Football Manager 21.2 Update: Balancing to defenders and attackers, improvements to newgens, and more

The latest Football Manager update, aptly titled 21.2, has landed for all versions of the game, with the PC variant being the one more heavily renewed compared to those playing FM Touch or the Xbox version. 

Among the plethora of changes, Sports Interactive revealed that gameplay-wise, this patch will solve some issues with backroom staff, including an error that prevented players from delegating specific tasks.

The match engine was also tuned, improving how attackers moving into the near/far posts, better balancing when it comes to aerial duels, and some "overzealous" offsides not being given as such anymore.

(Picture: Sports Interactive)

A thing worth mentioning is that this patch can be used during your current saves, meaning you don't have to start over once you've updated your game

• Read more: Football Manager 2021: How to fix fake club and player names (Juventus, Germany, etc)

Check out the full patch notes down below.

FM 21.2 Major Update - Full patch notes

Stability and Technical
- Further changes to issues related to blurry text and mouse-cursor appearing misaligned
- Re-added options to change resolution settings in full screen mode
- Number of stability improvements

Gameplay
- Unable to set some staff members to certain responsibilities
- Board incorrectly blocking deals due to wanting vast fees for players
- Recalculating how analysts produce their overall report ratings
- Staff missing from coaching assignment list for relevant squads
- Further improvements to inactive leagues generating newgens

Match Engine 21.4.0
- Better clearances
- Attackers attacking area/far post better
- Better balancing to defenders challenging for aerial balls
- Defenders marking too literally tweaks
- Move to offer passing options improvements
- Passing focus fix to long lateral passes
- Some improvements to aerial interceptions for defenders
- Sent assistant referees on training course to remove some overzealous offsides being given and sort positioning during penalties

Competitions and Rule Groups*
- Various rule updates for Croatia, Serbia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Brazil, Uruguay, Romania, Russia and Scotland
- Spanish and Portuguese B-Team promotion fixes
- Fix for B teams incorrectly appearing in the Italian Cup
- Copa America originally scheduled for 2020 will now be played in 2021.

User Interface
- Can't proceed into a match if pressing back on Team Selection panel when managing international side
- Changing manager appearance from the Start Screen does not remember any changes