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FIFA 11 Career Mode Thread PS3/360

So after all this time that the game's been out, has anyone had or at least heard of someone else getting a manager job offer from a team outside their current division or country?

Like you're a Bundesliga manager and a Serie A club offers you the job at end of season? Because I haven't seen it but have only played a few seasons anyway.
 
I'm in my 3rd season with Wednesday and just made it to the Prem, the step up in difficulty is pretty high and definitely realistic, first match of the season I got battered 5-1 by Chelsea who tore me apart (my 1st team is pretty much all 70-78). Anyone else notice that the AI don't buy/sell players to any level that happens in real life? Many teams you play (ex Aston Villa) are identical to when the 1st season starts, strangely though Arsenal replaced almost their whole backline, when I played them they had Agger and Jagielka at CB and Baines at LB.

Sadly as usual the career mode is filled with examples of lazy, incompetent design/programming, for example the AI isn't restricted by things like "the player just moved clubs", Gallas moved from Spurs-Bayern, a year later Liverpool bought him for £11m (which in itself is rather bizarre), also I tried to loan Tim Krul only for him to be bought by Burnley, yet I didn't have that option, loan players are only ever available for loan. Oh and another great example of game design, Wilshire is available for loan, I try to loan him, he tells me he's played for Arsenal for so long he's too loyal to leave, FFS!

Oh and no overseas job offers yet, but then nobody gets them as far as I'm aware?
 
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so frustrated with CM... once again its just so stale. placebo nailed it on the head there is no transfer activity, no change or development in the management of CPU teams. maybe online career mode is the only solve, because the offline mode seems to be miles behind the competition. so frustrating given how great the game on the pitch can be. but, i have unfortunately made "the switch." hoping 2012 will be revolutionary - though so much ground to make up!!
 
The AI has reverted to about 2 Fifas ago, they don't rotate their squads, they don't rest their 1st teamers when playing minnows in cups and they never change formation, no matter what the score is, that is nonsensical game design when they improved all those things with either 09 or 10 (I don't remember exactly which).
 
^^
yes, the squad rotation really gets me. that and the lack of campaign fatigue, not just game fatigue. they have sooo much to do to close the gap.
 
Yup all valid points and yeah lazy crap programming evident at every turn in CM mode unfortunately. :(

And what the F*** is the point of a MANAGER long CAREER mode if you can't work your way up and get job offers from other countries/leagues... it's amazing how they can't get the BASICS right! The BARE MINIMUM!
 
Made it in to the coppa final and had my eye on the other semi b/w Inter and Napoli. Was happy when Napoli won 3-1 only to find out that somehow I was playing Inter in the final. Frustrating. Best player in the second half of the season Lanzafame, 6 goals and 6 assists in 12 games after coming up from reserves and making the most of it but can't sign him b/c he was on loan. I won the coppa and came third in the league and got offers from mid-table teams all over Europe including man city, and a few other recognizable teams that I can't remember as I wasn't considering moving at all. I'm having to resort to rotating AI squads myself, and they might as well allow us to control the uninspiring transfers too. They could have at least got the big teams right, Chelsea selling Anelka and buying some 30+ year old from Frankfurt FC, Real Madrid selling Higauin when they have no strikers...ruins the game.
 
Nobody read my previous post in this thread then :P . Managing a Championship team, I had offers from Italy, Germany, Spain and one Premier League club.
 
I have got job-offers from abroad, when playing with Aalborg BK in the Danish Superliga.

I got 3 offers. FC Copenhagen from the Danish League, some random Turkish team and St. Truiden from Belgium.

So it's not totally true ;)
 
Yep like I said that's good news! :)

@EatonTJ and Placebo,

Just started a new CM mode with Leeds Utd (I know not the first one :P) and am KEEN to avoid any ridiculous bugs/crashes etc.

What was the main advice you guys give then in regards to changing formations/players to avoid crashes? To make the changes in the MAIN Team management screen, or the one before each match?
 
PLF said:
Yep like I said that's good news! :)

@EatonTJ and Placebo,

Just started a new CM mode with Leeds Utd (I know not the first one :P) and am KEEN to avoid any ridiculous bugs/crashes etc.

What was the main advice you guys give then in regards to changing formations/players to avoid crashes? To make the changes in the MAIN Team management screen, or the one before each match?
Click to expand...

