Updated version: Football Manager 2027 News: what we already know
More new features keep coming! This time, we'll talk about the famous match engine!
During the presentation of the new features, images were shown of what we can expect graphically from Football Manager 2020, which will be released on 19 November.from Football Manager 2020, which will be released on 19 November.
In this article, we'll also cover the development of AI and animations in the new edition, as well as some more general changes that will improve the gameplay experience.
Other new features
🧢 Coaching Staff Recommendations
👔 Club Ambitions
⚽️ Development Centre
📸 Graphical Improvements
⏱️ The Road Ahead
📱 Other Features Announced on Twitter
🔎 Scouting
One of the most significant changes in this edition relates to attacking movement.
The team responsible for developing the match engine, with help from multiple professionals connected to the football world, after closely analysing hundreds of matches, refined and replicated the attacking movement we see every weekend.
Players now make smarter off-the-ball runs, which are also more contextual to their positions and roles on the pitch.
For example, we might see a withdrawn striker dropping between the lines to receive the ball and help build play, but if that's not possible, he'll instead move into finishing areas.
Player movement is now fully contextual. Some players might constantly offer passing lanes to work around high opposition pressure, while others might simply overlap through the centre when facing compact defensive blocks.
Strikers who like to play the offside line (Liédson, Inzaghi) now try to outwit opposing defences with more realistic movement. For example, they'll initially stay offside, then time their run back onside just before the ball is played to them.
There will be an increase in inside runs from wide players, of course only when the situation calls for it. These will be more common from inverted wingers.
Player decision-making in the final third has improved significantly, as a result of the upgrade to off-the-ball movement across the board.
In particular, players will tend to look to use their stronger foot to pass, cross or even shoot, reducing their opponents' chances of making a tackle or block.
Overall, the variety of off-the-ball movement implemented in FM20 will make every opponent's attacking dynamics feel unique. As a result, you'll constantly need to find new solutions to stop your opponents.
To counter this offensive upgrade, it was of course also necessary to improve the AI behind defensive movement, both in decision quality and efficiency.
Defenders now decide faster on what action to take: mark a player tightly, close down the ball, or position themselves correctly to cover possible gaps.
Just like on the attacking side, decisions will depend on the position and role each player performs on the pitch.
Football Manager's marking system was rewritten completely from scratch for this edition.
There'll be greater awareness of the surrounding space and better identification of possible threats to goal.
As a result, defenders' reading of the game has improved, letting them deal more intelligently with opposition counter-attacks. For example, there's now an increase in tactical fouls to stop the opposition's quick transitions.
Another important change, one heavily requested by the community, concerns goalkeeper animations.
In this new edition, they'll make saves in a far more natural way, thanks to an extensive range of new animations that have been added.
New ways of dealing with shots have also been added, including saves pushed out to the touchline/for a corner, rather than constantly parrying back into the six-yard box.
Even reactions to unstoppable shots have been implemented, to add more realism.
That said, the biggest difference will show up in their positioning between the posts (or off their line).
Not only in set-piece situations, but they'll also react as a phase of play develops, adjusting their positioning depending on where the ball is.
Goalkeeper distribution was another area that's been improved.
They'll now respond better to the tactical instructions set for the kind of build-up play you want.
The new goal kick rules have already been introduced, and as a result, the positioning of the counter-instructions that prevent playing out from the back have also changed.
Finally, it wasn't just the 3D match engine that saw changes to the playing experience.
The text/commentary mode has also changed, to better convey the flow and context of the match, which will let managers make better-informed decisions.
In this edition we'll also be able to control the speed of the text commentary.
These are just some of the new features regarding Football Manager 2020's match engine and AI. The rest is for you to discover! You can also watch the first FM20 simulation and try out some of these new features.
