Gaming Football Manager 2021 (FM21)

Happened to me in my United save. It will sort itself out if it's the same thing. I had Liverpoola and Everton in my save and without realising smashed Everton 9-0 and only until afterwards did I look at their players did I realise.

I've holidayed for a day and it seems to have fixed itself. Though I can see they've only added players and not re-jigged it, for example Chelsea still have under 21 players taking up spots and haven't registered Kovacic, Ben Chilwell or Hakim Ziyech.
 
So I did some financial rejigging/player sales and installment offers that future me will worry about.

Brought Batshuayi back on loan and also signed Morelos from Rangers for £17m. Davinson Sanchez and Thilo Kehrer both on loan to bolster CBs. Takehiro Tomiyaso for £15m which feels like a great deal. Marcus Edwards for the RW at £12.25m potentially rising to £25m, and Weston McKennie for £19m rising to £28m.

I sold Milivojevic and Riedewald for a combined £37m which helped. Benteke out the door too for £7m.

Team is now this:

Guaita
Tomiyasu - Ferguson - Kehrer - Mitchell
Koopmeiners
Szoboszlai - Gravenberch
Edwards ------------------------------------ Zaha
Morelos​

Other squad members:

GK: Butland
DEF: Clyne, Cahill, Sakho, Sanchez, Van Aanholt, Schlupp
MID: McCarthy, McKennie
ATT: Townsend, Eze, Batshuayi, Ayew

It's quite a versatile squad too as Tomiyasu can also play CB. Schlupp can play in loads of positions, and Ayew, Eze, Zaha, Gravenberch can all play across the LW/RW/CAM positions.
 
I've holidayed for a day and it seems to have fixed itself. Though I can see they've only added players and not re-jigged it, for example Chelsea still have under 21 players taking up spots and haven't registered Kovacic, Ben Chilwell or Hakim Ziyech.
Yeah they’ll register them in a week or two. Exactly the same happened with me.
 
OMG I'm in the fecking CL semi final!

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Does any site list some novel challenges or can anyone think of any?

Not played 21 yet but want to start and I normally do a minnow to big club career run and then I might look for challenges but I want to start off with something a bit wacky this time.

Some ideas:
Albion Challenge - Kind of Brexit FC, take charge of a club called Albion and only sign British players because Albion is an old name Britain. Possible Clubs - WBA, Brighton, Burton, Albion Rovers. Think I'd have the most fun with the last 2, especially Albion Rovers.

Similarly Hellas Verona: Hellas = Greece, only sign Greeks (and Italians for homegrown purposes).

Any other clubs with names hinting to countries or locations out there?

Could do a Basque challenge seeing as some of the Basque clubs have or had a Basque only player rule, or Basque + foreigner.

Initial challenge or letter challenge: Only sign players whose names start with a particular letter or letters. Either some random letter or the initials of the club. Thinking teams like SPAL or CSKA.
 
Does any site list some novel challenges or can anyone think of any?

Not played 21 yet but want to start and I normally do a minnow to big club career run and then I might look for challenges but I want to start off with something a bit wacky this time.

Some ideas:
Albion Challenge - Kind of Brexit FC, take charge of a club called Albion and only sign British players because Albion is an old name Britain. Possible Clubs - WBA, Brighton, Burton, Albion Rovers. Think I'd have the most fun with the last 2, especially Albion Rovers.

Similarly Hellas Verona: Hellas = Greece, only sign Greeks (and Italians for homegrown purposes).

Any other clubs with names hinting to countries or locations out there?

Could do a Basque challenge seeing as some of the Basque clubs have or had a Basque only player rule, or Basque + foreigner.

Initial challenge or letter challenge: Only sign players whose names start with a particular letter or letters. Either some random letter or the initials of the club. Thinking teams like SPAL or CSKA.

You could try only ever signing free agents?
 
You could try only ever signing free agents?

I quite like that, could still stick to my traditional method of starting with a minnow and building up because you're only signing free agents at the low levels anyway. England might be almost impossible to crack/win the PL but then that in itself would be a massive challenge. Scotland might be a fun place to do it, I like playing in countries where there's a few divisions and believe it would be possible to win the league there like that. Suppose anywhere has a few divisions if I load custom databases but I've never really bothered with that side of things.
 
Try only signing players with minimum four vowels in their surname.... You end up falling in love with Dutch scouts very quickly.

From Utd you could only have De Gea, Van de Beek, Wan-Bassika, Maguire & Greenwood I think.... Actually too easy, make it five vowels.

Edit - Tuanzebe... Yeah, make it 5 vowels.... Or even go for double barreled surnames only squad.
 
