Football Manager 14 has been officially released, and the creators have promised an even more in-depth managerial experience with a number of improvements from last-year's best-settler. While the 2013 game was a great success, many felt there could be a considerable amount of improvements made to better the realism for its many users - constructive criticism the creators have taken on board when looking at the new improvements. Sports Interactive are the team behind Football Manager, and they have been working tirelessly to adapt an already successful and enjoyable managerial simulation to make it continually challenging and more alike to how management really is in football. So what have they changed on the new game? And why is it the best FM yet? Here's why....
6. Revamp Of The Tactics
The biggest change on FM14 has been the tactics and formations screen. While the previous game used slider bars to determine the distance a player would keep the majority of his passes to, or how high up the pitch the defence will position themselves, or even how much creative freedom a player would be allowed, FM14 has now adapted the tactics to feature the in-game touchline shouts you could use on FM13 during a match. Options such as 'close down more' and 'fewer riskier passes' are just some of the many choices you have for each players, and it's these options which decide how the player will approach the game for the 90 minutes. A clever add-on is that FM won't let you choose options which contradict each other. For example, if you choose 'get further forward', you won't be able to select 'hold position' etc. The same rules also apply to the team instructions, where purists of the game can now select 'retain possession', 'play out of defence', and 'work ball into the box', but that means choices such as 'go route one' and 'more direct passing' aren't available to be selected. While many have complained it makes the tactics less intricate and too vague, it certainly adds to the realism - as a manager will be giving the exact same instructions in real life to a player. There are no sliders on a manager's chalkboard. He tells his players exactly what he wants from them and can only be so specific with words.