Football Manager 2021

[dmayne7]

1 hour ago, knitro said:

Latest update:

 

For reference, with Vardy at 160, here's who's above:

 

 

Potential Ability is a bit weird, but basically works like this. Players under 21-22, they get a value thats something like -8, -9 - these translate into ranges of 150-180 PA, 160-190 PA, and so on. It is designed to account for the variability and unpredictability in how young players may turn out. Players who have set PAs under say 30 years old, this will be their ceiling. Players over 30 or so the PA represents what they once were, versus now. They cannot grow to that level per se. 

There's lots of other things involved including footedness, form, natural athleticism wrt rate of decline, and so on but that's the basics. 

Thanks for posting (might want to hide for those that don't want to know).

 

So that confirms my suspicions that we're really poorly rated, top half team at best. Some of those potentials are criminal as well. Ricardo, Wild and Cags are all set players with huge recognition from the wider footballing community yet there ability makes them no more than good PL players when they'd all get in anybody's team.

[shen]

9 hours ago, dmayne7 said:

Thanks for posting (might want to hide for those that don't want to know).

 

So that confirms my suspicions that we're really poorly rated, top half team at best. Some of those potentials are criminal as well. Ricardo, Wild and Cags are all set players with huge recognition from the wider footballing community yet there ability makes them no more than good PL players when they'd all get in anybody's team.

Have to disagree there. For the most part, our players are rated as good enough for CL. Vardy has beast stats in the right places, so his CA/PA means little.

 

I've always found CA/PA to be overrated by many as well as the AI. So many times you see crap regens with randomly placed stats (i.e. mostly useless) get traded for tons of money. Or players putting up stats of a 'wonderkid' who will not play better than established players with far lower CA but stats placed correctly.

[Finnegan]

Anything over 150 is decent if the attributes are in the right places, particularly if their hidden stats (which don't count to CA) are decent. Vards has excellent scores in determination, aggression, pressure, ambition, professionalism, etc which aren't factored in. 

 

If you've got a squad of 150s, maybe a 160 or two in key positions, with appropriate attribute spread for the roles you want them to perform, with a good tactic than utilises them, you should be winning any of Europe's top five leagues. 

 

Individuals in Leicester's squad definitely are still a bit under rated, Barnes should be better than he is but, like Wookie pointed out, strong weak footedness is insanely overly weighted. But by and large we've got the best squad we've ever had in the game and you should be smashing the league with it. 

 

Vardy is a 40+ league goal a season striker in this year's version. Last two years it was near impossible to score one on one's, this year they go in all the time. Vardy style strikers are the best in the game. You don't need him to be any better than he is and his high natural fitness will keep him at a viable pace for a couple seasons. Not much more than two though. 

[shen]

Started a new save with Legnago in Serie C/B - goodness me that level is terrible! Managed to shift out most of the contracted squad and loan in young players for very little.

Word of advice! Pay attention to playing time/position/role when loaning! The parent clubs WILL constantly harrass you if you deviate from the agreement.

Won the league, but now finding it much more difficult to find suitable loan players for Serie B. My wage budget is only 40k/week, so I'm even trying to limit the number of contracted players and only investing in free signings I know I can sell for profit.

If anyone has any loan recommendations for a 1,5 star rep club in a 2,5 rep league, I'm all ears!! Manually scouring every league and club is immensely time consuming.

 

Highlights so far - 1) Signing Yaya Sanogo during January window first season and being up against Alessio Cerci (!) in the league, both wonderful blasts from the past. 2) Racking up 22 assists from long throws 3) Davide Luppi breaking the most goals scored in a Italian Cup game (5) in my very first game in charge!

[moore_94]

1 hour ago, shen said:

Started a new save with Legnago in Serie C/B - goodness me that level is terrible! Managed to shift out most of the contracted squad and loan in young players for very little.

Word of advice! Pay attention to playing time/position/role when loaning! The parent clubs WILL constantly harrass you if you deviate from the agreement.

Won the league, but now finding it much more difficult to find suitable loan players for Serie B. My wage budget is only 40k/week, so I'm even trying to limit the number of contracted players and only investing in free signings I know I can sell for profit.

