Alright boyz, here we go! FM 2010 first impressions thread

[Izulde]

Is it just me or are there -way- too many penalties?

[Coffee Warlord]

Originally Posted by Izulde

Is it just me or are there -way- too many penalties?

I've been thinking the same thing.

[illinifan999]

Signed Ivan Rakitic from Schalke on a free transfer. He's leading the team with 14 goals in 17 matches playing from the AMC spot. The fact that he was free makes it oh so much better.

[Big Fo]

Originally Posted by Izulde

Is it just me or are there -way- too many penalties?

The amount is fine for me. I've still never seen one missed in eight seasons of regular time. As for shootouts it feels like a normal ratio of misses/makes.

But if I see a few penalties per season and the normal rate is around 75-80% I guess it's not so unlikely to have seen them all go in as far as regular time goes.

[Izulde]

I've been seeing 2 or 3 penalty kicks a game on average, though.

[Sweed]

Ok, I'm getting updates from my assistant on expiring contracts and am deciding who to make offers to. Most of my time playing FM has been in BSN or BSS with little or no money and not a lot of quality youth on the club so this situation is a little different for me now that I'm managing in CCL1.

There are a few under 24yr old players (Bosman rule?) that can leave on a free if they aren't offered a contract of equal or greater value than their current deal. Some of these guys are asking for contracts that are LESS than their current deal. Is this a ploy on their part so they can turn it down and then be free? Or is it what they\their agent think they are really worth and just want to make sure they are able to stay in football?

Some of these guys look like they will be players in the future and to those I made sure to make them offers that equaled or exceeded their current deal. Some don't look like much so I've either not made an offer or went with a low bid. But I am curious what others have done in this situation and if the game has players intentionally low ball you to try to get away from the club?

[bulletsponge]

wow, it doest seem like a high number of pk on my game. are yall on the lastest patch?

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by Izulde

Is it just me or are there -way- too many penalties?

Originally Posted by Izulde

I've been seeing 2 or 3 penalty kicks a game on average, though.

FWIW not seeing this in my game. I don't have any idea what a realistic number is but, and this is only from recollection, I doubt I'm getting one every three games.

[Shepp]

Originally Posted by Izulde

I've been seeing 2 or 3 penalty kicks a game on average, though.

Are these penalties for you, against you, or evenly split?

If they are going against you, are you playing your defensilve line way up or way back? It could be that your D is being caught in a bad position and causing the penalties in ditch efforts to prevent a goal.

If all those penalties are going your way its probably something that needs tweaking in the match engine.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by Shepp

Are these penalties for you, against you, or evenly split?

If they are going against you, are you playing your defensilve line way up or way back? It could be that your D is being caught in a bad position and causing the penalties in ditch efforts to prevent a goal.

If all those penalties are going your way its probably something that needs tweaking in the match engine.

Evenly split. I run a normal D-line unless my assman recommends otherwise.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Just to add, I am not having the frequent penalty kick issue.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by Izulde

Evenly split. I run a normal D-line unless my assman recommends otherwise.

Without wanting to derail the thread - can you please PM me the team you're playing as, league you're in, formation you're using and the year you're in and whether you've edited the game database at all pls.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

I've been thinking the same thing.

Just to check CW - are you also running with the league extension down to level 10 or whatever in the English divisions?

(as the game isn't really built to handle this low a level of football and this may well be the cause - we'll look into it to be sure and regardless tweak it to ensure the best behaviour possible going forward)

[dacman]

Marc,

That definately what I'm seeing -- the number of penalties in both superbladesman's and uncle ron's databases down to level 8 (not even the level 10 one) is getting me about 1 penalty a game.

My last attempt with uncle ron's DB playing with Lancaster City, in 32 games (league and cup) I've earned 16 penalties and given up 15.

I started over again over the weekend in BSN (non-edited DB) -- 8 games in -- 1 penalty earned, 0 given up.

[DaddyTorgo]

bawhahaha - they broke your game MV!!!!

[DaddyTorgo]

yeah...i don't see that many penalties on a non-edited DB. i'll load up my game in a bit and see what my numbers have been like

[Coffee Warlord]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

Just to check CW - are you also running with the league extension down to level 10 or whatever in the English divisions?

