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

[MrBug708]

I'm a brilliant tactician so we'll see

[DaddyTorgo]

Another slow start to the season by my guys - this is starting to get irritating. I won't stand for it again.

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Couple questions for those of you who have gotten to play future World Cups.

1) How are host cities determined in future tournaments? Is it random or hard-coded in?

2) Do the number of teams per continent change ever? I know it gets tweaked based on the strength of the teams in that continent but unsure if FM adjusts.

3) Do you guys see the national powers shift over the years dramatically? My only deep sim which was just done to see how things played out in certain leagues saw Malta getting into the knockout stage of the WC in 2018 (they won their group). I didn't look that deep into international competitions, but wondering if random countries start taking over for some of the conventional powers.

I too have an interest in maybe getting FM with the WC coming uo and also am wondering if anyone who knows the game can answer these questions as well as give a brief opinion on the international side of play and how it is if a person just focused on that area and not so much on managing a club.
Is the MLS FUN? i know a few iterations bac k when I had FM it was not getting much attention from SI and was a weakness of the game and not worth managing a side in the MLS. Is that any better?

[BreizhManu]

Won the champions league 2 seasons after the first title with Bromley, got another one the following year and finished 2nd this season + CL win + FA Cup win.

I think I'll do another year at Bromley and then look for an opportunity to move back to France (hopefully at Rennes or Lorient) and be the top european team there.

[Coffee Warlord]

Port Vale wins League 1, making it a joyous entry into the 2nd division.

...where we are promptly getting slaughtered after starting the season with an impressive 2-1 away victory. Our keeper who was so good last year has been just miserable, and our tight-fisted owner has not given me enough money to strengthen the squad.

I *seriously* considered jumping ship to the Rangers, who offered me a 10k/week raise, a bajillion dollars in transfer budget, and a massive wage budget. But, nah. I'm hoping I can hang on this season, hopefully the club is profitable and gives me some more cash to play with next year.

[chesapeake]

Originally Posted by NorvTurnerOverdrive

try killing them with kindness. telling them they're doing great even when they're not is sometimes enough to squeak out a goal.

or schedule a friendly with your u18 squad. a good thrashing can build a little confidence.

I did dial back the tension and told them to go have some fun. Sure enough, I got a goal in the 3 minute, followed by another in the 11th and cruised to a win. We finished in the #2 playoff spot, which I will try and play out this evening. I always want to win, but I think I need a second season in the BSN to finish sorting out salaries and upgrading players to be competitive in the BSP.

[Warhammer]

Here is our progress to date:

2009/10 - Won BSN by 13 points.

2010/11 - Finished 5th in BSP (eeked into the playoffs on the last day, won the first leg, lost in the finals to Ebbsfleet)

2011/2012 - Won the BSP on the last day of the regular season, had a 9 point lead with 8 games to go and we frittered it away. We also won the FA Trophy this year. Had an amazing team that was dominant early in the season, had atrocious injuries to key positions late that caused us to stumble.

2012/13 - After bouncing around the top of League 2 all season, we again sneak into the playoffs as the #4 team in the table. (13 points separated 1st and 7th place, 18 between 1st and 8th) We then grunt out a win in the first leg of the playoffs 1:0 on aggregate. Then dominate the final 4-1. Now we're in league 1, and I think we're going to get rolled.

[Warhammer]

Crap, my point to the above was that in the playoffs, I would tell the team to do it for the fans!, especially if they seemed lethargic. I would also be relatively hard on some players, but I also have a relatively professional squad so they actually responded well to things like that, especially if I subbed out another player playing at a similar level.

[NorvTurnerOverdrive]

yeah, the player management/motivation aspect of fm is what makes it the best sim out there. just as in real life having the best players/coaches doesn't guarantee success.

it really is a nuanced thing. knowing when to coddle/congratulate/scorn.

[Radii]

A few questions after spending some time going through my first preseason and watching my first couple friendlies.

I took over Woking in the Blue Square South to try to build them up.

1) Holy crap the 3D match engine is AMAZING. I watched about 70 minutes of my first two friendlies, I'm sure that will get old at some point but for now its awesome. That wasn't really a question was it?

2) How much of your matches do you generally watch? It seems like even with "extensive" highlights or whatever that second option is below watching the full match, I'll miss a lot of buildup and a lot of things that might make me notice something about one of my guys, especially when it comes to midfield play. any recommendations or habits you guys follow when it comes to watching matches to try to improve your tactics?

3) I want to experiment a bunch with the player roles, I'm in a basic 4-4-2 right now and see that one of my fowards is an "advanced forward" while the other is a "deep lying forward" in a support duty... I can see myself wanting to play with those roles a ton in each position. Will I screw up my team's cohesion and chemistry if I stay in a 4-4-2 but have different players try out different roles to learn how they all work?

