Tag: Football Manager 2022

Hale End Heroes: Season 1, Part 2

Published on by Chris Fuller

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The weather may be hotter than Granit Xhaka’s temper, but there’s always a good time for Football Manager! So sit back, grab a cool beverage, and enjoy this second chapter of my new FM22 series with Arsenal!

My main goal in this series is to lead Arsenal to Premier League or Champions League glory – with a core of academy players in the team. Everything is explained in Part 1, in case you missed that.

Basically, I will be sticking to some rules that will make this save more challenging – and put greater emphasis on youth development. The main rule is that I must always have at least one academy player in the starting line-up (this limit will increase by one before each new season). I can also only sign players who are aged under 19, have British/Irish nationality, or were ‘homegrown’ at Arsenal.

Today’s installment will take us through the first half of the 2021/2022 season. Will this new era at the Emirates get off to a strong start, or will AFTV be calling for my head? Let’s find out… Continue reading “Hale End Heroes: Season 1, Part 2” →

Hale End Heroes: Season 1, Part 1

Published on by Chris Fuller

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Welcome to Arsenal… and to the start of a brand-new Football Manager 2022 series right here on Fuller FM!

Yes, for this save, I will be pushing Mikel Arteta out of his Emirates hotseat and taking charge of my beloved Gunners… but there’s a twist.

The end goal is to win either the Premier League or the Champions League – with a team consisting mostly of Arsenal academy graduates. Can I complete the challenge before FM23 is released, or will I fail as miserably as Unai Emery?

This first chapter will explain all… Continue reading “Hale End Heroes: Season 1, Part 1” →

Football Manager: What’s in a name?

Published on by Chris Fuller
This was an actual advert for Championship Manager 96/97 – and all those names belonged to actual Premier League players!

Now for something completely different here on Fuller FM!

Football has had its fair share of amusing monikers over the years – from the 19th-century England forward Harry Daft to the aptly-named Celtic flop Rafael Scheidt, via the iconic Paraguayan right-back Chiqui Arce. And as that very real Championship Manager advert from 1996 shows, the Premier League used to be full of innuendo!

There are over 600,000 people in the Football Manager database, so there are bound to be plenty of weird, wacky and wonderful names. Many of these can even be passed onto newly-generated players, so the possibilities for amusing names are truly endless.

Today, I’ll be looking at some of the more unusual names you can find on FM22. I’ll tell the tales of the players behind the names, and even explain some of their origins. Any name that sounds very suggestive in English probably means something perfectly innocent in its native language… Continue reading “Football Manager: What’s in a name?” →

FM22: The Age-Old Problem

Published on by Chris Fuller

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A 35-year-old Joshua Kimmich on FM21… and the same player on FM22.

In Football Manager 2021 – and in most previous FMs – many people complained about older players’ attributes declining too quickly. Once a player turned 32, their physical attributes would fall so fast that they’d be almost worthless by their 35th birthday.

This isn’t always the case in real-life, as better nutrition and advances in sports science are allowing elite footballers to keep playing into their late-30s and beyond. Cristiano Ronaldo is scoring Premier League hat-tricks at 37. Zlatan Ibrahimović was capped by Sweden at 40. Gianluigi Buffon was shutting out Lionel Messi in the Champions League at 42.

FM22 reflects this a lot better. Players now decline more slowly, especially those with high Natural Fitness and Professionalism. Anyone lacking in those departments will still struggle to continue past their mid-30s, but it’s now quite common for super-athletes like Romelu Lukaku and Thomas Müller to play top-flight football until they’re pushing 40.

At the other end of the scale, on FM21, young players could develop so quickly that they could easily peak at 21 or 22. This has been significantly slowed down on FM22, and so a top prospect generally won’t realise their full potential until they’re around 25 to 29. Much more realistic, right?

However, some FMers believe that these changes have gone too far the other way. There’ve been reports that too many top players stay at the top for too long – and that young talents struggle to even break into an elite club or national team, let alone become a regular starter.

Are the changes to player development working as intended, or are these concerns justified? Is it too hard for youngsters to break through on FM22? Let’s investigate… Continue reading “FM22: The Age-Old Problem” →

Developing your own coaches in Football Manager

Published on by Chris Fuller

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One of the most exciting aspects of any Football Manager career is when you develop young prospects to reach their full potential. Bringing through an academy wonderkid into the senior team and on the road to superstardom is one thing… but what about developing your coaches?

When starting a new save, many FMers like to overhaul their backroom staff, bringing in the very best coaches, scouts and physios they can afford. But hey, what’s the fun in that when you can reap the benefits from growing your own coaches?

In this guide, I will give you some advice to help you successfully move your veteran players from the pitch to the touchline – and even educate a new crop of managers to take football by storm. Continue reading “Developing your own coaches in Football Manager” →

The story of Football Manager’s newgen faces

Published on by Chris Fuller

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Let’s talk about newgen faces in Football Manager.

It seems like with every passing FM, there’s a fierce debate about the 3D faces that are assigned to youth intake players. Some people in the FM community hate them; others just tolerate them.

Having played this series for over 20 years, I consider myself an FM historian who loves to look back and see how the game has progressed over the years. I’ve gone through every version from Football Manager 2015 up until the newly-released Football Manager 2022, tracking the evolution of FM’s newgen faces. I’ve also provided some thoughts on how (and where) these faces could be improved for future games… Continue reading “The story of Football Manager’s newgen faces” →

My thoughts on Football Manager 2022

Published on by Chris Fuller

After a quiet few weeks, Fuller FM has returned for another season! I took some time off from blogging after finishing my journeyman series, partly to recharge my batteries, and partly because of a family crisis, but now I’m ready to get going again!

Football Manager 2022 has been officially out for just over a week now. Unlike last year, I decided to forego the beta and not pre-order the game straight away. The demo came out alongside the full game on 9 November, so I waited for that so I could try before I buy.

I’ve now spent the past week or so playing through half a season with Millwall, seeing for myself how FM22 has changed – for better or worse. These are my initial thoughts on the new game… Continue reading “My thoughts on Football Manager 2022” →