Football Manager 2021 Review: 9 Ups And 3 Downs

Downs...

3. Too Many Slip Ups

Football Manager 2021
SEGA

Not to go all Slippy G, but there seems to be a few too many slip ups in Football Manager 2021.

By that, I mean that you can go on a run where you convincingly smash through all of the better teams in your division, but you'll forever be caught out when playing against the teams languishing at the bottom of the table.

As an example, you could romp past the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United, putting four goals past each team on your way to glory, yet you'll then get turned over 3-0 whenever you play a Fulham, a Leeds, or a West Brom.

Initially, I thought it was maybe something to do with the general system I implemented being not suited to teams who tend to sit back more, but even a change of tactics and formation don't seem to work in this regard.

Football Manager - and before that, Championship Manager - always has a habit of bringing a player crashing back down to earth, although Football Manager 2021 seems to take this to an extreme level. And more-so, it's always against the lesser teams that you'll find yourself inexplicably staring shocking defeats in the face.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.