Football Manager 2007: Opinions/Verdict

MrJoeSoap

So far I've been very impressed. The new features fit in quite well, its up-to-date and I haven't encountered any bugs yet.

I have, however, a massive injury crisis on my hands only 10 league games into the season, with EIGHT first-team players on the treatment table already, most for at least 2 weeks.

Anyone else having trouble with injuries? Any other opinions?

PiE

I've only played it for about 10minutes but it feels very much the same. The only new feature I noticed was the Hints & Tips during processing, which is something that really should have been introduced a long time ago.

MrJoeSoap

The new features I've noticed are

1/ Pre-match teamtalks
2/ You can ask your assistant about the impact the team-talks are having
3/ You can interact with players a lot more, ask them to recommend coaches/signings etc... and try and convince them that they have what it takes to be a manager/scout/coach/.
4/ The scouting has been dramatically improved, now your scouts have knowledge of certain parts of the world. You can get a report for each game your loaned-out players have etc...

All little additions, but welcome ones.

Vokes

How well does the Player Interaction module work? Are players' performances in games noticeably different after you motivate them / or complain about them ?

Is there much variety when trying to motivate a player? i.e. is there anything more than "Hey Ronaldinho, you're great!"

Is there much variety in the pre-match teamtalks?

MrJoeSoap

SofaKing wrote:

How well does the Player Interaction module work?

You right-click on a player and go into "Player Interaction" then there are different types of interaction, you can ask them to recommend staff/players, you can praise them or berate them in the press, and occasionally you can give/offer them a week or two off to rest. As well as that you can recommend future roles at the club.

Are players' performances in games noticeably different after you motivate them / or complain about them ?

Well case-in-point, I just had a game vs St. Pats, and only one of my players morale was "Very Poor". At half-time each of my players was getting a 7, so I decided to tell this player I had faith in his ability. He got confused and angry, and ended up getting a 6. After the match has been completed you can ask the Ass Man how players reacted, most of the time there is nothing noticeable but occasionally there'll be a little spark, be it positive or negative. Mostly positive for me so far though.

Is there much variety when trying to motivate a player? i.e. is there anything more than "Hey Ronaldinho, you're great!"

In the team-talks you can choose from about 8-10 different options now, either to relax them or to tell them to do it for the fans etc... In the player interaction screen you have about 6 different options to release to the press regarding recent form:

Delighted/Pleased/Acceptable/Below Par/Disappointed/Deeply Upset

Haven't praised/criticised anyone yet so I don't know how well it works yet.

Is there much variety in the pre-match teamtalks?

There are a few different options yeah, you can say:

"You can win this!"
"Best of luck"
"I expect you to win"
"Do it for the fans"
"Relax and the result will take care of itself"

A few other things I've noticed is that a strikers dry-spell can now be measured in hours by the press, e.g. - "X hasn't scored in 7 hours..." and that after controversial goals the press can ask you for your opinion on it. I just did a Wenger and said I didn't see it.#

You can also pin-point certain opposition players you see as a threat, go in hard on them or mark them closely, and force them onto their left/right/weaker foot.

Keith C

Sounds like the season will last longer with all the differant options availible. As a matter of interest, is Roy Keane a player with celtic or manager of sunderland?

Skud

he'd be retired player if anything?

MrJoeSoap

Sunderland manager, its pretty much perfectly up-to-date. All his deadline day signings are there too.

Vokes

Thanks for the info, MrJoeSoap.

Do Juve have their points deduction?

MrJoeSoap

Haven't got the Italian league running unfortunately, but I'd be amazed if they didn't.

Vokes

Heh, sorry with the questions but is there still the issue of greyed-out 'fake' players in the German National Team ?

Makaveli

What are the load times like?

MrJoeSoap

Very fast for me, although I'm only running the Irish, Northern Irish, English and Scottish leagues with a "Large" database (there's no "huge" option anymore).

I'll look into the question about the German side the next time I'm playing.

Vokes

About the German thing, i did some digging around and found this on the Dugout forums.

Basically there are several *.Inc files that can be deleted, thereby reseting proper player names for the German team, or team names for the French league or whatever.

excellent

PiE

It's very realistic... 20mins into a new game and Chelsea have bought Kaka, Cambiasso, Nesta and about 20 other players. Oh man.

DRakE

probably gonna buy this tomorrow regardless of reviews

addiction is a terrible thing

sofireland

I only played it for half an hour last night and i'm very impressed, i'm gonna dedicate my weekend to it!

andrewie

MrJoeSoap wrote:

I have, however, a massive injury crisis on my hands only 10 league games into the season, with EIGHT first-team players on the treatment table already, most for at least 2 weeks.

Anyone else having trouble with injuries? Any other opinions?

I'm the same. First game of the season I won 5-0 against Blackburn but Rooney, Evra, and Ronaldo all got injured. Rooney and Ronaldo for 2 months, Evra for a month. Second game Fletcher out for a month a long with Giggs.

sundula

Very happy with it, and it seems to run faster tham FM2006. I havent got any complaints yet and doubt i will have. In my opinion its the best Football Management Format by along way.

