Fifa 12 Career Mode Discussions

Career Mode is definitely amazing this year. Everything seems to lock you in front of the tv, with addictions such as the scouting networks or the stories of the players - even the match commentators have something to say about it. Not sure yet about the impact of the pre-match talks to the press, but it's something i'll find out later on, i guess.
I wanted a challenging experience in a big league such as Premier League, a team that really needed fresh ideas. Then I came up with the idea of using Blackburn, here in Portugal i've heard that they're in really trouble. World Class difficulty.
Since I had little money - board difficulty isn't really high though - I couldn't afford to sign great players, but it was enough to bring in Michael Owen, Ron Vlaar; McEachran, Thiago Alcantara and Macheda loaned, and also Wason Renteria from Santos (not a fantastic finisher at all, but good enough when subbed in for some boring matches, at least he's able to shake things up when needed). Sold Givet, Bruno Ribeiro and Jason Roberts.
Depending on the team I'm facing and also on other circumstances, I often change my formation from 4-2-3-1 to 4-4-2 classic.

Robinson, Nelsen, Samba and Vlaar, Olsson; Petrovic and N'Zonzi; Vukcevic, Thiago and Pedersen, Yakubu. (when playing 4-4-2 Thiago is replaced by Owen who joins Yakubu on the attack)

Right now i've played almost 15 Premier League matches and I'm doing much better than real-life Blackburn. I'm in the 6th place and the team is playing good football, but in the future I really need to overhaul the whole club, i need to freshen things up...i'm thinking of bringing in some young talents, but with such little money, it's gonna be tough...any ideas? I'd appreciate some help.
 
As Pedersen is starting to get a bit old, a perfect replacement is a guy called Alexander Büttner, he's available cheaply and though he starts off with an overall of something like 67-68 he plays much better than that, he's like a Dutch Gareth Bale, fast, good crosser, can play LB/LM/LW, good free kick taker, excellent long shot, had him for 4 or 5 seasons in my game and he's my favourite player, even above players with much higher overalls :)
 
nerf said:
I completely agree, and it's one thing I miss from FIFA11. However, that's the feedback EA were given: almost everybody said the CPU pressure/aggression in 11 was too much, so they eased it off.

In 11 on the higher difficulties, protecting the ball was almost a game in itself. It would be nice to be able to bring some of that back - maybe a new slider for next year, or something.

Edit: Although that goal was on World Class. I went back up to Legendary for my subsequent fixture against Newcastle and felt that I had a lot less time on the ball. In fact the CPU shaded possession 51%-49%.
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I never played FIFA11 but I remember that there was some pretty intense pressure in FIFA10. I dont know why they cant fix problems without going to extremes, Konami do exactly the same thing, there is never any middle ground. Looks like I will have to try the legendary difficulty.
 
Yep it should be a slider.

Hopefully now that EA have seen how popular the sliders are we will get more of them and an even more improved Manager mode.....fingers crossed :DD

By the way after getting knocked out of the champs league in the group stages, it is like my team have been mentally effected. I had an 11 point lead at the top of the league and now it has been reduced to 5points, drawing and losing silly games that I would have normally won.

It seems like moral and stamina do have a great effect on your team. Another bonus :DD
 
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Pressure and Aggression are really the only two I personally would say we need, maybe if the AI were programmed so they tackled now and then an aggression one wouldn't be needed but I think it probably is as it would complement the team tactics setting :)
 
BobbyBox said:
By the way after getting knocked out of the champs league in the group stages, it is like my team have been mentally effected. I had an 11 point lead at the top of the league and now it has been reduced to 5points, drawing and losing silly games that I would have normally won.

It seems like moral and stamina do have a great effect on your team. Another bonus :DD
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I'm on a horrendous run of form at the moment and it's a real struggle. The commentators keep mentioning how confidence is lacking, and my players feel sluggish, less movement... even the passes seem to have less zip than before.
 
having come back to the FIFA CM over the holidays, i agree with everyone here. this is a solid, solid manager mode. immersion is clearly the word that describes it best.

the pain will be quick - i still find the lack of player personality and team variance (feel like you are playing different teams with different tactics) as the key issues with FIFA. still not good.

but everything else... wow, and this is compared to PES ML. you are in a football world. and the key thing about club football is depth and squad rotation. this is vital in FIFA. in a way, not having european cups in the first year is a good prep for this. if you go a decent distance in the cups, there is massive fixture pile up at the turn of the year. blimmy!

