It's definitely more fun lower teams, yes.
Gaming Football Manager 2021 (FM21)
- Thread starter FC Ronaldo
- Start date
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
Fair point, yes. I do some things the long way around.
Into my 3rd season now with my Stade Brestois save. Through unbelievable form of Irvin Cardona playing as an inside forward off the left, he managed to somehow fire us into Europe so this is my season in Europe with them, and I think ever for the club.
Feck me though, the schedule is absolutely shite with the world cup in 2022!
Feck me though, the schedule is absolutely shite with the world cup in 2022!
Been at Austria Wien 10 years now and finally I’m a top seed in the CL 
One UCL win. One Europa win. A Euro Super cup and two more UCL semi-final appearances has pushed us right up the rankings and coefficient table.
Were not regularly getting 3 UCL group stage teams now too which is nice. 1 auto spot for the Europa and out other two teams usually get to the Conference league group stage as well.
Austrian players in general still not really at a good standard yet. I have a player out on loan at Sturm Graz who is not that good and he’s been capped 12 times for the NT.
I do think I’m part of the problem though. I’ve found the Belgian amateur levels to be an absolute goldmine for players. For the past few years I’ve been signing anyone I think is okay (sometimes 20-30 players) and letting them play in my reserve team, who play in the Austrian second tier, or farming them out to other Austrian teams. Which I realise is probably stopping the growth of a lot of young Austrian talents so I may keep doing it and just loan them exclusively to teams outside Austria. I have also been pretty much giving players away for nothing a lot of the time in an attempt to enrich the league as I’m pretty well off now. Also a billion in profits from my transfer sales alone.
One think that annoyed me yesterday. I got a scouting report for a guy playing for Feyenoord. A Belgian striker who my scout rated at 100. I got excited because he looked amazing and I needed a striker as we really struggled to score last year so I paid his 85 Million release clause. I had him on a shortlist which is set to keep reports up to date so a few weeks later I get another report which rates him at 84. Go feck yourselves you stupid scouts
this was a 20/20 scout btw who had scouted him to 100% full knowledge for the initial report so what the feck changed in 2-3 weeks
He’s been banging them in though so no big deal I guess.
One UCL win. One Europa win. A Euro Super cup and two more UCL semi-final appearances has pushed us right up the rankings and coefficient table.
Were not regularly getting 3 UCL group stage teams now too which is nice. 1 auto spot for the Europa and out other two teams usually get to the Conference league group stage as well.
Austrian players in general still not really at a good standard yet. I have a player out on loan at Sturm Graz who is not that good and he’s been capped 12 times for the NT.
I do think I’m part of the problem though. I’ve found the Belgian amateur levels to be an absolute goldmine for players. For the past few years I’ve been signing anyone I think is okay (sometimes 20-30 players) and letting them play in my reserve team, who play in the Austrian second tier, or farming them out to other Austrian teams. Which I realise is probably stopping the growth of a lot of young Austrian talents so I may keep doing it and just loan them exclusively to teams outside Austria. I have also been pretty much giving players away for nothing a lot of the time in an attempt to enrich the league as I’m pretty well off now. Also a billion in profits from my transfer sales alone.
One think that annoyed me yesterday. I got a scouting report for a guy playing for Feyenoord. A Belgian striker who my scout rated at 100. I got excited because he looked amazing and I needed a striker as we really struggled to score last year so I paid his 85 Million release clause. I had him on a shortlist which is set to keep reports up to date so a few weeks later I get another report which rates him at 84. Go feck yourselves you stupid scouts
this was a 20/20 scout btw who had scouted him to 100% full knowledge for the initial report so what the feck changed in 2-3 weeks
He’s been banging them in though so no big deal I guess.
The conversation aspect of the game is still fecking atrocious. I have had the same convo with a manager about the player he has on loan with me around 15 times this season and respond the same way each time. It can't be hard to code into the game to stop that from happening ffs.
Yeah, I never bother with stuff like that for the same reason.
Phew, seems like I'm going into my second trophiless season in a row. I'm one point ahead in the league but Liverpool has two games in hand and I think they have won the last 4 games all with at least 5 goals scored while I struggle to beat relegation fodder, feels like it's only a matter of time before the overtake me. Selling Maguire and Telles during the season was as I feared a big mistake, my left FB and my CBs are in need of rest for weeks now and I can't give them any because the race is too close to risk playing my 18 year old CBs instead, but that also increases the chance of defensive feck ups it seems.
