Napoli) - I managed to unsettle him and grab him for his stated value!!
Sergio Sanchez ($1.2m from Sevilla) - 25 y/o backup DR/DC
Pablo Piatti ($4.8m from Almeria) - 22 y/o AML/AMC/ST backup
Andrea Barbetta ($2.6m from Genoa) - 16 y/o ML/AML prospect
Simone Pepe ($7.75m from Udinese)
Javier Arizmendai ($6.5m from Getafe)


In addition to that, I get Giovinco back. I had planned to bring over an 18 y/o Brazillian with my one foreign player signing, but Altintop sucked that spot up, so he might just have to wait. I did queue up a transfer for a 15 y/o Brazillian striker in 2014, so we'll see about that.



I sold on Felipe Melo and Jorge Martinez for close to $20m combined, and Tiago to ManU for $3m. So I've still got roughly $12 mil in the bank to spend (would be even more if I hadn't given Del Piero a lucrative contract extension on the downside of his career - no way in hell I was letting him go though).

[Big Fo]

I took advantage of the AI clubs transfer listing their unhappy players for their stated values. I signed Luka Modric, Luis Suarez, and Marek Hamsik for about £25m combined. Normally one of those guys might cost close to that amount.

Modric has been amazing for me, averaging close to an assist per game in league play with a 7.7 rating.

[DaddyTorgo]

I took advantage of the AI clubs transfer listing their unhappy players for their stated values. I signed Luka Modric, Luis Suarez, and Marek Hamsik for about £25m combined. Normally one of those guys might cost close to that amount.

Modric has been amazing for me, averaging close to an assist per game in league play with a 7.7 rating.

Hamsik moved in my game too, to Liverpool. I BADLY tried to get him, but he didn't even want to negotiate with me.

Lots of player movement, but not in a bad way necessarily. Guys get unhappy and their teams are actually moving them, which is good. As am I, with Felipe Melo for example. And I'm sure I will in this coming year if I can't get playing time for a bunch of these new signings.

[DaddyTorgo]

Irritating bug - the news report claims Inter's player (born 4/1/1991) is the youngest player in the history of the Italian Super Cup. Only problem is that in the same game I started a guy born 2 weeks earlier than him.

[DaddyTorgo]

Beautiful - I managed to dump Amauri and save $4m (I had to pay him $6m and give him away for free to get him off my books), and in exchange I get to bring in Deco to run my midfield for a couple years offensively.

[Passacaglia]

Irritating bug - the news report claims Inter's player (born 4/1/1991) is the youngest player in the history of the Italian Super Cup. Only problem is that in the same game I started a guy born 2 weeks earlier than him.

Hey genius, the guy born 2 weeks earlier is older. :p

[BigDPW]

Hey genius, the guy born 2 weeks earlier is older. :p

LOL

[sovereignstar v2]

In case anyone is interested despite it not being free anymore : Football Manager 2011 Guide | Ultimate Tactics & Strategy Walkthrough (http://footballmanagerguide.com/) has their new version ready.

acording to an email i got from fm britain you get 50% off by typing in FMBRITAIN at checkout which would be £3.49 then.

Is any free guide in the works or posted on the si forums btw ?

I ordered the boxed game btw (game not on steam in germany due to stupid EA exclusivity, their game has 1.5 stars on amazon btw on like 100 votes :D ) when amazon had it for 17.50 pounds, should arrive early next week.

Will likely table it until christmas where i´ll have time to get into it while having 1 1/2 weeks off from work.

played the demo a bit and am intrigued :)

I just purchased it and highly recommend it specially for new players but also for vets as it can help you a lot to enjoy the game and to learn a lot about real soccer tactics, history, rules etc.

At 3 Pounds ($5.77) with the discount price i find it really cheap for the huge work they have put on it and keep putting every year so i just bought it to keep supporting this and their past job when it was free.

Does scare me a bit that the guy who wrote this doesn't know that height is already taken into consideration in the Jumping attribute.

• When contemplating not signing a player due to his weak “Jumping” attribute, look at his height;
there’s every possibility that he’s tall enough to get away with a lesser “Jumping” attribute.

[Sweed]

My post from the demo thread.

This will be the first year I wait a bit since 2008. With 2010 and the advent of the tactics creator I am fine playing that a while longer. Probably keep an eye on Steam for a Christmas sale.

Or course I'll be staying out of the "All right boyz" thread to avoid any impulse purchase. :D

Yeah, that idea made it about a week. Just pulled the trigger on Steam:D

[Icy]

Does scare me a bit that the guy who wrote this doesn't know that height is already taken into consideration in the Jumping attribute.

That affirmation surprised me too, but this is part of the guys who release year after ear the tactical theorems and frameworks and that helped to shape the current tactical creator, so besides that comment about jumping, i guess he knows what he is talking about.

[Neuqua]

Hey genius, the guy born 2 weeks earlier is older. :p

:D

[Pumpy Tudors]

not buying unless everyone's shoe color is right

[DaddyTorgo]

Hey genius, the guy born 2 weeks earlier is older. :p

Ohhh...duhhh.

In my defense...I was in the midst of a marathon session of FM when I posted that and my brain was quite likely fried.

[samifan24]

not buying unless everyone's shoe color is right

Don't you mean boot color? :D

[Miller Time]

Loving the game so far. Promoted Derby County in my first season, finishing 6th in the league & qualifying through the playoff.

I relied heavily on loaned players as the owners did not give much money or wages to play with. Gael Kakuta, Henri Lansbury, Jeremy Bruna & Jonjo Shelvey all played big roles in my promotion.

Getting into the Prem the board gave me 11 million to play with. Spent about half of it on some more experienced players, took Kakuta back on loan for another season and currently am 18th with about 8 games to go. I have gotten hammered quite a few times by some of the bigger sides (dead last in goal differential), I somehow managed to beat Chelsea 1-0 at Pride Park! I am only 5 points off 17th and have 6 of my last 8 games at home.

This years version definitely feels more polished and playable, would recommend to anyone on the fence.

[AlexB]

Don't you mean boot color? :D

Don't you mean boot colour? :D

[RainMaker]

Are you guys finding this years version harder than previous ones? As in I won't need to use as many house rules.

[samifan24]

Don't you mean boot colour? :D

Well played :D

[SackAttack]

Are you guys finding this years version harder than previous ones? As in I won't need to use as many house rules.

I know I'm finding player personality management to be much more interesting than in years past. It can be difficult to strike the right note with a disgruntled player.

[Blade6119]

Are you guys finding this years version harder than previous ones? As in I won't need to use as many house rules.

Both myself and my roommate are struggling in our first game were playing, though we both took over big clubs as no-names so our teams think were jokes...ironically commenting on each other positively makes our respective teams happy, oddly enough

[Alan T]

Game doesn't seem any harder than FM2010 to me. Going with a low level club can get difficult once you get a few promotions in, but if you go with a solid club that is expected to compete year in and year out, it is pretty straight forward to be able to do that.

