Football Manager 2020

[Lineker]

 

[Baddar]

"More platforms than ever" - could that be a hint at next gen consoles, possibly? 

Still won't be ideal if you can't import graphics etc, but nice nonetheless. 

[King Ellis]

This game seems intent on getting me to stray from the project. Being interviewed for the Leeds job was one thing but then, despite a respectful 3rd place finish (10 points off the top) and a Champions League victory, Man Utd still sacked Ancelloti and offered me an interview. 200m and 5.8m in wages, crazy.

[mattu29]

moving to console wont work for me with my ocd with NEEDING facepacks, badges etc 🤪 as much as i love the idea, it bombed when they tried it before, but hoping they can make it work and get more revenue, and hopefully get that god damn german and dutch national team license 🤣

[LL!]

On 31/07/2020 at 06:53, King Ellis said:

This game seems intent on getting me to stray from the project. Being interviewed for the Leeds job was one thing but then, despite a respectful 3rd place finish (10 points off the top) and a Champions League victory, Man Utd still sacked Ancelloti and offered me an interview. 200m and 5.8m in wages, crazy.

You'd be a fool to reject. 

[Arjen Robben]

FM doing a nonsense. Had to be Ozil missing the penalty didn’t it.

(I’m neither of these btw, just the AI being mad.)

[Naitch]

Just had this as a 2014 World Cup knockout stages on FM12 (I was just playing as Chelsea so no involvement from me):

All of the "big guns" on one half of the draw and getting knocked out by Uruguay or England, except for Germany on the other side going down to the United States in extra time. Meanwhile, Switzerland sneak through by a single goal or on penalties in every match after pipping France and South Africa (all on 6 points) to top their group on goal difference. Imagine if that happened in real life. Mad!

The only real shock of the group stage was Holland finishing last in their group with Morocco, Colombia, and Serbia. Italy finished third after losing to Mexico and failing to beat Argentina in the final game. If Italy had won then Switzerland would've faced whoever had the second best goal difference of the three.

[The Lusophone]

Mad mad mad mad mad mad mad.

[Bobfoc]

37 minutes ago, Naitch said:

Just had this as a 2014 World Cup knockout stages on FM12 (I was just playing as Chelsea so no involvement from me):

All of the "big guns" on one half of the draw and getting knocked out by Uruguay or England, except for Germany on the other side going down to the United States in extra time. Meanwhile, Switzerland sneak through by a single goal or on penalties in every match after pipping France and South Africa (all on 6 points) to top their group on goal difference. Imagine if that happened in real life. Mad!

The only real shock of the group stage was Holland finishing last in their group with Morocco, Colombia, and Serbia. Italy finished third after losing to Mexico and failing to beat Argentina in the final game. If Italy had won then Switzerland would've faced whoever had the second best goal difference of the three.

I remember getting some surprising international results on FM12. I've seen Ivory Coast, USA and Denmark win the World Cup before.

On FM20, things get interesting when the World Cup expands to 48 teams. Some of the countries that have qualified in my save include Syria, Lebanon, Guinea-Bissau, Barbados and Uzbekistan. Haiti actually managed to eliminate Brazil in the first knockout round.

[METALMAN]

On my FM 2012 Egypt had about 15 world class regens appear within about two years and won world cup 2018.

What is the format of the 48 team World Cup? Is it a knockout with 32 teams and sixteen winners joining the other sixteen for a group stage of 32? Or is it 16 groups of 3/12 groups of 4? Because I think the latter two possibilities will make me cry, even if it will make it far more likely for Scotland to play at the WC.

[Gorka]

It's genuinely 16 groups, 3 teams in each. Two matches in the group stage? Awful.

Just part of the initiative to get more teams from other confederations in.  

