OK. So I've struggled a lot with troll results(seemingly) and just stupid, unimaginable things(at that moment) happening in the matches, always wondering , going through so much of the forums looking for answers for stuff like injury problems, losing to stupid formations, losing to fall lower quality teams, struggling with orders etc . I remember once I was playing a must win match in my league, he was playing with an odd 4-1-3-2 formation with 2 MCs and 1 MR in middle, I was trying to learn to counter formations and so played a 4-3-2w-1 with 2 mcs and 1 ML to counter his MR, I had better quality of course, so I went with man-to-man marking confident about it as I had just beaten the no. 1 Team in my league using that strategy.
This is what happened :
At the 26th minute My 5 star MC got a RED CARD for "spitting at someone".
At the 64th minute My other 5star MC scored a goal.
and while he's dominating me in just about every statistic I'm still happy leading with ten men.
Then at the 73rd minute my goal Scorer 5star MC also got a RED CARD, can't remember why.
(I had not set HARD TACKLING)
Immediately his team scored in the same minute.
And another one at 82'.
I lost the seemingly easy game with my top two MCs suspended. What the hell !!! This is all NORDEUS' fault right ?
I should blast through my keyboard in a Vent thread right ?
But let me the DEVIL'S Advocate here.
I kept trying to find reasons and trying to learn the proper way to manage this game, still trying to learn to get the proper formula for everything.
But I guess there is no better teacher than experience.
And now I've understood that with proper management, one can actually consistently get good results, ofcourse One cannot win every match (thanks to RNG), but consistently enough with respect to one's efforts and guile in managing.
Here are some of the things I've found (positive points of the game)
*I don't know if this is a new change but I really think the developers have given more preference to the managerial ability of the player guiding the outcome of the match rather than just the quality of the players, hence all the "troll results", much importance is given to the orders and the formation working together in opposition to the opponents strategy, rather than just a walk through for the HIGHER QUALITY 11.
For a very obvious example: playing 4-1-2-1-2 ND is almost a sure fire way to lose if played with defensive mentality.
A win is never guaranteed even against a lower quality opponent if played with Normal mentality. For this formation to work well and as expected, it HAS to be accompanied by attacking mentality and short passing.
*Also I've found that the In game decisions of the managers definitely affect the outcome of the game. I can give examples of my own experiences of the same, but may be in another post.
One very important in-game tactic can be changing normal tackling to hard tackling, it almost always disrupts the flow of the game, and very much gives you the upper hand in a losing battle, even though it does increase your chances of getting carded.
*And also I've found that the commentaries DO GIVE GREAT POINTERS to how the match is going, and whether your orders are working or not in the match. If heeded and if changes in tactics are made accordingly, there is almost always a definite impact.
For example: If the commentary keeps saying that MCs/AMCs/STs are playing a pass, but is being blocked by the opp's MC/DMC/DF that means your short passing is not working, if however there is a string of lines describing one player passing to another, and a shot at the end of the move every 2-3 out of 4-5 times, then it means the mentality is complimenting your formation against the opponent's.
*Also continuously playing a player (even with full fitness and motivation) does seem to affect a player's form, and he prolly does not play to the same potential as his SKILLS warrants. This may be one of the main causes of shock results for quality teams I think.
I know eveyone is doing the guessing game here, and it depends on where you are on the 'patience' meter with this one,
and I may be just completely wrong , but I do feel this game is not as much of A TROLL as people are making it out to be lately. (But of course it may just take 1 unbelievably stupid result to get ME slipping again... )
So all in all I still have NOT lost faith in the game, and I'm having fun.
I guess this is the opposite of a vent thread. There are still a lot of shortcomings in the game. But please do let me know if you guys also feel the same way, and are actually getting the hang of it and your knowledge and experience is improving you and your results and it is all making sense, even when you LOSE 2-1 to a much lower quality team cause your best player spit at someone, because spitting is a NASTY HABIT apparently.