and the stories... i had RVP demand to be sold a few days before deadline day!! i went up in price to buy balotelli - been worth it.

and the injuries. brings a smile to my face. walcott has been chronic this year...

after years of huge disappointment this is a joy. we are almost there
 
nerf said:
I'm on a horrendous run of form at the moment and it's a real struggle. The commentators keep mentioning how confidence is lacking, and my players feel sluggish, less movement... even the passes seem to have less zip than before.
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I had something similar, the commentators kept discussing my woeful start to the season and whether it would mean a relegation struggle, and yeah my players seemed almost static, very little movement as if they were scared to deviate from their set positions. I ground out a few wins and draws, and my team morale lifted just that tiny bit extra so that players started making decent forward runs. My team suddenly felt a lot more dynamic. As I climbed up the table the commentary changed to saying about my team enjoying a comfortable campaign in mid table. Really good stuff :)
 
southernbelle said:
the pain will be quick - i still find the lack of player personality and team variance (feel like you are playing different teams with different tactics) as the key issues with FIFA. still not good.
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This is a common criticism(from PES players atleast) but I dont find this to be the case at all. I can see a big difference in players in terms of speed(very well represented), reactions, dribbling, passing, shooting and movement off the ball, both attacking and defensive. I dont know what teams you use but if you are playing with teams like Barcalona, Madrid etc... You wont see alot of player individuality because they are all players with very high stats. I am playing my career mode with Wimbledon, a league 2 side, my players are all rated 50 to 65 and the differences between most of them is night and day. The one area that I do find is too similar between players is first touch.
I am also seeing teams play differently, though this is not as obvious as the player individuality. I will see some teams defending really deep, packing the box like all teams do in PES2012. There are teams that like to keep the ball and build up slowly and teams that will get from one end to the other very quickly. Something that I dont find too apparent is what formation the opposing team is using. Back in the PES glory days I always adjusted my formation to suit the other teams because I knew that the positioning of their players would cause me problems. One of the main antagonists was the 4-4-2 formation that used 2 DMFs and 2 AMFs, I had to set up to stop the AMFs getting on the ball otherwise they would tear me to pieces along with the 2 CFs. In FIFA, as of yet anyway, I am not really changing anything to counter my opponents formation. I was playing on professional though, maybe that had something to do with it.
 
Is the form thing just for show or broken? I had a striker score 5 in 2 games and his form stayed on yellow at about half bar, if scoring 5 in 2 doesnt improve a form bar I dont know what will!
 
Yeah I still think form needs some work, my team were ripping it up in the prem league with especially about 3 players playing amazing, but there form was just average. It does need work, but it does work more noticeable when your team are all yellow, then you notice it on the pitch.
 
Just had a very satisfying win against Stoke... was 1-0 up in the second half and in control, then conceded a set piece in a dangerous position. While my centre-backs were in the wall, Kenwyne Jones was marked by... 5'7" Barry Bannan :DOH: . Header, 1-1.

Fortunately, wee Baz went up the other end and spanked in the game winner :COOL:

YouTube - FIFA12 - Bannan Free-Kick

I think that's the first free-kick I've scored all season. The CPU actually committed seven fouls in that match.

That ended a terrible run of eight consecutive defeats! Legendary is a bitch. I didn't win a game in February or March. I'm holding my own in general play, it's just that they're so lethal in front of goal. But so satisfying when you finally win one.

Unfortunately the injuries are piling up. There are seven players in the treatment room, at least two of whom will not play again this season. I only have four fit defenders, I'm perilously close to the relegation zone, and I've only got to go to Anfield and Old Trafford in my next two...
 
Placebo said:
As Pedersen is starting to get a bit old, a perfect replacement is a guy called Alexander Büttner, he's available cheaply and though he starts off with an overall of something like 67-68 he plays much better than that, he's like a Dutch Gareth Bale, fast, good crosser, can play LB/LM/LW, good free kick taker, excellent long shot, had him for 4 or 5 seasons in my game and he's my favourite player, even above players with much higher overalls :)
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Thanks, this is really what I needed now! I've just received a minute ago a message from Pedersen saying that he clearly doesn't want to play in this club anymore, and I was looking for a decent replacement...had to sell Hoilett as well, though I wanted to keep him at least one more season. It's my first season in Career Mode, and I did not know how much does an unhappy player decreases his performance, so after the pressure made by the board to sell the player I didn't have much of a choice. The same situation is going to happen with Pedersen...
Bought Dejagah from Wolfsburg I think, let's see if he can deliver some speed down the right side.
 