Don't make over 20 custom formations for one... ;)
 
Don't leave a custom formation assigned to your team in the main squad management screen. You can create/edit/save custom formations there, but always assign a default/preset formation afterwards. Then you switch to your custom formation before or during each match.
 
PLF said:
Yep like I said that's good news! :)

@EatonTJ and Placebo,

Just started a new CM mode with Leeds Utd (I know not the first one :P) and am KEEN to avoid any ridiculous bugs/crashes etc.

What was the main advice you guys give then in regards to changing formations/players to avoid crashes? To make the changes in the MAIN Team management screen, or the one before each match?
Click to expand...

Concerning career mode, I consider there to be 3 formation editing areas.
Area 1. The squad management screen accessed from the main career mode hompage. This is where your career default formation, line-up, and tactics are set. Any changes you make will last from match to match.

Area 2. The pre-match management screen accessed in the pre-match buildup to your next fixture. Here, you can make formation, line-up, and tactics changes that will only last for the next match. After the match, it will reset back to the default (under most circumstances).

Area 3. The in-match management screen accessed after the game-engine has started. Here, you can make formation, line-up, and tactics changes that will only last until the end of the match. After the match, it will reset back to the default (under most circumstances).

Under my theory, the career mode starts to bug out when formation data is "mis-translated" from Area 3 (and possibly Area 2) to Area 1. This problem only seems to occur when you have a custom formation set to Area 1, and then you make edits to it in Area 3. Not sure exactly which edits cause the problem.

So , the rules I have been following with no problems are:

1. Leave the team's formation set to default in Area 1. Make any line-up changes and any tactics changes you want.

2. In Area 2, make whatever changes you want to make, BUT, if you edit/save a custom formation, it will make that your new *default* formation in Area 1 if you start the match with that formation for some reason. So, I typically start every match with the default, then change formation at kickoff. Basically, any time you save a custom formation, be careful it hasn't changed your default in Area 1.

3. Periodically check Area 1 to make sure the formation is the default. And use all 10 save slots for your career team. Every couple games I rotate saves and I have a beginning of each transfer window save in case something goes haywire.

Good luck.
 
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speaking of controlling the CPU, when playing against a good team, pushing the CPU's defensive line up(80 or so), increasing aggression if it's low (50 will do) and switching the mentalitity from balanced to attack will the make the CPU take the game to you instead of sitting back and playing counter. It works great for me and makes the game much more difficult. Less time on the ball in the middle of the park and much more difficult to keep possesion. More to think about tactically too.
Only problem is they'll play that way unless you go in and change their setup again. If you don't know how to cover passing lanes and force the CPU to play some possession I woudldn't bother b/c they'll get way too many shots on goal.
I set Inter up like this, and Just had my most enjoyable loss 3-0, a team I almost always beat. My CM's were not up for it at all in the first half as they weren't use to the pressure, made adjustments in the second half, was much better but still couldn't break through as my forwards were completely outmuscled by Lucio and Samuel. Decided I'm going to try to sign Dzeko in January.

Anybody finding the tips of any use?
 
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D-line height and Pressure are the same - I guess you meant Aggression for the second one.

I must confess I quickly grew bored of my second season with WBA; I didn't freshen the squad enough in the summer, still playing the same system, against some uninspiring, similar Championship opponents, with a very long fixture list... I regretted my decision to stay put, saved the game, hit Sim, and automated the remainder of that season.

I had offers from (you won't read this bit!) Racing Santander & Real Sociedad in La Liga, from newly promoted Wolves and Preston in the PL, and from Atalanta (Serie B) and Bologna (Serie A) in Italy. Eager for a complete change of scenery, I accepted the latter.

I'm also going to re-double my efforts to gameplan for each opponent, to switch formation and tactics to try and keep it interesting. It can get stale if you don't, especially as there's so little else to do apart from hit Play Game... Play Game... Play Game...

Oh, I did experience some good player growth at West Brom, however. I took the decision to make a couple of young defenders, Joe Mattock and Håvard Nordtveit, first choice in their respective positions and they developed well over the course of two seasons. Can't remember the exact numbers but I would often get emails saying their OVR had gone up again.

Basically, if you have a young player you want to develop, it seems you'd better make him a mainstay of your starting eleven and play him as much as physically possible. Otherwise he's unlikely to get to where you'd like.
 