Going to combine a couple of things. Either Stirling Albion or Albion Rovers, players from the island of Albion only (Scottish, English, Welsh), free agents only/never spend a penny. Think I'll allow myself loans, but not if there's a loan fee.

Eventual aim = SPL champions, domestic cups and make some sort of impression in Europe, not sure what.

Try only signing players with minimum four vowels in their surname.... You end up falling in love with Dutch scouts very quickly.

From Utd you could only have De Gea, Van de Beek, Wan-Bassika, Maguire & Greenwood I think.... Actually too easy, make it five vowels.

Edit - Tuanzebe... Yeah, make it 5 vowels.... Or even go for double barreled surnames only squad.

I'll remember this and do that next. I'm thinking English teams for double barrelled names because there's I think it's more common in England. Could jump in with a fairly big team and try and win the premier league with the likes of Ward-Prowse, Calvert-Lewin and Alexander-Arnold.

If I went 5 vowels then I'd have to be a team with 5 vowels too. I don't know, SC Heerenveen or something. :lol:
 
Having a great time with my Southampton save. Scouts found two absolute gems that walked straight into my lineup.

Manuel Ugarte CM (Uruguayan, but somehow got a work permit) 2 million pounds - Partnering Ward-Prowse in the midfield and they are absolutely bossing it.
Anel Ahmedhodzic CB - 2.4 million pounds. A work in progress but he is going to be an awesome ball playing CB.
 
So this Liverpool thing is pissing me off. In my southampton save they are:

P 11
W 11
GF 33
GA 4

This includes 4-0 and 6-1 wins, away, at city and spurs.
Their next game is a home game against me and I have 4 starters out.

Every save I have played something like this happens. Anyone else seeing this?

Also, well done computer. My festive period fixture list is Utd(A), Pool(A), Arsenal(H),Chelsea(H)
 
Mini rant incoming...
Having now played this considerably I have to say it’s the worse Fm in years minus the match engine which is good although I’ve noticed more flaws the more I’ve played.

The amount of bugs is astonishing and SI seem to be passing it off as nothing on their forums. I know it’s been a tough year but how this game was allowed to be released with this amount of bugs is insane.

Statistical bugs

Key tackles don’t register in the game in a human run league. In human run leagues the stats taken for things like key passes, key chances etc are about 200x more than the leagues where there isn’t a human manager meaning if you’re someone who likes to use statistics to look for and analyse players don’t bother.

Fixture bugs

Honestly it’s embarrassing. Especially the World Cup year. You play about 30 games in January but February and March are left clear. It was the same in the last FM.
Back to back games against the same opponents, terrible Fa cup scheduling etc. Cup draws against teams you’re about to play in the league etc etc.

AI Squad building in the Premier League

it’s actually worse than before, Leeds got relegated in one of my saves and decided to sell their entire team and not replace them despite not being in debt. I was about three years into a save I was doing and got to the Prem and most teams had completely different elevens. It completely ruins any form of realism. There’s too much money in the prem and it’s as if clubs feel the need to buy and sell for the sake of it.

Rodgers and Guardiola

just as the last fm, these two are mediocre in the game with Man City regularly finishing outside the top three/four and Leicester either being relegated or bottom half. Again this was an issue in the previous FM. Managers like Dyche and Parker are hugely overpowered yet again.

Transfers/wages

Clubs rejecting your bid for a player then inexplicably selling him for much less to a AI club. Players rejecting your offer of astronomical wages to sign for another club for less wages.


Match engine I like the match engine a lot more than previous FM’s, it’s still got some really stupid stuff. The crossing is completely brainless, hit early crosses also has zero effect.

Players being called up for pointless internationals and missing Cup Finals

Imagine my horror when I took little old Peterborough to an Fa Cup final only to see one of my key players called up to play a fecking gold cup match for Jamaica. Luckily I found a fix with the in game editor to rectify this nonsense (I lost the final 6-0 but that’s neither here nor there). What’s shocking about this is it’s been going on for years and SI literally just ignore it.

Yeah I've found it to be pretty decent so far. Only used it in the save though and not in England myself so not encountered that.
These face packs for regens are a god send. One i was using had a white outline though, yours looks perfect. Gonna have to get on that Zealand pack.

So this Liverpool thing is pissing me off. In my southampton save they are:

P 11
W 11
GF 33
GA 4

This includes 4-0 and 6-1 wins, away, at city and spurs.
Their next game is a home game against me and I have 4 starters out.

Every save I have played something like this happens. Anyone else seeing this?

