Football Manager 2021

[Wolfie]

On 12/11/2020 at 18:49, Sith Happens said:

Nowt like the good old days, had football manager of some description on the acorn electron. 

After trying to play it properly and getting nowhere I would take over some 4th division team,  break into the program and fill my bank with millions. 

Fun times 

Same here. I had FM but also one called "Soccer Boss" I think, that was way too hard unless you hacked it and gave yourself a wad of cash. 

I play one on my phone now, called Kevin Toms Football Star Manager. He was the guy who first came up with FM, and it's a really good emulator of those old 80's versions. You can easily do a season in about 40 minutes.

[ramsbottom]

In an attempt to pull myself out of the Derby related funk I thought I'd treat myself to the new iteration of everyone's favourite football management simulator/glorified spreadsheet.

My finding so far are, as with every years release, there's not much that has changed, and what has changed doesn't have a great deal of affect on how you play it compared to old versions.

- The body language/gesture controls don't do much to change how you interact with your players or the press, bar throwing water bottles about.

- The suppose advanced scouting meetings is pretty much an extra couple of screens where you go through the motions, before sending out your scouts as you would normally.

- Admittedly the match engine is a lot better, but I think that's mainly due to me coming from FM19.  Although the age old problem of the highlights being too slow if you watch them at normal speed, and it being too fast if you have it a fraction over normal still remains.

So all in all, if you had last years I wouldn't bother and just take the update that gives you this season's squads.

Having said all that, he's how my first DCFC save is going - 

Due to there being no transfer kitty of any kind, not even spare wages (sound familiar) there haven't been many incomings.  I had to let Curtis go because he was on a stonking £20k a week (thanks Rowett), and everyone will be glad to go that Roos was quickly shown the door for a quick £250k.  The only one is a young striker from Feyenoord called Dylan Vente who I signed on loan.  He's top scorer so far with 4.  Otherwise the team bar a couple of changes to the one above is picking itself.  One thing you will notice is that our club captain isn't even on the bench, this is a regular occurrence wherever possible, as a two fingered gesture to his real life counterpart (I can only assume some of the more controversial contract clauses where missed off by SI).  Out of the new signings Ibe has been the standout, but Jozwiak has been a little disappointing.  

Thought it would be a good point to start the thread as I'm up to the present day with matches played, and to say our league position is a little healthier compared to the real word one is an understatement...

 

 

Anybody else playing it??

[DerbyNutter]

16 minutes ago, ramsbottom said:

In an attempt to pull myself out of the Derby related funk I thought I'd treat myself to the new iteration of everyone's favourite football management simulator/glorified spreadsheet.

My finding so far are, as with every years release, there's not much that has changed, and what has changed doesn't have a great deal of affect on how you play it compared to old versions.

- The body language/gesture controls don't do much to change how you interact with your players or the press, bar throwing water bottles about.

- The suppose advanced scouting meetings is pretty much an extra couple of screens where you go through the motions, before sending out your scouts as you would normally.

- Admittedly the match engine is a lot better, but I think that's mainly due to me coming from FM19.  Although the age old problem of the highlights being too slow if you watch them at normal speed, and it being too fast if you have it a fraction over normal still remains.

So all in all, if you had last years I wouldn't bother and just take the update that gives you this season's squads.

Having said all that, he's how my first DCFC save is going - 

Due to there being no transfer kitty of any kind, not even spare wages (sound familiar) there haven't been many incomings.  I had to let Curtis go because he was on a stonking £20k a week (thanks Rowett), and everyone will be glad to go that Roos was quickly shown the door for a quick £250k.  The only one is a young striker from Feyenoord called Dylan Vente who I signed on loan.  He's top scorer so far with 4.  Otherwise the team bar a couple of changes to the one above is picking itself.  One thing you will notice is that our club captain isn't even on the bench, this is a regular occurrence wherever possible, as a two fingered gesture to his real life counterpart (I can only assume some of the more controversial contract clauses where missed off by SI).  Out of the new signings Ibe has been the standout, but Jozwiak has been a little disappointing.  

Thought it would be a good point to start the thread as I'm up to the present day with matches played, and to say our league position is a little healthier compared to the real word one is an understatement...

 

 

Anybody else playing it??

Is it available online for pc and iPad? 

[ramsbottom]

9 minutes ago, DerbyNutter said:

Is it available online for pc and iPad? 

Yep, and for the first time Xbox as well...

[DerbyNutter]

2 minutes ago, ramsbottom said:

Yep, and for the first time Xbox as well...

Thanks mate ??

[Cardinal]

Has anyone tried the mobile version? Any good? 

[ramsbottom]

I tried the Touch version once, but it was painfully slow.  TBF it was a pretty old iPad...

[Jourdan]

Started a save with Derby.

Currently 6th and on 20 points after 11 games going into the November international break.

Sibley has been my star player. He is my top scorer with 5 goals. But my most consistent player has actually been Te Wierik, averaging 7.64 per game.

