Football Manager 2016

[Fox92]

Forced to sell Mahrez. Sadly went to West Ham who are obviously in the same division. £20 million.

[filbertway]

I'm trying out the demo. Kinda getting into it, but lordy there's a lot of details you have to sift through. Especially in the lower leagues with part time players getting fatigued and with no depth in the squad; takes an hour to figure out the starting 11 and formation they can play, only to change it completely for the next match.

 

Game could do with some simplifying and easier access to the key info, like star rating.

 

There's a 5  star rating system. One of the first things I do is edit the columns so it displays my AM's opinion of their current and potential ability.

[Stadt]

The star ratings aren't really that helpful, nor are the role suitability indicators. It's all about the attributes

[Dan]

Yeah the star ratings are only any good if your staff have excellent judgement. I always assumed it was something along the lines of it selecting the attributes for said role, seeing how high they are and then throwing in whichever member of staff's judging of ability into the equation and giving you a star rating, even though you can literally sit there and work it out with your own eyes.

 

Or alternatively I'm just talking out of my arse again.

[Donut]

Yeah the star ratings are only any good if your staff have excellent judgement. I always assumed it was something along the lines of it selecting the attributes for said role, seeing how high they are and then throwing in whichever member of staff's judging of ability into the equation and giving you a star rating, even though you can literally sit there and work it out with your own eyes.

 

Or alternatively I'm just talking out of my arse again.

 

I admit, id always felt like this.

 

Also, it seems like an "out of position" player can be highly effective. For example, id got bored of my Man City and Real Madrid saves. The boredom tends to set in when the game goes so far into the future it doesnt resemble real life anymore.

 

Anyway, i took on Arsenal (and an injury list that sees me picking the same matchday squad over and over), but the coaching staff really dont rate Walcott as a striker. Yet in a counter attack system, as a poacher he can be lethal with the 20 acceleration he has.

 

Also, youd assume the stars a player has would roughly translate into the performances he puts in. Not so. Monreal isnt really rated very highly by the staff, yet is a consistent 7.40 performer.

 

One thing that I dont understand, when you get a report card from your staff, they sometimes rate a player higher than any of your current players, AND their future ability even higher, but they will say they have doubts and want to track him.

 

So whats the alogrithm for the stars based on? Ive seen players with very inferior stats get rated very highly, and yet promising players be "doubtful" by the scouts. Does the pros and cons list have anything to do with their overall rating? because it surely cant be just on attributes?

[HowardsBulletHeader]

I admit, id always felt like this.

Also, it seems like an "out of position" player can be highly effective. For example, id got bored of my Man City and Real Madrid saves. The boredom tends to set in when the game goes so far into the future it doesnt resemble real life anymore.

Anyway, i took on Arsenal (and an injury list that sees me picking the same matchday squad over and over), but the coaching staff really dont rate Walcott as a striker. Yet in a counter attack system, as a poacher he can be lethal with the 20 acceleration he has.

Also, youd assume the stars a player has would roughly translate into the performances he puts in. Not so. Monreal isnt really rated very highly by the staff, yet is a consistent 7.40 performer.

One thing that I dont understand, when you get a report card from your staff, they sometimes rate a player higher than any of your current players, AND their future ability even higher, but they will say they have doubts and want to track him.

So whats the alogrithm for the stars based on? Ive seen players with very inferior stats get rated very highly, and yet promising players be "doubtful" by the scouts. Does the pros and cons list have anything to do with their overall rating? because it surely cant be just on attributes?

I don't know whether what I'm about to say covers any of this, but I remember reading an interview with Miles Jacobson about the new FM, he said that "a player can have all the potential to be a superstar and never reach it, just like in reality."

Maybe this is why your scouts have reservations and want to watch further?

[Dan]

Got to say I'm with Donut on this year's FM. Genuinely found this one unenjoyable this time around. I've been shit in the past but at least there's been a playability factor, and a way to turn things around. I'm just completely hopeless at 16.

