Football Manager 2015 FAQ and Myth Debunking

So everyone remember Football Manager is great and getting better ever year no matter whether customers agree or not. Its all about patting ourselves on the back not about what users think. If you disagree then your an idiot and not as intelligent as us.:p
 
So everyone remember Football Manager is great and getting better ever year no matter whether customers agree or not. Its all about patting ourselves on the back not about what users think. If you disagree then your an idiot and not as intelligent as us.:p

Next time you try to be condescending, at least use 'you're' correctly.

For the record, anyone who thinks that I don't know the flaws and shortcomings of FM needs their ******* head checked, given it's my JOB to report exactly what's wrong with it. I don't speak on these forums as an SI employee (everyone better note this bit :p), however, I speak as myself, a fan of the game, and when people criticise it without justification it ****** me off. Simple fact of the matter is, FM IS great. It's an astounding piece of work. A massively complex and wide reaching game with a tight schedule produced year in year by a small team, and it's quality is such that it's shown off the company that birthed it as well as EA's millions. It's a spectacular game, and it IS getting better year in year. What the customers think they think need not apply, because the FM fan base has shown itself time and time again to be bitchy, impatient and above all else wildly uninformed.

I'll disregard the fact that there's an entire dedicated thread based around moaning and say: 'Go ahead.' Try me. Disagree. What's wrong with this game that hasn't come out yet?

EDIT: YEAH THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT BIYATCH WALK AWAY
 
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Next time you try to be condescending, at least use 'you're' correctly.

[...] and it's quality is such that [...]

Come on, you can do better than that. Also, just because something is complex, wide reaching or produced on a tight schedule, doesn't mean it's good. Although I do agree that FM is in general getting better every year, I do feel that on launch there are still too many bugs and it has caused me at least to just wait until the latest patch around march to buy it.
 
I agree. I mean it's only 3,000,000 lines of code. How hard can it be?
 
Come on, you can do better than that.

More fool me for using my iPad to write that out eh?

Also, just because something is complex, wide reaching or produced on a tight schedule, doesn't mean it's good. Although I do agree that FM is in general getting better every year, I do feel that on launch there are still too many bugs and it has caused me at least to just wait until the latest patch around march to buy it.

Actually, it does mean it's good. If the same product cannot be effectively reproduced by another company that has vastly more resources and employees, then by default it becomes the best product that can be produced at the moment.

Thing is, all the bugs here that people complain about are not 'on launch', because the game hasn't ******* launched yet. I'm fine with you waiting until March to buy it, I think if you're prepared to wait then often your first experience of the game is superior. Doesn't necessarily mean it's the right option for everyone though.
 
Excellent thread,you can already see by the huge amount of ' I lost and this should be fixed by release' that there is going to be another ' fm 15 sucks' shitstorm created soon by people who are not willing to put the effort in.
 
I don't agree with none of these issues or, in other words, I fully agree with Godcubed arguments and frequently I find my self using the same arguments in other forums with other users. This being said and cleared, what I state is that FM lacks basic tools that would improve the game and other implemented tools or interface are out of logic and not friendly of use:

1) FM is worse since sliders were off: some SI forum mod, RTHerringbone, once stated that it was out of logic instructing a player to do 10% of this or 20% of that (considering the total notches 100%). I can (and I do) agree with this as an argument defending the removal of sliders. What the argument misses is that it's also have logic to tell one player, or to able to choose a player, and instruct him to be more disciplined or more expressive. The same way there other TI that we can refine with PI, this one should also be available;

2) Football is more and more about roles: it can be but it has been, it is and it will always be about two concepts: offensive and defensive transition. This means different team shapes including in this shape concept different mentalities, tempo, width, even player roles and duties. As a manager I should be able to set different instruction to my team when he have the ball and when we don't, it's football basics and simple common sense. If SI doesn't understand this, well, simply doesn't understand football.

3) The interface is terrible: well, let's just say it's different from what people was used to and being different means it has better and poorer options. It's understandable that there was a lot of effort for improving the interface that we can all enjoy, but managing the tactical grid, drag and dropping the starting eleven and subs it's not currently the most user friendly option. A scroll bar when searching players that is almost invisible, it's simply terrible.