4) With a low level team like Woking, I have no transfer budget and have been looking at loans. I already have one long term loan at striker at the start of the game and I just took a second long term loan at keeper (all my keepers are prospects with very very little current skill). So those guys will be with me all season... I assume I want to try to use all my short term loans too to keep as much talent on the team as possible? How much with that screw with chemistry and such? So far it seems that I can very easily bring in short term loaners that are better than my current starters at pretty much every position, but if I have a few rotating in and out all year will it do more harm than good?

5) Assistant and coaches... what are the key attributes I want in these guys at a low level squad where I can't afford guys who are good at everything?

Thanks!

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by Radii

A few questions after spending some time going through my first preseason and watching my first couple friendlies.

I took over Woking in the Blue Square South to try to build them up.

1) Holy crap the 3D match engine is AMAZING. I watched about 70 minutes of my first two friendlies, I'm sure that will get old at some point but for now its awesome. That wasn't really a question was it?

2) How much of your matches do you generally watch? It seems like even with "extensive" highlights or whatever that second option is below watching the full match, I'll miss a lot of buildup and a lot of things that might make me notice something about one of my guys, especially when it comes to midfield play. any recommendations or habits you guys follow when it comes to watching matches to try to improve your tactics?

3) I want to experiment a bunch with the player roles, I'm in a basic 4-4-2 right now and see that one of my fowards is an "advanced forward" while the other is a "deep lying forward" in a support duty... I can see myself wanting to play with those roles a ton in each position. Will I screw up my team's cohesion and chemistry if I stay in a 4-4-2 but have different players try out different roles to learn how they all work?

4) With a low level team like Woking, I have no transfer budget and have been looking at loans. I already have one long term loan at striker at the start of the game and I just took a second long term loan at keeper (all my keepers are prospects with very very little current skill). So those guys will be with me all season... I assume I want to try to use all my short term loans too to keep as much talent on the team as possible? How much with that screw with chemistry and such? So far it seems that I can very easily bring in short term loaners that are better than my current starters at pretty much every position, but if I have a few rotating in and out all year will it do more harm than good?

5) Assistant and coaches... what are the key attributes I want in these guys at a low level squad where I can't afford guys who are good at everything?

Thanks!

2) I have read over on the FM board that it is highly recommended to watch as much of your teams matches in entirety as FM now is alot more intuitve as far as learning how your team is performing on the pitch via the match engine as opposed to the past.

[MacroGuru]

Alright...D2D has this up for $14 right now for those who have been reading and haven't made the jump...

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by MacroGuru

Alright...D2D has this up for $14 right now for those who have been reading and haven't made the jump...

I saw that and am going to get the answers to my questions in person. Thanks for the heads up.

[Coffee Warlord]

Hey, on a side note. I've still been working off an old patch. Since my game is pretty mature now and it's been decent enough, I wasn't terribly concerned.

Last I heard (eons ago), the latest patch caused some occaisonal weirdness in regards to existing games. Anyone remember if this is still the case, or am I working on (very likely) outdated information?

[MacroGuru]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

Hey, on a side note. I've still been working off an old patch. Since my game is pretty mature now and it's been decent enough, I wasn't terribly concerned.

Last I heard (eons ago), the latest patch caused some occaisonal weirdness in regards to existing games. Anyone remember if this is still the case, or am I working on (very likely) outdated information?

It's been fine for me...and since I was on steam it upgraded immediately, the only issue was for me running my dynasty, I can't copy and paste notes anymore.

[MrBug708]

I don't even know how to describe this game I just had. I'm playing as Crystal Palace and am facing Man City in the League Cup Semi's. I lost the first leg 3-0 after being dominated for most of the game but held fast with a stellar defense. They scored 3 goals in the last 15 minutes to destroy my team. I'm fighting for Europe in the EPL right now so going into the second leg, I decided to rest most of my star offensive players due to having some young players. Hell, I played one guy who hadn't played a game all year for me. Between this leg and the previous leg, I also lost to Man City, 1-0 and really was just going throw this game to City without much of a fight. In the EPL, Man City is a disappointing 13th place so far, but they have a talented team, including the English National Team Keeper, who at 32, already has 132 caps.

Started the game with a quick goal from my second strike in the 8th minute. 7 minutes later, a depth striker I picked up on transfer scored the second goal for me. 11 minutes after that, a defender knocks in a pretty goal and I sit with a 3-0 lead after 26 minutes. In the 40th minute, Bentley (my second striker) knocks in his second goal of the game and I suddenly find myself with a 4-3 aggregate lead at the half. I keep the talk simple at halftime and tell them that I'm pleased and a minute into the second half, Bentley scores his third goal of the game for a hat trick! The score is now 5-3 and I'm beside myself. Not that I care about the cup, just the result and how it's playing out! In the 76th minute, Bentley kicks in his 4th goal of the game and I finish the game with a 6-0 and move to the finals. Im completely mystified on how I won this game vs a team who probably has more talent then my team does. Bentley finishes with a 9.8 match rating for me.