In the CL I'm as good as out in the quarter finals again. PSG ripped me a new one beating me 3-1 in the first leg with Mbappé and CR being borderline unstoppable. Mbappé could have had 4 goals tbh and I have serious doubts that we will be able to stop him in the second leg.
FA Cup is pretty much the only chance to win some silverware at this stage. Blimey I don't think I have ever struggled this much on any FM to win something with Manchester United.
Oh yeah and Liverpool are just a massive pain in my arse for me, my absolute boogie team right now. I haven't beaten them in the last 6 games were 4 losses and two draws and I have to play them in the FA-Cup semi final this year.
In the CL I'm as good as out in the quarter finals again. PSG ripped me a new one beating me 3-1 in the first leg with Mbappé and CR being borderline unstoppable. Mbappé could have had 4 goals tbh and I have serious doubts that we will be able to stop him in the second leg.
FA Cup is pretty much the only chance to win some silverware at this stage. Blimey I don't think I have ever struggled this much on any FM to win something with Manchester United.
Oh yeah and Liverpool are just a massive pain in my arse for me, my absolute boogie team right now. I haven't beaten them in the last 6 games were 4 losses and two draws and I have to play them in the FA-Cup semi final this year.
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Dion McGhee has been a cracking signing from the off. Assist machine as an AP in the lower leagues and he's half decent at corners/free-kicks so that helps too. He's reached his ceiling now though. Might be good enough for League 1 but definitely not for the Championship but I don't want to see him leave.
Won the title by 5 points in the end.
My current front four is so good. Was pretty ineficcent last season and I spent some money to bring in Pedro and Mwamba and they have delivered so far.
My long-term plan is to train Lucas to play on the RW which I'm currently doing as he's left-footed and to have Pedro on the left.
Lucas is one of my best ever transfers, got him on a free as he wouldn't sign a new deal at Reims and they listed him for 37.5 with 6 12 months left on his deal and I was praying no one came in for him so I could get him for nothing. He's such a big game player too. Gio Reyna used to be my best player and he got injured for the CL semi0final which I went on to win but I tried Lucas on the LW and he has been outstanding ever since.
Mwamba was the guy I posted about earlier, got him for 85 Million on the very high recommendation from the scouting team and to be fair he's been pretty good so far.
Pedro has been another massive signing. Somehow Benfica only wanted 47.5 Million for him and he's almost the complete package. Quick, tall, strong, can finish, and good pretty much everywhere. I love that 19 bravery. I see him as my LW Ronaldo.
My long-term plan is to train Lucas to play on the RW which I'm currently doing as he's left-footed and to have Pedro on the left.
Lucas is one of my best ever transfers, got him on a free as he wouldn't sign a new deal at Reims and they listed him for 37.5 with 6 12 months left on his deal and I was praying no one came in for him so I could get him for nothing. He's such a big game player too. Gio Reyna used to be my best player and he got injured for the CL semi0final which I went on to win but I tried Lucas on the LW and he has been outstanding ever since.
Mwamba was the guy I posted about earlier, got him for 85 Million on the very high recommendation from the scouting team and to be fair he's been pretty good so far.
Pedro has been another massive signing. Somehow Benfica only wanted 47.5 Million for him and he's almost the complete package. Quick, tall, strong, can finish, and good pretty much everywhere. I love that 19 bravery. I see him as my LW Ronaldo.
Scored a 90th minute winner on the last day to pip Ajax to the title by a point and finally(!) capture a Champions League spot. My reward was a group of Barca, Liverpool and Lyon....... Playing in Holland is so much more fun than England.
In the past 3 seasons I've lost 3 key players to release clauses to clubs in higher divisions. Each of those players has been left to rot in that next clubs reserves.Seems like the counter jinx has actually worked. After my post where the trend looked like it was firmly going against me at this point and pretty much all my players looked exhausted I manged to beat Liverpool in the semis of the FA-Cup for the first time in two seasons and somehow that changed our fortunes around it seemed. I had to play them again in the semi final of the CL which I reached after a very lucky 3-0 home win against PSG. We won 2-1 again at home and then actually managed a 3-1 win at Anfield, which seemed to break them in the league as well winning only one of their remaining last 4 games which meant I secured the title at the 36th game day and ended up winning the league by 11 points with a new league record for points (101). I also ended up winning the FA-Cup final against Aston Villa (2-0) and the CL final against City quite comfortably with (3-0) despite Williams getting sent off after 72 minutes.