Finished my season with liverpool ended up finishing 7th with 11 draws 11 loses. Suarez ended up top scorer with 22 goals, brought Raul in on a 1 year contract in jan which was a masterstroke signing. My incentive for the season was to win the league and do well in the cups(lost 2-0 to bolton in the semis of the fa cup who then got beat 5-1 by utd). Anyway the board told me my season was poor but they decided to keep me on.
The squad is far too big need to have a massive cull and a bit of an overhaul got plenty of existing youth team players and promising ones that i've scouted. Looking forward to the new season really enjoyed cm konami need to take note.
EA could learn a thing or two about the tactical side from konami, I find fifa 12 team management options to be quite cumbersome.
 
Does anyone play 20 minute matches? I played 2 the other day to give me more time to tweek my formation and was surprised at how different they are. The games play out much more realistically with the periods of possession enjoyed by both sides dramatically increased from the 10 min games I was playing. The CPU was keeping hold of the ball for what seemed like ages, when I was under attack I really felt the pressure. The swings in momentum were pretty wild, one of the games ended 4 - 4. I opened the scoring very early and had alot of the ball for around 20 mins, the CPU then grew in confidence and for the next 20 mins kept hold of the ball and scored 4 goals! 1 was a dodgy pen but the others were from poor defending and good passing. The 2nd half was fairly even for about 10 mins, managed to get a goal back in that time which seemed to motivate my men and then by the 75th min we were even at 4 - 4. The next 10 mins were manic with both teams going for the win and missing lots of chances. It simmered down for the last 5 mins, I missed one or two very good chances, I think the previous 10 took their toll and everyone was knackered. So it ended 4 - 4 and I had played what was probably the most enjoyable and craziest game I ever had against the CPU, it was like a great game vs a human opponent. If I wasnt in such a rush to leave League 2 I would probably use 20 min matches all the time, give it a go if you havnt already.
 
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Ern Dog said:
Does anyone play 20 minute matches? I played 2 the other day to give me more time to tweek my formation and was surprised at how different they are. The games play out much more realistically with the periods of possession enjoyed by both sides dramatically increased from the 10 min games I was playing.
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I play 15 minute halves. You can definitely feel the momentum shift back and forth, which is great.

Lately I've even taken to starting the game with a defensive formation to make sure I don't concede any early goals, then I'll go back to my more balanced formation when I've 'survived' the opening ten or so match-minutes. With my team's current low morale/form it's important I don't give the CPU any headstarts, so I try to establish myself in the game by retaining the ball early on, and grow into it.

I've had the occasional goal glut - a 3-5 vs Chelsea was one, Torres was flawless and couldn't miss - but also plenty of low scoring games too, and a couple of nil-nils. Obviously it makes Career Mode take much longer, but I find it worth it for the way each match flows back and forth.
 
Finished my first season with Malaga today. We came 3rd in the league and got to the semi final of the Spanish Cup so I'm pretty happy with that considering the board only expected me to finish in a Euro league place and get to the quarter final of the cup.

Despite recieving job offers from Arsenal, Juventus, Bayer Leverkusen and Valencia, I've decided to stay at Malaga. I've been given £63 million to spend so hopefully I can make 2 or 3quality signings before the season starts.
 
Ern Dog said:
Does anyone play 20 minute matches? I played 2 the other day to give me more time to tweek my formation and was surprised at how different they are. The games play out much more realistically with the periods of possession enjoyed by both sides dramatically increased from the 10 min games I was playing. The CPU was keeping hold of the ball for what seemed like ages, when I was under attack I really felt the pressure. The swings in momentum were pretty wild, one of the games ended 4 - 4. I opened the scoring very early and had alot of the ball for around 20 mins, the CPU then grew in confidence and for the next 20 mins kept hold of the ball and scored 4 goals! 1 was a dodgy pen but the others were from poor defending and good passing. The 2nd half was fairly even for about 10 mins, managed to get a goal back in that time which seemed to motivate my men and then by the 75th min we were even at 4 - 4. The next 10 mins were manic with both teams going for the win and missing lots of chances. It simmered down for the last 5 mins, I missed one or two very good chances, I think the previous 10 took their toll and everyone was knackered. So it ended 4 - 4 and I had played what was probably the most enjoyable and craziest game I ever had against the CPU, it was like a great game vs a human opponent. If I wasnt in such a rush to leave League 2 I would probably use 20 min matches all the time, give it a go if you havnt already.
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20 is by far the most realistic I usually play 15 halves. 20 takes too long if you are into season or career mode.
 