[digamma]

So, if you were like Man U and set up a friendly against some small club, could you run the score up to double digits? If you're attacking all the time?

[Blade6119]

Yuppers

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by digamma

So, if you were like Man U and set up a friendly against some small club, could you run the score up to double digits? If you're attacking all the time?

Been there done that. I always try to get one 13-0 or 14-0 game in my preseasons.

[MrBug708]

So I was doing a little digging in my career to find anything unusual and I found out that the all time goal scoring leader is from Honduras and he scored 190 goals in 160 career matches. That's...incredible

[MrBug708]

In every career I've played on this latest patch, Brazil fires its coach halfway through the world cup. I'm assuming that's a bug?

[Balldog]

Ok, I'm struggling...

I downloaded a custom database, where do I put it?

I also downloaded a 3d Pack, Adboards, and Name Expansion files but have no idea where to put them??

[Balldog]

Ok, figured out the database but still haven't figured out the rest.

[Blade6119]

Originally Posted by Balldog

Ok, figured out the database but still haven't figured out the rest.

Find similar files here, almost all the various stuff on here has install instructions in the profile

http://www.fmscout.com/c-files10.html

[Balldog]

Great, thanks!

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by Radii

1) Holy crap the 3D match engine is AMAZING. I watched about 70 minutes of my first two friendlies, I'm sure that will get old at some point but for now its awesome. That wasn't really a question was it?

Yah, the last version of FM I played (and very briefly at that), the players all looked like chess pieces. Big improvement.

2) How much of your matches do you generally watch? It seems like even with "extensive" highlights or whatever that second option is below watching the full match, I'll miss a lot of buildup and a lot of things that might make me notice something about one of my guys, especially when it comes to midfield play. any recommendations or habits you guys follow when it comes to watching matches to try to improve your tactics?

I watch the entire game, 3 notches down from the top speed. Takes about 35-40mins a game I'd say. Much prefer it this way. The end of game ratings don't mean so much to me anymore, as I can visually see which guys are sucking it up out there. Sometimes I'm surprised when a guy gets a 6.7 or something, despite him seemingly passing the ball straight to the other team 90% of the time he touches it.

5) Assistant and coaches... what are the key attributes I want in these guys at a low level squad where I can't afford guys who are good at everything?

With a smaller team I focused on fitness to try and minimize the time of the field my crappy reserves and u18s are getting. I'm far from an expert though, so maybe that's the wrong approach.

[Warhammer]

Lower level squads focus on one striker who has good finishing, one MC with good passing, the rest of the guys focus on physical stats.

[BreizhManu]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

Lower level squads focus on one striker who has good finishing, one MC with good passing, the rest of the guys focus on physical stats.

Even the striker can focus on physical stats mainly, just look for acceleration + pace over 15 and decent other attributes and you've got a star striker in Blue Square.

My main advice for lower league teams is to find players who are rated 2 league levels above yours (e.g you're in Blue Square Premier, look for players your scout thinks they'll have the potential to be decent players in L1 one day, or exceptional L2.).
This is fairly easy to do until reaching the championship, there it's another story.

[digamma]

So, I got fired about 2/3 of the way through my first season. Is it pretty easy to get a new job, or am I going to have to wait for someone to hire me?

[vex]

You never know.

[MrBug708]

Originally Posted by digamma

So, I got fired about 2/3 of the way through my first season. Is it pretty easy to get a new job, or am I going to have to wait for someone to hire me?

What experience level did you start out as, what level were you coaching at, and what level do you want to coach at next?

[digamma]

Not sure on experience level, but I was coaching Oldham in Coca Cola League 1.

[MrBug708]

When you created your manager, did you select former international as your previous experience? When I click on my profile, I have 33 caps and 12 goals to my credit. That can help get you started.

But if league 1 is your lowest level selected, you'll get a job when it opens at that level

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Galaril

I too have an interest in maybe getting FM with the WC coming uo and also am wondering if anyone who knows the game can answer these questions as well as give a brief opinion on the international side of play and how it is if a person just focused on that area and not so much on managing a club.

I ran some sims and I think I have the answers to my own questions.

1) It seems like future host sites for the World Cup is random. There is obviously some logic to ensure that big countries get it and it looks like they do switch continents. But running it a few times for 20+ years I saw different host sites. Mexico seemed to get it a lot in my sims and South Africa got one in 2034 in one. Russia and China also got the host duty later on.

2) I can't really figure out the bids without looking really deep into it. There is logic to handle host cities. For instance, in the next WC, Africa only gets 5 bids. But CONCACAF still has the 3.5 bids when Mexico hosts one of the years.

