In manager mode i would like to see
pre-season friendlies. Some leagues, like the Spanish, in fifa 07 start in September so you miss the transfer window but a pre-season fixture list would avoid this problem. Would allow your team to gel before the season starts and to experiment with players/formations. You could have perhaps 4 days allocated for friendlies and you would invite/be invited to play, who wants to play you depending on the prestige of your team. Could be in a single game friendly or perhaps a mini 4 team pre-season tournament kind of thing. Basically just an extension of kick-off mode and create a tournament mode but inside manager mode.
Be allowed to use
practice mode also inside of manager mode. You buy new players you might want to test their abilities at free kicks etc.
More
customisable formations, not just set ones. Should be able to tweak a players position on the pitch slightly to get him exactly where you want him, not just putting him in the general area. Missing formations like 3-2-3-2, 3-3-3-1 etc could be overcome by allowing you to select how many defenders you want, how many holding midfielders you want etc.
Would like to see
in game goal flashes/alerts etc. For example in the ECC or EFA competitions when the group games are played simulaneously you may need a certain result to happen in the other game for your team to go through. Results from other games would flash up and a roar would go up around the stadium as the crowd reacts to the other game. This is the kind of excitment that fans experience in real life when they're watching their team but are hoping for results elsewhere. Also could be applied to league competitions in the last few weeks of the season and you're vying for the title or trying to stay up.
EDIT: when a goal is scored the group table showing how things stand at the moment could also show up.
In manager mode the Mexican, Brazilian and MLS leagues have very limited playability for people who don't really support a club from any of these countries - no offence meant to people who do support these teams by the way. Manager mode in these leagues basically consists of win the league and cup in a season or two then move on because there is nothing left to achieve or build for. To increase the playability of these leagues you seriously need to add maybe two teams from each South American country to the Rest of the World section so that there can be a
Copa Libertadores competition in manager mode. This would enhance the playability of these leagues greatly by adding greater depth and variety. On the subject off adding teams there are a host of eastern european clubs who should be added to ROW aswell - Red Star, Kiev, Steau, Levski, CSKA are just a few very good clubs that deserve to be acknowledged. Would again give added variety to ECC and EFA competitions. I think you will find this request a lot when you go through this thread!
Another thing that people get annoyed about is the missing players and undone transfers when the game is released. I know there was a patch but when i (on the PS2) installed the roster update i was then unable to edit players. I had a choice between two features of the game - i could have updated squads but no editing capability or the ability to edit and have to update the squads manually and still be missing players. I should be able to do both, and not everyone has their PS2 hooked up online. To get around this there could be some sort of
'copy and paste' facility from international teams. For example i could be able to copy Sorin - missing this year from his club without the roster update - from the Argentina squad onto Hamburg so that he would then be on both squads. Players who are in the game only on their international team could then be allocated to a club team without the need to go online.
Goalkeepers are a bit better this year but not perfect. Sometimes, even on legendary difficulty, a long shot will be parried into the net by the keeper when it looks like it could easily have been caught. Keepers could be stickier when it comes to holding longer shots or they should punch more shots round the post or over the bar. I am glad that they do not seem to be knocking the ball out into the middle of the goal area straight to an attacker after a shot as often as they did in 06. This led to a cheap way of scoring last year.
Goals from crosses seem to be harder to score from. Thank you.
In 06 it was way too easy to score from a crossed ball and i am glad this way of scoring requires much more skill.
The new manager mode features like the youth system, real money, realistic transfers were all good, greatly enhanced the game in my opinion. How about also being able to see
results/tables/top scorer lists from leagues outside your own so you can see what players are on form etc to formulate transfer strategies? Perhaps also have the ability to offer a player plus cash or player swaps when conducting transfers?
There should be
more controversy in the game. For instance the ball bounces down over the goal line and back out or is cleared by a defender from behind the line after a shot but the referees miss it and don't give the goal and vice versa for when a goal is given but all of the ball didn't cross the line. Also mistakes should happen in the offside rule. Players offside score and the goal is given etc. These things should also bring out a passionate reaction from the fans in the crowd. These things should happen in the game as in real life but should only happen only once in a while, not every game. Diving could also be introduced to the game. It would be a hard thing to time perfectly and to get away with and should be punished with a yellow card when spotted. EDIT: The player that dived to try and cheat could then be booed by opposition fans every time he touched the ball. Referees make mistakes and can be conned by players like this in real life and this human error factor should appear in the game.
More to follow...