I just recently made the switch to the newer version, not wanting to leave my 11 season career behind in FM09. Boy was I crazy to wait.
Having just recently switched a lot of the difference are still fresh in my mind and I want to share why I love the newer version.
Heading: Heading is no longer mindless pinball. Defenders in 09 just used to head the ball in the opposite direction they were facing, resulting in the 2 defences heading the ball to each other 3-4 times. A defender can actually head the ball to an open midfielder now.
Crossing: Crossing actually tends to be find its target and lead to goals now. I was tired of my wingers crossing the ball over the entire defence only for the winger on the other side to pick it up and do the same. If they actually put in a good cross, it was 95% going to be cleared by the centre back and that's if you have guys like Amauri. Smaller strikers didn't have a chance in the air.
Roles: I absolutely love the player roles. I used to wonder how to deal with guys like Del Piero, who had incredible technical and mental stats, but as a striker being short and on the slow side meant their threat was much lower. Now you can actually use them as a Trequastista or Deep Lying forward. Also extends the life of a player, since once their physical stats started dropping players used to become useless in the 09 match engine. Another good thing is that now more competitive teams can be built for less money. For example I can now get a player for 1/10th the price of Gerrard who can perform the same role at about 80% of what Gerrard can. Being a very well rounded player makes him much more versatile and dangerous, but I can now build a team of specialist players that performs very well for very little money.
Breakaways: Having gotten used to the 09 match engine, I used to only look for strikers with good pace/acceleration, finishing, first touch, dribbling, off-the-ball, anticipation and composure. With the right midfielder and through ball settings a striker like that could get 4-5 breakaways a game and usually would score 30-40 goals a season for me. It honestly made target strikers or any technical playmaking forwards almost obsolete for me. Not to mention that the defenders would always be a step behind and be consistenly beaten to the ball by a speed demon. In FM10 i have noticed that (just like in real football) breakaways are a rarity (defenders actually anticipate the runs pretty well). Scoring break aways is also much more common now - no longer will my striker miss 5 clear one on ones in a row.
Tackling: Defenders and Midfielders can actually win posession with a tackle now. How surprising? It used to be a defenders would tackle a forward and do nothing more than stop his run for 2 seconds. Or tackle 2-3 times in a row and fail to win posession (talking about non-diving tackles). The way posessions used to be won is intercepted passes or tackling a player, until another teammates runs over to pick up the loose ball. A defender can actually win the ball back all by himself now, how incredible?
Target Men: Tall strikers can torment a defence, provided they have good support from the flanks. How is it then that in FM09, my strikers (Amauri, Trezeguet) used to score almost no headers despite having guys like Camoranesi and Giovinco on the wings. A good tall defender with good strenght and heading + jumping would win against them 99% of the time. Tall strikers I have noticed are really much more of a weapon now, especially on the back post. They can now actually head down the ball to their partners instead of just flicking it on to the opposition's goalkeeper in the rare instance that they do win a header.
Free Kicks: Dangerous free kicks used to be consitently spurred, despite having guys like Del Piero and Giovinco take free kicks for me. Giovinco I could understand, based on his rating in the game, but Del Piero? I think he scored something like 4 free kicks for me, before he retired. I have noticed now that having a good free kick taker could be a match winner.
Adjusting Tactics: With a few clicks of the mouse I can now change my teams, tactics and mentality completely, which used to take minutes going through all the sliders. I am very heavily involved in match day tweaking, playing mismatches, individual instructions, etc. So conceding a goal, scoring a goal, substitution, match - time, opponent chaning tactics, used to give me headaches. I made as many pre-set tactics as I could, such as (chasing a game, holding on to a lead, counter-attacking a slow-team, etc) but those could never be complete, so it used to take me 20-30 minutes to get through a match with all the slider tweaking. Now its a few simple clicks and shouts.
The new engine is much more polished. The animations are smoother and the physics of the game are better portrayed. It is a much better simulation of real football I believe. Those are some of my pet peeve experiences that have been fixed. They may have only been a by-product of my specific patch/league/teams and playing strategy only, but I highly doubt that.
