Getting FM'd

Hello all, this is just really a post because I want to see what other people think of the idea of getting FM'd while playing this game. Just so anyone reading this knows I'm not great at this game at all and while I do know that a lot of the issues I experience are due to me not being very good at this game I can't help but sometimes think I've been FM'd, but I'm never really sure if its just a certain tactical oversight on my behalf or if the game has just conspired against me. What I kinda want to know is how many people believe in such a thing as being FM'd, what examples of it would be versus examples of someone just being bad at the game and how often you think you could be FM'd, if you think it even happens at all. Also if anyone had any relatively easy pointers on how to get better at this game I would really appreciate it. To say I play this a lot I'm pretty terrible at in game management and tactic creation, training and scouting and transfers I'm ok at but actually playing the game, not so much.

To me being FM'd is having loads of SOG's & the oppo scoring from one/two. I recall a Reddit screenshot a while back where one player had 50+ shots to zero, he lost 1-0 to an own goal. That's being FM'd.

Tactics wise there are many great tactics posted here. If you want to go down the route of loading a pre-designed tactic then I'd recommend looking at Knap's tactic table & pick for your chosen formation/situation.

If you are interested in delving in to tactics yourself then there are many an expert here with their own insights who can assist.

Thanks for responding mate. I kinda agree with your view of being FM'd, I just also include things like brilliant players making ridiculous defensive errors. One I saw was where Ramsdale just threw the ball into his own net because Mepham was vaguely by the goal. It didn't happen to me but if it did I'd say I was Fm'd.

I do try a lot of the tactics on here but I cannot really ever get them going. I have an Everton save where I'm expected to challenge for the title by my board but 8 games in its pretty clear that won't be happening. I'm sixth, 11 points behind the team top already. I was using a Knap Beowulf tactic but it isn't working too great at the min, particularly away. I don't really enjoy the tactic creation aspect of the game, I much prefer the financial/transfers aspect, buying players for cheap and selling them on for huge profits in the future. Tactic creation just isn't my thing but I kinda struggle trying to find a tactic that works well for me at the level my club is at but hopefully I saw it soon.

Knap's tactics usually work as designed very very well. I think I remember Beowulf 4-4-2 being one of the earlier ones I looked at for ideas.

You mention you are struggling away from home as Everton. I'd say this is definitely because with Beowulf you are expected to be the favorite. You probably need a more reserved Knap tactic with Everton as your reputation & quality of squad is such that you actually aren't the favorite in certain situations.

The 'better' teams than you, let's call them the big six for arguments sake, are all attacking you from the outset & giving you more problems with their quality than you are giving them. So you are tactically set up to be very attacking but you don't have the quality to actually attack effectively enough & their attack is giving you more problems.

If you want to continue with the downloaded tactic avenue then picking a more reserved Knap tactic would be my advice. When you attain better quality players in the future & improve your team you can then be more consistently attacking tactically.

I had one where their keeper kicked it against MY striker, and he scored. Sat there pissing myself for a good few minutes, as that sort of thing just never happens for me, usually against.
My brother sent me a vid the orher day, he is Palace after just getting promoted from the Championship, roughly 8-10 seasons in.
He doesn't download tactics and had developed some quite good ones
Any way he was playing liverpool, 0-0 til 91.5 minutes, when his keeper passed to his LB, who squared it to the CB who just passed it into an open net.
This is the kind of thing that just makes my head explode, that is FM,'d at the most ridiculous level. Also the CB was under v little pressure at time

Dunno if this will work

https://linksharing.samsungcloud.com/R9cLx7jPfXhN

Sorry link doesn't work

2020-07-10 08:00#275951 Si49 : Knap's tactics usually work as designed very very well. I think I remember Beowulf 4-4-2 being one of the earlier ones I looked at for ideas.

You mention you are struggling away from home as Everton. I'd say this is definitely because with Beowulf you are expected to be the favorite. You probably need a more reserved Knap tactic with Everton as your reputation & quality of squad is such that you actually aren't the favorite in certain situations.

The 'better' teams than you, let's call them the big six for arguments sake, are all attacking you from the outset & giving you more problems with their quality than you are giving them. So you are tactically set up to be very attacking but you don't have the quality to actually attack effectively enough & their attack is giving you more problems.

If you want to continue with the downloaded tactic avenue then picking a more reserved Knap tactic would be my advice. When you attain better quality players in the future & improve your team you can then be more consistently attacking tactically.