I sold Wisdom, Evans, Shinnie and Forsyth to generate some cash and bring in some quality from the continent.

Two of my signings have been fantastic. Eduardo Quaresma, a young centre back from Sporting on loan, and a German midfielder called Marvin Wanitzek from Karlsruhe for £500k. He pulls all the strings from midfield.

The biggest disappointment has been Marshall. He has cost me at least two games with some strangely poor decision making.

But I definitely feel like I am growing into the season.

[ramsbottom]

7 hours ago, Jourdan said:

Started a save with Derby.

Currently 6th and on 20 points after 11 games going into the November international break.

Sibley has been my star player. He is my top scorer with 5 goals. But my most consistent player has actually been Te Wierik, averaging 7.64 per game.

I sold Wisdom, Evans, Shinnie and Forsyth to generate some cash and bring in some quality from the continent.

Two of my signings have been fantastic. Eduardo Quaresma, a young centre back from Sporting on loan, and a German midfielder called Marvin Wanitzek from Karlsruhe for £500k. He pulls all the strings from midfield.

The biggest disappointment has been Marshall. He has cost me at least two games with some strangely poor decision making.

But I definitely feel like I am growing into the season.

It's amazing how much people's saves differ, Marshall has been a standout for me, bailed us out a few times, particularly against Bournemouth made over a dozen saves to keep it 1-0.  Similarly Shinnie is pretty much the first name on the team sheet when fit, as he's a stirling performer, and chips in with the odd goal too  Like @Rubix001 I tried signing Wiltshire, but he wanted £38k, and all sorts of promises, so I told him to do one...

 

[Jourdan]

31 minutes ago, ramsbottom said:

It's amazing how much people's saves differ, Marshall has been a standout for me, bailed us out a few times, particularly against Bournemouth made over a dozen saves to keep it 1-0.  Similarly Shinnie is pretty much the first name on the team sheet when fit, as he's a stirling performer, and chips in with the odd goal too  Like @Rubix001 I tried signing Wiltshire, but he wanted £38k, and all sorts of promises, so I told him to do one...

 

When I play as Derby, my typical strategy is to go for loan signings from Europe. So I check the squads of major clubs like Barcelona, Real Madrid et al and see which young players are available. So this year I picked up Quaresma from Sporting and Madueke from PSV.

A few years ago I was able to pick up Carles Alena from Barcelona on a season long loan and he transformed my team. He was the best player in the division. FM has a blind spot in that sense - you can pick up players on loan who ordinarily wouldn’t give your club a second glance.

This year I also took inspiration from the Dursun interest and scouted the 2.Bundesliga extensively. Wanitzek has been a revelation, although he did miss a decisive penalty and we ended up losing to Forest. ??‍♂️

I had to sacrifice Shinnie because he was getting a lot of interest from the MLS. I ended up selling him for £2 million which basically funded my transfer business and I have Bird, Knight, Bielik and Holmes on rotation.

Will keep you and @Rubix001 updated on my progress. Currently on a four match unbeaten run before Bristol City away so I think I’ll have a strong run during the festive period.

[Kernow]

I've been told to self-isolate for the next two weeks by the NHS app, so looks like I'll be playing a lot of this. I did a season with Derby in the beta and finished 7th, in the second season I was given 32million to spend in the Championship (!!!), but never carried on to the transfer window. Looks like if we stay up we'll be in for fun again next season...

Currently managing Blackpool and I'm in my season season - 21st after 16 games in the Championship.

[David]

Out on December 1st for Xbox, I'll pick that one up as it will be more stripped down. The desktop versions are full of pointless additions, not really a game you can immerse yourself in that world so I don't need to be selecting from generic press and player interaction options.

[Rubix001]

9 hours ago, ramsbottom said:

It's amazing how much people's saves differ, Marshall has been a standout for me, bailed us out a few times, particularly against Bournemouth made over a dozen saves to keep it 1-0.  Similarly Shinnie is pretty much the first name on the team sheet when fit, as he's a stirling performer, and chips in with the odd goal too  Like @Rubix001 I tried signing Wiltshire, but he wanted £38k, and all sorts of promises, so I told him to do one...

 

On the Wilshere part - I got him in after a good couple of months, might have been start of December. The longer players are without a club the more their contract demands drop.

With the full game released I’ve moved onto a new road to glory save with Alfreton Town. I was finding Derby in the Prem too depressing! 

[Kernow]

FM's called it...

[Broderick]

I've been playing FM since FM13, and I think FM21 is the biggest improvement from one year to the next. Wingers will actually cross the ball instead of blasting it into the side netting. 

[Carl Sagan]

On 12/11/2020 at 18:49, Sith Happens said:

Nowt like the good old days, had football manager of some description on the acorn electron. 

After trying to play it properly and getting nowhere I would take over some 4th division team,  break into the program and fill my bank with millions. 

Fun times 

Last one of these I played was Football Manager on the Sinclair Spectrum 48k. It was fantastic. Still got the machine (and a tape recorder to load programs) so might try to boot it up for a spot of nostalgia. How anyone finds time for modern games really is beyond me.

