Football Manager 24 Review

Today, I’m reviewing Football Manager 24 for those who currently play Football Manager(FM) and want to know if it’s worth upgrading the game from an earlier release for this post. I’m assuming you are already playing Football Manager 2023. I have linked to our review of Football Manager 2023.

This review will also be helpful to those new to the series who are considering jumping onto the game series with Football Manager 2024.

What is Football Manager?

Football Manager is a simulation game for those of you who are new to the series that allows the player to live the fantasy of managing a football team. 

Many football fans fantasise about managing their club, and this series of games tries to replicate the experience as realistically as it can. Each release builds on the previous game, increasing the emersion on every release. Has this track record continued with Football Manager 24? I think it has due to the vastly improved match engine and the much-needed improvement to set-piece coaching.

Key changes between FM 23 & FM 24

In this section, we will take a look at the key changes I have identified between Football Manager 23 and Football Manager 24.

Continuing your Football Manager 23 save

The first change I wanted to mention is a big one as there have been times in the past when I have been managing a really successful team that I had wished I could continue to play that save in the new version of Football Manager, I have even written about the experience of saying goodby to a previous save.

With Football Manager 24, you can now open and update a save from Football Manager 23. When I tried this functionality with my Football Manager 23 save, I was pleased with how it worked, and it allows me to carry on that save or at least finish that league system should I ever decide to do so.

Coaching set pieces

The coaching of set pieces in Football Manager has gone from being an utter mess to something which gives you a bit more control by defining set-piece tactics. It’s still not there for me, but it’s much better than in earlier releases.

You can specify how the ball should be delivered for example, will the corner be an in-swinger or an out-swinger? You can then define which area of the penalty box will be targeted, such as the near post. Last but not least, you can specify where players meeting a specific skill set will be positioned. The screen does state that the coached moves will be adjusted to suit what is happening during the game, which seems realistic to me, at least.

It will be interesting to see how set-piece tactics are developed in future releases.

Football Manager 24 match engine

I read my review of Football Manager 23 prior to starting this post, and I noted in that review that Football Manager 23 match engine was an improvement over the match engine in Football Manager 22.

I’m sure that is the case, but looking back in time and due to the fact I haven’t played Football Manager 22 for some 14 months. I don’t think that improvement was as huge as the improvement between Football Manager 23 and Football Manager 24, which is much more realistic.

Overall, goals appear more realistic than in previous years, especially the build-up play, which sometimes appears more deliberate. The changeover of possession in midfield is, at times, very realistic as well, with bad control leading to a turnover of possession, much like it does in a real game of football.

However, there is still room for improvement. For example, players will sometimes be tackled and then miraculously get up and beat the player who won the tackle to the ball. I hope this characteristic will be removed in next year’s release.

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