Just out of interest for all the CM players, how does your goal tally match up to the rest of the league? I do play with lesser teams and therefore lesser players but I find I consistently score far less goals than the sides around me in the league.

If I were placed on goals scored I would always end up in the bottom 7 or so. The only thing is my goals against is always one of the best! I just wanted to know if this is the norm, as I often have the sense I could play another 30min's and not score.

I'll then have the odd game where I'll get a few goals and then a whole string of 1-0, 0-0's.


It does jar a little when just about every-side you play defends like a well oiled Barca...
 
My goal difference is almost always on top (most scored and less conceded). I play on world class with semi controller settings.

I'm totally not looking forward to FIFA12 or the new PES. All those promises will again be turned into bugs ruining the experience. Again.
 
Nick Cave said:
Just out of interest for all the CM players, how does your goal tally match up to the rest of the league? I do play with lesser teams and therefore lesser players but I find I consistently score far less goals than the sides around me in the league.

If I were placed on goals scored I would always end up in the bottom 7 or so. The only thing is my goals against is always one of the best! I just wanted to know if this is the norm, as I often have the sense I could play another 30min's and not score.

I'll then have the odd game where I'll get a few goals and then a whole string of 1-0, 0-0's.


It does jar a little when just about every-side you play defends like a well oiled Barca...
Click to expand...

Yeah I found this exact same problem. I fininshed second in the Premier League with Man Utd on World Class, but never lost a single league match. I also scored less goals than the top half of the table entirely, and conceded less than everyone.

I think the goal difference shows up the very problem with the gameplay itself. It's frustratingly hard to score against an AI that is very defensive no matter who you play against, and it's largely too easy to defend. The AI relies almost entirely on counter attack, again, no matter what team you play against, which leads to many narrow wins and 0-0 draws. Occasionally the AI seems to crumble late on and you get a 3 or 4-0 scoreline, but mostly I've stopped playing recently because games are dull - you barely get a realistic number of goals either for, or against.
 
@ Nick,

From what I remember (don't think I even finished a season) was that I was one of the lowest scorers in the league at that time (atleast for the top half with about 30 matches played) but that my defense was amazingly tight (even with setting myself the rule not to press the tackle button). Think my goalstats were 40-50 scored and under 10 conceded (maybe 7?).

Eitherway it was unrealistic and quite jarring when looking at the league table.
 
Scorpio said:
My goal difference is almost always on top (most scored and less conceded). I play on world class with semi controller settings.

I'm totally not looking forward to FIFA12 or the new PES. All those promises will again be turned into bugs ruining the experience. Again.
Click to expand...

Oh dear, what happened to the game you said was brilliant? :CONFUSE:
 
Nick Cave said:
Just out of interest for all the CM players, how does your goal tally match up to the rest of the league? I do play with lesser teams and therefore lesser players but I find I consistently score far less goals than the sides around me in the league.

If I were placed on goals scored I would always end up in the bottom 7 or so. The only thing is my goals against is always one of the best! I just wanted to know if this is the norm, as I often have the sense I could play another 30min's and not score.

I'll then have the odd game where I'll get a few goals and then a whole string of 1-0, 0-0's.


It does jar a little when just about every-side you play defends like a well oiled Barca...
Click to expand...

Now that I play 6 min halves (legendary), I get results that are in-line with my place in the league. In my current Southampton CM, I've got them up to the Prem and battling for a CL place. 26 Games into the season I've got 58 goals for and 26 against. At the top, Liverpool have 56 goals for and only 12 conceded. My team leads in goals for, but is middle of the pack in goals against. Makes sense, since I've only been able to upgrade my attack, and haven't really any depth in defense.

For me, the hardest games are against the mid-table opponents. Sure I can lose to a top team, but because those teams press so high up the pitch I can usually get several counter attack goals and simply outscore them. And in games against the bottom teams I dominate possession and typically grind out results. Mid-table teams that don't press very high are really difficult to break down, and typically have some tall or physical player that can overwhelm my weak defense on the counter.

In my CM experience, few teams play defense any where near the pressure levels of Barca. The top teams will press high, especially when down a goal late in the match, but my problems arise from teams that sit back and defend with 10 behind the ball. If my best players aren't available, scoring is very difficult.

