Football Manager 2014: 12 New Features To Be Excited About

11. The Match Plan Creator

Match Plan A lot of us love FM's tactical depth, but for some, it can be a lot like reading hieroglyphics. We know we can press, but we don€™t know how that informs the whole battle plan €“ will it make us more defensive, or more attacking? Will we be chasing the game, or choking out the other team? It€™s all open to interpretation, meaning some players were discouraged from seeing just how deep the tactical rabbit hole goes, preferring to stick with the basic contain-to-overload system. But now, Sports Interactive have resolved to make it a whole lot easier for everyone by adding what they€™re calling the €˜Match Plan Creator.€™ Effectively, it operates as a way to better prepare deeper tactics by presenting us with scenarios and asking us to draft an easily implementable plan if said scenario comes to pass. So, for example, there€™s a possible scenario for if the team are winning by only a goal during the first half, between 45-70 minutes, between 70-90 minutes, and during the last 5 minutes, allowing you to create pre-made plans your team will abide by in those time periods. So whether you want to gradually ratchet up the pressure or drop back as time goes on, your team can now do it automatically and to your specifications. A further upshot to this (or not, depending on how you look at it) is that the AI is using this system too, meaning that you€™re going to be up against far cleverer opponents than before.
Contributor
Contributor

Durham University graduate and qualified sports journalist. Very good at sitting down and watching things. Can multi-task this with playing computer games. Football Manager addict who has taken Shrewsbury Town to the summit of the Premier League. You can follow me at @Ed_OwenUK, if you like ramblings about Newcastle United and A Place in the Sun. If you don't, I don't know what I can do for you.