Main reason for the sensational season was definitely Haaland scoring 64 goals in total, 38 in the league in only 30 games, 18 goals in the CL including 2 in the final against Manchester City. Completely crazy season from the Norwegen monster, but I'm a bit scared what will happen if he ever picks up a lengthy injury so I'm thinking to actually break the bank and bring in Mbappé to further bolster my attack.
Main reason for the sensational season was definitely Haaland scoring 64 goals in total, 38 in the league in only 30 games, 18 goals in the CL including 2 in the final against Manchester City. Completely crazy season from the Norwegen monster, but I'm a bit scared what will happen if he ever picks up a lengthy injury so I'm thinking to actually break the bank and bring in Mbappé to further bolster my attack.
Just had this guy recommended. What the actual feck 
Do you guys know these games where you lead by two goals, the opposition loses a man to the a red card and then ends winning 3-2.
Yeah happens to the AI as well, just watched the Nationas League final after being up 2-0 and 11 vs. 10. Good to know going one man down isn't just OP against players but also in AI vs AI games.
Wow another twist. England actually scored the 3-3 in th 120+3 minute and won it in the penalty shootout. Now I know the game is bullshit.
Yeah happens to the AI as well, just watched the Nationas League final after being up 2-0 and 11 vs. 10. Good to know going one man down isn't just OP against players but also in AI vs AI games.
Wow another twist. England actually scored the 3-3 in th 120+3 minute and won it in the penalty shootout. Now I know the game is bullshit.
Your tactics are making them look good. The bigger clubs sign them and regret it after the first training session when they see how good they really are. Doesn't stop it being annoting when you lose them though.
I don't think I've ever seen the AI have such a bad transfer window.
I'm not sure, I think that's pretty reasonable. They've made some decent buys.I don't think I've ever seen the AI have such a bad transfer window.
Holy hell. Beat Liverpool 1-0 at Anfield, Barca 1-0 at home, and Lyon 3-1 away. Just need to scrape a point from my last 3 games and I should be through.
As usual, Ahmedhodzic is just the best thing ever.
Picked up Yusuf Demir for a million pounds from Rapid Vienna and he is turning into a monster.
As usual, Ahmedhodzic is just the best thing ever.
Picked up Yusuf Demir for a million pounds from Rapid Vienna and he is turning into a monster.
PSG buys everything. I don't think there is a single player in my team I didn't have PSG make a bid on.I don't think I've ever seen the AI have such a bad transfer window.
So since there were no other sensible transfers to make for me I decided to spend the transfer kitty (370M €) on just two players. Finally got a deal done for de Ligt (116M €) and also got Mbappé (199M €) because City was sniffing around him and I surely couldn't let them buy him. I had to use the rest of the transfer budget to allocate resources to my wage budget to make up for what I'm paying them. Mbappé is on 500k pw and de Ligt on 450k pw, also renewed Haalands contract a couple of days ago and he is now on 400k pw as well so the wage budget is getting quite big right now. Mbappé being at the club will cut heavily into Grealish playing time on the left wing but I don't feel like selling him because he adds some great depths to my midfield options since he can play every position across my midfield, I feel he is a good option to have.
Most likely. I did get one of them back on loan which makes me feel a bit filthy as I’m helping that other club in wages but he’s too good for this level to turn down!
I really don't understand AI buying and selling players. Real bought Martial in 2021 from me for 99M €. He has been their starting striker over the last season and now they sell him for 54M € to City? Why? They haven't even bought a replacement or anything and why are they selling their starting striker for less than market value?
Do promises ever go away?
Got a defender who I signed for Scottish League One, he helped us to promotion but said he wanted to play in a higher division after a year. Promised him I'd sell him when I found a replacement but didn't even try to. The August window came and went, he said he was happy to stay for now, that he understood the situation etc. but the promise was still there. Same thing happened in the January window. We then got promoted to the SPL and he's still here. Just gone through the August window again so 3 windows and he's ok with us not selling him ultimately but the promise is still there.
We are in a higher division ourselves now/a considerably bigger club than when he wanted to leave and I made the promise, just wondering if it can go away? I've seen "unh" (unhappy) tags go away for players wanting to leave plenty of times but not sure about a promise. He's only our 3rd best CB now and I'm not missing much money if he goes for free but this is the last year on his contract and he won't sign a new one because of the promise from about 15 months ago even though he doesn't seem arsed that I'm not keeping it.
