Football Manager 2014 - Full Game Out Now!

[Alf]

Ok, so I finally pruchased the game just today (€17 on steam, I couldn't pass that) even though I don't know when I'll be able to start playing it as I need to reinstall my linux computer.

Any advice or "newbie" guide to help me settle in nicely ?

[Bisbo]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

So.. what if any EDT files do you use?

Some that I found interesting:

Regional Competitions:
Sports Interactive Community)

The world is broken down into 11 regional leagues (for example, one region is made up of teams solely from the UK and Ireland, another is made up of teams from Russia and its former satellites , one for the Middle East, etcetera)

Although I've been playing FM for years, I'm a complete noob when it comes to downloading mods, so I'd appreciate some guidance here.

I've downloaded the editor - what do I do next? I'm only interested in managing in North America - do I need to DL and install all of the databases for the other
regions? What exactly do I need to DL, and where does it go? Any step-by-step guides?

Sorry for the very basic questions, but it's the first time I've done this - thanks!

[SirFozzie]

You save it to the editor data folder, and then start a new game (you can choose what edit files to use when you start a game.. select all the files you just downloaded... then if you ONLY want to play in the North American league you can decide whether to have all the leagues and make them view only, or only select the North American league (which has a "home nation" of Canda)

Location of the Editor Data folder (Create if it doesn't exist)

Win Vista/7: C:\Users\\Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2014\editor data\
Win XP: C:\Documents and Settings\\My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2014\editor data\
Mac OS X: /Users//Documents/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 2014/editor data/

[Bisbo]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

You save it to the editor data folder, and then start a new game (you can choose what edit files to use when you start a game.. select all the files you just downloaded... then if you ONLY want to play in the North American league you can decide whether to have all the leagues and make them view only, or only select the North American league (which has a "home nation" of Canda)

Location of the Editor Data folder (Create if it doesn't exist)

Win Vista/7: C:\Users\\Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2014\editor data\
Win XP: C:\Documents and Settings\\My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2014\editor data\
Mac OS X: /Users//Documents/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 2014/editor data/

Thanks Sir Fozzie!

[SirFozzie]

Looks like FM Vita will be out next month, according to tweets I'm seeing.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by Alf

Ok, so I finally pruchased the game just today (€17 on steam, I couldn't pass that) even though I don't know when I'll be able to start playing it as I need to reinstall my linux computer.

Any advice or "newbie" guide to help me settle in nicely ?

hi, one good guide :

Guide to Football Manager | FM 2014 Guide

not everything totally acurate imo, but for a new player it´s definitely recommended. I also recommend starting either in FM classic OR with a top team from a small league (i highly recommend sth like Anderlecht in Belgium or maybe Basel in Switzerland). The former strips away a few functions, the latter gives you a good "in" without too much potential for frustration.

[DaddyTorgo]

6 titles last year (just finished it up last night): European Super Cup, Italian Super Cup, Club World Championship, Italian Cup, Serie A, Champions League.

10x defending Serie A champions (in 2020/2021, so what...8 of those are "me").

Amusingly enough, the top 2 strikers in the Champions League were two of my starters, each with 11 goals. One of them started 11 games and one started 10.

I want to turn back to my Bilbao game now. I've had good success with them, and in that game, since I'm not attached at the hip to Bilbao I've been looking for a new opportunity with an oil-rich team or a tycoon-takeover team.

[Alf]

Thanks for the links and information whomario, I was thinking about giving it a go in regular mode using a team like "FC Porto" from the portuguese league or "Glasgow Celtics" from Scotland.

[JPhillips]

Playing Eastleigh and I just got promoted to League 2. Tottenham, Liverpool and Arsenal all surprised the hell out of me offering 4 million for a 17yr old I signed on a free 2 years ago and was currently valued at 28k.

Now I don't have to worry about cash all season!

[Flasch186]

New team, new game same results. so frustrated. No matter which LLM I take over they close down too much and leave themselves vulnerable, they never win the 50/50 balls and in essence I can make them keep their g-d damn shape no matter which team and game I play. argh!

[JPhillips]

I've been helped a lot by the tactics articles at FMScout. I was assigning too many specialty roles for my balanced attack. Now even when I lose I'm getting scores near or over seven for most of my players.

[BigDPW]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

New team, new game same results. so frustrated. No matter which LLM I take over they close down too much and leave themselves vulnerable, they never win the 50/50 balls and in essence I can make them keep their g-d damn shape no matter which team and game I play. argh!

