14 DAY TRIAL // I have no rational reason for my long-term contempt of Jose Mourinho, but in my mind he is the coach who transformed Chelsea, which I supported when I was young, into a cynical, sometimes annoyingly defensive team that can play dirty and win major trophies that way, sometimes with a lot of luck added into the mix.
In Football Manager 2015, my irrationality can easily manifest itself during press conferences before and after matches with the Roman Abramovich-funded team, when I tend to disparage their players, insult their style and generally be obnoxious whey they fail to stay in a solid position in the Premier League.
In previous titles in the series, such interactions were only present for flavor, but this time around they are much more meaningful, and for years the virtual Mourinho has also sought to engage in mind games and find ways to destabilize my line-up before matches.
For fans who love the tactics in the Football Manager series, such interactions might seem beyond the point, but they manage to create more immersion and make the seasons I play feel more real and engaging.
A player mutiny can easily happen in FM 2015
The depth of the talks is not limited to the press conferences and the opposition managers.
My own players tend to be more vocal than they were in previous installments, and more importantly, have a tendency to voice their problems and expect me as the manager to deliver solutions relatively fast (this has something to do with the Discipline level selected at the start).
When newly signed Adam Lallana wants to talk to me about his limited first team presence, I know that there are no good options to choose from.
I can promise him that I will play him more (a lie based on the form of Coutinho and Sterling), as he surely does not want to be loaned out, and that there are no chances to placate him with promises about cup matches.
This means the conversation will end with a drop in his morale, which can be bad for the rest of the team and his long-term development.
At the same time, I am forced to try and convince him not to put in a transfer request, which can create even more damage, and the results are not guaranteed.
Football Manager 2015 creates these mini role-playing game moments that add to the stakes of the game and can influence its long-term evolution.
