Football Manager 2021

james93safc

Midfield
Release date is November 24th with early access to those who preorder through supporting retailers (as always). Coming to PC and Xbox for the first time in years. No PlayStation due to Sony’s lack of interest. BETA is estimated to go live 2 weeks prior to street date.

new features include agent interactions, body language of players during chats, and tweaks to press conferences.

couldn’t see a thread on the new game, so thought I’d start one.
 
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Release date is November 24th with early access to those who preorder through supporting retailers (as always). Coming to PC and Xbox for the first time in years. No PlayStation due to Sony’s lack of interest. BETA is estimated to go live 2 weeks prior to street date.

new features include agent interactions, body language of players during chats, and tweaks to press conferences.

couldn’t see a thread on the new game, so thought I’d start one.

These types of games are always better with a keyboard and mouse like.
 
Really disappointed that SI have again gone down the trivial crap route of improvements. Who really cares about using the right body language when talking to the players? This is a football game not a bloody psychological drama. Wish they’d put half as much effort into the match engine, transfers, fee inflation, CPU negotiations and other things that are integral to the game as they do with trivial crap.
 
Really disappointed that SI have again gone down the trivial crap route of improvements. Who really cares about using the right body language when talking to the players? This is a football game not a bloody psychological drama. Wish they’d put half as much effort into the match engine, transfers, fee inflation, CPU negotiations and other things that are integral to the game as they do with trivial crap.
I’d like to see realistic free agent/transfers also. I’d be rich if I had £1 for every time I’ve offered a player a contract, then they’ve signed for someone else for 1/10 of the wage they were requesting.
 
Couldn't really care less about these type of improvements. It'll take 2 weeks before you know exactly which option to select to improve body language.

I'd rather the focus is on the match engine and allowing a bit more tactical innovation so all other formations don't automatically fail against Gegenpress and 3 at the back.
 
Im looking forward to it like I do every year. 2 weeks into it Ill get pissed off about losing 0-1 at home despite having 32 shots :lol:
 

It looks better from this. Personally I love the XG feature and the stats being presented better. The recruitment features look interesting too.

Still all sounds a bit gimmicky and doesn’t really address the real issues with the game that are the match engine and the transfer negotiations. Really cba with being a psychologist and thinking whether I should shake my head at a media question tbh, and it doesn’t change the game. They need to fix the negotiations part, particularly around selling players and not just getting spammed daily with the same offer for a player that you’ve rejected 50 times already.

xG could be interesting, especially for tactical analysis to see what impact your changes have, but that’s about all I’m happy to see in there tbh. If Si spent half as long on the match engine as they did on press conferences, it’d be the best game in the world
 
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Still all sounds a bit gimmicky and doesn’t really address the real issues with the game that are the match engine and the transfer negotiations. Really cba with being a psychologist and thinking whether I should shake my head at a media question tbh, and it doesn’t change the game. They need to fix the negotiations part, particularly around selling players and not just getting spammed daily with the same offer for a player that you’ve rejected 50 times already.

xG could be interesting, especially for tactical analysis to see what impact your changes have, but that’s about all I’m happy to see in there tbh. If Si spent half as long on the match engine as they did on press conferences, it’d be the best game in the world

I think most of that are just fixes though, it's not something they will advertise as a new feature. I would expect an improvement on that regardless. I'm not too bothered about press conferences myself, never have been, but I don't have a problem with an expansion in these areas, body language is just a change from tone really.
 
I’m always really enjoying a save on the current game and the new one comes out, I then get that and take 6 months to find a good challenge, start doing really well and the new one comes out 😫 I really need to nail my ideal new game from the start so I can get about 10 seasons done at one club .
 
I’m always really enjoying a save on the current game and the new one comes out, I then get that and take 6 months to find a good challenge, start doing really well and the new one comes out 😫 I really need to nail my ideal new game from the start so I can get about 10 seasons done at one club .

Im the same, always start with Sunderland but im always on the look out for a decent save. This year Ive found it with weeks before the new one comes out. I started with Sevilla the other day and im half way through season 1, currently sitting 3rd, miles behind Barca and Madrid. Predicted to finish 4th and battling it out with Atletico Madrid and Valencia for 3rd. Really enjoying it but I have struggled to get any striker to be prolific on this version
 
Watched a bit of a longer video on the gestures last night and it made it look like you will lose out by sending your assistant to press conferences etc. which is a little frustrating as that's a part of the game that I just don't enjoy.

