FM 2007 is arguably the dirtiest and the shadiest among all the CM/FM series so far. Why? it is because of the new features that are injected into the game. To name a few of them, they are: Controversial goals by the referee (lots of them will occur), diving by the players (This may cost you dearly, from a clean sheet to the Champions League trophy. I have just experienced the former, which will be explained later in this post.), and of course the famous mind games feature, where you can attack the opposition managers before your players even kick a ball (I used this successfully to defeat Inter and subsequently making them lose points as their morale drops. This will also be explained later.
First and foremost, I will explain about the diving committed by the players. I was leading Livorno by 6 goals and it was 10 minutes before the game ended. Suddenly, from a swift Livorno attack, a cross comes from the right looking for the lurking Livorno strikers in my penalty box. When the cross arrives, I got a penalty. According to the screen, my fullback had fouled one of Livorno's players. A commentary was soon follows, "He surely dived" (The commentary referring to the Livorno player who got 'fouled'). Nevertheless, I conceded a penalty and it was executed without error by another Livorno player. 6-1 the scoreline stood after the final whistle. Well, in this particular match, it only cost me a good scoreline of 6-0 as well as my goalkeeper who missed out a sum of money (the clean sheet bonus). However, had this happened in the Champions League final, for instance, when the scoreline is 0-0 and it's 10 minutes before the final whistle. You concede the goal from the controversial penalty and you lose the match as well as the cup because of that stupid goal. Of course it will be heartbreaking, even though FM 2007 is only "a game" to some.
Having said that, I am not really complaining too much about this feature as it is also rampant in real life nowadays. Also, these little things do add depth into the game and if you are the one who benefits from these dirty goals, it will somehow add the satisfaction when winning a match or even a big cup like the Champions League.
Second thing that I am going to touch today would be the mind-games feature. I used it to my advantage to ruin Inter Milan, who has been level with my Roma on points since the beginning of the season. It was a few days before my home match against them and it will be a great match considering the fact tat both of us are level at the top of the table and this match has the potential to be the title decider. To be honest, I am a little concerned in approaching this game. Then, I recalled the manager interaction feature in the game (aka the Mind-games feature). I lashed out some negative comments toward the Inter Milan camp and the effect was immediate. I could notice that several of their key players like Patrick Vieira and their deadly bomber Adriano suffering a dip in morale. Some of my players were also suffering although those are not my key players, much to my delight. On the match day, just before the match, the Inter Milan camp replied, apparently they were also trying to hit my team psychologically. I replied with a further negative comment to them and didn't look back. I went to the match right away and take them on. I expected a draw for this.
However, I was totally wrong. Right from the opening whistle, Inter Milan were pinned back like headless chicken. To cut the story short, the scoreline read 2-0 at the end of the match, with my team totally dominating them, I created around 15 chances while Inter created less than five. The 2-0 scoreline didn't get any better due to some misses by my strikers (perhaps due to Inter's part in the mind-game prior to this match. I was delighted with this result as I moved 3 points above them. For subsequent matches, I do this to Inter. Just before their match days, I would give them negative comments. Now, I am reaping out the results. Inter have since been consistently drawing against small oppositions such as Reggina while squandering a lot of chances to score goals. They even lost some matches on the way. Currently, I have managed to distance myself 11 points clear above them and my team is looking really good for the title.
The conclusion is that, in FM 2007, it's not about textbook tactics and management procedures anymore. In this game, players are invited to be more creative in a cunning way. Matches are not won by tactics and good players alone. Matches are also won by the psychological warfare that is going on off the pitch. If you can make use of the mind-game feature in the game well and win those psychological warfares, you will find winning matches in this game relatively easy. One thing to take note, though. When using the mind-game feature, not only the opponents' players are affected. Your players are affected as well. However, in my case, my players are apparently very strong mentally. Therefore, they are not really affected badly, if not affected at all.
No comments:
Post a Comment