Wondering if anyone is having this same experience...

[Felley]

So I got FM 2014 whilst in was in beta and after starting saves with a few teams, had several difficulties which I put down to it not being the full release, so fair do's. The only success I had was using a bizarre formation in the Belgian lower leagues which was cool, but ultimately never got me anywhere.

The full release comes along and i'm naturally pretty pumped, so I start several new saves over the course of the next couple of weeks, immersing myself in the new game and looking forward to the usual highs and lows. Still nothing exciting. Inconsistency, incredibly poor performances, just general dire football. I lose interest and stop playing the game for around 6-7 weeks.

Start again. This time I go through the basics, thinking it's got to be something i'm overlooking as it's happening with every team I manage. The game doesn't seem TOO different from FM 2013 apart from the obvious overhaul of the tactics, so I trundle through step by step, real meticulous, making sure everything is the best I can do. From the training, to the tactic(s), morale, staff, scouting, even finances. Anything and everything that will make the club better...

Still can't get into any of my saves. It's like i'm constantly fighting for my job with the fans complaining and the team generally underperforming. Fair enough when you're managing a relegation candidate, but when it's a title favourite, clearly something is going wrong. I've had successful saves in the last 4 FM games, really feeling like i'd cracked it when balancing all the many problems they throw at you, so i'm sure it's possible for me to turn things around.

I really don't want to blame the game, I know it must be something i'm overlooking/not paying enough attention to.

So my questions are:

Have you had the same problems when trying to get into the game?
Are there any areas you feel are weighted differently in FM 2014? (Tactics, Morale, Opposition Instructions etc.)
Did you have a Eureka moment where everything seemingly fell into place?

Thanks in advance

 

[Dynamo_ZahnZee]

Are there any areas you feel are weighted differently in FM 2014? (Tactics, Morale, Opposition Instructions etc.)

MORAL!!!!!!! Oh sweet god is it important! I've overlooked it so many times but you'll notice, if your teams moral is low, they will play like absolute ****. But if it's high, the team will seem like it has the luck of the Gods on their side (which to be fair, is just like real life)

May very close attention to man management and try to keep everyone as happy as they can be.



Also, instructions. Don't over complicate things and really think about what you're telling the players to do.

Lets take the following and pretend they're grouped: (Roam from positions + retain possession + pass into space + short passing)

If i was a player playing in this system, I'd be horribly confused.

"So i've to roam from my position and aggressive look for spaces to expose the enemy but also position myself to always provide a safe out-pass for my team when they run into trouble to retain possession. You also want me to search for players making runs (pass) into space (even though they are also trying to offer get out-passes and roaming) but make sure that I prioritize the safe short pass . . . . . . "

THink about how your instructions can contradict each other. the more you instruct, the complicated it gets.

Did you have a Eureka moment where everything seemingly fell into place?

Nothing's really "fallen into place" so to say. I'm not amazing at the game but I find that the learning curve evens out when you figure out a system.

 

[Felley]

Cheers for the reply.

I noticed that Morale had become more important in FM 2013, so I assumed it would be pretty similar this time round, which it is. To be honest, I find that one of the easier things to do. It's quite possible to keep a team happy even when they're losing every game as long as you encourage them and blame defeats on the luck of the opposition (bit unrealistic i'd say!).

As for the instructions bit, I guess I may have had some conflicting ones here and there, but I usually keep it simple unless a player is particularly good/bad at something i.e. A slow winger with good crossing asked to dribble less and cross more often.

Maybe my tactics are just atrocious XD

 

[Bobby Baggio]

I find player instructions are important too, it takes time to look at each player and set them with individual player instructions.

 

[celt]

Your problem is that you're expecting one tactic to work constantly throughout the season, it just won't work. For example, if playing away from home you can't expect your team to be as dominant as at home. Play to your teams strengths and the results will come.

 

[unbreakable212]

I feel playing away from a home is a bit ridiculous this version. Man City away to cardiff and cardiff are favourites? C'mon... It feels like playing away from home your players drop 5 in all stats. Haven't had a Eureka moment but had a game with Newcastle where I set up a counter tactic for away games, ended up using it non-stop and it worked oddly well, rarely had more possession or shots than the opposition but I was getting alot of 1-0 and 2-0 wins, worked especially well against Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd. City still demolished me though.

 

[Felley]

Your problem is that you're expecting one tactic to work constantly throughout the season, it just won't work. For example, if playing away from home you can't expect your team to be as dominant as at home. Play to your teams strengths and the results will come.

I'll be honest, until FM13 I did just get one tactic and stick with it for decades, but there seemed to be a sea change last year that made me think twice and start preparing more tactics and thinking of more than one way I could use my teams strengths.

I will admit that I am not very good at understanding the 'cause and effect' logic of football strategy, it doesn't seem to come natural to me, so I tend to just alter things in manageable chunks. After playing a little more with another new save, i'm starting to think it is this approach that is causing my frustrations. Think i've got into a certain pattern of playing the game from FM10, 11 and 12 (all very similar IMO) and I need to alter it to adjust to the new versions.

 

[Felley]

Haven't had a Eureka moment but had a game with Newcastle where I set up a counter tactic for away games, ended up using it non-stop and it worked oddly well, rarely had more possession or shots than the opposition but I was getting alot of 1-0 and 2-0 wins, worked especially well against Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd. City still demolished me though.

Yeah, that's totally what I mean by a Eureka moment! Sometimes you can spend hours pouring over information and coming to a careful, considered decision, but get obliterated. Other times you can set your team up and hope for the best against superior opposition and it just works. So you end up rethinking your whole strategy!

 

[Dihenzo]

Its not that different from FM13. What you need to understand about such a games is it heavily relies on the MATCH ENGINE. That will determine what type of players to buy, formation it suits best & tactics. If you go about doing your own thing you will get punished. Its not about how you want to play the game but more about how the game demands you to play it. The game tends to favor certain formations/tactics over other because of the poor match engine. As a result your limited to exploring other tactics. This started in FM 13.

FM 13-14 are very restrictive tactically despite you having a lot to choose from. Personally, once i hit the sweet spot i never change formations/shape/tactics. If you fight the match engine or go against it then that will result in trouble. Your problems are not related to your man management skills but rather how you adapt to the match engine. FM 10-12 were far better in this aspect. They felt more like you could do well with any formation/shape/tactics as long as you had the right players for the job. I would take a chance & explore other formations than stick to one. My advice, learn the match engine & that should eliminate most of your trouble