FM27: Tactical Tweaks and Match Engine Upgrades

Football Manager's Match Engine is driven by an impossible pursuit of perfection, to replicate the art of football in its digital form.   

The visuals of the match day environment help to make every fixture feel like a richer piece of football theatre, but core to your immersion as a manager are the ways your players come to life on the pitch and the control you’re able to exert from the dugout.   

Powered by trend-setting industry partnerships and contacts, FM27’s Match Engine adds new layers of depth and influence with enhancements to player movement and behaviour, as well as the introduction of a brand-new Tactical Tweaks system. Now, every match feels like more of a tactical battle between both the players and your opposition manager. 

Watch on YouTube ↗

Learn more about the Match Engine upgrades you'll soon see in FM27 in the Deep Dive blog and check out a list of FAQs related to this update for more details.

FM27 – Match AI - FAQs

Q: In this FM27 deep dive, what were the main goals, changes and additions that the Sports Interactive team looked to address?

A: Combining community feedback and internal reviews, the key goals we aimed to achieve for this area of FM27 were:    

• Create more realism in player movement and animations, supported by an expanded partnership with HawkEye Innovations, leading to more believability and excitement when watching a match unfold 

• Address defensive players’ behaviour by updating jockeying and player speed  

• Improve the behaviour of attacking players through more detailed and realistic movements, such as skill moves, running speed and attacking the box 

• Introduce a new feature, Tactical Tweaks, to give you additional control over instructions during a match, alongside optimising Shouts 

• Adding more data on player performance and behaviour during the match day layout, with adaptive elements, ensuring useful data is easily available 

Q: What is the Tactical Tweaks feature and how does it work?

A: Tactical Tweaks give you more influence as a match unfolds, so you can quickly adapt to changes in game state. Designed following interactions with real managers, Tactical Tweaks allow you to deploy a combination of instructions at once, rather than making multiple manual tweaks in the Tactics menu. The tweaks available to you vary from simple adjustments, like swapping wide players to opposite flanks or sending the goalkeeper forward, to detailed moves that adjust multiple facets of your tactical plan. Tactical Tweaks are available on the match day screen alongside Shouts, and your tweaks remain active until you deselect them. 

Q: What changes have been made to Shouts in FM27?

A: The Shouts system has been revamped to give clearer guidance on the actions you can take and how they affect your players. Alongside changes to names of the Shouts, you’ll find additional detail around the implication of that Shout, as well as more variation in reactions to show how it has influenced a player’s body language and mood. 

Q: How have player animations been addressed to improve the realism of their movement and actions? 

A: In a previous FM27 deep dive we explained how the visual model of players has been addressed; and alongside this, significant work has gone into making movement and animations more diverse, dynamic and believable. Thanks to the studio’s work with HawkEye Innovations, you'll now see more varied running motions when players are either on or off the ball. For attacking players, you will see new skill moves used on the ball, particularly by players with higher Flair. For defensive players, you will see more instances of jockeying and realistic body placement to halt the opposing player. These two improvements in tandem create more exciting and satisfying moments on the pitch. 

Q: What other changes to player movement have been added?

A: Running speed has been a major focus for upgrading player movement. Players move across the pitch more realistically, based on their Attributes, to bring player runs closer to real-life behaviour; and when a player is exhausted following a lung-bursting run, this will be more noticeable in their body language. A rebalancing of marking, passing and defensive setup has also taken place to balance and support these upgrades. A key change here is addressing how players attack the box. Further analysis of real football tactics has been utilised to make box attacks more varied and dynamic, with more intelligent players able to time and angle their runs effectively. Along with the visual improvement in movement that this provides, the mechanical changes mean you will be challenged to adjust tactics and decisions, to take full advantage of the advances in player behaviour.  

Q: What data points can I access during or after a match and how can it be adapted?

A: Whenever you’re not watching the live action, in FM27 you can view more data, more easily, to help you make informed tactical decisions. In line with our work across the wider game’s user interface, changes have been made to the layout and delivery of information during a match to give you more of what you need. Much like other menus and hubs in FM27, the match day screen can be adapted to your preferences via selected tile swapping, and improved adaptiveness to support different screens and layouts. After a match, the Data Hub provides insights on how the match unfolded, including the returning Pass Maps, visualising patterns of play and common areas where moves are started and chances are created.  

Q: Is the gameplay footage shown in this deep dive representative of what will be in FM27 on launch? 

A: The gameplay shown is from a development build of the game, meaning it is subject to change before release. Additional work will be focused on further visual optimisation and incorporating feedback from recent user testing. This build contains information that is still under approval process by right holders and may contain data that does not, at this time, accurately reflect real world data. 

Q: Is there more to come for pre-launch looks at FM27 gameplay and changes?

A: Yes. Our next deep dive for FM27 will look at changes to Training and the new Tactical Effectiveness system, which further help you prepare for your next match and handle long-term training plans. 

Q: Will FM27 launch on 10 November in every territory?

A: The launch of FM27 will occur at the same moment globally, which means it's possible that the game becomes available on 11 November in some countries and time zones. An exact time will be confirmed ahead of launch so you will know exactly when it will be available in your region.