If anyone has any loan recommendations for a 1,5 star rep club in a 2,5 rep league, I'm all ears!! Manually scouring every league and club is immensely time consuming.

 

Highlights so far - 1) Signing Yaya Sanogo during January window first season and being up against Alessio Cerci (!) in the league, both wonderful blasts from the past. 2) Racking up 22 assists from long throws 3) Davide Luppi breaking the most goals scored in a Italian Cup game (5) in my very first game in charge!

Do you have a Director of Football? The DOF suggestion system is pretty good for lower levels, usually suggests player you won't have scouted yet and they are usually players that would at least be useful for your squad

 

You can also sort by players you want to buy, loan, end of contract, or free agents, and search for specific positions and roles

[shen]

1 hour ago, moore_94 said:

Do you have a Director of Football? The DOF suggestion system is pretty good for lower levels, usually suggests player you won't have scouted yet and they are usually players that would at least be useful for your squad

 

You can also sort by players you want to buy, loan, end of contract, or free agents, and search for specific positions and roles

I do, and there have been a couple of not hopeless suggestions, but I think the recommendations are tied to the scouting knowledge of the DoF (and scouts?), so in my case, with a measly 30k scouting budget, I literally don't know players in Serie B or A let alone outside of Italy.
I hired some half decent scouts (13/13 and 14/14 JA/JP respectively) who had previous knowledge of other leagues, which has helped getting suggestions for free transfers from Spain e.g.

 

With regards to loans, I need sufficient quality players, which I will only get from Serie A-similar squads. Hence, I find myself going through all squads manually and check the loan listed players that I want to make a bid for. Again, because my scouting hasn't allowed the range beyond Serie C, I do not get these in my player search filter.

[The People's Hero]

On 25/02/2021 at 14:42, shen said:

Started a new save with Legnago in Serie C/B - goodness me that level is terrible! Managed to shift out most of the contracted squad and loan in young players for very little.

Word of advice! Pay attention to playing time/position/role when loaning! The parent clubs WILL constantly harrass you if you deviate from the agreement.

Won the league, but now finding it much more difficult to find suitable loan players for Serie B. My wage budget is only 40k/week, so I'm even trying to limit the number of contracted players and only investing in free signings I know I can sell for profit.

If anyone has any loan recommendations for a 1,5 star rep club in a 2,5 rep league, I'm all ears!! Manually scouring every league and club is immensely time consuming.

 

Highlights so far - 1) Signing Yaya Sanogo during January window first season and being up against Alessio Cerci (!) in the league, both wonderful blasts from the past. 2) Racking up 22 assists from long throws 3) Davide Luppi breaking the most goals scored in a Italian Cup game (5) in my very first game in charge!

I think 'assists from long throws' is broken. All 3 of my centre backs ended up with over 10 goals and just about all were from long throws to the near post, where the keeper comes and gets himself stuck in no mans land.

 

 

[shen]

4 hours ago, The People's Hero said:

I think 'assists from long throws' is broken. All 3 of my centre backs ended up with over 10 goals and just about all were from long throws to the near post, where the keeper comes and gets himself stuck in no mans land.

 

 

I have no idea of the success rates of short throws that lead to goals, but yeah getting that many from long throws (and the goals look stupid) is broken.

I've also noticed that most free kick goals I concede are the short variant type where the taker does a one two with one player who is ALWAYS free and doesn't get closed down. Easily accounts for at least 4-5 goals conceded per season.

[turlo]

Barnes and Thomas have got a small upgrade in stats from the winter update. Thinking of starting a new save to see if I can get them as the regular left side pairing for England 

[LVFox]

Moved to Feyenoord from Espanyol, and have a striker who is insane. Nestro Groen, who should be in their youth team at start of the game. Has scored at over a goal a game for 6 months, and has just scored 1st half hat-tricks for me in back to back games.

[shen]

On 01/03/2021 at 11:26, LVocey said:

Moved to Feyenoord from Espanyol, and have a striker who is insane. Nestro Groen, who should be in their youth team at start of the game. Has scored at over a goal a game for 6 months, and has just scored 1st half hat-tricks for me in back to back games.