I am glad those issues have been fixed
Have guys noticed some of the same frustrations? Let me know.
Having just recently switched a lot of the difference are still fresh in my mind and I want to share why I love the newer version.
Heading: Heading is no longer mindless pinball. Defenders in 09 just used to head the ball in the opposite direction they were facing, resulting in the 2 defences heading the ball to each other 3-4 times. A defender can actually head the ball to an open midfielder now.
Crossing: Crossing actually tends to be find its target and lead to goals now. I was tired of my wingers crossing the ball over the entire defence only for the winger on the other side to pick it up and do the same. If they actually put in a good cross, it was 95% going to be cleared by the centre back and that's if you have guys like Amauri. Smaller strikers didn't have a chance in the air.
Roles: I absolutely love the player roles. I used to wonder how to deal with guys like Del Piero, who had incredible technical and mental stats, but as a striker being short and on the slow side meant their threat was much lower. Now you can actually use them as a Trequastista or Deep Lying forward. Also extends the life of a player, since once their physical stats started dropping players used to become useless in the 09 match engine. Another good thing is that now more competitive teams can be built for less money. For example I can now get a player for 1/10th the price of Gerrard who can perform the same role at about 80% of what Gerrard can. Being a very well rounded player makes him much more versatile and dangerous, but I can now build a team of specialist players that performs very well for very little money.
Breakaways: Having gotten used to the 09 match engine, I used to only look for strikers with good pace/acceleration, finishing, first touch, dribbling, off-the-ball, anticipation and composure. With the right midfielder and through ball settings a striker like that could get 4-5 breakaways a game and usually would score 30-40 goals a season for me. It honestly made target strikers or any technical playmaking forwards almost obsolete for me. Not to mention that the defenders would always be a step behind and be consistenly beaten to the ball by a speed demon. In FM10 i have noticed that (just like in real football) breakaways are a rarity (defenders actually anticipate the runs pretty well). Scoring break aways is also much more common now - no longer will my striker miss 5 clear one on ones in a row.
Tackling: Defenders and Midfielders can actually win posession with a tackle now. How surprising? It used to be a defenders would tackle a forward and do nothing more than stop his run for 2 seconds. Or tackle 2-3 times in a row and fail to win posession (talking about non-diving tackles). The way posessions used to be won is intercepted passes or tackling a player, until another teammates runs over to pick up the loose ball. A defender can actually win the ball back all by himself now, how incredible?
Target Men: Tall strikers can torment a defence, provided they have good support from the flanks. How is it then that in FM09, my strikers (Amauri, Trezeguet) used to score almost no headers despite having guys like Camoranesi and Giovinco on the wings. A good tall defender with good strenght and heading + jumping would win against them 99% of the time. Tall strikers I have noticed are really much more of a weapon now, especially on the back post. They can now actually head down the ball to their partners instead of just flicking it on to the opposition's goalkeeper in the rare instance that they do win a header.
Free Kicks: Dangerous free kicks used to be consitently spurred, despite having guys like Del Piero and Giovinco take free kicks for me. Giovinco I could understand, based on his rating in the game, but Del Piero? I think he scored something like 4 free kicks for me, before he retired. I have noticed now that having a good free kick taker could be a match winner.
Adjusting Tactics: With a few clicks of the mouse I can now change my teams, tactics and mentality completely, which used to take minutes going through all the sliders. I am very heavily involved in match day tweaking, playing mismatches, individual instructions, etc. So conceding a goal, scoring a goal, substitution, match - time, opponent chaning tactics, used to give me headaches. I made as many pre-set tactics as I could, such as (chasing a game, holding on to a lead, counter-attacking a slow-team, etc) but those could never be complete, so it used to take me 20-30 minutes to get through a match with all the slider tweaking. Now its a few simple clicks and shouts.
The new engine is much more polished. The animations are smoother and the physics of the game are better portrayed. It is a much better simulation of real football I believe. Those are some of my pet peeve experiences that have been fixed. They may have only been a by-product of my specific patch/league/teams and playing strategy only, but I highly doubt that.
I am glad those issues have been fixed
Have guys noticed some of the same frustrations? Let me know.