Thank's for the help again mate. I've currently switched up from a 4222 to a 442 to try and be a bit more stable defensively and not leave as much space on the wings for opponents. Obviously it will need tweaking a little bit but here goes nothing I guess. I think the problem for me on my Everton save is that I do have good enough players now. I have Milenkovic and Ongeune at the back, Silva and Jorge up front, Moro and Matheus Henrique in the middle. I do have a good first 11 with good squad depth as well. I've qualified for Europe every season Europa twice and Champions league four times. I've even won both 1 time each. I think the problem I have is finding a tactic that can bridge the gap between a team that just wants to challenge for European places and being a team that really competes for the title. I've only done it once in my 6 seasons, losing on goal difference, but the past 2 seasons I've come 5th and 3rd, miles away from winning the league both times. My board now expect me to challenge for the title, its my objective, and I know I have a team and squad that is good enough to win or at least challenge but I'm not quite sure how to improve my tactics to be able to do this.

2020-07-10 12:48#275972 lfcfan1892ph : Thank's for the help again mate. I've currently switched up from a 4222 to a 442 to try and be a bit more stable defensively and not leave as much space on the wings for opponents. Obviously it will need tweaking a little bit but here goes nothing I guess. I think the problem for me on my Everton save is that I do have good enough players now. I have Milenkovic and Ongeune at the back, Silva and Jorge up front, Moro and Matheus Henrique in the middle. I do have a good first 11 with good squad depth as well. I've qualified for Europe every season Europa twice and Champions league four times. I've even won both 1 time each. I think the problem I have is finding a tactic that can bridge the gap between a team that just wants to challenge for European places and being a team that really competes for the title. I've only done it once in my 6 seasons, losing on goal difference, but the past 2 seasons I've come 5th and 3rd, miles away from winning the league both times. My board now expect me to challenge for the title, its my objective, and I know I have a team and squad that is good enough to win or at least challenge but I'm not quite sure how to improve my tactics to be able to do this.

You sound on the very cusp of knowing exactly what you are doing here & it's great to see you are altering your tactic to try to adjust to the situation. You also want to improve as well which I have a huge amount of time for.

Drop me a PM if you like & we can look at your tactic(s) to see if we can work together on this.

2020-07-10 10:07#275954 dmcgrath82 : I had one where their keeper kicked it against MY striker, and he scored. Sat there pissing myself for a good few minutes, as that sort of thing just never happens for me, usually against.
My brother sent me a vid the orher day, he is Palace after just getting promoted from the Championship, roughly 8-10 seasons in.
He doesn't download tactics and had developed some quite good ones
Any way he was playing liverpool, 0-0 til 91.5 minutes, when his keeper passed to his LB, who squared it to the CB who just passed it into an open net.
This is the kind of thing that just makes my head explode, that is FM,'d at the most ridiculous level. Also the CB was under v little pressure at time

Yeah this was kinda the exact thing I was talking about. Seems to happen far much more to the ai then it does to me in game but it it incredibly frustrating when it does happen. Is there anything else you'd consider being FM'd or are these freak instances the only thing you'd really say?

2020-07-10 13:22#275974 lfcfan1892ph :

2020-07-10 10:07#275954 dmcgrath82 : I had one where their keeper kicked it against MY striker, and he scored. Sat there pissing myself for a good few minutes, as that sort of thing just never happens for me, usually against.
My brother sent me a vid the orher day, he is Palace after just getting promoted from the Championship, roughly 8-10 seasons in.
He doesn't download tactics and had developed some quite good ones
Any way he was playing liverpool, 0-0 til 91.5 minutes, when his keeper passed to his LB, who squared it to the CB who just passed it into an open net.
This is the kind of thing that just makes my head explode, that is FM,'d at the most ridiculous level. Also the CB was under v little pressure at time

Yeah this was kinda the exact thing I was talking about. Seems to happen far much more to the ai then it does to me in game but it it incredibly frustrating when it does happen. Is there anything else you'd consider being FM'd or are these freak instances the only thing you'd really say?

I went 20 games unbeaten as Gothenburg, looking good to set record for most points in league (own tactics for this) only to lose 5 of last 8 to mainly shit teams and only win cis other lost and I drew on last day of the season.
The season I used Bad company went on a 23 game winning streak after beating Norkopping but I wasn't was trailing them by a point. Only for them to match me win for win for the rest of the season.
I would've got record points but obvs they did.
My brother had had this a few times in Norway where the top team just matches you (he used his own tactic) and gets more points than they ever have in league before

2020-07-10 13:35#275975 dmcgrath82 :

2020-07-10 13:22#275974 lfcfan1892ph :

2020-07-10 10:07#275954 dmcgrath82 : I had one where their keeper kicked it against MY striker, and he scored. Sat there pissing myself for a good few minutes, as that sort of thing just never happens for me, usually against.
My brother sent me a vid the orher day, he is Palace after just getting promoted from the Championship, roughly 8-10 seasons in.
He doesn't download tactics and had developed some quite good ones
Any way he was playing liverpool, 0-0 til 91.5 minutes, when his keeper passed to his LB, who squared it to the CB who just passed it into an open net.
This is the kind of thing that just makes my head explode, that is FM,'d at the most ridiculous level. Also the CB was under v little pressure at time

Yeah this was kinda the exact thing I was talking about. Seems to happen far much more to the ai then it does to me in game but it it incredibly frustrating when it does happen. Is there anything else you'd consider being FM'd or are these freak instances the only thing you'd really say?

