You made the "random game of football" comment, not me. I was saying it isn't random. You're seeing what was calculated. With that in mind, watching matches is certainly not redundant
If the Argument is that the engine Shows some arbitrarily sequence to Show that a Goal has/hasnÄt been scored, it's ridiculous. That's not what's Happening either way. Other the better exploiters outside of purely Trial&errorers wouldn't be able to systematically exploit actual weakness. Like the wide midfielders on FM17 sitting out this wide that they barely ever helped defending on any cycle of Possession, the open flanks on FM 16, etc. For some reason people tend to struggle with the simplest of stuff though. Which is, for instance, what happens upon interceptions. Considering that the ball is being dropped dozens times a match in minutes, also what it means to push added Players Forwards vs keepingn them back in numbers. It's like a Card house effect, as every time a Player is caught out of Position, another Player has to step up to fill in the gaps, which happens on every turnover, etc.
I'd be happy if the game one day were to have a truly assistant System. With that, the garbage that having more shots and Possession would be a sign of a "working tactic" would also go. The game Needs Players to think About how to increase the chance of scoring, decreasing it, balancing both -- and given that you cannot field 33 outfield Players covering every inch of the pitch at any time, how to balance it all according to different scenarios, etc. I'd also get rid of the stuff that you can enter into the UI which you barely ever see on a Football pitch, and which the AI sometimes engages in also (leading to added point drops). That way the devs could focus on the actual issues. The game is simulating semi/professional management, after all, not some School class in team Sports Basics or anything (which the game has Always assumed you did take Prior to launching it). It may also shift the tactical side of the game away from (for some) perceived random microtweaking, and to actual "Football decisions". Naturally, there also Needs to be a balance between Player skill and tactics. Wasn't particularly realistic, but on FM15 it helped the AI also that you could put 10 Players behind the ball and hoof it upfield to Messi -- he would still frequently dribble past defenses and could Keep Barcelona somewhat afloat.
The top Dribblers averaged an insane amount of dribbles per match on 15 in General.
Speaking About the Trial/erroers and entering stuff into the UI that you would never see on a Football pitch (certainly not for prolonged minutes of a Season): I have just seen that one of knap's "magic wonders" is once again reporting back with as much as 50 shots, barely a goal on the occasion.
Pushing every single Player up as usual, compressing the space visibly to the size of a tunafish can, where Players are easily engaged/tackled/fouled/pushed. Similar to how dumb AI oft sometimes do it, except even more extremely.