I've been playing alot with various tactics so far in FM2011 (I always hand-create my own tactics, don't download them), and have found that keeping stuff simple/basic seems to be far more effective than more creative setups though. If I get too fancy, I actually end up seeming to make a mess of things myself. maybe that is due to the whole match preparation thing, I'm not sure.

[Blade6119]

Im seeing the CPU teams stack the midfield more then they used to, or maybe that is just the Premier League...but my team who utilizes wingers and fullbacks is being outnumbered in the middle quite often and is forcing me to change my style of play

[Big Fo]

I noticed this too. A normal 4-4-2 wasn't working well for me against all of the 4-5-1 teams.

Now I stack the two central midfielders right on top of each other, having a DMC seems to help negate the other team's extra man in midfield. And I make sure the team plays really wide with a slow tempo, making those central players do a lot of ball chasing.


...........FC.........FC...........
..LW...........................RW..
.................MC...................
...............DMC....................
..LB.....DC.......DC........RB..

................GK...................

But the fullbacks bomb forward and the DM never attacks while the MC often gets near the edge of the box. When we have the ball it looks kind of like:


............FC..........FC...........
..LW.............MC............RW..
..........................................
..LB............DMC............RB...
.........DC.............DC............
..........................................
...................GK..................


Sort of like the old W-M formation reserved, an M-W. We rarely get more than 55% possession but it does create a lot of chances. The DMC sits very far back and is good in the air, it's almost like using three centerbacks when we're pushed back. I had messed around with some three central midfielder formations to counter the AI but with my squad it's better to use two strikers, wingers, and fullbacks so now I only go with five midfielders when we are winning late.

[sovereignstar v2]

Has anyone figured out what the different tutoring options mean (ie when you should use each option)? The guide conveniently has the options from last year's game and tutoring is different in 2011 ...

[DaddyTorgo]

Took the night off from playing tonight.

[TroyF]

Sweet I can't wait for Arsenal to start playing with 3 DMs considering they barely have 1 this season. That should be entertaining.




Song is pretty solid there. I coached Denilson to make him (accomplished) in that role to have some backup. Song gets hurt in early November for 3 months. Denilson gets exhausted and my entire team went out of form.

I decided to start over and to not use a DMC. (rather a 4-3-3 or 4-3-1-2 with Song or Denilson or Ramsey playing a defensive MC and Fabregas being an advanced playmaker support to help them out when they go back for the ball)

I blew my entire transfer budget on Akinfeev, so getting more depth at DMC was out. I'm not destroying the world with the new formation, but it's been a hell of a lot more effective than the 4-1-2-1-2 was. If you play as Arsenal and want to use multiple DMC, you'd better be active in the transfer market early. Watching him with that team would be funny as hell.

[SackAttack]

So my backroom said I needed someone who was good with man management. I signed a coach with a 19 rating therein, and my backroom still indicates I have '0' folks with an affinity for that. What am I doing wrong?

[flounder]

I've never seen this before. I'm leading Arsenal 1-0 in the 86th minute and they bring their keeper up to join their attack on a corner. If he had scored I guess I would have had my first goal to upload to Youtube.

[samifan24]

I've never seen this before. I'm leading Arsenal 1-0 in the 86th minute and they bring their keeper up to join their attack on a corner. If he had scored I guess I would have had my first goal to upload to Youtube.

That happens in almost game where one team is trailing late.

[flounder]

That happens in almost game where one team is trailing late.

Is that new for FM11? I never saw it on FM10.

[Alan T]

Is that new for FM11? I never saw it on FM10.


It happened in FM10 too, but I didn't see it happen from every team personally. Certain teams seemed to always do it when trailing late though (like Real madrid I remember seemed to every game they were behind by 1 late)

[whomario]

Has anybody gotten far enough into the game (or read about it anywhere) to see if the regens have really been improved, like not so many great CBs with low jumping or great midfielders with terrible off the ball ratings ? (overall the attribut distributions are fine/good in FM 2010, but those 2s were major problems imo)

[TroyF]

I'm with Arsenal in my second season. I had RVP and Chamakh up front and RVP suffered his usual 6 week injury to his hang nail. (he'll be transfered and sold in the offseason) Well, I put Walcott up front and he's put up a run that's jaw dropping.

He's scored in 7straight games and totaled 13 goals, 8 assists and 4 MOM awards in those 7 games. (yeah, an average of 3 goals a game created by him over 7 games) The teams we've been against? Chelsea, Man City, Real Madrid (CL) and Liverpool are 4 of the games.

Obviously, he's earned a nice long run of first team football after that.

[Alan T]

I'm with Arsenal in my second season. I had RVP and Chamakh up front and RVP suffered his usual 6 week injury to his hang nail. (he'll be transfered and sold in the offseason) Well, I put Walcott up front and he's put up a run that's jaw dropping.

He's scored in 7straight games and totaled 13 goals, 8 assists and 4 MOM awards in those 7 games. (yeah, an average of 3 goals a game created by him over 7 games) The teams we've been against? Chelsea, Man City, Real Madrid (CL) and Liverpool are 4 of the games.

Obviously, he's earned a nice long run of first team football after that.


Funny results there. I had almost the same thing happen for me too, except instead of Walcott, I put Vela there and he put together almost the same type of numbers for me a few seasons back now. Weird! I actually put my Arsenal game on a break for a bit (in 2014), since I wanted to try something a little more challenging for a while.

[TroyF]

Funny results there. I had almost the same thing happen for me too, except instead of Walcott, I put Vela there and he put together almost the same type of numbers for me a few seasons back now. Weird! I actually put my Arsenal game on a break for a bit (in 2014), since I wanted to try something a little more challenging for a while.


I always start my first career at Arsenal and go until I win the CL (was bounced out of it in the semis last year)

After I've had fun buying most anyone I want and developing a few stars (Wellington Silva is developing REALLY quickly in my second year), I then drop down to a spot where I've never heard of anyone and take on a challenge.

I actually want to get Vela more time as he's looking good too. I think Bendter and RVP will be listed and gone next offseason. I'll go with a striker group of Vela, Walcott, Chamakh and Silva with Wilshire in the hole behind 2 of them.

[Alan T]

I always start my first career at Arsenal and go until I win the CL (was bounced out of it in the semis last year)

After I've had fun buying most anyone I want and developing a few stars (Wellington Silva is developing REALLY quickly in my second year), I then drop down to a spot where I've never heard of anyone and take on a challenge.

I actually want to get Vela more time as he's looking good too. I think Bendter and RVP will be listed and gone next offseason. I'll go with a striker group of Vela, Walcott, Chamakh and Silva with Wilshire in the hole behind 2 of them.


Bendtner never broke in for me. I kept him around for years but never found him much playing time and eventually just let him go elsewhere.

Wilshere was great for me, ended up as a wonderkid (I don't think he started listed as one, but don't remember) and helped create an outstanding midfield for me of Fabregas, Nasri, Wilshere (plus Arshavin until he got a little old).


The biggest surprise of all for me though was Almunia ended up getting five or six player of the month awards and once finished second in Goalkeeper of the year. No idea where that came from at all.