4) Motivational shouts aren't that important: this is come as some personal satisfaction to me that SI finally, after 20 years, learn that motivational shouts are a must have in the game. Well done ! (let's hope they work properly).

Ending by saying that most problems people use to detract FM are, simply put, tactical problems, the "it's your tactic" argument wins by far. But the game still looses because by allowing to manage in so many different countries, doesn't make a deep approach of the culture of football in those countries and this culture it's a lot different from the UK football culture. No better nor worse, just different.
 
1) FM is worse since sliders were off: some SI forum mod, RTHerringbone, once stated that it was out of logic instructing a player to do 10% of this or 20% of that (considering the total notches 100%). I can (and I do) agree with this as an argument defending the removal of sliders. What the argument misses is that it's also have logic to tell one player, or to able to choose a player, and instruct him to be more disciplined or more expressive. The same way there other TI that we can refine with PI, this one should also be available;

But... you CAN do that.

2) Football is more and more about roles: it can be but it has been, it is and it will always be about two concepts: offensive and defensive transition. This means different team shapes including in this shape concept different mentalities, tempo, width, even player roles and duties. As a manager I should be able to set different instruction to my team when he have the ball and when we don't, it's football basics and simple common sense. If SI doesn't understand this, well, simply doesn't understand football.

Yeah, unfortunately that's a pretty big thing to implement. I wouldn't be surprised if it was added next year, but I believe this year was a bit too soon.

3) The interface is terrible: well, let's just say it's different from what people was used to and being different means it has better and poorer options. It's understandable that there was a lot of effort for improving the interface that we can all enjoy, but managing the tactical grid, drag and dropping the starting eleven and subs it's not currently the most user friendly option. A scroll bar when searching players that is almost invisible, it's simply terrible.

Right clicking will likely be in the full game. As for scroll bars, I've never found them a problem, but fair enough.

4) Motivational shouts aren't that important: this is come as some personal satisfaction to me that SI finally, after 20 years, learn that motivational shouts are a must have in the game. Well done ! (let's hope they work properly).

AFAIK they do.

Ending by saying that most problems people use to detract FM are, simply put, tactical problems, the "it's your tactic" argument wins by far. But the game still looses because by allowing to manage in so many different countries, doesn't make a deep approach of the culture of football in those countries and this culture it's a lot different from the UK football culture. No better nor worse, just different.

Yeah, that's just a product of limited resources unfortunately. If SI was three times as large, the game would be unimaginably deep and amazing, but that's not really feasible for what is still a reasonably niche product, albeit with a cult following.
 
This.Fm.Is.Amazing. Spent full 3 days playing it (72 hours gametime). And this is just a test save. When I get my hands on editor and start creating leagues and rules and stuffs, I can see myself challenging 880 hours I have on my Cs 1.6
 
But... you CAN do that.



Yeah, unfortunately that's a pretty big thing to implement. I wouldn't be surprised if it was added next year, but I believe this year was a bit too soon.



Right clicking will likely be in the full game. As for scroll bars, I've never found them a problem, but fair enough.



AFAIK they do.



Yeah, that's just a product of limited resources unfortunately. If SI was three times as large, the game would be unimaginably deep and amazing, but that's not really feasible for what is still a reasonably niche product, albeit with a cult following.

Can I ? How do I tell a specific player to be more expressive or more disciplined ? I can use a PI for the player to play more narrow or to stretch width, or use a ppm to slowdown but more or less creative freedom it's only available as TI.

Well, let's hope fm15 represents an end cycle and fm16 really bring us things that are missing and can really upgrade the game to a stratospheric level. Close Down options are still missing because the new Hassle Much More is not enough. There are different ways of closing down, zonal, ball, player, mixed and so on and it should already been addressed and implemented (not forgetting that the more options we have, the heavier the game becomes and subsequently I will need a better computer) . Still, instead of betting in 600,000 player database I would bet instead on these options... the game and the niche that we are deserve it.
 