I was having a similar problem in my spurs game despite the fact I brought in much better defenders. What I finally figured out was that somewhere in my player instructions for a couple of my tactics I have set 3-4 players to mark specific players and this kept going as the default tactic even though I only made the change for one match it got saved somehow and ruined our defensive form for about 2-3 months before I figured it out. Once I fixed it I went on an amazing run.

You may want to check that for you tactics.

[Marmel]

ManU has won 16 of the last 17 Premier Titles in my current save. They won 8 straight, finished 2nd to Arsenal, then won another 8 straight. I am 1 point ahead of them with 2 matches to play. I have 2 road matches, they have 1 home, 1 away. I know I am going to choke this lead away.

[Grover]

Originally Posted by Marmel

ManU has won 16 of the last 17 Premier Titles in my current save. They won 8 straight, finished 2nd to Arsenal, then won another 8 straight. I am 1 point ahead of them with 2 matches to play. I have 2 road matches, they have 1 home, 1 away. I know I am going to choke this lead away.

Obviously David Moyes is not their manager.

[Neuqua]

I tried but I can't even survive a season in FM.

[Marmel]

Originally Posted by Grover

Obviously David Moyes is not their manager.

This is pretty far into the future. I played a journeyman type manager and took over ManU sometime around 2033. It took a couple years but I was the manager to win the first 2 of those titles, then I retired.

I quiksimmed about 15 years into the future so I think the current season is 2052 (Classic mode). I think the manager is James Jones?

[PilotMan]

Any chance we can get a "Get your fucking heads out of your asses!" halftime talk?

[Grover]

One day before my 100th match in charge of RB Leipzig, one day before a crucial Europa League group match with A.C. Milan, they approach me to interview for their vacant manager position.

Is this a ploy to get into my head before the match?

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by Grover

Is this a ploy to get into my head before the match?

Probably. FM is evil that way.

[Marmel]

I'm running into an annoying little issue with FM2014 playing Classic mode. After maybe an hour of playing, the game slows down quite a bit. Everytime I hit continue, the game does its thing and then it holds up for a bit when the continue button says processing. The longer I play the longer it holds up. sometimes up to 30 seconds at a time. I now save, quit game and restart it. It then works fine for another 30-60 minutes, rinse/repeat. I tried clearing the cache but that doesn't help. Any suggestions?

[cartman]

Check your memory while you are running. Sounds like you might be running out of RAM, and it starts to use swap space on your hard drive.

[Marmel]

Originally Posted by cartman

Check your memory while you are running. Sounds like you might be running out of RAM, and it starts to use swap space on your hard drive.

How do I do this? I have 6GB of memory, should this even be a problem? At most I might have a Firefox window and excel open at the same time as FM.

[PilotMan]

I seriously just had the single most frustrating year of any in FM ever.

With Larne in Northern Ireland we played the most hot and cold I've ever seen. I have no idea how to stem the tide of inconsistency.

We scored an obscene amount of goals were in first place with 3 games, needed 3 points to secure promotion. We proceeded to lose 3 straight for the first time all year. All while being outscored by 3-11. We lose the division and come in 2nd, at least getting a playoff spot.

That's not all. We lost in the Irish Cup Quarter Final to some nobody. Lost in the Intermediate Cup 4th round to a nobody. Lost in the League Cup Semi-Final to a team we had never lost to. Lost in the Steel & Sons Semi Final to a 2nd Division team (Larne is First) and were taken out of the Antrim Shield in the first round by an unlucky draw.

It was totally ridiculous. I can't tell you how many times I almost threw something across the room. We finished the year where I had dreams of massive success losing 4 of the last 5 and 6 of the last 8. Utter failure. I'm so pissed right now.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

It was totally ridiculous. I can't tell you how many times I almost threw something across the room. We finished the year where I had dreams of massive success losing 4 of the last 5 and 6 of the last 8. Utter failure. I'm so pissed right now.

Take a look at the 2001-2002 Inter Milan team. 45 minutes away from the Scudetto and ended up finishing 3rd.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by cartman

Take a look at the 2001-2002 Inter Milan team. 45 minutes away from the Scudetto and ended up finishing 3rd.

I feel it. I totally feel it.

[PilotMan]

On top of all that we were snubbed out of all the post-season awards too. Lovely.

[PilotMan]

Well we managed to salvage something out of this season.