(as the game isn't really built to handle this low a level of football and this may well be the cause - we'll look into it to be sure and regardless tweak it to ensure the best behaviour possible going forward)

No, I'm not. I made one edit to the DB that should have no bearing on anything (I cleared out Port Vale's debt).

I'm not averaging as many penalties as Izulde reports, but it still seems rather hefty. I can give you specifics when I get home tonight, but I've had more than one game with 2-3 penalties awarded (with no insta red cards offenses), and if I had to venture a guess, I'd say I'm averaging a penalty every 2-3 matches.

[SirFozzie]

BTW, DaddyTorgo, and the others.. I have found a database that goes down below Serie C/2, two levels below (to "Serie E", or the Eccllenza division)

Eccellenza By 23enzo86!!! - Nuovi Campionati

(so, who's going to try to make the Miracle of Catel di Sangrio, part two? )

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

BTW, DaddyTorgo, and the others.. I have found a database that goes down below Serie C/2, two levels below (to "Serie E", or the Eccllenza division)

Eccellenza By 23enzo86!!! - Nuovi Campionati

(so, who's going to try to make the Miracle of Catel di Sangrio, part two? )

Very tempting. I guess I'd have to buy the game first. Has it been patched yet?

[SirFozzie]

Two patches, the release day patch, and a minor patch to eliminate the out of memory crash dump.

Next patch is scheduled for after the January transfer window I believe.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

BTW, DaddyTorgo, and the others.. I have found a database that goes down below Serie C/2, two levels below (to "Serie E", or the Eccllenza division)

Eccellenza By 23enzo86!!! - Nuovi Campionati

(so, who's going to try to make the Miracle of Catel di Sangrio, part two? )

whore-and-a-half...do i now need to restart my nascent San Marino dynasty (which i have a bunch more updates for that i just haven't posted yet)?

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

I'm not averaging as many penalties as Izulde reports, but it still seems rather hefty. I can give you specifics when I get home tonight, but I've had more than one game with 2-3 penalties awarded (with no insta red cards offenses), and if I had to venture a guess, I'd say I'm averaging a penalty every 2-3 matches.

This sounds like it might be a different thing entirely to the other issue and while its 'high' it might be down to playing style and/or one specific player causing havoc at the level he's playing at - please PM me some more info (as per my prior request) when you get a chance.

(if you want penalties at a lower level incidentally find a young fast striker who can dribble the ball and has low sportmanship .... tell him to get into the box and you'll find players at that level will often helpfully chop him down for you ... then again penalty finishing at that level sometimes isn't that great, I recall Nicky Rust playing for Brighton and us supporters WANTED fozzie to bring players down as Rusty saved a lot more of the penalties than went past him ... shame penalty saves were about all he was good at ... and yes this is about 15 years ago I'm talking about, what can I say us old gits like reminiscing about the old days )

[Coffee Warlord]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

... and yes this is about 15 years ago I'm talking about, what can I say us old gits like reminiscing about the old days )

Thanks for reminding me I just hit 30 a couple months ago, jerkface.

[kingfc22]

Just had my most exciting game so far.

Going into the last game of the season, we sit in 6th place two points behind Ravenna in 5th.

Our finale is on the road against #3 Cremonese who we destroyed 3-0 at home, but that was probably one of their worst games of the season.

Ravenna had to travel to #16 Lumezzane. I need them to tie and us to win we held the tie breaker over Ravenna.

We start the game with a defensive mentality to try to keep it close and see what happens with Ravenna. Cremonese comes out and apply pressure from the start and finally break through in the 33rd minute. At that point I switch up my tactics as we MUST win. We switch to our neutral tactics and get to half time down 0-1. Ravenna is tied 0-0.

I tell the guys that they need to get their heads out of their ass and show me something in what could be the final 45 minutes of the season.

We start attacking from the opening whistle of the half and also make an adjustment to attack the middle of the field. It finally pays off as we score off a rebound from a spectacular save in the 67th minute. I check the Ravenna score and they are winning 1-0...