[Mckram]

On the 5th season on the mobile version but playing it on my iPad.

Finished the last season 4th in the Prem with Derby...

Only player to survive my starting 11 is Sibley!

Still have Wisdom, Whittaker, Lawrence, Brown, Holmes and Buchanan though.

Impressed with the Mobile version but I think the Touch iPad version comes out tomorrow so looking forward to seeing what that’s like! 

[Leeds Ram]

I've bought this one after not having upgraded since fm 17. I kept with that one as I'd had a few really good saves including my latest one with Nuneaton Borough where I have won 3 successive titles to get promotion to league 1 from conference north. I didn't really want to let go of that as I'd built quite a nice squad including 4 players who were with me from conference north. It does not help that I don't really have the time to play the game much either tbh especially as fm is often such a time sink. But my mum was saying I needed to do something that was just switching off as opposed to anything else so I decided I'd get this. 

It's interesting as on the surface despite a complete overhaul of the UI there is actually little difference from 4 years ago on what the game does and how it does it. A lot of the features are the same or have little impact on the outcomes of the games. Alongside this despite a tactical interface overhaul it's perfectly possible to replicate the same tactical set up just recreated through a different lens. It's more realistic now I guess to do it this way with the phases and it does add an extra layer of complexity for more innovative tactics and allows for a greater degree of contrast.

In fairness the training has been completely overhauled which is something that probably needed to be done as it had been stale for a long time. The scouting packages and changes to the way it is conducted has also made the game much more realistic and trickier if you're a lower league club trying to find that next big thing. I do also like the club vision aspect which is far more comprehensive as well. The match engine has come on leaps and bounds since the fm 17 version- that alone is worth paying for the upgrade. The additional layers of interaction are necessary and they aren't a million miles away from pinning it down I think, the squad dynamic needs work though as even someone from SI on a podcast said that in fm 20 he could keep replacing his squad year on year with little to no effect. 

In some ways I actually prefer the old version as there was easier access to information than is presently available. Especially through the squad screen and during match day where i could have the game playing out in 'split view' mode whilst looking at a wide array of statistics and the prozone stats at half time if I wanted to change anything. It was also easier to manage the squad than it is now I think but i guess that's part of the fun. Now, the game plays full screen with a much reduced layering of stats which hinders my ability to manage more than anything else. So, I kind of miss the less sexy but more information orientated nature of the game 
 

Anyway, my save is crewe alexandra as I've always had a soft spot for them due to the attractive way they've tried to play football and I always prefer being a minnow to a big club. They actually have some cracking players for the division so I simply sold off some of the rubbish actually ended up cutting the wage bill and supplemented the squad with a couple of loans.  I'm playing a 4-4-2 diamond formation as both the full/wing backs they have are immense and the 4-3-3 I initially tried with simply wasn't cutting the mustard. Just got to retrain some of the inverted wingers to become Advanced Midfielders but it's a similar skill set so it shouldn't be too tricky to achieve. It's basically the same tactical set up with a few tweaks I used for Nuneaton Borough with a bit more focus on possession due to superior ball playing skills. Currently 4 games in and have got 7 points but 3 of the 4 games I've played against teams who are in and around the playoffs and managed 4 points from Oxford and Hull away which I'm pleased with.

Hoping for a playoff run this year as that's realistic but don't want to go up quite yet as that'd require a complete overhaul of the squad I think which given the poverty of Crewe and the new scouting package system would be much harder to achieve than in previous versions. The backroom staff aren't really up to the job especially the coaches so ideally I want a year to find the ones I think are good enough to actually make it all come together. 

[Jourdan]

Not made much progress on my Derby save.

My form went off a cliff in December as it usually tends to do whoever I play as in the top two divisions.

I’ve picked up 14 points in the last 14 games dating back to Bristol City away and slipped down to the lower reaches of the top half.

I’ve not been able to look at myself in the mirror since I lost to Rotherham at home.

[ramsbottom]

On 02/12/2020 at 23:26, Jourdan said:

Not made much progress on my Derby save.

My form went off a cliff in December as it usually tends to do whoever I play as in the top two divisions.

I’ve picked up 14 points in the last 14 games dating back to Bristol City away and slipped down to the lower reaches of the top half.

I’ve not been able to look at myself in the mirror since I lost to Rotherham at home.

I wasn't happy with some of my impulse buys and the way we were playing on my first save out the box, so I started again, and took my time.  As of the same point in the season we we are now (I've just beaten Brum 2-0) we're 2nd, 4 points behind Norwich and 3 clear of Brentford, Watford, Preston & QPR who're all separated by goal difference.

Sold - Rooney, Davis & Roos

Signed - Alex Pritchard (10 assists already), Andre' Pinto, Jack Wilshire & FM stalwart John Guidetti who despite falling out with me when I failed to strengthen the defence, notched 14 in 16 before getting injured.

The only problem is I've used up my wage budget and a number of contracts need renewing, so it'll be promotion or bust...