Got a defender who I signed for Scottish League One, he helped us to promotion but said he wanted to play in a higher division after a year. Promised him I'd sell him when I found a replacement but didn't even try to. The August window came and went, he said he was happy to stay for now, that he understood the situation etc. but the promise was still there. Same thing happened in the January window. We then got promoted to the SPL and he's still here. Just gone through the August window again so 3 windows and he's ok with us not selling him ultimately but the promise is still there.
We are in a higher division ourselves now/a considerably bigger club than when he wanted to leave and I made the promise, just wondering if it can go away? I've seen "unh" (unhappy) tags go away for players wanting to leave plenty of times but not sure about a promise. He's only our 3rd best CB now and I'm not missing much money if he goes for free but this is the last year on his contract and he won't sign a new one because of the promise from about 15 months ago even though he doesn't seem arsed that I'm not keeping it.
I am always so incredibly tempted by FM games but every single time I put the time and effort into playing them I get really frustrated and rage quit (or cheat). The summaries of game experience so far seem good however I haven't read all comments, just mainly around about the week it was released. Would you say this is worth looking at? If it is full on micro-management then it might just do my head in
I think a lot of us are junkies in here so nearly all would say it's worth it.
As you're not so into micro-management have you ever looked into FM Touch? It's a stripped back version of the game. You can delegate a lot things out to staff members in the full game but Touch might be even better for you. I've never played Touch so can't reccomend from experience, just throwing it out there as an option. You get Touch if you buy the full version anyway or you can just buy Touch on it's own.
Question I've been meaning to ask since starting to play this year's game, which gesture is the equivalent of speaking calmly to the team in team-talks?
Some of them have the equivalent of choosing how you want speak compared to previous games and it tells you what they are. Thrash arms (aggressive), Hands together (cautious) etc.
There's two that I think it could be - No gesture or Hands on hips. Don't really know what hands on hips is supposed to convey.
Some of them have the equivalent of choosing how you want speak compared to previous games and it tells you what they are. Thrash arms (aggressive), Hands together (cautious) etc.
There's two that I think it could be - No gesture or Hands on hips. Don't really know what hands on hips is supposed to convey.
Things taking shape in the SPL, played everyone once now.
Our games against Hibs (L), Rangers (L) and Celtic (W) were all away too so home advantage next time we face them. No way we're going down, surely we can't win it so soon? Europe looking very possible even if only the Conference League, top 5 make it depending on cup winners.
Our games against Hibs (L), Rangers (L) and Celtic (W) were all away too so home advantage next time we face them. No way we're going down, surely we can't win it so soon? Europe looking very possible even if only the Conference League, top 5 make it depending on cup winners.
Holy shit shit shit...
Leg 2 of CL qf against Bayern. Tie the first leg away 2-2. Went down 4-0 in the second leg with 30 minutes to go. Tweaked my tactics to have 2 strikers and threw on my 17 yo wonderkid CB and 31yo Nicolai Jorgenson in those spots. It is now 5-4 with 5 minutes left and they each have a brace. I am scared to hit continue......
Edit: We fecking did it. Unbelievable. This Feyenoord save might be my favorite of all time.
Leg 2 of CL qf against Bayern. Tie the first leg away 2-2. Went down 4-0 in the second leg with 30 minutes to go. Tweaked my tactics to have 2 strikers and threw on my 17 yo wonderkid CB and 31yo Nicolai Jorgenson in those spots. It is now 5-4 with 5 minutes left and they each have a brace. I am scared to hit continue......
Edit: We fecking did it. Unbelievable. This Feyenoord save might be my favorite of all time.
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Nice one! Absolutely crazy comeback.
It's been a flaw of recent FM's this. The AI are known for moving on established first team players far too often. There was a mod for FM20 that raised the skills of all AI managers but it still didn't fix this.
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Look in to the Touch version as advised, definitely.
Basically you broke the promise & can't fulfill it now as there is no higher division. It's a flawed system. The player will be unhappy now no matter what unless you give him significant game time to improve his reputation opinion of you. When I sign players I tried to avoid promises as much as possible. I'd rather pay them or their agent more in signing fees than any promises.