[NorvTurnerOverdrive]

I'm with Arsenal in my second season. I had RVP and Chamakh up front and RVP suffered his usual 6 week injury to his hang nail. (he'll be transfered and sold in the offseason) Well, I put Walcott up front and he's put up a run that's jaw dropping.

He's scored in 7straight games and totaled 13 goals, 8 assists and 4 MOM awards in those 7 games. (yeah, an average of 3 goals a game created by him over 7 games) The teams we've been against? Chelsea, Man City, Real Madrid (CL) and Liverpool are 4 of the games.

Obviously, he's earned a nice long run of first team football after that.

bet a nickel he's a 'enjoys big matches' guy.

[DaddyTorgo]

I'm about 5 or so games out from the end of my 2nd season with Juve.

In the CL semifinals against Liverpool. 5 or so points clear at the top of Serie A over Palermo (Inter are in 4th or something). Had some awesome success with some young, cheap offseason buys that's really been fueling my team and giving me great depth to compete in all 3 competitions this year.

Going to try my damndest this offseason to get a big name striker in alongside Lavezzi (who I brought in last year) - would love Pastore or something. If all else fails it seems like I can move Pablo Piatti up to striker (he's scored decently for me there, especially as the link-up man). I'd also like to bring in a stronger right back (although Sergio Sanchez has been performing actually really well as a $1.2m buy).

I love Del Piero, and he's got a contract through the end of next year, but man I almost can't wait for him to retire. He's too slow to play regularly all the time now, but he's still got a massive contract.

Roberto Carlos (yes "THE" Roberto Carlos) has already announced he's retiring at the end of the year (although he's still in playable shape physically), but he's just a backup to Capdevilla anyways, and with Sergio Sanchez holding his own as DR, Bruno can be my jack-of-all-trades backup.

[Icy]

I'm truly hooked now.

Started unemployed with Sunday leaguer reputation.

I was unemployed until January, when i was offered the job at Dover Athletic, who was under performing placed at the bottom of the Blue Square South English division (6th and bottom level).

I was hired to avoid relegation and i did after some initial struggling, ending 15th out of 24 teams!

They have just offered me a new 1 year contract, but i asked for 2 years to have more time to develop the team. The board happily agreed and some of my team members told the press they were so happy of having me as coach for 2 more years.

Now is time to get ready for the next season with no transfer budget in Dover, a semi-pro club where all players and staff have part time contracts :)

I really love starting at the very bottom and trying to make my way up, who knows if one day i'll be offered a top club job or even better, to move Dover up in the ladder to the Premier :D

[TroyF]

Bendtner never broke in for me. I kept him around for years but never found him much playing time and eventually just let him go elsewhere.

Wilshere was great for me, ended up as a wonderkid (I don't think he started listed as one, but don't remember) and helped create an outstanding midfield for me of Fabregas, Nasri, Wilshere (plus Arshavin until he got a little old).


The biggest surprise of all for me though was Almunia ended up getting five or six player of the month awards and once finished second in Goalkeeper of the year. No idea where that came from at all.



I dumped Almunia before I even started. Spent my entire first year transfer budget on Akinfeev. I'm playing a 4-3-1-2 lineup. the everyday group looks something like this:

GK - Akeenfiv
DL - Clichy
DC - Vermailen
DC - Shawcross (was unhappy and offered to me for 7 million to start my second year)
DR - Sagna
MC - Fabregas (advanced playmaker)
MC - Song - defensive responsibilities
MC - Ramsey (he's been amazing, almost like a second Fabregas in midfield)
AMC - Wilshire (he doesn't start off a wonderkid, but is one within the first six weeks of the game)
STL - Chamakh (Support target man)
STR - Walcott

Primary backups -

defenders - Gibbs, Eboue, Siqquta, Djourou
Midfield - Nasri (plays 2 of every three games, in rotation with Ramsey and Wilshire), Denilson (primary backup for Song), Rosicky (no idea why I haven't sold him)
strikers - Silva, Vela

I sold Arshivan for 15 million at the start of my second year. So far I've spent 25 million on Akeenfiv, and 7 on Shawcross. I've sold Almunia (2 million), the Italian GK I'm drawing a blank on now (2 million), Traore (4 million), Arshavin (15 million) and I'll sell Van Persie when the season is up. Overall, I'm at -9 million in transfer profit thus far. I have a 60 million dollar budget available.

Just before I shut down last night, I got the interesting offer. Tottenheim is offering me Bale for 14 million during the January window. He's a sensational player, but my tactics aren't set up for him. I could have him play DL on an every other game basis with Clichy and then sell Gael at the end of the year or I could change the tactics to start next year to include wingers.

Decisions decisions. :)

[TroyF]

bet a nickel he's a 'enjoys big matches' guy.

Good question. I have no idea, but I bet you are right.

In the Real Madrid game, we were down 1-0 at halftime at home.

Walcott and Chamakh were horrible in the first half. (both with ratings in the low 5's.) I sympathized with the team and told the other two I expected better in the second half.

Walcott finished with 3 goals and an assist, Chamakh 1 goal and 3 assists.

We won 5-2.

Guess they got the message.

[NoSkillz]

I'm truly hooked now.

Started unemployed with Sunday leaguer reputation.

I was unemployed until January, when i was offered the job at Dover Athletic, who was under performing placed at the bottom of the Blue Square South English division (6th and bottom level).

I was hired to avoid relegation and i did after some initial struggling, ending 15th out of 24 teams!

They have just offered me a new 1 year contract, but i asked for 2 years to have more time to develop the team. The board happily agreed and some of my team members told the press they were so happy of having me as coach for 2 more years.

Now is time to get ready for the next season with no transfer budget in Dover, a semi-pro club where all players and staff have part time contracts :)

I really love starting at the very bottom and trying to make my way up, who knows if one day i'll be offered a top club job or even better, to move Dover up in the ladder to the Premier :D

Great stuff Icy - I was at the helm of Dover as well in FM09 and even did a dynasty on the experience (I think I still have it linked in my sig).

Fun team to run, as they have great fan support and that helps make things a bit easier than most lower level teams.

[sovereignstar v2]

AI done be a lil' bit crazy.

http://i52.tinypic.com/2vwydyt.png

[Peregrine]

I'm trying the demo of this game and like it so far - I've always been interested in FM but I usually get lost in the complexity - really like what they have done with the last couple of versions.

One question - what's the deal with that colored graphic thing on a player screen? I guess it's to give you an idea of what they are good at? Not really sure how to read it.

[GobBluth]

Can anyone recommend a good training schedule for 2011? I used Tug's schedules last year but he isn't making any this year apparently.

[sovereignstar v2]

One question - what's the deal with that colored graphic thing on a player screen? I guess it's to give you an idea of what they are good at? Not really sure how to read it.

Nothing more than a graphical representation of their attributes listed to the right.

[Shepp]

Has anyone here downloaded FM11 from Gamersgate? Any good or bad experiences?

[Big Fo]

I've downloaded maybe 5-10 games of Gamersgate, though none of them were FM11. Everything has worked like it was supposed to, I have nothing bad to say about the service.