Also, well done computer. My festive period fixture list is Utd(A), Pool(A), Arsenal(H),Chelsea(H)
Standard FM shit since last year. Every save without fail Liverpool are unbelievable and City and Leicester are shite. The Premier League is bugged to feck, I’d advise going abroad.
 
Try only signing players with minimum four vowels in their surname.... You end up falling in love with Dutch scouts very quickly.

From Utd you could only have De Gea, Van de Beek, Wan-Bassika, Maguire & Greenwood I think.... Actually too easy, make it five vowels.

Edit - Tuanzebe... Yeah, make it 5 vowels.... Or even go for double barreled surnames only squad.
I may be missing something but De Gea only has 3. :wenger:
 
Get done you feckers. Pool were heading into the final game of the season 31W 6D and a 82 GD. Unfortunately for them they ran into my Southampton squad and I crushed the feckers 2-0. Bye bye undefeated season.

I can not say enough about Anel Ahmedhodzic. He is behind only VvD for CB rating in the league and has chipped in a few goals as well from set pieces. Absolute monster.

Scraped my way into 4th, but a little worried about depth for next season. Everton were relegated, so might need to go do some shopping.
 
Get done you feckers. Pool were heading into the final game of the season 31W 6D and a 82 GD. Unfortunately for them they ran into my Southampton squad and I crushed the feckers 2-0. Bye bye undefeated season.

I can not say enough about Anel Ahmedhodzic. He is behind only VvD for CB rating in the league and has chipped in a few goals as well from set pieces. Absolute monster.

Scraped my way into 4th, but a little worried about depth for next season. Everton were relegated, so might need to go do some shopping.

Yeah I had him for me Austria Wien team until I sold him to United. Turned into the best real CB in the world before the regens came in.
 
Yeah I had him for me Austria Wien team until I sold him to United. Turned into the best real CB in the world before the regens came in.

Well that's encouraging to hear. You ever run into Ugarte? Wondering if he is one of those random can be good/bad depending on dice roll players or if he keeps developing. Him a JWP completely dominated the midfield this year.
 
Well that's encouraging to hear. You ever run into Ugarte? Wondering if he is one of those random can be good/bad depending on dice roll players or if he keeps developing. Him a JWP completely dominated the midfield this year.
He's my captain :lol:
 
Get done you feckers. Pool were heading into the final game of the season 31W 6D and a 82 GD. Unfortunately for them they ran into my Southampton squad and I crushed the feckers 2-0. Bye bye undefeated season.

I can not say enough about Anel Ahmedhodzic. He is behind only VvD for CB rating in the league and has chipped in a few goals as well from set pieces. Absolute monster.

Scraped my way into 4th, but a little worried about depth for next season. Everton were relegated, so might need to go do some shopping.

Ffs trying to play without external knowledge (i.e not scout reports) but now I'll have to check because he looks class.

I just had a work permit turned down for a striker whose contract expires in June. He's Irish and plays for Celtic ffs.
 
Ffs trying to play without external knowledge (i.e not scout reports) but now I'll have to check because he looks class.

I just had a work permit turned down for a striker whose contract expires in June. He's Irish and plays for Celtic ffs.

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Played only a full season with the worst team in the league. No LB, no cover in midfield, still walk the league with only 2 defeats. No team instructions btw.

They turned this game too easy to cater the casuals. That, the terrible UI design and the number of bugs makes it the worst FM I can remember.
 

It’s not a lie. The new rules cater to big teams who can sign established players. I don’t think I could have signed either Ugarte or Ahmedhodzic had I waited. My favorite strategy of sign youngsters and building a team up may not work anymore. Brexit cnuts.
 
It’s not a lie. The new rules cater to big teams who can sign established players. I don’t think I could have signed either Ugarte or Ahmedhodzic had I waited. My favorite strategy of sign youngsters and building a team up may not work anymore. Brexit cnuts.
Yeah absolutely, it's why I haven't done a long-term save in England this year. No point as getting good young players just becomes far too difficult.

You could sign Ahmedhodzic though, he has a British passport from when he was at Notts Forest.
 
What a goal! IT'S HIS FIRST GOAL OF THE SEASON!!

Every damn game. This time Greenwood in January ffs
 
Yeah absolutely, it's why I haven't done a long-term save in England this year. No point as getting good young players just becomes far too difficult.

You could sign Ahmedhodzic though, he has a British passport from when he was at Notts Forest.

With my limited transfer budget I can't afford even decent UK players and foreign players keep getting WP's turned down. So I just started rampaging through the lower leagues regens. Hoping there should be at least 1-2 squad players per year. Thanks to be relegated, I was able to get this guy from Everton. He looks like a young CR7! I play with inverted wingers, so he's going to be retrained for the left wing. Should be in the team by 17.