We were drawn against Crusaders in the home and away playoff. We were on the road in the first game and went down 2-0 early in the first. It wasn't looking good. We went down 3-0 before we salvaged a goal late that would mean oh so very much to us down the road.

In the home turn we scored in :13 to go up 1-0. Crusaders leveled and that away goal was looming large. We went on a crazy second half assault where I just told the guys to let down and make them pay. We went crazy for about 20 minutes but couldn't score. Finally we got the first and then the second with 5 min to play.

We just kept the pressure on but couldn't break through and it went to penalties. Penalties were intense. Nobody missed. At all. We went beyond 5-5, beyond 10-10. Our keeper nailed it home, and then turned around and made the stop on their keeper.

I guess we are promoted after all.

Next year is going to suck. But at least we earned it. LOL.

[britrock88]

Wow.

[flere-imsaho]

That's awesome!

While we're on the subject of collapses, there's the famous 1995-1996 collapse of Newcastle United: Kevin Keegan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Ryan S]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

While we're on the subject of collapses, there's the famous 1995-1996 collapse of Newcastle United: Kevin Keegan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

That's awesome!

While we're on the subject of collapses, there's the famous 1995-1996 collapse of Newcastle United: Kevin Keegan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I don't think you should post anymore unless you're going to give us a NFL In Pictures for Free Agency featuring Revis/Belichek/Brady.

[whomario]

Just won my first PL title in this version Went from Anderlecht to a somewhat struggling ManU in 2017 (they had been finishing outside the top 4 for 3 straights years) and came in 2nd twice.

The title now came in truly dramatic fashion, as well. With 2 games to go we were 3 points behind City. In the penultimate game we beat QPR 5-4 with the game winner coming in the 94th minute. That kept us within range, but still down 3 points and 5 goals.
In the last game against Arsenal my team came out firing, going up 4:0 in the first 30 minutes. Then Hull took the lead against City and suddenly we were first in the virtual table. Then Arsenal scored one and i was in "not again" mode, but in the end we won 6:1 while City lost 0:3 at Hull.

That 5:4 win was pretty telling as well, as we finished with a 101-45 Goal difference. Almost never kept a clean sheet. Actually struggled to score at times, but when the team was clicking, some big scoring games happened (beat Hull 8:2 for example)

[bulletsponge]

Grats Whomario, you won the title in fergietime

btw i just started up a new game, im getting a lot of unhappy players due to underperforming, even though in higher in the table then expected

[Barkeep49]

When I am creating a tactic in FM14 how do I do things like control passing, coverage (man vs zone)? Is it all done position by position?

[bulletsponge]

Originally Posted by Barkeep49

When I am creating a tactic in FM14 how do I do things like control passing, coverage (man vs zone)? Is it all done position by position?

i believe so. did you check the positions instructions

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Well we managed to salvage something out of this season.

We were drawn against Crusaders in the home and away playoff. We were on the road in the first game and went down 2-0 early in the first. It wasn't looking good. We went down 3-0 before we salvaged a goal late that would mean oh so very much to us down the road.

In the home turn we scored in :13 to go up 1-0. Crusaders leveled and that away goal was looming large. We went on a crazy second half assault where I just told the guys to let down and make them pay. We went crazy for about 20 minutes but couldn't score. Finally we got the first and then the second with 5 min to play.

We just kept the pressure on but couldn't break through and it went to penalties. Penalties were intense. Nobody missed. At all. We went beyond 5-5, beyond 10-10. Our keeper nailed it home, and then turned around and made the stop on their keeper.

I guess we are promoted after all.

Next year is going to suck. But at least we earned it. LOL.

God this sucks. New season and we still don't have a point. fml

[PilotMan]

And just like that, a formation/tactics change and now we are back in the groove.

[bulletsponge]

quick question. i havnt been able to find out how to ask the assman to find sutable players to loan. i know its been there in previous version cause ive used it, but the last 2 games i have no idea how to ask him to find players i can get on loan

[AlexB]

It's under the transfer targets screen now: the DoF makes the recommendations instead of the AssMan

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by bulletsponge

quick question. i havnt been able to find out how to ask the assman to find sutable players to loan. i know its been there in previous version cause ive used it, but the last 2 games i have no idea how to ask him to find players i can get on loan

Eventually you will need to do this yourself to be able to target the right guys for the system that you want to employ. Just use the global search player, and sort by listed for loan and have the assistant sort out unwilling candidates. From there you can page through guys that you might be able to get.