He likes like a dozen-for-a-dime decent youth striker in my game, i.e. 12-14 in poacher-like stats. Not bad, but as mentioned, there are tons of those with limited potential. Can you post how he looks in your game?

Also, a tip related to 'agreed playing time' for loanees - unlike your own players, it's actually pretty easy to lower the agreed playing time! Really comes in handy when they're threatening to become unhappy and their managers are spamming you constantly.

[LVFox]

1 hour ago, shen said:

He likes like a dozen-for-a-dime decent youth striker in my game, i.e. 12-14 in poacher-like stats. Not bad, but as mentioned, there are tons of those with limited potential. Can you post how he looks in your game?

Also, a tip related to 'agreed playing time' for loanees - unlike your own players, it's actually pretty easy to lower the agreed playing time! Really comes in handy when they're threatening to become unhappy and their managers are spamming you constantly.

Absolutely love the guy, granted some attributes could be higher but his pace, off the ball and composure means he just burts through one on one and calmly slots it in. Like a prime Vardy 

 

 

This is around the halfway point of his first season for me. He got 14 in 28 appearances the year before.

 

[shen]

10 minutes ago, LVocey said:

Absolutely love the guy, granted some attributes could be higher but his pace, off the ball and composure means he just burts through one on one and calmly slots it in. Like a prime Vardy 

 

 

This is around the halfway point of his first season for me. He got 14 in 28 appearances the year before.

 

I wonder if he has random potential - he looks pretty great for that level!

[shen]

My Legnago team of loanees (not kidding, only 2 of the first XI and 5 of the match day squad are contracted to the club) is absolutely tearing it in Serie B with easily the lowest wage budget. Projected to finish second to last, I'm sitting in first place at the turn of the year 9 points ahead of second and I frankly don't understand how, especially because I cannot seem to beat the struggling teams who sit back.

 

Just had my biggest win yet with a smash and grab in the first knockout round of the cup away to Roma - I experimented on the opposition instructions and somehow restricted them to one highlight. That result has probably saved me from finishing the season in massive debt.

Here's hoping I don't suffer a spate of injuries like last season and pull off the miracle promotion!
 

[shen]

3 hours ago, shen said:

Just had my biggest win yet with a smash and grab in the first knockout round of the cup away to Roma - I experimented on the opposition instructions and somehow restricted them to one highlight. That result has probably saved me from finishing the season in massive debt.

Nearly knocked out Serie A champions Napoli away in the following round with almost a carbon copy game, scoring in the 87th minute. Hearts were broken when Van Ginkel equalised from a corner in the 93rd minute. Ran out of steam in ET but what an effort!

[Zear0]

Now on PC and Xbox Game Pass

[dmayne7]

8 hours ago, Zear0 said:

Now on PC and Xbox Game Pass

Tested it on Xbox and doesn't handle great. Shame as I had the switch version a while back and it feels very intuitive. Also disappointing that the Xbox version isn't full fat especially with the new consoles.

 

Still, PC version on Game Pass come at just the right time. Goodbye life

[Far Post Gerry]

I've got an issue with this game. I'll set the scene; Exeter City are my team and Nicky Ajose is my boy - my Number 9. He scored 18 goals in Div 2 (got us promoted), 18 in Div 1 (promoted again), and 17 in the Championship (play offs, semi defeat on pens). But still, my backroom team tells me that he's shit, and I should get rid. And he's still got 1.5 stars!

 

Surely his rating should rise, based on his performances. It pisses me off - this guy is pretty much my Vardy! He's an Exeter legend. But my backroom team constantly tells me to sell him, or replace him. Annoying.

[Des.]

Just finished my first season with Leicester, went pretty well including a lot of the individual performances. Champions League Qualification and a League Cup win.





    

Edited 7 March 2021 by Des.

[shen]

21 hours ago, Far Post Gerry said:

I've got an issue with this game. I'll set the scene; Exeter City are my team and Nicky Ajose is my boy - my Number 9. He scored 18 goals in Div 2 (got us promoted), 18 in Div 1 (promoted again), and 17 in the Championship (play offs, semi defeat on pens). But still, my backroom team tells me that he's shit, and I should get rid. And he's still got 1.5 stars!