Can I ? How do I tell a specific player to be more expressive or more disciplined ? I can use a PI for the player to play more narrow or to stretch width, or use a ppm to slowdown but more or less creative freedom it's only available as TI.

Possesion - Shoot less, dribble less.
Distribution - Fewer risky passes
Movement - Hold position

Those are all PI you can use to make your player more disciplined. If you cannot select it, that means player is already as disciplined as possible or he's not able to do that. If you want to order your anchor man to get further forward and try to score some goals, that's not longer anchorman role.

Well, let's hope fm15 represents an end cycle and fm16 really bring us things that are missing and can really upgrade the game to a stratospheric level. Close Down options are still missing because the new Hassle Much More is not enough. There are different ways of closing down, zonal, ball, player, mixed and so on and it should already been addressed and implemented (not forgetting that the more options we have, the heavier the game becomes and subsequently I will need a better computer) . Still, instead of betting in 600,000 player database I would bet instead on these options... the game and the niche that we are deserve it.
Close down less + Drop deeper + use tighter marking has the same effect as zonal marking. Just because there isn't specific command to use zonal marking, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
 
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Possesion - Shoot less, dribble less.
Distribution - Fewer risky passes
Movement - Hold position

Those are all PI you can use to make your player more disciplined. If you cannot select it, that means player is already as disciplined as possible or he's not able to do that. If you want to order your anchor man to get further forward and try to score some goals, that's not longer anchorman role.


Close down less + Drop deeper + use tighter marking has the same effect as zonal marking. Just because there isn't specific command to use zonal marking, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Those are instructions that affect passing, positioning and shooting without affecting exclusively CF. If then we could manipulate individual CF independently from those issues, it makes sense to able to continue to do so.

Your are confusing marking with close down, it's two different things. I was referring only to close down and there are distinctive ways of closing down / hassle opponents:
a) you can choose to make a zonal close down, which allows to set where will your team start hassling;
b) you can choose to make a ball close down, which means your team will hassle not the player, but wherever the ball is;
c) mixed close down, which means you would be able to choose a mix of both;
It's common knowledge in football. So, instead of having Hassle Opponents and Hassle Much More TI, we could have something like Hassle Opponents with 3 secondary options: players, ball, mixed (with this one allowing a deep, midfield and high).

The Might Tighter TI is always zonal marking - which means you don't have to activate Close Down Less and / or Drop Deeper - and it only becomes man-to-man marking when a specific player is marked. And, also, according to some SI Forum Mod (that I can't remember the username) Hassle Opponents automatically activates Mark Tighter TI (although it's still available when choosing Hassle TI... and I guess this is a good example why things get confusing).
 
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Those are instructions that affect passing, positioning and shooting without affecting exclusively CF. If then we could manipulate individual CF independently from those issues, it makes sense to able to continue to do so.

Your are confusing marking with close down, it's two different things. I was referring only to close down and there are distinctive ways of closing down / hassle opponents:
a) you can choose to make a zonal close down, which allows to set where will your team start hassling;
b) you can choose to make a ball close down, which means your team will hassle not the player, but wherever the ball is;
c) mixed close down, which means you would be able to choose a mix of both;
It's common knowledge in football. So, instead of having Hassle Opponents and Hassle Much More TI, we could have something like Hassle Opponents with 3 secondary options: players, ball, mixed (with this one allowing a deep, midfield and high).

The Might Tighter TI is always zonal marking - which means you don't have to activate Close Down Less and / or Drop Deeper - and it only becomes man-to-man marking when a specific player is marked. And, also, according to some SI Forum Mod (that I can't remember the username) Hassle Opponents automatically activates Mark Tighter TI (although it's still available when choosing Hassle TI... and I guess this is a good example why things get confusing).

I have no idea what CF is. Can you explain your #1 point again?