I'm on my 20 save more than 21 at the moment but from what I can recall SI wanted to remove Calm as an option in 21 as it was so spamable. Hands on hips is an aggressive/challenging talk. No gesture would be my main go to as I find the new system flawed. I would only go aggressive/shake fists if looking to provoke a reaction at half time. All these are really is morale modifiers. Especially the post game one.
I think I have to offload McTomminey. Pre-Season meeting goes like this.
Me: Alright well done last season on winning the league, let's do it again this year.
McTom: Are you crazy? That's way too ambitious, how do you expect us to do that. We have no chance with scrubs like Haaland and Mbappé in attack.
Me: -_- Alright, let's move on then. After we won the CL last year I think we should definitely aim to get to the final again.
Team: What? Only the Final, that's way to unambitious we should aim higher.
Me: Alright let's win it then, I like a bit of ambition.
Team: Well we are not sure about that, but okay.
Me: Oo
Me: Alright let's move on then, we won the FA-Cup last time and we should aim to defend it again this year.
McTom: Whaaaaaaaat???? Are you crazy? How in the hell are we supposed to do that? We only have the most expensive squad in the world, there is no way we could even dream of defending the FA-Cup? *breaks down sobbing* We are doomed, doooooooomed.
Me: Erm, yeah, well, that was the overall reaction I was looking for but I totally respect everyones feelings and stuff. *quitely crosses out McTom from the team sheet*
Me: Alright well done last season on winning the league, let's do it again this year.
McTom: Are you crazy? That's way too ambitious, how do you expect us to do that. We have no chance with scrubs like Haaland and Mbappé in attack.
Me: -_- Alright, let's move on then. After we won the CL last year I think we should definitely aim to get to the final again.
Team: What? Only the Final, that's way to unambitious we should aim higher.
Me: Alright let's win it then, I like a bit of ambition.
Team: Well we are not sure about that, but okay.
Me: Oo
Me: Alright let's move on then, we won the FA-Cup last time and we should aim to defend it again this year.
McTom: Whaaaaaaaat???? Are you crazy? How in the hell are we supposed to do that? We only have the most expensive squad in the world, there is no way we could even dream of defending the FA-Cup? *breaks down sobbing* We are doomed, doooooooomed.
Me: Erm, yeah, well, that was the overall reaction I was looking for but I totally respect everyones feelings and stuff. *quitely crosses out McTom from the team sheet*
Oh, good to know if you happen to find something like this for FM21 please let me know.
Great suggestion. Thank you so much. Just purchased for my phone!
Decided to go with Cremonese on the Touch version. This should be fun
Yeah AI transfers are still a problem. Liverpool signed KDB (not sure why City would sell him to Liverpool) and a year later he was on loan to Roma even though he had a good season.
I’ve decided to manage to Uruguay, I think they have that opening and closing type of league system. Always wondered the point of it and how it would come across in Europe
I’ve decided to manage to Uruguay, I think they have that opening and closing type of league system. Always wondered the point of it and how it would come across in Europe
Player interactions were the reason I stopped playing these games. In some of the previous editions morale definitely had an outsized impact on form and it was so easy to break it with the ridiculously stupid interaction system.I think I have to offload McTomminey. Pre-Season meeting goes like this.
Me: Alright well done last season on winning the league, let's do it again this year.
McTom: Are you crazy? That's way too ambitious, how do you expect us to do that. We have no chance with scrubs like Haaland and Mbappé in attack.
Me: -_- Alright, let's move on then. After we won the CL last year I think we should definitely aim to get to the final again.
Team: What? Only the Final, that's way to unambitious we should aim higher.
Me: Alright let's win it then, I like a bit of ambition.
Team: Well we are not sure about that, but okay.
Me: Oo
Me: Alright let's move on then, we won the FA-Cup last time and we should aim to defend it again this year.
McTom: Whaaaaaaaat???? Are you crazy? How in the hell are we supposed to do that? We only have the most expensive squad in the world, there is no way we could even dream of defending the FA-Cup? *breaks down sobbing* We are doomed, doooooooomed.
Me: Erm, yeah, well, that was the overall reaction I was looking for but I totally respect everyones feelings and stuff. *quitely crosses out McTom from the team sheet*
I don't find it to be too complicated. I find just being reasonable and not making promises I don't/can't keep to be the key.
I don't think I've had an interaction go bad on me this year and I've played nearly 600 hours, either do what I want or you get sold. Sooner or later you build up enough respect that they do what you say anyway.