Been Oxford for 5 seasons now. I work **** hard to figure all the capabilities /possibilities for the team regarding players. I even figure in personalities, footing, current form and potential blah blah. I don't use wonderkids or genies of any type. I have alternate-saves for testing theories i have on form vs form, but that rarely does much good as the game is dynamic enough to avoid being controlled by a single form-v-form capability at the lower levels.
So here's my problems: (1) My players keep knocking the ball forward to the loan striker NO MATTER WHAT. I've done allllll the possible settings, both team/personal to make sure they dont, and yet it persists.
(2) My passing in the 5th season has fallen to sub-70% for every match. There is no divergence from it. I had supposed it was just players getting use to one another, but with no transfers for 4/7ths of a season I don't see that as a viable excuse at this point.
(3) There is no way to hold onto a lead. I have tried every single imaginable possibility (within basic reason), and have used each 5-6 apiece. If I am up 2, I concede one within the 55th-71st minute. The second comes in the last 10. Sometimes a third is given in the last 2 minutes. I become more defensive, but not too much. I've tried to just push to score another goal. But with the inability to pass and the knocking forward ad naseum, this is an impossible task.
(4) If I start doing well enough with the players I have, they will be injured. At one point I won 5 straight, and so 8 of my starters were injured in the next 3 games. All were over a month. When they came back, they were rusty. When I started winning with them again, 4 became injured (no I did not rush them back and I have two physios at 18+).
(5) Almost forgot this one... kinda related to a #2 and #3.... allowing an average of 18 shots per match seems a bit insane. No I am not playing contain. Yes I have enough defenders but not 8 at once. So on and so forth. I have been playing these games since 2009. The general collection of common-sense knowledge I have regarding FM has been exhausted.
This game, overall, is ridiculously fun, but unbelievably cruel. I feel it is essentially set up to not allow success unless you (a) Start with a top club (b) Use exploit tactics in your matches (c) User wonderkids to build the team to be a top team on the cheap (d) replay constantly until you get the results you want (e) a mixture of a-d
/rant
So here's my problems: (1) My players keep knocking the ball forward to the loan striker NO MATTER WHAT. I've done allllll the possible settings, both team/personal to make sure they dont, and yet it persists.
(2) My passing in the 5th season has fallen to sub-70% for every match. There is no divergence from it. I had supposed it was just players getting use to one another, but with no transfers for 4/7ths of a season I don't see that as a viable excuse at this point.
(3) There is no way to hold onto a lead. I have tried every single imaginable possibility (within basic reason), and have used each 5-6 apiece. If I am up 2, I concede one within the 55th-71st minute. The second comes in the last 10. Sometimes a third is given in the last 2 minutes. I become more defensive, but not too much. I've tried to just push to score another goal. But with the inability to pass and the knocking forward ad naseum, this is an impossible task.
(4) If I start doing well enough with the players I have, they will be injured. At one point I won 5 straight, and so 8 of my starters were injured in the next 3 games. All were over a month. When they came back, they were rusty. When I started winning with them again, 4 became injured (no I did not rush them back and I have two physios at 18+).
(5) Almost forgot this one... kinda related to a #2 and #3.... allowing an average of 18 shots per match seems a bit insane. No I am not playing contain. Yes I have enough defenders but not 8 at once. So on and so forth. I have been playing these games since 2009. The general collection of common-sense knowledge I have regarding FM has been exhausted.
This game, overall, is ridiculously fun, but unbelievably cruel. I feel it is essentially set up to not allow success unless you (a) Start with a top club (b) Use exploit tactics in your matches (c) User wonderkids to build the team to be a top team on the cheap (d) replay constantly until you get the results you want (e) a mixture of a-d
/rant
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But honestly, the fact that my club can go 5 straight and I can predict injury after 7 solid matches or a run of 5-straight points to at least some form of calculation to "even the playing field" when a player is figuring out a system that works. That's no conspiracy. It is just plain fact that the game is not organically programmed and so must do rather jaunty "curve the advantage" steps. They seem to manifest in the forms listed above.