[atatange1]

I've ordered a fair amount of games from gamersgate too and never had a problem. I've gotten a bunch of Paradox games from them (EU 3, Crusader Kings...) and everything has worked fine. Never a FM game but it should be fine.

[flounder]

I had a problem with my copy of FM10 from Gamersgate. Randomly the game would lose its activation and I would have to reactivate it. That was just a minor annoyance on my desktop; it took about 5 seconds to reactivate it. However, when I was on my laptop in a place where there was no wifi, it meant I couldn't play it.

There is a way that you can do an offline activation, but I could never get it to work. I ended up just reordering the game from Steam. I'm not sure if the problem was with Gamersgate or SI, and other people purchased FM10 from Gamersgate with no problems.

[Peregrine]

Another question about the game if someone can help - I'm trying to find a new coach for a slot on my team - obviously there are tons of options, but I can't find a way to narrow down the list to those that would even talk to me - seems like I just keep offering and they keep saying - we're not interested in your club. Is there a way to get recommendations on who to sign?

[flounder]

On the filter screen there is a checkbox at the bottom that says "Ask assistant to filter out unrealistic targets". Of course, some coaches are only interested in certain roles (coach vs. youth coach for example). So you may still get people in your list that have no interest in the specific position you're offering.

[whomario]

so i started now :D I can´t believe i didn´t remember to save my training schedules before clearing my harddrive for windows 7 :(

I´m going to play as Southhamptonfor now, which propably isn´t that difficult but i´d rather ease into it. Plus since i haven´t played a savegame in England since FM06 it should still be a good challenge (since i don´t know many hiddden gems) once i reach my first promotion and maybe have to sell some of my better players.

also, a great thread for anyone struggling to get a grip on what each attribute means : http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/238682-Explanation-of-the-Impact-of-Player-Attributes-During-Match-Play-*Updated-for-FM11*

[Atocep]

So I have a player, my team captain actually, who's morale is constantly dropping for no apparent reason. We'll play a game, win, his morale will go up a bit and then by the next game it's gone back down to poor or worse.

He has a new contract. He's playing with the first team. I'm on his favored personnel list. His General Happiness says "Happy to stay at the club". No apparent locker room problems.

Any ideas as to what could be causing this? I tried talking to him, but there's no option to discuss his happiness.

[DaddyTorgo]

So I have a player, my team captain actually, who's morale is constantly dropping for no apparent reason. We'll play a game, win, his morale will go up a bit and then by the next game it's gone back down to poor or worse.

He has a new contract. He's playing with the first team. I'm on his favored personnel list. His General Happiness says "Happy to stay at the club". No apparent locker room problems.

Any ideas as to what could be causing this? I tried talking to him, but there's no option to discuss his happiness.

Bad breakup? Maybe he's just a depressed personality?

[McLovin]

So I have a player, my team captain actually, who's morale is constantly dropping for no apparent reason. We'll play a game, win, his morale will go up a bit and then by the next game it's gone back down to poor or worse.

He has a new contract. He's playing with the first team. I'm on his favored personnel list. His General Happiness says "Happy to stay at the club". No apparent locker room problems.

Any ideas as to what could be causing this? I tried talking to him, but there's no option to discuss his happiness.


I had a player who wasn't picked for his country's team and it screwed him up for a while when everything else on his general happiness seemed ok. It didn't say it on his general happiness but was a message I received.

[Alan T]

After other people's horror stories about traveling and not being able to play FM2011 without internet connection, I was afraid before my current trip where I am gone for 10 days. Turns out the play offline mode is working great, no issues what soever in playing FM2011 while at the airport or on the plane or such. In other news, in my current game, a fun head coach avalanche has been set off in the EPL.. Ancelotti was fired by Chelsea Chelsea then hired Mancini away from Man City Man City then hired Redknapp from Tottenham Tottenham then hired Pulis away from Stoke

[sovereignstar v2]

Ancelotti was fired by Chelsea Chelsea then hired Mancini away from Man City Man City then hired Redknapp from Tottenham Tottenham then hired Pulis away from Stoke

Many City fans would welcome 'Arry.

[DaddyTorgo]

Did the double in my 2nd season with Juve (Italian Cup and Serie A). Lost 2-0 in the CL Final to Olymic Lyonnaise (who are now back-to-back winners). Unfortunately was without Lavezzi, my top-scorer for the match due to yellow card accumulation, so I'm sure that didn't help.

Next year.

Also warms my heart that on the "End of Season review" thing, I had both of the two top "bargin buys" for Serie A - Lavezzi for $10.75m and Javier Arizmendi for $6.5m.


Got a wage budget increase of ~$10m and a transfer kitty of ~$40m. Going to need to bring in a strong DL (or DC and shift Chiellini over to DL if I have to), as Capdevilla has started to slip a bit physically due to his increasing age. Got the news that Del Piero is going to call it quits after this coming year (sadness). Of course Iaquinta is also getting up there and I'd like to have another striker to replace him (he was my #3)/challenge Arizmendi for #2/bump Lavezzi down to #2. Picked up a young Dutch kid who was just a backup this past year, but maybe he can make a push for it?

Priority has to be replacing Capdevilla though. Maybe I can find another Sergio Sanchez out there ($1.2m signing who turned in a 7+ rating and started >25 league games) to play on the left.

Maybe I've got some players I can sell on too...that might help bump up the kitty a bit.

[whomario]

Quick Question : What training category does influence Free Kick taking and Corners this time around seeing as "set pieces" isn´t there any more and none of the others highlights FK/CN when checking in the players section of training ? :confused:

[jbergey22]

Any news on the next patch? Are they waiting until the transfer period ends or will we have one before that?

[sovereignstar v2]

Shortly before x-mas, then one in late February/March. Usually no exceptions to this pattern.

[jbergey22]

Shortly before x-mas, then one in late February/March. Usually no exceptions to this pattern.

Thank you!

[whomario]

another question : Every player has his workload divided 70% normal and 30% match preperation. Can i lower or up the match preperation one in some way for all guys ? Or single players ? (like a deep bench reserve wouldn´t need as much preperation)

[whomario]

I just lost my first 3 real games, 0-2 to Brighton , 1-4 to Notts (carling cup) and 4-5 to Brentford. I´m completely clueless as to what the hell has happened so far, thought i´d be in real good shape after a great preseason with 6 wins and a draw against mostly championship teams :confused:
Added just 3 young guys on loan (Havard Nordtveit, Chris Wood and Jordan Spence) and got Arnold Bruggink on a free transfer.

Can´t at all get Lambert going (even in the preseason games) who scores loads of goals for southhampton IRL, any ideas ?

[thesloppy]

So I have a player, my team captain actually, who's morale is constantly dropping for no apparent reason. We'll play a game, win, his morale will go up a bit and then by the next game it's gone back down to poor or worse.

He has a new contract. He's playing with the first team. I'm on his favored personnel list. His General Happiness says "Happy to stay at the club". No apparent locker room problems.

Any ideas as to what could be causing this? I tried talking to him, but there's no option to discuss his happiness.