it takes me weeks to do a season on 10min games and i dont sim any games. must take yo ages or you play a lot.

I maye do 2-8 games per day 5-7 days per week
 
Just signed my best scouted player yet, Emil Morchenko from Russia, have had him in my youth squad for ages counting down the days until he turned 16 so I can sign him, he looked that good! Estimated value was £5.5m once signed to the contract his value was £8m!!!! 16 year old 6ft 2" centre back, gonna play him as much as I possibly can to see how much he grows :)

Placebo said:
As Pedersen is starting to get a bit old, a perfect replacement is a guy called Alexander Büttner, he's available cheaply and though he starts off with an overall of something like 67-68 he plays much better than that, he's like a Dutch Gareth Bale, fast, good crosser, can play LB/LM/LW, good free kick taker, excellent long shot, had him for 4 or 5 seasons in my game and he's my favourite player, even above players with much higher overalls :)
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Just to follow on with this post praising the guy, beat Fulham 4-0 just now with Büttner scoring a hattrick, this was his 3rd goal and definitely my best goal on manual since switch with Fifa12 :)

YouTube - Alexander Buttner Fifa12 Manual goal
YouTube - Buttner.wmv
Have another replay from behind but it doesn't seem to be working right now :(
 
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Nicely done.

For those playing 20 minute matches, wouldn't your matches scorelines be on average too high then ? Because I play 5 min halves and the scorelines are pretty much where they should be. Lots of 2-1, 1-1, 3-1 and here and there, there's a high scoring 4-3 game and a 0-0. I imagine if I played 10 min halves, the scorelines on average would be more like 4-2, 4-3.
 
Well, as I expected I had to sell Pedersen against my will...to be honest at the time I only received a message from the board telling me that he had been sold, so...nothing much to do about it. As it happened in the begginning of the january transfer window I had plenty of time to find a decent replacement. Alongside with Dejagah - replacement for Hoilett - I acquired Cristian Rodríguez from Porto for 9 million. Right now I am in the 7th place, 4 points behind Arsenal who currently takes the last european spot. I have beaten teams like Manchester United and Chelsea, but due to the lack of consistency I often lose important points against much weaker teams such as West Brom, QPR...
Goodwillie is showcasing a bit of what I think he's worth (although he didn't have many opportunities in the first half of the season, I decided to decline some very good offers because I believed in him somehow) and he's scoring some goals now. Vukcevic, Rodriguez and Dejagah are doing really well in the wings, and having three consistent players in the wings gives me the chance of rotating and therefore excluding one out of form player from the starting 11.
Buttner is starting to play some minutes, but I'm still trying to find where does he really belong...I mean, I've been playing him as a left back and honestly he has the profile of the sideback I need, but Olsson is doing really well...too bad none of them is right footed, everytime any quick winger faces my right side I get shivers. (Nelsen, Michel Salgado, Dann...it's agony, really).
 
PLF said:
Nicely done.

For those playing 20 minute matches, wouldn't your matches scorelines be on average too high then ? Because I play 5 min halves and the scorelines are pretty much where they should be. Lots of 2-1, 1-1, 3-1 and here and there, there's a high scoring 4-3 game and a 0-0. I imagine if I played 10 min halves, the scorelines on average would be more like 4-2, 4-3.
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It's been a while since I've booted up FIFA (Damn you Battlefield 3, then Skyrim) but from my recollection of time to score ratio, it doesn't play out like you'd think (more time = more goals)... well, at least it didn't for me.

My personal anecdote:
In my CMs, I play every game without simming. Not on principle or anything, but because I get my FIFA 12 enjoyment out of the playing/coaching side and skipping the actual games would skip most of my fun. That said, I set up some extra rules concerning game time to keep things interesting.

