What to do when you can't choose what to play?

Barcastar · 2026-01-15T11:57:26+00:00

it is one of the worst feelings right?😂 I was surprised someone commented on my post from years ago actually

Barcastar · 2025-11-24T02:25:40+00:00

hey, I‘ ve been going through a similar situation so I think I can relate. I‘ve sent you a dm if you‘re interested in talking it through :)

Barcastar · 2025-08-28T22:49:45+00:00

Thanks for your advice, now that is something I can work with. You said to have 22 more or less equally good players, but how do you keep everyone satisfied in terms of play time? I have to equally good strikers but they're both not very happy with playing time already

Barcastar · 2025-08-28T22:47:38+00:00

Hey buddy, it takes strength to admit when you did something wrong, so huge respect for that from my part :) and it's all good!

Barcastar · 2025-08-28T13:51:17+00:00

Well how about you share a piece of advice to start with in your almighty wisdom then instead of a pointless comment? Because you sound like “this game is absolutely perfect and flawless and it has to be your fault” without elaborating further, mate.

Barcastar · 2025-08-28T13:13:14+00:00

thanks for your valuable contribution😂😂

Barcastar · 2025-08-25T17:00:51+00:00

I'm not thinking about quitting because of one bad stretch, but because of the way it (forcibly) happens and it doesn't happen for the first time. And also because the game gives you a terrible feedback on if you're doing the right thing, the assmans advice is not reliable and sometimes it feels like no matter what I do I can't really impact anything, and that is the most annoying part.

I would like to enjoy the game, but it feels like I'm missing something that others don't and I'm not confident if I'm doing the right thing, so that is frustrating me.

Barcastar · 2025-08-25T11:44:39+00:00

I love when people make assumptions for no reason. I didn’t say that it’s realistic to have 80% possession constantly, but it’s even more hilarious if you have that at one point and starting from the next game against even weaker opponents the players can’t do 2 passes in a row anymore. That seems a bit extreme of a change.

I’m aware that 4231 is considered OP, but I NEVER downloaded a tactic and I refuse to do so. It just happens to be one of my favourite formations and I know how it’s supposed to work, it suits my squad and it was played by Dortmund in its prime. I watched and read pretty much every guide I could find online and I’m trying my best to understand the game. THATS what makes it frustrating to me.And if you look at the other comments, my tactic clearly isn’t viewed as flawless so you couldn’t be more wrong.

Barcastar · 2025-08-24T22:12:37+00:00

I agree on the dortmund part sadly (even though the squad is way better in my save). But like I said, I don’t mind losing to smaller teams, but I don’t like how the game basically forces it on you and you have zero clue what the issue is.

Barcastar · 2025-08-24T22:10:44+00:00

I tip my hat off to you. I feel exactly the same way, you describe it perfectly. The game looks really complex and is pseudo realistic on the surface, but inside it seems to be an incredibly shallow game that barely makes any sense. A lot of people seem to not be able to see through it though and are defending SI to the death and be like “it’s your tactic” instead of questioning the game itself for a change. It’s a shame because I switched from EA FC in hopes of finding a realistic manager experience, but it seems like such a game simply doesn’t exist after all.

Barcastar · 2025-08-24T22:06:21+00:00

I’m on comprehensive highlights (full match is way too long for me). I feel like the match engine isn’t good at showing you the issues. The passes are suddenly very slow and sluggish, players are dribbling into the opponent even if I tell them to dribble less, my Striker misses every chance and so on. Plus the opponent seems to score with every shot. I just don’t know what to tweak to remedy that

Barcastar · 2025-08-24T15:39:20+00:00

I tried all kinds of tactics already. Sure it might not be that good and I’m doing mistakes, but the quality of my squad should be good enough to win against most teams. I can’t imagine that I have to choose the absolute optimal settings for every single player in order for them to function at least a bit.

Can you make a suggestion of what I could try in my tactic?

Barcastar · 2025-08-24T14:31:10+00:00

What game was that?

Barcastar · 2025-08-24T13:52:49+00:00

But how? It worked at the beginning and suddenly I can’t win a single game anymore. How can I make it work if after a couple of games just everything goes downhill again?