I have pretty much the same exact problem. Team captain even. I'm one of his favored personnel, and he's had a new contract as well, but his morale just keeps dropping. I've threatened to put him on the transfer list if his rotten attitude continues, and he says he'll try to be better, but no dice. At one time I got a note that he was depressed about his goal drought (I was too), but he has since scored, with no relief. The only thing that has given me moderate results is telling him I was going to rest him for a few weeks, which sent his morale up to superb, but it eventually started fading again (before his rest period was over, of course).

Worst of all, I think I missed whatever the trigger was because I was quick-simming through the end of a season. He was great, riding a huge wave of momentum even, before I started my vacation, when I get back he's in the midst of a funk, and it's followed him 30 games into the new season.

I don't wanna transfer him, 'cause he's my captain and one of my better players, but not surprisingly he's performing like shit, to mirror his morale, and now other players are starting to have a hard time playing for him as well. I'll give him a few more games, but as my last shot before I list him I'll take the captaincy away from him and see if that takes any pressure off of him and maybe relieves his mood.

To make matters comical my vice-captain is pissed as well, because I unwisely threatened to transfer him to try and swing his morale around as well, but now he's just super pissed and keeps repeatedly insisting that he wants to stay at the club. Unfortunately, I can initiate conversations with him, and he's even started some with me, but my only response options are different flavors of "screw you, I'm the coach", and no options to tell him that I want him to stay, so he's spent half the year pissed off screaming about how he's not leaving, while I'm frantically trying to figure out a way to say "yes, please stay!".

[klayman]

another question : Every player has his workload divided 70% normal and 30% match preperation. Can i lower or up the match preperation one in some way for all guys ? Or single players ? (like a deep bench reserve wouldn´t need as much preperation)

On the match preparation screen, under the 3 formations you can prepare is an intensity slider. You can adjust it up or down. At very heavy workload the match preparation is 50% and 50% normal training. I assume a very low would knock it down to 10% and 90%.

I see no way to change an individual's match preparation. It seems steady throughout the team. Additional training (positional, ppm's, or specific training areas) only seem to decrease the normal training %, not the match prep %.

[flounder]

I just lost my first 3 real games, 0-2 to Brighton , 1-4 to Notts (carling cup) and 4-5 to Brentford. I´m completely clueless as to what the hell has happened so far, thought i´d be in real good shape after a great preseason with 6 wins and a draw against mostly championship teams :confused:
Added just 3 young guys on loan (Havard Nordtveit, Chris Wood and Jordan Spence) and got Arnold Bruggink on a free transfer.

Can´t at all get Lambert going (even in the preseason games) who scores loads of goals for southhampton IRL, any ideas ?

I was having all sorts of trouble at first. Not so much scoring, but conceding a lot. In FM10 I always had one of the better defensive teams, but 15 games in FM11 I was dead last in the Championship in goals allowed.

I started playing 2 DMs and setting my AML and AMR to defensive wingers on Support duty. I'm 22 games in and my team is finally starting to get Accomplished in my tactic on the Match Preparation screen. I've started conceding fewer goals and I'm still scoring enough. Now I'm only 4th from the bottom in goals allowed :).

Anyway, I don't have any great advice to offer you except that you'll probably need to play a lot more defensively than you're used to from FM10 and to give your team some time to learn your tactic. If you're conceding a lot from crosses, try setting your Opposition Instructions for your opponent's wingers to Tightly Marking and Close Down always.

[Alan T]

Learning and keeping the same consistant tactic and approach is very important. If you take over a team and introduce a very new/different approach, I would not be surprised if they struggle for a while.

[Big Fo]

I came across an annoying bug today. After I spent hours getting my alternative USA setup working, I go to start a new game and at the screen where you pick which countries you want to have in your universe, there is no England (and I did not touch England with the league changes, and England won't show up even if I try starting a new game with the default database).

http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/2510/86808315.jpg

I backed up all of my saved games, tactics, training schedules, and database edits and will try redownloading and installing the game. Otherwise I'll just have to start a new USA game with some other countries active but no England.

[DaddyTorgo]

Very weird.

[whomario]

@ flounder : Yeah, will propably try that. I just figured i had maybe the best offensive personell in the league and would try to outscore teams. Guess i´ll have to adjust.

Actually won the next game 4:1 after changing from playing a AMC and a MC to playing a DMC and a MC (with attacking duties).
I also went with my veteran keeper over the younger one.

The problem is that my 2 best midfielders are natural at AMC and MC with my "star" player Schneiderlin only being yellow (competent) at DMC. Guess i´ll have him train that position.

@ klayman : Thanks :) It didn´t change it instantanously when adjusting (i think), didn´t try to adjust it and leave the screen. Thanks for the tip :)

[whomario]

how can i take a youth player and assign him a tutor ? As opposed to chatting with a veteran and see if the desired protege is available for him ?
Have 17 year old blue chip AMR with little actual skill level (but lots of potential) and can´t tutor him ??

[klayman]

@ klayman : Thanks :) It didn´t change it instantanously when adjusting (i think), didn´t try to adjust it and leave the screen. Thanks for the tip :)

Mine changes instantly, when I go to a player to check the training levels. Is your Assistant set to handle match preparation? He'll instantly change everything back.

You bring up an interesting point though with individual match preparation. I took a look and match preparation doesn't affect U18. I thought it would be silly if preparing the 1st team with a very heavy workload would hamper the U18 development, but I'm glad it doesn't.

[klayman]

how can i take a youth player and assign him a tutor ? As opposed to chatting with a veteran and see if the desired protege is available for him ?
Have 17 year old blue chip AMR with little actual skill level (but lots of potential) and can´t tutor him ??

Don't think it can be done. Any AM should be able to tutor the player. The 17 year old has to be on a full time contract though, maybe that's the problem? I don't think you can tutor players on youth contracts.

[Peregrine]

Bought this version and really enjoying it - one question I have, I guess more of a football question than in the game - several times already I've seen a goalkeeper be charged with an own goal - in what situation can that happen? I'm talking about when a player shoots, the keeper dives, but it goes off his hands into a goal, then it says it was an own goal on the keeper.

[whomario]

IRL the keeper only gets an own goal when he totally switches the direction of the ball , most common is the ball hitting the bar or the post (thus moving away from goal) then hitting the keeper and then going into the net.
Even more strict than with a field player.

Haven´t yet had it happen in FM11 (through some 25 games) and very rarely in any version, so if you are seeing it regularly you might want to give the SI folks a heads up, maybe it has to do with the league you are in or sth :confused: (in some previous version i think some lower leagues had a problem with own goals in general pre-patch)

[thesloppy]

I'm in the lower leagues and pre-patch I saw a ton of own goals. Haven't seen as much post-patch, but that's a much smaller sample size.

[Peregrine]

I have seen at least one of the type you mention whomario, where it clearly bounced down off the crossbar and hit the keeper and bounced in. I accepted that since I knew that would be an own goal in RL. But other times, at least in the TV view, it looks like nothing really happened that would trigger the own goal. I am playing in the very lower leagues, in the Blue Square South, so that may contribute as well.