Depending on the match type, I play different half lengths:
League games - 5 minute halves. Short halves usually mean fast paced up-and-down English style (the league I'm in) action, and puts the pressure on me to score early and often to get the 3 points.
League Cup or FA Cup games - 10 minute halves. These games aren't typically as fast paced as league games, and 10 minute halves give me that feeling that I'm playing a match of singular importance. Plus, when starting with lower league teams, it can be really stressful and fun to defend against a Prem team in later rounds for such a long time.
Euro League/Champions League games - 20 minute halves. Taking the last point to the extreme, such a lengthy match really does become a singular event in my season, a match that doesn't blur together with all the others. It's been a while so I can't perfectly remember, but I may do 10 minute halves for Euro league games and then save the 20 minute halves for the knockout rounds... regardless, it's fun.

Now I understand the level of competition is typically even or better ranked teams in Cup games (barring early rounds of League cups) so that may be a factor, but my total goals per game across all half lengths was about the same. I can't rattle of statistics, but I can tell you how often I remarked to myself about how weird that I was scoring the same amount of goals regardless of half length.

So if your worry is that all your players will dominate the stat leader boards because your team is playing longer halves, I say not to worry because it didn't happen for me. But that is a pretty small sample size. Try out the longer halves though, at least for an exhibition or two... they can be pretty fun to play, not having to worry about rushing up and down the field.

Now that I'm thinking about it, I may have only played this way in FIFA 11... although I'm pretty sure I've been doing it in FIFA 12 as well. Eh, all I can think of is Skyrim right now.
 
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Thanks for the post and all the info TJ.

I actually just started a new CM mode with newly promoted 2nd division Bundesliga side Dynamo Dresden as I wanna bring them back to glory days and some pride back to East Germany.

And I played the first friendly with 10 minute halves as suggested and really enjoyed it. I did create like 6 very good chances inside the first 25 minutes of the game and was a bit worried... but then the rest of the match was not as eventful and it ultimately ended 2-1 (Though I could've scored many more goals and had 11 shots in total 7 being on target)

I also played a 10-min half exhibition game with Dynamo against 1860 Munich and that one finished 1-1.

So it's too early for me to say as well as I've only played 2 matches with 10-min halves but so far so good in terms of score-lines. I'm glad you guys suggested this because this is the first time ever I try this (Somehow I never even thought about changing it from default before) and I'm loving it! :D Each match does seem even more like a REAL Match now as time doesn't fly and momentum changes and teams dominate for certain intervals just like real life, etc.

I'd like to hear from more people about what their typical/average scoreline is playing in these longer halves. For me, so far so good and according to TJ, it somehow doesn't lead to more goals necessarily which is something I've noticed myself already though it may be too early to tell.
 
I think I've finally conceded defeat on the difficulty setting. Legendary is an exercise in frustration, and very draining. I love a high difficulty where you feel like what you have achieved has really been earned, but... this time it's a bit masochistic even for me.

The final straw came when I played Huddersfield in the cup, and for some reason Lee Novak is Cruyff and Messi rolled into one. Almost impossible to stop. The guy has like 60 for dribbling, and you can't tackle him.

So I've gone back down to World Class. Not soon enough to save my Villa job; the board understandably sacked me when I finished 17th.
 
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Yeah I still haven't even tried Legendary. Been playing World Class and even with 60 pass error and shot for AI.

Tell us about your experiences with half lengths as I asked above, nerf? So you play 10 minute halves in your CM? And what is your typical scoreline?
 
PLF said:
Tell us about your experiences with half lengths as I asked above, nerf? So you play 10 minute halves in your CM? And what is your typical scoreline?
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15 minute halves. Scorelines vary but are mostly sensible. Since moving down to World Class, I've won my last two matches 2-0 and 3-0, but both were against much weaker opposition.... I'm hoping it won't be as straight forward against strong opponents.

I do play quite a slow, patient style and my sliders are set up for a tight game with little space, so that probably helps keep the goal count down.
 
I see. Thanks.

Just played a 5 minute half match after a few 10-min ones and it sucked! lol

Now that I've tried 10 minute halves, it seemed like the 5 min one was just too short and not really a match. And both teams had only 1 shot at each other's goal.

I've made my decision. In this new CM which I'm loving so far I'm going to be playing 10 minute halves. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
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