The best thing I've done for this CM has been to change the half time to 6 mins, down from 8-10. It's long enough for their to be some good possession battles, but short enough that it forces you to take some risks in attack and not just hold and hold and hold for an easy opportunity that may not come in time. I recommend.
 
What keeps me going nerf is the fact that it's a game of inches and split seconds. There is little space, decisions have to be made quickly and then executed under pressure.
It takes gradual practice to improve on each part of the game. Take “passing in the final third” as an example...

YouTube - Ibra through pass

Stage 1)A few months back, no way I see this pass as a viable option, too much pressure + no vision + no effective close control to open up intricate angles.

Stage 2) As I got better, was able to see the pass. Pulling it off became plausible but risky.

Stage 3) Pulling it off regularly with a decent success/attempt rate.

Stage 4)As you can see the opportunity was wasted. In practice mode, the scenario could have been different. I would have had the composure to lead the desperate defender on, fake the cross and pull the ball back, which would have put me in a more promising position. In a real game the prospect of scoring, the thought of pulling off a good team move, and the increased pressure all affect my composure and quick thinking. The better I get, the more I'll be able to pull of the things I do in practice in CM games.

The next stage would be to be able to play that pass so naturally and confidentely, that immediately after releasing the pass button I can instantly switch my attention to other things (i.e first touch, positioning and runs of both teammates and opponets, etc etc.) At this point I'm still expereincing a half a second to a second delay which as I get better will continue to dwindle.

The pressure, which has been a complaint of many, is what makes the game have any worth at all, and it is still not enough pressure. I play my games on fast game speed as I feel that reflects best the amount of time players have in real life.
 
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In my current CM with Leeds, I'm scoring a decent amount of goals and have scored in all but one match so far in the first season (am only like 10 games in it tho).

BUT, in my previous one, yes my record is like yours Nick. Usually best or among best defensively but also among worst scoring wise and grabbing a lot of my points thanks to 1-0 wins.

Having said that, it also has to do with your management style and personality, I AM the type of guy who does care only about grabbing the 3 points at any cost and nothing else. So I often care more for holding a 1-0 lead than adding to it anyway... but yeah generally while I have great possession, I don't create as many chances as I'd like anyway, then again... haven't exactly played with the best players/teams either....
 
Ibra, pressure I can deal with, but it's when the AI rampages 'though' you from behind when you're supposed to be able to shield the ball that gets me. That and the fact that the AI can sprint after the ball in packs for 90 minutes with absolutely no consequence to their stamina levels.

Sure, the stamina bar goes down, but it doesn't actually affect them. I tried this once, the game was letting me just pass the ball between my defenders with no AI apart from Fernando Torres coming to get the ball. So I decided to pass the ball between the two same defenders and make Torres run to each player before passing it, just to see what it did to his stamina.

Well, turned out that it took about 10 minutes (game time) of the first half for his stamina to reach red then for the rest of his stamina to hit rock bottom. The effects? He just carried on chasing the ball between my two defenders repeatedly, at the same speed. The only change was that he occasionally did a little animation where he'd bend over and look knackered. Then he'd just carry on sprinting again, with ZERO stamina left. He was able to carry on sprinting at full speed, turning, sprint again, for over 30 minutes of the first half before I just got bored and carried on with the game. Now why no-one else intervened is another question entirely, because usually the AI tries to steal the ball from you from a short goal kick, just like people do when they're playing online.

If you're happy with the pressure then fine, but I fail to see how anyone sees this level of sprint, sprint, pressure, all over the pitch as anywhere near realistic. Expending energy plays a massive part in tactics across most physical sports. Not so in FIFA, and this is what makes the insane pressure so ridiculous. The AI pressure is not down to positioning and neat defensive AI, but down to the AI being able to sprint across large expanses of the pitch for the full 90 minutes - which is why the game manages to get away with pressuring you with multiple defenders. They can sprint after you over about 30 yards in packs, then turn, sprint back, and do it all over again.
 
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klashman69 said:
Oh dear, what happened to the game you said was brilliant? :CONFUSE:
Click to expand...

Well the gameplay is actually pretty good IMO. It's the Manager Mode part that's filled with bugs. I had a three year career mode going on and one day half my squad had lost their names and stats... :(
 
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