I don't know about a patch but I just bought it via Steam a few days ago so I assume it has already been patched.

[bhlloy]

I also saw more bad own goals in the pre-patch version than in years past, definitely. A bunch on crosses where a defender under no pressure would slide or head the ball into the net, even when the ball was rolling harmlessly to the goalie. If that has been fixed with the latest patch, very cool.

[Atocep]

I'm truly hooked now.

Started unemployed with Sunday leaguer reputation.

I was unemployed until January, when i was offered the job at Dover Athletic, who was under performing placed at the bottom of the Blue Square South English division (6th and bottom level).

I was hired to avoid relegation and i did after some initial struggling, ending 15th out of 24 teams!

They have just offered me a new 1 year contract, but i asked for 2 years to have more time to develop the team. The board happily agreed and some of my team members told the press they were so happy of having me as coach for 2 more years.

Now is time to get ready for the next season with no transfer budget in Dover, a semi-pro club where all players and staff have part time contracts :)

I really love starting at the very bottom and trying to make my way up, who knows if one day i'll be offered a top club job or even better, to move Dover up in the ladder to the Premier :D

I really enjoy playing the smaller clubs as well.

I tried this out and ended up landing a job at Droylsden in Blue Square North in December. The team is really talented for this level, but morale is complete shit right now. Every single player when I took over was poor or very poor in morale and they're playing like shit.

I think this is definitely the way to go if you're looking for a challenge.

Any tips for improving team morale (other than winning obviously)?

[Flasch186]

It frickin' bricked my PS3!!

oh wait wrong thread.

[Peregrine]

Most bizarre game I've seen yet - in my FA trophy game, the referee must have had to get resupplied with yellow cards every few minutes! By game's end, I had 8 different players with yellow cards, and the opposing team had 6.

[Toddzilla]

Booooooooooooooooooooooooo.






:)

[Shepp]

So I finally broke down and got this (even though I said I was waiting until after the third patch) and played with it for a couple od hours yesterday. I have to say I like just about all of the changes to the interface. The "quick sub" option from within the match is almost worth the upgrade all by itself.

One thing that sort of confuses me though is the new match preparation. Is this something that you want to change week to week or does it take longer to get restults from it?

[DaddyTorgo]

So I finally broke down and got this (even though I said I was waiting until after the third patch) and played with it for a couple od hours yesterday. I have to say I like just about all of the changes to the interface. The "quick sub" option from within the match is almost worth the upgrade all by itself.

One thing that sort of confuses me though is the new match preparation. Is this something that you want to change week to week or does it take longer to get restults from it?

Takes much much longer to get results from it then week-to-week. It's basically so you can have 3 tactical options that your guys are trained up on (as far as the different tactics). As far as the other options...I imagine it also takes multiple weeks to see the results of them (but i'm sure it varies based on your squad and your coaches and you'd have to watch to see when your offense came alive/your defense stopped sucking/etc.)

[DaddyTorgo]

Question - has anyone played FM2011 on a netbook?

[Sweed]

Anyone else getting this annoying "custom" issue with custom views. View starts with a simple name like "FC Attacking" and then goes to "Custom: FC Attacking" and then keeps adding the word "custom" into infinity?

I think it occurs when using the views during a match but can't say for sure it's the only time.\

[Alan T]

Yes, but I just delete them when they show up. Annoying but not the end of the world for me.

[Icy]

I have that problem too, from time to time the name changes back to the good one and then back to custom custom custom....

[Passacaglia]

I'm still on '10 but whatever, might as well post here instead of bumping the thread: My Worcester squad has played 7 draws in a row. We're getting accolades for being unbeaten for 9 games in a row, and at the same time getting stories about our poor from being winless for 7 games.

[path12]

I'm still on '10 but whatever, might as well post here instead of bumping the thread: My Worcester squad has played 7 draws in a row. We're getting accolades for being unbeaten for 9 games in a row, and at the same time getting stories about our poor from being winless for 7 games.

I hate that.

[sovereignstar v2]

I can't stand when the media or fans talk about games unbeaten. It's not an accomplishment to draw.

[Northwood_DK]

I picked the game up yesterday and this fare it looks pretty good.

I normally manage one of the big teams but have decided to give the low-league challenge a chance. I will go with
AFC WIMBLEDON in the Conference National (5th best English division).
Will properly write some kind of dynasty on this but need some hints/tips on how to manage a low-league team.
What kind of formation is the best for a low-league team?

[TroyF]

I can't stand when the media or fans talk about games unbeaten. It's not an accomplishment to draw.

This is like the quality starts stat in baseball. People blow a gasket over it because a 4.50 ERA sucks. The reality is a guy who has 10 out of 12 start be a quality start, most likely has been one of the best pitchers in the game.

You take a side who hasn't lost in 15 games, it's rare they've drawn 12 games and won 3. And a draw in soccer IS an accomplishment. It gets you a point. A loss gets you 0. Arsenal and Chelsea have both one more than ManU this year. They each trail ManU because instead of losses, ManU has 7 draws.

Last year the EPL was decided by a point. One extra draw for ManU and one less for Chelsea equals a different champion. (Chelsea had 5 draws, ManU had 4)

[Axxon]

This is like the quality starts stat in baseball. People blow a gasket over it because a 4.50 ERA sucks. The reality is a guy who has 10 out of 12 start be a quality start, most likely has been one of the best pitchers in the game.

You take a side who hasn't lost in 15 games, it's rare they've drawn 12 games and won 3. And a draw in soccer IS an accomplishment. It gets you a point. A loss gets you 0. Arsenal and Chelsea have both one more than ManU this year. They each trail ManU because instead of losses, ManU has 7 draws.

Last year the EPL was decided by a point. One extra draw for ManU and one less for Chelsea equals a different champion. (Chelsea had 5 draws, ManU had 4)

Well put but just a tiny nitpick. In the last paragraph, one extra draw for ManU and one less for Chelsea could equal a different champion but we don't know if Chelsea's loss would turn into a win or a loss nor the same with ManU's new draw might have negated a win. Either way, the point is pretty clear, a draw is an accomplishment.

[sovereignstar v2]

nope

[Peregrine]

Does anyone have experience using the data editor for this game? I'm trying to figure out what the range of numbers mean in player data, for example - someone is rated as a 40 in overall ability - is that good or bad, in what scale, etc?

[Marc Vaughan]

Does anyone have experience using the data editor for this game? I'm trying to figure out what the range of numbers mean in player data, for example - someone is rated as a 40 in overall ability - is that good or bad, in what scale, etc?
Ok in 'general' high = good with current and potential ability.

1 = pretty darn crap
40 = lower league English player (can vary a LOT in lower league teams - so you'll see some much higher than this and by 'lower' I mean Conference roughly).
140 = Premier league squad player
(these are very ROUGH values only - please used them as 'general' guidelines)

There are also 'special' values available for potentials which add in a random element each time the game is started - if you want to do things seriously then I'd recommend reading one of the guides to editing the database which are available.