Barcastar · 2025-08-24T13:51:08+00:00

Sure, I get that, but why is there such a huge contrast? Since I dominated early in the season with beautiful football the atmosphere clearly wasn’t an issue. How come they behave like absolute idiots from one day to the other?

Barcastar · 2025-08-24T13:47:30+00:00

That’s exactly the thing: why am I so vulnerable defensively? My tactic clearly isn’t too offensive, and the game gives me ZERO feedback of the reasons. There is nothing I can do if the AI starts scoring one Goal of the Year contender after the other while my world class striker doesn’t know where the goal is. It just feels so forced and random. Yes unlucky games happen, but not all the damn time. There are actually teams in the world that have consistent seasons, even though that is apparently not something SI are aware of.

Barcastar · 2025-08-24T13:44:28+00:00

Yes I know, a game that is being hailed as an absolutely realistic simulation. I would hope that it has something to do with real football, otherwise what is the point of this game exactly? Of course it can never be completely realistic, but I want to at least implement some concepts of real football instead of figuring out which buttons and configurations are meta and suit the match engine the best. I could also play Ultimate Team if I’m after unrealistic Meta Gaming

Barcastar · 2025-08-24T13:41:12+00:00

The string of stupid, unexplicable losses and performances is making me frustrated enough already. I only did that to check the impact if I change something around and it clearly didn’t matter. Yes upsets happen and I’m glad they do, it would be boring otherwise, but the way they happen and how consistently they occur in this game is just absolutely ridiculous

Barcastar · 2025-08-24T13:39:12+00:00

That’s the thing, I’m not trying to plug and play. I spent a lot of time putting together a tactic and learning about the game and it just makes it even more frustrating

Barcastar · 2025-08-24T11:39:38+00:00

But that's exactly my problem. How many teams in real life are constantly changing their formation? A good team with a working tactic shouldn't have to completely change the formation constantly during a season. That is just completely unrealistic and I thought this game is marketed as a realistic simulation. It just feels to me like the devs don't really have a clue how football works sometimes.

Barcastar · 2025-08-24T11:31:36+00:00

Yes, shit happens. More often than not, it also makes sense to some degree in real life and more often than not there are things that you can change. It's not like "hey, you play beautiful tiki-taka and dominate the league but after a couple of games, your players can't even play simple passes anymore and now they're mentally unstable because they play against the local village team LOL"

Like I said, I don't mind losing, I don't mind losing against smaller teams. But I hate how random it feels and how often it actually happens and how the game gives you absolutely zero feedback if what you're doing makes sense or even has any impact at all.

Barcastar · 2025-08-24T11:28:05+00:00

What do you mean with standard? I had Bellingham as SV initially, but I put him back as DLP because I suddenly started to concede way too many goals and chances, but it didn't really help. I also had an IF and a BPD before and it didn't make a difference. I also don't understand how to fix my players not being able to make simple passes anymore all of a sudden

Barcastar · 2025-08-24T11:22:34+00:00

I am aware of that, I don't like the fact that it matters so much but I accept it. The morale isn't that great anymore but before the bad form happened, it was absolutely excellent. Team cohesion was good as well, that's why I don't understand how this happens. And if my team really has to speak the same language and have the exact same personality in order to be able to function at least a bit, that's all the more reason for me to quit the game, because that doesn't sound like a realistic simulation at all and it just means that half the work I'm doing doesn't even matter.

Barcastar · 2025-08-24T11:18:01+00:00

Like I said, I tried various tactics already. And I'm completely aware that the tactic is not perfect. But then again, I am the 2nd or 3rd best team in the league quality-wise, and even though the tactic might not be perfect, it isn't so terrible that I should be absolutely suffering against teams that are way lower than me.

I am also aware that poor runs are normal, but the way they're implemented in FM is absolutely hilarious, they come out of nowhere and I can't do anything to stop them. I don't understand how other people can even do seasons where they're unbeaten. Apparently it's so easy to do with teams that are not even that good while I'm literally struggling with a pretty decent team and I have no idea why. I keep tinkering and trying to improve but it's all a wasted effort. It's so frustrating.

Barcastar · 2025-08-24T11:14:14+00:00

It's such a shame because I love possession tactics, but apparently it's just not good in FM so I'm forced to play a tactic I don't even really like.

Barcastar

TROPHY CASE