I went 20 games unbeaten as Gothenburg, looking good to set record for most points in league (own tactics for this) only to lose 5 of last 8 to mainly shit teams and only win cis other lost and I drew on last day of the season.
The season I used Bad company went on a 23 game winning streak after beating Norkopping but I wasn't was trailing them by a point. Only for them to match me win for win for the rest of the season.
I would've got record points but obvs they did.
My brother had had this a few times in Norway where the top team just matches you (he used his own tactic) and gets more points than they ever have in league before

I'm pretty sure I've used the bad company tactic before and I think it might have been in the season I won the Champions League with my Everton save. If I remember correctly, which I might not because it was a few weeks ago now, it was very good at home against big teams and decent away against them and the sub-top teams (Leicester, Wolves, West Ham, etc.) but struggled to break down other teams that were lower down the league. You've been really unlucky there mate, pretty much any other season you'd have probably walked it. Always wonder when a team collapses at the season whether or not it is because of a flaw in a tactic or because of players not having the best mental attributes to deal with a high pressure title race. Could quite possibly be either, or both. Who knows? I've had similar were by team has fell off quite significantly for the last few games but never when I've been in a title race before but I guess it'll probably happen to me at some point.

In terms of ‘getting FMd’, I think the ‘Concentration’ and ‘Decisions’ attributes have become more important than ever with this FM. I would tend to only sign players who are competent in both and while I wouldn’t notice too many late or silly errors, I would regularly play against opposition who have defenders with not so high scores in each area.

That’s not me saying I don’t believe that there is some sort of scripting (I truly don’t know if there is or not), but I think that these kind of ‘supporting’ attributes can be overlooked when building a team.

If I were to offer advice to people who find themselves conceding silly goals at times - are the goals coming from individual errors or tactical errors? If they’re individual errors - are they typically avoidable ones, such as a defender getting dispossessed or a loose pass? Sometimes it might not be worth signing somebody with a Virgil van Dijk physical presence or a Giorgio Chiellini technical ability in the tackle if they have the concentration of a modern day David Luiz.

If the game is top trumps then the team with the most ca or attributes would always win.
In order to generate a cup loss to a lesser side there must be a mechanism to allow the lesser team to overcome the odds.

2020-07-10 16:05#275989 Justice : In terms of ‘getting FMd’, I think the ‘Concentration’ and ‘Decisions’ attributes have become more important than ever with this FM. I would tend to only sign players who are competent in both and while I wouldn’t notice too many late or silly errors, I would regularly play against opposition who have defenders with not so high scores in each area.

That’s not me saying I don’t believe that there is some sort of scripting (I truly don’t know if there is or not), but I think that these kind of ‘supporting’ attributes can be overlooked when building a team.

If I were to offer advice to people who find themselves conceding silly goals at times - are the goals coming from individual errors or tactical errors? If they’re individual errors - are they typically avoidable ones, such as a defender getting dispossessed or a loose pass? Sometimes it might not be worth signing somebody with a Virgil van Dijk physical presence or a Giorgio Chiellini technical ability in the tackle if they have the concentration of a modern day David Luiz.

Yeah I think your spot on there to be fair. I remember when i was challenging to win the league I played Brentford away (who were already relegated) and lost 1-0 in a game where the only 2 highlights were there last minute winner and a corner I had that was barely a key highlight. I then beat the next 2 teams easily, which didn't actually matter, but at that point I was no longer top and it was unlikely I could win the league.

I'm not too sure if I believe in scripting either really. Sometimes things happen that I can't explain via attributes of a play versus a tactical style or something like that but I guess it could be something that is coded into the game to happen every 'x' amount of games that will kinda happen regardless of what happens. Basically a form of scripting, but not necessarily denied to screw you in particular game but instead to be obstacle in a random game.

I'll definitely take the stats of concentration and decisions into more consideration when I'm making a signing from now on. I tend not to sign players anyway if they have some sort of glaringly obvious fault in there game such as really low stat but I'll try to be more careful from now on.

My defenders all seem to have pretty decent stats across the board, including mental's so I don't really have to worry about having any sort of David Luiz esque defender ruin things for me by making bizarre errors at the back