[Peregrine]

Thanks Marc - I'll take a look for one of those guides when I want to do some serious editing.

[Peregrine]

Another question - I am currently running a team in the Blue Square South. My team is constantly losing money, up to 40-50K per month. I have tried to stop this by cutting back on salaries (currently running at about 75% of my allowance) and avoiding transfers, and I have a very successful team (2nd in league last year, close to that this year.) Nothing seems to help - obviously this isn't really under my control but I'm worried the team may eventually have a financial crisis. Should I be worried about this or are teams running at a loss normal?

[Marc Vaughan]

Another question - I am currently running a team in the Blue Square South. My team is constantly losing money, up to 40-50K per month. I have tried to stop this by cutting back on salaries (currently running at about 75% of my allowance) and avoiding transfers, and I have a very successful team (2nd in league last year, close to that this year.) Nothing seems to help - obviously this isn't really under my control but I'm worried the team may eventually have a financial crisis. Should I be worried about this or are teams running at a loss normal?

Unfortunately quite a few clubs especially in lower leagues simply aren't truly financially viable - especially if you sign players to full-time contracts ....

As such you're going to always be somewhat at risk from financial instability and reliant on the goodwill of your chairman/board and supporter donations.

(so yeah be 'worried' - but don't overly panic - also take the FA Cup VERY seriously ... a decent run in that with a lucky draw against a Premiership side in the 3rd round make a huge difference to a club at that level ...)

[TroyF]

Well put but just a tiny nitpick. In the last paragraph, one extra draw for ManU and one less for Chelsea could equal a different champion but we don't know if Chelsea's loss would turn into a win or a loss nor the same with ManU's new draw might have negated a win. Either way, the point is pretty clear, a draw is an accomplishment.

Yeah, I should have said one draw turns into a loss for Chelsea and one draw turns into a win for ManU changes the title.

sovereignstar,

How is it not an accomplishment? The Champions are determined by points, not wins. A draw gets you a point, a loss gets you 0. As pissed off as I am when my Arsenal side in FM draws Sunderland, it pisses me off a hell of a lot more when I lose to Sunderland.

In real life, Arsenal have 3 one goal losses this year. Turn 2 of those into draws and they are even with ManU. Yes, a win is a bigger accomplishment. Yes, you'd damned well better win a lot of games if you want title. But you can't discount the importance of those single points at the end of the year. A long, unbeaten run is impressive for any football team.

Now, I'll give my favorite annoyance of FM:

First year in the game as Arsenal and I'm up 9 points with 5 games remaining. I'm up on ManU. (by the way, don't think this is a real great accomplishment, I played the first year about 10 times, switching tactics and players and experimenting, I'll even reset this league before I finally move to year 2)

Anyway, I happen to play ManU. On the road. And I crush them 3-0. So after the game Sir Alex announces in the media that I'm over my head and he can't get along with me. The opposing coach of the next team I play questions if I have enough to win the title this year.

OK, so I'm in over my head with a team who is about to win a title and a coach questions if I can get a draw in one of my final 4 contests to clinch the EPL?

OK boys, whatever.

[Peregrine]

(so yeah be 'worried' - but don't overly panic - also take the FA Cup VERY seriously ... a decent run in that with a lucky draw against a Premiership side in the 3rd round make a huge difference to a club at that level ...)

Luckily I have had a good run so far- made it through three qualifying rounds and have made some much-needed cash, now I have to play Charlton - not sure I can beat the Addicks but who knows, maybe I can get lucky,

[whomario]

@ peregrine : Friendly games in preseason against high level teams are also a nice way to make some cash ! Just don´t overdo it for morale´s sake.

speaking of draws : I avoid them like hell. In FM10 in roughly 15 seasons i think i was propably a dozen or so times in the bottom 3 for draws and in my first FM11 season i made promotion in 2nd place with southampton despite having 4 more losses than the 2 teams behind me.

If it´s a draw with 15 or 20 minutes to go, 90% of the time i´ll go to my attacking scheme. Heck, if i am down by 2 with 30 minutes to go and another game coming up in 3/4 days (like it´s frequent in league 1 and championship) i tend to sub out my top players to have them fresh next game.

one thing i hate about the new version is the training screen. It´s just not as fast to navigate imo, having to change from schedule-list to player-list and also (if i´m not missing it) you can´t change a players training from his profile. I used to put guys on an individual schedule and could quickly cross-check his ratings and immediately set/adjust his schedule from his profile.

[Sweed]

one thing i hate about the new version is the training screen. It´s just not as fast to navigate imo, having to change from schedule-list to player-list and also (if i´m not missing it) you can´t change a players training from his profile. I used to put guys on an individual schedule and could quickly cross-check his ratings and immediately set/adjust his schedule from his profile.

I did the same thing in previous versions. I hate the change.

[whomario]

also, after a press conference i really appreciated the little "is expected to draw a positive/negative/mixed reception" comment, that way i only had to monitor this when i had a couple with a negative response. Now i have to check the player profiles of my main players all the time ... nitpicking, i know, but little things taken out for no reason just annoy me ;)

also don´t get why they reverese the tutoring from young guy ---> choose mentor to mentor ---> choose fitting young guy.

[Peregrine]

Luckily I have had a good run so far- made it through three qualifying rounds and have made some much-needed cash, now I have to play Charlton - not sure I can beat the Addicks but who knows, maybe I can get lucky,

Woohoo! 2-1 win over Charlton.

[Big Fo]

I still miss the ability to get the star ratings of all of the players in the opposing squad when you had one of your scouts focus on scouting the next team you face. That was last seen in CM 01/02 :(

[whomario]

There´s a ton of shots hitting Post/Bar this year, isn´t there ? Feels like it happens 2,3 times ever game.
Wasn´t there a similar issue last year that had to be fixed ?

Just had my first major transfer/steal/luck signing. Have made it a habit to play some clubs from abroad each preseason and last preseason played "Chivas USA" and one of their guys was just shredding my defense with powerfull play as well as crisp passes. Checked him out and he was an 18 year old regen with allready good ratings, then managed to expand my scouting range and found out his missing attributes were also fine.
Now a couple weeks before the winter break i finally had enough funds and managed to sign him for roughly 1.5 mio with a couple incentives (after 30 league games and 20 goals) and got the work permit approval on 2nd apeal :)

Here´s his screenshot pre-signing :

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/Mario84/Mix/PhilVelzquezProfile_Attributes.png


currently in 9th place in the championship btw, but have 3 top5 teams coming up next.

[Big Fo]

In all my years of playing CM and later FM, the one thing I have never done is go through an entire league season undefeated.

This season (2014/5), I thought it was going to happen. My Manchester United team had been a juggernaut, clinching the league with five rounds left to play and sporting a 31-6-0 record with 102 goals scored and just 16 against. Though our final match of the season was on the road, Sunderland were only in 13th place so I was feeling pretty good about our chances.

