Hi, I've read a lot of this thread and others on here but this is my first actual post. I didn't know whether to make my own thread for this but I've decided to post it here.
Basically, I feel like this game, since the latest patch, doesn't reward effort any more. The outcomes of the games seem to be determined by about 5% tactics, 20% morale and 75% glitchy defending in the match engine. On all previous versions of FM, and this one prior to the latest patch, I've been capable of over-achieving with pretty much any club I take over. Don't get me wrong, I don't want the game to be too easy, I want it to be a challenge.
The only thing is, when I put in the time and effort to nurture my teams' morale through team meetings, having reasonable training levels, the correct team-talks, individual player interactions and high win bonuses, to create tactics that suit the players at my disposal and prepare them sufficiently, to scout out good players and build a balanced squad, you'd expect your results to improve.
However, you can go into a match, at home to the bottom club, brilliant form and morale, they've all reacted well to your team-talk, they're perfectly well-trained in all of your tactics, and they go out there, dominate the game, create 15 chances, hit the post 6 times, and finally break through in about the 70th minute, then you'll make your last substitution, and then suddenly your centre back will come off injured, a substitute that's been on the pitch for 20 minutes will pick up two bookings, the opposition, who've won 2 games and scored 10 goals all season will score a goal set up beautifully by your full back, then a penalty, and then another from a corner and you'll lose.
Now I understand that real life teams have these games in real life where everything just goes horribly wrong, but not 6-7 times a season. And the worst thing is, you know as soon as you have one match like this, the next 2 or 3 will follow a familiar pattern no matter what you do with tactics, team selection, morale and match preparation. It's silly.
I am currently in the process of doing a world tour, going round each country at random and winning a trophy in each one and then moving on to the next one, and I love the ability to do this thanks to the Add/Remove Leagues feature, but if it wasn't for that, I certainly would have gone back to FM10/11 by now.
Prior to the patch, I played a couple of different saves. In my first one, to get used to the game, I managed Arsenal and won nearly all of my matches and topped the league after 15 or so matches. Then I went for a more challenging game, starting unemployed and taking a job mid-season at Droylsden. I was able to save them from promotion in my first half season, win the play-offs to get promoted to Blue Square Premier in the second season and then stabilise them as an upper mid-table side. I then moved to a Portuguese Second League side, Lagoa, and after three seasons, I got them promoted to the Second Division, and after another three seasons, I got them promoted again to the Premier Division in Portugal, where I finished mid-table in my first season.
Now the point I'm making is that these are all over-achievements, but not totally unrealistic, it was a lot of fun and I thought the game was well-balanced in terms of difficulty. Now though, it just feels like the game is ******** you over. Invariably, I will start a season with a team in my Journeyman career, have a great first half of the season, overachieve, morale will be great, then out of nowhere, boom, inexplicable 6 match losing streak for no apparent reason. Again, this is something that happens in real life, but what gets me is the lack of explanation. It's not morale, they've all got very good or at least okay morale, I make sure of that and I've spent a lot of time learning how to man manage my squad since the new patch made morale management more realistic and something you actually have to spend time on. It can't be my tactics, I rotate them and my squad so there's no way they can be accused of being too predictable, and all of my tactics have delivered good results in the past, with current and past teams. It can't be my players, they all have attributes and current ability that are comparable to, and usually better than my opposition, and have been on great form all season, yet they suddenly start missing open goals, putting the ball through their own net, giving away penalties, getting sent off frequently, and again, I'm no newbie to this series, I understand how everything works tactically, eg. playing easy tackling or standing off opponents/staying on feet does little to reduce the amount of cards I pick up, I just don't get it, it feels like every season I go into I know I'm going to have to build up a 20 point gap over where I want to finish because at some point the team will implode for no reason and write off a quarter of the campaign, because no matter what I do, I know my players will go through a phase where the defenders act like cavemen and my strikers think the opposition goalkeeper/the fans behind the goal are their new team-mates, no matter what I try.
Anyway, I'll stop there, thanks if you actually bothered to read all of that, that's my massive list of frustrations with this game/the new patch.
Out of all the players, why him?