I go to the "overload" touch line tactic and we continue to poor it on. My MC lets a shot fly from the edge of the box that beats the keeper to the far post and CLANG!!! Shit!

We continue to try to punch it in and in the 80th minute we do! We are now winning and praying for Lumezzane to tie Ravenna.

I go into a shell to try and survive the final 10 minutes, but we give up a goal off a corner kick in hte 84th minute. Now we are tied at 2, but we MUST win.

I switch back to what was working with the "overload" and attacking through the middle. I also moved up my two wing backs to play as wingers and it paid off 2 minutes later as WBR Balzano scored his first goal of the season to put us up 3-2!!!

I check the Ravenna score and they are still winning 1-0...

I tell the guys to drop deep and "contain" once more. This time we hold off Cremonese and get the 3-2 road victory.

Unfortunately, Ravenna held on for the win and we finish in 6th during our first year in Serie C1/A.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I'm at work right now, so I don't have my game in front of me, but my first season at Exeter (England League 1) is a disaster. We were expected to be relegated, but after about 40 games, we are dead last. We just don't have the defense to compete in League 1. My center backs are completely indecisive. While they stand around thinking about whether they want to press or not, they get beaten by another forward on an overlapping run. It's truly pathetic.

Somehow, my team made it to the 6th round of the FA Cup. We were the last League 1 team standing. Unfortunately, our 6th round match was against Chelsea. At least we got to play at home. Naturally, we sold out the stadium (for the first time all season), but we got hammered 5-0. Chelsea had clearly called off the dogs at about the 60th minute. They could have scored 11 if they'd wanted to.

I guess my players are just more interested in good showings at the cup competitions. The prize money is great, so I'm not complaining, but I wish they were more focused in league play. If I still have a job next season, I trust that we will be more competitive when we're back in League 2. We are just so outclassed by the top half of teams in League 1 and it's demoralizing to me and to my players. I've pretty much turned into Mr. Sad Sack when I go into press conferences. "Yes, we expect to lose. We know we suck."

Hmm... no wonder my players are discouraged.

[Marc Vaughan]

My center backs are completely indecisive. While they stand around thinking about whether they want to press or not, they get beaten by another forward on an overlapping run. It's truly pathetic.

For the future - If you've got a truly awful defense then consider playing a 4-4-2 with DMC's in front of the center backs to give them some support, also DONT press at all and play a zonal formation with easy tackling.

This tells the defenders to keep it simple, just keep things basic (ie. defend in your zone, don't try and follow players around the pitch or anything complicated). They're much less likely to tie themelves into knots in such a tactic and won't make rash challenges in the box or anything silly.

You WILL find that they give up some shots with this style of play (which you'd have been doing anyway) - but hopefully they'll stay on their feet and attentive enough to keep the opposition strikers pre-occupied and less accurate than if they'd walked through the defense and found loads of space ...

PS - If you've a VERY good DMC then use him to marshall the defense, tell him to be the one to close players down etc. - if he's good and has decent influence you'll find he helps a lot

[Big Fo]

I finally saw a missed penalty, my keeper dove to the right and made a fine save. My delight lasted for a split second before some other player ran up and slammed the rebound home.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

For the future - If you've got a truly awful defense then consider playing a 4-4-2 with DMC's in front of the center backs to give them some support, also DONT press at all and play a zonal formation with easy tackling.

This tells the defenders to keep it simple, just keep things basic (ie. defend in your zone, don't try and follow players around the pitch or anything complicated). They're much less likely to tie themelves into knots in such a tactic and won't make rash challenges in the box or anything silly.

You WILL find that they give up some shots with this style of play (which you'd have been doing anyway) - but hopefully they'll stay on their feet and attentive enough to keep the opposition strikers pre-occupied and less accurate than if they'd walked through the defense and found loads of space ...

PS - If you've a VERY good DMC then use him to marshall the defense, tell him to be the one to close players down etc. - if he's good and has decent influence you'll find he helps a lot

I have tried something similar to this, but a couple of the defenders on my roster just don't seem to care. That's my perception anyway. I'll make sure that this is what I'm doing for the last few games of the season. We're going to get relegated anyway. Might as well get the boys to play this way and just stick to it, whether they like it or not.