The game starts and we are just all over the opposition like we have in most games all season. The front three of Neymar, Wayne Rooney, and Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid offered him to me after he and Jose Mourinho had a falling out) were at their unplayable best and created a bunch of chances while Sunderland did nothing. It was only a matter of time before we scored. Paulo Henrique hit the bar, Rafael scored a deflected goal but it was (likely correctly) ruled out since Rooney was probably offside when it touched him, Craig Gordon was making some fine saves for Sunderland.

Then I saw something new for me (in this version at least). Ronaldo did one of his trademark blasts from a long free kick, Gordon saved but couldn't hold it, the ball went right to Marek Hamsik and he tapped it in. But it was called offside. I am in my fifth season now on FM11 and each time the replay of a disallowed goal has been shown, the officials have gotten the call right. This time, Hamsik was about 4-5 feet in front of the defender when the kick was taken. I'm annoyed, but I figure it's only the first half and there is still plenty of time.

Well anyway, you can guess where this is going. We hit the woodwork again, Gordon made some more great saves (his 9.2 match rating was the best performance of any goalkeeper we faced this season), etc. but we never scored. We conceded one in the 80th minute, a simple goal. Gordon just punted it up to a midfielder, my left back Patrice Evra missed the interception, their guy sent the speedy Darren Bent through on goal with a nice pass and he beat David de Gea with a good shot. It seemed to take the life out of us a bit, we never created another good chance though we had some corners and most of the possession after the goal.

It was just really frustrating. Even more so because I played most of my starters even with the FA Cup final three days after the game and then the Champions League final is three days after that. Darren Fletcher will miss the FA Cup final and likely the CL final with an injury suffered against Sunderland and I might try and beat Arsenal with a mixture of starters and squad players now. I should have rested some guys but I wanted to go undefeated so badly. Oh well. Funnily enough, my opponent in the CL Final (Barcelona) went undefeated for most of the season, only losing their 36th game. It should be a good one.

[Big Fo]

Damn. We lost the FA Cup final 2-1 on a 121st minute own goal. And we went down 4-2 in the Champions League final in a very open, even game. Well, there's always next year. And at least we won the league. But I might not ever get close to an undefeated treble again.

[whomario]

I just missed promotion to the premier league in a horrific chain of events :

1) on the 2nd to last match day one of my direct rivals (places 2-6 ended up within 4 points) scores an absolute fluke goal in the 94th minutes to beat me
2) my best striker and my starting GK go down on injuries in my last regular season game
3) Up until the very end i was 2nd (direct promotion), winning 4:1 in the final then Portsmouth (my bitter rivals to boot) score 2 goals in the last 5 minutes in their match to move past me
4) mid-season signing David Beckham goes down injured after 10 minutes in the first playoff leg, i loose 1:2 on a late goal on counter after a corner where 2 guys miss the ball
5) Down 0:1 i bring on a half fit Beckham who assists on 2 goals from corners !
6) Up 2:1 with 10 minutes to go my young captain Schneiderlin of all people misses a penalty (my normal penalty guy ? The injured striker Lambert)
7) 1 minute later they score, then another on a counter in the 87th

holy hell, what a downer... Plus i really stretched my budget with the Beckham signing and had a couple guys with the "i need to play on a higher level" comment.

[Epi_862]

Gotta say, im loving this game again this year. The match engine seems to have lot less dumb shit happening.

In my first game, i fucked up a team to the point of no return. I did the honorable thing, and resigned. Got a job with a team that rose to blue square south - took em to the playoffs in the second year and won a promotion.

A complete assload of work, and getting that promotion is one of the greatest experiences i've had in a game in a long time.

So, im looking at the squad, thinking, man - now i'll finally have money to start building up a team for the future. Que my shock when i found out that the team didnt get any more money, and didnt give me any more money for wages. So basically the team was going broke and i was playing on a mudfield with shitty facilities and unhappy players.

That game was wonderful, but i had to start a new game to have the option of actually going forward with the club.

Now i took control of Crewe in a new game, brought in better staff working in great facilities, and bettered my squad with a couple of big signings. Media prediction was i think 15th. 14 games into the season i've won 1 game, a couple of draws, and a whole bunch of total asswhoopins.

There have been times when i've literally been close to throwing the keyboard to the wall. NOTHING is working, my 4 star players get fucked over by BS North squads in cup matches, my 5 star goalie has an own goal in every second match it seems, even though he's the only player in my squad who has supreme morale like all the time.

Still, i keep going back to the game, it's that fucking wonderful. But i really wish the staff would point out some stuff im fundamentally fucking up. Since i absolutely cant stand soccer in real life, i bet i have some fundamental flaws in my team. Would be wonderful if there was an ingame mechanic to help the player iron those out.

[Young Drachma]

Curious about the mobile version for iPad, but will debate about it for a while. Haven't plunged into the PC version yet, but on the fence steadily...I always cave in every year at some point.

[Marc Vaughan]

Curious about the mobile version for iPad, but will debate about it for a while. Haven't plunged into the PC version yet, but on the fence steadily...I always cave in every year at some point.

New version of FMHi will be out before Christmas if you want to treat yourself ...... I'll be posting more details when its physically in the store.

[Barkeep49]

Thanks to the Amazon special, I am now a proud owner of FM11, after having started playing FM last year. Is there a training regime that someone can recommend? As a relative soccer neophyte there is plenty for me to figure out and I liked having the premade routines last year.

[FrogMan]

New version of FMHi will be out before Christmas if you want to treat yourself ...... I'll be posting more details when its physically in the store.

yeah, read the "before December 25th" mention on the email I got. Looking forward to that one as I skipped on FMHi2010 when I got my Touch...

FM

[Comey]

New version of FMHi will be out before Christmas if you want to treat yourself ...... I'll be posting more details when its physically in the store.

Did I read it right in that it will be available for the iPad?

[MrBug708]

Just bought it from amazon

[Marc Vaughan]

Did I read it right in that it will be available for the iPad?


Initially it'll operate as an upscaled iPhone application on an iPad - however making a custom version for the iPad is something I've been open about being interested in doing for the future when I get a chance (but don't expect one in the short-term, I'm afraid I've been rather busy just enhancing the iPhone game so far).

(if it helps I've played FMHi 2010 a LOT on my iPad purely because it works bloody well on that imho :D)

[FrogMan]

Marc, can you comment on the price for FMHi? just curious.

FM

[Comey]

Initially it'll operate as an upscaled iPhone application on an iPad - however making a custom version for the iPad is something I've been open about being interested in doing for the future when I get a chance (but don't expect one in the short-term, I'm afraid I've been rather busy just enhancing the iPhone game so far).

(if it helps I've played FMHi 2010 a LOT on my iPad purely because it works bloody well on that imho :D)

If I can play it on the iPad, that's fine with me. ; )

[Marc Vaughan]

Marc, can you comment on the price for FMHi? just curious.
FM

I'd expect it'll be the same as last years version tbh ($9.99 / £6.99) ....

[Alan T]

I think my Scout who is tasked with worldwide scouting has found a good excuse for a Caribbean vacation....

No wonder he hasn't found anyone yet, it is hard to find soccer players when you spend all day at the beach!

[MizzouRah]

Just bought it from amazon

I just ordered.. $20 very nice.