Dempsey

In Training, I increase the workload to Very Heavy and then when I come back to it later that day(game time) it has been put back to Medium. Any explanations?

MrJoeSoap

Interesting... maybe you changed the youth settings then went to the senior team, or vice versa?

Dempsey

MrJoeSoap wrote:

Interesting... maybe you changed the youth settings then went to the senior team, or vice versa?

I put them both up to Very Heavy for pre season and they only changed back after I click 'continue'.

Bug?

Cutie18Ireland

Dempsey wrote:

In Training, I increase the workload to Very Heavy and then when I come back to it later that day(game time) it has been put back to Medium. Any explanations?

I'm having the same problem. I put it to very heavy and went back two minutes later and it was medium.

Vokes

Maybe there's an Assistant Manager config option you need to play around with?

Dempsey

For the u19, yes he does, my mistake there, but not for the first team.

Dempsey

Inaccuracies spotted:

Celtic's total debt is now €9M, not €34M

Rangers had no money for transfers this summer, yet they have €5M as a transfer budget with the summer signings included

Prizemoney for qualifying for the Champions League has gone up as is the prizemoney per win/draw has increased aswell. I forget the numbers but they have gone up a good bit.

bizmark

Another very dodgy game from sigame's full of:

Super goalies and frustration:
Oh look i had 60% possion 11+ shots on target but scored nothing with the opposition goalie getting a 8/9/10 again while getting 1 shot on my goal and scoring shocker it's only happened 10 time's in one season :rolleyes: ...

Stupid amounts of injuries at lest 4 at any one time and more often than not 6-8 not just for me but for the ai team's as well....

Moronic player prices:
Just for a test i offered 150 mil for Garrard and c.ronaldo and was turned down no one is worth that money and no club would turn it down ffs what happened to chairmen overrideing the manager and accpeting foolish bids ? you telling me man united wouldnt jump at the chance of clearing a very large block of debt? or liverpool wouldnt sell one player for around 1/3rd the overal value of the whole ****ing club.


This game is after getting to much like work and its always buggy now .....dont think ill be bothered buying it again

ctrl-alt-delete

i like the feel of it so far, i like the feeder club feature and the increased player interaction. The feeder club becomes very usefull as you can sign players you may not have normally got (due to workp permit) and send them off to a feeder club so they can gain a wp.

The injuries is really getting on my nerves, many have already mentioned this. I am getting a huge amount of injuries, 7 of my starting line up at the moment?? and it doesn't even seem to be minor injuries - many are out for months at least.

Not only happening my team though. I was playing against chelsea and they had 3 injuries in the first half (using all their subs). So the tactical genious that i am i set my tackling to hard and closing down to always - managed to injure 3 more of their players - i still lost 4-1 though

Vokes

Okay, decided to try my hand at West Ham.

I'm 8 games in and 19th in the League - very realistic

I employed a Catenaccio formation with Mascherano as the Regista. But the media are ripping me to shreds for my negative approach to the game. Im leaking goals all over the shop - the defence not acting as a gelled unit yet (+ i need a decent sweeper).

Ironically, my last 2 matches were my best performances - 1-0 losses to 'Pool and Chelsea.

Im adamant im gonna get this system to work. Hopefully i don't get the sack before then.

Im liking the Player Interaction module. Ive just asked Reo Coker to call a Team Meeting to discuss how to get out of the situation. Hopefully that'll provide a much needed morale booster

I'll report back on how it goes.

P.S. Pleased to see the 'Average Age of Squad' stat back from CM3!

/EDIT: OK, Team Meeting did not go well - bugger! Lots of players disgruntled at the club's league position & Reo Coker was dejected at the outcome of the meeting

Potentially even worse news - the Club might be subject to a takeover soon (much like real life), which will mean more money and perhaps a new manager

BUT...im after winning 3 games on the trot - thank the gods! So the mood of the team has turned right around.

Dempsey

SofaKing wrote:

I employed a Catenaccio formation with Mascherano as the Regista. But the media are ripping me to shreds for my negative approach to the game. Im leaking goals all over the shop - the defence not acting as a gelled unit yet (+ i need a decent sweeper)

Explain to me cause I must be a rookie manager:D

Vokes

Certainly, padawan

The Regista (i think it means "The Director") is simply an old italian term for a holding playmaking midfielder that dictates tempo and spreads the ball about. And when defending he positions himself right in front of my 5-man defence, essentially making up a third wall - Sweeper / CentreBacks / Regista

I would consider Xabi Alonso and Pirlo to be real-world Registas. Mascherano isn't doing the best for me here in this role

So the sort of good stats needed would be Positioning (needs to be disciplined), creativity, passing, anticipation.

The formatiom im using is adapted from a similar one posted on the thedugout boards.