Good to see that Covid won't make too much of a mess though. Looks like they've opted to make the finances realistic but allow clubs to have attendances from the start.

I haven't really played FM for a couple of months now, so I'm eager for the new one. I think I have 3 saves lined up that I want to do this year:

1) Ferencvaros. Perfect starter save imo. The league is winnable from season 1 which should allow me to get a feel for the changes to the game and tactics. There's also an upside to being able to try a few young talents and compere in Europe.

2) Milan. I don't often pick a big club to manage, but I like the idea of this one. Milan are 10 years without a title and 8 years without qualifying for the Champions League. This save will have a final season with Zlatan leading the line, and then leading Milan out of the San Siro and into a new stadium with a squad to build around Donnarumma and Tonali.

3) Altinordu. An unknown Turkish 2nd division side who are only allowed to play Turkish players. Their most famous youth products are Soyonclu and Under (both at Leicester). Its the Bilbao save without the facilities.
 
Watched a bit of a longer video on the gestures last night and it made it look like you will lose out by sending your assistant to press conferences etc. which is a little frustrating as that's a part of the game that I just don't enjoy.

Good to see that Covid won't make too much of a mess though. Looks like they've opted to make the finances realistic but allow clubs to have attendances from the start.

I haven't really played FM for a couple of months now, so I'm eager for the new one. I think I have 3 saves lined up that I want to do this year:

1) Ferencvaros. Perfect starter save imo. The league is winnable from season 1 which should allow me to get a feel for the changes to the game and tactics. There's also an upside to being able to try a few young talents and compere in Europe.

2) Milan. I don't often pick a big club to manage, but I like the idea of this one. Milan are 10 years without a title and 8 years without qualifying for the Champions League. This save will have a final season with Zlatan leading the line, and then leading Milan out of the San Siro and into a new stadium with a squad to build around Donnarumma and Tonali.

3) Altinordu. An unknown Turkish 2nd division side who are only allowed to play Turkish players. Their most famous youth products are Soyonclu and Under (both at Leicester). Its the Bilbao save without the facilities.
Haven't had FM for while but fancy a network game maybe?
 
Buy it every year and spend countless hours but don't think I'll buy this one. The match engine last year was awful - strikers unable to score 1-on-1s, wingers shooting from ridiculous angles, gegenpress overpowered and opposition going ultra attack when losing even if they're 5-0 down in the last minute. I know development was hampered by Covid but looks like minimal changes.
 
Don't think I'll be getting it either.

Feels like this year is just out for the sake of calling it a new game when it's not. Just like saying Consoles are getting FM cos they're not, because it's the Touch version which the Switch has had for a few years now.
 
Buy it every year and spend countless hours but don't think I'll buy this one. The match engine last year was awful - strikers unable to score 1-on-1s, wingers shooting from ridiculous angles, gegenpress overpowered and opposition going ultra attack when losing even if they're 5-0 down in the last minute. I know development was hampered by Covid but looks like minimal changes.

ah fuck, I bought it thinking it might be an upgrade from fm20 too. The match engine was appalling on that. Last game I tried some lower league management and even with a gaming laptop it was taking a good five mins to process results on a full Saturday matchday. If this is shit I might call it a day as I really didn't enjoy 20 and don't think I played more than a couple of seasons on it
 
Buy it every year and spend countless hours but don't think I'll buy this one. The match engine last year was awful - strikers unable to score 1-on-1s, wingers shooting from ridiculous angles, gegenpress overpowered and opposition going ultra attack when losing even if they're 5-0 down in the last minute. I know development was hampered by Covid but looks like minimal changes.

The gegenpress thing was my issue with the last game, it got to the point where it wasn't really worth trying anything else because it would always be more effective to use gegenpress - I like doing a journeyman save and working my way through the leagues but when you're basically cutting and pasting the same tactics from one club to the next it stops being fun. FM20 was a low for me in terms of enjoyment but I've still pre-ordered this one, there's always been editions which have been better or worse but it's still the only PC game I play with any regularity.
 

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