[illinifan999]

Haha! Last season Juande Ramos publicly admitted interest in the vacant HSV position, and later got it. This season, he publicly admitted interest in both the vacant West Ham and Lazio jobs at the same time. The HSV fans want his head needless to say.

[illinifan999]

Dola, how do you guys defend the corner?

Seems like every game I'll give up on where the ball gets loose and someone slams it in right in front of the net.

[Abe Sargent]

My d/l FM 2010 keeps crashing. I purchased it via d/l, and when I hit search for updates, it takes me to a pages that says:

New minor update available

We've detected that a newer build is available from the Sports Interactive website.

However, we are unable to find the download in our database currently. Please try later!


Ideas?


EDIT: When I first installed it a few days ago, I tried to d/l the patch from their soite, and it may have worked but made me put a CD in in order ot run, which I obviously didn;t have, so I don;t think that'll work.

[DaddyTorgo]

where'd you D/L it from? what version number does it say it's running?

[Abe Sargent]

It's not the patched version, just v 10.0. Remember, I could not get the patch, and ii tried to manually d/l the patch from SI but it screwed up my game as mentioned above.

http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/Prod...oduct_id=76605

From GameStop

[DaddyTorgo]

hmmm...

[Ajaxab]

Originally Posted by Abe Sargent

It's not the patched version, just v 10.0. Remember, I could not get the patch, and ii tried to manually d/l the patch from SI but it screwed up my game as mentioned above.

http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/Prod...oduct_id=76605

From GameStop

I bought mine from Direct2Drive and had the same problem with the auto d/l from SI. I went to the SI Forums and manually downloaded the patch from http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=158962. That worked for me.

I just had one of those beautiful FM moments yesterday. I decided to go with the random team selector at the beginning of my game and ended up with Tours FC in France's Ligue 2. They have an average squad and were expected to be a mid table team. For the first two seasons, that is exactly what happened. We finished 9th and 10th respectively. I had been playing a 4-1-2-1-2 consistently, but I don't think I really had a handle on tactics because we were leaking goals just as fast as we were scoring them. So season 3 arrives and we're at 33-1 odds for promotion with another mid-table finish predicted and expected. The season started just like the first two, but in October, I decided to make some tactical adjustments and move to a 4-1-3-2 when we would go up at home and start with that formation away. That made all the difference in the world.

We got all the way to the French Cup final, including a massive extra time upset win over Paris Saint-Germain in the semis. We ended up being beaten 2-0 by Olympique Lyonnais in the final, but just getting there felt like an achievement in and of itself. After the French Cup final, we had one game left. We were sitting in 3rd tied with Valenciennes FC on points, but comfortably ahead on goal difference. A win would get us promoted. Anything else would leave us at the mercy of the football gods. We were playing at home to 6th place Cesan Ardennes and quickly went up 2-0. I thought we were going to cruise to victory. By the 60th minute, they had tied things up at 2. I had to throw men forward so I shifted back to the 4-1-2-1-2. In the 87th minute, my AMC dribbled through the defense and powered home the game-winning strike. 3-2 Tours FC and we're promoted! The board and the fans were ecstatic about this "unexpected promotion." It really is gratifying to see your tactical adjustments work and to see your club go on a successful run.

I think it's going to be one of those situations where I wasn't sure if it was good to be promoted. I don't think we're ready for Ligue 1 football. But I'm looking forward to the challenge of trying to stay up next season.

[DaddyTorgo]

yay for ajax helpin out!

and congrats on your promotion!

[Abe Sargent]

Thanks, I'll check it out after I get back from work tonight.

[Abe Sargent]

D/ling now, let's hope this works....*crosses fingers*

[Abe Sargent]

Ajaxab, you get one Official Gold Star

It worked!

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Abe Sargent

Ajaxab, you get one Official Gold Star

It worked!

that makes him a pretty shitty player - only one gold star

[whomario]

Aaaaaargh, darn it. Milan = scumbags !!

