Football Manager 2021

Medway Blue · Nov 14, 2020

Anybody played the BETA yet? Liking the improvements. GUI is slick, loading and processing times a bit faster, and enjoying the new interaction system.

SUFC seem to be about spot on. Players individually don't seem to be far behind many in the division in ability alone but morale/mentality at the club seems to have been modelled well. I've started 2 separate new games and holidayed to the end of the first season in both - and in both cases SUFC were relegated to the Vanarama National.

manor15 · Nov 14, 2020

Bexley Blue said:
Anybody played the BETA yet? Liking the improvements. GUI is slick, loading and processing times a bit faster, and enjoying the new interaction system.

SUFC seem to be about spot on. Players individually don't seem to be far behind many in the division in ability alone but morale/mentality at the club seems to have been modelled well. I've started 2 separate new games and holidayed to the end of the first season in both - and in both cases SUFC were relegated to the Vanarama National.

I had a go, only in December 2020 so far but got us into the play-offs as things stand. Oxley’s just picked up an injury though and will be out for 2 months and with the embargo it won’t be easy to bring anyone in so with Seaden in goal I expect that form could drop off slightly.

The transfer embargo makes life pretty difficult given the size of the squad and how injury prone some of the players are. Extended a couple of contracts on big reductions in wages for the likes of Demetriou and McCormack so should have some budget available in January.

Would agree that the players are pretty fairly related, no shortage of decent players in the squad but very little depth.

Medway Blue · Nov 27, 2020

Now playing the full game. Best version in years.

Tyga · Nov 28, 2020

Played the beta and now the full game. Definitely a lot faster processing than FM20 so far. Started with 2 leagues for first season the added another 4 for the second to see how it impacted speed. So far so good.

Managed to get Southend promoted as champions in the first season despite the threadbare, injury-prone squad and transfer embargo through to the new year. After embargo was lifted didn't have any money to buy players or much room in the wage budget so got a new loan (Timmy Abraham from Fulham) in to cover the lack of options up front.

Second season in League 1 just started after a pre-season where I was able to make significant changes to the squad for the first time. Signed Sterling and Olayinka on permanent deals and got Abraham and Kyle Taylor back in on loan for the season. Got rid of a number of old, injury-prone high earners and that freed up some wage budget to get a decent-ish squad together. Still expected to finish in the bottom four but they said that last season too! First game was a 3-0 win over Coventry.

I haven't really come across any major issues with the game so far.

FarmdogSUFC · Dec 7, 2020

Tyga said:
Played the beta and now the full game. Definitely a lot faster processing than FM20 so far. Started with 2 leagues for first season the added another 4 for the second to see how it impacted speed. So far so good.

Managed to get Southend promoted as champions in the first season despite the threadbare, injury-prone squad and transfer embargo through to the new year. After embargo was lifted didn't have any money to buy players or much room in the wage budget so got a new loan (Timmy Abraham from Fulham) in to cover the lack of options up front.

Second season in League 1 just started after a pre-season where I was able to make significant changes to the squad for the first time. Signed Sterling and Olayinka on permanent deals and got Abraham and Kyle Taylor back in on loan for the season. Got rid of a number of old, injury-prone high earners and that freed up some wage budget to get a decent-ish squad together. Still expected to finish in the bottom four but they said that last season too! First game was a 3-0 win over Coventry.

I haven't really come across any major issues with the game so far.

How the **** have you managed that?! I got relegated! :ROFL:

Medway Blue · Dec 7, 2020

FarmdogSUFC said:
How the **** have you managed that?! I got relegated!

I've holidayed the game for a season and let them get relegated by themselves. Gonna take over towards the end of 2020/21, do a complete rebuild and try to get us back up out of the Vanarama National at the first time of asking.

I've also used the editor to put the Fossett's Farm move back in as it appears likely to happen now. I was the one who deleted the stadium move from the game when I was the SUFC Data Researcher back in 2010 when it was dragging on ?

Tyga · Dec 8, 2020

FarmdogSUFC said:
How the **** have you managed that?! I got relegated!

Not sure, maybe the tactic I'm using. In FM20 the gegenpress tactic seemed to be universally successful but it was rumoured this was "fixed" in FM21. My main tactic is gegenpress and it seems to work.

As of now I'm 6 games out from the end of the second season and am 3 games clear on top of League 1 and a win away from securing promotion.

I still have quite a few players left from the original squad due to limitations with budget (wage and transfer). A lot will be released at the end of the season to free up some wages as I'll need to improve the squad for the Championship (assuming I don't lose the last 6 games straight!).

I'll be keeping Elvis, Hobson, Ralph, Sterling and Olayinka of the original squad.

hlane17 · Apr 5, 2021

Decided to take the helm at SUFC to see if I could have a crack.

Nearly in 2021 now and here are the results so far.

My preferred team is as follows:

Playing RHF through the middle as a pressing forward really seems to do the trick, hence the decent goal return. If I had a forward with better composure, they would easily be in double figures with the supply coming from my wingers and Olayinka.

Tyga · Apr 9, 2021

I recently got back into my game after a long break. Managed to get Southend into the Premier League with consecutive promotions.

The gap between the finances I have available and the other PL clubs is enormous so it is going to be a tough season. Currently in 7th after 8 matches but I have a feeling we will fall away from now onwards. Hoping to avoid the drop.

hlane17 · Apr 9, 2021

Tyga said:
I recently got back into my game after a long break. Managed to get Southend into the Premier League with consecutive promotions.