@Berbaclass , @Solius How are you guys posting your screenshots. I have tried using Imgr, but it just shows a blank screen?

Edit: Thank you @Solius!

 
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With my limited transfer budget I can't afford even decent UK players and foreign players keep getting WP's turned down. So I just started rampaging through the lower leagues regens. Hoping there should be at least 1-2 squad players per year. Thanks to be relegated, I was able to get this guy from Everton. He looks like a young CR7! I play with inverted wingers, so he's going to be retrained for the left wing. Should be in the team by 17.

@Berbaclass , @Solius How are you guys posting your screenshots. I have tried using Imgr, but it just shows a blank screen?

I use imgbb. Imgur has gone to shit the last few years.
 
With my limited transfer budget I can't afford even decent UK players and foreign players keep getting WP's turned down. So I just started rampaging through the lower leagues regens. Hoping there should be at least 1-2 squad players per year. Thanks to be relegated, I was able to get this guy from Everton. He looks like a young CR7! I play with inverted wingers, so he's going to be retrained for the left wing. Should be in the team by 17.

@Berbaclass , @Solius How are you guys posting your screenshots. I have tried using Imgr, but it just shows a blank screen?
I use Imgur has always worked okay for me.
 
Going into 2025-26 with Nottingham Forrest. 20/21 got promoted with tons of loans, 21/22 firmly mid table, 22/23 was pushing a top 4 challenge but then fell to 8th with a bad finish. 23/24 top half finish. 24/25 squeezed in top 4. Shit performances in the cups. The big pull has been Esposito who is a monster as a striker again this year (and I just give him big release clauses every contract so he stays happy). Just managed to sign Maddison for 30m too since Leicester somehow just turned into a team that scrap for survival.

Team is (4-1-3-1-1, #10 is support striker):

Ramsdale
Lamptey White Tuanzebe Ait Nouri
Phillips
Stengs ------- Maddison Almada
Zaniolo -------------
Esposito​
Have Lewis as a rotation Lb, Garber as backup for Phillips for DM, Verschaeren been quite good as a backup winger, Ollie watkins to rotate up top. Trying to get Ihatteran too, somehow hasn't left PSV yet. Will probably push Stengs to left wing and make Almada depth and use Ihatteran on the right.

Thought about going for Dean Henderson in goal, but Ramsdale is decent and Hendersons wage demands were insane. The work permits are making it hard as feck to sign players for lower clubs. Fecking brexit. Takes way longer to build your team than before. Basically aiming for players who bigger clubs dump off after they flop.
Get done you feckers. Pool were heading into the final game of the season 31W 6D and a 82 GD. Unfortunately for them they ran into my Southampton squad and I crushed the feckers 2-0. Bye bye undefeated season.

I can not say enough about Anel Ahmedhodzic. He is behind only VvD for CB rating in the league and has chipped in a few goals as well from set pieces. Absolute monster.

Scraped my way into 4th, but a little worried about depth for next season. Everton were relegated, so might need to go do some shopping.
Yeah I tried getting him but he chose Liverpool and then they send him out on loan every year, but won't sell him... plus his wages are just too high now.
 
Guess who lost at home to bottom placed Nottingham Forest (who had 1 win in 22) directly after this ^^^^
 
I dread playing bottom place more than any other team. Doesn't matter if I rotate, or go full first team, it's always 1-0 to them and it's always that player's first goal of the season.

Had fun with Palace on an old FM. They were in the Championship back then, and I had Sean Scannell banging in the goals, with Kagisho Dikgacoi being amazing in midfield. Not had as much time on this one, so I've just stuck with United for something familiar.
 
I dread playing bottom place more than any other team. Doesn't matter if I rotate, or go full first team, it's always 1-0 to them and it's always that player's first goal of the season.

Had fun with Palace on an old FM. They were in the Championship back then, and I had Sean Scannell banging in the goals, with Kagisho Dikgacoi being amazing in midfield. Not had as much time on this one, so I've just stuck with United for something familiar.

Yep. It's genuinely worrying when I see my upcoming game is against the team 20th. Usually they'll beat me and it'll lift them to 19th, making the next team I play also in 20th.

Just reached the Carabao Cup final, first chance of silverware. Final is against Arsenal.
 
Yep. It's genuinely worrying when I see my upcoming game is against the team 20th. Usually they'll beat me and it'll lift them to 19th, making the next team I play also in 20th.

Just reached the Carabao Cup final, first chance of silverware. Final is against Arsenal.

Champioooones!