I'm not confusing anything. Closing down =/= marking. However with few combinations you can get zonal marking. Zonal marking is type of defending that allows opposition to come at you, at your defense and then you brake it. You cannot zonal mark on the whole pitch, then it becomes man marking.
"b) you can choose to make a ball close down, which means your team will hassle not the player, but wherever the ball is;"

aren't those the same things? I always thought Hassle opps works only on player with the ball. Wouldn't make much sense to hassle player without the ball, at least not for me..
It would be cool to get to chose when and where you want to press and execute zonal marking, maybe they add something like that in future FMs. With tactical evolution in RL football, there should be tactical evolution with FM. Every year they add something new.
Tighter marking isn't always zonal marking. Tighter marking on it's own is closer to man mark then to zonal mark, but it's somewhere in the middle. When you combine it with other TI, you get either zonal or man marking.
 
I have no idea what CF is. Can you explain your #1 point again?

I'm not confusing anything. Closing down =/= marking. However with few combinations you can get zonal marking. Zonal marking is type of defending that allows opposition to come at you, at your defense and then you brake it. You cannot zonal mark on the whole pitch, then it becomes man marking.
"b) you can choose to make a ball close down, which means your team will hassle not the player, but wherever the ball is;"

aren't those the same things? I always thought Hassle opps works only on player with the ball. Wouldn't make much sense to hassle player without the ball, at least not for me..
It would be cool to get to chose when and where you want to press and execute zonal marking, maybe they add something like that in future FMs. With tactical evolution in RL football, there should be tactical evolution with FM. Every year they add something new.
Tighter marking isn't always zonal marking. Tighter marking on it's own is closer to man mark then to zonal mark, but it's somewhere in the middle. When you combine it with other TI, you get either zonal or man marking.

CF: Creative Freedom, currently TI Be More Expresive / More Disciplined (and also depending on fluidity / team shape).

That's what I'm saying: you do not need any combination for zonal marking, TI Mark Tighter is, by default, zonal marking. So, Hassling tells the player to leave their positional range of action and hassle the opponents; Mark Tighter tells the players to mark the opponent tighter when the opponent enters our player positional range of action (which also means it can contribute to a better team defensive shape by not opening so much spaces).

My a), b) and c) points are related to football not FM and they're are options missing in FM. This is, as an example (and there are a bunch of other), distinctive ways of pressing: The Importance of Pressing in Modern Football – Why the English Game Must Keep Up | jamieadams3
 
Forgot to say that TI Mark Tighter being a zonal marking and TI Hassle Opponents automatically activating TI Mark Tighter are not my own ideas but SI Forum Mods ideas... and they know it better, don't they ? :)
 
Forgot to say that TI Mark Tighter being a zonal marking and TI Hassle Opponents automatically activating TI Mark Tighter are not my own ideas but SI Forum Mods ideas... and they know it better, don't they ? :)

yes
 
CF: Creative Freedom, currently TI Be More Expresive / More Disciplined (and also depending on fluidity / team shape).

That's what I'm saying: you do not need any combination for zonal marking, TI Mark Tighter is, by default, zonal marking. So, Hassling tells the player to leave their positional range of action and hassle the opponents; Mark Tighter tells the players to mark the opponent tighter when the opponent enters our player positional range of action (which also means it can contribute to a better team defensive shape by not opening so much spaces).

My a), b) and c) points are related to football not FM and they're are options missing in FM. This is, as an example (and there are a bunch of other), distinctive ways of pressing: The Importance of Pressing in Modern Football – Why the English Game Must Keep Up | jamieadams3
I would agree on CF point, but I would make more PI rather than return the slider. But yea, with new tactical screen we did lose some of the tactical options. Would be nice if they somehow return those.
I disagree with you on that matter. You do need combination of TI for both man and zonal marking. Like I said, zonal marking is type of defending that invites opposition on you, rather than chasing the ball all around the pitch. Tighter marking + hassle + push higher is strict man to man marking. You can get it with lower def line, but if you want kind of pressing Pep had with Barca and now with Bayern, you need to push up and reduce the space between defense and midfield. It's hard to keep shape in that kind of pressing though. Tighter marking instructs players to say closer to their player.
 
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