The gap between the finances I have available and the other PL clubs is enormous so it is going to be a tough season. Currently in 7th after 8 matches but I have a feeling we will fall away from now onwards. Hoping to avoid the drop.

The real question is... did the new stadium materialise?

Tyga · Apr 9, 2021

hlane17 said:
The real question is... did the new stadium materialise?

Haha, no.

When promoted to the PL capacity at RH was increased by 500 odd seats and under soil heating installed to meet PL requirements.

hlane17 · Apr 9, 2021

Tyga said:
Haha, no.

When promoted to the PL capacity at RH was increased by 500 odd seats and under soil heating installed to meet PL requirements.

Football Manager's realism is uncanny.

Supershrimper · Apr 15, 2021

I see when

hlane17 said:
Decided to take the helm at SUFC to see if I could have a crack.

Nearly in 2021 now and here are the results so far.

View attachment 15079

My preferred team is as follows:
View attachment 15080

Playing RHF through the middle as a pressing forward really seems to do the trick, hence the decent goal return. If I had a forward with better composure, they would easily be in double figures with the supply coming from my wingers and Olayinka.

View attachment 15081

I see we went out of the Carabao Cup and the FA cup both in the 1st round.

Must be a default setting for game developers to knock us out as soon as we get into a cup like our usual form predicts

hlane17 · Apr 15, 2021

Supershrimper said:
I see when

I see we went out of the Carabao Cup and the FA cup both in the 1st round.

Must be a default setting for game developers to knock us out as soon as we get into a cup like our usual form predicts

Wouldn't be Southend if we didn't crash out of the cups! Must say both games were unlucky and they missed some sitters. Now where have we seen that before....

RobM · Apr 15, 2021

Bexley Blue said:
SUFC seem to be about spot on. Players individually don't seem to be far behind many in the division in ability alone but morale/mentality at the club seems to have been modelled well. I've started 2 separate new games and holidayed to the end of the first season in both - and in both cases SUFC were relegated to the Vanarama National.

Somewhat prophetic!

Tyga · May 1, 2021

Another dose of realism from FM.

Just requested the stadium be expanded as we are getting sell outs every game in the PL. The board agreed but, at the end of the season, cancelled the expansion telling me they are going to build a new stadium instead. I was told this was in the planning stages and could take "some time". I get the feeling I'll be nearly 100 years old in game before the stadium is built if the real world is any guide.

ItsMichaelBlack · May 16, 2021

Apparently playing as southend united in fm2021 is one of the biggest challenges. The board expect
You to get promoted with the crap squad you got and also transfer embargo until jan makes it impossible to pretty much get promoted. Would love to see the way they guy on here managed to stay in a job after first season let alone get
Promoted at first attempt.

Tyga · May 17, 2021

ItsMichaelBlack said:
Apparently playing as southend united in fm2021 is one of the biggest challenges. The board expect
You to get promoted with the crap squad you got and also transfer embargo until jan makes it impossible to pretty much get promoted. Would love to see the way they guy on here managed to stay in a job after first season let alone get
Promoted at first attempt.

I'm guessing "they guy on here" is referring to me. :Winking2:

I am not sure I can answer the question any more than I already have. I started the game before the last update by the looks of hlane17's screenshots so not sure if the job is more difficult after that update or not. I honestly cannot remember what the board expectations were as my expectation was to get smashed every game.

For some reason my tactics worked as I had no money to sign anyone other than a loan signing in January as per my earlier post. The team morale picked up quickly after a good start and that probably helped a lot. I found defensive tactics rarely worked and ditched them early on after trying them in away games.

I also took some time to get some corner routines in place (something I rarely bothered with in the past) and it helped a lot.

ItsMichaelBlack · May 17, 2021

Tyga said:
I'm guessing "they guy on here" is referring to me.

I am not sure I can answer the question any more than I already have. I started the game before the last update by the looks of hlane17's screenshots so not sure if the job is more difficult after that update or not. I honestly cannot remember what the board expectations were as my expectation was to get smashed every game.

For some reason my tactics worked as I had no money to sign anyone other than a loan signing in January as per my earlier post. The team morale picked up quickly after a good start and that probably helped a lot. I found defensive tactics rarely worked and ditched them early on after trying them in away games.

I also took some time to get some corner routines in place (something I rarely bothered with in the past) and it helped a lot.

Can you upload your save ? Would love to have alook tbh and get some tips. Did you get free loans eventually ? But yeh what you did would be classed as very impressive in the fm circles . Let me find the link to reddit and I can show you the discussion on it. There’s a few actually but it’s classed as a very hard challenge to stay in the job in that first season.

hlane17 · May 17, 2021

Tyga said:
For some reason my tactics worked as I had no money to sign anyone other than a loan signing in January as per my earlier post. The team morale picked up quickly after a good start and that probably helped a lot. I found defensive tactics rarely worked and ditched them early on after trying them in away games.

I also took some time to get some corner routines in place (something I rarely bothered with in the past) and it helped a lot.

@ItsMichaelBlack the aspects in bold are the most important parts I have found. Starting well meant the team got a great bounce and just kept getting results.
Playing on the front foot took advantage of the better attackers (ANG, Olayinka particularly incisive) and I had them on instructions to dribble and carry the ball, before laying off to people who followed them in attack.

Corner routines with Cordner, White, or Hobson in position to get their heads on it = goals