3) The traditional powers remain strong throughout. The U.S. tumbled to 42nd in the World Rankings by 2043, although they won the World Cup in 2026 and came in 3rd in 2030. They won the Confederations Cup in 2013.

Some other interesting things on the international scale in my big sim to 2043.

- Ireland won the World Cup in 2034.
- Canada made a run to the Quarterfinals in 2030 and made multiple appearances in the World Cup during that time.
- Israel made the quarterfinals in 2026.
- Jamaica made the knockout stage in 2022.
- Iceland made the knockout stage in 2042.
- Wales (2014), DR Congo (2026), Northern Ireland (2026), UAE (2030, 2038) all had trips to the Cup.

I haven't noticed too many odd things in domestic play in the big sim. Fulham has fallen from the Premier League all the way down to Blue Square Premier (they were relegated farther for a year too). Tranmere almost won back to back FA Cups.

Liverpool won the Premier League 24 times in a row (2018/19-2041/42) and captured 8 Champions League titles.

[MrBug708]

In my game, the hosts don't look so bad

2014 - Brazil
2018 - Italy
2022 - Mexico
2026 - Australia
2030 - Germany
2034 - Brazil

As for who has won it, Italy, Spain, England, Germany and Mexico x3. Runners up include Italy, England, Spain, Argentina, and Germany. 3rd place teams include Croatia, USA, Chile, Italy, Mexico

[Neon_Chaos]

Here are the World Cups on my game:

England has sadly, ended up as the Runner up in four straight World Cups. Two consecutive defeats to their mortal rivals, Argentina. Heartbreaking.

2010 - Host: South Africa - Winner: Germany - Runner Up: England
2014 - Host: Brazil - Winner: Argentina - Runner Up: England
2018 - Host: Spain - Winner: Argentina - Runner Up: England
2022 - Host: USA - Winner: Italy - Runner Up: England
2026 - Host: Australia - Winner: Mexico - Runner Up: Argentina

[Balldog]

How do you schedule a match practice?

[Balldog]

I suck, down 3-0 at halftime as Seattle (MLS) against Portland (NCAA).

[FBPro]

Any recommendations on skins for this one?

[Warhammer]

I'm using Mizuiro.

[aran]

I decided to try to get into FM2010 again. I started out unemployed intending to manage in England.

The only job that remains open and accepts me as a manager is with Wrexham who are festering at 20th in the BSP after 11 played. Why are they so low, you ask? They have 8 players with long-term injuries. Most of their squad is out of commission--in fact, almost their full starting 11 is out if you count minor injuries, suspensions, and international call-ups.

This will be fun. Next year the team should be pretty damn good, though.

[whomario]

Have also started with FM again, my old save game though. On track to win my first championship with Piacenza in 2018 (4 points up with 5 games to go and only 1 Top8 team to play) , after that i hope for a good national team job as i won´t be able to pay my stars any more and don´t feel like rebuilding. Should be a few NT coaches fired after the world cup i reckon.

[Warhammer]

So how do you get a new stadium for a team that can't expand their stadium?

[BreizhManu]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

So how do you get a new stadium for a team that can't expand their stadium?

build a new one, you mainly have to wait, it will come from the owners.

[Warhammer]

Argh, took Alfreton to League 1, we have a whopping 3600 seats in the stadium, needless to say, we're hemmoraghing money even though I have been trying to sell off our stars.

[DaddyTorgo]

My brother, (who's insane) is wondering if there are any league mods that replace some existing leagues with African leagues. Preferably leagues from ridiculous little countries (he's crazy weird).

[MrBug708]

I was unable to secure a stadium expansion and the board asked me to drop the issue.

They just came to me and told me that they were building a new stadium at the tune of 405 million dollars and taking a loan out for the whole cost. It's being named after a legend of Crystal Palace and will be called Burton Arena, after the famed Crystal Palace midfielder, who made over 650 appearances from 2014-2027. Needless to say, he was my first cut when I took over the team in 2027 and he didn't play again and now he's a scout at Watford. Gonna let him come back as a bad scout for some fame time

[vex]

How large of a stadium did you get?

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

My brother, (who's insane) is wondering if there are any league mods that replace some existing leagues with African leagues. Preferably leagues from ridiculous little countries (he's crazy weird).

KingEric's, Finn's and Nick Main's Additional Leagues - FM-Base - Football Manager 2010 (FM10) Forum - Players, Tactics & Cheats

Hope that helps. There is a guy on the SomethingAwful forums who is playing with a Faroe Islands league.

[SackAttack]

So I just tried to start an Irish league game with Wexford. Meet with the staff, deal with the advice stuff, and as soon as I try to dismiss or move off of the advice to 'focus on young players,' the game totally locks up.

I hard-kill the executable, start a new game, meet with the staff...same thing.

Is this just a totally random thing, or are other people having this issue? Latest patch, etc.