Make Football Manager Great Again
What to do when you're sick of the game
Make Football Manager Great Again
Since we’re still stuck in the middle of the eternal winter before Football Manager 2025 finally comes out, I figured we might as well look at what everybody else is talking about.
This Reddit thread caught my eye:
It’s not just Zealand, of course. As I’ve mentioned here before, the folks over at FM Arena have done extensive research on the match engine. Among their findings are the following:
There is no tactical “meta game.” Rather, certain tactical switches increase the chances of success until you hit the “ideal” tactic.
Despite Sports Interactive claims, gegenpress tactics were never actually nerfed.
Acceleration and pace are so dominant in the match engine that you can safely ignore all other attributes (except for goalkeepers).
There is an ideal training setup, regardless of what Zealand says. We know that thanks to the long departed Evidence Based Football Manager.
Now, if you know all of these data points, playing the game and succeeding suddenly becomes simple. Download the “correct” tactic, use the EBFM training schedule, and sign only young players with high acceleration and pace totals, and watch as your team quickly establishes a long term dynasty.
It really takes all the fun out of the game. The vast majority of variables make absolutely no difference, and are just window dressing.
Or, as the top comment puts it:
So do we just give up?
I’ll be blunt. I’ve gone through periods of time where I’ve stopped playing. So many things in Football Manager are just chores that make little difference in the long run.
But you’ve got to take a step back and ask yourself why you play. Do you play because you want to win? Or is there something else?
As I’ve said before, Football Manager is chiefly a role playing game. The purpose of the game is to tell a story, not to serve as a realistic sports simulation. If you allow the game to lead you down a certain storyline, you’ll find the experience far more rewarding.
My recommendation is to stop buying players and go for the youth academy challenge. Force yourself to play with less than ideal players, and go with where the storyline takes you. Make the game fun again.
Want to make it even harder? Use a skin that eliminates numerical player ratings. Make it so you only have a vague idea of who is good and who isn’t.
I’ve also got a few suggestions for Sports Interactive, though I know they won’t listen:
Cut out the junk that doesn’t add to the story. In particular, press conferences, the endless news reports, and all the noise in the game detracts from the real fun. I shouldn’t be asked questions about teams in other countries in my press conferences.
Fix the tactical system. There should be a way to defeat gegenpress tactics with a different tactical system. I’d much rather see a real meta game, something like what we have in Magic: The Gathering where every strategy has strengths and weaknesses, than continue to live in a world where one system simply works.
Give me more fog of war. Scouting reports shouldn’t consist of exact numerical attributes. Make scouting reports vague even after players are 100% scouted.
Improve the staff AI. I tend to micromanage everything because I don’t trust my own staff. The more things I have to do myself, the more the game feels like a chore.
Create more storylines. If I go from managing in Kiribati to managing in Ethiopia, I should face a lot of confusion and frustration until I learn the language and get a grasp of the culture. As it stands, managing in one country is exactly the same as managing in another country, which really breaks the immersion.
Hide more attributes. If acceleration and pace are going to be match engine breaking no matter what, hide them. Let me know vaguely that one player looks fast and another player looks quick.
Is there anything you’d add to the list?