 

Surely his rating should rise, based on his performances. It pisses me off - this guy is pretty much my Vardy! He's an Exeter legend. But my backroom team constantly tells me to sell him, or replace him. Annoying.

Star ratings can fluctuate a little due to performances, but not a great deal. The fact you're getting some good numbers out of him doesn't make him, in FM terms, a better player.
Then there's also the backroom staff's ability to judge player ability (the actual stat) which means their judgement may be way off.

Finally, as I understand it, the star ratings are a relative value which takes into account the quality of the squad, the league reputation/quality and some other things.

[dmayne7]

2 hours ago, Des. said:

Just finished my first season with Leicester, went pretty well including a lot of the individual performances. Champions League Qualification and a League Cup win.





    

This has kind of put me off playing. Not because of your success (well done btw; good effort for a first season) but Ricardo with 20 goals and the fact that apart from a couple of players, your reserves have barely played at all. What system were you going playing that meant you never needed to make any subs?! And could play the same players for 50+ games. Must have had literally 0 injuries all year. Madness.

[Des.]

13 hours ago, dmayne7 said:

This has kind of put me off playing. Not because of your success (well done btw; good effort for a first season) but Ricardo with 20 goals and the fact that apart from a couple of players, your reserves have barely played at all. What system were you going playing that meant you never needed to make any subs?! And could play the same players for 50+ games. Must have had literally 0 injuries all year. Madness.

It was very odd I must admit, I did not have any real injury problems at all as you say, maybe I hit a glitch or just got lucky.

 

I played Ricardo at RW as neither Perez or Under performed that well, he was immense and bagged goals most games. I was using a formation someone created on an FM forum I am part of and it worked a treat.

 

I did make subs throughout matches so I can only think the best eleven screenshot provided only shows games players started not including substitutions, I definitely played some of the players from the bench more than it states above.

 

I think there are some things that need to be tweaked in game but we'll see how my 2nd season goes, if the injuries thing plays out the same way then I know there may be a glitch with my save 

Edited 8 March 2021 by Des.

[dmayne7]

1 hour ago, Des. said:

It was very odd I must admit, I did not have any real injury problems at all as you say, maybe I hit a glitch or just got lucky.

 

I played Ricardo at RW as neither Perez or Under performed that well, he was immense and bagged goals most games. I was using a formation someone created on an FM forum I am part of and it worked a treat.

 

I did make subs throughout matches so I can only think the best eleven screenshot provided only shows games players started not including substitutions, I definitely played some of the players from the bench more than it states above.

 

I think there are some things that need to be tweaked in game but we'll see how my 2nd season goes, if the injuries thing plays out the same way then I know there may be a glitch with my save 

Sorry, wasn't demeaning what you did there as I'm sure it'll pan out better than my first season, especially as I like to overhaul the squad and basically plan for endless profit .

 

Maybe you just got a bit lucky with injuries and that's a refreshing change for FM where it seems to have bugs relaying to far too many injuries at the start of every version.

 

Good luck with your second season 

[dmayne7]

General question; have they changed have the match preview training session works in this one? Had a couple of games now and neither time have I had the option to handle the briefing like in previous years? Wondering whether it's a bug or my staff responsibilities are handling it?

[Far Post Gerry]

On 07/03/2021 at 22:34, shen said:

Star ratings can fluctuate a little due to performances, but not a great deal. The fact you're getting some good numbers out of him doesn't make him, in FM terms, a better player.
Then there's also the backroom staff's ability to judge player ability (the actual stat) which means their judgement may be way off.

Finally, as I understand it, the star ratings are a relative value which takes into account the quality of the squad, the league reputation/quality and some other things.

Fair enough, and thanks for the feedback. It just seems weird and glitchy to me. This guy is one of the top scorers in the Championship, but the game says he's only good enough for the Vanarama. He's been my top scorer for three seasons straight, but I'm repeatedly told to get rid. You want the game to be realistic, but this just isn't.

 

As an aside, my Assistant Manager is Rob Kelly, so maybe I shouldn't be too surprised by the poor advice!