[Guest]

I never know if i should trust the stats, the AM, or the scouts or any info coming through my inbox. I tend to balance match rating against star rating and condition and hope for the best

 

 

Also, is there a limit on how many trials you can hold? I found a gem of a player and would like to repeat the process but it doesn't give me the option when i talk to the chairman.

[chrishlcfc]

Got to say I'm with Donut on this year's FM. Genuinely found this one unenjoyable this time around. I've been shit in the past but at least there's been a playability factor, and a way to turn things around. I'm just completely hopeless at 16.

You are not the only one. I've found it very un enjoyable because of how hard it is. Dont get me wrong I enjoy a challenge but I have played about 5 or 6 different saves and I am doing terribly in all of them.

[Finnegan]

I was going to write a long post countering each of Donut's points but I kept forgetting and now I can't be arsed.

The short version is: the game doesn't just "decide" anything, it's all down to you.

It may be more challenging this year but that's up to you to get better at squad management.

[AjcW]

I was going to write a long post countering each of Donut's points but I kept forgetting and now I can't be arsed.

The short version is: the game doesn't just "decide" anything, it's all down to you.

It may be more challenging this year but that's up to you to get better at squad management.

This 100%!! 

 

I'm still on my first save this time round, which is just unheard of for me, happily in 2025, Challenged and loving every second.

 

I'd much rather it was difficult than easy.

[RoboFox]

For those of you struggling, try out the Devastator tactic. Seems to be the go-to fan-made tactic this year. 

 

LINK

 

Edit: You want the "Tornado" one.

 

I've switched from alternating my own 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1 tactics to alternating a 4-4-2, and a version of this (especially at home)... It feels a little cheaty, I admit, but you can take it as a template and create your own.

 

There's no out-and-out striker, but for some reason I've found that I'm bagging more goals - especially from my two wide men. It also means that you begin to do what the AI teams do, and score from a LOT of crosses. It doesn't matter that my striker can't play as the false-nine either (he's a poacher naturally), he still scores. 

 

On the whole I probably concede more, especially from counter-attacks, and it's not a win-all tactic but I'm outscoring a lot of teams and my newly-promoted FC United team are sitting just below the playoffs in League 2. And some of my players are quite sh*t.

[Finnegan]

I've stopped using wing backs entirely on this, not overly keen on that Destructor at all. In fact, I'm not very keen on AML and AMR at all in this version.

My main formation this year has two forwards and an AMC as an attacking three with full backs providing all the width.

Full backs with high crossing > any wide midfielder or winger in this version.

Cross from deep, back post, boom.

[Beliall]

4-4-2 and similar are really good this year

[AjcW]

4-4-2 and similar are really good this year

Yep! As long as you stick to it... i've gone through some really bad patches and changed slightly but always gone back to my 4-4-2. Just need pacey wingers and a target man in my opinion.

[Richard]

I admit, id always felt like this.

Also, it seems like an "out of position" player can be highly effective. For example, id got bored of my Man City and Real Madrid saves. The boredom tends to set in when the game goes so far into the future it doesnt resemble real life anymore.

Anyway, i took on Arsenal (and an injury list that sees me picking the same matchday squad over and over), but the coaching staff really dont rate Walcott as a striker. Yet in a counter attack system, as a poacher he can be lethal with the 20 acceleration he has.

Also, youd assume the stars a player has would roughly translate into the performances he puts in. Not so. Monreal isnt really rated very highly by the staff, yet is a consistent 7.40 performer.

One thing that I dont understand, when you get a report card from your staff, they sometimes rate a player higher than any of your current players, AND their future ability even higher, but they will say they have doubts and want to track him.

So whats the alogrithm for the stars based on? Ive seen players with very inferior stats get rated very highly, and yet promising players be "doubtful" by the scouts. Does the pros and cons list have anything to do with their overall rating? because it surely cant be just on attributes?

