The job of a football coach, or a manager, has changed dramatically over the last few years. Managers are now stay in clubs and representations shorter than players themselves. We’re not even halfway through the current season, and big names like Ancelotti, Bilic, de Boer, etc. have already been fired. It’s funny to compare the actual manager job with the virtual one, primarily because it gives you far more insight into it. Football Manager gives you this opportunity, on a very detailed, almost microscopic level. When it comes to actual novelties of Football Manager 2018, two things should be mentioned first: team dynamics and medical center. They are not the only novelties, but they have the biggest impact on the gameplay.

The team dynamics is a novelty similar to FIFA‘s Ultimate. Thanks to the team dynamics, it is no longer possible for someone to buy ten footballers to ensure the quality of the team. The number of players is now only tied to the team’s breadth, while its quality is in the players’ mutual understanding.

The teams finally have a clearly defined structure in Football Manager 2018. You know that some players are more influential in the team than others, and this is also the case for a virtual manager. You cannot just kick the key players out of the team, usually the oldest footballers. Also, you cannot expect your expensive reinforcement to have an impact on the team if he does not speak the same language as the rest of the team so you must send him to a language course. Such things fit in with the way the team is built because it is important to have a long-term development plan.

Looking ahead is now a strategy for injury too. The new medical center will give you a better insight into how and why your players’ injuries are occurring, and most importantly – how to prevent them. The player can rest, reduce his training intensity, etc., but still the most important thing is to have as much quality medical staff as possible. Although the medical center is essentially well thought out, you cannot get rid of the impression that the game is causing the injury just to make you pay attention to this novelty. On average I had six injured players in the team, which put me in the third place in the league.

Sega is very greedy when it comes to Football Manager. Every year they remove the previous release of the Manager from the sale so you cannot buy it for a cheaper price. A common complaint to the Football Manager game is that, for a high price of 55 euros, they do not deliver enough new stuff. Although the team dynamic and medical center mentioned earlier is a useful thing, the Football Manager 2018 is once again the proof that this series bring in changes at a snail’s pace. The gameplay still rests on mechanics that are almost seven years old. When you get into the routine and adjust the game to suit you,  it’s not such a big problem. However, the gameplay’s obsolescence is noticeable.

The scouting system is refreshed this year, but, in my opinion, for the worse. With the current “star” scoring system, they now give their players a 1-100 rating, which is useful. However, you are asked to review about thirty reports weekly, which is tedious. You can, of course, give this job to your staff, but there is always the fear that the next wunderkind will escape under the radar.

The tactical team setup system has also been redesigned and it is a bit clearer what the command and the style of the game really mean. However, despite its tactical depth, Football Manager 2018 is still limited in this regard. I would not even be surprised that this is a problem because the Football Manager 2018 interface is very bad. It did not change drastically, but it was deployed in such a way that you would need at least two to three clicks for the most useful actions. The worst of all is that the management during the match is roughly like surfing the internet on an old cell phone without touchscreen. Let’s say I want to say to one player to calm down and concentrate. First, you cannot tell two things at once. Second, you need four clicks for that.

Not only is the functionality of the interface disgusting, but the most important icons, buttons, and menus are unnecessarily small while some other things are huge. Ask yourself what is the most important information of a game. If you think this is the result of the match, it is also your answer to the question of which segment of the game during the match in FM 2018 is the least noticeable.

Its illogicality does not stop at that. The visual 2D display of field events does not change the sides of the teams. In the 3D view, the chance for a goal happens on the left, and the same chance is then displayed in the 2D preview on the right side of the field, which is confusing. And my favorite of the illogical interface is the following. Everywhere in the game, you form the formation on the vertically displayed field.

Football Manager 2018 changed the 3D launcher and finally entered the DirectX 11 API era. Even though the DX12 is available for two years now, the Football Manager 2018 only now became a DX11 game. Of course, this change is barely visible.

If you love this series, you know there are better and worse releases, but you can get addicted to both. Football Manager 2018 is one of those worse releases if we look at the amount of changes, newly created bonuses and the already existing limitations. Yet it is still the most complete football management game on the market.