Our wishlist for Football Manager 2021 and beyond!
With the 2019/2020 season being cut short due to the corona-virus, many Football Manager fans are massively looking forward to the new Football Manager 2021. In this article we will present you our wishlist for FM21!
New staff role
Include the role of set piece coach. We have seen major clubs like Liverpool and Ajax working with a throw-in coach and we would love to see these set piece coaches to be introduced into the game. This set piece coach will be responsible for three different areas: throw-ins, free kicks and corners.
Split formations
We would love to see the introduction of split formations, meaning you have a formation for when you have the ball and a formation for when you don't have the ball. A lot of football clubs use different kinds of formations depending on the situation. A midfielder dropping back between the two central defenders and switching the formation from a 4-3-3 to a 3-4-3 for example. There are numerous teams in Europe's biggest leagues which use these kinds of formation switches during games.
Build your own player role
While the preset player roles are easy to use, some of us still miss the instruction sliders. These allowed you to create your own type of player to match your tactical needs. Again, with the preset player roles it is easy to create a tactic, but it would be nice if you can use a player role with NO instructions at all. That way you will be able to build your own role.
New player instructions
We hope FM21 will introduce some new player instructions. 'Fall back between two central defenders' for a deep-lying playmaker or a 'Cross the ball to the left/right flank' for your Centre-back just like Tottenham's Toby Alderweireld does.
New player attribute(s) for Passing
The passing attribute is great, but it doesn't reflect every form of passing. Short passing, through passing or long passing are three very different types of passing and should receive there own attribute. Other possibility could be that the Passing attribute is build from the three types above and shows the average.
Dynamic potential
Who expected Jamie Vardy ever to become a Premier League top goalscorer? He defied all the odds and developed from a mediocre non-league striker to an absolute star in the Premier League. Performances should be affecting potential more than it does in Football Manager and it should be possible for potential ability to change.
AI Managers & transfers
When will SI ever build in new AI for the virtual managers and clubs? After all these years we still see AI clubs buying players they don't need! It would be so nice if SI would build in more realism into this area of the game. Let AI managers buy players who fit in their preferred formation and let them buy players who have certain attributes to match their favourite playing style. That would make the game a lot more interesting.
Manager careers
We would love to see more options for your career when creating a manager. You have some options (sunday league footballer, international footballer) but we would love to see some extra options. It would be fun if you could set several clubs you have played for to increase realism.
Improve international management
A wish the community has had for years now. While club management has been improved during the years with the addition of many new features, international management has still been way underestimated by SI. There are little options for training, little options for man management and 'scouting'.