The scout may say they have some doubts if there's work permit issues, wages, big transfer fee, player not interested etc.

[Donut]

Current progress so far in my new Arsenal save.

 

Had a very slow start, but turning things around nicely.

[DJ Barry Hammond]

Must say having bought 15 and 16 I've ended up going back to 11 after a few day's worth of playing. DOn't feel like I have a hold of what's going on, as is said above. Lacks logic sometimes.

I felt that way on 2015, but I've been playing that recently - and got lucky searching for a 'pressing style' tactic online. The guy explained it was based on the Athletico Madrid system and he'd set it up with about 13 team instructions (play long, exploit flanks, overlap, press, high tempo, get stuck in, high discipline, etc, etc, etc). The mentality was 'counter' and structured discipline.

He also set up multiple opposition instructions - basically closing everyone down, showing the wide players inside. The roles used were also interesting, with the forwards (in a 4-4-2) set to more defensive roles, the wide players designed to move inside, with attacking full backs prepared to overlap - that works quite nicely going forward.

Anyway, I thought it looked too much instruction for my liking, but gave it a go with some successes but not quite hitting it with Leicester City. We stayed up easily enough (Pearson season) and you could see the press working, but we'd also struggle with the ball at times.

So I got brave and started tinkering with the instructions in the following season and decided that rather than press everyone, I'd look for a funnel point - so say, let the centre backs have the ball, but press from the midfield and make little tweaks based on what I'm facing from the opposition and the difference is remarkable and so very satisfying because it seems the little dots are following my exact instructions now.

So whereas I was reluctant before to set too many instructions for my players and tended to hit a lot of the 'expressive and attacking' options because that was the style I wanted, it seems you can use plenty of instruction so long as they make sense to what you're trying to achieve overall.

[Ian W LCFC]

Only got the game about 2 weeks ago, and started a Leicester save. Would love to have waited until it was updated with Amartey and Gray in the team but I didn't have the patience. 

 

First season was very solid and we finished 8th in the league, and getting knocked out in the 5th round of both cups. Albrighton ended up getting the most goals with Vardy closely behind. Unfortunately Riyad was injured for almost half of the season.

 

5 games into my second season and quite happy with the squad, however I stupidly left myself awfully weak in the centre of the park after selling both King and James to get some other lads in. Although my 'front 4' is absolutely class:

Vardy

 

Payet Bojan Mahrez  

 

The Payet signing isn't as unrealistic as you might first think. West Ham got relegated.

 

The only player that hasn't performed for me at all is Inler, I'm playing him as a defensive midfielder/deep lying playmaker but I don't think he's suited very well to that position. Just asked Vichai for some more funds and he's finally gave me some. I've now got 20 million to splash in Jan.

 

Angel Correa is a great loan signing as he can play anywhere behind the striker (AML/AMC/AMR), and Gnabry does a job on either wing too.

 

Unsure if I'm going to be able to do much more business over the next few seasons as most signings I have made involve most of the money to be paid in monthly sums over 24/36 months.

[Guest Mee-9]

All these moaners must be proper shite at the game. 

[Dan]

I don't know if I'm shite or just too expectant. My Plymouth record was 11th in L2, 7th in L2 (won PO), 19th in L1, 11th in L1 but despite spending a lot of money which I raised. It just wound me up how I could never ever be consistent no matter what.

[Salieri]

When's the update?

[Nick the Stats Guy]

Been playing Football Manager since I got it about a month ago.

Started with Melbourne City (over in the A-League), and have three wins from eighteen games. I'm still a chance at making the finals, but am destroying the club's budget (we've lost £2.3M in the eight months since I took over). Sold our goalkeeper, but then had a mad scramble to grab a new one before the deadline. Sold him and got one from New York City FC later on. Made the quarters of the Cup (a 32-team competition).

I'm terrible at this.

[ManWithCheese]

any suggestions to speed up the passing game ?  my players waits 5 min before passing 

[Beliall]

turn up the game speed