[bulletsponge]

thanks. i never even go to that screen

[EagleFan]

[Groundhog]

Fired up FM12 on the weekend for the first time in years. Sucked me right back in again. Picked a team in Dutch div 2, and have really struggled - I've managed to forget just about everything in the time since I last played. Researched a strategy I want to try implement tonight, I just hope the 7 transfers I picked up/overpaid for fit...

[path12]

I've been pretty burned out on FM for the past four years or so after playing it almost exclusively for eight or so years before that. Was really disappointed in FM13 and was not going to pick up FM14 until that 75% coupon came around.

This version is fantastic and has sucked me right in. I've already played more of this than I did all of 13. And being able to get the logos, skins, etc right from Steam workshop is so nice. It's like all the little annoyances with the interface that have been around forever all got fixed at once.

[PilotMan]

Has anyone really managed to put together a strong defensive team in the lower leagues? My teams almost always have a strong tendency toward offense but we give up a lot of goals too.

Does anyone go out with the challenge to just dominate on defense to win games?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Has anyone really managed to put together a strong defensive team in the lower leagues? My teams almost always have a strong tendency toward offense but we give up a lot of goals too.

Does anyone go out with the challenge to just dominate on defense to win games?

I've had the opposite. Defense is generally very good, but just can't find a way to score.

[Grover]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Has anyone really managed to put together a strong defensive team in the lower leagues? My teams almost always have a strong tendency toward offense but we give up a lot of goals too.

Does anyone go out with the challenge to just dominate on defense to win games?

It's harder to gauge, the teams in the lower divisions have such little difference between them. I've always found it's best to get the players with the best physical attributes at the lowest levels. Sheer speed or strength with decimate most players at those levels.

[flere-imsaho]

For defense in the lower leagues the following has, generally, worked for me:

1. Prioritize as good a GK as you can get. A GK who is not up to the level will, in general, be hilariously awful.

2. Don't focus on too many attributes, focus on good numbers for the few very key attributes. For me this is Heading, Jumping and Strength for centre-backs, and Tackling and Marking for fullbacks. If you can get double-digits for those, the rest will tend to follow.

3. Play someone in the DM position and give them instructions to not close down as much (which will tend to pull them out of position). Good tackling and heading here is good, especially if you can get someone over 6 feet. The number of balls kicked forward into this area are considerable, so you need someone who can head a fair number of them right back the other way.

4. Defense, like offense, takes time to settle. Give your boys at least 10 games playing together before you start to tinker too much. If they're really not making progress by that point, then start to chop and change.


Offense is more complicated because of the variety of ways you can set it up, whereas four at the back & a DM is a pretty standard defensive configuration for the lower leagues.

If you're really, really having trouble the best advice is always to try the 4-4-2, focus on physical attributes, and see what happens, as such:

GK-D
RB-S
CD-D
CD-D
LB-A
MR-Winger-A
CM(R)-S
CM(L)-D
WM(L)-S
STR-DLF-S
STL-AF-A

[PilotMan]

That's good info flere. I tend to play LL almost exclusively. I agree with what you are saying. Probably what is happening is that I'm too aggressive with my offense. I tinker quite a bit with small changes and have a good feel for the tactics that I feel work.

For example lately I've been very successful with a 442 setup using a control offense, retain possession, short passes, high tempo game. I generally let my defenders close on troublesome players and tackle hard.

Try and avoid really aggressive players as they will get carded significantly more, but rely on high determination and physical skill sets. It's also a plus if they have high workrate and/teamwork skills. I don't typically keep prima donnas on the squad. You have to be a cohesive unit to really find success.

I like to attack from the wings, so having speed there, from the wing backs and the wingers is prime. Good dribbling/crossing skills as well. My midfield have to be generally good physical guys with good dribbling/passing/technical numbers.

Up top it's not hard to find good target guys to go with good speed guys.

I was just wondering if anyone really goes to lock their opponent down every single game, or has really good directions. While I can be successful, it's typically offensively, but if I could also find superb defensive tactics it could be that much better.

[JPhillips]

I did well with a 4-1-3-2 slow tempo, retain possession, counter attack. I won a lot of 1-0 or 2-1 matches and almost never blew anyone away. Now I'm in the Championship and my players aren't of high enough caliber to win much, but I still can sneak out a 1-0 win against much better opponents.