[Bobfoc]

It's definitely inferior to the current format, but I dislike the old 24-team setup, now used in the Euros, more. With the groups of three, you at least have the simplicity of knowing that the top two qualify and the group winner faces the corresponding group's runner-up in the next round. In both cases, only a third of the teams are eliminated, but the World Cup doesn't have to deal with best-placed third teams and all the permutations that involves for the final group games.

Either way, 8 groups of 4 was the ideal structure. It's sad that 2022 will be the last time we see that, and even that won't be normal because it will take place in winter.

[Malenko]

2 hours ago, Bobfoc said:

It's definitely inferior to the current format, but I dislike the old 24-team setup, now used in the Euros, more. With the groups of three, you at least have the simplicity of knowing that the top two qualify and the group winner faces the corresponding group's runner-up in the next round. In both cases, only a third of the teams are eliminated, but the World Cup doesn't have to deal with best-placed third teams and all the permutations that involves for the final group games.

Either way, 8 groups of 4 was the ideal structure. It's sad that 2022 will be the last time we see that, and even that won't be normal because it will take place in winter.

You don't know if it'll be the last time. World cup formats change all the time.

I hope it'll change again, although it's more likely it changes to 16 groups of 4 in the future, possibly even with two group stages, rather than going back to a previous format. It wouldn't be the first time they revert to a previously used format but I just can't see them doing that now.

I was a fan of 32 teams at the world cup and 16 in the Euros. It was all so simple and logical. Every round the top half would go through, the bottom half wouldn't. No messy best third placed teams depending on results from other groups they didn't take part. No messy last days where you know in advance your opponent's score and therefore can cause a Germany Austria situation again. Unfortunately avoiding those situations doesn't seem to be a priority.

[Adam]

I actually understand the need for expanding the Euros and didn't feel it spoiled the tournament or anything in 2016. Europe has a good few more teams now to try and qualify than it did 30 years ago so a 24 team tournament isn't too bad.

What they're doing with the World Cup however is awful, and I really think will spoil at least a chunk of the competition as a spectacle.

[gunnar hendershow]

The 48 team World Cup in my eyes essentially just makes it a knockout tournament. The appeal of the group stages has always been that a good side has room for error, so that you typically will see the very best all advance to the knockouts. Taking 32 through to the knockouts gives you a lot of Brazil vs. Tunisia type mismatches in the first knockout stage at least. And you increase the likelihood a big side has a slip-up in their first group stage match, loses, and draws against the better opponent in the group and as a result doesn't advance.

I do think in another decade or two we'll likely see a 64 team World Cup get instituted with 16 groups of 4. But long ways off still. More confederations in CONCACAF, CAF, etc. have to still improve to make it worthwhile.

[Malenko]

39 minutes ago, Adam said:

I actually understand the need for expanding the Euros and didn't feel it spoiled the tournament or anything in 2016. Europe has a good few more teams now to try and qualify than it did 30 years ago so a 24 team tournament isn't too bad.

What they're doing with the World Cup however is awful, and I really think will spoil at least a chunk of the competition as a spectacle.

I would do 32 then. I'm not a fan of teams going through because of a combination of results in a different group that's got nothing to do with them, which is what happens when you have 24 teams. Some third placed teams go through while others won't. Also you may be in a group of 4, be destroyed by two of them and scrap a 1-0 win against the other. You have no business going through but you still go. If you're in the bottom half of your group, you're below average. Go home. 

[METALMAN]

I also think 32 teams helped keep it a bit more competitive. There aren't really any poor teams, most matches are pretty competitive and you even sometimes get two big teams drawn together in the group stages. I would fear that a 48 or 64 team WC would spread things a little thin. Sure, it might be nice that Nicaragua or Iraq qualifies for the first time but I don't necessarily want to watch them get beaten 8-0 by Germany in the group stage.

[The Lusophone]

The best Football Manager series just ended

It's cool to see FM youtubers getting this kind of coverage.

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

It was a brilliant series to be fair. Great youtuber.

[Liam]

I only ever dipped into it, so maybe I should give it a go.