So, aparently Milan is a rival team for Piacenza and since i like to emerge i threw my own AC MIlan jersey into the cellar before starting the game, just in case.
Now, i got a draw at AS Roma and beat Torino for my first win (1 win, 2 draws and 4 losses) and then go into San Siro and have my team play inspired football. Yeah, Milan the better chances but we also have a couple good ones and go up 1:0 just before halftime when my hero Ibricic (scored the equalizer and the gamewinner the 2 games prior) strikes again. And after 50 minutes Pato gets a red card ! But then my defensive anchor gets injured on a play and 5 passes later his man (Borielo) ends up scoring with him still down and cancelling out offsides . Aaaaargh ...
his mate in the back (Demidov) apparently took that to heart though, injuring 2 Miland players the last 30 minutes

nothing happened those last 30 minutes. Had one good chance in the end after i went for an attacking mode, but my team was tired.

@ Marc Vaughan : Incidentily i changed to a 2 DM tactic right before you wrote that and got the results described above with my defense looking much better

6 of my next 7 are against teams in the bottom half as of now, need points here as then comes Lazio, Juve, Inter, Fiorentina in a row

[RainMaker]

I've been learning a lot about the strategies but had a question. I get feedback on how we are winning balls in the air and couldn't figure out what the best way to change tactics to benefit from that. Sort of figured out all the other stuff but not sure how to fix that.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I've been learning a lot about the strategies but had a question. I get feedback on how we are winning balls in the air and couldn't figure out what the best way to change tactics to benefit from that. Sort of figured out all the other stuff but not sure how to fix that.

crossing the ball from wide wingers into the box primarily. maybe playing narrow in defense if your defense is still conceding goals in order to allow the other team to cross in so you can win the headers and head it out (no need to make that change if you're not conceding more goals than you'd like though, cuz it will open up your defense for that).

[RainMaker]

Thanks, does pump the instruction "Pump the Ball into the Box" help with that or not?

[DaddyTorgo]

that would help yeah. and set your wingers individually to cross more as well under "advanced instructions" when you click on a player

[whomario]

hmm, defensively you it could be ok to do the following things :

-Drop a little deeper
-play a bit narrower

this way you´ll force the other team to try to beat you with long, high balls or from the outside. Often teams play that way when they are up late and have good aerial player on defense.

offensively, you might consider a long passing game hoping your midfield and attacking players win key headers to flick the ball on to a teammate going into space. If you have a great towering striker (good heading and jumping attribute, maybe some strength as well) you might consider making him a target man and set target man supply to "to head" and set crosses to "float crosses" .

But honestly this one really isn´t clear cut and i wouldn´t put too much stock into it unless on offense you really have a stud target man type player or on defense you are really sure that you CBs can handle that. Because when you drop deeper every mistake is more costly. Think of it this way : If the oposing striker only wins one header all game, that could still be resulting in a goal.


Beat Siena 2-0 on their turf ! Still only 16th but 8 points out of the last 4 matches
Juve is 17th btw 2 wins, 2 draws and 5 losses scoring only 6 goals (only 9 conceded). They were 3rd last seson after winning it 09/10. Didn´t bring in any new strikers (paolucci came back though) and instead paid 35 mio for 3 CBs this and last season.
Dzeko is on his way though, will join in January.

Some insane transfers by Inter who brough in Christiano Ronaldo (only 45 mio euros), Cassano (30 mio !), Vidic (22 mio) and a bunch of other young guys.

edit : Or do as DT said

[Flasch186]

How do I strip someone of the captaincy midseason?

[MrBug708]

Cut him?

Is there a captain selection under tactics?

[Qwikshot]

Broke down and purchased, got it yesterday via mail.

Where is the best place to get reputable mods?

In all probability, I'm going to start with York, I've got a soft spot for them.

[flere-imsaho]

With the new tactics generator and all, what's the current thinking as to the performance penalty you incur by making game-to-game changes in tactics?

I remember that once upon a time if you used pretty much the same tactic from game to game the players "learned" it and performed better using it than other tactics (until other teams sussed out how you played, and started destroying you).

In the current FM iteration, how does this work now. Can you go from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 with impunity, or are there issues?