The real heart of football management games, however, beyond the atmosphere, nods to realism and bonus trimmings, is how tactical decisions play out on the pitch.
When you finally get sick of assistant managers going rogue and spending all your money on training camps, merchandise helpers who can’t manage to re-order stock and coaches who set baffling training regimes, you’ll feel compelled to retake full control of the day-to-day club tedium. It should provide a welcome relief from micro-management, but in reality many of the staff just aren’t very good at their jobs. When informed of a striker’s frustration at his lack of goals, the game provides no relevant dialogue options for reassuring him.ĭelegating roles to hired staff is also a bit dodgy. After a while the players feel more like attention-starved Tamagotchi than actual people. In truth, they simply become a nag, insisting every other day that you need to “talk to your players” more. On the main page, warning alerts will pop up whenever something is amiss, potentially offering a helpful at-a-glance system of fighting fires. That may sound like laziness, but all the extra delving becomes tiresome if it’s a screen you need to check often. The general interface is functional and relatively clear, but there’s a little too much clicking through multiple layers to reach desired locations. There’s even the welcome ability to listen to your own mp3 collection in-game, letting The Fall’s “Eat Yerself Fitter” blast out while you sort out training routines. Options and trimmings are everywhere, allowing the player to tweak and customise their game in terms of scope, difficulty and whether they will focus on first team duties or micro-manage every aspect of the club, from scarf sales to the under 14s youth side. Nonetheless, the presentational sheen is up to the usual FIFA standards. The official website for the game doesn’t even show up in a standard google search (not helpful for players looking for database updates), and development appears to have been sub-contracted to a company called Bright Future. Marketing seems curiously muted for a FIFA-branded, EA Sports-backed title. If so, however, EA has gone about it in an odd way. Persons of a cynical nature may surmise that this pressure has led to the game being rushed out before Football Manager 09 at all costs. Both rival games are set to introduce 3D match engines in addition to standard text commentary, placing FIFA Manager’s primary selling point under threat. Here though, it faces two table-topping opponents: the forthcoming Football Manager 09 and a delayed Championship Manager 09.
We'll bring you all the latest news from across the world of football.Having nudged the critical swingometer towards FIFA 09 in the Pro Evolution Soccer vs FIFA wars, EA Sports now fancies its chances in the management arena. Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski won the Striker of the Year award.Įlsewhere, QPR fought back from 1-0 down to beat Derby County 2-1 with a 90th-minute winner from Andre Gray to move the visitors to third in the Championship. Barcelona captain Alexia Putellas claimed the women's award after she led her team to the La Liga title and Champions League trophy.
Lionel Messi was awarded the 2021 men's Ballon d'Or on Monday evening, the seventh time he has received the accolade. The German has signed a contract until the end of the season, with an additional two years in a consultancy role. Manchester United have announced Ralf Rangnick as their new interim manager, as first reported by The Athletic last week. Hello and welcome to The Athletic’s coverage of today’s football news.